Cat, Elvis, Takes Lead Sleuth in Second Chance Mystery Series by Sofie Ryan - Character Review, plus spotlight excerpt on "Scaredy Cat"...

 

The story goes a little like this...a stray cat. maybe from a ghetto, showed up around the big garbage bin of a local restaurant and the owner came out and gave him a little food. Much later that night, the cat showed up during the Thursday Night Jam and decided to sit down and listen while the owner and his band was playing a set of Elvis' music. The cat stayed until that set was over and they moved on to "Satisfaction." The cat immediately left, but came back the next morning and the owner saw him and called to him, "Come on, Elvis, you ready for breakfast?" And the cat followed him...

Later that day, Sarah stopped in for coffee and stayed to talk. Seeing the cat, she immediately asked her close friend and owner of The Black Bear, Sam, where it had come from. Sam told her the story, but added that he couldn't exactly call him Mic, when the cat had left when they started playing Satisfaction. And so the name stuck... 

And, when Sarah was ready to leave, Elvis immediately followed her and jumped up onto the front seat! Yeah, you all are going to enjoy meeting Elvis in this very special and wonderful series! Now Sarah was...all shook up...when she couldn't get the cat to leave her car and wondered just how she was going to be able to live with a pet for the first time. Well, let's just say, Elvis was a one person cat and intended to stay, so he treated her gently until she started to love him tender... Soon she was a cat lover just like me! LOL

I added the above, after I started this article--so much has happened since I originally read this tenth book in the series. Namely, I have gone back, started from the first book and read straight through! During that time, I lost my baby, Stevie. She was borne by the cat who lived at my cabin when I first came well over a decade ago. Bill, my brother-in-law fed her so she stayed. The country is not an easy place for cats, and I remember once, years ago, Stevie had disappeared for a few days and then one day she came wobbling back. I was so upset, that I went to her, picked her up and brought her into the cabin, wrapped her up in a towel, and just held her. She stayed mostly inside thereafter. I really miss her and even though there are other cats that live outside, it had taken many years to establish our relationship. She was a one-person cat and she had selected me, just as Elvis chose Sarah... Although Elvis, unlike Stevie, was quite amenable to meeting and greeting other people, especially if they had food to offer... 

Stevie was growing old with me... and I am reminded of many of her antics and changes as she slowed down as well...

While I was reading I also started physical therapy 3 days a week, which cuts into my time, since it was nearby but I still had to leave the house and go there. Additionally, I developed an infection and had to have tests to determine what medication I could be given. So I'm still weaker than normal and finding it hard to find time to writing about all the Second Chance books I read (most of the time at bedtime and even during the night if I woke up)...

So, back to this wonderful series, in addition to talking about Elvis, I decided to talk about the characters in this series. I must first say that I've never read a book series that has included such loving characters... Some are related, but most of the relationships have been formed as friends, as well as relatives... And that does make a difference, doesn't it? Many of you will know what I mean. You may love relatives as relatives, but a very few also become close friends... I've been thinking about each character for days, trying to fit somebody you might know to "play" each of them...

Sarah is the focal, main character and owns a shop called Second Chance, which means that they sell just about anything that somebody has thrown out just because it was old, broken, out of fashion... and more. I must admit that this basic business activity was a main reason for my high level of enjoyment. We live in a "throw-away" world, it seems... What is in fashion quickly goes out of fashion, so that new can be purchased! 

But not when Sarah is around! Most of the time you'll see her in work clothes as she sands the top of a new cabinet or shelf. You may recognize Angie Harmon as Ruzzoli and know how she moves and thinks... Sarah takes one look at what the options are and selects based upon her "vision" of what it could become...and moves on from there... Second Chance has just about anything you can think of but they do more with the shop, they "create" the scene where you might place this new addition to your home--a refurbished dining set will also may be covered with pristine white lace or an older and precious heirloom tablecloth that was saved for when guests came. That's the time they also brought out the cloth napkins that matched and used the silver that somebody had received for their wedding years ago and sold at an estate sale. 

You'll be watching a relationship develop for Sarah and Mac, so I'm not going to talk much about him except to select a hottie that I was able to picture from Sarah's descriptions, sighs, and later, hugs  that seems to fit how Sarah describes him as she slowly considers her future... If you don't know Shemar Moore from Criminal Minds, I've even seen him pulled into some daring acts for commercials recently! But as he and Sarah watch each other carefully, he hides a big secret and shyly works beside her quietly proving to her that he could do just about anything at Second Chance...and, maybe, for her, starting with moving into a small space in the shop attic and having coffee ready each morning when she gets there...

