SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE LOUISE PENNY ARMAND GAMACHE BOOK SERIES
Continue readingPenny Prompts #8 – “They Know Me”
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Summer Intentions – It’s Never too Late to Start
I groan when I’m asked what my intentions are at the end of my six-week memoir class. In the spring, they are called summer intentions, and, in the fall, they are winter intentions. I know that the teacher will write it down, and when we return in the next season I’m asked and draw a blank and when she reminds me from her notes I will cringe and say, “Yeah, no, I didn’t do that, but I did…” Every time. It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
I’m a little more focused as this summer began. I’ve set actual deadlines on the calendar.
I’ve focused on my main book while also keeping my eye out for things to pull my prayer book together.
I’ve tried to write every day, and I can almost meet that goal.
So, if things are going so swimmingly, what exactly are my intentions?
- Keep my morning routine – do my word puzzles, check my email, balance my checkbook, and check Threads (because I hate myself).
- Review my St. Kateri outline and see where my research and writing focus will be that day and week.
- I’ve been asked to consider leading a workshop on St. Kateri, and so I’m doing that – considering it. I would plan it for the fall, around Indigenous Peoples Day or Kateri’s canonization anniversary, but we’ll see how that advances.
- Read a chapter in each of the books I’m reading – one is about Israel, one is about Democracy, one is about White Poverty, and one is about Indigenous relationships plus a skimming re-read of Louise Penny’s Gamache series (there’s nothing wrong with feeding an obsession, is there?)
- Speaking of Louise Penny: as I was reading her books, several things jumped out at me in the way of writing prompts. The first one appears tomorrow, and they will continue weekly through September. I have aptly named them Penny Prompts. So clever 😉 And alliterate.
- Plan the blog at least two weeks out, including Instagram and Spotify (please check them out)
- And last, but not least, rescue democracy. Sunday was rough; I’ll admit it, but we’ve seen worse, and we can get through this if we remain focused. They won’t be weekly, but I plan to publish more of Election Connection. We all have work to do. I’ll repeat this over and over again: There are NO polls! The only poll that means anything is the one on November 5th. Let’s all work towards that one.
Pardon My English
As you may know, and as I may have mentioned at least once, I have recently been obsessed by Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache book series. This could be a good as well as a bad thing. I’ve read the series twice now and have taken a few forays into the depths of some plot points. I am immersed. One of the negative things I find in binge reading and re-reading so closely together is noticing things like continuity errors that pop up on occasion, things that would typically slip by the reader if the books were read as they were released rather than all at once, the change of a pet’s name or a grandchild’s nickname; the age of someone when their parents died. There is also the redundancy that follows a book series in order to catch-up new readers with things that series regulars know, like the physical characteristics of the characters (I’ve had some issues with a couple of the women characters’ descriptions), their phobias (heights & closed spaces) and their foibles, their likes and dislikes (like Beauvoir’s love of steak frites – why mayonnaise with fries, someone please, please explain this to me, and his dislike of Anglos), their idiosyncrasies (the poetry), their hidden agendas and pasts that play into how they act and react to others and to situations. One of the things I do love about binge reading and re-reading is discovering the Easter eggs hidden and the foreshadowing that are only visible in hindsight.
Continue readingTell Me What You Know
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
(c)2024
My first introduction to Louise Penny was with State of Terror, the book she co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton, which admittedly was what drew me to the book in the first place. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in mysteries and state department/political thrillers. It’s taken me a few years since then to rediscover the author Louise Penny when her Gamache Series was recommended to me recently in a writing class.
I may have mentioned in a previous note, here or on Facebook, that I’ve become obsessed with Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. I’ve read the entire series and am less than patiently waiting for the next book that will be released in October. I am about halfway through a second read-through – did I mention that I was obsessed?! I had recommended them to a friend of mine and it turned out she was already reading them! It is so hard to talk to her about them and not give her any spoilers. I had planned to write a proper review and recommendation for next week or the week after, however, today is a special day in the books (and in my own life as I’ll explain).
