Fifteen years ago this week, I began Writ of Whimsy. This is the photo I featured with my first blog post back in February 2011. In the ensuing years I've had six children's books published, moved to another town, become a grandmother, traveled to numerous countries, survived cancer, and lost loved ones. So much has happened in those fifteen years.
I've learned so much about life from the beautiful black-tailed deer that live on our property. Their simple and peaceful lives remind me that contentment is found with family, friends, and Mother Nature.
To mark this anniversary milestone for my blog, I've donated to Kids for Peace. Given the dark days we're all living through right now, I felt I wanted to focus on a global organization whose mission is peace.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; 1984, by George Orwell; and It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, are three of the most well-known dystopian novels of the 20th Century.
Lest we forget, here is the definition of Dystopian:
An imagined, often futuristic society characterized by dehumanization, oppression, fear, and misery, where life is as bad as possible.
That being made clear, what we all are living through, particularly in Minneapolis, is not a dystopian novel. The abhorrent killing, violence, lawlessness, disrespect, and chaos is really occurring, though it feels like a nightmare from which we're unable to awaken.
For my younger followers, here are two young adult dystopian novels:
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| An illustration by Michael Lindstrom from The Scandinavian Santa |
Last fall, my husband and I booked a trip to Scandinavia. We had hoped to take it in 2023 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, but cancer intervened.
A Bookworm from Way Back!
Over the winter holiday, I took a trip down memory lane. I finally went through all the photographs I obtained from my mother's estate after her death a year ago. This one pictures me at my maternal grandmother's home when I was five years old. It's the only childhood photo taken of me reading. (At least as far as I know.) Since my grandmother was the one who taught me to read at the age of four, this photo is precious to me.
Ode to Renee
She was a writer, a poet, a mother of three,
in that regard she was a lot like me.
But when Renee drove out on the street that day
she was shot in her car trying to drive away.
An American citizen who tried to do right,
has now too soon entered the kingdom of light.
Godspeed to you, dear brave Renee,
may Eternity allow us to meet one day.
V.L.
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| Rest in peace, Renee Nicole Good |
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