Looking for a good WWII movie?

We recently watched Castles in the Sky on Amazon Prime. 5-stars for us. Story of Robert Watson-Watt and his team in the mid to late 1930s who developed RADAR for Britain's air defense. Funny, maddening, brilliant.

IMDB info

Leaving your dog alone with a new dog pillow . . .

Last summer, we bought our dog, Lila, 



a new doggy pillow. 

Lila loved the pillow.

We went outside to do yard work.

Lila played with her new pillow.

We came back in the house. 

Lila's dog pillow gave birth to a million Tribbles (Star Trek).



Lila lays on the couch now.



We love you, Lila.

Note: Lila is the namesake of little Marie's dog in Brutal Enemy.

New Sgt. Dunn Photo Gallery finished

The new Sgt. Dunn Photo Gallery for books 7 - 11 is complete. Have some fun and check out the photos of people, places, and things, as well as a few maps from the books. You can find a gallery for books 1 - 6 on Pinterest.

The Sgt. Dunn Photo Gallery

You may have visited my Sgt. Dunn Pinterest photo gallery, which for the moment is still there for books 1 - 6. I have been adding photos to a new Gallery on my website. Books 7 - 9 are on the website. I will eventually move all photos there so they're all is in one spot.

You'll find pictures of people, places, and things that appear in the books.

Gardens and flowers - Part 2

Here are a few more pictures taken at the beautiful Quad Cities Botanical Gardens located in Rock Island, Illinois. Today's group of pictures is of some gorgeous "glass art" and a few living creatures we found on the Gardens' grounds.

Click a picture to enlarge it.

Bumblebee

Fish

Little Bunny Foo-foo

Possibly a Monarch Butterfly - got lucky on a true "snap-shot"

"What are we doing sitting here, dude?"

---

Glass art

Building a reader (instilling a love of reading in your child(ren)

How can you build a reader? Here are some ideas. I'm not an expert, but my wife and I set a goal for ourselves that we would try to instill a love of reading and books in our children. Mission accomplished. Both of our now adult children, read extensively and all . . . the . . . time.

1. The obvious first step is to read to a child at a very young age, perhaps even before their language skills are truly developed. Reading at bedtime is a worthwhile ritual that I'm sure millions of families worldwide do. I can still remember my Mom reading to me as a boy. This is what I believe created the love of books and the desire to read books of my choosing.
2. Scholastic Books allowed me to pick those books to read. Some of my early favorites were: Clarence the TV Dog, Double Trouble for Rupert and Up Periscope!
3. Surround your reader with books. 
4. Let them see you enjoy reading! Read books, magazines, and newspapers in their view.
5. Talk with your spouse/partner about what you've read and how much you loved it in front of the kids.
6. As your child's reading and comprehension skills grow stronger, lead them to bigger, more challenging books.
7. Visit the library and make it an exciting excursion, something special. Stand at the door and look inside with wonder in your eyes. Tell your child, "Just think, we can read any of these books we want to!"
1. Introduce your child to a librarian. Say something like, "I'd like you to meet (name), she's a LIBRARIAN!"
2. Make sure they get their own library card as soon as you think they're ready.
3. Have your child enroll in reading programs whether at school or your library.
8. Most families have rules about "screen time." Enforce those!
9. But if your child wants to read with music on, too, let him/her. I always have and still do.
10. If possible, let your child put their books on THE home bookshelf, maybe even some in pride-of-place spots. Or get a bookshelf for them.

I'm sure there are other ways to build a reader, but I hope these give you some useful ideas.

I'll leave you with a rephrased relatively famous quote:
The person who does not read has no advantage over the person who cannot read.

Gardens and flowers

My wife and I love flowers and plants. A couple of summers ago we visited the beautiful Quad Cities Botanical Gardens located in Rock Island, Illinois. For Sgt. Dunn readers, Rock Island is where the armory is located that Sgt. Dunn's little sister, Gertrude, worked briefly.

We went on an overcast day in July 2016, but the pictures are lovely. Today's group of pictures is of my favorite flowers and plants. I'll have another post in a day or so with glass art and living creatures.

I call this the S-tree (clever, huh?)