Over The (Adobe) Bridge and back to Mexico

I'm reading a fascinating book right now, "Buddha's Brain," by Rick Hanson. The book is written by a psychologist who talks about how our brain benefits from contemplative practices, like mindfulness, or meditation, or brushing the dog. . . anything that activates our parasympathetic nervous system brings tremendous rewards in reducing stress and inducing a sense of happiness.

It turns out that mental activity has a greater direct influence over the autonomic nervous system (of which the parasympathetic nervous system is part), than any other system. When you stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which you can do through mental activity, you can have "calming, soothing, healing ripples spread through your body, brain and mind."

And guess what! Most of the brain's mental activity is spent on nonverbal activities, such as processing mental pictures. All this is a fancy way of saying that imagery can be a powerful anchor for well-being. So if you're feeling stressed at work, imagining a peaceful scene. . . like in Mexico. . .can bring you all kinds of physical and emotional benefits!

So, fire up your Bridge program in Photoshop and head back to someplace wonderful, and bask in those neurotransmitters!

And what better way for me to do that than through a photo like this:

In March, while we were in Mexico, we went down into a cool cenote, and is was unbelievably peaceful and tranquil, even with bats flying overhead. And look at these two lovelies, Dianna and her soon-to-be sister-in-law, sweet, wonderful, Elizabeth:

I wasn't as brave as they were to climb down the rock to the water, but watching them splash and the play of light on the water was mesmerizing. . .

Photography in a cenote is a bit challenging. Flash would bounce against the water too much, but thanks to a greatly boosted ISO (6400), and noise reduction in Adobe Camera Raw, a rock to use as a tripod, I could still use an f/5.6 setting, and 1/30 shutter speed.

Are you up for 214 pages of weirdness?

No, not my post, but an old (1962) novel, "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," by Shirley Jackson.

Do you remember Shirley Jackson? She wrote "The Lottery," and back when I was in high school, this was pretty much required reading. I've often thought of The Lottery over the years, and Shirley Jackson's portrayal of brutality in the name of compliance.

In my Classics ReRead Book Club at the Grand Forks Public Library, we recently read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, another book by Shirley Jackson; I'm suspecting this will be another book that filters into my thought at odd moments in the future, reflecting life around me.

You wouldn't think that this plot reflects any life as we typically know it. This book follows the very strange Merricat, an 18 year old woman who lives in seclusion with her sister, Constance, and Uncle Julian in a house on the edge of town. The Blackwells are outcasts; Constance was accused of but found innocent of poisoning the rest of her family, several years earlier, with arsenic, traced to the sugar bowl. Constance likes to cook. . .

The Blackwells are outcasts not just because of the family murder; they are also outcasts because they were rich. And in their seclusion their very odd, idiosyncratic and bizarre points of view become more. . . . unique. . . the more they separate themselves from the rest of the world.

I don't think this would be such a compelling book if it was just about their strangeness; what makes it most compelling is the reaction of the community to the Blackwells. Although some reach out, another response of raw hostility occurs during the midst of trying to save the Blackwell house during a fire. I read that Shirley Jackson herself in her own life felt very rejected by her community, and I think her books take those all too universal instances of people feeling like outsiders and writing about them, symbolically and metaphorically, in the extreme. And she is particular fond of examining that edge between societal compliance and differentness. Shirley Jackson never got even; she wrote! Just think what she might have written in this day and age in response to TSA checkpoints in airports!

I enjoyed this book immensely, but I will caution that others in my book club did not; they thought Merricat was too weird, but that's why I liked her!

What's even weirder is life in Grand Forks. How do we survive -36 to -45 windchills? I don't know; . . . cuddle duds help. Last night, my weather bug registered -36, but rumor has it we're settling into a bone-crunching -45 tonight.

Which way is outta here?

Celebrate! And trashing a novel

I can be a positive and happy person; I really can! For example, look at this burst of joy that is in my office:

(double click for full oomph)

A dear friend of mine, Claudette, whom I've worked with for 20 years, recently retired. But this is what she brought to our office about a week ago! I may live in North Dakota, the veritable epitome of winter, but I have this exotic, tropical, plant blooming in my office. Now, if only the friggin' building would fix its heat, now that we're in the 30s. . . .

But the better reason, the more, glorious, over-the-top, joyous reason I have to be positive and happy is that my oldest "child", Scott, is getting married in October! The hibiscus doesn't even begin to compare to the delight I feel about Scott and Elizabeth!