Now the fun part... Let me tell you about the Angels!

No, not the ones that work for the hidden boss on Charlie's Angels! But, a group of friends that have, based upon helping with a few mysteries, now formed Angel Investigations or just The Angels...For surely, in the time to create ten books--and counting, the Last Chance crew has increased greatly and has a staff that are also now involved in another enterprise --Angels Investigations has officially opened an office that is now part of the fairly large complex where friends have come together to work, play, and solve crimes as needed...LOL

This unlikely character eating ice cream and commonly called Mr. P, is actually the genius and official licensed private investigator who officially began (Charlotte's) Angels! He has a way with computers that far surpasses anybody I ever knew... Plus in his spare time, he is teaching and coaching his assistant to sit for the test to become a PI... So, just so you know, this character probably solves most of the crimes because she provides all the baked goodies for their meetings...

Yes, if you haven't already picked up on it, all of the team, except Sarah, is what you might call of the silver generation...

Sarah's early years brought her to the small, but bustling, town where she decided to settle when she lost her job on the radio by being replaced by "canned music" with stops for commercials. Almost as bad a chopping block as I went through years ago... 

Anyway, the lovely lady that does most of the baking for everybody is Rose, who was also a school teacher and now works part-time at Last Chance. She is the one that has the greatest interest in helping people in need, even if it it as small a task as helping to find a missing cat... And, yes, she's very involved with the PI, who often stays overnight--working on cases, of course...

Another teacher, Charlotte, is also a member of the Team of both Angels and those working at Second Chance... and Nick's mother She is also very much interested in having Sarah a member of her family and has been pushing her son about possible marital bliss so that she could have grandchildren. She also keeps those needy people who cannot cook or wish not to, to eat a good meal once in a while. If you have watched Rachel Maddow, a newscaster on MSNBC, you just may be able to picture how she will be found in this series...

Nick is her son and Sarah's best friend since early school years. They love each other, but everybody around them wants much more than friendship for them... Nick is a law officer who is decidedly against senior citizens working as PIs...until he, too, is pulled in to help once in a while...

I love Seely Booth in Bones so you can now consider just what you might find with Nick as he and Sarah work together... Of course, that did end in marriage, but I don't think Seely, is Sarah's type... For one thing, Sarah and Mac are sympatico... and that's what evolves into a great relationship it seems to me...

And then there is Liz. I immediately thought of how Elizabeth Warren speaks out and moves quickly to act... In fact, I thought I'd include the book descriptions on her:

Liz was Elizabeth Emmerson Kiley French. She was elegant and imposing and she had zero tolerance for people who had no thought for others. She ran her family’s charitable foundation, the Emmerson Foundation, and she was also very generous with her own money, although she tended to keep that kind of thing quiet. She was not someone who took no for an answer when she had decided to do something... Of course, I admire Warren and think of her as a role model for women...so Liz struck me in the same way, although Warren is probably a lot more outspoken whereas Liz wa subly sneaky, at least in my opinion. For instance, when she wants Sarah to go with her as part of a case, she will often tell her what to wear...and remind her to show her legs (See pic above, you rarely saw Ruzzoli in other than slacks.)

In other words, Liz had been around enough to know how to play the games that people play and if it involved possible financial malfeasance, Liz was the Angel they had conduct any interviews...

Her grandmother, a minor character timewize, who married a much younger man is away touring on a long honeymoon for most of the series, but it is her friends that have stayed close to Sarah and soon bonded into a close-knit and extremely intelligent group of ladies! Can you think of a sassy older woman who married...and became a "cougar?"

Also, another character I really enjoyed is Avery, Liz's granddaughter who is staying with Liz... She also started working at Last Chance and soon began to exhibit some rally great creative skills, as well as an above-average teenager intelligence... Can you think of anybody that could "play" Avery in a movie? Well, I have one idea... She's Rachel, with a portrait below who is already in a similar business of refurbishing furniture. Her skills in bringing mid-century furniture back for use today is, to me, quite exceptional at her early twenties age!

