Somewhat Wordless, Unlike Someone Else!

I haven't written much, and I blame it on Facebook. It's easy enough to write a 140 character observation about something. Harder to write a missive for a blog.

That said, I observed something today on our school fax machine that gave me pause. You know those stupid scamming emails about the dude from Nigeria that wants to send you a bucket of money because he has no other place to put it? He'll give you some percentage of it if you pay him to ship it to you? Something like that?

Today on our fax machine was a newer version of that scam. One I consider to be a new kind of low in the area of scamming. This one was a letter from "Robert Barnes," a US Marine serving in Afghanistan. It uses a whole bunch of jarhead jargon to tell you that things are really bad there but they found this stash of abandoned cash. Here's the kicker paragraph that sort of got me hot:

"I don't want you to judge me by what you just read. I am a Devil Dog with a lot pride and honour. No amount of money can make up for the pain and sacrifice we all got through here in the hell hole in service for our country. But I have to also secure my future and have something to bank on after my active service."


ugh.

Another Perk

So when we were in Minnesota week before last (has it been that long already?), we were staying at my parent's house. Each morning my mom would begin the day the by saying, "We need to plan supper."

Usually this conversation happened right after I stumbled into the house from the camper and poured my first cup of coffee.

Why did she need to know this so early each day? BECAUSE CARNIVORES HAVE TO TAKE STUFF OUT OF THE FREEZER TO THAW! We vegetarians? Not so much. The only advance planning I do anymore is to soak beans overnight or start them in a crockpot during the day. My freezer is full of bread flour and frozen blueberries.

I'm just sayin'

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barries

Mom encouraged me to read this book. I believe it was an Oprah book club selection at one time. I loved it. The book was the first written by this author, who is in his 90s. 

It takes place in a small English town right around the beginning of WWI. It's about a street where the Christians and Jews live across from each other and the barriers of religious beliefs that are evident. Autobiographical, the book is about the author's own family and their struggles to survive poverty. To complicate matters, Harry's sister falls in love with a Jewish boy across the street. It's sort of Romeo and Juliet and Angela's Ashes all rolled into one. Happier endings, though.

There are more books written by this author. I'll be looking for them.