The Great Pumpkin

Last night as I was stopped at a red light I noticed the license plate of the orange Chevy HHR in front of me... in honor of Halloween tomorrow, I thought I'd share it with you. The picture's not too great... the camera on my phone is far below par and the light turned green by the time I managed to zoom enough and snap the picture, but you get the point.

Just in case you can't read it... it says GR8PUKN. 

Linus would be proud.

I Can Hear The Bells

Congratulations to my cousin Megan and Nate who got engaged on Thursday!!!

I FOUND IT!

The universe is right again, the stars have aligned, and my bracelet has been found.

That's right. Found.

It's a miracle.

The bracelet in question belonged to my grandmother and I inherited it (by which I mean I snagged it from her jewelry box before anyone else could) a little over two years ago. I've pretty much worn it every day since, that is until the dark days hit.

If you recall about three weeks ago I went through a kinda rough patch. So lame I know... I'd rather just forget it happened. Just before that time in my life, I lost my bracelet. At first I wasn't too concerned because I just figured I'd left it somewhere awkward, like in my car or my purse or my ballet bag... I have been known to do that sometimes. But then, when several days went by and I still couldn't find it I got worried.

Well worried is putting it lightly. I literally felt sick to my stomach. I'm convinced that had I had my bracelet I would have been happier, I wouldn't have had car trouble, and my life would have been a better place. I pretty much tore the house apart looking for it, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

So, I stopped looking. Sometimes looking is what prevents you from finding something. I firmly believe that.

And look what happened... threeish weeks later, I FOUND IT!

Got an Extra Old Book or Two?

This article, "10 DIY Projects for Your Old Books" by Sam Schlinkert, was recently featured in an online book newsletter that I get and I thought it was pretty neat. It showcases 10 different ideas for ways to refurbish and reuse old books that you don't feel the need to read anymore.

The DIY projects were collected from different blogs and websites and each project includes a link to the instructions. Some are pretty intense but others don't look so bad.

These two are my favorite...

Check out the rest of the projects here!

Coolest Science Fair Project Idea Ever.

One of my friends posted this video/article combo from cnet on Facebook and I have to admit that it brings out the nerd in me... I'm basically obsessed.

This father/son team decided it would be neat to send an HD camera and an iPhone into space via a weather balloon spacecraft. Cool right? The camera made it to about 90,000 feet before the balloon burst and sent it tumbling back down to earth at speeds reaching 150mph, even with a parachute!

If I had been this technologically savvy (and they had made video cameras small enough and iPhones existed) when I was in middle school I totally would have been all over this idea for my science fair project... although getting daphnia drunk was pretty fun too...

The video is over six minutes long but soo worth watching because it's got fascinating views of the earth's atmosphere and clouds and stuff. Enjoy!

Sunsets

Last weekend I joined my parents, several professors, and about 20 college students on the college's trip down to the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC. It's a trip the ecology class takes every other year and one that I've been going on since I was 1. The pictures below are looking at the Beaufort Harbor at sunset on our last night on the island. So pretty.

 This one is looking back at the lab from across the water.

The Distant Hours

Well I'm pretty excited about this one. Kate Morton, author of one of my new favorite books The Forgotton Garden, has a new book, The Distant Hours.

Here's the synopsis she recently posted on her website....

*** 

THE DISTANT HOURS

It started with a letter. A letter that had been lost for a long time, waiting out half a century, stifling summer after cooling winter, in a forgotten postal bag in the dim attic of a nondescript house in Bermondsey…

Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Millderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a twelve year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Millderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1920s children’s classic, The True History of the Mud Man. In the grand and glorious Millderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.

Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Millderhurst Castle and the eccentric sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Millderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. For the truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it...

***

Looks good doesn't it! The Distant Hours will be released in hardcover on November 9, in the states. I can't wait.

As an added bonus, Kate also posted a book trailer on her website. It's pretty neat so I'm including it here. Enjoy!

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton from Pan Macmillan on Vimeo.