Now that you've heard about the main characters who appear or are mentioned in each book, check out a short preview of Scaredy Cat!

~~~

I looked around the office. “Was Elvis with you?” “I haven’t seen him this morning,” Mr. P. said. “The furball is probably sleeping on your desk,” Avery said. “I’m going to get a muffin.” She looked at Mr. P. “And I’ll get your coffee.” He smiled at her. “Thank you.” Elvis wasn’t on the workbench or anywhere in the workroom. He wasn’t in the shop, either, and Avery said she couldn’t find him anywhere upstairs. “I’m going out to make sure he didn’t wander over to the workshop,” I said. Elvis wasn’t there. He wasn’t hiding under my car, either. How could a small black cat seemingly vanish? I was about to text Mac to see if he had any ideas when I saw Emily Hastings coming along the sidewalk with Elvis in the wicker basket of her bike. I felt a rush of relief. Emily raised a hand in hello when she spotted me. I walked down to meet them. “Hi, Sarah,” she said. “I found this guy two streets over just sitting at the corner. I thought I better bring him back.” She reached down to stroke his fur. “Thank you,” I said. “We’ve been looking everywhere for him. He’s never wandered off like that before.” I looked at Elvis. “What were you doing?” He ignored me and nuzzled Emily’s hand. “I think you have a friend for life,” I said. She smiled. “Elvis is a great cat. I’d like to have a cat of my own but some guests can be allergic or just afraid of them.” She looked down at Elvis. “How could anyone be afraid of him?” Elvis murped his agreement. “How’s the case going?” Emily asked. “Mr. P. is working on a couple of things,” I said. Looking at Emily standing there scratching behind Elvis’s ear I just couldn’t believe she had killed Mark Steele. With her warm smile and kind eyes I couldn’t imagine her stomping on a cockroach. “Good,” she said. “I wish I knew who killed Mr. Steele or that there was at least some kind of way I could help figure that out. And I really wish that stupid car of Gram’s hadn’t gotten a flat tire.” So she had been driving Annie’s car. “I know,” I said. “Gram says I’m lucky. Because of that flat tire everyone knows I didn’t kill Mr. Steele, but if that hadn’t happened, I might have been a suspect.” She shook her head. “I better get going,” she said. She picked Elvis up and handed him to me. “Thanks again for rescuing him,” I said. “You’re welcome to stop in and visit him any time. He really does like you.” “Thanks,” she said. “I will.” Emily waved to Elvis, got on her bike and rode away. I shifted the cat so we were face-to-face. “You scared me,” I said. He licked my chin. 

I thought about the expression on his face while Emily was stroking his fur and talking about the murder. He had looked blissfully happy the entire time. No sour look of annoyance. “Did you go looking for Emily?” I asked. He didn’t blink or so much as twitch a whisker. I realized how crazy what I was thinking was. My cat hadn’t orchestrated a meeting between Emily and me so he could prove she hadn’t killed Mark Steele. That wasn’t possible. He’d just gotten bored and wandered off while Charlotte and I were talking. It was the only thing that made sense. That and the fact that Emily Hastings wasn’t our killer. So now what?

I met Elvis in 2016 in The Whole Cat and Caboodle. Check out my review and get a feel about how this series began... Recently, I saw the notice that a new book was out - and it was tenth(!) in series! I got it immediately and was thrilled that it explored something that I've gained a new interest and appreciation for! You see, my caretaker, in addition to helping me get to appointments on time and to help deal with medical and other issues, my niece Rachel has started a refurbishing business as well! I've been so proud of what she has done to mid-century furniture to give it a new face that others will want to buy for their homes. 

I was so invested that I went out and bought books 2 through 9 to read and digest any ideas that I may be able to pass on to her! But Rachel gets her interest and some training from her parents who enjoy shopping for antiques and her father builds furniture... Still, it's the business management that I find interesting in this book in particular. 

Especially how work gets done while solving criminal cases!

We stepped into the store proper. “Perfect timing,” Charlotte said. She was with a customer who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was checking out our selection of guitars. “Tell me about this one,” he said, pointing to my latest find. I lifted the instrument down from the wall and offered it to him. -

Once someone played one of our guitars they were more likely to buy it. “This is a Seagull guitar,” I told him. “They’re made in Canada. The top is solid spruce and the sides and back are cherry.” He tried a couple of chords, adjusted the tuning a little and then played something I quickly recognized as Neil Young’s “Long May You Run.” I saw a smile play across the man’s face and I knew I’d made a sale. 

A couple of weekends ago Mac and I had driven down to Port Clyde to see a man who was building his third wooden boat. While they talked I had spent some time prowling around a flea market that was being held at the local high school. I’d spotted the guitar in a back corner of one of the booths. I’d offered forty dollars for it, seeing the amount as a point to start dickering over the price. To my surprise my offer was accepted. The woman running the booth wrapped the guitar in a large blue recycling bag and as she took my money something about her smile and the gleam in her eye gave me the feeling that as far as she was concerned she was the one who had gotten the deal. The rest of the afternoon was busy. Right after the guitar player left, a tour bus returning home to Nova Scotia after a couple of days in Atlantic City stopped in. Two of the picnic baskets sold, along with several of the framed maps, a set of dishes that Rose and Avery carefully packed for the bus ride home, and a small table I swaddled in an old moving blanket, which Mr. P. and the bus driver managed to fit in the luggage compartment of the bus in a space that it really shouldn’t have fit in but somehow did.

