My friend Dawn gave me this book for Christmas–Becoming Jane Austen–and I finished reading it today at lunch. (Good biography, by the way, though not the first one I’ve read about her.) And then, this afternoon, the DVD o Becoming Jane arrived. I’d completely forgotten that today was the release date (and that I’d pre-ordered it). Of course, I know that the movie isn’t going to be exactly historically accurate, but still … glad I got the book done first!

I got a bonus half hour home with Chappy today. It’s been lightly snowing since about 10:00 this morning and people started abandoning ship around lunchtime, worried about their roads. So, around 3:00, they sent an e-mail around saying that those of us who remained could leave at 3:00 if we were worried about the roads. I wasn’t, really, but around 3:30, I had nothing much left to do and since most of my co-workers were gone at the point, I wasn’t going to be getting anything, so I figured I’d rather spend that half hour at home than finding something to do at work. Of course, before I could come home, I had to dig my keys out. As I got into the car, I did something I’d never done before–dropped my keys between the console and the seat. I ended up almost kneeling in the snow and leaning into the car to see underneath the seat before I could get them out. (Days to be grateful for relatively slender, agile fingers.)

Once I got home, I took Chappy and his Flying Squirrel outside to play. There wasn’t enough snow to make snowballs (only about half an inch), but there was enough to PLAY in, so he didn’t mind. He even showed off a little for the dog next door who was wandering around her backyard while her people kept calling, “Bailey! Come inside!” We weren’t out there for very long (according to Chappy), but it was fun. And we had to take advantage of what snow there was while it was still out there, because this snow is supposed to change over to a wintry mix/ice any time now. THAT you can’t romp in!

And, finally, this video of “Frozen Grand Central” is courtesy of my sister. Very amusing!

Tags: General, Reading by --Deb
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  So, I come home from a long day’s work, and there are Mom and Chappy, sitting on the couch together. Mom reading her favorite newspaper (The Vineyard Gazette, of course), Chappy sitting with his new toy. Don’t they look comfy? It’s nice to know that they keep themselves busy when I’m not home. (Although, to be fair, she really had only sat down a few minutes earlier.)

Oh, and you can see out the window behind them how very little snow we actually had yesterday, even if we did have a real, blizzard. You can see the merest dusting of snow on the grass out front. It was soooo windy and cold last night, though. It was 7 degrees (F) when I got up this morning . . . and that’s nothing compared to the temps out where Chris is! Which reminds me, I really do need to get her prize in the mail….

And, sheesh . . . again?? I’d better lay in a supply of Liberty Bell Forever Stamps ….

Tags: Family, General by --Deb
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The family celebrated Mom’s birthday today. Goulash over spaetzle for dinner, and little, mini ice-cream cakes for dessert. Mmmm…

Chappy, of course, was thrilled to have the whole family in the house. And, naturally, he helped unwrap the presents. (Which reminds me, I need to wrap MY present for Mom for Thursday….)

Now, in between bouts of cooking and eating, I did some spinning on my “Snow Squall” Icelandic roving . . . and, oddly enough, as I spun, it started to flurry. And stop when I stopped. Aptly named color, huh?

But, you really want to talk about a snow squall?

Two pictures for you–one facing the backyard, one facing the front. As you can see, our neighbors disappeared. In fact, you can barely see the street. It was so windy, and the flakes were so fine, it looked like fog.

It didn’t last long, but when it was done, the windows were covered in “snow lace” while there was the merest dusting on the ground. And did I mention that the sun has been playing peek-a-boo games all day? Very strange weather, over all, but this snow squall? One of the weirdest I’vce ever seen. Short of a full-blown blizzard, I’ve never seen white-out conditions in my yard before . . . certainly not with the sun being out 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after, like this! (Although, technically, as Dad pointed out, I believe that this technically did meet the criteria of blizzard conditions–snow plus massive wind equals white-out conditions. No matter for how short a duration.)

