Let's play with words

On a Saturday evening years ago, a neighbor who lived on my floor sent me these 25 playful puns (HERE), which I want to share again:

1.  Dad, are we pyromaniacs?  Yes, we arson.

2.  What do you call a pig with laryngitis?  Disgruntled.

3.  Writing my name in cursive is my signature move.

4.  Why do bees stay in their hives during winter?  Swarm.

5.  If you're bad at haggling, you'll end up paying the price.

6.  Just so everyone's clear, I'm going to put my glasses on.

7.  A commander walks into a bar and orders everyone around.

8.  I lost my job as a stage designer.  I left without making a scene.

9.  Never buy flowers from a monk.  Only you can prevent florist friars.

10.  How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced?  A buccaneer.

11.  I once worked at a cheap pizza shop to get by.  I kneaded the dough.

12.  My friends and I have named our band "Duvet."  It's a cover band.

13.  I lost my girlfriend's audiobook, and now I'll never hear the end of it.

14.  Why is "dark" spelled with a k and not c?  Because you can't see in the dark.

15.  Why is it unwise to share your secrets with a clock?  Well, time will tell.

16.  When I told my contractor I didn't want carpeted steps, he gave me a blank stare.

17.  Bono and The Edge walk into a Dublin bar and the bartender says, "Oh no, not U2 again."

18.  Prison is just one word to you, but for some people, it's a whole sentence.

19.  Scientists got together to study the effects of alcohol on a person's walk, and the result was staggering.

20.  I'm trying to organize a hide and seek tournament, but good players are really hard to find.

21.  I got over my addiction to chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts.  I won't lie, it was a rocky road.

22.  What do you say to comfort a friend who's struggling with grammar?  There, their, they're.

23.  I went to the toy store and asked the assistant where the Schwarzenegger dolls are, and he replied, "Aisle B, back."

24.  What did the surgeon say to the patient who insisted on closing up their own incision?  Suture self.

25.  I've started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes.  It's all about raisin awareness.

Week in Review

• Two things were on my TWOsday agenda, HERE.
• My book beginning on Friday was about making the world a happier place, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.

Beginning ~ with something incredible

Beginning

Twenty years ago, I woke up, sprang out of bed, got dressed and — halfway through my morning coffee — realised something incredible:  I actually felt good.  Considering that just two months before a doctor had told me I was likely to be in a wheelchair before I turned 40, this first pain-free moment in years qualified as something of a miracle.

Make Life Happier: 23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning and Make a Difference ~ by Dr. Mark Williamson, 2026, meditation, 416 pages

We all want the people we love to be happy — and most of us long to feel more at peace with ourselves.  In this practical and encouraging guide, Dr Mark Williamson, CEO of Action for Happiness, shares 23 proven ways to make life happier for yourself, your loved ones and the wider world.

Drawing on fifteen years of working closely with leading experts in wellbeing — from psychology and neuroscience to timeless human wisdom — Mark offers simple, science-backed steps to help you feel better, strengthen your relationships and create positive ripples in the world around you. Mark isn't a guru; he's a 'happiness engineer' who has road-tested these ideas in real life with thousands of people — and in his own journey from burnout to purpose.

Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all formula, Make Life Happier shows you how to run your own 'happiness experiments' and discover what works best for you — whether that's quieting your inner critic, building healthier habits, becoming a better listener or contributing to your community.

This book is more than a guide to feeling better; it's an invitation to join a growing movement of people choosing to live differently. Because lasting happiness comes not just from caring for ourselves, but from caring for each other. Whatever your situation, you can do something — and you can start today.

(Click to enlarge this image.)

I haven't been posting these monthly calendars lately,

but it's the first day of May and the book above

was written by the Action for Happiness CEO.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Two things on my agenda today

I had only TWO things on my TWOsday agenda:  a discussion group and an appreciation program with singers and snacks:

1.  Short Story discussion in the early afternoon that met in the small art studio was to study a short story.

Two discussion leaders (Esther and Christie) took turns reading Guy de Maupassant's short story entitled "The Necklace."  A couple of us knew about the story, me and another participant.  It had been part of my English studies (in high school, I think, though it may have been in college for my first degree).  If you are not familiar with the story, you can read it HERE.  I am a visual person, so I would have preferred to have a copy of the story so I could read along.  I don't retain as much by simply listening, and that's why I came home, looked it up (for myself and also for you blog readers), and thought about it on my own after our discussion.

