Top Ten Tuesday: Rewind

 

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Favorite Places To Read

Oh, am I going to have fun with this one! :)

1. Sitting on a fallen log, a nice, tall, fat one. It's lovely atmosphere. Unfortunately in the east the experience is quickly ruined when you're bitten all over by chiggers and ticks and mosquitoes and biting flies. Best to do it out west, where it's drier. It doesn't rain much at all in the summer in the Northwest, contrary to popular belief, and the trees are bigger.

2. I used to like to read in the car much more than I do now (I'd usually rather look at the scenery, honestly). But if there's nothing to look at but cornfields, then reading in the car is awesome! (While someone else drives. . . er, duh!) If the other people in the car are introverts and happy to be quiet, the car is a great place to read. The only other thing you could be doing is looking out the window or listening to the radio, neither of which stands out as especially useful, so no one can scold you to stop wasting your time, and spoil all your fun.

3. Reading while you wait for your laundry to finish is also good, for the same reason.

4. Under a weeping willow. They're so beautiful, and shady, and quietly breezy, and you feel as if you've already one foot in Faerie before you even sit down.

5. Inside a tent on a rainy day. The somber, cool light, the lulling patter of rain, and the cozy feeling of being outdoors in the wet and still staying dry I love.

6. In the desert, in the shade under the palms near a river or spring, while you wait for the heat of the day to pass. Pour water over your head if you like, only try not to get your book wet.

7. Sprawled on the floor. I don't know why reading on the floor is so much more fun than sitting in a chair, but it is.

8. In bed, in the dark, while everyone else is sleeping and no one knows what you're doing. If they're blissfully asleep, they have no reason to disturb you.

9. At a shady picnic table in a quiet corner of a public botanic garden, like the one in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

10. I've never had a window seat, or a tower-shaped room, but I think it would be really cool to combine them. It would be a really romantic place to read.

Lindon vs. the snake

Lindon does NOT like snakes. He's not always the bravest of cats, but he was determined that the slithery beast should not stay on his territory. (Even though he had no idea what to do with it!)

He's a giant teddy bear.

Across the yard, I saw him creeping along with his tail dragging the ground. He stared at the thing. He poked it with a giant paw and jumped back in horror. Then he snuck towards it again. Seeing him do this sort of thing usually means something is wrong, so I hurried over to see what he'd found.

The snake had some stripes and shook its tail as if it might be a rattlesnake, so I didn't snap any pictures of his attempts to deal with it. I chased him off and took a picture of the snake while my compadres attempted to pick it up with a long stick and take it back into the woods. (Maybe not the best of ideas, but it worked out.)

Here's the snake:

It wasn't amused.

I've seen western rattlesnakes. This snake was smaller, and lacked a rattle, so I'm not convinced that it was one, but better safe than sorry, right? :)

Kissa had a similar adventure last year with a black snake. She was way more determined than Lindon to kill it. When we found her attacking it out in the neighbor's weeds, it had fur from her ruff stuck all over its snout, but luckily, hadn't managed land a bite. She's a seriously fiercehearted little cat.

Invisibility cloak engaged

Yucca flowers

They look so exotic.

Song: Banner ~ Lights

This is a cool music video. Now that I've read the lyrics, I like it even more. :)



Maybe it's bricks and mortar now, whether or not they run it down
I don't want anything to shake that shape away
No one told us which way to come, nobody mapped oblivion
So I go growing roses in the disarray

Just like most, falling head in
'Til my ghost fills the bed in

So lift it up like a banner
Hold it up over me
If this war is never ending
I'll take this love down with me
Like a banner

I don't need fate to give it time, it doesn't take pain to change your
Mind
No weapon can sever the soul from me

Not the sorceress, not the money
All my cleverness, all my cunning

So lift it up like a banner
Hold it up over me
If this war is never ending
I'll take this love down with me
Like a banner

(chorus)
It's around me in my surroundings
It counts me when it starts the counting
In the chaos there is a standard
I'm carrying it like a banner

So lift it up like a banner
Hold it up over me
If this war is never ending
I'll take this love down with me



It's special because it's a song about love (according to the video above), but it's not a boyfriend song. Songs about friendship really aren't that common, so I'm impressed with Lights for making something unique.