Top 100

The BBC had a blog in 2003 and they asked visitors to list their favorite books. This is the list in order of most read. It is interesting to see, and think about what books I need to read. There are alot of Roald Dahl titles and I think I have read everything he has ever written. Actually there are alot of "young adult" titles which makes me wonder who responded to the blog. (I have highlighted the books I have already read just for my own archiving purposes and because I am bored out of my mind right now). My favorite read on this list is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Laugh out loud reading, I highly reccomend it.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Small Magazine

Here are a couple of pages from the Spring issue of Small Magazine. I just love these wonderful online magazines. Nothing I hate more than paying $7 for a paper one at the store and the accumulated pile of them in my basement.

Spring

It must be Spring. Even though I am still wearing sweaters and gloves I believe it is here.
I read alot of blogs written by people who own farms and have sheep. I am really enjoying the posts on the animal babies arriving and the flowers blooming. Even it if isn't in my own backyard, it is nice to enjoy a virtual Spring. (This pic is from Sheep Dreamswho will have newborn lambs here any day!)

Easter Bunnies

I have posted these three hand knit Easter bunnies on Etsy. The white one is made from hand spun angora - so it is actually made with real rabbit fur (but with no harm to the real rabbits).
The brown one is mohair and the gray one is wool. They each have pompom tails (I just love pompoms) and button eyes.

Artistic Easter Chocolates

Jessica Saggert makes these artful chocolates; each one individually crafted. You should order them for your Easter gifts. Pictured above are -chocolate chip cookie, candied ginger and sea salt. You can get white or dark chocolate with a variety of fillings. You can see a list of options and order them here. 8 artisan chocolates for $10 is a bargain!

ohhh...

These pictures are by a photographer in LA., Sharon Montrose. She photographs live animals from/or at the zoo, dogs and babies. She has a blog and an Etsy Shop. The bassett hound is for my daughter.The springers are for my mom.

You must check out the rest of the jumping cats and dogs ...

hmmm

I am not sure where I found these...

tea tod toad

I think this is my all time favorite blog. This lovely woman lives in New Zealand, has two gorgeous children and she knits, sews and felts! Although it is the beginning of autumn in her world now, all winter I enjoyed her summer adventures. You should check it out - just a joyful light happy blog. Tea Tod Toad.

wishes

I found these steel pieces at noformdesign on etsy. I don't know how to work in steel, but these make me want to work in silver more. I have all the tools and materials but no time. I love the simplicity of these forms. One reason I do not make it a priority to make silver jewelry is that I can't sell it for much. So most of what I make is for myself or for gifts and those two things are of course at the bottom of the list.

More

This our other living room. I meant to post the Anna Marie Horner curtains I made over Christmas vacation, but I forgot. I still have to hem them, I am so lazy when it comes to sewing.

banister

One day about two weeks ago, I went to clean the banister and decided the paint was too chipped to bother cleaning, so I removed it. I figured I would repaint it, but then  I mentioned to my husband the idea of finding a new banister as we always hated that one. (It was a pathetic, scrawny wrought iron thing). 

Last Saturday we went to House Parts and Re-House and as we were leaving Re-house unhappy with the colonial wooden banisters we saw, and Allen noticed this blue steel rail , we bought it and within the week he had cut and welded it to fit our stairs! The blue is almost an exact match to the walls - but we are going to live with it for a while and then decide how to have the surface. 

free

Indie Fixx has a free download so that you can print this beautiful piece by Michelle Maul.
I think it is very generous of her to do this as she makes her living selling her work on Etsy and other venues. You should see her other work - all wonderful and affordable too. I can't chose one or I would have bought one by now. (I will eventually)

spats

I found this article at Etsy's Storque, which is an online Etsy magazine. I love the idea of spats and leggings with a short flouncy skirt. However, I do feel I am a little too old for that look, but maybe I can get my daughter to be a surrogate for my style.

Kareemrizk's Shop & Eduardo Recife

I have been interested in Kareem Riz's collage work since I found Etsy. His Shop is called The Suitcase: A showcase of the collage art of Kareem Riz. His work is exactly what I aspire to do - fresh and unprecocious, it allows the collage to be the lead actor but not the sole entity carrying the work. (He happens to be having a sale right now - 20% off anything in the shop). The other artist I appreciate for similar reasons is at Misprinted, Eduardo Recife.

treasury

Check it out. Lisa at crazy4wind.etsy featured my recycled ginger ale glass earrings in her Green Treasury!