# 18 Harry Potter

I finished the last of the Harry Potter series about 1:30 am this morning. I enjoyed Harry's story, a modern fairy tale that sparks the imagination. Thank God, no computers anywhere in sight. What a novelty.

#18 Redux

Read all 7 of the Harry Potter books

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone finished 12/28/07
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets finished 1/2/08
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban finished 1/12/08
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire finished 1/19/08
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix finished 1/27/08
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince finished 1/30/08
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows finished 2/3/08

#18 Reading Harry Potter

Read all 7 of the Harry Potter books

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone finished 12/28/07
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

So...Santa kindly brought me the Harry Potter series for Christmas. I finished the first one last night.

A friend described it as "goodish". I'd describe it as a very interesting start to more adventures. It definitely made me want to read the next one.

Now, I have to confess that I've already seen all the movies that are out (I think 5 by now), so as I was reading the "Sorcerer's Stone" visions of that movie popped into my head.

On to the next.

#45. Take my mother out to dinner

Good grief! I've passed the 10% milestone of my days but feel like I've been an absolute slug the last month or so. With less than 900 days left I certainly haven't finished 10% of my goals. After the holidays it is time to buckle down again.

One item that I can mark off, but forgot to mention, was to take my mother out to dinner. When we visited her at Thanksgiving, she wanted to go to this Italian restaurant, Buca di Beppo She called it a food museum. So the day after turkey day, off we go to this crazy place covered floor to ceiling with photographs of Italians and Italian-Americans and all sorts of statuary and do-dads. She had reserved the Frank Sinatra booth but it was not empty when we arrived. She was PO'd about that but there were plenty of empty spaces so we had another booth with murals of ladies and fountains.

The food was good. Really big portions, even the single-serving entries were huge. It was fun.

94. Paint the House

Wow! This is a biggie that is done and crossed off the list. The house is not really tipping over, but this was the best shot hubby got today that actually shows the colors. The house is brown with grey trim, dark green accents and dark red door. If you click on the photo you can see closeups better.

I am very happy with the results. It hadn't been painted in about 20 years so it was long overdue. Just in time for all the leaves to fall off the trees. Looks good, doesn't it?

We'll work on landscaping next spring. Provided we get any rain between now and then or else we may be in a desert if we don't get water soon.

11. Visit the aquarium

We spent the afternoon at the Georgia Aquarium
What an amazing sight, especially seeing the whale sharks in person! What huge creatures, yet so graceful. It was a beautiful fall day and the crowds were not too large. I could have sat for hours at the viewing hall watching all the fish move in a ballet of fluid movement. How peaceful it was.

I also loved seeing the jellyfish. Such beautiful, glowing, orange, strange creatures that are absolutely fascinating, looking like parachutes rising and falling against a blue glass background.

It was the perfect time to visit. I even brought home a souvenir paperweight with a beautiful blue glass jellyfish encased in clear glass to remind me daily of the liquid day.

Book Review – The Root of Wild Madder

An American journalist living in Greece, Brian Murphy, had considerable and travel experience in Iran and Afghanistan when he became interested in the mysteries inherent in Persian carpets. This led to a quest to become more knowledgeable about the spiritual aspects and the significance of Persian carpets for those involved in making and trading them. This book is also a record of what are undoubtedly vanishing skills and ways of live for carpet weavers, dyers and carpet traders in a part of the world that is increasingly cut off from the west. The madder root of the title is the source of many of the oranges and reds found in Persian carpets made from naturally dyed materials.

The book is a mixture of many things: a travelogue through Iran and Afghanistan, a political analysis of their regimes, a socio-anthropological treatise of their people, but most of all, it is a book about carpets, and about those who weave them, those who dye them, those who trade them, and those who adore them. Brian Murphy uses a very poetic language to present all the above. And the book itself is a pleasure to read, with lots of stories, information, human conditions, and knowledge.

Whenever I come across a passage or phrase that catches my attention in a book, I tend to dog-ear the page so that I can come back to it. I’ve dogged-eared quite a few pages in this one. Rarely have I read a book that so readily captures the magic of what fuels the fiber enthusiast. These textiles are about stories captured in fiber and structure. Meanings and symbols may or may not give up their secrets outside of the carpet weaver’s mind and hands. Here is such a passage:

“My grandmother made this carpet when I was a boy…I must have been very young, because I can remember only little fragments of her making this carpet. There was a big pot where she made the dyes from different things. There were some leaves and dry plants. I remember the colors so well. I had never seen such things. It was from nature, the world where we walk, but also—how can I say?—part from somewhere else….When my grandmother died, I was still young. I remember whispering into the carpets, thinking my grandmother could hear me….I think what we make, what we say, what we do are all little parts of our soul. We leave these things for others to find and collect. This carpet was from my grandmother’s hand and her mind. It is now with me and my family….Life is in this carpet. So why is it wrong to believe that my grandmother is not still connected to this carpet she made; that she can feel the love we put in keeping it clean and repaired?”

I got caught up in the author’s carpet education and the insight he gained for appreciation of the poetry and imagery of Persian carpets.