Rainy Day Book: At Home, by Bill Bryson

After almost giving up this book during the first 50 pages, because the reading mainly consisted of wordy descriptions of the prehistoric dwellings of Skara Brae and the Crystal Palace of the 1800's, I persevered and am now really enjoying this chronicle of all things Home.

Basically, the book is a room-by-room history of how each room in our modern homes developed, along with lots of interesting factoids about life, diet and personal habits of people from the Middle Ages through the Industrial Revolution. 

I have learned that the word "cabinet" was originally a diminutive form of "cabin," as in "cabin-ette."  Once a piece of furniture to store valuables, it eventually referred to a place in larger houses and estates where the most private of private meetings were held. Eventually, the term actually began to refer to the people themselves in those meetings, which is why our high-ranking government members today are called the President's "cabinet."  

Here's another interesting fact:  In the Middle Ages, bread was primarily baked by professional bakers in villages, rather than in the home.  Around the 1500's, the bakers were accused of adding all sorts of ingredients to bread in order to stretch their genuine (and therefore more expensive) ingredients like flour.  The false ingredients were things like chalk powder, sawdust and bone-ashes.  Once this was reported and discovered, bread-making was more tightly regulated, with weights and ingredients being measured out carefully and records kept.  Since evaporation made loaves turn lighter, however, nervous bakers began adding an extra loaf to orders -- the "baker's dozen" -- so that if the loaves were light the extra one would make up for any loss and the regulators would suspect no attempt at foul play.

And one more:  The word "boudoir" literally means, "room for sulking."  So much for romantic intrigue.

Anyway, those are just two of the fascinating things I've learned from the book so far.  Since it's raining cats and dogs and the wind is howling right now, I am contenting myself with reading and making a winery friend's birthday cake for later today. So Bill Bryson, it's you and me today....at home.

Jonesing For Some Books

I love writing, but in general I am a lot more passionate about reading than writing. I love reading good books, of all kinds.  I get several bi-monthly farming/homesteading magazines delivered and love reading them and letting other people's homesteads spark my imagination.  The only problem is that once I've read them, I'm out of reading material.  

It's not pretty when that happens.  My name is Diane, and yes, I am a read-a-holic.

Blatant escapism from a perfectly decent life

When I was first married and wanted reading material, I simply ordered books from Amazon and sat at the window, waiting for the UPS truck to drive down the street and deliver my package the way my kids would wait for the ice cream man.  Sure, the kids were embarrassed those times when the truck didn't stop and I'd run down the street after it, crying and screaming that I wanted my books already. But then I'd remind them about the time they threw up in Denny's and embarrassed me and their Dad, and that was that.

But I digress. All those Amazon books eventually added up to a lot of dough, which I learned about Month 3 after I started buying them. Plus I try not to keep a book unless I really, really love it -- otherwise we'd start having a space and storage issue (I mean, more than we do already).  So I was ending up with a lot of enjoyed, but ultimately unwanted books. 

And that's when I discovered my public library system, which I've used religiously ever since.  I read it, I hand it back, and someone else enjoys it.  If I truly love it, then I will buy it and put it on my bookshelf.

Today's haul from our small library in town includes a memoir from Carole King (singer from the 1970's), a fictional tale of a teenage girl and the afterlife, Mark Helprin's new book, and a collection of funny travel stories.

I will read all of these, once my chores are done, or if I'm doing something (like watering trees) where I can easily free up enough brain power to read while doing it.  So I may be running water while laying out in our pasture among the new grasses, but in my mind I will be adventuring in the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles, in Heaven, in New York, or maybe in Tangiers, in that order.

It's going to be a great four-part trip, I'm telling you.