New Year's intention for 2019

I think this looks like a great idea, something positive I can do to help me focus on the good that happens.  Are you willing to try it along with me?  You don't have to start with a new year, just because that's what I'm doing.  And you don't have to limit the notes to once a week, though that's a reminder to yourself to do it.  I may even consider telling you, here on this blog, some (or all) of the "good things" I notice each week.

Sunday Salon ~ keeping track of books

When I first started this blog, it didn't occur to me to make a list of books as I finished reading them.  It looks like I officially started keeping an online list in 2009, a couple of years after I started blogging.  I eventually came back to add earlier years, based on random lists I found:  2006, 2007, 2008.  I noticed this morning that the way I add to my lists has evolved.  In 2009, I simply listed each book, adding my rating only to those I wrote about and providing a link.  One example of a 10/10 book was Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl.  I continued that pattern in 2010, but I did write about more of the books I'd read that year.  That year, I put a few ratings beside books without links.  At the bottom of that year's list, I added this:

January favorite (#18) ~ February favorite (#28) ~ March favorite (#42) ~ April favorite (#59) ~ May favorite (#65) ~ June favorite (#77) ~ July favorite (#80) ~ August favorite (?) ~ October favorite (#102) ~ November favorite (#114) ~ December favorite (#116)

In 2011, I added a photo of my first great-granddaughter reading (that photo at the top).  From then on, I have added a picture of a reader at the top of  my lists every year.  Looking at my favorites became easier, since I started adding a captioned photos each month, rather than at the end of the year.  That was awkward, trying to find a dozen favorites scattered throughout the year's list (well, I seem not to have HAD a favorite in August).  I also sorted out how many books I'd read were fiction, YA fiction, children's, essays, graphic novels, history, memoir, philosophy, religion, women's studies, or writing.  That didn't last.  Too detailed.  Who cares?  But it's also the year I started adding a photo of each month's favorite book, and that feature has stuck.

In 2012, my first great-grandson was the reader.  I added my rating system so people could understand exactly why I assigned one number or another.

10 - Loved it!! Couldn't put it down!!
9 - Excellent!
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Above Average
5 - Average
Anything lower - Nah
* DNF - Did Not Finish

Kiki Cat was reading at the top of my 2013 book list.  That's photographic proof that she read those books she reviewed over the years.  That book was My Cat: The Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet, which she reviewed here.  Kiki gave it a 10 out of 10 because she loved the book.  It was actually her very favorite, ever.  Both of my great-grandchildren were at the top of the 2014 book list.  Jaxon was reading a book I'd given him, and I was reading Hop on Pop to Raegan.  Atop the 2015 book list is Raegan, reading in the car.

My twin great-grandsons were reading a cloth book on the 2016 book list.  Okay, they were looking at the book, which I'm sure their mother read to them at some point.  In 2017, another great-granddaughter was shown reading.  As she knelt in front of her play table turning the pages, she was strengthening her broken leg as it healed (see her photo below).  In December 2016, I had added quotes from two of the books I'd read.  Only two, but it was a start.  In 2017, I included at least one quote from every book listed.

And now we've reached 2018, when I made another change.  Not only have I been adding several quotes from every book, but I've also been occasionally adding more than one "favorite book" a month.  I read eleven books in May and added "another May favorite."  I read ten books in June and share THREE favorites.  Of the thirteen books I read in July, I picked two favorites.  I've already picked two favorites (so far) in December, and I still have today and tomorrow to finish another book or two.  What I'm reading now isn't a favorite, but there's always the possibility I'll dash through an excellent book in the next day, right?

Update 1-1-19:

Now my youngest great-grandchild (of six) is shown reading a book, sideways!  She's two years old in this photo and represents books I read in 2019.

