Happy Halloween, Boys and Girls...

Hope you get all the sweets you can handle! Sleep tight...

if you can.

When Death Comes

When Death Comes

by Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

For Courage

For some friends and for myself on occasion when life seems so very dark. I hope you will find comfort in these words by the late John O'Donohue.

******************************

For Courage

When the light around you lessens

And your thoughts darken until

Your body feels fear turn

Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft

Of any belief in yourself

And all you unknowingly

Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands

Your whole heart, 

And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see

That it is your own thinking

That darkens your world,

Search and you will find

A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone

And that this darkness has purpose;

Gradually it will school your eyes

To find the one gift your life requires

Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning

Of every suffering

You have suffered.

Close your eyes.

Gather all the kindling

About your heart

To create one spark.

That is all you need

To nourish the flame

That will cleanse the dark

Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive

To urge you toward higher ground

Where your imagination

Will learn to engage difficulty

As its most rewarding threshold!

morningstar mini-storage

There is a local mini-storage facility in my town that employs somebody with a good sense of humor to write sayings for their sign out front. It's always good for a chuckle and I take a picture whenever I get an opportunity. Here are a few that were posted recently. Hope you enjoy them.

I'm one of them, lol.

Taken this past spring.

My Norwegian friends enjoyed this.

Not sure if they meant to say Adobe, rather than Abode, 

but either way, it's pretty funny. Heaven knows how

many times Adobe updates their stuff.

Answers

Here are the answers to yesterday's photo quiz...

Playing with photo software...

Any guesses as to what the original photographs were?

Miracles

The Journey of Life

Here is another lovely poem by Terah Cox. Hope you enjoy it!

Measure of a Man

Found this lovely poem by Terah Cox that I thought you might enjoy.

Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Dragons...

Just some wise advice, in case you were thinking of meddling in the affairs of dragons, or anything. ;-)

Book Review: The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon

This book is the latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I became a fan of this series through the movies that had been made out of some of the books. 

Precious Ramotswe is the kind, warm and "traditionally built" owner of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and Grace Makutsi is her associate detective. Where Mma Ramotswe is gentle in her inquiries, Mma Makutsi tends towards being much more direct and outspoken in her opinions and methods of questioning and has ruffled more than a few feathers.

In this installment, the owner of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon enlists Mma Ramotswe's help in finding out whom is sabotaging her business. In a separate case, a lawyer approaches the agency for help in determining whether a young man is who he claims to be, as he stands to inherit his uncle's very successful farm. There is enough doubt about his identity and enough other people who would benefit whether he inherited or not to keep Mma Ramotswe on her toes and there is a surprise twist to the story that I did not see coming.

In addition to everything else, Mma Makutsi gives birth to her first child and things at the agency go into a bit of a tailspin without her day-to-day presence. However, childbirth and even a meddling aunt-in-law cannot keep Mma Makutsi out of commission for very long and she is soon enough able to assist Mma Ramotswe with resolving the cases and still being there for her new baby.

This was a fun read and I would recommend it to fans of the series or anyone else looking for an engaging read. If you are into mysteries with lots of blood and guts and assorted other violence, this series is not for you. You can check out more about the book here.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review. 

Book Review: The Hexed

Getting in the mood for Halloween, I guess. This is the second book by Heather Graham that I have read. She is quite the prolific writer! This story is set in Salem, MA, and is about a series of modern day murders that tie back to the Salem Witch Trials. 

I read the book in one day, so it obviously held my attention. There is a good bit of history involved and the characters are well written with a red herring or two here and there to keep you off balance. I do have one bone of contention involving something the protagonist did (with no explanation that I could see) that seemed, to me, very out of character with her behavior in the rest of the book, but apart from that, I enjoyed the book immensely. You can check it out here. 

I am not being compensated for this review. 

Bullying

Bullying is a huge problem for many people today. Poet/Spoken Word Artist, Shane Koyczan gives a fabulous, funny, and heartbreaking TED talk about bullying and his personal experience with it. Please take a few moments to watch this. It is worth your time.

Love

This is in honor of a friend whose sister passed away from cancer about a week ago. Godspeed, Holly. Be at peace and know that we are all looking out for your brother.

Wounds

Wise words from Oprah Winfrey

The Present

Photo by Moi!

Possible

New Wheels

My old car was going to need one too many expensive repairs, so I've bought a new(er) vehicle to toodle around in. Here she is!

