from Leonardo

"A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light."

~ Leonardo da Vinci ~

word of the day :: rapscallion

rapscallion:

[rap-skal-yuh n]

–noun

a rascal; rogue; scamp.

Origin:

1690-1700; earlier rascallion, based on rascal

"All kings is mostly rapscallions."

 :: Mark Twain ::

* Definition from www.dictionary.com

from Marcus

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~ 

word of the day :: festoon

festoon:

[fe-stoon]

–noun

1. a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points.

2. a decorative representation of this, as in architectural work or on pottery.

3. a fabric suspended, draped, and bound at intervals to form graceful loops or scalloped folds.

4. Dentistry. the garland-like area of the gums surrounding the necks of the teeth.

-verb (used with object)

5. to adorn with or as with festoons: to festoon a hall.

6. to form into festoons: to festoon flowers and leaves.

7. Dentistry. to reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.

8. to connect by festoons.

Origin:

1670-80; < F feston < It festone decoration for a feast, deriv. of festa festa

"Most humans feel the transcendent temptation, the emotional drive to festoon the universe with large-scale meaning."

 :: Paul Kurtz ::

* Definition from www.dictionary.com

from Ralph

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Happy National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month! A national celebration of poetry and its place in American culture.

The Academy of American Poets has posted 30 Ways to Celebrate--one way to honor poetry for each day of the month. My favorite is to put a poem in a letter. We hardly send good old-fashioned postal mail anymore. I like the idea of making it even more special by including a bit of verse.

I don't read enough poetry, but when I do, I always enjoy it so much! Here are some my favorite bards:

• Billy Collins (because his poems are about discovery in everyday things and life)
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (because hers are so beautiful)
• Emily Dickinson (because she is so doggone mysterious...)
• Langston Hughes (because everything he writes has a soul)
• Alfred Lord Tennyson (because "The Lady of Shalott always reminds me of Anne of Green Gables)

What's on my to read list? Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. I bought a beautiful used copy at this wonderful little bookstore near home. I have read snippets of it, but would really like to sit down and read the whole thing through. Whitman's journey through poetry is pretty fascinating. 

currently reading :: The Historian

The Historian


Elizabeth Kostova

When The Historian first was published in 2005, I purchased it as a birthday gift for one of my college roommates. She shared my love for reading, and she was a history major. It was only appropriate. She ended up loving the book, and so have many other acquaintances of mine who have read it. Ever since I read Dracula on the Kindle (more on that here and here) and thoroughly enjoyed it, I have wanted to pick up The Historian and read this modern vampire tale.

Summary: When a teenage girl discovers a medieval book in her diplomat father's library, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, 20 years earlier, in a search for his mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler--was still alive.


The search for truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe--in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world.
Summary from www.borders.com and the book jacket.

word of the day :: bamboozle

bamboozle:

[bam-boo-zuhl]

–verb (used with object)

1. to deceive or get the better of (someone) by trickery, flattery, or the like; humbug; hoodwink (often fol. by into): They bamboozled us into joining the club.

2. to perplex; mystify.

-verb (used without object)

3. to practice trickery, deception, cozenage, or the like.

Origin:

1695-1705; orig. uncert.

"It is well known what a middle man is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other."

 :: Benjamin Disraeli ::

* Definition from www.dictionary.com