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Archive for June, 2010

The Singing Mouse Stories

Posted in audio, LibriVox, Whatever on June 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

Just a short post to tell you all about a really sweet book, called “The Singing Mouse Stories” by Emerson Hough, which got cataloged today. It’s about:

The Singing Mouse Stories

The Singing Mouse Stories

The singing mouse tells tales of nature in songs. This book is for those who want to know how the mountains ate up the plains, what the waters said or where the city went. (summary by Nadine)

I did the prooflistening, so if you find any reapeats, coughs, sneezes or other weird stuff, I’m to blame. Also I read chapter 4 “What the Waters said”

Here are the first lines and my recording of chapter four:

The fire was flickering fitfully and painting ghostly shadows on the wall. It was winter, and late in winter; indeed, the season was now at length drawing near to the end of winter,…

If you have gotten interested, the whole recording can be found here:

http://librivox.org/the-singing-mouse-stories-by-emerson-hough/

Oh, if you have the time, best read along. The book has such beautiful pictures. (Just click the pic to get transported to the PG page.) 😀

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My very first self-knit sweater

Posted in knitting, personal on June 19, 2010| 2 Comments »

Today I finally finished my very first self-knit sweater AND it actually fits!!! YAY!!!

My very first self-knit Sweater

My very first self-knit Sweater

I started it some time around Easter with the idea of making a light  “spring sweater”, but well, it took “slightly” longer. Guess I’ll be wearing it as an autumn sweater instead. 😉

Amazingly I found knitting this sweater a lot easier than knitting my hat and I had less trouble finding the right size. Actually it fits astonishingly well and is very comfortable to wear.  It even looks ok… only it wouldn’t have hurt to make it slightly longer. Perhaps I’ll post a pic of me modelling it some time…. 😉

Even more astonishing is, that I only had to start over once… and the reason for this is called Kitty. The pic underneath was taken about a minute before Kitty decided that a ball of wool is an interesting play thing and tore everything apart. Grr!

Kitty and sweater

Kitty and sweater

I loved every minute of the actual knitting. It’s such a fun thing to do while listening to audiobooks or watching TV. But weaving in all those loose ends and sewing all the parts together was just plain awful. So unless I find a way to knit it all in one piece, I probably won’t do another sweater any time soon.

Btw. I’ve posted a couple more pics of the whole process on flickr. (You can find the icon with the link on the right side, at the bottom.)

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Ballet Shoes

Posted in Books, Review on June 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Lately I’ve read quite a few of books by Noel Streatfeild and found that I enjoy them very much.  The last one, I’ve read was probably her most famous one, called “Ballet Shoes”.

I won’t bother to write a summary, since Wikipedia already provides one. (No worries about spoilers, I’ve modified it a little):

Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes

The narrative concern three adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. Each of the girls is discovered as a baby by Matthew Brown (Great-Uncle-Matthew, or Gum), an elderly, absent-minded geologist and professor, during his world travels, and sent home to his great-niece, Sylvia, and her childhood nanny.

Gum (Great-Uncle-Matthew)embarks upon an expedition of many years, and arranges for money for the family for five years. He does not return when he planned, and despite scrimping, the money is used up. Sylvia and Nana must take in boarders to help make ends meet, which introduces a variety of people who become important to the children: Mr. Simpson, who runs an auto repair garage; Drs. Jakes and Smith, a pair of professors who take over the children’s schooling after Sylvia can no longer afford their school fees, and Miss Theo Dane, a dance teacher, who arranges for the children to begin dance and stage training.

As the children mature, they begin to develop their own talents, and take on some of the responsibility of supporting the household… (Summary by Wikipedia)

It’s a sweet story, with charming characters and enough twists and turns to keep you interested. Also it’s beautifully written. I had a lot of fun reading it, even though it’s a “children’s book”. Still of all books I’ve read by Noel Streatfeild I liked “Thursday’s Child” best. (See earlier blog post)

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The Patchwork Girl of Oz

Posted in audio, LibriVox, Whatever on June 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last weekend “The Patchwork Girl of Oz” by Frank L. Baum made it into the Librivox Catalog. It’s such a fun book, that I just had to mention it here. I did the PLing and also read 4 chapters.

