PORCH PONDERINGS

Day Two of The Bard's Hall Contest

Good morning from the porch in Montana. The day is sunny, the resident robin is singing. All is quiet on the porch.

Things are getting greener. The long winter has finally let go. Spring here is long. Summer is the season that stops by for a week or two. It is sort of like a visiting relative. It comes every year for a reunion. Says hello, sometimes causes a big ruckus with some stormy weather, then just as quickly as it came, is forgotten until next year.

A few things new happened yesterday. The summer free food for kids program restarted. But instead of being able to go to the Youth Center and congregating, everyone has to pick up a brown bag lunch and breakfast. The new normal. The library reopened as well. For a book lover, I applaud this. We had enough books at home to help us through this shelter-in-place order, but the library is a welcome addition.

So many books - so little time. I know there are so many electronic options out there. We are doing electronic reading right now. But somehow the feel of a paper book just cannot be replaced. So until I am forced to give up the old-fashioned book of ink and paper, I will keep buying them and storing them and reading them.

Good readers make good writers, I am convinced. I'm reading now. Even though this whole one eye fixed with the cataract surgery and one eye not is a little wonky, I still am reading. I just finished a little book, "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet". It goes back and forth between WWII and 1986 and the experiences of a young Chinese boy and Japanese girl and their time during the war and after. The author wove some family stories into his novel as well as some history of the Japanese internment camps. An acceptable read. It was worth my time. Someone once told me you should read as far as your age in a book, then decide if you want to continue. Interesting idea. Not feel guilty if you don't finish a book because it isn't good, doesn't grab your interest, or for whatever reason just isn't for you. Like I said, so many books, so little time.

The sky is blue, the robin sings. The day is young. I have chores to do. My friend is coming later with fresh eggs from her farm. I am doing laundry. I will make banana bread. We will have our meal. Then we will walk to the library.

My life in a quiet little Montana town.