Juneteenth celebration

Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States and is celebrated annually on June 19th to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.  Here at my senior center, we will have a special celebration today sponsored by our African-American neighbors.  Genies, who lives above me, ordered wristbands like these to give people, and I'm still deciding which of my shirts or blouses to wear today.

Added later:  I decided to wear BLACK jeans with a short YELLOW shirt over a longer GREEN shirt (so green showed at the neck, arms, and bottom) with a RED hat on my head.  Genies also gave out pins to wear on our shirts.

Alexa is listening

I was talking to a friend on the Welcome Desk (which means she's a resident who volunteers to greet and direct visitors).  She always has her Alexa device and is usually playing music by Elvis and others from long ago.  If folks have requests, she tells Alexa to play it.  Anyway, I mentioned a sign I had seen in reports about the recent No Kings protest saying "Alexa, change the president."  The music stopped and we looked at the Alexa device, which was trying to figure out how to respond to my command!

The word for today is FOOD

 Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? ~ by Mark Hyman, 2018, diet, 400 pages

Did you know that eating oatmeal actually isn't a healthy way to start the day?  That milk doesn't build bones, and eggs aren't the devil?

Even the most health conscious among us have a hard time figuring out what to eat in order to lose weight, stay fit, and improve our health.  And who can blame us?  When it comes to diet, there's so much changing and conflicting information flying around that it's impossible to know where to look for sound advice.  And decades of misguided "common sense," food-industry lobbying, bad science, and corrupt food polices and guidelines have only deepened our crisis of nutritional confusion, leaving us overwhelmed and anxious when we shop for food.

Dr. Mark Hyman takes a close look at every food group and explains what we have gotten wrong, revealing which foods nurture our health and which pose a threat.  He also explains food's role as powerful medicine capable of reversing chronic disease and shows how our food system and policies impact so much, including the environment, the economy, social justice, and personal health.  He paints a holistic picture of growing, cooking, and eating food in ways that nourish our bodies and the earth while creating a healthy society.  The book includes recipes to achieve optimal weight and lifelong health.

          

It's a bird ... a plane ... It's Jonathan, now complete!

Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The Complete Edition ~ by Richard Bach, photos by Russell Munson, 1970 and 2014, fiction, 164 pages, 10/10

I first read this book back in the 1970s and several times since then.  Yesterday, I went through the library to straighten books on shelves before going to eat in the Cafe.  I noticed the blue book on the shelf and thought, "I haven't read this in several years," and checked it out to myself.  In the Cafe, waiting for my food, I realized this is NOT the book I've read over and over.  It's new and has a whole fourth section.

"[T]he new complete edition of this philosophical classic, perfect for readers of all ages — now with a fourth part of Jonathan’s journey, as well as last words from author Richard Bach.

"This is the story for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules … people who get special pleasure out of doing something well, even if only for themselves … people who know there’s more to this living than meets the eye:  they’ll be right there with Jonathan, flying higher and faster than they ever dreamed.

"A pioneering work that wed graphics with words, Jonathan Livingston Seagull now enjoys a whole new life."

Monday Musing

Eat Only When You're Hungry ~ by Lindsay Hunter, 2017, literary fiction (Florida), 224 pages

This one's about a father who searches for his addict son while grappling with his own choices as a parent (and as a user of sorts).  It follows 58-year-old Greg as he searches for his son, GJ, an addict who has been missing for three weeks.  Greg is bored, demoralized, obese, and as dubious of GJ’s desire to be found as he is of his own motivation to go looking.  Almost on a whim, Greg embarks on a road trip to central Florida, telling himself it's a noble search for his son.

So we go with Greg on a tour of highway and roadside, of Taco Bell, KFC, gas-station Slurpees, sticky strip-club floors, pooling sweat, candy wrappers, and crumpled panes of cellophane and wrinkled plastic bags tumbling along the interstate.  This is the America Greg knows, one he feels closer to than to his youthful idealism, closer even than to his younger second wife.

As his journey continues, through drive-thru windows and into the living rooms of his alluring ex-wife and his distant, curmudgeonly father, Greg’s urgent search for GJ slowly recedes into the background, replaced with a painstaking, illuminating, and unavoidable look at Greg’s own mistakes ― as a father, as a husband, and as a man.  Eat Only When You’re Hungry is a study of addiction, perseverance, and the insurmountable struggle to change.

Musing (okay, pondering)

I went browsing for another book in the Crown Center library and noticed this one.  It looks like we've had this one on our shelves since May of 2019, but I don't remember ever seeing it.  (Of course, that's not a difficult thing to imagine when many, many books on are the shelves and shelves and shelves of books, right?)  So I signed it out and brought it home with me.

