Happy Sw. Mikolaj

Happy St. Nicholas Day. I hope you were able to do a little something special for it.

We didn't.

There's a bug that's been going around and we seem to have caught it. Dh has been home from work for the past two days, and Eldest has been hit fairly hard. Youngest and I seem to have escaped it - so far.

The only major accomplishment for the day is that I managed to lug 30 odd pounds of library books back - then lugged a bunch of new ones home. The girls didn't go with me, so they're stuck with my choices. LOL

I picked up some DVD's this time. Two are Miracle Planet, episodes 1 (The Violent Past) & 4 (Extinction and Rebirth). I also found a couple more from the Body Atlas series. Unfortunately, I forgot which ones we'd already borrowed. I knew we hadn't seen disc 1 (The Womb; Glands and Hormones), but the kids tell me we'd already borrowed disc 2 (Muscle and Bone; The Breath of Life). I don't remember it, though. Just for fun, I also picked up the first Superman movie. It is SO hokey by today's standards! Fun, though.

The books.

Metis Legacy: This one looks like it's going to be quite interesting. At least the first half, which is a "historiography." The second half is an annotated bibliography. In between it has a section of photographs. The book seeks to correct some of the rather large historical gaps in Canada's history (and the US) regarding the Metis. On the one hand, the gaps are largely because writers of history tended to be European men, so they recorded what had meaning to themselves. On the other hand, Metis history tended to be an oral tradition which, unfortunately, is easily lost in this day and age. It also seeks to correct some of the very prejudicial views of the few written histories that deal with the Metis, and show those same event from Metis eyes.

Creating Family Newsletters; Producing a First-Class Newsletter and How to Get Published Free and Make Money: Some time ago, I'd started writing a family newsletter. It was well recieved, but getting stories from family to include in it was like pulling teeth. *L* Only one newsletter was ever completed. Anyhow, the interest is still there, and I wouldn't mind doing something like that with the girls. Especially since we're living so far away again. The third book is there more for curiousity, though. Might find something useful in it for Eldest in connection with her online comic.

Gems; The World's Greatest Treasures and their Stories: Some pretty amazing photography in this one, as is the history behind so many stones.

A Celebration of Christmas: This one looks to be a fascinating and useful book. Along with telling the histories behind many Christmas traditions around the world, it has songs, crafts, recipes, games, and so much more. I like the "old time" stuff because they don't rely on mass produced or "convenience" items.

Ethnic Style; History an Fashion: Oh, the things we humans do to ourselves in the name of beauty!!! Skull shaping, foot binding, scarring, tattoos, piercings, neck stretching, tooth shaping, orifice modifying, and so much more. Interesting to read some of the histories behind these modifications.

That's it for this trip. Since the movies are only for 1 week, we can add to the list then, and the kids can laugh at me when I complain about how heavy lugging all those books around. *L*