OK, that being said, now I can sneak in some of my negativity, and it's about this book,

and my view of it, posted on Goodreads:

"This book does have a compelling central conflict that does pull you in right from the beginning, but I found little else to recommend this book. Dr. David Henry and Norah have twins during a blizzard in 1964; he delivers them, and tells her that the 2nd child, Phoebe, a little girl with Down syndrome, died at birth, and instructs his nurse, Carolyn Gill, to whisk the newborn away off to an institution. Carolyn cannot go through with this, and runs away with the baby.

Obviously, there are going to be some problems, and I wanted to know the outcome, of how someone could live with this terrible deception and what it would do to the people involved.

But the process of resolving it is needlessly, laboriously, drawn out--for many, many pages. Enough pages that if you have a chunk of hours of your life that you hate, you can waste them on the middle 7/8ths of this book. Otherwise, turn it into a short story, read the first 50 or so pages, and then skip to the last 20, and call it a day!

I did not like the main characters or find them to be particular believable, interesting, or likable. The only main character who showed any promise was Carolyn, who, although still not particularly believable, was somewhat interesting. This was sadly diluted, however, by frequent introductions of minor characters who seem to show no other purpose than to allow for endlessly descriptive, dull, detours and passages that delayed getting to any kind of resolution.

The experience of reading this book is like being told that something monumental and significant is about to be announced, like you are holding the winning ticket in a contest, and then enduring a great deal of hype only to be told something anti-climactic and lame, like "you just won a $2.00 off coupon."

Seriously, read something else!"

"Let the Great World Spin"--The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie's Take

Before I get to The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie's review of "Let the Great World Spin," by Colum McCann, I thought you might like to see how she spins (She likes to try out an enactment of her books when she reviews them):







And now for a well deserved belly rub:



The Beautiful Ms.Bonnie, having just finished reading Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin," says that her head is still spinning, almost as fast as her tail.

She says that some books have great characters but limp plots; some have wonderful plot, but dull characters. It's the rare, delicious book that has both great plot AND character.

"Let the Great World Spin" completely slides out of this categorization into a completely different realm; It has ten or so complex characters, each intertwined around the unfolding of events of one single day, August, 1974, in New York City. But the main character of the plot IS this snapshot of New York City on this day in 1974.

It's the day when a tightrope walker, Phillippe Petit, walks a trajectory between the Twin Towers. It's the orbit knitted together through the likes of Claire, who loses her son in Viet Nam, or Tillie, the hooker grandmother who tries to save her heroine-addicted daughter from another stint in jail.

The devastating stories of these people propel them to near-despair, but only as you approach the end of the book do you realize how masterfully MCann paints the picture of their orbit, bound by hope, connection, and compassion. You may think you've finished the book when it ends, but as you find your mind wandering back to it in the days to come, you realize you yourself have come to be within the gravitational pull of this novel.

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie gave "Let the Great World Spin" only 4 stars out of 5 because there are some parts of the book that drag. It is well worth sticking with the book anyway, but those are the moments in which she found it easy to be distracted and focused more on the mechanics of what it was the author was trying to accomplish, rather than being absorbed in the novel itself. But 4 out of 5 ain't bad!

The Book Thief

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie feels honored to review "The Book Thief," by Markus Zusak, a book deserving a 5 star rating, if ever there was one.

It may seem strange to have a book narrated by Death, but then again,you're reading a review of a book by a 15 1/2 year old yellow lab, so why not a book narrated by Death.
Although this sounds grim,"Death" transports the souls of the newly dead with a great deal of compassion and sensitivity, although it is unclear whether the dead are aware of this care.

"The Book Thief" is set in Nazi Germany, and is witness to the life of a girl who steals books. You'll fall in love with the characters, will feel joy in temporarily "knowing" them, but you'll also have to brace yourself for the nightmares of this book.

One passage in the book raises the question of guilt, of how to feel toward the German people. On the one hand, there is sympathy for those caught in the web of war, the Germans. . . . and then juxtaposed, side-by-side, is the gut-wrenching reality of Jews who had even less choice in the wretched massacre called the holocaust.

The author beautifully crafts words, at times making them the subject of the book, at times, using them to animate objects, sky, color, in a way that leads you to feel beauty in even the most despairing of human situations. At other times, the author beautifully teases and foreshadows with words: "Two telling moments, however, were on their way."

Of course a book is of words, but there's a profound undercurrent in this book about words: Words and silence helped create the holocaust; words helped stand against it. In one agonizing scene, Jews are marched through a street near Munich, and the author, or Death, says: "The suffering faces of depleted men and women reached across to them, pleading not so much for help--they were beyond that--but for an explanation." . . .for words.

