The Great Jacksonville Book Sale

It's coming soon and I can't wait. I'm a book nut and I look forward to this event every year. It's The Great Jacksonville Book Sale, usually only once a year, now it's twice. If you're a true book lover like me, grab a little cash and a large tote bag and spend a few hours, or for some it could be all day browsing through the thousands of books to choose from. Prices range from .50 to $2.00! You can't beat that. It's a chance to expand your personal library.


Here's my game plan for the day:

1. Make a list of books I am looking for.

2. Get up early and have a cup of tea and a good breakfast - it will be a long morning of book searching and I will need to energy.

3. Take cash and a large tote bag for all those books.

4. Arrive at book sale a little early so I'm there when the doors open, "the early bird gets the worm", or in this case, the books.

5. First I look for the specific books on my list and hopefully will have good luck with that, one year I ended up with an autographed copy of a book by Claire Cook, you may remember Must Love Dogs

6. After I have finished with my list, now it's time to just browse amongst the thousands of other books to choose from.

7. Stand in line and be patient. Pay for my books, grab a cold soft drink and go sit outside and start thumbing through the pages of one of probably a bag full of good books.

8. Go home, grab a big glass of iced tea, put my feet up and READ! I deserve this after a long exhausting day book shopping.

Good News

It can be so depressing to read the newspaper or turn on the news these days. It seems so much more attention is given to bad news than good. So much of the time I just skim the paper and completely avoid reading the bad news and search out the positive and uplifting stories. One of my favorite local columnists in the Florida Times Union is Mark Woods. I look forward to his column every week. His column this past Sunday was so heartwarming, while reading it I got a little teary eyed. The title of the column is "Ducks lucky, loved" It's a story with a tragic beginning, but a happy ending with a rather eclectic family of ducks. A man was out walking his dog when a speeding car hit a couple of ducks crossing the street and didn't stop. This gentleman, with his wife and a local vet, didn't have to get involved, but they did. This badly maimed duck survived after much TLC and several surgeries. After spending some time at the vet being nursed back to health, then living at the home of the couple who saved her, with her own little pool to swim in, she was eventually taken to her home at what is known in that neighborhood as Duck Pond. She now shares the pond with several other ducks, three of whom are named, Nelson Mandela, who spent months in a cage and is now free, Harriet Nelson from Ozzie and Harriet and Lucky who had also been previously injured and rescued by a woman and her children. I love stories like this, it may seem pretty sappy to some, but it makes you feel good to hear stories about people that care enough about God's creatures to get involved. These are my kind of people and we need more stories like this.

Stewey

Yesterday we decided it was time to release Stewey. We have had such a great time caring for him and watching him grow. We took him out into the back yard, set him at the base of one of the magnolia trees and stepped back to see what he would do. He immediately turned right around and jumped on my leg and climbed up to my shoulder. We giggled about this, knowing this must be a little overwhelming for him. We set him back down and he started climbing up the tree. He climbed up about 15 feet and attempted to jump to another branch and nearly fell. It took my breath away for a second and I'm pretty sure Stewey was spooked too. He scurried around the tree, climbed a little higher and continued to explore his new surroundings. Other squirrels were higher in the top of the tree gathering seeds from the magnolia cones and I wondered what they thought of this. I know it sounds silly, but I wondered (as I have never done this before) if Stewey would make friends with the other squirrels. Would he get busy building his nest, as he had already done in his cage. Well, as it turns out, none of that was going to happen on this day. We watched as he ran down the tree, took a leap and was on my shoulder in an instant. Well, maybe he's not quite ready, I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

Review: A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

Donald Miller's memoir Blue Like Jazz was a big success. Then his life stalled and he was avoiding his publisher, in spite of having a deadline for a book. He was tired of thinking and writing about his own life. Then one day he received a call from a film maker who wants to make a movie based on his memoir. In the process of making this film, he realizes the same principles used in editing a movie can be applied to our own lives.

We've all wished at some time or another that our lives were more meaningful, or at least more interesting. Who hasn't wanted to go back and do it again, but do it better. Miller realizes during the making of this film that he has a chance to edit his life story to mean something more. In the process of creating the fictional Don of the movie, he was creating the person he wanted to be. He realized he could also create a better story for his own life, one he can be proud of.

This book was wonderful, it inspired me. It made me pause to reflect on my own life and think about my story. I started to think about what I could do to rewrite my story, and make it one worth telling. Will I just continue to stay in the rut I'm in or am I ready to make some life changes?

I read this book in two sittings over a weekend because I couldn't put it down and I want to read it again. I will recommend this book to all my friends.

Tonight I have been trying to give my blog a bit of a face lift. That's not easy for me since I am technologically challenged. I am trying to add widgets, gadgets, links, photos and other items before I put myself out there in the blogosphere. Thank goodness for Matthew. I don't know where I'd be without Matt's knowledge of computers. Things like, html, xml,java script, what the heck is java script? When I hear java, I think coffee! And when they start talking gigabytes, megabytes, RAM, flash drives, zip files and compressed folders and other strange terms I am completely lost. It's like listening to someone speak a foreign language, it's so frustrating. But I'm sure it will all be worth the effort and I'm enjoying a new hobby.

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