i did it.

I did it. I'd been thinking about the possibility for a while, but now I've finally done it.

What is this "it" that I've done??

I opened up shop on Etsy. Etsy is an incredibly awesome online marketplace specifically for people selling their own original, handmade goods. It's one of my favorite places to browse... there's some really cool stuff up there! One of my favorite shops on Etsy is Block Party Press - Jeromie got me a pendant for my birthday, and I promptly order 2 more with some birthday dollars. Oh, there's a lot of fun stuff on there. And now the fun stuff includes something of mine!

I wrote a blurb for the shop bio about how I arrived at this spot, but the basic gist is this:

I've spent most of my life not living,
and God has changed that.
Because of Jesus, He's rescued me and is redeeming me.
After many years of denying any sort of value or gifting, I finally realized that God *has* given me a voice, and something to share with His world.
If I really believe Him, then it's time to stop hiding and start celebrating.

The shop name: lizzleisALIVE

and I am!

:-D

I know this is already on Justin's blog (that's how I first saw it!), but I figure I might have a few readers that he doesn't and I want to share the love too. Cause the world is just awesome!




Some things I particularly love today:

* the mountains (blue ridge & otherwise)
* Clemson sunsets
* brilliant lightening storms
* the human body in motion (we can do some pretty cool stuff!)
* spoken and written language
* the fact that all creation attests to God's glory, & that He's redeeming it (!!!)

Shifty... in more ways than one.

This week, we unofficially became a one-car family.

Jeromie and I have been discussing this shift for about a year, and finally stopped procrastinating over the past month or so. It took a little preparation to switch off to one car:

* a solid carpooling schedule,
* a workable errand-running routine,
* a knee that decided to stop being busted,
* a working coolant fan motor
* an actual proficiency at driving a manual vehicle, and
* the willingness to give up a little bit of freedom.

The transition had a few hitches, such as said coolant fan motor... but that was actually a long-existing hitch that I'd assumed was normal for my car. Long story. :-)

The other hitch was my grocery trip this week... I raced the CATbus from our house to the Clemson Bi-Lo and thought I'd won until the CATbus pulled up already loaded with two bikes. I suppose it's a safety rule, but the bus driver wouldn't let me bring my bike on board, so I had to call Jero for a ride. To me, that defeated the purpose of using the bike for that errand in the first place, but I'm hoping to make a few adjustments to my bike that would allow for toting things if need be.

I'd kinda like to see if I can ride my bike more miles than I drive a car in the next year. Excluding, of course, the miles between here and Denver. :-) I'd have to do quite a bit of riding to make up for that one.


P.S. It's official! Jeromie's been accepted to Denver Seminary as well! God-willing & the creek don't rise, we'll be living a mile higher in August!

yarn cakes & happy tires

(the title is for you, Jeromie; appetizing, isn't it?)

So, for the past year, Tuesdays have been my favorite day. Two reasons: house church in the evening, and it's one of my two consistent days off (Sunday being the other). It seems that other days off are always cram-packed full of people to hang out with and/or things that need doing. Not that I don't want to hang out with people - I actually thoroughly enjoy it now - but being a Liz, and still introverted at my core, I need a day to myself sometimes.

Tuesdays tend to be that day.

So, yesterday I:

* slept late to make sure my migraine was really gone
* read a little in A Separate Peace
* changed a flat on my road bike (happy tires!)
* set up the swift & winder I got for my birthday from WEBS, thanks to Darla
* set to work on making yarn cakes out of my huge bag o' yard-sale yarn, and
* made sausage-lentil soup from the More-with-Less cookbook!

Let me tell you, that bag o' yarn is going to take a bit of work to make knittable.

