Caturday post by Clawdia

Yes, it's Caturday, and Bonnie left the computer open for me as she promised.  Typing this is hard work for a cat, you know, since I don't have long fingers like humans.  But we cats are very smart and can manage to do a lot more than people imagine.  I think it's selfish of humans not to share their technology with cats like me, cats who would enjoy a chance to publish online.

So what shall we discuss today?  I think I'll tell you about my new plastic bag.  Well, actually, it's a very old and torn bag with several holes.  But it's MINE.  Best of all is that Bonnie took some photos.  I didn't know about them until later, but she was willing to share.  I'll show you my favorites, if she can figure out how to send them to me.  I think I'll go sit on (or inside of) the "holey" plastic bag again, so.....

Clawdia, 'til next time   >^..^<

Beginning ~ with an empty birdcage

Beginning

The empty wicker birdcage beside her began to rattle impatiently.  Zoey gave it a sharp look as if to say they were almost there.  It stopped.  She glanced at the cabdriver to see if he had noticed.

Other Birds ~ by Sarah Addison Allen, 2022, magical realism (South Carolina), 304 pages

Down a narrow alley in the small coastal town of Mallow Island, South Carolina, lies a stunning cobblestone building comprised of five apartments.  It’s called The Dellawisp and it is named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey Hennessey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at The Dellawisp, she meets her quirky, enigmatic neighbors including a girl on the run, a grieving chef whose comfort food does not comfort him, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and three ghosts.  Each has a story, whose ending isn’t yet written.

When one of her new neighbors dies under odd circumstances the night Zoey arrives, she is thrust into the mystery of The Dellawisp, which involves missing pages from a legendary writer whose work might be hidden there.  She soon discovers that many unfinished stories permeate the place, and the people around her are in as much need of healing from wrongs of the past as she is.  To find their way, they have to learn how to trust each other, confront their deepest fears, and let go of what haunts them.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

A classic worth reading ~ library loot

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ~ by Thornton Wilder, 1927, fiction (Peru), 192 pages

"On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below."  This immortal sentence opens The Bridge of San Luis Rey, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim.  It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, was the best-selling work of fiction that year, and is still read throughout the world.  Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, witnesses the tragic event.  Deeply moved, he embarks on a quest to prove that it was divine intervention, not chance, that led to the deaths of the five people crossing the bridge that day.  His search leads to a timeless investigation into the nature of fate and love, and the meaning of the human condition.

Talking turkey

"Talking turkey" means to discuss something frankly and practically.

Do you recycle?

Recycling helps us keep the environment clean and preserves our natural resources.  America Recycles Day began in 1999.  What should we recycle?  I posted about it HERE, where I reminded myself which numbers on plastic can be recycled.  Numbers #1-5 and #7 are accepted, but not #6.

Growing old

We Spread ~ by Iain Reid, 2022, psychological suspense, 304 pages

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life.  She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip.  Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well.  She even begins to paint again.  But as the days start to blur together, Penny — with a growing sense of unrest and distrust — starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world.  Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?  This novel explores questions of conformity, productivity, relationships, and what it means to grow old.

Speaking of old folks, I got my latest booster Saturday.  It was bivalent, like this image found online.  That's good, I think, since I read that most experts agree that older people — I'm 82 — should get the new bivalent shots now, as should those who have chronic conditions and those who are immunocompromised.

Word of the Day

bivalent = The updated boosters are called bivalent because they protect against the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5.  The previous boosters are monovalent because they were designed to protect only against the original virus.

November 13th is World Kindness Day

Readin' and writin' and 'rithmetic

I'm reading about writing.  Yeah, I'm slowly working my way through So You Want to Write: How to Master the Craft of Writing Fiction and Memoir (2nd edition) by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood (2010), which is very appropriate for Nonfiction November.  By the way, even though I am reading some nonfiction, I am not doing the "assignments."  I'd rather read.

"Writing something down is a way of keeping it."  I borrowed this line from a very old post on Colleen's Loose Leaf Notes blog (see #44).  I also found a list online of the benefits of writing things down:

1. Writing things down helps you record everything that has your attention.
2. Writing things down helps clear your mind.
3. Writing things down helps clarify your goals, priorities, and intentions.
4. Writing things down helps keep you motivated.
5. Writing things down helps you recognize and process your emotions.
6. Writing things down encourages daily progress.
7. Writing things down enables a higher level of thinking, and therefore, more focused action.
8. Writing things down develops your sense of gratitude.

"Over to you" is the way that person ended her list.  My thinking is closest to Colleen's, I believe.  I blog so I can keep track of the things on my mind:  the books, the words, the ideas.

The main thing I say about myself (on the sidebar, under my photo) is that "I read to explore ideas."  Writing it down continues my exploration of what's happening.

(Did you find the "arithmetic" in this post?  Sorry, it's only that list of eight numbers above.)

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a

place to link up and to share what we've been doing

and what we've been reading during the week.

========================================

Deb shared in the comments that she had signed up at the Mayo Clinic's site for a month-long program to increase kindness in the world.  Here's the link:

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/wellness/kindness