Start

Book Review: the beach street knitting society and yarn club

the beach street knitting society and yarn club

by Gil McNeil

A quick and fun read about a woman who must build a new business and a new life with her two boys after her husband's untimely demise.


Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Love yourself...

Go ahead and give yourself a hug, too. No, really!

Book Review: Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes

Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes

A No-Bullshit Guide to World Mythology

by Cory O'Brien

A fun and irreverent look at various world mythologies. The Norse were badasses, I must say, but all of them had pretty fascinating creation stories. Check out the Amazon reviews for more insight. Funny stuff!

A note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Your time is limited...

Wise words from Steve Jobs

Book Review: Wings of Madness

SPOILER ALERT

Wings of Madness

Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight

By Paul Hoffman

Where to even start? Wow! What a great read! I had never heard of Santos-Dumont before reading this book. He is, for me, and I suspect for a lot of other people, a lost hero of early aviation.

Paul Hoffman takes us on a fascinating ride through aviation history and into the life of Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont. The book covers his formative years on his father’s very successful coffee plantation, to his arrival in Paris, the city he fell in love with and came to call home for many years, and his eventual move back home to Brazil. Along the way we are given insight into the prevalent thinking of the Industrial Age and what drove inventors to create.

It was on his father’s coffee plantation that his love of engineering came to the fore and through reading his father’s engineering textbooks, he discovered hot air balloons. At the age of 10 he was able to duplicate Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier’s hot air balloon invention in miniature, without ever having seen a hot air balloon in real life. The writings of Jules Verne further piqued his interest in flying machines and he became an ardent student of all things aviation.  

In 1891, when Santos-Dumont was 18 years old, his family sold the coffee plantation and relocated to Paris to find expert medical care for his father, who had fallen from his horse and suffered from a severe concussion and partial paralysis. Alberto immediately fell in love with the city. Being the engineering geek that he was, he spent several hours on his first day in Paris just riding the elevators up and down the then two year-old Eiffel Tower and admiring the engineering genius of Gustave Eiffel.

He later created a one-man dirigible which he flew around Paris, over the crowds and rooftops, and occasionally crashed into roofs and other things, such as a tree on the Rothschild’s property. Never one for letting failure keep him down longer than it took him to heal from an injury, he dusted himself off and continued his quest to create the world’s first practical flying machine, dreaming that one day everyone might have their own personal flying machine. He was a man on top of the world and living his dream, and soon flying machines were a reality.

Although considered eccentric by many, he became well-known, loved and respected for his advancements in aviation. He became friends with the Rothschild’s, the Cartier’s, and many other influential families.

The events of World War I and seeing the flying machines’ capacity for destruction began to haunt him and made him question his dreams. He appealed to the military powers-that-be to cease using them for destructive purposes, but we all know how that turned out.

Parts of this book were very hard to read. A man’s genius and dreams being twisted for purposes of war and destruction is hard to accept even as a reader. You can imagine what it did to him and what it does to geniuses of today who face the same reality. Even so, this book is definitely worth the read. There is so much good in it, so much fascinating history, and so much to learn from it.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Courage

Book Review: The Wealthy Barber

This book was given to me by a friend to help me understand personal finances. Written with a good dose of humor, the book presents some fairly complicated concepts in an easy-to-understand format. 

Although I did not grasp some of the concepts on my first read-through, I did still take away a good understanding of some of the financial concepts and I look forward to implementing some of its strategies.

The edition I read was from 1997/1998, although there is a newer edition available from 2011 if you are interested in reading it yourself.

Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

How far you go in life...

A bit of wisdom from George Washington Carver today...

Book Review: the first phone call from heaven

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT

What's not to like about a book written by Mitch Albom? I  have enjoyed his books for years, and his newest novel does  not disappoint.  When various people in the small town of Coldwater, MI begin to receive phone calls from heaven, the other residents begin to learn more about themselves and their belief in heaven, or lack thereof. Soon pilgrims from the world over are arriving in tiny Coldwater for a chance to be a part of the miracles. Sully, a man recently released from prison for his inadvertent role in a heart-breaking tragedy that killed his wife is particularly affected as his son begins to believe in the miracles and waits for a call from his late mother. To protect his son, Sully does his best to debunk the so-called miracles, and learns lessons in forgiveness, grace, and faith along the way. Note: I am not being compensated for this review.

Smile

Sharing a bit of wisdom from the late, great Marilyn Monroe today. Smile!