Sunday Salon - fantasy weekend

No, not that kind of weekend, where all my wealthy, I can have anything I want and go anywhere in the world, all-my-dreams come-true kind! In true fantasy chick weekend, I have been quiet here because I have been reading and watching movies with my kids as we recover from a virus. I was home sick on Friday, and spent it finishing Horizons by Mary Rosenblum. I had to change our digital satellite box that day also since it died, so while I was at Rogers I looked around for some movies to rent, and came home with:
- Mirrormask - based on Neil Gaiman's book. very strange and I don't like the colours, so we didn't finish it. My daughter did watch some of it.
- Gotham Knight. We've watched this twice already. It's fascinating to see how Batman emerged from youngster to hero in this .
- Pan's Labyrinth. I have this for a week. I am very curious, having heard very good things about it.
- George and the Dragon. A direct to dvd movie, with James Purefoy, Piper Perabo, and Patrick Swayze, along with an uncredited appearance by Val Kilmer (I had to look twice, definitely him!). And so much fun. The dragon is obviously special effects, but it's a very sweet knight to the rescue adventure story for kids, so very little gore, and lots of genuine laughs for the adults. I really enjoyed this one and might get buy it.
- The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian. We haven't seen this one yet, that's tomorrow's viewing. since we enjoyed THe Lion, the witch and The Wardrobe so much, I'm really hoping this is good again.
- Scooby Doo and the Goblin King. Just out on video. My daughter watched this the first night.

All fantasy!!! all fun!

That's not all, though. I read. I finished Horizons, I'm halfway through Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope, and as a very special treat for myself, I read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, vol 2 in her series The Dark is Rising, and have started the next one in the series, Greenwitch. I have to say that so far, I've enjoyed The Dark is Rising much more than Over Sea, Under Stone. I like Will and his family. So I am quite happy to see Will put together with the kids from Over Sea, Under Stone in Greenwitch.

I will reviw the books later, right now the Superbowl is about to finish (wah! since I didn't care, I was cheering for Arizona Cardinals, and they've just lost), and the one hour special The Office is just about to begin.

And I got my walk in today, as it was above 0 c finally for the first time since we got back from England. It was a very quiet weekend, as my daughter and I recovered from fevers, and very enjoyable with all our movies and my fantasy books. This is what I mean by a fantasy weekend!

I hope yours was delightful, too.

When does reading win?

I was reading some of my favourite blogs and came across a post at Lunaea Weatherstone's Blogue about time: 'In one of them, I found this lovely bit of legal-speak that set my mind to musing: Motions to extend or enlarge time. I want some of those motions! '. Isn't that lovely? So after reading her post, I began thinking about my day today. I had a really busy weekend, and this afternoon I was thinking of the cleaning that still had to be done, and I was feeling a sense of panic rise in me that I wouldn't get to do what I wanted to (I still think of housework as a duty and somewhat forced on me by public opinion. I like having a clean house, I just want it to take a flick of my wrist and presto! it's done) which was, of course, reading. I suddenly thought, no. I'm going to read for a little while, first. Not last, not after everything is done, but right now. And I did. I'm almost done my book! And I don't mind at all that the bathrooms still need to be done. Sometimes, I need a little breathing space, and the world just has to wait until I'm ready to get back into it. After a telemarketer phoned to ask if I would vote for our local Conservative if an election were called this fall ("no," I replied. "I voted Conservative once a long time ago and never since!"), I realized I didn't want to talk to anyone, either. I wanted to retreat into my home, and, as Lunaea says above, extend time. And see, it worked, because after losing myself in reading, I can feel myself unwind! I can face going to work tomorrow! Reading won today, and I am so-o-o much happier now!

So, when you feel that urge to retreat into yourself, and allow yourself the time - the luxury of time - to read, to give yourself the breathing space to read, do you, my blog friends? Do you let yourself relax and read? What is your cutting off point when you realize you have to take some time now, no matter what, or bad things will start to happen? And even though we love this passion of ours, why do we let so many other things come first? Do you make reading a priority in your life? I am beginning to think I have to make it more of a priority - I know that is a constant theme in this blog of mine, but it's a struggle, in the midst of raising a family, working full-time, and having some friends, to make an equally important place for reading. I'm nowhere near my goal of reading 100 books this year, again. I have already surpassed my total for last year, but that just shows how pathetic last year was. 37 books read last year! In terms of housework done or books read, I think I can say at the end of my life, I will be much more thinking about what I have read - and haven't - than how sparkling my bathrooms were.

I do wish there was a motion to extend or enlarge time, though!