Becoming, by Michelle Obama****

My sweet Sister Susie gave me this book for my birthday. It is extremely well-written, easy to read. I enjoyed it very much. The First Lady certainly had experiences of hard work to achieve her goals, as well as family tragedies like most other people. As she evidently has one of the best husbands in the world, and two lovely children, one wishes her a continued long, blessed and happy life.

Today in the mail I received a brand new copy of A Canticle for Leibowits, (copyright 1959), as I sold my old copy back when I was selling on Amazon. I have received so many free books lately through Amazon and Amex, that I almost feel like a cheapskate. But I guess they are the results of all the books I bought and paid for, before I paid any attention to the information about "points"

An old book that I've read most of recently is Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt. I've never read this whole book, frankly because it is so sad to read. This time around, I wrote a poem, "Black Elk Speaks of the Death of Crazy Horse," which I entered in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) 2019 Founders' Award contest. I also read it at our most recent poetry group meeting.

Also at the poetry group meeting, Ramey read a really wonderful poem about birds, which I think was new. And other members contributed good poems. It was good to see Spurgeon again; he never reads, but just listens.

"Just" reminded me of something that struck me while watching "Gunsmoke" on TV. I don't  know what some of those old shows would have done without the words "just" and "well." Almost every sentence that either Matt Dillon or Doc Adams spoke started with "Well," and when they started saying "just," it seems they couldn't quit.


Lately I get a "ghost" on every photo that I post on the blog. It's a mystery.