Penny Candy - Book 3

I finished this almost a week ago and I am just now getting around to posting about it.  A very nice friend bought me this book at a secondhand store because she thought I'd enjoy it.  And she was right!  Thank you, if you are reading this!

Penny Candy by Jean Kerr was a walk down memory lane.  Actually, the articles were probably before the time I started to be really aware of the world (though I remember Twiggy being a big deal!) as this is a collection of charming, funny essays on regular every day life from the perspective of a woman, mother and wife living outside New York City in the early 1960s.

A lot of it reminded me of my mother, when women wore dresses they bought at department stores and went to cocktail parties and were also stay at home moms of many children.  There was a classiness then that I don't think I experienced as a mother with multiple children.

Jean Kerr

Kerr is laugh out loud funny.  She wrote Please Don't Eat the Daisies which became a movie and then a TV series, and she is also well known especially for two plays, King of Hearts and Mary, Mary.  She was married to Walter Kerr who was a New York drama critic.  I did not recall knowing about Kerr at all when my friend mentioned her, but now I think I must have heard of her before somehow.

In this collection of pieces that had all been previously published in magazines like Family Circle, McCall's and Ladies Home Journal, I especially enjoyed the one on play-going, called "I Don't Want to See the Uncut Version of Anything," Also the ones entitled: "Why Mommy Can't Read," "The Poet and the Peasants" (this one will ring true for homeschoolers, even though Kerr didn't homeschool), and the last chapter which is so zany, "My Twenty-one Minute Shape Up Program."

Anyway, this book was a lovely, light comic interlude that made me sad too because I miss my mom who died in 1999, but I never have gotten over her passing, truth be told.  Funny/sad.  But you, dear blog post reader, might not find it sad at all.  In fact, it really is a neat glimpse into a certain time and place that is worth remembering.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Here's Doris Day singing the theme to the movie Don't Eat the Daisies:

Trying to be clear headed.

First of all, I found a reporter I trust!  He reports for the Washington Post and he is a no-spin, just the facts kind of guy.  His name is Robert Costa.  He's become my go to guy on Trump.

Secondly, I've decided why let Reuters or any other news service report on stuff the government does when as citizens we have a right to read the stuff directly in the Federal Register.  It isn't easy reading and I admit I don't always get the full context, but at least I am avoiding clickbait headlines and skewed conjecturing about how this will lead to a new holocaust.

Alas, I could not find at the FR the executive order about the Syrian Refugees, for some reason.  I am still learning how search the site.  But the New York Times did reprint in full at this link.

Finally, I think Jonah Goldberg once again hits the nail on the head and maintains his integrity while everybody else's is pretty much in free fall.

I do wish everyone would stop panicking.  We can't think clearly if we are in a panic.  I do want to resist what is unjust but I want to make sure it really is unjust first.  I don't want to be unjust in my desire to be just, in other words.  Sometimes people are doing bad things, sometimes we just misunderstand what they are doing or sometimes people just do stuff that we wouldn't do but what they are doing isn't actually wrong.

Now that I've cleared that up . . . .

Waverley - Book 2

I finally finished my second book of the year.  This book fulfills the 'classic' square on my book bingo challenge.

Waverley is credited as being the first historical novel in English.  It was Sir Walter Scott's first published novel.  He was already a hugely popular poet and then created this whole popular genre.  He went on to write many historical novels thereafter, which publishers have named after this first one, the Waverley series, which includes the two most famous: Rob Roy and Ivanhoe.

This story, Waverley, is basically a coming of age one.  Edward Waverley is a young man who is well meaning but has been spoiled by his indulgent uncle and aunt.  He is the heir to the great Waverley family name and estate.  He's been raised to be sympathetic to the Jacobites and their allies in the Highlands of Scotland.  The Jacobites thought King James of England and Scotland was the rightful heir to the throne.  Rebellions by those who did not accept the House of Hanover kings as true British kings had been going on for decades.  This book is based around the last rebellion in 1745 which ended in complete defeat for Bonnie Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden.

