TSS: Super Bowl Sunday Edition

Good morning, friends. Today is Super Bowl Sunday, but around here the really  big game happened last night: #DUKEvsCUSE. The Syracuse University men's basketball team defeated Duke 91-89 in OT. In addition to improving to 21-0 (their best start in school history), it was the largest on-campus crowd ever, the official birth of a new rivalry, and, quite possibly, one of the best college basketball games ever... what a night!

Sure, we'll watch the Super Bowl, but it can't possibly match the excitement of last night's contest. I like football, but without a real stake in today's game, food and commercials become the main attractions.

January Wrap-Up//  Well, January sure was a long month. It actually seemed more like two separate months to me. We began with a couple of beautiful weeks in Florida and ended with two (can it really be only two?) weeks of bone-chilling cold, battling the lake-effect snow machine here in central New York.

On the plus side, time on the beach plus time holed up indoors allowed for some pretty decent reading. A book a week is generally as good as it gets for me, and I finished five books this month:

• Julia Child Rules: Lessons on Savoring Life by Karen Karbo
• The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
• Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
• The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzeman
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (audio)

My favorite is a toss-up between The Girl You Left Behind and The Gravity of Birds - both 4.5 star reads. The audio version of The Signature of All Things also rated 4.5 stars. I hope this streak of choosing great books continues.

And now it's February...

Current Reading//  We Are Water by Wally Lamb, on page 200 (of 561) and fully invested in the story.

Current Listening//  This is The Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, read by the author is amazing. I'll have a hard time picking a favorite essay from this bunch.

On the horizon//  The Boys in the Boat for my book club meeting at the end of the month, I'm still trying to decide whether to read or listen.

In the kitchen//  Lots of soup! There's nothing better than soup on a bitterly cold day. Butternut Bisque from Susan Branch has become a new favorite. This afternoon I'll whip up some Buffalo Chicken Dip for the Super Bowl party... calories don't count today, right?

Will you be watching the game? What about the conflict with Downton Abbey?

TSS: Fall Break

It's fall break. The house is full, activities galore are planned, and the kitchen is a hive of activity. My college-aged daughters are home until Tuesday and my husband has taken the week off. There wasn't much reading last week, but it was a good one nonetheless.

The girls came home on Wednesday. One drove herself but, since the other doesn't have a car, I spent 7 hours on the road. Time passed quickly as I listened to Jitters: A Quirky Little Audiobook for the first part of the journey and got caught up with my daughter on the way home. Although the humor may not be for everyone, I'm enjoying this audio production. The audio "book" designation puzzles me since it was never actually published in print form. More on this after I've finished.  I am also thoroughly enjoying 97 Orchard by Jane Zeigelman.

Sports took center stage for much of the week. First, baseball is over. It was a disappointing series for the Yankees, but the Tigers definitely deserved to win that final game. It's time to move on to college basketball...

Yesterday was all about football. It was Homecoming Weekend at the local high school, and they won big! In the evening, we went to my nephew's Homecoming Game. That one was a defensive struggle, but he scored a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately, they ended with a loss. We got home in time to see the last half of the SU game on TV. A field goal in the final second broke a tie and gave Syracuse the win.

Today we're off to the pumpkin farm. I also need to take a new header photo. With beautiful sunshine and leaves at their peak, today is the day! Hope you enjoy your Sunday.

The Sunday Salon: Good-bye Winter

Good morning! After the gorgeous supermoon last night, it's sunny and cold in central New York. As the last few hours of winter tick away, signs of spring are finally beginning to appear. The snowbanks will be here for weeks to come, but I've heard birds singing, geese honking, and noted growing cracks in the ice on the lake. A new banner photo features this most welcome sight.

The week passed quickly as the first few days found me home and slightly under the weather. I read a couple of short stories and posted on "Eveline" by James Joyce for The Reading Life's Irish Short Story Week. The stories in Dubliners are unexpectedly accessible, but the feminist angle of "Eveline" provided an even greater surprise.

I also began reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Tudor England is an ongoing interest and our recent trip to Hampton Court Palace gave me the extra push to get started but, after 200 pages, I'm finding it a very slow read. The story will pull me through, but it may take the rest of the month to finish.

My current audiobook is The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner. I've listened to about a third of the nearly 26 hour download. Stegner is a favorite (have I mentioned Crossing to Safety lately?) and Mark Bramhall is an outstanding reader. This is definitely a winning combination.

The most exciting news of the week proved to be the announcement of next season's Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series speakers. Elizabeth Strout has been my sole lecture of the current season, but check out this line-up:

• Jonathan Franzen
• Dennis Lehane
• Alexandra Fuller
• Sherman Alexie
• Laurie R. King
• Abraham Verghese

I'm sure at least a couple members of my book club can be persuaded to purchase season tickets.