Oh, and I only just noticed as I logged in to write this post, but the one I wrote the other night and thought I had posted? Apparently I never did . . . which explains why I got no reaction at all to it. I just published it and made sure the date of the post was correct, but since that puts it several posts “downstream,” I thought I’d give you a link to it anyway. It’s got an update on my Zephyr shawl, anyway, which I can’t wait to get done. The big question right now is whether I’ll have enough on the current skein to finish it. I’ve got more yarn, so it’s not like I’m going to run out, but I’d still rather not have to join a new end if I don’t have to . . . which, since this is Zephyr, probably means I’m going to have to!

And, just because, a picture of the birthday girl with her (two-legged) grandkids. The sweater my niece is wearing might look familiar….

Oh, and remember a couple weeks ago when we had the interesting conversation about whether or not to respond to comments IN the comments? And then Chris picked it up? Well, now Harry is posting about US from the “other” side. Go check it out! At least he admits that we knitters were friendly….

Tags: Family, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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It was a dreary weather day today. It actually started with a smattering of snow and then turned into a misty rain for pretty much the whole day. Very blah.

The bright part, though was that I spent time with my friend Cindy. We saw her briefly last week, but that was just for a few minutes. Today was much more satisfying. For one thing, we went shoe-shopping, which is never a bad thing. Especially when you have a coupon for $20 off and you find a fabulous pair of Franco Sarto ankle boots in the clearance section. (The Mary Janes are by Naturalizer.) And the funny part? While back in the clearance section, I found the exact shoes I was wearing. The same ones I bought at Nordstroms two and a half years ago. Same model, same color, same size . . . but I, um, purposely did not look too carefully at the price.

Oh. And it’s possible I had a coupon at the bookstore, too.

After we were done shopping, we came back to the house to entertain Chappy. Well, that, and I had baking to do. We’re doing the family celebration of Mom’s birthday tomorrow, and of course, there has to be dessert! I made the same mini ice-cream cakes as I did for the last two years. Crumbled chocolate cake–which, of course, I had to bake first, raspberry syrup, and vanilla ice cream. But then, while I was mixing that up, we kind of agreed that brownies sounded good, and since the oven was on anyway . . . I made some brownies, too. Of course, I had planned on sending some home with Cindy, but I forgot. So those are actually in the freezer. Dad’s sulking a little bit because the baking was all chocolate and he doesn’t like chocolate, but, well, it’s Mom’s birthday, right?

Anyway, Chappy was glad I was home, and thrilled to have a guest to entertain. (You know how he is.) Mom and I watched the old movie, Working Girl–the only movie I actually like Melanie Griffith in–and all in all, it’s been a good day. Except, you know, for the now-pouring rain.

Two links for you:

One, the Barilla Celebrity Italian Cookbook. Not only is the download free, but for every copy downloaded between now and February 29th, they’re donating $1 to the Second Harvest food drive.

Two, the first Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm lamb of the season has arrived, and she’s just adorable. Click here to see pictures.

Tags: Baking, Family, General by --Deb
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Tags: Eye-Candy Friday by --Deb
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Slowly it turned, stitch by stitch, inch by inch, it crept closer and closer….

I swear, I don’t think this shawl is ever going to be done. And did I mention that it hates me? I’m just barely getting through two rows a night (that’s one pattern-row and one purl-back row), and it keeps causing problems. You know the reason, right?

Because it’s Zephyr. Beautiful though it is, as many gorgeous colors as it comes in, this yarn just doesn’t like me.

On the plus side, there are only 6 more pattern-rows to go, then the crochet-bind-off, and then it’s finished. Finally. I mean, it is kind of sort of a little bit maybe moving along, but nowhere near as quickly as I’d like–typical for lace at this stage–but it’s also causing trouble every night. Sigh. One more week, right?

I’ve been very restrained, too, in that I haven’t started swatching for a new sweater yet, or even thinking about the next one. The goal, right now, is to get this shawl done before thinking about any other knitting projects. Period! Although there is one pattern that’s got me interested…. Unofficially, you understand.

I stopped on the way home at lunch to snap this picture. (No, it’s not from my usual spot.) I thought about saving it for you for Saturday, but decided to share it tonight instead. The irony of this picture is that, despite all that blue sky and the light, pretty clouds, it was spritzing with rain when I got home 2 minutes later. And, naturally, the sun went behind the clouds for most of our walk . . . though really, Chappy didn’t care. He was just glad to be OUT.

