#photoadayaug - #food - Nachos with spicy beef at my local.

Taken at Pheasant & Firkin

#photoadayaug - #food - Nachos with spicy beef at my local.

Taken at Pheasant & Firkin

Fanado...what's it all about?

Probably the best way to understand it is to watch this brief video featuring Margaret Atwood.
Fanado (pronounced like "fanatic" but ending with "doe") is a way to bring fans and artists together remotely. Some of you may have heard about (or experienced) Atwood's Long Pen technology, a concept she developed to enable her to sign books at a distance. Fanado takes this technology one step further in combining video capability permitting you to chat with the artist and record the interaction including the autograph. Fanado Mobile will make this possible with digital media, anywhere, anytime.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyEfvIKetBg]
Using IndieGoGo, Fanado set out to collect $85,000 via crowd-sourced funding, and I was excited to play a (small) role in this. They collected almost $95,000 with 389 funders by the deadline and so the project is a go!
My first "perk" is this badge that I display proudly.

#photoadayaug - #ready - the rice, that is!

(Mini-)Book Review: Two novellas by Francoise Sagan

 

COUVERTURE DU PARIS MATCH N°2889 : FRANCOISE SAGAN UNE VIE (Photo credit: Patrick Peccatte)

Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After half-watching a documentary about the life of Francoise Sagan (it was in French, so I only caught about half the info), I decided to have a got at some of her work.

Bonjour Tristesse was her first book, published when she was 19. It was a media sensation for its sexual themes, but it made her name (and a lot of money). A short work, I found it rather juvenile in its language, but a well-crafted story, a novella really. That being said, I was reading it in translation so I leave it to readers of the original French to set me straight.

I liked it enough to move on to her second (also short) work, A Certain Smile.

 

A Certain Smile: A Novel by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this immediately after Sagan's first work (Bonjour Tristesse) and much preferred it. The writing seems much more mature, although it was written only two years later.

Bored with her studies and boyfriend, Dominique sets out on a flirtation-turned-affair with his uncle. Sagan, who was the same age as her protagonist, writes convincingly and with authority, and the emotional tide feels very true-to-life.

Recommended.

View all my reviews

 

(Mini-)Book Review: Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book didn't really hang together for me. The story of a group of 20-something young women, it felt like a music video, kind of choppy, and brusquely spliced together. That being said, it kept me reading. The individual story arcs were interesting, but there were five of them and none felt really resolved. It's going into the give-away pile.

View all my reviews

#photoadayaug - #arrow - hands of time

#photoadayaug - #simple - white lace curtains moving with the breeze

#photoadayaug - #spoon - Native Cdn piece, gift when we left Canada

#photoadayaug - #purple - my favorite colour, but have virtually none in my house.

#photoadayaug - #ring for cooking eggs!

#photoadayaug - #Glasses

#photoadayaug - #8oclock - porridge in the rice cooker, with maple syrup and cream!

Antipasto Pasta Salad - a family fave.

This is an easy summer side that can be thrown together quickly.

Cook 8 oz medium shell pasta, and then rinse in cold water.

In a large bowl, throw together cubed salami and provolone or havarti cheese (1/2 lb each), 1-1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, some pitted olives, green pepper strips, sliced pimiento, artichoke hearts, or anything else that you like (banana peppers? yum!). Add pasta and combine with 1 cup of your favorite homemade or store-bought Italian salad dressing (I like Newman's Own Family Italian.) Chill before serving.

My teen boys eat this as a snack.

#photoadayaug - #Writing - #Arabic script on tray

Another #valuevillage score: pillow cover for 99 cents!

#photoadayaug - Logo: @Matt_and_Nat (vegan bags and accessories)

#photoadayaug - somewhere I sat .... my Saturday nest!

#photoadayaug - Coin - 2 arcade tokens with the French centimes.

#photoadayaug - Coin - 2 arcade tokens with the French centimes.

#photoadayaug - 'One'

#photoadayaug - Outside: at the community centre