April 2, 2021 DON'T STOP BELIEVING

 I'm the luckiest person in the world. I get to meet incredible people who inspire me to be a better person. 

Believe it or not ---I'm talking about my students. I've been a teacher for a LONG time and have had the privilege of working with SO MANY GREAT KIDS who have grown up to become INCREDIBLE ADULTS. I don't usually Name--Names--but today is different. Way back in the OLDEN days--when I taught fifth grade--I had this little girl WHO LOVED TO READ AS MUCH AS I DID. She always had her nose in a book and carried them around like they were her best friends. She was different though--because she was legally blind. Even in fifth grade--she never let her disability STAND IN HER WAY. She worked hard and succeeded in every area--academics--theatre--dance. Her CAN-DO attitude made me smile. AND talk about KIND and POSITIVE--never met anyone so genuine in my life. This remarkable young girl is now a grown up who continues to BLOW MY MIND.  She always wanted to write a book and that  dream has come true too. The book is  called Yes and it's written by the ONE and ONLY Frankie Ann Marcille. This lovely book is based on Frankie's life and how she dealt with adversity because of her disability. As a young girl, she had big dreams but was told by many people that because of her disability, she shouldn't dream too big. Well--if you know Frankie, she faced her challenges head on and left the naysayers behind. This review would be incomplete if I didn't mention the illustrations --which were done by my son, Pat. Frankie's story is wonderful, but it's the combination of the story and illustrations that make it a must have book. It's worthing noting that Frankie and Pat have known each other forever. They actually attended the same schools from preschool through high school, so they have a special bond. Having an illustrator who truly knows the writer of the story is rare. And that's what make the book so special. He really knows the little girl in the story. WOW.  This book is not just for kids either.  It's a story that will  resinate with anyone who DREAMS BIG. Every generation needs to remember not to let anyone or anything stand in the way of making dreams come true. --The book launch is Saturday May 1, 2021, at McCook Point Park in Niantic, CT from 10-12. Covid precautions will be taken--masks for all.  There will be a read-aloud, Q & A with the author, illustrator and book signing. Hope to see you there.

March 27, 2021 CHICKEN FRIED

 Back in the day--my grandparents bought a 350 acre farm and my grandfather became a chicken farmer. It was called SueDick Farm--after his children. The farm housed several coops that held approximately 25,000 hens each. Talk about a FULL TIME JOB--The average hen lays about 250 eggs per year and he probably had 100,000 chickens.  NOW THAT'S A LOT OF EGGS. The eggs had to be collected --BY HAND--twice a day. Dawn and Dusk. They were placed in big wire baskets and then cleaned in big machines --kind of like washing machines. THEN-- they were put on a grading machine--BY HAND--to be weighed and packed--BY HAND--to sell. Lets do the math. A dozen eggs in the 1950's sold for about 60 cents. My grandfather sold his eggs to restaurants and various places by the case. A case of eggs held 30 dozen eggs so he made about 18 dollars a case. WOW. I remember helping---once in a while--but  my brothers were the real "farmhands." It was back breaking work. I've been thinking about the farm a lot lately. A friend of mine has 6 VERY HANDSOME HENS--and she surprised me with some FARM FRESH EGGS a few weeks ago. They were AMAZING. I haven't had  eggs like that since the farm--when I took them for granted. Missing the farm but grateful to have a friend with hens. BUK-BUK. Nao Yasutani, one of the main characters in Ruth Ozeki's lovely novel A Tale For The Time Being, is also missing the the past. Nao is a sixteen year old girl who grew up in Sunnydale, California. She has recently returned to Tokyo with her family after her father's disgrace. She's being bulled at school and her family is a mess. She has decided to end it all, but not before she records the life of her Buddhist nun great-grandmother Old Jiko-- in her secret diary. Ruth, the other main character in the story, is a writer who lives on a remote island in Canada called Whalestown. One day she is walking the beach with her husband when she finds a Hello Kitty lunch box that has washed ashore. She suspects the lunch box is from the Tsunami of 2011. When she opens the lunchbox, she finds, wrapped in plastic for safekeeping, Nao's diary. As Ruth reads the diary, she becomes engrossed in the story and is determined to find out what happened to Nao. This is a wonderful novel for so many reasons. It was really  interesting to learn about Japanese culture, tradition and their understanding of history especially WWII. I also loved Nao, her family and especially her Old Jiko.  This novel was at times laugh-out-loud funny, but  it was also heartbreaking and tragic. It is everything a well-written book should be. At about 400 pages--I'd say it's a 6 mile  run that I was sad to finish. 

March 19, 2021 TEEN ANGEL

 Do you remember being a GAWKY TEENAGER? 

