ON BLOGGING ~ The Buddy System...

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Welcome to our weekly BlogAnon meeting where we confess a particular blogging sin and turn to you for support, suggestions and that blogging bond so we know we're not all alone. Don't be shy. Read along and let us know if you identify with us this week.

Do you remember the buddy system? When you were a little tyke in school or on field trips and paired up with someone else so you wouldn't get left behind by yourself. So you would focus on your buddy's well being instead of getting distracted by shiny things. Well, it would be mighty helpful to have that buddy these days in the blogosphere. To keep you on track so you could have extra time to spend focused on your real life buddies.

Who says you can't have that buddy system? I read a post recently by Anne Wayman at About Freelance Writing sharing how her Accountability Partner helps her reach her goals, keeps her inspired, and provides a great support system.

Now, some of you might be thinking..."but Molly, isn't Andy your Accountability Partner?" Uh - no. The Bumbles partnership in the blogosphere goes a little something like this:

Me = "Honey, I need your music post for the blog."
Andy = "Stop nagging me!"

Andy = "Are you going to turn that laptop off and come to bed?"
Me = "Stop nagging me!"

So as you can see - although this is a joint venture, we don't do the best job supporting each other and making sure we stay on track. When you are too close to the process, it can come across as nagging. The buddy system works best when you are able to use a little tough love - from afar.

I would really love to have a Blog Buddy - someone to touch base with each week for 15 minutes to report what my goals are for the upcoming week and to report what I have and haven't accomplished. And then I would serve the same role for my Blog Buddy. As Anne's post says - commit to a recurring conversation about your goals and check in with each other honestly about your level of accomplishment. Provide each other with encouragement, suggestions and every now and then, a kick in the pants.

Your goals can be about a specific project you've been meaning to write about, or making headway on book challenges. It could be a desire to learn how to re-design something on your blog or a commitment to keeping your blogging time to a specific limit, so you have more time for your family, job, friends or hobbies. Or maybe it could be taking steps towards a new career, weight loss, returning to school or new ways to raise your family.

Whatever it is, a Blog Buddy would be there to help. Who doesn't have time for 15 minutes a week to share, listen, motivate and accomplish? I'm hoping at least one of you does - Andy would thank you.

Do you want a Blog Buddy? Visit our topic in Bumble Town to discuss and find your match. You can find Bumble Town at the bottom of our blog or by using the **Chat On Our Forum** page link beneath our tabs.

ON BLOGGING ~ At First Tweet...

So last week I told you how I joined Twitter. Because everybody else is doing it. Because well respected news anchors use the word "Tweet" in their broadcasts. Because I feel it is my duty to bite the bullet and share the experience with our readers. I basically wanted to know two things. #1 - is it going to take up a lot of my time? #2 - how might I use it effectively to meet new folks and build our blogging community?

If I were to judge things based on my first week I would say it did not take up much time and it was not very effective. It probably wasn't effective because I didn't spend any time with it. I didn't spend a lot of time with it because the site is blocked by my office's firewall. Thank God for that. The availability of our personal e-mail and Google Reader throughout the day at work are tough enough temptations. Twitter, like Facebook and You Tube, are just not available to me at the office which means I am more productive doing what I get paid to do. And no, I don't use my cell phone to go online. I don't use my cell phone for anything actually. It sits turned off in my purse, lonely and waiting for me to need it when I have locked myself out of my car. You don't call my cell - no one, including me, knows the number. I call you if I need you. And texts are things I hear about but have never sent myself.

But anyway, back to Twitter. Within 24 hours of signing up, I had a handful of followers. Super! Mostly familiar faces, a few with connections to others I know. And then there are the mystery guests. One of them is an author. He's fishing. Or phishing. Whatever. He's just looking for newbies like me to be awed by his out of the blue friendship and reciprocate the love, falling into his trap of book promotion. Well, I may be new to Twitter, but I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I see this all the time on Goodreads. And on blogs. And I'm sure it happens on Facebook or any other social media outlet. So, Mr. Author, you can follow my genius tweets all you want, but it is a one way street I'm afraid. And considering you are following almost 1,500 people I'm pretty sure you won't even notice what I have to say anyway. Because it's all about you, right? No thanks. Following him would get in my way of productive twittering. Tweeting. Whatever.

My other discovery this week is that people on Twitter follow lots of people. I only elected to follow a sampling of 4 people my first week as an experiment. A family member, a book blogger, a freelancer and the person who gushed to me about Twitter to begin with. I wanted to see how these different sectors used Twitter and get a feel for how things work. I learned that it is impossible to keep up with what everyone has to say unless you stare at that thing all day long. It seems to me that everything will just get lost in the crowd. There were lots of personal updates about their day like you see on Facebook, along with suggested reading at other sites and blogs, contest offers, questions to prompt discussions on other sites and of course, self-promotion of blog posts.

I sent out one tweet the moment I opened my account. I didn't even know it was a Tweet. I just saw a box and typed in a status update. I decided that from me, less is more. I don't want to bombard Mr. Author with a bunch of nonsense after all. A tweet of the week from me sounds about right. But will anyone ever see them? It will get bumped off the screen in about 2 minutes with all those tweets from the hundreds of other people they are following. So I'm not sure how to connect with people there yet.

Week two starts now so I just created my Tweet of the Week. Want to know what it is? You'll have to go find me there - I'm not posting the same stuff everywhere I go. I'll let you know next week if anyone is actually paying attention. Otherwise it becomes like that age old question...if a Bumble tweets and there is no one reading, is it still witty?

Our Twitter handle (is that what you call it?) is @thebumblesblog - or at least I think that's how it is expressed.  So for God's sake - go follow us there so we're not all alone.

ON PHOTOS ~ Peace Out...

Click HERE to see what paths we took to find Peace...

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ON SPORTS ~ Why Roy Halladay Rocks My World...

Have you ever daydreamed about what the uber concert would be like - seeing the greatest musicians ever in the world up on stage at the same time?  Or just how tremendous a book could be if it featured literature's finest characters together on the pages?  Or maybe what kind of blockbuster you could have if acting's finest artists across all generations could appear on the big screen in the same scenes?  Well, that's pretty much what Fantasy Sports are like.  You try to build the sport's most fantastic team of All-Stars and garner more points than the other participants in your league.  How hard can it be?

After beating all of the boys in the Fantasy Football League in my rookie season, they allowed me entrance into their Fantasy Baseball League this season when they expanded their league to 10 teams.  Andy plays in this league as well and I actually co-managed his first team with him a few years ago - behind the scenes, taking no credit.  He lost the title on the final day of the season.  After that I got too busy building our blog to have time to help his team and he ended up finishing at or near the bottom of the barrell.  So I think you can see the superior influence my baseball skills had on his team.

Acting solo now, competing against each other, it is quite different.  Baseball happens every day over the course of 6 months and rosters are rearranged, players dropped and snagged, trades can be pitched and the standings fluctuate constantly.  It is hard to bite my tongue each day and keep my intel to myself instead of sharing great hunches and hot tips with Andy for his team as has always been my role in the past.  But then again, I don't have to convince him why he should add this or that player - I can just do whatever I want now and he can figure out his own team.

