kathy t - I think that's a fabulous idea. My mother died nine years ago -- one week after 9/11. And just yesterday, as I was walking up the stairs to my bedroom, I thought "I should call Mom." If only I could. We held a memorial service for her in my brother's backyard a month or so after she died. My niece worked with a friend to put together a wonderful video of my Mom's life with pictures of her and my dad, all six of her kids, her 13 grandkids, and two great-grandkids. She also included some music that meant something to all of us. It was truly amazing, and I've watched it many times. This is a quote from C.S. Lewis, that I may have gotten from RP, that really sums up how I feel about the loss of my mother: "With my motherÂs death, all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of Joy; but no more of the old security. It was sea and islands now; the great continent had sunk like AtlantisÂ" C.S. Lewis And as Edna St. Vincent Millay put it: "The presence of that absence is everywhere."

Yes, Oly, there is that side too and I'm sure I was thinking about that side too as I read it. I think while reading it, and again, it was a long time ago for me as I read it when it first came out, whatever faults there may have been in the storyline, the idea that two women loved and wanted the same baby, and knowing one was going to have to let go, is what made it a sad story for me personally. I don't even recall how it ended but in this moment, just thinking about my own family having bonded with a baby who was not biologically ours, I can't imagine life without her so definitely I could feel for both sides of the story.

I havent read the book either but i also recall the story. Yes, there have been numerous stories of lost hikers on the AT and on its west coast counterpart, the PCT as well. Further, nefarious people on any trails are not new. If anyone read ’Wild’ you will recall the author was approached by some men, apparently hunters, while setting up camp one afternoon. She felt uncomfortable after speaking with them and as soon as she could, she broke camp and hiked on. I think this was also portrayed in the movie. My good friend rides trails, never alone. She had an uncomfortable feeling not long ago when they came upon someone just sitting in a vehicle smoking where they planned to start riding. Their plans changed very quickly, even though both were carrying concealed.

What was the Magnaverde quote? Decorate for the life you have, not for the life you wish you had? Perhaps kurashi is a combination of those two concepts? Just in looking at the brief descriptions, I get the impression she wants us to think about how the life we are living jibes with the life we really want to live. Do you have full sets of fine china but entrtain caually? Do you have boot trays overflowing with shoes because you don’t carry your shoes to the bedroom closet, because it’s more convenient to leave them by the door? (solution: fewer shoes or create shoe storage in the closet by the door?) And more such things. So, if you study the way you really live and the way you want to live, some changes should arrive at a point where they converge. And bring you joy. The book is checked out at most of my libraries, and it being new I can’t request it from another. But I can make a short drive to check it out in person. And don’t worry, visiting the other libraries in my system does bring me joy.