Do you read BIG books? This one has 576 pages!

Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization ~ by Nicholson Baker, 2009, history, 576 pages

Baker doesn't write a standard historical narrative, but instead presents a series of facts from diaries, memoirs, magazines, government reports, and contempo-rary newspaper accounts and presents them chronologically.  So I guess that's history.  I haven't read this long, long book, which is also very heavy.  But I wanted to write about it because a friend of mine has donated it to our Crown Center library, and I don't want to lose track of it.  (Since it looks unread, I'm not sure my friend read it, either.)

Here's what I have posted lately:

1. There were no posts here for a few days because of a computer problem, so looking back to Thursday a week ago I pondered how we learn from mistakes, HERE.
2. The next day, I wrote about a graphic novel, HERE.
3. And that Saturday's post was about a monkey, HERE.
4. Tuesday's post HERE was rather philosophical and discussed a book that I had written about before.
5. On Thursday, I wrote HERE about the senior center where I live.
6. Friday's book beginning was about small stuff, HERE.
7. On Saturday, I wrote about the Continental Congress, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

What a great book to read just before "No Kings Day"

The Continental Congress: A Primary Source History of the Formation of America's New Government ~ by Betty Burnett, 2004, history (grades 7-9), 64 pages, 10/10

This book uses primary source documents, narrative, and illustrations 

to recount the history of the colonies' break from Great Britain and the 

creation of a new government of the United States.

Just after I finished reading the book yesterday, I read that Texas and Missouri were calling up the National Guard as a precaution against the potential for any violence at protests on Saturday.  I had not heard about the protests until then.

Beginning ~ blowing a concern out of proportion

Beginning

Often we allow ourselves to get l worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren't really that big a deal.  We focus on little problems and concerns and blow them way out of proportion.  A stranger for example, might cut in front of us in traffic.  Rather than let it go, and go on with our day, we convince ourselves that we are justified in our anger.  We play out an imaginary confrontation in our mind.  Many of us might even tell some-one else about the incident later on rather than simply let it go.

Why not instead simply allow the driver to have his accident somewhere else?

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and it's all small stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life ~ by Richard Carlson, 1997, psychology, 248 pages

Does your life seem to have as many ups and downs as a soap opera?  Then let this little book that spent 100 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list show you how to stop blowing things out of proportion, stop worrying about things that might happen (but probably won't), stop obsessing about things you can't change and things that just don't matter ― and start living!

This book tells you how to keep from letting the little things in life drive you crazy.  In thoughtful and insightful language, the author reveals ways to calm down in the midst of your hurried, stress-filled life.  He suggests making small daily changes by choosing your battles wisely; reminding yourself that when you die, your 'in' box won't be empty; and making peace with imperfection.  Learn how to:

• Live in the present moment.
• Let others have the glory at times.
• Lower your tolerance to stress.
• Trust your intuitions.
• Live each day as it might be your last.
• Make your life more stress-free.

I shared a bit more than I usually do of the "beginning," but I really HAD to include that great line in the second paragraph:  "Why not instead simply allow the driver to have his accident somewhere else?"  What a great beginning!

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thoughts about the Crown Center

Layout of 1-bedroom apartment,

like mine (Source: HERE)

“Every morning, I start my day using the 

exercise equipment, and then I always try 

to have lunch in our café.  The monthly 

concerts are my favorite entertainment." 

― Philip Schwartz, another resident

I also enjoy the concerts, Phil.

Two things for TWOsday

First, I'm sorry that I've been missing for a few days.  But I'm back now, after my computer guy fixed a problem.  Can I catch up?  No, but I can share what I have been reading.  (This is a book blog, after all.)

Why Does the World Exist? ~ by Jim Holt, 2013, philosophy, 320 pages

I have been reading this "Existential Detective Story" that I wrote about HERE.  It may be too philosophical for some of you, but part of my double major in college was philosophy and I'm really getting into these ideas.  It's good so far, and I'm putting tabs to mark places here and there along the way that I want to remember or think more about.

Leave a comment (and maybe a link) to tell me what YOU have been reading.

Explore the world from your own home

Then tell us in a comment where you've traveled recently in a book.

Although this illustration says "the world,"

feel free to share outer space or other worlds, if that's where you went.

So do you want to know where I have been traveling in my book?

In Costa Rica with a 12-year-old who wanted a monkey for himself.

He's the main character in The Monkey Thief (read about it HERE).

