Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.~William Saroyan
See other Wordless Wednesday participants here.
best book lists 2009
I put together a few best book lists so you can copy and paste them and take them along with you to the bookstore. Hope you had a good year in reading, I can see by the lists that I missed way too many good reads and need to hit the books in the coming year!
PW TOP TEN
Cheever: A Life – Blake Bailey
Await Your Reply – Dan Chaon
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon – Neil Sheehan
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders –Daniyal Mueenuddin
Big Machine – Victor LaValle
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science – Richard Holmes
Stitches – David Small
Shop Class as Soulcraft – Matthew B. Crawford
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi – Geoff Dyer
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon – David Grann
OPRAH’S TOP TEN
The Bolter – Frances Osborne
Dreaming in Hindi – Katherine Russell Rich
Little Bee – Chris Cleave
Blame – Michelle Huneven
Losing Mum and Pup – Christopher Buckley
Zeitoun – Dave Eggers
Say You’re One of Them – Uwem Akpan
Some Things That Meant the World to Me – Joshua Mohr
The Invisible Mountain – Carolina De Robertis
Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness – Tracy Kidder
six word saturday
Baby Brooklyn’s first visit with Santa!
wordless wednesday
These are a couple of new Christmas photos I did for iStock and Getty. Still doing some after Thanksgiving chores while I start my holiday shopping. We already have baby Brooklyn’s gifts, it was so much fun to shop for a little one again and we can’t wait to celebrate her 1st Christmas!
See other Wordless Wednesday participants here.
chi charmer
Still recovering from a busy week and hosting the Thanksgiving feast. My sister and her family stayed with us this week and brought their chihuahua Lola all the way from Carlsbad, California. It was great to see everyone and fun to have a dog in the house again. One afternoon while everyone was out and I was home doggie sitting, I decided to see if Lola would model for me. I took my time coaxing her into the spare bedroom I use as a studio. I let her sniff the room thoroughly, showed her my camera and fired off several shots so she could hear the sounds and see the flash, and then I held her on my lap for a few minutes before putting her on the white table top. It took a couple of minutes of petting and talking to her before she sat down, relaxed, and began striking a pose!
No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. ~Christopher Morley
gobble gobble!
Hanging with family all this week and hosting Thanksgiving at our house. We have two birds in the oven, a spiral sliced ham, and lots of gluten-free casseroles and several yummy desserts all ready to go! One year ago today we were reeling and missing my mom, now we are just missing her. Have a wonderful day, and no matter how much your family is annoying you, take a moment to be grateful for them:)
friday fill-ins
1. We need to let go of the past and live in the moment.
2. My new granddaughter laughed and it made me smile.
3. If you want “others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
4. I bite the candy coating off Tootsie Pops because I have no patience and want to get to the chocolate middle.
5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think we should all have to pay the price for beauty.
6. Family coming together makes for a happy holiday.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to dinner with the bitches (a.k.a. the PTO ladies) , tomorrow my plans include Costco for shopping, new glasses, and contacts and Sunday, I want to relax and get ready for out of town company to arrive for Thanksgiving!
Click on the pic to see more Friday Fill-ins! 
(not so) wordless wednesday
My blogging buddy Sandy at My Inner Edge posted this poem last week with a photo and I just loved it so much I’m stealing it today and illustrating it with one of my own photographs for my not-so-wordless Wordless Wednesday entry!
INITIATION, II
At the crossroads, hens scratched circles
into the white dust. There was a shop
where I bought coffee and eggs, coarse-grained
chocolate almost too sweet to eat.
When I walked up the road, the string sack
heavy on my arm, I thought
that my legs could take me anywhere,
into any country, any life.
The air, dazzling as sand, grew dense
with light: bougainvillea spilled
over the salmon walls, the road
veered into the ravine. The world
could be those colors, the mangoes,
the melons, the avocado evenings
releasing their circles of moon.
I climbed the pink stairs, entered
the house as calm and ephemeral
as my own certainty:
this is my house, my key,
my hand with its new lines.
I am as old as I will ever be.
~ Nina Bogin
bookbabie 