I’m a week late, but here it is. Happy Birthday, America! Stay true. Please….
We had quite the party. Kong was there. He’s lots of fun but can drink a river, literally he can drink a river which is fine since everything is flooded from all the rain we’ve had, and it got the shorelines a bit more manageable. Mothra stopped by as well. She always brings egg salad and it makes me feel a bit weird. Where did she get those huge eggs?
Seriously it was all quiet on the Bibo home front. My wife worked in her garden when it wasn’t raining. Those gardens are amazing. Her thumbs are so green… And I treated it like a day off of work and read. No research, just something fun. I can do that and not feel guilty. Oh, and I built a bench. More on that below.
Have you ever read a book and thought it was so wonderful that you had to thank the author? I just did that. Recently I thoroughly enjoyed “Siena: City of Secrets” by Jane Tylus. It’s a wonderful nonfiction book about Siena, Italy featuring stories of its formation, its art, its neighborhoods, everything that makes it unique and unforgettable.
About 7 years ago my wife and I took a too short, two week trip to Italy in early October. We traveled by train, no hotels, all AirBnB apartments. My wife fell in love with Cinque Terra, but something about Siena spoke to me. Its medieval beauty is mesmerizing. That book brought me back there. When I finished, I tracked down her email. It took 5 minutes, she teaches at Yale. I wrote her a nice note telling how much I enjoyed her book.
To my surprise, 2 days later she wrote back (from Italy, she had just finished taken alums on a 3-week tour) telling how delighted she was to get my email. “It’s a very special treat to wake up to a message like yours…”
Here’s the point. If you read a book you love, tell the author. They’re real people too, and love to hear when their work touches someone. The money is nice (so they tell me) but a short note goes a long way to making someone’s day happier.
“I feel a very unusual sensation—if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.”
Benjamin Disraeli