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Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
All proceeds (minus shipping and packing) will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo of the prop and its cost here along with a few details as to its condition. The first person to call the farm and talk with Brian, 208-882-6819, becomes the new owner of a little bit of herstory. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS, our choice. No returns.

Salley Mavor

Looking for a little whimsy,
a bit of charm,
and a bushel of inspiration?
Feast your eyes on the fantastic felt work of Salley Mavor …
Salley, an accomplished fiber artist and author living in Falmouth, Massachusetts, says she has always been fascinated with “little things” and needlework.
“Manipulating materials in my hands with a needle and thread was so much more satisfying than …

Life of Pi

Have you read the book-now-turned-movie, Life of Pi? A few years ago, it was one of my favorites. It’s about a 16-year-old Indian boy’s passage to start a new life in America aboard a freighter that shipwrecks in the Pacific. (He’s traveling with his family to move their zoo to another country.) He manages to secure himself on a life raft … but with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger. (You’ll have to read the book or see the movie to see how it ends.)
It seems a bit like this story I found on the Helped by Animals Facebook page featuring INCREDIBLE inter-species relationships that are formed when one (usually young and helpless) animal is put in life or death circumstances. (Make sure you visit their page because the photos and stories will warm your heart to its very core.)
This one below is udderly amazing. Not only does a predator quit being a predator, but its prey quits being afraid and in fact shows the predator care and love.

Woe is I …. What My Mother Left on My Desk

I can take a hint … especially from my mother.
It’s not that I am uninterested or even disinterested. I do not lack the interest and I am not impartial.
I might say she has alluded to my grammar skills a few times. She has said as much in a round-about style. Then again, she has simply referred to these skills as needing some improvement. Yup, she has directly mentioned it, come to think of it!
Well, it is probably high time I hone my grammar skills, now that we’ve homed in on the problem! Time to sharpen my skills now that we’ve zeroed in on the reason why. 🙂
I have simply not owned Woe is I, The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. From the Mixed Doubles section (note the italics above) to the Blunders with Numbers, it’s all written in a way I can understand. So, I might actually be able to put some of these useful lessons to use.

Soldier for Peace

A couple of years ago, I picked up a book in an airport Starbucks called A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. It isn’t a book you can casually read. I was consumed by it.