A Book is Like a Garden Carried in a Pocket – Chinese Proverb

Book Give Away, Book Give Away, Book Give Away!! *hint* read all the way to the end.

I was standing in the bookstore with 4 new books in my hands when a group of children, sitting in circle being read to, caught my eye.  In a flash, I knew I wanted to share my love of  books with you all.  I decided, right then and there, that I would start a monthly posting based around my favorite books from my childhood.  I also decided I wanted to give away a copy of each book I featured to one of you.

You see, books were a HUGE part of my upbringing and I do mean HUGE!  Piles of books could be found around the house, weekly trips to the library occurred and we were read to every night.  I’m still a serious reader, often reading several books at a time.  I adore that my sisters’ instilled this love of reading in my nieces and nephews too!  It never ceases to amaze me to find children, 7 and under, choosing to sit on the couch to read.

The dinner table and Mr. Popper’s Penguins sets the scene for one of my fondest childhood memories.  My mom brought home a book and explained that this was one of her all time favorite books when she was a kid.  Not only did she want us to read it, she wanted us to read it as a family.  Her plan was to have one of us read a couple of pages out loud then pass the book to our right for the next person to read.

Mr Popper is a small town painter who is bored with his life.  He dreams of far off travels and seeing the Poles.  His down time is spent reading everything he can on explorers and their trips to the Poles.  One day he writes a fan letter to famed explorer Admiral Drake.  To his complete surprise, Admiral Drake sends him a penguin!  Soon the small Popper Family grows to include 12 penguins – all who have to eat!  The traveling show “Popper’s Performing Penguins” is born.  The penguins create all sorts of trouble and slapstick moments while on the road.  Every night would find us at the dinner table waiting with anticipation to see what the penguins got up to next!

Now the fun part!  The book giveaway!!  Every month I’ll feature a book in a post and set a comments closing date.  For  the sake of simplicity, all comments must take place on the blog, comments on our Facebook fan page won’t be counted.  I’ll close all comments 9pm EST on the set date.  If 10+ people have commented I’ll put the total number of comments into a random number picker (your assigned number is based on the comment sequence – first comment = 1, second comment = 2, etc…) and the number that comes back is the winner!  I’ll announce and contact the winner two days after the closing date and arrange to send them a copy of the book!  So excited to share this with you!!  So here are the details for this month’s book.

April 2010 Book: Mr Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Comment Closing Date: May 12th, 2010

Announcement of Winner: May 14th, 2010

Now if you just can’t wait until May 14th here’s an Amazon direct link.

These past few weeks have been full of ups and downs.  For those that don’t know, I have been care taking my Grandmother’s house for the past couple of years.  What originally was suppose to be a temporary move somehow morphed into years.  Two weeks ago the family decided it was time to sell the house.

My Grandmother fell and broke her hip and it was hoped she would heal quickly and come home.  Unfortunately, she’s never been able to come back to the home she loves.  As my stay at the house was always suppose to be temporary, I never fully moved in.  Most of the house was kept exactly how my Grandmother left it – pictures on the wall, curtains on the windows and towels in the bathroom.  Not that I didn’t walk around the house and dream of things I’d love to change: rip down wallpaper, new kitchen floor – even as big as tearing down walls.  I didn’t do any of those things.  It was never my house and never would be.  It’s a strange experience to live in a house that for all extents and purposes you are really a guest in.

We called a real estate agent and before I knew it the process was full steam ahead!  The real estate agent asked me to pack away all of Gram’s personal photos and nicknacks.  Suddenly it struck me – this was real – this was a goodbye.  My Grandmother had lived across the street from my parents for almost 30 years.  A piece of my childhood was fading away.  I knew before I took another step forward, I needed to photograph the things that were the essence of my Grandmother and her home.

I photographed her dressing table, full of family photos and the mirror and hairbrush she has had my entire life.  I walked around and captured small vignettes – my father’s teddy bear from when he was a child, her thimble and tea cup collection, her sewing machine where she made us Easter dresses and Halloween costumes and the carved table my Great Grandfather brought back from his travels.  It was an exercise in remembering and saying goodbye.

So I’ve spent the last two weeks packing and getting the house ready for show.  Frankly, it’s heartbreaking and a relief as well.  I’m ready to move on, to no longer be responsible for another’s worldly possessions.  I will, however, be sad when I look out my parents window to the house across the street that is no longer “ours”.  I know a few more tears will be shed over the next few weeks, as were done while writing this post.  As much as it pulls on my heartstrings to see this chapter close, I know it is the right thing.  I am also excited for what comes next.  I have no idea what that is but I’m ready to meet it!

Oh No, she didn’t!  Oh yes, she did!!

If you know nothing about me, you must know this.  I am cut throat competitive.  I just can’t help myself – this other being comes over me and I’m going to get there first, fastest and smartest.  Of course, that rarely happens but I give the good fight all the way down to my crumbling demise…  So, when one of my photographer friends saw this paper mache, feather coated, chicken in my mother’s kitchen and challenged me to take a fine art photo of it, which if I was successful she would hang in her house – you know the game was on!!

I spent a lot of time, to much time, trying to come up with the perfect location.  I issued a call of help out to my Facebook Fans.  Nothing resonated.  A trip to Baltimore found the Extraordinary Funky Chicken and I on our first road trip.  (pic here)  Still nothing – really how hard could this be.  Finally I got up one morning and decided this was the morning.  Extraordinary Funky Chicken and I headed up to Nehantic State Forest – Uncas Lake for the locals.  Location be damned this shoot was happening right then and there.

It’s a most interesting experience to be standing on the access road in the middle of the forest at 6:30 in the morning with a fake chicken.  There I was, thinking how ridiculous I am and seriously couldn’t I ratchet down my competitive nature and the need to make this spectacular! (obviously not!!)  Fabulous… now I have an audience….  I swear the man is home telling people – “Well I never saw anything like it.  There was this woman in the middle of the forest with a camera and a fake chicken….”  Seriously the things I do in the name of art!!

So here it is – the fabulous Extraordinary Funky Chicken’s Fine Art shoot!

Update:  I won! I won!  Got an email from my friend asking when she’ll be getting her print!!  Ok yeah, all I got is bragging rights – but hey I still won!