When I was a little girl

this was one of my favourite poems.

MONDAY'S CHILD IS FAIR OF FACE
by Mother Goose

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.


I liked knowing what I was supposed to be like by the day of the week on which I was born. Of course, I always wanted to be Sunday's Child,but I wasn't. I'm a Saturday Child, and in many ways the definition fits me. But there was more to the poem than just that for me. I've always had a fascination with numbers and with puzzles. This poem opened up the puzzle of finding out what day of the week I was born on. Now this was long before computers were accessible to everyone, in fact it was at a time when the first computers were being built and the word "debug" was being invented by literally walking into that room size computer and pulling a dead bug out of the system allowing whatever glitch had occurred to mend itself and the computer to operate properly again. So, I was amazed when I opened up the phone book and found a perpetual calendar that actually allowed me to figure out what day of the week I was born. And that day, Saturday, stuck in my head. Much later, when I learned about astrology, I also came to realize that the fact that I was a taurus was well matched with Saturdays blessing.

I was the only one among my acquaintances at the time who not only knew the day and date of my birth, but also the time, as well as my height and weight. Recalling the house that I was living in at the time, on the shore of Lake Ponderay just outside Sandpoint Idaho, my age had to have been 7, or just barely 8. Knowing such trivial facts can be fascinating for a child, maybe even for an adult. :-)

For my nieces and nephews, this is the meaning of each line of the poem.

MONDAY:
Monday's child is fair of face.
You are good-looking, especially when you smile!
You are beautiful inside and out.

TUESDAY:
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
You have many talents, and are fun to be around.
You dance through life!

WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
You are a serious person, and try to change things that seem unfair.
You make the world a better place!

THURSDAY:
Thursday's child has far to go.
You have many ideas, and you want to do them all.
You will go far in life!

FRIDAY:
Friday's child is loving and giving.
You are caring and sharing. You are kind,
you love people, and people love you!

SATURDAY:
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
You are ambitious, enjoy work, and like to accomplish things.
You know what you want!

SUNDAY:
But the child born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.
You are sunny, fun, and loving.
You bring much joy to other people!


And, if you want to know what day of the week you were born on, try this site.

They make a Pop-Up book for everything these days...

Well, I'm not currently reading this book, but, for some unknown reason, Amazon.com thinks I need to. I have a few friends who would probably agree. :-)

Amazon actually has a video link for previewing the book too. Gee.

Finished

yet another book this week, and one I actually hadn't intended to read.



Now, off to start Diane Setterfield's

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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Sooo, travel again

Well, as I've already said, the latest word from my travelling friend is Spain. Just looking at the regional areas we'll be hiking through or near, that leaves a lot of territory to look at and see what we want to discover while we are there. Galicia, Asturias, Castilla y Leon, La Rioja, Navarra, Catalonia, and Cantabria. I told you it was a lot. And would you believe it, I don't have a single book in my collection on Spain. Time to go shopping. :-)

For those of you who do have a book or two on Spain, here's a link to the regional map and some sites of the regions, as well as the train schedules.

Now, let's see, what else can we talk about? I know. Anyone got any juicy gossip about my hiking partner? He rarely come by here, so we can probably say anything we want and he'll most likely never, ever, ever find out. ;-)

Books read

Saturday, a close friend of mine accused me of not reading. That's a terrible thing to say to someone who buys as many books as I do, of course, the fact that I purchase books does not mean that that I ever crack open the spine or flip through the pages. Still, while I have not been reading as much as I would like of late, he would have been more accurate to state that I do not follow world affairs. That I fully admit to being guilty of. I am so completely ignorant of what is happening out there and who the key figures are at the moment that I am embarrassed at my lack of self education. And I realize I must find a way to remedy that situation.

Still, my friend did cause me to realize that I have not been doing a good job of keeping up my book listings on this blog. So, here we go.

Last week, while I waited in the local Barnes and Noble for my roommate to show up--I don't remember why we were meeting, but we did met in the same place three times--I decided to check out the newest Laurel K. Hamilton book, just to see what it was he liked so much about them. This one was from her fairy series. I think I figured it out. Mistrel's Kiss was a quick and easy read, I finished it easily in those three sessions in the bookstore. Opening with five or six chapters of barely interrupted sex was a good way to catch the readers attention, but the rest of the book became a bit of a let down. The story was uncomplicated and easy to follow. I suppose this was sort of an erotic eye candy.



This weekend, well actually yesterday, I started reading Patricia Marx's latest novel "Him Her Him Again The End of Him". I wouldn't classify this as eye candy, but it too is a very quick read. The reason, well this woman's life is so seriously screwed up that most of us can probably identify with at least a small part of it. And any woman who has ever dated an irresistable jerk will definitely identify with this book. I should finish the book this morning on the way to work, and would have finished yesterday if I hadn't been interrupted several times.

