From Across the Pond..

This is the part of summer that I can't say I am thrilled with...

It's HOT!

I mean Heat Wave Hot! It's been in the high 90's for days now.

Did I mention I have no air conditioner in my room? Oh. Well. I don't. So whatever the temps read outside... they pretty closely read the same inside. My room has been averaging 90 degrees.

So I've been sweating ... a lot. I know, it's gross to imagine an old lady sweating. Somehow, I don't think I'm the only one!

I've been daydreaming lately... about 75 degree days! heh. Other than in my mind is there really a place that stays 75 degrees all the time?? And if there is.. will someone please take me there?!

But there was a bright spot in my day. Just when the day felt endless.... the mailman appeared... with an unexpected package!

A book !

From England!

My blog buddy Cath sent me a BAFAB (Buy A Friend A Book)! Never would I expect anything heavier than a piece of paper for a letter to come from overseas to me! Like, good thing I still have good bladder control or I woulda wet my pants! (*snort*)

I don't know how to say Thank you to Cath so it sounds like so much more than just thank you. I feel like I have a little piece of England now!

Ok, so it's a book... still... it was bought in England! How cool is that?!!!!! Waaay cool !!

When Cath first reviewed this book it immediately went on my wish list, as did the other two from the trilogy as she reviewed them.. *sigh*.. one day someone will review a book I would like that isn't a series! (yeahrightsure, that and I'm getting younger not older!)

What a strange coincident that this book would come today ... the reason I think that is because I just finished reading Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery, a book which I never would have read had it not been for Cath and her review of Anne of Green Gables (which I bought and read not long ago). I found this book at the last show I went to and grabbed it up, even though it was actually book 3 of a series... I can't tell you how delightful both Anne of Green Gables and this one, Anne of the Island, both were.

It was like stepping back in time. To a more innocent time. A time most think of when they are older and think back to when they were young.

I never read these books when I was young.. and I missed out. But I'm making up for it now.

The books are easy to read. They fly by and time seems to stand still. Maybe it's the wish that things were still as simple as they seemed when we were young and didn't hold the problems of the world on our shoulders.

It's such a short amount of time that we are innocent of so many things... it's no wonder we all wish we "were young again"... it's not really the "age" that we want... it's the feeling of so much hope.

This is a good excerpt:

Marilla, was thinking of her whole past life, her cramped but not unhappy childhood, the jealousy hidden dreams and the blighted hopes of her girlhood, the long, gray, narrow, monotonous years of dull middle life that followed. And the coming of Anne- the vivid, imaginative, impetuous child with her heart of love, and her world of fancy, bringing with her color and warmth and radiance, until the wilderness of existence had blossomed like the rose. Marilla felt that out of her 60 years she had "lived" only the nine that had followed the advent of Anne. And Anne would be home tomorrow night.

This book follows Anne for another 4 years. Her years away at college, with her frequent trips home to Green Gables for Holidays, and the realization that sometimes love is so close you can't see it.

So.. I have LOTS to thank Cath for!

For saying such good things about Anne of Green Gables that it made me read them (THANK YOU THANK YOU!)

... and for feeding my ADDICTION for fantasy fiction! (If I could Hug you I would!! BIG Thank You!)

... it was a horribly hot day... that turned out good anyway!