Feature and Follow - Change a Book?

Question of the Week: Change the plot of a book! Go ahead! Say what you wish would have happened!

Honestly, it is not in me to change another author's work. I might rewrite the entire thing from a different perspective or with a different emphasis, but then it becomes a new story.

Speaking of a new story, I am ready for SPRING!

Winter Lament

Icy wind buffets the windows,
Whistles through still bare branches
While the groundhog
Smugly smiles to himself
Deep in his dark burrow.
Faith and begorrah!
Who would have thought
That the shadow-averse
Rodent would be right.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never too fond of Books.

Once more in the grip of a winter storm, in an uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter, with the winter Olympics dominating the television, I am led to think of winter-themed books from my youth.

There was, of course, the classic Mary Mapes Dodge book Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates. Kind of apropos as the Dutch seem to be winning all the speed skating medals.

But then I liked Elizabeth Ladd's Indians on the Bonnet and Walter D. Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk a large part of which was set in winter on the American frontier.

Finally, I was a big fan of Jack London's two classics: the short novel White Fang and the short story "To Build a Fire". I remember one winter as a boy taking my Red Flyer and pretending I was a musher in Alaska. My imaginary dogs didn't pull too well unfortunately.

Are there more modern, winter-based books, you would recommend?

Think Out Load - Appreciating Spring

This is a very interesting concept meme.

One recurring thought, as the "worst" winter in many years hangs on in the American Northeast, is

Won't we appreciate spring more when it actually does come?

This was emphasized to me when I heard the Passenger song, Let Her Go.

Now, I like snow. I like the cold. I like the clear air after a snowstorm passes through. I like the sound of the howling wind on a dark night. But I also like finding the first brave flower of spring. Watching for the songbirds return from their winter exile. Seeing the trees burst out in new leaves. Feeling the warmth of a spring day. I cherish the changes.

So this spring, maybe, I'll have company in appreciating L'Differance! At least a little more than usual.