Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Private Gardens of the Pacific Northwest is a stunning exploration of 20 lush private gardens. Capturing the personality of those who cultivate them, these gardens have their stories told through the words of renowned author Brian Coleman, who takes readers through the flourishing natural beauty that the northwestern coast has to offer.
Poet, draughtsman, engraver and painter, William Blake’s work is made up of several elements – Gothic art, Germanic reverie, the Bible, Milton and Shakespeare – to which were added Dante and a certain taste for linear designs, resembling geometric diagrams, and relates him to the great classical movement inspired by Winckelmann and propagated by David. This is the sole point of contact discernible between the classicism of David and English art, though furtive and indirect. Blake is the most mystic of the English painters, perhaps the only true mystic. He was ingenious in his inner imagination, and his interpretations of ancient and modern poets reveal as true and candid a spirit as the title of his first work – poems he composed, illustrated and set to music, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Later he achieved grandeur, power and profundity, especially in certain tempera paintings. Just like others, Blake was considered an eccentric by most of his contemporaries, until his genius was recognised in the second half of the nineteenth century.Show book
From one of the most respected figures in the dog rescue community come the harrowing, funny, and inspiring stories of nine incredible dogs that shaped her life. Tia Torres, beloved underdog advocate and star of Animal Planets hit show Pit Bulls & Parolees, chronicles her roller-coaster life in this heartwarming memoir featuring some of her best-loved dogs. With inimitable honesty and characteristic brashness, Tia captures the spirit and heart of these intelligent and loving canines, while carrying us behind the scenes of her TV show, into the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans, onto the soundstages of Hollywood films, and even to the jungles of Sri Lanka. Tia has devoted her life to shattering the stereotype that Pit Bulls are dangerous, vicious predators. As the top dog at the Villalobos Rescue Center in New Orleans, the largest Pit Bull rescue in the United States, she and her team have rescued, rehabilitated, and re-homed hundreds of animals that might otherwise have been destroyed. As she puts it, Most of the stories in this book are about animals (and a few humans) that needed someone to believe in them and a purpose in order to show their true nobility. Each dog Tia writes about here has overcome abuse, trauma, neglect, or just bad luck to become a stalwart, loving companion to Tia and her family. You'll meet Duke, whose intelligence and matinee-idol looks made him a star in movies and music videos; Junkyard Joe, whose singleminded passion for tennis balls was channeled into expertise as a drug-sniffing dog; Bluie, the unswerving protector of Tia's daughter Tania; and a host of other unforgettable canines. My Life Among the Underdogs is above all a love story one that is sure to grip the heart of anyone who has ever owned or been owned by a dog.Show book
In this informative and entertaining book, learn from Cousin Sal how not to gamble your life away -- along with many other life lessons -- so you don't have to learn the hard way.Over the last forty years, Cousin Sal has made bets with doctors, lawyers, teachers, agents, bookies, writers, comedians, radio DJs, tv producers, baseball players, front office executives, bandleaders, movie stars, publicists, weed lab owners, hedge fund operators, and even professional wrestlers. From his early days growing up in Brooklyn and Long Island flipping baseball cards to now hosting podcasts and TV shows and managing several offshore accounts we don't talk about, Cousin Sal has truly become the average American sports fan's go to source for gambling tips. So here's how not to do it . . .With hilarious tales of love and loss, winning and (a lot) of losing, crazy family and fatherhood, and a life saga that inspired the Phil Collins' song, "Against All Odds," Cousin Sal has now written THE Vegas super-system, MIT-algorithmic, sharp-approved book for how to gamble like a pro -- or at least not how not to go broke and lose your kids to Child Protective Services.Show book
A moving, heartfelt true story that celebrates the way animals and humans rescue one another... Baby seagulls, mischievous ferrets, strutting peacocks...in the decades that Barby Keel has run her animal sanctuary in the English countryside, she has seen all manner of creatures. Thousands of cats and dogs have come through her doors and, with the aid of Barby and her dedicated staff, found loving forever homes. But Gabby, a small terrier with solemn, terrified eyes, is like no case Barby has ever encountered before. Gabby has spent all eight years of her life indoors. She has no idea how to play with a toy or chew a treat. She has never dug in the dirt or rolled happily in the grass. Strangest of all, Gabby does not know how to bark. Barby can tell that the little golden-haired dog is bright and curious beneath her paralyzing fear, but coaxing out Gabby's true spirit will be a daunting task. Yet sometimes, a dog and a human fit together like two puzzle pieces, and so it is with Gabby and Barby. And Barby, who believes passionately in animals' ability to help and heal those they love, will find her faith in Gabby repaid just when she, and her sanctuary, need it most....Show book
An exploration of gardens through the ages and across the globe in 366 daily entries, from the ancient hanging gardens of Babylon to a vegetable plot on the International Space Station. In this fascinating and beautifully illustrated collection, garden writer Ruth Chivers presents a garden for every day of the year. It's a sumptuous journey through garden history, design, horticulture, literary inspiration, folklore and poetry. From Sissinghurst to Versailles, from the medieval poem 'The Romance of the Rose' to the latest horticultural details of a rewilded garden, from imaginary gardens in literature to the real gardens that inspired Van Gogh and Orwell, here are absorbing garden stories for the whole year. Botanical paintings sit next to historic plans and the very best garden photography. The entries are annotated with intriguing facts and inspiring ideas, telling the stories of gardens past, present and even future. A true celebration of gardens, A Garden A Day is a beautiful and essential book for any gardener that brings home the wonder of these spaces to all of us.Show book
We are living in an age which is singularly poor in fine voices, both male and female, and with regard to the tenors of the present time there is this additional misfortune, that, as a rule, their voices do not last, but are often worn out in a very few years; in many instances while their owners are still under training, and before they have had an opportunity of making their appearance in public. If we remember that there was a time when most beautiful and highly cultivated voices were so plentiful that even in comparatively small towns there were to be found Opera Companies consisting of excellent singers, we may well ask ourselves how this remarkable change for the worse has come about. People have attempted to account for it in various ways. Up to the middle of the last century women were forbidden by Ecclesiastical Law to take part in church music. The voices of boys being available only for a very short time, means were taken to prevent their voices from breaking, and thus a class of male soprani and contralti was created, who made their first appearance in Rome in the beginning of the 17th century, and to these singers the education of the female voices was soon almost exclusively entrusted. In the middle of the last century, however, when women were permitted to participate in church music, there was no longer any occasion to procure artificial female voices, and these singers gradually died out, though there were still some of them living and teaching in the beginning of the present century.Show book