I did about an hour's worth of research before our live online draft the week before the season started and crossed my fingers.  All I really wanted was the Phillies' Roy Halladay - starting pitcher supreme.  Nothing but wins, innings and strikeouts from him in every start - Fantasy gold.  I got some of the players I'd earmarked and watched many of them get picked before I could get to them.  Andy ended up with some I wanted and I walked away with a few he had hoped for.  Both of our rosters have changed dramatically since Opening Day as they have for most of the Fantasy managers.  But I took Halladay with my first pick and haven't looked back.

I have held the lead through the first 3 weeks and I think I'm starting to irritate the rest of the league seeing SOX Girl besting their efforts.  The only other time a girl joined their league, she bailed pretty early and gave up.  I'm here to stay - at the top of the standings.  Provided beloved Halladay stays healthy.  He is my Fantasy Baseball savior and I will crash and burn without his awesomeness.  Every time he pitches he is a sure thing - and that's hard to come by in anything, Fantasy or otherwise.  However, when The Bumbles go on a little road trip in May to see the Red Sox play the Phillies in Philadelphia, I hope Halladay isn't starting.  I don't want to have an internal battle over who to root for.

ON MOVIES ~ Look Who's Talking...

Feature Presentation...

MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Molly looked around for a weekly meme about movies and did not have any luck. So therefore she decided to start her own! Andy will play along as well - hopefully you will too. Go to your blog and create your own post on the topic, linking back to us in your post, then come back and leave a link to your post here in our Comments section. If you don’t have a blog, just share your response in the Comments section.

This week's movie topic is all about Narrators...

As a big reader, I follow lots of book bloggers and have noticed how many of them listen to audio books. Sometimes it is to help them get through the books they need to review more quickly. But a lot of the time it is because the narrators are so incredible in bringing the stories alive. If Morgan Freeman does audio books I need to know about it. He is a gifted actor, beloved for his many roles on film. But now he has also taken over the role of "go-to guy" when you need someone to narrate a movie. That's because he has that wonderful voice. Here are some of our favorite narrated films - including one by Mr. Freeman, of course. Share on your blog your favorite Freeman narrated film, in addition to others that speak to you (haha), linking back here at The Bumbles. And don't forget to visit your fellow participants!

MORGAN FREEMAN PICK = March of the Penguins (2005) - Wonderful documentary about the societal behavior of Emperor penguins.  Freeman's kind voice lends itself to those heart-string moments, of which there are many

Little Children (2006) - Will Lyman is the uncredited narrator with the perfectly pitched performance in this quirky, entertaining but sometimes troubling movie about adultery, acceptance and demons

A Christmas Story (1983) - Author of the books this favorite holiday movie was based upon, Jean Sheperd provides all the narration of his character Ralphie's quest for a Red Rider BB Gun

Stand By Me (1986) - Richard Dreyfuss is credited as "The Writer" and provides the narrative moments in this awesome coming of age movie based on Stephen King's short story, "The Body"

Do you have a topic to suggest to the Monday Movie Meme? Or would you like to guest host? Let us know in the Comments section or send us an e-mail.

ON PHOTOS ~ Boats...

07-11-2009 - Sail Boston 2009 - Boston Harbor, MA

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ON BLOGGING ~ How To Learn From Your Guests...

This is the third in a series of Tech Tip posts centered around Google Analytics, which is where the above logo comes from. We have previously covered how to set up an Analytics account and how to find, interpret and use your Traffic Stats. This week I'm going to cover the Visitors segment. If you need instructions on or a refresher about getting in to your Analytics Dashboard, you can review this post.

From your Dashboard, select the Visitors category in the top left menu. The Visitors section is important to me because it lets me know who I'm dealing with and how they are dealing with us. Selecting Visitors will open up a new Dashboard overview, specific to Visitors. The top first section under the graph displays the key percentages in categories related to who is stopping by and how long they stay. The Technical Profile section at the bottom tells you what they are using to see you.

The Tech. Profile is important to us mostly because it shows the most used browsers our visitors are using. Some things that display quite nicely in Internet Explorer look a little funky in Firefox. So if we have a lot of visitors using each then it makes sense to view our blog every now and then in both browsers to make sure everything looks kosher. If someone's browser isn't letting them see all of our glory, they probably aren't going to stick around. The Connection Speed isn't really of much concern to me since most of our visitors are higher speed. But there are some with slower connection speeds which is why we make sure our photos and images are re-sized and compressed so as not to bog things down for those visitors. I myself will click away from a blog or website after about 15 seconds if the page isn't loading. I don't want our visitors to encounter that issue.

But the stats above the Tech. Profile are of the most use to us. There are seven categories, each of which can be broken out even further by clicking on them. Visits is pretty self-explanatory - and probably what is of most interest to all of you. How many people actually visited my blog in a given period of time? Clicking on the link will show you a nice bar chart which makes it easy to see which day garnered the most or the least attention. Mondays are always our biggest draw due to the Monday Movie Meme. And sure enough, in the past month, a Monday led the way. In fact, it was largely due to our first ever Guest Director post which is good news for guest poster Susan - her post drew in a good crowd. Thanks Susan!

The Visits stat can be misleading however. Susan could have ramped that day's number up herself by coming by periodically to read everyone's comments to her post. Therefore, the Absolute Unique Visitors category is a truer reflection of how many actual visitors came by - not how many times they came by. Susan is counted once as an Absolute Unique Visitor. If she visited 5 times throughout the day, she is adding five visits to the Visits figure. The same Monday led both Visits and Absolute Unique Visitors categories though, so no ballot stuffing made a difference.

Pageviews displays how many pages your Visitors went to during the time period shown. One visitor could visit 5 different pages while another just stays on the one and leaves. Days with a high spike in page views could be because you had a series of back to back posts displayed that were really great. Or because you had lots of links within your post to previous posts. I am a big believer in self-linking, if that is the proper term. It helps to point visitors to other items of interest that maybe they weren't around for when it first appeared. It encourages exploring and leads to more page views. Those widgets/plug-ins that automatically show related posts of interest at the bottom of a post can accomplish the same thing. The Pageviews stat will show you how effective or ineffective those techniques are for your blog.

Average Pageviews just gives you the - wait for it....average pageviews. It is handy for mathematically challenged Bumbles like myself. Anything over 1 is encouraging. Our Bumble Town post, coinciding with the unveiling of the dedicated Pages underneath our Tabs led to higher than normal Average Pageviews for several days. This let me know that visitors were successfully navigating through our blog as intended and the post helped to create enough interest in checking things out.

Time On Site tells you how long those visitors are sticking around. It is nice if they are clicking around to multiple pages, but not so nice if they are doing so in a matter of 20 seconds and then taking off. Time On Site stats can be tough to swallow, but they are a pretty accurate gauge of whether or not people are actually interested in your blog and your posts. Unless all your visitors are speed readers, the longer your Time On Site figure, the better. One thing that can skew these stats in the opposite direction is if someone visits your blog, then their phone rings and they step away from the computer for a half hour before closing your site. But I have found that on days when I provide long posts - like this one - our Time On Site figures reflect the fact that people actually stuck around and read them. If we were writing really long posts and our Time On Site stats were as low as for the shorter posts, then I'd be concerned.