If you haven't read this book yet, if you EVER intend to read another book, let it be this one.

But after you read it, you may need to rest from words for awhile.

Saving CeeCee HoneyCutt , the Nook, Amazon, Apple & ebooks

There's something about this gadget that has made it so much more fun to read--even if it did cause me to fall off of my treadmill, again!

I just finished reading "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt", by Beth Hoffman, on the Nook, and this is another book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's about a 12 year old girl's life in Savannah, Georgia, after her early years alone with a mentally ill mother.



From the very first pages, this book made me want to cry. CeeCee is living with something that is just bigger than her, bigger than a child should have to go through. Early in the book, though, there's that glimmer of hope of resilience, possible when someone throws a child a lifeline through acts of kindness, and CeeCee is embraced by a circle of loving, quirky, women.

In many ways, this book is very much like "The Secret Life of Bees", a fairly common theme in women's literature, but well-worth re-visiting. And like "Bees", there's a transformative process that occurs for CeeCee, as she makes peace with her past, and is able to come to appreciate the positives of her mother as well as to bear the pain of thinking about and remembering her childhood.

A few people have asked my opinion about the nook itself. It still has some glitches, given that it's a newly released gadget (Nov, 2009). Barnes & Noble is not good at all at communicating with its customers on its message boards in dealing with the problems, and I wonder if it's some kind of corporate stategy; scramble like crazy to fix the problem but don't actually TALK about the problems so that you can maintain some kind of plausible deniability.

The nook has had several software updates, and its latest (early February) greatly improved issues with registering the nook through WiFi, maintaining bookmarks on the nook, speed at which pages turned. The only problem I've run into has been in trying to open one book which just would not load ("Animal Dreams", by Barbara Kingsolver) When this happens on an infrequent basis, the issue seems to be more of a problem with the formatting of the ebook itself, rather than the nook, but still, the book was purchased through B&N!. My fix was to load the book in the file "My Documents" rather than the file "My B&N downloads", but having to figure out a fix for the little glitches can be annoying!

Falling off my treadmill wasn't exactly a nook glitch, though. (Although wait! Maybe it was! Because I was trying to get the "Animal Dreams" book to load when it happened!)

I'm finding that the nook is absolutely excellent for reading on my treadmill or exercise bike. You can hold the nook one-handed, and with this little, smug, practically twitch-of-a-movement of your thumb, turn the page. (One time I was sitting on a plane with an unfriendly fellow passenger, reading my nook, while he read his Kindle, and swear I won the Page-Turn-Contest through my thumb motions. I'm not sure he noticed, though I was indeed feeling smug about it.)

Today, I read in the Atlantic Monthly an article asking whether Apple can beat Amazon in the e-book competition. The nook was not mentioned at all. The author was fairly critical of the Ipad, claiming that it "does a bunch of things, but none of them especially well. You can't read it in daylight, and its battery life is much shorter than the Kindle's" It said the ipad doesn't have a real keyboard, ability to multitask, no phone, no camera. And it's just one more thing to carry.

To me, that would be huge; I wouldn't want another BIG thing to carry in my purse; the nook is the perfect size for portability (and my dangerous treadmill!) I'm also a big fan of the ability to go beyond Amazon's books; only Amazon books can be opened on the Kindle. I can get books (epub format) from dozens of other sites for the nook, and my library just said that they are looking into an Overdrive subscription for ebooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the nook. Not Barnes and Noble, but with the nook. Oh, and there's that thumb thing. . . .

Olive Kitteridge and Grand Forks Heat Wave

What is it about this dismal book that has moved into my mind and won't let go? Olive Kitteridge is a book about Olive, through 13 stories, all of which feature her to some extent. Some times she just mentioned; other times the story highlights her perspective and view of the world.

And what a dreary view it is! Olive has almost no illusions about life, other than her faulty expectation that after her years of raising her child, being highly focused on his well-being from her perspective, he will automatically continue to be a central part of her life, and relate to her, living nearby, as she ages. Sure, it's nice if our offspring will feel inclined to be our buddies, as they grow up, but they don't owe this to us. . . and developing lives that are satisfying and not totally "offspring-focused" is our responsibility. Olive doesn't know this; she's not particularly sensitive in her focus on her only son, and she's often dismissive of the people around her.

All of the stories address issues of relationship, but most often, failure of relationship and loneliness.

See what I mean about this book being dismal? For much of the book, Olive is a middle-aged, unappealing, under-appreciated, blunt, unforgiving, almost joyless person, who works very hard, and occasionally reaches out to others in very touching, unexpectedly meaningful, but brutally honest, ways. Part of the problem with this book, though, and why I call it "dismal" is that it is very easy to identify with Olive, to some extent. (And thank God it is only to some extent!) It's also easy to see my friends, neighbors, and acquaintances in Olive, which just makes me sad for all of them.

It's easy for Olive to zero in on the mis-guided and failed attempts of others to connect with one another, often risking nothing of themselves, and constructing lives with little meaning, or hope, and all too often betraying and abandoning those around them.

Strangely, even the unlikable Olive works her way into your heart as you read this book. In her small town, people seem to accommodate to one another, often (but not always) looking out for each other, but just as likely enjoying casual meaness toward one another. As you read this book, you want Olive to get her efforts rewarded, you want her to be less lonely, but to also be, somehow, nicer, to those around her as well. And sometimes there's such a glimmer of hope for Olive; a better life seems just within reach, but, well, there goes Olive, being her usual Olive-self.

Dismal though it is, I give this book a 5-star rating. It's beautifully written, and I found myself highlighting (in my nook) lots of sections, just for the language and the insights.

(Bonnie got a break from her reviews; she didn't need another "dismal" she told me.)

And speaking of that glimmer of hope almost in reach, Grand Forks practically hot a heat wave this past weekend! We got to 27 degrees above zero, and we residents of ND are practically codependent to our state: "It's not so bad! Look, you can even have fun in this climate!"

Look! There was sledding:

and a snow mobile race:


and Doug and I tromping along the river . . .

in snow shoes:

The Barnes & Noble Nook: The Art of Racing in the Rain

It's just too much! Maybe one of you can talk some sense into Angela! First, she and Doug go on a cruise. And then, while they're on this cruise, Angela reads this book on her nook and asks me to review it!

It's just too much to ask of a dog!

The books is " The Art of Racing in the Rain," by Garth Stein. It's narrated by a sweet, noble, lab mix, on the last day of his life. This fine creature understands that it's time to be. . . . Get This!. . . . "put down" and reminisces about his life.

It's a totally maudlin book. . . a real tear jerker (How could it not be?!), as Enzo philosophically takes you into the devastating details of his owners/family. He tells of his beloved Denny, and the death of sweet, young Eve just a few short years into their marriage.

And, as if that's not sad enough, then Denny has to battle his in-laws to retain custody of the cute little Zoe, their 3 year old daughter.

If you are in the mood for a sad, sweet book, this is perfect. If every once in awhile, lifetime Someone's-going-to-die movies appeal to you, ---like maybe on a rainy, or cold, winter day, you'll like this.

It's not funny, like "Marley and Me," but it's about a dog, and that can never be all bad. But is this really the right book, I ask you, for a Disney Cruise?????

I mean, isn't Disney suppose to be "the happiest place on earth?" You're not suppose to curl up someplace with your nook, and cry! Sheeeeeeesh!

OK. . . . Now I'll turn this over to Angela.

"Errr, Thanks Bonnie. That was. . . . uh. . . . great.

I just want to tell a few more things about the Barnes & Noble Nook. I debated for several years about getting the Kindle. . . and there was just something about only being able to read books that I bought through Kindle that just made me hesitant.

I heard about the Nook in November, and for no apparent reason, with little research, I ordered it! It wasn't even out yet! I knew that it was suppose to have a system in which you could add books from other sources, like ereader.com or fictionwise.com or google books, and this was definitely a selling factor for me.

It's also suppose to work with overdrive, a library system, if your local library subscribes to this, which would allow you to add your library's ebooks onto the reader. I'm hoping our itty bitty little library will eventually have this.

It has a "lend" feature, which allows for the lending of some books, once, to someone else for 14 days. Message boards are springing up that help provide a forum for this "brokering" of exchanges.

I've been able to add pdfs to it, and have acquired a number of free books--at this point, mostly directly through barnes & noble.

One major problem I experienced with the nook was with registering it. It was suppose to work over the AT&T 3G network, including in Edge areas or partner areas. Ha! Not in the hinterlands of North Dakota! Nor apparently, in places like Montana, Wyoming, SD, Kansas. . . only in definite AT&T solid blue 3G areas. Once registered, it works over home wifi, but the initial registration involved my driving to Minneapolis, some 300 miles away, to do this. It wasn't actually necessary. . . just made it easier to order books "over the air" directly onto the nook, without having to sideload them with a USB cable connecting it to my computer.

This past week, the firmware V1.2 came out, and once I installed it, even mine would now register in ND. Others in the "wilderness" areas are now being to register their nooks as well.

