Unwind Your Life

unwind May 29th, 2009

As you know…I’m on a real writing roll today!  Have been for a few…thus my rotten lack of posting!  However, I came across something a few years ago…an unusual treasure from my childhood!  I remember watching this as a little girl…on TV…probably only a few times!  However, it stuck with me forever and when I saw it available on DVD a couple of years ago…I HAD to have it!  So what if you have to read the subtitles!  I LOVE it!  Originally entitled “Three Nuts for Cinderella,” this Czech version of the story just settled in my young mind!  The DVD title is “Three Wishes for Cinderella” and I adore watching it!

The first video here is a music montage…a summary of the movie!  The second is the ending without the subtitles!  Just for fun…here’s a treasure from my childhood! (If you love it enough…Amazon does have it!)

• A Life Like Anne's , Cherish the Past , Movies and TV , Tradition
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unwind May 19th, 2009

I LOVE old books!  There’s just something about old books…the tattered pages…the vintage illustrations…an inscription penned by a loving hand.  I just love them!

Years ago I began collecting old books.  My mom loved old books, too!  She’s the one who really introduced me to the beauty and wonder of old books.  She used to work in downtown Albuquerque…near the main public library.  The main library had a little used bookstore downstairs.  Run by “Friends of the Library,” the store sold used books that had been donated from estates, etc.  This is where my mom first started finding old books.  Furthermore, this was years ago before all the antique dealers jumped on the “old books” bandwagon, too.  Mom would visit the little bookstore every few days on her lunch hour…searching for treasure in the form of books for my kids, herself, and/or gifts.  Many of the estate-donated books “old books.”  Mom would find real treasure among these older books!  Things like a 1903 copy of “The Merchant of Venice” by Shakespeare, a rare 1940’s edition of Jane Eyre…things like that.  Just wonderful little books that secreted far more interesting tales than the stories printed on their weathered pages.

Anyway, every year, the “Friends of the Library,” held an enormous used book sale…and I do mean ENORMOUS!  It was held at “The Pit,” which is the University of New Mexico basketball arena!  It seats…oh, I think 20,000.  The “Friends of the Library” would line the floor of The Pit, as well as the level walkways, with tables and tables and tables of used books!  A reader’s paradise, let me tell you!  AND there was always a little section of old books.  Off in one corner there would be just a few tables piled with these old books…forgotten treasures that no one appreciated.

Naturally, my mom and I hit the sale every year!  We’d head straight for the old books section and you never saw two more excited or motivated treasure hunters!  Oh, the booty we found!  Books from the 1870’s through the 1880’s were my favorite!  I always found several wonderful little treasures…and here’s the kicker…the books were priced anywhere from .25 cents to $2.00!  It was incredible!  Poetry books are among my favorite and to find an 1880 collection of Tennyson, Woodsworth…or even “Favorite Poets” was just the most wonderful thrill!  Looking back, I can’t believe the stuff we found!  I paid .50 cents for a book of poetry published in 1812…one dollar for an pristine copy of Longfellow’s “Evangeline!”  It was wonderful!  I’ve got a copy of “The Lady of The Lake” that I purchased for one dollar…I saw the same edition in worse shape on e-bay the other day for $269.00!  It was wonderful!  And we didn’t care how much the books were really worth…we just loved them, treasured them…liked to sit around and imagine where they’d been,who had loved them and read them!  It was fantastic!

Well, naturally, the antique dealers began to get wind of the old books at the yearly sale.  I remember one year we went…having arrived pretty early and standing in line for an hour waiting for the doors to open…only to find that the antique dealers were there as well.  They snatched up everything!  Didn’t wait to browse…didn’t care what the titles were…just snatched up all the old books so they could resell them in their stores.  This led to another consequence…that being the “Friends of the Library” realizing how monetarily valuable the old books were…thus, they started pricing the books closer to their true monetary value.  Alas, the fun was gone and Mom and I stopped going to the sale.

However, that did NOT stop me from searching the dark, dusty corners of antique stores for treasure!  Though I’ve never found treasure for the ridiculously low prices the old “Friends of the Library” sales used to offer…I have found a few things to add to my collection.  It’s much harder and I’m much more selective…still, I LOVE old books!  There scattered here and there throughout my house.  At any given time you can easily pick up a book of Tennyson’s work and linger over “The Lady of Shalott,” or leaf through vintage pages of an Alfred Noyes collection and ride away with “The Highwayman.”   Maybe an inscription would catch your eye…“Merry Christmas, 1885,” or “Joe Hennessee, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, 1903,” or (one of my favorites) “As a prize for an essay written on St. Patrick, 1921.”  I just love them!

I realized (while writing this blog) that old books need help in photography well…obviously!  I need to catalog my collection…for myself and my kids!  So I will take the time to take some beautiful photos of them…try to preserve they’re wonder as best I can….for they are beautiful!

