How long is "never"?

The word "never" is an adverb that means "at no time, on no occasion, or in no circumstance."  But how many times have you said, "Never again!" or "I will never..." and it didn't even last until the very next day?  Okay, maybe the quote above from Horace (that "a word once uttered can never be recalled") is an exception, but our resolve (especially when uttered in frustration) doesn't always mean forever.  For example, think about when you've said, "I will never speak to him (or her) again."  Did that really happen?  Or were you soon on speaking terms again?

Look what my new cat did

Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice ~ by Michelle Obama, 2019, journal, 208 pages, 10/10

What's your journey of becoming?  This journal features an intimate and inspiring introduction by the former First Lady and thought-provoking questions and prompts to help you discover — and rediscover — your story.  “It’s not about being perfect.  It’s not about where you get yourself in the end.  There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.  And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others.  This, for me, is how we become,” Michelle Obama says.

Michelle Obama shared her own extraordinary journey in her memoir to help create space for others to tell their stories and to give people the courage to discover the power of their own voice.  With this journal, she now provides you with the encouragement to find value in your own journey of becoming.  It includes thought-provoking prompts designed to help you reflect on your personal and family history; your goals, challenges, and dreams; what moves you and brings you hope; and what future you imagine for yourself and your community.  She writes in the introduction:  "I hope you’ll use this journal to write down your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, in all their imperfections, and without judgment. ... We don’t have to remember everything.  But every-thing we remember has value."  As you journal, take heart in the experiences that brought you to where you are today, and also feel empowered to take those next steps, wherever they might lead.

What my new cat did

What my cat did astounded me.  I finished reading Barack Obama's book, that I wrote about HERE, and went to bed.  The next morning, I discovered she had shoved some books off my desk in the other room.  This was one of them.  Did she really "notice" I'd been reading about Barack Obama, and while I slept had gone into the other room and noticed the book by his wife?  Weird.  And no, I'm not making this up.  I guess she really IS going to follow in the footsteps of my other cats blogging about books, if she's that smart.  Otherwise, what an uncanny coincidence.

________________________________________________________________

Week in Review

• On Sunday, I posted one for Monday Musing, HERE, accidentally posting it too early.
• Sn on Monday, I mused again, HERE, this time about imagined experiences.
• My Wednesday Words quoted Barack Obama, HERE.
• Wednesday was also International Dog Day, so I posted again (with a dog), HERE.
• A book (and a couple of kittens) were featured on Thursday, HERE.
• Another cat was featured in my Caturday post, HERE, but this one moved in with me.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Jake moved in with me 8/27/26

Jake moved in with me two days ago, and I have questions.

Who has had her so far?  (Sheila and Judy, that I know of.)  When was she born?  What kind of cat is she?  Why is her tail so stubby?  Does she have a chip?  (Yes.)  Who's her vet?  (I got that info from Judy.)  Sheila named her "Jake," even though she's a girl.  Judy has had Jake since Sheila died, but the office says she cannot have two pets.  Since I used to have a cat, Judy asked me if I would take Jake.  I agreed and talked to the office.  The form that I must complete has 25 sheets of paper, and the pet fee has gone up to $300.  Whew!

Now, my next question is whether Jake will want to blog on Caturdays, the way Clawdia and Kiki did.

A book recommended by Nancy, of Bookfoolery

A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy ~ by Tia Levings, 2026, memoir, 304 pages

Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia Levings learned that being a good Christian meant following a list of additional life principles –– a series of secret, special rules to obey.  Being a godly and submissive wife in Christian Patriarchy included strict discipline, isolation, and an alternative lifestyle that appeared wholesome to outsiders.  Women were to be silent, “keepers of the home.”

Tia knew that to their neighbors her family was strange, but she also couldn't risk exposing their secret lifestyle to police, doctors, teachers, or anyone outside of their church.  Christians were called in scripture to be "in the world, not of it."  So, she hid in plain sight as years of abuse and pain followed.  When Tia realized she was the only one who could protect her children from becoming the next generation of patriarchal men and submissive women, she began to resist and question how they lived.  But in the patriarchy, a woman with opinions is in danger, and eventually, Tia faced an urgent and extreme choice:  stay and face dire consequences, or flee with her children.

A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable and timely memoir about a woman's race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.  Nancy wrote about this book on her blog, HERE.

Sir Percy of Marmalade is Bookfool's new kitten.

Oh, wait, now there are two:  Percy and Pippin.

International Dog Day

International Dog Day focuses on its mission of canine rescue, animal welfare, and adoption advocacy.  The photo below shows me "running" in the tenth floor hallway with Hazel, the companion of one of my friends.

