The British Genocide: An Era Of Darkness The British Empire in India

Lest Other souls be forgotten in the rush to whole dialog...

Since the topic of the many annihilations and genocides has come up in one of the week end Memes, I wanted to put this book up for people who may want to seek the truth about what went on in the world under the British Raj.   The Indian Subcontinent still is suffering from the reverberations. 

The Nazis are rightly a watch word of Genocide, but there have been worse.  They should not be alone in being pilloried for their ruthless and genocidal march across the Earth.

So Very Worth Reading: Just as you expected; it IS even Worse than It Looks.

Read it and weep?
Keep on Knittin, Mama, knittin' those blues away......

Evert LaRock 1892

What I'm planning on reading for the next few months...

Mr.Z bought five books, four of them pour moi, at the Library sale.  It is a great Birthday Prezzie!  I was thrilled..

I'm starting with the book from Maeve Binchy. 

I just finished a book called, Sisters One, Two, Three.
I did like it but getting my head around the first few chapters was hard.  I couldn't decide whether I liked the mother or thought she was just a selfish jerk.  I don't like reading unsettling family dynamics novels where one of the parents is a narcissistic jackass.  There's just too much of that going around these days.

After Heart and Soul  I plan to read The top book, all of this series is a delight to read and Christmas is just around the corner.....

But, only in the middle of Spring will I tackle  Barkskins.  I do love Annie Proulx but most of her stuff is on the dark side.  I think this book is about the North American Environment in the days right after white Europeans arrived, and how it's been abused by them as they took down the paradise of North America and proceeded to "skin it alive". (my words, not hers.)

Library sales.. Yumm!!!

RUN! is Mr.Z.
He kindly texted me
 and then bought the others pour Moi!

Today was the rockhound Christmas luncheon.  It was fun to catch up with old friends and eat a meal together.  I might take them up on some invitations to do various things.  Mut I'm such a homebody now that my neighbors hardly see me. lol  After all those years of gallivanting, I'm settling into senility serenity with my books!

I'm almost done reading The Girl With Seven Names.

If you think you know all about Hell, and where it is, you need to read this book.  It's very enlightening,  and it's an absolutely hair raising, white knuckle, ride out of Hell on earth into freedom.
Here is a link to a review by Evan Ramstad,  from the StarTribune

The purge continues but it's been stymied.... this is raw feed blogging....

So expect Helter Kelter from me from now on.

I have come across two rather large boxes of craft kits bought in a craft class over 20 years ago; they are too good to just re-cycle the kits.  It looks like I'm going to have to Make Them.  *%#$#@!!
Then I'll have to put the darn things up on Etsy or something.  Sheesh.  I really want DONE with most crafting, i.e. the non-big four crafts!

I want to read!

What I'm reading:

I've read about 6 books in the last four weeks.  It's been heavenly!  This book is even better than the movie, in case you were wondering.

So, that find, up at the beginning, made me a little ill.  I so want to have all that behind me.  I do not want to sell or deal with any sort of retailing at all, anymore.  I could leave them outside for the "mosquitoes", maybe?

Anyway, I.  HATE.  ROADBLOCKS.
At my age I just want to SMASH RIGHT THROUGH THEM!

At least there is hope for the few pieces of ceramics now that are out of favor but too nice to toss.  This was my work bench at 6 am this morning, as the sun came in from the east.  I'll finish them and they can become part of the Holiday junk that gets set out for the four Hols that I decorate for:  Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

This paper lantern thinga is a great idea so I'm passing it on: The images are all copyrighted but, trust me, they are easy to make and oh-so-sweet to look at.

Making Paper Lanterns from paper Doilies for your battery operated tea lights.

What I'm reading.....

Hey... I found the old Blogger posting window.  Yay Me!  😊  You just click on the Blogger symbol in the top left hand side of the composing window.  It looks cleaner and a bit old school but I like it better.


This is what I'm reading

Snagged it on the used books thinga on line.

I'm also reading an ebook: Michael Clarkson's The Age of Daredevils, as well as Thomas Cleary's translation of, Vitality, Energy and Spirit.

Reading can really help out the blues.  And I've been sick so that plus LOTSOFOTHERSTUFF... has kept me busy.

