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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.