The story behind it is as follows... My friend Melissa and I were responsible for coordinating the DCF Yard Sale at the beginning of May, and it went off quite well. (I just want to say that God had everything to do with that.) It just so happened that the nearby Lutheran church was having a yardsale the same day. Jeromie paid a visit and spotted the yarn - sprawled on the table and strangely tied. Well, he sent me up to look at it and it appeared to be wool and at least hand-dyed, so I spent the $5 I had to get a few bundles. Well, while we were tearing down in the afternoon, a volunteer from the other yardsale walked down and asked one of my friends if I wanted to just have the rest of the (garbage-sized) bag for free. Knowing me, my friend said yes. :-D

A month & a half later, with swift & ball winder in my possession:

I sat down this morning, cracked open the bag & loaded the first bundle onto the swift. The winding went swimmingly at first, then I started getting to tangles & loose ends. It took 45 minutes to an hour to get that first bundle all caked up, complete with much patient untangling. It's definitely wool, and it's almost certainly handspun. There are lots of planty-looking fibers throughout the yarn, almost as if it was born in a barn. (Wait a minute, it probably was born in a barn literally. You know what I mean.) I've now affectionately dubbed it "the quintessential itchy-scratchy," because it is!

But I'm still excited about coming up with some good projects for it. Perhaps some mad felting?

Meet:

Quintessential Itchy-Scratchy.


Rather furzy, but practically free!

Blue Ridge Farewell Tour

So, it looks like we're off to Denver in approximately two months.

I've spent much of my life wanting to move away, though I've realized lately that there are a lot of things I love about this section of the country. The farewell tour started as a half-joke, but I think I'm gonna do it. If anyone wants to join me or add to the list, go for it! I hope I get to all of them, but I doubt it; the list is kinda long.


Liz's Blue Ridge Farewell Tour
(in no particular order)

Sunset from the roof at Dad & Amy's
Reading in the Centennial Oak
Visit the house I grew up in
Trail Running at Issaqueena
Sunrise at Pretty Place, or at least go there
Pisgah swimming holes!
Favorite Hikes ~ (or at least visits to)
* Black Balsam
* Cedar Rock
* Table Rock
* Horsepasture River waterfalls
* Mountain Bridge to Jones Gap
Bouldering @ Rumbling Bald
At least one short backpacking trip - I'm not picky
Coffee at 'the drip' in Black Mountain (Dripolator!)
Something on Jocassee, preferably kayaking, but picnics are good!
Dinner at the Bohemian
Oconee thrift store/antiquey goodness!
McClures, cause I love 'em
A movie at the 'Stro
Backroads bike rides (#10)
Bamboo teepees & gully clay!!
Fiber Fun @ Main Street as many times as I can make it! (#1)
Upstate Ravelers at Brew & Ewe??
Berry- or veggie-picking at Robertsons Farm
Giving at least one more nerd call from house church
Jones Floats, quiet & good company @ Main Street (#1)
More carpool sing-alongs! (#2)
Anderson Jockey Lot


I will probably update this list several more times to add more items & cross off the ones I do.

(Update on 6/15: The list is growing... perhaps beyond my ability to complete! The things I don't get to before I leave, I shall attempt on any & every trip back!)



Any fellow upstate folks have something to add?

and

If you had a farewell tour, what would you be sure to include?

Yee-haaaaw.

I'm too tired to write out the blog post I was planning for this evening, but I at least wanted to say that much about the trip!! :-)

Inspired.

swallowfield.morewithless.nekocase.beans

* * * * * * *

Swallowfield - Jennifer Judd-McGee of Portland, Maine. Beautiful collages, a unique style, challenges me to think beyond my little sketches.

More-with-Less Cookbook - Was introduced to this excellent cookbook by my good friend Becki Pesce. Jeromie and I have been wrestling over ways to live more simply, and our food-making & -consuming habits could use some work. After digging around in the cookbook during our stay in Denver, we decided to go ahead and get it.

Neko Case - I'm just at the beginning of being inspired by this singer-songwriter. Heard 'John Saw That Number' on a sampler I got from work, and have been enjoying the bits I've heard since. May be the next album on repeat for me. :-)

Beans - They come in such beautiful colors! And they're relatively inexpensive! I'm looking for a way to incorporate them more into our meals and kitchen-decor.

out and back again

I knew I shouldn't've pressed the buttons of dooooooom.



