Theme in Black and White, Continued

Shadow Shot Sunday
April 10. 2011

Gabba Gabba Hey!

Shadow Shot Sunday is a wonderful vibrant meme created by Tracy who hails from Brisbane, Queensland. It is very popular and for good reason. So many talented people posting photographs with something that can usually be found everywhere in everything we do, a shadow.

Take a look at Hey Harriet to see more submissions and find out how you can participate in Shadow Shot Sunday.


Last week for Shadow Shot Sunday, I posted some old photos I had taken in a photography class in 1976. They are 35 mm film prints. I’d like to continue in that theme with this selection of photos from the same project.
 

You can click, or possibly double-click, on any photograph to enlarge the image

These first ones above makes shadows from texture and relief from the surface of a sculpted piece. The close up is from the base of the sculpture.
 

Stock photo of the old Federal Reserve Building in Minneapolis, MN

This is the old Federal Reserve Building in Minneapolis, MN. The day I went there to use the buildings sweeping steel and glass curves as a subject, it was a gloomy cloudy time with rain infused here and there throughout the day. I see these days as Black and White days. Everything is muted. Even colorful places lose their vibrancy. Since this building was black and gray, it matched natures pall. I might even have been able to use color film and the shots would have come out the same. I believe that’s why they are so rich in black and white.

Unique as there are no reflections in the mirrored glass windows

 

Hard to find any shadowing in this shot, but they are there, in the reflection on the round rail

Although very subtle, the shadows can be seen beneath these unique "benches" in the courtyard

The underside of the building. Scratches in this shot are from the age and storage of the prints.

Granite base of reflecting pool

This bubbling pool seemed to be floating, (no pun intended) as it was built on an uneven surface with a large granite base

The thought occurred to me to find an old film camera and do more with film. The digital way of today has many pluses, but the richness and warmth of film is calling to me. Anyone else having that thought these days?

Hope you enjoy these images. I appreciate all the shadow shots when I visit Hey Harriet over the weekend.


 

This photo has nothing to do with the Federal Reserve Building subject, but I liked the black and white shot of our old sofa.

 

Peace

Dreaming

Haiku My Heart
April 8, 2011

See many more photos and Haiku at Rebecca's recuerda mi corazon blog.

Woven sinew web

Catching our dreams in mid air

Let the good times roll

I haven’t been making Dream Catchers for very long. I certainly have seen them around, but didn’t watch someone, ask questions, take an interest and come up with any ideas for making them myself until 2005.

Many gift shops sell Dream Catchers. Many I have seen are made in China. Just like anything else, Native American folk art is copied, mass produced and sold in tourist traps and vended by hawkers at fairs and functions throughout the land. Some indigenous people feel violated when their traditions are copied.

When I make a Dream Catcher, I don’t want to buy brass or metal hoops at WalMart. I don’t want to use fake feathers or synthetic leather in the decoration of it. I won’t use plastic beads. I will tell you that I do use  a synthetic waxed sinew in the webbing, but the rest of the materials come from nature.

My idea is that life is a cycle. I even named my blog after this concept. I totally believe in the circle of life, what goes around comes around and the roundness of the Sun, Moon and Stars, but life, as it is lived, is anything but symmetrical. It’s full if ups and downs, happiness, sadness and yin and yang. That makes me believe that a circle is not perfectly round, but it does come back to itself at some point.

So, I use wood that is bent or twisted and form a shape that mimics life. No two are exactly alike and they are not a perfect circle. I find wood for my hoops in the woods, along the side of a road or a path and from recycled crafts in second hand stores.

Bringing the enclosure back unto itself makes it for me. I weave between the enclosure and what the finished product comes out as is similar to an individuals life. It is what it is.

The decorations I use are influenced by Native American folk art. Leather straps, feathers, glass, stone and wood beads. Everything as natural as I can find for the most part.

The haiku hits on the meaning of the Dream Catcher. To catch the bad, evil or harmful spirits that come to you in your dreams in the webbing, similar to how a spider catches a wandering insect. The small hole in the center allows the passage of the good, friendly or peaceful spirits to the holder, but is guarded by the stone or bead selected as the guardian and sits at the edge of this center hole on all that I make.

