The best advice on how to live life.

I had the honour of reading this out at the wedding of my son and his beautiful bride just on three years ago. I think it is something that all of us should have as a guide to living our lives.

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All of what we really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, we learnt in Kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at primary school. These are the things we learned...

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.  - Give them to someone who feels sad.
• Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• Be aware of wonder.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum.  See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/  ]

I remember

Each month our local writers' groups sets one or two themes for members to write about. This month it was "I remember" This is my first attempt at writing any sort of poetry.

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Mini skirts, bell bottoms and my first kiss

Serials, cartoons and newsreels at the flicks

Ice skating, tadpole catching and cycling to school.

Milkbars, juke boxes and being cool

Biscuits, sugar and flour that were weighed

Five jacks, marbles and ball games we played

Smokey Dawson, Roy Rogers and Peter Pan

The milkman, the baker and the dunny man

Cilla, Cliff and of course, the Beatles

Iodine, Mercurochrome and Condy’s crystals

Rock concerts at The Stadium; tennis at White City

Polio injections without any pity

Surfies, rockers and the mods

Measles, mumps and chicken pox

Secret Seven, Bobbsey Twins and Nurse Ames

Golden books and Charlie Chuckles with its games

Rampant bushfires, drowning floods and August wattle

Drop the hankie, pass the parcel and spin the bottle

Tunnel ball, vigoro and hopscotch

The Mickey Mouse Club we’d all watch

Kittens and puppies and many budgies

School milk and sandwiches with my buddies

Bonfires, crackers and sparklers bright

But the scary stories would give us a fright

Cut out dolls, cowboy hats and hula hoops

Bandstand and Six O’clock Rock and fab groups

The twist, the stomp and a parental frown

A cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down

Reading challenge

I came across this reading challenge recently. It was intended as a goal for 2017.

As it is now March and I have commitments with books I have promised to review, I decided to look back over those I have read since first beginning to write reviews and see what that leaves me as goals for the rest of this year.

Anyone want to join me? 


 







Here is my list.

A book you read in school	The Secret Garden. It’s the only one I can remember from school. Does that say something? Review not yet published
A book from your childhood	The Bobbsey Twins Forest Adventure – currently my bedtime reading.
A book published over 100 years ago	Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Peter Pan was a childhood favourite and having recently watched Finding Neverland I decided to begin reading all of Barrie’s Pater Pan stories. Currently reading
A book published in the last year	Tears of God (The Blackwell Files Book 7) by Steven F Freeman. Reviewed.
A non-fiction book	After His Affair: Women Rising from the Ashes of Infidelity by Meryn G. Callander. Reviewed.
A book written by a male author	Indiana Belle by John A Heldt (my newest favourite fiction writer). Reviewed
A book written by a female author	Portrait of a Secret Agent who Knew Kim Philby by Tina Tamman. Reviewed.
A book by someone who isn’t a writer	The Hollywood Survival Guide for Aussie Actors by Kym Jackson. Reviewed
A book published in the 20th century	Mystery at Three Elms by Michael D. Gibson. Reviewed.
A book set in your home town/region	The Old Razorback Road: Life on the Great South Road between Camden and Picton 1830-1930 by Elizabeth Villy. Reviewed
A book with someone’s name in the title	Hail Mary by CM Albrecht. Reviewed
A book with a number in the title	1066. Review not yet published
A book someone else recommended to you	Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Groga. Review not yet published
A book with over 500 pages	Timbuctoo by Tahir Shah. Reviewed.
A book you can finish in a day	The Adventures of Sherlock Bones: Doggone by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Reviewed.
A previously banned book	Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. So the story goes, it was banned in South Africa during the Apartheid days because it had the works ‘black ‘and beauty’ together. Review not published yet.
A book with a one word title	Eden by (Sandra Mahoney Mystery) by Dorothy Johnston. Reviewed.
A book translated from another language	The Escape of Alexei by by Igor Lysenko (Author), Georgy Egorov (Author), Vadim Petrov (Author), Marian Schwartz (Author), Atonina W. Bouis (Author) Reviewed.
A book that will improve a specific area of your life	Dingo Tails by Kane Guy. I read this books as part of my research`h on the life of the Dingo Lady Berenice Walters. Reviewed.
A memoir or journal	Tears of Innocence by TR Robinson, Reviewed.
A book written by someone younger than you	Living with the Dingo by Adam O’Neill. Not hard category seeing that I am 67 but I included because it is an excellent book. Reviewed.
A book set somewhere you will be visiting this year	The Fourth Season by Dorothy Johnson. Set in Canberra, Australia. Reviewed.
An award-winning book	Will Never Forget: A Daughter's Story of Her Mother's Arduous and Humorous Journey Through Dementia by Elaine C Pereira. Reviewed.
A self-published book	When Kingmakers Speak by Nathan Veerasamy. Reviewed

That leaves two categories I can’t tick off: A book that became a film and a book with a character with your first name.

I should be able to easily find a book that became a film but does any know a book with a character by the name of Pam or Pamela. Please let know any recommendations.

A special thank you all the Indie authors I review for and who keep my reading material interesting and varied.

My reviews can be found at http://pambookreviews.blogspot.com.au/