My Current Interest

     Sometimes I come across a book that is just important to read.  That’s it.  It just has to be read because of the message it gives.  Today We Go Home is one of those books.      Larkin Bennett’s military career has ended and she is trying to find her way in civilian life.  This is not easy.  She is haunted by her experiences in Afghanistan, and blames herself for her friend Sarah’s death.      With no family to leave her belongings too, Sarah has left it all to Larkin.  Larkin has to remove everything from a storage locker, and when she does, she discovers an old diary.  A diary from the 1860s.      The author of the diary is Emily Wilson.  She begins the diary after her father and brother, David, leave to fight in the Civil War.  It is something her father gives her to record everything that happens on the farm.  A record he will read when he gets back.  ...

                There has been a lot of noise lately.   Electronic noise.   Political noise.   Noise that happens from simply living within close proximity to others.   Even lights create noise.   Some days it can all be too much.   This is why I have been spending so much time lately in silence.   I know I have written about silence before, but it is worth mentioning again.   That’s because, amongst all this noise that surrounds us, sometimes the best thing we can do is turn it off and be in silence.                 It’s not always that I want or need things to be so quiet.   Sometimes I can have the TV on, my computer running, as well as someone banging around the kitchen and still be able to concentrate.   Then there are the days where any inside noise is a distraction, but I can ...

               The other day I saw something really said.   I was in the car going along a road that I have been on countless times and saw a huge batch of trees had been knocked down.   The trees were knocked down so recently that they were still lying on the ground.   I could not believe what I was seeing.   Those trees had been on that road forever and now they were left on the ground as though they were nothing.   I tried to find out why these trees were taken down, but I couldn’t find anything conclusive.   The only thing I can do is hope they were taken down for an actual reason and not simply because they were in someone’s way.   Somehow I don’t think I’ll be that lucky.                            This is not the first time something like this has...

                 There are so many things that prevent me from going outside.   Sometimes it is outside itself that keeps me from visiting it.   The temperatures where I live can be drastic in either direction, making staying inside a much better idea.   That is why when I have the opportunity, it is important for me to walk out my door and see a world beyond my four walls.   I don’t have to do anything truly productive, or even be out for long, but it is important to get at least some fresh air in my day.   Breathing in natural air feels much better than anything that circulates through buildings, no matter what time of year it is.                 I find there are so many things I can do outside, and they don’t all involve some sort of work.   Usually when I’m outside I am either reading or writing...

                 I don’t know about you, but I don’t sit still well.   When I’m waiting for someone or something I’m fine, but if all I’m doing is watching TV, then I start to get fidgety.   It takes very little time before I feel the need to do something constructive instead of just staring at a screen.   A lot of times I take out different types of puzzles and do those, but sometimes that is not what I feel like doing.   I want to do something more creative than logical.   It is at these moments that I choose to color.                 Coloring is a great way for me to be creative without having to think too much about it.   If I choose a color I’m not happy with or I get outside the lines, it’s not the end of the world.   I’m coloring for my own enjoyment, not trying to create a work of art. ...

             Astrology is something I have been interested in for a very long time.   It’s not something I take overly seriously, but I do like to read my horoscope and see if who I am matches the characteristics of my sign.   The answer to that is yes and no, which I suspect would be most people’s answer.   So many things help determine who a person is, not just their astrological sign, but it is fun to read about.   I know I’m not alone in this feeling because there are so many daily horoscopes in the world and if they weren’t popular the newspapers wouldn’t publish them every day.   Even if someone isn’t interested in reading their horoscope, most people probably at least know what their sign is.   Hopefully they do for more than just the opportunity to use a cheesy pick-up line, but the point is, Western astrology is pretty universally known in the United States.   The Chinese Zodiac, I...