13 things on the 13th...

This is the time of year I moved two thousand miles from my childhood...

Fall is upon us and it makes me smile.  I love the indecisive coolness, tempered by a still-strong sun.  I love wind, and I have found it here... it is refreshing and cleansing...

It has been a while since I've posted and so a friend and I challenged each other to post on our blogs...

There has been so much that I've decided to try and say it in only 13 statements - and of, course, I will leave you with 5 more book titles...

1. I miss running...  walking too much causes pain still...it was the "little kid running down a grassy hill covered in dandelions" feeling I loved so much...

2. I saw the movie "Once", and all it took was "once" for me to become obssessed with the music!

3. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism just a few weeks ago. 

4. My new favorite scripture verse is 1 John 4:18-19 - "Perfect love casteth out fear..."

5. I am a chicken on a bicycle, but it is a necessary evil right now with no running...

6.  I have begun to play the guitar again...  admitting that takes guts...  I was self-taught as a kid, and have occasionally picked it up off and on over the years.  My husband is self-taught and I am envious.  All my kids play brass in their school bands, and are self-taught in other instruments...  I don't fit in unless I play something!

7.  I love to sing - but I love to sing the harmony...  I like supporting roles!  :)

8. All my children are in school this year... I am lost.  And lonely.  I am not much company to myself yet.  It'll come, I am told, but it is a surprise.

9.  I love Whole Foods and would haunt the cheese section everyday if I had one in town.

10. I used to be a writer.  I want to be one again.  I journal, but that is not "creative" in the same sense as fiction or poetry...

11. I like to knit blankets.  I have sewed one quilt, and I love when it is time to pull it out and put it on my bed.  It's a "hug".

12. I love my curly hair (it hides gray pretty well!).

13. I need to laugh more...

BOOKS I'VE READ:
A Rocky Mountain Christmas - John H Monnett - This is a collected history of Christmas celebrations in the Rocky Mountains.  If you're a sucker for Christmas, it usually doesn't matter if the writing is fantastic or not... 
We Are Witness: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust - Jacob Boas - A simple and interesting read.  It is written at a 5th grade level and is fairly short, but insightful.  One of the teens covered is Anne Frank.
Book Thief - Markus Zusak - I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It is the story of the bombing over Dresden, Germany during WWII.  It is a book written for a teen audience, but it was quality writing and very imaginative.  It was a complete tale.
The Birth That We Call Death - Dunn and Eyre - This book is an examination of the next step we will all face... and that it is not and "end", but another of many "beginnings" that await us.  It is a slim volume, and very uplifting and peaceful.
The End of Food - Paul Roberts -  A nonfiction look at what food was, and what food now is.  It was a bit "clunky" with science and did not flow as well as Omnivore's Dilemna.  It was informative, though.

Are there books that make you laugh?  Tell me...  I think I need some!