Waverley's father, who had broken from the Tory/Jacobite family sympathies, gets Edward a commission in the army.  But Edward is a young man unused to army ways.  He's a romantic daydreamer used to having his own way.  The first chance he gets, he takes off time from the army to visit a nearby friend of his uncle's, Baron Bradwardine and his lovely daughter Rose.  The Baron is a comical figure in that he is enamored of his Latin learning and is forever quoting Livy and other such notables, but often mangling the quote or interspersing it with a kind of Scottish brogue or French, etc.  He is a lovable pedant.  While staying here, Edward gets invited to go visit the Highlanders, a people he's heard many romantic stories about, so he goes and even winds up spending the night with a band of Highland highwaymen.  This turns out to be a very foolish thing to have done.  I won't spoil the plot but Edward is very naive and his new friends in the Highlands use him to incite trouble with the Lowlanders.  Things are brewing for the next clash between the Highlander Jacobites and the Lowland-Hanoverians.

Edward is aptly named Waverley.  He really changes his mind on a whim.  His own impulses and desire for adventure and romance lead him to make some very poor decisions.  Scott is very adept at letting the reader sympathize fully with Edward but at the same time realize how callow and young he is.  As things get more and more desperate we see Edward rising to the occasion and growing into manhood.

The plot is long and complicated.  The language in this novel is very archaic to modern readers like myself. However, I enjoyed a lot of the old fashioned language.  Scott loved to write in brogue so there is a lot that going on as well. There are references to Don Quixote here, Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Vergil, the Bible and old Scottish tales.  There is quaint poetry sprinkled throughout.  Scott often writes in a tongue in cheek manner.  This is a lively tale and I can see why it was so popular.

Jane Austen read this novel and loved it.  Here's a quote from her:

“Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. — It is not fair. — He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people’s mouths. — I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it — but fear I must.”

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Inauguration nightmares

I woke up this morning worried about violence.  I just can't believe how crazy the country seems to have gone.  There are all these protests planned and I am truly worried that something terrible is going to happen.  Please no riots!  I feel some people simply don't think they have to abide by the rule of law.  I think this is what happens when you convince a generation or two that 'activism' is more important than participation.  This may be why the Democrats lost those swing states.  All those Democrats who didn't bother to vote but are now galvanized to protest.  I don't know what they are protesting exactly.  They keep trying to come up with something but you can't tell what's going on through all the blinding clouds of dust they (and the media) keep whipping up.   I wish everyone would remain calm.  Let the transfer of the office of president happen and then let us proceed calmly.  If Trump did something illegal, then let the system move forward.  I just heard the Senate formed a bipartisan committee to investigate the whole Russian thing.  Good.  Let's make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.  If there is something wrong then let's deal with it, if not, then move on.

I swear though there are a number out there that want insurrection.  They are consumed with hatred.  It's like that meme going around that says something like:  Wanting Trump to fail is like hating the pilot and hoping the plane goes down.  These people want the plane to go down.  I don't think they've thought further than 'get rid of Trump!'  Everybody seems so worked up to an hysterical level.  And my gosh the impenetrable self-righteousness that has no ability to think critically.  Just rage and truisms.  And to me it looks like they are playing into Trump's hands.  I think he likes to keep everyone provoked.  But now we are playing on the big field and we need calm to make sure we are doing what is right.  We need to "confirm thy soul in self-control; thy liberty in law," as the lyric from America the Beautiful goes.