This thing is awesome! I'm really enjoying reading on it. You turn pages by just gently swiping a finger very lightly a small distance across the bottom. I can listen to music on it while I read, and even add my own photos to display as the screensavers if I want to. The e-ink display is very easy on the eyes for reading, much nicer than a computer screen, and if I want to, I can change font style and size. (I usually want to if I'm walking on a treadmill or using an exercise bike.) At this point, most recent NYT bestsellers directly from B&N cost between $5 and $10, although depending on what publishers do, this may, unfortunately, change.

A strange aside of the nook are the message boards of B&N regarding the nook. It reminds me of Stephen King's "Under the Dome." If you remember Bonnie's review of this book, people end up in opposing camps, with all sorts of characterological quirks emerging; basically your usual human melodrama whenever you get more than a handful of people together.

That's what the B&N nook boards are like! I kid you not; people have even threatened to take out someone's grandmother on it! And then there are the usual grown-up sorts who basically provide technical assistance as the quirks of a brand new technical gadget are worked out. I find the boards to be fairly addictive reading themselves! (Bonnie thinks I need to get out more!)

And she's right; I need to give her a less challenging assignment for her next review!

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie & the Four Agreements

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie has just finished another book, and is pleased with it. She says she's more philosophical these days, being in her dotage and all, and liked grappling with some of these spiritual/meaning-of-life/what is heaven?/what is hell? questions.

The author, Don Miguel Ruiz, offers a code of conduct for humans, based on ancient Toltec wisdom, to make people happier:

1. Be impeccable with your word

2.Don't take anything personally

3. Don't make assumptions

4. Always do your best.

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie thinks this is just fine for humans, gives the book 3 paws up, but made some amendments for the dog world. She said:

"1. What the heck? I ALWAYS keep my word, except for those very special circumstances, like if you leave a whole pan of cookies on the counter. Of course, I'll tell you I'd never ever, ever, touch them. But what self-respecting dog wouldn't? And about leaving the front door open a crack? I'm outa here! I'm sniffing out good dog poop and email messages in the neighborhood, and finding decaying-meat delicacies. On that, I give you my word!

2. Silly people, really, you shouldn't. I really, really love you from the bottom of my heart, all the time, even if I chew up the remote or throw-up in your shoes. But I will take it personally if you act like you're going to take me for a walk, and don't. How could you? Just look into my beautiful brown, SAD, eyes!

3. Well, clearly, this doesn't apply to me. I assume you will treat me every time you walk in the door.

4. I do, but people don't. You're all so . . . dramatic. . . and WHY are you trying to be best at those things? The real secrets of life should be to be best at these things: Sleep a lot, especially in the sunny spots. Smell everything. Never pass up getting body parts scratched. Enjoy your food. Know that your people are the Best and Totally Good. And know that you are loved."

"Books are humanity in print." Barbara W. Tuchman

The Beautiful Ms.Bonnie says there are some Sad things in life

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie read the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. She doesn't have a photo of the book, because she already lent it to someone else, so she's showing a self-portrait with her kleenex. She says she needed it for this book; she cried as she read this book. She said she started out thinking she was going along for a light-hearted read, and then was sucked into the vortex of one of the saddest times in modern history, the German occupation of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, just off the coast of England, during World War II.

Bonnie said she enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters, although some have criticized that the voice of the individual characters are not distinctiveness. They were still fun to get to know! It's just that she found if very sad to get this glimpse of human cruelty and deprivation.

Bonnie's also feeling sad these days because her foot hurts. She's a determined trooper, and can be quite playful even if it does hurt. She turns 15 years old this month, and just had to take a little ride to the vet; the vet said she has a tumor in her paw, and that if the oral steroids and antibiotics don't seem to be making a difference for her next week, surgery or "maybe it's time to talk about other alternatives" are on the horizon. :(

And yesterday, Shannon asked about whether I bounced the flash, or used a diffuser. I did use a diffuser, but don't remember if this particular shot was bounced, or direct flash. Unfortunately, I can't find metadata included in Bridge on the flash settings; this might not be encoded in the shots. Does anyone know?

And Shannon is right! Bouncing a flash (aiming the flash toward a white wall, or ceiling, so that a large area of light is reflected onto your subject) tends to make a much more pleasing shot, with less harsh shadows. I think my shot may have had some shadows that were coming from the sunlight behind it, and bounce may not have prevented all of this, but especially in a dark room, bounce is best!