~~~

This is the first cat mystery cozy series that includes a number of individuals working on the inevitable "murder mystery."  A legit PI also is rare in cat mysteries, at least in my experience. And, in addition, having a group with the majority main characters  in their retirement years and having a new, second professional career makes this, indeed, My Own Type of Favorites! May this series run far into the future! I loved every single story that was written for the Second Chance crew to solve! Tell others about these books!

GABixlerReviews

Letters to Carol - An Extraordinary Memoir-Self Help Presentation - From Blob to Beauty Queen; From High Living to Living on the Street -A Review and Discussion and Featuring Complementary Music Videos!

Dear Carol, Let’s go back a little in time. Your grandmother had died. Madea lived in Watts. By this time, she told neighbors she was moving and not to tell your father she was moving to Scottsdale City. Dane was still traumatized over your grandmother’s death. This is when Madea placed the burden on him to father his own brothers and sisters, which was a huge mistake, because the monster Dane allowed him later to perpetrate familiar child abuse tragedies on his own kids, later in life. Carol, because you are such a nice person, subliminally, you understood the pressures Madea placed on your brother, Dane. You knew more after Dane married Perry. She defended his heavy abuse of his siblings. That is why you wrongfully believed tolerance was love again. Notwithstanding, and on top of the pain you endured at home, at school it was worse. Following tortuous hours of “Girls Punishment” with your neck cracking, your body tired, and after hours of abuse, you had to straighten up to go to school for more abuse. It’s important to state that at eleven-years old, a child is not mature enough to know what compounded abuses can do to the maturation of a growing child’s mind. This is why the child internalizes dangerous emotions that can ruin a child’s emotional maturity, much later, in life. This is another reason why by the time you were in your mid-sixties, your inability to find and or handle housing matters had a lot to do with the interruptions of your now fragile emotional stability, which began a huge pile-up from 1955-2023. In 1966 you were in the Black schools, like Mark Twain and Ralph Bunche, where it was normal to be a dark-skinned child. When Madea moved to Scottsdale City in 1966, your dark skin was not accepted by the white kids in Scottsdale City. 

