I had been most anxious to visit this museum/hospital, for some time. When Rita said she wanted to visit the cave projection show, previous post, the plan for her most recent visit took shape. A quiet intuitive individual, I had a feeling that the walls may talk. They do whisper if one is silent and willing to hear.

Was it wishful thinking or simply artistic license that Van Gogh applied his brushes to create a much more sumptious version of his true quarters? Patients rooms were not decorated with art work and this special guest had access to another room within the hospital for a studio and much of his work was completed on the hospital grounds. Alas, there is no access to his atelier which leads this visitor to believe there is really no trace of it or that it is in the part of the hospital that…

There is nothing new about refugee crises. As my followers will know, I have, over the last 2-3 years, been exploring the appalling events that took place in Ireland between 1845 and the early 1850s. These events led to an exodus of people from Ireland to North America, and Australia.

Last week I was privileged to be a (minor) part of the 7^th International Famine Conference which took place in Strokestown Park House, home of the Irish National Famine Museum. The event was truly international, with contributions from academics from the USA, Canada, Australia the United Kingdom and Germany.

My link will take you to a film by a Canadian documentary film maker, made as part of Canada’s 150^th anniversary celebrations last year, it describes the way ordinary Canadians responded to the arrival on their shores of ships laden with refugees from Ireland’s disaster. The film received it’s…

   American mass protests, widespread through the US, have become a distinct characteristic of the 20th and 21st century by Americans involved civil engagement. Each of the top ten attended mass protests have occurred since 1963 and four of the top five have occurred since Donald Trump took office.

In case you haven’t read the clause recently, here it is:  The right to assembly is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution: Congress shallmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right the people to assemble, and to the petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

When the government sends armed police to break-up and or arrest peaceful demonstrations by Americans, something is going terribly wrong…

La Quinta Resort was built-in 1926.

It is located in the town of La Quinta, which is in the northwestern portion of The Sonoran Desert, in Southern California’s Coachella Valley.

The resort is adobe, made of over 100,000 handmade adobe bricks. The roofing contains over 60,000 handmade terracotta tiles.

Hand painted Talavera tiles are everywhere.

The resort is famous for it’s extensive floral gardens and fountains.

It is especially beautiful when the cactus are blooming!

Cheers to you from hot, but lovely La Quinta California~

(from Goodreads) Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale set in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what used to be part of the United States. Gilead is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state, and is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude. One of these women, Offred, is determined to survive the terrifying world she lives in, and find the daughter that was taken from her.

(https://sunwayecho.wordpress.com)

One of my required readings in my Genres of Popular Fiction class was Ray Bradbury’s remarkable and powerful novel Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel in which all books are burned and outlawed.  For the following assignment I was asked to choose a novel that I would memorize for the Underground Library…

This morning’s guest for #ShareAReviewDay is Charles French, and he would like to share what readers are saying about Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book 1. When the reviews are short ones, as in this case, I will use 2 or 3, rather than one longer one. Enjoy, and please pass the word along. Thanks!

REVIEWS:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Fantastic!   
By Amazon Customer on May 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
Excellent novel! Very well written! This book reminds me of a Stephen King novel with great plot lines and characters! Gripping, scary, and fun! Loved it! Couldn’t put it down!

 4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
By HorrorHomeroom on April 17, 2018
Love the focus on the older characters in this novel.

5.0 out of 5 stars Have so enjoyed reading it
By Kelly Krasner on April 9, 2018
This is a genius, scary and heart…

when visiting the detroit public library

m is shocked to find that books

 have been banned in the past

and learns a huge lesson.

—

“censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” 

-laurie halse anderson, Speak