How cat-like are you?

Library Loot ~ March 9-15

A Spindle Splintered ~ by Alix Harrow, 2021, speculative fiction, 128 pages

In this modern retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, it's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday.  It's extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have.  When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition.  Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one.  Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel.  But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds — with another sleeping beauty — just as desperate to escape her fate.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Claire has Mr. Linky this week.

Throwback Thursday ~ a day for remembering

Here are Bonnie, Lauree, and Donna in 2019, when Lauree made a presentation at the Crown Center.  Why am I featuring this today?  It's for Lauree and all our friends who knew Donna and Lauree's mother, Tiny.  Donna and Tiny both died in July 2021, and today is Lauree's birthday.  Happy, happy birthday, Lauree!

Lauree also took this photo of me that I use for my profile picture; it's on the sidebar to the right.  We had gone out to eat together with her mother, and I handed her my cell-phone camera.  Thanks, Lauree.

I hope your birthday is wonderful!

Actually, I hope your whole YEAR is great!

Daily dozen for seniors ~ let's exercise

1. Walk ~ If it's a nice day, outside would be good.
2. Extend your leg behind you ~ I can feel the pull.
3. Raise your toes ~ Nice stretch.
4. Raise your heels ~ I like this feeling.
5. Push off the wall ~ I feel like a child playing. 
6. Shrug your shoulders ~ Feels good, ahhhh!
7. Raise your arms to the side ~ Feel it in my shoulders.
8. Stretch your chest ~ Hmm, I was kind of stiff.
9. Straighten your leg behind you ~ Lower back work.
10. Drop your head to your ear ~ Relaxes my neck.
11. Walk a tightrope ~ Good for my balance.
12. Walk ~ Yeah!  Move it, folks!  Let's take a walk!
13. (Plus one) Where's the reaching overhead stretch?!?  Also, touch each finger to our thumbs: 1-2-3-4 and back 4-3-2-1.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is celebrated annually on March 8, yet the global campaign theme continues all year long to encourage action.  The theme for 2022 is "gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow."

We can all play a part in helping build an equal world.

I'm helping to publicize this day.  What can you do to help?

Best books of 2021 ~ according to my library

Below are four of my library's sixty "best books of 2021" that I decided to read:

Niki Nakayama: A Chef's Tale in 13 Bites ~ by Jamie Michalak and Debbi Michiko Florence, illustrated by Yuko Jones, 2021, children's picture book, 40 pages, 9/10

As a child and adult, Niki faced many naysayers in her pursuit of haute cuisine.  Using the structure of a traditional kaiseki meal, the authors playfully detail Niki's hunger for success in thirteen "bites" ― from wonton wrappers she used to make pizza as a kid to yuzu-tomatillo sauce in her own upscale Los Angeles Michelin-starred restaurant, n/naka.  To anyone who tells her a woman can't be a master chef, Niki lets her food do the talking ― and oh, does it talk.  Niki was featured on the first season of Netflix's culinary documentary series Chef's Table.  And Chrissy Teigen proclaimed that Niki's restaurant was one of her absolute favorites.  She's currently a featured teacher on MasterClass.  A smart, strong woman with starpower, Niki is only just getting started.

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners ~ by Joanna Ho, 2021, illustrated by Dung Ho, 2021, children's picture book, 40 pages

A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers' eyes.  They have big, round eyes and long lashes.  She realizes that her eyes are like her mother’s, her grandmother's, and her little sister's.  They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future.  Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her own beauty and discovers a path to self-love and empowerment.

A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables) ~ by Alix E. Harro, 2021, science fiction, 126 pages

It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have.  When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition.  Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one.  Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel.  But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

Blob ~ written and illustrated by Anne Appert, 2021, children's picture book, 40 pages

A humorous picture book featuring a blob (n. a creature that can be anything they want) about embracing who we are and the many things we can be.  Blob is a creature of indeterminate kind.  Blob can be a giraffe, cotton candy, and even an octopus.  It’s not until a certain someone continuously calls them “Bob” that Blob starts to question who they really are.  After a series of funny yet enlightening discoveries about all the possible things they can be, Blob realizes that the best thing to be is . . . Blob.  (With the L.)

Not much this Sunday

Happenstances ~ by Mary Ellen Bell, 2016, fiction (Colorado), 338 pages

How would a large group of strangers react if they were forced to spend several days together, like during a blizzard?  Karen Belton, a recent widow, and her seven-year-old son Charlie are driving into the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado to spend a day or two at Log Lodge.  The snow and wind begin mid-morning, instead of the forecast report that it would be much later in the day.  She has a challenging drive through the heightening storm.  When they arrive, they are helped into the lodge by managers Sam and Ollie.  Inside they face a beautiful brick fireplace burning brightly and many people milling around.  An emergency arises almost immediately and Karen, who is an RN, jumps in to supervise.  The day continues with another emergency and an unpleasant encounter.  In all, there are 34 guests, including nine children.  By evening, guests are mingling. Most are friendly, some are misfits.  They settle in for the duration.  There is sufficient congeniality that plans are made to have a reunion at the lodge the following year.  When the storm moves out, departure is delayed.  A mystery has raised its ugly head.

Karen and Charlie arrive at their destination in Aurora and settle into their new life.  Karen is a nurse at Children's Hospital.  The normalcy that she seeks takes many turns:  friendships and heartbreak, happiness and horror.  Her haven is Charlie's great-grandparents' ranch on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, where they visit several times during the year.  Without a warning, the mystery that started at Log Lodge erupts during the year and a few innocent guests are at the center with no clue as to how they got there.  Many attend the March reunion, arriving with a few surprises.  In the evening they gather in the large lounge that was the gathering spot the year before.  After each guest relates a highlight from his or her year, Sam lays out the details of the mystery.  The revelation is astounding and emotional.

This is the book I'm currently reading on my Kindle.  Below is the city hall of my town (University City) lit up in the colors of the Ukraine flag in solidarity with Ukraine.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.