Sunshine, lollipops ... and suet

I am pleased to report that the universe has stopped conspiring against me. I think befriending the zombies helped.

I posted recently about some problems using bookmooch, and April from Good Books and Good Wine commented that she uploads her entire 600-book to be read list from goodreads, and then she is able to find matches. Now, I had read the instructions when I signed up (no, really, I did), and the site advises users to cast a wide net. Apparently 19 books do not a wide net make.

I uploaded my To Be Read list from goodreads, and it took a while, so I surfed off and when I went back to check, discovered each and every name was now on my inventory list! Ack! Ack! Inevitably, there were already three mooch requests for books I want to own, but don't currently.

Talk about awkward.

I declined the requests with excessively apologetic responses, along the lines of IhopeIhaven'truinedyourlifebutIamtravelingintheslowlaneontheinformationsuperhighwayand ... I'm just really sorry. I removed the whole list manually, and then added all the titles to my wish list sloooooooowwwwwly and carefully.  And sure enough, I now have four books on their hopefully merry way (as merry as media mail can be, I imagine) to my house, where they will be added to the pile of books I'm trying to get to, I swear.

But wait! There’s more.

We went to the post office the other day, where I mailed off another mooched book but was far less bitter about it, and as we drove back up to our house, there they were!

Chickadees! lunching on the suet cakes!

In my bliss, I decided to overlook the fact that my dear child (the wee traitor) evidently knows the chickadees. We watched them for a moment, and then she took me round the house to show me where they live. Also the bluejays. She knows all of them - she has the home address of every bird in the neighborhood.

If I would give her the cell phone she keeps asking for, she'd undoubtedly have them on speed dial, and they would conspire against me, on my dime. Because apparently, the birds talk to her, and she knows who is who - she can tell the chirps apart, and describe the differences with what I presume is alarming accuracy. I don't know for sure that the communication is a two-way street (with her, it isn't usually), but my inner conspiracy theorist senses something is up, and I have evidence: late last spring, the birds left her their nest. On our porch. Like a gift. Possibly a bribe.

Normally this would all worry me, but there are still further signs that my luck is changing for the better. All my life, you see, I've had the most appalling luck: I never win anything. But this week I did, and better yet, I won something I actually wanted. 

Goodreads, you see, has a fun feature called "First Reads," in which any user can sign up to win a free copy of an early release book. They ask that you post a review of it on goodreads when you are done. I wasn't very optimistic, as there are typically hundreds of people signed up for one or two copies of a book, but I won! And already got a very nice email from the author letting me know when she'd be sending it. The book is called Elegy for a Fabulous World, and I'm excited to read it, and share it with my little corner of the world. 

A world that feels really fabulous, lately. Have a fabulous weekend! No, wait ...

Be fabulous!



(Lesley Gore, "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows," from the 1965 movie "Ski Party.")