Ellen,
The pancakes were just as yellow and brown as little tigers but none for you or Franco....
April 2008 Archives
Alrighty ya'll, I'm trying another Sunday mornin' blog to see if I can manage NOT to destroy our website again. In a way, I like being that powerful, but our famed webmaster might, just might get a little tired of going in for repairs if I continue my unearthly power. So, I'll be merely human and tell you that every Sunday morning you'll find me listening to Kris Kristofferson's Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down just because, drinking a cuppa tea and watching the birds with a calico cat draped over the back of my chair, planning my day. Most Sundays consist of playing catch-up on chores and errands then MY TIME when I sit on the porch and read. It's a delectable thing to decide what book(s) I'm going to read that day.
Today's stack of books is P. Allen Smith's gardening books ( I LOVE P. ALLEN! If I met him I would have to call him P.Allen and never JUST Allen.) 
a book on architectural details in the garden, 
and a plethora of novels. I just finished a fantastic book that will be coming out in July, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. The writing is delicious and the story compelling. It's different than anything I've read before and will make a great summer read. Edgar, born mute, speaks only in sign, lives on a farm with his parents in Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dogs including Almondine, Edgar's lifelong companion. It's an idyllic life until the return of his uncle Claude to the family farm. When Edgar's father dies, he's sure that Claude had something to do with his death and sets out to prove it. What follows in this family saga is master storytelling. The mysterious connection between humans and animals is beautifully portraited and particularly touching. Keep it on your list for those long lazy days of summer. Another point to note is that my hubby is a devoted western fan and reads Louis L'Amour westerns over and over. When I finished Edgar Sawtelle I was so excited about it that I asked him to break out of his comfort zone and try it so that I could talk to someone about it. He started reading it late Saturday night, spent the whole day Sunday doing nothing but reading and finished it late Sunday night. Now folks let me tell you that this something to write home about. He loved it. Enough said. 
Now I know that you can't wait until JULY for a great read, so I want to tell you about some of my other favorites that you can find tomorrow at FoxTale.
What a powerful read THIS is. Set in rural Mississippi right after WWII when the world has changed but the old South has not, city girl Laura moves with her husband and daughters to a farm that she dubs Mudbound and tries to adjust to farm life. Add in an ogre of a father-in-law, a husband determined to be a farmer in spite of the odds, a brother that comes back from the war broken and his friendship with a fellow veteran who is black, no women friends for support and you've got a helluva story. Don't think this is your typical racial conflict story, it is so much more. You won't forget these characters or their lives for a long time to come. I can't say enough good things about it, just read it.
Can you believe I've never read John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany"?! Me either! How did I miss it??? I mean, who could NOT read a book with this for the opening line: "I'm am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice- not because of his voice, or because he's the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God..." That's on the menu for today's reading. If you haven't read it either, read it along with me.
I can ramble on and on but then I'd miss the blueberry pancakes, the porch, and the books. And yes, Ellen, I AM going on a diet so I can fit into the skinny dress, right after the pancakes...
