Review Tuesday: Complete World of Howl Collection: Howl's Moving Castle, House of Many Ways, Castle in the Air ( 1- 3 ) by Diana Wynne Jones

 

 

Complete World of Howl Collection ( 1- 3 )

by Diana Wynne Jones

 

A friend of mine sent me this trilogy of books as a gift.  These are the three in the World of  Howl Collection as well as introducing another character named of Chrestomanci. 

 

 

Howl's Moving Castle

After being cursed by an evil witch, a young woman seeks help.   

Sophie joins up with the magician Howl and his team to defeat the evil witch who has been terrorizing the countryside. It's a simple and effective story, yet it has plenty of plot twists to keep it entertaining. I found this to be my favorite of the three books in this series. The story is so much fun that Studio Ghibli even made it into an animated film (which I haven't yet seen by the time I am writing this.)

 

 

House of Many Ways

A sheltered young woman is sent to learn the ways of the world and ends up on quite an adventure.

Charmaine Baker has lived a sheltered life never having to take care of herself in any way. Her aunt feels it's high time for her to learns some things about the world by assisting her Great-Uncle William, the Royal Wizard Norland, during his illness. Mayhem ensues. Howl and Sophie show up to solve the mystery. A delightful and charming tale! This books is a close second place in the trilogy.  

 

 

Castle in the Air

Children deal with magic in their own universes.

Of three books in this series, this was my least favorite. It's really two short stories about children in very different universes that treat magic in very different ways. The common theme is that the magician Chrestomanci shows up to save the day. It really has nothing to do with the other two books. There ARE something like ten books in the complete Chrestomanci series, I just don't see the connection, exactly. Howl and Chrestomanci are known to NOT be the same man, so why is this part of the trilogy?   

 

***

IN SUMMARY, these books are meant for young adults and easy to read. There are no heavy philosophical or political concepts to juggle. Just easy reading.  

 

   

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

pettifogging \PET-ee-fog-ing, -faw-ging\, adjective: 

1. insignificant; petty: pettifogging details.
2. dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty.

Pettifogging comes from a combination of the word petty and the Middle Dutch word voger meaning "one who arranges things." The verb pettifog is a backformation of this term. 

idgaf

• An acronym for 'I don't give a fuck'. Indifference. Used when you don't care about something, or have no opinion on a matter. Sometimes used without the 'i', ie "I dgaf about her".

Person 1: Hey hey you you I don't like your girlfriend

Person 2: idgaf

History

 

• Canada: was ceded by France to Britain when the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War (1763)
• Queen Victoria: wed Prince Albert; when Albert died in 1861, Victoria went into a period of mourning that only ended 50 years later, when she died

  
• "All the News That's Fit to Print": first appeared on page 1 of The New York Times; the slogan was coined by owner Adolph S. Ochs (1897)
• 1934 - The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of postage stamps were issued by the U.S. Postal Service in New York City. "Chattanooga Choo Choo": earned bandleader Glenn Miller the first gold record for sales of over 1 million (1942)
• 1962 - The Soviet Union exchanged captured American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for the Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel being held by the U.S.
  ZZ Top played their first show together (1970)
• Deep Blue: computer won its first game against world chess champ Garry Kasparov (1996)

Birthdays 

• Charles Lamb 1775

  
• William Allen White 1868
• Boris Pasternak 1890
• Jimmy Durante 1893
• Maurice Harold Macmillan 1894 - British Prime Minister from 1957-1963
• Bertolt Brecht 1898 - Dramatist, poet
• Dame Judith Anderson 1898
• Lon Chaney, Jr. 1905
• Larry Adler 1914
• Allie Reynolds 1919
• Neva Patterson 1922
• Leontyne Price 1927
• Jerry Goldsmith 1929
• Robert Wagner 1930
• James E. West 1931
• Don Wilson (The Ventures) 1937
• Roberta Flack 1939
• Jimmy Merchant (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers) 1940
• Ral Donner 1943
• Frances Moore Lapp 1944
• Mark Spitz 1950
• Greg Norman 1955
• Kathleen Beller 1955
• Lionel Cartwright 1960
• George Stephanopoulos 1961
• Cliff Burton 1962 - Musician (Metallica)
• Laura Dern 1967
• Dude Mowrey 1972
• Elizabeth Banks (Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell) 1974 - Actress
• Chloë Grace Moretz 1997

 

 

 

  

 

  

Look forward to Sarah!

 

 

   

    

 

Sarah Louise Harris

 

   

Hottie of the day!

 

 

    

cred to ou

Seahawks win

 Seattle beat New England in the Superb Owl. 

Monday, February 9, 2026

banal \buh-NAL, -NAHL, BEYN-l\, adjective: 

• devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite: a banal and sophomoric treatment of courage on the frontier.

