MAMM SPEAKS - JUST THE STORY ...

These are the seven books that contain the STORY part of the Mamm Books. 

We had to make more than one book because for this version we went with the LARGE PRINT at the request of some of our readers. Makes for some almighty big books, let me tell you. These are 8 1/2 X 11 inches with a font size of 18. Only a couple of them are over a hundred pages so none of them are going to be bulky despite their larger dimensions. And their covers, as you can see, are simple and color-coded following the rainbow.

I have to admit it seems kind of strange to read the STORY without it being in the context of the Dunnottar Story Line ... without knowing what's right around the corner for Danann and Sidhelagh, and their family, at the end of this STORY ...

Frankly, I've been curious about how they would read when separated, the twined story lines of the Mamm Books.

You can read the 'History' part of it, as these books show, with no problem at all - it's a good STORY standing alone.

Such is not the case with the 'Today' part of the Story Line of the Mamm Books, however.

Again and again and again that Story Line refers back to the 'History' Line. If you don't have the 'History' part, the 'Today' Story Line is not going to read at all well. You aren't going to 'get it' - without knowing the back story upon which the whole is based.

Without the 'History', you won't have any idea what drives our Characters, what motivates them, what inspires them, what makes them entirely unwilling to relinquish what they hold most dear. You won't know what it is that guides them when the times come for them to draw their lines, to take their stands and to hold them against all odds.

You see, the STORY and what it means is an integral part of life for our Characters. They know what past generations of their family had to do in order for them to be able to pick up where those generations left off.

Today I realize that their lineage breeds true and it makes me quite very sentimentally proud to have 'gotten to know' both the Characters of SONG and the current Characters who also stand true to what the 'History' part of SONG is all about.

I tell you true.

Scotland does herself proud in so many ways, every day.

The world watches now, alert and wary, as Scotland takes to herself those on whom the world would turn its back. She is not unwary, believe that. She is plenty alert. That, my friend, is a part of the strength Scotland is showing to us right about now, once again taking the lead. Being alert and wary are, I think, a part of the nature of the Scots - with just cause.

Would it not make her doubters hoot and howl if the guests of Scotland turned against her, tried to do her harm? Yes. The world would shout, 'We told you so, we told you so!' But, should such a thing come to pass it would most likely be quite very short lived.

Even in the Mamm Books such ones came among our Characters. When they proved themselves 'incompatible', they were marched right on out of there in no uncertain terms, and delivered directly to those on whose behalf they had been trying to cause harm to the very people who had given them safety and offered them friendship.

Yes I write fiction, and yes its setting is a very long time ago. The 'bad guys', those who would do harm to others for whatever reasons they want to come up with, might wear different faces and names these days. That doesn't change who and what they are.

Today's 'History' Line isn't really all that different from the 'History' Line of the ancient days, you know.

When an entity threatened the Legacy of Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom, and Future our Characters of SONG were living, protecting, and preserving, said entity made great gains right up until it ran up against the People who would not give up and would not give in. Said People joined forces, pooled their resources, and an Empire bit the dust.

I'm not real sure what 'History' books our today's 'entity', our today's 'bad guys' have been reading, but they might maybe want to reconsider their interpretation of whatever they've been thinking was the outcome of their 'History' books.

At any rate, now I know that yes a 'History' Story Line can stand alone - but a 'Today' Story Line cannot. It is much too entwined with the 'History' Line to be able to stand without it.

We need to be thinking about that some, friends - and giving it some consideration when the time comes for us to have to make a Choice of our own.

You want to know how the STORY ends?

It doesn't.

It isn't going to end.

And the doubting world can watch all it wants, make dire predictions about this, that, and the other thing. Soon it will get bored, because success is never as interesting as conflict - and ain't that just a sad commentary on life in the world in which we live in. Success based on caution, alertness, wariness - built on compassion and a willingness to offer friendship - is quiet, you see.

The rampaging brats get plenty of attention; for every one of those there are many who are quietly going about just being nice. 

So, bottom line?

Be careful with your Choices.

Respect the 'History' of the Spiral and the need for balance.

If you're going to stand for something, let it be Peace.

Never EVER lose your Faith that good will come even out of bad.

Allow, nay encourage, the Healing that must come among us.

Know that against all odds it is Hope that will keep us all going.

Accept the fact that Love isn't always peaches and roses. Tough Love is harder to understand but understand it we must.

Above all, realize that Unity must prevail. It will strengthen us more than you think it could. A fragmented People is not a strong People. 

That little story about the sticks of kindling is Truth and Wisdom. 

You cannot break a bound bundle of kindling regardless of how easily individual sticks might be snapped in two. It doesn't matter if the sticks are of all different kinds of wood. If a stick of balsa is tucked into that bundle it is not going to get broken any more than will the sticks of oak, of pine, of elm, of cottonwood, of ash, of any of the kinds of sticks ... yet unbind them and you can break them at will. 

