Bookworm's Corner: What I'm Reading

In my opinion, any time of year is a good time to read...but winter is an especially good time here in Wiconsin, when the snowy,windy and cold days are mostly good only for staying indoors!

I used to be a one-book-at-a-time reader. Meaning; I would only read one book at a time until it's completion before beginning another. Since marrying my husband 3 years ago, I have somehow absorbed his habit of reading multiple books at once.

Right now, these are the books that can be found on my bedside table:

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I actually bought this book for my mother as a Christmas gift and once she finished it, she was kind enough to lend it to me so I could read it as well. This is a true story and it's amazing!!! The subject of this book was a former Olympic track runner who ended up being drafted into the Army at the beginning of World War II. He was stranded at sea after his plane went down in the Pacific, then captured by the Japanese and held as a POW. This story gives you a unique look into the trials, sufferings and despair of the W-II POWs, but also shows you the resilience of the human spirit and body. I knew my mother would enjoy it; she was a true "baby boomer", born in 1946, after her own father came home from World War II. My grandfather is still living and 93 years old; as is the subject of this book, Louis Zamperini. I would recommend this book to anyone; one read of what this man, and others, went through reminds me to be thankful for what I have, and that whatever "bad" things might have happened in my life, none of them comes close to this.

And of course, Mummies of the World, which I am reading following my visit last week to the special exhibit.

And last, but not least, Volume 1 of the Autobiography of Mark Twain. This was a Christmas gift I received and I'm really excited to read it. I have an insatiable lust for autobiographies of historical figures and Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) has always been a favorite writer of mine. So far, I'm enjoying it considerably.

Thanks for stopping by!

Soup Crocks and Mummies

You may ask what soup crocks and mummies have in common.....................well, they have NOTHING in common, duh!   :-)

But seriously.......last week for Super Bowl Sunday we saw mummies and went to Williams-Sonoma and bought some soup crocks. We did also watch the Super Bowl (well, the second half of the game) because of course, our home team, the Green Bay Packers, were playing, so we had to be supportive even if neither Erik or I are die-hard sports folks.

I've been wanting to see the Mummies of the World exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum since it's arrival. Even though it will be on exhibit until May, I could hardly wait to see it and we decided that if we went on a Sunday afternoon, during the Super Bowl, we'd probably have the whole museum to ourselves! We were correct; other than maybe three or four other folks, we had it almost  all to ourselves. It was so nice.

Afterwards, we stopped at W-S. Erik had admired some Apilco lion's-head soup crocks when we were there the other day. I had planned to make home-made French oinion soup for dinner that night, but realized that none of my everyday dinnerware plates and bowls were oven-safe. Nor was I certain about the oven-safety of any of my vintage dishes. I had registered for individual soup crocks when we got married in 2007, but I did not receive any and since I don't actually own any, we thought now might be the time to invest in some.

There are two different sizes; the smaller ones have a matching lid. We decided that we would prefer the larger ones, sans lid. I do love hearty soups, especially in the winter.

At one time I had hoped to find an antique ironstone soup tureen, but whenever I see them in good condition they are often out of my price range. Like a large antique ironstone pitcher I crave but never can get, an ironstone soup tureen will have to be "my unicorn". I do love these lion's head crocks though, even if they are new and not vintage. They are Apilco, which is a very nice French porcelain. There is a matching lion's-head tureen that goes with these crocks; very beautiful and very expensive!

We've been slowly building a collection of All-Clad cookware, one piece at a time; we will probably do the same with these crocks.

The Mummies of the World exhibit was awesome! I enjoyed it very much. (I had to buy the book also!)

Sorry, but pictures or video footage are not allowed in the exhibit, so this is all I can share with you!

If you want to see a preview of the exhibit or find out if it's coming to your area, here's the link:

http://www.mummiesoftheworld.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

New Pretties for the House

The hubby and I had to run to the mall yesterday to get a new converter box for our cable TV (the one we've had for about 3 years was malfunctioning) and of course, while we were there I had to stop in at Williams-Sonoma and drool over the All-Clad cookware (I am very slowly collecting pieces) and also pop into Pottery Barn.