Banal originally comes from the French word ban which referred to compulsory military service. Since this law applied to everyone, the word came to be associated with what was commonplace.

snowpocalypse

• snow + apocalypse = snowpocalypse. When weathermen predict large amounts of snowfall in a short period of time.

Clint: Dude, I heard on the weather channel you had a snowpocalypse last night in your area 

Paul: Naw, just a couple inches, the weather man is an idiot.

 

Super Bowl Monday

• The Monday after the Super Bowl where you are still hung-over and wondering what you actually did, who won, and why you had so much to drink. You often must go back to work, school, etc. which makes it that much worst. It's a specific Case of the Mondays.

Dude 1: Hey dude. I saw you making out with Jill in Lori's kitchen yesterday. Now that's what I call a Touchdown.

Dude 2: Oh, that's what I was doing durring the last quarter. Who ended up winning again?

Dude 1: The Colts man. You're havin' one bad Super Bowl Monday.

 

Holiday

• World LADY DEATH Day - character was first published on this date in 1994. More HERE.

 

 

 

 

History

• John Quincy Adams: the House of Representatives chose America's sixth POTUS, when no candidate received a majority of electoral votes (1825)
• National Weather Service: then known as the United States Weather Bureau, was founded under the US Army Signal Corps; it used to alert fruit growers to the approach of stormy weather by telegraph (1870)
• Volley Ball was invented by W.G. Morgan (1895)
• Davis Cup: international tennis competition was played for the first time; its donor, Dwight F. Davis, won (1900)
• Hollywood Walk of Fame: the first embedded star was awarded, honoring Joanne Woodward (1960)
• The Beatles: the Fab Four appeared for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964)
• Satchel Paige: became the first Negro League player elected into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame (1971)

Birthdays

• William Henry Harrison (U.S.) 1773
• George Ade 1866
• Amy Lowell 1874
• Ronald Colman 1891
• Brian Donlevy 1899
• Carmen Miranda 1909
• Bill Veeck 1914
• Ernest Tubb 1914
• Gypsy Rose Lee 1914
• Kathryn Grayson 1922
• Brendan Behan 1923
  Frank Frazetta 1928
• Roger Mudd 1928
• Robert Morris 1931
• Jo Ann Prentice 1933
• Janet Suzman 1939
• Barry Mann 1942
• Carole King 1942
• Joe Pesci 1943
• Barbara Lewis 1943
• Alice Walker 1944
• Mia Farrow 1945
• Joe Ely 1947
• Major Harris 1947
• Judith Light 1949
• Dennis "DT" Thomas (Kool & the Gang) 1951
• Charles Shaughnessy 1955
• Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) 1960
• Travis Tritt 1963
• Julie Warner 1965
• Dannie Leigh 1970
  Tom Hiddleston 1981 (Loki) 
• David Gallagher 1985

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

Turtle Sunday: Randall (from January 4, 2007)

Randall the Red Belly Cooter

Randall's story has been one with some sadness. It started the day we went to the pet shop looking for feeder ghost shrimp for our bigger turtles. We were strolling about when we noticed they had a tank of turtle hatchlings. They had some tan soft shelled turtles and some odd looking little guys listed as "red bellies." They had orange shells with green swirls that were round like a ping-pong ball, and the skin that was black with brilliant yellow stripes. We went over for a closer look, and one of the little guys peeked from the top of the water and approached Stacey. She immediately fell in love with the little guys and insisted that we buy him.

We did. Since we got him some months after Dante, we kept up the "Clerks" trend and named this guy Randall.

Weeks later we went back to the same store and the tank had fish in it this time. The girl behind the counter told us that all the turtles in that tank died from shell rot. As far as we knew, Randall was the sole survivor.

Stacey immediately dedicated an enormous amount attention to the little guy. He would grow fast and very healthy. He would turn out to be extremely well behaved -- enjoying being handled by people.

The only smears on his otherwise normal growth period was shell related. Turtles shed their shell plates, aka schutes. As they grow. Sometimes you can see when they are ready to pop off. You might be tempted to help the little guys out, you shouldn't though. Stacey DID and peeled up the schute too deep and blood started coming out. The poor guy had to go on topical and oral antibiotics to remedy this problem. You have no idea how difficult it is to administer oral antibiotics to a turtle. Later on he also developed ulcers on his belly that required the same treatment.

Today, Randall is one of the largest two in the tank. His shell is football shaped, and bright orange after she drops schutes. He's relaxed most of the time, but shy when he's basking. He has a healthy appetite and still loves the attention. His most outstanding characteristic: his beak has a jagged shape as if he has a mouth full of shark's teeth. Other than that he's a lovely fellow! ;)

 

Addendum: 

The vet declared Randall dead today. That would make him 26-27 years old. Cause of death, my own negligence. More on Turtle Thursday