Jane died 5 years ago

I've been trying to decide what to say about my friend Jane Yelliott, who died five years ago.  I wrote about her lots of times on this blog, but today I seem to be just browsing through what's already posted.  I also read her blog, ramblings of an artist, which I helped her set up on Wednesday, January 4, 2012. Yes, she gave me credit that day, and her last post on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 was about the death of my beloved Kiki Cat four days earlier.  I left her blog's very first comment, ending with:  "I will add it (her blog) to the sidebar of Bonnie's Books."  The link to her blog is still there, on the right, though it's way down at the bottom and currently says she last posted six years ago.

Jane was an accomplished artist.  She was honored by the city of Chattanooga with a plaque on the Walnut Street Bridge, along with Bessie Smith and other notables.  In this photo, there's a glazed tile showing TC the cat on the wall behind the man, which she later gave to me when she was dying in December 2013.  It isn't the only piece of her artwork I have, but I remember Jane apologized when she gave it to me, apologized that she didn't get MY cat painted as she had promised.  According to Jane's daughter, "TC" stands for "Top Cat."  (Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the cat better.)

From Jane's blog post about TC:

TC did just appear one day when he seemed to be about 3 months old.  Somehow he knew that he would be taken in without question.   What a love he was - and the only kitten I ever knew whose tail touched his head when he walked.

What else can I say?  Jane gave me a stuffed tiger to hug after Kiki died.  That tiger is still on a shelf in my apartment, even though I now have Clawdia Cat, who often sleeps on my bed.

I took care of Jane's cat Babe when she traveled, and Babe shared the toy in this photo with me.  Jane was the friend I was meeting when I tripped and shattered my shoulder.  She donned red and celebrated the Chinese New Year with Donna and me and was among the friends I invited over.  In other words, Jane was a very big part of my life, and I still miss her.  A lot.  Let me end by sharing what Jane wrote about procrastination and having a mental termite:

annotation: March 24, 2012
I just discovered what my problem is. I have a mental termite.!!!
Nell Mohney proclaimed in her column today that procrastination is a mental termite!  If I had bats in my belfry would they take care of that?

Ah, yes!   I really do miss Jane's wonderful sense of humor.

Beginning ~ in the end

Prologue: In the End

"The end came quickly, and there wasn't any pain."

What a strange beginning, right?  Just at the prologue is backwards, so is the epilogue, according to the table of contents.

Epilogue: At the Beginning

Elsewhere ~ by Gabrielle Zevin, 2005, YA fiction

Is it possible to grow up while getting younger?  Welcome to Elsewhere.  It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous.  It's quiet and peaceful.  You can't get sick or any older.  Curious to see new paintings by Picasso?  Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums.  Need to talk to someone about your problems?  Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died.  It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different.  Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.  But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again.  She wants to get her driver's license.  She wants to graduate from high school and go to college.  And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met.  And it is not going well.  How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one?  Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

Am I intrigued?  Oh, yeah.  I got this book from the library yesterday and started reading immediately.   It isn't like anything I've ever read before, and I'm loving it ... imagining life lived in reverse.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click this link for other book beginnings.

Med-DASH Diet

The DASH Diet Mediterranean Solution: The Best Eating Plan to Control Your Weight and Improve Your Health for Life ~ by Marla Heller, 2018, health

The DASH diet has been a staple of the dieting world, recommended by doctors and nutritionists, and #1 on the US News and World Report's best diet list for 8 years in a row.  But popular tastes and medical guidelines have evolved, and The DASH Diet Mediterranean Solution presents a new approach to the time-tested diet program that highlights the benefits of whole foods.  Marla Heller, who has an MS degree and is a Registered Dietician, has overhauled the DASH plan to reflect the latest, cutting-edge research on hypertension, diabetes, depression, and other health issues that impact millions of Americans.  Meal planning gets a new focus on unprocessed foods (less sugar-free jello and more fresh fruits), with new seafood options and even a whole section examining vegan and vegetarian choices.  She has included four weeks of menus along with lots of strategies and research for a new approach to health the DASH diet way.

