humanity | Wendy Welch: Books, Yarn, Cats, Opioids

Guest review by Janelle Bailey, avid reader and always learning; sometimes substitute teaching, sometimes grandbabysitting, sometimes selling books

Begin Again by Oliver Jeffers

Begin Again by Oliver Jeffers

If you think that this is a children’s book and thus merely for children, and you have no reason to read one, then start at the back and read first the “Author’s Note,” which is actually a lengthily astute essay, Jeffers answering anyone’s question about why he “made” this book in the first place. Or, note that its start is an epigraph with Mary Oliver’s ever compelling: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” from “The Summer Day.”

This is a gorgeous book, Jeffers the author and artist/illustrator, both, the norm for him. And whether you see it as a children’s book and read it to/with children, or see it as a coffee table beauty, something to be shared with anyone who sits long enough in your living room to enjoy it, you will be happy both to read it and to share it with others.

Rich in bright neons and capturing the stars and sky, Jeffers says in the essay at the end that it was not until he began to read and research astronauts that he came to some of the thinking he processes here. And I am certainly reminded of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot while reading. That idea, that not only this “world” from afar is super small, each of us even smaller, is well conveyed.

And also Jeffers makes it very clear how silly (my word not his; he’s far more diplomatic, if subtly so) it is that humans have spent so very much–far, far too much–time on “us vs. them” operation and thinking, rather than all the WE we so could be/do/achieve.

[Deep sigh]…

If only everyone would read the book and seize Jeffers suggestion to: begin again…and anew. And then be willing to, each and all, let go of the conflicts to work toward togetherness, all of us as global family.

Perhaps this is the book everyone buys as a gift for themselves–and/or another–and then keeps on the coffee table or the dining room table for easy access this next year, sharing it with any who visit, reading it to any who will listen, and all of us working with Jeffers on this worthy mission.

Come back next Monday for another book review!

Wendy is on her way to Louisville…loaded with goodness, of both books and apples

I’m part of a gleaning society. We move food that would otherwise rot in the field, getting it into people’s kitchens. We prioritize food banks and cafes that serve suspended meals or otherwise have token systems for those who can’t pay with money.

A week ago, the coordinator for the gleaners let us know they had apples. Great, everybody loves apples, right? Our coordinator and her husband picked them up.

Six half-ton boxes of apples. Three went straight to some food banks and suspended cafes. The call went out for community members to come get some fruit.

I took ten grocery bags of apples, with the intent of giving as many as possible away, and then canning up a bag or two for gifting. I run the buy nothing list in my county. The list proved disinterested, so I made sure to have some in my car when attending civic meetings. 12 dozen apple gifts later, people were starting to edge away from me at these events. “Don’t go near her, she’s handing out apples. Don’t leave your car unlocked. Apples are the new zucchini.”

And of course the apples landed in a busy week. We’re working on a federal grant – well we would be if our federal identity page for our non-profit worked properly. Six hours passed with help desks and support services, coring apples while on hold or waiting for instruction on what grew to be a more complex problem by the hour. There was something very meta about mashing apples when hearing there was nothing we could do but wipe our profile and start over.

Anger has to go someplace. Mine gave the 21 bottles of cider a nice spicy flavor.

200 cidered apples and one new federal identity page later, I checked the fridge. Apples in the meat drawer. Apples in the cheese drawer. Apples in the veggie drawer. Apples in the butter panel, in the egg holder, stuck behind the coil leading to the freezer. APPLES EVERYWHERE!

I made apple butter. I made apple pumpkin butter, thereby eliminating the problem of what to do with the pumpkin going over on my porch. (Our chickens are mutants. They won’t eat pumpkin.)

150 apples to go. In desperation, I googled “unusual apple recipes for canning.” Then I reset my filter to adult controls and googled it again.

Steamed apple bread pudding (yes you can can bread; you just have to know what you’re doing). Apple salsa. Spiced apple rings. Apple slaw. Each took fewer apples than one might have hoped. There were still a few dozen apples in my refrigerator as I packed a bag to be one of the authors featured at the Louisville Book Festival Nov. 11.