Wednesday, August 26, 2009

At the Starting Gate and Revving the Engines!

One day of Pilates under my belt, literally :-) I told myself, as I was trying to sit up without using my hands, that the instructor was born doing Pilates. I also thought for a moment it might have been nice to top out at 5'7" or less, as our little condo workout area is teensy, not well suited for long limbs such as mine.

The star I spotted in the sky a few nights ago, sure enough it's a planet - hello Jupiter. Supposedly if I grab the binoculars tonight (and I will) I will be able to see rings around it. Just with a pair of binoculars - who knew?!

Apple is coming out with an update of their operating system. At least I know what that is now - Sarah had to tell me what it was called when I mispronounced the name of it - I don't even remember what I called it, but OS X whatever -I apparently have Leopard (Apple likes cats) and it's being updated to Snow Leopard. The book I'd chosen from the library and ordered through Barnes and Noble was on Tiger. I like the ones that are titled, "Teach Yourself Visually" since I'm a VERY visual person, and realized the difference before I forked over the $25.00 An update for the Apple OS will be delivered to my door Friday morning for a mere $29 and I've ordered the right 'Teach Yourself Visual' book for the new cat - Snow Leopard. I can't believe how much easier they make it to do A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. on your computer. I'm taking a class at the Apple store this week on IPhoto, to learn all the great stuff you can do with photos (such as face recognition!).

I finished reading Julia Child's book, "My Life in France" and must admit to getting a bit bored toward the end. It was charming and lovely but at the end there were just too many sauces to hold my attention. In fairness, this is coming from a girl who buys jars of Ragu alfredo sauce, so I don't know that Julia ever stood a chance with me, of converting me into a french cook. I did enjoy looking into her life and was impressed with all she accomplished through sheer gumption. So I'm moving on - reading something light and airy to finish out summer, appropriately called "Summertime" by Raffaella Barker. Doesn't that name just make you want to go out and buy a fluffy girl dog, put bows in her hair and stick that label on her?! Me too. Oh yeah, they don't allow pets here so I'm off the hook, but it is a dandy name.

Egypt begins! I've chosen to start studying history by reading 'The Nature Company Discoveries - Ancient Egypt', written at an early middle school level I'd say. It's short, gives a good overview and will get my feet wet in the Nile :-) I also ordered on Amazon this morning a good World Atlas to begin studying geography. The newer ones look to me to offer a good geography lesson in themselves.

I've been seeing all over blogland that kids are grabbing their backpacks and heading back to school - me too! Join me, pick something fun and interesting and exciting to learn - whatever turns your crank, and jump in with me. Who knows where it'll take us?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I am actually trying to decide what to dig into this fall. I've already taught myself to knit and quilt. I've studied Daniel and Esther (Beth Moore) the last few years. Not sure what I want to tackle this fall. But I'll think of something.

I just wrote down your Summertime book and that author's great name. I'll look for it at our library.

Linda said...

Bev, I just picked up "Summertime" and "Hens Dancing" at the book store yesterday. I just have to finish the current Miss Read I'm reading and then I'll begin. I'm excited. I do love books!
Are you using a DVD to do the Pilates workout? I really do need to do something besides the walk. I thought about Yoga, but I don't think I'm coordinated enough for that:-)
Blessings to you as you begin your studies. You go girl!

Girl Raised in the South said...

To the anonymous email I got regarding how I figured out what to study, where to start. I went to the website of world books, they give a rundown of what should be studied every year from Kindergarten through Senior year of high school. Looked at classical education which teaches subjects chronologically, so it made sense to start where it started, 5000 BC in Mesopotamia, and move forward from there. Found a series called TruthQuest on the Ambleside Online website and ordered the workbooks for Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Hope that helps you to get started yourself.

pcb said...

Bev, I am a big fan of anything easy, so I'm sharing this EASY PEASY alfredo than I learned from my friend. It's as easy as buying a jar sauce and much yummier. It's on my recipe page...

http://bowersrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/12/chanons-alfredo.html

pcb said...

PS - The recipe on my page is the doubled version, cause we usually have 6-8 people!

pcb said...

PS - The recipe on my page is the doubled version, cause we usually have 6-8 people!

Barb said...

I love that author's name. What a fun name for a dog too. :-)

You'll have to explain the whole apple thing to me when you're here next month. I've never gotten it but I've heard people time and time again say how much better they like apple. I'm curious to know why.

xoxo