Friday, October 26, 2018

My lion fountain and some eerie lights







My son Lane came over and picked up the four heavy cement pieces for my lion fountain, set up the pump I bought, and voila, there is water coming out of the mouths of four lions.
We bought this fountain 15 or 20 years ago and had it running for years.
We stopped using it about five years ago and our handsome lion fountain has been resting scattered about the garden in the component pieces, and I am happy to have it running again. I love the gentle splashing sound of the water which is very relaxing.
Lane went to the pet store to buy a clear plastic hose for the pump and also surprised me and brought over 6 tiny goldfish who are living in the fountain now. As protection for the wee fishies I set up a dinner plate leaning on the central post, so they can shelter under it. He set up a timer so it goes on and off automatically at the times I chose, so it runs from noon until four. Since we are having a sunny October thus far, I keep my kitchen door open and can hear the water while I am in there, besides when I am on the patio.
For something that can be seen as pretty or as spooky take a look at these lights and shadows in my living room. The light source is the clear stained glass window at the top of my front door.

Monday, October 15, 2018

Pieces of Happiness, a novel

I haven't posted about books in a while, and I am a dedicated book reader, nay, book fanatic. Ha ha.

A book I think many of you would like is Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate, written by Anne Ostby and translated to English by one of her daughters. Five 66 year old school friends from Norway move to Fiji to the cocoa farm where one of them lives. They reinvent their lives and face hard times and fun times together. Will one of the ladies find romance with a local man? Some of the chapters are written with the point of view of Ateca, their all important Fijian house keeper who shows them the ropes of Fiji's customs and each of those chapters closes with a prayer from Ateca for "her ladies" and her teenage son. The author lived in Fiji and it seems very authentic; she lives in East Timor now.



The photo above is of a nearby Little Free Library, I visit these on my dog walks.
I quickly gave "Pieces of Happiness" to a neighborhood Little Free Library, gave 5 other books to the public library and then bought 3 books at the library used book store. All 3 are in series I am reading:
"Enter Sir Robert" by Angela Thirkell,  "Glass Houses" by Louise Penny, and "Dreaming Spies" by Laurie R. King. I can definitely buy books faster than I can read them. I won't even mention my Kindle books waiting to be read! I haven't looked to see how many of them I have.