Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Nearly Insane





Most of you will NOT be surprised by my title. Ah ha! You will say, we always knew she was Nearly Insane! But alas! This is not a statement of my psychological health (or is it?) it is the name of a quilt made by a lady a long time ago with two hundred and some blocks....a few of which contain over 225 pieces. Oh, and the blocks are 6 inches. I 've be invited to join the Nearly Insane Blogger Group so I will be showing some of my blocks.
In addition to sewing , I have been reading. Yesterday I picked up a book I had read about in our local librarian's column in the local paper. A Stranger in the Family by Robert Barnard. It was so good I finished it in one day! It was about a boy who was raised as a couple's natural child only to be told right before his mother's death that he was adopted. Upon investigation he finds he was really abducted. This leads to an interesting and twisted hunt to find his real origins.
Barnard, I see by the list in the front of the book, has published 42 other titles. I will be checking those out and will let you know how they compare.
I really, really, love biographies and autobiographies. In the elemenatary school I attended in Washington, DC we only had a room which was partly devoted to library books. I found the biography section and read every one. For those of my age (66) they had orange covers and were about famous Americans. Juliette Lowe, Dolley Madison, Davy Crockett, etc..... I really believe these books taught me an ordinary person could do extraordinary things.
I am now reading the biography of Janette Oke, written by her daughter Laurel . For those who don't know, Janette Oke writes Christian Historical Fiction. Several of her books have been turned into movies and air on the Hallmark Channel. Love Comes Softly is one title and there is a sequel whose name I don't remember.
Janette herself had an interesting life growing up on the Prairies of Canada and Kansas during the depression. A life so different than ours today. She was one of nine children and when she was a young woman she was often loaned out to neighbors or relatives who were suffering from illness or childbirth complications. She did not resent this; it was just what people did when they were living in an isolated area with no "home health workers" or family to step in during a crisis.
Through reading I have had a million experiences I couldn't have packed into one short lifetime. What have you been reading?



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