CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS YEAR ROUND: A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

Monday, November 7, 2011

A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

   I LOVE this time of year! Even though Houston is CRAZY as far as weather goes (we are at 83 right now and hideously humid) and it feels Autumny only about 2 days out of each week, I feel Autumny! (Uh-uh-uh! I heard that! It is NOT because I look like a round turkey!) Actually, it's because I am really allowing myself to FEEL the gratitude for so many things!
   For instance, today I went to my favorite grocery store. I could set up a cot and LIVE in there, folks. Truly. Fruits and veggies so fresh and yummy it's heavenly, a wonderful sushi cart run by a family from Japan who make the BEST sushi fresh to order daily, a bakery I have NO business even WALKING past much less sampling, and just about ANYTHING I could imagine needing or wanting. I know pretty much everyone who works there - and it's a HUGE store - and I get HUGS from almost all of them. I LOOOOOVE hugs! Happy Kai!
   After that, I learned this nasty old heat and humidity will be RAIN tomorrow (we SERIOUSLY need it) then COLD Wednesday through Saturday! YAY!
   To top it off, I have some good programs recorded to watch later, my craft table is fun-in-progress, and the book I'm currently reading ROCKS! GOOD STUFF!
   Most of all, though, I'm feeling Autumny and grateful because I genuinely love so many of my blogger friends! Each day when I get the chance to check your blogs, it feels as though I've been to your house for a short while to have coffee and yak a bit. Thank you for letting me visit you. You ALL amaze, impress, and touch me ALL the time!
   I wish I could show you what I'm working on right now (I CAN'T; it's a birthday gift for one of you) because I'm LIKING it a LOT! I'll show you once I've mailed it and KNOW the birthday girl has received it.
   For now, that's about it. BIG HUGS TO EVERYONE FROM THIS SENTIMENTAL, MUSHY, SILLY, OLD TURKEY! And tell me - what is making YOU happy today?

7 comments:

creativedawn said...: Well, I wish I could run into you in our grocery store! I too love, love, love hugs!!!!

lol,
hugz
Pam; November 7, 2011 at 3:50 PM
Christel Hutson said...: Hi Kai, actually, what made me happy today was an email from you. I feel like we had our coffee, and a sweet roll all rolled into one! I too know almost everyone who works at my local grocery..as well as my fave thrift store, sewing center, post office,and Walmart..lol wow, do I ever get around! Have a great night Kai, bunches of love,..oh by the way, what is Autumny? I'm breakin' out the Grammar police on you!ha ha xoxo Christel; November 7, 2011 at 9:15 PM
Susan @ Blackberry Creek said...: Hugs right back at you, Kai. I wish we had a good grocery story. All we got is WalMart and a little stinky independent. The independent does have good cuts of meat though. Love you, girlfriend.; November 8, 2011 at 9:23 AM
Sandy Michelle said...: Tee,hee I think it's great that you are so thankful for the every day things :) I can't believe it's so hot there! You need to get a dose of cold Autumn weather over here. I would love to have you over for a real coffee and a yak!

I can't wait to see what you made!

Hugs!('cause I know you like them)

Sandy; November 9, 2011 at 3:38 PM
Sheila R - Blessed and Distressed said...: What made me happy today was the wonderful comments on our blog - The Creative Patch. I can't wait to see you forest of creamy trees!; November 11, 2011 at 6:49 AM
Hopewell Creek Designs said...: Well lets see it's Friday for a start!! And I had a moment to come and visit you which I always love.You sound good and that's always good news. Plus my Father has started a new treatment for cancer that has been a huge break through and it's in a pill form not chemo. The doctor says it's being called a little miracle pill. So fingers crossed and tons of prayers I hope it does what they say. It was also on ABC news one evening. So I am very grateful right now...(((hugs your way))); November 11, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Anonymous said...: I like all the holidays but Christmas is my favorite. Thanksgiving kind of gets ignored in my house so winning a gratitude box would be fun! Add me to the list if it isn't too late, please. Sylvia; November 15, 2011 at 10:51 AM

