Sunday Salon

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.

Well, I bought a new laptop, but it isn't yet connected to wi-fi in my apartment.  Maybe tomorrow.  In the meantime, I've finished reading Oh William! a novel by Elizabeth Strout, 2021.  Someone left an Amazon comment, saying that this...

"is the third book in a series, but unlike the first two, Oh, William! exists as a standalone. You don’t need to have read the first two books to understand this one."

I'll tell you more about it when I can add a photo and all that.  The book is also Library Loot for me.

Being catty on Caturday

My neighbor Larry showed me a black-and-white photo of his cat, but this is a colorful story.  In my Sunday post, I promised to tell you about his cat, saying it was "a big cat, in need of a big name."  They named the cat Samson.  Why Samson?  Maybe because Samson is known as the strong man in the Bible, and the cat has a 13-inch tail and huge paws.

Judges 16:1-31 says that Samson was a Nazirite who was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies.  He demolished the Philistine temple of the god Dagon, at Gaza, destroying both his captors and himself in the process (Judges 16:4–30).  Is the cat that strong?  I doubt it, but he's a BIG cat.

Beginning ~ with her first husband

Beginning

I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William.

William has lately been through some very sad events — many of us have — but I would like to mention them, it feels almost a compulstion, he is seventy-one years old now.

Oh William! (Book 3 of 5) ~ by Elizabeth Strout, 2021, fiction, 248 pages (in the large print edition)

Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read.  William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me.  Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years.  They just are. 

So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret — one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us.  There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children.  On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together — even after we’ve grown apart.

 

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Two poems for TWOsday

WEATHER                                     COMPARATIVES

Whether the weather be fine,                  Good, better, best,

Whether the weather be cold,                 Never let it rest,  

Or whether the weather be hot,              Till your good is better

We'll weather the weather                       And your better best.    

Whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!                                                 ANON

                            ANON

I "hear" these in a sing-songy rhythm.  Am I the only one?  These are from A Child's Treasury of Poems, edited by Mark Daniel, p. 18 (L) and p. 30 (R).  And once again, I can't figure out how to include the book cover illustration.

__________

UPDATE (7-14-24):  I have a new laptop and can finally add the book cover.

It takes a village.....

Wikipedia tells me that the full quote is "It takes a village to raise a child," but today it feels to me that "it takes a village" to get this post up on my blog.  Why? Because my laptop went down and I pulled out an old one that I haven't used in years. When I couldn't figure out how to get into it, I went to the Crown Center office and Andrew helped me connect to the wi-fi on the ground floor.  So here 'tis, as my friend Jane used to say.  Now if only I could figure out how to add the illustration I chose.  Hmm.

Oh, I got a photo to load.  Yay!  It's the pear salad that I wish they'd put back on the menu in my Circle@Crown Café!  Yes, it's as yummy as it looks.  Okay, I'll settle for this illustration because my "village" likes to eat.

Sunday Salon

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI ~ by David Grann, 2017, history (Oklahoma), 416 pages

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma.  After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off.  The family of an Osage woman — Mollie Burkhart — became a prime target.  One of her relatives was shot.  Another was poisoned.  And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered.

As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery.  White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

This book was a finalist for the National Book Award.  Here's one popular highlight:  "This is why the Osage Indians refer to May as the time of the flower-killing moon."

I told a friend — who was wearing a blue Snoopy tee shirt with "I'll do it tomorrow" on it — that Snoopy is my favorite dog.  Snoopy's philosophy makes me think.  Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?  I found this photo online to share with you.

Sorry, Snoopy, but I've started something "new" on my blog.  Or rather, I've returned to being catty.  I plan to once again post on Caturdays.  Take a look HERE at yesterday's announcement.  I have photographed my neighbor's cat.  Well, I took a picture of his photo of the cat, whose name is Samson.  It's a big cat, in need of a "big" name.  Tune in this coming Saturday to read more about it.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.

Weekly Mews for Caturday

I love this photo!  I found it HERE, and decided Caturday (the day after Friday) needs a refreshing photo of a kitty cat like this.  So this is my Caturday post with the Weekly Mews.  Hmm, do I have any catty news?  It's hard to do this without the help of either Kiki Cat or Clawdia Cat telling me what to write.  See pictures of my BFFs (Best Furry Friends) on the right sidebar.

Today's news ~ or mews ~ is that I'll talk to my friends with cats and dogs and see what's going on in their lives.  And maybe by next week I will actually have something to say from a cat's eye view of the world.  Meow for now, and . . .