By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

A week ago today, I got to wade in the Atlantic ocean at a beach near Charleston, South Carolina. The water was warm and the sand was soft and the waves were gentle...it was really quite fabulous.

I absolutely love the ocean and have a dream that I will live by it someday. I feel that I would be so much more creative near the sea. I'm positively certain that I could write the "Great American Novel" or compose a symphony or paint masterpieces if I could see and hear the waves rolling in each day. But until that day, I'll just have to be content to visit.

I was there with my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law. Here are some pictures of our visit.

Leslie and Marty strolling along.

I just thought this was cute of mom.

Leslie found a starfish...

and so did mom!

Me by the sea.

We even got dad to roll his pant legs up and to get his feet wet!

 

 We were sad when we had to leave.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea!

You and me, you and me, oh ho happy we'll be!...

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Recognize that famous line of literature? If you are thinking Gone With the Wind, you're right!

After many years of saying I was going to and in preparation for my upcoming trip to the South, I finally read Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, which just happened to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. 

Since most people are somewhat familiar with the plot, I won't summarize it here. I do think that the story kind of fizzles out before the end, but I still really enjoyed reading it. I also watched the movie again since I hadn't seen it in years and liked it a lot, too, but this is even better.

Part 1.


And Part 2.


Are you laughing?

Even though a lot of my April reading time was filled up with Gone With the Wind, I still managed to read a few other books, including a Newbery winner called Dicey's Song, by Cynthia Voigt.

Dicey's Song is number 2 in a series of books about the Tillerman family. The first is called Homecoming, and it is pretty dreadful. I read it to prepare for Dicey's Song, but I wish I hadn't. The plot isn't so bad in itself - the four Tillerman children are abandoned by their mother in the parking lot of a shopping mall, miles from their home, so they take it upon themselves to cross the state and find some fabled relatives of theirs. Interesting, but it goes on and on - the kids try to find something to eat, try to find somewhere to sleep, complain about how tired they are, walk for what seems like miles, get in trouble...day after day. They finally get settled with a cousin or someone, but then they run away to find their grandmother and the whole trip thing starts again.

Dicey's Song is better, but I still found the characters to be annoying. The kids finally end up with their grandmother at the end of Homecoming, and Dicey's Song tells the story of how they settle into their new life, make friends, deal with tragedy...

There are five or six books in the series, but I'm pretty sure I won't read the rest any time soon. I've had my fill of the Tillermans.

One last note, I'm already halfway through 2011's Pulitzer winner, but so far I'm not impressed. I'll write more about it when  when I've finished.

A New Favorite

I have a new favorite band called Rend Collective Experiment.



Hailing from Ireland, they have been around for a couple of years, but I had never heard of them until I went to a Chris Tomlin concert a couple of weeks ago where they were the opening band. I highly recommend their album Organic Family Hymnal. It's a collection of new songs and old hymns made new. Definitely worth checking out.

Thousand Cranes Vase

Somewhere in a museum in Korea, there is a piece of pottery called "Thousand Cranes Vase." No one knows who the potter was, but it has been dated to the 1100s and is a beautiful example of celadon pottery with an inlay pattern or design. It amazes me that something this beautiful was made by hand so long ago. 

From what I understand, the vase is thrown on a wheel, then each circle and crane and other designs are carved out and a piece of clay in a different color is formed to put into the place that has been cut out. Here is a picture of the actual Thousand Cranes Vase.

Pretty neat. This is inlaid with black and white clay. The green color comes from the glaze after it is fired. Search for images of Korean celadon pottery and you can see lots of other examples, but I think this is one of the best.

This vase and the technique used to make it are some of the inspiration for the Newbery Award winner I read in March.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park takes place in 12th Century Korea and tells the story of an orphaned boy named Tree-ear who lives a hard life under a bridge with an older, crippled man named Crane-man. Tree-ear's life  is mostly about survival - finding enough food and clothes, staying warm, but then, through a series of events, Tree-ear becomes an apprentice to one of the master potters in the village named Min.

Eventually, Tree-ear is sent on a long journey to the court of the King to try to win a pottery commission for Min. Of course, along the way he faces many trials and hardships, but eventually,...well, I won't tell how it ends, you'll have to read it for yourself.

I didn't think I would like this one, but it turned out to be not so bad. Check it out.