Wednesday's word is change

A Dream Fulfilled: The Story of Barack Obama ~ by Tanya Savory, 2010, biography, 165 pages, 10/10

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek." — Barack Obama

Barack Obama grew up in a time when change was just beginning to come to black people in the United States.  He experienced an often difficult childhood, confusion over his own identity, and frustration when trying to help the victims of poverty and hopelessness.  But he never stopped believing that, in America, change for the better could happen.

A Dream Fulfilled: The Story of Barack Obama is about an inspirational man whose life shows us the value of hope, education and hard work.  Obama's journey — from his unusual youth to his travels to Kenya in search of his father to Harvard Law School and, finally, to the White House — proves that dreams can indeed be fulfilled.

The power of imagined experiences

Having been a life-long reader (I'm 86 years old now), I was fascinated by a recent article from Reader's Digest entitled "Here's the Scientific Reason We're Drawn to Certain Books — And What Each Genre Does to Your Brain" (found HERE).  So what exactly does each genre do to your brain?  (I read all four of their categories.)  Here what the article claims:

Mystery and Thriller

• Stimulates regions involved in tracking clues and predicting outcomes.
• Forces the brain to build theories, test them, and impose order on uncertainty.

Fantasy and Sci-Fi

• Activates the sensory and motor cortices to simulate unreal worlds and actions.
• Provides heavy escapism, triggering dopamine and serotonin to soothe anxious thoughts.

Literary Fiction

• Exercises the brain's default mode network, boosting theory-of-mind and social cognition.
• Enhances your ability to understand complex human perspectives and internal reflections.

Nonfiction and History

• Strengthens analytical thinking, logical pattern recognition, and memory retention.
• Slows long-term cognitive decline by building rigid semantic and factual networks.

Musing about time and science fiction

Beyond Time ~ edited by Sandra Ley, 1976, science fiction, xv + 268 pages

The back cover of this book (that I bought in August of 1968) says that all twenty stories speculate on the fascinating question, "What if?"  They ponder how the world might be staggeringly different if only one event or person had been changed.  The stories include:

1. “The Cliometricon” by George Zebrowski
2. "The Rise of the Sun" by Gordon Eklund
3. "Jupiter Laughs" by Edmund Cooper
4. "Worlds Enough" by Don Thompson
5. "Assault on Fat Mountain" by R. A. Lafferty
6. “O Brave Old World!” by Avram Davidson
7. "Hail to the Chief" by Lucy Cores
8. "Soy la Libertad' by Robert Coulson
9. "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sky" by Robert Chilson
10. “A Class with Dr. Chang” by Ward Moore
11. "Unscheduled Flight" by Juanita Coulson
12. "Alternate Universe I, II, III by Tom Disch
13. “Polonaise” by Alan Dean Foster
14. "U-Genie SX-1--Human Entrepreneur: Naturally Rapacious Yankee" by Dimitri V. Gat
15. "Letter from America" by H. R. Percy
16. "The Napoleonic Wars" by Felix C. Gotschalk
17. "Checkmate in Six Moves" by Olga Lay
18. "Many Rubicons" by Michael Orgill
19. “The Fellini Beggar” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
20. "All Possible Worlds" by Laurence M. Janifer

(By the way, the original price on this book from 50 years ago was $1.95.)

A book for people who love words

Phraseology: Thousands of Bizarre Origins, Unexpected Connections, and Fascinating Facts about English's Best Expressions ~ by Barbara Ann Kipfer, 2008, etymology, 320 pages, 9/10

The front cover (above) has nine examples, which you may be able to read by clicking to enlarge the illustration.  Here are a few other examples from the book:

• alter ego is Latin for "other self" (p. 11)
• a captain's chair is one having a rounded back formed by a heavy rail resting upon (p. 30)
• the term flash flood only dates to 1940 (p. 109)
• flower children were hippies who typically wore flowers in their hair (p. 110)
• home page (1993) actually entered the language before website (1994) (p.139)
• kiss of life was a name used in the 1960s for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (p. 158)
• living will, a written request that, if the signatory suffers severe disablement or terminal illness, he or she should not be kept alive by artificial means, dates to 1969 (p. 168)
• news flash (1904) originally applied to telegraphic news dispatches (p. 192)
• a red herring is something introduced to distract from a more important or controversial issue (p. 230)
• you're welcome did not exist as a polite formlaic response to a than you until 1960
  
  
  Week in Review

  • On TWOsday, I wrote about two books, HERE.
  • My book beginning on Friday, HERE, 
  • It's been a slow week for posting on my blog, it seems.

  

  Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Science fiction ~ a book I bought decades ago

Beginning with the editor's introduction

Modern science fiction, among the insiders in the field, is a phrase that refers to a readily identifiable change in the format of the science fiction story, which was begun in 1938 and was readily apparent by the middle of 1939.  The revolutionary was John W. Campbell, who not ony forcibly moved this branch of fiction in the direction in which he wanted it to go but under the name of Don A. Stuart had previously written prototypes of the kind of stories he had in mind.