And considering the other wild weather in the country yesterday, I’m not complaining.

Mom and I were watching an old sitcom the last couple of nights. Perfect Strangers. Anybody else remember that one? It’s completely silly, of course, and a little dated, but the chemistry between the two “cousins” is great, and their comedic timing is, well, perfect. My only disappointment? This DVD doesn’t have the Bibi-Babka episode.

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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Other than pointing out Fleegle’s very-entertaining post about modifying her knitting needles to make  running a lifeline easier, again, I don’t have much about knitting to talk about today. I’ve got about 14 rows left of my Japanese Zephyr shawl to go and have so far managed to control myself as regards starting a new sweater. (You have my permission to be impressed.)

I’ve been finding the blog stat charts for my three blogs pretty interesting, though.

Chappysmom, for example (once I finally got the stats working) kind of sort of meanders along the same median–hovering around 200 readers a day. The biggest peak? (Since the move, anyway.) That would be the day Chappy ate the glove and Marnie and Thea gave us a link out of solidarity. (Clearly, she gets a lot more traffic than I.)

Over at Punctuality Rules!, though, I tend to hit around 100 readers a day or so . . . except for those huge spikes when the occasional post gets Stumbled. That big jump up to 1100 readers? That was for my post on Strong Writing.

It’s the Booking Through Thursday stats that I find the most interesting, though, probably because they’re so darn neat. As in, tidy. Since that blog is a weekly meme, it gets most of its hits on Thursdays. (It’s best day, for the record, was back in September–1,393 hits.) But, every seven days, like clockwork . . . the stats spike.

All of which begs the question–do you pay attention to your blog stats? Do you do things to try to boost them? Or do you just go about your business without concerning your pretty little head with these things? What do your stats look like?

Tags: General by --Deb
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Well, who can resist the Fibertarian candidate? Of course, Dolores might have waited a little too long to announce her candidacy, what with today being Super Tuesday here in the U.S.

Sheesh. And, really, that’s about all I have to say today…. No, I did not vote in today’s primary because I’m a registered Independent, and even if I had wanted to declare for one party or the other to be able to vote, I would have had to do so in December. But, really, I much prefer to be Independent, so … my vote will keep until November.

So, um . . .

Check out this great link . . . let the page load and be patient–it’s clever and amusing. I got it over at Precarious Tomato, who apparently needed something to do while waiting for her Precious Little Bundle arrived.

I’m also feeling a little enviously green about the MV Fiber Farm Shearing Day, which apparently is going to be huge. Susan says, “The Martha’s Vineyard Ag Society has embraced our little Shearing Day event, which is a really good thing. It is morphing into a full-on fiber festival. Okay, full-on maybe a bit of an exaggeration for the first year, but it is definitely growing by leaps and bounds. All of the Island fiber producers will be invited and the festival will take place at the spectacular Ag Hall.” Tell me THAT doesn’t sound tempting!!

How about a nice picture of Chappy?

He’s a little discouraged that, even though it was in the 40s today, it rained on and off all day. He thinks that’s a cruel trick–to be warm enough for a walk, but pouring rain. Just, mean! And tomorrow might actually be a record-breaking heat day (60 degrees) … but, yep, rain forecast again.

Tags: General by --Deb
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First, thanks for the compliments on my new sweater. I wore it to work today and, while the sleeves were rather in the way (as I expected), who cared? It looks good, fits well, is a gorgeous color . . . what’s a little sleeve-inconvenience?

With that done, though, well, here’s a look at my knitting bag . . . almost empty, with just that one, lace project waiting to be finished. It is almost done, too. There’s something like 10 pattern rows left, and since I’m getting through two rows per hour (that’s one pattern row and one “purl-back” row), this should take me about a week and a half to finish.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t start my next sweater until this lace shawl is finished. I mean, I did start the poor thing last summer–9 months ago–and it’s not really its fault it’s taking this long. Or, to be clear, it’s only partly its fault. It’s Zephyr, first of all, which I love the look of, love the feel of, but apparently can’t stand actually knitting with. To date, I’ve only actually finished one thing made in Zephyr, and, pretty though it is, how often do you suppose it makes it out of the drawer to be worn? If you guessed “almost never,” you’re spot on.

