This and That

 Here are a few bits and bobs from my wide ranging thoughts. It's somewhat of a roller coaster inside my mind folks.

First off, censorship. NO. In a word, NO.

Censors, step away from Dr. Seuss, Step away from Miss Piggy. Step away from Pepe Le Pew. You are damaging freedom of expression. Publishers don't decide to drop books from your publishing house because of possibly offensive content,  that people want to buy. Not only is that self-censorship but it prevents readers from buying the books they may want. I hope dropping certain Dr. Seuss books is not the beginning of a trend of publishers dropping books because the book may offend someone, or may have unpopular ideas.

And Amazon, stop your new censorship of books, by you refusing to carry certain books. You are a mighty and powerful seller of books, you may sell more than half of all books sold worldwide. I didn't look up the numbers but you know it is huge. You may refuse to sell three books today, three hundred books next year and three thousand books the year after, hurting their sales due to your personal likes and dislikes. See, I told you it's a roller coaster. 

I am a freedom fighter in my own way.  Being a librarian and writer words are precious to me. If you do not defend words you don't like then you are not a supporter of freedom of speech.

Above are plum blossoms on my 3 year old Santa Rosa plum tree; they are hanging on even during heavy rain. Hurray. Hoping plums will follow; I had a nice plum crop last year, the birds pecked a lot of them, which is annoying. They are welcome to eat the entire plum, but not to peck and ruin them!

Bounce waits at window when I tell him someone he loves is coming over. The card is from a friend and is a quote from Cicero that says If you have a garden and a library you have all you need. That card suits me to a T, she knows me. Though I would add "if you have family, friends and Jesus" to that list.

"Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness  in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."  The list of full armor of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-19. 

Priscilla Shirer wrote a wonderful book about this, "The Armor of God." See her photo below, she has written many excellent books and starred in the movie "The War Room." She is a beautiful warrior for Christ and a leader for women.

                                                                     

 

 

 

Mary Oliver's Poem The Poet Thinks About The Donkey

 

I love donkeys and the poetry of Mary Oliver. Here is her poem "The Poet Thinks About the Donkey", so appropriate to read as Palm Sunday approaches. This year Palm Sunday is on March 28 and I think of Jesus riding upon a donkey and entering Jerusalem one week before Easter Sunday.

The Poet Thinks About the Donkey by Mary Oliver

 On the outskirts of Jerusalem
the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
He stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
leap with delight!
How doves, released from their cages,
clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree, as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.