Well-- I was transported back in time today. Back to  that UNFORTUNATE AGE--while at an event for my son--who just happens to be in eighth grade. All of the sudden it was 1979.  I was SKIN  and BONE. Long AND lanky AND AWKWARD. Uncomfortable in MY OWN  skin. My feet were too BIG and my arms SO long they practically dragged on the ground. UGH. I was trying to fold inward--TRYING TO HIDE MY ODDLY SHAPED BODY FROM BEING NOTICED. But that was impossible because I was TOO TALL--parading around in my "high waters". Towering  over EVERY boy in school.  My boyfriend LITERALLY had to stand on a step ladder for our first kiss. NOT KIDDING.  AND forget school dances--the strain on my neck and back from bending over while "Slow Dancing Swaying to the Music" put me on a heating pad for a week. In case you're wondering-- I was also FLAT.   YUP--apparently--I was flatter than a TWO by FOUR--or so the boys told me.  Those were tough times-------- Thank God I'm back. It's 2021 and I'm not that GAWKY TEEN anymore.  It's really hard being IN BETWEEN......I remember it vividly. If only Addie LaRue, the main character in V.E. Schwab's new novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, were just a little bit older when she made her deal. Addie is not like other girls in France in 1714 who only want to get married. She wants to live, be free and travel the world, but her parents have other plans. After her parents arrange her marriage, Addie takes matters into her own hands. She runs away and meets a stranger named Luc in the woods. She then makes a deal with Luc that forever changes her life. She now has her freedom, but the cost is greater than she could imagine. It's now three hundred years later and Addie meets a man in a bookshop in New York. This is the first person in 300 years who remembers her name. I don't want to say anything more so you will have to read the book for yourself to find out about Addie's life and how the man in the book store ultimately changes Addie's future.  This interesting, very different story is about 440 pages or a 6 mile run that I did enjoy. I'm still trying to decide if I liked the ending though......let me know what you think. 

March 13, 2021 DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLDER WHEN:        

•   You read People magazine AND DON'T RECOGNIZE THE CELEBRITIES. 
•   You say something to your kids that YOUR MOTHER USED TO SAY TO YOU.
•  It takes you TWICE as long to look HALF as good.
• You think you have more patience--but you really--JUST DON'T CARE ANYMORE.
• You look for your phone for an hour and it's in your pocket.
•  Your address book contains mostly DEAD people. Maybe just having an address book makes YOU old??
• You hear SNAP, CRACKLE, POP when you walk down the stairs. 
•  The "Oldies Station" is NOW playing the music you grew up with.

Yup--That about sums up my week.  Now on to bigger and better things. I'm a huge fan of Richard Russo, so I'm trying to read all of his books. I recently finished Nobody's Fool which was written in 1993 and made into a film staring Paul Newman in 1994. The novel is set in upstate New York in a tiny blue collar town called Bath and centers on the main character Donald "Sully" Sullivan. Sully is a 60 year old divorced  man with a bad knee who lives in a rented room above his landlady, Beryle Peoples. Because of his ailing health, Sully has difficulty working, but he is generally a construction worker when he can find the work and enough pain pills to make working bearable. Sully also seems to have commitment issues--an on again off again affair with a married woman and a son he could never commit to being a father to--because he's haunted. Haunted by his dead father, a mean drunk who abused him when he was a kid. Sully has never forgiven his father so in a sense--he's stuck. After his estranged son, Peter, returns to Bath, Sully is forced to face the choices he's made. This is a novel really about a small town, with a bunch of eccentric wonderful characters just trying to figure out life--which at times can be very complicated. It's about 560 pages or a 7 mile run that is well worth your time. 

March 5, 2021 HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

 Got my first COVID shot the other day--Moderna--and it really knocked me for a loop. I was extremely nauseous and fatigued. I couldn't eat and felt  like I had run two marathons back to back. Not sure how I made it through the day. Took a two hour nap as soon as I got home from school AND I NEVER NAP. Couldn't lift my arm for two days either. Finally feeling better but it's been a rough week. Thankful that I was able to get the shot.....but already worrying what the next one will be like. Maybe I should have waited for the Johnson & Johnson shot--then I'd only have to get ONE SHOT. Who knows. Looking forward to that second shot though because I REALLY NEED TO GET MY LIFE BACK. I miss restaurants, movies, theatre, the library, book stores, and just shopping in general. Take out is great but what about the atmosphere at THE BAR or BUTTERED POPCORN at the movies. I miss wandering around the library and the SCENT of new books at my favorite book store.  ONLINE SHOPPING IS JUST NOT THE SAME. I can FINALLY see the light at the end of the tunnel  though AND IT'S ABOUT 5 WEEKS AWAY. In the meantime, I'll tell you a little about Kristen Hannah's new novel  The Four Winds. As this lovely epic unfolds, it's 1921 and Elsa Wolcott  lives in Texas with her wealthy family. Because of an illness when she was young, Elsa is deemed unmarriable and doomed to spinsterhood --until she takes matters into her own hands. After meeting Rafe Martinelli and getting pregnant, Elsa's family disowns her and she is forced to marry Rafe and live and work on his family's farm. The novel then jumps ahead to 1934 and the Great Depression. Millions of people are out of work, and the Martinelli family is barely surviving. Droughts have caused dust storms across the Great Plains and farmers are going bankrupt. The family must decide whether to fight to save their land or go west to California in search of a better life. This sweeping novel has interesting characters and is beautifully written. It vividly brings to life the harsh realities of the Depression, the Dust Bowl and the spirit of the American people. Find out what ultimately happens to the Martinelli family when you read this 450 page--6 mile run--for yourself. Enjoy. 

