Our unchanging God...

I took this picture at Hort Park, Singapore

Dear Friends,

Thanks for stopping by. Thank God for seeing us through another week.

This morning, I was pondering over the great changes between my thoughts, feelings and actions in the different phases of my mood swings - manic and depression. Whenever I am well or manic, I am filled with the joy of the Lord, have more energy, more creativity and enjoy relating to people and doing things, and able to accomplish much for the Lord and for others. Whenever I am unwell or in clinical depression, I am the total opposite - so miserable from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, so slowed down and exhausted that I have no energy to do anything, can hardly get up of my bed, my mind is so empty and unable to focus that I can't get anything done properly, hate to relate to people and just want to be alone. How terribly inconsistent are my behaviours! I must have confused lots of people around me! Thankfully some of them are beginning to understand that with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), some of these things are beyond my control. I am trying, by God's grace, to manage this condition better but it is not easy. I do get discouraged at times in the difficulties of managing this condition.

The Lord reminded me that as frail creatures in a fallen world, we are always changing, all the time. So it is not just with bipolar disorder that I experience so much changes, even a normal person experience changes daily, though not as dramatically as I do. The Lord brings this Psalm to my remembrance:

Psalm 102
11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
12 But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

Hebrews 13:8 
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. 

Knowing how weak and inconsistent I am, I am learning to look to the Lord daily for grace to live for Him. I realized that I also need to lower my expectation of myself and others as we are forever changing and have many limitations.

I am reminded that though I am always changing and so are the people and circumstances around me, God is unchanging. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. I can rest in His love, mercies, grace and faithfulness. What a mercy and encouragement!

I like the ways Spurgeon put it "The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed—but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If He loved me yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord." Amen! Thank God that His love is unchanging :)

Hope this article by CH Spurgeon will encourage you just like the way it has encouraged me.

“Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation.”
Psalm 91:9

THE Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to change.

Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were pitched; but to-morrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the mountain, up the hillside, or along the arid waste of the wilderness.

They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of “Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying towards Canaan!” They were never long in one place. Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding home in their God, His cloudy pillar was their roof-tree, and its flame by night their household fire.

They must go onward from place to place, continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, “Now we are secure; in this place we shall dwell.” “Yet,” says Moses, “though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.”

The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed—but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God.

If He loved me yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord.

Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is “my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort.”

I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 Feb, Morning

Hope you enjoy the reading of Psalm 102:



Thank you for stopping by. Take care and have a blessed week!

Warm regards,
Nancie

Winter Wonderland

I've been suffering from an advanced case of writer's block in recent weeks. I haven't been able to focus on much of anything--on writing original poems or writing book reviews for this blog. Yesterday, as I was driving to my mother's house, snow was falling gently. As soon as flakes touched the pavement, they melted. I was inspired. I made up a rough draft of a poem in my head. I forgot to write it down when I returned home. It wasn't a great poem--but it felt good to have my creative juices flowing again.

The poem went something like this:

Snowflakes falling like fairy dust...

I turn my face to the sky,

Cold white kisses

Melting on my cheeks

I took the photographs posted here in December.

I awoke one morning to find a wonderland of white

outside my bedroom window--

so I got my camera and took some pictures.

I may be old--

but I still like winter.

I love to look at the beauty of new-fallen snow.

***************

Speaking of snow and poetry--

I often shared Dorothy Aldis's poem

On a Snowy Day

with my elementary students.

I liked the imagery she used in it:

Fence posts wearing marsmallow hats...

Bushes in nightgowns kneeling down to pray...

Trees spreading out snowy skirts

I'd also recite Mary Louise Allen's poem First Snow.

Here are the first two lines:

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.

The bushes look like popcorn balls.

Two of my favorite snow poems are mask poems

in which snow speaks to us:

The Snowflake

by Walter de la Mare

Here's how it begins:

Before I melt,

Come look at me!

This lovely icy filigree!

Of a great forest

In one night

I make a wildreness of white...

and

a poem by Karla Kuskin that ends:

I can make anything

Everything

Beautiful.

