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Perhaps because I'm known as a change of life baby I immediately liked the old man pictured on the e-book. His picture made me laugh. I remembered visiting a small town where old men did sit on the bench in front of the store and talk and laugh and whistle at passing girls. So, the short-short story became a bit of personal nostalgia. "Swiggers" by Joey Pinkney is a quick, lighthearted story. Swiggers also involves serious issues about change in our life experiences. I especially felt sad when the men lost their outdoor meeting place and other changes took place. The tree is cut down which shaded them. Abdul, the new owner, has to make the hard decision about how to make the store more welcoming to other customers like women. Ladies don't especially like to walk past men who ogle them and joke. It makes me uncomfortable. I would have liked to learn more about Abdul, the new store owner. Was it easy for him to fit in to the new community? I also would have li

This year we have two gorgeous yellow warblers nesting in the honeysuckle bush. The other day I stuck my head in the bush. The nestlings weigh one-twentieth of an ounce, about the size of a honeybee. We stared at each other, startled by our existence. In a month or so, when they reach the size of bumblebees they’ll fly to Costa Rica without a map writersalmanac.org/episodes/20160630

  History is never past. It is always present, living and sleeping with us. At night, my African ancestors follow me. I see a woman with water carried on her head. I know her. She has one baby suckling at her breast. Her other one is still mourned back at her home. It relieves her to walk for water. There she has made friends with a frog. It is bright pink and black. She leans down to the water with cupped hands and drinks. Above her where she does not see is a lion. While reading "Imitation," a short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and looking at Benin Masks mentioned by her in the short story, I had an urge to try and capture Africa with my pencil. Of course, that's a silly and almost obscene thought, but Adichie writes in such a way that Africa and its people can not go ignored. I have to stop, think, picture it. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is wondrous. knopfdoubleday.com/imprint/vintage/ l3.ulg.ac.be/adichie/ "Nkem picks up the mask and presses her face

I'm still fiddling around with Terry McMillan's last novel. Really, I'm wringing my hands for her next novel. Have you started one yet, Ms. McMillan? I've Never thought much about farmers, I have met  one or two in my life. I have seen two or three hogs. I have admired barns. However, I have never thought of the issues faced by farmers each day. I've never thought of their rewards either. This morning I'm feeling a bit in awe of Black farmers. I've looked on the internet and seen some farmers who look like cowboys, others who look like admirable grandfathers. All of these men who seem strong enough to handle every situation and gentle enough to pick up a clod of dirt and look up thanking God for what it can and will grow. Thank you Ms. McMillan for widening my knowledge in another novel. To the Negro Farmers of the United States By Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson God washes clean the souls and hearts

I'm pretty sure this is the first time Optometry has become a part of my reading experience. Dr. Georgia Young's career as an optometrist is what caught my interest in reading the novel, I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan.  Next, the title caught my attention. I like saying the words "I Almost Forgot About You." I do admit that at first the title seemed like a tongue teaser. Lastly, I liked Georgia's reinventing herself. I don't know whether reinvention is a true psychological term, or did it come from the pages of Psychology Today? What I didn't like is hearing Terry McMillan's voice so clearly. Nope, I've never personally talked to her but have heard her in interviews. Next time could you tone down your voice, Ms. McMillan? I want to pretend the narrator is a stranger. terrymcmillan

This morning my mind has  gone a wandering. I am in no hurry to hem my ideas and smock my sentences. I want to think for a while about what has made its presence felt again, death. Again, I recall John Donne's meditation. online-literature.com/donne/409/   Meditation XVII XVII. MEDITATION. PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but

Finally, I'm into "I Almost Forgot About You" by Terry McMillan. I was still lost in the world of "Who Asked You?" by same author. Now, I have all these wonderful quotes and themes popping up around me from the author's newest novel. After thinking about friendship for a little bit, I'm thinking about courage while tasting the slice of Key Lime pie beside me. Yes, courage  always alludes me while cowardice finds me with ease.  Terry McMillan seems to have changed in this novel. Maybe she's gathering up all of life and trying to make a statement about men and love, etc. Since I'm not in that place, I became lost at the first chapter. I became a little bit angry with Terry McMillan. What right did she have to go in a different direction than I the little reader expected? Thank goodness, I put those expectations away and settled in for the restaurant talk with Michael which is a very interesting type of strategic battle with polite boxing glov

