i’ve been in better moods. my friend is gone — he was killed in a house fire on Sunday. his wife and their dog made it out okay. i am relieved for this, but still so messed up.

i don’t know why bad things happen to good people, but that just seems to be the way it goes.

miss you, Frank Morgan. you were a loyal friend and a gentleman, and you and your wife stood by me when I most needed a friend. thank you for that. i won’t say goodbye but I will say, I’ll see you, okay? OK.

— nancy

“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It’s enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance — embracing all opposites.” — Taisen Deshimaru, Zen teacher (1914-1982)

edited on Sunday 10/9/11 to say, i cannot believe that my friend Frank M. is gone. what the hell??? what the fucking fuck, as my mom and my cat would say.

So. You think they’re atoning today for Yom Kippur? Neil Goldschmidt, Sandra Mims Rowe, Peter Bhatia? And all of their cronies who helped them cover up years of sexual abuse?

I think they probably are not. (Here are Neil and his buddies, yucking it up at late Senator Mark O. Hatfield’s funeral.) (Sometimes, people try to make you look bad, and sometimes you look bad all by your own self.)

Rest in peace, sweet girl. You deserved a lot more. I send you love, and peace.

— wm

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” — Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924)

Civil rights hero. Rest in peace, brother. And thank you for your hard work.

My first novel, “That’s Not It,” is now available for purchase on Kindle.

(Nook and hard copies are next.)

Happy Sunday, y’all.

wm

“I stuck the letter back in the envelope, Scotch-taped it together, and readdressed it to Buddy, without putting on a new stamp. I thought the message was worth a good three cents. Then I decided I would spend the summer writing a novel. That would fix a lot of people.”

— Sylvia Plath, “The Bell Jar”

David Bruins and Hilary Leung collaborated on “Ninja Cowboy Bear Presents the Call of the Cowboy.” (Kids Can Press, 2011, unpaged, $16.95). Wacky Boy (age 9) says, “I thought it was good. The art was nice. I liked the part with the cowboy wearing the hand on his head.” (I liked that a bear is one of the main characters, and the author’s name is Bruins. — wm) This book is appropriate for ages birth to ten or so, but older kids might find inspiration for art projects from the illustrations. Other books in the series include “Ninja Cowboy Bear Presents The Way of the Ninja” and “The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear.”

“Reaching” is a sweet book for younger children (up to age 7), but we liked it, too. (Kids Can Press, 2011, unpaged, $16.95.) A baby boy is shown love by all the members of his family, from his sister to his parents to his great-gran. The illustrations are lovely. “I think little kids would like this book because it is easy to understand and there aren’t very many difficult sentences,” says Wacky Boy.

“Chester’s Masterpiece” is the third in the Chester series by author Melanie Watt. (Kids Can Press, 2010, unpaged, $18.95 and worth every penny.) Melanie Watt has issues with her wild, artistically-gifted cat, Chester. He’s hidden all of her art supplies (and wait ’til you find out where). She and their friend the Mouse try to take charge, but Chester is intent upon writing and illustrating his own book, without their help.

So there.

Watt also created the Scaredy Squirrel series, which is a whole lot of fun, too. Wacky Boy says, “I like how Chester’s art all looks homemade. He’s a funny character. He’s out of control and Melanie can’t stop him.”

(We received free review copies of “The Call of the Cowboy” and “Reaching” from Kids Can Press, but the opinions expressed here are our own. Please see disclaimer.)