What I touch,

Where I blow,

Even a dump filled with garbage

looks lovely

After I've fallen there.

I am the snow.

I'll close this post with an original acrostic:

Wrapped

In a robe of white

Numbed with cold

The weary

Earth

Rests

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have Winter-Time by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Anastasia Suen has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Picture Book of the Day.

Pens v Sens

Sorry I missed Monday's Rangers game... It's been a crazy week at work in every way possible. The big win was well deserved. :)

There's a ton of stuff on the Pens' website. Some highlights:

• You probably already know about this, but it bears repeating: VOTE FOR JACK ROSENSTEEL!!!
• This isn't really a newsflash: Mario Lemieux is an amazing human being.
• And my personal favorite: Tonight the Penguins are honoring an American hero.

Flower and Guerin are back, so let's review who remains missing from the regular lineup: Godzilla is out 4-6 weeks with a groin injury, TK is out and listed as day-to-day, Gogo is out with an undisclosed injury, and even though Kuni, who is still on the Injured Reserve list, skated for the first time since his abdominal surgery, he'll probably be out at least another week.

Let's keep the Ws coming, Boys!!!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking Back: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

I was ecstatic last week when I got news that my good friend Grace Lin had won a Newbery Honor Award for her wonderful fantasy novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.


I thought I'd put together a little retrospective post with videos of Grace talking about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the book trailer, pictures that I took at the launch party for the book, and the celebratory dinner we Blue Rose Girls had after the party.

Grace lin on the Today Show with Al Roker

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Grace Lin on The Steve Katsos Show

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The Inside Notes for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

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The Book Trailer

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Pictures Taken at the Launch Party for

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

After the Launch Party,
Grace Treated The Blue Rose Girls

to a Fabulous Dinner

at Upstairs on the Square

Congratulations, Grace!!!

Texas Education Board Bans Popular Children's Author by Mistake

Here's some interesting children's literature news

regarding the late Bill Martin Jr.

From Think Progress (1/26/2010)
Right-wing Texas Education Board accidentally bans popular children’s book author.

Excerpt:
Last week, ThinkProgress reported on the Texas Board of Education’s push to change the state’s social studies curriculum to marginalize progressives. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reveals that the latest to be nixed is actually popular children’s author Bill Martin Jr.:

In its haste to sort out the state’s social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children’s author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain “very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system.”

Trouble is, the Bill Martin Jr. who wrote the Brown Bear series never wrote anything political, unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, his friends said. The book on Marxism was written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/26/brown-bear-martin/

********************

More on the story from dallasnews.com (1/25/2010)

Name confusion gets kid's author banned from Texas curriculum
Traci Shurley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Excerpt:
Bill Martin Jr.'s name would have been included on a list with author Laura Ingalls Wilder and artist Carmen Lomas Garza as examples of individuals who would be studied for their cultural contributions.

Hardy said she was trusting the research of another board member, Terri Leo, R-Spring, when she made her motion and comments about Martin's writing. Leo had sent her an e-mail alerting her to Bill Martin Jr.'s listing on the Borders.com Web site as the author of Ethical Marxism. Leo's note also said she hadn't read the book.

"She said that that was what he wrote, and I said: ' ... It's a good enough reason for me to get rid of someone,' "said Hardy, who has complained vehemently about the volume of names being added to the curriculum standards.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-books_25tex.ART.State.Edition1.4ba2046.html

The January 2010 Small Graces Auction is On!

The Small Graces painting being auctioned off this month was done by Melissa Sweet, winner of a Caldecott Honor Award in 2009 for A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, which was written by Jen Bryant. Melissa's painting will be on auction beginning Monday, January 25 through Friday, January 29.


Click here to bid on the painting Melissa Sweet contributed to the Small Graces fundraising effort that will benefit The Foundation for Children’s Books in Massachusetts.

You can read more about the auction here.

Small Graces website.

