September column

Got Fiber Daze on my mind! Our Fiber Guild puts on this event every year so if you love any kind of fibery stuff then mark your calendar for Sept. 16^th and 17^th. It is in Mt Vernon at the Marc Center. Admission is free to come in to look and shop for your knitting, crocheting, spinning or weaving projects. There is still time to sign up for a class or two. We have quite a wide variety of classes. Check them out on our website: fiberfolksofswmo.com Then just click on Fiber Daze.

When someone tells me that a certain book is the best one they ever read, I usually pay attention and I put that book in my stack to read. This book has been on my self in the shop for a long time, I was looking for something different to read so I picked up and read it this month. It is quite different and quite unique.

The Shipping News

by

E. Annie Proulx

You have to feel sorry for Quoyle as he appears to be a big clumsy man who has had the short end of the stick his whole life. But for all his short comings he has a good heart and seems to find the good. He falls in love with a woman who has no intention of being a wife and mother. She is killed in a car accident and leaves him with two young daughters to raise. He is a loving father and in his grief he hooks up with an aunt and moves to the bitter cold island of Newfoundland, Canada. This is the area where their ancestors lived and the aunt reclaims an old house for them to fix up to live in. Quoyle has somehow fallen into the newspaper business even though he isn't very good at it. In the end he learns the business, has many misadventures and finds a love in an unexpected person. The story seems a simple one, but so well put together that you shiver with the cold. I did feel rather lost in much of the terminology for the ships, harbors, coves, and food. Now I did not find it to be the best book I ever read, but I did enjoy it very much.

The 13^th Hour

by

Richard Doetsch

Have you ever thought of reading a book backwards? I ran across this one recently that caught my eye. The first chapter is the last one and the book ends up on chapter one. Well I said to myself, this sounds like my kind of book so I had to start reading. It seems that this guy Nick Quinn finds himself being held in jail for the murder of his beloved wife. The evidence is very incriminating. In walks a strange man who gives him a letter and a beautiful pocket watch. Then left alone, Nick reads the letter and grasping at straws he follows the instructions. He is in possession of a watch that will take him back two hours to relive the past hour. Each time he makes the jump back in time though he changes things and ends up seeing his wife die again and his best friend also. Then there is the plane crash that happened at the same time with 212 people on board that die because the bad guy he is chasing escapes in a plane that plows into the big jet. This is an action packed book with many twists and turns and Nick tries to stop the person who will murder his wife and his own life is held in the balance. Quite an interesting book.

The Forgetting Time

by

Sharon Guskin

I really like books that make you think outside the box. What if we really do live many lives and what do we ever find as proof. This is a story of Noah, the young son of a single Mom who has had a struggle with him since a toddler. He is terrified of water, and at bed time cries for his Mama, and wants to “go home” Also as he gets older has night terrors. After exhausting medical, and psychology visits a Dr. finally says this four year old may have schizophrenia and wants to medicate him. Just not able to believe this diagnosis she finds an article by Jerome Anderson who is a professor of psychology and has spent his life in research about life after death. The problem is that Jerome now has a major health issue and is loosing a portion of his brain that deals with speech and it will eventually end his life as it progresses. So they end up finding each other and find out details from Noah that lead them to solving a huge mystery for two families and in the end for Jerome. This is a really good book even if you do not believe in reincarnation.

Thought for the day: Our life is frittered away by detail....Simplify, Simplify. By Henry David Thoreau

August column

It seems that by the end of each month when I start writing this column, I seem to look back and wonder where the past month has gone. July has been not only hot but very busy. My new sign on my shop door now says: Open: Tue. Maybe, Wed. Maybe, Friday Probably That is just the way it is. I am always glad to have someone walk in and find me open.

I am ready to spend a weekend at Fiber Folks of SW Mo. Weaving retreat in mid Aug. Going to learn some fancy pattern weaving and use of colors, and spend some time with come great people. I actually have read a lot of books lately, but feel that I have reported enough on the Harlan Coban novels. I think I have read about 13 of them in all. This month I will report on a couple of my favorite authors, that I can always count on for great reads.

Over a year ago I promised myself that I would re-read the Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series before I read the 8^th book. I finally did get them all read and have now finished the 8^th book. I understand that she plans to write at least two more in this series but it takes her about three years to complete one book. So now I look forward to the next one. Since the first book was made into a mini series on TV this last year there are many fans of her books. When I finished this last one I felt like I was saying “so long” to old friends and cant wait to meet them again soon.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood

by

Diana Gabaldon

This book picks up from the previous book An Echo in the Bone. The general story is about a combat nurse, Claire, in 1946, steps thru these stone in Scotland and finds herself in 1743. The first 7 books account her adventures, loves, and losses. This book finds her and Jamie in America in 1776 and being drawn into the battles that establish our independence from Great Britain. Many of the key players in the prev books seem drawn together at last and manage to work out some major issues. The story goes back to 1980 as Brianna (their daughter) is having her struggles as she and her families deal with problems in their home in Scotland and they are forced to go back thru the stones again, as they believe another time traveler has kidnapped their small son and taken him back thru the stones.

