City of Tranquil Light Bo Caldwell

Exotic locations, adventure, earthquake, kidnapping, murders, bandits, government upheaval, romance, and a powerful message that cuts to the heart; if that sounds interesting than you’ll love this book, I know I did. Edward Geisler, a Mennonite Missionary to inland China, shows up at Will’s family farm in Oklahoma in 1906. He’s there to speak to their church about the need for missionaries in China and after talking with Will he invites him to go there with him. He tells Will that “The suffering is great, as is the need for help, physical and spiritual.” Will, who is 21 years old, struggles with his decision and yet leaves everything and everyone he knows to go where he feels God, is calling him. In China, Will finds a dangerous dark place, the Mandarin language is hard to learn, every day life is difficult, but he also finds love for the people and the villages and towns where he travels, and for Edwards’ sister in-law Katherine, a nurse who has traveled with them.

The story is told from two viewpoints: Will’s memories and Katherine’s journal entries. It is based on the author’s maternal grandparents, and many other missionaries that went to China. Beautifully written, it grabbed my heart and spoke to my soul. There are so many good quotes I could have underlined the whole book. One of my favorites is when Edward, looking back on his life there, tells Will “To love a place. To hold it so dearly that one aches at the memory of it. Are we not most fortunate.” I read this novel on my kindle, and have to say it is one I’ll read again.

Backyard Finch 

oils on Cigar Box lid

Art by John Barrett

My Word for the Year

My word for the year is life. I've been reading articles about choosing one word that resonates with you for the year, well life is what I choose, but let me tell you it's hard when so many people I've known and loved have passed away. I feel like I need to say it out loud "I choose to keep on living", regardless of the grief, in spite of the inner-pull to not care, in spite of the doomsday predictions of Apocalypse and the Mayan calender. I want to live joyfully, abundantly, to continue to find things that are funny in the obsurd. Speaking of that, I kept thinking that the anniversaire of my mom's death was on the 19th (a few days from now), so I spent the morning looking for a picture of her to post. She was someone who lived life fully, traveling all over the world, making friends out of strangers, speaking her mind even when it would cause conflict because she could see the bigger picture and wanted the best for others. After going through many albums I came across this picture of her in the Holy Land, her first trip there; and she went without a traveling companion. 

Under this picture she wrote the word Allelujah! 

I have to smile when I see this picture of her and Sammy the camel with her friend Ali the Bedouin. Anyway back to today, we drove into town and on the way home John asked me if I wanted to stop by her grave. As we cleaned the headstone, he pointed out laughingly that today (not the 19th) was the anniversaire of her death...hmmm....then I looked around and saw ciggarette butts scattered by the grave where she and my step-father are buried and it was just like they were having a smoke together in the old days. Here's to a new year full of promise and life and joy ;-)

Love Has Its Ups and Downs by Bonnie Rice

Bonnie Rice is writing from the heart about being married to a husband with Bipolar disorder and what it takes to stay married and raise a family in the chaos of the illness. She deserves much credit for putting this together in such an honest, concise and practical way. This is one of those books that I had to stop myself from underlining the whole thing; there is just so much good advice for living with someone with Bipolar illness, and I should know because my mother had it and I became her emotional caretaker until the day she passed away. I wish someone would have written this book earlier; it would have made my childhood and adulthood a little less stressful. In the very least it would have given me some perspective. I didn’t learn some these things until later in life. Saying that, still Bonnie gave me a few “Ah Ha” moments: for example, when the person with Bipolar illness says something mean and hurtful: to remember that it’s not about you—it’s about them. Another one was that “Bipolar affects memory.” There is nothing more frustrating then to be the one still reeling from a manic episode while the Bipolar acts like nothing happened.




Love Has Its Ups and Downs is a great reference book for anyone who has a relationship with someone with mental health issues, and those who want to understand Bipolar illness. Bonnie uses humor in some places to illustrate facts, and her end of chapter questions and worksheets are very helpful. In one of the questions she asks you to remember a funny thing your Bipolar family member said: here’s a classic thing my mom said the first time I talked to her about boundaries, she said, “Boundaries are meant to be broken that’s how new countries are made.” In hindsight it’s funny, at the time not so much. This isn’t a one size fits all manual for marriages surviving Bipolar illness, but it is a starting place to help understand the necessity of boundaries, team support and putting together a workable plan for the health of yourself and your family. 5 stars. I read this on Kindle.



Dragonfly Summer

I spent this summer trying to reclaim some of the feeling of my childhood summers. I placed a pool in the yard and floated, looking up at clear blue skies feeling the sun heating my skin, smelling the fragrance the earth gives off in mid-day. Yes I had sunblock on and a hat on my head that covered my face--an nod to old age and too many early years in the sun--but those quiet moments rejuvenated my body and mind.

