Back Home (Flash Fiction)

by Carol6 Comments
Image credit: unknown Back Home by Carol 382 words So, it’s true, Casey thought as she drove past the old Cagney place, seeing the light in the window. Jake is back. Inside the house, Jake surveyed the progress he had made. It wasn’t much. He’d have to stay at a hotel tonight, probably the next week, maybe more, until he could get at least one room livable. The house would require so much time, work and love, but he was committed. He remembered being a child, walking down the street, fascinated and frightened by the haunted house. Even then, the house seemed to be waiting for him. As a kid, he had never dared break-in, and although plenty of his friends had boasted about being inside, he never believed them. He left Miller’s Creek immediately after he graduated high school, knowing that there were few opportunities in the small town. He and a friend had started a security agency that became very successful. They provided all...
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Friday’s Tale: The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen

by Carol4 Comments
Illustration: Sur la Lune Fairytales "Something, it appears, may be learnt from books.” Published in 1844, "The Nightingale" tells the story of a Chinese Emperor who learns from a book about his land that there is a bird in the woods just outside his garden who sings so beautifully it is truly the treasure of the kingdom. When he orders a nightingale brought to him, a kitchen maid leads the court to thewhere the bird is found. On the way, the courtiers hear a cow and frogs, and the girl has to tell them those are neither is the song of the nightingale. When asked, the nightingale agrees to appear at court. The Emperor is so delighted with the bird's song that he keeps the nightingale at court in its own golden cage. It is let out occasionally, but can only fly with ribbons attached to its legs. When the Emperor is given a bejeweled mechanical bird he loses interest in the...
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Review: ZooBorns by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland

by Carol8 Comments
The photos of all the little baby animals born in zoos around the world make ZooBorns the cutest book I've read in years. The critters are just adorable, from the Fennac Fox pictured on the cover above to the Tawny Frogmouths born in Sea World, show below. Several photos of each baby are included, all in full color filling the 6 inch square pages. They're detailed and just a delight. Each "Zoo Born's" name is given, along with their species, home, date of birth and status, whether or not the species is endangered. There's also a little blurb telling more about the animal, maybe how they would live in the wild or how they are being taken care of. Few books are truly for all ages, but I think this one is. The pictures are so adorable and little kids are just fascinated by animals that I can see them loving just looking at the photos and being told the animal's names....
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Teaser about a Girl Named September

by Carol13 Comments
The Leopard of Little Breezes yawned up and further off from the rooftops of Omaha, Nebraska, to which September did not even wave good-bye. One ought not to judge her. All children are heartless. They have not grown a heart yet, which is why they can climb tall trees and say shocking things and leap so very high that grown-up hearts flutter to terror. Hearts weigh quite a lot. That is why it takes so long to grow one. (Tuesday Teaser from pg. 4 of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente - ARC)...
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Review: The 17-Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno

by Carol2 Comments
Like many people, I could stand to lose more than a pound or two, so when The 17-Day Diet came out, I thought I'd give it a try. The 17-Day Diet is set up in 4 cycles , each of which lasts 17 days. I'm still in the first cycle, Accelerate. It's designed to give you a quick start to losing weight. In theory, you can manage any plan for only 17 days, but I probably shouldn't have started it the week before Easter. It is a very easy to follow plan, but look at all those yummy Peeps and chocolate eggs and  cherry pie. Back to the book. Basically, it gives you a list at the beginning of each cycle of the foods you can eat. The first cycle is mostly poultry, fish, a bunch of vegetables and some fruits. He also want you to drink green tea and eat two probiotic servings a day. Now I hate yogurt and...
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