Finally, March Madness is here. Excitement, upsets, controversy, human drama... I love college basketball. Our Syracuse Orangemen play this evening. All reading and blog-hopping will happen this afternoon. Will the Madness interfere with your reading?

TSS: March Madness - it's finally spring!

Welcome spring. The ice on the lake is getting thin, the snowbanks have disappeared, and March Madness, full of drama, excitement and upsets (did you see Kansas lose?) is in full swing. I love this time of year!

My Life in France by Julia Child was the only book completed this week, but what a wonderful book. Look for a review at the end of the week.

What else am I reading?

• The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction, edited by Colm Toibin - full of short stories and novel excerpts, I've been dipping in and out all week
• The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola - only a few chapter in, but expectations are high (Therese Raquin was a favorite last year) and, so far, I'm not disappointed
• Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef - a biography aimed at middle to high schoolers, but providing an interesting intro to Hemingway's life... and full of photos. I plan to read A Moveable Feast next month.

What have I been cooking?

After a trip to the mall yesterday morning, the rest of the day was spent in the kitchen. We made sinfully delicious Chocolate Raspberry Squares from this recipe posted at Beth Fish Reads. Next came a carrot cake (for today's dessert) and, finally, Cardamom-Orange Pork Tenderloin for dinner last night. After all that, I was too tired to do the Weekend Cooking post I'd planned...

Now, I'm off to catch up on some blogs before tuning in for more March Madness. Syracuse plays at noon... there probably won't be much reading for me today. Is your team still in? Are you reading or following the "Madness" today?

Looks Who's #1!

The top spot is Orange!

Go Syracuse!

*latest AP Poll results

TSS: February Wrap-Up, Bring on Spring!

Even though it's the shortest month, February always drags for me. Winter begins to take it's toll and cabin fever sets in. We long for spring but, around here, it's still a long way off. Thank heavens there's March Madness to look forward to!

It's college basketball that helps us get through the winter! Last night at the Carrier Dome, an NCAA on-campus attendance record was set as 34, 616 fans watched the #4 Syracuse Orangemen defeat the #7 Villanova Wildcats. Just look at that sea of orange! No, I wasn't one of the lucky ones present. I had to settle for television, but will get all the details from my Dad later today.

We had almost 30" of snow Thursday and Friday. Schools were closed, but my book club is a hearty group. Our meeting went on as scheduled! We had a wonderful discussion of Sarah's Key, and I promise to get my review/discussion highlights up later this week! Next month we're reading The Help. That should give me a chance to work on my tbr pile, since I listened to it last year.

There are a few February awards to acknowledge. Madeleine at Wordbird gave me the Honest Scrap Award. I've played along with this one, so I'll direct you to Madeleine's 10 things. Have a look around while you're there.

Around Valentine's Day, Candace at Beth Fish Reads gave me the Who Loves You, Baby? button. Isn't that sheep the cutest thing? Thanks so much Candace.

Finally, Kals from At Pemberly passed on the Ohh la la! Award. As part of my obligations in receiving this award, I need to answer these questions:

Where is your favorite place to read a book?
on the couch or in bed at night

Do you snack while reading?

sometimes, but I try not to

Are you a book borrower or book collector?

A collector - I love to be surrounded to books!!

What is the best book you've read recently?
Fiction: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Non-fiction: Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

Thanks so much Madeleine, Candace, and Kals!

Finally, this week I will be reading South of Broad by Pat Conroy and listening to Julia Child's My Life in France. What do you have planned this week?

Short Story Monday: "Roses, Rhododendron" by Alice Adams

It's probably not the best idea to read a short story while watching the Super Bowl. If I've learned anything at all over the past year, it's that reading short stories requires a heightened sense of awareness and concentration. So much can be conveyed in just a single sentence. A brief lapse in focus and key elements may be missed.

Last week, Margot at Joyfully Retired reviewed "Roses, Rhododendron" by Alice Adams. The story was originally published in The New Yorker in 1976, and can also be found in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. It sounded good, so I began to read:

"One dark and rainy Boston spring of many years ago, I spent all my after-school and evening hours in the living room of our antique-crammed Cedar Street flat, writing down what the Ouija board said to my mother. My father, a spoiled and rowdy Irishman, a sometime engineer, had run off to New Orleans with a girl, and my mother hoped to learn from the board if he would come back."

What the Ouija board told her mother, was to take all the antiques, move down south, and open a store in a nice small town. The narrator goes on:

"That is what we did, and shortly thereafter, for the first time in my life, I fell violently and permanently in love: with a house, with a family of three people, with an area of countryside."