Ashley Bell

by

Dean Koontz

This is a new book by Koontz written in 2015. As with many books by Koontz the bizarre becomes the expected. A young woman named Bibi Blair is an aspiring author, engaged to a military guy serving over seas. She is very fierce and funny at the same time. When she suddenly developed stroke like symptoms she knew something was seriously wrong. It was the worse news possible, a brain cancer that is incurable and she is given less than a year to live. She smiled at the Dr. and said “we will see”

That night in the hospital she is visited by a mysterious man and a golden retriever who licked her hand. She woke up and felt totally well. Her parents are so thrilled they set her up with a massage treatment that also has some mystical tricks that leave her feeling like she is in another world and she know she must save Ashley Bell or her “cure” would be taken back. So the reader is taken on a wild ride with many twists and turns to find Ashley Bell before it is to late. I won't spoil it by revealing to much, but you know you have fallen in Koontz land for sure.

July column

I have become a SomeTime shop keeper. You will only find me in my Weaving Studio/Book Store some times. The month of June was very sketchy due to health issues and a fun get away to Iowa for a few days. My back is letting me down which makes me very sad because otherwise I feel very healthy. Sciatic pain is not for sissies for sure. So my goal is to seek the safest treatment and take care of myself. Again if my flag and sign is out, come on in. I still have books around the wall and they are still half price.

My fiber guild is gearing up for our big September event. It promises to be bigger and better this year. I will be teaching a class called Get Your Warp On. So check out this Web site.

Fiber Daze 2016 is a weekend filled with classes, vendors, and fun related to all types of wool and fiber craft. Whether you knit, crochet, weave or just want to learn we will have something for you. Please check out our list of classes, vendors, speakers and activities on our website http://www.fiberfolksofswmo.com/fiber-daze.html Registration is open now and classes fill up quickly!

Since I have spent so much time "taking care of myself" I have read several books this month. In fact I wont review but one or two of them. I did get hooked on all books by Harlen Coben and after exhausting all I had in my shop, I have now checked out four from the library. Each one is different with new characters and plots (except for the Myron Bolitar series). The setting of all his books is the New Jersey and New York area. I like seeing a few characters carry over from one book to another.

The Woods

by

Harlan Coben

The first paragraph grabs you: I see my Father with that shovel. There are tears streaming down his face. An awful, guttural sob forces its way up from deep in his lungs and out through his lips. He raises the shovel up and strikes the ground. The blade rips into the earth like its wet flesh.

Wow, couldn't put it down after that, could I. Paul Copeland is a county prosecutor and his sister walked into the woods 20 years ago and was never seen again. He is trying a case that ends up being linked to his sister's disapearance, could he finally find answers and if so will it tear apart everything he holds dear. A very good book and as I said before, I became a big Coben fan and have not been disapointed with a single book. He just gets better and better.

The Seventh Unicorn 

                                                                                    by

Kelly Jones

What a great book and great read. I even found it educational to boot. Alex Pellier is curator of the Cluny Museum in Paris. She is very passionate about her job and is an expert in medieval tapestries. She is especially drawn to a set called the Lady and the Unicorn series. She steps into a mystery when a nun invites her to an old convent, that is being shut down, to look at some old items for her museum. The nun can see that Alex is special and shows her a tapestry that was found in the wall when workers had started demolition. Could this be the seventh in the series? Alex ends up hiding the tapestry and working with the local Bishop to get it on auction to raise money to help keep the convent open so that the aging nuns will be able to stay. There is mystery and romance involved. I really enjoyed this book.

Altar of Bones

by

Philip Carter

The cover of this book has a comment by Greg Iles (another favorite author of mine) "Dan Brown meets Robert Ludlum....Gripping, Incredibly fast-paced". And yes I did find this book to be exactly that. This is an international thriller. Some day I will need to read this one again. The Altar of Bones is a legend that came from the Siberian frozen terrain a century old and finds its way to Paris. There are guardians of this religiou icon even though the ones trying to find it and capture its power don't even know what it looks like. With people from Hollywood to the KGB to the US government, the secret is allusive. Quite an action packed book. As you may know I always like to find serendipity in things. I read these last two books back to back. I was surprised to find reference in this book to the Cluny Museum and the Unicorn Tapestries.

June 2016 column

Maybe I have been doing to much bird watching lately. It seems like a soap opra playing out as I watch a pair of robins nurturing their two babies. They nested in an evergreen just off my front porch, and probably same pair from last year. The babies have been out of the nest for over a week but still follow the parents around begging to be fed. Yesterday a hawk hit the tree where Mom was feeding a young one, and took off with a bird in its talons. I assumed it was baby bird, but this morning I see both of them in the lawn again with Momma. I must be getting old when I find so much intertainment in watching birds pull worms out of the ground. Oh, then this morning another bird hit my picture window and didn't survive. Don't know what kind it was. Must be tough being a bird.

Neosho Farmers Market is doing very well. 15 Vendors each week so far and more to come as produce matures. Such a wide variety of things to buy. I bought a box of snap peas and ate several while I was weaving. Also took home some cinnamon rolls. I have heard some say that things are too expensive at a farmers market. Well let me tell you, these people put in many hours of hard work to get these fresh vegetables to that table. The bakers are up in wee hours baking so everything is fresh. Did I mention that all the food vendors are certified now in our market. They took time to attend classes in food handling and this all adds up to bringing the best produce to the market. So yes, it may cost more that what you get from Walmart, which has been shipped across the country and stored in boxes and sold in such bulk so that they make a few cents on a pkg. So please support these hard working folks who live in our community and are doing what they love.