Pens v Flyers

The Pens are coming off a frustrating loss to one of their two main rivals to immediately face the other. After leading and/or matching the Caps for 42 minutes, the back-to-back goals just under a minute apart in the beginning of the third period put momentum squarely on the bad guys' side. The Pens of two months ago could have come back and beat them handily, but the rollercoaster "slump" we're going through right now seems to be something the Boys are still trying to shake.

Perhaps a need for vindication plus the fact that all the Penguin fathers will be present in-house will be the boost the Boys' need to get back on the winning track. The Pens' 4^th annual Dad's Trip will see the Boys' fathers accompanying their sons to today's Flyers match and tomorrow's Rangers match.

Today's 12:30pm match is NBC's Game of The Week, so EVERYONE should get to enjoy it! :) I haven't yet decided if I'm going to watch it live or if I'm going to wait for woodstock to come home from work and watch it with him.

I'll refrain from the smack talk today because (1.) I'm TERRIBLE at it and (2.) it seems like when I use smack talk we lose, but when I just put out positive vibes for the Boys we win. So I think from now on I'm going with the "positive vibes" thing.

DO IT.
DO IT.
DO IT.
DO IT.
DO IT.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking Ahead: Some Children's Poetry Books of 2010

Poetry is food for me! I like the way it tastes on my tongue when I read it aloud. Here are two poems about "eating" poetry that I selected for posting today--along with the titles of some children's poetry books that I can't wait to begin feasting on as soon as they're published.

Eating Poetry
By Mark Strand

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.

I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

Her eyes are sad

and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.

The light is dim.

The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

How to Eat a Poem
By Eve Merriam

Don't be polite.

Bite in.

Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.

It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon

or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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I thought that 2009 was a fine year for children’s poetry. It looks like 2010 is going to be another good year for those of us who get excited about reading new children’s poetry books as well. Here are some of the books I’m looking forward to reading this winter and spring. I’ve arranged the titles by their publication dates.

Ocean Soup: A Book of Tide Pool Poems
Written by Stephen R. Swinburne
Illustrated by Mary Peterson
Charlesbridge (February 2010)

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Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
Written by Marilyn Singer
Illustrated by Josee Massee
Dutton (March 4, 2010)

From the starred Booklist review by Patricia Austin: This ingenious book of reversos, or poems which have one meaning when read down the page and perhaps an altogether different meaning when read up the page, toys with and reinvents oh-so-familiar stories and characters, from Cinderella to the Ugly Duckling. The five opening lines of the Goldilocks reverso read: “Asleep in cub’s bed/Blonde/startled by/Bears,/the headline read.” Running down the page side-by-side with this poem is a second, which ends with: “Next day/the headline read:/Bears startled/by blonde/asleep in cub’s bed.”

********************Everybody Was a Baby Once and Other Poems
Written by Allen Ahlberg
Illustrated by Bruce Ingman
Candlewick (March 9, 2010)

********************

Poetrees
Written & illustrated by Douglas Florian
Beach Lane Books (March 9, 2010)

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the poems in the book:
Click here to read Paper Birch.
Click here to read Dragon Tree.
Click here to read Giant Sequoias.

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Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by David Diaz
Margaret K. McElderry (March 9, 2010)

Lee Bennett Hopkins showed me an F&G of Sharing the Seasons at the NCTE Convention in November. The book is gorgeous!

Click here for a peek inside the book.

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Volcano Wakes Up!
Written by Lisa Westberg Peters
Illustrated by Stephen W. Jenkins
Henry Holt (March 30, 2010)

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Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors
Written by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Beckie Prange
Houghton Mifflin (April 5, 2010)

From the starred Booklist review by Gillian Engberg: The creators of the Caldecott Honor Book Song of the Waterboatman and Other Pond Poems (2005) offer another winning blend of poetry, science, and art in this picture-book collection that celebrates the earth’s most resilient and long-lived species. Following Waterboatman’s format, each dynamic spread in this remarkable volume features a poem, a prose paragraph, and a captivating illustration that work together perfectly to reinforce both the science concepts and the awe they inspire.

