Well, in response to all the asked--and unasked--questions as to whether Himself liked the furniture that Ronda and I busied ourselves over 3 weeks ago--he seems to be pleased with the pieces and the colors, etc.  There are, of course, still several rugs and a chest and a Deacon's bench to be bought--and I need a toilet tissue holder in the bathrooms AND a magazine rack that is small but all this will come with time.  The next project for the Italian-style farmhouse in Kerrville is screens and heat-resistant shades and the plantation shutters that Himself wants in his den/library.  However, all in all, you can certainly turn the key and LIVE in the house vs. going to a motel.   So, on with the landscaping and buying outdoor hoses and toothpaste and, as my mother used to say, "All will be well."

I hope your Mother's Day is going well--particularly if you're a mother!  A simple gift or box of candy--or a kitty--is always most appreciated--or a check in 5 figures. There was a famous play, at one time, that our recent weather reminds me of--"Rain"--with the, then, sex symbol, Sadie Thompson and the fungus of the reviews over her acting matches the fungus starting to grow (barely!) at the edges of my flower beds.  I'm thinking of bringing in snails, which should love the wetness, and cooking them later for a dinner party (without telling the guests!).

What is false? Untrue? and if it is untrue, is there still a strand of truth in the story? Conversely, if the story is non-fiction, does the author permit himself the luxury of a "guess"or a "this-could-have-happened"--and do it so carefully and well-crafted that the average reader does not know it's been done? Ah, well--to continue with the column for today which is Fiction and our first selection is "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive", by Alexander Mc Call Smith, and this quote from the Los Angeles Times is apt--"Smart and sassy with the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once!"

This is the newest entry in the lives of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, and the owner, Precious Ramotswe, is having staffing difficulties. She has had a minor dispute with her trusted assistant, Mma Makutsi, who is leaving "and taking the 97 percent she received on her typing final from the Botswana Secretarial College with her." Also, Mister J.L.B. Matekoni asks to be put in charge of a case involving a husband who has strayed and Precious wonders if a man can investigate such a delicate matter. As an aside, Mr. Matekoni is her husband and is an excellent mechanic and has his own garage--i.e. Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors--and rarely raises his voice except to his lazy apprentices--"and anybody, no matter how even-tempered he might be, would have been inclined to raise his voice with such feckless young men." (Now, it's not often you have the word "feckless" used --by the way, the author was a law professor at the University of Botswana so, it is to be expected that he would have an extensive vocabulary.)

So, with their two foster children, Mma Matekoni is, actually, quite content and we find her beginning her day with a cup of tea surveying her garden on a sunny morning--truly, in your humble reviewer's words, a "gwagemous" was to start one's day--having risen before her husband as men were inclined to be irritable in the morning and it was best to let them alone and be ill-tempered by themselves for a short while.  Yes, much better. (On the other hand, there ARE those women who are not in the BEST of humor when they arise and possibly--just POSSIBLY--I, myself, might qualify for this group.)  Smith's other 7 books are really, genuinely charming and yet have "points" of behavior and the twists of human nature in them--plus a small mystery. They are not gory, disgusting, soft porn, or anything but fun to read and just enjoy.  Come get this one and, I assure you, I will read it, too.

Now, this NEXT book is right up my alley--or, rather, Lilac Drive--as it's a mystery, a fairly long book so you know the author has really put thought and details into it, set in a time I never knew but can learn about and, obviously, set with tension and dead bodies (so relaxing to figure out "whodunit")and includes some works by Edgar Allen you-know-who. "The Blackest Bird", by Joel Rose, is set in the 1800's in New York where 3 high-profile crimes have occurred--a young lady, Mary Rogers, is found "brutally ravaged"in the Hudson River; John Colt beats his publisher to death with a hatchet, and young Irish gang leader Tommy Colemen is accused of killing his daughter, wife, and HER former lover who was a leader of a rival gang. Then, in the center, is HIgh Constable Jacob Hays, New YOrk's first detective, and he will be responsible for investigating all this. In the mix of this story are clues found hidden in the poems "by that hopeless romantic and minstrel of the night, Edgar Allen Poe."  Sounds like a stay-up-at-night-to-finish-one-more -chapter kind of book.  Join me in reading it!  I'll even let you go first--come in and check it out.

