§ Ready Set Action...

I've been trying to keep busy with so many things these days, Spring cleaning, birding, helping Bud with yard work, reading, and playing with my new toy I received from Amazon. [and another book ordered]

Let me begin with my new toy...

Many times since we adopted Isaiah as a 3 month old kitten, his antics and play time can be hilarious as well as "awwwww, cute". Mostly hilarious. Then, getting up and grabbing the cell phone to move in closer to him as he plays to get a picture of his actions, he quits doing what he was doing!! I figured, if I had a good zoom on my CELL phone and not having to rely on the 8x auto zoom built in on the phone that blurs the image too much to begin with, I could keep it in my pocket or tote it around a bit easier, and yet, keep my distance so as to not distract him at all. I got online...off to Amazon I went. I found a very inexpensive [$21 before shipping and tax] 20x zoom lens that attaches to the phone. It fits most all smart phones and according to the site, any and all iPhones. Wooohoo. Well, it arrived the other day and I stopped what I was doing, opened the package and experimented.

By the way it comes with a tripod, an owner's manual, the lens, clip to secure the phone and a remote shutter button. You ready for this? The two of us, Bud and I, spent nearly an hour trying to figure out how to open and extend the tripod. The 'idiot sheet" was no good, 'cause it was all about the lens - not the tripod. Hmmmmm, Both of us were afraid we'd break something before I even got a chance to connect it to the phone. Then, as we sat and watched the local news for the evening, I could see Bud's brain in high gear. The wheels were turning. He got up ... went to the box which the lens was shipped in...stayed there for just a minute or two, came to my side by the couch....the tripod was open!!!! Trust me, as the Geico commercial goes, even a CAVEman can do it. Or a toddler!! But, no....not us!!

Anyway, I got it hooked up and Snoop Dogg Catt was watching me from a distance, a bit bored with the whole thing...



I tested the zoom when he started being himself. The pictures are blurry - I didn't have it on the tripod; hand held. I think I'm gonna like it...

Now onto the last of my post for the day.  The books.

THE BEAST'S HEART

I finished reading another novel on the subject of Beauty and the Beast.  This one is published in paperback in February of 2019.  The author is Australian, I believe, and the story is the famous fable of Beauty and the Beast.  This time, the story is told, and unfolded through the eyes and thoughts of the BEAST.  Very well written.  She combines the Disney version AND the original French story.  This love story that is never one I shy away from {I am not one to read romance novels, but Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera I can read over and over again}.  I just couldn't keep my hands away from it for long.  I wanted to see what lays in store for the reader from one page to another.  You have the sisters from the original, the magic mirror from the movie, tho the teapot and armoire, the candelabra, piano, clock etc. from Disney doesn't exist as characters, yet, the kingdom and his castle is quite magical.  There are the roses and the connection with them and the young daughter, and the father.  For anyone who likes this story....it's a 'must' read.  And safe enough for a young teenager to read.  No adult themes except for the love and happily ever after ending.  SPOILER Oh...and also through the eyes of the Beast, an epilogue enhances their life in the 'ever after'!!!  You'll have to read the book to find out the end of the story's ending.

DEAR GEORGE DEAR MARY

 “Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted.” —George Washington

Other than what was required of me through school, I don't believe I've ever read about George Washington.  This book, is a newly published historical novel.  I haven't opened the pages yet to begin reading, but I do look forward to doing so.  I can only give you a short synopsis of the 'theme'.  From the publisher, Macmillan 

A novel about heiress Mary Philipse's relationship with George Washington, based on historical accounts, letters, and personal journals by nine-time New York Emmy Award-winning journalist Mary Calvi. >Did unrequited love spark a flame that ignited a cause that became the American Revolution? Never before has this story about George Washington been told. Crafted from hundreds of letters, witness accounts, and journal entries, Dear George, Dear Mary explores George’s relationship with his first love, New York heiress Mary Philipse, the richest belle in Colonial America. From elegant eighteenth-century society to bloody battlefields, the novel creates breathtaking scenes and riveting characters. Dramatic portraits of the two main characters unveil a Washington on the precipice of greatness, using the very words he spoke and wrote, and his ravishing love, whose outward beauty and refinement disguise a complex inner struggle. Dear George, Dear Mary reveals why George Washington had such bitter resentment toward the Brits, established nearly two decades before the American Revolution, and it unveils details of a deception long hidden from the world that led Mary Philipse to be named a traitor, condemned to death and left with nothing. While that may sound like the end, ultimately both Mary and George achieve what they always wanted.

PS....two days in a row now, we've had SUN and warmer temps. Yay.