Today's the first day of SPRING

Under this photo from The Old Farmer's Almanac are these words:  "When Is the First Day of Spring 2024?  In 2024, the March equinox happens on March 19 at 11:06 P.M. EDT.  This falls on a Tuesday and is the astronomical beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere.  If you thought that the spring equinox only ever occurred on March 21, you may be dating yourself.  The civil calendar date of the equinox continues to shift every year."  So today's the day, but not yet.  We have to wait until tonight in my part of the world.

I told you about The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese a couple of days ago, saying "a couple of books worth sharing."  Well, maybe not.  My neighbor Betty knocked on my door, handed me this huge book (736 pages), and said she doesn't want it back.  It has taken her since Christmas to finish it, she said.  I then suggested donating it to the Crown Center's little library, but Betty said our resident librarian Risé had told her large books like this are too heavy for old folks to hold.

Books worth sharing

Today is St. Patrick's Day.  It is a holiday to commemorate Patrick's death.  He's the patron saint of Ireland, and this day was chosen because he died on March 17th around the year 492.

I wish a happy St. Patrick's Day to all of us who are Irish and those who want to be Irish, even if only for this one single day each year.

I'll be wearing GREEN today.  Would you like to join me?  I wish you the luck of the Irish:

May good luck be with you wherever you go, / and your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. /  May your days be many and your troubles be few. / May all of God's blessings descend upon you. / May peace be within you. / May your heart be strong. / May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam.

Did you just now read that in a sing-songy way as I did?  Oh, yeah, I thought you did.

The Night Country ~ by Loren Eisley, 1947, social science (Nebraska), 241 pages

Toward the end of his life, Loren Eiseley reflected on the mystery of life, throwing light on those dark places traversed by himself and centuries of humankind.  The Night Country is a gift of wisdom and beauty from the famed anthropologist.  It describes his needy childhood in Nebraska, reveals his increasing sensitivity to the odd and ordinary in nature, and focuses on a career that turns him inward as he reaches outward for answers in old bones (from the back cover).

The Covenant of Water ~ by Abraham Verghese, 2023, literary fiction (India), 736 pages

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, the story is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction:  in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning — and in Kerala, water is everywhere.  At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.  From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl — and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi — will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.

My neighbor is reading those two books

Betty, who lives across the hall from me, emailed me about one of them:  "Would love to hand it over to you when I’m finished."  After I read the books, she and I plan to discuss them.

Something Worth Leaving Behind ~ by Brett Beavers and Tom Douglas, introduction by Lee Ann Womack, 2002, inspiration, 66 pages, 10/10

If I will love then I will find

I have touched another life and that's something

Something worth leaving behind

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts the Sunday Salon

Beginning lines of an Irish historical novel trilogy

Beginning

The moon shone fitfully through the clouds.  It was piercingly cold.  The waters of the Boyne carried slabs of ice towards the sea.  The heights outside the walls, beyond the Mill Mount, were covered with a white hooar frost, so that they seemed to be part of the fortifications. 

The men moved cautiously through the orchard, putting each canvas-covered foot carefully on the frozen ground, their weapons gripped tightly in their hands . . .

Seek the Fair Land ~ by Walter Macken, 1959, historical fiction (Ireland), 338 pages

It is 1649.  As the English soldiers trample the Irish homesteads, leaving behind them a trail of barbarity and destruction, a few brave men set out to seek a 'fair land' over the brow of the hill.  Among them is Dominick MacMahon, whose wife has been killed in the bloody massacre of Drogheda, and whose son and daughter, and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian, accompany him.  But as he journeys in search of peace and freedom he is relentlessly pursued by Coote, the Cromwellian ruler of Connaught.

The Silent People ~ by Walter Macken, 1962, historical fiction (Ireland), 370 pages

In Ireland in 1826 millions knew only famine, oppression and degradation.  The landlords ground down the tenant famers; tithe wars and injustice were rife.  But Dualta Duane battles against tyranny, struggling to survive the evils of hunger, poverty and disease.  Courageous and fortified by an enduring love, Duane's unconquerable spirit personifies the love of freedom that raged in the soul of Ireland.

The Scorching Wind ~ by Walter Macken, 2014, historical fiction (Ireland), 322 pages

This is a vivid and memorable novel set in Dublin, 1916, during the Easter Rebellion and the bitter years which followed.  Through the diverging lives of two young brothers the agony of Ireland during these harrowing times is witnessed.  It is the time of the Sinn Fein, of the dreaded Tans, of terrible deeds, and of loyalties strained to breaking-point and beyond.

