One hundred years ago today the fastest pacing race horse of the day, DAN PATCH, ran his last race. Dan was fleet footed and quick as hell. You can watch his story - The Great Dan Patch at the Internet Archive.
Learn more about Dan at the Dan Patch Historical Society.
Black Friday is the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season. When are you planning on beginning your holiday shopping?
Sponsored by Best Buy. Find holiday gifts for everyone on your list.
Never... I'll be visiting Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping (formerly known as the Church of Stop Shopping) and Buy Nothing Christmas instead...
Wow. The title of this book is too long for blog header title...
Letters from a cat: published by her mistress for the benefit of all cats and the amusement of little children (Helen Hunt Jackson: 1880, c1879).
but the printing was pretty bad, and they were signed by
Pussy's name ; and my mamma always
looked very mysterious when I asked about
them, as if there were some very great
secret about it all ; so that until I grew
to be a big girl, I never doubted but that
Pussy printed them all alone by herself,
after dark.
I haven't read it yet, I did leaf through it yesterday and was so enchanted, but I didn't have the time to actually read it, but now it's first on my list
Billy Whiskers - Frances Trego: A story of a goat's adventures.
Little Black Mingo - Helen Bannerman: A companion book to Little Black Sambo.
Maida's Little Shop - Inez Haynes Gillmore: A once lame girl now needs to do something with herself, so she opens a little shop and has nice times with her neighbors. Very adorable.
Railway Children - Edith Nesbit: A family torn apart, a move to the country, secrets and activities at the Railway Station. A very engaging read.
How Ethel Hollister became a CampFire Girl - Irene Benson: Ethel's uptight gold-digger mother wants Ethel to have nothing to do with the CFG, but Ethel manages to get involved anyway and has the best experiences.
Marjorie Dean, HS Freshman - Pauline Lester: Marjorie has to move schools. Many trials and tribulations are rewarded with life-long friends.
Jack of both Sides - Florence Coombe: A Boy's school story. One boy, Jack, shows both sides of the school they can get along.
The Motor Maids at Sunrise Camp - Katherine Stokes: This was a GREAT read. A group of girls motors out to the mountains for a holiday and meet all kinds of characters and have exciting, and mildly unnerving happenings happen around them.
The Motor Maids' School Days: Katherine Stokes: Not as good as Sunrise Camp, but enjoyable just the same. A typical school story.
The Outdoor Chums, The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club - Quincy Allen: I was so certain I'd read this, but upon going back to it and reading the first bit, I don't recall this story at all.
The Red Cross Girls with the Russian Army - Margaret Vandercook: A group of young women become Red Cross Nurses in WWI and end up in war ravaged Russia. A predictable, but yet engrossing read.
And how can I not list favorites that I read more than a month ago?
The Bobbsey Twins - Laura Lee Hope: A group of 2 sets of twins, brothers and sisters all, have mysterious adventures and exciting vacations.
The Scotch Twins - Lucy Fitch Perkins: One of a series of TWINS books set in different geographical regions. This one, of course, was Scotland. I ADORED this book. LOVED IT!
Grace Harlowe - Jessie Graham Flower: A school story of Grace and her chums. (I've read the whole HS and college series, but not the Overland Riders theme)
The Outdoor Girls - Laura Lee Hope: A group of young women form a camping, and tramping club and go neat places and solve mysteries and have assorted adventures. The Outdoor Girls is MY FAVORITE SERIES so far...
Ruth Fielding - Alice B. Emerson: Orphan Ruth goes to live with her Uncle and goes off to school and other places. My second favorite series... so far...
Other books I've read in the past 6 months:
A Little Miss Nobody; or, With the Girls of Pinewood School - Amy Bell Marlowe: Loved it!
Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner:
Trixie Belden - Julie Campbell:
Adventure at Brackendale - Linda Peters:
Strawberry Girl - : I found some of her other Regional stories in the library (I was amazed to find them!) but they were awful. Not nearly any of them as great as Strawberry Girl. Disappointed.
I know I've missed a few books that I can't place now, but at least I have this mostly complete list and it seems every time I go back to the Series Bookshelf at Gutenberg there are several new serieses (is that right, serieses?) listed, I'll be happily reading till I'm wearing Coke-Bottle lenses.
The thing to do as a kid on Saturday morning in the 70s was get up early, grab a bowl of cereal and some Pop-Tarts and park yourself in front of the TV for Saturday Morning cartoons.
I can distinctly remember two sounds (and a song.... Saturday morning was over and it was time to go outside and play when you'd hear the theme song to American Bandstand) - the Screen Gems bumper, and the In The News theme from CBS.
Listen, watch and be transported back....
What’s the first thing you do when you log on to your computer every day?
I check ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT'S Pot-Shot of the Day.
On this day in 1965, yummy, delicious Pop-Tarts were born! YAY! Pop-Tarts!
I miss the old foil wrappers, and am disappointed that it is nearly impossible to find one of the only three UN-frosted varieties (Strawberry, Blueberry, and Brown Sugar) anymore...
but I still love my plain Blueberry Pop-Tarts as much as I ever did- when I can find them!
Here's some Christmas Creep for you.
Bah Humbug:
Buy Nothing Christmas (Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping)
Alternatives to cut Christmas Trees
Something for your Festivus needs
Dear Santa letter generator (NSFK) Not safe for kids
A Santa by any other name:
Holiday Helpers:
The Yule Cat, Jolakotturinn
The Yule Goat, Julbock or Julbukk
Other:
I love the OUTDOOR GIRLS series books by Laura Lee Hope.
I found two (non-fiction) books that might have been read by the girls and boys of Deepdale, had they (the boys and girls of Deepdale I mean...) been real:
On The Trail, An Outdoor Book for Girls
and Camping for Boys
If I can't live one hundred years ago - and I do wish I could, I can still wish my friends and I could take a month off and camp out like this:
