Books can live forever in your soul....

What books have you read that had an influence on your life? Why did it have an influence on your life? Would you read it again or have you already read it again? Was it made into a movie and was that movie as good as the book?
For myself that book was Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird". I remember well when the book was sent to my grandmother one summer. She locked it away in her beautiful antique secretary and told me I was not to read it as it was much too adult for me. I was an avid reader and to tell me that was like dangling the proverbial carrot!! I darn well was going to read that book, one way or another!!
I waited until everyone was asleep and got the key to the locked doors on the bottom the of the secretary..not hid too well I must say. I got the book out and went under the picture of my Uncle Franklin that had this huge spotlight over it..there I first saw the cover of the book. I thought how adult can a book be if it is about killing mockingbirds and just why would anyone ever kill a mockingbird? I mean my father had said they could be a bit irritating with the constant singing, but he had never killed any!
The title of the book made me think of the passages in the Bible about sparrows. So it intrigued me even more to remove the jacket, so as not to wrinkle it and read the book. Maybe the danger of being caught reading it made it an even better book..no not really..it was and still is an outstanding book!
I read it in 2 nights of my sneaking into the living room and sitting under that spotlight on the very itchy horsehair stuffed settee. I was totally captivated by the book! I was afraid of being caught but the book was impossible to put down! I was afraid of Boo Radley and what he might do to Scout..I wondered why Mayella lied about Tom..I wanted a father like Atticus!! I wanted to have a daughter named Scout! I was afraid of dogs for awhile and worried about rabies!! This book brought me alive and I loved it and I still do!!
I later found out my great grandmother knew I was reading the book when she gave me her first edition leather bound copy of "The Song of Hiawatha" and told me I would not have to sneak around to read it!!
When they made the book into a movie I could not wait to see it and it did not disappoint me at all! I still wanted Atticus as my father, even more since the very handsome Georgry Peck was Atticus...I still wanted a daughter named Scout..I still was afraid of Boo! I knew now why Mayella lied! The movie was first class, top notch and still is today.
Read this book and see the movie if you have not and if you have do it again, you will not be sorry you did!!

To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel, won a Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 1960 and the film adaptation of the novel by Horton Foote staring Gregory Peck (and Robert Duvall in a debut film role as Boo Radley) received 8 Academy Award nominations and won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.

Red sky at night..

My father always told us "Red sky at night, sailor's delight; Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." and I never forget to look at those beautiful red skies in amazement, wondering if the prediction of the weather will hold true to the saying.
What does this saying actually mean, the claim is that it means:
If you see a red sky during sunset (when you're looking to the west), there is a high pressure system with dry air that is stirring dust particles in the air, causing the sky to look red. Since prevailing front movements and jet streams weather usually move from west to east, the dry air is heading towards you.
Predicting the weather has got to be a very difficult job to say the least. When we listen to our local weatherman it seems to be different from one television station to the other. Even on one station your hear them say that one model they use predicts one thing and another model says something else. What are we to believe?
I use Accuweather.com a lot myself, but hubby prefers the National Weather Service and they seldom have the same forecast!! You can find some of the old methods on this link:
http://www.wikihow.com/Predict-the-Weather-Without-a-Forecast
or
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/
I will never forget one time asking a friend who just came in out of the rain and was soaking wet, "Is raining?" to which he replies. "I don't know, I will go look"...now he either fell in the pool or it was raining. lol Or maybe it was the thing of if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes and it will change!
One thing is for certain, a weather forecast never seems to be certain. But that does not mean you should not heed what the weatherman is telling us if there is a slight chance of severe weather as in the case of a tornado or hurricanes. Better safe than sorry!!
I think I might stick with the old redneck rope forecast:
Hang up a piece of rope..weather is as follows
Rope dry..sunny
Rope wet..raining
Rope moving..windy
Rope frozen..cold
Rope completely gone..tornado
I hope you have good weather where ever you might be..but looks like the rope will be frozen in most of the country for the next few days at least!!

Do birds, bees and educated fleas really do it??

Do birds, bees and educated fleas really do it?? Fall in love? Nope, I was talking about sleep!! But it is early and I had to get your attention some how!! :)
Sleep is a rather rare elusive creature to millions of people and I am one of those..I never was one to sleep very long or well. My father taught us to get up with the chickens every morning. But some where in the last 20 years sleep became an almost extinct habit to me. I have fibromyalgia and sleep is most important to fibro suffers but it is one of the biggest problems for fibro suffers.
Doctors at Mayo Clinic told me one of the reasons that I do not sleep well is because of a lack of natural Melatonin. What is Melatonin? It is a natural occuring hormone produced by the pineal gland which is in your brain and it that controls your natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours. I, along with many others, do not produce enough Melatonin and therefore do not sleep well.
If you have trouble sleeping you might ask your doctor about taking Melatonin. It just might help you sleep. But never start taking anything, even over the counter, without first consulting your doctor about it as everyone is different and you need to know if it might have a interaction with other things you might take.
By the by..bees do not sleep..fleas do not sleep and birds only sleep seconds at a time. As for me, last night was one of those no sleep nights..was up until 4am!! Wonder if a nap is in my future?
Have a wonderful, productive and blessed day!

Open for business

Good Morning to all! I have tried blogging before and did not fair too well at it..I hope I am more disciplined now and can keep up as a good blogger should! lol So welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy the journey right along side of me as we wander through blog land!!