Carol, by the time you entered Junior High School, you were dealing with the pain of an enlarged heart, Post Traumatic Depression, abuse by your brother, Madea and a sister that hated you. It was the end of three-years of being called, “The Blob.” You were tired mentally. You have now stored over a decade of abuse in your emotional cache. The personalities are tired. We have all waited decades for you to be ready to tell your “real” story. To that end, we are all proud of you. At home, things worsened when Madea called you lazy. Getting up to do household chores was dangerously killing you. One day on the track at Garey High School, where you attended for three years, you ran the track. This occurred late in the afternoon. The football field where the Vikings practiced was empty. On that unusual eve you collapsed. As a child without guidance or love, you took care of yourself. You lay on that track, with horrific pain in your chest. On that ground, you prayed to heaven for your grandmother. You knew at any moment you could die, but this was to you another challenge you had to get through. You lay where one of your personalities showed you how to breathe. There, you clutched your heart, not knowing what a dangerous situation you were in. All you knew was there was a lot of chest pain. You laid on the tarmac of the racetrack until the pain subsided, having no clue that your heart was attacking. Later, at home you performed your household chores, including washing walls in the house on Fowler Avenue. You tired easily, but you washed the walls anyway. You did not have support from family to even tell one soul you had a heart attack. A few weeks later, when the school district ordered a physical, their medical staff wrote Madea a shocking letter. In it they told her you had an enlarged heart. Back then, instead of Madea checking all this out with emergency doctors, she continued to ignore the matter not caring about the outcome. “You have an enlarged heart,” she said to you one day when you were sixteen. Giving you this information, did not include following up. In fact, Madea simply waited for you to die. If you can’t accept this information about Madea, your end-of-life maturity will be heavily compromised, Carol. You are not writing this all down for brownie points, or to impress anyone. This is being said correctly now because this is your life. This is a moment of clarity, which will in turn, save us from being on those cold/hot streets, again. We must get this all out. You must cry. You must embrace this pain with the knowledge you never afforded yourself to engage longer than a fly before. I love you, Carol. I know this is hard for you. If Madea thought so little of you to not take care of your mental or physical health; then why would she care about your having an enlarged heart? I am sorry that you are crying. Cry. You must cry to release these feelings from your wreckage of memories of the past. These are the things about your upbringing you refused to face in the past years. You are facing these issues now. This is the most important information of your life. We hated being on the cold streets not knowing how we got there. This information is being given to you, through me, by God. Moreover, Madea was more vicious towards you than you are willing to talk about Carol. What mother allows her older son to daily punish and molest a child with a life-threatening medical condition? It’s time to purge the pain Carol, please ask God to forgive your demons, Carol. You must see Madea for what she was; instead of what you wanted her to be. Carol, this is a must. When people criticize you…When they say leave it in the past, surge forward. This is your life. You are already being freed, as you tell your story through me. Here is where the truth will not be a stranger. Here is where nothing will hide. All human beings deserve to be heard. Listeners will be educated. History will be informed, while this time potential publishers will know the real you. I want them to know that Carol Denise Mitchell is an honest, amazing, smart, beautiful woman, who is at last owning the rights to her safety. Carol deserves love. Carol is for the first time becoming whole. Carol’s story is one of sheer survival!

~~~

I have read several books by Carol Denise Mitchell but none like her latest. Nor have I read a similar book by any other author.  It is, quite simply, unbelievable and  extraordinary, yet, for many, it may be quite confusing. Carol has chosen to declare this a fiction book; however, in my opinion, this is a disservice to potential readers. Carol is protecting herself legally--for she has self-taught about employment discrimination, civil rights, et.al.--by claiming fiction. I, on the other hand, believe she should be broadcasting the truth of her life and what she is, even now, still dealing with. For, as some of you know, I, too, am also dealing with and trying to write my own story... So, if your early life was full of pain, confusion, hate, abuse, or other negative things that can happen to any one of us... I highly recommend you spend some time reading Letters to Carol..." For believe me, as you finish reading, crying for words shared in this book, you will know you are reading Truth...

And the way she presents her story is through the voice of one of her inner selves, who still remembers what happened, and guides today's Carol through each and every single incident where she was abused in some way... is the extraordinary part. Letters to Carol is Carol writing the book, but as if it were dictated by another individual... That part deep inside Carol where all of those memories that she could not confront ever again, had been pushed so deep that, physically, and of course, mentally, she had chosen to live and move forward.

Until that day, maybe she snapped, maybe her body could no longer handle the pressure and...collapsed. Some of you may recall this is what happened to me when the first thing that happened was that I could not stop crying... Only by reading books was I able to escape... One of those books was Whatever Happened to Suzy? Reading this story by Carol was the first of many of those who share childhood pain through their writing...

For me, I found parts of me inside her memoir story... Other readers might also find parts of you, or others in your life. What do I mean? Well, think about how you might represent yourself at your job, as opposed to how you are with a close friend, or better yet, in a crowd. I know that I "put on a face" not literally but figuratively, in each of those scenarios. On the job, I put on my face of a professional, dedicated to doing my job from the first step into my office. I rarely stop for breaks, rather sipping tea while I continue to work. And, most of the time, expecting much the same from others... Get the idea? Most of us have ways to act in different life situations. While Carol calls these different personalities, diagnosing herself, "One day, inside my bedroom closet, I developed dissociative identity disorder, better known as Multiple Personality Disorder. I began hugging myself, promising to develop protective mechanisms to help me deal with daily trauma.  

Now I knew exactly what she meant. In fact, I have used one of the oldest affirmative statements known from the time of Socrates, as my guiding mantra, as I've gone through specific time periods, or traumatic experiences with an inner eye that watched, and remembered... In fact, Carol begins with a first statement of her learned life realization : “No two lives are the same, such is the spice of life!” --CD Mitchell

Also at the beginning of her book, she includes a note that I might have written, from my perspective, if I were to write a book with a dedication: I dedicate this book to anyone that loves the power of God. Many individuals have relied on the love within to get along in life. You are special, you are somebody. We all need to discover the sanctuary within our souls to rest, to be good to others, and more importantly, be good to ourselves. Your health is your wealth, your success is imminent!

Now in my life, I was early involved with the church and quickly learned about the Holy Trinity: God, The Son and the Holy Spirit. I honed in on God as Father since my early father was killed in a mine accident while my mother was carrying me. It was easy to see that I still had a Heavenly Father, who made it clear to me to remember:

All I had to do is know that I know that I know that if I am still then God is there with me... 

He is the Great I Am!

