The Storyteller | Mary Vee

Jerusalem, Photo by Mary Vee Today we’ll visit a small section of Israel near Jerusalem. Ahab's Well. The city's access to water was set up with miraculous engineering for the time.     The book we’ll talk about in connection with this well is  Gods and Kings  by Lynn Austin. I met Lynn years ago at a conference. As the keynote speaker, she spoke about her visit to Israel to research the story. She had to jump over several hurdles and at the time it didn’t look like she would be able to go.  While in Israel, she received special permission to visit places I could not see when I went, which intrigued me all the more.   This book is the first in a series of four, fictionalizing the life of Hezekiah and the kings that followed until the time Babylon took Jerusalem.   The photos from our journey today were taken in Israel by me, Mary Vee. So you understand, fictionalizing a Bible story enables an author (based on a great deal of research) to add components...

The more we know about a person, the better we understand why they say what they say, and the meaning behind the body language that accompanied the words, in addition to the intent behind the tone. Arch de Triomphe Photo by Mary Vee Whoa, that was almost philosophical. Pontification done. But this is the reason for my choice of book to talk about today. I woke this morning and asked myself, which of the many books I've read should we talk about. The choice had to be one that would benefit you as well as me. The winner unarguably was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Since Les Miserables takes place in Paris, I chose Paris pictures to show you. But not the 1840's you would have seen had you lived during the time the story took place ;) Me in The Louvre Hubby took this photo While the musical is epic, the movie heart-rendering, (Love Liam Neeson's performance)--the book is overwhelmingly magical. Think:  the difference between a l...

Here is a fun summer idea for any number of persons.  Go on a city scanvenger hunt. Choose one or more unusual items, google all the venders that typically have that item and hop in your car or on your bicycle. The day was Monday, hubby's and my anniversary. We had an unusual cake for our wedding. One that had to be specially ordered. It was banana nut. We've asked bakeries if they made the cake for years. The answer is no. So, we set out with a list of twenty bakeries that took us to parts of our city we hadn't visited. Many were the old parts of town with brick roads.  The interior walls separating stores are still the exposed brick. Workers at the bakeries recommended other bakeries not on our list, so we added them. We walked tree lined streets. Met people sitting outside shops reading newspapers. The original kind. Ink on paper. And found many shops that we will visit next time. Look at the cool antique ...

The final step in the long process to become an American citizen is taking the oath. A ceremony is scheduled for a large group of applicants to take this final step together. This week, seventy individuals from fifty countries dressed in their best and brought their friends and family to the event. The Gerald R Ford presidential auditorium was filled to capacity with several individuals standing in the back. I went to support a dear Guatemalan friend. Unlike the movies, the seventy enthusiastically stood for the anthem and boldly sang, spoke the pledge of allegiance, and waved handheld flags during the ceremony.  The presiding judge said they had the freedom to walk up to the platform to accept their naturalization paperwork or remain in their seats to have the papers brought to them. All seventy individuals, including a man who could barely walk, stood when his or her name was called as though winning an Oscar or an Olympic go...

Photo by Mary Vee Due to modern technology, blind students are using Braille less. Audible advances enable these individuals to hear stories and informative text easily.  Educators are finding that these students have become deficient in spelling, composition, and are limited to only that which is produced audibly.  Here is some amazing facts about Braille. The inventor of Braille, a fifteen-year-old boy names Louis Braille, took his idea from a night code communication used by the French military. The code enabled leaders in combat to read messages at night without a light.  At age three, Braille suffered an accident when playing with an awl in his father's workspace. The incident blinded him in one eye that became infected and spread to his other eye, leaving him totally blind. Louis Braille's was smart. He earned scholarships to attend the Royal Institute for the blind.   In those days blind students read by moving their fingertips across raised let...

Photo Courtesy: pixabay.com Have you heard the latest about a phenomenal prototype on its way to the market? Gloves for the deaf to communicate with the listening population. The gloves have sensors that translate hand and finger signs into audible language! I have friends and acquaintances who can sign with the deaf. I also have deaf friends who can read lips. These individuals can understand me, but I am not able to understand them because I cannot sign.  The June 9, 2019 news reporting Roy Allela's award-winning gloves that enable the deaf to audibly communicate with the hearing is spreading across cyberspace. The invention won him the grand prize for the Hardware Trailblazer award at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and second runner-up award at the Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders of Innovation Fellowship in London. What gave Allela the idea? He has a niece who was born deaf. The niece learned sign language, however,...

Photo by Mary Vee Today we are talking about accents around the world. While working with a Crow Indian people group, I noticed the children barely had the accent of their parents'. I mentioned this to a linguistics student and learned an individual's accent comes mostly from the child's school and neighboorhood friends.  T he child spends the majority of their formative time in the schoolroom and playing in the neighborhood. As they speak, he or she is corrected by their teacher and peers. The peers tend to correct during everyday play and offer the community's slang and idioms. The teacher tends to offer something closer to correct grammar with an added ingredient, his or her own accent, cultural idioms, and slang. So, when my sister came home with her family after serving as missionaries in Wales, she had taken on such phrases as "I will phone you," instead of "I will call you," etc. A few of her sentences had the sing-songy raise at th...

Road Trip! I'm excited to take you with me. This destination is 18+ hours. We'll cross most of the United States. Although, today being only two days after the Shri Lanka church bombings, I wish I could go and help. For this cross country drive, the bags are packed. My sister, who is going with me. will arrive soon. I am so thankful for her company and help. My broken arm is still mending, (I am on a no weight restriction)...BUT  the arm is slowly getting better. The purpose of this trip is a book tour. At the destination, I will teach classes on how to write a story about a quest and sign books already purchased by students. This is going to be so much fun. THEN, after the work, my three sisters and I will drive down to Waco and have a fun sister day. I hear there is much to see in Waco. Have you been to Texas? What should we see there? The book I am taking is my new release. A fantasy. If you are looking for a story like Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia,...

Photo by Mary Vee Caesarea on the Mediterranean, Israel Once upon a time, in a land far away... Readers of my newsletter travel to interesting places with me. Virtual travel style. No need to pack. No visas or passports needed.  We take trips four times a year to interesting places. This month, in honor of the Easter season, we visited a few places in Israel. We saw the aqua ducts built by Herod two thousand years ago. The slope is only one degree, perfect to keep a continuous flow for the nine-mile structure. There is more! In the newsletter. Every month, I send the new readers to our group a virtual trip newsletter to welcome them. Like the other trips, I take the photos and provide links to videos whisking you right there from the comfort of your home. We have gone cliff climbing, hiking, white-water rafting, zip lining, sailed on a pirate ship over the 23 letters sent out so far. Want to join us? You are invited. Here is the link to sign up: Mary Vee's ...