Maybe I'll see you all on the weekend.  I hope...  my head is splitting...ouch!

Monday Whatnot: Start 'em young....

Jimmie devours her first book.

Yesterday afternoon, I'd been playing around in Goodreads, and while searching for a suitable photo as an avatar, I found this  of one of the twins.  We were at Mission Beach, one of the few places with grass.

Back to Goodreads.  The reason I started an account there, apparently in 2013, was so that I could order books from Logos, the bookstore we love which happens to be in Santa Cruz, nearly 500 miles away.  I could order their used books or at least research them, through Goodreads.  But then the Amazilla Monster sort of sucked up everything.

Disclaimer:  In case Amazon is listening.-- I'm not totally sure that's what really happened but it is awfully late.  And, it's definitely way too late for this old and creaking little gray panther to go pouncing on Googrilla, in order to dumpster dive into trash barrels of proof positive, nor can she go haring off up the evidentiary trails that run back up into the bushlands towards the infamous Amazon's hub at the base of it's legendary octopusal arms.

Then, wow.... just WOW!  I've evidently read 28 books this year so far.  I'll have to add some more that were off the radar but not all read this year.   Most, but not all, of the ones by Farley Mowat were read in years prior to 2016.

My challenge was 12?  Hmmm...  Well, My reading stopped dead for about five months, beginning in March, when I knew there was a hurricane bearing down on the frayed bonnets of my dearly beloved little family.  I'm creeping back into reading again, but with not quite the gusto of former times.

Shattering stuff, and it's not the first one to happen in my intimate circle.  So, I do know the "drill" but getting from THAT to HERE has been harrowing.  There's still a lot of mud and small clumps of regret, and heart pounding angst clinging to my boots from the trek.

HOLD YOUR HATS!  Another 180 degree turn coming up!............screeee!

Last fall....  This beautiful Liquid Amber lost it's battle with the California Drought.

A few weeks ago, it had to be removed by the ground's keeper.  It started it's life in the late 60's as a little seedling, sometime before it was planted a few years later in the grounds when the complex was built.  I took this shot from my sister's back slider,  through the fences and overhangs of another condo.  A sad end for a magnificent tree.

Goodbye Sweet Tree

Tuesday Tails: extremely rare Wolverine shot dead; Little Wolfie's tail; what I'm reading...Text size Corrected

I thought I'd put a plug in for getting Wolverines protected.  I'd like to bounce the The US Fish and Game into the wall a  few dozen times, those rascals!  I don't even care if people don't like Wolverines because these feisty little creatures have as much right  to be here as say, Elk, and they should be respected.

"Terrible news: An exceedingly rare wolverine was apparently just gunned down by a rancher in North Dakota. Even though there are only 300 wild wolverines left in the contiguous United States, this tragic killing was perfectly legal -- because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn't protect them under the Endangered Species Act when the Center for Biological Diversity asked it to in 2014" 

 The quote above is from a newsletter from the Center for Biological Diversity. 


Wolfie was begging in the kitchen this AM and I thought his tail too cute to not make a snap of it.

His tail looks a lot like my hair right now.  It looks as if I combed it with an egg beater.  I have gray hair that can't make up it's mind if it's curly or not.  It used to be thick and curly unless it was very long.


Well, back to the book, The Help.

This older title was gleaned from the city library, and though we've already seen the movie the book is still very much worth reading.  I hope you will give it a try.  It keeps me from thinking too hard about things, and also reminds me just how far we've come as a nation, and, indeed, how far we still have to do.  And then came the movie:

Change really does begin with a whisper.  It's because of Oppression.  If you are "white, all white", you didn't notice it so much, probably.  Remember the song, "At Seventeen"? 

Tuesday Tails... Next book...

We have a bumper crop of baby lizards this year.  We get a lot of species around here.

I think that if the cats don't catch them all before they get as big as one of their grandpappy's who used to adorn a social media page, I will be a very happy woman.  I haven't got many pictures of the babies because they are just really FAST!  Sort of like birds.  You get ready to shoot and take the snap, and it's a picture of an empty branch or birdbath.