```

Before I go any further with the book content itself, I want to use a present day illustration of what happened to Carol... Have you noticed that many Far Right political people will repeat over and over and repeat again and again, things that we KNOW are lies. Yet some of us have learned from the study of psychology and other communication processes, that, for many people, if you hear the same thing over and over and over, you will possibly come to actually believe and accept it as truth, even though you can do the research and discover that it is a lie--but you're still not totally convinced because you've heard it pounded into your mind day after day after day?!

At a time when we are seeing more and more hateful actions due to , politics, social media and television, etc., it is still hard to realize just how cruel one individual can be to another. 

Carol was a smart little girl, but coming from a large, poor family she was overweight. (I know the feeling, but my story was a small not hidden memory)  compared to what happened to Carol which had been pushed down deep, forgotten, but still an unresolved abuse.  We don't know how much she weighed... What we learn is that her teacher gave her the nickname, Blob! And, of course all the kids also called her by that name!!!

Carol had hoped to escape the significant mental and physical abuse that she was given at home. Her mother also belittled her, used hateful words when addressing her...and, possibly, stood by while her brother raped her. We do know her brother raped her, we don't know definitely whether her mother knew about it. The key point that the home environment was full of children and Madea instructed her son to be like their father (a little short of 20 children by her mother) and, given that her mother ridiculed Carol, all of the other children did as well...

During this time period, Carol fortunately found one counselor who worked with her for three years. While her self-esteem was raised, still there was so much happening, that the good never quite overrode the bad that was happening.

For instance, Carol was able to lose weight and became interested in entering a beauty contest. She won Miss Congeniality! Note that I found this a quite affirming thing. Even though she was the only black girl in the contest, it was Carol's personal interactions with everyone which brought about her selection. Take note of the praise that was made in the book when she realized that even with the things in her past, she was still bringing light and good wishes to others...

Too bad she lost her trophy. She had placed it in a paperbag... But, when Carol graduated from school, her mother kicked her out with the few clothes she had and a paperbag that was soon lost in the shuffle of accepting that the only thing she had to sell was her body and she began to prostitute herself. After all, she wasn't a virgin, right?

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But one thing that her counselor had pointed out to her and that she realized herself was that she was a good writer! She wrote her first book, What Happened to Suzy and a new anniversary edition is out now!

She studied hard and became involved in helping individuals with job discrimination, writing another book about what employers don't want us to know! She became well known because of this nonfiction book which was used by employers and employees alike.

It happened to me not long after my official leaving of a long-term career at West Virginia University, when I discovered that I was no longer able to keep my mouth shut, even in sensitive meetings... For Carol, you'll find it was a cumulative experience, much longer than I had...It was years passing as Carol got married, more than once, had children, more than one and had many different jobs beside a significant career as a published writer.

What we do know that is at some point, Carol was homeless and even at that time, none of her family would respond to her need. About that time, I'm sure she began to think, "I don't need you; I don't need anybody!" But that's a lonely existence and scary especially when you are homeless...

When that last straw was broken. Carol had begun to go to counseling and almost immediately, the man who she had gone to for help, promptly took her to a motel and forced sex as part of her treatment... Yeah, right! Carol knew all about that, but, when it happens with a professional to whom you sought help, it creates a response so deep that one can begin to feel that nothing and nobody would ever be trustworthy enough to help me!

While the style of writing is indeed like creating a letter to another person, you will find quite a bit of repetition. Some may see this as what some people do...routinely repeat over and over what they've talked about in the past. This is not that type of repetition. Consider, if you would instead, that one of Carol's grade school abuses was being called "blob" over and over, primarily by white children... As mentioned above, if you are told something day by day, even though it hurts you greatly (or even if it is lies that are not true), there is a tendency for us to believe it "must" be true since it has been said over and over... Breaking the tight bond of abusive language is extremely difficult and you will see that Carol, in trying to move forward without facing her early reality, created a period of so much confusion that it is hard to even consider what exactly is the truth by which you are living.