I love to find an author that I have never read and find that their books have been on my shop shelf for years and I just "discovered" them. Harlen Coben is my feature author this month. He is like Evanovich on Testosterone! I am on my fourth book and really have a hard time putting them down. He did a series of books with Myron Bolitar as the main character. Myron is a sports agent and so much more. There is a lot of sports talk in his books, but not so much as to put you off if you don't really care about sports. He was a big time basketball player in his prime when an injury took it all away. He recovered, went to law school, worked for the FBI for awhile, then opened his Sports agency. He has a colorful group of associates and you just have to love them all. His best pal is a wealthy whimpy looking guy named Win, who reminds you of Bruce Wayne with his Batman, (Myron). Both guys are masters in martial arts and seem to always trying to save the good guy. The Bolitar books are so outragious with their the dry humor, yet the mystery line just keeps you hooked, and you never see the ending till it hits you.

Deal Breaker

by Harlan Coben

This was the first novel featuring Myron Bolitar, a 30 something single guy, still living in his parents basement, but leading a very successful life, with a gorgeous girlfriend, a growing sports agency and a tendency to try to save the innocent. Mryon has just landed a a deal with Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback, when Christian gets a phone call from his assumed-to-be-dead fiance. Then the mob gets involved and try to stop Myron from snooping. So is she dead or not? The plot is always believable and his associates make for very interesting reading. The book has romance, intrigue, murder, and enough humor to keep you guessing till the end.

Drop Shot

by Harlan Coben

This book deals with Myron's work with tennis players. There is of course murder, this time of a young female tennis champ who's career has been on major slide.. Another young black player who is on his way to the top has enough connections to the case to make Mryon worry and he is the agent for Duanne. Always wanting to correct wrongs Myron gets it sorted out and Win as usual adds the spice.

Promise Me

by Harlan Coben

This book was the eight book in the Bolitar series, so Myron has matured some and has a new love interest. He over hears two teen age daughters of some friends of his talking about riding with someone who was drunk. On the spur of the moment he talkes to them and makes them promise him that they will call him no matter what time to give them a ride if they are ever in that situation and he will take them home with no questions asked or any reporting to parents. He only wants them to be safe. Later one of the girls does call him but wants dropped at a girlfriends house and then she disappears. This is one of the better books Coben has done with this charactor as there is still the dry humor but the action and mystery is more believable. There is much less sports as Myron has taken up being an agent to movie stars and his colorful associate has taken over the sports part. When he gets on one of his “unofficial” cases he is like a bulldog. A great story with a big surprise ending.

May column

Yeah, its May! Think Farmers Market and fresh produce! Starts Sat. May 7th in Neosho, across from the library, 9 Am to Noon. Bigger and better this year. I plan to be there every other week this summer with my WeaverBirds Rugs.

I want to give a shout out to a new little book store in Neosho. It is called Agape Books and Gifts. It is on the west side of the blvd just down from Arvest bank. They specialize in Home Schooling books but also have good reading for anyone. They just opened and plan to have gift items for sale too. They just may have a few of my weaving items in there soon. So be sure to check them out.

I would also like to thank the Granby police dept for their kind help in locating my daughter after she had been in an auto accident and no one knew where she was. A great job and greatly appreciated.

I only have time to review one book this month, although I have read a couple more of J.D Robbs mystery books. Maybe my next month I will have a really good read to report on.

A Map of the World

by

Jane Hamilton

Wow, I started this book with no real idea what it was about. The cover only gave glowing reviews about it and about Hamilton's writing style. New York Times said: "A nimble job of showing us how precarious the illusion of safety and security really is." I found that the book did exactly that.

When I report on a book I have a very hard time trying to decide how much of the story to tell without spoiling it for someone who might want to read it. I decided on this one I had to tell the story and of course there is so much more to it than I could give away here.

It starts out in the voice of Alice. A young mother of two daughters. She is rather a dreamer and her husband now has life time dream of his own dairy herd and 400 acres to farm. They invested all they had to buy a run down old farm with a beautiful dairy barn. Alice is a school nurse and in summer time she shares days of caring for her best friends two little girls. On one morning of rushing around to collect herself and girls, the friend drops her girls off and Alice is distracted for a few minutes before realizing that the friends two year old daughter is missing. She finds her in the pond and in the end the child dies. Alice is in such dispare over the incident that when the police come to their farm to arrest her she assumes its for this event. She has been in a deep depression for weeks. It turns out the charges are for child molestation from a 6 year old boy from school. The judge sets the bail so high that husband can't make it. She spends 3 months in the county jail, awaiting trial.

The second part of the book is in the voice of the husband, Howard. He is a little bit of a dreamer too and was a loner til he met Alice. I would call him a deep thinker. When his wife is arrested he finds himself with two little girls to manage, plus managing the farm and milking twice a day. The summer is in a drought so his crops are struggling too. He is desperate to get his wife home, partly because he can't believe she molested a child and he needs her at home too. The girls are lost, angry, and confused. He finds he has to drive 20 miles away to buy groceries. People stare and community has been whipped into frenzy and more children come foreward. Three months later Howard finally has to sell the farm and his beloved dairy herd. He has loved the old farm house because of its history even though it is falling down. He moves the girls into a town farther away, an apartment with no yard. With the money from the sale of all he has, he gets his wife bailed out. It takes a couple more months for the trial.