Speaking of guesses, you’ll remember that I had a contest recently to celebrate 3 big milestones for my blog. There was the 3rd anniversary, the move to a new home here on my own domain at WordPress, and my 10,000th comment. (I know, it just blows my mind–especially the fact that there would BE three milestones so close together.) Anyway, when I actually shut down the comments on the old blog, prior to moving, I was at 9,995, and as of midnight on the 15th, my anniversary, it stood at 10,104. (Currently? 10, 443–quite a jump!)

S0, the winner of the closest guess is, ironically, the first person to have ventured a guess (this isn’t the first time that’s happened). But, who cares? Chris, come on down! Considering how generously you promote other people’s contests, it’s only fair that you win once in a while. The prize will be some . . . Zephyr yarn! (Because, well, the stuff really is gorgeous, and apparently it’s just me that it doesn’t like.) I’ll need your snail-mail address, please–and . . . white? Or purple?

It was a weird day at work today–lots of people celebrating at the Giants’ win yesterday. (Personally, I didn’t watch the Superbowl, I watched Miss Austen Regrets on PBS.) But then, our computer system was having problems, and it took them until almost 3:00 to get the internet/external-email up and running again. Which meant that, not only was I having a slow morning because I wasn’t getting e-mails from clients (or client-services), but I couldn’t browse on the internet to pass the time, either. It worked out all right, though, because I worked on Dad’s webpage . . . irony of ironies, I know, that I, of all people, am designing his website. Because you all KNOW that I’m not a programmer. I am, however, the only one in the family who knows anything about it at all, though, so . . . it’s up to me.

I’m up to November 2005 in my quest to update my archives, and as usual, have found some interesting things. Like this collection of Calvin & Hobbes snowmen cartoons. (Be sure to click on the “in real life” link at the top, too.) Certainly my first experience of a sheep-and-wool festival made an impact. And there was that first experience with Zephyr, too. Lots of cute little-me pictures from past birthdays, as well as a bunch of other firsts….

Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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First of all, no, yesterday’s Sky picture was NOT taken yesterday. Our weather from about 8:00 am onward was pretty much freezing rain. All day. Gloomy, wet, dreary day that at least was Friday. I tried taking a couple of pictures from my car on my drive home, but the vibration of the running motor made the low-light shots pretty much impossible, and this was the best I could do. Luckily, though–here at least–while the rain froze to all the vegetation and the sidewalks, the streets were not slippery for driving. Which is good because I don’t particularly like driving on ice. Snow is okay, but ice is kind of scary.

Today’s weather was better, though not as nice as it was supposed to be. They’d forecasted partly-sunny and 45 degrees, and while it did reach the 40s, it wasn’t remotely sunny and it felt cold. We’d already promised Chappy a visit to the park, though, so we bundled up and headed out around 11:00.

We gave him a surprise, though. My friend Cindy lives right next to our favorite park, and while we always call to see if she’s available for a walk, our schedules never coincide. But, today she was waiting for a furniture delivery, so we detoured over to her parking lot so that Chappy could see his friends, Horatio and Princess. Horatio is Chappy’s best friend–he’s three weeks older and they’ve known each other since they were about three months old. Today was the first time they’ve seen each other, though, since Chappy’s 5th birthday, a year and a half ago, when Cindy brought her two dogs and Risa brought her two toddlers and joyful chaos ran amuck for an afternoon.

Anyway, Chappy and Horatio were delighted to see each other, and immediately started doing their signature wrestling . . . which starts as wrestling but very quickly (these days) ends up with Chappy sitting on top of Horatio. Something he doesn’t do with any other dog but which Horatio seems quite content with. Really, they’re very funny together. And thankfully a lot calmer than when they were puppies. That very first visit to the park back in 2001? It would take us 20 minutes to walk 10 feet because they’d continually stop to play. (Hey, when they went to puppy school together, they had to sit at opposite ends of the room, just so they could concentrate.)

After the park, we stopped at Starbucks for some hot beverages to warm us up . . . and a cupcake that we paid for but that didn’t get put in our bag but that we didn’t realize was missing until we got home . . . Chappy got a badly-needed bath, and then I baked a cake.

Cook’s Illustrated had a yellow cake/chocolate frosting recipe that I wanted to try. I love trying different recipes, and I really love the magazine which rarely steers me wrong, so since this is my favorite cake combination, I had to try it. I haven’t tasted the finished result yet, but I will say that I wasn’t impressed with the frosting when I was making it . . . far too runny for a supposedly “foolproof” frosting. As in, it was running down the sides of the cake and off the dish as I frosted it. And the layers kept sliding in opposite directions. Maybe the chocolate was still too warm when I added it to the butter/cocoa/sugar mixture? But it was still this runny even AFTER I added extra confectioner’s sugar in a desperate attempt to solidify it a little (grin). Anyway, Dad–the only one so far to have had a piece–said it was pretty good . . . but it doesn’t compare to the family-favorite Grandma Cake. (As if it could!)

Oh, and then I tried a little modelling. I put on my new sweater and then wandered around the house with my camera and my Gorillapod, trying to get you a decently-lit photo of me in my new sweater. Um. Some of them came out better than others, but here are the top three.

(As you can see, Chappy helped!)

And, lastly, a couple links.

Colleen’s post about a Ravelry thread written by a bunch of, um, overly-devout knitters who entirely misunderstood the point of her subway-pass mittens. It’s really a little frightening in its hilariousness.

The Writing Forward blog has an interesting challenge going–to write a sentence that’s over 100 words long and THEN to write it again in 10-words or less.

And, lastly, speaking of photography (as I was the other day), look at these great tips for flash and lighting things you can do yourself.  Personally, I’m enamored of the diffuser/ring flash made from an old milk carton. For that matter, here’s a page of “best tips” which are darn good all on their own. (Although, some of them require a more advanced camera than I have . . . maybe someday, though!)

Tags: Family, Finished Knitting, General, Knitting/Spinning by --Deb
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I’ve participated in the Bloggers’ Silent Poetry Reading for the last two years (here and here), so I couldn’t let this year’s festivities go by without playing, now, could I?

So, from: Questions About Angels: Poems (Pitt Poetry Series), the perfect poem for a blogger:

Cliché
by Billy Collins

My life is an open book. It lies here
on a glass tabletop, its pages shamelessly exposed,
outspread like a bird with hundreds of thin paper wings.

It is a biography, needless to say,
and I am reading and writing it simultaneously
in a language troublesome and private.
Every reader must be a translator with a thick lexicon.

No one has read the whole thing but me.
Most dip into the middle for a few paragraphs,
then move on to other shelves, other libraries.
Some have time only for the illustrations.

I love to feel the daily turning of the pages,
the sentences unwinding like string,
and when something really important happens,
I walk out to the edge of the page
and, always the student,
make an asterisk, a little star, in the margin.

And, because this is so much fun:

Forgetfulness
by Billy Collins

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of.

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away own a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifte
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Tags: General, Reading by --Deb
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Because, who can complain about some beautiful Sky for some Eye Candy? I just love the way the clouds look textured–as if they were spackled onto the blue. You can almost see the strokes …

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Tags: Eye-Candy Friday, Sky by --Deb
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Here’s my remarkably short reading list from January:

1. INITIATE BROTHER by Sean Russell (480 p.) Book one, set in a quasi-medieval, China-like world. The emperor, in an ill-conceived plot to bring down the Shonto house, has arranged for barbarians to invade . . . not realizing that the Khan plans to take the very throne itself. Shonto and Shuyun, his young Botahist Spiritual Advisor are determined to save the empire.

