Scene of the Blog Featuring Birgit of The Book Garden!

She's a reader. She's a writer. She's a book blogger. This week's featured guest is from Austria, and I enjoy reading her eclectic mix of posts: book reviews, photos, quotes, information about the Vienna Book Fair.... If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Birgit's blog, The Book Garden, I really hope you take the time to do so as soon as possible. I think you'll be glad you did!

If you are one of The Book Garden's readers who have come over to visit and to take a look at Birgit's creative spaces-- Welcome! If you'd like to see any of the following photos in a larger size, all you have to do is click on them. Birgit's ready to give us a tour, so let's get started!

Photos have been taken!
Words have been written!
It's time to be a part of Scene of the Blog, yay!!

Birgit thrives in Chaos City.

I do all my writing, and blogging for that matter, in what I jokingly refer to as Chaos City. After receiving the invitation to be part of Cathy's "Scene of the Blog" feature I risked a closer look at Chaos City. It took me about two seconds to realize that a photo of my computer desk in all its glory might make her blog followers actually go blind, thus I took the opportunity to do a lil bit of cleaning. After uploading the chaos-free photo I slowly exhaled ... Chaos City should be renamed to Dusty City, because it might look tidy now, but if you look closely you can *cough* see the dust lingering. What can I say? The creative mind hasn't got room for mundane tasks such as, uhm, tidying up the apartment. On the upside, it only takes a sneeze, or two, to free the keyboard of excessive dust.

Do you think Birgit likes teddy bears?

My Reading Nook is essentially my bed. As I like the quiet I almost exclusively read on my comfy bed, preferably on my cozy fake-fur blanket. No reading on the train or other busy places for me.

And it's all in the details. In other words, you can actually learn quite a bit about me from this photo. I've got a thing for teddy bears, especially Boyds Bears. My love for Thomas Kinkade is also evident. And, if you look close enough, the plate on the wall represents ... anyone want to take a guess? Yankee Candles!

Then, of course, the books. The nicely arranged books - all won in recent giveaways, and ohhh, I love giveaways, but I digress - are only a very small part of my humongous TBR piles. It's a miracle that Bookaholics Anonymous hasn't come for me yet.

A mouse with a view

I live in Austria, in a small town right south of the capital Vienna. This is the view from my balcony and the mouse, well, his name is Rodolfo and he's not the only mouse in the house. Let's just say we had a slight mouse problem some weeks ago. Mice having a ball in the attic, so to speak. Fortunately they moved out - heavenwards, if you catch my drift - but Rodolfo is housebroken, so he's allowed to stay. Unless I catch him stealing cheese from the fridge again ....

Magic Kingdom

I'm not only a book blogger, I also have a travel blog. I don't post there as regularly, but it certainly shows how much I love traveling and exploring the world. I always complain about long-distance flights and jet-lag, but that doesn't mean I will stay at home. No pain, no travel fun. My last vacation took me to the UK, I've been as far as Australia, I have visited the US several times, and last but not least, I have a soft spot for Disney World. And Outlet Malls.

Lazy cat

Apart from my love for books I also love photography and will never leave the house without my camera. I'm known for sneaking up to, climbing onto and dangling down from ... well, let's just say I will do pretty much anything for the perfect shot. At first the neighbor's cat was a bit shy, but after sneaking, climbing, and fortunately no need for dangling, kitty finally cooperated and made me a happy, if pathological, picture-taker.

I've learned so much about my fellow book bloggers through this feature. For example, Birgit and I have a few things in common besides a love of books. I don't leave home without my camera and am well-known for lurking patiently in my own backyard for the perfect shot. I have a couple of Thomas Kinkade paintings hanging on my walls. I used to collect Boyd's Bears. And some of my Christmas decorations include tea lights and candleholders from Yankee Candles. Who knew?

Thank you so very much for giving us this glimpse into your creative spaces, Birgit. We loved the tour!

Don't forget to stop by next Wednesday when I'll be featuring another book blogger from our worldwide community!