Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday (June 30, 2015)



Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish


 
June 30: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015
 
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Dune by Frank Herbert
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Emma by Jane Austen
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Teaser Tuesdays (June 30, 2015)



“The Bishop felt a quick glow of pleasure looking at the man. As he stood there in his buckskin clothes one felt in him standards, loyalties, a code which is not easily put into words but which is instantly felt when two men who live by it come together by chance.”

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm



Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

NOVA this week (June 27, 2015)



I live in Northern Virginia, often abbreviated NOVA, so NOVA this week is a review of things that amused or bemused me this week. It’s a play on words, as Nova also means “new” and so it can mean “New this week” or “Northern Virginia this week”.

Sort of a – what I saw on Mulberry Street this week. It might become a weekly thing – might not. We’ll see. Some of these items may be regular elements of NOVA, some will be one timers.

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Scripture verse: I’m reading The One Year Chronological Bible (NIV). A portion of a verse that resonated:

I desire mercy, not sacrifice….Hosea 6:6 (words of God, delivered by the prophet Hosea)

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New vocabulary: You know how you think reading classic lit, or anything really, improves your vocabulary, and I’m certain it does, but often I read a new word (check the meaning on my Nook…love that feature), and think  “Good word, I’ll have to remember it.” But most often, I don’t. I figure by writing a few down, it will reinforce them.

Pedant: person who makes excessive display of learning
Scabrous: indecent or scandalous
Querulous: full of complaints

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Vanity Plate: Virginia is the land of cheap vanity plates (I think that may be the state motto). So, I see a lot of vanity plates. Some are pretty cryptic and I like to try and figure out what they mean. Some are silly, or stupid, or astonishingly vain (they are vanity plates). This week’s VP: YUDUFUS

Really?
This person said to themselves, “Hmmm…what could I spend a little extra of my income on…I got it, insulting everyone I meet.”

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I work in a building guarded by U.S. Marines. No, I’m not a felon, they are not guarding me, they are protecting me, that’s what I call job security. When I drive through the gate in the morning, and they check my I.D. I’ve taken to saying “Thank you Marine” when they let me in. It’s amazing what that little thing, adding “Marine” to the statement, seems to mean to them. I think there’s a basic human itch satisfied there somehow.

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At work, if we are arriving late, or leaving early, or out for an appointment, etc. we annotate it on a shared calendar so everyone is accounted for. People usually abbreviate: LA-10:00 (late arrival, 10 Oclock), MA-Medical appointment, etc. But I noticed one thing the guys, in particular, don’t abbreviate. They always spell out, Early Departure. They never put…John – E.D.

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