Under a Blanket

Revisiting the beautiful Blanket flowers (Gaillardia) that bloom in my garden from spring into late fall. They got their name from the resemblance to Native American blankets.

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Player Piano

Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence.
Rosalyn Carter

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen

For more visit Freda's Quote It Saturday, Maia's Macro Flowers Saturday, Tina's Weekend Flowers, Ewa's Flowers On Saturday and Today's Flowers.

Do you see any hearts?

I Was Accepted!

Dear World Book Night book giver,

Yes, you read that right: World Book Night book giver! Has a nice ring to it, yes? And you're one of them, or will be on April 23! Thank you!!!!!!!

Three things for you to do right now:

1) Smile, shout; whatever you like to do to celebrate. And accept our grateful thanks for your application. World Book Night is all about you and your passion for books and your community and fellow citizen.

2) TELL MORE OF YOUR FRIENDS! You're in, the deadline has been extended to Monday, Feb. 6 at midnight, and the more the merrier.

3) Mark your calendars: look for another email the wk. of Feb. 13 with the call to go online and choose your pick-up bookstore or library.

4) Do NOT gloat if a friend or colleague didn't get this email. (Not that this is the golden WillyWonka ticket, but we do hope you are as happy as we are.) More about this follows.

If someone you know who applied didn't hear from us, it's one of several things: a bad email address; an email blocker (even though we used Constant Contact, a great service); some act of nature as one of the four application reviewers had a twitch or coffee jolt; or your pal applied in the last few days, which we haven't read yet. (Yes, there is a very slight chance that their application wasn't, umm, good . . . nah, not a friend of ours! Have them check spam.)

The only bummer we have to report is that many of you will not be getting your first choice of Hunger Games; it was that popular. Hopefully, you'll be happy with your second choice; we think so--it's an amazing list of books, yes? If the change of book changes where you want to go, you don't need to reapply; we trust you.

We also know that several hundred folks who we accepted as givers won't get this email for the reasons noted above; if you know someone, tell them that everyone who applied with any care or thoughtfulness will get their box of books come April 23. Everyone take a deep breath. We'll find a way, and we plan to have extra boxes stationed all over America. No book lover will be denied.

Again, tell more people and . . . THANK YOU!!

The World Book Night U.S. Team

Visit the WBN site

Click on the link above to visit the World Book Night site and sign up!

Overbite

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your link to The Friday 56








How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you would like, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be at A Few More Pages every Friday and will be open for the entire week.

Overbite
Meg Cabot

Beginning
"Meena Harper knew things, things no one else knew .... things no one could know.
One of those things was that the man sitting in the car beside her was going to die."

Page 56
"She could see she had a lot of work to do if she was going to rectify all the wrongs she'd committed the night before.
But when she got to the station house where she'd promised to meet Mrs. Delmonico, she could see that her karmic punishment was going to be even worse than she'd anticipated.
That's because the last person in the world she wanted to see was waiting for her on the station-house steps."



Meena Harper has a special gift, but it’s only now that anyone’s ever appreciated it. The Palatine Guard—a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican—has hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan. With Meena’s ability to predict how everyone she meets will die, the Palatine finally has a chance against the undead.

Sure, her ex-boyfriend was Lucien Anton­escu, son of Dracula, the prince of darkness. But that was before he (and their relationship) went up in flames. Now Meena’s sworn off vampires for good . . . at least until she can prove her theory that just because they’ve lost their souls doesn’t mean demons have lost the ability to love.

Meena knows convincing her co-workers—including her partner, Über-demon-hunter Alaric Wulf—that vampires can be redeemed won’t be easy . . . especially when a deadly new threat seems to be endangering not just lives of the Palatine, but Meena’s friends and family as well.

But Meena isn’t the Palatine’s only hope. Father Henrique—aka Padre Caliente—New York City’s youngest, most charming priest, has also been assigned to the case.

So why doesn’t Meena—or Alaric—trust him?

As she begins unraveling the truth, Meena finds her loyalties tested, her true feelings laid bare . . . and temptations she never even imagined existed impossible to resist.

This time, Meena may finally have bitten off more than she can chew.

Watch for my review on February 8TH.