Recommended Reads

Often, I find great books by perusing lists on Amazon.com. Recently, I've been enjoying the books of Caroline Leavitt.

Living Other Lives is about love and grieving, and the author has intimate personal experience with both subjects and the accompanying emotions. This is one of her best, and is not nearly the downer it sounds like!

Family concerns our need for ties that bind, and our fears about losing, maintaining, or tangling those ties. Told in multiple perspectives, this book represents the range of emotions concerning trust, betrayal, and loyalty.

I first discovered Caroline Leavitt when I found the book Girls in Trouble . It follows the lives of the main characters through years' worth of realistic and unpredictable choices, conflict, regret, and acceptance.

Coming Back to Me had its strong points, but it has been the book I've enjoyed the least from this author. The tensions among the three main characters were just right, but the scenario was entirely depressing.

For more thorough comments on these and other books I've had something to say about, see my reviews on Amazon.

The Bloolights

These guys are very important to me. Collectively, they're The Bloolights, and they've been hanging out since they were 4 years old.

On lead vocals, and "like a brother" to my husband is a man who is kind, introspective, knows what he wants from life, and works tirelessly to achieve his goals.

The lyricist and guitarist sitting on the stool is my brother-in-law. He is unwaveringly true to himself... and to his daily routine. He loves telling stories and entertaining others, which makes him a great educator.

The drummer is my husband; a thoughtful, perceptive, inquisitive, intelligent, articulate humanist-- and the least annoying person on the planet!

Balance

Today is one of those time-out, change-of-season days when I feel like purging my home of superfluous things. I want to open the closets and haul un-needed contents away to thrift or recycling centers. I want to re-organize and arrange drawers and cabinets. I am filled with zeal for the project, and in my former life I would have tackled it instantly.

In my current life, however, there are obligations. I promised my son we would go see Grandma today. And said son would cheerily, but destructively, examine and romp through any piles I made anyway. (Not that I'm complaining--my boy is the best!)

Perhaps this mood will strike again when I have a rare and blissful day alone. Yeah right! That's when I sew!