There is a lot of personal spirituality involved for me. It need not mean anything to whoever buys or recieves my piece of art. If the recipient wants to know or has a need to know, I will tell them, explaining what, why and wherefor I used this or that.

I have had a Dream Catcher in the room where I sleep for over 25 years. Occasionally, I still have a bad dream. That’s when I take mine down off the ceiling and shake it out. I brush aside the cobweds of real spiders that have festooned themselves on my web. I might place it in another spot.

The haiku suggests a good night's sleep as well as a happy ending if the Dream Catcher is put to good use.

For more information about how, why and what I do, please e-mail. I will be happy to explain further or custom design one for you.

Peace

Monday Mystery Tour, April 4, 2011

The Monday Mystery Tour is my own invention. I started this many years ago when I first started to blog. Now, I try to take a trip every week by reliving some journey I have taken in my past. Come join me on this Amtrak train journey from St. Paul, MN to Seattle, WA in October of 2009.

In 2009, October, I took a trip to Seattle, Washington for a reunion of the Army unit I was with when I served in Vietnam. I wrote a couple of stories about the reunion, but I never told anyone about the trip. I used Amtrak to travel across the country. Train travel has a unique feel to it and I like it. It’s not quick at all, and these days, it’s not cheap either. In fact, the airlines can be quite a bit cheaper when you consider you have to feed yourself for the days you are on the train, where the plane has you there in hours. There is also the problem of having a place to sleep on the train. The coach seat can accommodate, but is not very comfortable, and the reservation of a sleeping berth really brings the cost up for the train travel.

But sometimes, it’s not about the money. I see it as you have to eat anyway, whether it is boarding a plane and getting there in a few hours or riding for 36. I prefer the adventure of the train ride, the scenery, the people watching and interaction, the small towns and big cities, and time to think. 

In the case of the trip to Seattle, I needed to think a lot. Going there, I was anticipating what the reunion would be like, who I’d see there, what would be said. On the way home from such an experience, I just needed time to debrief what had just taken place. After all, it has been forty years since I got home from Vietnam. I knew I’d have a lot to contemplate after getting in touch with so many old memories.

The passenger train routes have names. Here in the USA, if you were to travel West from Chicago, the hub of the Nation, the Empire Builder, which made the trip along the Northern reaches of the country, took you to Seattle or Portland. The Zephyr, which traversed two mountain ranges and crossed the midsection through the Rockies and Denver and The Sierras through Sacramento, ended near San Francisco at Emeryville, just on the East side of the San Francisco Bay. The Southwest Chief, took the route through Albuquerque and on to Los Angeles in the Southern part of the United States.

The Amtrak route of the Empire Builder

I’ve been on all these routes at one time or another. My trip in 2009 for the reunion was the Empire Builder to Seattle. I boarded at St. Paul, MN at around eleven PM and arrived just about 36 hours later, a little after ten AM.

If you’ve never been on a train, let me give you a blow by blow description of a normal no frills coach passenger trip. I bought my ticket on line. I had a print out and simply held the SKU bar code under a scanning light at a small kiosk which was well marked and there for just that sort of service.

Minot, North Dakota train depot platform

My tickets were promptly printed out. If I had bags to check, I filled out label cards and attached them to the bag handles and brought them to the manned ticket counter to check them.

I did not check any bags. There is a large area as soon as you step into the passenger car where you can stow bags before you ascend a flight of stairs to the upper deck and claim a seat.

The view of a large train yard along the route

It can get tricky here. Some seats are marked reserved, and in my case, I got on after the train started in Chicago. Some seats were already taken and could usually be seen by a bag or jacket if the passenger was up and away from their seat. But sometimes people were up walking around or grabbing a breath of fresh air or a smoke outside. I’ve seen folks sit down only to have to move if they weren’t paying attention.

The train whistle blows, the train pulls out of the station and this scene gets repeated at every stop along the route. The train keeps on going down the tracks and the passengers boarding in the middle of the night negotiate the seating process in the dark.

