I spent a good part of this week without my main computer and all the information it holds. My fault. I have an external hard drive that I could have used with my laptop if I’d bothered to save anything. On Monday morning, I booted my computer and the screen saver came up but I couldn’t get the mouse or keyboard to work. No problem, change all the batteries. No joy. My husband brought his mouse in with its dongle. I had no idea what the heck a dongle is but discovered it’s that small device able to be connected to and used with a computer, especially to allow access to wireless broadband or use of protected software. Hubs changed dongles and tried his mouse. No joy. Then he went back to his computer and now his mouse and keyboard wouldn’t work. Even less joy. Once again my son-in-law came to the rescue. It seemed we had a dongle disaster, along with a plug that had pulled out of some hub or other. Got the computer up and going but the mouse and keyboard still didn’t register. So he took all the dongles and the two mice and figure out which went with which. Finally, joy. I am truly a digital idiot. 1 0
A short while ago, Hubs and I took a trip to Utah to see my son and his family. The last time I was there, I slipped on ice and face planted on my son’s concrete porch. Damage? Raccoon eyes, a fat nose and seven stitches. My daughter warned me not to fall on my face this time. I bought crampons for my shoes so I wouldn’t slip on ice, despite the forecast for good weather. So what happened? I fell on the back of my head. In the Salt Lake City airport, I stepped onto an old escalator with narrow steps and a speed rivaling the Daytona 500, holding on to two carry-ons. My foot got caught under one and I slid sideways, leaning up against the side of the escalator. When I got to the bottom, I fell back, cracking my head on an escalator step. PAIN! I recall my husband yelling at someone to push the button and turn off the escalator, then many hands helped me to a standing position. I touched the back of my head and my hand came away thoroughly bloody. I thought, What a stupid thing for me to do, then reached into my bag and pulled out a wad of paper toweling (I always carry paper toweling) and pressed it to the back of my head. After thirty minutes of waiting for the required paramedic visit and pressing on the cut, the blood stopped flowing. And I could tell the nice guy with the stretcher that I was alert x 5, had fallen on the hardest part of my skull, my eyesight was fine and I only had a mild headache. I also told him I had had my EMT license. He left. The bump on my head grew to the size of a tangerine, and I bled a little more into a towel on my pillowcase that night but slept well. But I am happy to report my diagnosis was correct – all I have at this point is a one-inch scab in my scalp. Now my daughter tells me not to fall on my face or the back of my head. And take an elevator instead of an escalator. Which I did, on the way back. Here is the charmer we got to spend time with in Utah: P.S. She is a water baby and swims like a fish. 0 0
Yep, I did it again. I am hosting one of the more than 200 different viruses that can cause a cold. Most of them are highly contagious. Rhinoviruses are the most common, but other viruses, such as adenoviruses, coronaviruses, human parainfluenza virus (HPIV), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), can also lead to mild or severe upper respiratory symptoms or common colds. I divide the colds I get into several categories: There are lots of colors this mucus can be: green, pink, yellow, cloudy white or brown. None on this color scale is particularly enjoyable, but you can almost diagnose yourself by the color. I am currently getting my only exercise by coughing. 2. The head cold. This sneaks up on you with either a runny nose or a nose you can’t breathe through. Sometimes it occurs in tandem with #1. You sound ridiculous when you talk with your nose stuffed and many people use some sort of nose drops to open themselves up. Unfortunately, you can get hooked on the nose drops and have to use them more and more frequently. I just stuff tissue up my nose since I can’t use it to breath anyway, and people just accept that I’m nuts. 3. The throat cold. This is strep throat, more common in kids. It comes on quickly, makes it painful to swallow, and your tonsils if you still have them (I still do, after many decades) are swollen with pockets of pus on the surface. Delightful. Right now I have a mild combination of 1 and 2. When we first moved to North Carolina and I became engaged in teaching, I had a cold of some sort from August to May of the following year. Having run through all of the germs I was likely to encounter in this state, I now only get to enjoy a cold one a couple of times a year (not counting Covid.) Of course, if I travel out of state, I generally come back accompanied by a new germ I met along the way. The time line of my colds. Days 1–3: scratchy throat, coughing, runny nose or congestion, irritability, a continual longing for a nap. Days 4–7: Aches, fatigues, more naps, more irritability and an unwillingness to cook anything. Days 8–10: I should be getting over it but I’m still coughing and using the cold as an excuse not to do anything. Having written this, I’m heading off for a nap…. 1 0
