Category Archives: Books

Billy the Kid

Before I begin, here is your Monday Public Service Announcement:

Happy Monday. Have a great rest of the week. I love you. I appreciate you.

When I lived in Albuquerque, I started working on a book of poetry about Billy the Kid, aka William H. Bonney, aka Henry McCarty—his birth name. I was still in the research stage when life happened, and I moved back to Kennewick, and became involved in other things. I still dream of going back to New Mexico, Fort Sumner, etc., and doing research, and writing the poems, but then, I’m a dreamer, eh?

In the meantime, someone in my critique group recommended a book last year, Coming Through Slaughter, a fictionalized biography of New Orleans jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden and is partly set in Slaughter, Louisiana, by Michael Ondaatje. I enjoyed the book, so when I found The Collected Works of Billy the Kid also by Michael Ondaatje, I had to read it, too. And I was not disappointed!

There is not a great deal known about Billy, but there is some information out there, and Ondaatje did a marvelous job of using what little is known as a springboard for his poetry and prose. It reads like a journal, or maybe a better description is a collection of his (Billy’s) papers, what were found, often without beginning or ending. Some of the poems actually have titles, or at least attribution as to who wrote them, as “Miss Sallie Chisum” by Sallie Chisum describing Billy “As far as dress was concerned / he always looked as if / he had just stepped out of a bandbox.” She goes on to describe his clothing, finishing with, “he was the pink of politeness / and as courteous a little gentleman / as I ever met.” From what I’ve found about Billy in what little research I’ve accomplished, this was a fairly accurate description of him.

By many accounts I’ve read, Billy was a gentleman, at least where the ladies were concerned. He dressed well, he was polite, he was bi-lingual (English and Spanish) and possibly tri-lingual. There is some information out there he spoke Gaelic, probably learned at his mother’s knee.

If you’re looking for a good and plausible book about Billy, I highly recommend The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. It’s great fun. If you’re looking for a scholarly account of the young man’s life, this isn’t for you. And yes, there is the conspiracy that Garrett shot the wrong man, claimed he was Billy, buried him, and collected the reward and that Billy once again escaped, made it to Mexico or someplace, lived a quiet life as a law-abiding citizen, married, and had a family, etc., etc., etc. Billy was a master at aliases and escapes, so this isn’t entirely unbelievable.

Oh, and in the interest of transparency, or just kinda interesting stuff, when Daddy was a youngster, he met a man who knew Pat Garret who is credited with killing Billy the Kid. We are closer to history than we sometimes realize.

My Friday

Those of you who know me, know I’m not really a morning person. Oh, I get up early enough, because when I wake up enough to answer the early morning calls of bladder and dog, I’m up. I try not to get up before 4am, but sometimes it’s earlier, and if I go back to bed, I just lie there for a couple of hours and I might as well be up and at the computer with my cuppa joe. Like this morning, Sunday. Yes, I’m up, but I’m not cognizant, I’m not ready for thinking, for talking, for doing much beyond watching something on the computer and maybe, if I’m lucky, getting a few words written on the virtual paper before me. Somewhere around 9am, I actually become functionally awake 😉

So, this past Friday, I signed up for a poetry workshop, that started at my time of 7am. It was something like 3 hours long, and very interesting. I actually got 4 poems written during that time. No, they are not ready to be abandoned, but they are good enough to warrant some editing and maybe submission. Then, later that afternoon, I attended my weekly workshop of prompts, and wrote two more poems, also pretty good first drafts. Aren’t you glad I don’t share all the poetry I write with you? Since 1 Jan this year, I’ve written 90. Boy Howdy, do I know how to have fun!!! 😉

How Many Days Until Mid-Term Elections?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You really think we’re going to have them? Nope, they ain’t gonna happen, my gentle families and friends. That’s why we’re in an undeclared-by-Congress war, so the Unnamed Person can claim an emergency, and take over and cancel elections, or have them with his goons manning polling places. Yep, we’re closer to history than we realize.

