Brother Odd: Dean Koontz
I’ve always liked Dean Koontz; he knows how to be compassionate and funny at the same time. When I showed books I had bought, my long-time friend Momcat said “Oh, you’re going to like that book!” and oh, how right she was. I like it so much that now I have to go back and buy the previous ones to catch me up.
The main character, whose name, to his embarrassment, is Odd Thomas, has secluded himself in a monastery in search of spiritual peace. Or was he brought here for another reason? Odd Thomas has some very odd gifts; he can see the undeparted dead, for example, and he can sense things that normal humans can’t. You would think these would be very cool talents, but Odd is in his early twenties, and his talents only serve to isolate him and make him feel a little alien.
The monastery / nunnery is a good place for him, full of very human monks and nuns, some of them very wise and very compassionate, as well as competant. It’s a good place for Odd Thomas, a healing place and a place where his strange gifts are protected by his spiritual cohabitants. The monastic life attracts a lot of people trying to put their pasts behind them to seek spiritual goals, and also attracts those with their own agendas.
The monastery is well endowed, and contains a special school for young people who have physical and/or mental disabilities. Some can learn enough to return to society, and some will probably spend the rest of their shortened lives under the safety and care of the nuns – until, all of a sudden, a threat appears, directed at the children.
Dean Koontz writes interesting books. He often includes benign animals, he often focuses on threats to women and children, and while his books are not difficult to read, neither are they something you read and easily forget. Both AdventureMan and I read an earlier Dean Koonz book, Watchers, to which we have often referred through the years, as one of his characters ends up homeless and living in a car with her son. She talks about money just giving you more options, and about those who are one paycheck away from homelessness. It was an easy read, but he includes some tough ideas, things you find yourself mulling over even years later. That’s a good read in my book!
The only problem with this book was that it was so good I finished it in one flight. Good thing I had packed a back-up book in my carry-on!
Big Diamond’s Bat-about
Oh Big Diamond, you can’t imagine. You have an eye for the very best gifts.
I’m sorry the shot is not clear. We can’t get the Qatteri Cat to stay still when he has the bat-about toy. This was the best of all the photos – most, the bat-about disappeared just as I was shooting. *dying laughing* He loved it from the minute it came out of the suitcase.
When we all woke up – around 3 this morning, it was the first thing the Qatteri Cat went for, even before his food. He loves the bat-about, and AdventureMan and I are rolling with laughter, watching him play with it. It is great exercise, and such fun for him – and for us.
It is one of the BEST Christmas gifts ever. Thank you!
Two for Kinan
I wouldn’t know you if I passed you on the street, but you are my book-friend, and I am sorry for your recent illness. Your posts at Kinan’s Little Place Online are so addictive. You write so openly, and with such wit, that we feel like we know you, at least a little. In spirit, we form a kind of community, don’t we?
You know I love the sunrise. Every time I take one of these shots, I think of how you would enjoy it. These are for you, Kinan, to brighten your day and to wish you salaamat.
December 7
December 9
Three O’Clock Musings
Part of the problem is that for a few days I am totally on my own – without AdventureMan, my life is more free-form. So if I fall asleep at 7 p.m. who cares? As long as I get seven hours of sleep, it isn’t a health issue, is it? Does it matter when you get your sleep? I awoke shortly after I went to sleep however, my bed was shaking – was it just me? No, my bookstand was also rattling, and it went on for what seemed like a long time. Got my adrenelin pumping, but maybe it was just my imagination, not an earthquake. It FELT like an earthquake.
AdventureMan calls at 9:00 pm, we talk, we say goodbye and I read until 10, but am able then to go back to sleep. And then, at 2:30 am, I am wide awake. I didn’t sleep all day yesterday, but neither did I go out – most of the day I was feeling that dopey-almost dizzy headachy kind of feeling when your body knows it is supposed to be sleeping. Not a good time to be out on the road. 😉 I don’t want to endanger my Kuwaiti friends!
So I make myself stay in bed, but I can hear a roaring sound. Is someone pouring gravel, because that is what I think I am hearing? After a while, because I can, I get up and make a pot of coffee, close the kitchen door so the Qatteri Cat can’t come in, and go out on the balcony. No traffic, but I can still hear that roaring. I look out – and it is the pounding surf, I am hearing, one of my most favorite sounds in the world. There is a chilly wind, it seems to be coming from the east, and the pounding surf. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.