Fortunately, I would guess from her grandmother who had named her, Carol found a relationship with her Heavenly Father. And, as I read each of the individual letters, I felt that I was reading a God Incident--a book given to Carol Denise by The Holy Spirit. I believe that God through His Son loves all children and grieved for the little girl who was never called by her real name--a child of His... Carol mentions in several videos that she sometimes doesn't know what she is typing--such as the time she needed to share with others about her attempt at suicide. For it is the Holy Spirit that often brings up to us exactly what we need to hear, think about, and possibly act upon. Or perhaps it is both! My above concept of putting on "faces" for different events or people... and a very real awareness that The Holy Spirit has often been using my fingers to write when I allow myself to open to God's Words.

God Bless you Carol

and all the other children hurt by somebody who should be doing just the opposite. I've come to know and love you through this latest book in particular. Thank you for writing it... Many will find themselves in these pages and...find...hope!

Gabbie

 

Celebrating National Cat Day! With Metropolitan Cats - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Avi  and I are celebrating National Cat Day as well as having another book added to his personal home library! Actually this is a "re-gift" from an author with whom I once worked, editing and proofreading his trilogy related to the Orphan Trains which ran in the 1800s. Robert Noonan was the author and, when I refused payment for my work, he would send me gifts. Metropolitan Cats is one of those gifts. Note that many of the pictures in the book are shown in the following video...(seems to be the content is running twice, so it's not as long as stated.)

This book is what some would call a coffee-table book. It is simply beautiful from cover to cover. If you have a cat lover in your friends/family, this just might be the perfect gift for that individual. 

It is a publication by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with text by John P. O'Neill and Design by Alvin Grossman. The picture below is the overcover and while the hardback cover is relatively plain, there is a reason. Because the cover itself along with the first thicker page has what appears to be a hand painted signed portrait of two older kittens playing in grass and vines. If I had the ability, I would have this picture on my "gallery" wall.

On the next front page is a closeup picture of the eyes, nose and mouth of a cat. The eyes grab you and plead you to proceed...In fact, what would be normal front pages for any book, also includes a singular painting done by a signed artist. First, just the back of a cat and then a painter at work for a 1897 calendar while a calico cat sits beside the working tools, watching, perhaps, what drawing will come next...

John P. O'Neil who creates the text, also writes the Introduction, a short excerpt is provided below:

Cats, cats and more cats appear in the works of art that form the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. They figure in oil paintings by both the great masters and naive artists, and in prints, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, and textiles. A selection of these representations of felines has been gathered together in Metropolitan Cats. Cats familiar and fantastic, drawn from many periods and cultures throng these pages. Mischievous kittens from Chinese hand scrolls and from American lithographs jostle ancient and sacred Egyptian cats sculptured in bronze or painted on the walls of tombs. Cats from medieval manuscripts. Renaissance paintings, Japanese prints, and modern canvases join cats that figure in fairy tales and fables and cats that shard artists' lives. Cats have inspired love, reverence, fear, and hatred out of all proportions to their interest--or lack of interest--in the human race...

~~~

Now Just For The Fun of It!

And, again, on National Cat Day, I want to remember my dearest cat friend, Stevie. I miss you...and wish you'd been given a tenth life, just so you'd cuddle next to my side once again...

Many authors who use cats as a main character usually treat them as if they talked to each other. I believe it takes a certain cat together with a certain human to have that happen. Stevie lived with me more than five years and, yes, we talked to each other. Stevie, you were at a minimum one of my most faithful and trustworthy friends... I miss that camaraderie... Look for me someday in our heavenly homeplace... 

God Bless Our Feline Friends!

Gabbie

Clouds By Poet Regis Auffray - Sit Back and Enjoy a Vision of Beautiful Skies and White Clouds!

 

Clouds    Clouds of creation On a Sunday afternoon Shapeshifters abound   Angels in the sky Perhaps announcing a shift From the prolonged drought Cherubs and fairies Cherished ones gone before us Smiling from above   Unicorns and pegasi Play hide-and-seek in the clouds Mythical marvels   In the sky of blue I keep looking for a clue To help me find you I know you are near You are never far from me Abiding this world The shapes keep shifting Introducing such new beings So fascinating   This myriad of clouds Awakens my mind to much Imagination   In amongst the clouds One can drift away to sleep In serenity   With skies such as this I have no need of Netflix Nor of its kinfolk   I am fortunate Ever since I remember Clouds riveted me     © Regis Auffray

authorsden Dear Regis, Thank you for sharing your beautiful, thoughtful words here! After thinking about the clouds, the sky...and you...I had to add one of my own personal favorites to close and show just how much pondering and remembering can mean...

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Robert Sells Discusses Latest Political News Regarding Election Interference - "I Blame Republicans..."

Anyone who listened to the litany of evidence presented in Donald’s latest indictment has to question Donald’s presumed innocence. He has over fifty FELONY counts being adjudicated in the courts! Yet he retains high poll numbers. How can this shameless conman still be a political force in our country? I blame Republicans.

Early on, Republicans knew and accepted that Donald was vulgar and immoral. They had to pinch shut their collective noses to disregard the stench when they voted for him. Unacceptable! Anyone that flawed should have been relegated to basement. Which was exactly what Democrats did when he ran for president in their party. I blame Republicans.

Republicans knew that Donald was a prolific liar. He lied about everything from crowd size to weather reports, from calling Democrats ‘baby killers’ to bad-mouthing Republicans who stood against him. His lying is the baggage Republicans have to carry when supporting him. Sorry, but 30,000 lies in office is simply too much lying. Nevertheless, he retains his position in the polls. I blame Republicans.

Donald suffered over four bankruptcies and he has a reputation of not paying up his debts. His style of leading is to demand abject loyalty. Talent and expertise were distant seconds to loyalty. Diverse opinions were only accepted if they comported with his peculiar view of the world. That is not a way to run a country or a business. Yet he was allowed to run our country that way. I blame Republicans.

Losing candidates for the office of president have sometimes questioned voting methods in a critical state, but after a recount or adjudication in the courts, they accepted the will of the people. No presidential candidate has ever questioned the results of an election for any more than a few weeks. Except for Donald. Every day since he lost the election, he complained that the election was “rigged” and invalid. Everyday! He did this despite the fact that all the local and state officials certified the results. He did this after every court case (over 60) found no election fraud. He did this even though he had zero evidence of any election fraud. Such chicanery undermines the faith Americans have had in cornerstone of democracy: the ability to elect our own leaders. Even some independents believe this conman. I blame Republicans.

Our country will too soon be voting again for President. It is likely that this heavily flawed charlatan will be a viable candidate. I blame Republicans for that affront to our democracy.

Let's further consider my earlier statement,  “Anyone who listened to the litany of evidence presented in Donald’s latest indictments has to question Donald’s presumed innocence.” Of course, I was wrong. Donald’s obsequious lieutenants and the mindless MAGA mob still bow down to their leader. How? One of Donald’s lawyers stated “Our defense is going to be focusing on the fact that what we have now is an administration that has criminalized the free speech”. And, sure enough, there was an obviously orchestrated bellowing from Donald’s MAGA allies on Capitol Hill about the violation of the First Amendment.

As usual, the truth is totally the opposite of what Donald and MAGA Republicans state. Donald is not being denied his right to lie and lie again. Indeed, in the indictment itself, DOJ prosecutors made clear that Donald “had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won”. So, no… he’s not being indicted for his many, many lies. He is being indicted for fraud.

Fraud is any activity that relies on deception (Donald’s many lies, for example) in order to achieve a gain. Fraud becomes a crime when it is a “knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact to INDUCE OTHERS TO ACT TO THEIR DETRIMENT”. An example will help. Between July 2017 and February 2019, Christine Hayes, a travel agent, used aliases (lie) to tell people she had these “great” vacation deals (lie). Making false claims are allowed and protected by the constitution. However, when she used those lies to sell fake travel packages, she became a criminal. Why? Because those lies persuaded her victims to give up their hard-earned funds only to discover "they had tickets to nowhere, their money stolen by this fake travel agent". When trying to recoup their loss money, Hayes lied that she had breast cancer! She is now accused of stealing money from at least 82 people by tricking them into buying $400,000 worth of vacation deals. So, she can make all the outrageous claims she wants. However, she can’t use those claims to steal something of value from someone else.

Donald is a conman and just as criminal as Hayes. He perpetrated lies that the 2020 election was rigged. He did this in an attempt to illegally change the results of the 2020 presidential election and hence deprive most Americans of their most sacred right, the right to choose their own leaders. When he uses his lies that way, it is fraud and a crime.

Now, lawyers and lawmakers can lie all they want about Donald’s indictment being an “attack on free speech”. That is their right to do so. That doesn’t change the fact that the indictment is about fraud.

~~~

Robert Sells is an ongoing political contributor at Book Readers Heaven. Insofar as possible, I also include a different news source to document what is being presented here. I agree and support all that is included in this article... Based upon my own understanding of various news sources.

GABixler