My Priceless Book, A Treasure

 

E Bay will tell you the book I treasure is worth about $100, I imagine that’s without  the corners chewed by a frisky German Shepherd puppy in 1964! The date on my book is 1948. This book will never be for sale, at least by me and doubt anyone but me would appreciate its eaten corners, its value to me is worth more than money.  It was my teacher, my friend, my companion, it filled rainy days, hours of snow storms that kept me in the house. There are times  an only child has time to fill, sometimes a lot of time.  I don’t know where the book came from, who it belonged to before it became mine.  I do not remember anyone giving it to me and it doesn’t seem like a book my parents would have bought. I’m also a bit surprised I didn’t take it with me when I left home. Those will remain mysteries.

I had occasion to look for my book, I honestly didn’t think in the condition it was in it would still be there, long ago tossed to the dust bin.  Behind some other ‘newer’ books I found it!  It was like finding my childhood all in one book!  As I paged through the book memories of each section came back to me, I read it over and over, talk about dog-eared corners, this had them before the dog chewed it!

This isn’t only a dictionary, that was only the beginning section.  Filled with topics from literature, nature,  history, biographies, how to garden, an encyclopedia of information, much of it in colored drawings or in line type drawings that  appeal to a younger reader (and I suspect less expensive for production), or an older one that can’t see very well 🙂  In its sections I  find bits and pieces of ‘me’.  That sounds absurd, but I  have many questions how I learned to read before I went to school, why I knew some unusual things for a little girl: like every breed of dog and what the uniforms of the different branches of the armed services looked like, I liked the ‘human body’ part and how to draw people, animals, buildings.  This book was like a silent educator for a child that had time on her hands to fill and did find a good way to do it! 

I knew one insect from another, what birds my dad went hunting for looked like, what birds came to our feeders, what fish he caught.  He would catch and hunt, I would go look it up and learn all I could about the kind of fish, the sort of duck, I never did like the hunting part.  But at that time everything dad hunted for we ate (yuck still).  After watching them cleaned plucked and cut up, this form of protein wasn’t high on my list of foods!   My thinking today is how much I learned, not by instruction but by curiosity and the life taking place around me, the life I was living with my parents and my grandparents.

There are perhaps as many ways to learn as there are things to learn about.  Some of the ways we learn of course is by example, what we see, kindness, thoughtfulness, love of nature and environment, caring for other people (empathy).  Which leaves also the things we learn by making mistakes or observing less than ideal behavior.  Reading has been my escape at times from less than an ideal situation, a distraction that is and was healthy and helpful.  I learned my love of books from children’s books, and added my ‘slightly used’ pictorial dictionary and I had my education off to a good start!  Books, you just gotta love ‘um!  This one is one of my ‘treasures’. Here’s my salute to reading and our treasured books!

Why Blog, Why Write?

Tags

literature, world today

To blog or write (are they the same), that is the question.  I’ve given this question a great deal of thought, I have a tendency to over think.  What sometimes seems an impulsive decision to someone else is something I’ve more than likely been pondering for ages.  On occasion I share my perceived dilemma with another, someone who’s opinion I respect and value, but not always.  There are times you follow your own instincts and carry on.

Why does a person start a blog? Why do people write books?  One  must expect someone is going to read it, our words, our opinions, our thoughts, knowledge on a certain topic, our creativity, whatever the topic of the book, the blog.  I found myself wondering why do I think I have anything to say, share or expound on that other people might want to read!  And then even promote it! Seemed rather self-serving and ‘looking for attention’ kind of an adventure. What’s left of those thoughts is:  I really enjoy writing, even if it’s not profound or going to change the world.

Today we live in a world where social media has become a way of communicating, a way of life, blogging certainly is social media and a way of sharing our thoughts, although at times like all good things extremes happen.  Look at Facebook, I’m afraid I don’t have 498 friends, I don’t know 498 people!  I have a handful of friends, my family and people I’ve lost touch with and this enables me to stay in touch, so used properly it’s a good thing ( I sound like Martha Stewart).  And I do enjoy following my children’s friends and see (is that creepy?)  as they become interesting (most of the time) adults and sometimes parents themselves. It’s an easy leap from Facebook to writing a blog, technology, which I’ve always loved, makes it very easy.  Everything you have is at your fingertips and instructions make even a novice like me able to come up with something that’s easily read.  Getting people to read, to follow, is another story, I do have some friends

The Helicopter Spies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

that are still concerned if they read my blog  a world-wide network of spies will find them!

Some people who write a blog are planning to write a book.  I have no intention of writing a book (never say never).  I don’t have the ability to make up characters and complicated plots.   The abilities of writers is amazing; how a tidbit mentioned in passing at the beginning of the book somehow ties in to the very essence of the story or plot.  So many talented writers and so many topics and styles of writing;  books are wonderful!