AdventureMan and I laugh – we both relish our time on our own – but only for a short time, and then it gets old. We talk a couple times a day or more on the phone; it isn’t the same. We have such great conversations, when we are in the same room together, or even the same city or the same country! I wonder what my life would be like without him, and I can honestly say it would be calmer, less complicated, quieter . . . and that I would miss him terribly.
He tells me his life would be more chaotic – empty refrigerator, clothes on the floor, that without me (nagging) to remind him of things, his life falls apart on the domestic front. I believe it!
I think I get over jet lag faster, though, when he is around to provide my life with greater structure. I WANT to get back on local time, but I succumb to temptation when he is not around, I take the easy way, I don’t make so much effort to adapt. I have to admit, three o’clock in the morning is MY time. I’m not the kind of night-owl who wants to stay up this late, but I love sleeping early and getting up this early, as long as I don’t have anywhere to be or anything to do in the next few days that requires my attention. At three in the morning, the world is mine!
*shares the sound of the pounding surf*
The Qatteri Cat follows me around, so happy to have his house-companion (me) back. We watches for me to sit, and if I have been running around (doing inexplicable things like unpacking, doing laundry, etc) he complains, after all – who wouldn’t rather be snuggling up with the Qatteri Cat? When I sit to blog, he snuggles as close as he can and does his singing purr . . . it’s a normal cat purr, but with the added element of cat joy; it sounds like he is singing and purring at the same time. Life is sweet.
Is it it just me, or is the internet running slowly?
Travel Mercies
My trip back to Kuwait started off badly – an hour and a half on a rainy, occasionally flooded interstate highway, crawling along between cars and big trucks. When, occasionally, the traffic got moving, I was beset by water cascading off these big huge trucks barrelling along – and at the same time, when you need to switch lanes, these big truckers are the ones who are going to let you in.
Check-in was a breeze – and I got a surprise. I wasn’t on my normal flight out of Amsterdam. I was on a much earlier flight. As usual, I sat in a secluded spot in the terminal and made my farewell calls. When friends and family wish me safe travels, I always ask them to keep me in prayer, for safe travels and for travel mercies. Travel mercies are blessings you haven’t even though of, but God knows, and can bless you in marvellous and amazing ways when you ask for travel mercies. He gives you protection – and more. He gives you travel BLESSINGS, if you have the eyes to see.
Unfortunately, my flight was delayed out of Seattle, and I had to RACE for this next flight, but made it – al hamdullah – and had an uneventful flight home.
Arriving at 5:30 p.m. is a whole different world from arriving at 10:30 p.m. Especially if you have been able to grab some sleep on the flight in, you have energy and time! Instead of arriving home feeling like something the cat dragged in, you arrive home feeling leisurely! Thanks be to God! What a travel mercy!
And thanks to all my friends and family keeping me wrapped in prayer. Your prayers were answered, bountifully! Thanks be to God!
Good friends cared for the Qatteri Cat while I was gone. When I walked in the door, there was no neurotic, needy Qatteri Cat. His coat didn’t have any knots in it (a sign he has been depressed and not doing his grooming.) No, he was friendly and balanced. I could see he had been well cared for, and a part of me is even a little jealous! I can see by QC’s behavior that they spent time with him; I know he really likes these people. Another Thanks be to God, a no-guilt return, the Qatteri Cat looks GOOD. Thanks be to God for all of you who prayed me safely home, and Thanks be to God for the sweet people who cared for QC.
Discovering the truth about St. Nicholas
There is a most wonderful website that is a perfect place to explore on this, the Feast of St. Nicholas. It is called The St. Nicholas Center and it has the stories, and all kinds of art work depicting the life and works of St. Nicholas of Bari.
No, the St. Nicholas that we all think of, the big roly-poly guy with eight tiny reindeer – he’s a modern creation. The real St. Nicholas is revered for his generousity, his love of giving, his loving protection of children, and his care for sailors and those at sea. He is believed to have lived in what was a part of Greece, and is now Turkey.
One of the things I love the best about this good man is that he did his good deeds in secret, not wanting any earthly reward. You can read more about him The Legends of St. Nicholas, HERE. In the last photo, he even looks Greek, or Turkish, or . . . Arab!
There are many many more images of St. Nicholas at the website above. What I love about them is that they are a far cry from that fat guy who thinks Christmas is all about getting what you want. St. Nicholas understands that the joy is in the GIVING.