Visitors were few, John painted his canvas's and Pretzel, not wanting to swim with me, sniffed the blue rubber sides of the pool and skittered away when I splashed him.  Only one stayed to languish in the noon day sun, an orange dragonfly, who fed my spirit with the glory of God's creation.

"Nature is the living, visible garment of God."  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe



The Language of Flowers Vanessa Diffenbaugh



Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s novel The Language of Flowers is the best fiction I’ve read this year. So good that I didn’t want to stop reading it, I’d tell myself just one more chapter and then get upset because I didn’t want to leave her character, Victoria, without finding out what happened next. From the opening chapter, Victoria’s story grabbed me emotionally. The beauty and the tragic realness of her character, the way she interacted with the people in her life, her heartbreaking hopefulness and self-sabotaging behavior kept me wishing that someone would see below the surface and bring healing to her wounded soul.


Victoria Jones is 18 and aging out of foster care in San Francisco. She is angry and hurting from being raised in the system. She has gone from house to house and group home to group home where her need for love and family were not met. At 10 she finds her best chance at adoption with Elizabeth, a woman who lives alone on a vineyard. She teaches Victoria about grapes and the names and meanings of flowers. It is the meaning of flowers that Victoria grabs onto and this language from the Victorian era helps her navigate through life.

I read this advanced readers copy through the Amazon vine program and can’t wait until it comes out in August 2011 so that I can buy copies. It’s a perfect gift, because it appeals to so many people: anyone who loves children, those who care about what’s happening to our marginalized kids, social workers, foster parents, mental health advocates, or gardeners, lovers of flowers, florists, wedding planners, midwifes and young adults. The list is long but there are probably more types of readers who would like this story. 5 stars, wish I could give it more.



One Summer's Day



A Day in the Garden

Flitting to and fro a marble sized bumblebee dusts a bright golden poppy,

Nearby two orange dragonflies perch on wind swaying branches.

Atop the sun bleached wooden fence a tiny black cat with a red collar slips through a ever widening crack

She spots me and turns back, but not before I notice her belly and know that she has kittens hidden somewhere.

I call her back, “come kitty kitty” there are nice little gray field mice scurrying below your soft padded feet.

She pauses hunched, and leaps to the other side “Not today” she seems to say, “Not today.”

Sitting by the fountain, I stare at green feathered hummingbirds drinking nectar and sword fighting above my head.

Later in the afternoon, the sun makes its way west and I return to sit on the garden bench breathing in the scents of honeysuckle and blackberry blossoms.

In the distance, among the Irises I see a fluffy gray tail waving like a flag,

My neighbors cat Charlie, stalking gophers, patrolling borders, snacking on field mice.



In Memory of Nicole

Dr. Christensen was 34 when he started the mobile medical unit in Arizona to help homeless youth. The hospital on wheels, actually a van that needed more than a little tweaking to work, was donated, but getting it functioning and stocked was an exercise in patience. Luckily he had great people on his side, including Jan Putman, a no nonsense nurse-practitioner, and his wife Amy, also a doctor, who understood him putting in long hours. Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them chronicles the beginning of the mobile medical clinic, the kids they saw over those first years, and how working with them affected his family life.




Try to imagine being dropped off on the street as a teenager. You have no money, no place to live, no job, and no way of getting help because you don’t have a valid ID to prove who you are. Now add on lack of coping skills because of childhood abuse or trauma. You are sick because you ate food people threw away; you are exposed to the elements, and exploited by mean people who prey on kids like you. You have been injured and beat-up and you need to see a doctor, but you don’t have health insurance and the county medical services can’t help you without an ID and some type of contact number or address.

This is reality for thousands of kids in every State. Some of these kids ran from abusive homes, some have mental illness, some have lost their parents, some are struggling with addiction and some have aged out of foster care. They don’t have family to count on, they don’t have a support network or mentors and they don’t have a voice in our political process. You may not see them in your neighborhood or you may not recognize that they are homeless, but they are out there hurting. We may not be doctors that can physically heal them, and yet we can do our part. They need us, especially our voices and votes for compassionate change.

I couldn’t put this book down, the stories of the young men and women jumped off the page, and so did the stories of Dr. Christensen’s fellow workers and his family. The chronicle of Nicole really touched me; a beautiful homeless young woman with mental illness languishing on the streets year after year not getting the help or the medications she needed to become whole, made me weep. The courage of these kids, even when everything was against their survival, gave me hope.

I didn’t know anything about Dr. Christensen before receiving this book through the Amazon Vine program. I hope he’ll continue to publish more about his work with the homeless youth.  5 stars ;-)