This book was published on Monday, so I don't yet have a copy.  But I have already joined the new Mediterranean DASH Diet group on Facebook.  The Med-DASH check-off form was added today on the official page of DASH Diet forms.  Does anybody want to join me so we can work on this healthy way of life together?

Two new books

For One More Day ~ by Mitch Albom, 2006, fiction

Mitch Albom, author of the bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, returns with a haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss.  It explores the question:  What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?  As a child, Charley Benetto is told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or or you can be a daddy's boy, but you can't be both."  So he chooses his father and worships him ― right up to the day he disappears.  Eleven-year-old Charley must then turn to his mother, who bravely raises him on her own.

Decades later, Charley is a broken man.  His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret.  He loses his job, leaves his family, hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding, and decides to take his own life.  He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in.  On failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to discover that his mother ― who died eight years earlier ― is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing had ever happened.

What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness.  Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices.  And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.

Harvest: Collected Poems and Prayers, 2nd edition ~ by Ruth F. Brin, 1986, 1999, poetry

Brin is one of the liturgical pioneers of the post-World War Two era.  In the 1950s, when most Jewish women still seemed content with their traditional subordinate role in public worship, she was already at work modernizing traditional Jewish prayers and texts and offering new interpretive readings and original poetry reflecting her own religious experience.

This second new book I've added to my shelves (not counting the e-books added to my Kindle) is one I've already told you about, so click the title for more about it.  The first new book was a Christmas gift from my daughter.  Thanks, Sandra.  It looks intriguing.  Have you read it?

Have a very Meow-y Christmas!

I wish you a Meow-y Christmas,
I wish you a Meow-y Christmas,
I wish you a Meow-y Christmas,
and a Happy New Year!

Could you "hear" the tune as you read that?  Did you sing it along with me?  Sending Christmas wishes to you and your cat and your dog and your parakeet and any other pets and loved ones.

I used this photo and the Meow-y Christmas idea eight years ago, and I still get a kick out of it.

Wednesday Words ~ fridge

Why is there a D in "fridge" but not in "refrigerator"?  What I found when I googled was no help:

fridge \'frij\ = a refrigerator
Merriam-Webster says, "The first known use of fridge was in 1926."

What about refrigerator?

refrigerator \ri-'fri-jə-ˌrā-tər\ = something that refrigerates
Merriam-Webster says, "The first known use of refrigerator was in 1611."

What about "frigid"?  It has a D in it.

frigid \'fri-jəd\ = intensely cold
Merriam-Webster says, "The first known use of frigid was in 1619."

English is so weird.  We know these common words, but put them together in one sentence and it CAN be a bit funny.  Here's my single sentence using all three of these words:

It's the frigid air inside a refrigerator that makes a fridge useful, right?

Do you ever wonder about common words we use every day?  This time, it isn't so much the words that are odd, but the spelling of one of them.  And nowhere have I found why that extra D is in the spelling of "fridge."  Let's try again, googling "etymology of fridge":

Fridge is a shortened and altered form of refrigerator, 1926, an unusual way of word-formation in English; perhaps influenced by Frigidaire (1919), name of a popular early brand of self-contained automatically operated iceless refrigerator (Frigidaire Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), a name suggesting Latin frigidarium "a cooling room in a bath."  Frigerator as a colloquial shortening is attested by 1886.

I found that paragraph here.  Interestingly, just above this was an ad for a "22 cubit foot 36-inch width counter depth French door refrigerator" for $1,749.50.  Apparently the advertising world thinks anyone looking up "fridge" must be in the market to buy one.

Another Chanukah dinner update

As I was going past the Link Desk (in the hallway between the two buildings of the Crown Center) one day last week, I happened to notice this picture on the monitor showing events and calendars.  I stopped and waited until it came around again so I could snap this photo.  Sandy, Miriam, Susan, and I were putting latkes on our plates at Chanukah Dinner last Monday when one of our staff asked us to pose, getting Susan to stand so she could also be in this shot.  I shared my photo of Gail and Sandy last week, taken (of course) from the opposite direction.

