A Pause for the Cause

Taking a quick break from book stuff to share a little bit about a cause that is near and dear to my heart...

Last night was our comedy night fundraiser for Team Lena's Smiling PHACE and Boston Children's Hospital.  With the help of the guys from Funny 4 Funds and a lot of very generous prize donors and table sponsors, we raised more than $4000.

If you're looking for a way to raise money for a good cause, I can't say enough about Funny 4 Funds.  These guys put on a 90-minute comedy show that had us laughing the whole time.  Check them out at funny4funds.com!

As for me, I wrote Lena's story up to have on the tables.  I thought I'd share it here:

 

Why We Walk

Lena's Story

 

 

Lena is the reason our family walks for Boston Children's Hospital.  Eight years ago, she was diagnosed with PHACE syndrome which is "the uncommon association between large infantile hemangiomas, usually of the face, and birth defects of the brain, heart, eyes, skin and/or arteries." (Definition from www.angelphace.com).

 

In Lena's case, she had a hemangioma in her throat and an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in her head.  The one in her throat was blocking 95% of her airway, which for an infant left her a very tiny area to breathe through.  A hemangioma is a knot of blood vessels - these were causing her heart to work overtime pumping the blood through.

 

Lena spent most of her first summer in the hospital.  Before surgery, the doctors attempted to shrink the hemangioma in her throat with steroids.  She likes to laugh at the pictures of herself with the "chubba-cheeks" that the steroids caused.  When the steroids didn't work, they surgically removed the hemangioma.  To do this, they had to remove some of the cartilage in her throat.  They repaired it with a little piece of one of her ribs.

 

In addition to that surgery, Lena has had multiple embolization procedures to close off the blood flow to the AVM in her head.  Her most recent embolization was earlier this year, hopefully her last.  She will continue to have MRIs for many years to come.

 

Thanks to the doctors and staff at Boston Children's Hospital, Lena is a happy,  healthy, and very active little girl.  She takes ballet and tap dance classes, as well as piano lessons.  She is a smart, creative second-grader who loves to draw and write stories.

 

Lena has been to (and still goes to) more doctors than most eight-year-old girls, but they don't even phase her.  In fact, this past winter, when I was complaining again about getting a flu shot, Lena said, "I don't like needles either.  But I just do what I have to d."

 

Boston Children's Hospital is near and dear to our hearts because they have made it possible for Lena to be the sweet, loving little girl that we all adore.

 

To help support Boston Children's Hospital, visit my page at http://fundraise.childrenshospital.org/site/TR/Walk/Walk?px=1018955&pg=personal&fr_id=1290.


Throwback Thursday: The Outsiders

I first saw The Outsiders when I was 10 or 11 and promptly fell head-over-heels in love with Ponyboy Curtis.  My friends and I argued for months over which of us would get to marry him.  To this day, it is still one of my all time favorite movies.

Imagine my joy when I then discovered that it was based on the book by S.E. Hinton.  I took it out of the library over and over and over.  And then to learn that it was written by a seventeen-year-old girl.  It was one of the first moments I realized that I could be a writer.

I was enthralled with the life that Pony lived with his brothers and friends.  I hated the Socs every bit as much as the greasers did.  Except, of course, Cherry Valance - the Soc cheerleader with a soft spot for Dallas Winston.

First lines can make or break a novel, and this one is fantastic: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."  When my niece Allison told me she had started reading The Outsiders in English class, I quoted that line to her.  She double-checked me, but I knew I was right.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching her read it for the first time.  I was jealous of that opportunity.  I would love to be able to read it for the first time again.  Her response to the book was very similar to mine.  When they watched the movie in class, she said she understood why I used to have a crush on Ponyboy.

It's been years since my last reading of The Outsiders, but I'm feeling like I may need to reread it soon.  It has a permanent place on my shelf of favorites.  And I still cry when Johnny tells Pony to "Stay Gold."


Aside from this blog, I've been doing more writing. I'm currently working on a short story about a clown. If I finish it by Sunday, I'm submitting it to magazine for a clown related anthology. With the number of creepy clown dreams I've had in my life, I'm fairly certain I can get something finished to submit.