Sword & Sorceress Returns

From the MZB Trust:

"We are happy to announce that we have just signed a contract with Norilana Books, an independent publishing company founded in 2006 by Vera Nazarian, for Sword & Sorceress 22. The book will be published in trade paperback format, and the expected publication date is November 2007."

This is an open anthology, meaning anyone can submit a story. If you wish to submit to the anthology, just click on the photo for the guidelines.

7 Days to V-day

Have you bought, or perhaps made, that special gift?

Have you made your reservations, or at least planned how you will spend the evening?

Are you doing the cooking for a change? A romantic dinner by candle light, just the two of you?

Bah Humbug you say. (Yes, I know that's for a completely different time of the year.) I don't have a date, so I am not going to do anything. But, well, maybe you still feel like going out anyway. Consider doing what I sometimes do. Get together with one or more friends and just go out and have some fun. Who knows, you just might meet someone else who's doing the very same thing. :-)

Using People

Have you ever been accused of this? I have. Twice in the last year friends have told me that I use people or that I have used them. Admittedly, they haven't given me an example of what it was I did that led them to that conclusion, but I have to assume that if they accuse, then I did the deed. Or, at least I did something to cause them to believe that I was using them. I know that I did not plan to do so, or that I did so unintentionally. And that makes me wonder, is it possible to use someone without knowing that you are doing so?

To use someone, at least in my mind, is to profit or gain in some way from the use. Financial gain, ladder climbing, catching or trapping a perspective mate, etc.... None of which I have shown any success at in any point in my life, and I have definitely been around long enough for such evidence to be noticeable. My finances could definitely be better and are far from successful. The art of ladder climbing illudes me, and requires too hard a nature. I'd be a department manager, at the very least, by now if it didn't. Perspective mate? Hunh, I don't think I've even been out on an official date in the last 20 years, and before that, well, it was rare. I'm the type of girl who does not really notice when a guy is interested. He'd pretty much have to confront me and tell me he was. Hints rarely work, but they are great for creating confusion. Then again, I am the type of woman that men are rarely interested in, so I guess the scale of life balances out to some extent there.

There are other ways to use people, of course, but all result in the user gaining something of worth to them. Don't they? What did I gain? Nothing perhaps, but, in both cases, I had hoped for closer friendships. I also knew that my own personality would probably prevent this, but I wanted to try. And, until I messed things up with my own social faux paus, I thought I had at the very least gained a little more insight to the real people just by observing them in the settings of their daily lives. Much more realistic than meeting people only at formal outings. Also more heart warming. Suddenly 2D individuals become real flesh and blood beings with hearts of their own. People who speak baby talk to their pets and have the same everyday problems we all face. And the world suddenly becomes a bit smaller, and brighter when lit by their smiles.

Each time I have been accused of the crime of using people, I have asked other friends who have known me much longer and whom I trust to tell me the truth, if they feel that I use people or even them. Each time they have told me no. There was more to the conversation, of course, and they could simply be being kind to me. Still, I trust my friends to be honest with me, even when they know it will hurt. So which do I believe? Is it possible that I treat each set of friends differently? Or do I treat them the same? I know, from the movies, that it is possible to be used without realizing that you are.

Which brings me back to the question, is it possible to use someone without realizing you are doing so? I can't help but wonder....

Another Trip Suggestion....

My friend is very good at finding these. I swear he knows my weakness' when it comes to site seeing and hiking. And I find myself feeling guilty because I haven't made a single suggestion myself yet. Still, I remember last year's results for the few that I did suggest. He had already been on those particular treks and did not want to repeat them. Since I have only been to Europe three times so far, and seen only a small fraction of Germany, Scotland and France, it seems reasonable that I would be willing to see just about anything. And this latest selection definitely hits hard on my love of history and religion.

Camino de Santiago, which is succinctly, the pilgramage trek to the tomb of Saint John the Great. If you don't know who that was, and there's no reason that you should, he was one of the first disciples (also known as Apostles) of Jesus. Anyone know how he died? I do, I do. But before I launch into a history lesson, I thought I would give someone else a chance to comment.

Changes

To the blog, that is.


If you scroll down far enough, you will notice a few changes and updates to the sidebar. All still in progress. I have added music and video sections, including tv. For the good or the bad, you will now know a little more about my tastes.

There is one other significant change that should be readily noticeable to my regular viewers. Does anyone know what it is?

Tour of Mont Blanc

Interested in trekking around Mont Blanc? Looking for some reading material? Well, since Andrew Harpers Tour of Mont Blanc appears to be out of print at the moment, I went looking for substitute reading. And here is what I found. I haven't held either of these in my hands yet, so I can vouch for their contents.