Listening to Books from the Library of Congress

My Digital Book Library

                                               
                    Read or Listen to a Book!

Back in 1985 I started to get sound recordings provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

The first Talking book looked like this and was invented by British Captain Ian Fraser who was blinded in the war in 1916.

A vintage first Talking Book and the history is at this website:
UK Vintage

The First Talking Book player I got when I was declared legally Blind in 1984 was this record player. 

                  Found on Pinterest listed as a toy record player

At that time I was given the above record player that played plastic flexible disks rather than the original hard vinyl records of the 1930's through the 1970's. 

More History info at:   History of NLS

I also got a Cassette player that played the cassettes that had 4 tracks played at a lower speed. You could also play regular cassettes on the regular speed.

Photo Credit

I used the cassette Talking Book player until 2008. 

In 2008 I got my first Digital Talking Book Player. I wore one out and got another one 6 years later. 

To sign up and see FAQ go to this link:

NLS free Braille and Talking Book Library

I was raising a family of 4 in 1987 [ages 17 down to age 0.] I did not have too much time to listen to anything so I only "read" about 20 books from 1984 to 1996 when I started back to college with ADA help.
Then I read a lot of college books for my classes for my AS in Computer Science.
See my story here for those years: 

After college and work I retired in 2003.  I got more books on the cassettes and read about 50 books between 2003 to 2010.
Then I started to go online to download the books to a blank flash drive cassette. 

Talking Book Player, Flash drive in a cassette shape and blue container used for shipping books for free.

The Flash Drive Cartridge I got from the NLS and the service is called Braille and Audio Reading Materials - BARD for short. You can also order a 4 GIG blank flash drive for the Talking Book from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Blank-Cartridge-Talking-Book-Players/dp/B073WJF9KB


You can go to their website and read how to sign up and download and extract the condensed or zipped files here.

   Apply for a talking book player and BARD service at NLS or Toll free at: 1-800-424-8567


Since 2011 I have read about 350 books. I have some favorites and I re-read them at least once a year.  


Young Adult Paranormal and Dystopian Books:
The Mortal Instruments by Author Cassandra Clare

City of Bones (published March 27, 2007)

City of Ashes (published March 25, 2008)

City of Glass (published March 23, 2009)

City of Fallen Angels (published April 5, 2011)

City of Lost Souls (published May 8, 2012)

City of Heavenly Fire (published May 27, 2014)

A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) by Libba Bray

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick


Before I Fall  by Lauren Oliver

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

by Stephenie Meyer

The Hunger Games: The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay Suzanne Collins

Classics in the Jane Austen Vein [Family

Romance] :

Trigiani, Adriana. 

Big Stone Gap: a novel 

The shoemaker's wife: a novel

jane eyre Charlotte bronte

Fantasy:

The Merlin Series[edit]

Further information: Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy

The Crystal Cave (1970)

The Hollow Hills (1973)

The Last Enchantment (1979)

The Wicked Day (1983)

The Prince and the Pilgrim (1995)

SciFi:

Yancey, Richard The fifth wave books

Time's Eye (2003) (A Time Odyssey #1)

Sunstorm (2005) (A Time Odyssey #2)

Firstborn (2007) (A Time Odyssey #3) by Arthur C Clarke 

Rendezvous with Rama; Rama II; The Garden of Rama; Rama Revealed by Arthur C Clarke and

Gentry Lee [Lee also wrote two further novels set in the same Rama Universe.]