Bounce Rate is one that confuses everyone. The easiest way I can put it is that it reflects how deep someone delves into your blog before leaving - or, how much they are bouncing around in your blog. One and done visitors will generate a high Bounce Rate. Visitors going beyond just the landing page will keep that Bounce Rate lower. You want a low Bounce Rate generally. If you were promoting a guest appearance you had elsewhere that day, you would want to see a high Bounce Rate. You want your visitors clicking that link in your post over to your guest post on that other blog. When I do photo posts to promote my travel articles for UpTake, I am expecting to see a higher Bounce Rate those days.

New Visits tells you the percentage of your visitors who are stopping by for the first time and which are returning. If you have lots of returning visits that is nice because it means people like you, they really like you! But you want to see new visitors too so you can meet new people and build your blogging community. A high New Visits stat is expected when you are doing a cross post or are featured elsewhere because the intent is to introduce yourself to a new audience so they will come to see what you are all about. The Visitor Loyalty sub-topic on the left side menu will let you learn more specifically about those return visitors and whether they come back all the time or just sporadically, how long they stay, how deep they visit and how long it has been since they last stopped by - kind of like spying on your guests without naming names.

I'll cover the Content section of Google Analytics in the next Blog Tips post, which alternates with our BlogAnon posts on Fridays. If you have tips, thoughts or requests about Google Analytics please share in the Comments. You can also join the discussion in our Bumble Town forum where we will be posting topics to match each Friday's blogging post to provide a place for more involved conversation. Hopefully, you'll find a way to use Google Analytics' information to make your blogging experience an even better one.

ON MUSIC ~ Molly's First Dead Show...

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Welcome to the Live Archive, where Andy (aka Concert Boy) regales you with a recap of one of his many concert experiences through the years. Feel free to review his overall list and make a request for a future Live Archive post.

THE ACT: The Grateful Dead

THE SCENE: The original Boston Garden - Boston, MA (09/25/1991)

The Grateful Dead’s 1991 fall tour brought them back to the Boston Garden for the first time since 1982.  Boston had the final 6 shows of the tour after 3 in Richfield, OH and 9 at Madison Square Garden. The shows were Friday 9/20 through Sunday 9/22 and Tuesday 9/24 through Thursday 9/26. This run of shows is generally considered as one of the best in their later years.

THE GANG: Me & Molly

THE OCCASSION: To introduce Molly to her first live Grateful Dead show experience.

The Dead had established a unique mail ordering ticketing system for their fans and while I had seen them in concert before, this was the first show I mail ordered for tickets. Since I was still in college I could only afford a pair of tickets for one show. My tickets arrived sometime in August about a month before the shows. I was living in Boston at the time and there was much anticipation leading up to the shows as many friends were going and people were coming in from out of town. The town was buzzing when the Dead pulled into town and it was a lively scene around Casuseway Street and the old Boston Garden the entire week.

While I ordered tickets only for the one show, I actually ended up with a ticket for one of the previous shows on the 22nd. However, the reason I chose to review the show on the 25th is because it’s the first concert I took Molly to – it wasn’t really a date, though – we weren’t dating at the time and I happened to have an extra ticket and she had never seen the Dead.

THE RUNDOWN:
The Grateful Dead is an improvisational band but their concerts have a certain structure and most songs are either first set songs or second set songs. This has been the format of their live shows since the late 70s. The first set is generally more song based and the second set is where they will get out there and the songs usually flow together into their drums & space segment of the set and then usually 3 or 4 songs out of space to close out the show. Usually only a one song encore and it’s considered a real treat to get a two song encore, usually including “And We Bid You Goodnight” as the second encore. The Dead’s repertoire includes hundreds of original and cover songs, some that they only play one or two times a year. They play a completely different set every night and don’t write setlists before shows (except after Brent Mydland died after the 1990 summer tour and new keyboardist Vince Welnick was brought on board – they wrote setlists for the 1990 fall tour).

SET 1:
Help on the Way> Slipknot> Franklin's Tower
Walking Blues
It Must Have Been the Roses> Dire Wolf
Queen Jane Approximately
Tennessee Jed> Music Never Stopped

An excellent opener of Help on the Way into the instrumental Slipknot and then Franklin’s Tower. These 3 songs are usually always grouped together and are sung by Jerry Garcia. Garcia and rhythm guitarist Bob Weir usually rotate songs, with the occasional song sung by bassist Phil Lesh. It’s a great way to open a show. We were on the left side of the Garden in the loge section underneath the balcony and it was bouncing up and down above us during Franklin’s – “Roll away…The Dew” Jerry Garcia sang and we were off. Next up was Weir’s take on Robert Johnson’s "Walking Blues." Jerry’s ballad “It Must Have been the Roses” led into “Dire Wolf”, a crowd favorite – Don’t Murder Me, I beg of You. The obligatory Bob Dylan 1st set cover was “Queen Jane Approximately”. One of my favorite Dylan songs and Bob Weir leads the band through a solid version. I really enjoy Jerry’s guitar playing on this one. Jerry’s “Tennessee Jed” – Drink all Day, Gonna Rock all Night – into Bob’s “Music Never Stopped” has the crowd worked up into a frenzy to end the set.

SET 2:
Victim or the Crime> Crazy Fingers> Playing In the Band> Terrapin Station>Drumz> That Would Be Something> Playing in the Band> China Doll> Throwing Stones> Not Fade Away

ENCORE:
Mighty Quinn

This music isn’t for everybody. 9 songs around 90 minutes straight through with the exploratory Drums/Space segment in the middle. If you are a fan of top 40 music or music w/boundaries this probably isn’t your cup of tea. They opened with Bob’s "Victim or the Crime," not one of my favorites. This is a newer song and it is sometimes paired with another new one, "Foolish Heart." However, tonight they go into Jerry’s classic “Crazy Fingers”. That leads into “Playing in the Band” and “Terrapin Station”. All these songs segue into each other and then everyone leaves the stage except the 2 drummers, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. After 15 to 20 minutes or so they leave the stage and the guitarists come back for the exploratory Space. The other musicians come back onto the stage and they go into a song they are playing for the first time ever – Paul McCartney’s “That Would be Something” off of Paul’s first solo album. That leads back into “Playing in the Band”, Jerry’s delicate “China Doll” and the closing rockers “Throwing Stones” and Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”. The encore of Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn” brings the house down.

THE LINKS:

Official Website = http://www.dead.net/

Live Music Archive Downloads & Streaming = http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead#forum

Dick’s Picks #17 – official live release in the Dick’s Picks series of live shows as selected by archivist Dick Latvala = http://store.dead.net/1990s/dicks-picks-volume-17

Live Download Sites = http://bt.etree.org/index.php?cat=8 & http://www.shnflac.net/

Setlists & Other Info. = http://www.deadbase.com/

Resources = http://www.dozin.com/

What Molly remembers is the shaking balconies above scaring the crap out of her, feeling the awesome Drums segment rockin' away in her chest, and that Andy was so proud to introduce her to the really cool scene that was a Dead Show.  She had a ton of fun with a general recollection of the evening.  She keeps Concert Boy around when she needs to know all the details of their musical adventures.

