Friday Chit Chat and activities

Today was a nice day off from the office.  

I spun wool, and wound some wool.   

I had nice coffee with some yummy eggs.  

I just sit here thinking... it is 8:53.  What can I do?  I am a lucky person to have so many things to do.  I crave the quiet.  I haven't played much music today.  I listened to a friend or two online.  No tv on.  Isolation and quiet.  I think it is nice.  I also saw that many activities I posted on Facebook. 

I am thinking now.. "I think I will do some reading... something positive...AND I will share it with Facebook..." and then I listen to what I said, I see what I do.   Nothing wrong with it.  Somehow it seems we connect well to like friends on Facebook and people seem to enjoy what we do, and we inspire each other. It was just a thought.   But it got me thinking.  (Oh no....) 

I wonder if I do something wonderful and positive tonight that I will be the person that it is good enough to share with. Keep it to myself, consider myself worthy to be my own company.  I actually am more introverted, I think Facebook allows us introverts to be extroverted in the social media sense.

I wonder if that conflicts with our introverted tendencies.... I wonder if our brain or soul is saying..."look at that, or oh my where did all that come from?"  What is the ego saying... "yahoo.... look at me now.?"    I am not sure.   I know there are studies and I could find out what is going on, and what the professionals are saying will happen as a result of all this social media.

I know that my great great grandchildren won't have to go to Ancestry.com to know about me.  Well .... is that Facebook personality the real person?  After all, I don't put out my strong political opinions, I don't put out my spiritual cravings or tendencies, I don't talk about too many horrors.  I seem to like it better when I write something nice and positive.

But .... is life really that positive?  Yes, it is.   Does it feel that way all the time?  No, but actually it is.. but we have struggles and tears and such pain, but we woke up today.  Air filled our lungs.

Anyway those are my thoughts tonight, nothing too deep or profound.  Just my thoughts on what social media is and isn't.   Do we post and share our deep struggles and truths on social media? Or do we keep it light and fluffy.  

Facebook... to just connect, see some relatives, and funny youtubes, recipes, how to's, get marketed by google and amazon, read healthy articles, read unhealthy articles, see people do odd things, good things, see places, see art, hear music, see what is going on in the world and see what our friends do, hear good news, hear bad news. 

Ha Ha at least we are no longer slaves to a land line phone that would ring all the time. :)

It certainly does bring it all to one place... remember all those emails from all those Yahoo groups.. that got out of control.  Now at our fingertips..on our phone.

Happy Saturday as it is fast approaching.   Tell me what's on your mind... feel free to leave a comment here, or as many of you do, message me. :) 

WTF - by Laura Foley - Review

WTF - A review by Toni

When I was offered the chance to review and present this book, I actually didn't read all the information that was sent to me.  I just was ready to read something and talk about it  here.  I even got all the author information and pics set in my blog in advance without really knowing what I was going to read.  I planned to read it when I read the book.

I am not always good with understanding poetry, poetic "stuff."  Sometimes it has to be spelled out for me. Usually when it is broken down for me then I am in heaven and in love with it.  I love to glean and appreciate human experience from poetry.  Other times, the poetry, it actually speaks to me and from the beginning and I feel blessed.

I don't really know "how to review poetry."Sometimes I agree to review it to force myself to indulge, experience and enjoy.   Here is my experience with this collection.  (Long intro........)

THE REVIEW
I read this collection in one sitting.  I made a little post-it note for each poem  and stuck it  on my Ipad as I read.  Jotting down a little note after each entry, was just the perfect pause I needed after each piece.   I was deeply moved by this collection of memories and feelings.  It is the first I have read from Laura Foley.    I sat for a half hour in the company of her words.  The collection flows from the child daughter to the father, from the father to the grown daughter, to the soldier/POW to the daughter and the past to the present.   It is an honest and brave journey that reaches  a reckoning and understanding.   The sadness, jealousy, hurt and respect swept over me as I read each title.

It was an honor to read this.  Thank you Serena for thinking of me.    Thank you Laura for writing it, and thank you Mr. Foley  for your service to our country.