Then, there are those of you who enjoy both Fantasy and delightful little creatures to inhabit the tales and I now offer "Fenzig's Fortune", by Jean Rabe, who is an ambitious gnome--that is, he looks for opportunities to steal things. So, he decides to help himself to some treasure of the king and gets found out AND "that one mistake puts him on a danger-filled course that tests both his mettle and his morals."  He is followed and pestered by fun-loving and, at times, nasty creatures who all want something from Fenzig--all set in a fantasy medieval world.  Humor is used here and there's a white pony, Mistake, fierce cat-like beasts with multiple tails, an over-eager peddler, Carmen, who is also Carmella, a necklace and--get this!--Fenzig can hear other people's thoughts!  A delightful read and one that the Fantasy fans will like. 

I must confess that I've never heard of Marc Lecard and what keeps me from feeling ignorant is that this book is his first, so we'll see what readers think (but libraries SHOULD be a place where new authors are accepted--even welcomed--'cause they ARE unknown)and his book is "Vinnie's Head".  You gotta love the sentence on the flyleaf--which is describing Johnny LoDuco--"a promising(!) career as a petty thief, vagrant, pornographer, and mooch has stalled and Johnny is at loose ends." Sounds like just the kind man your mother warned you about! Anyway, he's trying to think what to do next now that his plan to go to Paraguay with his friend, Vinnie, is going nowhere. I mean, you can't make career moves from a nice office or apt. if you're fishing off the town dock 'cause your supply of Ramen noodles is about gone and starvation is a possibility. And what's "funny" is that everyone from a "muscle bound bounty hunter to Vinnie's dangerous, nutsy girlfriend are suddenly very interested in Johnny" and where he is and how they can, literally, get ahold of him.  I've liked the few parts I've read and I would wager (with Vinnie) that you will, too. Oh?  the "head" in the title? It's being carefully carried around, by Johnny, in a paper bag. I mean--what are friends for?

This last book is also a new author's casting onto the pile of novels published this Spring--and with as much pride and hope and defensiveness as John Grisham holds, in his heart, when his newest book comes out!--and, being a new author, I suspect Jon Clinch will continue his "day jobs" of teaching and writing. Remember "  Huckleberry Finn"? Okay, meet his father, "one of American literature's most brutal and mysterious figures. In showing us the family (Saints preserve us from a family like this one!) , as well as the young Huck, you realize that this is a story about family, about race relations, about "the shame of a nation recapitulated by the shame of one absolutely unforgettable family."  The characters of  Finn's terrifying father, simply called Judge; his sickly brother, Will; blind Bliss, a moonshiner; the stolen slave, Mary, who becomes Finn's mistress and Finn himself.  This book has gotten a lot of good reviews, and I invite you to call into the library for this title or any others you might want, and request that they hold it for you ( I think the limit is 3 days but you can ask when you call).  The details are excellent and the characters well-drawn. 

Think SERIOUSLY about contributing (perhaps through Dillon's) money to help the people in Greensburg, who come back after the storm, to rebuild. Let's all be grateful that it wasn't us!  By the way, the last book I talked about is simply titled "Finn." Two things I want to leave with you; a saying by Oscar Wilde and then a prayer that I, personally, love-- "Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much." and the poem--The Light of God surrounds me. The Love of God enfolds me. The Power of God protects me. The Presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is"by James Dillet Freeman. You're welcome. Have a good day and evening and remember, it takes less muscles to smile than frown and let's be known as a friendly place to live and work. Bye!