Oregon and The Hunger Games (Seaside, OR)

We said good-bye to Washington State for now.  It is time to move on.  Even Hitch was happy to get back on the road.  Of course, he was a minority among the other cats.  If they had their way, we would have spent all summer in La Conner.

 After two days of traveling, we are settled in Seaside, OR for the next nine days.  I can't wait to get out and do some exploring even though we have been here before.   The back of our site has lots of woods and rabbits for kitty's entertainment.  Don't worry, they can only watch...no touching the bunnies.

There some gardens for me to look at out our front window.  So nice!

On The Cutting Board

I have been hand quilting the Gift Shop sign.  I wanted the back to look like the woods with leaves and patterns throughout.

I'm going to make the sign a little more 3D by adding this leaf.

I also finished two more blocks for the True Lover's Knot.

The Hunger Games Trilogy *no spoilers*
by Suzanne Collins

Have you read the books or seen the movie?  I know I am behind the media times since the movie will be out on DVD soon.  The trailers and the news of the premiere was the first time I had heard of The Hunger Games.  From what I was seeing on TV, I thought the story line was similar to the Twilight series.  I’m not a big fan of the Twilight series, so I did not take any interest in The Hunger Games.

Then a good friend suggested that I would like this series.  We have discussed and shared our thoughts on many books since we first met.  She warned me that not only would I like the first book, but I would want the next two books ready to start reading.   That comment made me curious to buy the first audible for my iPod. 

When I first started this series, I was skeptical.  I was pretty sure that I would not like the first book. The concept of throwing 24 children, from age 12 to 18, into an arena to fight to the death until there was only one left…and calling it entertainment just did not sound like something I would enjoy reading.  It sounds like something from the Roman times with gladiators and arenas.  Yea, I’m not too big of a fan of those times either.

But, my friend was right - I was hooked after the first chapter.  I have listened to all three books within the month and each one is about 11 hours long.  It is a story of defiance, loyalty, perseverance, and survival.  N  Add in hi-tech weapons with medieval living, deception, a ruthless government, and too much propaganda = three thought-provoking books.

In the future, North America no longer exists.  Only a place called Panem that consists of 12 districts surrounding the Capitol.  The Capitol is filled with shallow ultra-surgically-changed people and a government that rules over all the outside districts with repressive control.  There were 13 districts until #13 rebelled against the Capitol only to be annihilated, leaving behind an ash covered ground.  The Capitol felt that the flattened District 13 wasn't enough of a reminder for the other districts, so they invented the Hunger Games to redeem the lives lost during the rebellion.  For the last 75 years, each district has paid with two of their children's lives – a boy and a girl...unless they are the winner.  

The Reaping Day is the beginning of Katniss’ story.  At the age of 16, she volunteers to replace her 12-year old sister in the Hunger Games.  Katniss is a very strong person who thinks on her feet to survive.  She will do whatever it takes to protect her family and friends after losing her father in a coal mining accident.  She has two young men hoping to win her heart.  Instead of letting them help her, she feels a strong need to protect them.  At the same time, she is not sure who she can trust.

From that point on, I had to finish all three books.  I had to know how this would end for Katniss.  I saw some reviewers say they did not like the ending.  I did.  It made sense to me.

I can’t talk about the other two books without giving away details.  All I can say is this – I really enjoyed all three immensely.  There wasn’t a lot of gory detail in the actual fighting which I am grateful.  I found it hard to stop listening to the story because there never seemed to be a good spot to stop.  There was always something going on and I felt like every time I stopped, I was at a cliffhanger.  Now I want to see the movie!

Happy Quilting!