At the feast of the Epiphany two Sundays ago, I started to give some serious thought to the ‘Three Kings’ while we were singing We Three Kings of Orient Are, one of my favorite Christmas carols. Who exactly were they? And why would they ‘travel afar?’ Celebrating the Epiphany In Duke Chapel, many years ago, the Reverend Peter J. Gomes, an old and dear friend, introduced his homily on the Three Wise Men by saying he had a lot in common with them: he was always late. So is this post! Contrary to popular Christmas tradition, the Bible does not use the terms “three wise men” or “three kings” to describe the travelers who went to see Jesus after his birth. (See Matthew 2:1). Instead, Matthew used the Greek word ma’goi to describe those who visited Jesus, that is, one of a learned and priestly class. The word likely refers to experts in astrology and other occult practices. A number of Bible translations call them “astrologers” or “magi The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic, c. 565, Basilica of Sant’ Appolinare Nuovo, Ravena, Italy (restored during the 19th century). As here, Byzantine art usually depicts the Magi in Persian clothing, which includes breeches, capes, and Phrygian caps. Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century B.C.E., said that the ma’goi of his day belonged to a Median (Persian) tribe that specialized in astrology and interpretation of dreams. Eastern tradition sets the number of Magi at 12, but Western tradition sets their number at three, probably based on the three gifts of ‘gold, frankincense, and myrrh.’ Attempts to give them names over the centuries settled on Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, based on Melkon, King of Persia; Gaspar, King of India; and Baldassar, King of Arabia. Girolamo da Santacroce (Italian, 1480-1556) ca. 1525-1530 (Renaissance) Where did they come from? Possible the Parthian Empire in Iran (then Persia), which stretched from eastern Syria to the fringes of India and which was tolerant of other religions. Its dominant religion was Zoroastrian with its priestly ma’goi class. Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, having originated in ancient Persia. It contains both monotheistic and dualistic elements, and many scholars believe Zoroastrianism influenced the belief systems of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although Matthew’s account does not explicitly cite the motivation for their journey, the Syrian Infancy Gospel states that they were pursuing a prophecy from their prophet, Zoroaster. Another possibility of their origin is that they were Nabataean wise men from the courts of King Aretas IV (ca. 9 BC – AD 40). Nabataeans no doubt had a significant grasp of astronomy and used it for directions when they traveled by night. A new star would have caught their attention. The Nabataeans were renowned traders, who amassed great wealth by controlling many of the trade routes from Arabia through their capital of Petra and onto the coastal port of Gaza. Regardless of their origin, it is generally accepted that they followed a star. But was it a star? The fact that they needed to ask Herod for directions when they arrived suggests they were not being led to their final destination by a single bright object. If not a star, then what? The other, more astronomical, explanation is that there was indeed a bright object in the sky — a conjunction between planets and stars. A conjunction occurs when two or more celestial bodies appear to meet in the night sky and these events can continue every night in a similar location for days or weeks. If the wise men were to follow the moment of conjunction, it’s possible they would have been led in a specific direction. Perhaps the most promising is an alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, the moon and the sun in the constellation of Aries on April 17, 6 B.C. This conjunction happened in the early morning hours, which aligns with the Gospel’s description of the Star of Bethlehem as a rising morning star. Matthew records the visit of the Wise Men to Bethlehem, but before they arrived there, they met with Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea, a man who was the center of political and family intrigues in his later years. The New Testament portrays him as a tyrant. When the wise men asked him, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2), pretended not to know what they spoke of. Herod was frightened by the apparent fulfillment of a messianic prophecy that threatened his rule, , so he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” After hearing from Herod, they set out, following the star they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. Thankfully, the magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so when they left for their own country, they went by a different way. The Bible says: “Herod, seeing that he had been outwitted by the astrologers, flew into a great rage, and he sent out and had all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts killed, from two years of age and under, according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the astrologers.” Adoration Of the Magi—Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) Massacre (or Slaughter) of the Innocents is also recounted by (2:16–18), with thousands of deaths recorded by various historians, However, modern scholarship finds no evidence that it happened outside of Matthew’s description, though it is believable given Herod’s character. The Massacre of the Innocents, tempera on wood painting by Sano di Pietro (Ansano di Pietro di Mencio), c. 1470; in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There are so many things about the story of the three Wise Men that confound explanation, so perhaps it is best
Calling all fans of fantasy and D. Wallace Peach: Diana has a new book just out! It’s entitled Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver, and it more than lives up to Diana’s high standard of compelling stories, complete with a beautiful cover. Here is the blurb for Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver: “Already the animals starve. Soon the bonemen will follow, the Moss Folk and woodlings, the watermaids and humans. Then the charmed will fade. And all who will roam a dead world are dead things. Until they too vanish for lack of remembering. Still, Weaver, it is not too late.” In the frost-kissed cottage where the changing seasons are spun, Erith wears the Weaver’s mantle, a title that tests her mortal, halfling magic. As the equinox looms, her first tapestry nears completion—a breathtaking ode to spring. She journeys to the charmed isle of Innishold to release the beauty of nature’s awakening across the land. But human hunters have defiled the enchanted forest and slaughtered winter’s white wolves. Enraged by the trespass, the Winter King seizes Erith’s tapestry and locks her within his ice-bound palace. Here, where comfort and warmth are mere glamours, she may weave only winter until every mortal village succumbs to starvation, ice, and the gray wraiths haunting the snow. With humanity’s fate on a perilous edge, Erith must break free of the king’s grasp and unravel a legacy of secrets. In a charmed court where illusions hold sway, allies matter, foremost among them, the Autumn Prince. Immortal and beguiling, he offers a tantalizing future she has only imagined, one she will never possess—unless she claims her extraordinary power to weave life from the brink of death. My review: The tale opens with an unanticipated confrontation of mortals with enchanted beings, the Winter King’s white wolves. A bloody and terrible battle ensues in which places the delicate balance between the enchanted and mortal worlds on a razor’s edge. This prologue left me breathless and wondering what would come next. Then, in a cottage that spans the boundary between the enchanted and mortal world, the reader is introduced to a halfling named Erith. Her mother, a magical being, was the much revered weaver of tapestries for each season, which ensured the seasonal changes. Now, taking over from her mother, Erith must assume the demanding task of creating the tapestries, her first being that of spring, which at the spring equinox will be imbued with an enchantment causing the change from winter to spring. It is an age old honor to be the Season’s Weaver and a heavy burden, especially when the four seasons are not always gracious about handing over the crown at the appropriate time. Erith has to remain impartial to not cause any further disharmony; to the extent she herself only wears black or grey to avoid showing a preference. While Erith feels herself to be an inadequate weaver in comparison to her mother’s, she nevertheless completes the beautiful weaving and now must bring it to the magical island of Innishold. There the Winter King resides, and there winter will give way to spring with the enchantment of the weaving at the equinox. The author’s imagination has no limits in her inventions of characters, and I am more often than not gobsmacked by her creations. In the first chapter the reader is introduced to Mazheven, leader of the Mori Duglum, stout hunters clad in green cloaks with carrying powerful bows on their backs and quivers of arrows at their hips. Mazheven wears a long red scarf that encircles his neck, which contrasts with his cloak and his white beard. This guide taught Erith lessons in woodlore and with his band will see her safely through the snowy and foggy forest and across the frozen lake to the Winter King’s palace, a journey fraught with danger. One of those dangers are the wylyali , which Erith sees lurking the forest. These are fearsome. horned winter predators that slip from the “gauzy