love – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

My heroes

I don’t know the whole story of the stand-off between the young “Make America Great Again” hat wearing Catholic student, Jake Sandmann and Native American, Vietnam Vet Nathan Phillips or any of the other students involved but what I can recognize is a clear smirk on Jake’s face and his choice to stand as close as possible to Nathan, which to me is a sign of disrespect. He is attempting to stand down and act superior to the Native elder person in front of him. It’s just one more unbelievable moment in time showcasing how much work we have before us. It feels like it is a constant battle whether peacefully done or not. I bare witness to it in school when young people choose to leave the one black student to sit at a table on their own, or when head-scarfed young mothers have trouble fitting in to our school culture. Will it always be this way? I am one who is filled with an unbearable amount of hope and yet I wonder.

I have a few heroes that I look to when I wonder. How would Dr. King view our world today? Would Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, or Maya Angelou feel we’ve made positive strides compared to their early days or would they feel like I do that we are traveling back in time. I see a new slew of representatives in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kamala Harris, Hodan Hossan (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MN); these are women who quite possible can make a change in government. Right now with our current administration we need ALL the help we can get and it’s more than just good representation. We need a mindset shift so the haters don’t get out of hand. Everything Dr. King tried so desperately to teach us had to do with the power of love. How am I carrying that torch? What are we doing as a nation to carry the torch? the first step would be to end the current administration, the entire lot. Or we could build a wall around the White House.

Are you ready?

There is magic in the air! Are you ready? I feel like I am in a good place with my lists and plans. I just need a little voodoo magic to get it to all come together. Everything seems to sparkle just a little bit more right now.

Today is my first official day of break and I started the day by sleeping in a little, which felt so lovely and going to have brunch with friends. While we were brunching we sampled the new Resilience beer coordinated for fire relief by the Sierra Nevada Brewery. It was pretty good for an IPA but more importantly an amazing effort to pull together to help others.

Last weekend we made it through the graduation~ it was amazing. Everything came together in a magical way like the universe was simpatico. We now are the proud parents of two college graduate adults, making their way out there in the world. One left and I’m in no rush for that to happen.

I have all my shopping done, my menu is planned but everything still needs to be prepared. If I waved a magic wand the food could all be thrown together at once but then I would miss the joy of tying on my apron, pouring a glass of wine, and mixing things myself. I hope the next few meals go together as smoothly as the graduation food did.

I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman. I loved it and wanted Eleanor to find her way to happiness. I highly recommend this title and just ordered it today for a friend’s birthday. When I finished it I compiled a new stack of books from bookcases and piles about my house, trying to decide which one to read next.

Here are just a few of my choices:
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
My absolute darling by Gabriel Tallent
inward by yung pueblo (this one is perfect to read to start/end the day)

and I also brought home an armful from school to read. Now I need to carve out some time to read in between cooking and family time.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! Enjoy the magic.

Celebrating Day of the Dead

Last night I attended a vigil at our local Jewish Synagogue and it was packed, standing room only. Several honored people spoke from the Jewish community and other local religious leaders. It was a beautiful service yet it would have been better to not have to gather at all. Why do we live in the greatest nation only to have so many persecuted people and crimes against our very humanity? How do people become so filled with hate? Our Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQ+, women, people of color all need our support as they (we) are under attack.

Today we honor the dead and for me specifically, I’m thinking of not only my family members that have passed but all the senseless murders from gun violence and victims who’ve died because of hate like Matthew Shepherd. That’s a LOT of candles to light. From Columbine High School in 1999 to the most recent in South Carolina two days ago we’ve had too many school shootings and nothing is being done. School shootings-people are killing and traumatizing our youth-it’s really unfathomable, beyond belief. I sat there years ago and watched the news roll out the day Columbine happened and I surely thought this was an isolated horrific incident. Little did I realize it would be an epidemic.

The Washington Post is working to compile data on school shootings and it notes that 219,000 students have experienced violence because of a shooting while in school. The database is work taking a look at-it will make you understand why this is such an important issue. And now it seems places of worship may be the new racist trend.

