Ann's Blog
Ann McCauley is a Pennsylvania women's literature author, who wrote the books Runaway Grandma and Mother Love, both available for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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May 2022
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05/31/22
May Blog
Filed under: General
Posted by: Ann @ 2:40 pm
I hope you’ve all had a good Memorial Day weekend. Sadly, there is fear and many broken hearts across our country today as there were 14 mass shootings in the U.S.A. during the last 3 days; 9 lives were lost and 60 were injured by gunfire. I don’t believe this is the freedom our brave veterans fought to preserve throughout our county’s history. I do not have answers but I have many questions. I remember going to a small country public school, most classes had about 110 graduates. Most students found summer work and the boys seemed to find old pick-up trucks to fix up. Every September the student parking lot looked like a used truck lot, there were so many pick-ups parked there each day, mostly with the keys still in the ignitions and unloaded hunting rifles displayed proudly on the back window gun-racks. Yet, we never had any shootings. Guns were treated with respect. There is so much debate about the cause of this lack of respect for human life. To be sure it is a quandary and something needs to be done, but what is the million dollar question.

The month of May is such a busy time for gardeners and those of us with large lawns to mow. I have potted more than a dozen annuals and weeded my perennials, my new red Rhododendron bushes are blooming spectacularly. I’m very happy with them. My largest perennial garden awaits me, and has been badly neglected so far this spring. I hope to have it in tip-top shape by next month’s blog.

My sister is home now. Her husband and son are assisting her to stay there. She’s in a wheel chair and her left side is paralyzed from the stroke. It is a big commitment 100 percent care, 24/7. She’s much happier being home, I think they all are. They converted their dining room into a bedroom and have a downstairs bathroom. Not the way they planned their retirement years for sure. She still has her great sense of humor.

I have not read as many books as usual this month.
Story Circle sent me Em’s Awful Good Fortune by Marcie Maxfield to review. You can read my review at:
https://www.storycircle.org/book_review/ems-awful-good-fortune/  I really enjoyed the story and learned a lot about other cultures from someone who had lived in several others.

Finding
Dorothy
, by Elizabeth
Letts
.Historical Fiction. 2019. This was an
exceptional story  about the making of the movie, ‘The Wizard of Oz’,
narrated from the perspective of author Frank Baum‘s widow, Maud. It takes
place in 1938 at MGM studio as Maud, age 77, 19 years after her husband’s
death. Many flashbacks to her early life tell the secrets of the ‘The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz’. It is a fascinating novel; I’d never been a big fan of the movie
but of course had seen it a few times over the years with my children. And I
always loved Judy Garland’s rendition of ‘Over the Rainbow’. I was pleased to
learn that this song was voted the No. 1 song of the 20th century by the
Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment of the
Arts. And I learned from this novel that ‘Over the Rainbow’ was almost cut from
the film because it was so long.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, 1961. Nonfiction. This is a small book that is not tarnished by time. He wrote it while grieving the death of his beloved wife. Grief is grief, regardless of when it occurs. I bought it for a dear friend who recently lost her husband. I hope it will be helpful to her. The longing for a departed loved one is universal and timeless.

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, 1942. Fiction. I decided to re-read this book after learning more about the author in recent weeks. It’s impressing in a much different way than it did when I read it back in my 20’s. It’s truly a classic, “A masterpiece of satire on Hell’s latest novelties and Heaven’s unanswerable answer.” Uncle Screwtape writes letter after letter to his nephew, Wormwood, to convince him that Christianity is a passing phase and Hell will triumph in the end. When I was young - I laughed my way through this book. When I read it this time, I laughed very little, time has a way of changing a person’s perspective.

We finished watching the first 14 seasons of Heartland for the second time. My husband loves it so much, I think he’d watch it for a third time. But for now we are taking a break. We’ve tried a couple other series and have a list to go through that have been recommended to us. Nothing has clicked with us yet.

We went to see Downton Abbey and Top Gun at the movie theater. Loved them both!

Till next time, keep reading my friends and please do stay safe and well.

Later,  Ann
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