This takes me back to the first time I ever questioned my liberal friends.  It was the day Reagan got shot.  I remember sitting in the lounge of my dorm watching it being replayed over and over.  I did not vote for Reagan.  I was a true liberal Democrat at that time. I was very critical of him, but I never in a million years wanted him dead.  Never.  I went to dinner and sat down with my crowd and to my horror they were saying things like they hoped he died and joking about it.  I was shaken to my core.  I could not believe they were talking like this (this at a Catholic college!).  I could only sit there for a few minutes before I had to leave in dismay.  It was like someone had pulled the rug out from under me.  I suddenly realized I had a completely different perspective but I had foolishly thought we were all on the same page.  I think this is why I could work at the Public Defenders office.  People would say how can you defend criminals and I'd launch into a speech about how the system prevents mob rule.  So many people do not get that it is the system that has been set up to protect us that must be preserved.  Rule of law, not rule of men. This is why I am so repulsed by the cult of personality Obama and now Trump is inspiring.  Guys, that is how we get totalitarianism!

Rick and I are going away for inauguration weekend.  This just happened to be planned by chance.  But I am nervous about it!  I was nervous just on account of the weather, because one never knows when snow/ice will hit this time of the year.  But I am also concerned about being away from home if violence happens.  I don't know what I am imagining.  Everyone having to shelter in place while they catch some deranged sniper?  The whole city on lock down because of marauding mobs who decide the way to protest Trump is to commit arson, smash some windows, perhaps beat up a few white men that look like they may have voted for Trump?

Anyway, I pray this goes off better than I fear.  We need someone like MLK to have moral sway over the protestors so that they are unified and peaceful.  But we only have shrieking agitators who have only a vague purpose - to voice how much they hate Trump.

Growing Tomorrow - Book 1 2017

Growing Tomorrow is not a book that should be read on the Kindle.  It has lots of photos and recipes that just don't work well in the Kindle format.  The book is a great idea.  Farmer Forrest Pritchard decided to travel around the country visiting and interviewing small farms that focus on being organic and sustainable.  They don't do it for the money, but out of dedication to the health of the food they grow and for the benefit of the people they feed.  It takes stubborn perseverance and a devotion to the life of the land to persist in this lifestyle.  Most of the farmers are in their 50s to 70s.  In fact the average age of a farmer is 59 years!!!  We desperately need likeminded younger folks for them to pass the baton to.  Many of the farmers have children or grandchildren who are involved, but it seems we need, as a nation, to expand the numbers of these types of food producers.

The farmers (and one fisherman from New England) do all types of different farming from an inner city program in Detroit, trying to grow fruits and vegetables in the heart of urban blight, or beekeepers with hives on the rooftops of Dallas TX to a mushroom farm in the Ozarks, to citrus groves in Southern CA, the farms represented here span the country and all types of food.  What tickled me was the very first farm represented was my own CSA, Potomac Vegetable Farms.  That was really fun!  Knowing what I know about PVF, the chapter on them doesn't go too deep.  And this was true of all the articles, they felt more like glossy magazine articles on each farm, not necessarily hard-hitting reporting.  But the purpose of the book is a friendly one.  Get to know the farmers who grows your organic food!  See the joy and the hardship of their lives.  They are doing this for YOU and ME and because they see the bigger picture and find it compelling enough that they are willing to dedicate their lives to it.  These are people of moral vision and integrity, who sacrifice a lot for the good they can contribute.

This is an enjoyable travelogue of farms in America.  The recipes all looked wonderful.

Two (green) thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Here's a video of the author's farm, which is located just about 45 minutes from me!!!  I had never even heard of it before.  Now I want to visit the Bed and Breakfast and tour his farm.

Political Links

I've decided not to be political anymore on facebook (except when I am in the American Solidarity groups, but there people are having real, nonemotional debate).  So I think I'll just post political stuff I've read through the week that struck a chord with me, either because I found it enlightening or because I agree with it or maybe I don't agree with it but found it interesting.

Here is a great article from the New Yorker that analyzes Trump in a detailed and non-partisan way.  Very well written.  I still think Trump is the Chauncey Gardiner of our time.  Everyone just projects onto him what they want or dread the most.  Nobody quite has a handle on him because that is how he rolls.