So many things of beauty are being lost!  Old books are one of them!  Pick up an old copy of Tennyson somewhere…for just $3.00-$5.00…carefully leaf through the weathered pages…read the penciled notes in the margins written by a student 100 years ago!  It sharpens your perspective and appreciation of the past.  I just LOVE old books!

• A Life Like Anne's , Cherish the Past
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unwind April 23rd, 2009

I like to look for simple phrases…quotes from books, movies, or people I know…that have a profound impact on my way of thinking/my life.  I think if we can store a few little quotes here and there…just keep a few profound ones at forefront of our minds…they can enrich our lives…determine which of our character traits remain strong…even get us through rough times.

I know a lot of people already keep “quote books,” and stuff…and you may already have this one…but I love it so much!  I just think it’s so very, very true…that we should remember it, apply it, and let it refine our way of thinking.  It’s from “Anne of Green Gables,” and I think Lucy Maude Montgomery was absolutely inspired to write it.

“It’s not what the world holds for you…it’s what you bring to it.” - Anne Shirley

I try to stay conscious of this truth every moment…every time I come in contact with someone.  We should endeavor to bring good to the world…not sit and sulk over what the world hasn’t given us.  It’s a thought-provoking, marvelous quote that makes us think.  I hope you’ll add it to your personal quote collection if it isn’t already there!

Now…just because we all love Anne so much…

• A Life Like Anne's , Quotes to Refine a Life
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unwind April 19th, 2009

Okay! Just thought I’d let you know where I stand on my “Memorize The Lady of Shalott” goal! It’s actually turning out to be not only easier than I thought…but more rewarding! I find that as I lay awake at night, or as I’m driving alone in the car…the poem lingers in my mind…soothes and relaxes me. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have “The Lady of Shallot” wafting through your thoughts…instead of all the stress and noise that can often intrude there!

Also, I did want to share a profound discovery with you…on iTunes there’s an album called “Epic Poems”…“The Lady of Shalott” included on it is a beautiful reading! It completely opens your mind to Tennyson’s imagery, etc.! Now…although the man reciting it does a magnificent job…there are a couple of lines missing…so be careful if you decide to use it as one of your memorizing tools!

I’m glad so many of you have added the memorization of “The Lady of Shalott” to your own “Dreams to Do” list! I’m finding it to be just what I needed to refine my life a little! Keep me posted on your progress!

• A Life Like Anne's , Ambiance of Serenity , Cherish the Past
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unwind April 7th, 2009

Recitation is definitely a lost art!  You cannot image how much I admire someone who can recite well…especially poetry!  I admit to being a closet poet…and I also admit to being terrible at recitation!  Still, I think it would be wonderful to be able to recite well…actually, to recite at all!  My repertoire of recitations includes one poem…I know you know it…this is the preamble:

“Ladies and Gentleman, Hobos and Tramps…I come before you to stand behind you and tell you a tale you’ve never heard before!  One dark day on a sunny night…two dead boys got up to fight…”

You’ve heard that one, I’m sure!  And seriously…it’s the only poem I can recite front to back.  Yet…I want to be able to do more!  I want to have one little drop of class in my body!  Therefore, I’ve set a goal for myself…read on!

One of my favorite poems is Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott!  The smooth lilting rhythm of it, combined with the incredibly imagery evoked by the descriptive elements of it, simply mesmerizes me!  Furthermore, if you’re at all familiar with my e-book “Kissing Cousins,” you know that one of the items of the heroine’s “Dreams to Do List,” is to memorize The Lady of Shalott.  I got to thinking about what an undertaking that would be by today’s terms…yet how wonderful it would be to be able to recite the tale front to back!  Thus, I have committed to memorize the entire poem!  Seriously!  I’m giving myself a year to do it…I figure I can do it in that length of time!  Right?  Then, after a year, I will be able to recite my beloved The Lady of Shalott…just the way Anne Shirley did in Anne of Green Gables!  Well…maybe not JUST the way she did.  Yet, it would be another “Anne” thing to add to my life!  And you know I’m all about “Anne” things!

So…who would like to join my on my quest?  Let me know if you’d like to take up the “Memorize The Lady of Shalott” challenge with me!  We can check in on each other now and then and offer support!  Not unlike those motivational “Weight Watchers” meetings, right?

I’ve posted a little clip from “Anne of Green Gables,” because Megan Follows’ recitation talent is lovely!  I figure it can help to motivate us!  Also, I’ve created a new page here on the blog…a The Lady of Shalott page where you can go to read/memorize the entire poem!  For now…the very first stanza appears below…right above the “Anne” clip! Let me know if you’re game!  I’m starting today!  We are going to be sooooooooooooo “Anne!”

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road run by
To many-tower’d Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Tags: Anne of Green Gables, Poetry, The Lady of Shalott

• A Life Like Anne's
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