A BREAK FROM SONGS TO BOOKS

In previous posts over the years I have been blogging, I have mentioned my childhood life. As an adopted child I grew up in a conservative religious setting, but my religious upbringing as much as my public education balanced my upbringing into a reasonably stable citizen in the world, balancing public, private and religious work, making many friends, and even local politics.

My dearest friend from the second grade was in the same church setting as I. We have keep in touch without seeing each other often for all these years. I visited her in a Texas nursing home two years ago, and we took up talking as if we had never parted.

Today, however, I am mentioning an entire church family that  was intertwined with mine in several avenues. Our fathers were both church elders and respected leaders in their businesses. Each family had 3 children in similar age groups.

Currently the eldest daughter is a personal friend to this day. She was a nurse but suffered rheumatic fever at a young age and now suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis. She took care of her parents when the other girls married and moved away. She married, also, but the marriage did not endure; she also suffered one of the worst losses I can imagine: the death of a  daughter to cancer. She has  her two sisters and several grandchildren and great grandchildren to comfort and help her. I try to stop by and visit her when I am Texas, which is infrequently.

The youngest daughter, last I heard, worked at Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas.

Their mother was a public school teacher, but also had a broad music background and was in a sisters trio (I think) before marriage. She taught a cappella singing in Vacation Bible School to many tykes like me that could not sit still or shut up. Many (not me) went on to be in adult choruses in many Texas cities. She, her eldest daughter and best friend (see above paragraphs) sung as a trio at my wedding IF I remember correctly.

I did participate in a cappella choruses in elementary and middle school, but transferred to band in high school--we got to take trips to FOOTBALL games; hence my knowledge and love of football. Oh yeah, I was in a community chorus in Arkansas, before it folded, and COPD with a plethora of inhalers, nebulizers, oxygen, etc. ruined what singing voice I had. However, as you can tell from my blogs, my love of music, particularly gospel, has remained to this day.

The second daughter has breast cancer, but it is not deterring her from writing two books I have purchased. She was professor of mathematics at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. She has written more math books than I can count....math was not my best subject.  

The two books I would like to mention are not math books. One is entitled KABUMBA AND FRIEND by Sancie (which was the name by which the oldest sister's deceased daughter called her  (aunt). It is a charming children's book about true friendship between two very different animals a hippo and a tortoise. It is an interactive book between reader and children. I highly recommend it, and am placing it in our church's library.

The second book is entitled BIBLE WARM-UPS:Questions and Answers for Adults and Teens by Frances M. Thompson. It is a collection of Biblical facts. It may be used in a number of teaching and learning situations.

I bought the book to rejuvenate my declining memory and because I am hooked on a local Trivia Pursuit group along with my best friend here. We have found out just how dumb we are.

Who knows? They just might have  a group of Biblical questions. This book is just the kind of material used. I also bought THE BIG BOOK OF AMERICAN TRIVIA by Stephen Lang. I read a chapter of two in each three times. Some of it sticks.............


And if you want a math book Frances may have written just the book you may be seeking. Search on Amazon.com for her name as author and her works will all be listed--at least most of them.

Yep! I am nutz, nutz nutz!

ADDENDUM:  (Request for help) If any reader knows how to place an audio player probably a gadget/widget on my sidebar or in a post and add a musical piece or speech to it, I would love some help. I know it can be done. All of the musical pieces about which I have written previously, I bought from Amazon.com and have on a DVD, and thus have right to use for my personal pleasure. In most cases the musical performance is not on YOU TUBE, although some are. You may reply as a comment to this post or address for this blog. 

As you can see I am still struggling with the copyright issue and it is a tangled web of what is ethical and right. Just because 'everybody does it' does not make it right in my eyes.