« Another beautiful day in the mountains” and other phrases

For many of those I know it’s “another beautiful day at the beach”: for those who know me “it’s another beautiful day in the mountains”.

But before getting out and enjoying it, one does need one’s breakfast (or at least I always have – perhaps as a result of growing up in a household where breakfast was mandatory).

Those who know me also know that I can’t eat and not read: o.k. if I have company I do make the supreme effort and sacrifice, unless they too, are enamored with books and magazines whereupon we can all happily read at the same table.

It’s very rarely a book as I need to be able to at least read one chapter but it can be anything from a newspaper (yesterday’s, today’s, a freebee, a costly) to trashy magazines, to more complete magazines. Or, as today, even just advertising materials (after all I do need to get through every piece of paper with printed words on it that comes into my life (fortunately some only take seconds!)

I exchange magazines and books with a friend and in her latest lot she included an airline magazine of gifts (on purpose? By accident? I’ll return it just in case).

On top of all the wonderful inventions (and thank goodness that I am not in a buying mood as several are very tempting: I mean, a lovely piece of furniture that hides the kitty litter tray, or a padded bench for storing shoes… that would certainly be a good addition in my entryway where depending upon the body count in the house we can have almost wall to wall shoes of varying sizes and styles) there was two pages of “the best t-shirts of 2013”.

Now I love reading, I love plays on words, I love people who can use words judiciously, I love words – get the idea.  But there’s nothing quite like a short succinct sentence – one that can be printed on a t-shirt, a sweat-shirt, basketball cap, etc.

Many caught my attention, but this one stands out:

“Scars are like Tattoos, with better stories”.

I could philosophize on that sentence, but on the other hand perhaps I’ll just leave it stand for you to interpret personally, in light of your own life’s experiences. How wonderful a phrase:

“Scars are like Tattoos, with better stories”

     

It’s my birthday and I’ll read if I want to…

Read if I want to, read if I want to. (My generation knows the refrain: “It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to”, but hey I welcome each one – proof that I’m still having a party!

 

But back to the “it’s my birthday and I’ll read if I want to”:  I have a new kindle and already spent an hour reading the instructions then downloading a half a dozen free books. I can see that I will quickly be addicted and splitting my time in between so many classicals that I’ll never catch up. It is going to take some good willpower to turn it off, lay it aside and get on with “real” life.

Well actually maybe I’ll answer the phone, open the cards, have lunch with my friends, including one who shares my birthday; send text messages to the other two who share my birthday, check Facebook for the lovely people who will post to my wall.

I am blessed beyond measure in my family, my friends even those acquaintances on the periphery of my life

But, hopefully I’ll also read if I want to!

Lady Leopard was banished…

Or what happens when the mistress of the house and her housemate are “out to lunch”.

The American Library, now known as the Library in English, has been in operation in Geneva, Switzerland (http://www.amlib.ch) since 1930. It was a haven for my family especially when the children were little as I could get up-to-date books in English thus preparing them better for visits to the grandparents and help them maintain their English language as they were both in public schools, thus mainly French speaking.

There were good years for the library financially with a large membership as American companies brought in employees.  Now, not only are there less expats, but technology has brought on a plethora of other ways to read than books and membership has fallen.

A Town meeting was organized to gather ideas and solutions and both my housemate and I wanted to attend. Rick however, needed to get caught up on some of his writing so didn’t accompany us.  By the time the meeting was over it was 13:30 and we both needed food and “need it now”. So as the car was parked in between the library and a restaurant that is open on Sundays we simply went and had a delightful risotto before returning home.

Whilst waiting for the meeting we had also each picked up a book from the library.

Imagine our surprise upon entering the house to find Lady Leopard perched around a hanger in the front hall closet.

Abandoned? Banished? Waiting for a good read? Playing Hide and Seek from Herr Hare and Hunny Bunny?

I think that consulting R’s latest blog might clear up the mystery: http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.ch/

And I think that maybe I had best have Y Bear enter the scene.

“Why Reading Makes You Happy”

As in many households, there are a few magazines laying about in the WC (sounds better than “toilet” “water closet” “bathroom” – especially as the WC I am talking about is the one on the ground floor and has neither shower nor bath).  Usually these are sadly out of date and quite often a Reader’s Digest or two as they are small enough to be placed in between the wall and the radiator within easy reach of whoever needs something to take one’s mind off the task at hand.

“Why Reading Makes You Happy” was the title of an article in the December 2012 issue – a title that intrigued me to the point that I decided to write a blog on it before reading it: we’ll see later what they say as opposed to, or in addition to, what I say.

I know that reading makes me happy and that a day without a couple of local newspapers, several magazine articles, a chapter in a book in addition to on-line reading is, for me and since I learned to read in 1^st grade, a waste.

But I had never thought about why it would make me happy.

Hmmmm…

1)   It distracts me from whatever else is going on in my life

2)   I can dream of places I haven’t seen, things I haven’t done, periods of time that I was not alive, love (o.k. I admit it – a great consumer of chick lit – most of my book reading)

3)   One can justify the time it takes as partially being informative (news), educational (biographies, reports, etc.), keeping-up-with-the-trivia, etc.

4)   It takes time – hmmm, didn’t get the house sorted, but read a great article on Alexander the Great or the 100 year’s war.

5)   One can put oneself into a scenario that is not ever likely to happen in real life (no examples, remember I like chick lit.

6)   If reading a letter or e-mail from a friend – the warm feeling of connecting with the important people in one’s life

7)   Same with family: the written word is tangible proof  that at some period in time, that person thought enough of you to actually sit down and sign a card, write a note – or better yet – write a whole letter.

8)   I am sure that there are more, but those popped spontaneously into my head.

So what did the Reader’s Digest article give as its main themes?

1)   Empathy (good one, hadn’t thought of that)

2)   Connection

3)   Memories

4)   Inspiration

So agreeing with all those, I think I’ll go finish that book and get happy!