Weather in the Tries: Looks like we’re going to be in for more freezing fog for the next week or so. That makes it really feel cold outside as the humidity climbs to 100%. I live in the desert. You know, where we average 5”-8” of rain a year. At least our highs will be in the balmy (by comparison) upper 30s.
Meet Up with Old Friends:
When I first moved to the Tries 17 years ago, I met some really great gals and was invited into their book group. The group did not read the same book each time, instead we reported on whatever books we’d read since the last meeting, and if the book was ours, and we didn’t mind lending it, we’d bring it in case anyone else wanted to read it.
One thing led to another, as happens, and I moved to a different group that met considerably closer to where I lived, and then I moved to Albuquerque. I maintained friendship with some of the gals, and when I moved back to the Tries, I discovered the gals were still meeting. And then Covid hit, and that was the end of a lot of things as we knew them. I joined a Zoom book group, where we do read the same book, but it was, and is a great group with fun people, and I seriously enjoy it.
Then the original book group decided to Zoom, and I was invited to return to the fold. Yesterday was our meeting. It was great fun to see the original gals—one now in Bend, another now in Woodinville, and a third one now on Camano Island. It was really great to meet up with old friends, only one person couldn’t make it. I missed her.
There are Blessings to Covid. Not many, but Zoom is one of them. If we still met face to face, we’d be minus at least 3. My other book group refuses to use Zoom, so they are missing out on a lot of support and friendship.
When I zoom, I normally use a head set, and I find it much easier to hear than in a group setting. Especially if we meet in a coffee shop or restaurant (like we used to do). In those places I can’t hear as there is too much noise, even with my electronic ears turned to the proper setting.
Speaking of friends, Auntie Lenora is rich with good friends. I was the featured reader at a poetry group on the 12thJanuary, and it was recorded. A goodest friend cut the recording until it was basically me reading, and it is now up on the Spoken Word. It’s a video, at the top 😉 I was using a background, and someone asked me to put my hat on (over the headset) so it’s perched up there, and as I move parts of it disappear and reappear. Damn! But I love Zoom 😉 A cousin from California was there, an old friend from Seattle was there. Had it been in person, it would have been a small group.
Photo of the Week:
Took this shot a few minutes before sunrise on Saturday, 22 Jan 22
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at Rainy Day Reads
My review of The Forest of Stolen Girls —by June Hur, is posted. Great read. If you like Laura Joh Rawlins’ books, you’ll like this one.
Still slogging my way through Murder at the Mission. My goal is to finish it this week.
Earworm of the Week: Baby tiger grrrooowlls. Dumb me, I figured they’d sound more like a kitten than a grown-up tiger. Fortunately, one of the people in my writer’s group was a reporter and has actually held a baby tiger (you may now color Auntie Lenora JEALOUS!). Thanks to him, I spent a considerable amount of time on YouTube listening to tigers. That was research, folks. Yeah. Research. Writing is solitary but having a group of writers to go over your work is invaluable. Especially when they have varied backgrounds.
One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives. —Euripides
The world is round so that friendship may encircle it. —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I’m still working at getting over my jealous. He got to hold a baby tiger! When Auntie Lenora becomes Empress of the Universe, she’ll get to hold as many baby tigers as she wants! And with her friends, she will share. Honest. Trust me. Oh, sorry, Auntie Lenora was just informed by the Brave Dog there will be NO baby tigers anywhere near. Sigh.
Weather in the Tries: We’ve had a week end of fog and freezing fog, but the week looks to be mostly partly sunny to mostly cloudy with highs all the way up to a heat-inducing sunstroke of 44, with the lows going down to 31. Okay at 44 and mostly/partly cloudy, we won’t get sunstroke. I just feel somewhat snarky.
If you pass it, you approve it:
I wrote this a couple years back, and didn’t get it posted. Something in the news came up that I thought was more interesting. So, I discovered this the other day, made a couple of updates, and here you be:
I’m not sure where I picked up the title, I’ve been using it for several years, and somehow, I don’t think I’m quick enough to have come up with it on my own. But it’s true.
If you pass litter on the street, and don’t stop, pick it up, dispose of it—you approve of it.
If you pass a person in need, don’t stop and help, or at least find out if you can—you approve their need.
If you hear a wrong, and don’t speak out and try to make it a right—you approve that wrong.
Now, in this day and age, I admit, I don’t pick up as much litter as I used to. It’s a long way down, and I don’t always have a bag in which to place it or see a garbage can nearby. Also, I’m a bit leery of picking up masks, etc., without proper gloves &c. But if I see a person in need, I do try to at least find out what’s wrong, and help if I can. Sometimes all that’s really wanted is the acknowledgement someone, anyone, even a stranger, cares. Since I’ve aged, it’s often difficult to impossible for me to pick up trash. Why, just the other day, for the second time since I’ve lived here, I looked out and saw what appeared to be a sick or injured pelican. Perhaps dead floating on the river. On getting the binoculars and looking, I could see it was a white garbage bag with orange ties. No way could I get it, unless I had a boat. Or a warm wet suit. I have neither.
And in this age of the internet, when I hear a wrong, I send letters to my senators. I also send one to my representative, but he approves of far more than I do, and has the rationales to make him comfortable with his decisions.
And in this age of the internet, and social media, I think there must be a middle ground. If you hear a wrong, voice YOUR OPINION as an opinion, as to why you think it’s wrong. And listen to the other side, who is equally enamored with their opinion, and think theirs is right. There must be a way to reach common ground, besides war.
In this country, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and they are entitled to voice it. What they are not entitled to is to call their opinion fact, when it can be verifiably wrong. It’s hard for people to change their minds on a topic and telling them they’re wrong just forces them to dig in their heels that much harder. It’s difficult to admit you could be wrong. More difficult to admit you are wrong. And even more difficult to change. But as long as you’re breathing, that hope exists.