Beginning ~ with page one of a graphic memoir

Smile ~ by Raina Telgemeier, 2010, graphic memoir (for grades 3-7), 224 pages, 10/10

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader.  But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth.  What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached.  And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with:  a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.   Raina Telgemeier's #1 New York Times bestselling, Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir is based on her childhood.

Beginning

In case you cannot read this blurry illustration of the first page of the first chapter, here's what each panel says:

Smile!!

FLASH!

Good!  Let's get you set up in a chair, and the orthodontist will look at your teeth in a few minutes.

Hi, Raina!  I'm Dr. Dragoni.

Hi...

So, you're in sixth grade?  Where do you go to school?

HJK MP TSS...

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about mistakes I've made

“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” ― Morihei Ueshiba

(I like this quote from my spiral-bound 2025 calendar.)

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story ~ by Jim Holt, 2013, philosophy, 320 pages

Jim Holt explores the greatest metaphysical mystery of all:  why is there something rather than nothing?  He takes on the role of cosmological detective, interviewing a host of scientists, philosophers, and writers.  As he interrogates his list of ontological culprits, he contends that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God versus the Big Bang.

Word of the Day = ontological

on·to·log·i·cal /ˌän(t)əˈläjək(ə)l / adjective

• relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.  Example:  "I'm curious about his ontological arguments."
• showing the relations between the concepts and categories in a subject area or domain.  Example:  "She decided to compile an ontological database."

Learn more at Wikipedia, HERE.

A Scholastic book for children

The Monkey Thief ~ by Lynn Henderson, illustrated by Paul Mirocha, 1996, children's fiction (8 - 13 years old), 157 pages

Twelve-year-old Steve Janson is sent to Costa Rica for eight months to live with his uncle, who is setting up a nature preserve.  Steve befriends rain forest native Don Luis and hatches a dangerous scheme to capture a pet monkey for himself.  

An Amazon reviewer wrote:  "The Monkey Thief introduces tween and young teenage readers to the jungles of Costa Rica, where a young boy is obsessed with capturing and taming a monkey.  As is true in all of Aileen Kilgore Henderson's novels for middle-grade children, this novel provides a strong plot, accurate cultural information, and good character-building problem solving by the main character.  Environmental protection is also at the forefront in this story.  A lovely novel for young readers."

A borrowed book ~ or two ~ or three ~ actually four

Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats ~ by Courtney Gustafson, 2025, memoir, 256 pages

When Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t know that the property came with thirty feral cats.  Focused only on her own survival — in a new relationship, during a pandemic, with poor mental health and a job that didn’t pay enough — Courtney was reluctant to spend any of her own time or money caring for the wayward animals.

But the cats — their pleading eyes, their ribs showing, the new kittens born in the driveway — didn’t give her a choice.

She had no idea about the grief and hardship of animal rescue, the staggering size of the problem in neighborhoods across the country.  And she couldn’t have imagined how that struggle — toward an ethics of care, of individuals trying their best amid spectacularly failing systems — would help pierce a personal darkness she’d wrestled with for much of her life.  She also didn’t expect that the TikTok and Instagram accounts she created to share the quirky personalities of the wild but lovable cats, like Monkey, Goldie, Francois, and Sad Boy, would end up saving her home.

Courtney writes toward a vision of connectedness, showing how taking care of the cats reshaped her understanding of empathy, resilience, and the healing power of wholly showing up for some-thing outside yourself.  She takes us from the dark alleys where she feeds feral cats to inside the tragically neglected homes where she climbs over piles of trash, and occasionally animals, and then into her own driveway with the cats she loves and must sometimes let go.  Compelling and tender, Poets Square is as much about cats as it is about the urgency of care, community, and a little bit of dumb hope.

Knowing my love of cats (and books), one of my neighbors called to invite me for a chat.  She wanted to "show" me something.  Actually, she wanted to let me borrow one of the library books she'd just gotten.  This is the book she handed me.  I started it immediately, since she would want to read it herself when she finished the other book (or books) she'd checked out.  That's why I opened it the minute I went back to my apartment.  Thanks, Madeleine.

Here's what I posted this week:

1. My Wednesday post, HERE, was about a book loaned to me by a neighbor who also loves cats.  Thanks, Larry.
2. On Thursday, I didn't mention HERE that a friend from the community met me for lunch in our Café and brought a book she'd just finished, thinking it is one I'd like to read.  Thanks, Sharon.
3. On Friday, I wrote HERE about a book another neighbor let me borrow, one her daughter had given her.  Thanks, Betty.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning ~ with light everywhere

Beginning

First, he was aware of light ― so white and sharp it seemed to come from everywhere, to be everywhere, above and below, cutting through him as a sunbeam cuts through a windowpane, and emanating from within, from the place where the physical substance that had once made him had once existed.

