A Few Chocolate Quotes

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of the pieces Judith Viorst

There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE
Linda Grayson, “The Pickwick Papers”
Chocolate: Here today …. Gone today!
Nobody knows the truffles I’ve [...]

Modern Lit: The Bridge of Sighs, by Richard Russo

Sighs
Let me begin by stating that I enjoyed this novel. Characters that you care about and can understand, living in a recognizable place and time, rich prose – Bridge of Sighs has everything I look for in a novel -and then some. And some more. Too much coming of age, not enough grappling [...]

Visiting Padre Pio: what you’d see

The only part of the saint’s body visible to pilgrims is his fingers, which are now blackened. His face is covered by a silicone mask, and his hands, with their wounds, by a pair of fingerless gloves like those he wore in life.

Modern Lit: Travels in the Scriptorium, by Paul Auster

Oh no, Mr. Blank!
The first third of Travels in the Scriptorium is strange, ala Margaret Atwood. Why is this man caged up in this little room, and why is he being drugged? Who is he? During the course of the one day encompassed by this novel, visitor after visitor drops in and imparts [...]

Watch It! The Jane Austen Book Club

What would Jane do?
It isn’t often that the movie turns out to be much better than the book, but that’s true with The Jane Austen Book Club. Maybe it’s a case of a solid premise poorly written, but I disliked the book so much I couldn’t finish it.
The film version, on the other [...]

Pilgrims Flock to Visit Padre Pio’s Body

The body of mystic Saint Padre Pio has been restored and reconstructed, and, dressed in a Capuchin habit, is on display in the monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo, where he lived. Padre Pio is extraordinarily revered throughout Italy, one poll showing that more Italians pray to him than to Jesus or the Virgin Mary. Among [...]

More Cat Facts

Cats, big and small, are amazing animals. They come in so many different colors, can jump like Olympians, can move silently……Following is a list of some of the other fantastic things about cats.
Cats have true fur, with both an undercoat and an outer coat.
Cats have a full inner-eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which serves to [...]

Want to Eat Greener?

Discovery News published an interesting article on April 18, comparing the environmental impact of food production versus the impact of transporting food over long distances. The results of a study done at Carnegie Mellon are eye-opening, and very worthy of consideration. Part of the article is excerpted here:
Next time you find yourself standing in the [...]

Stepford Wives: anatomy of a cult

I recently brought to a close a 20+ year career as a psychologist, and although I never encountered any members professionally, have always found the nature of cults an extremely intriguing part of human behavior, which never ceases to amaze, whether positive or negative. I am not a specialist in this area and would never [...]

Watch This: Love Actually

This winning film starts out with the premise that, contrary to popular belief, the world is full of love, not hatred. By watching the lives of 8 different pairs of people in London, England, some of the many different types of love are explored. There’s platonic, seen in the relationship of an aging rock star [...]