reading

Book Review Part Two: “The Lost Journals of Sacajawea”

/ Lisa Poe / 1 Comment

I can’t stop talking about this book. In this short blog post, you are getting a more detailed report on “The Lost Journals of Sacajawea” by Debra Magpie Earling.

For the first time ever, I feel compelled to write an official review on Amazon for a book. This book is getting mixed reviews, and I want to set the reader straight as this book is not what it appears at first glance.

I give this book a strong 5 plus! Writing is an art, and this book is a masterpiece. Debra Magpie Earling is truly a literary genius.

I started this book and struggled. Struggled to find meaning. Struggled with the clunky, non-structured, “abnormal” writing. I kept reading. This was a book club book. I read it as if it were an assignment. I had picked this book for the group. I had read and loved Earling’s book “Perma Red” and wanted to love this book too. I felt like I was reading a foreign language that was in English.

Around page sixty, things started to flow. I was getting into a rhythm. I stopped trying to decipher this language and let the words pour over me like a lazy river over rocks. Then the words took on a life of their own as they danced across the pages in a finely timed choreography. This book is so intelligent. Once I gave in to it, the book and I were one. Zen reading. I’d never experienced this before. Look what Debra Magpie Earling had done! She has given us an experience, a taste of the essence of not only being a native American woman, but time travel as well. I was part of the earth and all living creatures, not separate, no hierarchy.

I am so grateful for this experience. I read the last page and immediately started over. I wrote down my own dictionary of words to help me keep things straight. I tracked the characters and their relationship to Sacajawea. I paid attention to who was alive and who was in her life via spirit. The first sixty pages did not seem difficult now.

My literary bar has been raised. I was challenged and took that challenge head-on. Please give yourself the courage to keep reading and the grace to let the book enter your soul. Do not try to control this one; the book is in charge, let it happen.

Retirement Rocks

/ Lisa Poe / Leave a comment

My friend Allison is in 4th grade. She told her mom, who replaced me as the business manager at Darby Public School, that Lisa couldn’t retire. Her mom asked her why not. Allison said Lisa bikes, skis, snowboards, hikes, and in Allison’s eyes, this was not what “retirement” meant.

I’d planned it this way. I would be done when I turned 60, and I could collect my public employee’s retirement. And when it worked, I was in shock.

Here I am. Not in an office, not answering phones, not dealing with passwords, a multitude of software upgrades and changes, computers, internet, sickness, and people coming and going. I stayed for the pension. And now here it is.

I have ginormous plans. I have not stopped. I own four bikes: a road bike, a mountain bike, a gravel bike, and now a fat tire bike. I’m lifting heavier weights at the gym, finally increasing my weights. I have a season pass to Lost Trail Powder Mountain. I mean, I did. What?

When I turned 18 years old, it was legal to drink alcohol. While I was 18 they changed the age to 19. When I turned 19 I was legal to drink. While I was 19 they changed the drinking age to 21. When I turned 60 I was able to get a discounted golden age season pass at Lost Trail Powder Mountain. While I was 60, they changed the age for the golden age pass to 65. UGH! I can’t win. Yes, I had a season pass, but now I don’t. I mean, I AM retired, on a fixed income and all.

It has been a learning curve to realize I don’t have to plan everything for the weekend. It has been a learning curve to stop rushing, to slow down. But I’m there. I’ve planned my first backpack of the season.

I’m able to ride bikes with Carol and all of her retired friends. The great-grandmothers. Yes, Carol and other Lisa are both great-grandmothers and they are also the two strongest riders in the group. There are men in the group too. This is not a pavement-pounding kind of group. They enjoy sharing the adventure, sharing the outdoors, and sharing the camaraderie. You never know who might show up for the ride. There is a core group of about 10 people whose average age is probably 70. It is my dream now to be as strong as they are. To be able to keep up. For now, I’m at the back of the pack. Maybe one day, when I’m a great-grandmother, I’ll be able to lead.

I have two part-time retirement jobs to supplement my income and pay for massages with Kaylee. I’m the Adult Education director at Darby Public School, and I’m the Adult Programming Director at the Darby Public Library. The library groups that I attend include drawing, knitting, writing, and book club. My couch in the living room is more of a large seat of activities. Sketch book, ink pens, pencils, yarn, books and a tea mug. I love retirement.

I am also able to read a lot. OK, not as much as you think, because of my new hobby of drawing, mostly pencil drawings, some ink too. I was just in an art show for beginning artists.

My mom gave me a bunch of inserts from her 100 Lipton Tea Bags box which neatly divide the tea bags into organized sections and also make great bookmarks. One side is slick paper and is perfect for my ink pens. I made bookmarks to give away at the art show.

I drew my dog Molly too.

But yes, I am still reading. I lead the library book club. Last month, we read a book I had not only already read, but I had also already recommended it on Wild About Books. For the first time ever, I’m recommending a repeat.

I highly recommend reading or re-reading “City of Thieves” by David Benioff. It may be the first book in which everyone in the book club gave the book two thumbs up.

More great book recommendations and retirement adventures can be found at Wild About Books. You can also find the compiled adventures in my new self-published book “Montana Wild Woman,” available on Amazon.