If you are in coach, you have one seat. If no one is next to you, you can stretch out a bit, but if you have another passenger next to you, you might be a bit cramped, especially when trying to sleep. And you will have to sleep at some point as 36 hours is a lot of time to sit in one spot awake!

I like looking at the machinery

In my case, I got on pretty late at night. The lights were turned way down and I did stretch out and get some sleep as I had the entire pair of seats to myself. The bathrooms were downstairs when you boarded the train, so if you needed to do any of that business, you had a flight of stairs to negotiate.

During the daylight hours, the country whizzes by. Hour upon hour will see many changes in landscape. On the Empire Builder, you’ll cross the plains and wheat fields of North Dakota and Montana. In Western Montana, the mountains will appear. There are large tunnels. Then the Palouse of Eastern Washington before crossing the Cascade Mountian range. The train pulls in to Seattle and Puget Sound is nearby.

View out the window of a distant mountain range complete with reflections

I’ve seen a lot of wildlife along the way. Deer and antelope, hawks and eagles, coyote and small animals. As I’ve taken this route in both Summer and Winter, the scenery is fantastic in either while climbing and descending through the Northern Rockies and the Cascades.

Another view of the Minot station

You can walk along from car to car of the train. As the train sways back and forth and to and fro, you have to have some balance. The elderly or someone with a cane had a hard time. Handicapped seating is available on the bottom floor of each passenger car.

One of the places to walk to was the scenic or lounge car. This car had a seating area like a lounge, with some seats together, some facing each other and even a couple like a living room sofa. People sat in this well lit space and read, listened to their iPods, used the computer, engaged in conversation or gazed out the large windows at the scenery as the train sped through the countryside at 69 miles per hour.

Rocky Mountains in Montana

Downstairs in this scenic car was a snack bar that served food, snacks and beverages. The prices were higher than a restaurant, but less than a major league baseball game. There were places to sit down below in the snack bar, but many people took their food upstairs and ate in the seating portion or even back to their coach passenger seats.

Shelby, Montana train station

There was also a dining car where you could sit down, order a meal and be served, all while riding the rails steadily to your destination. I like the dining car early in the morning. They start serving breakfast around 5:30 AM. The coffee, a tart hot black affair, is served in china cups and was adequate for my taste. I’d usually order the regular standard bacon and eggs with toast.

Lunch and dinner are available in the dining car as well. Dining times are announced through a public address system that broadcasts in all the cars. The dinnertimes are reservation. A steward comes to each car and signs you up for a place at a table at a specified time.

In the dining car, you wait at one end of the car when you walk in. A steward seats you. You may see many empty booths, but the steward will place you with others. In the dining car, they fill every seat. Each booth holds four people. You will sit with a stranger or strangers if you are traveling alone or with one other.

Cascade Mountains in Washington State

I have never not had an interesting lively conversation while having a meal on the rails in the dining car. I’ve also had some small world experiences and have met people that knew a place or a name from my home town or a place I have visited before.

Some day, I'll take a train trip and get myself into character as something other than I am just to see if I can pull it off. Of course I've done many things and it would be easy to become someone experienced in certain labor trades, but I might have a hard time convincing a stranger that I'm a Dentist or Gynecologist with these hands:

After dinner, back to the scenic car or my seat for some relaxation. At a stop, I might get out and stretch my legs, grab some fresh air and just watch the hustle and bustle of the station platform. There are bathrooms in the depots of the larger stations and the usual array of vending machines. Many people will smoke at the longer stops.

Personally, I like the train experience. If you’re not in a hurry, it may be an option for you. At this time, there are no inspections of your bags or your person like the airlines have, and certainly no one will grope you. That might be the turn off for you, who knows??!!

I have some traveling coming up. I am going to attend another reunion of the military unit I served with. This time in Atlanta, GA. But I’ll be driving with a friend, someone I served with in Vietnam in 1969. We have a lot to talk about and I look forward to the drive, but I will consider the train again soon. There is talk in the Spadoville house about taking a train named The City of New Orleans from Chicago to, you guessed  it, New Orleans, for a few days of chicory coffee, beignets, muffaletta, jambalaya, po’ boys and gumbo. Not at the same seating of course.