Cattitude

Kiki was a book reviewer.  In this photo, she was reading My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet.  She reviewed the book in 2011, saying, "This is my favorite book ever! I give it a 10 out of 10."  Click on the title to read her review.  I first discovered this drawing and saved it in a draft, back when Kiki owned me.

Looking back over hundreds of drafts that never got posted, I found this one that was labeled "Caturday" and "Kiki," the cat who wrote her own book reviews way back when.  It's been years, but now you can enjoy these ten cats in all their cattitude ― along with a couple of mice who seem to be wondering why they're in this picture.  In case you can't read all the words scattered among the cats:

• You're the cat's meow.
• It's all about the cattitude.
• 1 2 3 ... I (heart) U ... C A T.
• Dogs have masters.  Cats have staff.
• Meow.  Cheers!
• Hope your special day is purrfect!
• Here kitty kitty....

Now I belong to Clawdia, and Caturdays are Clawdia's domain.  She's into adventures and "scientific" ponderings rather than book reviews.  This photo shows her a couple of years ago studying those strange reflections on the wall, wondering about their origin, marveling at the properties of light.  I'm sure she was having a purr-fect day!

Beginning ~ with an angry father

"He'd never seen his father so angry, and that was saying a lot, because he'd seen him plenty mad the last few years.  Tia really was to blame, not that it mattered.   He should have known not to listen to her."

Half a Heart ~ by Karen McQuestion, 2018, fiction (Wisconsin)

At nine years of age, Logan Weber knows the routine.  Keep quiet, make the food last, and don’t ever cause trouble.  He’ll do what it takes to evade the rages of his troubled, violent father.  Even though he’s only a child, Logan already knows too much, has seen too much.  When the opportunity presents itself, Logan runs.  He has no idea where his journey will lead, or that the grandmother he’s been told is dead is desperately searching for him.  Alone with no home of his own, Logan looks for a safe place to hide.  Relying on his instincts and the kindness of strangers, the boy manages to touch the lives of everyone he meets.  But his innocent heart cannot survive in the adult world without the most basic human need of all:  love.

I prepared this early, setting it to post at one minute past midnight, as early as possible on Friday.  Then I kept reading.  I stayed up most of the night reading and finished it.  (Retirees can do that.)  For me, rating a book 10 of 10 means I couldn't put it down.  That's true of this book!

I searched my blog to see if I'd read any other books by this author, since her name sounded familiar.  Yes, it turns out I'd read one other book by Karen McQuestion, her 2014 novel Hello Love.  And guess what?  I also rated that one 10 of 10.  Amazing!  I've read only two books by this author, and I gave both of them my highest rating.  Yeah, they are both worth reading, and I highly recommend either or both of them.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Linky.

Unexpected find on Facebook

It's an odd feeling to run across a random old photo of my mother online.  My brother had kept up with a neighbor from our childhood on Facebook.  I hadn't seen her in years, so I decided to look at her FB page and see how she's doing.  Clicking through her posts, I suddenly came upon these two photos.  On October 31st, she tagged my brother:

"Jim, I was going through pictures the other night and found these pictures of Ann and your mom.

My guess is that they are from the early 1960s, about the time my sister Ann would have been in high school.  Mother died in 2004 and Ann died in 2016, so these are very special to me.

Thursday thoughts

During the ice storm of 1960, a tree on our property fell across the stream.  By the time we built on our lot in 1965, it was growing limbs upward like this tree.  It was still alive, still growing, but it had also adjusted to its new situation.  And life went on.

Look how healthy this "fallen" tree is!  It's beautiful, even though this is not how it was "supposed" to grow.  Sometimes life throws a curveball, and you've just got to adjust.  Life changes.  Even if it isn't what you planned or expected, it can still be beautiful.

As I studied this photo, I realized the shade provided by this current configuration is even greater than if the tree had grown straight up.

Foot in mouth ~ in this day in age?