(Please, prove me wrong. Please, please, please.)

be happy, be well, be safe!

Unbuilding (a Book Review)

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Just finished reading a fun book, Unbuilding by David Macaulay. It’s children’s lit, but great fun. In 1989, a Saudi Prince buys the Empire State Building, has it dismantled, labeled, etc., and put on a ship to Saudi where it can be reassembled. This is the story of Unbuilding the Empire State Building. It’s full of pen and ink drawings, and if you have any budding architects, engineers, or builders in your sphere, you might want to consider the book for them. It’s available from Bookshop.org or if you don’t mind a used book, from abebooks.com. Or from your favorite indie bookstore.

I’m going to have to try his other books. Well, some of them. He’s got bunches and they look way fascinating. He’s got at least 25 listed on Bookshop.org. ranging from Castle to The Way Things Work to Mammoth Math: Everything You Need to Know About Numbers to Rome Antics. I’ll probably skip the Mammoth Math—it’s hardback, and I prefer softback /snort/. (for those of you who don’t know, I prefer letters and words to numbers and equal signs)

However, since I’m on the topic of books, when Covid hit, I attended a book launch by Arthur Sze of his book The Glass Constellation sponsored by Rain Taxi. It was via a zoom-type of program, so no one was crammed in a seat next to 100 of their new best friends, we were all given our own little “room” on a screen. Sze was maybe a quarter of the way through with his presentation, and I had already ordered the book. I’d never heard of him before that night, but that’s how impressed I was with his poetry. When my book came, it’s a compendium of several of his earlier books, all bound together with new and selected poems. I literally consumed the book withing r or 5 days. I have since added several other books to my collection, including his latest, or one of his latest ones, Into The Hush. Not only do I love the book, but I was invited to join a group of poets who will gather for 6 meetings to study the book, its poems, and do writings inspired/based on his poems in the book.

The small group I am in (3 per group) decided to study/work on Letter to Tao Qian. Thanks to Favorite Daughter, I have The Silk Dragon II, a book of Chinese poems Sze translated, and the first 5 poems are by the Ancient Chinese poet, Tao Qian. It’s very interesting to read those 5 poems and find the references in Sze’s poem. Homework has never been such fun.

My Winter Gift from me to me this year was Sze’s book, The White Orchard. It is a collection of some of his interviews, essays, and some poetry. The most interesting parts to me are the areas where he talks about how he writes. He often uses disparate phrases and fragments of sentences for his lines, but all of the lines are deliberate, and in a deliberate order. Because we all bring our own stories to the ones we read, we are each given our own interpretation as to what his lines mean. Is he telling us to stop, relax, breathe, acknowledge there is evil in the world, but to spend more time on the beauty? I have started writing “like” Sze, but not like him. My mind is trainable, but I don’t want his voice, I want his style. I want to keep my own voice. I want someone to read my poem and say, “Ah, she’s read Arthur Sze!” It is very difficult for me to think in segments and fragments, but I have written a couple of poems with one-line stanzas, in disparate fragments. I am also working on a long, sectioned poem like he writes, with each section being in a different format. Those are the poems that caused me to order The Glass Constellation.

Of course, there are many poets out there I really like—the ever-gracious Naomi Shihab Nye, the late Lucille Clifton, the late Paul Monette, the effervescent Diane Seuss, and the incomparable Eduardo C. Corral. But I am in Literary Lust with Arthur Sze 😉

Imagine You Are Madame Dorion

So, I log onto YouTube and am looking at the videos on my home page, and notice a photo of buffalo in a snow storm that looks familiar, like one I took, and then I look at the words, and it IS one of my photos from when my friend and publisher of Madame Dorion put together a promo video for my book. Wow! Something from ten years ago showed up—a whole video of my photos. On my YouTube home page. If you didn’t get it on your home page, it is here — a smidge under 7 minutes. And, if you haven’t read the book, you can find it at your favorite bookstore (they may have to order it) or at bookshop.org. Historical fiction at its finest, not that I’m biased—or bragging. By the way, the cover on Madame Dorion was painted by a descendant of Madame Dorion.

