I'll be Back!

I have been busy.  And since I know all 6 of you are desperate for an update here are some stats from my life.

Books Read since my last post: 7 - most are middle grade and most of those are realistic.  I am soooo tired of books about friends who grow apart in 6th or 7th grade. I just am. On the other hand, most of these books are worthy of attention.  Loved "Strange Birds", for instance.  I promise you will get a full update.

Weird Story created with a very-close-to-eight-year old.  "Unicorn Poop". We took turns moving the action along.  Totally not as bad as the title suggests.

Days Off from School or Early Dismissals in the last three weeks. 3 
and next week is another early dismissal and there's a day off in the NEXT week and they all seem to fall on Nana and Gramps days.

Stories read to Stuffies - a quad thousand or maybe only 100.
I have to find scary stories to share with the Halloween Scary Story listeners.  Stuffies are a great first audience.

Number of Craft events that I and a handful of Friends are coordinating tomorrow - 1.  I wonder if I will sleep tonight. 4116 Bath Pike, Bethlehem, PA 18017 - Lehigh Valley Quakers - 10 to 2.

Trick or Treaters that I and the above mentioned not-quite-eight-year old handed candy to tonight.- 80.

Halloween Events  that I will take part in as a story teller next week - 3.  
Catasauqua Public Library - Monday, October  28th at 6 pm. Families welcome.
Godfrey Daniels - Wednesday, October 30th at 7 pm. ADULTS ONLY.
Emmaus Public Library - Thursday, October 31st  at 7:30 pm.

I plan to sleep until 10 am on Friday, November 1st - the day that above mentioned not-quite-eight-year old turns EIGHT!! 

Sunday Selfie - a day late

Today, I picked up my mother (93) and my Aunt  Mary (96) from their volunteer work counting the Sunday collection at their church. I drove around the block to my aunt's house.

"Don't get out!" Aunt Mary insisted. "Your mother can help me to the door."

I listen to my elders. I stayed in the car. I watched as my mother supported her big sister, step by step, up the walk. Two old women, gray and slow, side by side, walked together, as I imagine they have walked their entire lives.

I feel privileged to have seen the abiding sisterly love between them. It's unspoken.

Then, having delivered her sister safely to her home, my mother made her way, more quickly and surely back to the car. I drove her to her home where we wrestled empty recycling bins back into their places in the carport.

It is Fall.  We notice the empty places in our garden. We anticipate shorter days, colder nights and darkness. We look forward to loss and if we can stretch our imagination, to the growth that covers the bare spaces.

 Still, today is a good day because, for now, I still can watch these two sisters walk together.

Naked Mole Rat Saves the World - October 15th

Middle school is seriously bad enough without turning into a small hairless rodent in times of duress.

And is it true that a Naked Mole Rat Saves the World (by Karen Rivers) (Out on October 15th!)

Though kit (with a small k) has her own problems, such as having NO HAIR since birth, she needs to make life easier for her mom. kit's Mom had a brush with fame with a musical one-hit wonder. Now, she is afraid to leave their building.  So, kit picks up take-out. She goes to her doctor's appointments with a grown-up friend. Luckily, her mother's place of employment is right downstairs on the first floor. Luckily, kit has good friends who seem to understand without explanation.

Then, Clem falls, or is dropped by her twin, Jorge - on nationwide TV - as kit watched, at hom. They failed at their chance at fame as aerialists AND Clem is badly hurt.  In a matter of seconds kit is - whoosh - gone! A naked mole rat races through the building and out on the street. The first time it happens, kit - and probably the reader - wonders if it's not just kit's imagination. Then, it happens again - and again.

 How can kit get her Mom to go outside? How can she help Clem get back to being Clem after that awful fall? There is the small thing about Jackson, too, and the awful thing he told kit. And Jorge, what's his secret? What really happened that day on the tv show? Who is kit's dad? How can turning into a naked mole rat even be a thing?????

These are engaging characters with relatable problems. Readers will see themselves in kit and her struggles. In middle school, all students feel out of place. Friendships WILL change. Kids WILL question their roots. People will say hurtful or thoughtless things. Our parents and our siblings ARE the weirdest. BUT, true friends will remain true. Love will draw families closer together. We all evolve!

Hopefully, we won't all evolve into small hairless rodents.