Today Is Mickey Mouse's Birthday

"This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations

      Mickey Mouse was born 88 years ago from the pen of Walt Disney.  He and I have shared the date for 76 years!  Embrace your birthdays!  We are not getting older...we are getting wiser!  We have another opportunity to accomplish amazing things!  When I was teaching, I had a quote I always attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt on my wall.   "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"! I don't know where I saw it to give her the credit and it was a great catalyst for discussion with my kids.  Of course, that was pre-Google days, so this morning I googled it and lo! and Behold!  it is NOT attributed to her...it is said to be a quote from Charles Dederich, a reformed alcoholic who founded Synanon, a rehab program with a shady past established in the '60s! If you are interested in knowing more about the man and the movement, I have linked you to a New York times article published in  1997 at the the time of man's death.  After reading about him and wanting to give credit where credit is due, I am kind of glad I innocently credit Eleanor because I do think it is a great quote....words to live by!
      I also wanted to post about a couple other things. I have finished the next book for my Villa Book Club.  "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry"  by Gabrielle Zevin.  It is about a man, a bit of a recluse, who owns a bookstore.  Each chapter begins with a blurb by Fikry about a book he is critiquing...real books.  Very good read...I give it four stars.  When we meet to discuss it in December, we are actually going to an independent bookstore!

Book Cover for Bookclub Choice

     I have also become a listener of audio books. I check them out through the Fort Worth library system on my iPhone so I have them with me wherever I go!  I really enjoy most of them...if after a chapter or two they haven't grabbed me, or the reader is annoying, I just cancel them and reload a new one.  A recent one I just finished is "The American Heiress" by Daisy Goodwin. It is total fiction but an interesting read about the early 1900's...wealthy Americans/ poor but  titled English!

Book Cover

Sometimes after  a chapter or so, I decide rather than listen to the book, I want to read it...something about the beauty of the written word.  But many of the readers are really good...changing voice to indicate gender or age, accents, etc. And with my newly productive time, I can listen and do stuff!!!