PICKS (out of 5):

ON PHOTOS ~ Fortress...

Click HERE to check out Andy on a Punishment Triangle, which I am thinking of installing in our yard...

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ON BLOGGING ~ How To Lose Your Twitter Virginity...

I recently appeared on a Community Building panel for the Book Blogger & Publishers online conference.  I was invited by the conference organizer, Terry Kate of Romance In The Backseat, because I am passionate about using blogging as a platform to build communities online.  My co-panelist, MaryMac of Pajamas & Coffee, was invited because she is an incredible blogger truly building the type of community I would love The Bumbles Blog to be.  I must say that it was quite ridiculous to have to reveal that I do not use Facebook or Twitter, while being held out there as a community builder.

I don't use Facebook because I don't want all those annoying people from high school tracking me down.  I also don't want to spend all day in a virtual farm.  So I leave Facebook to Andy because he doesn't become addicted to it like I would.

I don't Tweet because I feel that Twitter is either celebrities or everyday people telling each other boring minutiae I could care less about.  Micro-blogging is an impossible feat for me because I can't say hello in less than 500 characters.  I barely have time to write blog posts and visit the blogs in my Google Reader.  When on Earth would I find time to Tweet and follow more people, or perhaps even the same people, on Twitter?  How much information do I really need?

But MaryMac made a great case for Twitter and told me that her goal was to someday be able to follow The Bumbles there.  She meets all kinds of people there and it has helped her community thrive.  I read on book blogs all the time about how ideas and conversations are exchanged initially on Twitter.  All these creative ideas zapping back and forth willy nilly.  And then those concepts are implemented in the blogosphere.  Or face to face.  It is a place where you can quickly interact with powerful thoughts.  Or maybe it is a place that is a total time suck with mind numbing words.  I don't really know.

I decided to visit the Twitter website a few weeks ago.  I read through the testimonials about how businesses use it to connect with their consumers.  About how famous people connect with their fans.  About how people find jobs within their industries.  About people connecting with their families and friends (though they didn't mention silly tweets from boring twits).  I tried to absorb the various features and symbols - what the terminology means.  And then I shut down the website and walked away - my Twitter virginity intact.

But I started thinking that perhaps there are others out there like me.  Clinging to their blogs and rejecting other social media either out of fear, laziness or ignorance.  I don't want to be scared, unmotivated or stupid.  I want to go out on a limb, open my eyes and learn.  So as precious as that Twitter virginity has been, it was time to let it go.  In a very special, tender way of course.  So, by the sexy glow of my laptop, I returned to Twitter and set up an account.  Now that I've gone ahead and done it, I feel a bit out of sorts.  I don't know how to feel or what to do.  So I've headed back to my comfort zone here on the blog for a little kiss and tell.  And advice.  If you use Twitter - please help.  If you don't - stay tuned.  I'll give you periodic updates on my adventure.  Here's hoping I don't turn into a Twitter whore.

Our Twitter handle (is that what you call it?) is @thebumblesblog - or at least I think that's how it is expressed.  So for God's sake - go follow us there so we're not all alone.

ON MOVIES ~ Rocking The Vote...

Feature Presentation...

MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Molly looked around for a weekly meme about movies and did not have any luck. So therefore she decided to start her own! Andy will play along as well - hopefully you will too. Go to your blog and create your own post on the topic, linking back to us in your post, then come back and leave a link to your post here in our Comments section. If you don’t have a blog, just share your response in the Comments section.

This week's movie topic is all about Politics...

This week the Monday Movie Meme is in for a real treat because Susan from Bear Swamp Reflections saw our plea in the Bumble Town forum looking for guest directors and actually volunteered! We allow full creative freedom to our Guest Directors so we hope you enjoy her topic selection and the political "spin" she shares with her movie picks as much as we have. Share on your blog movies that rocked your vote and leave the link to your post in our Comments below so Susan and I know where to find you. Don't forget to visit your fellow participants. And if you are curious about The Bumbles' political movie picks, you'll have to head on over to Susan's blog to find them...

Political satire: There are so many examples of this type, but I have to go with the father of this genre, Charlie Chaplin. He wrote, produced, directed and starred in 'The Great Dictator', which was released in 1940. It was his first talking movie. Chaplin's thinly veiled (and hilarious) places and names fooled nobody, including Adolf Hitler himself, who is rumored to have watched it. The movie was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for best original screenplay. Chaplin stated in his autobiography that had he known the extent of the horrors being perpetrated on the Jewish people in the death camps, that he would not have been able to make this film. He was always curious what Hitler's reaction was on seeing it, but was never able to find out.

Political comedy: Whether you love former President Bill Clinton, or you hate him, I think you would have to agree that John Travolta's portrayal of Governor Jack Stanton in 'Primary Colors' was a spot-on impersonation of then-Governor Clinton. And the outstanding supporting cast made this a fun movie. Emma Thompson was flawless as his wife Susan. Adrian Lester and Kathy Bates gave perfect performances as Stanton's handlers. And one of my favorite actresses, Maura Tierney was great doing a Dee Dee Myers bit. Longtime collaborators Elaine May and Mike Nichols wrote and directed the film.

Political thriller: So many hunks, so little time...but my particularly favorite hunkster, George Clooney, was more chunky than hunky in the film, 'Syriana'. I think we can all agree that politics doesn't get any stinkier and messier and cutthroat than politics involving oil. This movie is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil. It gives us an inside glimpse of the shady dealings between oil companies, Arab emirates, the Department of Justice and the CIA, to name a few. Clooney won a best supporting actor Oscar and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Bob Barnes, the CIA agent who gets caught up in an assassination plot. The entire cast is stellar, but Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright give well-tuned performances.

Political drama: 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' could just as easily fit into the comedy category, but I chose it for this one because of Jimmy Stewart's portrayal of naive idealist Jefferson Smith. What does a governor do when his pocket senator up and dies on him right before a major vote on a huge pork barrel project? Why he gets the advice of his eight young children, of course, who wholeheartedly back Jeff Smith, the head of the very popular Boy Rangers. By the flip of a coin, Mr. Smith goes to Washington, where he promptly finds himself in over his head. In his lifetime, Jimmy Stewart perfected the character of the lovable bumbler, and this movie is no exception. Without the guidance of his cynically jaded chief of staff, Clarissa Saunders, deftly and cunningly played by Jean Arthur, he would have been run out of the city on a rail.

The thing that kept me from placing this film in the comedy slot was Senator Smith's  impassioned filibuster speech to prevent the Senate body from expelling him after some shady and underhanded framing of him by corrupt political boss Jim Taylor. Frank Capra directed this, his last film for Columbia Pictures, and it has his touch all over it. You will recognize two of the actors who also starred with Mr. Stewart in Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Beulah Bondi, who once again plays Stewart's mother and Thomas Mitchell, who played his inept Uncle Billy, has a role as a newspaper reporter. If you haven't seen this movie, I urge you to watch it. There's a reason the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It's a wonderful film.

Do you have a topic to suggest to the Monday Movie Meme? Or would you like to guest host? Let us know in the Comments section or send us an e-mail.

ON PHOTOS ~ Meat...

07-04-2009 - Dogs (c'mon - they're meat!)

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ON BLOGGING ~ Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now...

