Isn't that a strange paradox to have a book listed on Amazon without an author byline to it? I find it strangely paradoxical. Anyway, looking after three children under five during the day and squeezing time to either get my writing or self-publishing done, I somehow let some of these same habits of putting others first bleed into the writing I do for me and what I believe in! LOL

The snapshot I took above was in the delicate time window between twelve midnight and twelve noon on Sunday, June 29, 2014, since Amazon informed me that it would be a twelve-hour window before the updates to the book were available to load. So go ahead and enjoy a laugh on me. :-)

I love my local public libraries. They kicked off the summer reading program with a husband-and-wife traveling bee show for kids. I brought all my little ones there. Only the littlest one did not get a sample of the honey sticks. Between wildflower honey and blackberry honey, I definitely liked the blackberry more! Blackberry tasted lighter and sweeter, a bit more pure--it melted in my mouth faster and cleaner than the wildflower.

Wildflower honey has pollen from different kinds of wildflowers. If you're a pollen person and you like variety, then wildflower honey is for you. I learned so much in this show that I learned to look for raw or natural honey. Doesn't matter if the container says USDA organic, if the container doesn't sport the raw or natural label. Why?

Apparently, even "pure" honey can be diluted with 10% water and heated up to destroy its natural recurring enzymes and tunneled through to be bottled up really quickly in assembly line format. How modern for a process so ancient that it dates back to at least 80 million years old, according to carbon dating of a bee trapped in fossilized resin (amber).

Then of course I went to another event hosted by the library to kick off their summer reading program--West African drumming by someone born and raised in Ghana. Isn't a library supposed to be quiet for books? Well, for the rare occasion of such a guest, we welcome the rhythms and beats that are closest to our ancestral DNA. I bet you that drums, clave, or some other rhythmic instrument was the first to be "discovered" or used by our ancestors! 

What a delight it was to see all the children playing drums, learning dance moves, and some in costume--including my oldest two children! The event was educational and entertaining enough for me to capture a few snippets via video, which is rare for me since I usually opt for still pictures. No, I won't be posting the videos. However, you can go to the drummer's website for more information.

One more thing I love about drums is being able to drum my applause instead of clapping it. I can "clap" much faster on a drum than I can with only hands! :-)

"Hear" the applause? It's for the libraries, the first lending library in America apparently dating back to Benjamin Franklin...  So glad that between him and Carnegie we have more public libraries.

Then, the day after we went to see a comedy show hosted--guess where?--at the library. My kids came home saying the cheer, "Go Goofball!" Imagine a room full of kids, tiny tots to toddler age and all the way up to middle school ages all screaming those "magic words" for the clown show. 

Yes, I love libraries... and so do the kids. Where else could I escape to--any place and anywhere around the world--but still be in the same spot, in the comfort of a chair sheltered from the elements encompassed by shelves upon shelves of books all in one building? Don't even get me started on Overdrive, the electronic book database accessible to library patrons!