Readers share love of books

I have just entered the world of “BookCrossing,” defined in the 2004 Edition of the Concise English Dictionary as, “the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.”

Here are the rules:

l. Read a good book (you already know how to do that).

2. Register it at www.bookcrossing.com where you will get a unique Bookcrossing identification number and a packet of book labels that describe the process.

3. Release the book for someone else to read – leave it on a park bench, “forget” it in a coffee shop, or find other places to part with it.

You will be notified by e-mail each time a reader logs in concerning the location of the book. There are currently 473,477 “readers” all over the world and 3,158,727 books have been registered and are in circulation – somewhere.

I am registered as SpokaneElder and the first book I set free was “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou, which I left at Starbuck’s in Lincoln Heights.

Thanks to my friend Jon Tuning for introducing me to this adventure. “It is the karma of literature, free of cost and absolutely anonymous.”

So, read and release.

The Gift of Touch

I had my first ever facial this month. All I really knew about facials I learned from watching 1930s movies like “The Women” in which stars like Mary Astor sat in beauty parlor chairs with turbans made of towels on their heads, cucumber slices on their eyes, smoking and talking about men.

Spa Paradisio at the Davenport is quite unlike that – quiet, elegant, private and comfortable. It boasts skilled staff, among them Carole Bullock and Jamie Leaf. I talked with Carole about the need for human touch in people of all ages. Studies show that infants thrive when exposed to touch and older persons don’t outlive their need for a reassuring pat or a comforting hug.

Ashley Montagu quoted Barnaby Barratt in “Touching the Human Significance of the Skin” as saying, “Without touch, a baby dies, the human heart aches and the soul withers.”

Summer Delight

If you have not already discovered the Park Bench in Manito Park, masterminded by Diane and Jeff Hunter, while the flutist and harpist are playingand staff are whipping up Mango Jet Tea Smoothies, you have missed one of the real delights of summer in Spokane.

Ordinary chores in the hands of extraordinary poets

Consider the diabetic’s need to test blood sugar as seen by Katy Giebenhain.

Glucose Self-Monitoring

A stabbing in miniature, it is,

a tiny crime,

my own blood parceled

drop by drop and set

on the flickering tongue

of this machine.

It is the spout-punching of trees

for syrup new and smooth

and sweeter

than nature ever intended.

It is Sleeping Beauty’s curse

and fascination.

It is the dipstick measuring of

oil from the Buick’s throat,

the necessary maintenance.

It is every vampire movie ever

made.

Hand, my martyr without lips,

my quiet cow.

I’ll milk your fingertips

for all they’re worth.

For what they’re worth.

Something like a harvest, it is,

a tiny crime.