The Secret Keeper by Kate Coombs, illus by Heather M. Solomon

The Secret Keeper written by Kate Coombs and illustrated by Heather M. Solomon is a beautiful, deeply rich and meaningful story. The Secret Keeper is a young woman living alone in the woods. Villagers come to her sharing their most disturbing acts and secrets. She becomes their confessional and in doing so disrupts any chance of becoming their friend. The Secret Keeper has drawers upon drawers for storing the villagers' secrets, but her heart doesn't have as many compartments. Over time she becomes ill and in need of help. The villagers come to her aid and discover that by sharing the love and joy they keep secret in their hearts that she is healed - as are they all.

As a person with second sight, knowing other people's feelings and emotions, for me The Secret Keeper is a balming tale written by one who truly understands. There is so much grotesque perversion and pain in the world that when someone comes along and shares a sweetness within their heart, I am healed.

The Secret Keeper is a must for any person who feels the weight of the world and needs lightened by a different kind of truth.

Dog Poetry

Roan and I are beginning our forever-long study of poetry and I found an unexpected and beautiful book about dogs (her favorite animal). The language and style of the book flows with such an obvious love and mastery of word usage and consideration of subject. The poems are blank verse but the word choice is juicy and deliberate. Really stunning paintings compliment each piece. I found myself brought to tears at least twice and really humbled by the talent of the authors.

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest; illustrated by Katy Schneider.

** If you happen to check it out, Mr. Beefy is my favorite ;).

Josh Gates finds a Yeti footprint

Well, if anyone was going to do it, I'm thrilled it was Josh Gates! Josh Gates - archeologist and host of Destination Truth - and his team
find Yeti footprints in the Himalayas. Traveling paths biologists and
cryptozoologists have gone before - including Animal Planet's Jeff
Corwin - Josh takes a nocturnal tack on the search and his sherpa
finds footprints. Casts made and examined by professor Jeffrey
Meldrum, PhD - professor of anatomy and anthropology and Bigfoot print
expert - are proving to be authentic.

Phenomenal! Our understanding of human evolution is about to take an
interesting turn...

The print was found in December of 2007 and hit the media waves but
wasn't on SciFi until this evening -

NPR Interview with Josh Gates about findings:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16961835

Loren Coleman's site, Cryptomundo.com
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/gates-yeti/

SO EXCITING!!!!

If you haven't Gates' series Destination Truth you are missing out on a cryptzoology treat. Something for everyone who loves all things wondrous - creatures, cultures, humor and intelligence. He's giving the good 'ol boys of cryptozoology a proverbial run for their money ;).