The book trailer for Ubiquitous: Celebrating Natures Survivors

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Amazing Faces
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet
Lee & Low (May 2010)

Click here to find out about this book from the publisher.

********************

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Karen Swank-Fitch titled I Leave Bits of Me Everywhere.

Liz Garton Scanlon is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Pens v Caps

It's true in math and on the ice:

87 > 8

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010 ALSC Notable Children's Books Announced

From the Association for Library Service to Children:

2010 Notable Children’s Books

Three of my favorite books of 2009 that are also Cybils finalists made the list.

Younger Readers

All the World

By Liz Garton Scanlon

Illus. by Marla Frazee

Beach Lane

The myriad joys of the world are reflected with warmth and affection in this look at a day in a small community near the ocean.

(A 2010 Caldecott Honor Book)

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors.

By Joyce Sidman

Illus. by Pamela Zagarenski

Houghton

Evocative poems celebrate color and enliven the senses as readers follow a woman and her dog surrounded by myriad intricately costumed and stylized figures through the seasons.

(A 2010 Caldecott Honor Book)

Middle Readers

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

By Grace Lin

Illus. by Grace Lin

Little, Brown

A young Chinese girl, long a believer in her father’s fantastic stories, goes on a quest to find the legendary Old Man of the Moon in the hope of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain.

(A 2010 Newbery Honor Book)

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Click here for a Cybils printable flier.

God is our Refuge and Strength.... Psalm 46:1

Dear Friends,

How are you?

Thank God for seeing us through another week. How time flies! It's almost a month has gone by in year 2010!

I am thankful to God for strengthening me day by day. I am still learning to pace myself. My health fluctuates from time to time, and I am learning to rest in our Lord and His grace and strength daily.

Thank God that recently He strengthens me and enable me once again to visit some sick and elderly people who come to my church or who are home-bound. It is always a joy to visit these dear grandpa and grandma, to see their faith in the Lord and to encourage them to continue to look to God. Thank God for giving me the joy of walking with Him and serving Him in little ways like these.

I have also been kept very occupied with some freelance work to earn a living. Been also helping my church with some volunteer work besides caring for my mother.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon in Singapore on the 14th of February. It is the first day of the Chinese Calendar. The Chinese has our own Calendar and New Year. One of my brothers will be coming from overseas to visit my mum and I. So will my sister and her family. I am looking forward to see them again. They are all non-believers. Please pray with me for their salvation. Thank you.

Thank God that He is our Refuge and Strength daily and He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. No matter what we go through in this life, we can have the blessed assurance of His love and His presence with us. And He in His mercies and faithfulness is working all things for His glory and our good.

I am thankful that through this bipolar disorder illness, God has given me the gift and talent to serve Him whenever I am well or a little manic. I have more energy and are more creative. This blog is one of the result of my manic. I build this blog about 2 years ago when I was recovering from a relapse of severe depression and was becoming a little manic.

Now I am not able to blog as regularly as in time past due to my various commitments. But this blog has been a great blessing to me not only in allowing me to share my journey of walking with our Lord and coping with bipolar disorder and other challenges in my life, but also it has enabled me to help others or their loved ones who are struggling with depression or bipolar disorder. Another great blessing is to get to know so many of you who loves God and are seeking to walk with Him despite whatever afflictions, trials or chronic illness you are going through. Your friendship and prayers have been such blessings to me, and I am learning so much from all of you, especially how to be thankful in everything as we are under the care of such a Great God.

Thank you for stopping by. I took this picture at East Coast Beach, Singapore. These are 2 of my favourite Bible verses. Hope you like it too.

God is our refuge and strength....Psalm 46:1

....for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

What are you thankful for today? Thankful Thursday is hosted by Lynn. Thanks, Lynn! Do visit the other participants and be encouraged by their thanksgiving to God too.

Thanks for stopping by. Take care and have a blessed day!

