There’s nothing better for hot Latin music that Gloria Estefan! Por un Beso (For One Kiss) is exceptional.

“The greatest victory a man can win is victory over himself.”
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Nearly four years ago, in May of 2003, the president of the United States stood on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit under a banner declaring victory. It is this same president who insists that he can’t sign a budget that has a date for removal of troops from Iraq in it and instead swears Congress is refusing to fund the troops, not him. To stand in front of the American people and lie with anger seems to me to take the utmost hubris.

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

(Clarence Oddbody, It’s a Wonderful Life)

When I was a girl, my father went through some rebellious phase against government and decided that we would buy unpastuerized (raw) milk that had the cream on top (unhomogenized). Thankfully, it was very clean milk. Recently several families in our state were sickened by drinking raw milk by e-coli bacteria that were particularly harmful. I’ve always loved the memories of that unmixed (unhomogenized) milk with the cream floating on top and wonder why it is never sold that way anymore even in a pasteurized state. We often use the expression of cream rising to the top, but today’ children in America never get to actually see this example in real life. Even if it was sold with the cream on top, nobody would be able to see it in paperboard containers.

People groups are often described as being homogeneous, but that is rarely the case. It’s next to impossible to find a group of people who are alike by geography, culture, race, and religion. I like that we are all different with cream rising to the top no matter how much wars, quakes, tragedies and hatefulness try to shake us all up into groups of sameness.

Right after the events of 9/11/2001, people in the media spoke about Americans coming together as one homogenous group in our grief at the act of terror. Even in that time, we were truly not homogenous and while there were parts of our government saying that we were all the same and wanted the same answer of justice for those actions—retaliation, vengeance, war, aggression, and violence, there were and still are many of us who separated ourselves and called for thoughtful reflection on those plans, for peaceful actions, for justice, and to treat people groups with respect even if (big if) we despised their form of government or their leader.

I still believe that people can never be homogenous now with globalization. There will always be separation of people and it is not a bad thing as long as we respect people who stand out as being different in whatever way they are different. Whether people are different because of race, religion, culture, geography, ability, disability, knowledge, language, age, shape, or economics, they should all be treated with respect and understanding. It is lack of inclusion by the whole of separate parts that creates strife.

Rance McKettrick is still hurting five years after the death of his wife, spending his time buried in work instead of being with his two young daughters. It takes a new-age girly girl named Echo for him to finally let go of his prideful heart and go after love once more.

Miller has a way of creating memorable characters with very passionate personalities and lives. This trio of male cousins—Rance, Keegan and Jesse McKettrick are hard living and hard loving.

Small town life is a bitch and then you die (but your dirty deeds live on in infamy). Maddie, the nice girl in high school married Brent, most likely to succeed. Twenty years later, they were still trying to rip off the labels they’d been given when they were teenagers. Brent’s new label seemed to be “adulterer, liar, embezelling scum whose parents wanted him to run for mayor.” Maddie started seeing the scoundrel for who he was and tried to protect their young daughter by telling lies about running into doors instead of the truth about being hit in the face by the girl’s father.

Her best friend from high school, Treva, and Treva’s high school beau turned husband, Howie, are partners with Brent and Maddie in a construction firm that’s been going great guns until Brent starts getting creative with the finances.

Just when Maddie’s life begins to implode for all of her friends, relations and neighbors to talk about on the grapevine, the high school bad boy (and nephew of the police chief), C.L. Sturgis, now a big city accountant, strolls back into town to check out the construction company’s books for his ex-wife and her fiance’ who want to buy Brent’s part of the company.

C.L. has attended to Mattie at several of life’s worst moments (her dad’s death when she was 10, Brent cheating on her senior year) and now he’s here just as Brent gets killed and Maddie’s accused by the grapevine of justifiably pulling the trigger.

Despite, the flare for whining throughout the first part of the story, Crusie provides a funny, sexy, thrilling look at the twists and turns of romance and small town life under a microscope. I ended up reading all night because I couldn’t put it down.

Harry Trevalyan has suffered from being at the intersection of a family feud his whole life and inspite of this has become like neither his rich real estate mogul Stratton family nor his carny Trevalyan family, but instead is his own man. He is a science historian who specializes in uncovering frauds.

Molly Abberwick is the trustee of a fund set up to help out inventors in need of money to get their projects launched. She hires Harry to vet the grant proposals for her. What she doesn’t know is that he means to start an affair with this quirky heiress/tea shop owner.

Things get complicated when someone starts stalking Molly and then Harry unexpectedly reveals another side of his intelligence—a sort of “insight” that he gets about things, but absolutely swears can’t be considered psychic.

It’s a fun, sexy, romance set in my hometown of Seattle. Krentz slips in a little paranormal mystery, family dynamics and characters who can stand on their own feet, but work even better with a little help from each other.

A lovely, bittersweet romance in the McKettrick men series. Keegan McKettrick is suffering loss after loss and recent developments don’t promise anything better. His widowed high school sweetheart, Psyche, moves back to town with her adopted baby son only to announce that she’s dying from cancer. His money-grubbing ex-wife wants to move to Paris France with her personal trainer boyfriend and take McKettrick’s daughter, Devon with them. On top of all that, it looks like the family business will be going public and despite the fact that he will be enormously rich, he doesn’t know what he’ll do when he loses his management position with the company. When things couldn’t look any worse, enter Molly Shieds. She’s the birth mother of Psyche’s son. Keegan already hates her because she had an affair with Psyche’s scumbag husband. He’s determined to keep her from hurting his Psyche any more thab she already has. Can Keegan do it without falling for her?

Molly and Keegan don’t seem to have a chance, and they’ve both been hurt. Miller captures the pain as well as the hope of this contemporary western romance.

This book is a feast for the eyes, mind, heart, soul, and the stomach! It is filled with photos of Frances Mayes’ home, Bramasole, in Tuscany as well as recipes, decor ideas, and festive tips.

“Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.”
Sophocles

Over the last sixteen years I’ve had breast cancer and as a result, a condition called lymphedema. The two conditions have necessitated about ten surgeries, nine months of chemo, and four months of radiation. During this time, I’ve received over 100 units of blood and blood products either due to anemia or loss of blood. Every day I remember the people who took the time to donate at a blood drive or blood center. Without these caring, giving people, I would not be alive today. Thank you. If you’ve ever given blood, please accept my gratitude. If you’ve never had the opportunity to give, please consider doing so at the next opportunity.

“Every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful… These are American principles.”
Woodrow Wilson

Every ten years a census is taken of the United States. The number of members of the House of Representatives from each state can change based on that census since the representatives are aligned with the populace. That is why a state like California, New York or Texas can have so much power. After the census, each state has the opportunity to redraw voting districts based on population shifts, however most of these shifts appear to be decided by the political party in power at the time. I fear that Louisiana will be carved up in some bizarre fashion after the next census since o many voters moved out of state after hurricane Katrina and never returned.