On a more personal note, I've also recently written a "Why We Walk" piece about Lena's journey with PHACE syndrome and the great things that Boston Children's Hospital has done for her. It will be on the tables at the comedy fundraiser this Saturday night. (Tickets are still available if you're interested.)

First Frost

I am a big fan of Sarah Addison Allen.  I've yet to read a book of hers that I didn't like.  First Frost did not disappoint.

A follow up to her Garden Spells, it continues the story of the Waverley family.  Garden Spells introduced us to Claire and Sydney, taking us through the "Year Everything Changed."  First Frost picks up ten years later, with both Claire and Sydney married and settled in the town of Bascom, North Carolina.

The special thing about the Waverley family is that each of the women has a magical touch about her.  Claire's is with food, and Sydney's with hair.  Sydney's daughter Bay, who is a high school freshman, just "knows" where things (and people) belong. 

A stranger threatens Claire's stability and a teenaged mother throws Sydney's life into turmoil.  Meanwhile, Bay is falling for a boy she knows she belongs with, and whom her mother wants her to avoid. 

This is another story of sisterly bonds and family strength.  It seems to be a theme among the books I'm reading lately.  No surprise, really, since I have a pretty fabulous sister of my own.  We may not have always seen eye to eye, but we are closer as adults than we were in our younger days.  She's my BSF...best sister forever. 

And we have had a good example in sisterly bonding in our mother and aunts...four sisters who are very different and yet still alike in many ways.  And not just them - so many of our cousins are girls too, and each sister relationship is different but tight.  Even my nieces, who maybe haven't learned to appreciate each other as much as they will some day, share a lot, including their love for dance. 

We may not have Waverley talents, but I like to think we all have a little bit of magic in us.

The Apple Orchard

My second recent book with a main character who discovers long lost family members.  In Susan Wiggs' The Apple Orchard, Tess Delaney learns that the grandfather she never knew is in a coma.  And that he intends to leave half of his estate to Tess.  The other half will go to her half-sister, Isabel.  Tess is shocked to learn of her father's family, and journeys to the town of Archangel, CA, with her grandfather's banker, Dominic Rossi.  Tess and Isabel begin to build a sisterly relationship while digging into the family history to try and save Bella Vista, the family orchard.

Although Tess is anxious to get back to her real life and job in the city, she begins to develop attachments to her sister, to Dominic and his kids, and even to her comatose grandfather, Magnus.  Her journey to her final destination is an interesting one.

The descriptions of Isabel's cooking are mouth-watering.  I would love to spend a week at Bella Vista and sample all the tasty dishes, many of which are included along the way as recipes.  The question, of course, is whether my mediocre cooking abilities could do them justice.  Maybe I'll give one or two of them a shot.

I'm looking forward to The Beekeper's Ball, which continues the story and delves more into Isabel's life.  I'm a sucker for a series, and can't wait to move on with Tess, Isabel and their family and friends!

Rhett Butler's People

I have only two requirements for the books I read in bed:
1) Nothing scary. Thanks to my overactive imagination, I have been prone to nightmares since I was a kid.  Reading anything spooky right before I fall asleep can be a trigger, so I try to avoid it.  I keep the creepy books for daytime.
2) It has to be something that I can read in small increments and still follow.  There are nights when I can get into bed and read for an hour, but most nights I am lucky to get more than a page in before nodding off.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, though, I love nothing more than to read in bed for a while before I start my day.  This morning, I took a little extra time and finished Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig.  I've been reading this one for a while - an alternate take on the events of Gone With the Wind through the eyes of Rhett Butler and the people in his life: his sister Rosemary, Belle Watling, Belle's bastard son, and Scarlett herself, to name a few.

Gone With the Wind is an old favorite, so I was hesitant to read this one.  I worry when another author takes on a classic like this.  But I enjoyed Rhett Butler's People as it gave some insight into what was going on in Rhett's life while the action in Gone With the Wind is focused on Scarlett.  The familiarity of the story made this an easy read.  Revisiting the characters was like seeing old friends after a long absence. 

I will say, however, that it makes me want to re-read Gone With the Wind to compare the two stories.  And because Rhett is one of my favorite "bad boys" in literature.  I never could understand how Scarlett could fall for mild-mannered Ashley Wilkes over Rhett Butler. 