Warm Regards,
Nancie

Horn Book's ALA Awards Page

From The Horn Book: 2010 ALA Awards Page

Pens v Isles

I feel better about this game already:

• BRENT JOHNSON IN GOAL. (Although it must be said that Alexander Pechurskiy did do a bang-up job in his remarkable first NHL appearance by only allowing one goal!)
• Brooks Orpik back on D.
• I once again have a working well pump and hot water heater. (They crapped out on us over the weekend, which is why I missed the Vancouver game. We got the pump replaced yesterday and the heater was repaired today. WOOOO!)

So despite the fact that the Isles are red hot right now, I think the Boys are gonna bring home the W.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melissa Sweet Painting to Launch 2010 Small Graces Auction

From The Foundation for Children’s Books:

In 2009, the talented and generous author/illustrator Grace Lin donated 11 original paintings to the Foundation for Children's Books to be auctioned on eBay as a benefit for our programs in under-served schools.

In this new year, we are fortunate enough to have 12 different illustrators contributing to our "Small Graces" auction. Each month a small (approximately 5x5 inch), unpublished, original painting will be auctioned on eBay with 100% of the proceeds to support the FCB's author/illustrator visits and residencies in urban schools. Each painting will illustrate a bit of wisdom, a proverb, or a "small Grace."

This month's painting (below), a lovely watercolor by Cadecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet, will be on auction beginning Monday, January 25 through Friday, January 29.



Melissa Sweet has illustrated over 70 children's books from board books to nonfiction and jacket covers. She has written and illustrated two books, Tupelo Rides the Rails, and Carmine: A Little More Red, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book in 2005. Melissa illustrated A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, a 2009 Caldecott Honor book. When she is not in her studio, she can be found riding her bicycle in Rockport, Maine. Learn more about Melissa and her work at her website here.

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Small Graces Website

Here’s the painting I won in the February 2009 Small Graces auction:

Grace Lin Wins a 2010 Newbery Honor Award!!!!!

My good friend Grace Lin got an early morning phone call today because...

SHE WON A

NEWBERY HONOR AWARD

FOR HER BOOK

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON!!!

I am so excited...and so happy for her!!!

2010 Newbery & Caldecott Winners

American Library Association Announces Literary Award Winners

Newbery & Caldecott Award Winners Announced

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Three of my favorite pictures books of 2009 have received Caldecott Awards!!!

Winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal:

The Lion and the Mouse

by Jerry Pinkney

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2010 Caldecott Honor Award Recipients

Red Sings from Treetops:

A Year in Colors

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

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ALL THE WORLD

Written by Liz Garton Scanlon

Illustrated by Marla Frazee

Bubble? China vs Japan in 1960s-1990s

This graph says all. (see the Economist article as well), it is more like the 1960s than the 1990s.

However, if China were to follow Japan's footsteps into its 1970s, its GDP/cap growth will slow down to around 4-5% p.a. within the next decade.

Boy, Was I Wrong!

Yesterday I said that the gal in the wedding dress offered Siddo the funniest marriage proposal I had ever seen. That was true - until yesterday's Oilers game gave us this gem:

Yep, that's a dude.

Thanks, John Ulan (the photographer for The Associated Press/The Canadian Press). Now I have to go wash my eyes.

MOUSE: An Original Acrostic Poem

Mice have been characters in many memorable children's books--Leo Lionni's Frederick, Stuart Little, Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and picture books by Kevin Henkes--including Owen, Chrysanthemum, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, and Julius, the Baby of the World.

With cute little literary rodents in mind, I give you the following acrostic that I wrote many years ago.

Mitten-footed forager

Out on a midnight adventure,

Unheard, unseen, in the whisper-soft dark,

Scurrying about the house,

Eking out a meal.

***************

At Blue Rose Girls, I have Winter Dusk by Walter de la Mare.

Mary Ann's got the Poetry Friday Round Up at Great Kid Books today.

