Getting Published

I was honored to be asked to write about being a Peace Corps Volunteer for a book written by my friends Nora and Nestor Mercaco and Alok Sarwal. The book, "Voices from Colorado - Perspectives of Asian Pacific Americans" has the stories of many Asian Americans here. There were four RPCV's who served in the Philippines who were included in the book. My story "My Life in the Peace Corps - a Summary" was condensed for the book.
The release party was like year-book day at high school. People whose stories were in the book were collecting autographs from the others who were there.

Home to Holly Springs

Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like the stories about Father Tim. This one takes him home to Mississippi after many years. He confronts his past with several surprises. What he finds there shakes him to the core. A very satisfying read.


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The Appeal

The Appeal by John Grisham

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is another scary Grisham plot. I live near an EPA super fund site in Colorado but not as horribly bad as this one in Mississippi. I don't know what is more awful, the toxic waste or the election of Supreme Court justices?


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Out of the deep freeze

Today the temperature got up to a balmy 33 degrees (Fahrenheit). Yesterday it only got to 2 above. When I left for work yesterday the temperature was -14 (up from a record setting -19 low for the night) I was working at the airport at a gate which was extremely cold because the doors from that jet bridge and others near it had to be open to let passengers on and off of the planes. (gee, if we could only have kept the doors closed, it might have been warmer!) We were all bundled up but were restricted to wearing official uniform items (or black or blue which wouldn't clash with what we had to wear.) The Starbucks in the boarding area did a booming business. To those who complained about the seeming lack of heat in the concourse I only had to say, "Well it is December and this is Denver." Funny thing is - last week we had a day in the 70's!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Candy Cane Murders

Candy Cane Murder by Joanne Fluke

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hannah Swensen follows a trail of candy canes and finds yet another body in her Minnesota home town of Lake Eden. Hannah owns a bakery called "The Cookie Jar" there and seems to always find the bodies. This one is Santa, who was just inside the Lake Eden Inn giving presents to children from the County Home. Sprinkled among her adventures in trying to solve the mystery of who killed Kris Kringle are wonderful recipes for Holiday quiche, Peppermint Martini and eight different cookies. Several of the cookie recipes use crushed candy canes as ingredients - yum!



Well worth the quick read.




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2 of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

I had the honor of talking to 2 of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers this evening. They were on their way to a conference in Aspen about Peace and Prayer.  I met sisters Rita and Beatrice Log-Visitor Holy Dance and their son/nephew Nathaniel Blindman when they missed their connection on a flight to Aspen that I was working. Since I was also working the next flight to Aspen I had a chance to chat with them in the boarding area. They are Lakota from PineRidge in South Dakota. Daughter Becca has friends in PineRidge that she made last year as a councilor at the Building Bridges for Peace camp. Talking to the grandmothers was very inspiring and learning about their program was wonderful. They told about some of the trips they have made in their quest for World Peace. This was indeed a "Close Encounter" of the best kind.
Check out the web site http://grandmotherscouncil.com

Yes We Can!

It is 11pm on Election night. I spent the day at precinct 927 in Denver, Colorado. This was a voting place in a Town-Home club house. Most of the 500 some odd voters had already voted either by mail-in-ballot or at Early Voting. We had 64 voters (one lady was 97!); 5 poll watchers including a former Colorado first lady, Dottie Lamb; several Denver Election workers; the city councilwoman who brought us sweet rolls; a couple of UCD students doing a survey; a couple of other young people troubleshooting the election and 6 poll workers. The Election Commission is paying us for our time (a little better than minimum wage) and even gave us lunch this time. I spent the last two weeks working at an early voting center. I am very tired because I traded shifts and worked a number of doubles so that I wouldn't go 'under hours' during these two weeks. But it was worth it. I like working during the elections, I have done it for years. Even though there are always some problems, it is an American institution.
Tonite Senator McCain gave a very gracious speach when he conceeded the election. Senator (President-Elect!) Obama's speach was very inspiring. I sent a text to my daughter Becca who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania. She texted back that she was watching the speech as we were. Rachael, her sister here in Colorado also called us and woke up Ismaat, our 10 year old Granddaughter, to hear President-elect Obama speak. Ismaat has been excited to watch the election. As she says, "This is a historic election." I will sleep well tonight.