THE BEDSIDE MEME

My Work Station
This is a Bedroom Meme I found on Scott's blog which I thought I'd try out for fun.

THE TABLE: This is my work station which is part of my bedroom. It's here that I create and write. I have another desk beside my bed where I keep supplies and odds and ends. As I don't usually read in bed, I don't have books on the desks unless they are reference books I am using for research. But I do have a big bookcase in my bedroom (there are another two in my living room.)


READING AT THE MOMENT: "Ines of my Soul" by Isabel Allende. I am very fond of her books.

CAN'T PUT DOWN: The last book I read that I couldn't put down was "Eat, Pray, Love" which I read while traveling in California in June.

GATHERING DUST: "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I like the Latin-American magic realism style and I loved this movie, but somehow it is taking me forever to plough through it. I will eventually. I actually have another book gathering dust as well, "The Religion" by Tim Willocks. It's a hard-cover book and as I usually do most of my reading while in transit on buses, it's a bit heavy to tote around with me. I also have a pile of To Be Reads which I will eventually get through depending on my mood.

Literary Inspiration (above the desk next to my bed)

SECRET INDULGENCES: I don't really have any except I do like occasionally browsing through Bartlett's "Familiar Quotations" , the Webster's Dictionary and
an excellent volume of The Synonym Finder. These are useful tools for my writing whether it's for my novel writing or blogs, or just for fun. I also enjoy looking through my travel books (Lonely Planet Greece & Chile and Venice) once in awhile so I can daydream of travels and reminisce about places I've been to.

LOOKING FORWARD TO: There's so many books I haven't read yet and of course I always look forward to finding new texts about Alexander the Great. And as I am planning to visit Rome next year, I'd like to read "A Walk in Ancient Rome" by John Cutler.

TAGGING: Whoever wants to participate. It's a kind of fun way to pass time and get your thinking about what you might like to read or remember books that have impressed you in the past.

CELEBRATING THE END OF SUMMER

Sechelt Shoreline

Summer's almost over, although I'm still hoping for a few more beach days. After a steaming hot weekend on the Sunshine Coast last week, the weather took a down-turn and it got rainy and cold. Later this week, the sun has been making a valiant effort to return. I hope it does as I don't want the summer to end. I've been enjoying every moment of it!

Late summer blooms

Last weekend I was up on the Sunshine Coast at the Festival of Written Words. It had been some years since I'd been there so it was good to return. It brought to mind the week, several years back, when I spent time at a women writers' retreat at the lodge there. That old lodge doesn't exist now, much to my disappointment. Apparently it was constructed of temporary sections that began to deteriorate, and they haven't build a new one. Too bad, one of the features of the Festival was after the day's end when writers and readers gathered for wine and cheese in the lodge and got to talk personally to the guest writers after their presentations.

We had fun there last weekend though, and it was inspiring to be there. So this week I have spend much of the time at home getting a lot of writing done. Now it's the weekend and some sunshine is in order. I see gray skies though.

Pretty soon I'll be busy preparing for my Fall classes. And my friend Patrick is coming from Germany for a visit. We are hoping to make at least one trip to the islands when he gets here. I'm hoping for a warm Indian summer during September. There's still lots I want to do including a few more picnics at the beach. I don't want summer to end!

Sunset across the water