border” that separates the living from the dead. They hunt anything mortal with a blood lust, and the more they eat, the more hungry they become. Tall and gaunt, their pale skin is stretched so tightly over their bodies that their individual muscles and bones can be seen. They are truly frightening. After crossing the frozen lake and finding the Winter King and the rest of the seasonal royalty already in a wild celebration of the equinox, Erith is engulfed in the revelry but remains nervous about her reception by the King. Although she is on edge, nothing prepares her for what comes next: the theft of her tapestry and her imprisonment by the Winter King. The Winter King seemed to me unnecessarily cruel and vindictive, unlike the rulers of the other seasons, and I had to wonder why. How will she recover the tapestry? Who can Erith count on for allies in confronting the Winter King? And what secrets did her mother and the Winter King keep from her? The author’s descriptions of this quasi-magical world are of this world are breathtaking, and as I’ve noted with her previous books, I often take time to read them twice because they are so beautiful – such as this one, describing the spring tapestry: “The landscape formed a square…A medley of greens and blues flowed across the season, the underlying wave overlaid with a handstitched palette of flowers. Butterflies flitted between the blooms of lungwort and foxglove. Rabbit sprinted in the pale grass, and the fish sparkled in a purling stream. The azure sky played host to clouds as soft as lambswool.” I hope I have given you enough of an introduction to the book to compel your interest. This is fantasy at its best, along the lines of the Chronicles of Narnia or Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy. If I could give the book ten stars, I would! About the author: D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move
Judith Barrow is another in the group of amazing and talented Welsh authors (think Thorne Moore, Iris Gower) whose books I inhale. This one is a psychologically twisted tale of an evil stepmother and the destruction she wreaks on a family that was managing well without her. Lynn nurses a dying, bed-ridden mother and is seen by one of the woman’s eight-year-old twins, Charlie and Chloe, being mean to her – a harbinger of things to come. The story is told from the twins’ point of view. Although the twins are doing well living with their father, Graham, after his wife dies, Lynn worms her way into Graham’s life and he marries her, bringing cruelty and chaos into the family. She is psychotic and a professional manipulator who always gets her way, something the twins recognize immediately but are afraid to tell their father. Lynn has two children of her own, Evie, who befriends the twins, and Saul, a hateful and nasty older boy who antagonizes and bullies Charlie in horrible ways. Charlie hates his stepmother from the beginning, and she gradually gets the cowardly and spineless Graham to believe the lies she tells about Charlie. So much so that he agrees to send Charlie away to a reform school. Chloe is not as obstinate as Charlie but eventually she too is removed from the family and placed in foster care on the basis of Lynn’s lies about her. To control Graham, who at least recognizes that Lynn is tearing his family apart, Lynn begins to drug him until he is all but useless. This allows her access to his money and a life without confrontation to her plans. For the next ten years, the twins, who never see each other, make their way in the life forced on them, with its continuing cruelties and lack of emotional support. But they prove resilient enough to survive to adulthood and thrive, and they never stop hoping they will find each other. Will Charlie and Chloe find each other? Will Lynn finally get her due and Graham be rescued from his useless life? Can his children forgive him? Will Saul finally receive his just rewards? What happens is what kept me turning the pages, looking for the answers to these questions. The answers are almost as convoluted as Lynn’s machinations. I became attached to Charlie and Chloe from the beginning, experiencing each injustice done them personally and wondering what evil their stepmother would do to them next. I became frustrated at the weakness of Graham. What kind of a father is he? I desperately wanted to shake him into reality. Lynn at first seemed a caricature of the evil stepmother, but the author clearly understand the depths of human depravity and I came to understand that Lynn represents a real but twisted person. The only drawback is that I couldn’t imagine a man as weak and compliant at Graham. The author has successfully created a book populated by real people, people you love to hate or just hate or just love. She has created unexpected twists and turns and the book is a lively read. Recommended for anyone liking a good book about family drama or who just love to hate an evil stepmother. About the author (from Amazon): Judith Barrow is a writer of domestic thrillers, domestic noir, and historical family sagas. Her books include Sisters, published in 2023, and The Memory, which was shortlisted in 2021 for the Wales Book of the Year (the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award). Originally from Saddleworth, a group of villages on the Pennines, she has lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for over forty years. She has an MA in creative writing, a BA ( Hons) in Literature, and Diploma in Drama. She is a creative writing tutor and holds workshops on all genres. She also attend many festivals and book events and frequently gives talks on creative writing. You can find her at: https://judithbarrowblog.com https://www.facebook.com/judith.barrow.3 1 0
A few nights ago we got tickets to see the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival. It sleeted earlier in the day but by the time we left, the precipitation had nearly ended. However, with temperatures in the upper 30s, we were bundled to the gills for this outside event! The ancient art of Chinese lantern making began in the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD), a significant period for science and innovation. Each year during Chinese New Year, families view colorful lanterns to symbolize respect and prosperity. The local Chinese community is host to more than 25 Chinese artisans and performers who arrive in North Carolina in early November to hand assemble lanterns and prepare for exciting Chinese cultural performances during this annual celebration. The colors and the variety of lanterns and lighted figures just blew me away. The amphitheater presented a bouquet of traditional Chinese figures along with representations of fireworks and also Great Barrier Reef. We spent more than two hours wandering around. I’ll let you judge for yourself how wondrous this was! I loved these blue wisteria! The little boy on the bicycle is my grandson – you have to pump the bike pedals to get the fireworks to light up! I hope you enjoyed my tour of the Festival of Lanterns! 0 0
The book, Run: Ben Walsh, a Congressional staffer for a US congresswoman, gets a cryptic text from his wife: “I love you. I just need you to know that.” Up until that morning, Ben and his wife Veronica, a gifted mathematician and professor, seemed a happy, ideal couple. But after this text, Ben cannot locate Veronica. She doesn’t pick up her phone, and when she doesn’t return home by that night, Ben calls on his good friend, Jeremy Wiles, who is running for President, for advice and help. They discover that her disappearance occurred around the time of a mass shooting along the running route Veronica takes every morning. When another violent death of a family friend and baby sitter occurs, the police begin to suspect that Veronica is somehow involved and could be a suspect. Ben is unaware that a killer from Veronica’s past, which she’s never revealed to Ben, stalks his family with what appears to the goal of assassinating her. Ben is smart and pulls all the strings he can find to track Veronica down, including her home department. There are clues scattered through the book, from Veronica, based on her knowledge of math and what she’s been able to impart of it to Ben. Veronica is on the run, hence the title of the book, from her past. There are unexpected twists and turns as Ben tries to find her. No one is as they seem and there are quite a few family ties and connections to be discovered among the threads of the Veronica’s life. How is Veronica related to the victims? Is she alive, and if so, where is she? ****** My review: This is the author’s first novel. I enjoyed it, as there were enough twists to keep me occupied and trying to figure things out. However, I was thrown off by the first chapter, the reason for which comes into play much later in the book. And it takes several chapters before the reader gets to Veronica’s disappearance and the beginning of the mystery. These first chapters are slow and I wondered if much of what’s in them was absolutely necessary. The author writes well and the reader can connect with the various characters, although I have to admit I wasn’t tightly drawn to any of them. Maybe the possible assassin. The author’s background comes into play in a big way in the writing of this book – see About the Author. I recommend this book (4.5 stars) to readers who will hang with the story to become engaged and who enjoy a story with twists, turns, and unexpected connections. About the author: Matthew Becker is a mathematician and formerly worked as part of the national Covid-19 response. He has a doctorate in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is published in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Matthew currently lives with his wife, a U.S. diplomat, and their two children in Washington, DC, before they move to Nicaragua in 2025 for their next overseas tour. His next book, Don’t Look Down, is out on January 14. You can find the author at: Home on X: https://x.com/MattBeckerBooks 1 0