There should not be any spoilers not found in the synopsis on the backs of the books.
Continue readingProvidence
StandardFate. Coincidence. Providence.
Are they real? Really real?
Thinking about them happening, they might be far off and existential and not as real as touch, but when they happen –
BOOM!
The slight increase in heartbeat, a hitch in breath, the exhilaration of being aware as something remarkable happens right in front of you.
I’ve been aware of the spiritual, the extra-natural, and they are few and far between. Sometimes they travel to my consciousness after the fact, but when they happen within the moment, in the context, they become something special, something extraordinary, something to be held close for all time, and beyond time.
I had two times this week that something like that occurred.
Fate?
Coincidence?
Providence. All the above.
—
Several months ago, my memoir teacher recommended a book to me – one of many – The Cartographers. I presumed it was about maps or map-making, and I wasn’t able to find it in the library app on my Kindle. In the meantime, I read a bunch of other books. On Monday, I decided it was time to try again, so I checked the library app, and there it was: The Cartographers. I checked it out and began to read. Even in the pre-table of contents pages, I wasn’t sure about it – there was a warning of suicidal ideation and self-harm and to take care reading it. I burrowed on.
The main gist is a high school graduate who is lying to her mother about going to college; she lives in NYC with two roommates, meets an odd boy and just shows us her life and gives us some insight and lessons along the way. This did not seem like a book my memoir teacher would be drawn to, but I was definitely drawn to it. I couldn’t believe how much the main character, Ocean, resonated with me in very familiar and emotional ways, sometimes painful. I really related to her, the existential crisis that was continually her personality – I feel that in my bones. As Queen sings, “Is this the real life; is this just fantasy?” Or a simulation on some alien being’s computer. As Ocean asks, “Are you dead too?” I don’t feel that despondency, but it’s a good question.
Are the fate moments real and everything else is fluff? Or the opposite: all the misery and doldrums are real, and the fate moments are the fluff – the golden fleece, the silver lining, the gold at the end of the rainbow.
About halfway through the book, I suggested to my daughter that she would really like this book. She’s seventeen, and it seemed like her kind of style and subject that she might enjoy. She told me to text her. I searched for the book on Amazon to give her the link, so she’d know the title and the author, and I told her to borrow it from the library. It popped up on Amazon: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, but the cover seemed different. I thought it was the difference between hardcover and softcover editions, and then I realized that I was reading The Cartographers by Amy Zhang.
Not the same book at all.
My teacher had recommended a book about maps and murder and mystery – all in my wheelhouse, and I was reading a book about teen angst and friendship (and loving it by the way), and I suddenly realized that I was reading the wrong book.
Although was it really the wrong book?
It was the perfect book for me, at this moment in time.
Is that fate?
I don’t know, but it was perfect.
—
Then today. This morning, I had time to attend mass. The homily was about the poor. Blessed are the poor. But not just bless them but look at them. See them. We all come to the poor and houseless with preconceived notions and judgments; even me. Some of the things my priest said resonated with me, and tears welled in my eyes – I felt seen. I wasn’t, and haven’t been at a poverty level, but I understand not being able to move up, not being able to break even, being embarrassed and isolated. I was seen, but that’s not why I’m writing this.
While my priest was talking about seeing the poor and understanding how difficult it was for the poor to rise from their circumstances, I was wishing that a friend of mine could have been there to hear this homily. This friend is a good and decent person. They do so much for so many without asking for anything in return; it is just in their nature to give more; to volunteer; to be Christ in the world. I’ve witnessed that and have been the beneficiary of that. But I’ve heard them talk about people helping themselves and wanting to do more to get people back on their feet, and I wished they were there in the church this morning, listening to this homily that I thought was something they should hear.
The mass goes on, we say the Our Father, and offer peace. I turned to acknowledge the parishioners behind me with a hand wave of peace, and there they were – the one person I wanted to be there listening to the homily – they were there in the pew a few feet behind me listening to the homily.
