The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

"How godless and hopeless will he remain? Not very. “What an unexpected reversal of fate,” he says: “only after my skin was burned away did I finally become able to feel.” And: “While I was now surrounded by far fewer people than before, they were far better people.” And inevitably: “Being burned was the best thing that ever happened to me because it brought you.” "

I cried and cried at the end of this book. It was dark, very dark, deep, and disturbing at times, but the theme was amazing. I cannot recommend this to everyone, the language at times is sharp and the visualizations are alarming with the burns he describes in great detail, but I am glad I read it. Mental illness and severe burns make this book very depressing, but the true theme is beautiful and well worth the journey. We are made better and whole by those we know and those we learn to love. Love is not something we use to control another, it is something we give to set them truly free. Religion is huge in this book, he even makes his own trip to hell as in Dante's Inferno.

Tears are flowing as I think about this book. The imagery is full, I could see every thing clearly, even the arrow flying true in the blizzard towards his heart. Loved filled the pages, over flowing there edges. Everyone he met after the burns changed his life for the better and even though he didn't want to accept it, he found love through service. It is haunting and I don't know if I will ever forget some of the stories.

The main character despised church goers, "they pray on Sunday for God's will to be done and when it is they complain the rest of the week."

Love is enduring, pure and everlasting. Listen carefully, "I love you." whispers through the air to all of us.

Labor Day fun and Happy Birthday Charlie. whoops!

The weather was warm and the food was good. Charlie turned 13 and we had a picnic at the Martins to celebrate the day. Too much food and sweets, like usual. Vanessa and Meredith made the cake and it was really cute.

The keepsake by Tess Gerritsen

I didn't know they did this for books. The story is a page turner and I love this author. Lots of talk about archaeology and mummies. I stayed up way to late last night finishing it, it's hard to sleep when someones life hangs in the balance. Shrunken heads, bog bodies, and mummies are great ways to preserve a body, forever. This is one of her series books, the newest one.

Things I've been thinking about.

A true quote I read made me think. The quote "No one cares if your miserable, so you might as well be happy."

How true, no one really cares. We are all so self absorbed that we really only worry about how we feel and how other people might react to those true feelings. Happiness is something you cannot buy, you cannot move to it, you cannot dream it into happening, you cannot receive it in the mail, or make more money to lure it to you. Happiness is something you have to find inside of yourself. Happiness is difficult to control, it's something that you decide to be not something that just happens to you. Happiness is a conscious decision and so unhappiness or feeling miserable are also things we choose to do. Choose to be happy and the whole world will seem like a happier place to be. Heaven on earth is not just a pretty idea, it's a true possibility.

School is here at last.

Here are the three youngest on the first day of school. I dropped them off and then went home and cleaned for six hours. Then Wednesday I dropped them off and went back to bed for six hours. Thursday I dropped them off and went shopping, oil change, groceries and I finished another book. Ahhhhhh school. I missed getting a photo of Gunnar and Qatar, they did not look as excited as these three do.

Zeke is a safety patrol again this year and this is the photo from yesterday and the road he is patrolling. We will be riding bikes to school today. The van is in for some work and so we are carless, we did walk home the last three days.

Gross and stinky mess

This is what happens when you tell your son to go put a bucket of old potatoes in the garage so they can be thrown away at the next trash day. Gunnar put them in the bucket sideways on the shelf in the garage farthest from the door. We forgot about them and yuck. I was moving things and I the smell hit me first. I almost threw up when I picked up the bucket and realized what it was and what was crawling and growing around the mess.

David was sweet enough to bleach and clean up the shelf and the floor around the mess. The whole thing went in the trash and I was worried that even the garbage man might refuse to take it, it was that bad. The bag was Innocent, but it had to go from sitting in the mess at all. Yes those are maggots and lots of casings from other things, yet the garage is bug free, STRANGE!!!! Where did they all go? We did have a huge amount of flies in the house a few times this summer. The fly swatter was in high demand and the damage is still being washed off all the windows. YUCK!!!!!! BTW, Potatoes turn to liquid, stinky rank liquid when they rot.

JT and the haircut.

JT wanted his hair cut so David shaved his head. We thought this look was really new and unique, but JT insisted he didn't, so we shaved the rest. Everyone wants to look like everyone else, it's really sad.

This second photo is of a flower in my fountain that I wanted to try the macro feature on the camera.