Most shootings involve a weapon brought from home or purchased by another family member. I don’t like guns. I am fine with hunters having guns because it’s different; I get that and I’m a vegetarian. I grew up in a family where hunting was an acceptable Saturday afternoon activity. Hunting rifles are generally not used for violent acts against humans. I like the idea of a gun buyback like Australia enacted or much stricter regulations like Japan has in place. We have a backward group of people represented by the NRA that we will never convince that guns do kill people and if we had less of them on the street we would have less violence. And assault-style weapons shouldn’t be available at all. And before a police officer (in training) is issued a weapon they should have a serious diversity and peaceful negotiation training to pass before being gifted the license to carry a weapon that kills. We cannot support our very own “militia” to kill our citizens.

I’m on a high soapbox right now and it’s Halloween but The Day of the Dead has me thinking about all those who’ve died because hatred runs rampant and the haters have access to weapons. We need radical change to make these issues a thing of the past. Vote for sensible candidates who think the 2nd Amendment is for hunting and military personnel. Not militias in Oregon or Idaho but people who truly are defending our country in foreign lands. And we need police officers to be tried and convicted. I get that its a stressful job and it shouldn’t be used as an excuse.

<CNN>

So today hug your children a little tighter as they share their chocolate with you, and think about the 11 Jewish elders who lost their lives this week, think of the students from Columbine to Parkland and all those in-between. We want change. We need to stand up for each other, we need to have each other’s backs. We need to choose peace.

Shalom.

Fragile by Lisa Unger

A friend lent this thriller to me and in between reading YA and elementary fiction, I slipped it in needing a dose of adult fiction. Lisa Unger is a new author to me and I liked her style. This book is about a small tow where everybody knows everybody. And everybody has a secret, and some of the secrets are pretty big.

This book spoke to me in a resounding voice about families and the strength they hold. How willing are you to believe in those that you love, your children or your spouse? Maggie, a psychologist, and her husband Jones, a detective on the local police force find out that Charlene, their son’s girlfriend and the daughter of an old high school classmate is missing and the search for her brings out all manner of long-forgotten ghosts.

There is a wide array of interesting characters involved including Marshall, the son of the town bully, who waits for his dad’s approval even as a high school student and even though he’s only ever been disappointed and hurt by his father. As the story plays out we discover bits of history and we come to understand that a classmates’ disappearance during high school has everyone reflecting on choices they’ve made. In alternating moments we have the opportunity to hear from several characters which help to paint a good picture of this town.

“She sat in her ticky-tack room, in her ticky-tack house, painting her nails iridescent green. She hated the tract house with all its perfectly square rooms and thin walls, identical to every third house in their development. It was like living in the box of someone else’s limited imagination. How could someone reach the height of her creativity in a drywall cage? She couldn’t. And she wouldn’t. She would be eighteen in six months. After graduation, she was so out of here. College? Another four years of indentured servitude, living by someone else’s arbitrary rules? No way. (Charlene, 19)

“Now that Marshall was nearly the same height and almost as strong as his father, Travis didn’t hit him often; Marshall wasn’t physically afraid of his father. It was the things he said that lay like bruises on Marshall’s skin, damaged his organs, poisoned his blood. That voice that was in his head all the time. He just couldn’t get it out. Even the competing voices-Aunt Leila, Mr. Ivy, Dr. Cooper-weren’t loud enough to drown him out lately.” (Marshall, 63)

“Because that was what it was, wasn’t it? Not just anger. Not a need to control in a way we most often mean it. Not a lack of love or understanding for their boy. It was fear. Fear that, after all the years of protecting his health, his heart, his mind, setting bedtimes and boundaries, giving warnings about strangers and looking both ways before crossing the street, it wouldn’t be enough. Fear that, as he stood on the threshold of adulthood, forces beyond their control would take him down a path where they could no longer reach him. (Maggie, 15)

I don’t know how or why some families have a tough road. Each child, each situation is different and it’s never easy to know what to do except love them unconditionally, both parents and children. This book is filled with flawed, interesting characters and a story that kept me turning pages.

What a beautiful day

It’s my birthday. All day. I still like my birthday. This morning I did a gray hair check and I still don’t have any, much to my husband’s irritation. I’m in the age range where there should be at least a few and it’s not like I’ve had a completely stress-free life. I’ve not. Family and financial problems are always near.