I smiled.
I was pleased with how the world works.
And I guess that’s how the world works: being where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.
Providence, maybe.
July. Inspire.
Standard“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
My view on July is that it’s too hot. It’s barely the first week, and it is already too hot. When will fall be here? However, we still need to get through July (and the rest of the months) as we do all the other days. Be in the present. At least, try to be. The photos I’ve shared on bright, colorful, and motivating. Especially the books. The books are my intentions for July: spiritual journaling (and other writing), continuing to read the daily Scriptures in the voice of the Indigenous Peoples of this land (Turtle Island), and participate in a four week personal retreat with the four female Doctors of the Church: Therese of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Hildegard of Bingen. Each has a special meaning for me that I hope to share in the next four weeks as I go through the book.
What are your plans for July?
What inspired you this week?
What is making you determined?
(c)2023
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“Garden”
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“Garden”
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Book Rec – Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day
StandardHAPPY BIRTHDAY, FELICIA DAY!!!
Felicia Day is Human Extraordinaire. She’s talented, cute as a button, and has the perfect color red/ginger hair that I strive for. I had known her in geek and fandom circles, and then she appeared in my favorite television show of the moment, Supernatural. Her character was the epitome of geek, nerd, D&D master that I grew up with and grew up as. In honor of her birthday, I am recommending one of her books that I am currently reading.
I borrowed her book, Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity from the e-library at the end of 2019. I read about two chapters in, and knew that a borrowed book, an e-book would not do. I was expected to write in this book – something both foreign to me and impossible to do with an e-book. I broke down and ordered a hard copy in paperback with my Christmas Amazon money and waited until the perfect moment to start.
One word of advice: there is no perfect moment.
and the pens I bought especially for working in this book.
(c)2023
Some of the tasks are really thought-provoking, and some were emotionally draining, but also exhilarating. I was proud of getting through the tasks thus far. I am not even halfway done with the book. I did put it aside for a time for other (creative) projects, and I’ve picked it up again, and in picking it up, I wanted to share it with you.
There are seven chapters with several parts in each chapter. Each chapter lets you look into yourself and learn what might be holding you back from busting out the creativity and finding your jam. That sentence channels Felicia in all the best ways. Don’t be afraid to try. A lot of the hesitation for me (and for Felicia, as it turns out) is anxiety. Name the monster and it can’t hurt you, or something like that.
The book is go at your own pace, which is why I’ve been able to start it, put it down, and continue it. Notice that I said “continue;” not “start again.” The book, like your creativity, is a never-ending journey that pauses when the need arises and continues when you’re ready. I was ready last week, actually, but the book’s been missing. It was a victim of cleaning for guests, and shoved in a large green tote bag, which I only remembered yesterday morning.
This book breaks two of my rules:
- Read and follow the directions as closely as possible.
- Write in the book.
Despite my guilty childhood of scribbling in books, writing in books is anathema to me, but I’ve adapted with this special book.
I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am!
Book Rec – The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
StandardSecretary Clinton and Dr. Clinton are the perfect choices to co-author a book on women’s courage and resilience with over 100 examples of other courageous and resilient women throughout their lives. Each profile is given respect and admiration and both Clintons strive to express how these women influenced and affected their lives. It is such an important book for young girls to see and read about those who have come before and led the way to our present. One day, some of us will be in a similar book recounting how we changed the world for the better.
I have a daughter who I would describe as courageous and resilient. She’s as kind and generous as she is self-absorbed (as all teenagers are wont to do), but while being kind, she is also someone who stands up for herself, and will not hesitate to give you her opinion. She is the best of me. I hope to be her when I grow up.
The Book of Gutsy Women can be found for purchase in any bookstore, online retailer, and as an e-book as well as borrowing it from the library. However you can get the book, you should read it. I read about five profiles a day, sometimes more.
It’s a great way to start off Women’s History Month.
