Half Price Finds Today

I am currently cataloging all our books, so I added these to the list today. Today's entries make the total 756 with about one room left to do. A blog with all the statistics will be coming shortly. We happened to be near a Half Price Books today and took a peek. Of course, we both walked out with a few finds.

Tracy's Cart: (All from the Clearance Sections)

• Illustrated Robinson Crusoe ($1) - I already have a nice copy of this book, but the illustrations are really well done in a Japanese print-like style by artist Felix Lorioux, so I couldn't resist.
  
• Galapagos: Discovery on Darwin's Island ($2) - I was slightly obsessed with the Galapagos Islands in my teen years and had a really hard time finding books about it back then. Now they are prolific and this one has beautiful watercolors of many of the unique animals found here.
• The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization ($3) - I actually had the Timechart of World History and Biblical Times on my book list to buy, so I got this one to check out the series more closely. The fold out time line looks will hopefully help me get dates straight!
  
• Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago ($3) - Wyatt and I have many fond memories of this museum from our time in Chicago, so this was a nice find to reminisce.
  

Wyatt's cart: I am proud to say he actually stayed around $3 a book.

• Jesus the Jew : A Historians's Reading of the Gospels by Geza Vermes
• The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich
  
• For All God's Worth by N.T. Wright
  
• The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach
  

An Edwardian Note

What will today's era be called? In terms of my decor, I would go with the Craigslistian period. Happenstance has again weaved together my interests. I think that shopping at thrift stores, following rabbit trails from books, and reading an array of blogs lends itself to these wonderful coincidences.

The Edwardian period is where my latest trail has led. The all knowing Wikipedia labels the Edwardian era as the time covering the rule of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910.

I recently read Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn. By the way, the authors also have a blog Trivium Pursuit that is quite helpful. One recommendation the Bluedorns make for teaching young kids science is keeping a nature notebook. They recommended the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden as a great example of a nature notebook.

Whenever a book is recommended in my reading, I immediately stop and go add it to my library hold list and amazon wishlist, so I do not forget it. The Diary came in from KCLS and I was blown away by the talented illustrations in it and inspired by the monthly notes that Edith Holden made. I then ordered Edith Holden's The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady used from Amazon and The Country Diary Book of Days is currently in route to our home. Zoraida and I go on nature walks near our home, so I started a notebook myself. I am working on identifying and illustrating everything we see thanks to the wonderful wildlife guide provided by the city here.

I have been spring cleaning and recently dropped off some bags at the local Goodwill and of course did a little browsing myself. I came across an Edwardian Dollhouse: A Three-Dimensional Book in the kid's book section. It was in mint condition with all the paper dolls still not punched out. Zoraida has really enjoyed the house especially using staircase as you can see from the photo above. A portable dollhouse that folds into a book is a genius idea.

We do not have a TV or Netflix, which I have blogged about before, but I do love film. I get my contemporary film recommendations from a little podcast called Filmspotting (see earlier blog for more details). We primarily get our movies for free from the library, where I manage a queue of them on our hold lists. A blog I follow recently listed their top 10 movies most of which are suitable for kids and one was Miss Potter, a movie about the life of Beatrix Potter. And of course Beatrix Potter lived during the Edwardian period, so it was another glimpse into the era.



Thought for the day: From The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady ~"Saw a little grey Lizard come out of a hole in a wall, he didn't seem frightened but sat on a stone blinking his eyes at me and basking in the sunshine. The bogs here are full of small white Water-Crowfoot; but I have seen no signs of Bog-bean, nor Butterwort nor Sundews, such as you find in the Welsh and Scotch marshes." Edith Holden, May 8, 1905.