Beginning ~ in dark and terrible times

Beginning

I am not a hero.  I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more — much more — during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the hearts of us who bear witness.  Never a day goes by that I do not think of what happened then.

Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family ~ by Miep Gies with Alison Leslie Gold, 1987, World War Two history, 272 pages

For more than two years, Miep Gies and her husband helped hide the Franks from the Nazis.  Like thousands of unsung heroes of the Holocaust, they risked their lives each day to bring food, news, and emotional support to the victims.  She found the diary and brought the world a message of love and hope.  From her own remarkable childhood as a World War I refugee to the moment she places a small, red-orange, checkered diary — Anne’​s legacy — into Otto Frank’s hands, Miep Gies remembers her days with simple honesty and shattering clarity. Each page rings with courage and heartbreaking beauty.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Eat dessert first

Have you heard the saying "Eat dessert first"?  One day I ate Greek yogurt for breakfast, along with what was left of a blueberry muffin from our Café.  Both taste sweet, and I remember thinking, "I'm eating dessert for my first food of the day today."  But Greek yogurt is supposed to be healthy with those probiotics.

How can a school classroom being welcoming of all of its students be a violation of district policy?  Anne at My Head Is Full of Books shared a controversy (and a video) about a poster like this one (saying that EVERYONE is welcome) that has gotten a school teacher in trouble.  People are asking, "What kind of country are we living in?"  Click HERE (or HERE) to see an interview with the teacher.

National Walking Day

National Walking Day is every year on the first Wednesday in April.  That's today, so here is a question for you to ponder while you walk:  Would you rather walk through a city or through the woods exploring nature?  I'd have to see whether the sun is shining or it's raining.  I enjoy walking outside when there is not too much pollen in the air.  I use a Rollator, so I no longer walk in the woods, as I once enjoyed.  Just keep walking to stay as healthy as you can.

It's April again

Although I haven't been posting these monthly calendars in a long time, I'm still receiving the daily Action for Happiness texts on my phone and monthly calendas like this on my computer.  Today, I decided to share it again, so here it is.  Click to enlarge it, so you can read what it suggests we do each day.  You can find previous monthly calendar suggestions by clicking HERE.

A book and a dozen things I'm grateful for

Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks ~ by Diana Butler Bass, 2019, sociology, 256 pages

We know that gratitude is good, but somefind it hard to sustain a life of gratefulness.  Bass takes on this “gratitude gap” and offers up surprising, relevant, and powerful insights to practice gratitude.  She explores the transformative power of gratitude for our personal lives and in communities, showing how we can make change in our own lives and in the world.  She says gratitude as a path to greater connection with others.  It’s time to embrace a more radical practice of gratitude — the virtue that heals us and helps us thrive.

What am I grateful for today?

1. I'm grateful for my friends.
2. I'm grateful that my eyes are not as itchy as they were recently.
3. I'm grateful that I can walk to our Café without going outside at all.
4. I'm grateful for sunshine.
5. I'm grateful for blue skies, when they come.
6. I'm grateful for the Clean Speech St. Louis booklet, which this year trained our brains to be grateful.  It's why I ordered the book above.
7. I'm grateful that I can read and explore the world of ideas.
8. I'm grateful for the friend who forgot to meet me for lunch in the Café yesterday, wondering if and when she'll remember.
9. I'm grateful for my bed when I want to nap mid-day.
10. I'm grateful for my easy chair in the corner, where I can blog or read while sitting beside my window.
11. I'm grateful for that window, where I can see the world go by, as people walk or jog or carry home bags of groceries.
12. I'm grateful that I can close my door and be alone.  (I am an introvert, though some don't quite believe me because I'm friendly.)

Musing on Monday

This is obviously NOT my own phone, since it cannot take a photo of itself.  It shows how I count my steps each day.  Even though I'll be 85 in a few days, I've walked about 1.5 miles a day this year and slightly more last year.

How did it get to be Sunday again, already?

The Stranger ~ by Albert Camus, translated from French by Matthew Ward, 1989 (first published in 1942), literary fiction, xxxvi pages of introductory information + 117 pages

This is the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach.  Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and describes the condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion that characterized so much of twentieth-century life.  I have read this several times, but I'm ready to read it again.

Here's what I have posted this week:

1. On Monday, I posted about names of places, HERE.
2. On Thursday, I wrote about my dream of words, repeated over and over, HERE.
3. On Friday, my book beginning was a repeat of a book I now hope to actually finish reading, HERE.

