~ The Shadow of the Wind ~

This entry is about a Wonderful amazing book I just finshed reading and would recommend to anyone who loves to get lost in the pages of a good book. The book is ~The Shadow of the Wind~ By Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The following is a bit about the Author and the book and I am sure that you will love this story as much as I do.


About the Book:


Carlos best sums up his own novel in a passage spoken by his hero, Daniel Sempere: ‘This is a story… about accursed books, about the man who wrote them, about a character who broke out of the pages of a novel so that he could burn it, about a betrayal and a lost friendship. It’s a story of love, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind’.


The Shadow of the Wind is set in central Barcelona during the harsh postwar years when dictator Francisco Franco ran the country in a ruthless way. The story peers past the backdrop of a suffering city and often cruel government to focus on the life, love and adventures of a boy named Daniel, a poor bookseller’s son who lives in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic quarter.
Daniel’s mother dies of cholera in Barcelona in 1939, shortly after the Spanish Civil War. Six years later, aged 10, Daniel wakes up one day and finds he can no longer remember her face. That night his father takes him to the Raval quarter of the city and introduces his son to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a labyrinth beneath a dome. He tells Daniel, ‘When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure that it gets here. In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day they will reach a new reader’s hands. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend’. One of the traditions at the cemetery is that a first time visitor chooses a book so ‘that it will always stay alive’. Daniel selects La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind) a fabulously rare edition of the last novel, a gothic romance thriller, of Julian Carax, a spectacularly unsuccessful local writer, long presumed dead in a duel in a Parisian cemetery.


Daniel sets about trying to learn more about the book’s mysterious dead author and why his books appear to have been systematically destroyed by a mysterious figure called Lain Coubert. Over the next decade, Daniel begins to piece together the secrets and tragedies that shadowed the author’s life and work. As he grows older, Daniel realises that his burning interest in Carax has earned him enemies and as the story unfolds, Daniel’s life becomes intricately linked with Carax’s, often paralleling it in mysterious and unsettling ways. It ultimately becomes clear that in trying to save Carax’s work, Daniel is saving himself.


The Shadow of the Wind does the lot: Gothic romance, historical drama, coming-of-age quest, political thriller, social comedy, even literary satire. It does star-crossed lovers, fortunes won and lost, skeletons in cupboards, murder, war, magic and miracles, with goodies to fall in love with and baddies to make you shiver.


Fittingly for such a celebration of the imagination, the translation is provided by Robert Graves’s daughter Lucia. To her credit, the language and mood remain intricate and beguiling.




MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR!


Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in Barcelona in 1964 and has been writing since childhood – from the moment he learned to spell ‘and somebody left unsecured ink and paper in my vicinity’. He wrote his first novel at the age of 13 – a 600-page science fiction ‘monster’ which was never published!


Carlos went to university in Barcelona and early in his career was considered one of Spain’s most successful advertising writers. He left Barcelona in his late 20s and ending up in Los Angeles, where he worked as a screenwriter, a form of writing the novelist describes as ‘like playing a piano in a whorehouse’.


At that point, Carlos was already a successful writer of four novels for young adults. These are works of juvenile mystery that have not yet been translated into English. His 1993 novel, The Prince of Shadow, is about a diabolical prince who grants wishes at very high personal prices. The Lights of September, which came out in 1995, focuses on a toy maker who lives in a haunted mansion alongside mechanical creatures and ghosts from the past. But it wasn’t until The Shadow of the Wind, a new departure for him, that Carlos found the book he’s always wanted to write.


Currently there is much buzz about making a movie version of the book. Carlos, however, isn’t committing to a screen idea, ‘Sometimes it’s OK that a book is just a book’, he says. Books after all, are his great passion. Books inspired the book. Books are all around him, ‘I own enough books to put the Library of Congress out of business, yet I continue to get more and more,’ he admits.


Carlos recently moved back to Barcelona and is working on a second novel, one of a further three that he says will stem indirectly from The Shadow of the Wind, ‘I see this as the first of four novels that use Gothic Barcelona as a base. All four will share the same universe, but you can read just one, or read them in any order. They’re independent stories’. This second novel, will be set in late 19th century Barcelona; a city of violence and conflict far removed from the ‘interesting kind of mirage’ he believes the city has become in recent years.

~ I am me ~

I am posting this for a dear friend of mine.. you know who you are... who has been having a hard time as of late.. and for anyone who doubts who they are or there worth. You are loved my friend..