Here are a few things I’d like for my birthday:

1. Hydro Flask – In researching water bottles I decided stainless steel is the way to go. I’ve had several glass bottles and both broke within a short amount of time. I’m not a huge fan of drinking out of plastic but my Tupperware bottle from Target has lasted the longest. I like that stainless will keep my cold water cold just as my Cup of Joe stainless keeps my hot water + lemon hot for long time.

2. Black Dansko clogs – My last pair’s heel broke at the end of the school year which was really unfortunately. These are my go to shoes for just about any casual event or school. At some point I’d love to have a funky pair as well but for now I’m happy with the classic.

3. Birkenstocks – I’m on my 3rd pair and Groovy Teen is a recent convert. My black pair of clog style are really worn down and I’d like to trade them in for a brown pair of suede two straps. So comfortable.

As you can see my feet are very important and I’m happy wearing sandals well into September or October weather-permitting. Plus I like quality over quantity.

4. Pink cocktail ring from Sundance – I have two beautiful rings from Sundance and I’d like to add this one to my finger.

5. Books, Books, Books – I was able to browse today at one of my favorite bookstores, Politics an d Prose. Day is complete. I didn’t even buy anything for myself.

Except tonight we eat at Jewel of India so my day is far from finished.

I’m happy with hand made cards and hugs from my kids though. And considering we are on the East Coast visiting family I’ll happily take hugs from everyone.

Happy Father's Day…to all dads

Dear Dad;

You’d be so happy to see how all your children have turned out. Well maybe; we might have happy separate lives but a few of us don’t have much of a relationship. You would have worked hard to help us mend that because you had faith in family. You knew it was important to let the little things go and the big things to because no matter what family is family and they are your first source for love.

Grandkids are good too. You’d be proud of Tristan at University of Iowa, studying and applying himself to make a difference. His major is political science and you would have loved to talk current events with him. He has a real handle on how the world is and loves discussing the bigger picture. My Groovy Teen (the artist formerly known as Groovy Girl) begins 10th grade in the fall. She is a bright light, a dancer, a imaginative thinker, a designer, a friend, a messy multi-tasker, a foodie, and struggles with her idea of perfection. You’d be beyond proud of Kaylee; she still shines in photos and is making it in the big city! She is thoughtful, loves theatre, has an amazing sense of humor, and writes and interviews like a pro. Her posts, tweets, and podcasts keep us all amused.

I’ve talked many times about how much I miss you as evidenced by this Father’s Day post from 2010 and 2016 version and this birthday post from 2016. You are missed. Damn that cancer.

Today as we celebrate my husband with a delicious brunch I’ll be thinking of you, wishing you were here at the table with us, touching my hair, and throwing me that smile that tells me everything is going to be okay.

3 amazing reads all in a row.

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood ( 1998): You enter the sterile and odd world of The Handmaid’s Tale and you get an eery feeling like you should look over your shoulder. While this seems so far removed from our world now, it feels like it would only take about 2 steps backwards to be in Atwood’s world. For those that haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale it relays the events of a woman, Offred, of child-bearing years who’s been pulled from her own life and inserted into another family in order to bear an older man’s child(ren). The change from one life to the next happens slowly but also in a blink of an eye. Imagine in your life time that you could live one moment with your husband and beautiful child; only to be repurposed in a retraining camp where you learn to surrender your will to this next family. There are so many details of this new life mixed with her memories of before. If you like dystopian or politics; this is a fantastic read. I stayed up way too late each night to read just a little more. Other days I slammed the book down in disgust. I am searching for the original movie with Natasha Richardson (it’s not on Netflix or Amazon Prime) before I start streaming the new Hulu series. Here is a great NYT article by Atwood herself discussing her novel.

2. A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2014): I am watching this one Amazon Prime. The book was an amazingly funny read. I laughed out loud many times and when I neared the end of this sweet tale I cried. I love a book that brings about that much emotion. Ove is a curmudgeon at best; an absolute old grump and yet we love him for it because he emerges a changed man. Even when he’s at his worst he’s an interesting character. Ove is ready to end his life, ready to join his beautiful Sonja in the afterworld. He even thinks about what he should wear so she’ll be happy when she sees him coming through the pearly gates. The unexpected happens though when a new family moves in next door and the wife pulls Ove into her own life. All the hype about this book is true.