And Remember

If you don’t yet have your copy of Saying Goodbye to Thomas, you may pick up, or order, a copy from your favorite bookstore, or order a copy here, at Bookshop.org. All proceeds go to the ALS Association and End of Life Washington/Death With Dignity.

William Stafford Challenge

Today, 16 February 2026, is the 31^st day of the William Stafford Challenge. The Challenge goes from 17 Jan to 17 Jan (his birthday, and we write a poem a day), on the 17^th of January, I had written 22 poems, having started on the first of January. By this morning my number of poems written is currently 68. More will come this day, I am sure.

Now, they aren’t all good poems, though a couple are, but they are all seeds to go back and edit, revise, and have good poems emerge.

A fond memory of my road trip through the Southwest a couple years ago. The tall skinny ones are saguaro cactus. It was warm. Blessedly warm.

Be Happy, Be Well, Be Safe

Did She Cheat? Is She Bad—Or Smarter Than the Average Groundhog?

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Okay, the first few sentences of this post are being written on Tuesday, 2 February 2026. Those of you who are calendar savvy, know that today is Groundhog Day. Those of you who know your favorite Auntie Lenora, know today is her birthday, and she is therefore, a Groundhog.

She woke this morning a few minutes after 4am, that kind of wakefulness that said that if she rolled over to go back to sleep, it would take at least 2 hours to drop off for another hour of restless sleep. Sigh. She might as well get up and at least make the dog happy in letting him out. As she stood at the door, half past 4 in the morning, she remembered it is, in fact, her 83d anniversary of flying around old Sol, so she stepped outside in the cold and did not see her shadow, thereby bringing all of you, her favoritest people ever, an early Spring.

Yes, she knows, her Cousin Phil, of Punxsutawney fame, saw his shadow, but he’s in Pennsylvania, and doesn’t believe in getting up before sunrise. Your Auntie Lenora doesn’t believe in the latter, either, unless it’s winter when the sun doesn’t come up until after 7am. It’s been suggested that she is thereby cheating, nothing against her Cousin Phil, but just maybe it makes her smarter? But he and she do have a gentleperson’s agreement, he gets to foretell the weather east of the Rockies, and she get the west. The Rockies are on their own, she guesses.

Niener, niener, niener—I told you so!!

Just last month, I mentioned Dr. Computer, and this morning (3 Feb) on Jeff Tiedrich’s column, Everyone is Entitled to my own Opinion, he has a quote from a video of Dr. Oz. He also has the video posted.

The quote: ““there’s no question about it, whether you want it or not — the best way to help some of these communities is gonna be AI-based avatars.” Now, to be honest and transparent, our favorite Wizard Oz, did say, promise, and guarantee (say that in your best Cajun drawl—gar aaahn teeeeee) the Avatar would ONLY do the prelim part, then connect the patient to a real live, living, breathing licensed (not sure he said licensed) human doctor. Yeah. Right. With AI becoming what it’s becoming, how would you know? Anyhow, the clip is short, watch it. (No wonder Dorothy preferred leaving Oz to go back to Kansas! /snark/)

And this morning, 9 Feb 26, I came across this information from Medical Economics

“Oz claimed that if a patient went to a doctor for a diabetes diagnosis, it would be $100 per hour, while an appointment with an AI avatar would cost considerably less, at just $2 an hour. Oz also claimed that patients have rated the care they’ve received from an AI avatar as equal to or better than a human doctor. (Research suggests patients are actually more skeptical of medical advice given by AI.) Because of technologies like machine learning and AI, Oz claimed, it is now possible to scale ‘good ideas’ in an affordable and fast way.” [emphasis mine]

And now for some Happy News!

As you may remember from past posts, Thomas asked me to be his Literary Executrix. I have all his thumb drives, a delightful insight into his work, especially his memoir that he worked hard to finish while he could still type. He tried dictating but never got the hang of it (it’s harder than one may think).