Well, it appears I haven't done much blogging this week, doesn't it?  Maybe in the coming week, I'll do more blogging.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning again

Beginning

"Letter to a Daughter at Thirteen"

Here's a secret you should know about mothers.  We spy.  Yes, on our kids.  It starts at birth.  In those first months we spend twenty-three hours a day trying to get you to sleep, grateful you aren't yet verbal because at some point we run out of lyrics to the lullabies and start singing "Hush little baby, don't be contrary,/ Mama's gonna have a coro-nary."  And then you finally doze off, and what do you think we do?  Go read a book?  No, we stand over your cradle and stare, thinking, God, those little fingernails.  Those eyelashes.  Where did this perfect creature come from?

Small Wonder ~ by Barbara Kingsolver, 2002, literary essays, xvi + 269 pages

I have already shared the first lines of the first essay in this book a few months ago, HERE.  But I never got around to actually reading the whole book.  So this time, I opened the book in the middle to an essay entitled "Letter to a Daughter at Thirteen" and used that one.  I'll read it first and then the rest of the book, which has twenty-two essays about nature, family, literature, and the joys of everyday life while taking a look at wars, violence, and poverty in our world.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Dream thoughts

As I woke up this morning, even before opening my eyes, I realized that I was repeating, "who, what, when, where, why, and how."  Yes, in this order, slightly different from the illustration I found online.  It was like a mantra.  I just lay there, without rolling over or anything, repeating it in my head:  "Who, what, when, where, why, and how."  Like a song.  And no, my sing-songy words did NOT have a question mark at the end.  Simply "who, what, when, where, why, and how."  Well, I knew I was a word person, but a dream about half a dozen words repeated over and over?  That's a new one for me, the wordsmith.

Toponymy or what's in a name?

to·pon·y·my /təˈpänəmē/ noun = the study of place names.  For example, some places are derived from topigraphical features:

1. Montana means "mountains" in Spanish.
2. Mississippi means "big river" in Chippewa.
3. Moccasin Bend describes the Cherokee name for where the Tennessee River is foot-shaped, and they wore moccasins on their feet.

Below are moccasins like I'm wearing right now.

First, a coincidence

I've already shared this card from my sister, HERE, but today I'm sharing it again because of a coincidence.  I found it under a pile of books yesterday, on the day that just happened to be my sister's birthday.  Here's the story behind it:

It's a birthday card from my sister Ann, who died in 2016.  There's no date on it, but it was ironic that I found it on March 22nd, HER birthday.  A week ago, the online cards I use reminded me to "send a card" to her, and I told someone that I'm not convinced they know how to contact the dead.

On the front it says:  "Perhaps you know why women over fifty don't have babies."  Printed inside:  "They would put them down somewhere and forget where they left them.  I can't even remember why I'm sending you this card."  My sister added:  "But I do remember that I Love You!  Ann."  The amazing coincidence, to me, is that I happened across it on HER birthday.  It's like she's sharing another laugh with me, even though she died almost a decade ago.

Five Equations That Changed the World: The Power and Poetry of Mathematics ~ by Michael Guillen, 1995, mathematics history, 288 pages

Dr. Guillen shares simple stories of five fascinating people who were able to harness the power of electricity, fly in airplanes, land astronauts on the moon, build a nuclear bomb, and understand the mortality of all life on earth.  He was ABC's Science Editor and an instructor at Harvard University.

Here's what I have posted this week:

1. On Monday, I posted an Irish proverb, HERE.
2. On Tuesday, I wrote about wearing green and "the luck of the Irish," HERE.
3. Wednesday's word was "rankle," HERE.
4. On Thursday, I wrote about happiness and kind words, HERE.
5. Book Beginnings on Friday's subject was the winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012, HERE.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning ~ with the house's foundation

Beginning

Small trees had attacked my parents' house at the foundation.  They were just seedlings with one or two rigid, healthy leaves.  Neverthe-less, the stalky shoots had managed to squeeze through knife cracks in the decorative brown shingles covering the cement blocks.  They had grown into the unseen wall and it was difficult to pry them loose.  My father wiped his palm across his forehead and damned their toughness.

The Round House ~ by Louise Erdrich, 2012, literary fiction, 357 pages

One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked.  The details of the crime are slow to surface because Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe.  In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed.  He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude.  Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own.  Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe.  And this is only the beginning.

The Round House is a page-turning masterpiece — at once a powerful coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a tender, moving novel of family, history, and culture.  And it won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Are you happy?

March 20 is International Day of Happiness, and it also happens to be the first day of Spring.  After a rough winter, I imagine lots of folks are happy to see the arrival of spring.

I have a copy of Clean Speech St. Louis, Volume 4.  It encourages us to speak words of kindness during the month of March this year.  Each year has a slightly different focus.  It reminds us (daily during March) that what we say makes a difference.

I noticed some trees between me and the highway are turning white.  I wonder if they are dogwoods.  I would go check, but my spring allergies say "no" to that.