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie & Harriet & Isabella

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie would like to bring another book to your attention. She just finished reading an historical novel, "Harriet & Isabella," by Patricia O'Brien, and wants to tell you a few things about this book. She says, "It's a good read, but if there's something else compelling going on in your life, it might be a bit difficult to get into initially. The book is about Harriet Beacher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and her sister, Isabella Beecher Hooker, a late 1800s suffragist. They have opposing views about their brother, Henry.

See if any of this sounds familiar: Henry is a very powerful minister, with strong religious admonitions to his congregation about leading a righteous life. However, he's being accused of having an affair with a married woman. The trial about this is part scandal, part media circus, and part righteous, judgmental, indignation. In the process, women's lives are ruined, and one woman (Victoria) is thrown in prison for trying to speak up. She's quite unpopular because she's got the audacity to want women to have the right to vote; naturally, she's considered insane. It all turns out quite well for old Henry; in fact, he's really good at landing on his feet, and people practically swoon in admiration of him."

"Dang," says Bonnie. "I could swear I've heard this story before! It just sounds so familiar. . . so. . . deja vu!" (Don't tell Bonnie, but she has a horrible french accent.)


The book just really made her feel like the more things change, the more they stay the same in life--including some of the strides that women have made over the years. It seems like some of these really got lost somewhere along the way.

But, Bonnie also said that when she was done with the book, she was done!

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie & The Help

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie was photographed showing her blissful reaction to this book. She'd hoped for another sunny day when the book itself could be photographed, but time and weather conspired against this.

But she feels very passionate about this book!

She says, "If you're only going to read one book this year, read this one. And then read it twice! It's even worth skipping a frolic in the compost pile and a rabbit chase, it's so good! This book is the first by the author, Kathryn Stockett, and I hope she writes another book soon!

'The Help' traces the lives of 3 women in Mississippi during the summer of 1962. The 22 year old Skeeter has just gotten her degree and wants to write. She is a naive young-un, and stumbles on the idea of writing what it's like to be 'the help' in the South during these years. The other two women who are followed in the book are Aibileen and Minnie, two of the maids who ultimately agree to be interviewed by Skeeter. This author really KNOWS how to write; I mean, really, really KNOWS how to make you fall in love with her characters, to see the world through their eyes, to make you root for the good-guys and wish foul happenings to the bad. . . ."

Bonnie also points out that if you had the horrendous misfortune to have read her previously reviewed book, "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral," you're likely still suffering, and this book could well be the perfect antidote for that poison!

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie & Traveling Funeral

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie felt compelled to review this book and warn all potential readers to avoid it! She borrowed the book from me, as I was reading it for my book club, and then she did me the splendid favor of throwing it in the trash. Bonnie said that I should not even donate it to a thrift store as it would be almost criminal to inflict this drivel on someone else.

Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish LOOKED like it would be a funny and woman-empowering read. The premise is that a "funeral" is arranged by a woman, just before she dies, for 4 of her friends. They've never met each other, and Annie leaves them instructions, tickets, money, sending them off to visit 4 cities of significance to her while she was alive.


Sounds like it could be a two-week adventure and Bonnie thought she'd come to be very involved with the quirky characters throughout the trip. But Bonnie made horrific gagging noises and said that if Annie hadn't already "died", she'd want to kill her herself, along with her martyr-like friends.



Bonnie thinks the biggest problem with the book is. . . well. . . the writing! The author has this maddening habit of taking a sentence (like "She wondered if. . . . ) and then using it like a sentence completion stem, filling in the blank about 10 times, until you wanted to stab the book with an ice pick.

(This would be a typical style, especially the last segment: She wondered if this book was secretly a plot to make everyone pluck out their eyeballs and swear off reading for all time; she wondered if the author's word processor had an obsessive compulsive disorder and had to repeat the same phrases over and over again; she wondered if the sickening silver of the shiny moon would infuse their hearts with the love they felt toward Annie and make them howl in unison at the crack of dawn every day.)

And the worst thing, the absolutely worst thing, about the book was that you really, really didn't care about the characters by the time you get to the end. Except to maybe wish foul things upon them and then have to feel some guilt for that. The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie thinks we all tend to feel enough guilt in life, without having murderous-thoughts-toward-fictional-characters guilt and life is just way, way too short to waste on crappy books.

She gives this book two paws down and the BackYard Cleanup Award.

The Navy is Not my Friend Right Now!

Well, Ok. Maybe it is. It does protect us and all that. And generally I have a very patriotic attitude, but not one that accepts all of our country's decisions unquestioningly.

But right now, I am a distraught mother, and I am NOT happy with the Navy. Scott called me on Friday and said that he has been "loaned" (abandoned) to the army; he got orders to leave for one month of state-side training, 2 months training in Kuwait, and a year in Afghanistan. I don't know that there's been a weekend that I've cried as much as this past weekend!