2.  Volunteer Appreciation program in our large community room in the evening.

People who volunteer to greet visitors at the Welcome Desk were included, as were the residents and non-residents who prepare meals to be delivered to the community and Crown Center residents.  I was invited because I volunteer to work in the library, reshelving books and magazines, and preparing donations to be shelved.  I also cull books that have been there long enough and make room for newer books to go on our shelves.  I've been doing it since I moved here in 2014, along with other residents, like my friends Donna and Risé.  Donna, who had a Master's degree in library science, set up our library as in this photo when she first moved here.  The room was recently renovated, but I will share those changes another time.

Reader's Digest ~ four books condensed in one volume

The Lion's Game ~ by Nelson DeMille, 2000, suspense, pages 7-185

With the young terrorist known only as "The Lion" on the prowl and out for revenge, detective John Corey is pushed to his limit as the lives of American pilots are on the line, and Corey is caught in a deadly race with no room for error.  Detective John Corey, last seen in Plum Island, now faces his toughest assignment yet: the pursuit and capture of the world's most dangerous terrorist — a young Arab known as "The Lion" who has baffled a federal task force and shows no sign of stopping in his quest for revenge against the American pilots who bombed Libya and killed his family.  Filled with unrelenting suspense and surprising plot twists at every terrifying turn, The Lion's Game is a heartstopping race against time and one of Nelson DeMille's most riveting thrillers.

Handyman ~ by Linda Nichols, 2000, romance novel, pages 186-289

An accidental therapy session is the catalyst for change in Linda Nichols's winsome, witty, irresistible debut novel — a love story about two people who don't realize they're made for each other until it's almost too late.

Sweet, struggling Maggie Ivey is a twenty-six-year-old single mom trying to keep it all together, burdened by a lecherous boss, a dead-end job, and a worried mother who just wants her to move back home to Georgia.  Maggie's prospects look dim, until her friend Gina signs her up for the famous Dr. Jason Golding's 21-Day Overhaul.

Maggie's first session seems to go perfectly.  Dr. Golding is warm, sensitive, and a terrific listener.  There's only one problem:  The handsome man in Dr. Golding's chair isn't Dr. Golding.  In fact, he's not even a therapist; he's Jake Cooper, a contractor hired to remodel the office.  But all Maggie knows is that talking to him helps her feel better.  And Jake doesn't quite know how to let Maggie in on the secret.  Will he eventually confess to his ruse?  Will she discover the truth on her own?  And the most important question of all:  Can a handyman fix a broken heart?

Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, and featuring a cast of characters impossible to resist, Handyman is a fresh new look at the oldest story of all and just what the doctor ordered for anyone with a case of the blues.

The Patient - Michael Palmer, 2000, medical thriller, pages 290-441

Dr. Jessie Copeland is exactly where she wants to be:  A respected neurosurgeon at Eastern Mass Medical Center, she spends her days waging life-and-death battles in the OR and her spare time holed up in a lab, spearheading the development of a tiny robot that could revolutionize brain surgery.

ARTIE — Assisted Robotic Tissue Incision and Extraction — is an exciting fusion of biomechanics and radiology that, when perfected, will be able to excise tumors now considered inoperable.  But it could be months before ARTIE is ready for use on human beings — or so Jessie thinks, until her ambitious department head jumps the gun and uses the robot in a high-profile case that nets immediate worldwide attention.

Suddenly the hospital is swarming with media, vying for a multimillion-dollar grant, and fielding calls from patients desperate for this lifesaving technology.  But what no one at the medical center realizes is that the publicity has also reached one of the most malevolent men on earth.

Claude Malloche is brilliant, secretive, remorseless, and without regard for human life— a mercenary willing to bring down a world leader or a jetliner filled with people if the price is right.  He is also ill with a life-threatening brain tumor that is exactly the sort ARTIE was invented to treat.  Now Malloche must come into the open, and he has set his sights on the hospital that has burst to the forefront of neurosurgery:  Eastern Mass Medical Center.

For those caught on the neurosurgical floor, the nightmare has just begun ... and no one is more aware of the stakes than Jessie Copeland.  In brain surgery there are no guarantees.  But that's exactly what Claude Malloche demands, leaving Jessie to face the most harrowing case of her life.  Disaster is just a cut away.  And the price of failure may be thousands of lives.