In all the world,

there is no one else exactly like me –

everything that comes out of me is authentically mine,

because I alone choose it - I own everything about me - my body, my feelings, my mouth,

my voice, all my actions,

whether they be to others or to myself –

I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears –

I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of

me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing I can love me and be

friendly with me in all my parts –

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,

and other aspects that I do not know –

but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,

I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find

out more about me –

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do,

and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me - If later

some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turned out to be unfitting, I can

discard that which I feel is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that

which I discarded –

I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do.

I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,

and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me –

I own me, and therefore I can engineer me -

I am me & I AM OKAY

by Virginia Satir

Multi-Exposure Rose

~ Yellow Rose and Clouds~

Multi-Exposure photo created on Picasa
Original photographs and Multi-Exposure photographs
©Kristal 2006

Nature Collage

All Photo's Taken on Feb. 8th, 2006
Copyright@ Kristal

* More to come

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy
Valentine’s
Day

I hope you all have a wonderful

Valentine’s Day, filled with

much love and happiness.

~~Steelers Win the Super Bowl~~

~~Pittsburgh Steelers~~

Win

The

~~Super Bowl~~

~~~YEAH~~~

Thanks to my Papaw and my uncle I have been a Steelers fan since I was itty bitty.. Never lost faith in my team and tonight it paid off once again.. Yeah !!!

Steelers are # 1

Papaw's Poem

This poem I wrote for my grandfather.. You see he was an amazing man.. Very quiet, but a heart of gold.. Everyone in the little town in West Virginia where he lived respected and loved him.. never an ill word spoken of him.. he was always there for anyone who needed him. When he married my grandmother he vowed to take care of her till her dying day..

When I was very young she was diagnosed with Alzhiemers.. They never told me.. But one day we were shopping at a store in Morgantown, W.Va. called Hills.. the chain is no longer open. We had just left when papaw realized grandma had left her purse at the counter.. now to most this would see like no big deal.. but to me it was a very big deal.. for anyone who ever knew my grandmother she never did anything like this and it made a big impact on me and I started watching and listening and figured things out. She lived at the house for many years.. growing worse as time went by.. becoming a shell of the woman I once knew. Even at time being cruel in words... Which was not her at all. If anyone has ever been around anyone with Alzhiemers you know how hard it is to watch someone you love go through this and not be able to help

them Early on she would get so upset because she knew something was wrong.. no one can imagine what must go on inside their minds. It broke my heart.. but I never.. ever stopped loving her.. I think I loved her even more.

One day she feel and broke her hip and had to be put into a nursing home there was no way my papaw and uncle could take care of her in the old house they lived in. It was a very good nursing home and they took good care of her. My Papaw was there everyday with her.. Sitting, Talking.. letting her know he was there the best way he could. Sometime I think some part of her knew.. she was trapped in her own mind but when I would visit she would hold onto me and look at me.. and I did not see a blank slate there I seen pure emotion. Grandma live more then 20 years with this disease.. including getting Parkinsons Disease as well. Papaw was there day after day.. till her time had come and she passed away.

Some time before this I had a dream.. this dream was of my grandmother.. she was in my room with an angel.. she was smiling and dancing and so full of life.. It was an amazing dream and brought much peace to my soul when her time came.

My Papaw kept his vow to her and took care of her.. spent ever cent he had for her.. and she passed away after a long life. When we all where there for the funeral... people where bring things to the house.. it was very touching. I was alone with papaw in the living room.. he reached into an old bible and gave me a two dollar bill.. he had one for each of us grandkids. it means the world to me. I found out later I was the only one he gave it directly to. The others received theirs through family. I knew at that time my grandfather knew.. He done all he set out to do.. he had taken care of his wife.. his children where well, his grandchildren knew they were loved. Even was able to see two of his Great grandchildren. His life was complete and he was ready to go. Him and his wife lived over 90 years on this earth and time was taken aways from him because of the Alzhiemers. It was now time to be with his wife again. Not even a month and a half after Grandma died.. Papaw passed away.

This is why I wrote this poem and why this man means so much to me.

The photo is my Grandma and Papaw.. and yes.. that little one in front is me..

Papaw was a coal miner
Worked hard for every dime he made
Deep in the West Virginia hills
Is where he spent most of his days

He would come home every night
So tired and so weak
But he always made time
To be with his family

Never a cruel word spoken
Never a hand rose in vain
Stood up for injustice
When someone could not defend themselves from pain

The hour glass of time
Trickled slowly by
All his children grew up
Right before his eyes

He watched feeling sad, yet proud
As each child made theyÂ’re way into the world
Concerned about their lives
Trusting god they would be alright

Then times got dark
And grandmaÂ’s health declined
Papaw vowed to take care of her
