Streams Full of Stars

Zoom! Where did February go? Well, here we are still working on our own recovery package  but let's skip that part. Received a great new video of Ellen for LOL from Lyssa - thanks!!! Love hearing about things that make us laugh!

Also, to make us smile - in Links check out the new look on Amanda's site (she is so funny!) and you have to see Tracy's too! Plus you need to check out the flower girls link!

And there's new additions to Gardens...we so need that colour in our lives...Keukenhof is just the start! The sun is shining today and although I cannot remember what Puxatawney Phil or Wiarton Willle predicted, it seems safe to say that spring is not far away!

Smile and be happy!

When I mentioned 'cocooning' with good books in January, I had no idea anyone was listening! Broke a glass while washing dishes and it severed the tendon of my left thumb on January 12th! After repair by a lovely plastic surgeon and now sporting a cast for 4-6 wks, things are on the mend...stitches out today at St. Mary's...2 weeks since the op and am now halfway through the cast time, then therapy, so feeling very positive!

Reading is in! Dishes are out! Adding new books to In the Library from the stack beside me! More to follow....did anyone say dolce far niente?

We have snow! Just in time for Christmas! What would Canada be without our winter wonderland? We also had freezing rain to make the branches sparkle. Combined with a snowfall, it made for especially pretty scenes...you can see some in a new Photo Album for winter! Plus pix of the huge towers amounts of snow we had last Jan. which led to some amusing sights!

If you prefer warmer thoughts, check out Peacefulness where a trip to the Maldives has just been added - talk about being carried away by a dream! Also new movies added to remind us of another way to travel and escape for a few hours! Cocooning? YES! If you haven't laughed and cried over Cinema Paradiso, you have a special treat awaiting you! Watch it...and you will be so glad you did! And in Gardens - Part Two, a wonderful new site that explains how you can have a living wall of plants. How cool is that? Very!

Have fun and happy holidays!

streams full of stars

44 Books now and still going strong - here's to Yann Martel, Canadian author and hero! One of our library books was his gift to Mr. Harper for #43 and below is an excerpt  from his accompanying letter to the P.M.

For Yann Martel's website, visit In the Library.

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2

Dear Mr. Harper,

I can't think of a more delightful introduction to the republic of letters than Alan Bennett's short novel The Uncommon Reader. One day at the bottom of the Palace garden, parked next to the kitchen garbage bins, alerted by her corgis, the Queen discovers the City of Westminster travelling library. She pops in to apologize for the barking dogs and, once there, impelled by a sense of duty rather than any real interest, she takes out a book. This simple act marks the beginning of Her Majesty's downfall, in a way. The irony in the story is as light as whipped cream, the humour as appealing as candy, the characterization as crisp as potato chips, but at the heart of it there?s something highly nutritious to be digested: the effect that books can have on a life...

Before I forget, one of our very own great Canadian writers, Alice Munro, makes a cameo appearance in The Uncommon Reader, on page 67.  

Head over to Yann Martel's site for more about his fascinating venture!

Well, here we are waiting for the snow to arrive! As Lily Tomlin said, "We're all in this together - alone." 'Tis funny and true but here at streams full of stars, we are not alone - this is our place to seek tranquillity in music and gardens, laughter and leisure, and also find time for reflection, so we can take a break from the 'news' world to renew our spirits and then return to the world merry-hearted - and feeling, perhaps, somewhat saner!

To cheer us up in the grey days of November...check out Kim Parker in ART - her love of colour, her art, and her designs will delight you!

Who can resist? ...head to MUSIC! Arturo Marquez - Danzon no.2 (1994) "so popular that it has been dubbed 'Mexico's second national anthem'...."

And a new addition to LOL - Dame Edna interviews Sean Connery...just sit back possums - and get ready to laugh!

Believe in the best! "Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly." Farewell despair. Welcome back joy!

Check out Susan's art in the exhibit "Hommage a Marianne Revenko" (new Photo Album), the photograph of Fox Glacier in YES! and the podcast from Roth and Mike in New Zealand in Links!

And introducing...Marc Pouyet - Artiste de nature (ART)

Exult in their talents & joie de vivre. "In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted." (E. Gilbert)

Phew...I made it before week's end to keep my promise and add some new books for reflection and discussion to In the Library - please let me know what you think - would love it! Right now madly reading biographies to keep up with my Wanderlust course and about to switch to Robert  Altman for Film Studies - now that's a new, fascinating learning curve - exciting! Stop the World I Want to Get Off...Can it get any crazier politically and economically - which is why we need our streams full of stars and dolce far niente to escape to "when the world is too much with us".

The best cure for maintaining sanity? Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They are rapidly becoming the only TV I can bear to watch, and I never fail to laugh out loud while watching them. This week Jon was talking to John Oliver about the $$ crisis and asked him how could the Bush regime manage to sink even lower than they have done so far. Oliver answered "After Katrina, Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, the subprime crisis, the Wall St. meltdown, you know, Jon, it is like trying to find a vein in a failure junkie." Then on Colbert, Jackson Browne was on as a guest and he is suing John McCain for using a song of his without permission for an attack ad ("Running on Empty") vs Obama. So Colbert sets up an ad for McCain with "Pop Goes the Weasel" as the theme song - "That works," he says, 'It tells you there's a surprise coming and it involves a lot of weasels." Brilliant! Love it! Love them!

Well, how the time flies! Just back from a trip to Calgary and the Rocky Mountains (new Photo Album!) and it was wonderful! Found someone new for the Music page - commended for stress relief by the Hans Selye Foundation and guess what? He (Deane Nesbitt) is from Calgary!

September has a back-to-school feel and that is always exciting too! With all the election news in the air - mostly frustrating - added a new page called Reflections which caused me to think back about what public service is supposed to mean. The words...and the music are both very moving.

Also about to add new book reviews...stay tuned!