About the Book:

Laura Foley’s “WTF” refers to her father’s initials and, slyly, to the abbreviated colloquial exclamation, in a pun that laughs and cuts, in this reckoning with a fraught father-daughter relationship. These spare poems communicate more like snapshots than narrative lyrics, beginning with sympathy and gratitude, moving through disappointment, anger and resentment, without ever losing compassion, as Foley examines her father’s formative WWII experiences and, consequently, how he shaped her experience and character, ending with a positive recognition of her father in herself.

About the Poet:
Laura Foley is an internationally published, award-winning poet, author of six collections. She won the Common Goods Poetry Contest, judged by Garrison Keillor; and the National Outermost Poetry Prize, judged by Marge Piercy. Her poetry collections include:WTF, Night Ringing, The Glass Tree and Joy Street. The Glass Tree won a Foreword Book of the Year Award; Joy Street won the Bisexual-Writer’s Award. Her poems have appeared on The Writer’s Almanac, in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Lavender Review, The Mom Egg Review, in the British Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology, and many other journals.
A certified Yoga Instructor and creative arts facilitator in hospitals, she is the mother of three grown children, grandmother to two granddaughters. She and her partner Clara Gimenez live among the hills of Vermont with their three big dogs.
Follow her on GoodReads, Facebook, and Twitter.

Find out what people are saying about the book. 

Follow the Tour!!!!

Tour Schedule:

March 28: The Modern Creative Life (Guest Post)
April 5: Wall-to-Wall Books (Review)
April 12: the bookworm (Review)
April 13: Diary of an Eccentric (Guest Post)
April 18: Celticlady’s Reviews (Book Spotlight)
April 25: Soapy Violinist (Review)
May 3: The Modern Creative Life (Guest Post)
May 4: The Book Connection (Interview)
May 11: Musings of a Bookish Kitty (Review)
May 15: Katherine & Books (Review)
May 19: Margie’s Must Reads (Review)
May 24: Suko’s Notebook (Review)
June 1: Readaholic Zone (Review)
June 5: Patricia’s Wisdom (Review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #LauraFoley

Our Earth, Ourselves

Dear Blog readers:

 (I know you read even if you don't say much, I am so grateful to feel your presence)

Happy Earth Day!  My thoughts are to celebrate this beautiful Earth and how it clearly 100%  it sustains us through all the good and the very very bad.   We plunder, bomb, litter and it is beautiful and it restores itself and it selflessly gives us life and a home.  However,  this is not a day where I plan to think about the over all picture, because I intend to be grateful.  And I don't want to be sad about our declining Planet and the absence of humanity.

I can pick up some litter, recycle, reuse and donate.  I can make lists of ways to help make the planet clean.  Ride my bike, feel the sun on my face.   Donate clothing instead of dumping, reuse fabrics to create useful items, rugs, pillows, toys.  Use less napkins, less tissue, wash clothes when they need it instead of  just because I wore it for two hours.  And I can pray.

I will plant food to share and bake bread to share.  Perhaps in being close with one another and sharing we can gather and hoard less, waste less, pollute less and save ourselves and our planet through our love.  Hug a tree, hug a human and connect and be well with each other.

A nice walk is in my plan.   A wonderful mentor talked of a walk earlier this week.  A wandering walk with awareness of just being connected. Without checking for speed, elevation, distance or time,  a walk of wandering and observation.  My wandering soul connected to this thought so I will do that this weekend.  In honor of my home, the Earth, I will gather human litter and feel the Earth's thankfulness.

Let us celebrate our Earth today and make a plan to do it the same way each and every day as long as we have the gift of walking on this Planet.  A planet whose goodness is to big to even describe.  

What word or words would you use to describe our planet?  I would love to hear just how much you love our Mother Earth.   And any lists and activities that you do to contribute to the wellness of our glorious planet home.

Peace and Joy.
Love, Toni

Foodie Pics...

This is cinnamon roll cake.
 

This is pulled pork with pickles.

This was my first attempt at fried pickles.  Yum!!

Spicey chicken enchiladas
 

This was a cheese chunk macaroni salad

These are lemon brown muffins.