The rest of the story describes her relationship with the family - a relationship that continues even after she moves away. It is beautifully written, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's hard to say much more because the details are fuzzy... but so are the details of the big game. Obviously, neither got my full attention. Searching for some sort of summary, I found this sentence:

"Roses, Rhododendron" contrasts the idealized outward appearance of a family with the actual dysfunctional state of their relations."

I suppose that will have to do.

Short Story Monday is hosted by The Book Mine Set.

TSS: It was a dark and stormy night ....really!

Last night was Halloween. The wind howled all day, the power flickered all afternoon, and finally just went out. How fitting! The girls liked the eerily atmospheric candlelight, but the feeling faded quickly with the realization that no electricity means no heat and no water. To make matters worse, the cable was out - no internet connection even if your laptop does have battery remaining.

Our area is also being hit hard by H1N1 flu. Friday's Halloween dance was cancelled, the party Twin B was scheduled to attend last night was postponed (the host's sister has the flu), and yesterday morning Twin A fell ill with 'the swine'.

No power, no internet, no parties, no trick-or -treaters, a sick daughter...what's left to do? I turned to Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The combination of that book under those conditions produced a reading experience I will remember for years to come! Look for a review later this week.. maybe by then I'll come up with the words to describe it.

Luckily, the efforts of National Grid (combined with a rain delay in Philly) had power restored before the opening pitch of Game 3 of the World Series. Go Yankees!

Today, Twin A is feeling slightly better and I'll be starting a book for the Japanese Literature 3 Challenge. My choices at hand are Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and After Dark by Haruki Murakami. What will you be reading?

TSS - My (virtual) Week in Italy and an Award

Good morning, Saloners! It's another quiet Sunday morning here. I'm the first one up, have poured the coffee, turned on the laptop, and am ready for my weekly visit to the Sunday Salon.

We've settled into a comfortable summer routine this week, and I finally finished The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. I read this book very slowly to savour every moment in Italy...yet my 'virtual vacation' still ended far too quickly! My review will be posted later in the week.

That time in Italy was so enjoyable, I decided to stay on and begin Marlena de Blasi's A Thousand Days in Venice. This is her true story of falling in love (almost at first sight) while on assignment in Venice, packing up her house in St Louis, and beginning a new life in Italy with the Venetian 'stranger'. It's a quick read, so I'll be finishing within the next couple of days. Both books are for Molly's Summer Vacation reading challenge.

On audio, I completed Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning short story collection. Each story was very well done and I'd be hard pressed to come up with a favorite. Her other collection, Unaccustomed Earth, is one of my favorite books this year.

The Everything Austen Challenge is officially underway! My TV time was spent watching Lost in Austen on DVD. I'll be posting on that this week, too.

Finally, Miss Remmers' Review has presented me with the Kreative Blogger Award!

Miss Remmers is a blogger I have only recently discovered. She is a college student, aspiring author and teacher, and maintains a wonderful blog! In accepting the award, I need to list seven of my favorite things.

1. My family - I have a wonderful husband and three teenage daughters that mean the world to me. My parents and four of my five siblings also live close-by, so we see each other often.

2. Books - obviously!

3. The lake - Being near water has such a calming effect on my soul. I love watching the lake change daily and with the seasons.

4. Cooking - I love to cook and try new recipes.

5. Wine - Whether it's finding an ideal pairing to go with a meal, putting away an inexpensive wine for several years to find it aged to perfection, or visiting a vineyard, my husband and I both enjoy tasting and learning about wines.

6. Sports - I am the world's best spectator! My husband often says this interest was wasted on him, and insists that I would have made some sports fan a great wife. Whether it's the kids' games, pro or college football, baseball, or college basketball (my favorite) ...I love a good game!

7. Gardening - A newer hobby, I started a small perennial garden 5 years ago and have been expanding and experimenting ever since.

Thank you, Miss Remmers, for thinking of me! It's always hard to pass on awards, but I've decided to give this award to a few bloggers I have recently discovered:

Ivy at willing to see less - a new blogger from Croatia

Lilli at bookbabie - check out the beautiful photos

Becca at Bookstack - she's a wonderful writer!

Stop by and say hello to these new friends of mine.

If you're still reading this very long, rambling post (perhaps I should have done the award separately?), thank you! I'll be spending my afternoon in Venice. Where will your reading take you today?

Basketball Classic: Syracuse wins in 6 OT

Absolutely amazing! Last night at the Big East Tournament quarter-finals in Madison Square Garden, arch-rivals Syracuse and UConn put on a show that will be talked about for generations. The longest game in Big East history took all of regulation, 6 overtime periods, and nearly 4 hours, for the Orange to emerge with a 10 point victory at nearly 1:30 AM. You've gotta love March Madness...and it doesn't get any better than this!

You can read more about the game here. The photo is also from the Post-Standard.