Let's laugh

But first, a daffodil blooming in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,

on Friday (2-11-22), while we still have snow on the ground in St. Louis.

Thanks to Barbara Clark for the photo posted on Facebook.

Now, a blonde joke for my daughter.

(Do you still collect them, Barbara?)

Words

Words (and books) are always on my mind.  I thought of this poem when I read the word "raze" in The Midnight Library (p. 156).  Words having the same pronunciation but different meanings are called homophones.  I read "raze" and immediately thought of the homophone "raise."  When people raise a barn (as in having a barn raising), they are constructing that barn; but when they raze the barn, they are tearing it down.

Books

 

I did finally find a book that grabbed me enough to finish it:  The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, that I mentioned above (2020, fiction, 288 pages, 8/10).  Next, I'll read the 2021 novel Fresh Scars by Donna Mumma (305 pages).  I've also started reading this booklet that belonged to my friend Donna, who taught middle school English:

Character Education Journal Topics ~ by Terri Simpson and Jodie Priess, 2001, nonfiction.  It has 200 bookmark-sized pages of writing prompts related to character education for students in grades 4-8.  The  illustration shows one of the prompts.

Dovetail ~ by Karen McQuestion, 2020, fiction, 353 pages

Joe Arneson’s ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time.  It isn’t until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges.  Drawn into his family’s past, Joe discovers secrets weighing on the old woman’s soul:  the tragic death of her sister Alice a half century ago and its ripple effect on all who loved her.  Digging into the events of that summer in 1916, Joe is convinced that his recurrent visions relate to Alice’s untimely passing and to the beloved man she meant to marry.  With the help of Kathleen, a local woman Joe’s fallen for, the puzzles of the past start falling into place.  As uncovered truths bring Joe and Kathleen closer together, they also reveal a new danger.  Joe’s dreams may be a warning ― from one star-crossed couple to another.

I added this new book to my Kindle recently, partly because I like a comment that it "was written without profanity and gratuitous violence and sex."  Do you remember my comment about the gratuitous 4-letter words in Carl Hiaasen's Squeeze Me?  It was very annoying.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon.