Treasures.........

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings
--Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be
--I had a Mother who read to me.
~Strickland Gillilan

Tuesday or Wednesday is library day for us. This week it was Wednesday.

It is the most treasured day of the week. We pile in the car and drive to Clinton, with our big bag of books/tapes/CDs to return and refill.

To me, the library has always been my most favorite place to be, and I believe it is the same for my children......I hope that they will look back on their life and smile at the thought of spending time at the library,,,,looking through the shelves and taking home treasures to read [and in my children's case hear or watch] [[back when I was young, CDs,tapes and videos were not a library option....or at least I was not aware of those choices]].

During the school year we attend 'Story Hour'.........but during the summer, library is free time to explore, investigate and take out books to take us on magical adventures. To beat the heat under a tree and dive into a story.
What a National Treasure our public library system is...........of all of life's perks, for me, owning a library card has to be the greatest.

I was able to pick up a series on teaching reading called 'Learning to Read with Phonics, Letters and Worlds' [that had been lost for a long time] and I was very excited to get the call on Monday that the item I requested had been located from the main county branch. I'll let you know what I think of the tape as soon as we review it and work with it.

Otto picked up books on Julius Ceasar, The story of the nile, Explorers and Lives of the Writers [Comedies, Tragedies, and what the neighbors thought]! It makes me smile to see the books he chooses.............what a delight for a nine year old boy to be able to open the pages of these books and be transported back into time.

Katrina got two new books from two authors that she enjoyed, so she is seeing if she likes all of their work. Her required summer reading is completed for high school and she is just reading for the pure joy of reading. [truly makes a mothers heart swell]

Emma Sage, the queen of books, and her friends Claudia & B, eagerly filled the bag up with their allotment of 20 books. They are so cute together searching and looking at the covers [at 4years and 3 years old,,,,you do "judge a book by its cover" lol!]. This round they picked up some fun books and a few favorites.

I have two books on the nightstand, plus a pile of paperwork that needs to be done, so I only ventured to pick out new CDs to filled the CD deck with for music to play throughout our days. I picked up The Roches "Will you be my friend", Justin Roberts "Not Naptime", Sara Hickman "Big Kid", Sweet Honey In The Rock "Still the same me", Jamie Broza "Bad Mood Mom" and one of my all time favorite childrens music Jessica Harper "Inside Out!"
.
After checkout, we headed over to the park to play for a while. Today was another picture perfect day here in Hunterdon County. So from my accounts August 23rd and 24th are two of the top ten days of the year 2005, as you can see from the pictures below!