Some people don’t like facts. Especially when they differ from their long held personal ideology. Some people can’t accept facts, it causes them cognitive dissonance, which brings any number of ails both physical and mental. And calling them stupid or ignorant will not win them to your side. I have friends who believe one way, and I believe another. In the effort to maintain our years long friendship, we have agreed to disagree, and neither of us tries to convert the other to our way of thinking. Each of us is sure we have the facts, the other doesn’t.
But facts and opinions are different. I have a blog (fact). You’re reading it (fact). I can say just about anything I want (fact). I can’t say anything libelous or claim credit for something someone else wrote (fact). I’m as gorgeous as Sophia Lauren (opinion, laughably so).
Photos of the week:
Taken on Friday at 0800, 31F Looking at Allen Point of Bateman Island and a park across the Columbia in Pasco WASame basic shot an hour later, one degree warmer0945, 32 Degrees, the island, the trees, the far shore have left. Neither the Brave Dog nor his human wanted to be outside any longer than absitively posolutely cessenary!
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at Rainy Day Reads
Read a couple more novels and am back into Murder at the Mission by Blair Harden. I’m about halfway through the book. If I finish it, I will give it at least 3 stars (That’s a given in my rating system). I can’t really, at this point, give it a high recommendation.
TV:
Who has time to watch tv. Sometimes I turn on the news while at the computer and if anything really exciting comes up, I stop typing and listen/watch.
Movie:
Still haven’t made it to Matrix: Resurrection. Maybe this next week? But, oh Joy of Joys, in the mail the last week came the movie, Departures. One of my all time faves. AND the K-series, Navillera, one of my all time favorite series, AND, OMG YES, there IS MORE: on Friday I got 9 discs, 25 movies, from Studio Ghibli. I may buy a big box of nibblies and spend a week binging! I won’t, but I can if I wanna! 😉 I fear I either didn’t see the fine print, or didn’t read it, but it looks like they may all be in English. I prefer them in Japanese with subtitles. Oh, well, I’ll find out soon enough.
Came across a recap of The Matrix Trilogy. Not quite an hour and I’m watching it as I write this. I think I agree, if you don’t have time to watch the trilogy again, it’s a pretty good recap.
“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.”—no attribution given
“Leave nothing but footprints. Litter nothing but time.”—no attribution given
And there it is. Another week, another paycheck. Well, for some of you. Those of us permanently unemployed don’t get weekly paychecks anymore. I get mine monthly. Sammy Brave Dog doesn’t get a paycheck at all. What would a dog do with a paycheck? But he does get lots of loves and fed twice a day. He seems happy.
Weather in the Tries: Friday was our first day in what seemed like forever, to be above freezing. It was freezing when I went to bed Thursday night and 40 when I got up on Friday. Now we have rain on the schedule, and a few more freezing days coming. I really don’t mind the cold, though Sammy does. Poor guy. But we both aren’t fond of the rain. I know we need it, but it always seems colder when it’s damp/wet out. And not too much rain, this is the desert, after all.
And the Good News Is…
…I’m not pregnant! Yaaaaayyyy!!!! Fear leapt and grabbed me about the throat when I saw a blue line AND a pink line on the test strip. The second immaculate conception? Fraternal twins? Then I remembered (thankfully, I still have some memory left and it kicks in every so often) I sneezed on the strip, I didn’t pee on it. Phew!
So, the rest of the news is, I am just about coming off my isolation for covid. Being fully vaxxed and boosted, I’ve not had severe symptoms. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have known, but one of my breakfast buddies called me Tuesday afternoon to tell me he’d tested after he got home (he got a test kit at breakfast) and, he was positive. I checked with a doctor who told me to wait a couple of days before I tested (I isolated those days) and lo and behold, the blue line ONLY meant I was good to go, but I had a pink line, too. The lines do not mean twins (thank whatever gods you choose). Only covid. Well shucks, I survived Basic Training, so I can survive anything—war, pestilence, childbirth, &c, but damn! I’m too old to raise more kids. So today is my last day of isolation, and then as long as I feel okay, I can go about my business, with my good, filtered mask firmly upon my face. Remember we wear masks not so much to protect us, but to protect you!
Other than being a tad more tired than usual, I really feel pretty good. No fever, no aches or pains (I also had my old fartess flu shot a while ago). I am sooooo grateful for all the years the scientists worked on the base of what became our ‘short order’ vaccine, and the National Guard of Washington for sending their medics to jab thousands of people, two different times. And the pharmacist for the 3d jab.
One of the things I remembered while sitting in my car waiting after the first two, was how good Medics are with needles. I can almost always tell if a pharmacist spent time in the military by the way s/he gives shots. They are the best!
Sad news on Friday: Sidney Poitier died at age 94. He was one of my favorite actors. I never saw him in a movie that wasn’t wonderful. The obituary I read compared him to Harry Belafonte, and the author made a statement that Belafonte had more sexual magnetism than Poitier. Oh, no. No, he did not. Belafonte’s was a bit more ‘bad boy’ due to his singing, but Poitier was the boy next door, the quiet man, the thoughtful and intelligent man. the man who made me laugh with his quiet humor. Rest in Peace, Mr. Poitier, you are sorely missed.
Photos of the Week:
I am not pregnant!It snowed all over Big Red!When I took this photo, it was darker than it appears, and I thought those were geese on the ice. Nope, they’re gulls. The ice is melting, but there’s enough there they spend the night on it. The geese ‘raft’ out in the water. The ice is pretty safe, if a cat or coyote tried to get them, they’d get an unwanted bath!
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at Rainy Day Reads
Finished a marvelous new book of poetry, The Tiger Poet: New & Selected Poems —by Amit Dahiyabadshah. I urge you to buy and read the book, but I know not all of you like poetry, so please go to this link and watch/listen to Amit perform his poem, The Tiger’s Last Will and Testament. It is powerful. He performed it for a tv station in his country (India) to use as a fund raiser to save the tigers. Reading Amit’s book will give you joy, sorrow, and a wonderful trip through parts of India. You may order this book from the big box store, or from the publisher, Jules’ Poetry Playhouse.