Read Banned Books
StandardI’ve spent a couple of days looking at Florida’s list of banned books, and it is disproportionately authors of color. There are many with authors and references to LGBT+ issues and information, but diversity seems to be the “problem” for Florida’s governor, from banning books about Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente to calling the AP African-American course “contrary to Florida law” and states that it “significantly lacks educational value.”
There is a list of 176 books from one county alone. I’ve chosen a few to highlight the ridiculousness of this ban. I will say that some of the books on the list are not for all ages, but almost no book is. That is where parenting comes into play. I help my own kids choose books, and when I have a question (which I have had in the past) I speak to the teacher, and we sort it out. I try not to censor my kids, but I do if I need to base on age-appropriateness.
I will also say, in all fairness, that many of the books on the list will be returned to the school libraries after they are examined and approved. I wonder what is the point of having a professional educator and librarian who spend years becoming experts in their field only to have a parent, who has a bias against certain kinds of books make the decision for all the parents in the school system. It makes no sense. And yes, I will stand by my characterization of a biased parent. Look at some of these books (these are in no particular order, and you may google them for descriptions, but some are obvious).
- Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller by Doreen Rappaport and Linda Kukuk
- Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac
- Time to Pray by Maha Addasi, Ned Gannon, and Nuha Albitar [If this book was about Christian prayer, do you think it would have been questioned?]
- Thank You, Jackie Robinson by Barbara Cohen & Richard Cuffari
- My Mother’s Sari by Sandhya Raot and Nina Sabnami
- Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan and R. Gregory Christie
- The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie de Paola
- Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr., John Archambault, and Ted Rand [These are the same authors of Here Are My Hands, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, preschool aged books that I used when I taught early-childhood.]
- Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin [What could this book be about?]
- Celia Cruz: Queen of Salsa by Veronica Chambers and Julie Maren [In 2011, she appeared on a US postage stamp]
- Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Chief Seattle and Susan Jeffers [This is a book I used in early childhood programs often.]
- Barbed Wire Baseball: How One Man Brought Hope to the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII by Marissa Moss and Yuko Marissa Shimizu
- Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West by Lillian Schlissel
The #1 banned book is George Orwell’s 1984. Also banned are The Dictionary, The Bible, and Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl.
Profiles of banned books from Carnegie Mellon can be found here.
Banned Books Week will be the week of October 1 through 7 in 2023. In 2015, according to the Banned Books Week website, nine out of ten books banned contained diverse content. What does that tell you?
If you are having trouble finding a banned book in your area, and you are between the ages of 13 and 21, you can go online to the Brooklyn Library and get their e-card that lets you take out books online, so you can read the books. Email them at: booksunbanned@bklynlibrary.org
If you are a New York State resident and teenager, you can apply for BPL’s free e-card here.
Another place to get information on banned books (and other books) is the American Library Association. They are the oldest and largest library association in the world.
Read banned books. Read all books. Speak up against this authoritarianism. We are on the slippery slope.
St. Brigid’s Day
As promised on Instagram, a list of St. Brigid‘s symbols in the above sketch.
- St. Brigid’s Cloak – she is said to have been at the birth of Jesus and wrapped him in her cloak. Her cloak has also been told to have grown when offered land for her monastery the size of her cloak. I seem to recall that I’ve also heard her cloak referred to as the night sky with constellations shining on or through it. (I will need to search out my notes and return later this week when I find it – I need it to be true!)
- A mug of beer. St. Brigid is known to have turned water into beer, including a lake.
- The Triskele. Not only a symbol of Brigid, but the triskele is a triple spiral, often meaning the three roads of life: past, present, future. It may also reference the Holy Trinity.
- A Shepherd’s Crook or Bishop’s Crozier. Brigid is considered to have done the works of a Bishop in her position as Abbess of the monastery at Kildare. She led masses and preached.
- Medieval-style Goose. She is often depicted with geese as well as cows.
One of my favorite books about St. Brigid is: Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story by Bryce Milligan, illustrated by Helen Cann
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 