I'm resting my crinkly old backbone, and e-reading a Donna Leon that was somehow missed in the big run up to becoming a truly bionic woman.  I refer to the knee replacement surgery after getting a metal wrist installed three years before.  Let's see, so far only two but enough to qualify.

Thanks to Goodreads Website

I think this is the best one I've read so far, though they are all spellbindingly beautiful to read.  The family time in these books is a delight, and there's a little teenager now in the Brunetti household.  hehe

That's about all.  Back to sorting, tossing and recycling.....  So far, a brilliant idea flashed through the old noggin when I was snapping off for a nap one day last week.  It involves a lot of heavy lifting so it's going to go very slowly, as we paint the walls an off white.  Goodbye forever to the faded Lavender walls of flown little birds.

Saturday Komeekz, Bookshelves and gardening books.

From a 1973 Family Circle Magazine

I just got another Succulent book,   I'm on the hunt for one more!  Got it!  I think I can keep in shape by dusting my gardening books.  

But, the big plan is to hit this coming gardening project like a whirlwind when the weather cools off enough out there in the side yard, sometime in December.  I want to feed birds and butterflies with plantings of Buddleia bushes and red hot poker plants, which they all love. 

Red Hot Poker Flowers From HERE

A little ancient history here:  I once had a heritage planting of these gorgeous flowers from my mother.  But it was lost to the local  Herbicide Poisoner who poured Round Up onto my neighbor's tree to kill it. We lived "down stream" from him and I suppose he was ignorant enough to think he would only be hurting the tree he was after.

He was a mean old buzzard who apparently finally dropped dead from his addiction to Adrenaline some time ago.  He almost killed our two elms, another heritage planting from my mother's trees.  I saved them by flushing the ground around them with water until the Round Up was leached out.  It took a lot of water.

Anyway, about completing the Wildlife Garden,  I need the exercise and we need to fix our gardens for birds and butterflies.  I'm hoping for the energy to come back to me, so I'll do a rain dance and also pray for more energy.  Do you think drinking Jolt Cola is a good idea??

I truly love used Amazon books. Goodwill Industry Stores are among Amazon's sellers of used books.

Hope you're having  a Very Good Weekend.  

Monday Music: Linda Ronstadt, "Blue Bayou"; semi daily sketch; a book about Everest.

Linda Ronstadt was awarded the National Medal of Arts recently.  She absolutely deserves this honor.  She is amazing.





And a sketch:

Seed, underground, with Roots

I put the book aside that I am actually supposed to be reading and read an ebook entitled Blind Descent by Brian Dickerson.  Thrilling read!

Forget the Music, this is more important....a book

I'm putting this book up where the book by Gail Tsukiyama about a Hong Kong Family was.  Ms. Tsukiyama's book was about the period between the late 30's and up to probably the late 60's, just before China proper was given Favored Nation Status by Richard Nixon.

Please keep your eyes on the Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution.  China said that it was going to leave Hong Kong as it was.  But, of course, it isn't.

Meanwhile, A look into some of our own American corporate dirty little secrets...

"Homo homini lupus"
Man is a wolf to man

Nobodies is a blockbuster.  Published in 2007, it's been mainly ignored.  As Americans, we have a right to know what is happening in our own country, and a duty to change Life for the enslaved people that have been brought here, made to work without pay, and held in this slavery, against their wills.   This sordid affair goes well beyond the Central and South American peoples that the press loves to hammer upon.

My blog seems to be the only way I can tell anyone about this book, and all it exposes about modern slavery.  There are heavy consequences from not doing something about the practices that it exposes, to us as both a People and as a Nation.  We need to act.

LIttle Wren Drawing; Basket of Pens; organizing chit chat; Saturday Komeekz; Maeve's "last book", and the movie "Clue"

I know, two posts in a day... *sighs*  But I hope you will forgive me my little brain fart in not doing these two Saturdays together.

Sketch for today:

House Wren: Isn't she sweet?

I did the quick sketch from a photo by Brian L. Sullivan, who is just amazing!  His photo is on the Cornell Site from my phone.  You can see that after I drew the outline I wanted to fill in with these pens:

Next to try are the colored pencils

They are nice pens, the black is really a thick felt tip that gives amazing control for it's size, almost like the tip of a Sumi-e Brush.  But they're just not the same as a water wash.  Since I've just started this enterprise, I realize it's best to have your own photos so that you have a multi sense memory as well.  There is something about drawing from life that can't be duplicated as the eye sees so much more when watching something that is alive and hopping around doing it's "thing".  If you don't believe me, just try to draw a Passenger Pigeon from the last photograph.