Thanks for letting me take you along for the ride.

Peace

Shadow Shots in Black and White

Shadow Shot Sunday
April 3, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday is a popular meme started by Tracy from Brisbane, Queensland. Her blog is called Hey Harriet and you can see more Shadow Shots and find out the guidelines for participation by checking out the site. I think this is where I'm suppose to say:  Gabba Gabba Hey!

After leaving Chicago for the Northern reaches of Minnesota in 1974, I fell upon hard times as I looked for gainful employment, of which none was around. I did have a benefit from my service in the US Army. Something called the Montgomery GI Bill.

The GI Bill allowed for tuition and some living expenses to be paid to a Veteran while attending school. I took advantage of this in that jobless market and as I continued to look for a job, I attended college classes at Lakewood Community College in the Saint Paul suburb of White Bear Lake, MN. After completing enough classes and earning enough credits from Lakewood for an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts, I enrolled at Metropolitan State University, which was, at that time in history, a fledgling University that was competency based.

It took me a total of nine years of post-secondary education, but I ultimately ended up with a Bachelors Degree in Sociology and Human Services with a Minor in Outdoor Education. My first college class was at Triton College in suburban Chicago in 1970, immediately upon being discharged from the Army. I graduated in 1979 from Metro State University in St. Paul, MN.  One of the elective courses I took for the Outdoor Education portion of my Minor was a photography class.

This photography class was taken long before the digital age. I used a 35 mm film camera for all my assignments. The final exam was based on a Black and White series. I took a couple of rolls of film, mostly at what was then the Federal Reserve Building in downtown Minneapolis. I also carried my camera with me around town and found numerous subjects to add to my portfolio for this final exam.

This is a stock photo of the old Feceral Reserve Building in Minneapolis, MN

 
The Shadow Shots that I submit today were found while looking through piles of old photos, spending time that way during one of those gloomy days we’ve had as we wait patiently for Spring. It was rather unusual as streetlights are not usually seen in this configuration, that is, leaning against the pole. The shadows are subtle. These subtleties are what make the photo stand out in my opinion, the unique subject matter notwithstanding.

I stood back and took a couple more photos of the damaged street light. The black and white film and accompanying saturation of the central image as well as its surroundings draw me into these photos. Can’t remember the settings on the camera and even though I got a passing grade in the class, I didn’t get an “A” because I didn’t write them down.

Here are a couple more shots of the broken light. I'm not sure how it got itself into this compromising position. I could assume a storm or possibly an errant driver hit the pole. Clicking on any photo will give an enlarged view.

Peace

Change of Attitude

Haiku My Heart
April 1, 2011

Haiku My Heart is presented by Rebecca who pens the recuerda mi corazon blog. Every Friday there is Haiku. Take a look for yourself and be amazed, or go and find out how to participate and be amazed.

          

Young souls, water flows

Little honey together

Even love still flows 

This past week, no, this past month, has been turmoil in my brain. What happens in there affects my heart. I won't even try to explain as I want to leave it all behind. I searched my soul and decided I needed a complete attitude adjustment. I started to work on some creative things that I have made commitments for. Getting my head wrapped around an activity is a pleasant way for me to change the scenery in my puzzled head.

One project involved some photography and that meant searching through old archives of digital and printed photographs. (Wait til you see what I found for Shadow Shot Sunday!). I came across this gem from 1973.

Our camera looked just like this stock photo I found on the internet

It was taken by our then high tech Yashica Electro 35 camera. One of the only items I brought back from my visits to Hong Kong. I used the timer setting and hurried to get back to the "set" to get myself in the picture as we were alone, climbing on the rocks along the Pigeon River at a place called The High Falls.