* * * * * * *

Jeromie and I have just recently returned from a bit of a journey out west. The original plan was to take a trip to Montana with Jeromie's family, but we ended up stopping over in Denver for several days first (for cheaper than a direct flight to Montana would've been!). While in Denver, we made a visit to Denver Seminary, the Denver Art Museum (best DAM museum anywhurs!), and the mountains! We had a fantastic time with our hosts, the Pesces, and are looking forward to the possibility of making our home in Denver, at least for a while.

But I mentioned buttons, didn't I? Of the doom variety? Ah, yes...

Messing with the buttons of doom means:
- rain
- rain
- rain
- more rain
- AVALAAAAAANCHE!

and

- more rain. :-)
- oh yes, and the condo breaking off the face of the planet and floating through space, Sawyer style.

Apparently, some of the areas around Red Lodge (where we stayed) received half of their average annual rainfall during the week we were there. Mmmmm. Slow, soaking rain. Despite the rain, we had an awesome time in Montana.

During this next week, I think I'll try and make a few posts about our time there. One gigantic post just doesn't sit well with me or do the trip justice!

Flickr Game

To Play

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

<< exhale >>

Somehow it seems appropriate that I get my life back from bookfairs and busy on my birthday!

I apologize for my rather lengthy absence from sharing things of interest, but the past two months or so have been incredibly busy on all fronts; however, the last (hopefully!) bookfair at work finished yesterday, so now I can rest and be rested.

Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported me this past year, and my whole life for that matter.

Thank you, Jeromie, for patience and hard words of truth.

Thank you, Jesus, for rescuing and redeeming me.

Thank you, God the Father, for loving me relentlessly.

Thank you, precious Holy Spirit, for breathing Life into mine.

iRead: more than i should, perhaps

All right, so. I've been reading a lot. This is about all I've done in my spare time apart from the film festival, which took up the first 2 weeks of April. Haven't painted, haven't sewn much. I think I need to work on maintaining a bit better balance. :-)

Either way, the following books have passed through my book-hungry little hands so far this month:

- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
- I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell
- So Brave Young and Handsome by Leif Enger
- Brighten the Corner Where You Are by Fred Chappell
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (i re-read it)
- The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty


As much as it might look like it, I have *not* been just plowing through these. Well, except for maybe Into the Wild because it was hard to put down & I had no energy that day. I enjoyed all of them, but I'll only rave about a few. :-)

One of my favorite books thus far in my life has been Leif Enger's Peace Like a River. Since picking it up several years ago, I've re-read it several times and enjoyed it even more with each read. It's definitely one of my staff picks at work. Needless to say, I've been giddy with anticipation over the release of his new book, So Brave, Young and Handsome. I placed my order at the beginning of this month and then babbled endlessly about it for several days... which led to a co-worker picking up PLR, which then led to the suggestion of a good author by said co-worker, the fabulous Daneen Schatzle. The author = Fred Chappell.

Fred Chappell is one of those authors that makes me wonder what freaking rock I've been hiding under that I hadn't read anything of his before. Or what rock the rest of my world has been hiding under that I hadn't heard of him. So far, I've read the two books listed above, and I will be hunting down more. (Apparently there's poetry too!)

I Am One of You Forever - I picked up this one first, used, for $1. I have not laughed so much while reading a book since Brothers K (David James Duncan)! The book is narrated by Jess, a young boy, and is a series of stories about his family - initially his immediate family, then a series of odd uncles and humorous occurrences. Chappell's storytelling is beautiful, to say the least, and his characters are full and incredibly funny at times!


Brighten the Corner Where You Are - I think I hunted this one down before even having finished the first! Turns out, both of these books are part of a series about the family & specifically the father (?), Brighten being the second. The writing has a different feel than the first, but is still enthralling and humorous. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books...



So Brave, Young and Handsome - Long awaited, finally here! Awesome! I really don't know what to say about it, since "western" conjures up skepticism for me. The story follows the friendship of two men - one a failing writer, the other an outlaw - through the eyes of the former. Enger's storytelling in this second book was just as captivating to me as in his first. He's no longer the author of one of my favorite books, he's a favorite author!




