Saturday, November 10, 2018

Writing Family Stories

Session by Angela Foster

Wyoming, MInnesota Library

Saturday November 3, 2018

Angela gave some great ideas on writing about your family history. She jokes by saying someday, someone will pull into your yard with a dumpster and say “Why did Mother save this?”

One needs to take the time to write. Be specific and talk about the memoirs as well as the facts. Details, details, and details that are big and small. Give the name of the stove in the home, for example. She wore her favorite pink dress or they owned a blue Ford car.

Find things family members have written. Do not worry about grammar, spelling, or hand writing.

Write about how things have changed for you or family members such as computers, communication, transportation, clothes, styles, school, jobs, places lived, pets, etc..

Traditions such as holidays and birthdays are important in a family.

Uses senses when writing: smell, see, hear, taste and feel.

Show and do not tell. Have the reader get a vision in their head.

Angela gave us questions to answer:

Choose a home you lived when you were about 9 years old.

Stand at the front door. Describe the home.

Do you smell anything?

Stand in kitchen. What was Mother doing?

Where is the table?

Is Father in the room? What is he doing?

Who else is in the room?

Who set the table?

What happens after you eat?

Describe the appliances and name them.

Do you pray before meals? Who leads the prayer?

Where does the heat come in the the home?

What is the source of light?

Anything in house not allowed to touch?

Any room you are afraid to be?

What are sounds in the house?

Write a story about the house in one page.

Walk through the house. Fiction writers so this, Angela said.

We drew small pieces of paper that had prompts and mine was:

What dreams and goals did you have for your life after high school graduation?

Angela gave us time to write about both projects.

She gave us a list of 86 “Write Your Life Questions”:

These are some of them. I have already added some of my own to the list.

Were you told a stories about the day you were born? What was the weather like? Where did you birth take place? Is there a baby book that lists your visitors or gifts you received?

7. Did you have a secret place or favorite hiding spot as a child?

9. Did you have pets as a child? Write about a special pet or a pet you longed for.

12. Were you ever seriously ill or injured as a child?

48. What kind of music did you like to listen to? Do you have any favorite albums or

songs?

54. Describe the first car you ever owned? How did you get it?

72. If you could go back to any age, what age would it be?

86. In what moment of you life did you feel most loved?

Leona

http://www.mnleona.bogspot.com

Thursday, November 1, 2018

The Christmas Star

(Christmas Hope #9)

Donna VanLiere (Goodreads Author)

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Hope series comes another heartwarming, inspirational story for the holidays.

Thirty-two-year-old Amy Denison volunteers at Glory's Place, an after school program where she meets seven-year-old Maddie, a precocious young girl who has spent her childhood in foster care. Unbeknownst to Amy, Maddie is a mini-matchmaker, with her eye on just the right man for Amy at Grandon Elementary School, where she is a student. Amy is hesitant - she's been hurt before, and isn't sure she's ready to lose her heart again - but an unexpected surprise makes her reconsider her lonely lifestyle.

As Christmas nears and the town is blanketed in snow and beautiful decorations, Maddie and the charming staff at Glory's Place help Amy to see that romance can be more than heartache and broken promises.

In The Christmas Star, Donna VanLiere delivers yet another sweet, joyous story that is sure to capture readers' hearts.

Leona’s Review:

This was a sweet read. I decided to use this word before I saw it in the review.)

The characters are like people that one knows and meets daily.

Gabe Rodriquez take care of the maintenance at the Grandon Elementary school where Maddie attends. She is a seven year old orphan who lives with Linda, her foster mother. She goes to Glory’s Place after school and Linda picks her up after work.

Gabe becomes a volunteer at Glory’s place, mainly because of Maddie.

Amy steps into the picture when she becomes a volunteer at Glory’s place and becomes attached to Maddie.

Maddie has decided that Gabe and Amy would make a nice couple not knowing they were once married.

Other characters are Miriam, who works at Glory’s Place. Really a character that has a heart but does not always let it show.

A couple who are in love are Lauren and Travis.

A favorite of mine was Ben, the cashier at the grocery store who leaves notes in the bags of the customer’s grocery bags.

One sentence I would have added to the book was when Maddie, Gabe and Amy went to a restaurant, a prayer would have added so much. Being from West Texas I have seen many families pray at restaurants. Totally my opinion and a thought I had.

This is a heart warming story. Sad as well as happy moments.

I received a complimentary copy of The Christmas Star by Donna VanLiere.

The opinions are my own

I give it a 5 star rating.

The website for Donna VanLiere is www.donnavanliere.com

Facebook is Facebook/donnavanliere

Leona Olson

www.mnleona.blogspot.com

Monday, July 9, 2018

She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer

Review of:

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity

Carl Zimmer (Goodreads Author)

Carl Zimmer presents a history of our understanding of heredity in this sweeping, resonating overview of a force that shaped human society--a force set to shape our future even more radically.

She Has Her Mother's Laugh presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities. . . .

But, Zimmer writes, "Each of us carries an amalgam of fragments of DNA, stitched together from some of our many ancestors. Each piece has its own ancestry, traveling a different path back through human history. A particular fragment may sometimes be cause for worry, but most of our DNA influences who we are--our appearance, our height, our penchants--in inconceivably subtle ways." Heredity isn't just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors--using a word that once referred to kingdoms and estates--but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer's lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it.

Weaving historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world's best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.

Leona's Review:

This was a very interesting read. It is a long book, 574 pages, but an easy read for the average person. For those interested in genealogy research, I think this is a must read.

I received a complimentary copy from goodreads.com to read. The opinions are my own. I give this book a 5 stat rating. I gave my copy to a granddaughter who is in the medical field for neurology.

I am a note taker and so I will what add some I thought are interesting and helpful suggestions for the reader.

PKU Phenylketonuria is an inherited disorder that can lead to developmental delay, behavior problems and seizures. page 471

Margaret Mead page 461

Homo Sapiens page 467

Homo Erectus page 467

Neandertals page 467

Denisovans page 467

Cumulative culture page 463

Mitochondrial replacement page 517

Human altered environment page 466

Agriculture Revolution page 469

Fetal alcohol page 479