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Welcome to our weekly BlogAnon meeting where we confess a particular blogging sin and turn to you for support, suggestions and that blogging bond so we know we're not all alone. Don't be shy. Read along and let us know if you identify with us this week.

The Chili Peppers song in our post title wants us to give it away. The e-mails we receive on a regular basis from marketing people want us to give it away. Fact of the matter is, we'd love to have something to give away. But we're not going to pimp our blog out to do it.

I fear that if we accept just one of those harmless little e-mails offering some free item to do a giveaway on our blog, then we'll end up on more of those marketing lists than we're on already without even trying. I don't want people sending me their products to give out to our readers. Mostly because unless they are free Red Sox tickets, there isn't really a product that fits our nicheless Buffet Blog. So it would seem very out of place. But the other reason is that I'm too lazy to figure out how to go about hosting a giveaway.

I also don't want to be a spokesperson for a product because they sent me something free. It feels like making a deal with the devil. But that's probably because no one has ever offered me free Red Sox tickets via a random marketing e-mail.

Bottom line, if we talk about a product or site or service here on our blog, it's because we really like it and use it, or we used it and hated it and feel the world needs to be warned. It isn't because we're a mouthpiece swayed by their shiny free presents. We would never become shills.

Is it cynical that I have no qualms visiting other bloggers and participating in their giveaways? I don't think so. If I had something really cool and useful lying around to give away I would do it. I would do a whole week of giveaways with something from each general category we cover - a free Netflix membership for ON MOVIES, a great collection of personalized book thong bookmarks for ON BOOKS, a coupon code for a photo album on Kodak Gallery for ON PHOTOS, a great pair of comfy flip flops from Nike for ON TRAVEL, and of course, free Red Sox tickets via an MLB gift certificate for ON SPORTS. You get the idea. That would be wicked awesome.

So if you host giveaways on your blog, do you reach out to people you want quality products from that relate to your space and would be valued by your readers? Or do you just accept whatever free stuff anyone is willing to send to you? How do I get the cool stuff?

And other than the warm fuzzies you get from giving something nice and useful to a happy reader, do you get anything out of the giveaway process? Does your readership jump up and stay strong after the giveaway is over or do people just stop by for the free goodies and then move on - chew and screw so to speak? I don't want to invest a lot of time finding, getting and giving stuff away if it is a big production that serves no benefit to the blog and takes time away from entering other giveaways - er, I mean visiting other bloggers.

Have you hosted a giveaway? Did it increase traffic and lead to new readers sticking around? Have you entered or perhaps even won something from a blog's giveaway? Did you stick around after the results and add them to your Reader or did you move on? Are you hassled by marketers to give away their stuff or do you see it as a way to get free loot? Don't be afraid to share - your blogger thoughts are safe with us! We'll also open a companion topic in Bumble Town on Giveaways so the conversation can be continued in depth anytime.

ON BOOKS ~ This Is The End, My Only Friend, The End...

For the last 2 months Stacy and I have been taken on a journey by Leo. And we have tried to bring you along for the ride. I hope that our summaries showed enough of the story and characters to entertain and inspire you to read outside of the box yourself some day. Classics aren't for the sophisticated, uber smart or stodgy. They are for lovers of good books. Who knew that a Russian epic, heavy enough to use for strength training and long enough to use for plenty of kindling, would end up being part delicious soap opera, part reflection on life and part history lesson?

It was really enjoyable and I did not feel as if I was slogging through it or wishing I could be reading something else. I really enjoyed my time with these characters and their maturity during times of war and peace. I found myself reading online discussions about the book after I had finished. Which generally means that I am sorry to have finished and crave more connection with the tale. I have given this a 4 out of 5 star rating on Goodreads. A 5 was not possible only because I found Tolstoy's never ending dissertation about his personal philosophy of what moves people to act in the last 40 pages of his Epilogue to be insufferable. All of the other 1160 pages were terrific. So without further ado, are you ready to find out who hooked up with who and who got dissed? Here's how it ended...

PRINCESS HELENE
Still dead. Which opened up the door for her estranged hubby's happiness.

PIERRE
Previously, we found Pierre at the mercy of the insanity of love when he came across Natasha and wanted to marry her. Well, this marriage did indeed take place within the year. From the very beginning of Natasha's young adulthood she had always taken a liking to Pierre. He was different from all the rest. He may not have been the most handsome or adept but he was always genuine and kind. And so after falling for looks, and then for romance, she ended up with a true family man. And someone that had known her all along, through her petulant days and flirtatious self-centered beauty, to a woman who had known him all along too. Known him through his aimless wanderings, high society blunderings, knee-jerk causes and eventual recognition that acceptance brings joy. They have lots of kids whom Pierre dotes upon, showering with love and presents. He and Natasha become that married couple who know each other's thoughts and complete each other's sentences. She has him wrapped around her finger and on a short leash. He seems to get a lot of crap for this, but knows that his life with her, though not free, is the happiest he will ever be.

NIKOLAI
It isn't long after Nikolai's sister's wedding to Pierre that their father dies, leaving the family once and for all in financial ruin. Nikolai abandons his military post and comes home to care for his mother in their rented apartment - having sold off the beloved family estate. He is cold personally, miserable and seems to have given up - feeling that he had his time for happiness and now all of that is behind him. He seems a lot like Prince Andrei did for a long time - all business, no pleasure - brooding away his days. His new brother-in-law Pierre, whom he has never liked very much, loans him some money to help out. His mother keeps trying to marry him off to Prince Andrei's rich sister, Maria. But he resents the need to marry for money. He only wants to marry for love. But he forgets that he has tender feelings for Maria - until she calls him on them.

Maria comes to pay respects to Nikolai and his mother for the loss of his father. She had become close to their family while her brother died under their roof and in Natasha's care. So when she sees Nikolai not resembling the dashing, full of life handsome babe that she fell for earlier in the war, she knows something is up. She realizes it is his pride, now that he is truly poor and she is not. So she tells him it is selfish to deny her of a friendship when she has no one left in the world. That gets his attention and BAM - the sparks fly like never before.

These two get married as well and Nikolai comes full circle from the spoiled brat wondering how any enemy could hate him when he is so awesome, to a farmer in the country avoiding the high society balls that he loved. Where previously he couldn't balance the books to save his father's finances, he now becomes a successful and respected land owner, able to pay off all of his father's debt.

He and Maria have kids of their own, although he prefers them once they are beyond the newborn stage. His little girl Natasha is the apple of his eye - much as his younger sister was growing up. Speaking of his sister, they invite her to stay with them while Pierre is away on business, and when Pierre returns, they keep them around living with them for a while longer.

Nikolai and Pierre are now best friends - probably since they are such family men these days and don't get out much. But Pierre is bitten with a new political rising bug and Nikolai is against any type of rebellious action. Still butting heads.

SONYA
Well. Leo was not kind to Sonya. When Nikolai returned from the war, he and Sonya lived under the same roof helping his mom out. He never knew that her letter freeing him from his proposal to her was in jest - that she didn't expect Prince Andrei to die and not marry Natasha, leaving Nikolai free to marry Andrei's sister Maria. Sonya watches Nikolai transform from self-sacrificing misery to love with Maria. And lucky Sonya - newly married Nikolai and Maria bring her along to live with them and care for dear old mom.