This is where the voice changes to Alice and she is telling what it is like to live in the jail, where she is beaten. She has about given up and has accepted that she may likely spend her life in prison. She talks about this little boy and how she really hated to see him come into her nurse office. He was obviously so neglected and acted so strange, cursing and refusing to co-operate. By trial time the other children have dropped charges and her attorney has proof that even though the specialists say he has been sexually abused, the abuse was not at the hands of Alice.

So spoiler alert, Alice is found innocent. But her life and that of her family has been forever changed. Howard will no longer farm. His dream is dead. Alice is a changed person. She has lost her best friend. But she has the compassion to see that no one won, even the little boy who accused her of molesting him. So the take away is that life happens and things can take wrong turns even though you may not "deserve" the outcome. So the New York Times is right about "how precarious the illusion of safety and security really is".

April 2016 column

If you read my column last month you might have thought I was losing it. Sorry for my first statement not being very clear. The secretarial position that I did not run for this year was for the Fiber Guild that I have been a part of for the last 5 years. Now I feel better to have that cleared up. And speaking of the Fiber Guild, we are up and running to make our September Fiber Daze event in Mt Vernon be better than ever this year. The guild has grown leaps and bounds this last year and we have so much talent within the guild that it boggles the mind. Our two day event has become the highlight of the year for us. It takes many people to work together to put an event like this on. So I will be reporting much more later on this. I will say that if you want to be a vendor or teach a class the applications are on line now and the deadline is April 15. Website is: fiberfolksofswmo.com then click on Fiber Daze and you can go to the applications.

I am also excited to report that the Neosho Farmers Market is getting geared up to start the first Saturday of May. We hope to have even more vendors than last year and some new surprises for folks. I am looking forward to this weekly event right here in our own back yard, so to speak. The booths will be full of home grown produce or hand made items. Our location will be the same as last year, right across from the library, just a block off the square.

Books, books, books. Have decided to continue to sell my books at half price, since I am only in the shop a couple days a week now. It is working out well to be able to go in when I have time or just need to get a way and weave a couple rugs. Classes are still available to learn to weave.

I have read a mix of books this past month. So here are my picks

Odyssey

by

Jack McDevitt

It has been a long time since I read a science fiction novel. This one caught my eye, yes, I like pretty covers. The setting is in the future around 2235. We have the caustic journalist, McAllister, and Hutch who is head of the Acadamy, a space flight organization. It also centers around a Senator's 15 year old daughter Amy, who wants to be a pilot one day and also one of the Acadamy's top pilots, Valya. They are on a rountine space flight to place monitors in locations in other solar systems to try to gather information on the Moonriders, (UFO's). But it seems that a dangerous hoax is being played out by someone to scare the public into putting more funding into interstellar research. Lives are put at risk, and some lost, but it all works out in the end. Oh, and the Moonriders are real and very dangerous in a way that no one could imagine. I think I might like to read another of McDevitt's books as it is interesting to think of what the far future might hold for us.

Remember When

by

Nora Roberts/ J.D. Robb

Before you groan,”no, Not Nora Roberts”, I will have to say that several people have tried to get me to read this series of books by J.D. Robb, AKA Nora Roberts. Roberts has written so many books over the years that they sort of blur to me. But she turned suspense writer under her psudoneum of Robb. This book is acuually two books in one. The first one telling the story of Laine who is owner of a store called Remember When. She buys and sells unique antiques and gift items, and has made a nice home in a small community in the mountains of the Maryland. When a stranger is hit by a car in front of her shop and dies in her arms, her tidy little world starts to fall down around her. She is really the daughter of a small time con man whom she hasn't seen for many years. The stranger turns out to be a good friend of her father who was like her uncle when she was a child. As he dies he tries to tell her something and she realizes who he is. Along comes Max and when he meets Laine the sparks fly. He is a hired PI, trying to locate millions of dollors worth of stolen diamonds. Things get complicated and heated, but in the end by working together they find most of them and in the process uncover Laine's true identity. A realy good romance story that I did enjoy. Then in the second half of the book we change over to J.D. Robb writing in her futuristic suspence, jumping 50 years into the future and Laine and Max are senior citizens by now. The story is about their grand daughter, Samantha living in New York City and the mystery of the remaining diamonds is back. NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is the head of the investigation of the murder of two women with close ties to Samantha. We find the focus of the book now on Eve and her husband Roarke who happens to be wealthy and manages to help her with her cases. It was interesting to see how Robb describes how the future might look in every day things, like transportation, politics, foods, robots, ect.

Since 1995 when the “In Death” series with Eve Dallas was started, to now there are 53 books in this series. Makes you wonder how someone can keep turning out books at this rate.

From WeaverBirds Rugs, formerly Read Again Books

March Column 2016

Feeling like I was spreading myself to thin with family, changing my book store into a weaving studio and keeping up with a very busy fiber guild, I opted to not run for Secretary this year. I was feeling relieved that I could just be a regular member without responsibilities. Well I belong to two Library organizations, Friends of The Library, and Friends of Genealogy of the Library and both have asked me to serve as officers. So don't forget, Wherever you go, There you are!