Have you ever gotten rankled?

ran·kle / ˈraNGk(ə)l / verb = A comment, event, or fact that causes persistent annoyance or resentment.  Example:  The way he jokes about my hair or clothes always rankles me.

Two thoughts for TWOsday

1.  Did you wear green yesterday for St. Patrick's Day?

I did.  Some of my ancestors were Irish.

2.  Saying "the luck of the Irish" was originally an insult.

The phrase dates back to the 19th century and is often linked to

Irish immigrants who found success during the American Gold Rush.

In other words, they weren't smart, just lucky.

An Irish proverb for St. Patrick's Day

The background color is green for St. Patrick's Day,

and I loved a black cat that I named Clawdia.

So this proverb is perfect for my blog today.

I miss you, Clawdia, my little black kitty with a heart on your chest.

Sunday Salon ~ book I heard about

The Second Chance ~ by Charlotte Butterfield, 2025, fiction, 384 pages

Nell has always known the date she's going to die.  After a psychic predicted her death date twenty years ago, she has lived life accepting she would never see forty –  embracing adventure and travelling the world, choosing fun over commitment and laying down roots.

So, when the fateful day comes, Nell feels ready.  She sends five excruciatingly honest confessions to her sister, parents and past loves, knowing she won’t be around to face the consequences.  Then, with her heart laid bare, all that's left to do is check into a glamorous hotel and wait for the inevitable.  But when Nell unexpectedly wakes up the next morning broke, single and very much alive, she must figure out exactly how to seize this second chance at life.  And then it also hits her ... what on earth happens now that everyone knows how she really feels?

QUOTE from a resident in our Cafe on the day before Pi Day (Friday, 3-13:  "Don't forget the MAGPIE while sitting around on Pi Day."

Here's what I have posted this week:

1. On Monday, my subject was Roberta Flack and a book she published, HERE.
2. On Tuesday, I wrote about Vitamin B12 deficiency, HERE.
3. Wednesday's word of the day was "extrapolate," HERE.
4. On Thursday, I was getting ready for Pi Day (or pie day), HERE, and also thinking about brain activity, HERE.
5. Book Beginnings on Friday's subject was a boy in a suitcase, HERE. 
6. On Saturday, I posted a cat quote, HERE.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

A quote for Caturday

"If there is one spot of sun spilling onto the floor,

a cat will find it and soak it up." — J. A. McIntosh

This is a repeat of a post from 2017, found HERE.

The Caturday quote was illustrated by my cat CLAWDIA,

who lived with me and blogged about things on CATURDAYS.

She still graces the heading above and the sidebar.

Beginning ~ with a woman dragging a suitcase

Beginning

Holding the glass door open with her hip, she dragged the suitcase into the stairwell leading down to the underground parking lot.  Sweat trickled down her chest and back beneath her T-shirt; it was only slightly cooler here than outside in the shimmering heat of the airless streets.

The Boy in the Suitcase ~ by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, 2011, mystery, 313 pages

Nona Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help -- even when she knows better.  When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets sucked into her most dangerous project yet.  Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy, naked and drugged, but alive.

Is the boy a victim of child trafficking?  Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him?  When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too.  In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

Pi Day = pie for dessert

Pi Day is celebrated each year on March 14th.  Why?  Because the mathematical "pi" equals 3.1415 (plus a string of other numbers).  When we put those numbers into the way we count days, they become 3/14 or 3-14.  Do you see it?  I loved numbers (as well as words) when I was in school, so this kind of stuff intrigued me.  This year (3-14-25) is a Friday (as you can see).  The illustration above seems rather impossibly to be a mixture of cherry pie and pumpkin pie.  I like both, but I prefer fruit pies like these.

Thursday Thoughts

What happens when we die?  I ran across THIS a few days ago, and I was fascinated:  "Brain activity may prove our souls leave our bodies when we die."  Recent studies suggest that a surge of brain activity observed in clinically dead patients could potentially be interpreted as evidence of the soul leaving the body.  EEGs have detected a burst of brain activity in the brains of clinically dead patients, even after vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate have ceased.  Another way to say it is the brain's final moments of activity or the effects of the dying process itself.  Someone called it a "near-death experience."  Yeah, I know this is a speculative interpretation, but isn't it interesting?

Once again, I happened across one of my old posts with a link to WindowSwap, which linked me HERE.  Clicking from window to window all over the world is fascinating . . . and addictive.  I just kept clicking, from backyards here and there to active scenes.  I saw Cancun and Japan and different states in the USA.  I glimpsed parts of the UK and South Africa and the Punjab, India.  I saw several cats looking out windows the way Clawdia did when she lived with me (shown above), plus a few cats cleaning themselves in the window or out on the porch.