I wanted to share with you what I have been reading recently. I became interested in Theodore Roosevelt from the PBS documentary “The Roosevelts” which I have mentioned in the past that I loved. Teddy Roosevelt did so many things and was such a high energy man. I found this author, Edmund Morris, who wrote this in depth biography which is very good. It is the first book of three featuring different phases of Teddy’s life. This one is The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and the other two are Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt. I can tell he has done much research and when there was not much written about a certain topic then he will admit there is not much found about it. We are planning a trip to New York soon and my plans are visiting his home, Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay on Long Island. We are staying only an hour from it.

I am a member of Art Fair Insiders, an informational site that lists through emails and a website are fairs to apply to. Also there are reviews of art shows and other helpful information. McKenna Hallett advertised about a book that she wrote about selling artwork and so I decided that It would be helpful to purchase it. It is thought provoking and made me look at the sales part of selling art. Her website is called My Golden Words.

I really enjoyed this book and it has given me much information about just the art fair experience. I really just zipped through it and could relate to many things she wrote about. It included helpful tips about tools I should have in my supplies. It spoke about putting up and taking down in adverse weather and also leaving your art and tent overnight for two or three day shows. It was one of the most helpful books I found on this topic. Art Festival Guide by Maria Arango Diener. It can be found on Amazon and I downloaded it to my Kindle. Her art business name is 1000 Woodcuts and the website is here. 

We at our house have decided to watch a movie together every Sunday Evening.  I am going to give a list of what we have watched so far and my view of it.

1.  Dirty Grandpa-Not exactly what we expected.  It had some comedy but was very crude.  It was a bit shocking at times.
2. Saving Mr. Banks-This is the story about how Walt Disney came about making the movie Mary Poppins.  The movie turned out totally different than what I had visioned in my mind.  The author, Pamela L. Travers was quite a difficult woman.  The story centers a lot about that.  Many times you may feel like shaking her! The movie also brings out why she is such a difficult person to deal with.  This is a long movie and dragged at times.  I did like Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.
3. The Nut Job-an animated movie that we enjoyed very much.  It had good squirrels and bad racoons.  A squirrel that was all about himself and ones that were saving the village.  It was super cute.
4. Pursuit of Happyness-An older movie that was made in 2006 starring Will Smith and his son.  It has a great story and an uplifting outcome.  We had forgotten how many rough times Will Smith’s character had to go through.  It showed that tenacity is what a person needs to make it.
5. Mr. Peabody and Sherman-This is an animated movie also that is really a history lesson too.  Mr. Peabody the dog is a brainiac and adopts a boy and names him Sherman.  They had invented a time machine that takes them to historical places and they participate in history.  Of course to make it interesting there were problems at the end, but it was fun and made us laugh. We also enjoyed this movie very much.

I also have been using my Amazon Prime which enables me to have many free movies.

1. Take Me Home-A man who lives in New York City who is a photographer.  He cannot find work and eventually gets evicted from his apartment.  He has an old cab that is his regular car but decides to make money by posing as an actual cab driver and he picks up a woman who just found her husband about to have an affair with a co-worker.  She is an overbearing upset woman who tells the cabbie to just drive.  They eventually make their way to California with many mishaps and money problems along the way, because her divorced parents live in that vicinity.  It ends up her father passes away and the family is going to the funeral and she meets up with her husband.  I am not going to tell the ending but it was a very cute movies.  Nothing but entertainment and not too deep.
2. Where Hope Grows-This is about a washed up baseball player who has a drinking problem.  He befriends a grocery worker in the produce department that has Downs Syndrome.  Everybody calls him produce because his badge says that.  The baseball player has a 16 year old daughter who has a boyfriend and may be getting in trouble with him because the baseball player isn’t watching her closely enough because of his own problems.  The produce worker is just the most sweet and saver of the day.  I enjoyed this movie very much.
3. A Walk in the Woods-Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  Robert Redford is an author who decided that he needed an adventure and wanted to walk the Appalacian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  His wife thought him a bit off and told him that he couldn’t do it alone so after asking many friends he came across one from college whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, and he said yes.  There were many funny parts, much beauty and I loved Emma Thompson hair cut.  She is Robert Redfords wife.  Nick Nolte is the college friend who is somewhat of a bumbler.  It was enjoyable.
4. The National Parks-Americas best idea by Ken Burns-I am in the midst of watching this and on section two.  Theodore Roosevelt had a large hand in setting aside lands for the National Parks and it is also the 100th anniversary of the National Parks System.  I always liked Ken Burns the Civil War and Baseball.  I also am enjoying this informative documentary.  I am not sure how many segments but it does make me want to explore Yellowstone and Sequoia National Parks.  That’s as far as I have gotten.  If you like history I would recommend this.

That’s it and up to date.  It would have taken me too long to put in pictures.  Look up the trailers on You Tube and see if you might like to view these movies also.  Have a good one, and thanks for stopping.