On Saturday, he called and said (glimmer of hope!) that it was unclear whether he was training as the "alternate" or the "primary." One definitely goes; one waits in the wing, like an understudy, I guess. I'm praying that he's not the primary, but this doesn't feel quite right, because I don't want to be hoping that some other son or daughter goes.

This is a very hard thing to wrap my mind around. Who raises a child and wants that they be plucked out by fate to face the horrors of war? It's one thing to raise a child to send them off to whatever crazy kind of life they might carve out for themselves; it's another to see them go off to a situation where you know there's a less than bearable chance you might not see them again, or that they won't come back healthy and whole.

The Beautiful Ms. Bonnie is not happy with this either, but says it's time to read "Mom's Field Guide" by Sandy Doell. I have a feeling this will be much better preparation than another book I picked up and thumbed through in the bookstore, which I don't even care to write about at this moment.



And this, from another world and dimension (St. Olaf College) is one of their many beautiful, peaceful, areas on campus.

More Fowl Appearances of the Unusual Sort and Professor Bonnie's Book Review

This is a duck. This is a duck that was standing in my driveway this morning! For no apparent reason! I've lived here for 25 years, and have never, ever, seen a duck standing in my driveway. Or on my block. Or anywhere in my neighborhood! Just standing there, looking at my house (of course.) I don't really know Which Side this duck is on, but since it wasn't dismantling my house, I'm going to assume in was standing sentinel on MY side. An owl recruit, no doubt.




There are times when you've just got to call in a professional. Professor Bonnie is taking an instructional role in teaching me more about LAB in photoshop, in part because of her affinity for all things "lab."



Oh, and I botched it yesterday, not correctly embedding the link to the video I wanted to show you on LAB mode, so here it is again today.

The River Crested in Grand Forks! 49.5 feet, and falling

It's a good day in the neighborhood! The Red River of the North officially crested yesterday, at 49.5 feet, and is now falling. We're suppose to have a 2nd crest in a few weeks, but the expectation is that the worst is over (except for that wild card that Mother Nature can dish out from time to time.) Soon, we may be able to reopen bridges!

To celebrate, I consulted The Beautiful Miss Bonnie on a book review. Actually, Bonnie is the 2nd tier reviewer, because first Becky brought this book to my attention back at Christmas time. First-off, there's nothing as scary in this book as ShameWoe:( Vince the Bad. Bonnie scrutinized this book carefully, and gives it four paws up a tail-wag and drool. . . . very high marks indeed! It's a book of short stories by Stephen King, Just After Sunset, and she really liked the first story, "Willa," set in a creepy old train depot, but "The Gingerbread Girl" was her favorite. All the stories held her interest to the end, but Bonnie suggested that the last one, A Very Tight Place," is more gross-out than anything. But extremely Stephen King-ish gross out.




And because Bonnie did such a great job with this review, and because many of you urged me not to blame ShamWow! for ShameWoe:( Vince's behavior , I decided to give ShamWow! one more very cautious chance. (Mandy said," Remember, its not the product's fault. Its still a good sham wow, right?" and Jeanne said, "Remember it's not fair to blame the "kids" for the "adults'" mistakes.") Bonnie is personally testing out ShamWow!s suitability for a picnic.

Bonnie Says, "So Say We All"

The Beautiful Miss Bonnie has another book review for you. She's giving the whole BattleStar Gallactica series and the book, So Say We All, by Richard Hatch, four paws up and one lick of the tongue. And a little drool.

Have you been following Battlestar Gallactica??? There's only 3 episodes left, when it's all suppose to make sense, and I both can't wait, and am already grieving that the series will end. It's a complicated Science Fiction soap opera with battles and betrayals in relationship, and identity crisis, and political intrigue, and religious philosophy/existential meaning-making and plenty of cliff-hangers to keep you on the edge of your seat. I've gotten lost enough in the series to have to consult salon.com's very nice synopsis and cliff notes (but don't look into this if you plan on starting the series; too many spoilers!). Bonnie certainly knows what she's barking about with this recommendation.

One of the main characters is a female pilot, Starbucks, with authority issues. She makes me think about the "Rules" for girls. (This is an aside; it's not in the series.) These days, girls have Rules: be pretty & nice, be athletic and competitive, be perfect. Well, Starbucks has it all going for her, except the "nice" part.