He had mentioned to his good friends Phoebe and Paul owner and editors of The Raven Chronicles, that he wanted them to have first right of refusal to publish it. A minor detail he neglected to tell me, by the way. However, when I finished minor editing for clarity, I mentioned it to Phoebe when she came to my book launch, and she suggested I send it to Paul to read. That he’d know what to do with it. I sent it to Paul quite a while ago and heard nothing beyond he’d received it and would get back to me. Unbeknownst to me, Paul also worked with Phoebe, who is the Editor in Chief of Raven Chronicles, where Thomas also worked as an editor. I knew they were friends, and that Paul wrote stories and novels, but not that he worked with Phoebe.

All of that is to get us to this week when I had a Zoom meeting with Phoebe and Paul, and they have accepted Thomas’s manuscript, plus some other writings of Thomas’s, and will publish it sometime in 2027. It was during that meeting I found out he’d told Phoebe a long time ago that he wanted her to have first right of refusal. I’m so glad that I mentioned his manuscript when she came to my book launch! Although, to be honest, I probably would have asked her advice on it anyhow.

Be safe, be well, be happy!

“Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ” We are all related ~ Lakota Saying.

Ready or Not, 2026 is Here!

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9 January 2026

Well, this is embarrassing. I wrote a post on the first (see below) and tried to post it, and something was amiss, so I contacted my webmistress, and she got it fixed and let me know a couple days ago all was well, and I forgot to go in and post it. So, now it’s a double post.

Except this one will be extra short 😉

And I wish you all a bang-up marvelous 2026. May goodness outweigh badness to the nth degree this new year!

1 January 2026

2025 is now in our rear-view mirror! And you know what I’m thankful for? Groundhog Day, the movie, is pure fiction. Lordy, lordy, but I hate even the shivery thought of having to repeat 2025. Ever.

True, there were some good things that happened, most notable being that Saying Goodbye to Thomas (Finishing Line Press) is now published and available at your favorite bookstore. And, should you not wish to purchase from the big A, and not have a store near you or it’s too cold to go out, I suggest www.Bookshop.org. True, you’ll have to pay s/h, but not much, and a certain percentage of the purchase price goes to independent bookstores (you can even choose your favorite).

And, of course, your favorite Old Auntie survived the identity theft and resultant aches & pains—many thanks to the help of Favorite Daughter. To be honest, I’m not sure I could have survived without her help.

I did get some poetry written and published (Thank you Quill & Parchment and Dos Gatos Press). Watched way too much YouTube. Not too much on the political front, as those tend to add to the depression I’ve been fighting, and mostly winning, for the past 14 months. The new AI stories, most on revenge, and pretty funny. The stories, the obvious lack of I in the AI, especially the so-called military ones. No, I do not leave comments, nor click on them. I’m pretty sure many of them are out of China, but if you listen, you can tell they’re AI. Maybe A+ would be a better descriptor? A-?? Also one of the ways to tell if the news you’re watching by your favorite pundit is really Pundit or A+/-. Listen. You’ll know.

On 1 June 2018, I welcomed a rescue large Chihuahua named Sammy, into my life. He was literally afraid of his own shadow, of dead, dried, zombie leaves that ran at him to eat puppy brains, any other human that spoke to him, dogs on leashes, ducks on his sidewalk, thunder terrified him, as well as fireworks. With thunder, he becomes highly (lowly? his legs are pretty short??) agitated, and he jumps off the bed, goes under the bed, then back on the bed, and repeats until the offending sounds finally quit. I changed his name to Sammy Brave Dog, hoping it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Last night, New Year’s Eve, the fireworks started somewhere around midnight (I assume) and I braced to become his launchpad off the bed to the floor when he nosed his way under the blankets and snuggled next to me, and didn’t so much as shiver or shake the rest of the night. In checking my smart watch, I see I was awake for a little over an hour roughly between midnight and 1:10am. When the fireworks were going off. And my puppy slept through it!!!

