February is Black History Month

We are more than halfway through the month, but it is not too late to say that February is Black History Month.  Click on the label below to see what I have posted previously, and tell us in the comments what you are doing to celebrate.

• YELLOW represents optimism, justice, and equality for all.
• RED is for the blood of innocent Black lives lost throughout history.
• GREEN symbolizes the rich natural resources of Africa.

Today's words = kinship carers

This is what prompted me to post about the words "kinship carers" today:

"In England and Wales, 141,000 children are being raised by kinship carers, who in the majority of cases are keeping children out of the care system and within their loving families, saving the state billions.  Yet unlike working parents, including adoptive parents, kinship carers have no right to paid employment leave when they take on the care of a child."

AI says, "Kinship carers are relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings) or close family friends ("fictive kin") who raise children when biological parents cannot.  As the preferred, stable alternative to foster care, this arrangement helps children maintain family connections, cultural traditions, and reduces trauma.

Wikipedia says, "Kinship care is a term used in the United States and Great Britain for the raising of children by grandparents, other extended family members, and unrelated adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship such as godparents and close family friends because biological parents are unable to do so for whatever reason."

HERE is the link to the article where I learned this term, if you want to know more:  "I'm Raising My Sister’s Children After She Died.  Where's The Support For People Like Me?" by Natasha Hinde (published on 11/02/2026 in the UK).

Book lovers at the grand opening of the renovated Crown Center library

Today I'm musing about the Grand Reopening of our

Crown Center library, after it was renovated.

I wore my sweatshirt that says "I can't.  I'm booked."

They gave out bookmarks which say:

Book  Lover,  n.

A    person   known    for

traveling     to      distant

worlds  without  leaving

their seat, forming deep

emotional   bonds   with

fictional characters, and

saying   "just   one   more

chapter"    until     3 a.m.

Often    spotted   with    a

book  in  hand,  a  cup  of

coffee   nearby,   and   an 

ever-growing  to-be-read

pile they swear they'll get

to  someday. For  a  book

lover,    bookmarks    are

essential,    spoilers    are

crimes,  and  the  phrase

"t o o    m a n y    b o o k s"

simply      doesn't     exist.

At the end of the celebration, we all had refreshments.

Some of us sat around and talked for another hour or so.

Let's all try to be kind

I have not been posting the Action for Happiness calendar every month, as I have done before, but this one for Thursday made me decide to share it on my blog because it's so very important.  As a matter of fact, I think I will post the whole month's calendar now, even though we are in the middle of the month.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I mused about a Celtic unicorn, HERE.
• Wednesday was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, HERE.
• Thursday's subject was a novel of friendship, food, and books, HERE.
• Friday was Galentine's Day, HERE.
• On Caturday, I wished everyone a purr-fect Valentine's Day, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

I hope you have a purr-fect Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day with a cat?

It seems appropriate for Caturday.

Happy Galentine's Day!

Galentine's Day is the day before Valentine's Day.  It is a day for women to celebrate their friendships with other women.  Our Circle@Crown Café isn't open on Fridays, so this year I was not able to invite women friends here for lunch.  If you want to see photos from other years, click HERE.

A novel of friendship, food, and books

Kate & Frida: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books (Love & Saffron Series) ~ by Kim Fay, 2025, epistolary fiction, 288 pages (316 pages in LP)

Sometimes a book can change your life . . .  Frida Rodriguez arrives in Paris in 1991, relishing the city’s butter-soaked cuisine and seeking her future as a war correspondent.  But when she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, she receives more than just the book she requests.  A friendship begins that will redefine the person she thought she wanted to become.

Seattle bookseller Kate Fair is transformed by Frida’s free spirit, spurred to believe in herself as a writer, to kiss her handsome coworker, and to find beauty even in loss.  Through the most tumultuous years of their lives — personally and globally — Kate and Frida’s friendship sustains and nourishes them as they show each other how to overcome self-doubt and the necessity of embracing joy, especially through our darkest hours.

This novel is a love letter to bookshops and booksellers, to the way stories shape how we perceive ourselves, to the passion we bring to life in our twenties, and to the last precious years before the internet changed everything.

I like an online comment yhat says this is "a book about trying to find joy despite the heaviness of life."