John Scalzi books:

Old Man’s War (2005)

The Ghost Brigades (2006)

The Last Colony (2007)

Zoe’s Tale (2008)

The Human Division (2013)

The End of All Things (2015)

ORSON SCOTT CARD 

Ender's Game (1985)

Historical Fiction

Diana Gabaldon Outlander series

 ​Outlander

​X ​Dragonfly In Amber

​X ​Voyager

​X ​ Drums of Autumn

​X ​The Fiery Cross

​X ​ A Breath of Snow and Ashes

​X ​An Echo In The Bone

X Written In My Own Heart’s Blood: Nicknamed “MOBY,” 

​X Lord John and the Brotherhood​

X Lord John and the private matter

X The scottish prisoner

Historical Fiction Religious Book One:

These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 Kindle Edition

by Nancy Turner (Author)

​Book Two:

​Sarah's Quilt: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine and the Arizona Territories, 1906 Kindle Edition

by Nancy E. Turner  (Author)

I was wrong there is a book three:

The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine Kindle Edition

by Nancy E. Turner 

Sherry E <laceroseayla@gmail.com>

Wed, Oct 12, 2016, 7:30 PM

to me

http://www.hazelgaynor.com/

The Girl who came home

a novel about the Titanic

A memory of Violets

Religious:

ORSON SCOTT CARD 

Sarah (2000) Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Rebekah (2001) Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Rachel and Leah (2004)

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Janette Oke's Books

When Calls the Heart

May-1983 2

When Comes the Spring  Jul-1985

3

When Breaks the Dawn

HR Apr-1986

4

When Hope Springs New

HR Sep-1986

5

Beyond the Gathering Storm

HR Jul-2000

6

When Tomorrow Comes

Love Comes Softly Series

1  Love Comes Softly 1979

2 Love's Enduring Promise 1980

3  Love's Long Journey  Oct-1982

4 Love's Abiding Joy Oct-1983

5 Love's Unending Legacy  Aug-1984

6 Love's Unfolding Dream Jul-1987

7 Love Takes Wing  Aug-1989

8 Love Finds a Home

February 2021

 I have not been doing much lately. I did do some Christmas Cross Stitching.

I will add that here when I can. 

May 2020

Times they are a changin...

It has been a very long time since I have been on my blog. 

News....
I will add more about my Mom who passed away February 17, 2020. No as far as I know she did not have the Covid 19 virus. 

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Stay at Home
I do not have an issue with this as I am a stay at home person most of the time anyway.
Fortunately, I live in a building that has a hallway with two connecting buildings. So I do not even have to step out the door to get my mail or packages.  I can visit my neighbors and have a good walk in doors. That is good when it is snowing or raining.



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Projects
I have not done too many projects since my last post.  I will add some that I did do.

Neko Atsume

"S"

Pusheen, "Donut Worry - Be Happy!"

Kit  Tea

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New ideas
Switching media I am now trying to learn to use a graphics tablet with a pen. I got the Huion 64 tablet and watching videos on Youtube so I can figure out how to do what I want.  I have some ideas such as card designs for friends and family. 

My free form design - first project:

Second Project

Color-in a pre drawn design from Pinterest

         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Mom 

Obituary

Mom's Biography

I wrote a Bio for my Mom. Go to this Link for her Bio.
Link for her obituary at Find a Grave:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207303402/virginia-mae-smith

         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will add more when I can.

30+ Christmas Crafts for 2018

Christmas Crafts I made this year

My focus this year was for Buttons, Felt, embroidery floss and Aida cloth size 11.

Most of my patterns were from Pinterest. I adapted them where I wanted to make a specific change to suit my family or friends who likes a certain object or animal. I made about 100 items. 

My youngest Granddaughter loves M*A*S*H* the old TV show and Radar's Teddy Bear

My 2nd Daughter loves the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, so this is my interpretation of said Cat.

My 2nd Granddaughter misses her black cat who passed away. So this is Rey for her.

Two people on my list seem to have an affinity for Cthulhu the Monster from the H.P. Lovecraft Novels. So one for my Son and one for my Oldest Granddaughter's Boyfriend. 

The two Cthulhu's side by side.

My youngest daughter's Boyfriend's nickname is Inky. So I made him this Squid, also known as a Kraken. 

