Going Away and other stuff

September is once again time to go on vacation. It's also a time to relax and spend some time away from the computer. I have reading plans, crafting plans, travelling plans and I do need to devote more time to myself so I'll be back to blogging only at the end of the month. 

I hadn't realised it before but this means I'll miss the 7 year anniversary of one of my groups. 7 years ago I founded a group devoted to the discussion and exchange of books. I had started reading in english only recently and had some problems finding cheap books here. I knew of many such groups but, due to high postal rates, they were only available if you lived in the US. That's how I came up with the idea of creating one just for european members.

There weren't many europeans lurking in forums and groups devoted to book exchange then. Nowadays there are many, and since Bookmooch and Bookcrossing helped making more books available the focus of the European Romance Trading Group has changed from mainly trading books to mainly discussing books. We have members of different european countries such as Spain, Italy, France, UK, Germany, Austria, Romania, Greece not to mention Portugal. And, although in the beginning it was mostly romance, we also discuss mysteries and thrillers, classic literature and whatever else comes to our mind.

So if you like books and would like to talk about them with other like minded people, all located in Europe, you are hereby invited to join us at the ERTG. I promise I'll greet everyone when I get back!

See you in October!

It's Vacation Time

I have the next two weeks off from work and although I don't have anything definite planned yet I intend to spend some quality time with L.!And also going to the beach, sightseeing and spending some time outdoors with a few good books. Reading and relaxing sounds just perfect!

I'll be back to blogging on Oct 6th!

The Rain Came Late This Year....

...but it has done a lot of damage already. More photos here

Work Related Stuff

I'm off to BTL - Lisbon's Travel Market - so I wont be much online today. It used to be exciting to go and visit all the different countries, the tour operators and airlines and to end the visit in the gastronomy area dinning or simply eating something sweet.

Nowadays it's not that exciting but it's still great to see some friends, in some cases it's the only time I see them, and of course it's part of the business and it's necessary to meet with some of our suppliers.

I've been a bit discouraged lately as I realise we will be "an endangered species" soon. People tend to buy more and more online and we might have to think of a change in careers one of these days.

Trading Site Closed

I had an old Geocities site where I posted my trade and wish lists. I'm finding Bookmooch so much more easy to use - because besides being automatically available for all Bookmoochers it also allows me to show an updated list to non moochers - that I decided to close the geocities site. I already removed it from the list on the left of this blog so if you want to check the books I want to get rid of or the ones I'm looking for just look at my Bookmooch account.

Too Hot To Handle

It's been too hot these last few days with temperatures reaching 40º. That's too much even if we are used to heat in the Summer.It's even worse when we think it actually rained for most of the month of July, which is not common at all. The difference between the days is just too much. The weather has been very very weird lately and I wonder what the future will bring us.

It's too hot to stay outside these days and I can only say that A/C is a great invention. It would better if the seasons went back to what they were though...

I lack the energy to read when it's too hot, I just sit on the couch and vegetate in front of the TV screen.

21st of March - The arrival of Spring

I was so thrilled yesterday with the idea of having finished the needle case (that Mom loved by the way) that I totally forgot the beginning of spring. I think Spring is my favourite season, the days get bigger, the landscapes turn green, flowers bloom. Lovely!

I wanted to find an appropriate picture to illustrate this post but sadly I couldn't find any that I liked among mine. I had to resort to this picture from the WWW that really appealed to me but it has already made me decide I have to take the camera with me more often when I leave the house.




Speaking of pictures I couldn't resist posting the picture of this cute polar bear that is striking a huge debate in Germany. Although I am aware of the dangers of not letting nature follow it's due course I can't help being happy that they saved him whenever I look at this picture.

Categories

Since the readers of this blog have many different interests I decided to put on the side bar the several post categories that I use to label each post and that you can choose to read. This way you can check only book reviews or crafts or what else you might find interesting...