Dave Barry - this is the funniest year in review in a while, I think.  How he managed to make 2016 funny. . . . God bless Dave Barry!  My favorite line was something like:  Bernie Sanders' socialism was the good kind that gives you lots of free stuff, not the bad kind where starving people fight over the last beet at the co-op.)

I remember being so enamored of the U.N.  I remember visiting it on field trips in both in high school and in college.  I loved its noble ideal.  But can you believe who got elected as members of the Human Rights Council?  What a sick joke!  But on the other hand, maybe there's hope!

Liberal activists calling for level-headedness in the opposition against Trump.  Honestly, I am now more afraid of no holds barred, take no prisoners approach toward fighting Trump than I am of Trump!  I keep seeing this hashtags #resist etc.  They talk about needing to do battle.  They use warlike language.  Honestly, I think some would love an insurrection.  But the thing to do is to build up the party from the ground up.  Go back and strengthen it at the local level while Trump is in office.  Then they can come back and pick up the pieces.

I think one thing that has caused many people to actually admire Trump's brazen, crass un-PC speech is the growing suppression of free speech in several areas of our society.  It might have started here on campuses.  Let's stop telling people what they are and are not allowed to say, maybe Trump's appeal will fizzle (it is sure to anyway because I don't think he can deliver).

AEI did this study about people living in political bubbles.  Here's the latest result.  I was surprised that my area didn't make the top 100.  Wow, that means there are places MORE bubbly than here.  Scary!

Some of the women in ASP wanted to attend the Women's March on Washington.   They kept trying to get a group of pro life feminists together, but they couldn't.  Turns out there is a reason why. This is an example, I think of #whytrumpwon.  This a group of progressive elites purporting to speak for all women and deliberating ignoring other women.  Honestly, I think that liberals who want to understand Trump's win ought to read Mary Eberstadt's It's Dangerous to Believe.  I think that is why so many evangelicals and Catholics voted for Trump.  Given a choice between two really bad candidates they went with Trump simply because he said he was pro-life.  That's how alienating this aggressive pro-abortion stance is.  (Of course, Trump lost the popular election so if Hillary's strategy hadn't been so far off, the outcome would have been different.).

I think this is so magnanimous of Hillary Clinton.  Kudos to her for caring about the peaceful transition of power more than being bitter.

What the heck was going on with the House Republicans and the Ethics Committee?  Huh?

Obama wasn't all bad. Look what he did!  Thank you, President Obama!

Oh no!  It seems he did a lot of this via executive order.  So it can be reversed by any following president.  Shoot.  Guys, we gotta learn to cooperate with each other!!!  None of this imperial presidency stuff.  Maybe having the unpredictable, provocative Trump as president is going to make everyone is get better at making sure the presidency doesn't expand and even contracts back to its original ideal.  A girl can dream, can't she?

Last one!  I think this guy is spot on.

Vita Brevis - Book 41

Vita Brevis is book 7 in the Medicus series by Ruth Downie.  In this book, Ruso has followed the former tribune of the 20th Legion, Accius, the man who became his patron, back to Rome.  Accius has finished his military duty and being a handsome, smart, ambitious young man, he is determined to go into politics.  Ruso and Tilla have followed him back to Rome, bringing little baby Mara with them.  While Accius seemed like a big deal in the boondocks of Brittainia, he really doesn't wield much power in the metropolis of Rome.  He's been appointed head of the Street Cleaners.

From the get go, things don't go well and get progressively more dangerous.  While Tilla dreamed that finally she and her husband would settle in one place, they both find Rome does not suit them.  Tilla is homesick for Britain and Ruso discovers that he really is meant to be an army medic.

The mystery story is very good, lots of suspense, some very funny moments, lots of interesting characters, lots of historic atmosphere,  and Ruso and Tilla's marriage grows stronger.

Two thumbs up!

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.