I know, I know... I've been rambling. It's late. I get that way. No apologies, though. Just wanted to share the bookedy love. I'm always open to suggestions too... my list of books I want to read is already out of control, what's a few more? :-D

DCF Film Festival 2008 : Little Worlds

So, here is the outcome of a lotsa hours of drawing and taking pictures!

Over the past week or so, Jeromie and I have spent most of our truly spare time working on our submission for the DCF Film Festival. The overall film was Jeromie's idea, and I did the drawing. Last count, the 2 minutes of filmy goodness took ~10 hours of drawing & editing and more than 1600 frames. Twas much fun though!

Craaaaaaaazybusy.

I can't believe it's April. Contributing to the disbelief is the fact that no one pranked me on April Fools (phew.), which is a new concept for me. :-D Normally someone pulls at least *one* over on me. April looks like it will be quite a trip though... and May.

Potential Spring Shenanigans
- Cooper River 10k in Charleston (this Saturday!)
- Taxes. Taxes taxes taxes. (by April 15)
- Projects for DCF Film Festival & Gallery (now til then)
- DCF Film Festival & Gallery weekend (April 15?)
- Bookfair numero A (3rd week in April)
- Bookfair numero B (4th week in April)
- DCF Yard Sale & Silent Auction (May 3! Come out!!!)
- Bookfair numero C (in-store May 10 & probably HUGE)
- Sneaky-plan thing that might be unveiled in mid-may...
- Finishing & submitting Mars Hill application; going out for interview (May)
- Registering for classes (?!??!)
- Family trip to Montana (!!!!!)

I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation or something! :-) Hopefully I'll be able to carve out a little more time for sewing & knitting. Both have been neglected these past few weeks. :-\

Even in the face of a busy spring, these past few weeks have been good. Not a crazy woo-hoo(!) good, but good in a God-is-moving-and-i'm-not-being-blind kind of way. As always, He is faithful; He's been digging around in my heart and bringing me to a place where I can see and embrace Him & Life (with all its many facets) instead of retreating or hiding. Most of my life, I've been prone to that... to retreating & hiding.

So in response to Michael's request for a one-word update: WOO-HOO!!!! :-D

And that's because God is faithful.

iRead: a couple of things, actually!

After finishing the utterly fantastic Secret Life of Bees, I headed in a sillier direction. As usual, a few books caught my eye while shelving at work, and I set them aside to read. These books were:


Fun! By Avi!

They are both juvenile books - short, and rather silly. What made them endearing to me was the constant playing on words. If you know me at all, you're aware of my affinity for puns (bad ones will suffice...), so reading these two short books elicited a lot of giggles.




After reading these, I almost promptly picked up The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'd been eying(sp?) the book at work for a few weeks, then my friend Lance lent it to me. The book is a biography of Eustace Conway, who lives self-sufficiently in the woods of Western NC. Gilbert examines his life, work, and philosophy from the stance of an observer-friend, and her writing is intriguing and funny. Overall, very thought-provoking.

At some point during the reading of Last American Man, another book jumped off the shelves at me. Or rather, perhaps, God drew my attention to it. Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson. After my post about Secret Life of Bees and how I read, I could not ignore this one. I'm in the middle of it right now, and will be for a while. This one, I shall thoroughly digest, I believe. And the Bible with it. More on this one as I work through it.

And lastly, I was given a book this weekend when a local author came to do a signing at work (The Open Book - Greenville, SC). I love to see what local authors are writing, so I've been giving this one a shot. I'm not much of a mystery/romance reader, but if this is your interest, then this would be a good book to add to your shelf. It's a quick read with an interesting (though thoroughly fantastical at parts) plotline.

The book is Refraction by Jan Dynes, who lives in Clemson now (after "crash-landing" on the SC coast.




As always, my list is growing faster than I can (or want) to read, so who knows what's next??

Happy reading, all!

Spiffy Bloggy Goodness!

My friend Michael is incredibly thoughtful! And skilled, in my opinion! He remembered that I expressed an interest in an actual banner for my blog a few months back, and sent me a really awesome one.

Who needs sleep??? I have Grace Incarnate, a fantastic husband, awesome friends, and a cool banner for my blog!