But think about how seriously sad it is that these "Rules" are operating in our society these days! Not horrible rules in themselves, but it's not in balance for ourselves and our daughters. I mean, no one should get bonus points for trying to be ugly, for pushing people down stairs, or stapling themselves to the couch, or doing everything with no effort whatsoever. But I think there's a lot of pressure on young girls (especially) to stay tightly within these Rules, and underlying fears that "no one will love me," if they don't. Well, hopefully we can try to raise our daughters (and ourselves as adults) to know that it's even more important that they care enough about themselves, value themselves and know that they shouldn't have to earn basic respect, to stand up for themselves and question the rigidity of these rules.

So let's all go out and color outside the lines today! Bonnie says we should. . .

Beautiful Miss Bonnie's Book Recommendation

The Beautiful Miss Bonnie has another book recommendation:



Same Kind of Different as Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, is the most recentbook my book club read, and is roughly a true story about a homeless guy and an extremely wealthy art dealer. The book alternates between their perspectives, and the story about Denver's growing up years in Louisiana, pretty much as a sharecropper, is riveting and disturbing. Bonnie gives the book 3 paws up on her 4-paw scale, and advises that you have Kleenex handy.

And the editing was: a very bad cloning job to take Doug out of the photo. Often Bonnie rolls around on her back on the floor, playing with toys, but as cooperative as Bonnie was, we couldn't quite get the book balanced.



About a week or so ago, I took a walk on the "wild" side, had 2 glasses of wine, and pushed the button on an exciting purchase! I've been playing with it tonight and hope to have a photo with it tomorrow. I know, I know; you are going to be SO jealous!

Day 26: Outliers

Bonnie is also quite interested in this book, which I just finished reading (Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.) I managed to catch a picture of her, using my flash, while she studied a chapter.

Actually, she was most agreeable to be my model, to get back into good graces, after knocking my husband's laptop over yesterday, and bending part of the charger. Many bad words emanated from our house, and are probably still floating around in frozen ice chunks up and down our block.



All of Gladwell's books have been fascinating reads! This book is making me think about my own growing up years/culture/class background, and the impact on my life decisions. It makes me think about decisions I've made regarding my children, and how my husband and I bring our different life stories to bear on this.

I think this is one of those books where now that I've gotten to the end of it, I want to start all over and read it again, because I just keep thinking about new implications.

Unfortunately, the author doesn't address gender, at all, in any of his three books. I'm seriously thinking about writing to him to tell him what his next book should include! Freud said, "Biology is destiny," and I think Freud had some points, but was a nutcase. I think, though, it may be that "Biology(gender), as interpreted by culture, is destiny."

But within Gladwell's framework, being aware of our cultural learnings gives us much more choice in changing what needs to be changed (like when you're trying not to crash into a mountain!) Seriously! Read the book! The whole part where he talks about reducing mitigated speech among pilots, and how it tremendously reduced accident rates in the airlines industry over the last 15 years, is well worth the price of the book alone!

Book Review: Crones Don't Whine

If you want to read a wonderful book that helps you get beyond the cliches about aging in America, this is it! This book provides a very different perspective than the usual junk offered, particularly to women over 50, (or any women who aspire to someday be 50, so hopefully that includes all women.) Some, but not all, men, might appreciate this as well, but male socialization is just different for men than women. Jean Shinoda Bolen explores 13 attributes that are well worth cultivating to lead a life that is satisfying, regardless of the hurdles that aging can throw at a woman. I like her advice to show up, pay attention, say what you think, and not get too attached to the outcome. She modifies this last part for those situations where, yes, we're going to be VERY attached the outcome, because it involves our loved ones. For these situations, she says, "pray for the best," rather than "don't be attached to the outcome." You can see a link to this book in my little Amazon widget.

Someone asked me whether the book, "Getting Lost," will help you understand "Lost." . . . Well, . . . no. It's like a lot of things in life where just because you know more, doesn't mean you necessarily reach that point where you have total understanding. And when it comes to "Lost," I don't think understanding it is in the cards at all just yet! "Getting Lost" mostly covers the first few seasons, so it doesn't even address some of the weirdness of last season! "Getting Lost" is a series of essays that analyze "Lost" from a variety of different perspectives. It's like reaching into a bag of 15 different pairs of glasses, some tinted, some not, and finding a variety of ways to look at "Lost". I particularly like one essay that analyzes what makes a series compelling in the first place, and how "Lost" has elements of such series. Another essay I really liked was looking at the "leadership style" of various characters, and in this essay, the author pointed out that Hurley was the character who usually came up with a solution, but this often was missed in the Drama and more attention-getting nature of the other characters.

It's a Sunday afternoon; thought I'd throw in a few book reviews!