I try not to put my foot in my mouth, not that I could literally do such a thing at my age.  I'm no longer as agile as this baby.  To put one's foot in one's mouth means to say something foolish, embarrassing, or tactless:  "Charlotte put her foot in her mouth when she called him by her first husband's name."  Read this article (where I found the photo) for what to say and do when you have put your foot in your mouth.

The basis for writing this post about words was something garbled on Facebook about "this day in age."  Read it carefully:  "day in age."  What does that even mean?  It should be "this day and age."  Grammarly says:

Simply put, “in this day and age” means “now, at the present time.”  An age is a period of time, such as the Middle Ages, the Axial Age, or the Dark Ages.  While those times are all in the past, “this day and age” refers to the current time — “this day.”  Remember, a day is not necessarily a 24-hour period of time.

Obviously, the person on Facebook heard "in" rather than "and" in the phrase.  And remember, we aren't talking about my age (78) or your age.  We're talking about NOW.  Right now.  This period of time.

Chanukah Dinner ~ an update

Here's a photo of the two friends (Gail and Sandy) sitting across the table from me at the Chanukah Dinner last night. The dining room was indeed packed, and the six of us at my table were delighted with all of it, from the latkes with applesauce before the main meal to the not-so-miniature jelly donuts at the end.  Thanks, Crown Center!

Hannukah and Christmas

This evening, the Crown Center is providing a Hannukah dinner.  I have no idea how many signed up to eat tonight, but I'm one of them.  It's also open to the community, so I expect we'll have a large crowd.  I plan to get down there early, so I can sit with friends.  Here's the menu:

• Apricot Chicken
• Latkes
• Green Beans
• Tzimmes
• Miniature Jelly Donuts

I came across the brilliant design above on Facebook, showing Merry Christmas with a star on top of a tree and ― when the design is flipped ― Happy Hannukah with the lighted candles for the eight days.  What about that ninth candle in the middle?

During Hannukah, on each of the eight nights, a candle is lit in a special menorah (candelabra) called a "hanukkiyah."  There is a special ninth candle called the "shammash" or servant candle, which is used to light the other candles.

NOTE:  I've tried to be consistent, using "Hannukah" in this blog post because that's what's in the illustration at the top.  The Crown Center calls tonight's meal a "Chanukah Dinner."  When I looked up information about the nine candles, it said "Hanukkah."  There are many spellings, but it's all about the Jewish holiday which began this year "in the evening of Sunday, December 2 and ends in the evening of Monday, December 10."  Learn more from Wikipedia, which shows this Hanuka Memorah by Gil Dekel, 2014.

Creative Christmas trees

Donna made a tree in the Coloring Together group.

Here's her door open to the festive lights inside,

including her small tree on the divider.

Marie's tree is on a wall inside her apartment.

Meditating on the limits of human language

A Woman's Meditation
by Ruth F. Brin

When men were children, they thought of God as a father;
When men were slaves, they thought of God as a master;
When men were subjects, they thought of God as a king.
But I am a woman, not a slave, not a subject,
not a child who longs for God as father or mother.

I might imagine God as teacher or friend, but those images,
like king, master, father or mother, are too small for me now.

God is the force of motion and light in the universe;
God is the strength of life on our planet;
God is the power moving us to do good;
God is the source of love springing up in us.
God is far beyond what we can comprehend.

That's from the 1986 book Harvest: Collected Poems and Prayers by Ruth F. Brin (1921-2009).  It's the second poem in the book (p. 4), following "God of Rain and Wind" (p. 3), in which are these lines:

I pray to You for myself, for well I know
That when a person dies a world is destroyed.

In the third (p. 5) of the five poems Amazon allowed me read of this book, I found these lines to ponder:

Help us through study and thought and meditation
To find the direction we are to travel,
With the same sure sense You have given the flying birds.