2. GATHERER OF CLOUDS by Sean Russell (604 p.) Book two. Civil war has broken out, with the Shonto trying to stall the massive barbarian army to give the emperor time to raise his own army. Meanwhile, the Botahist brotherhood has signs that the enlightened Master they’ve been waiting for for centuries has appeared . . . could Shuyun be the Master? These two books–the first by this author–are just remarkable. Great story, great writing, masterful, and interesting. I just gave you perhaps the most boring synopses, but trust me, these are fabulous books. Sean Russell is on my “Why can’t he write faster, for God’s sake?” list of authors

3. ACCOMPLICE by Elizabeth Ironside (355 p.) A gentle, English mystery, tying Russian emigrees to old, Russian royalty, and, oh yes, a child’s body discovered in the backyard . . .

4. PROMISED LAND by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice (362 p.) Sci-fi, space-opera-ish kind of book. Delanna returns to her home planet for the first time in years, only to find that she can’t leave without forfeiting her inheritance . . . and that she’s been married by a long-standing contract between her father and her neighbor… Light, but enjoyable.

5. HELLSPARK by Janet Kagan (329 p.) Okay, imagine a universe where every, single culture has rules and taboos that are anaethema to some other culture–one society considers bare feet to be immoral, another is insulted by a person approaching from their right side–things like that. It would be chaos but for the Hellsparks, who can communicate fluently with each culture’s “tells.” Now, throw in a newly-discovered planet with a very-diversified exploration team, a mysterious death of one of the members, a possibly-sapient native species, and, oh yes, a computer who seems rather sapient herself. …

6. TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell (280 p.) Oh, this was interesting. An exploration of the factors that cause various trends, fashions, diseases, etc to “tip” into epidemic–whether it’s the popularity of Hush Puppies shoes, or Cabbage Patch dolls–something has to push or nudge the trend into full-blown epidemic. Really interesting, enjoyable read.

7. REDEMPTION OF ALTHALUS by David and Leigh Eddings (726 p.) A stand-alone fantasy book. Althalus, a master thief, is hired to steal a book from the House at the End of the World and ends up fighting to save the world from evil. Standard Eddings material and characters, enjoyable enough, but just “okay.”

8. ANGELICA by Sharon Shinn (485 p.) You already know I love Sharon Shinn’s world of Samaria, where angels are real people who pray to Jovah for medicines and weather changes, while Jovah communicates with his oracles by means of a glass-faced “interface.” Well, in this, the earliest book of the time-line, Samaria has been invaded by violent people who can throw destructive fire and destroy entire camps and villages in a matter of moments–will Gaaron and his new angelica, Susannah, be able to save their world?

9. BIG RED FEZ: How To Make Any Web Site Better by Seth Godin (111 p.) A short but very informative little book–on every left page is a picture of a website and on every right page is an explanation of what’s right or wrong about that page, and what could be done to make it better. Short and sweet.

10. THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin (267 p.) Exactly what it sounds like–an examination of what it is about music that hooks us so, why we get so caught up in the rhythm and melody, no matter what our culture. Well-written and fascinating.

11. ARCHANGEL by Sharon Shinn (390 p.) The original Samaria novel–Gabriel has been instructed to find and wed Rachel, who has been enslaved for the last five years. They continually fight but must work together to make sure that Raphael steps down as Archangel at the end of his term–something which he is determined not to do.

12. ANGEL SEEKER by Sharon Shinn (483 p.) Coming shortly after “Archangel,” the angel Obadiah meets and falls in love with the very-sheltered, Jansai Rebeccah….

13. JOVAH’S ANGEL by Sharon Shinn (389 p.) Second in the original trilogy–Jovah is having trouble hearing the angel’s prayers and so storms tear across Samaria, and in one, the Archangel is dashed to the ground, disabling her. Alleluia is named to replace her and must find some way to make Jovah hear them again.

14. ALLELUIA FILES by Sharon Shinn (474 p.) The final Samaria book–a century later, Samarian society is being torn apart by the radical idea that their god, Jovah, might actually be a spaceship…

15. MINDLESS EATING: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink (249 p.) Fascinating book that examines all the ways we eat more or serve more than we think we are–all the tricks that restaurants use, the ways our eyes fool our brains when judging portions . . . really fascinating. Not to mention entertaining and well-written, which made it a good read all on its own.

I know. Only 15 books. I haven’t had a month with so few books since November 2002! It sounds better by page count, though–those 15 books total 5,666 pages.

Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading by --Deb
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