TinaII2None said:

MegC said:

---

Hey Tina–We did!  Unfortunately, it was a quick drive-through on the way to Seymour, IN and our hotel for the night (2 young kids=a 2-day road trip) before we headed to Madison and my husband's family.  My mom sent me a picture on the 26th and they had woken up in Knoxville to 3+ inches of snow.  Meanwhile, in Madison, there was, like 10 inches of snow on the ground the whole time we were there.  Back home and our temps have been all over the place, too!!  I think they're calling for snow again later this week!!
 

---

Sorry to hear about the quick drive-through. Have you ever been here before? I mean for a longer visit?
 

They keep saying snow starting Thursday night — possibly an inch or two — and the temperatures keep fluctuating, which is typical for Kentucky. New Year's Eve it was 68 pushing 70 and by New Year's Day it was freezing again! LOL And I love Knoxville! Back in '07, I spent 10 weeks at the University of Tennessee's National Forensic Academy which brings people in our business up-to-date with what is going on in the forensic sciences, and you get hands-on and classroom experience. Since it was such a long session, we lived in Knoxville at an apartment complex, which was cool, but I had a chance to learn the city and the state while there. Great time; made new friends; and even got to go over to Biltmore for a day trip with some fellow classmates; had a blast at the “castle” and the winery, and at one point, standing up in one of the balcony areas in the gardens, and looking over the vastness of the North Carolina hills, I remembered the gardens at Hever and Sudeley and Hampton Court. Funny I'm at one of the most beautiful places in the US and I'm dreaming of England! Figures LOL (I'm such a hopeless Anglophile )

No, I've never gotten the opportunity to stop in Louisville for more than dinner or gasoline, but a very close friend of mine from college is from Louisville and moved back there recently.  I grew up not far from the Body Farm, although it's not like anyone can gain access to it.  However, my old desk, which I left at school when I resigned this past summer, used to belong to Dr. Bass.  It was just a standard, college-issued wooden desk, but a friend of mine picked it up cheap when she was a student there and UT was changing out some of their furniture.  A couple of years ago, one of the museums on campus had a fantastic exhibit on forensic science–who knew how fast a human body could decompose in Tennessee in the August heat!  Something like 5 days I think.  Amazing!  Biltmore is BEAUTIFUL–it's hard to believe that houses like that exist here in the U.S. even though it's nothing compared to some of the castles in England.  But what a view of the mountains from Biltmore–it makes you understand why the Scotch-Irish took one look at this area of the country and felt like they were home again.
 

As for snow, I am so OVER snow!  The school district I used to teach in has used all their snow days all ready this year and it's only January!  It's going to be a LOOOOOONG winter for Sevier County.

I'm reading “The Other Queen” by Philippa Gregory, I love the way this is written. I'm only on page 113 and already I'm addicted.

Anyanka said:

we still have less than 6 inches.My kids are upset because we've only had 2 fetes de tempest and they weren't for snow.

We rarely see 6 inches in an entire winter, but this winter we've had a ridiculous amount of ice.  The problem isn't so much the snow or the ice–it's the mountains.  East Tennessee is incredibly hilly–if it snows, there is absolutely no way that we are getting off our street until it mostly melts.  We entertain ourselves by watching people TRY to get off our street on those mornings.

The Hangman's Daughter–I totally can't remember who wrote it though.  I think it was originally written in German and it's recently been translated into English.  I also just finished Incarceron by Catherine Fisher.  OMG!!!  If you're into science fiction/fantasy, it's quite a good read and it moves pretty quickly.  

It's supposed to be made into a movie and Taylor Lautner has signed on to play the male lead, which, now that I think about it, is a good choice, I think.  And I've heard that Emma Watson is in the running for the female lead.

At the moment I'm in the middle of three series of books:

Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I have two books left. The series is okay. The quality of the books varies.

Dr. Tony Hill series by Val McDermid (the show The Wire in the Blood is based upon these novels). I've just started, but the first book was fantastic.

Auerlio Zen series by Michael Dibdin. I'm on the second book; there funny, police procedurals, set in beautful Italy.

Actually, it is accurate. CP married the grandson and not the grandfather. I read the book a couple of weeks back and was pleasently surprised that they had got it right.

I have a thread over in the Movies and Books forum about it.

eta link http://www.theanneboleynfiles……-erickson/

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury as part of my classics I've never read

I'm reading Sandra Worth's Richard III triology. I'm half way through The Rose of York.

im currently reading Plain Jane:  A Novel of Jane Seymour.  Its good so far, i am about half way through.  has anyone else read it?

Hi ladies and sorry it's been a while since I've posted on the forum. My other passed away three weeks ago this past Thursday, and since it was unexpected, I am still trying to get past the shock. I was off from work 2 weeks, just went back a week ago, and although I'm trying to return to some routine, it's been rough.

So I decided to start trying to do some reading. Two of our local Borders bookstores are closing down and the one in downtown Louisville is having a 20 to 40% off sale of the merchandise left in stock. So I decide to wander around, and I end up in one area I never had before (considering I have little to no interest in horror but hey, it was enroute to the regular fiction section) … and my eyes happen to catch the title Elizabeth Tudor: Vampire Slayer. Okay so yeah, it got my attention. I read the back cover….Hmm. Flipped through the first few pages. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….Bought it at 20% off. And at brunch today, I started reading it and quite frankly, so far it's better than I thought it would be.

Without giving a lot away (and most of this is in the back cover synopsis), on the night before Elizabeth's coronation, Dr. Dee and William Cecil take her to St. Peter ad Vincula because – as Dr. Dee tells the young Queen — everything in the stars and planets are lined up exactly right (and we also learn that Anne had her daughter's horoscope secretly drawn up after the child's birth). While at the chapel, Elizabeth has a vision of Anne Boleyn and learns that she is a descendant of vampire slayers through her maternal line. She also finds out that she has a mortal (or immortal) enemy — Mordred, the illegitimate son of King Arthur and a man who became a vampire in order to obtain the power to destroy his father. Seems Mordred is a vampire king over Britain and has his own plans for the new Queen. (Of course I'm remembering that the Tudors were allegedly descended from Arthur and even Elizabeth is a tad disbelieving that these old legends may be true).

So I'm 30 pages into it and actually, it's not bad. Elizabeth is very Elizabeth like (the book's in first person); the author seems to have a handle on Tudor England; Cecil is very Cecil-like; I had no idea (or perhaps this is just the author) that Dee was a young man in his 30's; Robert Dudley is appropriately Robert Dudley; and Anne Boleyn's cameo…well, I visualized Natalie Dormer the moment Anne makes her appearance. Now I'm not sure if I'll like it in 100 pages, but so far I like it, especially since I usually avoid most contemporary vampire stories since the coming of you-know-what). And if the author can maintain the right atmosphere about the period, even with the supernatural plotline, I may end up liking it when I'm done.

Was wondering if anyone else had located the book and had read it yet? And if so, what did you think? I figure as long as Edward, Jacob or the moody girl show up, I'll be just fine!!