And the zombie puppy-brain-eating-leaves that attack him at the whim of the wind? For the most part, he now just raises is back leg and tells them who the boss is!

While visiting a friend the other day, I was struck by a black/white photo of a white wolf in snow, on her wall. The outline was there, but it was almost all white except the eyes and nose. So, I came home and started playing with my camera and my mini-wolf. He is an extremely shy dog, but here are a couple photos, one as he looks, and the other in my feeble attempt to make him a white wolf.

Sammy Brave Dog as he is.

Sammy Brave Wolf as he thinks he is.

Are You Adoptable?

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Oh for heaven’s sake. Somehow, when I copied and pasted, I dropped the lead paragraph: This is a reprint from my now defunct blog, Odds n Bods, from a different tim, with a few changes, and additions. /sigh/

I read an article the other day that got me to thinking a tad bit about old age, growing older, and all the related implications.

The article, “He was one of millions of Chinese seniors growing old alone. So he put himself up for adoption.” is by Emily Rauhala at The Washington Post, May 2, 2018.

It is about an 85-year-old Chinese man, a widower, with children who had long since moved away and had lives of their own. The old ways in China are dying, if not dead. Modernity has come, and with it the fact that children are not always in a position to care for aging parents as once was the norm. Han Zicheng, tired of being alone, of having no sons to care for him (he claimed he had two, one of them said there were three), posted a note in a public place asking for someone to adopt him so he would not die uncared for, alone.

Loneliness is a terrible thing, and we, as a species, seem to feel it more when we are surrounded by people, strangers. I wrote a blog about it December 28, 2015, Are You Lonesome Tonight? on a now defunct blog and even had a link to Elvis singing his popular song. Fortunately the YouTube link to The King’s recording is still available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XVdtX7uSnk.

My memory of the article about Mr. Han is he was “needy”—he complained about his plight, he didn’t want to do for himself, he expected others to do for him. He refused to go to a nursing home. There were people who maintained contact with him, sporadic at best, but not his family.

I’m sure we all know people like Mr. Han, I certainly do. They are very needy, and though surrounded by people, no one pays them much attention because they are always angry or complaining. Most of them are also excellent manipulators, and often one doesn’t realize what is happening until they’ve been sucked in. Needy people are exhausting people. They don’t want to help themselves; they want someone to “fix” it for them, whatever “it” is. There is a reason I never became a counselor.

Someone sent me a quote by Cynthia Nelms the other day, “Nobody cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” It’s good advice. Truly, nobody cares. Oh, that’s not to say, when the now and again calamity hits they don’t care, but it gets jaded hearing nothing but complaints from people, even when couched in such a manner they think they’re being cute and people won’t notice. Complaining is a habit, and like any habit, it can be broken with a little work. Okay, a lot of work. Still it’s a habit that can be broken. Or continually reinforced. Pay attention to what you think, speak, and write. Is it positive, or is there a hint of whine? Cheese not included.

I read an article the other day by a counselor, and I now wish I’d marked it, written it down, but I didn’t. Old age, ya know? Anyhow the counselor said that forgiving someone isn’t about them, it’s about the one who forgives. You can hate someone for your whole life, and guess how much sleep the hated person loses over it? Yeah, none. How much do YOU lose over it? The counselor suggested even if you don’t really want to forgive the offending person, pretend to forgive them. Every time you think of them, and start getting angry, etc., stop and say something like, “(Name) you really hurt me. I forgive you.” and then go one with your day. Repeat as often as necessary. Eventually, you’ll really forgive them without really noticing, and you’ll start to feel better than you’ve felt in years.

At some point in my life it came to me that I’m probably going to be alone far more than I’m going to be coupled, and if that’s the case, I’d darned well better learn to like myself, because I’m going to be the best, and possibly only, company I’m going to have as I age, grow old, and die.

