Where are you headed?

How did you fare with yesterday's match the book to the quote game?  Hopefully you recognized most of them, although I did throw in one or two books that might not be as well known to all of you.  I have to admit that choosing only NINE books for my garden sign project was tough.  Really tough.  It's like admitting that you love one child more than another. (And in case any of my children are reading this, I love you ALL EQUALLY!)  But in the end, most of the books I chose are the ones that I turn to late at night for comfort. The other books have given me wonderful memories of reading one of them to my siblings on a long, hot car ride out West (we made it through the entire Narnia series between South Dakota and Washington state), another one to my children when they were young (The House at Pooh Corner, which my youngest son would request night after night after night...), and a third my whole family read--we had to buy multiple copies as we were all fans of Harry Potter and his Hogwarts classmates!  I could probably do another sign for my front yard with the books I had to pare from my favorites list, but I suppose there can be too much of a good thing sometimes.  Perhaps.  When it comes to books, I'm not sure!

So here it is, finally standing tall in my garden!  I bought a 8 ft. pole, and three feet of it is buried in a hole that had (according to my son) boulders the size of bowling balls.  Wouldn't you love to follow the signs to a place where you can escape the world and throw off your cares for awhile?  Would you choose to make your way to Prince Edward Island and visit the charming village of Avonlea, and perhaps drink Marilla's cherry cordial with Anne and Diana?  (Anne of Green Gables)

Or perhaps you would prefer to peek in on Elnora, as she practices her violin and hunts for the rare moths that can fund her education in the Limberlost Swamp? (The Girl of the Limberlost)

I wouldn't mind stepping inside a certain magic closet and seeing if I could make my way to a lamp post in the woods, and maybe even meet Aslan along the path!  (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)

I was introduced to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon a few years ago, and have voraciously made my way through her seven (so far) very thick (but oh so good!) books about Claire, a WWII nurse who travels back to Jacobite Scotland through the mystical standing stones of Craigh na Dun.  The fact that she falls for a handsome, lusty, redheaded Scot in a kilt makes the reading, um, enjoyable.  (nuff said!)

It's no surprise to any of you that I'm a romantic, as I certainly admit it freely and often on my blog.  So of course Jane Eyre is going to make an appearance, as well as Pride and Prejudice.  And because it is my blog and I can do what I want with it, let's enjoy one more picture of Mr. Darcy, shall we?  Because when it comes to Colin Firth, there really can never be too much of a good thing!

And my final book choice comes from a college class way back when.  Forced to take an English class titled "The Warrior in Literature" because it was the only English class that would fit in my schedule, I begrudgingly resigned myself to a boring semester of testosterone-laced action novels.  I simply could not have been more wrong, as my professor led us through mythic battles and legends that stirred my imagination and made me a believer in the dream world of Camelot, King Arthur and Sir Gawain, had me on the edge of my seat praying for Roland during the Battle of Roncesvalles in France, and squirming in horror at the blood feuds that  friends Njall and Gunnarr faced in Iceland.  And at the end of the semester, as a reward for making it through a lot of heavy stories, our professor gave us a rare gift.  The story of a gentle man who never set out to be a warrior, but became the stuff of legends.  Bilbo Baggins earned the right to have his beloved Shire as my final destination point.  For there is something strangely loveable and unforgettable about the little folk known as hobbits.

So please feel free to stop by and curl up on my newly stained garden bench (decked out with new pillows that I sewed), choose your destination and enjoy the world that opens before you!