Taken with the Nikon D90 and the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8. Edited in Lightroom.

Last day of having the cousins here visiting. Today they played dress-up and came to me to have their picture taken.

I bought Pillars of the Earth before I knew that is was Oprah’s Book Club pick for January…honestly! But I’m not sorry I did. It’s a great book full of all the elements of a great story. Ken Follett finished it in 1989, and it’s popularity has been growing for years through word of mouth.

Ken Follett has long been fascinated with the cathedrals of Europe, but it takes a work of genius to make others fall in love with those same ideas through the use of fictional characters in the middle ages.

He spins a wonderful tale of hardship and passion. His characters are truly believable; all have strengths and weaknesses and no one is perfect. Certainly, some are closer to perfection than others, but he doesn’t hide people faults and short comings. Maybe that is what I like best. The book also makes me thankful for everything we have in our modern age, especially the things we take for granted like food, security, compassion and reinforced steal.