While reading "Your People Shall Be My People by Don Finto , I think of unity between people more than disunity. Peace will overtake the world. Israel will become one with Jesus, as the Jewish King coming down through the line of David. This nonfiction book emcompasses more than my individual salvation. It involves nations. It's evangelism on steroids, if I may use that term. Don Finto realizes the importance of amity between people who are truly related to one another in one way or another way. The book is about the beauty of love, for example, shared between a Palestinian and a Jewish man or woman and their children. Until that complete coming together and an arrival of the King of Kings it is necessary to see and feel the tremors of  a world without peace. For example, long ago there was the hatred of the Jewish people during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. The ugly Inquisition which all of us would like to leave forgotten. Of course, there is the Holocaust. Just r

Judith Fertig in "The Memory Of Meringue" writes so much about the flavor of lime, I'm now craving lime. I've never yearned for lime. My favorite flavor is lemon. Let's see in this one paragraph she writes about "April's lime and coconut theme...lime buttercream filling...lime cookie straw...lime bars...lime curd..." I've liked lime Kool-Aid which I haven't drank in years. I've liked lime punch. I've never tasted the age old Key Lime pie. I can't remember the last time that the taste desire  has been so strong within me.  Should I try to bake a Key Lime pie? No, I'll start small. I'll have a cold lime drink today. In my mind,  I can see limes lying in a case in the Produce section of the market. They are a pretty green. Still, they are not as pretty as yellow lemons. judithfertig.com , what'sthediff.net

  Love by Tina Chang My mother now is taking her sheers and cutting through live shrimp. When I was a child she peeled each flushed grape until only the pale fleshy bead remained. She placed them onto a plate in one shining mound, deseeded, in front of me.    http://food.netviral.com , bethfishreads.com Tina Chang, "Love" from Of Gods & Strangers . Copyright © 2011 by Tina Chang.  Reprinted by permission of Four Way Books. Source: Of Gods & Strangers (Four Way Books, 2011) Tina Chang

http://whitehouse.gov In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ---Thomas Jefferson, 3re President Of USA(1743-1826)

I've read a few novels lately where authors use the words "throw up." I hate it. I can think of regurgitate, chuck up, but nothing else. Lo and behold, Terry Mcmillan uses a squeaky clean term. I like it. She uses the word "purge." Nice, it doesn't present such a nasty picture in my mind. "Piled up behind one of the vans was a heap of body bags, at least ten feet high, and equally as wide. I backed out....before my mind had the chance to tell my stomach to "purge" breakfast. http://terrymcmillan.com

In Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater, Mandy Tanner says she can't imagine not living by a river. She is a character who lives near or on the Arkansas river. Her words really struck me. I know rivers are pretty. I just never thought living by one could dramatically change my outlook on life. It seems Mandy would feel very sad without that flowing river nearby. I'm just the opposite. When thinking of living by a river, I only think of flooding. Obviously, I need to look at rivers more closely and see them in a more positive light. I would like to follow a river by seasons. Mandy says, there are "myriad plants" by the river. What colors? Any herbals? Wildflowers? My mind can't imagine. Yes, rivers are in my thoughts today.  I Didn't think about plants growing in rivers. I am familiar with the Water Lotus which is plentiful and beautiful. Another plant that grows in water is duckweed. I picked this water plant because of its name. I like its delicacy.

Archibald Lawless is a complicated character in the short story, Archibald Lawless, Anarchist written by Walter Mosley. He works outside of the law with I would say his personally picked vigilante team or workers. To me, he became like Robin Hood. He works for the good of others but not without helping himself to the goodies like money, etc. In this instance, he hired Felix Orleans, whom I liked. He's a journalist student hired by Archibald as a scribe. Felix becomes more than a scribe or secretary. He meets strange characters. He ends up in prison. He's innocent. Holds the man's head, Lansman, thinking he had a Heart attack. It really, really bothered me that justice can swing the way of injustice so quickly. Felix, a clean guy, who has left home for the first time to live on his own, is put in jail and almost charged with murder. Spooky. I've always been spooked by my idea of prisons. Walter Mosley's prison scared me too. Those guys in there with

This guy seems so weird. His name is Archibald Lawless. I love the way Walter Mosley describes him, his office, etc. Before the end of the story I might end up hating him. "The man standing there before me had no double in the present day world or in history...The wall to my left had a series of shelves that held various oddities." I want so badly to get in a corner and look at these cute, maybe strange objects in his office. One gives me the willies....."a rattlesnake suspended in fluid in a large jar...." Yuck! Is this a Biology lab? toy chest child's baby doll a rattlesnake suspended in fluid in a large jar a parchment scroll a human skull a stuffed animal a necklace pieces of glass represent "emeralds and rubies"  I didn't name every item.  There is more stuff in the office Walter Mosley writes that isn't named in the list. What kind of guy other than a professor keeps these types of objects and walks around barefoot.