Doorway into Time and Other Stories from Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction ~ edited by Sam Maskowitz, 1965, science fiction, 144 pages

Look into the future ... a wonderful, terrifying world in which all wishes are granted, all of man's (sic) work is done for him.  Machines can solve any problem, even the psychological ones of fear, ambition and frustrated love.  Look into the future ... and learn that one problem solved brings on a thousand new dilemmas man (sic) never faced before.  Look into the future ... if you dare.

(That's from the back cover, published when "men" were apparently the only humans around.  Okay, you know I'm being facetious, but I was around at that time and had three children.  Look closely at the top right of the cover photo, above, and see that this book is so old it cost only 50 cents!)

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

I heard about a couple of good books

Out of Africa ~ by Isak Dinesen, 1937, nonfiction, 416 pages

In this book, the author of Seven Gothic Tales gives a true account of her life on her plantation in Kenya.  She tells with classic sim-plicity of the ways of the country and the natives, of the beauty of the Ngong Hills and coffee trees in blossom, of her guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, who visited her, of primitive festivals, of big game that were her near neighbors — lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, buffaloes — and of Lulu, the little gazelle who came to live with her, unbelievably ladylike and beautiful.

A Gentleman in Moscow ~ by Amor Towles, 2019, political fiction, 496 pages

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Table for Two wrote this novel about a man who's ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.  Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors.  Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery, and the count endeavors to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

Library Loot

Arrivals and Departures ~ by Amanda Eyre Ward, 2026, literary fiction, 288 pages

The Perkins family has problems.  They’re scattered across the globe.

• Lee, a glamorous reality-TV star, is struggling with her mental health in the spotlight.
• Reagan, her younger sister, has fallen for a romance scammer.
• Cord, their charming brother, is one drink away from losing it all.
• And their mother, Charlotte, still longs for the love she let slip away a decade ago, a lover who sailed off with her heart to a remote island in Greece.

When Reagan disappears, Lee flies first-class to Athens to save her family — again.  There, against the glittering Mediterranean and the shadow of the Acropolis, Lee contends with emotional nieces, relentless paparazzi, and her own fragile heart.  Lee is desperately searching — for her sister, and for the hope and joy she thought was gone forever.  Across continents and their crises, each member of the Perkins family must face the same question:  is it ever too late to choose love?  It’s the story of a family finding the courage to say the only words that can save us — I love you.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I wrote about two kinds of people, HERE.
• My subject on Wednesday was troublesome words, HERE.
• Friday's post, HERE, was about my new book about alien encounters.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Two beginnings

Beginning of the Introduction

"Are we alone?"  This short but profound question has been repeatedly posed by us on Earth as we attempt to discover if there is life on other planets.

Beginning of Chapter One

Has human history been influenced by extraterrestrials for up to 12,000 years?  There are a group of authors and academics who say there is strong evidence this is the case, and aliens have walked the Earth, helping to build the iconic pyramids in Egypt, the holy site of Puma Punku in Bolivia, and even had a role with the Ark of the Covenant.

World of the Unexplained: Alien Encounters ~ by Sam Pilger and Leo Moynihan, 2024, unidentified flying objects, 176 pages

Take a journey into the world of the unexplained to discover the extraterrestrial mysteries of history:  tales of alien encounters across the centuries, from those who have witnessed mysterious lights in the sky to those with tales of time spent on alien spacecraft.  Whether you are a doubter, a believer, or simply curious, here you will find accounts that explore ancient tales of aliens before tracking the many UFO sightings that have been reported across the world.

The book is divided into four themed chapters:  (1) Ancient Aliens, (2)  UFO Conspiracies, (3)  UFO Sightings, and (4)  Alien Abductions.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Is "supposably" a word?

AI tells me, "Yes, 'supposably' is a real word listed in major dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary.  However, it has a different meaning from the much more common word 'supposedly,' even though the two are frequently mixed up in daily speech."  Here are the differences:

• Supposably:  Means conceivably or potentially possible (e.g., We could supposably finish today).
• Supposedly:  Means reportedly or by reputation, often with doubt (e.g., He is supposedly rich).

Two kinds of people

"There are two kinds of people in the world — those who walk into a room and say 'There you are' and those who say, 'Here I am!'" ~ a quote from Abigail van Buren

A book and a review of my blogging week

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life ~ by Arthur C. Brooks, 2022, aging, 272 pages

This #1 New York Times Bestseller is a roadmap for finding purpose, meaning, and success as we age.  This bestselling author is a Harvard professor and the Atlantic's happiness columnist.

Many of us assume that the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that frequently accompanies aging.  But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs.  So what can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and success?

