Some Dreams ~ Steve Earle

I like music and movies with some of the same intensity that I like sports.  I just finished watching the Rookie for the umpteenth time.  This song appears at the end of the movie.  I like this video as it tells the story of the movie in a way that is enjoyable whether you have seen the film or not.








 

Summer Book Review: Persuasion

I am not the voracious reader that my wife is.  I like books and I have lots of them.  Most of which, I accumulated we got married.  I just don't usually spend as much time reading as she does.  Each  summer, I try to read more than I usually do and as I've tried here before, I will try to review each book I finish this Summer.

Today's Review

Persuasion by Jane Austen



My experience when it comes to reading a book adaption of a movie I have seen or seeing a movie version of a book I have read is generally the same.  I tend to like the version which  I have read or seen first better than the one I've experienced second.  This is not necessarily the Case with Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I really enjoy the film Persuasion and have just recently finished the novel.  I am a big  fan of Austen's works generally through the medium of film.  I found that the reading of Persuasion really enhanced my appreciation of the film.  Much of the dialogue in the movie is pulled verbatim from the book.  The only difference being that it was adapted into dialogue from exposition in the original source.  This task is done artfully by the filmmakers and removes any need of a voiceover narration which would have hampered the cinematic presentation.

On the other hand,  a reading of Persuasion gave me new insights and understanding of her characters some that I had grown to love and others I had learned to disdain in my multiple viewings.  Mary, for example, is a much worse sister to Anne on paper than celluloid.  If you have seen the film, you know that is quite an achievement.  There is also more to like about Captain Wentworth, Mrs. Smith and even Lady Russell.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially those fond of any Austen work in print or pixel.

Next Time: Post of the Week

You can find this post at both Home School Dad and Your Basic Dave where I am posting concurrently over the summer.

Friday Fragments: Donut Edition

Today is National Donut Day.  It is  on the first Friday of June each year.

For Friday Fragments at   Half Past Kissing Time I will share some fragments of donuts with you.


Fragment 1.  Donut History

 Did you ever wonder what donuts have to do with the salvation army?  This short video explains...




Fragment 2:   Donut Music
About 20 years ago, I wrote a song that is not specifically about donuts but chronicles a relationship that takes place at a Krispy Kreme.  I called it the wall of glaze as a tribute to the glaze waterfall that engulfs the donuts on the donut assembly line there.

Here are the lyrics

The Wall of Glaze  
Lyrics by Dave Roller
Music by Jeff Half Dozen (actually Jeff Six, but half dozen has a more donut themed approach)

It was our first date
On a Friday night
She got a blueberry donut and a medium Sprite
She looked so good and I stood amazed
That I could lose my heart at the wall of glaze.

At the Krispy Kreme
At the Wall of Glaze
Just a memory of my younger days
Of how she looked so good
And how I stood amazed
That I could lose my heart
At The Wall of Glaze

End of senior year
Going separate ways
I was off to the army
Her to the college days
We promised to write every week
It would be like we never went away
How we cried and cried at The Wall of Glaze

At the Krispy Kreme
At The Wall of Glaze
Just a memory of my younger days
Of how we promised to write every week
Like we never went away
But the tears fell like rain
At The Wall of Glaze

Well you know the story
Left a boy came back a man
And I wrote her in my letters
Things I still don't understand
Oh my love for her just grew and grew
I was longing for that day
When I'd ask for her hand at The Wall of Glaze

So on a Friday night
Got down on my knees
Put a ring on her finger
Said will you marry me please
She said I'm sorry
But you were just a passing phase
And she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze

At the Krispy Kreme
At The Wall of Glaze
It's the end of the story
Not the starting page
I put a ring on her finger
She said "Boy, you're just a phase"
And she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze

Now I sit alone
On a Friday night
With a blueberry donut
And it don't feel right
I know I shouldn't be here
But I feel trapped in a cage
Since she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze

At the Krispy Kreme
Called The Wall of Glaze
Just a memory
Of my younger days
I know I shouldn't be here
I feel trapped in a cage
since I lost my heart, since she broke my heart, now that we're apart
At The Wall of Glaze.

Fragment 3 Free Donuts

The aforementioned Krispy Kreme was giving away free donuts today.  Dunkin Donuts was giving away 1 free donut if you bought a drink, which was fine if you were getting a drink.  If you were not all the drinks cost more than one donut so it would not have been worth the trip.

We did not get any free donuts today, but you can enter here to win free donuts a year from Entenmanns.

For more Friday Fragments click here.

Next Time: Summer Book Review

You can find this post at both Home School Dad and Your Basic Dave where I am posting concurrently over the summer.

HSD Rewind:Because they're nouns

This summer is the last summer I will be posting here at Home School Dad, as I announced yesterday.  So over this summer I will be reposting  at HSD and YBD some of the previous posts.  This was one of the first posts I did back in 2009 . . .



Home School Dad: Because they're nouns....: A noun is a person, place, or thing!

Next Time: Summer Book Review

The New Switcheroo

Wow!  I just looked back at some of my earliest content on this blog, and I've been here since 2009!  Yep, I wrote The Old Switcheroo 6.5 years ago, give or take, and now I'm here to tell you of a new switcheroo.  I am actually going to close this blog down.  I have started a new blog and will be doing my posting there going forward.


That is a pretty big switcheroo, but it is not the one I am referring to in the title.  The switcheroo in other title refers to the reason why I am changing blogs. That reason is because it would be really weird to have a blog called Home School Dad, when I am no longer one.

Now of course, I have not been the main teacher of our homeschool since May of 2013.  As of last Friday, we are no longer a homeschooling family.  All of our kids will be returning to public school next year.  I say returning because each of them has completed 1 year there in the past.  Spider droid will be finishing middle school at the same school he did 6th grade 2 years ago.  Wolfina will be going to 4th grade at a different school than she did 2nd grade, at , as she has qualified for an advanced program.     Bunny Girl has the hardest transition as she hasn't been to public school since 1/2 day kindergarten in 2004 -2005.  She  moves from IBHS (Izola Becker Home School) to BHS
(Barrington High School) for her Junior year.  I guess there is no I in public school.

So why the new switcheroo?  Because Amy's part time position at her school has been eliminated and she has taken a full-time position.  This means we have the desire for home education but lack the requisite personnel. We became aware of this a few months ago and we explored many avenues on how best to approach the 2015-2016 school year and beyond and for at least the next 2 years.  We
decided that we were being directed to change the educational direction of our family.

We told our kids a few  weeks ago and they each had different reactions.  All in all the 5 of us are moving tot his new chapter in our lives by God's grace.  Which led me to my initial dilemma, how how can I continue to blog at Home School Dad, If I am not in fact a home school dad?  It would be a very water buffalo situation and we really don't want to go there.



So here is the plan, blog-wise I will keep HSD  up for the rest of the summer, and I have also started a new blog Called YBD: Your Basic Dave.    During this transition, I will put up my posts in both places. I know I probably could just switch names of this blog, but I would rather just start a new chapter in my life in a new blog.

Over the next few weeks I will be reposting some old HSD content as well as finalizing the look at YBD.

Thanks for taking time to read this.  Please keep our family in prayer that Goe would  direct  us and give us  a vision for what lies ahead.

Next time: A return to nouns