Booking

Yeh, one of those...'when I was a kid...we never' posts. I can't help it. My mind's eye sees something and I don't know how to stay silent.

My Grandson is a charming sort. Tall, good looking kid, with a polite attitude; good nature, bright. He is not 9. He was over at my house the other day, and he was showing me some books he had picked up at the library that week.

Ahh, the library.  I love libraries. I loved them since I was a kid and first obtained that spoked independence that comes with having a bicycle. Have bicycle, will travel. Have library card, will read. Growing up cash poor in Phoenix limited the things to do on hot summer days....but libraries were free and oh the places a good book and a descent imagination could take a boy! Frank Baum could take you to OZ, The Hardy Boys could engross you in a exciting mystery in Bayport. Or you could assist Encyclopedia Brown solving a crime from Idaville.  Or how I envied and admired Horatio Hornblower navigating the warm waves of the South Atlantic and outsmarting the 'frogs'!


So, as my Grandson was showing the books, I was happy to see that he was enjoying the precious fruits of the library during his fall break as much as me or any of my brothers would have all those years ago.  And I certainly don't want to stifle his growing love of books at this age.

But looking through the books, I was somewhat shocked to see the blatant commercialization of the reading materials he had chosen. Three of the books were Lego produced and were heavily laden with pages containing minimal text and Lego land configurations of Ninja and Star Wars themed story lines.



Two other of the books were based on the popular video game series Skylander. And the last book was a drawing book on how to draw Pokemon.

To be honest, as I paged through all 6 of the books, I could certainly see how each of them would appeal to an 8 year old boy. And I would be crazy to discourage any youth from reading of any kind.

Still, I can't mask the thoughts going through my head concerning the direction of literature in the future.  Will the offerings of our libraries and bookstores become more and more commercial? Are we moving to more commercial forms of entertainment for our youth? Are we suppressing imagination and replacing it with blatant commercialism?   More importantly, will the youth of today ever be able to get lost within their imagination under the spell of a  talented author like I was all those years ago?

JK Rowling turned back the clock 17 years ago and returned the joys of literature to the youth of the world. I was amazed that literature was so alive and so thrilling to a new generation. I hope the joys of opening up the first chapter of a new world will continue to be experienced by youth for a long time to come.

Cheers, nca

Girls Girls Girls

Oh, one other general thought to share on this night of introspection....

Various people have made comments somewhat on the line of....'sorry you never had any sons'. Or, 'do you ever wish you and your wife had had a boy', or 'do you ever wish you had boys?'.

The answer is pretty simple.  I love my daughters deeply and without reservation. They were a joy to raise, they are amazing as grown women, and being their father was and is fulfilling, amazing, and I would not change anything about the place I hold in the family tree.

As for sons, I have two. Sons in Law, yes. I don't fight the law, the law won. They are my sons in the eyes of the law. I love them and consider them my own.

As for 'do you ever wish you had boys?' I now have three grandsons. I never knew how cool it would be to have boys...I was always content with my daughters and never really expected that parenthood outside of daughters was remotely necessary for my personal fulfillment or happiness. But, sure...those grandsons are awesome and I can see that there is a certain appeal with boys that I never really understood.

Still, my daughters were and are my gift from our divine Heavenly Father and I cherish my stewardship deeply and with proper and no small amount of gratefulness. To find myself now with the added joy of three wonderful grandsons is truly blessings upon blessings. And my three granddaughters are an icing on a very divine cake. My cup, runneth over.  surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life.

Cheers, nca

A Turn Of Phrase

I am a lover of puns and other language related humor.  My daughters are known to roll their eyes at my routine musings. The English language has so many opportunities to paint silly pictures with words.   Humor derived in the turning of phrases is amusing and merry. With light or heavy brush strokes,  it is possible to turn a phrase around to add innuendo, wacky humor, even sarcasm.

Turning of phrases to me includes turning phrases around on their own backside. I think one common one we are all familiar with is turning the word 'butterfly' into 'flutterby'.  Not particularly funny, but a great example of how turning the word around allows much more meaning to be obtained. What does butter have to do with these winged insects?

But, do these creatures not flutter by when you see one? The turn of phrase is more appropriate then the original word.

Today, in a work note, I turned a common phrase, 'more bang for your buck' on it's tush to achieve 'more buck for your bang', a phrase with several levels of meaning, including some obvious (a gun and a deer), a couple innuendos, and even a possibility of a racial undertone I don't particularly care to emphasize. Yet, it added color and texture to another one of those yawn inspiring work notes I deal with all day long.


Oh heck, what's not too love about the English Language? With a twist of a few letters, a strange and new word creature is created. The mad word doctor Kotkas has struck again.

So, just to play a bit with words....I will try a few other phrase turns here just off the top of my 'tongue':

"Going to Hand in a Hell Basket'.  Well, OK.

"A hand buried in the bush is too worthy' - Ahh. oh my.

"When Johnny Comes, March him home".   You start to see the the innuendos piling up now, right?

I am not saying each of these are exactly barn-beaters. But you can see the possibilities now, right? And each of these came up right as I was typing them.

I love playing with words. Therefore I blog.

Cheers, nca