Sadly we had our last book discussion meeting last week. Breaking for the summer, our next meeting is in September. I will miss these ladies.

This term we read same kind of difference as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Healing Stones by Nancy Rue and Steve Arterburn and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Our discussion of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis was snowed out.

For Fall, 2010 we will be reading Screwtape, Night by Elie Wiesel; Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Sipping hot tea and snacking on treats the discussion travels back and forth between characters in the book, the author's purpose in writing and the writing style. At the end of the discussion we go around the group and ask for any final thoughts about the selection and also ask them to rate the book on a scale from one to ten.

There is something very unique and wonderfully special about women who read. I will miss the group during the summer but know that they will continue to read and pass on those selections that they have especially loved.

And that's what I think about it.

This was a week to keep the tissue company bottom line healthy.

Trees are blooming, the cottonwood 'fuzz' drifting over the porch and settling like a crust on the outdoor furniture. Magnolia, pear, dogwood; all blooming.

My allergies are blooming also. Watery eyes, sneezing, scratchy throat and a nose that could win a race against a garden hose in full stream.

I look outside and think about how lovely it would be to sit outside and read a book. I tried that yesterday. I lasted for less than five minutes. Between blowing and sneezing and 'Excuse mes" I had no hand free to hold a book or turn a page. It just wasn't worth it.

For a few days I will enjoy the beauty of the season through the windows of an air-purified home and then venture out once more to gauge the progress of the growing season.

And that's what I think about it. Achoo!

Once again I have located the comma, parenthesis and semi-colon on my keyboard and with copious use of these little symbols have nearly finished my latest required paper for the seminary.

Italics, indentation, pagination, and Endnotes are nearly finished. My head is swimming with references and bibliographies as try to get straight who said what about what and why...and is it that important?

Punctuation is quite a racket; I'd hold it up to the Mafia any day.

People who 'do' punctuation have developed a small, tight, conclave for themselves. And although they use all the same marks and symbols each has developed a style quite unlike the others. This is the trap for students.

And, without belaboring the point, it is the bread and butter for the punctuationist. They make their living making decision about how to, for instance, cite a secondary quote from a magazine that one has discovered on-line. In the style book there are four and a half printed pages on where to place the comma. I have some ideas of my own.

And that's what I think about it.

Spurred on by a daughter, an insurance company and my knees, I purchased a pedometer, those little clip-on devices that measure the number of steps one takes. The first morning I put it on my pajamas before I got out of bed and by the time I got to the bathroom I had walked seven steps and burned four calories.

The second day I did the same, forgot my glasses, walked back to get them and had 15 steps recorded and 10 calories.

I asked my husband if he had tried his. He said his wasn't working right. He'd worn it around the day before but somehow it hadn't measured all the steps he was sure he had taken. Hmmmm. Wisely I kept quiet.

So today we went down to the local YMCA to ask about membership. We already had a gym membership at a popular local 24-hour fitness center. I think we last used that membership, which we were paying premium bucks for, four months ago. Our membership at the YMCA (one of the choices) is a 'free' benefit of our insurance coverage. The price is exactly what my husband was hoping for so he canceled the other dusty membership.

But back to the pedometer. I discovered a dangerous and tempting feature of this little clip-on piece of equipment. If I hold it in my hand and wave it back and forth it registers steps.

I leave it to my reader to imagine how I will use this bit of information.

And that's what I think about it.