The Patchworkgirl of Oz

The Patchworkgirl of Oz

An unlucky Munchkin boy named Ojo must travel around Oz gathering the ingredients for an antidote to the Liquid of Petrifaction which has turned his beloved uncle Unc Nunkie and the wife of the Liquid’s creator into marble statues. Ojo is joined by the patchwork girl Scraps, Dorothy, Dr. Pipt’s Glass Cat, the Woozy, the Shaggy Man, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. They eventually visit the Emerald City to ask for help from the Wizard of Oz.

Here are my four chapters. They are chapters 14 – 17 and were great fun to read. But beware, they might contain spoilers:

The whole recording can be found HERE. Listen! It’s fun! 😀

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Little Homer’s Slate

Posted in audio, LibriVox on June 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I had a bit of time today and so I recorded this forthnight’s poetry for LibriVox. It’s a lovely, but rather sad poem called “Little Homer’s Slate” by Eugene Field. Here is my version of the poem:

AFTER dear old grandma died,
Hunting through an oaken chest
In the attic, we espied
What repaid our childish quest;
‘Twas a homely little slate,
Seemingly of ancient date.

On its quaint and battered face
Was the picture of a cart,
Drawn with all that awkward grace
Which betokens childish art;
But what meant this legend, pray:
“Homer drew this yesterday?”

Mother recollected then
What the years were fain to hide–
She was but a baby when
Little Homer lived and died;
Forty years, so mother said,
Little Homer had been dead.

This one secret through those years
Grandma kept from all apart,
Hallowed by her lonely tears
And the breaking of her heart;
While each year that sped away
Seemed to her but yesterday.

So the homely little slate
Grandma’s baby’s fingers pressed,
To a memory consecrate,
Lieth in the oaken chest,
Where, unwilling we should know,
Grandma put it, years ago.

Enjoy! 😀

(If I remember I’ll post a link to the other versions once they are cataloged)

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Tausend und Eine Nacht (1001 Nights)

Posted in audio, LibriVox, Whatever on June 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Recently I’ve recorded a lot of short stuff in German for LibriVox. The two most recent are two stories taken from “Tausend und Eine Nacht” by Gustav Weil. The first one, called “Geschichte des griechischen Königs und des Arztes Duban”, is about the Greek King, who is suffering from a severe illness and a doctor called Duban:

And the following one called “Geschichte des persischen Königs mit seinem Falken” is about the Persian King and a hunting trip and his wise falcon:

I rather enjoyed reading those stories. Perhaps I’ll do a couple more soon. Anyway, have fun listening. 😀

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Pfingstrosen (peony)

Posted in personal, Whatever on June 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Today I visited a local flower exhibition. Actually it was 2 huge fields of peony (Pfingstrosen in German). I’ve taken a couple of pics. There are more on my flickr account. (You can find it on the left side, right at the bottom)

Peony (Pfingstrosen)

And here is one close up:

Peony (Pfingstrosen) close up

Aren’t they just beautiful! 😀

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Striped Socks

Posted in knitting, self made..., Whatever on June 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Today I finally finished the striped socks I started to knit, when going to W. on train a couple of weeks ago. It took me 3 train rides, a couple of prooflistening sections for LibriVox and this afternoon to get them done. Well acutally all I did this afternoon was weave in all the loose ends, which is tedious work and NO fun. Anyway here they are:

Striped Socks

I used all the left-over yarn I still had from my knitted hat and the fingerless gloves. It’s called “Virgin Wool Merino extrafine” and wonderful to work with. I just love the combination of that multicolored and that “milky” white thread. As usual I used size 3 double points and the pattern I got from those KnitPicks’ tutorials. Fun! 😀

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