Where the Pigeon River flows into the Great Lake Superior creates the political boundary between Canada and the United States. Back in the 1970's, access to view the High Falls wasn't available from the US side, as it was private land. But access to a minimum maintenance trail from the Canadian side was. Entry back and forth from the US to Canada and return was a simple matter of a nod of your head when asked if we were citizens of the US or Canada and a quick eye scan check of the back seat for tobacco or booze.

When I saw the photo, I remembered those days. No kids yet in our life. We ventured up along the North Shore of the Great Lake and found this muddy pot-holed gravel mess of a road and drove in to the dead end where we took off on foot to follow the remnants of an old logging sluice to a place right besides the falls.

The High Falls themselves had a drop of 120 feet, (36.5 meters), and would run quite spectacular in Spring. Fall saw them recede a bit depending on the rainfall through the Summer.

We would travel to this place often, and still get there once per year to this day, in August, when we attend the Grand Portage Pow Wow and Rendezvous. I can look at ourselves and how we have aged, yet I see us as the same people. I dove into the beautiful Fall day in 1973. I remembered how much Mrs. Spadoman trusted me and has stayed with me through a lifetime of living together through thick and thin. I recall just earlier this month when we spent three weeks together driving through the Southwest stopping at mountain overlooks and Historic Markers to stand together.

The photo brought me some inner peace.

I will have to use that timer function on our current day camera and recall some of those stops along the highway.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with our theme song. I feel better now. Thanks.


Side By Side
Harry Woods, 1925

Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money,

Maybe we're ragged and funny;

But we'll travel along, singin' a song,

Side by side.

Don't know what's comin' tomorrow,

Maybe it's trouble and sorrow;

But we'll travel the road, sharin' our load,

Side by Side.

Through all kinds of weather,

What if the sky should fall; 

Just as long as we're together,

It doesn't matter,

Doesn't matter at all.

When they've all had their quarrels and parted,

We'll be the same as we started;

Just travelin' along, singin' a song,

Side by Side.

Here's an old recording of Side By Side done sometime in the 1950's

There, now I feel better. I'm praying for the people of Japan and some sick friends and relatives. That seems a better placement of my thoughts today, One Day at a Time.

Peace

Too Little, Too Late

March 30th is Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day
Proclaimed on March 7, 2011 by the US House and Senate

Before I get into my post about the Veterans, I want to call your attention to the fact that Thursday, March 31, is the birthday of Cesar Chavez. An Icon of strength and courage in the labor movement as leader of the United Farm Workers. He's rolling in his grave today as the union busting idealogues strip the rights to bargain for working conditions and benefits from the working class people while adding millions to the larders of the rich.

Read about Cesar Chavez Right Here.

Now, for my take on the above logo and what it stands for:

The title doesn't mean I'm unhappy about the designation for March 30th to be Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. It means that a valiant attempt was made at changing history, but no one paid attention.

Earlier this month, the US Senate approved a bill that proclaimed March 30th to be Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. This was approved in the US House in 2009. I have no idea what took the Senate so much longer, but then again, it took the House only 36 years.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on March 30, 1973, the last troops left Vietnam on April 30, 1975. To World War II Veterans, June 7, 1941 was "The day that would live in infamy". April 30th 1975 was ours.

What the title is saying is that this valiant attempt to place some honor into the lives of the Vietnam Veterans was a miserable failure. There was no press, no TV or radio spots and I didn't see much of anything on the blogs except on the Facebook page of one US Marine Gunnery Sergeant named Eugene Curry, who heads up page after page of information about Agent Orange, the killer, with his Sprayed and Betrated, Destined to Die posts.

It was a miserable failure beause those of us that have survived don't give a shit anymore, and those that did are dead from the effects of Agent Orange, wounds received in battle, alcohol, drugs or suicide. All we need do is look into the eyes of one of our Vietnam Veteran Brothers and know the real horrors of war.

We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we say anything about war and combat, we're liars and making it up to get attention. If we say nothing, we are generally put into a pot that says, "They must have not seen any action, they're not talking about it."

If we wear military regalia, a Vietnam Veterans cap or a vest with unit patches on it, we're judged as warmongers. If we don't, we are judged as ashamed of the good ole' US of A. If we complain about Agent Orange or PTSD we are crybabys, if we don't, we get nothing in the way of care, understanding or benefits. Care, by the way, that was promised us when we enlisted or were drafted.

