Saturday June 9th

The cat is moving out. MJ too. In a couple of months ZJ will be moving out. Things change. The few people that read this mostly know this stuff anyway but in the interest of finding something that sums up today and perhaps this last week I will find a few things to write down. Especially interesting was KN/s blog about their trip to DC and NY. Great pictures were posted. What a great trip. This last week I have worn a pedometer each day and kept track of steps. Things change. I used to kept track of miles and now I keep track of steps. I am not sure if I ever read the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Yesterday for lunch I went to Barnes and Noble and looked around and decided to buy the book. I read a few chapters yesterday. I know from a lot of experiences that a good book, when I find it, can get read from page one to the end in a day or two. This one will take a lot longer. It isn't that it is not a good book it is well written and tells a compelling story. The problem is that the story is so sad and upsetting that I just think I will take it a little at a time. As I sit here deciding how to finish this I am reminded of a couple of things. Harriet Beecher Stowe's writing style surprised me a little as I read the first three chapters. She stopped and made reference to the reader? I have always been fascinated with an author who can do that effectively. I am not far enough into the book but what an interesting observation that she stopped and engaged her readers directly. If you were reading this you needed to be in partnership with the author because it pulls you the "right direction" in to just not liking the story. The story was published in 1852. My great grandfather was born in 1831 and my grandfather who I knew was born in 1871. Both lucky men to not have been where slavery was present.