Well... I might be exaggerating. I need sleep anyway. So thats where I goes... right about... now.



Thank you, Michael!!!

Recreating

(Before I get started, Jeromie's home!!! I am so incredibly excited! :-D )

* * * * * * *

Recreating, re-creating, creating. Either way, I've finally been doing a little bit of it lately. :-) I am a much happier creature when I can run, which means I've been a much happier creature lately. It's less than a month til the Cooper River Bridge Run, and I feel like I can maybe, just maybe, make it without getting injured. 'Tis a good thing.

Craftwise, I've not been knitting at all, but I have been cursing at making friends with my sewing machine. Okay... so I haven't been cursing at the sewing machine... if anything, I've cursed at myself & my extreme lack of skill in the sewing arena. Last night, I decided that the average 8 year old could probably sew better than me.



Jeromie: Wow, you must know some 8 year olds.

Me: Yeah, in my mind 8 year olds have some mad skillz...



So perhaps not. Maybe an 8 year old with the right training.

Anyway, these were my projects for this weekend:
(sorry... originally started the post last weekend, slacker me)


I found a cute teal skirt on a recent thrifting trip... but it was way too big for me (22/24w), so i...


...made it fit me! (and removed the beads... i might put some different ones on it... I haven't decided yet)


I painted on some shoes.


I made some fun slippers... our floors are COLD! And tweaked a curtain for the front door, too!


I ventured into the world of applique. Learned the ropes, and then...


... made a design of my own!
(it's my "signature" birdy!)



*sings* how much is that biiiiiiiirdy in the windoooooooow?


I've had a lot of fun just daydreaming & sketching & doing lately. I feel that being back *in* community (as opposed to skirting it...) has something to do with this. It makes me hungry. Hungry for God, hungry for real connection. It makes me want to "seize the day." More days than before, at least. I've definitely had days (and some this week) where I just wanted to withdraw, and I did, but there's a whole lot of pursuing going on around here. God never lets me stay that way. :-)






p.s. I didn't exactly get a good picture of the birdy. I used my favorite fabricky Christmas present for the body... it had a faint blue leafy/viney design on it. One of these days I might post a good picture of the bird itself. :-)

Life at the Bookedy...

Some days, I swear I want to bring home every book in the store. Today is one of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only bring home one. Maybe.

It helps that I've been steadily digesting a stream of good books lately... What is the What (Dave Eggers). The Once and Future King (TH White), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), The Way of the Heart (Henri Nouwen), to name a few. Kind of like with running, the more I read the more that I want to! If I had more time, I'd ramble on about all of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only ramble about one. Maybe.

This morning, I finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I'd originally checked it out from the library on CD for the trip down to Alabama this past weekend, but couldn't finish it in that format because one of the CDs was badly scratched. (Grrr... of course it stopped at a really crucial part.) Upon arriving home Tuesday night, I promptly borrowed the book from my good friend Juli and am now done. Oh, it was so good. Very well written. Very good story. I feel like I made a whole slew of new friends! Though our stories are in no way identical, I see parts of Lily's story in mine. The sheer telling of the story watered seeds of God's truth in me that the soil of my heart always seems to want to choke out. Looks like I've got some digging to do. :-)

I'm thankful that I'm not a particularly fast reader. Reading & writing are how I learn, so I tend to ruminate on the things I read. I take the words & story in and I feel like I literally digest them... I invite them to dwell in me and root around. Unless it's a textbook... that's a different story - you know, study mode. Unfortunately, this is the way I learned to take in Scripture too. Study mode. That's good in its time, I think, but Scripture is also story. God's story, and now my story too. I want to digest God's story the way I do with books. I want Him to dwell in me, to root around and find a home, to change me from the inside out. I know that He does dwell in me now in the person of Jesus (my Savior and Friend), but something's been missing. I think that perhaps it's been Jesus as the Word. I pray that that will change soon!

In the meantime, I will continue reading & digging & hoping & living.




"Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again. Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here."