Organizing:

I'm keeping the bins but the yarn is going to the Craft Co-op in Santa Cruz, along with all the cone yarns (except for the big gray one that is a blend for socks).  This activity will free up some space in my sewing/card making/catchall of a studio in the front of the house.  The one in the back remains semi organized but is for another time and story.......whatwasithinking?

Source

Saturday Komeekz:

Dear little kitty, you won't like camping.  The only cats I've seen "camping" were in motorhomes, which they did NOT have to drive, and in which they had their own pull out food trays and beds!

The movie "Clue"



This thing is a literal scream!  I laughed myself sick and will most likely watch it again on Halloween!

I am reading a book that is a compilation of Maeve Binchy's  writings, her hubbie's and her publisher's.  You can tell the difference, but the book is still interesting and well written.  Parts have already been published elsewhere, and those are hers, as well as things she was compiling for a book she wanted to write about Chestnut Street.  I'm enjoying it, though it's sad to think she is already gone so long.   Chestnut Street


I have a migraine and plantar fasciitis at the moment so I'm just going to go rest awhile.  LOL!  Woohoo!  Trouble from Top to Bottom, er, the Foot Bottom that is.  Have a great Sunday!

Saturday 9, Good Books, Drawing Blah Blah, Saturday Komeekz

Saturday9:  The Link button for this is in the side bar with more memes.  Come join the fun! 


Saturday 9: Hey, Soul Sister (because John suggested Train). If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here.

1) The video was shot on a street corner in Echo Park in central Los Angeles. If you saw a film crew making a video in your neighborhood, would you stop to watch? Or would you just keep walking?  

For any sort of Music, I'd stop.  Anything else, I would just kept walking very fast, running even. Who knows the plot?  Maybe the next thing is where the perp,on foot, starts tearing down the sidewalk and trips on a root, and there you are?  One broken collarbone later, in the ER, you get an autograph for your cast.  Hmmm? Maybe I wouldn't run.

2) The singer says he remembers his girl in every dream he dreams. Do you remember if you dreamed last night? I did dream, and most of the time I remember enough to get by, but not all the time. Senior Dreaming.

3) The band Train is from San Francisco. Have you ever visited The City by the Bay?  We've been there several times.  If I could, I'd live closer to it; somewhere just below or just above it probably.  I love that part of the California, central coast and north all the way to Canada, to be honest.

4) Lead singer Pat Monahan got his start in a Led Zeppelin cover band. Can you name a Led Zeppelin song? "Stairway to Heaven", and "Black Dog". I hate "Black Dog" but I'll never forget it nor will I ever listen to it again.  We were having dinner at a little restaurant somewhere, and I put "Stairway to Heaven" on to play at the Jukebox, with it's flip side to follow, which I'd never once heard.  It was "Black Dog" What a mistake!

5) In doing research for this week's Saturday 9, Crazy Sam discovered a publication called Trains, The Magazine of Railroading. What's the last magazine you flipped through?  Something at my sister's house, to get directions for a wreath you make from an old book.  HERE is a link to a page that has it, and it's a lot like the one below the pink one on top.  In fact, I like it better than that one.



6) Do you consider yourself a leader or a follower?  
I'm definitely a different drummer sort of gal.  I'm not a follower.

7) Scholars tell us that "To be or not to be" is Shakespeare's most quoted line. Give us another one. 
I like this one the best: "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt  of in your Philosophy."

8) How do you listen to music on the go? Car radio? CD changer? iPod/mp3 player? Your phone? 
The car tweeters need replacing so I can't listen to anything at all inside it.  A tweeter has cut loose and rattles if the stereo is turned up above a whisper.

9) Are you a convincing liar?

No, I'm really not, so I just tell the truth when it seems like it must be done, or, do a lot of tongue biting, or pretend I didn't hear.  Usually that ends it.

Happy weekend Sam!  Thanks for hosting this fun meme!

