The Porch Postscript

Title:    Food - A Love Story Author:   Jim Gaffigan Type:   Memoir For starters, I cheated and listened to the audiobook, but a book is a book, right?  My only mistake with this decision was that I made it while traveling on an airplane so I couldn't laugh out loud as much as I would have had I listened to it at home. Jim Gaffigan narrates the book himself, which I'm sure adds to the funniness of the audiobook.  He is a stand-up comedian after all. I chose this book because I love books about food, especially memoirs.  I also needed a book to distract me while we flew several hours on a trip home.  I figured it would get me through a few flights and if I never finished it, no big deal, as that is usually the fate of audiobooks on trips with me.  That was not the fate of this book.  I listened to the entire book and was sad when it was over.  I will actually be listening to it again, it was that good.  When Gaffigan tells you his qualifications for writing this book are because

Eat The City by Robin Shulman Title:    Eat the City Author:   Robin Shulman Type:   Regional Food From the back of the book:   Food, of course, is about hunger - but it's also about community.  With humor and insight,  Eat the City  shows how, in places like New York, people have found ways to use their collective hunger to build their own kind of city. Why I picked this book up:   I'm always drawn to books about food.   This book  caught my eye at the library and I knew I had to read it. My thoughts on the book:   I really enjoyed reading this book.  Lots of great history was mixed in with the present-day food seen. This is a book about the people who are passionate about the food they help create.  When Shulman describes the people she talks to, she does a fantastic job of giving you enough detail to create a vivid mental picture, without getting too wrapped up in all the little bitty details of it all. I found this to be an easy read, with several great lines and even some

I have faint childhood memories of my grandfather’s garden.  Climbing the steps to the upper yard adjacent to the sprawling garden, the pride, and joy of my grandfather’s summers.   1519 B Street taken in 1998 when my grandmother sold the house Their home that once stood at 1519 B Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was built in kind of a hillside with an exterior staircase leading to the upstairs apartment where my great grandmother lived.  The big garden my grandfather was so proud of was of those stairs.  I wish I had photos of his garden, it's its glory days.  Unfortunately, it's all gone, the house was torn down and the gardens are no more.  The lot is vacant, the google earth view shows me a grassy green lot where the house once stood.   My grandfather was a solemn man who rolled his own cigarettes and sat with his cats watching the world go by from the back porch of this house.  He started seeds in old cotton socks he cut into small squares and kept moist until the seed sprouted.

I'm going to venture into an area we're all told not to discuss. Many of us were raised not to discuss money, faith, or politics, especially in mixed company. What the hell does that even mean - mixed company? Anywho... Faith, this is a slippery slope in any conversation. I'm guaranteed to upset someone in this post. I was raised in the Lutheran Church. We went nearly every Sunday and by we I mean my mom and I. My dad was what many refer to as a "sprinkler". He attended major church holidays, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. I attended the same church my entire childhood. I took my first communion and was confirmed. I was an acolyte and did things with the youth group. As an adult, I got married in the same church, a church I hadn't attended in years. Here's the catch, I left church. Not just the church I grew up in, but the complete concept of it. I didn't leave my faith, just the established idea of church. As an adult I've become

Title:   Notes From a Blue Bike Author:   Tsh Oxenreider Type:   Spiritual Growth I wanted to like this book.  I really did, but it wasn't meant to be.  The subtitle " The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World" made me think this would be a bit of a how-to with tips and advice on small things to work toward living a more intentional life.  Nope, not really.   In this book, Tsh Oxenreider focuses a great deal of her book on her children, first homeschooling them, and then putting them in public school.  I felt this book was more focused on raising children than living intentionally. This is a book that I could not force myself to finish.  I struggled through about half of it before calling it a wash.  The focus was too much "mommy life" for my interest.  I'd think twice before I would pick up anything else by this author.

The Station On Old Highway 13 July 2008 “Fill ‘er up Joe” echoes in my ears, as I pass by on my bike. I wonder was it really full service back in its glory days? Would “Joe” really have pumped gas, checked the oil, and washed the windows, all while spouting town gossip? Mismatched boards cover the windows of the little white service station on Old Highway 13. There’s a for sale sign in front and a tarp covers what was most likely the garage door. White paint peels from the trim, but you can almost hear the ding of the service bell, as the next customer pulls in. The awning, still supported by two stone pillars, would have kept “Joe” dry, as he serviced your car in the Missouri spring rain. White gravel still paves the circular drive, in spite of the weeds that have begun to push their way through. Highway 13 may have a new route and “Joe” is no longer there to service your car, but the station remains, as a reminder that travelers once passed this way.