At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress.  This book is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.

By drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks shows us that true life success is well within our reach.  By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn (such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress), we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.  You, too, can go from strength to strength.

Week in Review

• On Monday, HERE, I mused about butt dialing (also called pocket dialing).
• "Negative Nellie" were the words I chose for Wednesday Words, HERE.
• Book Beginnings on Friday was from a book showing a black cat, HERE.
• Saturday's post, HERE, was full of cats to celebrate International Cat Day.  So it really WAS Caturday that day!

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Today is International Cat Day

Clawdia at her window, and Kiki kissing me.  They are my most recent cats, so I have photos of them online (and on the sidebar to the right).  I'm also celebrating Duchess, the gray cat I rescued from a mud puddle when she was a kitten and I was only nine years old.  And then there's Jack, the gray and white cat who lived on the mountain with us.  I don't have a photo of him to share.  Sorry.  If you have (or ever had) a cat, please share a name or something about your cat in the comments.

Beginning ~ with the black cat superstition

Beginning

I can't think of a better way to kick things off than with a discussion of black cats and all the superstitions swirling around them.  Whether you are a cat person or a dog person, super religious or a stone-cold atheist, you've probably heard that seeing a black cat is a bad omen.

The Book of Superstitions: Black Cats, Yellow Flowers, Broken Mirrors, Cracked Sidewalks, and More Cultural Behaviors and Myths Explained ~ by Shelby El Otman, 2023, folk lore, 192 pages, 10/10

You'll learn the cultural histories behind some of the world's supernatural beliefs with this book:  things like Friday the 13th, rabbit feet, knocking on wood, walking under a ladder, and the curse of the evil eye.  I guess we all have a superstition or two.  The author unveils the origins of some of the most universal and and the little known superstitions that have influenced cultures around the world for centuries.  These include beliefs that gained a foothold in African and European folklore, notions from ancient Greece, and legends of the British Isles.  It's a captivating read that shows how superstitions vary from country to country.

I guess this could be called Caturday, a day early.  Clawdia would disagree with the idea that black cats are a bad omen, if she were still alive to still blog on Caturdays.  Click HERE to read about my little black cat named Clawdia (and what she posted on our blog).

Added later:  If you run into me today, you'll see I'm wearing black cat socks.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

My negative neighbor

al·lit·er·a·tion /əˌlidəˈrāSHən/noun = the occurrence of the same letter or

sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

One of my neighbors is a Negative Nellie.  Whenever she sees me, she likes to point out every negative thing about me that she can think of, from how I look to how I walk.  That's why I usually find another way to go if I see her.  She caught me at the elevator on Monday.

I've decided I need to learn how to be rude (sorry, Mom) and walk rapidly away from her, even when she is talking to me.  As I fumed in bed that night, I came up with the negative Nellie alliteration.  Looking for an illustration for this post, I learned I am not the first to notice that "negative" goes nicely with "Nellie."

Monday morning misery

My phone woke me at 6:43 a.m.  It was a friend, but nobody was on the line when I answered.  Not a good way for a retired elderly person to wake up on a Monday morning.  Was it a case of butt dialing?  AI quotes Wikipedia with this definition:

"Butt dialing (also called pocket dialing) is the accidental phone call made when a mobile phone in a pocket or bag is pressed by body movement."

When I answered, ready to talk to her, no one was there.  Maybe the phone call was an accident, but not the text from my cardiologist's office 28 minutes later, wanting me to confirm my appointment for next week.

Come on, people!  Retired folks, especially now that I'm 86, don't bounce out of bed that early to get ready for the workday.  I had read until after midnight and would have gotten a full night's sleep without those notifications.  I guess I'll go to bed early tonight.

National Friendship Day

Thursday's post was about International Friendship Day, HERE.

That's one day to celebrate our friends.  In the United States,

the first Sunday in August is National Friendship Day, so

let's enjoy all the possible days to celebrate friendships.

Dear Author: Students Write about the Books that Changed Their Lives ~ collected by Weekly Reader's Read Magazine, introduction by Lois Lowry, 1995, children's literature, xii + 188 pages, 5/5

A collection of letters from students to an assortment of authors both past and present about the impact of their work on the lives of their readers.  One person who commented on Amazon (after giving it a 5 of 5 rating) wrote:  "This book provides a brilliant reading list for young readers.  I highly recommend it and intend to pass on to my fourth grader."

Week in Review

• My subject for TWOsday was two rolls, HERE.
• Thursday was International Friendship Day, HERE.
• On Saturday, I shared the Action for Happiness calendar for August, HERE.

Hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,

we bloggers gather at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.

Make someone’s day brighter

I give you permission to pick ANY of these actions today, so you can brighten another person's day.  It will also make your own day a bit brighter.  Click on the calendar to enlarge it.