Last night Jay and I were sitting on his porch, relaxing and shooting the breeze. The moon had made its appearance in the sky at just the right light, so Jay ran in and grabbed his telescope. He set it all up and then let me take a look. I’m new to this whole star gazing and astronomy thing, so I’m slowly (VERY slowly) trying to learn what he’s teaching me. I was never good in the sciences when I was in school so learning astronomy is harder for me than learning how to fly RC planes!
This is very close to what I saw last night through the eyepiece of the telescope. Sure I had seen it in movies and online many time before. However, there’s a completely different sense of awe when you actually see it for yourself. I was amazed at the detail we were able to see. Jay doesn’t have the most expensive telescope so it’s not like he’s going to be able to get dazzling and extremely highly detailed views. What we did see was gorgeous, though. And believe me, besides a diamond or gem, I’ve never referred to a rock as gorgeous. 😉
This picture does a little better job of showing some of the relief detail that is on the surface of the moon. If you look down in the lower right hand corner you can see a white spot that radiates out. Per my hot Astronomer, this was where the moon was hit with a giant meteor that caused this huge crater. Apparently one of those lines radiating out is a few thousand miles long (I might have that wrong, but it’s a large number and I was impressed). The dark spots are the seas, although they are dry because water can’t exist on the moon. There’s nothing to hold it there, ie gravity. Per my Hotness, the water would vaporize almost instantly.
I probably learned this in science MANY years ago, but I had forgotten so I will share it with you because I found it to be interesting. Did you know that the moon doesn’t spin? It rotates around earth, but the moon itself is always static in its position. Thus, standing here on earth, we will only ever see this one side of the moon. It is a New Moon when it is exactly between Earth and the Sun. It is a Full Moon when Earth is exactly between it and the Sun. Interesting, isn’t it?
There are many more interesting moon facts that I learned last night, but I don’t think that I could accurately articulate them here in my post, so I’ll let you have your own fun and go searching it out for yourself. You never know, you might actually learn something. EGADS! Not that!! We left that behind when we graduated, right??! 😉
Have fun and go mooning!
This is the book that has, most recently, caused me some issues. I downloaded it for free and thought that it would be an entertaining read. It was about the author’s time working as a manager at the famous retail store. I worked in retail when I was in high school and college so I thought it would be entertaining for me since I’ve been on the other side of the counter. The first half of the book was very enjoyable. I liked reading about how he went about solving some problems and the various issues that he had to deal with in his department. Why did I have to stop reading this? Well, he was giving hints that things are about to go very wrong and he was making some bad choices. Perhaps nothing came of it, but he was giving hints that he had an inappropriate relationship with one of his coworkers who also happened to be married. He makes it sound like she was doing it to set him up in some fashion, but since I haven’t finished reading it I’m not sure if that’s true. This guy knows that what he was about to do was wrong, but he couldn’t resist the woman’s smile. GRRRR. Give me a break! She was nasty to him for a good part of the book and then suddenly she becomes vulnerable and opens up to him? Okay, so he can talk to her, but that doesn’t mean that he should let his guard down. It really frustrates me that he would do something to jeopardize his job when he KNEW that it was wrong. My disgust with him is keeping me from finishing this book. I might finish it at some point, but right now I don’t like him so I don’t want to waste my time reading about how stupid he is about to be.
This isn’t the first time that I’ve allowed a character’s behavior to keep me from finishing the book. “Cold Mountain” had me cursing at the main character, Ada, and almost literally throwing the book across the room. Yes, Ada made me that angry. I have very little tolerance for a character who is unable to help herself or even ATTEMPT to help herself. My poor friend, Jamie, had to read various e-mails from me where I would go on and on about this character’s idiocy. I realize that an author will create a helpless character in order to make a point or give them room to develop. I realize that happens, but I just can’t stand it. I tried to read this book, I really did, but I just couldn’t get past Ada’s character. I’ve never seen the movie, either, but that’s a completely different discussion. lol
I don’t know if you’ve ever read this book, or watched the movie. The only actor whom I can remember being in the movie was Billy Bob Thornton. I never actually saw the movie, but it interested me enough that I thought I would read the book first. Luckily I only paid $.25 for it at a book sale somewhere so I wasn’t out much money when I gave it away. I started to read it, but then I really ran into the problem that I couldn’t believe what they were doing. I honestly can’t remember the exact story line or what they were doing that had me so outraged. I think that it was something with finding a plane crash and keeping the money that they found. I think that the people in the crash had died, or maybe they left them there to die. I can’t recall. I just remember that they had all of that money and were keeping it for themselves. That led to a lot of other really bad and immoral choices, and I had to stop reading it. There was so much evil and bad things happening that I couldn’t stand reading it.