3. This side of home by Renee Watson (2015): This is a delightful tale about two twins, Nikki and Maya, living in Portland with intellectual parents surrounding them with love. What is ever-changing though is their neighborhood which is being gentrified rapidly and their high school as well. The neighborhood, high school, friends and family all provide a wonderful backdrop to the life experience of Nikki and Maya as they learn to accept each other as more than just a reflection of each other. My one and only complaint is about the cover; neither girl has the loose hair of the girl pictured on the front. She’s brown-a good start-#weneeddiversebooks BUt it would be a reflection of the character if her hair was braided. Maya repeatedly talks about her hair in braids down her back; Nikki with pressed hair and sometimes loose and free. Neither girl is represented by the photo on the cover except by skin color. #rant

Now I’m reading Bill Browder’s Red Notice for book club. I’m not a fan of nonfiction but his tale of intrigue has me reading. I also just finished this short article about White Fragility that’s worth reading. Someone sent it to me to remind me of a conversation we had about Ta’Nehisi Coates’ book.

Cooking keeps me sane

Recently I’ve made some amazing recipes that I should share. It’s been a wild last couple of days. My brother visited last week. Inauguration. My husband’s performance of Rocky Horror opened on Friday night. And our son came back from school for the weekend to see last night’s show.

I’m much like my grandmother in that I cook for people when they come to my home although I was caught a little unprepared when my brother and his family hung out with us last Sunday morning. I didn’t let the same thing happen for this morning’s brunch. The show was very late last night so Tristan and Heather slept in which was perfect. It gave me the time to do some morning yoga and then prepare food without a rush. Heather’s vegan and my son follows suit when they are together. I found several new recipes that I was happy to try.

My initial inspiration came from this post, 30 Vegan Breakfast Recipes, by Sam at It doesn’t taste like chicken. Breakfast is one of our favorite meals and it was great to have so many wonderful choices all in one spot. There are several more on this list that I plan to try like the breakfast sandwich but for today’s breakfast I picked the biscuits and gravy and potato hash. I served those two with grits, grapes, sliced oranges, and fresh orange juice. I’m terrible about snapping pictures of my plated food; trust me that the food looked delicious.

{Source}

Simple Vegan Breakfast Hash-This recipe was very filled with flavor. Peeling the potatoes and cutting them into bite-sized chunks took some time but they roasted to such hot perfection that I was pulling the crusty parts right off the pan. Mine had a more prominent mixture of sweet potato!

{Minimalist Baker}

Best Damn Vegan Biscuits- I thought I’d get ahead of the game by preparing these last night before I went to bed. I must have been overtired as I mixed up the measurements for baking soda and baking powder. They baked up beautifully and it was lucky that I tried one hot out of the oven. They were H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E! Really heavy flavor of soda. So I redid the recipe this morning and they turned out just right. This is a very easy recipe to follow with minimal ingredients.

{Minimalist Baker}

If you’re going to have biscuits then you should probably whip up some vegan gravy. I’ve made vegetarian gravy many times but had no clue how to make a vegan recipe that would taste good. Again I turned to Dana’s recipe at the Minimalist Baker. Her gravy is packed full of mushrooms giving it a hearty quality. I even wonder if I could pass this recipe off on my husband instead of that jarred gravy he sometimes uses in a pinch. Give it a try: Vegan Breakfast Gravy

I didn’t get to march yesterday but was there in spirit. I did manage to slip in some reading; My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and Pax by Sara Pennypacker, both interesting stories of friendship.

I host book club on Monday night and I’ve made another great recipe for that: Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup, a very easy and flavorful recipe. I love soups and this one has a nice kick to it.

Happy Week! February is truly just around the corner. We are at the halfway mark for winter. One step closer to spring is what I think.

Happy birthday to Dr. Martin Luther King; what would he say now?

What a mess we are in and yet I see hope everyday-we’ve got to stick together and make a difference. Children today have spent the last 8 years with a black president-a graceful, well-spoken, thoughtful, intelligent, and well-educated president. I know, for the most part, this is my “opinion”-stating things like this can start a small twitter war with all kinds of hateful comments. I will miss the Obama family in the WH.

