Thursday’s Tale: A Skunk Origin Tale

by Carol1 Comment
We're doing VBS at our church this week and we have the cutest mascot, Bella the Skunk. She is sweet and friendly and full of mischief. The kids love her. So, I thought I'd find a folktale about skunks this week. I found a couple. One was too sad to put under Bella's picture, so maybe I'll share it next week. I did find a Native American origin myth from the Winnebago (Hotcâk) people. It's pretty sad too, actually. I'll have to do some searching for a happy skunk tale. Does anyone know any? In a village long ago a woman gave birth to a girl with pure white hair. She grew up to be beautiful beyond compare, and because of her white hair she was thought to be very holy. Men would often court her, but she showed no interest in them, preferring to gaze at her own reflection in still waters. She loved the smell of flowers and would rub...
Read More

My Favorite . . Music

by Carol2 Comments
My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme. My daughter, and my husband for that matter, think the music I listen to is boring. I tend to like light pop, by singers like Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles and some pop country, like Lady Antebellum and Carrie Underwood. I also apparently like the Moana soundtrack. What's your favorite music? Join in at Maureen's Books....
Read More

Readers’ Workouts – 7/11

by Carol6 Comments
I made my step goal this week, just barely.   This week: Tuesday - Walk with the dog Wednesday - Pilates Thursday - Spinning (with video), Walk with dog Saturday - Walk with the dog Sunday - Walk A couple photos from our walk on Tuesday. It wasn't a bad way to spend the 4th. Meal ideas: This week is VBS at our church, which means easy grab-and-go dinners. Then Friday night we're headed to the lake for the weekend, so probably more cookout food or things that are easy to make for a group. Sandwiches Pepperoni Rolls Pulled pork pockets Spaghetti Hamburgers Year Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 26 lbs. - Run 2 5ks, 1 10K and 1 half. Completed - 1 10K; 1 5K - Hit my weekly step goal (56,000 steps) for 48 weeks. Weeks completed: 22 How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s Book Blog....
Read More

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

by Carol4 Comments
Six Wakes is one I picked up based on the blurb - a locked-room mystery in space, a sci-fi mystery. The sci-fi hook this time around was cloning. The laws around cloning are strict, but basically, we have figured out how to make mindmaps, putting all of a person's memories, thoughts, personalities into a code that can be transferred into that person's cloned body, making an individual practically immortal and able to inherit their own belongings/money. There's some philosophical discussion about what makes a person a person, what is a soul, etc., but it's not really dealt with in depth. The mystery set up is great. Six people wake up in fresh clone bodies, with the clear evidence that their previous bodies had been murdered, obviously by one of them, since everyone else on the generational ship is in "storage." One or more of them is the killer, but no one knows who - their memories from the last 25 years have...
Read More

Thursday’s Tale: Hercules and the Waggoner

by Carol1 Comment
I decided to share another of Aesop's fables today. I always equate Aesop with talking animals, but this time around we've got one about the gods interacting with humans. A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy  way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank  half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheels sank. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt  down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. "O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress." But Hercules appeared to him, and said: "Tut, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel." The moral, of course, is that the gods help those who help themselves. On a side note, it's funny how much different illustrations for "baby" books look today. They are so much simpler and cleaner. The colors tend to be brighter, too, I think. Thursday's Tales is a weekly...
Read More