I am also reading Murder at the Mission by Blair Harden. It is another book about the killings at the Whitman Mission. It’s an interesting book, and Harden brings a much different perspective to the myth that grew out of it—that most of what we think we know was lies told and perpetrated by the Reverend Henry Harmon Spalding.
Reviewing: I sent my review of Amit’s book to my publisher, in India, and the next thing I know is he wants me to review some of the books in his stable, and sent me one to that end. That makes an old lady feel pretty darn good, ya know? I read the book, short with 43 pages, sent him the review, and he asked if he could send more. And he’s paying me for them!
TV:
Was all set to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show the other day. I looked forward to it. Have never seen it. Today my Favorite Daughter asked me how I liked it. Dohhh, I totally forgot about it. So, it’s there someplace. Now, why didn’t my memory kick in for that?
Movie:
My neighbor and I were going to see Matrix: Resurrection on Thursday, but you know who mucked those plans up by testing for covid ;-). If it’s still here next week, we’ll try to get into a matinee. There are few if any people in the matinees.
There has been an ad on Facebook for a few days, and today I checked it out. I so love plastic. Y’know, you never pay for anything, just give numbers and… Yes, I have ordered the complete set of Studio Ghibli’s childhood movies. I’ve seen some of them and have totally loved each one of them. Some I’ve seen more than once. Yes, Auntie Lenora has (obviously) entered her second childhood. Or maybe third? Fourth?
“sometimes I wonder if all this is happening because I didn’t forward that email to 10 people.” —from champagnetastehome
“I’m not buying a 2022 planner until I see the trailer!” —from ivf.ninja.mama (LG: I updated the year)
And there you are: my exciting news. I’m NOT pregnant!!! And by the time you read this I’ll be almost through with my complimentary dose of Covid! The snow is almost gone, and Sammy sends pupkisses to everyone who had a hope and a prayer for that.
Weather in the Tries: Trust me. You don’t want to visit right now. Wait until May. Unless, of course, you like single digit temperatures.
Didja notice I didn’t up put a post last week? I figured you wanted a break as much as I did.
I had a marvelous Solstice. Received all sorts of goodies—wine, cookies (they were yummy), some jam, a bookmark, and five books. A friend has a homemade fruitcake for me but said it’s too bitterly cold out for me to fetch. She has it resting in her freezer waiting for me. Wanna know how cold the last week was? It didn’t get above freezing, and the wind chill took the temps down another ten to fifteen degrees.
Did you know that two thousand years ago, in the Mediterranean countries, the Solstice was on what became known as 25 December? Lo and behold! Thank you, History Channel.
There are many different traditions to ring in the New Year. I hope you took advantage of at least one. I had black eyed peas! Had planned on making my version of Hoppin’ John, but due to the ice outside, I didn’t go to the store for more black eyed peas which are not peas at all but are beans. I had some chili mix with black eyed peas in it, and made a mess of beans for New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and a few more days, too. Fortunately, beans freeze well ;-). Eating black eyed peas on the New Year is supposed to bring wealth and prosperity.
Speaking of wealth and prosperity, my short story, Fly Away Woman has been published by Quill & Parchment. I think I get just as excited when something of mine is deemed good enough by an editor to be published as I did the first time I sold a poem or a story. Rejection letters don’t hurt as much, though. I realize it’s my work being passed on, not me 😉 At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
Mark your calendar! I am featured reader 12 Jan at Yakima Coffeehouse Poetry. This will be a zoom affair, and if you’d like to attend, please email or PM me a few days prior so I can get your name and email to the keeper of the Zoom Room. I’ll be reading about 15 minutes. It starts at 7 pm PST.
From the Mail Bag:
Okay, it’s not from a bag, it’s from my email. I received an email from ACME Termite Inspection Co. (I used to own a house) And as my eyes are old, and I was in a hurry, and you know how emails get truncated… I read “ACME Termites Welcome in 2022” Nope, that’s not what they said. On the second, and third, look I saw it correctly. (Wonder if the Road Runner is moonlighting???)
Photos of the Week:
Took these a couple days ago. This one is the day before the ones following it. As you can tell, it was snowing. Note the horizontal white line off to the right of the island. Those are not round rocks–thats a squadron of white pelicans. The darks dots in the water are geese, ducks, coots, and or cormorants. If the egret was there, I couldn’t see her against the snow. Oh, a Great Blue Heron may be there, also.
Took this one about 5:30 the next morning. Don’t know if that’s dew that is freezing in the air, some sort of snow, or what. It was very fine, more drifting than falling and glittered like diamond dust.
Same basic view as first one, the fog is rising from the Columbia River. Pasco, the town on the far shore has “returned.” It was taken a few minutes after sun-up.
This is later in the day, and I’m petty sure that’s hoar frost on the trees and shrubs on the island. The Columbia is on the other side, the slack water on this side is frozen. This was taken about 4pm when the sun shined and the thermometer read 16F.
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at Rainy Day Reads
I read and reviewed 75 books last year, the last being State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny. Political Thrillers aren’t my genre of choice, but this was a hard-to-put-down read! I also re-read a book I’d read earlier, The Queen’s Weapons (Book 11 of the Dark Jewels) by Anne Bishop. I think I enjoyed it more the second time through because as I read, parts of it weren’t as “tense” as I’d remembered. The trouble with Anne Bishop’s books is I can’t read them slowly. Too much good stuff going on and I gotta read them and get to the end and be sure everyone I’m emotionally involved with is alright. 😉 If you’re curious, I have 584 books currently listed on my review blog. So, if you’re wondering what to read next, have a look. Complete with typos.
Speaking of books, do you have a published book you’d like to sell? I’ll gladly show it once here, then list it in the Bookstore (see tab above). Contact me for the information I will need.