I have been thinking about purpose. Cristobal Krusen's purpose of the book is to share the lives of people whom we might know, but we might not know their Faith background. They Were Christians by Cristobal Krusen is about Christians who lived lives of purpose. There is Frederick Douglas, Florence Nightingale and Dag Hammarskjold. Dag Hammarskjold served his purpose as a Secretary-General. Sadly, he died in a plane crash. Then, there is Frederick Douglas. He was determined to become free through his bravery and belief in God. In the end, he became a public speaker speaking against slavery, and he became  a newspaper publisher, etc. In the book, there are eleven biographical profiles. I would also count the author's Christian experience which I found fascinating. This would make twelve biographies. The author, Cristobal Krusen's,  personal experience must count also. He studied many religions and experienced a deep love for Christianity. The people in the book be

"...The grief of human aloneness in the uncertainty and vulnerability of life; the grief of choosing...even with all the richness of its gift and possibility; the grief of renouncing, of not clinging, of giving back, surrendering, asking nothing." In The Beautiful Thread , I first became excited about meeting Madeleine and William and Brother Conradus again and others of St. Alcuin's Abbey. Then, I became happy about an upcoming wedding with Rose, Madeleine's mother, as a helper. Then, Penelope Wilcock's The Beautiful Thread introduced the friendship of  Abbot John and Rose. It's such a wonderful friendship. So, it is again Yorkshire in the 14th Century at the St. Alcuin's Monastery. The book is emotional. When is love not painful and exciting, a mixture of everything? The love between Abbot John and Rose led me to think and ask questions. Is it wrong for people who give their life to God to fall in love with another person? Is it ever possible to h

After Francesco Clemente ’ s  Indian Miniature #16 The sun-face looms over me, gigantic-hot, smelling of iron. Its rays striated, rasp-red and muscled as the tongues of iguanas. They are trying to lick away my name. But I am not afraid. I hold in my hands (where did I get them) enormous blue scissors that are just the color of sky. I bring the blades together, like a song. The rays fall around me curling a bit, like dried carrot peel. A far sound in the air—fire or rain? And when I’ve cut all the way to the center of the sun I see flowers, flowers, flowers.    poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, "Cutting the Sun" from Leaving Yuba City . Copyright © 1997 by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. 

In Red Cedar, California, there is trouble. Teens at the high school are going against the rule to get what their heart desires. Priorities of parents and teens is definitely out of order. The big prize is Stanford University. The question is what should you or what should you not do when you want something so badly, and you don't meet requirements. Nerdy Birdy, Manny, Mark and two graduating students who are dating one another are some of the characters involved in this shameful situation that ends in murder. Liz Lucas, the owner of Red Cedar Spa, becomes deeply involved in the case. She is also the main sleuth in other books written by Dianne Harman. I thought a lot about peer pressure and  the need to succeed. I also thought about the pressure to pick the most outstanding university. This becomes more important than thinking about future grades that will lead to a person becoming outstanding in his field and community. I liked the cozy because there are so many issues to t

It is a friendly reunion with book characters from earlier books in The Beautiful Thread by Penelope Wilcock. Here again is William, Madeleine, Abbot John and Brother Conradus. At the moment, I am enjoying the friendship between Rose, Madeleine's mother, and Abbot John. All friendships are not so refreshing. They seem to understand one another so well. What he enjoys, she enjoys. Their laughter is a delight. Their friendship is felt by Brother Conradus. It makes him happy to watch his mother walk and talk with the Abbot. This one friendship is changing the whole monastery. All friendships are powerful, but not all friendships are good. This one is as sweet as the smells in the Physick Garden. herbgardendesigns.org/themes-for-herb-garden-design-medieval/