Maria knows about Sonya's past with Nikolai. She knows there must be resentment. She even talks to Natasha about it. Natasha tells Maria not to worry - that Sonya's lot in life is to suffer so others can be happy and free. Or something to that effect. Other than descriptions of Sonya tossing dagger eyes Maria's way here and there, we never hear from her directly again. But I'm guessing she's not thrilled with Natasha's interpretation. And neither was I. She got screwed. But we'll never know why she took it. My only complaint with the story's perspective.

I found it funny that we were left with 2 couples living under the same roof, consisting of people who initially did not like each other. Nikolai thought Pierre was a bumbling fool and didn't like Pierre dissing his army buddy - which led to Pierre's duel with Dolokhov. Maria did not like Natasha's attitude and personality when Natasha was first engaged to Maria's brother, Andrei. And of course Sonya didn't like Maria for stealing her man Nikolai - yet there she is living with them all.

The novel ends with Prince Andrei's orphaned son, also named Nikolai, enraptured with his "Uncle" Pierre - who was orphaned himself as a young man. He is not a fan of his real Uncle Nikolai. But he sees Pierre as heroic and exciting, given his capture during the war and his close relation with young Nikolai's father (whom he doesn't remember personally) before he died. Teenaged Nikolai is caught up in Pierre and his Uncle Nikolai's discussions of government and uprising, much as his Uncle Nikolai was at his age. Yet Pierre is his connection to the father he never knew, and so his dreams are to emulate Pierre and make his father proud. Which is exactly what his father spent much of his own life trying to do. Full circle. Just as life is now, and will always be. That's why War & Peace works on so many levels. It is relatable, honest and the prose can bring you to your knees.

Stacy has her final thoughts and can give you more insight about the ladies Maria & Natasha. As well as what ever happened with Denisov. Thanks for following along each week. I hope you've had as much fun as we have. And thanks to Stacy for getting herself into the position of needing to read this book this year. Without her, I likely would have continued to put it off - which would have deprived me of a masterful tale.

Related Posts:

• Intro. to Readalong - War - What Is It Good For?

• Volume 1, Part 1 - Love & Peace & Inheritance

• Volume 1, Parts 2 & 3 - I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter

• Volume 2, Parts 1 & 2 - Who Needs A Battle When You Can Have A Duel?

• Volume 2, Parts 3, 4 & 5 - Soap

• Volume 3, Parts 1 & 2 - War & Peace & Fate

• Volume 3, Part 3 - Evacuation Day

• Volume 4, Part 1 - Death Becomes Her

• Volume 4, Parts 2, 3 & 4 - Historians Suck, Suffering Transforms

ON BLOGGING ~ Props to the Presenters...

Over the course of this year, some very nice bloggers have mentioned us on Award posts and we have been delinquent in acknowledging them.  So instead of posting them and rattling off a list of other bloggers to give them to, we are instead posting them and giving props to the givers...

Ji of Jingle writes poetry.  And she honors fellow poets, writers and creative minds.  Thankfully she also honors the rest of us because somewhere along the way, she decided to honor us with this Sunshine Award!

Adelle of Adelle Lauden writes romance.  But she is more than a romance writer.  She is a mother first and foremost.  A kind Canadian soul.  A biker.  And we enjoy the sunny outlook she tries to spread on her blog.  Like sharing the Sunshine Award with us to brighten our day.

Stacy of Stacy's Books loves literature.  Reading it, reviewing it, and creating quizzes about it.  And because I volunteered to read War & Peace with her, she doled out this Friendship Award to me.  It requires me to list 5 things I love to do.  I love to read with others, win, laugh, help people connect and sleep - oh how I love to sleep.

The Gal of One Gal's Musings loves her Cubbies.  She also loves her cats, her purses, politics and the fact that she still has her job.  She is refreshing and we were honored to discover she deemed us to be beautiful via this award.  We are supposed to share 7 interesting things about ourselves.  We have done enough sharing recently here so either peruse or come back any day to learn our interesting things.

McGillicutty of Inner Rambling of a Mid Life Mama is a Brit living in the U.S. south, engaging in photography lessons, motherhood and laugh out loud commentary on her world.  So it is very appropriate that she see us as Sugar Dolls.  We are supposed to share 10 uncommon facts about ourselves.  Again, peruse prior posts or come back again in the future and you'll see how much we share regularly.

Finally, my recent submission to Shutterday's weekly photo contest for the "Pink" theme came in 3rd place - out of over 45 submissions!  Votes and awards from peers are so wonderful.  They keep us going in the blogosphere.  So thank you.  We appreciate the recognition, your support and all that you do to stay connected with us.

ON FUN ~ Go Ahead, Make THEIR Day...

Let's say you are in your doctor's waiting room and notice the very becoming hair style on a woman sitting across from you.  Do you actually voice your opinion to her or do you keep it to yourself?  If you had told her how flattering her cut was it probably would have made her day - or at least given her something nice to think about in an otherwise stressful or potentially unhappy situation.  If you had kept it to yourself you would have saved yourself from potential embarrassment, but missed an opportunity to brighten someone else's day.  Which is pretty selfish when you think about it.

Unless your compliment comes across as a creepy pick-up line, more likely than not it is going to be received with a smile.  Don't be afraid to share nice thoughts about others, even if you don't know them - especially if you don't know them.  Unsolicited compliments are the nicest kind because their sincerity is not in question.

A guy at my gym told me several months ago out of the blue that he admired my commitment to exercise since whenever he's randomly there, I'm always there.  That it was inspiring and he just thought he'd tell me.  And then he went on to wherever it was he was going.  I can't tell you how much that made my day.  I actually still think about it when I don't really feel like going to work out.  His compliment now motivates me to stay healthy.  He wasn't hitting on me.  He wasn't trying to be friends.  He wasn't just a chatty Kathy making conversation.  He just wanted to share something nice - and I admire the guts it took to follow through with that thought.

So now I make an effort to share the nice thoughts I have about others.  That I noticed the nice gesture they made holding the door open for the people who walked through without so much as a thank you.  Or that their outfit looks terrific.  Or that their child is so well behaved.  A simple nice thought about a stranger may seem small to you but it could mean a lot to the other person.  The next time one crosses your mind, share it and make someone's day.  I dare you.

ON MOVIES ~ Coupling...

Feature Presentation...

MONDAY MOVIE MEME

Molly looked around for a weekly meme about movies and did not have any luck. So therefore she decided to start her own! Andy will play along as well - hopefully you will too. Go to your blog and create your own post on the topic, linking back to us in your post, then come back and leave a link to your post here in our Comments section. If you don’t have a blog, just share your response in the Comments section.

This week's movie topic is all about Best Couples...

A couple of weeks ago we talked about Sidekicks. Those pairings in the movies that worked so well to entertain us. This week we're thinking of another type of pairing - couples in films that left their mark because of their romantic tension, sqaubbling or love connection. Here are some movie couples we thought were perfect for each other in their roles. Share on your blog couples in film who left their impression on you, linking back here at The Bumbles. And don't forget to visit your fellow participants!