August Boatright from The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

Wardrobe Refashion

In the past year, I've become quite the blog fiend. There are a handful of blogs that I've subscribed to & read regularly, one of which being Wardrobe Refashion. Needless to say, I've been inspired. :-) I've already tried my hand at refashioning things a few times, so I decided to take the plunge during the last round of sign-ups.

The past month has been a little more eventful than usual (see Jeromie's post), but as things settle down, I intend to devote some of my time each week to refashioning & generally being creative... making a priority a priority again. :-) Here goes!!

* * * * * * *


I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

Signed: Lizzle

Moving

So. As I mentioned in my last post, we've done some moving. Casa del Rand is no longer in Greenville, it's in Central, and it's pretty sweet. This whole weekend has been momentous for me in more ways than I first realized. I never thought I'd be excited to call the Clemson area home, but my heart settles into a beautiful calm now as I near our new home because I know that God has done this.

Several weeks ago, after church, Jeromie and I drove by the new Kalbaugh pad (pre-lease-signing) on our way to meet folks for running... just to check out their new location. Little did I know what this would stir in me. Running = thinking & praying time for me, and by the time we got back I decided to voice what was percolating: could we move back??

We joked about it a little bit... and then... we got down to some serious praying & consideration. And then... we hit an obstacle (65lb lab is not compatible with an absolutely-no-dogs rule). And then... we kept praying about it. And then... God made not just one, but two ways! And then... we signed a lease! And then... and then... and then! (I know, I know - I sound like a very excited 6 year old!)

Things weren't all smooth sailing during the process. I think Jeromie and I both encountered a good bit of spiritual warfare - his in the form of doubts, mine in the form of a seething apathy (oxymoron? I beg to differ...), but God faithfully broke through these, too, in His time.

So... the past week has been full of working and packing and packing and working and working and not running like we should and packing. With the help of some incredible friends, we got everything moved on Saturday and started the process of settling in.

I feel like God has answered a lot of prayers through all this. Long-time prayers, and not remotely in any way we expected. He is bringing us both back to life, and it's beautiful.



Perhaps what describes it best was the outcome of yesterday's listening at DCF. My reflections as I listened to Winn speak took the form of a poem... something that doesn't happen very often, so I'm pretty sure God had something to do with it. :-)

* * * * * * *



Home

We are here.
dcf.
Central.
Unsettled, but at rest
because You are our Refuge.
Your body our community,
Our community Your body.

From everlasting to everlasting.
From dust to dust.
As far as the heavens are above the earth
so are Your thoughts above our own.
We pass away, but You remain.

"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Teach us to seek You.
Teach us to pray.
Teach us to hope, to surrender, to obey.
Our lives are not limitless,
Our knowledge is not wisdom.

We have frittered away Your precious gift
of a redeemed life.
We withdrew.
We withheld.
We grasped at and horded
moments of life
instead of entering in.

But You enter in.
You pursue.
You forgive.
With sure strokes, You carve out a home
in our hearts, and channels of hope,
and You pour
Your life
into us.

Father God, please forgive me for how I have made myself the center. Of this moment, of this day, of my life. My sins are countless. When left alone, I take every breath as an opportunity to run away. But You enter in.

Thank You.

iRead: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

(Part of this post is from a note I wrote on Facebook last week... I figured I'd just go ahead and post it here.)

So I've been a bit quiet lately. It started with being knocked out with a cold for the better part of a week... and the two weeks since then have been full of work & praying about moving & deciding to move & packing... and Saturday will be full of MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVING.

Not much time to think about books, other than at work where I get to help people find good ones! This morning I was puttering along, unsuspecting, shelving books, when I stumbled across one that's held my attention ever since:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers

As I understand so far, the story follows a deaf man by the name of John Singer and the lives some of the people he interacts with. I haven't gotten very far yet... gotta work, you know... but so far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It seems very well written.

* * * * * * *

Now, a few days later, I'm about a 3rd of the way through the book, and it's only gotten better. The way the author develops the characters draws you in & makes you curious. Books are great for different reasons - with this one, I feel like I've gained at least 3 new friends! :-)

I'd be done by now if it weren't for moving, but we've still got a ton of boxes to unpack, so I'll just have to wait.

(But I *really* don't want to! :-D )