By the way, this idea of being afraid to die alone is rather odd, if you think about it. Two things we always do alone are being birthed and dying. There may be friends and or family present, but when push comes to shove (pun intended) we’re gonna do it alone. If it frightens you, I suggest you do some searching as to why it frightens you, and then act and change so it doesn’t. Educate yourself. If the face of the god you worship is a vengeful, wrathful, frightening one, consider finding a more forgiving, humorous, and loving face of your god to worship. As Reverend Mother Odrade, BG, said, “Face your fears or they will climb over your back.”

Are you lonesome? Want someone to adopt you? Are you adoptable? Which baby do you gravitate to—the happy, bubbly baby, who loves to burble and smile? —or the grumpy one who would rather cry and whimper and scream? Who would you adopt?

Public Service Announcement: I sent two checks off to the ALS Association and End of Life Washington today, in memory of Thomas, each for $80.00. Thanks to all of you who bought the book. And thanks to all of you who will buy the book, the next check will go out in February.

Lenora

“Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.” –Elbert Hubbard

Lost Files and Box of Books

Hello! Remember me?

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Your friendly, neighborhood poet. And do I have news for you!!! Saying Goodbye to Thomas has been released by the publisher. If you pre-ordered a copy, I thank you, and it should be in your hands maybe next week. If you didn’t pre-order, that’s okay. In fact, perhaps you’ll be glad—there is also a hardback book, if you’d rather not have a paper/softback copy!

This book is available from your favorite bookstore. Admittedly, you’ll probably have to order it, as not every bookstore carries every book, but….

All you need is          the title: Saying Goodbye to Thomas,
                                    the author: Lenora Rain-Lee Good
                                    the publisher: Finishing Line Press
                                    the ISBN: 979-8-89990-036-5

paper back: $17.99
hard back: $27.99

I will be holding a book launch at The Book Tree, in Kirkland WA the afternoon/evening of 2 August 2025, starting at 5:15pm. This was Thomas’s favorite indie bookstore. If you’re in Kirkland area, come on by!! There will be other poets there, who knew Thomas, so it will be a Thomas night superb.

Speaking of Indie publishers and bookstores—support them when possible. Buy books from the publisher, buy books from the indie bookstore in your town.

Remember, I make NO money from this book. ALL royalties received will be divided between the ALS Association and Death With Dignity. Incidentally, DWD is not suicide, it is a hastening of certain death, usually slow, painful, and robbed of personal dignity, that will happen within the next six months or less.

Please consider buying a copy.

“In a world largely uncomfortable with death, Lenora Rain-Lee Good writes through the process of embracing grief as it approaches, “It’s so easy to be brave / when not required,” she writes, yet these poems remind us that every day, each moment, requires its own bravery—that even the rehearsals for the great performance of death demand our presence, demand that we connect with one another, insist that we open ourselves to love even thought it will break our hearts–because it is the only way to live.” —Zach Hively, Author, Owl Poems

It’s Monday, and time for a coffee break escape!

As You May Imagine

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Weather in the Tries:

Oof Da! Can you say: Sun? Can you say: Hot? Yep, that be us. Am listening to the ambient music, Miyamoto Musashi: Embracing Loneliness. Not that I’m lonely, but it’s raining in the video. You know, cool.

As you may imagine:
Well, I imagine you can imagine this past week was not the bestest in my world. It took a few days for me to get over SCOTUS’ ruling on Monday. Maybe not over it, but through it. Through most of it.

On the sunny side of the street, I was in a bookstore the other day, and came home with two books. Yeah, I know, you’re so surprised. /snort/ One is a book of poetry by Margaret Atwater. I love her poetry, and haven’t seen a new book of hers in a long time. So I am reading Dearly before I turn the light out at night.

The second book is, The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. A small book, maybe 5” x 8”, filled with delightful 2-3 page essays he wrote over a year finding delights where he could, including memories. It is a delightful book, and just what the doctor ordered!