TV:
Lord love a duck! I actually watched Christmas movies on Hallmark Mysteries and Movies. And read. Trust me, reading was better.
I went online to see if I could buy the K-Series, Navillera, and I could, so I did. I now own two of my favorite K-Dramas. Poetry (a movie) and Navillera (series). I need to get Departures, a delightful movie from Japan. I ordered it once and it came but was only compatible with Euro players. Now, I know someone who can tell me how to fix my player to play the others. But then, I didn’t, so I returned it. I just bought a used copy I found online. Including tax, still less that $15.00. I coulda bought a new one for $55 plus tax.
“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” —Oprah Winfrey
“What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.” —Diogenes
“I never worry about being driven to drink; I just worry about being driven home.” —W.C. Fields
The Brave Dog (and believe me, having to go out into the ice and snow to pay homage to the Grass Gods takes bravery when you’re a small dog with no body fat!) and I wish you all a marvelous New Year. Remember, as Walt Lee said via his Brother Sherman cartoon, “Thou shalt find joy in each new day, even if thou must search until sunset!”
Whatever or Whoever you worship this Solstice Season, do so with gaiety, reverence, joy—whatever is appropriate to you and the deity/deities you worship. I hope it’s a time of Great Joy, even in this time of Covid.
I am still writing, mostly poetry. Had the marvelous opportunity to see & hear a new (to me) poet, thanks to the wonders of Zoom—Arthur Sze. I became enthralled with his work and ordered the book they were selling before the reading was over, The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (from the last 5 decades of his writing) and have seen a marked change in my poems. I hope for the better ;-). And for those of you who know me, here is the shocker of all, I bought a Hardback, with 521 pages of poetry! (Last year’s purchase of Lucille Clifton’s Collection out did it, though. She had 720 pages in that book!)
I have been asked to be the featured reader for the Yakima Coffeehouse Poets in January (I think it’s the 12th). If any of you are interested in attending via Zoom, please let me know. I will be reading from my books and newer poems. I’m hoping I can attend in person, if so, we will also be zooming to the audience who can’t make it. Then, again, it may all be zoom. Hello, Covid, and welcome to my neighborhood.
Speaking of my poetry, I am pleased to tell you that my latest book, The Bride’s Gate and Other Assorted Writings has two offerings that have been nominated for a Pushcart this year—the poem, “Mary Oliver Wants to Die When It’s Raining,” and the short fiction, “Dream Time.” Since the book is a collection, it also has “Russell Fehmer’s War,” a short story I wrote in homage to the old tv show, Soldiers of Fortune staring John Russell and (Fehmer) “Chick” Chandler. That story was nominated a few years ago. I loved that show. I was a freshman in high school when my mother remarried, and we moved to Seattle where I became a 9th grader in Junior high. Now, many thought that being a ninth grader I was top tier, but I thought of it as a demotion. I’d been a freshman in a REAL high school Ah, the vicissitudes of teenage life & angst.
Anyhow, I hurried home after school to watch, and escape into, Soldiers of Fortune. I now own the series, and I must admit, it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as, say, Columbo. Still, I had a teenaged crush on the two actors. 😉
The photo on my card is one I took at sunset. I just thought it was a nice photo. With no religious significance. I don’t even remember when. The poem, Darkness Framed, on the other side of the page, was published in Quill & Parchment in October 2021. Alas, I don’t have a photo to illustrate the poem.
Wishing you all the best for this marvelous Holiday Season, and remember, if YOU don’t want that fruitcake, you can always send it my way. Not, mind you, that I need any more calories, but I’ve never, ever, met a fruitcake I didn’t like.
With Love, Hugs, and a gazillion Pupkisses…
Photo on Card:
Poem on back of Winter Letter:
Darkness Framed
—by Lenora Rain-Lee Good
Darkness hides the fallow meadow, the trees naked of leaves, until the motion detector catches a deer in its lens; what was hidden is now seen in ghostly colors bleached by bright patio lights.
The timer clicks inside and the walls no longer soft purple of twilight now reflect the blinding white of sun-stroked winter’s snow.
No coverings at the glass, the white walls frame the stark landscape of night in muted colors. The deer, alien to my world, and I stare one to the other and wonder if we’d really like to trade places.
Humans of Climate Change —by Kaden Hogan NF Thinking About Thinking —by Margaret Randall NF Reparations Now! —by Ashley M. Jones P The Glass Constellation, New and Collected Poems —Arthur Sze P Relax and Enjoy Your Food —by Craig Good NF Magnified —by Minnie Bruce Pratt P frank: sonnets —by diane seuss P Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents —by Isabel Wilkerson NF Occoquan —by Gary Worth Moody P Taro —by Blue Spruell F
NF = Nonfiction P = Poetry F = Fiction
My 10 most Favoritest (mostly Netflix) Movies & Series:
Hospital Playlist —Korean series It’s Okay to Not Be Okay —Korean series Chocolate —Korean series Itaewon Class —Korean Series Navillera —Korean Series Home to Heaven —Korean Series Sense8 —US Series (Same people who brought us Matrix) Lucifer —US Series My Octopus Teacher —Netflix Documentary Paper and Glue —MSNBC Documentary
Hoo Boy — the lows will be 30 down to 26. The highs will be 34 to 45. No wonder a lot of animals hibernate. I think I’l like to be a bear, I could get my fill of fresh salmon and berries, and then go sleep it off all winter, to wake to spring sunshine and warmth.
Weird Laws of Physics:
Okay, it may not be physics, it may be a weird law of nature, or a weird law of an old God somewhere. I truly don’t know. If you do, please enlighten me in the Comment section.
I’m sure you’ve noticed when with another person and he yawns, you can’t help yourself, you yawn too. And more often than not, tell him to stop doing it. If the room is full of people, it doesn’t take long for everyone in the room to start yawning. Why? Surely, we aren’t all suddenly wanting a nap, or are we?
