World Book Day

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

Each year on April 23rd, 25,000 passionate readers spread the love of reading by sharing free World Book Night U.S. paperbacks within their communities.  The volunteer book givers each personally hand out 20 books to light or non-readers across America. That's half a million books shared on one day!

Brigham introduced us to the concept, and so this evening found Rindy and I at the naperville train station targeting appropriate people to share the gift of reading.

Rindy handed out copies of  The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency while I distributed 20 copies  of City of  Thieves. Neither meaningful but both enjoyable. We enjoyed being part of a global effort to encourage reading.

Behind The Beautiful Forevers

 " Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity won the 2012 National Book Awards in nonfiction. The minutely researched, compassionately reported account of waste-pickers in an Indian slum earned praise for its “interview-based narrative in which the interviewer never appears.” 

I had seen the book on a list and checked it out and read it all without knowing it was non-fiction. Katherine Boo weaves a compelling, if not somewhat disturbing  story of Annawadi a Mumbai slum; based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made real. It's a world hard to imagine, difficult to understand, and impossible to forget. It describes opportunity in an unequal globalize world; and in a very real manner details the conditions that sabotage the  innate condition of moral action. Good and bad at times appear relative in this undercity life

"He wanted to be better than he was made of" - describes the aspirations of one of the main characters who aspires to be like ice is to water - transformational and more than it is

"Chronic uncertainty had helped create a nation of quick-witted creative problem solvers" - though it accurately describes the residents of Annawadi - could just as easily describe the survivors in  my office from today's economy.

"Unpredictability has a way of grinding down individual promise" - leaves individuals existing by not having anything bad happen to them.

Behind the beautiful forevers -by  Katherine boo - is a recommended read.

Flood of 2013

Parker got up first needing to be at work by 6am, Mac and Rindy getting ready for seminary, me in bed. Parker went in the basement to get milk and discovered the flood had arrived, we' d  been recipients of torrential rain, the road in front became a river and the twin sump pumps became overwhelmed. The rain came down and the water came up.

So 5:30 am became the start of a long day of- pumping and wet vac the basement, cut up and tear out the carpet, move books to high ground, move all the toys, throw out the sectional couch, and get the industrial fans drying it out. Avoiding the mold as best we can.

Service. we belong to a great ward - quickly we had the bishops wife and daughter over with a pump, the missionaries with heavy lifting and hard labor, and then the Bosell family to top of the assist. Many hands indeed make light labor. Rindy and Mac did a lion's share of all - and as always rindy's vision got it done in the best way,

The ward - multiple families in the ward got it. Several extremely worse than we. The ward ruined out in force to help. Parker and Rindy joined in and after finishing at our basement went to help others. Once again. Rindy's critical engineering skills made a significant contribution. She can Mcguiver  with the best of them.

Thankful for friends, thankful that we have some know how and some reserves. Thankful for protection. Hopefully, we will be fixed in a month or so