Summer Moods

I love at eventide to walk alone

Down narrow lanes oerhung with dewy thorn

Where from the long grass underneath the snail

Jet black creeps out and sprouts his timid horn

I love to muse oer meadows newly mown

Where withering grass perfumes the sultry air

Where bees search round with sad and weary drone

In vain for flowers that bloomed but newly there

While in the juicey corn the hidden quail

Cries ‘wet my foot’ and hid as thoughts unborn

The fairy like and seldom-seen land rail

Utters ‘craik craik’ like voices underground

Right glad to meet the evenings dewy veil

And see the light fade into glooms around ~ John Clare

What Your Parents Never Told You Book Review

Title: What Your Parents Never Told You About Being a Mom or Dad.

Author: Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Genre: Nonfiction, Parenting, Humor.

Plot: From the creators of the Berenstain Bears comes a humorous look at parenthood. With real life experience and a large dose of humor, the married authors give you a run down of the ups and downs of parenting. They take a look at babies, school, and teens; they touch on the difficulties of raising children in today's society as well as the ease that technology has brought about {such as disposable diapers}. They also explain why TV makes a good and a bad babysitter, and run down memory lane here and there. It's all highly entertaining and makes a good quick read while baby naps and the dishes soak in the sink.

Likes/Dislikes: My sole objection is that the title is too long. Other than that, this was a pretty humorous and amusing book that I quite enjoyed. I read it in a day, which is a feat now that I have a bouncing baby of my own. Enjoy!

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for reading level. Geared toward parents.

Date Report Written: July 23rd, 2014.

To The Evening Star

Gem of the crimson-colour’d Even,

Companion of retiring day,

Why at the closing gates of heaven,

Beloved Star, dost thou delay?

So fair thy pensile beauty burns

When soft the tear of twilight flows;

So due thy plighted love returns

To chambers brighter than the rose;

To Peace, to Pleasure, and to Love

So kind a star thou seem’st to be,

Sure some enamour’d orb above

Descends and burns to meet with thee!

Thine is the breathing, blushing hour

When all unheavenly passions fly,

Chased by the soul-subduing power

Of Love’s delicious witchery.

O! sacred to the fall of day

Queen of propitious stars, appear,

And early rise, and long delay.

When Caroline herself is here!

Shine on her chosen green resort

Whose trees the sunward summit crown,

And wanton flowers, that well may court

An angel’s feet to tread them down:—

Shine on her sweetly scented road

Thou star of evening’s purple dome,

That lead’st the nightingale abroad,

And guid’st the pilgrim to his home.

Shine where my charmer’s sweeter breath

Embalms the soft exhaling dew,

Where dying winds a sigh bequeath

To kiss the cheek of rosy hue:—

Where, winnow’d by the gentle air,

Her silken tresses darkly flow

And fall upon her brow so fair,

Like shadows on the mountain snow.

Thus, ever thus, at day’s decline

In converse sweet to wander far—

O bring with thee my Caroline,

And thou shalt be my Ruling Star!

  

                                         ~ Thomas Campbell

Love Among the Ruins

Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles,

Miles and miles

On the solitary pastures where our sheep

Half-asleep

Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop

As they crop―

Was the site once of a city great and gay,

(So they say)

Of our country’s very capital, its prince

Ages since

Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far

Peace or war.

Now,―the country does not even boast a tree,

As you see,

To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills

From the hills

Intersect and give a name to, (else they run

Into one)

Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires

Up life fires

O’er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall

Bounding all,

Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed,

Twelve abreast.

And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass

Never was!

Such a carpet as, this summer time, o’erspreads

And embeds

Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,

Stock or stone―

Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe

Long ago;

Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame

Struck them tame;

And that glory and that shame alike, the gold

Bought and sold.

Now,―the single little turret that remains

On the plains,

By the caper overrooted, by the gourd

Overscored,

While the patching houseleek’s head of blossom winks

Through the chinks―

Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time

Sprang sublime,

And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced

As they raced,

And the monarch and his minions and his dames

Viewed the games.

And I know, while thus the quiet-coloured eve

Smiles to leave

To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece

In such peace,

And the slopes and rills in undistinguished grey

Melt away―

That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair

Waits me there

In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul

For the goal,

When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, dumb

Till I come.

But he looked upon the city, every side,

Far and wide,

All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades’

Colonnades,

All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,―and then,

All the men!

When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand,

Either hand

On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace

Of my face,

Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech

Each on each.

In one year they sent a million fighters forth

South and North,

And they built their gods a brazen pillar high

As the sky,

Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force―

Gold, of course.

Oh heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!

Earth’s returns

For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!

Shut them in,

With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!

Love is best! ~ Robert Browning

Talking to Dragons Book Review

Title: Talking to Dragons.

Author: Patricia C. Wrede.

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Sequel, Dragons, Humorous, Adventure.

Plot: In this conclusion to the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, we meet young Daystar. He is the down to earth, very polite son of Cimorene and Mendanbar. The catch is that he doesn't know who his parents are or anything about his family's history. He just knows he has to be very polite to dragons.

So when his mother hands him a magic sword after melting a wizard and kicks him out of the house, Daystar doesn't have a clue what's going on. He meets a gold lizard who talks in riddles, a firewitch girl who becomes his best friend, a young inquisitive dragon, Morwen and Telemain as he wanders through the forest on his odd adventure.

Likes/Dislikes: I waited quite a while to read this book, and sadly, it was not at all what I'd expected. I found Daystar to be a very boring character and rather too dumb for my tastes. I liked having all my "old friends" pop up here and there - namely, Morwen and her cats. And I really wish that the end had been told from Mendanbar or Cimorene's perspective; they had more at stake and had waited for that moment for so long. Daystar didn't react the way I'd hoped for when he learned who his parents were either. The writing was pretty good, though all the magic scenes with the sword were very confusing and boring.

Rating: PG- 12 and up, mainly for reading level and magical content {lots of magic}.

Date Report Written: July 10th, 2014.

Calling on Dragons Book Review

Title: Calling on Dragons.

Author: Patricia C. Wrede.

Genre: Children's, Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Sequel, Fairy Tale Retelling, Humor.

Plot: The happily married King and Queen of the Enchanted Forest are expecting their first baby. They spend their time at the sea side or in the castle as Cimorene enjoys being queen and Mendanbar fusses over her. But things aren't all happy and peaceful everywhere. The witch Morwen has a series of minor problems that soon escalate into a much bigger problem. With a traditionalist named Vamist making trouble, a rabbit named Killer with a huge appetite accidentally in her charge, and several wizards poking around, Morwen decides to call in some help.

When Telemain figures out what the spell is, they bounce over to the castle to consult with Mendanbar and Cimorene, only to discover that Mendanbar's magic sword is missing. With the stakes raising every minute, the group divides and heads off to retrieve the sword, leaving Mendanbar in charge of the castle and to watch out for wizards. However, this time the wizards have the upper hand.

Likes/Dislikes: The first time I read this book, several years ago, I was so disappointed with the ending. I still don't know how much I like it, but I have the sequel so I can find out how they save the day - finally! Killer is a funny character at first, but by the end when they're trying to figure out how to solve all these difficult problems and he's just complaining about how hungry he is every other line, I didn't much like him anymore. The cats were hilarious and Morwen is a pretty sensible character. There is a lot of magic in this book, but that shouldn't bother too many people. I wish there had been alternating chapters between everyone else and Mendanbar - he's my favorite character. Ah well.

Rating: PG- 12 and up, mainly for reading level and magic.

Report Written: June 25th, 2014.