I am not looking forward to a Trump presidency; he has no backbone, is only focused on his own opinion, uses bluster and smoke instead of facts and clear thinking, and lives in opposite land with a silver spoon clutched in his fist. His nickname should be Puff Daddy but that insults the actual Sean Combs. A rooster, maybe. With the flurry over comments made by Congressman John Lewis about the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency based on Russian hacking (which I agree with btw) and DT’s response all during Dr. King’s weekend. It’s hard to see how we are moving forward cuz we some days we aren’t. We are moving ten to 1,000 steps backwards and that is scary folks.

Generally we are a family that does something to commemorate this holiday, even if it is just a discussion about Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement. I had a planned volunteer opportunity this year, packing food boxes, at The University of Northern Iowa. It was cancelled due to extreme icy weather. We took that open time to see “Hidden Figures” to enlighten ourselves. We did slide down our driveway in our little Prius but the roads were okay. Groovy Girl and our second “daughter”, her best friend, came with us. The movie is well-done and we came out filled with discussion. What if we’d known their story in the 60’s/70’s; it could have changed the playing field a long time ago for women and POC in stem. Reading this NPR article confirmed my thoughts-we should have known their stories years ago but at least we have them now. Frankly we can use the inspiration right now!

From the article:

Johnson, who became a high school freshman at age 10, says she always liked learning. She’s concerned about today’s youth relying so heavily on the Internet for information. “They’re hurt and don’t know it,” she says quietly. “They’re not using their brain. … And you’ve got to use your brain for it to grow and for things to be learned.”

As a teacher/librarian I couldn’t agree more with this thought shared by Johnson, a 98-year old mathematician. We need kids to realize the damage they are doing by staring at screens nonstop and expecting Siri and Alexa to answer the questions.

Go see this movie, keep an open mind, educate yourself, be kind and thoughtful, do not take the bait, be ready to speak up, and remember, always remember, the peaceful path Dr. King took even while he was jailed and mocked. What would his tweets look like today?

I just finished Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes (excellent elementary fiction about Reconstruction era) and am now reading Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (harsh but a very gripping tale).

Summer Reading Recap

{image: the Red Fairy Project}

I am filled with gratitude that I have summers to catch up on some extra reading. As a librarian I spend my school day surrounded by books, ordering books, previewing, books, talking about books and yet I don’t always have a lot of spare time to read.

This summer’s reading log has far more adult choices thanks to the new app Litsy on my phone. Do you Litsy? Mostly adult books are discussed and shared and many sound unbelievable good. Thankful I’ve learned to cross check with my public library to request and check out. So now I’m addicted to Litsy and love getting recommendations for more reading. Find me @Peaceful_Reader.

I do still love Goodreads because it’s a great place to keep track of all my reading + my reading journal (I must have a paper copy in case the Internet goes down).

Here are stats so far for this summer and for the year to date.

0
0
1
66
380
Holt Home
3
1
445
14.0

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
JA
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Number
of books: summer = 22 / y-t-d = 41

Pages read: summer =
8,000 (nice round number) / y-t-d = 12,850

I read 8 adult
fiction titles, 4 YA books, and 9 elementary
fiction books + 1 graphic novel

All of the elementary
books I read including the graphic novel were for our Iowa Children’s Choice Awards. I have about 7 more books to read this
week/weekend before I score them all and send in my ratings.

My absolute favorite book this summer is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I’m happy that I read it and I share the love for it with every adult reader that I know. If you haven’t please do. It is pain + joy wrapped together which is just what life is. Jude will forever stay with you.

Other favorites were: Mac Barnett’s The Terrible Two (funny), Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (great storytelling), Ruta Septys’ Salt to the Sea (amazing historical fiction), The Guest Room by Bohjalian (fiction yet brings the horrible truth of modern day slavery to us), Speed of Light by J.M. Kelly (unique twists) and always Alice Hoffman-her books are magical.

In order I read:

The Doctor’s Wife by Elizabeth Brundage
H2O by Virginia Bergin
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
Speed of Light by J.M. Kelly
The Marvels by Brian Selznick
Capture the Flag by Kate Messner
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris G.
The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett
One Second After by William R. Forstchen
A little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper
New Kid by Tim Green
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Audacity Jones by Kirby Larson
The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelsen
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamiesen

I have two more books I am set to finish this week; Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam and Odd, Weird and Little by Patrick Jennings. What did you read this summer?