Summer Doldrums

I know, I'm supposed to be printing staff birthday cards (actually, I am.  The laptop is doing that as I type this on my desktop machine..).  I have been messing around and reading people's Nerdy Dozen posts, and writing a couple of comments on those.
These days, I have also been reading a lot.  I've read my way through almost all of the Tunnel Tales Beauty and the Beast fan fiction page.  A lot of these stories are extremely well written, and good explorations of the characters that were not possible in the short scope of a TV series.  Some of them are downright silly, and some are just not so appealing.  A couple of favorites: Sibling Ribaldry for the Shakespearean insult contest.  (Why would anyone be silly enough to engage a lawyer in any sort of verbal battle?)
The Bridge is an interesting take on the whole concept, and a very sweet story, in spite of being a bit unsettling to devoted fans in the beginning.

The latest of the Psalm 23 mysteries by Debbie Viguie Beisde Still Waters is out for Kindle.  (I bought it and read it on my phone.)  I find some interesting parallels between the two main characters in this story and in the Beauty and the Beast stories.  Both male characters feel the one they care for will be repulsed by a "monster" they perceive to be part of their makeup.  The female leads are more different, the Cindy Preston  character in Beside Still Waters being far less sure of herself than the Catherine Chandler character from Beauty and the Beast.

I have indulged myself a bit lately and bought a couple of new candles.  One has a wooden wick, and a lovely scent called Bonfire Nights.  The wick is a little hard to get started, but it does spit and pop like a fire, and the scent of the wax combined with the burning wood is quite enchanting.  I think it will see a lot of use this Fall and Winter.  Right now, I burn the Sandcastles scented candle a lot. 
Find out more about candles similar to Bonfire Nights here. 
I purchased mine at Target, but the candle is not on their website.

Sandcastle is made by Yankee candle.  I bought mine at Kohl's.  Here's a link.

I have also been buying cds tht remind me of high school lately.  I bought 3 by Al Stewart:  Modern Times, Past Present and Future, and Year of the Cat.  Here's a link to his web catalog.  I also bought Phantom of the Paradise sound track album.  My friend Robin and I sat through that movie at least six times in one day to participate in a drawing for a chance to win prizes.  She won the soundtrack album, and I won a poster.  It is pretty scary to me that after all these years  (this was around the time of our Freshman year in high school) I still remember most of the words to the songs.  Creepy.

Anyway, the last of the birthday cards has printed out, and I guess I better start getting myself ready for an afternoon of work at the library.  Howdy to my Nerdy Dozen friends, I will be posting a link to this on the ND blogs.