I know this is not a new book, but I wanted to talk about one of our favorite books – Carnival of the Animals by John Lithgow. It’s a whimsical rhyming dance through the Natural History Museum in New York City. John Lithgow wrote the verses after being asked by the choreographer of the New York City Ballet to help turn Camille Saint-Saëns’s orchestral suite Carnival of the Animals into a ballet.

The book comes with a CD of Lithgow reading the story along with the full orchestral recording. Gigi and I love to read the story together, but sometimes it is just nice to lay back in bed, side by side, and let Lithgow regale us. Gigi cannot actually read yet, but she knows that when the music starts up again, it’s time to turn a page.

I love that a lot of the vocabulary is advanced, but more often that not the context provides all the clues Gigi needs. Otherwise, I take advantage of the teaching moment and we have a mini vocabulary lesson. The silly pictures help in most cases.

It’s a book worth having on your family bookshelf.

I have a website where I offer tons of free hair bow instructions. You can find the link for it on my sidebar. Now that the site has been around for a while, I am getting more and more instances where people have donated instructions they have developed, along with the step-by-step pictures to walk you through making the bows.

So, here is the main tip I like to dispense to those taking close-up pictures of objects; let the macro setting on your camera be your friend.

When you move in close to take a picture of a bow or a flower or that amazing cake you just baked, have you ever noticed that by moving your digital camera close to the object you cause the picture to blur? That is because once you get within a particular distance of the subject, you need to make sure your camera is in the macro setting. More often than not, the majority of digital cameras use a button or icon in the shape of a small flower and stem.

The macro setting tells the camera to change its focus, so it can concentrate on the fine detail of a close object. You may find that you have to play around with the lighting when using the macro setting, because flash use so close to an object can be overwhelming.

So, when you are preparing pictures of your bow making steps, get in real close with the help of that macro setting. You’ll be thrilled with the results.

I can meet an actor or a musician and be cool as a cucumber. Put me in front of an accomplished author, though, and I choke. I am an authorphile. I admire the mind of an author, their talent, their soul, their drive and ability to craft words into meaningful tales.

When a great author passes on, I mourn.

Norman Mailer has died today of acute renal failure at the age of 84.

The author of “The Naked and the Dead” and “The Executioner’s Song” was not exactly a gentle soul. He was apt to fight, to drink, to indulge in the ganja. The father of nine was married six times and domestic violence was not unknown in his home.

I cannot say much more than has been said in the numerous biographies and obituaries that have written about him. I do consider Norman Mailer: Modern Literature Monographs to by Philip Bufithis to be the definitive work on the works of Mailer. If you can drum up a copy, you’ll thank me.

It may seem to those who do not live all year ‘round in a “vacation destination” that they would never leave home if they lived near the beach or a ski slope, or even a big and exciting city. I leave near the beach; very near the beach. I have the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Tampa Bay on the other. There is water and sand and sea breezed every day of the year. While this was exhilarating when I first arrived here to live almost 10 years ago, it has not lost some of its charm. I will be driving along for an errand, look out the car window and realize I am riding along the water. It almost comes as a shock of realization that I live near the shore. I often forget.

What I want is the opportunity to get away from the beach and travel to someplace completely different. I am yearning for the day that Gigi is mature enough to appreciate a trip to Europe. I’ve all but got my trip mapped out and tucked up tight. When it gets white-hot in Florida, I am thinking about Bulgarian holidays, the Black Sea, and sight-seeing trips to see some of the mediaeval architecture in areas that can still be affordable for travel, even on a weak dollar. I have a dear friend who passed away a couple years ago who was raised on the banks of the Denube. I often think it would be almost spiritual to stand and look at the land where she was born.

Just this morning I finished reading a collection of Christmas short stories by one of my favorite authors, Connie Willis. This book, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, has me invigorated. I read a lot. I read often. Lately, though, I have not felt inspired or excited by what I am reading. Willis never fails to get my blood moving and my mind thinking. She is the fiction author that whips me into gear the same way Griel Marcus does in his non-fiction works.

Willis is primarily a Science Fiction Author, but I would never lump her into the pulp category. She is not hardcore space and science tech. She is subtle and intellectual and sly. She taps into human emotions in a way other authors cannot or will not.

If you have read Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog or even Bellwether, and you have been sucked in by the sheer humanity she weaves into her off-kilter realities, you HAVE to read this Christmas collection. In fact, even if you consider yourself someone who is not a reader of Science Fiction, you still need to read this collection. If you just plain love Christmas, you will find a kindred spirit in Willis.

It should come as no surprise that I discovered Willis due to my love of time travel fiction. I bought a copy of Doomsday Book and about halfway through, I traveled to NYC and left it there by mistake. When I got home, I ordered another copy. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I realized there was a copy in the boxes of books my ex-husband had left behind. It was a book that was determined to be read. It only took three copies coming into my hands. I ended up giving my extra copy to a professor I had over the summer for a class I took for my graduate degree.

When I moved, I cam e across not one, but four working printers in boxes we had never unpacked from our prior move. It seemed a waste to toss them out, so I have them out in the garage. They all need either rink or a minor repair and adjustment. All in all, I have a virtual army of usable printers.

The Canon was the one I bought originally for printing pictures, because it got such great reviews in the area. I need to pick up some Canon toner and I will be all set for operation as my own little in-house photo processing lab. That’s a good thing, because I’m behind by a full two years when it comes to printing pictures. Don’t even ask me about Gigi’s baby book and scrapbooks. I think I got to about her 6th month. I have no idea why I am so bad about that. It kills me to think one say I’ll just hand her a pack of CDs that I burned and tell her that her entire life’s special memories is stored on disk.

Ink. As soon as I buy ink I will catch up on the photos. Don’t expect me to return my calls fo the next couple of weeks, though. I’ll be up to my eyeballs in baby pictures.

Note to all those parents (12 of the original 20 are still at it) making themselves miserable in the Hannah Montana ticket contest here in Tampa: there are more ticket going on sale for the November 19 “Best of Both Worlds Tour” concert in Tampa.

A limited number of tickets will become available Monday at noon. They are only available by phone or online at ticketmaster.com and can be picked up at will call the night of the show.

The initial tickets went on sale Aug. 10 and sold out in 18 minutes. Even though prices originally ranged in price $30 to $70, some parents paid thousands to “ticket brokers” (glorified scalpers) to get their kids into the show.