Should you find yourself wandering in a bookstore, wander over to the poetry/essay section and look through his book. Take the time to read a couple of his essays. Shucks, while you’re there, look at Dearly by Margaret Atwood, even if you don’t like poetry. Particularly if you don’t like poetry! Her poems are mini stories in a different form. Try a couple. Perhaps you will walk out of the store with two books (or more).

Also, I discovered some new-to-me channels on YouTube and I thoroughly enjoy them—woodturning and woodworking channels! Absolutely great ways to get my eyes and ears out of the news that is so damn depressing. My two favorite woodworking channels are Foureyes furniture and Blacktail Studio. The guys are fun, they explain what they are doing, what they did wrong, and how they fixed it. I love how they work, too. Would I ever spend $15K on a table? uh, no, but if I decided to, it would be from one of these two guys. And I must be learning something—on Sunday I decided to watch someone else make a table. I was quite taken with the top and I wanted to see how he made it. He made it cheaply. Where the guys above glue and clamp, this guy used way less glue and nails. Where Chris (?) and Cam (above furniture builders) take the time to get every join perfect, where they use several grits of sandpaper, where they spend time finishing their work, the table I was so taken by was very shoddily made. The joins did not match, the sanding was perfunctory, and the finish was sprayed on. I watch they guys for entertainment, but apparently, I’m also getting an education.

If you are in the market for some new and high quality furniture, I strongly suggest you watch a few episodes of the guys at the links above. Not that I’m recommending them to you (which I am) but to see how they work, and what to look for when you go shopping.

By the way, Cam at Blacktail Studio is the one who came up with the Damascus Denim Desk. Yes, a desk made out of denim. Check it out here. Talk about fabric art!!!

Photo of the Week:
Yep, it’s me. I had to get some new headshots for the new book, Saying Goodbye to Thomas, which will be ready for pre-order probably in in Feb/Mar 2025. As you undoubtedly know, there are few things I hate worse than having my picture taken. From my POV, I look like Sophia Loren. From the camera’s POV, I look like me. God, what a let-down for all concerned.

photo by Katrina

from the desk of the hot dog;
the one and only bad thing about the heat is sometimes the hard, black surface of the driveway where most of my walking is done, is too hot for my feets. otherwise, all this sun and hot is pure heaven for this desert dog. can you see my tail wag.

Music of the Week:
Miyamoto Musashi: Embracing Loneliness. Great ambient music to have on, turned low, and write or study by. There are several pieces online for this music. I think if I could play it on the bedside radio I do not have, I could easily sleep with it. No, it doesn’t make me sleepy (couldn’t work or study if it did) but I think it would make great sleeping music.

Quote of the Week:

“Re-examine all you have been told.
Dismiss what insults your soul.”
—Walt Whitman

ps:
Looking for a nightmare? Give this site a once or twice over: American Autocracy Threat Tracker. Truly scary stuff! But necessary. How sad is that?

Great Stories v. Great Literature

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Weather in the Tries:
Why yes, thank you, we are having some this coming week.

On a Personal Note:
“Hawkeye” Pierce died this past week at the age of 88. Rest in Peace Donald Sutherland, thank you for so many wonderful characters I would have loved to meet and get to know.

Great Stories v. Great Literature:
I subscribe to the Substack of Sherman Alexie. Because I pay, I get to see more of his writings than if I subscribed to the free version. I also get to leave comments on his writings, which range from poetry to short stories to memoir. I am in awe of the man’s talent. The other day he wrote something about wanting to write great literature. Of course, I couldn’t let that go without a comment. I told him to continue to write great stories, and if they happen to be great literature, fine. But if not, to my way of thinking great stories are more important than great literature.

Great stories are accessible to anyone who can read. Great Literature is often dry, dull, and boring, the characters are not interesting or fun, just ink on a dead processed tree. Margaret Atwood writes great stories, and great literature, but her literature is first and foremost a damn good story.