In other news...
The family is busy planning our Funny 4 Funds Comedy Night fundraiser for Team Lena's Smiling PHACE and Boston Children's Hospital on May 30 at the West Warwick Elks Club.  We have been gathering donations and table sponsors, and selling tickets in hopes of raising a good amount for the walk this June.  Boston Children's Hospital is near and dear to all of our hearts for the care they have given to my niece Lena.  Tickets are still available for $20.  Contact me for more information.

I have finished Heart Shaped Box, but will hold off on reviewing it until after book club meets in June. 

Nephew Ryan and I read the first chapter of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone on Friday and he is intrigued.  He said, "I think you're right, I think I am going to like this book."

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

It's been a busy few days, with not a lot of time for reading, but I did manage to sneak in some down time on Monday night and finished The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  I have been a fan of hers since Fried Green Tomatoes, and this book certainly didn't disappoint. 

Imagine finding out at the age of fifty-nine, that you were adopted as an infant.  And that you are actually 60.  Sarah Jane Poole, also known as Sookie, discovers that the reason she has never been able to live up to her mother's expectations of what a Daughter of the Confederacy should be is that she is not, in fact, her mother's daughter.  According to her birth certificate, her mother's name is Fritzi Jurdabalinski.

She begins to research her birth mother's family and learns that they are a Polish family from Wisconsin who ran a gas station.  The book jumps back and forth between Sookie's story in the present day, and the Jurdabralinski family's during World War I.  She learns that her mother and aunts were female pilots during the war and eventually seeks out her "real" family.

In an interesting twist, shortly after finishing the book, this story about World War II female pilots appeared in my Facebook feed: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/92-year-old-female-world-war-ii-pilot-flies-article-1.2220910.
Although this particular article is about an English woman pilot, it helped to put a face on Fritzi and her pilot friends.  It amazes me how often I read something in a book and suddenly find it popping up everywhere in my real life.

In other book news...
I gave myself a serious case of the shivers while trying to read Heart Shaped Box late at night while the husband was out playing hockey.  I had most of the lights off in the rest of the house, and only got three chapters in before I had to put it down. I was tempted to put it in the freezer.  However, a further attempt yesterday afternoon was much easier...I'm about halfway through now.  Seriously creepy, but I generally like that kind of thing, so I'm enjoying it.

Nephew Ryan and I have decided to abandon our journey through Narnia in favor of Harry Potter.  We're starting the first book on Friday.

After giving up on Heart Shaped Box the other night, I picked up The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs.  Another story about a woman discovering things she didn't know about her family...in this case a grandfather and half-sister she didn't know she had.  Stay tuned...

Third time's the charm...a reintroduction

I don't remember learning how to read. According to family legend, I read my first book around the age of three. It was Put Me In the Zoo. To prove that I hadn't just memorized the words, I was handed a copy of Go Ask Alice. To the astonishment of everyone present, I was able to read from the page in front of me. From that moment on, I have pretty much always had my nose in a book. I was the kid who had to be called multiple times for dinner because I was lost in another world. And I have burned dinner more than once for the same reason.

At any given time, I'm reading a minimum of four books. Right now, I am in the middle of the following books:

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. This is my main book, by my chair in the living room, and the book I grab when I need some down time.

In the bedroom, I am reading Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig. An interesting alternate version of Gone With the Wind. It fits the bill for reading in bed - no clowns, no vampires, no murderers, and definitely no Stephen King. In the daytime, I'll gladly read a book with any of the above. I adore Stephen King's novels. But I never, ever read them in bed.

On my Kindle, as soon as I remember to charge it, I am at the start of Dear Kate by Hannah Duggan. It was a freebie from Amazon, and I did not get too far in before the battery died.

For non-fiction, I'm reading T.J. English's Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. Interesting, but at 480 pages, I'm taking a while to get through it.

My book club is reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Definitely not one to read before bed...he is Stephen King's son.

With my nephew, we are journeying through Narnia. Currently we are stalled in the fifth book - The Horse and His Boy - and I am afraid he is going to outgrow wanting to read with his auntie before we finish the series.

Books are what I know best. The goal I set for myself in January was to read two books a week for 2015. According to Goodreads, I'm nine books behind schedule. So, I've got a lot of reading to do...hopefully you will come along with me!