***If you are currently in the DOLDRUMS--you might want to wait to read this book. Remember--it's about the GREAT DEPRESSION and the DUST BOWL.  I still have grit in my teeth and I finished the book two weeks ago. 

February 18, 2021 HIGH TONE WOMAN

Did you know that the punctuation rules have changed with texting?? Apparently there is TONAL CONFUSION out there and the OLDER generation is to BLAME. I don't know........but in my world THE ELLIPSIS MEANT..........you were switching ideas. TODAY........ the younger generation BELIEVES an ellipsis can be seen as PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE......like you left something UNSAID. In order to rectify this CONFUSION ---PLEASE USE THE DASH-----It's a safer punctuation mark  because it doesn't carry MULTIPLE MEANINGS.  Apparently--A DASH IS JUST A DASH???  WHO KNEW??? THE PERIOD is also causing all kind of trouble. Again--in my world-- the PERIOD means ONE SIMPLE THING--the end of a sentence. WELL--NO MORE--BE AWARE-THE PERIOD CAN NOW INDICATE AN UNINTENDED SERIOUS TONE. Now I FINALLY understand ALL the run on sentences. I just thought they were lazy.  And be EXTRA careful with  EXCLAMATION POINT TOO!!! Today they are WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE AND CAUSE TONAL CONFUSION.  Is the person HAPPY--YELLING--EXCITED?? Never EVER use an exclamation point in your text UNLESS the other person is using them too!!! GOT IT.......!!!! While I wrap my head around this--I'll tell you a little about Jane Harper's new book The Survivors. One of the things I love about Harper's books is that she uses landscape to set the mood in her stories. In this novel, Harper takes the reader to a small Tasmanian town called Evelyn Bay made famous by the wreck of the S. S. Mary Minerva. As this story unfolds, Kieran Elliot, his girlfriend Mia and baby are headed back to Evelyn Bay to help his parents move. Kieran hasn't been home since a storm twelve years earlier claimed the lives of his brother Finn and friend Toby. Kieran still blames himself for the events that led to their deaths and the guilt has taken its toll.  Within a day of their arrival, the body of a young woman is found dead on the beach. This death opens old wounds from the day of the storm, including the whereabouts of a girl who went missing during the storm. Could the two events be connected even though they are twelve years a part? What really happened on the day of the storm and is Kieran really responsible for his brother's death? Find the answer to these questions and many more when you read this suspense filled thriller.   This book about friendship, family, secrets, and small town life will keep you reading because someone in this sleeping town is a murderer. It's about 380 pages--a 4 mile run--that will keep you guessing til the end. 

February 14, 2021 MY FUNNY VALENTINE

Valentine's Day. It can be A LOT of pressure--especially for NEWBIES. Expectations can be TOO HIGH. Too much time watching THE HALLMARK CHANNEL. And many times--WOMEN ARE JUST DELUSIONAL. Thought I'd spend a little time this morning reading about the absolute WORST VALENTINE GIFTS EVER. Gentlemen--never EVER give your significant other a gift card, coffee mug, e-card, used flowers, jumper cables, hygiene products, socks, re-gifted items, heart-shaped pot holders, kitchen or household products, edible underwear, giant teddy bears, or hair removal systems.  AND NEVER EVER BREAK UP WITH THEM ON VALENTINE'S DAY EITHER. That seems like a NO BRAINER--BUT I actually know people who HAVE LIVED THROUGH THAT  KIND OF HELL. Let's face facts--Valentine's Day is really for WOMEN. MEN DON'T GIVE A CRAP. It's time for you to MAN UP-- a nice, thoughtful card --bouquet of flowers--and dinner. That's all you have to do to make it a great day. If Nora Seed had a valentine, she probably would have chosen a different path in Matt Haig's new book The Midnight Library. As the story unfolds, Nora Seed is a sad sap full of regret. She had such potential--Olympic swimmer, singer in band, intelligent--and she blew it. Nora is a lost soul. She's just lost her job, she's terribly lonely and to top it off, her cat has been killed by a car. Nora has hit rock bottom and decides to end her life, but a funny thing happens --she ends up in The Midnight Library. The Midnight Library is "in between" life and death. It's filled with books each telling a version of Nora's life if she had made different choices. Nora is given the opportunity to use these books as portals--to sample the lives she could have led to help her decide if she really wants to end it all or try one more time. This is an interesting idea but it was a little too simple for me. I did enjoy the premise and the lessons the book affords and encourage you to give the book a try. It's only 300 pages or a 3 mile run that I enjoyed for the most part.