Harry & Sally - When Harry Met Sally (1989) - simply the sweetest love story there is, thanks to Crystal & Ryan

Jack & Joan - Romancing The Stone (1984) - romance novel turned reality with a sexy & hysterical pairing of Douglas & Turner

Oliver & Barbara - War of the Roses (1989) - more Douglas & Turner, divorce was never so passionate

Charlie & Rose - The African Queen (1951) - classic Bogart & Hepburn

Harold & Maude - Harold & Maude (1971) - Cort & Gordon portray love in its truest form in an unlikely pairing

Do you have a topic to suggest to the Monday Movie Meme? Or would you like to guest host? Let us know in the Comments section or send us an e-mail.

ON PHOTOS ~ Centered...

07-04-2009 - Sparkler

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ON BLOGGING ~ Anazlye That...

First things first, the above image was taken from Google Analytics. So it belongs to them. Now, if you recall, a few weeks ago I showed you how to get your blog and Google Analytics talking to each other. Hopefully things worked well for you and you now have a few weeks of data to look at in Google Analytics. Or perhaps you've had Google Analytics set up for a long time and just never understood what to do with the information. Well, I'll try to go through some of the basics over the course of several posts since there is so much to learn. This week I'm going to give you an introduction to the Dashboard and then focus on the Traffic Sources statistics, showing you where to find them, what they reveal, and how they can be useful to you.

When you log in to Google, go up to Settings on the top right and click on Google Account Settings. Select Analytics and you will be brought to your account. There should be a green check mark under Status, meaning all is working properly. Click on View Report to the left of the check mark to start viewing your data.

Your dashboard with a graph chart and numeric stats will appear. The longer your blog sends information to Google Analytics, the farther back in time you can go to compare activity and learn from your blog's trends. If you hover over the points on the graph it will tell you the date it represents and the number of visits to your blog on that day. It's OK to see a roller coaster graph. You will likely see more visits during the week and less visits on the weekend. We happen to spike on Mondays and Fridays due to our Monday Movie Meme on Mondays and BlogAnon or Tech Tips posts on Fridays. But many bloggers see their biggest traffic on Wednesdays.

The Site Usage section beneath the graph gives you a quick snapshot of your stats during the period of time your graph covers. You can change the time period in the top right corner - either selecting a specific period of time or requesting a comparison to a point in the past. The dashboard also tells you quickly where your traffic is coming from in the world, how people find your blog, and what posts they have visited most often.

To get into the meat of your stats, you can select one of the categories on the top left menu. The Traffic Sources section is important to me because it lets me know which places are sending us the most traffic. Selecting Traffic Sources will open up a new Dashboard overview, specific to Traffic. The Top Traffic Sources section at the bottom lists the places sending most visitors to your blog. To the right of that, it tells you the Key Words that most often lead people to your blog.

Our top key words are "the bumbles" and right after that is "the bumbles blog." That means that our blog's branding is strong, easy for people to remember and a search of our name is successfully bringing people to us. The third most frequent key words are "dannon mexican dip" which would lead them to one of the few food posts we have here - sharing Dannon's Mexican Dip recipe (which is yummy). These key words are always near the top, regardless of when I check our Key Words stats. This bit of information tells me that people are coming to that post with regularity when looking for that recipe, meaning that this post is a landing page for random visitors. It would make sense to build in a few links within that post to other parts of our blog to encourge them to stick around.

There are also lots of key words that make no sense to me in how those words would lead anyone to our blog. This happens a lot because search engines are not a perfect science. And I don't pay too much attention to them if they are a small percentage and aren't consistently turning up on our key words list. Clicking on the View Report link at the bottom of this section will give you a longer list and show you which days those key words led people to your blog. We don't write with key words in mind, but they can tell you what strangers have in mind when they arrive at your blog. If you want to reel more of them in, use those words more often. If you are selling a product or promoting a feature, you want to see key words related to them popping up on a regular basis. That's why it is nice to see "bumbles movie meme" showing up near the top of our Key Words list.

Back at the Traffic Sources Dashboard, the other section I look at is Sources, to the left of Key Words. When we participated in a lot of memes, this was the spot I used to find out which of those memes brought visitors to our blog, and which did not. For example, I spent a lot of time each week visiting a ton of the participants in Wordless Wednesday. We got a fair amount of comments on our post each week, but I wasn't sure if anyone was actually finding us through WW or if they were just stopping by unrelated to that meme. When I looked at our Sources list, WW was nowhere to be found. This told me that very few people were actually clicking on our link at the WW site. I dropped regular participation in that meme and incorporated photos in posts I wanted to write instead.

Our top Source is Feedburner - meaning most people are accessing us from their Reader. Which means they are subscribing to our feed. Which is good. Thank you! Our second Source is The Daily Meme. This is because we have our Monday Movie Meme listed on that site. That tells me the Daily Meme relationship is working and I need to keep their button on my sidebar to give thanks back to them. It also means there are lots of new people interested in learning about the MMM all the time so keeping the topics fun and relatable to all types of movie lovers is important.

Clicking on the View Full Report link at the bottom of this section will give you the longer list. It tells me that many of my friends on Goodreads have been stopping by to read those War & Peace summaries I've been posting and linking to in my book group there. It also tells me when they come by, how long they stay, and whether they check out any other pages or just leave and go somewhere else. Many of these Goodreads visitors have never been to our blog before and they seem to be checking other pages out. The Bounce Rate tells you the percent of people who leave after visiting one post/page. The higher the percentage, the more people are one and done. The lower the percentage, the more people are exploring your blog before leaving.

The last thing I learn from Sources is which fellow bloggers are stopping by most often because they like what we have to say, or because they are linking up to us and sending traffic our way - maybe via participation in the MMM or a collaborative post like the War & Peace summaries I do with Stacy. Sometimes I am surprised by the bloggers I find on our Sources list because they aren't always leaving comments so I had no idea they were hanging around. By seeing them on our Sources list I know that we need to make sure we are visiting them to return the favor, and discover more of what we share in common that makes them interested enough in what we have to say. It's a great tool for discovering and building blogging relationships.

I'll try to cover the Content and Visitors sections of Google Analytics in future Blog Tips posts, which alternate with our BlogAnon posts on Fridays. If you have tips, thoughts or requests about Google Analytics please share in the Comments. You can also join the discussion in our Bumble Town forum where we will be posting topics to match each Friday's blogging post to provide a place for more involved conversation. Hopefully, you'll find a way to use Google Analytics' information to make your blogging experience an even better one.

ON BOOKS ~ Historians Suck, Suffering Transforms...

Tedy the cat is wondering when I'm going to finish this beast of a book so he can have my lap back.  Soon, Tedy, soon.  A week from today to be exact.  You see, Stacy and I have finished up Part Four and all that is left is the Epilogue.  Next week will be our final installment of Tolstoy's masterpiece.  Leading up to the big finale however, Tolstoy gave us some major concepts to chew on.