My oldest daughter loves the animated movie: "My Neighbor Totoro."   So here is Totoro and the white Ko Tutoro and the little black guy is called Susuwatari or Sootballs.

https://honeysanime.com/top-10-warmest-my-neighbor-totoro-characters/

My youngest daughter chose Avocorn the Avocado/Unicon merge.  Cute, eh???

My good friend online loves Tulips so here is three for her that will never fade away.

Snowflake in Swedish traditional Red. We have Swedish roots on my Mother's Mother's side. 

Never ending flowers and rainbow for another good friend online. 

A Christmas tree for my cousin and her Husband - both will be retired R.V. ing in 2019.

For my good online friend who likes the green stuff.

Hearts ornament.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I needed to make some for me!

For when I need to remember to say No....

Why do I need to say No?

Because, Reasons!

What you say to someone who has not been nice to you.

Dedicated to all the cats I have and especially Batman whom we lost this year. 

My daughter had me binge watch "The Good Place" and I love this silly phrase that the lady is always saying....

My oldest daughter started loving Cardinals and has them for her Christmas theme for two years now. So these for her. This is the female who has some red but is mostly a light brown color. 

The matching Male Cardinal for her.

The large project I finished for me.  I wanted a Gingerbread House that would last since it's not good for me to eat candy. 

My oldest granddaughter choose this Possum who seems to have a problem with his derriere. 

Crafts I made for myself from what I saw online and crafting class this year. 

I saw this online at Pinterest and wanted to make one for myself. I added the one at the bottom as part of the tree trunk.

Ornaments I made over the years I have attached, They use the glass balls inside the hoops from the lids to the Mason jars.  I did not have any glass ball ornaments so I choose my own home made items. 

This cute Snowman is made from tiny wooden shapes that we painted. The stars are plastic and you string them all together. 

This is wire that has the plastic greenery on it.  You cut lengths and glue them to a cinnamon stick.  Then you glue on whatever else you like.  My daughter gave me the star Anise and I glued that on the top. 

The same wire with the greenery wrapped around the mason jar lid.  You need quite a lot of it and wrap it around north to south. No glue as glue gun does not work with metal.  Then glue on your buttons and beads. 

This was a photo of the progress of "Springtrap" a anime that my youngest Grandson loves.  

My daughter took a photo of the finished project.  It is light green with a tan color. He is like a rabbit in a robot suit that is broken. Hence the wires exposed and the haggard look.  

This is what the anime character looks like 

From online the Definition of Springtrap:

"Springtrap is a greenish-yellow springlock suit holding the corpse of William Afton. He used to be yellow but decayed over the years. He is a dark green in color, with yellow/green eyes resembling those of a human being. Springtrap's body is heavily tattered, especially his torso and arms that expose his human flesh. While both hands and feet are attached and generally intact, his legs are entirely stripped from the mid-shin down, fully exposing endoskeleton metal and wiring. Several finger joints from each hand are missing their suit overlays. The middle and pinky fingers of his right hand are notably missing their fingertips."

From online. About Springtrap here: 

http://freddy-fazbears-pizzeria-simulator.wikia.com/wiki/Springtrap_(FNaF_3)

Pattern I used.  There was only one!

For my friends locally

I made 50 of these Felt Ornaments. 

Some of the Red Felt, button and embroidered Ornaments I made. 

More

More

And More

And More

You can find all the patterns in each of my Christmas, felt and Embroidery Boards.  

My Pinterest account:   ---> 

 https://www.pinterest.com/laceroseayla/

For Fall

I had an idea to make a wreath for my door that looked like feathers on the Dream Catchers.  My daughter used large leaves from her yard trees and cut paper templates. Then she cut out the shapes after I traced them onto the felt. 

I made all the small leaves that have embroidery on them.

More leaves.

More leaves.

That pretty much sums up what I have made this year for crafts.

I got a late start this year as I was sick twice, once in the hospital, both times sick with lung issues. 

Happy New Year!