Pens v Oilers

We've seen dozens... Scratch that, HUNDREDS of marriage proposals aimed at our title man, but none as hi-lar-i-ous as this one:


I am giving her extra creativity points for actually having the stones to wear a complete bridal ensemble to a professional sporting event that did NOT following an actual wedding. But I just have one question: Did she buy the dress especially for this stunt or did already have the dress - and if she did, does that mean she's already married?? Hmmmmm... Makes you wonder if perhaps there is a Mr. Crazy Bride at home steaming over this pic! :P

Friend of The Show Need Ice In Phoenix shared this video of Siddo hopping like a bunny right over Niklas Hagman during this past Pens v Leafs game in Toronto. The slo-mo replay sound effects cracked me up:



GM Ray Shero are going head to head Geno against one another (and Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt Tailback Dion Lewis, and Pitt football Coach Dave Wannstedt) for the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year award. Siddo is a two-time winner of the award, and while I love Geno, I think Shero - the genius behind the construction of our team - has MORE than earned my vote. The Pens have two plays nominated in the Best Play category: a pretty backhander from Geno during the Eastern Conference Finals against Carolina, and that beautiful last minute save from Flower on Lidstrom that led to the Stanley Cup Final Game 7 victory. The absolutely remarkable moment when Mario handed the Stanley Cup back to Sid is one of the nominees for and SHOULD be the hands down winner of the Best Sports Moment of 2009; although it's undoubtedly going to face a tough battle with the Steelers' record breaking sixth Super Bowl win. Cast your votes here.

Thank you is due to Need Ice In Phoenix for finding the video clip. We're facing the Oilers in Edmonton tonight. The projected lines as of right now are identical to last night's lines. Flower is the projected netminder; however, since the games are back-to-back, I wonder if maybe we'll see Johnson in goal. Either way, we're gonna get 'em.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some Recommended Children's Books

Last week, I posted links to a number of lists of Best Children's Books of 2009.


Here are links to more lists of recommended children’s books:

• From Book Links—Lasting Connections of 2009
• From Book Links—Lasting Connections of 2008
• From Chicken Spaghetti—Best Children’s Books of 2009: The Big List of Lists
• From A Fuse #8 Production—Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results (#1-101)
• From The Huffington Post—The Best Children’s Picture Books of 2009
• From ScrippsNews—Corner-books: The Best Children’s Books of 2009
• From Poetry for Children (Sylvia Vardell)—Favorite Poetry Books of 2009
  
  

2009 Cybils Finalists

• Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
• Fiction Picture Books
• Graphic Novels
• Middle Grade Fiction
• Non-Fiction Middle Grade/YA
• Non-Fiction Picture Books
• Poetry
• Young Adult Fiction

Pens v Flames (& Wild Game Fan Pics!)

Brew a pot o' coffee - it's a late one tonight! The Boys continue their 2010 West Coast tour in Calgary to face Jarome Iginla and the Flames. Courtesy of good Friends of The Show Susan and Joeceff, I've got some reading material to keep you busy until the puck drops:

At a time when Tiger Woods, Mark McGwire, and Gilbert Arenas dominate the sports headlines for all the wrong reasons, in flies Sidney Crosby to remind us all it’s still safe to have heroes.

Read the rest of the Toronto Sun article here.

Also in the news: The FSN Pittsburgh employee responsible for the Flyers-disallowed-goal-footage-to-Toronto FAIL was suspended.

Brooksie skated and Superstar is playing on the "second" line alongside Geno and Tank - a position more than deserved for a player whose middle name is "CLUTCH."

Longtime Friend Cathy F. sent a link to a new Tim Horton's commercial featuring our title man. It's another good one! Look for two blasts from Siddo's past...

Check out these shots from Monday's Wild game that West Coast Friend Lauren C. (who had a pretty AMAZING seat!) sent in for us:










And finally tonight, for my Friends who aren't my friends on Facebook, here is a new shot of the Red Baron wearing his shiny new shamrock name tag:


So many thanks go out to Susan, Joeceff, Cathy, and Lauren for their respective contributions to tonight's post. :) Now it's time to ICE the Flames! (Um, did I mention I'm terrible at smack talk?)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!