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About Julia Drescher: Julia is a poet, writer, editor, and librarian living in Colorado. Learn about her projects here:
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Published in 1857, 100 years before I was born The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne is a tale of survival on a desert island; it contains things that would not be regarded well today, but those things left a lasting impression on my mind. What I remember is the sense of adventure and excitement. Three boys are shipwrecked and are the sole survivors of the sinking. They must fend for themselves and learn how to survive on a Pacific island that is totally alien to their experiences to date.
On the day I was admitted to
hospital for a scheduled surgery, my older brother was an emergency admission
suffering from appendicitis. He was put into the fifth bed on my right. At that
time the hospital was run by an order of nuns, and as such it was ruled over by
“Matron”. In the hospital, or any hospital run by a “Matron”, Matron was the
rule of law. She was all powerful. What Matron said or thought dictated the
actions of all her underlings. Even the medical consultants would think twice
about going up against Matron’s instructions.
Every evening Matron would go on her
rounds of the hospital and in each ward she would visit every patient and have
a brief conversation with them to ensure they were comfortable and felt they
were getting the attention they required. When Matron arrived at my bed on the
evening of my admission day, she greeted me and asked me how I was and wished
me luck for my procedure. Then she said, “I see there is another McClean in the
ward. Is he a friend of yours?”
In the nature of an unthinking
eleven year old boy, I responded, “No! He’s my brother!”
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About Peter McClean
I am into my seventh decade on this planet and have reached what some call my Third Age. Having retired from full-time employment in the world of operations management and consulting I can now devote more time to my reading, the activity that I used throughout my career to counterbalance the stresses of the day-job.
Peter McClean
Thanks for returning to Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee. We didn't meet last week, so I'm glad to resume our sessions this week. I needed good poems by other people, and I hope you do, too.
Poems read:
Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee, a weekly reading of good poems by other people while we all drink coffee. This week's came out a bit later because Father's Day hurt my feelings this year more than other years. Not sure why since Dad rowed across with the Ferryman over twenty years ago. Ah, well. Here's the episode:
Poems read:
Welcome to the latest session of Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee.
How this works:
1. I read good poems by other people.
2. We all drink coffee (or not).
Poems read:
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| Book Your Stocking 2021 |
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| Tina ลฝigon |
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| Book Your Stocking 2021 |
Recommendation: The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
Why: Love the story of redemption of several lives linked-by-beekeeping.
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| Carol Pringle |