This sort of falls into the category of, “An interesting thing happened on my way to the Forum.” Oh, wait, it’s been so many years since I’ve been to the Forum I can’t remember. It was for sure, B. C. (before children). I was writing a text to a friend and wrote: “…pleasures of any size always expand when acknowledged. One of those rules I’ve never understood. Kinda like yawns. Once someone in the room yawns, everyone has to take a turn.” (A funny, as soon as I wrote the word ‘yawn,’ I had to yawn.) He responded that he did too. Several in a row. Once for each yawn typed. As did I. (yawn)
Did you just yawn, or want to? I had no idea I was susceptible to yawning just seeing the word, let alone typing it.
I looked up Yawn Contagion, and the answer is, nobody knows what causes it. People who study that stuff have all kinds of ideas, but no solid, cast in bronze, answers. Everything from mirroring to evolution, that if one person does it, it must be good to do, so everyone does it.
Ann Rice:
The gothic queen dies Saturday night. I believe it was from effects of a stroke she suffered. I enjoyed the books I read by her, except the Lestat books. My three favorites were and are, Ramses the Damned, Feast of All Saints, and Cry to Heaven. I understand she and her son, Christopher Rice wrote a sequel to Ramses the Damned that is due out next Spring. I can hardly wait.
Entertainment:
TV: MSNBC: Watched a delightful documentary, Paper and Glue. Even if you don’t normally watch that channel, check out when they will replay it again, or go online and see if you can find it. It’s about an artist named JR and his art is very large photos. He started as a graffiti artist in Paris. He has brought communities together, helped men in US Super Max prisons. It’s just a great 2 hours. You will feel better for having watched it than not.
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it Rainy Day Reads
I’m a little over halfway through Humans of Climate Change: A Cultural Journey to Explore Climate-Change Impacts, Solutions, and Hope —by Kaden Hogan. This is a fascinating book, and no matter what you think of Climate Change, I think this book would interest you.
Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore:
Please note, my Web Guru (I have a hard time calling her my Web Mistress because as you well know, Auntie Lenora does NOT like arachnids, and web builders remind me too much of the 8-legged critters. BTW, I have a rule, if I see one inside my house, it’s dead; if I see one outside in their house, I step around it, maybe photograph it, but I respect their home and by golly they should respect mine!) Anyhow, we have a new tab on the page: Bookstore, and if you have a book you’re written for sale, I’m happy to put it up there with all the information, such as how many pages, how much money (incl s/h if you ship). The ISBN so they can get it from their local bookseller if they want.
“A Yawn may not be polite, but at least it’s an honest opinion.”
“A yawn is a silent scream for a coffee.”
You may have noticed your Coffee Break Escape is a tad later than normal today. That’s because a very good friend of Auntie Lenora sent her a manuscript to read and comment on, and she was soooo excited about reading it she forgot to schedule it last night. It’s really Sammy Brave Dog’s fault—he is falling down on his chores and will have a sit-down with HR either later today or tomorrow to discuss. And isn’t that a shame, so close to Winter Holidays and all 😉 Happy Shopping!
Hoo Boy! I expected cold this past week, and the Weatherperson gave us warm, and winds. This next week will be cold. Maybe. I dunno. Lows in the low 30s, highs in the upper 30s and 40s. Maybe. If the Weatherperson was sober when s/he looked at the computer. How does s/he know? How do I know? Does anyone care?
Sorry, Wrong Number:
In reading some of the news, I came across a story about someone dialing a wrong number, it was one digit off her sister’s number, and she kept getting a stranger. They became friends over the phone, and after twenty years, met. A nice, feel-good story. It got me going down memory lane. Like many people, I no longer have a land line, and in the last few years, I quit answering the phone if I didn’t recognize the name or number of the caller. But sometimes wrong numbers can be fun.
Years ago, a very old gentleman kept calling me, at first by mistake, and then I think on purpose. My number was one digit off from his daughter. I lived in a relatively small town, and discussed it with a friend, and she knew the guy. Old, almost blind, and crippled with arthritis. His wife was old, but not as old as he, and I think she was totally blind. He was great fun to talk with.
I grew up in Portland, Oregon. We had four elementary schools with Olympic regulation-sized swimming pools. I learned to swim in one of them. When Mom and I moved, our new phone number was one digit off from another school’s pool. We got lots of strange calls, but the one I loved the best was some woman called and identified herself as Johnny’s mother and she would be there in fifteen minutes to pick him up. Please tell him. Then she hung up, before I could tell her I wasn’t the pool. I thought about calling the pool, but she was so self-important I didn’t. Sure enough about thirty minutes later she called back, angrier than the proverbial wet hen. Johnny hadn’t been ready and waiting when she got there! When she stopped talking to breathe, I told her she had the wrong number, and told her the correct number. She asked me why I didn’t tell her the first time, so I told her she hadn’t stopped talking long enough to tell her before she hung up. I believe the pause was one of those “pregnant pauses” we hear so much about.
One time, my phone number was a recycled one. It had belonged to a Taxi Company, but they went out of business. Of course, the phone number was by the phones of the ER receptionists, the truck stops, and various other places. I got some really great calls on that line, from long haul truckers who wanted a ride to a hotel to people who were in the hospital with loved ones and needed a ride home. Fortunately, each one was kind enough to remove my number. And then, we had an Arctic Express come to town, and dump over a foot of snow on us, in a very short time. Seattle just isn’t geared for that kind of a dump. Fortunately, it came at night, after the majority of worker bees were home.
I lived out a ways, and on my drive to work every day, I passed a university agriculture station, and that night of the snow, a woman called and told me she wanted to schedule a pick up for her husband who was Professor at the college and he couldn’t walk that far in snow. She started to give me detailed instructions as to her house, I told her I knew which one was hers, and described it, and told her I passed it every day on my sojourn to and from work, and that I wasn’t a taxi and I wasn’t going to work tomorrow, and I doubted any taxis would be out, to turn off her alarm and enjoy having her husband home an extra day.