Claude Malloche is a master assassin, more rumor than man, for whom murder is an art.  No one can identify his face.  Now Malloche has a deadly brain tumor, and he intends to have the best neurosurgeon in the world operate on it.

To ensure Jessie's cooperation, Malloche has devised a plan of intimidation that puts at risk her life and the lives of hundreds of innocent people.  Neurosurgery requires nerves of steel, but in coming up with a scheme to fulfill her oath as a doctor yet thwart a diabolical killer, Jessie will be performing the most complex surgery of her career — on a knife-edge of terror.

Round Robin - Jennifer Chiaverini, 2000, fiction, pages 442-575

The Elm Creek Quilters have begun a round robin, a quilt created by sewing concentric patchwork to a central block as it is passed around a circle of friends.  Led by Sarah McClure, who came to Waterford, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Matt, a few years ago, the project is to be their gift to their beloved fellow quilter Sylvia Compson.  But like the most delicate cross-stitch, their lives are held together by the most tenuous threads of happiness ... and they can unravel.

As each woman confronts a personal crisis, a painful truth, or a life-changing choice, the quilt serves as a symbol of the complex and enduring bonds between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends. In weaving together the harmonious, disparate pieces of their crazy-quilt lives, the Elm Creek Quilters come to realize that friendship is one of the most precious gifts we can give each other, and that love can strengthen understanding, lead to new beginnings, and illuminate our lives.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I announced it's National Library Week, HERE.
• Then Wednesday was Earth Day, and I suggested ways we could celebrate, HERE.
• Eleanor Roosevelt was the subject of the book I shared on Thursday, HERE.
• My book beginning on Friday was from an epistolary novel, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning ~ in 1962

Beginning

Dear Mrs. Fortier, I hope this letter finds you well.  For that matter, I hope it finds you, since I am sending it to Northwest Home & Life magazine, where I so enjoyed your recent tale about digging for clams.

Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love (Book 1 of 2 in the Love & Saffron Series) ~ by Kim Fay, 2022, epistolary fiction (California and Washington States), 240 pages

Creamy risotto alla Milanese.  Mussels in a hot, buttery broth.  Chicken spiced with cinnamon and cloves.  Joan Bergstrom and Imogen Fortier understand the key to a savored life — delicious food.  Young Joan is just discovering herself as a foodwriter in bustling Los Angeles, while experienced columnist Imogen is settled in her decades-long marriage on Camano Island outside Seattle.  When Joan sends a fan letter to Imogen with an enclosed packet of saffron and a recipe, their journey of culinary exploration and soul-deep friendship begins.  A long-lost flavor surfaces buried memories, and a quest to make carne asada opens the doors of a sheltered life.  Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of their friendship, and of their belief that food and love can sustain us during our darkest hours.

Note:  I've already read Book 2 and gave it a 10/10.  That's why I put this first book in the series on reserve at my library.  See what I wrote about Book 2 by clicking HERE.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Eleanor, Quiet No More: The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt (Book 4 of 12) ~ by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Gary Kelley, 2009, children's biography, 48 pages, 9/10

Eleanor Roosevelt was raised in a privileged but stern Victorian household, with an affectionate but mostly absent father and a critical mother who made fun of her daughter's looks.  Alone and lonely for much of her childhood, Eleanor found solace in books and in the life of her lively and independent mind.  Her intellectual gifts and compassionate heart won her the admiration of many friends — and the love of her future husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

While other young women of her class were spending time at dances and parties, Eleanor devoted her energies to teaching children in New York City's poorest neighborhoods.  Later, she became the most socially and politically active — and controversial — First Lady America had ever seen.  Ambassador, activist, and champion of civil rights, Eleanor Roosevelt changed the soul of America forever.

I wrote about this book years ago, HERE, and got it from the library to read again.  Click the yellow link for a story that you may like.  Be sure to read the comments, too.

Today is Earth Day

How to Celebrate and Participate:

• Reduce/Reuse/Recycle:  Use sustainable, reusable products and cut down on disposable plastic use.
• Participate in Cleanups:  Join local efforts to pick up plastic waste in communities.
• Conservation:  Plant trees, conserve water, and use energy-efficient appliances.
• Education:  Attend local environmental "teach-ins" and learn about local eco-systems.
• Use Public Transportation:  In some areas, public transportation may be free on Earth Day to promote lower emissions.

Earth Day occurs on the same day every year.

This year, April 22 happens to be on a Wednesday.