The End and the Beginning

New Adventures are on the horizon...

so, I'm closing out this blog for one year.

I'll be back, but in the meantime, you can catch me here

Hope to hear from you soon.

Blogged Out!

"I'm just totally over blogged," she said to me in a recent conversation.

"I mean EVERYONE is writing a blog these days, and everyone wants me to read their own blog. My family blogs, the ladies in our neighborhood/ward blog; it's quite crazy. And, they wonder why I don't read each one of theirs every day. Honestly, at first, it was novel, unique, and fun. But, now, with everyone blogging - whether it's a cooking blog, a family photo blog, a political blog - there's just not time to read them all.

"It's quite frustrating when they say, 'You didn't comment on my blog all last week...are you okay?'

"Well, I guess I'm not okay...I'm over-blogged.

"I have enough recipes to last into the eons of time, I've seen pictures of their adorable kids in every pose imaginable (and some not imaginable), I've read every political rant possible, and I'm exhausted from the blogs.

"So, I'm tuning it all out. My new resolution," she explained to me quite forcefully, "is to leave my computer off for an entire day! That'll show 'em!"

And, we had a hearty laugh!

Let's Talk Books

Okay, I admit it...I'm a

B*O*O*K*A*H*O*L*I*C

I love books!
I like to listen to them, read them in book form, or read them on the Kindle.

But, whatever form they are in, I love the power of words.

I remember one day, lots of years ago, I was pedaling the stationery bike while reading Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." I was so moved and went in to RAH in the other room, and said, "I can't quite believe the power of her words."

I so appreciate a good author, good story line, good writing, good characters...

Some books are poorly written, but tell a great story; other books have both a great story and are incredibly well written, like Jane Eyre or many Charles Dickens books.

While I appreciate and have read lots of fiction books over the years, I really enjoy non-fiction, particularly true stories about PEOPLE.

Here's a partial list of non-fiction books that I have really enjoyed over many years....(these are in no particular order, just as they came to mind)....

Ditch Digger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story

The Investigation: the truth Behind Howard Hughes, Melvin Dummar, and the Most Contested Will in America

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Having Our Say: the Delany Sisters First 100 Years

Mao's Last Dancer

Open

The Outliers: The Story of Success

Hard Work: My Life on and Off the Court

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mother Raised Ten Kids on 25 Words or Less

A Girl Named Zippy

Betrayal: The Life and Times of Bernard Madoff

Have a Little Faith: A True Story

Love, Loss, and What I Wore

Coal Miner's Daughter

Exit the Rainmaker

Growing Up

John Glen - A Memoir

The Courage to be Rich

Millionaire Next Door

A Walk in the Woods

A Year in Provence

Peacegiver

Tennis Partner

The Glass Castle: A Memoir

High Crimes

Some of these books have made me laugh, cry, shake my head in wonder/disbelief, restore my faith in humanity, lose my faith in humanity, but most of all be amazed at what good writers can achieve in telling a compelling story.

So, let me just say once again, I am thankful for BOOKS, LIBRARIES, the PRINTED WORD, and the power those words can evoke in me.

Poverty in America

The images were haunting,
the stories disturbing,
but it was all too real.
The faces of poverty in the United States.

The men and women WANTED to work, they were not welfare cases from generations past; they were hard-working Americans living in a town where the mines, the construction, and the plants had all shut down. The stores along Main Street were shuttered, vacant.

The families lived in small trailers, or in their cars, or small houses with multiple family units living together.

The local food bank had seen a huge increase of people needing food in the last two years...the food pantry could barely hold on, yet they are the source of food for many in this small town in America. The lady behind this food bank was so inspiring and laudable.

Heart wrenching to be sure...the need is so great and the town's continual plea....where are the jobs promised by the administration?

But, did anyone notice, like I did, that many of the children and the adults were - obese, fat, overweight? Such a stark contrast; starving, yet big?

Comparison photos were shown of the long soup lines during the Depression, and yet, looking at those people from the 1930s, they were lean and skinny...

So, what is the difference? Skinny in the 30's; big now?

Could it be that the people in the soup lines from the 30s were actually served SOUP, while today's poor are fed macaroni and cheese or french fries or carbohydrates because they are CHEAP foods?

The dilemma here is that we are trying to solve the problem of poverty and hunger, but we create another huge health crises; obesity and diabetes.

No easy anwers.

I Love Libraries - Part Two

"Do you ever download e-books from the library website and listen to them on your IPod?" Linda asked me recently.

"You mean, in as, FREE?" I countered.

"Absolutely," Linda said.

So, here's another reason to love a library and library card.

I - or you - can listen to a great book - for free. You don't have to even go to the library, just download it onto the computer and then transfer it onto an IPod.

The book I'm listening to now costs $29.95, which I would NEVER pay for because it's a lot of money, as are most audio books. So, why not get them for FREE?

Here's to one of the truly GOOD causes of our tax dollars at work.

The Volunteer

First, he volunteered at the cannery pitting apricots.

A few days later, he volunteered to thin apricots at the church farm in Hurricane.

And, a few days after that, he volunteered to wash dishes at the cafeteria in the temple.

He's good.

Lots of the people won't/can't/don't volunteer when the list comes around, but he usually signs up.

The cannery assignment was for four hours standing in an assembly line...no break, no water to drink, exceedingly noisy...it made him dizzy to watch as the endless line of apricots rolled by on the conveyor belt, but he stayed to the end of the shift.

He wasn't needed when he got to the church farm, so he and a friend explored some remote country roads....something he loves to do.

Doing dishes in the temple cafeteria for four hours was hot, sweaty, and a challenge to stand on his feet all that time.

But, isn't that really what is supposed to be about...helping - even when it's hard.

Now I've volunteered him for another gig...teaching in China!

Ah, maybe after this, we'll both say our volunteering days are over!

The Wal*Mart/Budget Dilemma

"I'll never shop at Wal*Mart," Andy said to me many years ago.

My own father-in-law had been essentially put out of his corner grocery store business when Wal*Mart had come to the area, so I knew it was a controversial store.

But, here's my dilemma:

I'm on a tight budget. I like a good deal. I can buy a gallon of store-brand milk at Wal*Mart for $1.72. Or I can buy a high-end brand for $4.38 as shown in the picture above. Or I can go to my local supermarket and pay $3.89 a gallon.

I just paid $12.00 at Staples for a fancy notebook for a specific project, then bought a nicer one today at Wal*Mart for six dollars.

Avocados are 84 cents at Wal*Mart, and 2 or 3 dollars and Harmon's.

So, herein lies my dilemma....refuse to shop at Wal*Mart for all the obvious reasons, or pay much higher prices to sooth the soul, but not the pocketbook.

It's not easy for me, but for now, while I try to save shekels, I'll still be found at Wal*mart....

Sorry, Andy, however, here's something we can totally agree on; you have two beautiful daughters, whom I love very much!