The last wrong number I received for the Taxi Company was the next morning. A young lady called to order a cab. Uh, sorry, wrong number. She started to cry. How was she going to get to work? She’d just started a new job, and… The buses weren’t running, she couldn’t get her car out of the garage, and by now she was really crying. I suggested her boss would understand. Call and leave a message on her voice mail and go back to bed and enjoy her extra day off. Happiness is new telephone books with old numbers deleted.
Of course, when the phone rings in the middle of the night, one answers it, usually with adrenaline pumping—which kid is in trouble? Who died? Etc., and so forth. One number I had must have belonged to a couple of party girls, because I couldn’t convince the men who called at midnight and later, they had a wrong number. I finally put a message on my answering machine that said something like, “If you’re calling Jane Doe, she has moved out of the area, and no longer lives here. If you’re calling Lacy Doe, she too, has moved.” Then I turned the ringer off on my bedroom phone and started sleeping better. The messages the angered people left were pretty funny—not by intention.
I think it’s fortunate that caller id came out, at a glance or a listen, we no longer need to answer wrong numbers. What great chuckles, though, are we missing?
Photo of the Week:
Entertainment:
TV: Nothing.
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, the review is posted at Rainy Day Reads.
I have finished one full length book this week, Out of Violence Into Poetry by Margaret Randall. A marvelous book by a woman I wished I’d met when I lived in ABQ. I’d love to have a coffer with her and her wife.
I also finished two delightful chapbooks: The Light on Sifnos by Barbara Quick and Sin is Due to Open in a Room Above Kitty’s by Morag Anderson. All three are worth your investment in both time and money.
Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore:
Two books, both repeats, to consider for Winter/Christmas gifts:
and
You know these are both good books because a. they are advertised in Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore, and b. they both state on the cover they are Good. 😉 And, yes, in the interest of full disclosure, we are siblings.
Henry Stevenson: You can’t live on dreams forever. Waiting only weakens you and your dream. My motto is: “If you want something, get it now!”
Henry Stevenson: “Besides, what does a dame like you want with a guy like me?”
Wow, another week has passed us by. Sammy Brave Dog has faced the dried puppy brain eating zombies down, and most are gone now, looking for less ferocious puppies to tackle. And I’m about to get my wee gifts mailed tomorrow. I hope. Tuesday at the latest. Have a grand week, enjoy December while it’s here, and remember, it’s less than three weeks until…… 😉
Weather in the Tries: Cold and colder, with some damp.
Follow-up on Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore:
My web Mistress has said she can put a bookstore page up for me, so those of you who send me books to post, I’ll have them in the blog the week I get them, then transfer them to the Bookstore page. So if/when you have a book for sale, send me the info: IF you have a “sell sheet” send me an electronic copy, otherwise please send me a picture of the book, how many pages, cost, plus shipping if you’re selling them directly, the ISBN, a bit about your book, and your email. The email will be posted so readers can contact you directly.
Follow-up on my contribution to the National day of Gluttony:
Oh my, did we feast. Mashed spuds, gravy, turkey cooked in champagne, sweet spuds, tossed salad, and four different desserts—cheesecake, Indian Pudding, pecan pie, and another pie. Auntie Lenora is patting herself on the back for being smart enough to wear a pair of TIGHT jeans, thereby not allowing her to eat too much. Trust me, she didn’t go hungry. Not a bit.
Some potential good news, but don’t hold your breath:
December 1 is just a few days away, and SCOTUS will once again decide if Women are full human beings with rights, or if women are slaves with only those rights that the ones with testicles care to grant them. Yes, they are tackling Roe v. Wade. I truly don’t understand their animus, other than they think as males they are perfect and more intelligent than females. I do not know of a single person who was told to get an abortion she didn’t want, unless it was her politician lover or her rock n roll husband who told hMary er her. It’s so simple. If you don’t believe in abortion, DON’T HAVE ONE. But don’t hold the rest of the nation to your ideas of right and wrong.
Photo of the Week:
My Great Great Grandma, Mary Jane Carlisle Huckabay
Entertainment:
TV: Zip
Books:Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at: Rainy Day Reads
Thinking About Thinking, not quite essays —by Margaret Randall. This book, chock full of short, mini, almost essays as bad as a bag full of pistachios without the shells! (Fewer calories in the book!) I couldn’t read just one!
Spell of Trouble, Book 1 of a series, by Leighann Dobbs, a great piece of brain candy— a cozy murder mystery with paranormals mixed in with the mundanes. No animals were hurt to produce the story.
If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. – Michael Crichton
To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root. – Chinese Proverb
There you have it. Another week gone; another week closer to the world-wide Gift Exchange Day. Are you ready? Me, neither. Sammy says he’s ready. I’m sure that means I’ll get pupkisses. Can’t think of anything I’d rather have!
This next week highs will go from 45 to 57, with lows from 27 to 43. We’ll start the week with patchy freezing fog. Can you say, “Black Ice”? I’m sure we’ll get drizzle, a few drops of rain, and sunshine. Thursday will be 50 with a chance of rain—a good temp to avoid, stay in, and eat. 😉
Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore:
I decided to start a new feature this week: Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore. Come in, browse around, bring your cuppa, bring your snacks, buy books. Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore is never closed. Are you a night owl? The store is open at 2am. You can even come in your jammies. 😉 (please be quiet, ok? Auntie Lenora is a light sleeper.)
