I forgot to do the end of the week count yesterday.
For the week:
CHAPTERS - 150
PAGES - 2,170
For the year so far:
CHAPTERS - 5,444
PAGES - 68,266
Today's book was suggested/lent to me by Kim, the woman who saved me from the bad hair abyss that was my late teens and early 20s, thereby earning the title "the hair goddess." And if you saw what my hair looked like pre-Kim you would see exactly why she deserves that title.
Today's book, "A country-boy-turned-country-doctor goes on house calls among the Amish of eastern Ohio in this warm collection of true-life tales. Alert to his patients' preferences to have their babies born close to home, and their illnesses and injuries treated in a home-like atmosphere, Dr. Elton Lehman also created a treatment and birthing center in the hills of Wayne County, Ohio."
Shallow thoughts:
- I loved the idea of today's book right off the bat. I have spent years whining about doctors, saying things like, "Why can't more doctors be like Dr. Baker on Little House . . . or Dr. Quinn. . . or that doctor that Dr. Quinn hired to help her out when she had her baby, the one whose name escapes me but who I had a totally embarrassing crush on when I was in junior high." Okay, so it's possible that last part has nothing to do with today's book, so just overlook that. I think I had a point when I started writing this paragraph . . . oh, right, my point was that I have often wondered why there can't be more Dr. Bakers/Dr. Quinns in the world, so I was excited to read about a modern day version. I enjoyed today's book, but more for the story than the writing style - which had an amateur feeling to it - but if you can overlook that sort of thing then you might like this book dear readers.
- And since this book takes place in Ohio, I think it might be time to throw out a totally pointless plug for the state of Ohio. Here goes: they have the cleanest rest stops I've ever been in. I haven't traveled extensively throughout the state, so I'm sure there are some disgusting ones that I haven't run across, but the ones I've been in were delightful. And they know how to advertise their state too - they have the most pleasant displays set up in the rest stops that feature books about Ohio - and every time I pass one of those displays I find myself thinking Maybe I don't know enough about Ohio. Maybe today is the day I should correct that problem. So good people of Ohio: Nice job and keep up the good work. And to the rest of the states: You need to get your act together. I'm sick of going into your rest stops and feeling like I'm not going to survive the experience without extensive psychological scars.
- And now it's time for something that I haven't done enough of lately, gently mocking my mother. There was a chapter about an Amish couple who unexpectedly had twins and didn't have a name picked out for the second twin, so they decided to go the cutsey rhyming names route (which, in my opinion, should be outlawed) and named them Checky and Becky. I think it's a very good thing that poor child is going to go to an Amish school, so there won't be any lockers for him to get stuffed in while his name is being ceaselessly mocked. And now for the segment which I think should henceforth be called a "Mocking Mom Moment" - I grew up really close to a large Amish community, and so the names of those babies were often listed under the "Weighing In" section of the newspaper. My Mother has an unfortunate habit of NEEDING to share everything she reads in the newspaper with everyone within a fifty mile radius - which resulted in quite a few breakfasts that involved hearing all about the people we don't even know who died, the advice Dear Abby is handing out, daily comparisons to Marmaduke (with a great deal of shock always expressed that Marmaduke and our dog have similarities) and (her favorite) the names she doesn't like from the newspaper. For some reason she never feels the need to share names she likes, but instead sticks to saying things like, "Carla Sue? Who would ever name their child that? How could anyone name their child that when there are so many good names in the world? Oh and listen to this name. . . Levon Darrell. Isn't that awful?"
