from the garden

Our first tomato!

Here's the plant our tomato came from.

When we started, this plant was the size of a soccer ball.

Look at it now!  We need multiple stakes to hold it up.

Amazing!

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

pun
1. the humorous way of using a word of phrase so that more than one meaning is suggested.

Here's a pun I just made up:  It's very difficult for polar bears to get married because the bride and groom always have cold feet.

Do you know any puns?  I'd love to know what they are!

a few found photos

Images from December Ends

Image from Grey's Anatomy "First Cut is the Deepest"

 Headshot (which looks much different from above photo!)

And here is an image from my very first acting job...

I played Baby Pearl in the film, The Scarlett Letter.

happy anniversary

colorscope

Did you know that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky share the exact same Colorscope?

Not only are they both (yellow) Leo, but they also have (light blue) Libra rising and (bright green) Taurus moon.  Click here to read about what this means.

hint hint

Click here to yesterday's Word of the Week question.

(Image from loveyoutoogoodbye.)

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

thump
1. to hit something or someone and make a loud, deep sound.


Bonus Question: Which Disney character makes appropriate use of the word thump?

week of rabbits

Did you know that we are in the middle of National Rabbit Week?  I love rabbits!  What a wonderful thing to celebrate.  To read more about National Rabbit week go here.

(Photo via full issue.)

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

squirrelly
1. tending to move around a lot.  2. very odd, silly or foolish

Click here to see one squirrelly squirrel.

squirrelly

I heard Calvin and Chloe's tails thumping against the bench in my office.  So I looked over and this is what I saw:

Then something cackled from outside, a squirrel.

I watched him run across the eave of our porch. He ended up on our roof and when he peered over at Calvin and Chloe, he cackled again.

Do you see his little face looking down and laughing?  What a tease!

book poem from the library

when the rain sings

wild things

whisper in the dark

little owl's night

Little Owl's Night
by Divya Srinivasan

Check out this amazing book trailer:
http://www.vimeo.com/divya/littleowl

My friend Divya wrote Little Owl's Night, which will be released by Viking this October.   I can't wait to get myself a copy!

(Photo via Goodreads.)

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

effervescent
1. (of a liquid) giving off bubbles, fizzy
2. (of a person or their behavior) vivacious, enthusiastic

paper lanterns (part two)

Click here to see original paper lantern post.

happy fourth of july

the year the swallows came early

The Year the Swallows Came Early

by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Eleanor "Groovy" Robinson loves cooking and plans to go to culinary school just as soon as she's old enough. But even Groovy's thoughtfully—planned menus won't fix the things that start to go wrong the year she turns eleven—suddenly, her father is in jail, her best friend's long-absent mother reappears, and the swallows that make their annual migration to her hometown arrive surprisingly early. As Groovy begins to expect the unexpected, she learns about the importance of forgiveness, understands the complex stories of the people around her, and realizes that even an earthquake can't get in the way of a family that needs to come together.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice's lovely debut novel is distinctively Californian in its flavor. Her rich characters and strong sense of place feel both familiar and fresh at first meeting—and worth revisiting, again and again.

What I think:  Kathryn Fitzmaurice has a very poetic voice.  Some of my favorite sentences from this book: "The morning heat curled around us", "The hum of her ceiling fan filled the room, sending drifts of lavender smell in every direction and lifting the bottom of the curtains slightly, as if they were breathing" and  "I knew it just as sure as those humpback whales know the way to Mexico when they swim there each winter to find a family".  This book is a great read and I was particularly fascinated with the father character.  Fitzmaurice has said that her protagonist "didn't come to a place of forgiveness by the end, but in the final draft, she finally did."  I love this about writing, the discovery.

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I picked from the fish bowl on my desk

is...

integrity
1. the quality of being honest and fair

I think the following fictional characters have a tremendous amount of integrity: Ferdinand the Bull, Hermione (from the Harry Potter books) and Charlotte (from Charlotte's Web).

Can you think of anyone who has lots of integrity?