As you probably know, I have many friends who also write, and since the Winter Solstice, by whatever name you call it, is coming (oddly, it comes at the same time every year), I thought I’d give you some ideas for Solstice Gifts. Of course, they are books. I put a call out to the writers on my list and have some nice responses which you will see below. If you have a book you’d like to show, feel free to contact me. I see no reason why Auntie can’t operate her bookstore whenever a new book arrives, do you? 😉
My contribution to the National Day of Gluttony:
I’ve been invited to a friend’s home for dinner this coming Thursday. Because I have a sweet tooth, I am taking dessert. I am taking The BEST Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake in a 9×13 pan with a gingersnap crust and Plimoth Plantation’s Slow Cooker Indian Pudding. It isn’t as sweet as the cheesecake, I will have enough bourbon sauce for cheesecake and pudding, as well as enough whipped cream for both, so people can have their choice of toppings. I thought the Indian Pudding would be a nice tribute to the indigenous people, but guess what? It was made by the Pilgrims. They didn’t have as good a supply of wheat flour, so couldn’t make their beloved Hasty Pudding so they they used the local ingredients, cornmeal, and improvised. Yummmmm. Unfortunately, they didn’t go home when the meal was over, and are still here today. Since the uniform of the day is blue jeans and tee shirts, I’m going to wear my pink tee bought special for this occasion.
My neighbor is doing turkey and dressing, and oh, does he do them well! Yummmmmm. And I know what his secret ingredient is. Between the turkey and dressing and desserts, Auntie Lenora will not go hungry. Honest. Trust me. And someone is bringing a pecan pie. No, Auntie Lenora will not leave the table hungry. Have you ever heard of the Groaning Board? There shall be one on Thursday to hold all our food.
Some more good news for a change: Oklahoma decided not to indulge in legal blood lust, and the Guv commuted Julius Jones sentence to life in prison. I do not believe in the death penalty, ever. Though I admit there was one man I wished dead and did not cry when he died in prison. In fact, he was trying to stay out of prison to die at home, but Fate and I intervened. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving chap. But, if states must have their blood lust, then why don’t they go back to the old-time bit of using a firing squad. It’s quick, and over before pain has a chance to register, unlike the modern methods of suffocating them in a gas chamber, boiling them in an electric chair, or burning them from the inside out with chemicals, or maybe or maybe not breaking their neck with a rope? At any rate, in this one case, Kudos to Oklahoma!
Entertainment:
TV: nada.Requires more concentration than I have at the moment.
YouTube: I found a fascinating video, about an hour on Korean street food, primarily making dumplings, which I love. No talking, at least not much, and it’s in Hangul, so I couldn’t understand it anyhow (well, I did understand “Thank You,” (kam sa ham ni da) but that was all). Very entertaining. Makes me want to visit Korea. Not someday, but right now! Of all the Asian countries I’d like to visit—and I’d like to visit all, Korea is #1! I love dumplings and stuffed steamed breads (Hum Bao in Chinese).
Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review it at: Rainy Day Reads
Their War —by Julie Pham, PhD. I saw Dr. Pham on a zoom discussion talk about her book and ordered a copy before the end of the show. It is primarily interviews with South Vietnamese military veterans and their recollections about the war and American participation. I found it fascinating to get their side of the story.
Started Murder at the Mission by Blaine Harden. A new history of Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and their mission near current day Walla Walla. A topic of fascination for years.
Also reading two books by Margaret Randall. One is poetry, Out of Violence into Poetry. The other is Thinking About Thinking — Not Quite Essays.
Got to a point in The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates where I had to stop. Pretty intense, especially considering Jim’s passing. I’ll get back to it. It is beautifully written and his debut novel.
Books require concentration, too, but easier to go back a page or three to reread.
Music: Have you heard The HU? They are a Mongolian heavy metal band, and a lot of fun. I love Wolf Totem and there are English lyrics. Surely there is a Native American heavy metal group out there someplace. I think it would be great fun to have a video of HU and Lakota meeting. They also incorporate the Mongolian throat singing into their music. There is another group, Hanggai, that plays more traditional rock and Mongolian fused together that I was just introduced to.
Auntie Lenora’s Bookstore:
If you have a book you’d like promoted here, please let me know. You may email me at my personal email, or use the Contact Me form if you don’t have it.
by Diane Helentjaris:
Poems of forging an American life. In 1910 Anastasius, in defiance of his father, immigrates from Greece to the United States. Diaspora speaks powerfully of the aftermath. Poverty, wars, miscommunications, new roles for women emerge. The family struggles to bridge the challenges of time and distance in the age before modern technology knit the world together. The word “diaspora” comes from the Greek term for “to scatter.” Today new immigrants scatter across the globe. Diane Helentjaris, in her debut chapbook, shares the story of one of the many immigrants who went before them. Poetry lovers – teens and adults – with an interest in family, justice, immigration, women’s history, and modern Greece will enjoy this strongly themed collection.
Here’s one of the five star reviews:
This year, 2021, is the bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence, and what better way to celebrate it than with poetry about Greece.
These poems touched me to the core, and I enjoyed reading every one of them! They evoked strong images in my mind of the poet’s Greek past, as she shares nostalgic memories of her family members. Each person in the poems felt so alive.
ASIN: B08YXZDLQ
ISBN: 9798721584541
Diaspora is available on Amazon as a paperback or in an electronic version (Kindle). Signed copies are available for $10 which includes shipping and handling. To buy a signed copy, message me through my website www.dianehelentjaris.com.
by Mark Fleisher:
Each book is $15 plus $3 for s/h if ordered from me (signed copies, of course). The books are also available from the giant behemoth retailer whose name is that of a very major South American river. Copies will not be signed — unless Jeff Bezos is available.
Reflections: Soundings from the Deep
ISBN: 9781940769905
“Narratives weaving no-nonsense poetry and prose tales while at times throwing readers a stream-of-consciousness curveball.”
Intersections: Poems from the Crossroads
ISBN: 9781940769547
“Hammers home the futility of war while tenderly exploring family and relationships with a lyrical, image-filled style.”
Moments of Time
ISBN: 9781940769295
“Recalling youthful years in New York City, the horrific inhumanity of Vietnam, a major personal loss, and finding new life in an unfamiliar place.”
I have an M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University.