The first is that historians are clueless lackeys giving credit to the wrong people.  Napoleon is not a genius.  The Russian Commander In Chief, Kutuzov, was the real mastermind - who was like Rodney Dangerfield - he never got any respect.  This of course flies in the face of Leo's other point which is that the brightest general cannot control the lowly masses, who speak for the will of God.  But Tolstoy was a very bitter and very proud Russian.  So he piled praise onto the disrespected Russian commander and hated on the historians.  In between all of this, he gave us stunning literary prose through Pierre about transformation.  Forget about all of my other characters - only Pierre had a voice this week, and here's what he shared...

PRINCESS HELENE
Still dead.  And when Pierre finally finds out, he thinks "Ah, how good, how nice!"  I don't fault him one bit.

PIERRE
When we last saw Pierre, he was getting used to life as a POW.  He was pulling himself up from the dregs of dispair in humanity.  As he became accustomed to his new life of deprivation, he began to learn that his priorities all along have been wrong.  To be happy is not about wealth, romantic love or action.  To be happy is to have food, shelter and life.  In captivity he has these things - nothing more - and finds happiness in his soul and with his fellow prisoners and captors.

Then, the retreat begins.  Things take a turn for the worse.  His friendly captors stop seeing their prisoners as humans and instead Pierre senses "it" from them - as he did when he witnessed the inhumane and horrific executions after his arrest.  It is clear that he is now a POW and not a human being to them.  And he is deprived even further of food and shelter.  His health is pushed to the limits during the long and brutal march away from Moscow and to the Russian border.  But he sinks further into his soul and sees that for all the efforts to steal his freedom, no one can put bars around the soul.  He is as free as the stars when he lives within himself.  And so he marches on, distancing himself from the friendships amongst his fellow prisoners.  Emotional attachments can lead to pain.  Survival instincts kick in.  He distracts himself from death by counting his steps and taking each step forward as a goal in life accomplished.

At the brink of death or abandonment by the French, he is liberated by a band of partisan warfare Russian soldiers - none other than Denisov, the strong willed but honorable soldier who stood up for Pierre's fallen duel vicitm way back before the world got so complicated.  Through Denisov, Pierre learns of his wife's death, his best friend Prince Andrei's survival and subsequent death under the care of Natasha, and of Natasha & Nikolai's little brother's death in battle under the command of Denisov.  Talk about a bad day.  Freedom contrasted with nothing but news of death.  So Pierre heads as far away as possible to recuperate and reflect.

Upon healing, Pierre heads back to Moscow - another place that is healing from the fires and looting of war.  Pierre has not lost his newfound perspective on life - that basic needs take priority over what society says are important.  That guiltless suffering is life's biggest challenge.  And that happiness exists by accepting all souls as valid.  He feels that his financial ruin (having lost much property to the destruction of war) has made him richer.  This new man is viewed very differently by those in high society who previously shunned or made fun of him.  He is comforting to everyone.  Respected.  Loved.  And just when he finds peace within himself, through God and contentment in personal freedom, he runs right into the insanity of true love.

On a visit to Maria to offer condolences for the loss of her brother, his friend, Prince Andrei, Pierre is shocked and pleasantly surprised to find Natasha, Andrei's ex-fiancee, living with Maria.  Natasha opens her heart to Pierre and Maria, spilling her guts about all that she has anguished over in grief of Andrei's death.  Pierre in turn bares his soul's education about what life has taught him through all his suffering.  And Maria sees the sparks of love between Pierre and Natasha.  He has awakened in grief stricken Natasha a reason for living - a path to guiltless suffering - that there is no blame in wanting to live when loved ones have died and left you behind.  He tells Maria he wishes to marry Natasha.  Natasha is ready to move on with Pierre.  And so I wait to see what happens in the end.

NIKOLAI
MIA from the pages.  His only reference is by his sister Natasha waxing hopefully of future plans for him to marry her new BFF, Maria.

SONYA
She was MIA as well.  Her role as Natasha's confidant, friend and healer has been supplanted by the unlikely Maria.  That doesn't seem to bode well for her standing with the family and her dreams for marriage to Nikolai.

Hop over to Stacy's to hear more about Natasha and Maria's bonding after Andrei's death, as well as Denisov's role in the war.  Next week we'll have our final wrap-up and review of the overall book.  Like it's possible to review Tolstoy.  But we'll try.

Related Posts:

• Intro. to Readalong - War - What Is It Good For?

• Volume 1, Part 1 - Love & Peace & Inheritance

• Volume 1, Parts 2 & 3 - I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter

• Volume 2, Parts 1 & 2 - Who Needs A Battle When You Can Have A Duel?

• Volume 2, Parts 3, 4 & 5 - Soap

• Volume 3, Parts 1 & 2 - War & Peace & Fate

• Volume 3, Part 3 - Evacuation Day

• Volume 4, Part 1 - Death Becomes Her

ON FUN ~ Quite Contrary - That's How My Frickin' Garden Grows...

My brother inherited a green thumb and the skill of great cooking from my mother.  I inherited her nose and a stubborn personality.  This is not good news for my garden.  I love flowers.  I love the way they look, smell, inspire.  I have no idea what their names are or when, how and where to plant them.  When Andy & I got married, our signature flower (did you know you needed a signature flower?) was the Sunflower because other than the Rose, it was the only flower we both knew by name and thought was pretty.

So when Boston was hit with a heat wave this past weekend, I decided to take a tour of our garden beds and look for signs of life.  Since we moved into our home almost 6 years ago I have only planted things that come back on their own.  I leave the rest in planters to fill in the gaps and re-use the potting soil the following year to help out the newbies.  But because we did a lot of construction I haven't yet gotten a real plan for landscaping.  My goal this year is to have the hardscaping finished this summer so that once and for all we can have a plan for delightful spots for all those pretty flowers I don't know the names of.

Until then, I am forced to straighten up the few existing spots we have.  This involved lots of raking, weeding and pain.  I don't know why you gardeners find this hard work to be an enjoyable hobby.  But if any of you live in the Boston area feel free to come on by and practice your hobby at our house.  This is the best I could do...

BEFORE AND AFTER OF PATIO GARDEN:

 

Just look at those green sprouts I uncovered!  I have no idea what they are but things that are green growing on their own are encouraging - provided they aren't weeds.

BEFORE AND AFTER OF SIDE GARDEN:

Wowee - I uncovered a lot of sprouts underneath all those leaves! I think they are Hostas which I transplanted before we did construction on the house. It gets very shady over here so not a lot thrives.

BEFORE AND AFTER OF FRONT YARD CORNER BED:

This front bed is so crammed with plantings that I'm not sure what exactly lives here.  Some Day Lillies, among other options.  This is where I plant anything my mother sends home with me because it is focal from the front drive and has been safe from changes.

BEFORE AND AFTER OF SIDE OF HOUSE:

All I did here was rake. I know these are all Hostas. They were here when we got here, and they survived all of the addition construction. They give our neighbors something pretty to look at - aside from the big dumpster that has been sitting in this section since the fall waiting for the shed project to be complete.

PROOF AND REWARD:

Notice the Band-Aid on my thumb.  Evidence of my hard day's work.  Didn't keep me from holding that cold one in my hand.  Nothing can stand between me and a well deserved reward.

Stay tuned for future updates on our garden developments.  If you have any planting suggestions for my brown thumb please share!  Our Comments section and Bumble Town are ready and waiting to learn from all of you green thumbs, florists and landscapers.