I first read the original poem (at the top) today, a week after Wilda Gafney shared it in her blog post Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery.  I found it again here, shared with the permission of the estate of Ruth F. Brin, z"l.  What does that z"l mean?  Why is it there?  A search gave me an answer:

It's the abbreviation of the common honorific "of blessed memory."  The Hebrew transliteration is "zikhrono livrakha" (m.) / "zikhronah livrakha" (f.).  In Hebrew that would be (f.) זיכרונה לברכה‬ \ (m.) זיכרונו לברכה.  It is often abbreviated in English as either OBM or z"l.  The Hebrew abbreviation is ז״ל‬.

Ah, yes, I've heard my Jewish friends say "of blessed memory" when mentioning someone who had died.  Back to Ruth Brin's poetry.  I am intrigued and have been meditating on these words, these concepts, these thoughts of a poet.  From the back of the book:

"Today it is difficult to find a Reform, Conservative, or Reconstructionist prayer book or anthology that does not include her writings."

Looking through the copy of the Jewish prayer book I got at the JCC book fair in 2015, I don't know how I'd ever determine which prayers had been written by any specific person.  The focus is on God, not which person composed each prayer.

To continue meditating, go read Wil Gafney's Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery.  By the way, I found someone online selling a used copy of Harvest (which seems to be out of print) and ordered it.

Wednesday Word ~ plethora

Plethora = a large or excessive amount of (something).

Synonyms include excess, overabundance, superabundance, surplus, glut, superfluity, surfeit, profusion; too many, too much, enough and to spare.  Informally, you could use the phrase "more than I can shake a stick at."

I don't know the exact source of this 2014 cartoon by Scott Kilburn (whose name is at the bottom left), but I've run across it several times on the internet.  I love that the character Nichols defines the word while acknowledging the boss.

Bulletin board volunteers

Click to enlarge the photos

Have you ever thought about who does the bulletin boards you see around you?  I live in a ten-story building (attached on the ground floor to an eight-story building, but that's another story).  Each floor has a bulletin board beside the elevators, and volunteers change them periodically.  I change the one on my floor once a month, though occasionally I add or exchange things.  Notices from the office are also put up as needed, telling us about sign-ups and inspections and pest control.  The photo above shows what's on our floor this morning.

Top center is the December "happiness" calendar, which you can read in my earlier post.  At top right is a list of residents on our floor.  The rest of the board is filled with puns; if you groan about puns, you'd better quit reading right now.

At top left is one I left from late November because so many people have told me they love it.  Under a photo of Romaine lettuce are these words:  "The Romaine empire has fallen.  Caesar is dead.  Lettuce pray."  You know, of course, that romaine lettuce was pulled from grocery shelves just before Thanksgiving.  Across the bottom of the bulletin board are three more punny pictures:

• Over a sleeping dog:  "iTired."  Below the dog:  "There's a nap for that."
• Subway sign:  "Lettuce meat olive your eggspectations."
• A family of bullets, Mom wearing an apron with two little bullets behind her:  "What happened to you?"  A flattened bullet with a briefcase:  "I got fired."

I didn't start out with puns, but when I posted "Tearable Puns" a few months ago, people tore them off and shared the humor with others.  They hadn't had such fun since April 2017 when I featured Earth Day and said "Take One" with word puzzles along the bottom of the board.

Do Good December

Click on the calendar to enlarge it.

We've had Happy January, Friendly February, Mindful March, Active April, Meaningful May, Joyful June, Jump Back July, Altruistic August, Self-Care September, Optimistic October, and New Things November.  Now it's time for Do Good December, found by searching for "calendar" on the Action for Happiness (AfH) web site.  Here are the first seven days of this new month.

December 1
~ Encourage more kindness.  Share this calendar with others.
December 2
~ Support a charity, cause, or campaign you really care about.
December 3
~ Give kind comments to as many people as possible today.
December 4
~ Listen wholeheartedly to others without judging them.
December 5
~ Leave a positive message for someone else to find.
December 6
~ Notice when you're hard on yourself or others and be kind instead.
December 7
~ Be generous.  Feed someone with food, love, or kindness today.