Yep.

And that's it for my bits of wisdom on this day I do believe.

Moving My Week Right Along

Back in the Construction Zone days I used to kind of informally keep my week moving along by changing how I dressed for each day of the week.

Even before I went to work at Strata's Corporate Headquarters and their Concrete division office, Wednesdays had been my Bib Overall Day, a middle of the week reminder that we were almost halfway through already (six days a week dark to dark).

Mondays were 'dress up day'. Considering I was working in field offices I only sometimes actually wore dresses. Usually it was dress slacks and a nice blouse, makeup, and maybe jewelry. The people who happened to visit on Mondays were impressed. I generally told them to come back on Wednesday if they could, because I wasn't always dressed like this. Sometimes they did and always laughed.

Tuesdays were still slacks but with a sweater (light or heavy depending on the time of year, but good quality very nice sweaters).

Wednesdays were bib overalls. On site it didn't matter in the least what I wore and Wednesdays were for the fun of it. Sometimes I wore over-sized bibs, sometimes railroad striped ones, sometimes just any old bibs. After a while I didn't DARE wear bibs on any other day of the week for fear of confusing people into thinking whatever day it happened to be was Wednesday. O_O 

Thursdays were good sweater days too, but with jeans.

Fridays were for decent tee-shirts or work shirts and jeans.

Saturdays were for sweats.

I always had my steel toed work boots on hand but didn't wear them on Mondays or Tuesdays unless I was actually going out onto the work site.

It got to be a habit, the first dressing up and working my way down to wearing sweats by the end of the work week.

When I came in from field work to office work I followed a variation of the same thing. Since I didn't work on Saturdays, Strata executives were spared the sight of me in sweats. I wore dresses more often, especially on Mondays, and in general my whole wardrobe took a turn up on the 'fancy' scale. Even so, Fridays were always for more casual slacks (maybe khaki instead of dress black) and sweaters ...

And Wednesdays were ALWAYS for the bibs. Not the over-sized ones any more, and not just any old bibs although the railroad striped ones stayed in the rotation. Got lots of smiles. I checked with Mr. Bradshaw ahead of time to explain to him about my Wednesday bibs (in case he wanted me to not work on Wednesdays, you know, because of the overalls) and he was fine with it; made him grin. 

So there I was, all dudded up on Mondays looking like the executives who surrounded me on Mondays, still sort of like them on Tuesdays, and then Wednesday came around and I stuck out like a sore thumb but everyone just smiled. After a while I again would not have dared to wear bibs on any other day of the week. Someone from whatever department/contractor would walk into Strata Block (mornings) or Payroll (afternoons), see me, and say, 'Ah, it's Wednesday!'

I loved that job, and the people, quite very much. I wish Strata would share their management and personnel secrets, believe me I do. Aces all. Well, one notable exception but he just served to highlight everyone else, yep.

And I'll shut up about Strata now or you'll be reading forever and I'll be both laughing and in tears at once.

Being as I now have a quite very different type of job, and am back to it full time, I'm finding myself wondering how I can make it just a little more fun for myself.

No I have no intention in this world of wearing bibs on Wednesdays. Those fun days are gone, unfortunately.

However, I can come up with another kind of variation.

Scrubs come in all colors.

Until we get the word that we all have to wear identical scrubs in the same color, I have a little leeway in my choice of scrub colors.

SO ... 

*laughing*

It doesn't take much explanation. I'll be following the rainbow through my weeks.

I'll also be able to pare down my collection of scrubs; except for needing to get (buy or sew) a set in yellow (of which I have none for some inexplicable reason) I'm pretty much good to go. Even Saturdays because I have a couple of Alianora outfits (her colors are silver and black, but she uses bright accent colors too) that I used my scrub tops and pants as patterns for.

Since I'm color coordinating I can keep my eyes open for shoes in those colors too. Wearing each pair only one day a week ought to give them all longer lifespans. Until we get the word that we all have to wear identical shoes I have a little leeway in the colors of those too.

One perk of this job is the utter absence of having to accessorize. Not that I don't love accessorizing, mind you, but all things considered the less I have to think about my shifts ahead of time the happier I'm going to be. A weekly rainbow will help with that. It won't be an indicator of 'where I'm at' in my week because some of my 'weekends' fall on Monday/Tuesday and others on the traditional Saturday/Sunday ... it's the nature of the beast, working every other weekend ... but at least I won't have to bother with figuring out which scrub set I'm going to wear, or which shoes.

Now that it's on my mind I realize that I have every other Wednesday off. I CAN wear my bibs on those Wednesdays!

Heh.

That makes me smile.