I'm just trying to walk myself home.
On one day of Snowcamp we took a break from skiing and spent the day wandering around the town of Taos. Taos has a really cute downtown square area with all kinds of shops, restaurants and galleries. (LOTS of galleries) We ate lunch at La Cueva which was delicious. I had shrimp tacos, which I …
Since reading The Orphan Master’s Son, I have picked up several other books on North Korea. All of a sudden it’s like I CAN. NOT. LOOK. AWAY. I am obsessed. The escape stories. The starvation in camps stories. The day to day COMPLETE LACK OF FREEDOM. Every time I think I have read the worst …
[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UAVbq0XoGA8/U6p0db2aW8I/AAAAAAAAUZ4/DLhG3wrFP8I/s144-c-o/IMG_6246.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/100212479652479288017/201303HeiferVillage2012LRZoo#6028759100229835714″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMG_6246.JPG” ] One of Little Rock’s best outings is a visit to the Heifer Village downtown. Heifer Village is next to the main building for Heifer Project, an Arkansas based nonprofit working to end hunger. [pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3lvMw_YcELQ/U6p1A41JLJI/AAAAAAAAUZI/eesosnAlNK8/s144-c-o/IMG_6256.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/100212479652479288017/201303HeiferVillage2012LRZoo#6028759709304564882″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMG_6256.JPG” ] Here is a description from their website: Heifer …
Venice, Italy: A Few First Impressions This post is part of a continuing series about a Mediterranean Cruise I took with my thirteen year old daughter in the fall of 2012. Today I am talking about Venice! You’ve seen Venice in movies, pictures and books all of your life, but still, there is nothing quite …
Let Freedom Sing is a new book this season about the Civil Rights Movement. Vanessa Newton is the author and illustrator of this striking picture book. The story follows the major events of the Movement where individuals let their lights shine, beginning with Rosa Parks and ending with Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing the Civil Rights …
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson is a thrilling, stay-up-until-you-can-not-hold-your-eyes-open tale of a young boy who is searching for meaning (and just trying to stay alive) in the most repressive nation of our time. Set in modern day North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son reads like a futuristic George Orwell novel. I kept …
I mentioned briefly last week that we visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. When you walk up to the museum, almost the first thing you see is this balcony where Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. Inside the museum we watched a film about Martin Luther …
If you are planning a Mediterranean Cruise in the near future, you should know, The Port of Dubrovnik, Croatia is worth the price of your entire cruise. So make sure it’s on your ports of call when you book. Settled on the Adriatic Sea coast of Croatia, this little gem of a port …
Since we saw the pandas at the Memphis Zoo on Sunday, we’ve been reading this Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle treasure, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? I love all the books in this series, but this one uses all endangered animals, so it is a great learning tool. The way these books progress …
At the recommendation of a favorite teacher, I picked up A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park for the kids at the library. It is based on the true story of one of the lost boys of Sudan, who leaves his village during an attack. He is separated from his family and left …
In January I joined up with a fellow blogger who was hosting a read-along of Bonhoeffer’s biography by Eric Metaxas with the understanding that we would post our thoughts on the first half of this book today and then do the same for the second half of the book on March 15. I’m so grateful …
A few weeks ago for Martin Luther King Jr Day, we watched the movie, Ruby Bridges. It is such a wonderful movie. Mary Polly first saw it in elementary school and so we checked it out at the library and watched it as a family after she told us about it. Simon was a baby …
Dorie Greenspan has been my hero ever since I had one bite of a World Peace Cookie, possibly the best chocolate cookie in the world. I am also a big fan of her carrot cake. So, when my winter cravings turned to molasses and ginger, I looked through the pages of her giant Baking book …
It’s important to me at all times of the year to be reading about a culture that makes up half of the town I live in here in Arkansas, but especially during Black History month, I try to introduce some new aspect of African-American history at the Chino House. This year we are looking at …
In September of 2012, my daughter, Mary Polly and I went on a Mediterranean Cruise. This post is all about the unbelievable boat that took us on this fabulous trip, the Carnival Breeze. We boarded this ship in Barcelona, Spain. Last year at this time, I had already booked our Mediterranean cruise on the Carnival …
Have you seen this precious new book from the author/illustrator duo, Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago? A few years ago, they brought the world The Jesus Storybook Bible, which is my most favorite children’s Bible ever. Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing is already a treasure at our house. It is a beautiful devotional book for …
Are you looking for something to read this Christmas? Here are my Advent Readings for this year. My six year old, Simon, is counting down the days until December 1st. He remembers fondly that even though there is currently no evidence of the coming season in our house, we usually start Christmas on December 1st …
The Good Life. What images do those words bring to your mind? For me, I picture my camp chair in a mountain valley, a campfire circle, warm mittens and a thermos of coffee. Or maybe it would be sitting in the warm sunshine around a farm table in Italy, covered with ceramic flasks of wine …
Barcelona was the first stop on my trip with Mary Polly to Europe in September. We spent two nights there, exploring this beautiful city before boarding the Carnival Breeze for a 12 Night Mediterranean Cruise. Read all about our first day in Barcelona here. Our second day in Barcelona started with a quick stop …
December 3, 2004 Florence, Italy I’m sitting in front of Michelangelo’s David. It is larger than life, perfectly situated under a brilliant dome. He is captivating. We wandered over to the Accademia to see if we could make reservations for tomorrow and it was wide open with no line. So fun! So we bought our …