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend.







Drawing in the Abstract:

"Seed Queen" - an Abstract

Someday I'll just have to use better Media! Bee gave me beautiful paper and colored pencils- so many colors!  I'll have to recopy this one because I actually like it a lot!

Breakfast, in bed, with reading......

This came with a cuppa

I've been reading a lot.  I'm trying to catch up on some historical novels about China and Japan that have fallen into my hands.  If you ever get a chance to read the oldest novel ever written (though not published earliest), give The Red Chamber a spin.  I'm going to read it once more, but I'm buying it as a kindle version.  It's so long! 

And now, the Komeekz!  I got a big kick out of this Pickles!

DH has bragging rights.  He can cook just about anything, and he's also lots better at the BBQing.

Have a great Weekend, m'friends!  Stay cool if you are in the Southwest.  It's going to be a scorcher!

Tuesday Tails, various, and a new book. TM Grant's Book about times of the Crusades

 Blood Red Horse

This is the tale of a small red horse and the relationship it forms with the hero.  That's the "Tails" part of the post.  Lame I know, but all there is left is more pictures of Wolfie trying to not eat a pet bunny.

I am finally finishing Good Omens, and want to recommend it again for the humor and brilliant writing.  It is a fast moving, exciting tale of a devil and an angel who have both been sent to supervise the end of the Earth and find themselves with more in common than they first realized.

I just hope this new book doesn't turn out to be as bloody as another one, Killing Floor, which I had asked for but then, after seeing it, decided not to read.  I think I've had my fill of hyper-violence, and since Blood Red Horse is a children's book, I'm hoping that it will be a better read for me during my recuperation from drug resistant bacteria and killer Pharmaceuticals.

Today is ceramics and my heart just isn't in it anymore.  Don't want to do it.  Need to draw!

Reading Antique Books

The Thomas Hardy from the library has been in storage for tens of years.  It's fragile.  And it's so beautifully written that I clutched it to my chest in delight.  What a treasure.

I'm going to re-read all of Thomas Hardy.

What I'm reading.. Thomas Hardy, and a wee rant.

Sorry no Tuesday Tails.  But there is another strange wind blowing, a Santa Ana style wind coming out of the WEST!???  I have no idea why this is happening but I mean to find out. I cannot stand wind.  If there is rain out there for us, this thing will hang it out to dry over the Pacific!

Lanting's Studio link

"Oh no Toto, hang onto your ears!"

The little paper holder is from a Summer program for children that an amazing woman ran out of a converted school bus

Under The Greenwood Tree.  I certainly hope this is a "Happy" book.  I know nothing about it except that I've always liked Thomas Hardy novels. The Netflix blurb about a film of that title,based on the book, made it sound, well, "Happy".  I'll just hope it's a little serendipitous find, this Hardy book, as an antidote for the Revelation of  Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics ( The link goes to a TED talk by Sebastian Wernicke) in  Area 51, by Annie Jacobsen.

Rant Alert:  This is the last rant about anything to do with Elites, Politicians, or Government's revolving doors.  I'm done.  They exist, they are evil, and have had the GALL to call some other governments The Axis of Evil.  I find this trait of the Bush administration both disingenuous and insulting.

Since we have been speaking of lies, Bush Jr, that Yale cheerleader, took us into two wars based on lies he told to all of his fellow Americans, save those who were in on the secret.

I'm very offended by it all.  I don't think I'm the only person alive who knows that Bush used his power, just before leaving office, to make an executive order that sealed both his and his father's Presidential papers away for, basically, 150 years.  That means that they, and everyone of their ilk, now will be safely dead before anyone else, using the Freedom of Information Act, can find out just what really happened during his or his father's terms. Why would he do such a thing?  Your guess is as good as mine, but I know what I think.

And another thing.  Just why did Bush Sr. buy a million acre ranch in Paraguay, right next to the American Army base there?   Paraguay is right in the middle of South America, more or less.  Is it a Fishing Haven? Are there lots of Game animals to be had?  There are just so many questions.