It's a fight every day of our lives, at least in our minds. I wouldn't wish the thoughts that eminate from my brain on anyone for any reason. The anger, the violence, the self pity, shame, guilt, fear, loathing and confusion that has leached me of anything serious and contemplative. I wish you peace daily as I know I'll never see it.

As I write this, I am seething because I am unable to make anyone understand. In fact, I accept the inevitability of loneliness as I struggle to be understood. I'll leave it here for now. This is what really lives in my mind. I just hope that someday someone will pay attention and stand up for the men and women that do the bidding of society, that'd be you, the people. You are the ones that allow the government to send people off to war.

You foreigners, from the UK, France, India, Australia, Canada and elsewhere, your countries are doing it to you as well. Ask any soldier from your own country and they'll tell you the same things I am. War is not the answer, and amusing us with a promise 40 years too late to say Welcome Home and Thank You is not amusing at all.

Here are two articles about the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. The first may make you feel good,  The second, is more like what has happened to this event in real life.

The YouTube video is about the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Turn your volume way up and hear the anthem of our lives, Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son"

So, instead of a welcome home for us, say Welcome Home to those Vietnamese and Hmong immigrants that had to leave their homes because we failed to do what the American war in Vietnam was supposed to do, that is, keep their country a Democracy. Welcome them here to our shores instead of hating them and discriminating because they are of Asian descent. Do the same with the Bosnians, the Somali people, the Cubans and other people from lands across the globe. Don't forget the South Americans that can't come here because they sided with what they knew to be right as we trained their armys and police to kill civilians at the School of the Americas.

Now you have an idea of what is in my brain, how I really feel, the rage these motherfuckers evoke in me. I was pushed to the edge when I saw this grand proclamation. All this as I continue to fight for rights and benefits that were suppose to be earned on the battlefield. Sorry. Too little, Too late, but thanks just the same.

“You've never lived until you've almost died, for those who fought for it; Life has a flavor the protected will never know” Unknown

Still, I wish for you      Peace

This Book Report is Overdue

Some time ago I was tagged by a very good Blog friend to answer some questions about books. I’ll attempt a response here today. By the way, I am flattered, humbled and honored to be thought of and asked. Being asked and allowed to answer questions is one of the greatest forms of respect I can think of.

Before I answer the questions, I just want to say that I don’t read as much as I could, or should, or think I should or could. I am busy reading the blogs, for one. I’m busy writing stories to pass on to my Grandchildren as well. I’m just, busy! I know many people read in bed before they retire for the evening. When I get tired, it’s time to sleep. If I go to bed, I fall asleep. But I always get a sense of guilt when asked about books just the same.

I like Tony Hillerman’s books, but usually have no interest in murder mysteries. It is sort of funny that I did do some reading while down in New Mexico living alone in the RV. I read one of Tony's books, then started one I picked up at the Black Cat Coffee Shop and Used Book Store.

Black Cat, T or C, NM

I didn't read for very long. I fell asleep right away. I remember one time we had to stay in this cabin on one side of West Bearskin Lake in Northern Minnesota. There was thunder and lightning and heavy rain. To attempt to cross the lake in an aluminum canoe in such conditions would have been very dangerous.

There were others from the camp that stayed in the cabin as well. I laid down in a bunk and immediately fell asleep and started to snore. One of the others quipped, "Okay Joe, that was funny", as they heard me sounding like a roaring lion literally seconds after my head hit the pillow. Mrs. Spadoman, also along on the trip, explained to them that if I didn't get to sleep in a few moments, I had insomnia, and I wasn't pretending at all. They had to live with my snoring that night and let me have the aftermath for the next week!

Anyway, I better quit telling stories and get this book report done.

