It’s raining, it’s pouring…
The humidity affecting every pore.
Poor kitties and puppies experiencing loud scary thunder and lightning.
And yet the downpour drenches us in cats and dogs.
Sorry. Some streams probably need to be dammed. 😏
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Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Divergent Mind isn’t about the the Divergent Series that is similar to the Hunger Games. This is a nonfiction book written by and for those with differing ways, many individuals deal with life and learning. To many, the divergent mind sees things differently than the rest of society. But from the divergent mind, the world seems like a planet in a galaxy far, far away.
Tegan Ashton Cohan was the narrator. Though a bit textbook-sounding, she did lend a voice of truth to a science that is new and needs us all to dive in and see how other people think or feel. Please check out the blurb on Amazon or GoodReads.
ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorders are explored with new ways to not only deal with but enjoy our differences. Embrace our uniqueness.
I was lucky to get to listen to the Audible version.
Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World by Jen Psaki
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sometimes, you run into a book that seems more like a book about employment than a retired person needs. This is one of those books. I like Jen Psaki. I love how she uses this memoir to show her growth in the workplace. I kind of wish I would have found this book when I was working. She has a grasp of how one should be more vocal, even in subtle ways, to give the employment the meat you want from a job. She shows how to be assertive without being aggressive.
It was an interesting book, even if I didn’t relate to it well. Ms. Psaki is the narrator, so you get every nuance. I was lucky to find it on Libby. But for the employed, it might be worth buying.
Thanks for sharing, Cuz!❤️
My daughter shared a recorder YouTube with me. It is fun and may explain my adult experience. I didn’t have a recorder in grade school. I only met the instrument when I was blessed to be part of a Renaissance/Christmas group. We played and sang at mall openings, rest homes/nursing homes, churches and caroling. We even recorded an album in an actual studio in L.A. But at that time I was better at singing; just a baby in recorders.
This YouTube reminds me of my trying out the recorder in the last couple years. I can play all the black belt songs. Yay, me! But I’d love a great teacher for moving forward. Mostly I’ve taught myself through books and a few YouTube tutorials.
Anyway, enjoy.
Oh, my Succession song is finally sounding like there’s promise. Dexter Theme still sucks.
My poor violin needs tightening in the pegs. I’m learning how to do that. No songs yet. Just learning how to hold, tune, put rosin on the bow. And possibly on the wayward peg, apparently.
Meanwhile, I’m loving the Olympics, wishing for a pool like crazy! Oh, well, pretending bike racing instead.
Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Blurb from GoodReads:
What won’t we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine—yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison—was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”—conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)—that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.
***
I felt it better if you read the blurb rather than if I explained it. After reading Deborah Harkness’s book about the history of science in the time of Elizabethan England, which, though interesting was more a textbook level of nonfiction, I thought this would be fun. Same topic, the history of science, but with more of a sense of humor.
Luckily, I was able to find the Kindle version on Libby. There were pictures of some of the medical quackery. It makes one think how good it is now. Yet, many things haven’t changed and one wonders what will look like quackery to us looking back from the future.
Anyway, I think you would enjoy learning about this history with a sense of humor.
Well, it must be the season of the itch.
Yeah, all the allergies are flaring.
Or were you expecting witch? Yes, I did just finish reading All Souls 1-5, A Discovery of Witches series.
And yes, I am wishing for a new forever female canine. Ha! Gotcha!!!!
So try not to fall in the ditch as I write my best pitch. I might have one or more glitch.
But here’s the hitch:
Guess this won’t lead to be ri(t)ch.
I’m so far from finishing anything. And I am proud to say I’m starting something new.
Way back in my 40s I was gifted a violin that a friend found on a wall. It was a planter. She took it to a violin maker and he was able to make it perfect for a first violin.
My daughter and son wanted to join and soon we had a 1/2 for my daughter and a 3/4 violin for my son.
At the time I was teaching keyboard at a couple elementary schools. I was introduced to the violin teacher in the same schools. She kindly allowed my trio to come to her classes to learn.
I got to learn Twinkle, Twinkle before the program ended. My son didn’t seem to like violin at all (though he grew up to be in a band as a guitarist, so maybe he did like strings?). My daughter was probably too young. She would lay the violin on the floor and saw with the bow. Sadly, hers was the best of the three instruments.
Somehow the violins left our lives. I’ve been wanting to try again but never could find one at a price I could afford.
Then I saw this during Amazon’s last sale. Even $46 seemed too much but my husband said I should go ahead.
The set up per the free YouTube tutorials went okay. Then, tuning. I was sad I couldn’t tune a couple strings. More tutorials. I finally found one about loose pegs. The fix was easy.
The book that came with my Mendini by Cecilio violin instructed new students to spend time holding the fiddle, tuning, and rosening the bow every day. So I know this will be a slower learning experience than the Ukulele. But I am excited to learn my first song!
Well, that is, after I learn the holding, tuning and putting rosen on the bow properly. So I’ll just enjoy how pretty it is and the four notes I can play from the properly tuned new baby.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to memorize Imagine, Amazing Grace, Auld Lang Syne, and Edelweiss on my Enya. It might take a while.
See the wrap-around yarn? All tinked and ready to try again.
Piano scheduling had difficulties this week but I started attacking Succession and Dexter measure by measure.
Oh and the sunset beach
Okay. Despite the Olympics, time to do strings!
The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This has to be my favorite so far. And I can tell there is more to come. We aren’t left on a cliff, so we’re feeling happy and safe for the moment.
And YAY! Jennifer Ikeda is back as our narrator. I love how well she acts out the characters. I am never lost wondering whose point of view we are in.
The twins are growing up, so it is fun to see what traits they have inherited and how they react to the world.
Ah, but now I have to wait for the next book. I love Deborah Harkness’s writing and the research evident in these stories. Historical fiction is so much easier to take than boring fiction taught to us with just guys’ names and dates of wars. The Black Bird Oracles is the best book yet!
If you liked The Discovery of Witches, keep reading.
Darswords 
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