Beginning ~ in stationary traffic

Beginning

She was going to be late for court.  She had been cutting it fine anyway, leaving chambers when she did, but Dominic had said it would only take half an hour to get there once she was through the worst of the central London traffic.  Now, however, she was sitting in a stationary queue of cars watching the clock on her dashboard click over from minute to minute.

Reluctantly Home ~ by Imogen Clark, 2021, fiction (England)

Pip Appleby seems to have it all, with her prestigious job as a human rights lawyer and her enviable London home.  But then a tragic accident stops her life in its tracks, and in an instant everything changes.  Retreating to her family’s rural farm and the humble origins she has been trying to hide, Pip is haunted by what she has done.

When she discovers the diary of actress Evelyn Mountcastle in a box of old books, Pip revels in the opportunity to lose herself in someone else’s life rather than focus on the disaster that is her own.  But soon she sees parallels ― Evelyn’s life was also beset by tragedy, and, like Pip, she returned to Southwold under a dark cloud.

When Pip and Evelyn’s paths cross in real life they slowly begin to reveal the hidden stories that are holding them back.  Can they help each other forgive what happened in the past and, perhaps, find happiness in the future?

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Speaking up? or talking over someone?

Jan Edmiston's blog post on May 14th was Let’s Talk About Talking.  Do you know someone who must always have the last word?

Even worse, have you ever been interrupted by some man in a meeting as you were trying to speak?  In May 2018, I blogged about the time a man tried to speak over ME (click that link, and see item #5):

I'm interested in the #MeToo movement and how many women can say, "Me, too."  When I attended a recent panel discussion, I counted 31 of us in the room.  Only nine were men, but every one of them (except the silent young man who accompanied a woman on the panel) spoke up, some repeatedly.  I noticed that the men would jump into the conversation without waiting for the moderator (who was a woman) to call on them, while women were raising their hands and waiting to be called on.  Fewer than half the women spoke at all.  Finally, I had had enough.  I waited patiently, with my hand up, until the moderator called on me.  When I started talking about women needing to have a voice and men doing the talking about #MeToo, a man near me interrupted me (!!!).  So I stood up and continued to speak loudly ABOVE him.  We women had come to discuss the #MeToo situation, not to have it "man-splained" to us, though I didn't use that word.  A woman came up to me afterwards to thank me for speaking up.

I ought to do it

Have you ever thought about all the things you ought to do before you die?  I have, so do you think I should write my oughtobiography?  I tried to look up that word — it's a word if I use it! — but I got "showing results for autobiography" from Google.  Lest you also assume that I goofed, let's define four related words:

• Autobiography is the story of a person’s life, written by that person, focused on facts and things that happened.
• Biography is the story of a person's life, written by someone else, focused on facts and things that happened.
• Memoir is the story of a person's life, written by that person, but focused on a particular theme or idea.  So a memoir is more limited.
• Oughtobiography is a story of a person's life, written by that person, with the focus on what she feels she ought to have done (or ought to do) before she dies.

So I ought to do it.  Write an oughtobiography, I mean.  What would you include in your oughtobiography?  Come on!  Get creative.

One more, and then I'll quit playing with words.  Someone on Facebook shared this:  "It was a sad and disappointing day when I discovered my Universal Remote Control did not, in fact, control the universe. (Not even remotely.)"

This is Chris, my newest neighbor.  Nancy, whose apartment is filled with stuffed dogs and dog pictures and who has been wearing a mask during the pandemic that makes the lower half of her face look like a dog, has brought 5-month-old Chris home to live with her.  She's never had a cat before, but she's in love.  Isn't Chris cute?

Below is a bit of cat trivia for you, Nancy.  I hope you enjoy it and have fun with your new kitty.

Two photos to share

Here's the latest look for our sixth floor bulletin board.  I used birds and animals from free calendars to fill the space completely.

I call this photo "Rainy Days and Mondays" from the song.  It's what I saw out my window at 2:00 pm yesterday, which just happened to be a Monday.

Monday Punday ~ once again

Are you old enough to remember hippies waving the peace sign in the air with their fingers, chanting, "Give peace a chance"?  The pea on the left is displaying the hand sign, and the one in the middle is wearing a pendant with the peace sign on it.  A hippie was also called a "flower child" in the sixties, thus the third pea wearing a flower.  Compare the three peas to the symbols on the right.

A robin, dark skies, and the books I'm reading

I saw this robin when I was out walking on Monday.  He's on the fence between our driveway and the apartments next door.

I saw this dark sky today, while also hearing rumbling.  It has been hot here in St. Louis with a high of 90°F.  But the worst part is been that today's thunderstorms are in the forecast all week long.

I finished reading One True Thing by Anna Quindlen (1994, fiction, 8/10), but I didn't love it as much as the first time I read it — maybe because I'm now a quarter of a century older.  I'm old now, the age of the book's dying generation.  A favorite quote from the book:  "My father . . . did what so many men do:  he divided women into groups . . . the intellectual twins, the woman of the mind and the one of the heart. . . . I had the misfortune to be designated the heartless one, my mother the mindless one.  It was a disservice to us both but, on balance, I think she got the better deal" (p. 281).

The book I'm reading now is The Old Girls' Network by Judy Leigh (2020, fiction).  It's never too late to change.  After a health scare, 77-year-old Barbara goes to convalesce in the English country village of Winsley Green where her sister Pauline lives.  The sisters are very different — Barbara is outspoken and aloof, and Pauline is good-natured — so tensions rise.  When Pauline accidentally knocks down a man named Bisto Mulligan, she finds herself with a second house-guest.  It becomes apparent as he is recovering that Bisto is not who he first seemed and, as they get to know the kind of man he really is, it’s clear he could change their lives.

    Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, 

    a place for us to link up and share what 

    we have been doing during the week.

Beginning ~ with the N***** word

Preface

The night I decided to confront the middle school coach who called my son the N-word, my hands were stained with permanent marker from making signs for the Special Olympics.  While my son, the very one called a n***** by a White forty-something grown man, slept in the next bedroom, I obsessed over two things:  the exact dressing-down I'd give the coach and the fact that I would go into the meeting with dirty hands — which would be an enormous problem because I talk with my hands.

Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace ~ by Osheta Moore, 2021, racism

This book is a breakup letter to division, a love letter to God’s beloved community, and an eviction notice to the violent powers that have sustained racism for centuries.  Race is one of the hardest topics to discuss in America.  Many white Christians avoid talking about it altogether. But a commitment to peacemaking requires white people to step out of their comfort and privilege and into the work of anti-racism.  Dear White Peacemakers is an invitation to white Christians to come to the table and join this hard work and holy calling.

Rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus, this book is a challenging call to transform white shame, fragility, saviorism, and privilege, in order to work together to build the Beloved Community as anti-racism peacemakers.  Written in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Dear White Peacemakers draws on the Sermon on the Mount, Spirituals, and personal stories from author Osheta Moore’s work as a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Enter into this story of shalom, and join in the urgent work of anti-racism peacemaking.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.