Christmas and books!

I think Iceland is on to something with their Christmas Book Flood idea. A 2013 study showed that 50% of Icelandics read more than 8 books in a year and 93% read at least one in a year. And…when you add chocolate to the mix like they do, well, count me in!

Growing up in my family, having a book with me was a smart thing to do. (You never knew when you might have to stand in a line or wait for someone.) And my husband said he learned to do this in self defense!

And as this wise man once said…

Back in the “olden days” when I owned and managed a bookstore in California, one of the slogans I used in our marketing was a quote from Garrison Keillor:

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”

So what book would YOU choose this Christmas?

The darkness goes, even if slowly

We celebrate this coming Thursday as Winter Solstice, the turning point in our calendar as the daylight begins to increase each day. December 21 has the shortest period of daylight and also the longest night of the year. Yes, the light begins, ever so slowly, to return. The light and the dark move to equalize, […]

“Why” is the wrong question!

Our brain loves to solve problems. It functions beautifully to figure out how to make a pumpkin pie, sail across oceans, or build a house. It’s a wonderful tool for creativity. But if we are trying to understand ourselves, to find a way out of suffering, it can derail us because our minds get caught […]

a family story plus!

The holiday season often brings family back together…and here’s a familiar story about family, told in a way that only an ex-English teacher would tell it! Can you wrap your head/tongue around this tongue twister version? See if you can read/say it without stumbling! Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his fond father […]

A head start on 2024?

December is a somewhat crazy month…a month of highs and lows, stress and relaxation, endings and beginnings. But…we could also use it to get a headstart on 2024! Here’s an idea that we can wrap up as a gift certificate to give ourselves as an early Christmas present… “You have hereby received from yourself, the […]

Skewed Gratitude again..!

(I am revisiting this topic from a 2019 post ’cause it just makes sense to me!) I’m feeling grateful for stuff that never happened! I spilled the hot chocolate all over the counter. At least it didn’t go into the silverware drawer. And there was the leaking roof in that August. At least it was […]

That half glass…

Remember that “half full, half empty glass” question? And did you ever realize how many different perspectives you could have on it? I guess it all depends on which half we are focused on, which half we are giving our attention to, which half we have chosen to measure! I really like this idea about […]

Change the clocks…again?

Well, did you “fall back” today? After all, it’s the end of Daylight Savings Time for this year. I love this image as it questions our “logical” minds! (How long is your blanket?) Did we really gain an hour of daylight this year? Is it just a metal illusion, a trick we play on ourselves? […]

Thermometer or thermostat?

Given our ever-changing weather, have you been messing around with your house thermostat? When it gets too warm, do you have the air conditioner on? Too cold and have the heater kick on? In biology “comfort zone” means the range between 28 and 30 degrees Centigrade at which the naked body is able to maintain […]

feeling creative?

There is fascinating research saying that 98% of us test as highly creative at the age of five, and by age twenty-five, only 2% of us test that way. (Guess what that means for us seniors!) Since this is the month of Halloween, I looked for some creative jack-o-lanterns online. Eight years ago, I did […]