i almost want a soccer mom van now

SWAGGER WAGON Official Toyota Music Video HD

This was great.

at least he tells the truth

when you need to laugh

Bridesmaids the car scene

OMG! I love this movie so much--I watch scenes from it when I want to laugh. Never fails.

on silent haunches

This winter in Cleveland the weather has been strange. After all the melted snow then rain, then rain, then rain, I am wishing for things to dry up. I am wishing I were back at the Farm on one particular hot summer night, when a coolness surged in and surprised the fields into a mist that slid across the road and crept around the plants in my garden. I am wishing I was taking one of my "no talk walks" with my friend Sierra and admiring the beauty that is the Farm in any season. I am wishing that this hollow lonliness, which I've felt these past couple of days would stop lingering--like fog.

"Fog"
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
--Carl Sandburg

a not so tall tale

Once upon a time in the land of Liberry there were was an amazing building called the Fortress of Knowledge. The Fortress of Knowledge wasn't really a fortress against any enemies, but rather acted as a fortress against stupidity, for anyone no matter how old, who came into the Fortress of Knowledge and tried earnestly to learn the secrets of the books; who studied the ancient maps and scrolls of Pages du' Yellow; who quietly tried to master the maze of Internetia--any of these persons would benefit from the Fortress and fend off ignorance for another day.

There was much activity in the Fortress, both good and bad. Many wonderful pupils came to study the many arts made accessible in the Fortress, these were people of all ages, from the oldest of the old to the youngest of the young. Many were the variety of these pupils: quiet, lively, talkative (in a Fortress-volume'd voice), studious, or thoughtful. These pupils visited the Fortress, respectfully observing the customs of the Fortress and those of polite society. And yet, as often happens, there were also those who came to the Fortress of Knowledge with dark and lazy thoughts in their hearts and minds; those who spoke loudly in the sacred space; those who were rude to the scholars and wizards who tended the Fortress; those who violated the rules of the Fortress and disregarded proper etiquette towards the fellow Liberry-ians. And for no better reasons than that the Fortress provided shelter against the winter these ogres would frequent daily.

And it was on one particular day, (not particular for the particularity of its happening, just particular in the particularity of it being a day) that some of the troublesome ogres stomped up to the Fortress--stewing and fuming outside the gates, riotously snarling at each other--when two of the females of that species began to fight. Fortunately for the Fortress of Knowledge the nearby Knights' station is not yet a stone's throw away, so within minutes the Knights were wresting the ogres from each others' grips and dragging them off to the local dungeon, shackled and yet unashamed.

The wizards and scholars who tend to the Fortress of Knowledge were disgusted.
"Why must the ogres act this way?"
"Why can't these ogres behave like the pupils do?"
And yet there is no answer. And unfortunately, unlike other fairy tales, this one doesn't end happily...doesn't end at all really. There is nothing that the wizards and scholars can do, but keep an even more trained eye on the gate to the Fortress...waiting, wondering what the ogres might do next...

and the Caldecott winner is...

Chris Raschka’s “A Ball for Daisy” won the Randolph Caldecott award for best illustrated book, announced today by the American Library Association (ALA).

And feel free to read a little review here by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast--this site rocks!

and the Newbury winner is...

Congratulations to Jack Gantos' for taking the Newberry Award for his 2011, Dead End in Norvelt.

I just ordered this book this morning, looking forward to reading it.

Also, here is a list of the School Library Journal's June mid-year guesses at who they thought had a good chance in the running for the Newberry and Caldecott medals...I love looking over things like this, almost always a good list of books to check out!