My writing could only come from what I ‘know’, what I’ve experienced in life, people I’ve met, enjoyed, disliked, or simple observation of life.  After 65 years you tend to learn a lot about people, yourself and how life takes us on paths we’ve not expected.  At times we  meet people whose lives seem  to be always the same, they live and through good fortune or choices made, their life seems a ‘cakewalk’.  I don’t believe anyone’s life is a ‘cakewalk’.  Truthfully all of us have a life worthy of a good story.  That’s the problem I find if I were to ‘really write’.   I am left to write the truth!

It would be easy to offend someone, it’s difficult to disguise a person in a story of life, they know who they are. You’ve then hurt someone or maybe many others. Even if there is a good story sitting right in front of you, maybe more than one, waiting to leap on to the pages and you expose it to the world (perhaps world is an exaggeration).  What have you done?  If you are not famous perhaps only a handful of people will read or care, if you write and you’ve done a fair to middling job of writing what will be your reward or punishment?  Will it have been worth your poetic license to write about people you knew/know?  Does this mean we can only write about people who are dead?  And how long do they have to be gone before we can ‘not hurt’ anyone who cared about them?

Writing ‘vanilla’ is a term that I’ve heard.  It’s safe, it touches the surface of the story, and it doesn’t dig deep into the soul of what drives the characters to behave as they do.  There are times that finding out the unsavory secrets of a persons past shines a light who they’ve become and why. The truth helps us to decide if we care or understand a person/character.   I like this form of story telling, it helps us to understand human nature, what makes us tick and sometimes not tick so well.   It is how I would like to write if I were to write a book.  I’d like to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me god. And of course use a little poetic license!

In the meantime I will continue to write my blog.  It’s bits and pieces of what I know and enjoy and sometimes it even comes close to the ‘real’ truth.  As for what do I get out of it, I enjoy writing, I enjoy the communication, I enjoy hearing from other people and I have a place to share and use my mountains of photographs.  I will continue, at least for now to write a ‘vanilla’ blog 🙂

My Tattered Companion

Tags

advice words, kahlil gibran, literature, spirituality, writing

This is my tattered and well used copy of Kahlil Gibran‘s The Prophet.  I’ve had this book since 1995, not that long as far as book ownership goes but as anyone can see by its condition, it’s well used.  It stays near my bed, close at hand for the times I may need a little advice, words to get me back on the right path.  Some have their bible, I have this.

The Prophet was given to me by a lifelong and very good friend at a time when reading the label on a soup can was about as much reading as I could absorb.  Considering its source I knew this was a book I needed to ‘work on’.  Each night I would read a bit, maybe the introduction, the front cover, the back cover, the introduction one more time, it seemed so difficult.  I would begin again the next night, reading the same things over again.  This went on for a several weeks, hard to understand, there are times our minds are that numb.  Absorbing anything of value isn’t possible. Eventually a few phrases made sense so I kept on.  It was a long process.

This book, along with a handful of friends and some professional help gave me the strength and ability to find a purpose, a reason for each day, reasons for what living really is.  It explained where I might be self-serving, what it meant to give of myself, to truly not be selfish, to  love my family, a husband, a partner,  to suffer and  feel pain with  dignity, how high joy may soar.  All chapters all of Gibran’s thoughts on life, love, death, children, friendship meant something to me.  I’ve read and re read this book more times than I care to count, and I will continue to.  I’ve given this book as a gift to many people, for many reasons.  Sometimes a death in a family, a new baby, a relationship problem, a marriage, countless reasons.  It is a book written as a view of life, one that I find ‘religion’, my religion.  This is my opinion of this writing,  the book has been published  a very long time and still sells countless copies in many forms.

I am not a fan of ‘self help‘ books, they often give ‘us’ permission to behave poorly and not be responsible, this book doesn’t do that.  This is not-self help, this is a way of life.  I’ve used the passages in my marriage vows and I’ve repeated them to friends many times over the years I’ve come to appreciate and find the value In Kahlil Gibran’s writing.  Do give it a read; its not meant as an entertaining book, or read at one sitting, its meant to  read absorbing each topic, each chapter with an attempt to understand  all it’s passages and thoughts.   Hopefully if you need direction or strength, encouragement  or simply a  fresh view  living your life, you will find this a book to love as I do.  And I thank my dear friend who gave me my tattered copy 🙂  I believe her’s is as well used as mine.

Time to begin

It has been suggested I write about what I know. I am a gardener by trade, a wife, a mother, grandmother, a voracious reader, an observer of life and at this point in my life simply living has taught me a thing or two! Some I didn’t care to learn, but we don’t always have a choice. My life has been a grand journey and the people in my life now and in the past each have left something with me to share, sometimes a good lesson sometimes a lesson that was painful, still a lesson.

Now it’s back to taking advice on how to write this blog and ponder what gardening will have to do with life, death, joy, sorrow and  good living. Please join me as I go to my past and my current life and the wonderful and not so wonderful people and places I’ve experienced.  You may recognize yourself, garner garden advice or maybe a lesson in life hard learned, or a serious discussion of something I feel or have lived and can share with you and you can then share with me.