KING PEGGY – A CRANKY BOOK REVIEW

KING PEGGY – A CRANKY BOOK REVIEW

I don’t do book reviews.  I don’t do book reviews because I don’t read books.  Sure I occasionally read a Dean Koontz or a Stephen King story, but nothing to really exercise my mind.  I like James Patterson books whenever I find one that I think he actually wrote and not one that he attaches his name in giant letters above the “WITH” author. 

Why then am I reviewing a real book?  I recently found out I have a cousin whom is a real author.  She has published two NYT best sellers, “King Peggy” is sure to be her third.  My Mother was a “Herman.”  Eleanor Herman is her brother’s daughter.  I would not know Eleanor if I walked into her and yet I feel a certain amount of pride that we share the same grandparents.  Actually her grandmother was my step-grandmother and neither of us ever knew our grandfather.  Close enough.

“King Peggy” is an unlikely story of a Washington DC secretary, a native of Ghana but a naturalized US citizen, who was called upon by her Ghana town to replace her deceased Uncle and become the new King. 

Peggielene accepts and becomes King Peggy.  She does not become the figurehead of a King as the town elders expected, she becomes a real King.  The story is primarily about her great sacrifice in time and money and her amazing toughness and grit in eliminating the town’s corruption and serving her people’s needs.  With the help of friends, family and a church drawn to her unusual story, her faith and her strong personality, King Peggy brings her town clean easily available water, and more importantly hope for a better life.

This book is more than just the story of King Peggy; it also brings insight into a fascinating country, and fascinating people with deep seated customs and traditions.

If you want to learn more about Ghana and its people I recommend “King Peggy,” and if you want to find out how this story ends you have to read the book (my last book report was in 6^th grade and that is how all 6^th grade book reports end.)

If you are too lazy to read the book, there are negotiations underway to bring “King Peggy” to the silver screen. 

Just in case….read the book.      

HOMO SAPIEN –A REMARKABLE SPECIES

HOMO SAPIEN –A REMARKABLE SPECIES

Sharks can smell a drop of blood from a mile away.  Dogs can hear sounds that humans cannot.  Many animals can see at night as if it were day.  Bats can’t see at all yet they can navigate and catch insects with their built in radar.

Naturalists constantly point out these remarkable animal feats as if humans were inferior to these creatures.  True, we cannot compete with the rest of the animal world in terms of strength, speed, sense of taste, smell, sight and hearing, but some homo sapiens do have talents which other creatures could never master.

Is there any other creature on God’s green earth that could tie an apron behind their back while speaking on a cell phone tucked under their chin?  The Weaver bird is able to construct a complicated nest out of twigs and reeds.  Could a Weaver bird take two sticks and a ball of yarn and make a sweater while watching “Toddlers in Tiaras?”

Last Saturday on a bus I witnessed a skill which I have seen before, but for the first time realized how remarkable this ability, common to many female Homo sapiens really was.  As I watched, I could hear the voice of Oprah narrating from “Life” in my head.

“The fourteen year old female of the species is troubled by her hair which has grown beyond shoulder length.  It gets in her eyes and face and irritates her.  Without stopping her constant and incessant communication with a companion, she performs the most remarkable feat.  Taking her hands and without looking, she reaches behind her back and she separates her locks into three segments.  Incredibly, as our camera captures the action, she begins to weave the segments in and out into a locking pattern resulting in one long thick rope-like structure of hair which no longer bothers her eyes or face.  The female does all this in a matter of seconds.  This blind weaving skill is remarkable enough but to keep the weave from unfurling she takes a small elastic band and folds it back and around the end of the weave at a speed which only our time action camera can capture.  Other Homo sapiens ignore this young female’s action as apparently it is a skill not uncommon to the species.”

Is there another creature on this planet that can change the style of their plumes without looking while simultaneously communicating with another of the same species?

OK, maybe a peacock, or a turkey, or a chameleon, or….still it is a remarkable skill.            

I LOVE YOU

I LOVE YOU

I love you; oh those three little words.  They mean so much, yet they can mean so little.  My family does not use these words lightly or often.

I don’t believe my Dad ever said those words to me.  He worked long hard days for me.  He was always there for me.  He supported me in sports and paid for my lousy grades in school.  We fished together, sailed together, bowled together and golfed together.  He taught me to be a good person.  He never said I love you.  I don’t believe I ever said I love you to him.

My Mom never said those words to me.  She gave me a nice home life.  She cleaned, washed, and cooked.  She doctored my cuts and scrapes.  She took care of me when I was ill.  She was there with a philosophical answer for every problem and situation.  She never said I love you.  I don’t believe I ever said I love you to her.

I never felt unloved by my Mom and Dad.

I have been in two relationships where those words were used often.  In one relationship I never left the house without saying and hearing them.  I was always told when seeing or leaving my grown children, “Say I love you…go on…say it.”  Both of these relationships ended with my partner leaving for someone else.  With one of them I was reading a note planted in my suitcase while I was away on a trip.  The note said “I love you.”  As I was reading the note, she was with another man.

My culture or at least the culture of my family does not use these words lightly.  Often we do not use them at all.  I used to joke about that.  I used to be ashamed that the words came with such difficulty.

I have come to realize that when the words come easy, their meaning is diminished.  Actions are more important than words, however if there is any doubt, for this one time only, here it comes:

To Mrs. Cranky; Karen – I love you

To my brother Chris and sister-in-laws Mary Stewart and Judy – I love you

To my Cranks; Mary Beth, Mike, Matt, and Spencer- I love you

To my Crankettes; Tommy, Halley, Graham, Cole and Connor – I love you

To my daughter-in-law Devon – I love you

To my step cranks; Casey and Peter – Yes I love you guys too

There it is. 

                     I said it. 

                                    I mean it. 

                                                      Don’t ask me again!