Happy New Year

 

Across the Miles

 

Across the Distance is a collection of short stories about six couples who share one thing in common:  They are in long-distance relationships.  The couples live in different areas, have different occupations and their circumstances are a little different, but they all find ways to make their relationships work.  Author Devin Joubert is writing from personal experience, so she understands what the couples are dealing with.  She was in a long-distance relationship with her husband for 5-1/2 years before they got married.

Across the Distance is enjoyable and hopeful, and I like the positive message that although long-distance relationships can be challenging and require setting aside time for video chats and traveling to see each other, these relationships can be successful.   

Merry Christmas

 

My take...

 I may have posted this before but I think it applies even more now. 😀

Remembering Pearl Harbor

 

Freeform Beginnings

 

Pat Vogt is an agent with the Bureau of Investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects (B.I.U.F.O.) who resigns and becomes a P.I. after an investigation of what is believed to be an alien spaceship goes wrong. Allan Pritchard is a vet who discovers a dog has been impregnated by larvae that can change shape. They work together to stop aliens from taking over society.

I haven't read that many books about alien invasions, so I wasn't sure what to think at first. However, I did enjoy the story. The writing is good, the plot is engaging, and I like the interaction between Pat and Allan. There is some adult language and content, but it isn't excessive or graphic and does fit with the story. This isn't a book for young children though.

 

It does seem the assumption is that aliens want to take over everything. I do understand there has to be conflict and an antagonist, but it would be different to read a story where the aliens aren't the bad guys (something like E.T., although it has been awhile since I've seen that movie).

 

I am curious about what happens to Pat and Allan and will read the rest of the series when I can.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Disney's Pinocchio

 I rewatched Pinocchio not long ago and it is a delightful movie.

Pinocchio and Geppetto have such a great relationship.

I love the Blue Fairy.

My favorite part of the movie is when Jiminy Cricket sings When You Wish Upon a Star.

Lilienthal Park

 This is a nice park in my area.

Veteran's Day wishes

 

Disney's Bambi

 I rewatched Bambi not long ago and love it as much as the first time I saw it.

I love Bambi's relationship with his mother.

The friendship between Bambi, Thumper and Flower is wonderful.

I love the ice skating scene.

I love Bambi's relationship with his father.

I think the scene where Banbi gets twitterpated by Faline is my favorite.  

Happy Halloween

 

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

 I've watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown every year for as long as I can remember and never get tired of it.

I love how Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin.

I love the scene with Linus and Sally.

The party scene is fun.

The World War I Flying Ace is the best part of It's the Great Pumpkin.

Snoopy rising out of the pumpkin patch is my favorite scene.

La Romeria

 This is a nice park in my area.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

 I revisited Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs recently.  There isn't a lot I can say about this movie that hasn't been said; it's always a delight to watch.

I love the interaction between Snow White and the animals.

I love the interaction between Snow White and the dwarfs also.

Madrona Marsh

 A nice nature walk in my area.

 

I love the trees, they're beautiful.

The Ragged Edge of Night

 

Anton Starzmann is a Franciscan friar and teacher living in Stuttgart, Germany when World War II starts. He is displaced when the school where he works is seized by the Nazis and the students are taken away.

He moves to the small town of Unterboihingen and marries Elisabeth Herter, a widow with three children (Albert, Paul and Maria). Things are awkward at first. This marriage is supposed to be in name only because Elisabeth needs help caring for the children, but Anton and Elisabeth discover later they love each other.

Anton becomes involved in the Red Orchestra, a Nazi resistance group, and keeping the Nazis from finding out what he is doing is a challenge. One challenge in particular is the creepy Bruno Franke, a Nazi party member who watches for and reports resistance. Ultimately the resistance succeeds.

What I liked: The historical setting is interesting, and the author's descriptions of the surroundings are good. I like the interaction between the characters, particularly between Anton and the children. Anton is very focused on doing his best for Albert, Paul and Maria, and this helps ease the pain he feels about losing the children he taught. I didn't care for Elisabeth at first. However, it becomes clear as the story goes on that she has been through a hard time and is doing her best for her children during a time when women didn't have a lot of options.

What I wondered about: I can't imagine marrying someone you have never met and don't love, but there was a time when people married for reasons other than love, such as financial security or to combine powerful families. Also, the story focuses mostly on the characters (Anton particularly) and their thoughts. There isn't a lot of action. This isn't necessarily always a bad thing, but in this case it makes things go slowly at times. Stories work better when there is conflict in my opinion. There is conflict between Anton and Bruno Franke, and between Elisabeth and Anton about the resistance but it is mostly talk. The war is going on around the characters and the town, not actually where they are.

I like, don't love The Ragged Edge of Night, and this isn't a book I care about reading again.

9/11

 

Happy Labor Day weekend

 

Delthorne Park

 A nice park in my area.