"Together we can change the world,

just one act of kindness at a time." ~ Ron Hall

Update:  Today's suggestion is "Encourage more kindness.  Share this calendar with others."  As the one on my floor who changes the bulletin board near the elevators, I've been including these calendars each month.  This is a current picture with the colorful calendar at center top.

Beginning ~ before takeoff

"The plane had yet to take off, but Osgood, the photographer, was already snoring softly.  He was in the center seat, wedged between John Thigpen and a woman in coffee-colored stockings and sensible shoes."

Ape House ~ by Sara Gruen, 2010, fiction

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn't understand people, but apes she gets — especially the bonobos

• Bonzi, the matriarch,
• Sam, the oldest male,
• Jelani, an adolescent male,
• Makena, the pregnant one,
• Lola, the infant, and
• Mbongo, the other adult male,

who are capable of reason and communication through American Sign Language.  Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she's ever felt among humans — until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter writing a human interest feature.  But when an explosion rocks the lab, John's piece turns into the story of a lifetime — and Isabel must connect with her own kind to save her family of apes from a new form of human exploitation.

I've read almost a third of the book.  Yes, it's as interesting as I thought it would be.  I've learned that bonobos would rather make love rather than war, and that some people's idea of "helping" the bonobos is very cruel and destructive, indeed!

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Linky.

Thursday lunch at the Circle@Crown Café

It turned out the special for today was actually "Crab" Artichoke Quiche.  Notice the "crab" is in quotes; that's because crab is not kosher, and the Circle@Crown Café is kosher.  Someone around the two tables shoved together for our large group said pollock is used as fake crab.  By the time I ordered, the Café had run out of the special anyway.  They substituted spinach quiche with salad for me, and I was very happy with it.

Who joined us today for food and fun?  Melvin and Gail were meeting with another group, but they sat and talked with us until their group arrived.  Eating together were Donna, Sheila, Nancy, Susan, Sandy M., and me.  Joining us for shorter periods of visiting were Florence and Mary and Ezra.  At one point, we totally embarrassed Nancy by singing Happy Birthday to her!

Peace and hope ~ origami doves

This photo was on Facebook today with these words:

"Salisbury Cathedral, England, UK (photo by steffi_daydreamer)
Installation of around 2,500 origami doves to symbolise peace and hope."

This is very similar to my dream (that I posted sixteen days ago), but my monarch butterflies were not massed together with others.  I saw only a handful of butterflies fluttering above the center aisle from the high ceilings.  The rest of the Facebook post says:

"The impressive display of white birds has flown all around the world from Jerusalem to Berlin and the US, before arriving in Salisbury.  The paper origami birds by artist Michael Pendry have been suspended from the roof of Salisbury cathedral.  According to the creator of the piece named 'Les Colombes' their presence represents hope and positivity."

TWOsday ~ in the Circle@Crown Café

Yesterday, Tonya posted this week's specials for the Circle@Crown Café:

Monday:  Veggie Burger on Pretzel Roll
Tuesday:  Pasta Fagioli with Cheese Garlic Bread
Wednesday:  Baked Salmon Wrap
Thursday:  Artichoke Quiche
Friday:  Battered Fish and Mac and Cheese

After checking my calendar and deciding what appealed to my taste buds, I posted a comment, saying, "Looks like Tuesday and Thursday for me."  Then I invited friends to join me, some on Facebook, some around the dinner table last night.  I have friends lined up to eat with me today and Thursday.  In the meantime, here's a painting by Susan Dorothea White of a bunch of other women enjoying a meal together.

Image Source:  http://www.susandwhite.com.au/

UPDATE after lunch:

Donna, Sandy M., and Melvin were already in the Café when I arrived with Marie, having talked her into joining us for a few minutes.  Ezra sat and talked while waiting for his order to go, and Katie spoke to us while getting her drink.  Barbara arrived after most had finished eating, but we had a great chat anyway.