Random Awesome-ness

Today I have two topics I wanted to be sure to cover.

First, to answer Luisa's question from last week's Day Read:

"Which LMM was your indulgence of choice?"

The answer: I spent time on one of her (L. M. Montgomery's) books that I hadn't read in several years, Anne of Ingleside.

It was fun reading it this time for a couple of reasons. One is that I'm reading her journals from the period shortly before she began this book, so I have an inkling as to what was happening in her life at the time. One issue causing her grief with her son Chester likely inspired the last couple of chapters of this book. (If you've read it, you can probably guess what he was guilty of.)

For those who like reading LMM but are not as obsessed with her as I am, I thought I'd also mention that this was the last Anne book she ever wrote (and the second to last book of her career, followed only by Jane of Lantern Hill, if I recall correctly). The Anne book prior to Ingleside was Anne of Windy Poplars (which was originally published as Anne of Windy Willows in the UK, which I think is a much better name. And really, I hate poplars. Willows are so much nicer.)

If you know the usual numbers associated with typical "order" of the series (chronological as far as Anne's life goes), the real order they were written and published in goes as follows: #1, #2, #3, #5, #7, #8, #4, #6.

Which makes so much more sense when she refers to things that will happen in the future, because she's already written and published those stories (such as a reference in Ingleside to seeing Walter in his bed as a little boy with the shadow of a cross above it and foreshadowing to what that might have meant in Rilla of Ingleside).

It was also interesting for me to read it now because of the stage in life I'm at. The book covers several years, and by the end, Anne and Gilbert have been married something like 14 years and her youngest child, Rilla, is five.

Come April, I will have been married 14 years, and my youngest is five.

I'm at the same stage as Anne, with many of the same experiences of motherhood and marriage that I can relate to in a totally different way than I ever could all the other times I read the book as a younger person--especially my first time, in eighth grade.

Regarding Luisa's second request, that I elaborate on the book group I visited last week, I'll post about that soon. I enjoyed the evening thoroughly. There were lots of terrific ladies (thanks again for hosting, Bonnie! You're such a sweetheart!) who posed wonderful questions, and we had a great discussion. I thought I'd post some of their questions and answer them here in a few different posts.


The second thing I wanted to be sure to mention today is something I've long neglected to blog about and have meant to for some time, a delightful lotion sitting beside my writing desk.

Which I won through Karlene Browning's Urban Botanics blog. I took a personality test that's supposed to determine the types of fragrances you prefer. That entered me into a drawing, and my name was selected. Then, based on my test results, Karlene made up a scented lotion unique to me.

My custom scent recipe:
5 parts Naked
2 parts Green Apple
2 parts Honeysuckle
2 parts Violet

I never in a million years would have come up with such a combination (fruity and floral?), but it's a refreshing, light scent that I really like. Who knew? It's subtle and not overpowering, and the lotion itself rocks. (I always have lotion nearby. Dry skin, ya know.)

I've really enjoyed it. (Thanks, Karlene!) Drop by her blog and check it out.