I have been working hard trying to get a website set up and figure out what I plan to do with this new business venture: Weaver Birds Rugs. Wish me luck. I still have lots of books in the shop so if I am there feel free to stop in.

I have enjoyed several books this past month, and will report on two of them that were favorites.

Inferno

by

Dan Brown

Inferno gives us another installment in the life of Robert Langdon, an art historian, and sometimes detective. Previous great books of Brown with this character are The Da Vinci Code, Lost Symbols, and Angles and Demons. Langdon wakes up in Italy with no knowledge how he got there or why. He is treated for amnesia, then finds himself fleeing for his life from the hospital with a young female doctor's assistance. He has lost 36 hours of his memory. As they escape, they are persued by an underground organization and the Italian police. No one to trust. Through their flight, they untangle the mystery of a pending genocide plot. Brown draws the reader along on a long tale with much time spent describing Italian historical sites. I am sure some may be put off by this but I found myself checking my Google app to get a look at what he was talking about. I found the ending to be a surprise I was not expecting at all but actually thought it was perhaps the answer to our over population. You will have to read it yourself.

In The Blood

by

Lisa Unger

While walking thru the local library for a meeting, I had a little time to kill so ended up browsing. I found a Lisa Unger book I had not read so of course I had to check it out. Like I have no books to read! But I really love Unger's books and have actually gone on line to buy them. She works the twists and plots to really keep you up late at night to read. Liar, liar, pants on fire! Those are the words I always think “I would like to see that” In this case a college senior, Lana finds she has been told so many lies about her life that she no longer knows who she is and the truth may be a real nightmare. Before she starts her graduate work in child psychology she needs to work for the summer so she takes a job babysitting for a manipulative eleven year old boy, thinking this is right up her alley. Then her close friend Beck disappears. Lana finds herself making up stories because she knows she has things in her past that she can not tell about. The one person she thought she could trust betrays her and she finds some lost family she didn't know she had. Have to say I sort of saw that coming, but I liked the suspense she weaves. Unger is a masterful writer of psychological thrillers, and this one does not disappoint.

Colum for February 2016

Do you know where you came from? Many wonder and many seek. I have gotten involved in a group that needs a little boost from the community. It is Genealogy Friends of the Library. They have worked hard to develop local resources for folks who are wanting to explore where they came from. They also pay for the Ancestry web site that is free to any one to use at the library. Membership it is only $10 a year and you will be kept up to date on any events such as the Lock Down they do from time to time to have the library a whole evening as late as folks want to stay and work. It is helpful as we learn from each other. Meetings are the second Monday of each month from 6 to 7pm at the Neosho Library.

I was invited to set up my rug table at a special event Sat. Jan 22nd. It was at the Village of Stella. They used the FEMA building for a quilt show and a special display outside put on by the Mo. Dept. of Conservation and Mo. Master Naturalists to educate the eagle watches about the eagles. Many came to see the eagles and I was pleasantly surprised at the number who came in to see the beautiful quilts. I was happy to talk to many people about the weaving I do and was able to sell a few rugs.

I managed to finish this set of four books in one at last. It was hard to put it down once I started.

The Circle

Complete volumes of Black, Red, White, and Green

by Ted Dekker

I have enjoyed Dekker's books over the years and when I decided to read this set, I ordered this one book that contains all four books. It is about 2 inches thick and was difficult to hold but with the help of a lap desk I managed. It was great to just go right from one book into the next. This is Christian Fiction at its best; science fiction, fantasy, and suspense. This started out to be a trilogy but the fourth book came out to tie it all up nicely.

Black

This first book sets you up for a wild ride. When we first meet Thomas Hunter, he is on the run from some hitmen. It seems that he borrowed some money from the mob and never gotaroundto pay them back. A bullet grazes Thomas' head and he is knocked unconscious.

When he "wakes up" he has no memory of who he is and he finds himself in the Black Forest being chased by huge black bats. When he passes out in this reality he wakes up back in the city and flees to his sisters home. Again when he goes to sleep there he awakes in the Black Forest. So Thomas is trapped between two realities. He finds he can't tell which one is real after a few trips. He is in grave danger in both. This is a story about the power of evil and the consequences of human choice. As in all Dekker books there is a theological plot beneath the story line, as bazar as it may seem.

Red

In this sequel, Hunter finds himself again torn between two realities. In one he’s an ancient general leading a band of warriors against hopeless odds; in the other he’s battling a terrorist plot that has infected much of the modern world with a deadly virus. Hunter teams up with a scientist to seek a vaccine in time. The Christian symbolism woven into the story cannot be missed as good battles evel and the waiting for the Messiah to deliver them.

White

In this chapter of the saga we find the lead character still switching back and forth from two different worlds through the gateway in his dreams. On modern day earth a terrorist has unleashed a biological weapon that has infected most of the world's population, and has the anti-dote in exchange for the nuclear power of the world's nations. In the alternate world, Hunter, is still leading a small band of faithful from being slaughtered by the enemy. Without giving away too much, he finds himself with a most unusual and conflicting situation: he has fallen for the daughter of his enemy. The entire enemy is diseased, and has a very ugly skin condition, and this daughter is no different, so he must look past this and try and rescue her before they are wiped out. The faithful are washed in a holy lake to keep their skin and minds clear. They enemy refuse and worship their evil God. There are so many biblical tie ins with these books that make them so interesting.

Green

Thomas Hunter has saved Earth from a deadly virus and fended off the Horde of the future. Thomas no longer dreams. Though unaware of the coming events on Earth, Thomas suspects there is a war fast approaching. His beloved son has turned against his teachings and causes an uprising. Thomas must find a way to bring his people together again and save not only his son but the future of the Forest. In this final chapter in the Circle series you will find yourself unable to put it down. Green is not only the sequel to the series but the prequel as well to the first book. Now figure that out.

From WeaverBirds Rugs, formerly Read Again Books

January 2016 column

Weaver Birds Rugs  is now officially open in Granby at same location as the book store on Hwy. 60 just west of blinking light. Big sign on building says BOOKS & WEAVING.  I have been selling down books at bargain prices all fall and now have space for my weaving studio.  I will be open by appointment and by chance.  So if my sign is out, come on in.  Still have books around the wall shelves for sale and will take trade ins on a limited basis.  Weaving classes will be available by appointment and I plan to have free weaving  available for previous students and newbies who want to try their hand and make a small runner.  Call to see when I will schedule those days.   
I think this will work out very well for me as I will be free to handle other commitments and still do what I enjoy in my studio/book shop. I will also be available to do weaving demonstrations as upon request.

I still read a lot of books and have a few to report on this time.  I am currently reading a huge book by Ted Dekker that I have trouble putting down,  actually have a hard time holding it as it is really thick.  It is four books in one.  It is a good thing because if you read one you definitely have to get right into the next.  So that will be for Feb.

It seems I have been drawn to Apocalyptic type books lately and have another one  that I really enjoyed.  This is one I really recommend for anyone who is concerned about the future of this world.  How would we manage if some catastrophic accident  happened to take away all of our technology that we have become so dependent on?

World Made by Hand
by
James Howard Kunstgler



The future is nothing like they thought it would be. In the beginning of the novel, the citizens of Union Grove, New York are living on the tail end of a national catastrophe, with their community slowly falling apart from neglect and natural decay.  Robert is a local carpenter, who lost his family.  He narrates the novel and there is a focus on several groups that give us a window into how society would possible handle a major breakdown of modern social norms. Transportation is slow and dangerous, so food is grown locally at great expense of time and energy, and the outside world is largely unknown.  They don't even know if there is a working government.  In a world of abandoned highways, and no gas they use horses to work  the fields. The rivers, no longer polluted, are replenished with fish.
Robert ends up becoming the voice of reason.  A religious group move into town to try to convert followers, and then there are the rebels who run the big dump by excavating what has been buried for years and selling the raw materials to the townspeople. 
I find this an extraordinary book, full of love and loss, violence and power,  depression and desperation, but also plenty of hope, and more relevant than ever. I think this may be a book I will keep to read again in a couple years. It rings a bell with me because its the people with skills to make things and barter who will be able to survive should something like this ever happen.

Beautiful Lies
by Lisa Unger

I reported on a couple of Unger's books this past year.  She is really a great mystery writer. 

 What if your family was a lie? What if your name was a lie? What if your whole life was just a pack of Beautiful Lies?   When Ridley happens to rescue a child from being hit by a car she had no idea that her life as she knew it would be over.  Her picture is published in the paper and then a mysterious package shows up on her door step.  She comes from an over protective family, with a troubled brother who is a drug addict.  The package shows her a photo of a woman and child and the woman looks so much like herself and a note that says “are you my daughter”.  Her family act like they think she is losing it and wants her to forget it all.  But someone is stalking her and the mystery deepens when it seems people are protecting the legacy of her late Uncle Max, a real estate mogul who used his influence to fund rescue houses for abused women and children. Following leads, she learns about the  operations of places Max's foundation supports, Ridley uncovers a chilling scheme for taking infants and toddlers from violent homes.  Of course there is the mysterious neighbor Jake who is more than eager to help her solve the mystery, but why?  A great page turner!

Best Kept Secrets
by
Sandra Brown

I always find Brown to have great ideas for Romance Mysteries.
Twenty-five years after her mother's scandalous death, Alexandra is in the position to investigate her murder. She is now an attorney working in a powerful law firm.  She goes back to her home town in Texas and has named three suspects who were closest to her mother and she is positive that one of them murdered her.  She risks everything to uncover their secrets about her mother and of course as in all of Browns books the main character finds love in the mix of it all and nearly loses her life in the process.


 From Weaver Birds Rugs a wish for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

December column

OK I have been playing catch up on throwing my newspaper columns on here.. So we are up to Dec. Now.


Here it is, Christmas month starting and if you are like me you haven't done much to get ready. 
I have had to move my date to change store hours up a bit.  Due to family illness I will be at my book store/weaving studio by appointment or chance.  As I have said before, if my flag is out, I am there  please stop in. If you are driving very far please call first.  I still have many books on the wall shelves and still on sale till end of Dec.  Also there are several bags of books still available for $4.  I see a new computer under my Christmas tree this year.  My old Toshiba Vista is 9 years old and starting to act funny on my.  When I checked about a new one at Best Buy I was told I was lucky it ran this long.  So now I am in the process of cleaning out all unnecessary things so that when I buy a new one I can have only my important “stuff” transferred.  I am actually a little excited to have a new one.  Sometimes change can be good.

