Happy New Year!

     Happy New Year! I am on the mend and I am going to be rid of this dadgum illness in the next day or two.  I think, hope, pray 2014 is going to be a great year.  I am just going to MAKE it be a good one.  Way back a couple of decades ago when Good Morning America first started broadcasting one of the original hosts, David Hartman, use to end by saying "go out and make it a good day."  He never said "have a good day."  I liked that, and I think of it often ~ "make it a good day."
     December was not a good month for me and for several people I love.  Physically we were ill, and emotionally we were battered, just battered, but we will be ok.  My biggest heartache is that I am no longer babysitting my granddaughter and feel like the most of my heart has been ripped from my chest but I just keep telling myself to think you never know what is just around the corner.  I knew in the fall the time was coming, I just preferred to not believe it, and it was actually what nudged me to start this blog.  I have been blessed by those of you who leave comments.  I feel like I have friends. Thank you.

     December books....the best of the bunch were these two...The Modern Magi that I have already told you about and The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  I grew to love Fannie Flagg back in the late 60's, early 70's when my mom and I use to enjoy her when she would be a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. She was so funny, down to earth, interesting, and friendly --- like you would just love to be her neighbor and sit on her porch or yours and visit. 
 Here is the link to Amazon where you can read the review from Booklist.  As of today 530 readers have given it 4 & 1/2 stars. 
http://www.amazon.com/All-Girl-Filling-Stations-Last-Reunion/dp/1400065941/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388647103&sr=8-1&keywords=all-girl+filling+station
      Even if this book weren't written by Fannie Flagg I would have picked it up because my Uncle Jim had a Phillips 66 Station that looked remarkably close to the one on the cover.  When I was a teenager my dad ran a Chevron station and I pumped a lot of gas and hand washed more cars than I care to remember.  That was back in the day when you pulled your car up to the pumps, someone came out and filled your car with gas, washed the windshield, checked the oil & tires and sometimes even gave you something free, like S & H Trading Stamps or an ice tea glass. 
     I also would have picked this book up because it was about strong women.  The women in this story saved the family business when the dad becomes ill and then became pilots during a time when women just didn't do that kind of thing.  More importantly, they became WASPS - Women Airforce Service Pilots. They ferried plans for the Air Force during WWII.  While this book is fiction you can learn a little about  the real women who became WASPS here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots and here http://waspmuseum.org/.    I love that photo of the women attending the 70th year reunion on this site.  :)
     Years ago I knew a woman who had been a WASP and then one of the country's first female air traffic controllers.  Being a teenager I didn't have enough sense to ask her to write down her stories for me.  She passed away a long time ago.  Now I would just love to sit down for long chats with her.
     If you know someone with a story to tell, and we all do, get them to write it down for you while you can.  Maybe interview them and write it for them.  And all of y'all go out and make it a good day!