A Book that Changed My Life:

Comedian and Author, Louie Anderson of St. Paul, MN

“Dear Dad, Letters From an Adult Child”, By Louie Anderson

Yes, he’s the comedian. He’s from Saint Paul, MN. The book reports his family life growing up in a large family and tolerating the effects of an alcoholic Father and how it has influenced his career. I have not had the alcoholism in my life as such, but many similar experiences for other reasons. The book takes you on a journey of wondering and getting answers. He pulls his siblings together, one by one, and examines the other viewpoints. He comes away with a thoughtful reason to forgive and ask forgiveness of his Father. He cleanses his soul to us openly. It helped me attempt to cleanse my own soul, to my friends and to my family, in my mind and in my life.

A Book I’ve Read More than Once:

“Two Years Before the Mast”, By Richard Henry Dana

This ‘classic’, written from the point of view of a teenager sent to the high seas aboard an English working ship is epic history of a portion of a persons life. The descriptions of sea life and struggles over a period of time in a challenging environment is amazing. I reread excerpts, if not the whole book, often. Especially the narrative of sailing around Cape Horn, a well-known unsettled portion of the great oceans. It is adventure at its best. 

A Book I Would Take With Me If I Were Stuck on a Desert Island:

“Mutiny on the Bounty”, or better yet, the “Bounty Trilogy”, three books of the epic story of the HMS Bounty.  The narrative journal of Lieutenant William Bligh. The original written by James Nordhoff and Charles Norman Hall

Besides the obvious benefit of the tale of making it over 3000 miles of open water in a small open craft, the book is filled with adventure. I cannot accept how Bligh treated the crew, but must respect his resolve to see his plight and subsequent survival, just to meet the end of his own career when the truth be known back in England. I somehow transpose myself to these times, albeit as a pirate in a former life, and not as an English sailor. I could escape into this for hours. Seems I’d have plenty of these hours on a deserted island. The single, "Mutiny on the Bounty", is also a book I have read more than once.

A Book That Made Me Laugh:

I can’t think of any right now. I’m sure I’ve read funny books. Probably the last one written by Erma Bombeck before she left this world. Her view of life is uncanny and borders on hilarious.

A Book That Made Me Cry:

Here too, I cry at the movies, not so much in the books. I probably shed a tear or two or more when reading the first mentioned book by Louie Anderson. A comedian made me cry, go figure.

A Book That I Wish I had Written:

I wish I had written a book, or rather a guide, for returning soldiers from Vietnam, (and now other wars), about the affects of PTSD. The warning signs, coping skills, tools to combat the symptoms and live a happy normal life. Enough said about that.

A Book I Wish had Never Been Written:

The ones I want to read and just can’t find the time to get to them. If they had never been written, I wouldn’t feel like I need to read them. Crazy logic I know, but I just think everything has a reason. I really can’t think of a book title right now that should never have been written.

A Book I’ve Been Meaning to Read:

“Failed States”. By Noam Chomsky

It is about the abuse of power and the assault on Democracy. What can I say? Chomsky is a visionary and proves every point he makes with facts. I need some time, I’ll get to it. This book was written and gifted to me in 2006, but I feel it is still very pertinent for today.

A Book I’m Reading Now:

Actually, I just finished reading this one and haven’t started another. It is entitled “Midnight at the Dragon Cafe”. It’s an autobiography of a girl from Hong Kong who immigrates to Canada as a six year old. She narrates periods of her life through being a teen. Her Mother and father own a small Chinese restaurant in a small town near Toronto.

It is a showcase of character studies and the habits, morals and teachings of generational differences influenced by the change of countries.

The author, Judy Fong Bates, tells all. Her feelings, her observations and her secret thoughts to the reader. Like life itself, this book has no end that the author can write about as she is still alive and her life continued after the last sentence was read.

Honorable Mentions:

In the Heart of the Sea

Endurance: Shackletons Antarctic Adventure

Treasure Island

PrairyErth

Look 'em up if you're interested. I gotta hand this in before grades come out.

Okay, that chore is done. It was a good thing to do. Thanks for “tagging” me my friend. As I mentioned, I am flattered. Sorry it took three years to complete the assignment.

Well, you never said I had to do it right away!
So, what are you reading, anyway?

Peace to all