I’ve decided to begin with the book that started my Civil War obsession. Yes, it’s a piece of fiction, but without this book I might never have started down the War path. The summer between Seventh and Eighth grades my mom suggested that I read Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind”. She had only seen the movie so she thought that the book would be good to keep me busy. I did a lot of reading so I didn’t hesitate to pick up this very thick book. It took me two weeks, but I finished it from front to back. I cried when Rhett left Scarlet because he had loved her so much and she hadn’t realize just what she had until he left. On a whole I feel that Scarlet is a giant brat, but I loved this book. After reading it, though, I realized that I didn’t really know much about this period in our nation’s history. I knew that I had always loved the giant hoop skirts that the women wore, but I figured that I should know the basics at the very least.
I am grouping this next set of books together. After reading “Gone With the Wind” I found another Civil War novel that I read and instantly was in love. It was “The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara. This is the book that the movie “Gettysburg” was based on. This was the first book that I really read that was strictly based on the military. I realize that it was fiction, but I figured that it had to be based on facts at some point. This book took me through all three days of the battle and really gave me a much better picture of what had happened, as compared to my history textbooks. I also loved the prequel and sequel that Michael’s son, Jeff, wrote many years later; “Gods and Generals” and “The Last Full Measure.” I cried while reading both of these novels. Jeff Shaara is a wonderful writer and he really pulls you into the story. I have also enjoyed his other novels that he’s written about the American Revolution, the war with Mexico, and then both World Wars. If you enjoy historical fiction then you should definitely give Jeff Shaara’s books a glance.
As for an overall look at the war my favorite series would be “The Civil War: A Narrative” by Shelby Foote. This is a three volume set. Three VERY THICK volumes. This entire series was written on yellow legal pads with a fountain pen. In this age of computers my hand is cramping up just thinking about all of that writing. I love Foote’s style of writing. It’s like he’s a friend sitting there telling you about the War. He has a great writing voice and it really comes out. There is a LOT of information in the book, but there are maps sprinkled throughout to help you see the lay of the battlefield and he uses a LOT of actual quotes to help tell the story. It’s an easy read and an enjoyable one as well. I have managed to get through the first volume completely and halfway through the second.
This book by Noah Andre Trudeau is my favorite book about the battle of Gettysburg. Not only do you get the military side of things, but it also gives you a look at what the civilians were going through, too. I have actually read this book twice because I enjoyed it so much. It brings the battle to life in an easy-to-understand way. It was another quick page turner for me. Trudeau has also written a book on Gen. William T. Sherman, but I haven’t yet had a chance to read that one. I’m sure that it will be excellent if he continues to write as well as he did in this book. I know that I’m not giving you a concise review of the book, but just trust me. I wouldn’t recommend these books to you if I didn’t feel that they were praise-worthy. lol. Besides, if I told you everything that happens in them I would ruin the element of surprise for you.
If you already know me, then you know that my very favorite general of all time is Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. He makes me swoon! Jackson was looked upon as being peculiar, but that’s what endears him to me. He was a good man, a faithful man, and his word was his bond. He was also one of the driving forces behind Gen Robert E Lee’s victories during the first half of the war. James Robertson does an amazing job of bringing Jackson to life and introducing the real Thomas Jackson to the reader. When Stephen Lang was preparing for his role as Jackson in the movie “Gods and Generals” he kept two books always close as hand; the Holy Bible and this book. Maybe that’s why I LOVE the movie “Gods and Generals”. Lang does a wonderful job of bringing Jackson to life. Robertson also wrote a book on A.P. Hill, which I’ve never read, but I hear that it’s just as good.
My favorite president of all time has always been Abraham Lincoln. When I first heard about this book by Doris Kearns Goodwin I was unsure if I wanted to read it because there was some controversy surrounding Ms. Goodwin’s footnoting and research. Due to my love of Lincoln, however, I decided to give it a try. It was great! It’s my favorite book on Lincoln that I’ve ever read. The common theme with all of these books is that they don’t lecture to you, they sit you down and tell you a story. That’s what this book does. It says, “Hello, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Let me get you two some tea and cookies so that you can have a nice long visit.” If anybody thinks that Lincoln was just a bumbling ‘original gorilla’ then they did NOT know the true Lincoln. You get to see Lincoln the man, the politician, and the war weary president. You get to see his natural wit and humor come through as well. If you were looking for a good volume on the 16th president, then this is it.
After the War there were quite a few soldiers who wrote down their memories from their time in the ranks. Sam Watkins was one of those soldiers. This is a very entertaining read and I often found myself laughing at the various stories that were being told. One of my favorite lines from this book was the recollection of one of Sam’s cohorts as he marched around camp saying, “Bully for Bragg! He’s hell on retreat!” lol
This will be my final book suggestion for this post. This book teaches you a little bit about the Civil War, but it’s more about the author’s journey of Civil War discovery. After having spent so many years on the inside it was interesting to see the perspective of somebody from the “outside”. Even if you don’t have an obsession with the War it will entertain you and possibly teach you some things that you didn’t know. You might also learn about the obsession that some of us have with the War, and at the very least, respect it.
Kerry'd Away 