I couldn't resist buying myself some new block-print napkins.....

I saw these napkins in their most recent catalog and I was enamored of them. When I saw them in person, I just had to have them!! There was no stopping myself from buying them.  I also had to have the snail napkin rings. Aren't they so adorable?

I bought six of the snail napkin rings; they are painted metal and quite heavy. I have a "thing" for snails. I could just picture them on a spring or summer table.

The colors and the patterns of the napkins are so lovely. I like that the set is similar in color and motif, but all of the napkins are different.

They are going to look so nice with my green dishes and also my plain off-white everyday dishes. They will probably even look nice with my blue and white transferware!

Oh my gosh............isn't that the cutest thing? Did I mention that I puffy heart snails?

Here's all six of them in a snail conga line..........  :-)

I have a stone snail in my garden outside, but right now he's sort of buried in the snow. I'm always on the look out for more snails for my gardens. I just think they are the cutest. Other favorite garden-like motifs of mine are bees, birds and nests.

I also wanted to show these pretty crystal icicle ornaments I bought a couple of weeks ago for next Christmas;  75% off!

They are quite heavy actually, but so pretty.

They look like they are dusted with snow! There was only five left of them, so I bought the last five they had. The store is a local shop that sells unique clothing, jewelry, home decor items and also lots of silk flowers,  faux greenery and supplies for crafting arrangements, bouquets, wreaths, topiaries etc. They have fun workshops there too and at Christmas they have dozens of beautifully decorated Christmas trees.

I also bought a pack of silver icicle ornaments; there were 40 in the box.

They are actually plastic, but sort of "scuffed" to look like the ever-popular mercury glass. I have a pretty Christmas project/display planned for next year for these icicles!

Thanks for stopping by!
I will be joining a new blog party, Feathered Nest Friday, hosted by Courtney at French Country Cottage!

A Blizzardy Winter's Day

Is "blizzardy" a real word?  If not, I have decided that it should be.

After nearly two weeks of temperatures in the single digits, here in Wisconsin we experienced a slight "warm-up" to the 20s and 30s last week. Then the snow came.
I don't know the exact amount at this time that we got, but we had a very severe blizzard yesterday that lasted well into the night with very high winds, drifting snow, and no visibility. I had heard that Tuesday we got about 6 inches of snow and that the blizzard we were expecting was going to dump another 12-16 inches.

Last week, during our "thaw", I had taken some pictures in my yard. The snow has hidden everything under a soft blanket of silence, including my Adirondack chairs, which I should really get some covers for.

A once vibrant sun garden of coneflowers, bee balm, rudbeckia and butterfly weed shows no trace of the bright sunny colors that grew here over the summer. A few dried stalks, remnants of the pods that form on the butterfly weed in the fall, are all that's left.

The trees are bare; sketched starkly across a leaden sky. I wouldn't mind winter so much, I suppose, if it was more sunny. Here in Wisconsin, most of our winter days are like this. Dull, overcast and grey.

The only really pretty things to be seen are the new icicles that are growing off the roof.

Melting ice dripping from icicles above have imprisoned a few dried stalks of last summer's hostas. Underneath this layer of ice and snow, my hostas are fast asleep.

After yesterday's storm, I looked out my back door and saw the drifts were up to the handrails of the back porch steps. Some were even higher, coming up almost to my chest.

Snow drifts shaped by the wind clustered around the garage. The squirrel feeder is on a pole that is about 5 and a half feet tall; the pointed drift next to it is nearly as tall as the pole.

The ardorous task of clearing began........

I took the shovel, while Erik started with the snowblower.

Erik and I double-teamed the front walk. To the left  is our where our driveway would be. It is nothing more than a wall of solid snow.

It would be nice if the snowblower would just go on by itself and clear the rest of the sidewalks. This is the front sidewalk, which wasn't that deep. We live on a corner lot and our lot is shaped like a long rectangle, so the sidewalk on the south side of the house stretches on for eternity and was buried in drifts well over the top of the snowblower. It took over 3 hours to get ourselves dug out!

After our snow adventures, one of the things I like best is to have some hot chocolate.......

With marshmallows!

Delicious!!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be linking up with A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday!