The Louise Erdrich readers out there will, in my opinion, appreciate Susan Power. I recently finished her first book, The Grass Dancer, which I found at a local resale shop. Other than a slight tear in the jacket, there was little or no evidence to indicate that it had even been read by its previous owner and donor. Or maybe it had been and then carefully handled. The best hand-me-downs show little or no evidence of a previous owner/user and prompt an observation and comment such as: "I know someone, who has that same book or a shirt just like that."

I received a response to my email to the author Mary Rose O'Reilley. (Cf. entry of January 12th) It was a light hearted response, which I am interpreting as a sign that Ms O'Reilley is not interested in any further discussion of the point that I raised in my original email.

Curious to note. Susan Power is on the faculty of Hamline University in St. Paul. Ms. O'Reilley is on the faculty of St. Thomas University also in St. Paul. Ms Erdrich resides in Minneapolis and co-owns a bookstore, Birchbark Books, and a publishing company. The latter's mission is to publish works in Ojibwe.  Maybe all this says is that there are great regional and contemporary authors out there. One only has to snoop around, keep one's eyes open, and be willing to read something by an author unknown to himself or herself.

What is my next read? The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. My son recommended this one.

Since my most recent post was made on the day after I turned 66--some 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, folks may be thinking this guy really did retire; nowadays he ain't doin' nothin'. I doubt that I am too busy to keep blog entries current; it is just that I am too easily distracted.

One new year's/retirement resolution has seen progress; I have written a letter to each of my three grandsons during the past two weeks. The presumptuous goal there is to put something down on paper that a two-year-old can grow into and will continue to say something about who this bald-headed, bib overalls wearing, old guy is or was. (One can easily start thinking of oneself in the past tense after meeting with a financial advisor, who adds life expectancy into the retirement financial planning formula.)

Since this is Valentine's Day, I suppose I should say something about the occasion. I find myself thinking of grade school and how this day so often held such high tension. There was task of preparing the cards that one was to exchange with classmates. Finding that special card in the package for that special classmate, after your brother and sisters had picked them all over, was an insurmountable task. Somehow you were convinced that your future depended upon this choice, even though past experience showed you that the events of the day would slip into ancient history within 24 hours and that you would be the only one--so it seemed--with any memory of the day. Christmas gift exchanges were another such high stakes event--or so it seemed at the time. Come to think of it; if these events weren't all that important why do I find myself thinking of them some 50+ years later? I wonder what impact they might have had on me down through the years and on Valentine's Day 2012.