This and That
Busy, happy weekend with some of Scott’s family. Wish the rest of them could have been with us. His parents and his oldest brother flew in from the East Coast for the baptism and much merriment. Uncle Jay is one of the best guys I’ve ever met. Absolutely the most generous. My children are crazy about him, and there was much weeping following his departure this afternoon.
It had been too long since we last saw Scott’s parents. So nice to see them laughing it up with our noisy throng. Scott’s mother stood proxy for the dear godmother who lives far away. There’s a story behind that beautiful christening gown; we’ve been talking about it in the comments. Such an honor to have my children be part of its long history.
After they left this afternoon, I caught up a bit on blogs and tweets.
Look who else was baptized on Saturday! Beautiful.
Karen and Faith shared this link to Austenbook, which made me laugh out loud at least six times. Perfect timing, too. I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice. Again. Couldn’t be helped. I read Shannon Hale’s Austenland and, well, after that I had no choice.
Related: this time around, I read P&P on an e-reader. My iPod Touch, to be precise. It’s the third or fourth book I’ve read on the Touch, and this was the first time I found myself really enjoying the reading experience (as distinct from enjoying the book itself). I will always, always prefer a real book, the rustling paper, the satisfying weight of it, the smell of ink and tree. But…I admit it. There are some advantages to electronic reading. With my Touch, I can read with one hand, turning pages with the barest tap of a thumb. I can lie in the dark nursing the baby and read without any light source other than the device itself. Last week I tried to curl up with a nice fat library book beside my slumbering child, and I dropped the book on his head. You begin to see the advantages of a “book” no bigger than a playing card.
I’ve been experimenting with the various e-readers available for the iPod Touch and would like to post some reviews, but I’m too busy reading.
(No really, I’ll get to it eventually.)
Lots of friends have shared the scoop on these nifty Homeschool Connections online seminars. They are reputed to be extremely fun and informative. Great lineup of speakers.
I still haven’t taken my photos for the Illegal Books Meme, but lots of other people have. And I will, too, as soon as I get a chance.
Speaking of CPSIA, I really appreciate the post roundup in the Love2Learn sidebar.
Did you see Beck’s rant about The Ten-Year Nap, that book that so annoyed me last month? Beck too, and she didn’t even have to read it:
(Do my) mundane daily routines and ever-more tenuous connections to increasingly independent children compensate for all that lost promise? asks the Publishers Weekly blurb on Amazon’s page for The Ten Year Nap. And then I barfed, or I WOULD if I wasn’t in some sort of decade-long coma, apparently.
If Beck lived in SoCal instead of Canada, I would totally make her a cobbler.
Karen Edmisten says:
We can thank Faith at Two Thirds Unschooling for the AustenBook link! (I thought I had linked to her, but I hadn’t, so just corrected that.)
Anyway, yes, so funny!
On February 24, 2009 at 5:29 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Oh yes, thank you too, Faith! Link added. 🙂
On February 24, 2009 at 6:58 am
Kimberly says:
I loooooove my ipod touch. You are absolutely right, it is the THING for late night feedings. I can catch up on bloggy readings and emails, etc. It isn’t the most fun for typing, but it isn’t horrid. I am learning to type with my pinky finger!
On February 24, 2009 at 7:01 am
Beck says:
That AustenBook link is BRILLIANT. And so are you! If I lived closer, I would make YOU a cobbler, since you’re the one with the small baby and all.
On February 24, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Kathryn says:
I’m more of a night owl than Michael, so I like being able to turn the light off and read using the Touch. I’m can’t wait to see your reviews of e-Readers. At the moment I’m using Stanza to read books from Project Gutenberg,
On February 25, 2009 at 12:25 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Kathryn, I’m liking Stanza too. Just needed to enlarge the font first. It’s amazing how many classics there are free for the picking via Gutenberg and other sources. The iPod becomes a whole library, and there are no late fees.
On February 26, 2009 at 9:03 pm