My book group read a debut novel by a young author. I gave it the requisite 60 pages (I read once that a book editor will read the first 60 pages and if they like it, continue. If not, the great Letter of Rejection is mailed. Actually, I doubt if they read much past 10 pages today). I didn’t like any of the characters, I didn’t care what happened to them, I just didn’t care. I seldom read past page 60, if it’s not my cuppa tea. Sometimes I put the book down, wait a few months and try again, and then I get all the way through and can’t figure out why I disliked it the first time.

I did, once, read a book almost to the middle, and put it down. Not one likable person in the book. Worse than the Godfather. That book I could hardly put down and the only likeable person were the two women Michael Corleone married. Anyhow, back to the one I closed slightly before the halfway mark, I picked it up a week or two later, and I committed a venal sin. A misdemeanor if you will. I read the last chapter. Although I didn’t like anyone, I kept worrying it, and decided I had to know the end.

Literature is character driven. Fiction is plot driven. Perhaps I never had the right literature books, or the right teacher to teach the class, but I feel about most literature I’ve tried as Oprah does about books with happy endings! She will never recommend a book with a happy ending, I heard her say one day during a tv interview. If it’s fiction, and you want me to read it, it had better have a happy ending, with few exceptions. I get too many sad endings in the news. And in my life.

I have a book by George Steiner, Errata: an examined life. It is a collection of essays. I bought it for the first paragraph, which begins thusly: “Rain, particularly to a child, carries distinct smells and colors. Summer rains in the Tyrol are relentless. They have a morose, flogging insistence and come in deepening shades of dark green. At night, the drumming is one of…”

I love essays. I have several books of essays. They are (except for the John McPhee ones) usually short. And interesting. So, I buy a book based on one paragraph, the hook as it’s called in genre writing, and was enthralled all the way through. I also subscribe to magazines based on similar things. I just subscribed to The Paris Review, based on an article they pulled from a past issue and sent out, about Chinua Achebe. I don’t believe I’ve read anything by him, but after reading the article, I will give him a try. (The article was open to one and all, to read the interview, one must subscribe.)

Just what I need. More processed dead trees coming into our house. I am so jealous of my housemate at times. ALL of his books go to his Kindle. Only fiction and the now and then craft book, come to mine. I want the white space of poetry as it’s shown on the page. And if it’s non-fiction, I want to write marginalia in it, well, sometimes. I want to go back to earlier pages and check something. Yes, I can do that on my kindle, but it’s difficult, and I’m special (okay, I’m probably a bit spacey, too) and I can see the page if it’s paper, but not if its electrons. What can I say? I also like the feel and perfume of paper and ink.

Back to Sherman Alexie, if he does write the great literary novel, it will probably be very well written, and interesting. But I hate the idea that he goes into his office one day, sits down at his computer and purposely writes literature. I want him to write stories. I’ve yet to read one of his stories that wasn’t well worth the time and money. Maybe I’m just lazy, and don’t want to have to figure out what the writer is writing about. Maybe I’m tired after a long day, and I want to escape my reality for a few minutes when I go to bed at night. Maybe I want a poem about a father and son at the ice cream store to be just that, and not have 37 metaphors that need to be decoded. Yeah, he writes kick-ass poetry as well as fiction.

Photos of the Week:
Mallard Hen out for an afternoon swim, enjoying the pond to herself

Silver Linden tree at the Library. Several trees, all in bloom. Shedding pollen and perfume like crazy.

from the desk of the big chihuahua;
my human says to buckle up savvy pup, because it’s gonna be hot and not so hot this week. she forgets this dog is a desert dog. my forebears came out of the chihuahua desert down south of the border, down Mexico way. will you look at that. the computer put a capped letter in for me.

Earworm of the Week courtesy of YouTube:
South of the Border (Down Mexico Way by Patsy Cline

Quote of the Week courtesy of azquotes:

“Carnegie Hall was real fabulous, but you know,
it ain’t as big as the Grand Ole Opry.” ~ Patsy Cline

Coffee Break Escapes with Auntie Lenora

Short readings for short times

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Great Stories v. Great Literature