I thought I had gotten these titles from Colleen's blog Loose Leaf Notes, but now I can't find it.  The books look interesting, so I plan to read them anyway.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Pi is a Greek letter, pronounced "pie"

The Greek letter π is a symbol used by mathematicians to denote the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  Rounded to eight decimal places, the number is 3.14159265.  Here's a photo of the symbol baked into a pie crust:

Let's play with numbers as well as words today.  So thinking of 3.14, take a look at the calendar.  March is the 3rd month of the year, and today is the 14th day of March, making this 3-14 or 3/14.  Use a period instead of a dash or a slash, and we get 3.14 making today Pi Day.  Wow!

What do you think of when I say, "Pie"?  Well, you may think of desert, while I'm thinking about lunch.  So take your pick.

Or even better, we could have BOTH pizza pie and an apple pie for desert on this Pi Day and call it a meal.  Yeah, sounds good to me!

Hmm, I haven't added any books today.  Does it matter?  No, not really.

I'll "eat humble pie," if necessary.  You know that phrase means I will humbly apologize, if you aren't happy that I failed to include books in this blog post, right?

Do you play with words?

What is the meaning of wordplay?

wordplay / (ˈwɜːdˌpleɪ / noun = verbal wit based on the ambiguities of words and their meanings, punning, puns, clever repartee, a humorous play on words, double entendre.  Example:  "I love playing with words!"

Thanks, DictionGuru!  Click HERE to HEAR their explanation.

I have played with words my whole life.  I've told the story before about spending most one summer with my aunt's family.  She had married a man named Witt, so on a phone call home to my folks, little 10-year-old me — knowing exactly what the words meant — announced:  "I'm now a half-Witt."  And I laughed like crazy.  Wasn't I "witty"?

Word of the Day

wit·ty /ˈwidē / adjective = showing or characterized by quick and inventive verbal humor.  Example:  "That was a witty remark."  Similar:  humorous, amusing, droll, funny, comic, comical, sparkling, scintillating, lively, entertaining, clever, jocular

A time that is gone forever

House Made of Dawn ~ by N. Scott Momaday, 1986, 2018, historical fiction, 224 pages

This is the 50th anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from renowned Kiowa writer and poet N. Scott Momaday.  There's also a new preface by the author.

The time period covered by the novel is between July 1945 and February 1952.  A young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds.  The first is the world of his grandfathers, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the ancient rites and traditions of his people.  But the other world — modern, industrial America — pulls at Abel, demanding his loyalty, trying to claim his soul, and goading him into a destructive, compulsive cycle of depravity and despair.

This American classic is a tragic tale about the disabling effects of war and cultural separation, and also a hopeful story of a stranger in his native land, finding his way back to all that is familiar and sacred.

Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land ~ by N. Scott Momaday, 2020, nature musings, 80 pages

Momaday captures the spirit of of his native culture, offering the reader the experience of nature and beyond.  This book at once pays lyrical homage to the beauty of the living world and calls for our attention to keep it alive.  His words bring us back to the notion of forming a relationship with the land we are from.

The Way to Rainy Mountain ~ by N. Scott Momaday, illustrated by Al Momaday, 2019, Native American literature, 104 pages

This book recalls the journey of Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, and of Tai-me's people in three unique voices:  the legendary, the historical, and the contemporary.  It is also the personal journey of N. Scott Momaday, who on a pilgrimage to the grave of his Kiowa grandmother traversed the same route taken by his forebears and in so doing confronted his Kiowa heritage.  It is an evocation of three things in particular:

• a landscape that is incomparable,
• a time that is gone forever, 
• and the human spirit, which endures.  

Celebrating fifty years since its 1969 release, this new edition offers a moving new preface and invites a new generation of readers to explore the Kiowa myths, legends, and history.

These three books were delivered to me yesterday.  Put on your thinking cap so you can think of "a time that is gone forever," and leave a comment about whatever things you thought of.

N. Scott Momaday was born in 1934 in Lawton, Oklahoma.  He died at age 89 on January 24, 2024 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Signs of old age?

Are you feeling old yet?

In case you cannot read these signs, this is what they say:

Welcome to Over the Hillville

Arthritis Ave

Yield to Aches and Pains

Memory Detour

Wrinkle Rd

I don't know what to say about that vulture sign on the right.

Since vultures are birds of prey known for eating dead animals,

I guess it symbolizes death or dying.  Yes, we're closer than ever before.