I had a great experience in Nov.  A lady came in with a stack of her Dad's old jeans.  He had passed away 15 years ago.  I ripped them up, sewed strips together, and wove her two pretty Memory Rugs.  She said one was going to her Mother for Christmas.  How nice a gift is that???  I am always open to ideas of things to make Memory Rugs out of.  Old jeans are great, even wool suits, baby blankets, or favorite old bathrobes.  I made a rug out of my sister's old chenille bathrobe that came out real soft to put on back of her recliner.  Made a good birthday gift. 

I also now have room for a couple floor looms, that make it comfortable to sit down to weave and to teach weaving.  A great gift idea, a weaving class to take home a rug that you wove.  It is also a fun time for Grandma and grand daughter or sisters.  I have had children as young as 10.

During Nov. I managed to read a series of four books that are directed for young adult reading.  I often find this type of book good reading.  A customer traded in the first book of the series  and I enjoyed it so much I had to order the others so I could see what happened.   I would call them post apocalyptic in nature. 

Life as We Knew It
by
Susan Beth Pfeffer

This first book is written in diary form by a young teenager, Mirranda.  It starts out with the usual writings of a typical teenager with her worries about parents, friends, and school.  Then a big event happened that was only supposed to be a meteorite striking the moon but turned out to be much heavier than the scientists thought and it knocked the moon into an orbit much closer to earth.  As a result there is great devastation with tsunamis,  earth quakes, volcanic eruptions,  and loss of all coastal cities and islands.  This book progresses with how the mother of this family was smart enough to gather food to stock pile and directed her children to cut wood all sumer for their fireplace.  As the year progresses with loss of electricity, they feel they are on their own to survive as many die of disease and hunger.  This book ends with them surviving the first year.  This year has taught the teenagers how to survive and protect themselves. 

The Dead and The Gone


In this second book we take up some new characters who live in the big city instead of a smaller residential area as in first book.  Alex and his two sisters are left alone to survive after their mother is called to the hospital to work and their father is  in Puerto Rico for a family funeral.  Alex is about to graduate with honors and go on to college.  Now all his dreams are on hold as he struggles to provide for his sisters.  They live in a big apartment building where his father is the maintenance man. As people don't come back to their homes, they are able to take what they need.  As time goes on they realize their parents aren't coming back so a priest helps get special “passes” for them if they can get to a “safe” city.  These are special cities that people with money have been able to set up to protect themselves.  By now there is volcanic ash blocking the sun and they must find ways to grow food. 

This Wold We Live In

Book three returns us to Miranda and her family as they struggle to survive yet in their home.  One day her father shows up with her step mother and new baby.  They also have with them a couple “kids” they traveled with and bonded to.  This would be Alex and one of his sisters.  So now there are more mouths to feed and the government is still giving out small rations that will soon stop.  In the end they head out to this “safe” city with only three passes.  They figure who would benefit the most with this protected privilege.  And it is Jon, the young brother of Miranda, his stepmother and her baby. The others who survived the trip would live in the town created for the poor who work as servants to the rich in the city. 

The Shade of the Moon

As I got into book four I was not liking it very much.  Jon is a spoiled brat who seems to have forgotten what his family went thru and gave up for him to be where he is.  He is a great soccer player and that is his key to being important to the city. The others all survive by living on the outskirts and being brutally treated.  In the end the primary characters manage to ban together and flee to a free town where people are working to rebuild by working together and maybe they see a tiny bit of sun shining thru the ash.  It sort of leaves the door open for more books to follow, but I feel I have had enough of this for now.  It was a well written series with much thought given to what it would take to survive such a catastrophic event.

Merry Christmas

November Newspaper column

This has turned out to be a really awesome fall.  Trees are turning and weather has been fall like for a change. My furnace kicked on for first time about 3 this morning. My Saturdays at Farmers Market in Neosho has come to an end for this year.  I look forward to being a member of that group again next year.  Don't know how other groups do it but this group has been wonderful to help each other set up and tear down their awnings.  I think next year will be even better with more vendors.
 Saturday the 7th of Nov. I will be set up with the Stella event to honor the Veterans at the Memorial.  A large tent will be set up with crafters and food.  Also breakfast will be served, a parade, and chuck wagon cooking for lunch.  Come out and pay tribute to our Veterans, looks like it will be a sunny day, at least looking a week out from this writing.
Again I have another month of being to busy to read much, so I want to mention a favorite book and author to start with.  
 
High Grade
by
David Lincoln Jones

David  Jones will be coming out with his new book soon.  David is a local guy of sorts, since he was

 born in Granby and grew up in Neosho.  He lives in Arizona and in his retirement has taken on his love of writing and history.  In his first book, High Grade he combines family history with some fiction.  He had a great-great grandfather who was lost in the Civil War.  He was wounded and on way to a hospital in St Louis he vanished.  His family later moved west and settled in Granby.  His grandfather, Nimrod Columbus Jones was a local minister and later a sheriff here in Granby during the height of the mining days. This much is family history. 
In his book Jones takes up with a fictitious story of  his great-great grandfather, Ben being nursed back to health by local mountain people and when he wakes up he does not know who he is or where he came from.  With body healed he starts heading west and ends up in a town in Colorado called High Grade.  (I think the author chose this name because of the ore that was mined here at that time was called high grade.)  Ben is able to start a new life but retains his true values.  I found this to be a very engaging book and of quality that anyone could read it with out being offended by language.  I am looking forward to his sequel and we will find out if Ben finds his way back to Granby to find his family or not. You can buy High Grade on Amazon and I have one copy left here in the store.  Also his sequel (I believe the name is Return to High Grade) will be available at Amazon before the end of the year.  I hope to get another autographed copy from my friend (whom I never met) David Jones.

Illusions
by
Richard Bach
Don't know how many folks still read books by Richard Bach.  He wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull and this is sort of a follow up to that book.  Written in 1977 I found in my research that many people buy this book to share what they feel it gave to them. Bach takes to the air in his old biplane to discover the ageless truths that give our souls wings: that people don't need airplanes to soar ...that even the darkest clouds have meaning once we lift ourselves above them ...and that messiahs can be found in the most unlikely  place, like  hay fields, one-traffic-light mid western towns, and most of all, deep within ourselves.  He discovers that the bonds that form a true family is not only of blood but respect and joy in each others life, and rarely to real families grow up under the same roof. This is one book I will keep in my personal library and read a few more times.

I am reading an excellent book that I need one more evening to finish so will report on it next week.  It is one that I will be giving a big thumbs up to. 

Don't forget my store will be known as Weaver Birds Rugs by end on year.  If flag is out I am here, come on in.  Books still available for sale.  If you need ideas for Christmas gifts think about a hand made rug or runner made locally instead of “you know what”!

October column

WeaverBirdsRugs.com  my new Web site, is “under construction” for now, as I get all my license, and tax, and name registration completed.  I am getting excited about not having to keep regular hours as many know has been a struggle for me the last year or so.  I will be in the store frequently and some on weekends too.  If my sign is out and flag is up then I am there and the welcome mat is out.  Hope to expand my woven products and sell in my store and on line.  Also teaching and sharing the old weaving skills to others will be a big part of what I will be doing.  I will be available to give weaving demonstrations for organizations who request, as well as teach.  I am sort of becoming the loom whisperer too.  Got a loom?  Want a loom?  I will help connect the dots to help my students find looms.

The books will remain on the outer walls and still be available for sale, probably at half price for a long time.  With no other used book stores in the county I don't want to entirely give that up yet.

Fiber Daze at Mt Vernon in Sept was a real success.  We kept hearing people say Wow!  You have a great event here.  We worked very hard to make it a good experience.  I think the vendors did well and offered lots of great stuff.  We had a wide assortment of classes and are coming up with new ideas for next year all ready. 

I did manage to finish a book by Stephen King and have four books open and started at the present time.  So here is my report on King for this month.

11/22/63
by
Stephen King

King outdid himself this time.  I had almost given up reading his books as some are just to dark for me.  This one has a bit of mystery, fantasy and time travel in it.  What would you do if you could go back in time and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963?  Would you have the nerve to risk all to perhaps save thousands, maybe prevent the Viet Nam War?  That was the logic behind Jake taking the gamble to go back and change history.  But history doesn't like to be changed, as he learned.  His buddy who ran a diner confided a secret to him.  In the back of the diner was a doorway in a storage room that when opened took him back to 1958 each time he went through. It seemed he was gone only a few minutes no matter how long he stayed in the past.  Imagine if you are old enough what it would be like to leave present day USA and open a doorway to 1958, a time of Ike and Elvis.  A time of big cars and cigarette smoke.  Jake made a couple test runs, staying in the past and “correcting” history on a local level before he would believe that it was possible.  It was a real page turner to see if he could stay long enough in the past to get him to 1963 with a plan that would succeed.  I really liked this book and am back to being a King fan again.

The last book was borrowed from my column of Sept. 2011 as I thought it was a very good book and wanted to share it again.  Besides I need to finished the four books, so I will catch up next month.


                                                           For One More Day
                                                            by: Mitch Albom

What would you do if you had one more day to spend with someone you loved who has passed away?  Mitch Albom has written several of these small books that I just love and have kept them for my personal library.  In this book the main character Charlie feels he has been a failure at life. At age 11 his father abandons his family and Charlie's mother raises him with all the love she can but for Charlie a hole has been left in his heart.  As a grown man  he destroys his own family with alcohol and in his desperation he decided to take his life.  But somewhere between life and death he sees his mother who has been dead for 8 years and he spends a “day” with her.  The rest of the story is for you to read as Charlie learns his mothers story. Is it to late for him to come back and change??  You will have to read to see.

Thought for the day: 
We never get what we want,
We never want what we get,
We never have what we like,
We never like what we have.
Still we live and love.  That's life.
(Author unknown)

The Bird

I have a new computer now so maybe no excuses for not posting once in a while.  So this is my test today.

Yes, it works.  So have a good day and enjoy the bird that I give you!