Till god called her for judgment time

When grandma passed away
Papaw never broke his vow till her dying day
He looked up to the sky
And said “She’s in your hands now and cried”

Papaw knew his job was done
He looked up and said “My time has come
IÂ’ve lived a long fulfilling life
But now it’s time to be with my loving wife”

Papaw was a coal miner
Worked hard all his life
He will live on forever
In our hearts till the end of time

©Kristal

Dedicated to my papaw
Jesse Reed King
I love you and Miss you

Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter

Note : The main reason for this posting was because this day has special meaning to me not because of Groundhogs day or even Phil but because today is the day my late Grandfather was born.. I will be posting a poem I wrote about him soon. But for now

"Happy Birthday Papaw"

You are never forgotten and will always be in our hearts..

I love you and miss you very much..

Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter!
Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/06 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:



It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.Around the country there are many imitators of me. In Harrisburg there is Gus who appears on TV working for the lottery. Then all around town,Cute groundhog statues abound.They all look like me, I found. Today on the Knob as I'm doing my job, I don't like this likeness of me. It's my shadow I see. Six more weeks of mild winter there will be.


Groundhog Day History
European Roots
(Adapted from "Groundhog Day: 1886 to 1992" by Bill Anderson)


Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United States. It is also a legend that traverses centuries, its origins clouded in the mists of time with ethnic cultures and animals awakening on specific dates. Myths such as this tie our present to the distant past when nature did, indeed, influence our lives. It is the day that the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow.


If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole.
If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground.
The groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and the days of early Christians in Europe, and for centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people. Even then, it marked a milestone in the winter and the weather that day was important.


The Roman legions, during the conquest of the northern country, supposedly brought this tradition to the Teutons, or Germans, who picked it up and concluded that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, an animal, the hedgehog, would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather, which they interpolated as the length of the "Second Winter."


Pennsylvania's earliest settlers were Germans and they found groundhogs to in profusion in many parts of the state. They determined that the groundhog, resembling the European hedgehog, was a most intelligent and sensible animal and therefore decided that if the sun did appear on February 2nd, so wise an animal as the groundhog would see its shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter.


The Germans recited:
For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,So far will the snow swirl until the May.
This passage may be the one most closely represented by the first Punxsutawney Groundhog Day observances because there were references to the length of shadows in early Groundhog Day predictions.
Another February 2nd belief, used by American 19th century farmers, was:
Groundhog Day - Half your hay.


New England farmers knew that we were not close to the end of winter, no matter how cloudy February 2nd was. Indeed, February 2nd is often the heart of winter. If the farmer didn't have half his hay remaining, there may have been lean times for the cows before spring and fresh grass arrived.
The ancient Candlemas legend and similar belief continue to be recognized annually on February 2nd due to the efforts of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.


Growing Fame


From offering support of political events, to rooting for area sports teams, to becoming the star of a Hollywood movie, Punxsutawney Phil has increasingly been in the public eye.
Early observances of Phil's predictions were conducted privately in the wooded areas that neighbor the town. Today's celebration sees tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world as revelers await Phil's appearance as most fans wait to see their favorite rock stars.
The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper is credited with printing the news of the first observance in 1886 (one year before the first legendary trek to Gobbler's Knob):
"Today is groundhog day, and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen his shadow."
Over the course of Phil's appearances, Phil has had numerous noteworthy highlights:
During Prohibition Phil threatened to impose 60 weeks of winter on the community if he wasn't allowed a drink.


In 1958 Phil announced that it was a "United States Chucknik," rather than a Soviet Sputnik or Muttnik that became the first man-made satellite to orbit Earth.


In 1981 Phil wore a yellow ribbon in honor of the American hostages in Iran.


Phil traveled to Washington DC in 1986 to meet with President Reagan. He was joined by Groundhog Club President Jim Means, Al Anthony and Bill Null.


Phil met Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburg in 1987.


In 1993, Columbia Pictures released the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.


Phil appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1995.


In the years following the release of the movie, record crowds numbering as high as 30,000 have visited Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney!


In 2001, Phil's prediction was shown live on the JumboTron at Times Square in New York City.


Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell attended the ceremonies, making him the first sitting governor ever to do so


Courtesy of the official site of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club
http://www.groundhog.org/