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Book Alert: Travels with Elly

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Released yesterday! This nonfiction book views Canada from a personal perspective, similar to John Steinbeck's view of America in his 1960 book  Travels with Charley . The author travels from coast to coast in a trailer with his wife and pets, including their Standard Poodle, Elly, in order to gain a better understanding of his adopted country. Interspersed between descriptions of history, cultures, places, and icons are the author's reflections on various things such as Elly's antics, signage, ferries, political injustice, environmental issues, and animal instincts. To provide a canine's perspective, Elly reflects on things of interest to her, including cats, cows, and other critters...but especially cats! Where was Canada's first settlement? What is its prettiest town? When and where was its most devastating shipwreck? And who was its greatest hero? Find out by reading this account of the author's journey through a unique and wondrous country, brimming with

Book Review: Life after Losing a Child (Young & Romer)

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From MidWest Book Review: Synopsis: "Compiled and co-presented by Pat Young and Joanna Romer, " Life after Losing a Child " tells the poignant stories of a dozen individuals who have suffered the loss of a child. and describes how they learned to heal. "Life after Losing a Child" shows readers who have suffered the loss of a loved on how to come to grips with the loss and handle the grief; how to engage in activities that help the healing process; and how to find the strength to move on. Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Life after Losing a Child" is especially recommended reading for anyone having to deal with the loss of a child -- as well as those wanting to know how they can help someone bereft and grieving the loss of a child. Simply stated, "Life after Losing a Child" should be a part of every community library collection in the country.

Peter Jonas: Bronze Award in 2019 Readers' Favorite Contest

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Peter Jonas, whose book, Soccer Is Fun without Parents, will be released November 15, was selected  for the bronze medal in the 2019 Readers' Favorite book awards competition.  The book can be pre-ordered at the MSI Press webstore on the MSI Press website. This is the second bronze for an MSI Press book. Two years ago, the Husains won a bronze for their book, Road Map to Power. So lucky to have such great authors!

Grandma's Ninja Warrior Diary: Food for Energy

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It seems that sometimes I get tired --- less so from physical workouts (those are often pick-me-ups) but more as the day goes on and I am not continuing with the physical activity but having to do real work, as in, the kinds of things you do to earn a living. Since I am still trying to lose weight, sigh!, I figured there might be some foods I could pull into a diet that would up the energy level. Just in case, someone has an image of me hanging out in bed or developing a best-friend relationship with my pillow, I should explain that I usually outlast anyone who works with me, and I get called the energizer bunny a lot. Still, the energizer bunny's battery does eventually run down, as does mine. So, I am looking for a battery extender fueled by diet. Here is what I learned: Lemon water for breakfast. This is a good one for me because of my GERD. Yes, it sounds counterproductive to be adding acid to my diet rather than avoiding it, but everything I read and everything docto

Excerpt from Joshuanism (Michael Vito Tosto): Post-Christianity

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  Imagine you had a time machine. Imagine also that you had one purpose in mind for this time machine: to ask human beings living at different intervals in history a series of prepared questions. The goal? A detailed analysis of how humanity’s worldview has evolved over the centuries. Consider Wiktionary.com’s definition of the term worldview :   [Worldview] – One’s personal view of the world and how one interprets it / the totality of one’s beliefs about reality / a general philosophy or view of life .   With this definition in mind, suppose your first stop in history was the year 5,000 bc, somewhere in Mesopotamia (we must also assume that you would somehow be able to communicate linguistically with the peoples you would encounter). After you went through your list of questions and notated the given answers, perhaps your conclusions for the worldview of that time period might be something like this:   These people have an extremely primitive worldview. Their entire

Authors in the News: Julie Gentile Contributes to Natural Awakenings Chicago

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Julie Gentile, author of 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas , recently contributed an article to Natural Awakenings Chicago: " Three Ways Busy Mothers Can Thrive ." Hint: getting sleep, getting away from it all, and getting inspired. Read the article to find out more!

Grandma's Ninja Warrior Diary: The Kid Beats Me

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  We have a tenant downstairs in our house, and the tenant has a son. He is nine years old and treats us as his grandparents. We, in turn, treat him as a grandson. So, I was astonished that he could not pull himself up on the chin-up bar that my husband had installed in our bedroom doorway so that I could get to the point of being able to do pull-ups, lots of the them. He was very weak yet a very active boy -- we walk about a mile each night together, with him scootering (well, I guess that is really not walking) and me running along beside him. He found the light weights I lift to be very heavy. I mean, we are only talking about 20 pounds. Then, I was appalled to find out that gym is no longer part of elementary classrooms around here. Goodness, where do kids get their guidance in physical activities? So, I interested him in a competition, using the bar. Who could get to do pull-ups sooner. He pulled in a kid visiting a neighbor for two weeks and vowed to do better than that