Have your own secret St. Nicholas celebration – do something nice for someone and DON’T TELL ANYONE! 😉 Happy, Happy St. Nicholas Day!
The Pier
Walking out onto the great fishing pier, early in the morning, you see all kinds of things. It is brrrrrr, cold, and before we take another early morning walk, we will have to buy hats to cover our ears, and gloves, and maybe a scarf. The morning is brisk, there is only a light wind, but it is still cold, beyond refreshing, it is brrrr cold!
Seal pups are so vulnerable, and so cute, people have to be reminded to leave them alone:
This pier offers free fishing opportunities to hundreds of people – even on a chill morning, there are die-hard fishermen and women:
And as a courtesy, the city provides cleaning stations where your catch can be gutted and cleaned:
Jasmine
I finally found Jasmine in a non-black chair, and she has become used to me, and didn’t run away! This morning, as I fed her, she even rolled over in joy! I’ve gained her trust!
Ken Follett and World Without End
Oprah has just chosen the predecessor to this book, Pillars of the Earth, as her monthly book club choice. I am so glad! Ken Follett and I have a very mixed relationship; I used to think he was brilliant, and then he wrote one book that just disgusted me so much I stopped reading him altogether until he wrote Pillars of the Earth, which has to do with the building of the very first cathedrals in Europe. It was one of those books that you hated to have it end, and you remember years later.
World Without End follows up Pillars of the Earth. We follow the lives of several people we meet as they are children, and we discover that their lives are intertwined in intricate ways. Two of the characters, Caris and Merthin, love one another from childhood, and we wonder throughout the book if they will ever find a way to be together. Merthin is a builder, descending from the main character of Pillars of the Earth, and shares his way of being able to look at problems from a new perspective and build in new ways based on stepping outside the box to solve problems.
Ken Follett is good at describing the lives of his characters in the 1300s, as farmers try to survive the rainy summers and crop damage, as laborors become independant from the abuses of feudal overlords, as the plague strikes rich and poor alike, as spiritual leaders cope with the demands of daily life and needs. We learn about the living conditions in England in the 1300’s, we learn about the early trade guilds and merchant guilds, we learn how disasters can be an impetus for social and political change, we learn how women used what little control they had over their own lives to their advantage. World Without End is a book rich in texture, sensually layered and visually vivid.
I have a strong feeling that people are pretty much people, and that we haven’t changed too much over the centuries. We HAVE made some advances, we have carved out rule of law, and ways for communities and nations to function together in relative peace, but I still feel that some of the interactions between men and women have a feeling that is too modern. I could be wrong. A few of the the scenes just didn’t ring true to me; it was as if modern people were transposed back to the 1300’s and thinking in modern ways, and it just seemed . . . well, I guess anachronistic!
Special Needs
This time in Seattle, I am staying at my sister’s house. Here is what I really love – she does so many things to make me feel welcome. She has a beautiful room for me, with a television and wireless internet and lots of hangers in the closet for all my clothes. There is a private bathroom, just for me . . . and as nice as it all is, that isn’t the best part.
The very best part is that her cats love me. They remember me, they remember my voice, they gather in my room and tell me how happy they are to see me.
My sister and her husband are two of the sweetest hearted people you could meet. They adopt animals. They don’t adopt just any animal, they only adopt animals that need them.
This is Bella. She is 19 years old, and she is BOSSY. She tells all the other cats what to do, and they don’t mess with her. She is totally deaf, or so my sister believes, but the way to Bella’s heart has always been to tell her how PRETTY she is. (Even male cats have this quality – every cat likes to be told he or she is PRETTY.) When you tell Bella she is PRETTY, she turns somersaults, she is so happy.)
This is Wally. Wally was a street cat, who got adopted and then was either thrown or jumped from a very high balcony (who knows with cats? They don’t understand high balconies – he might have jumped) and his front paws are crippled. We don’t think he knows he is crippled, he is the sweetest hearted cat you have ever met. All Wally wants is love, and lots and lots of it.
The other two cats are Jasmine and Tux. Jasmine is all black, and is fat and fluffy, and very shy. Tux is still a kid – and full of energy and mischief. When I can get him to hold still long enough to take his photo, you will see why he is called Tux. Tux is his formal name, though, my sister calls him “stinker cat” because he creates so much trouble, but then just sits there looking cute. Both Tux and Jasmine showed up at my sister’s door and said they want to live here, and she figured they were meant to, since they showed up. Can’t you see why I love staying here?
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