I have four volumes of poetry memoirs. They are self-published and available on Amazon.
“Blue Watermelon,” “Cheer for Freedom,” “Furs for a Vegetarian,” and “Green Eyes.” The last two were published 2020.
“Furs for a Vegetarian” focuses on her artist mother, Sonia Avakian, who studied with Kandinsky in Moscow. She escaped starvation and the communists through marriage and her move to Iran. After Papa’s unexpected death she took a Victory Ship with her two sons and daughter to the U.S.A.
Price: $15 paper back plus shipping of $4.00 if ordered from Mary.
ISBN: 978169385512.
“Green Eyes” is a love story set on the East Coast joining together of an American-German heritage civil engineer with an Armenian-Russian graduate in the arts. They share love, raise sons, travel, till tragedy strikes. The poetry is joyful, sensual, heart rending.
Price: $15 paper back plus shipping of $4.00 if ordered from Mary.
I think it goes without saying but all prices above and shipping/handling are for the USA. If you live overseas and would like a copy, you can probably order it from that certain large company named after a rather large South American river–and get it from your country or area.–Auntie Lenora
Quotes of the Week:
“You see, bookshops are dreams built of wood and paper. They are time travel and escape and knowledge and power. They are, simply put, the best of places.” —Jen Campbell
“I love walking into a bookstore. It’s like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages at me.” —Tahereh Mafi
And there it is. Another week come, another week gone, another Coffee Break Escape, and the Winter Solstice (and all the marvelous holidays associated with it) gets closer and closer–you know, like it does every year. Sammy Brave Dog is ignoring the whole thing. He really prefers foods on time and a warm bed to snuggle in. He’s happy.
Weather in the Tries: Winds, diminishing tears, now and then clouds, and a bit of sun now and again. I’m not joking about the tears. One of my bestest friends died unexpectedly last Sunday (7 Nov), James Walter “Jim” Fiscus. I’m still crying. But not as much. You do know I lie a lot, don’t you?
Jim:
I first met Jim something like 35-40 years ago. Whenever I started attending the SFF Cons (conventions) About 5 years after we met, we started drifting into friendship. We kept it at friendship until last Sunday when he ruined it for all of us. Which is a good thing, because he met a young lady who became the light of his life, Shawn, and they have been happily married for several years. And Shawn and I are friends.
I cannot even begin to guess at how badly Shawn feels. I know it is a lot worse than I feel, and all I can say is the edges of the hole through my life are if not healing, at least scabbing over. It takes time. But one thing I do know about Grief—you will grieve. Best to do it when appropriate, because if you stuff it somewhere, it will come to visit later, usually at a most inappropriate time.
If you are, or were, in the SFF community on the West Coast, you probably knew Jim. If you attended OryCon, you for sure knew Jim. If you belong to SFWA, you undoubtedly knew Jim. He was a photographer who was seldom, if ever, without his camera. He had a set up out his office window to shoot birds. His shots (photos) were amazing.
Have you ever wanted the release of crying, but just couldn’t cry? Every so often, I would play Who Will Answer? by Ed Ames and that would make me cry, but someone has added a religious blurb at the end of the video that is not in the song and is a great detraction. I found a different song that brings tears when I need them, The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. Kind of a heavy metal rendition of the gentle Simon and Garfunkel’s recording. Great fun to sing along with, though. 😉 Incidentally, I understand Paul Simon loved Disturbed’s rendition!)
Library Cards:
Remember the old Library Cards stuck in a glued-on envelope on the inside cover of the books the librarian let you take home and read? When you checked it out, the librarian put your name and due date on it and put it in a file and put another card with the due date in the book. And if you were late returning it, well, there went your allowance for the fines. And a stern warning from the Librarian.
In a conversation with a friend a couple days ago, she mentioned she had a stack of books she was getting ready to ship me so I could sign them and ship them back to her and she could then wrap them and ship them to whoever and wherever. I suggested she buy some bookplates, send them to me, with a sticky note on each one telling me who was getting the book, and their favorite color. I will sign the bookplate to the person, in colored ink, and mail them back to her. Much faster, and less expensive than mailing books.
So, I went online to find some blank bookplates, and found a packet of the old-style library cards. If you want to send someone one of my books, signed by me, send me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with the name of the book and the name of the person to receive it, and their favorite color, and I’ll send you a signed library card, which you can then tape into the book with a piece of double sticky tape. The cards are 3”x5.” I can just sign them, or personalize them, just tell me what you want. (Obviously, if you want special bookplates signed, send those.)
If you don’t have my address, either email me or use the “contact me” form requesting same. My books can be ordered from Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller. Please do not order from me, it will take too long for me to order them, sign them, and ship them on, and cost you a whole lot more money.
Photos of the Week:
These were taken Jan ’02 at my house in Myrtle Point, Oregon. He still looked pretty much the same the last time I saw him. A smidge older, a teensy bit heavier. At least that’s how I remember him. I’ll always remember Jim and his smile. I just wish I could remember the joke….
Entertainment:
TV News:Stephen K. Bannon got two criminal indictments. Finally, some good news!
And how I hope there is at least one mother on the Kyle Rittenhouse jury to explain to the rest of the members that the tears were a great spectacle, but that’s all they were! It was Tantrum on Demand. Been there, seen that!
Facebook:
If you’ve missed me on Facebook, I’ll be back in a week or two. I’m just processing a helluvalot of hurt right now.
Quotes of the Week:
“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” —Rabindranath Tagore
Mole asked Raven “…what happens at the point of death?” // Raven sat silently for a while, then said, “I give away my belongings.” —Zen Master Raven by Robert Aitken
And there you have it, another week gone, another week closer to Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice if you live Down Under), and another blog. Sammy is some concerned over my crying, so he’s hiding in the bed. In the meantime, remember, Books always make good gifts. One size fits all. And if someone end up with two copies of the same book, they will have one to cherish and one to loan 😉