Perhaps they mean to be safe when someone starts WWIII?   Are they all going to just hightail it out on the Lear Jets loaded with enough fine wine to last the half life of plutonium?  Will they go dig up their pre-buried gold doubloons from under the tarmac of the amazingly long runway that was built there?  Are they planning to live like kings?  They already do, you know.  And, why gold?  Because Gold doesn't go radioactive.

And, when the land they once called "The Land of My Forefathers" is cleared of human occupants - yet again, will they all just roll right back in here and claim it ALL for the New Emperor of the Earth?  Just a few questions....  No, I don't read conspiracy web pages.  I just read the newspaper, now and again, and I also tend to read Non-Fiction books about Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

I don't want to rant anymore, ever!  There are upstanding members of Congress and Non Profit Corporations who do a much better job of this.  I'm going to knit, sew, paint and  fire ceramics and make as many pretty little things to give to the kids and my beloved friends and family and MY Fellow Citizens as I've got the time to do.  I'll sell some of these things on Etsy and donate profits to Women for Women, or Doctors Without Borders, but I'm not going to waste another scintilla of effort on our corrupt political system.  I just want to share a little bit of beauty, here and there, to offset the horrendous, Soul Crushing, Political Circus we've been being treated to.

I'm done.

I'm going to try to read like a fiend.

I want to read the rest of all these but some have already been read.  I'm also going to read the new book, Grain Brain as soon as I can get my hands on it.  The two new medicines I'm taking don't agree with me, and IF I can get off at least one of them, I'll be very happy.

You have a very nice week.  I'll be reading and looking for small beauties to share, too.

Thankful Thursday, Spring, Amy Tan, Wolfie update, "Food Fight" Doc.

I'm really grateful and so very thankful for the rain!!!!  Mr. Z just came in and said that it's sprinkling- he hates to walk the dog in rain.  And here am I, hoping we will get a lot more!  Wolfie hates rain but learned, in his wild days, to go out afterward and lick the dew or raindrops off of the weeds and grasses, which he continues to do on his walks with his Poppa.

At least we are both rejoicing that the refrigerator DID mend itself after Mr. Z twiddled with a fan in the back and vacuumed everything back there to within an inch of it's tolerance.  And, I can report that Wolfie's eye is on the mend and doing so well that he is keeping it open a lot more.   My two favorite machines are sewing machines and airplanes, but the refrigerator is a very close third.

I'm thankful for Amy Tan, and the fact that she wrote her memoirs - of sorts.

Please forgive the bad picture

I've finally set aside the Elizabeth George novel because it took me to page 280 to start caring about anyone other than Barbara Havers and the little kids.  Amy Tan's memoirs are infinitely more interesting to read and her book doesn't require an entire page cheat-sheet for characters within it's covers.

Our harbinger of Spring is Blooming, all over the county.  And I am VERY thankful indeed for this!

I tried to push that van out of the way with my mind,
but, alas, then my brain quit working.

The Carolina Cherries are in bloom or are in leaf.  Now, we Californians are all hoping that the snow pack in the Sierras is growing, though it is going to be very hard to keep it from melting should a warm breeze start out a month from now.   My heart goes out to all the farmers who grow fruits and vegetables for farmer's markets.  The big boys, who get all 90% of the Farm Subsidy Payments, are always OK.  Their "Hand Maidens" in Congress see to that every few years.

A shout out to Rep. Ron Kind, who works so hard to change this iniquity.  I've seen,  "Food Fight" and know what you are up against.

I also spied some Orchid Trees (va: Bauhinia purporae) blooming but they were going by about 65 miles an hour, and I couldn't get a snap.

So, I hope you will all be encouraged by this Springtime wave that is starting to the south west of you.  Let's just forget about Florida because they never seem to have any winter at all.

Yesterday at my sister's house, I took the knitting but there is no light like a headlamp for sewing up tiny stitches.  So, I didn't get anything accomplished other than having a meal with my sister, and afterward sitting around having a long chinwag, all of which is ok.

How to win every argument....String Theory and Saturday Komeekz

My very next book, so that I can read (and listen to windbags on TV should ever I do such a thing) with a little more discernment.  

I wonder if  the techniques expounding  includes the winning arguments about Quantum Mechanics, or even String Theory?

Have physicist given that one up yet?  And, when was the last time anyone ever needed a Quantum Mechanic?  What do they fix??