All The Light We Cannot See

 

All The Light We Cannot See is the story of how Marie-Laure LeBlanc's and Werner Pfenning's paths cross in Nazi occupied France during World War II.  Marie-Laure is a young blind girl who lives in Paris with her father, Daniel, near the Museum of Natural History where Daniel works.  Werner is a young orphan living with his sister Jutta in an orphanage in Germany.

Marie-Laure and Daniel go to live with Marie-Laure's great uncle Etienne in the city of Saint-Malo after the Nazis occupy Paris.  The museum has a valuable stone, the Sea of Flames, and three copies of the diamond are made due to the Nazi occupation.  Daniel and two other museum employees are given a stone, not knowing if they are copies or the real diamond.  Daniel takes the stone with him when they go to Saint-Malo.   Daniel makes a miniature of Etienne's house and hides the stone there.  He also makes a miniature of the city to help Marie-Laure learn her way around.  He tells Marie-Laure and Etienne he has some business to take care of and has to leave for a while, but he is arrested and put in a camp on his way to his destination where he dies later.

Etienne's housekeeper, Madame Manec, organizes a resistance against the Nazis which Etienne and Marie-Laure eventually participate in.  Etienne has a radio transmitter that Etienne's brother Henri (Marie-Laure's grandfather) used to do broadcasts about science.  Etienne broadcasts codes and messages to undermine the Nazis, and Marie-Laure buys a loaf of bread from the bakery every day with a scroll with important information about the resistance.

Werner has talent for technology and science.  He finds a radio transmitter at the orphanage and repairs it.  He and Jutta listen to the same science broadcasts Marie-Laure's grandfather made.  Werner is accepted into the training program at the National Institute and is sent to the front later.  His job is to discover illegal radio transmissions, and this is how he and Marie-Laure connect. Werner and the other soldiers go to Saint-Malo, and he hears the same radio broadcast coming from Etienne's house that he and Jutta heard after he repaired the radio transmitter.  He watches the house and sees Marie-Laure.

A Nazi official, Reinhold von Rumpel, is under orders to confiscate and catalogue jewels from occupied German territory.  He becomes fixated on the Flaming Sea and traces it to Etienne's house.  When the Nazis bomb Saint-Malo, von Rumpel takes the opportunity to go to Etienne's house to try to find the diamond.   Marie-Laure, who has been separted from Etienne during the bombing, hides in the attic and sends radio broadcasts which Werner hears.  He goes to Etienne's house, shoots von Rumpel and helps Marie-Laure get out of the city.

Sadly, Werner dies before the war ends, but he and Marie-Laure have a reconnection of sorts when Werner's sister Jutta finds her later.

What I liked:  The writing itself is good.  The author does a good job describing the countryside, and the setting is interesting.  I like the interaction between Marie-Laure and her father, and how he encourages her independence by making a model of their neighborhood so she can learn to navigate the area.  I like how Werner helps Marie-Laure.  There is a sad side to the book, but there is a positive message about helping others.

The issues:  The chapters are very short, and although I did like the book, in my opinion longer chapters with more information are easier to read.  That is my preference though.  Nothing really happens with the diamond, either; it is hidden when Marie-Laure leaves Saint-Malo, and we don't find out if this is the real Flaming Sea.

I did enjoy All The Light We Cannot See, and I think people who like literary and historical fiction would like this book.

 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, inventor Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) rebuilds a wrecked racing car that his children Jeremy (Adrian Hall) and Jemima (Heather Ripley) are fond of.  The car is named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the sounds it makes. The Potts meet Truly Scrumptious (Sally Anne Howes) when she brings the children home after they skip school.  Truly's father, Lord Scrumptuous (James Robertson), is the owner of a candy factory.  She goes with the Potts on a beach picnic, where Caractacus tells the story of how Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe), the tyrant who rules the fictional country of Vulgaria, wants to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  With the help of  the local toymaker (Benny Hill), the Potts and Truly prevent Baron Bomburst from keeping Chitty.

It turns out that Lord Scrumptuous and Caractacus's father, Grandpa Potts (Lionel Jeffries), know each other.  Lord Scrumptuous offers to buy some candy Caractacus has invented to market as dog treats, which means Caractacus is going to be rich.  He proposes to Truly and they drive off in Chitty.

I was reminded when I rewatched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang what a delightful movie this is.  Part of the reason is because of Dick Van Dyke; all of his work is enjoyable.  The portrayals of the other characters are engaging also.  Other elements of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's appeal include the story being imaginative and the positive theme of a father spending time with his children.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the kind of movie that you can watch many times without getting tired of it.

Happy 4th of July weekend

Happy Memorial Day weekend

Easter blessings

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy President's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope...

Everyone has had a good Martin Luther King Day.