Kimber the Magnificent: Summer’s winding down and Her Momness and I thought now would be a good time to revisit some Summer Hits and Misses.
So we’re gonna include some Seriously Pawsome Reads and some Kitty Litter Box candidates. Fifteen in all. In no particular order.
Ready? Set? Let’s go!
Being all Beautiful and Brilliant and Everything.
Turning a corner here today into somethin’ a little diff: writing contests.
Raise your paw if this has ever happened to you. (It’s okay. Nobody’s lookin’.):
You’re cruising the internet, local bookstore or writer’s group and come across an announcement for a writing contest. It may be fiction or non. Short story, humor, poetry. Whatever. You’re intrigued. You check out the guidelines. Polish your best material to a solar sheen. Submit. And cross your fingers.
Okay, okay. That’s lame. Mom’s idea. So you know who to pin that one on, okay?
Anywho, we got this review request the other day from a lady in the foreign country of Nova Scotia. No idea where that is. Do they have burgers? (We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
Our review queue was closed at the time. Still trying to catch up. But there was something about this book and the review request that caught our eye. Convinced us to make an exception. Kimber: Probably had something to do with the smell of freshly barbecued…. What?
What do humans mean when they say ‘dog days of summer’? That I can hang my nose out the car window more on warmish days? That it’s too hot to do anything except lie in the shade and dream about kibble and surfing? Something related to Sirius, the ‘dog star’?
‘Dog star,’ huh? I kinda like the sound of that.
Wait. Kid on a bicycle going by.
Now. Where was I? Oh, yeah ‘Dog days.’ We’ve had several this summer. Temperatures ticked up to the mid and upper nineties. That may not sound like much to you Phoenix or Las Vegas types. But in western Washington, that’s as rare as a smart cat. It’s so rare in fact, that most houses don’t have air conditioning. Pontoons, maybe. But not A/C.
It looked like this here yesterday. And like:
So Mom and I decided a soggy Saturday’s a good day to clean out the attic. (It seemed like a good idea at the time.)
Now, you may not know this about me. But I’m a Great Attic Clean-Up Supervisor. I found a comfy rug. Laid down. Watched Mom cart stuff up and down the stairs. Dust. Categorize. Box. Un-box. Re-box.
Supervisin’s a tough job. But somebody’s gotta do it.
Anyway, Mom opened this one box. And sat down. “Oh my!” says she. “Kimmi, look at this!”
Six words that strike terror into the heart of bloggers:
Please share your latest blog post.
This according to Her Mom-ness. Me? I’m cool with a daily walk and “dinner” twel… I mean twice a day. But you know how moms are. For as long as I can remember – both minutes – Her Mom-ness has insisted that:
Being all magnificent and everything.
Kimber here. Letting you know The ‘Ole Curmudgeon is being her curmudgeonly self today. Again. Still. Ya see, we just saw this post somewhere about “50 Most Popular Fantasy Books of the Last 3 years.” Or some such Tom Foolery.
The ‘Ole Curmudgeon: “Three years? Seriously? That’s not even a bat of the eye lash. Especially for those of us who were on a first-name basis with Moses. And eye-witnesses to the Parting of the Red Sea. Sheesh.”
Well. You know Mom.
Via: Interlibrary Loan (Richland Public Library, Richland, WA)
”Times is changen on this old earth, papa, and it looks like we’re goen to have to change right along with ‘em. I don’t mean me and Livy and Mama, but there’s some kind of world out there waiten for my babies and I aim to see ‘em get whatever they can out of it.” – Clay Spencer, Spencer’s Mountain
You may know it as “Walton’s Mountain.” But did you know that the beloved television series about a family growing up in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and WWII created and narrated by Earl Hamner, Jr. was based on his 1961 book Spencer’s Mountain and the 1963 film of the same name? The movie stars Henry Fonda (Clay Spencer), Maureen O’Hara (Olivia Spencer) and James MacArthur (Clay-Boy Spencer. MacArthur is too old for the part, in my opinion. But who’s counting?)
Mom and I are humungous C.S. Lewis fans. Far as we’re concerned, if C.S. Lewis books were an Olympic sport, they’d bring home the gold. Both fiction and non-fiction.
You gonna eat that?
Now, you may know Lewis from The Chronicles of Narnia. Probably his best-known and most beloved work. But he wrote like, a ton of other stuff, too. Some of our other faves include Mere Christianity. The Great Divorce. The Problem of Pain. The Screwtape Letters. Surprised by Joy. And his autobiography, Till We Have Faces. Lewis notes that altho Till We was not a commercial success, it’s his favorite work.
Indeed, we’ve read pretty much everything “Jack” ever published. Except this here puppy. Missed this one. But we found it the other day in the Book Place. Sitting on a shelf. Calling our name. Diving in, this book actually surprised us. Here’s why:
In his life, Lewis received thousands of letters from young fans who were eager for more of his bestselling Narnia books and their author. This book is a collection of many of his responses to those letters, in which he shares his feelings about writing, school, animals, and of course, Narnia. Lewis writes to the children – as he wrote for them – with understanding and respect, proving why he remains one of the most beloved children’s authors of all time.
Letters to Children offers a rare, luminous glimpse into the heart and mind of a remarkably eloquent and equally gracious genius. There’s so much wit and warmth in Lewis’s letters to young readers. In fact, Lewis carried on a loquacious correspondence with many of his young correspondents for years, even into their adulthood. The sheer volume of his correspondence is astounding. Ditto the amount of wit and whimsy in each letter. It’s remarkable.
Lithe and limber, Lewis’s letters brim with warmth and vitality. They’re perhaps as surprising as they are charming.
Offering advice to a young correspondent, Lewis writes:
There’s more. But our personal favorite on Lewis’s list is:
Write on, dude.
C.S. Lewis also writes about his health issues, the weather, gardens, and so on. He reads and responds to every letter received personally – in long hand. (Note to young whipper-snappers: That’s called “pen and ink.” Before computers.) Lewis’s responses are soaked in kindness and encouragement. He shows an unflagging interest in each of his young correspondents’ lives, their families, schools, and writing endeavors, often offering encouragement per the last.
When his correspondents ask for more Narnia a stories, Lewis gently explains, “I’m afraid the Narnian series has come to an end.” He urges them to write their own stories.
We love that!
“It is a funny thing that all the children who have written to me see at once who Aslan is, and grown-ups never do” writes Lewis in the final letter in this tome, typed the day before he died in 1963.
Kimber: Good thing we’re not grown-ups, huh Mom?
An author walks into a bar. Orders political screed bashing one side of the aisle. Stirs in a dose of “detective thriller” as cover. Thinks no one’ll notice.
Newsflash, pal: We noticed. We got it the first 2,867 times you brought it up. No need to beat us over the head with it. Oough.
Well. Her Momness has never read Stephen King before. So not into that creepy-crawly-yucky horror stuff. But this title came highly recommended from someone we respect. Which just shows ya what we know. Cuz it seriously stinketh. Here’s why:
Pages & Paws 