The Stars and Their Light ~ by Olivia Hawker, 2025, historical fiction (Roswell, New Mexico), 381 pages

In Roswell, New Mexico, the mystery of the unknown grips a sheltered novitiate in a haunting historical novel about fate, faith, and agency.  It’s 1947 when Sister Mary Agnes arrives in New Mexico.  Her mission is to establish a monastery in the town of Roswell, where weeks before rumors of the crash landing of an unidentified craft have triggered a crisis of faith.  Residents are drifting away from the divine, awed no longer by the heavens, but rather the stars.

In service to the frightened and confused, Sister Mary Agnes soon befriends Betty Campbell, a teenager marked both physically and psychically by the inexplicable event.  Mary Agnes is also drawn to Harvey, a handyman refurbishing the monastery ― and a firsthand witness to the crash.  But as Mary Agnes tries to guide her wayward friends back to the church, it’s the fantastic and the forbidden that begin to loom large in her imagination.

Thrown into her own crisis of doubt, Mary Agnes must choose whether to uphold the order in which she came of age or embrace the truth she feels in her heart, despite its terrifying complexity.

An online reviewer wrote:  "Underneath the 'cover story' of UFO's, the book also deals with themes of fear, alienation, loss of faith in institutions, adolescence, and bullying."

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Paris, anyone?

Lunch in Paris A Love Story with Recipes ~ by Elizabeth Bard, 2011, memoir, 352 pages

In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman — and never went home again.  Was it love at first sight?  Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce?

Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs -- one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine.  Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales.  She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate soufflé), and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon).  Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate.  French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese — there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart.

Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, this is a story of falling in love, redefining success, and discovering what it truly means to be at home.

Thursday Thoughts:  I'm wearing a Snoopy tee-shirt today and will attend a class on the importance of balance for older folks.  Falls can really mess up the lives of older people, you know.  So around here, we have exercise classes designed specifically for us.  I am 85, but I walked 7,083 steps yesterday and 10,446 steps the day before, according to my step counter.  It helps my balance and strength.

A cat lover let me borrow this book

Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania ~ by Kathryn Hughes, 2024, history, 402 pages

How cat mania exploded in the early twentieth century, transforming cats from pests into beloved pets.

In 1900, Britain and America were in the grip of a cat craze. An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had now become an object of pride and deep affection. From presidential and royal families who imported exotic breeds to working-class men competing for cash prizes for the fattest tabby, people became enthralled to the once-humble cat. Multiple industries sprang up to feed this new obsession, selling everything from veterinary services to leather bootees via dedicated cat magazines. Cats themselves were now traded for increasingly large sums of money, bolstered by elaborate pedigrees that claimed noble ancestry and promised aesthetic distinction.

In Catland , Kathryn Hughes chronicles the cat craze of the early twentieth century through the life and career of Louis Wain. Wain's anthropomorphic drawings of cats in top hats falling in love, sipping champagne, golfing, driving cars, and piloting planes are some of the most instantly recognizable images from the era. His round-faced fluffy characters established the prototype for the modern cat, which cat "fanciers" were busily trying to achieve using their newfound knowledge of the latest scientific breeding techniques. Despite being a household name, Wain endured multiple bankruptcies and mental breakdowns, spending his last fifteen years in an asylum, drawing abstract and multicolored felines. But it was his ubiquitous anthropomorphic cats that helped usher the formerly reviled creatures into homes across Europe.

Illustrated and based on new archival findings about Wain's life, the wider cat fancy, and the media frenzy it created, Catland chronicles the history of how the modern cat emerged.

The importance of compassion and nonviolent solutions

The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness ~ by The Dalai Lama, compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, 1990, nonfiction, 150 pages

This book offers a comprehensive view of the Dalai Lama, both his personal life and his thoughts on issues of global concern.  An engaging picture emerges of a man whose goodwill, understanding, and practicality have brought him respect from world leaders and the accalim of millions around the world.

Here's what I posted this week:

1. On Monday, I wrote about tornado damage in St. Louis, HERE.
2. It seemed like a long week, but I didn't get anything else posted until Friday, when I featured a book about twins, HERE.
3. On Saturday, I once again took part in the Book Blogger Hop, sharing what a song's title would probably be, HERE, if someone composed a song about my love for books.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.