WHAT I'M READING

MOLOKA'I BY ALAN BRENNERT - Rachel is only seven years old when she's torn from her family and isolated in an area of Hawaii reserved for people with Leprosy. This is a very sad, yet very beautifully written account, spanning the years from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. While the story is a novel, it's based on truth, and as I read, I paused and researched some of what I was reading. I learned so much about Leprosy and how what MOST of the characters in this book actually had compared to the Biblical depiction of the condition. Reaffirmed through not only Rachel's history, but the history and stories of those condemned to live separate from their families and ostracized from mainstream society, was one constant: people learn to live with what they are given. Some retreat, some thrive, some give up. But regardless of circumstances, like Rachel, the fabulously real focal character of Brennert's book, they endure. Moloka'i is 388 pages of wonder. Parts of it will forever haunt me. Parts will bring me to tears years from now. But I will NOT forget it.
THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC - At a scant 129 pages, this compact book holds so much intense emotion I could not read it as quickly as I wanted. I had to stop, chew, swallow, and wait for each nuance of each chapter to digest. Narrated by a single (unknown) woman of Japanese heritage, THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC is the story of Japanese women pre-WWII, who came to America as promised wives to Japanese men. They arrived with hopes and dreams, fear and excitement, memories and momentos. Each woman carried a different past into her new present. But all carried ONE thing in common - a photo of her husband-to-be. Suffice it to say, all were NOT what the pictures OR the letters promised. This story is a quick moving account of what happened once the women arrived until which time they found themselves in the middle of the second world war and all the fear and prejudice and change it brought. Though the reader never learns the name of the narrator or gets to focus on any one woman, somehow the overview of ALL the women is sufficient to move the story along easily and interestingly. I loved it. I really, really LOVED it!
Noah's Wife 5500 BCE by T.K. Thorne - I've read a lot of novels based on the Bible's Noah. This book is VERY differnt in that it centers almost solely around the woman who was Noah's partner. In this version she is Na'amah, a girl with Asperger's Syndrome, a branch of Autism. I am not quite finished reading this but I had to add it here in hopes that some of you will also read it. Beautifully written, VERY interesting take on the familiar story, and - regardless of the fact that I KNOW how it ends, I am enthralled with this writer's clever portrayal of one who was, in previous versions, all but ignored. BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL BOOK!
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield - OMG! I read this straight through, shivering, crying, remembering ...! The main character, Khendra, is in therapy for sexual abuse which began at age 2. The problem is - her mind is supressing the identity of her abuser. A WORSE problem? Her abuser is trailing her; leaving threats and insidious messages. Khendra also cuts herself. This relieves the pain inside yet leaves physical scars meant to soothe the emotional ones. This book is one you will read until you gasp for air and realize you haven't been breathing! PLEASE, if you want to understand the methods of a predator and the agony of a person being abused, read this book. It isn't pretty. It isn't happy. But it's REAL. And it MAY just help YOU help someone else one day.
Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott - This book is well over 300 pages and I read it all, but STILL don't know how I feel about it. Let's just say I wish I had been the editor because her premise was awesome. Her execution? Well ...! The story is about a young woman who lives in a society where she and many others are outcasts because of a ruler's mandate. She ends up finding her father, a leader in another realm, and comes to terms with her anger, prejudices, etc. Am I making it sound compelling? NO? Good, because most of it isn't. The author has some really good segments through the book, but there's so much convoluted yakking & silliness in places, it distracts a reader from the good parts. I would not buy this one if I were you! Just my opinion.
Impossible by Nancy Werlin - (Young Adult) If you like to delve into the realm of faeries (and I DO) and want a bit of mystery, puzzle solving, and 'real life' tossed in, along with amazingly good writing, this is the right book. I own several by the author, but so far have read only IMPOSSIBLE. Despite my strong aversion to ANYTHING that even smells of romance novels, I loved this story. The 'romance' was a focal point in the story, but NOT, by any means THE story. This writer knows her stuff! THUMBS UP!
Reckless by Cornelia Funke - the author of the Inkheart trilogy wrote this very strange novel. It's meant to be a take on the Snow White mirror thing, but it jumps around WAY too much and not necessarily in a good way. Her IDEA is magnificent. Her execution left me cold.
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood, Duchess of Northumberland - I picked up this book about the daughter of a man who heals with plants, the man himself, and a very mysterious young man who's called Weed. Read straight through it because I absolutely COULD NOT put it down!
Folly by Marthe Jocelyn - a rather down-in-the-mouth YA book that seems to focus more on building UP to a 'surprise' ending than on anything else. Didn't HATE it. Also didn't LOVE it.
Dark Song by Gale Giles - a girl finds out her family has been living a lie and the lie changes everything, including who she becomes. I couldn't put it down!
Plain Kate by Erin Bow - a young girl who has learned to carve from her father suddenly finds herself an orphan, accused of using a 'witch-blade' by the superstitious town folks. A good story with so many twists!
Stolen by Lucy Christopher - young adult but not just for kids! Very intense story of a young girl who is kidnapped right out from under her parents' noses at an airport. Extremely suspenseful! Very good!
The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter, the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry - for those of you familiar with the author, three words: TYPICAL DAVE BARRY! For those unfamilar, three words: FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY! A VERY quick read!
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - There is NO doubt in my mind why this was a HUGE bestseller! I LOVED IT!
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenhauf - a mystery as well as a beautiful story
The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay by Beverly Jensen - Heartbreakingly wonderful
Knitting by Anne Bartlett - set in Australia, this follows two women and a homeless man's personal journeys - a comforting book!
The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins - About Irish 'Travellers' or Gypsies - SOOOOOO GOOD!