King Arthur Movie Tristan

I remember you as you were in the last autumn.

You were the grey beret and the still heart.

In your eyes the flames of the twilight fought on.

And the leaves fell in the water of your soul.



Clasping my arms like a climbing plant

the leaves garnered your voice, that was slow and at peace.

Bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning.

Sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul.



I feel your eyes traveling, and the autumn is far off:

grey beret, voice of a bird, heart like a house

towards which my deep longings migrated

and my kisses fell, happy as embers.


Sky from a ship. Field from the hills:

Your memory is made of light, of smoke, of a still pond!

Beyond your eyes, farther on, the evenings were blazing.

Dry autumn leaves revolved in your soul.

-Pablo Neruda



artwork by john william godward

title: The One That I Want

author: Allison Winn Scotch


genre: fiction


pages: 270


published: 2010/ARC


first line: Imagine, if you can, that you are sixteen again.

rated: 3 out of 5

This is my life. This is happiness. The two are one and the same. This, since I was sixteen and my mother died, is what I did, how I functioned, how I constructed everything around me; as sure as I breathed, I was happy. This is the life that I want, the one that I want. How is it that my husband doesn't know that?

In The One That I Want , Tilly Farmer is a married 32 year old guidance counselor, working for the same high school she graduated from. She is married to Tyler, her high school sweetheart, and the two are now trying to have a baby. They both live in the town they grew up in.
One afternoon Tilly goes to the town carnival and decides to see the fortune teller, who happens to be one of her old classmates. The fortune teller gives Tilly the 'gift of clarity' and sends her on her way.




Tilly's life is far from perfect. Her mother died to cancer when she was 16, leaving her 2 sisters, her father and herself heartbroken. Tilly managed to cope, but her father succumbed to alcoholism and her younger sister still resents him for it.
Now that Tilly has seen the fortune teller, she suddenly has strange episodes where she has visions of the future. When she 'sees' her father getting into his car drunk, then receives the phone call from the police station telling her he is being held for DWI, she begins to wonder how powerful this 'gift of clarity' really is.



Before she knows it, Tilly begins to have other visions of the future, including one where she sees her husband packing his belongings and leaving town. Tilly begins to realize that things aren't what she thought they once were.







I both liked and disliked The One That I Want . The storyline was interesting and I enjoyed the magical realism aspect of it, but for some reason I just could not connect with Tilly's character. She wasn't annoying or anything, I just didn't feel any type of connection to her.


I hate to sound nitpicky, but one thing that bothered me was the language in the story, at times it felt uncalled for and distracting. Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one to drop the 'F' bomb in conversation, but in this story it just distracted me a bit. It felt like it was overdone in some of the conversations. I know Tilly was mad with the situation, but I'd rather have seen her less on the defense.

Another thing I didn't like were some of the metaphors the author uses.

"But that's just it," he answers, and two real tears roll down from each eye, like sperm swimming free.

Then again, some of the passages were great:

There is the before. And then there is the after. Happiness is what you choose, what you follow, not what follows you.

Like I said, the storyline was interesting. I did enjoy the friendship Tilly has with her best friend Susanna. I liked how the two support each other through thick and thin. There's a scene where Tilly and a few of the girls get together for Susanna's birthday. They have dinner and drink wine and just vent, that felt realistic and I always enjoy female friendships in stories.


There is a plot twist and the end that I thought was good also. All in all, this was an okay read for me. I do recommend it, others might love it. Though I didn't particularly love this book, I would definitely read Allison Winn Scotch again.











special thanks to Crystal over @ Booksparks for making this possible.

Migraine headaches are repeated or recurrent headaches, possibly caused by changes in the diameter of the blood vessels in the head. Migraine headaches are often classified in two main types — migraine with aura (formerly called classic migraine) and migraine without aura (formerly called common migraine). Most people with migraines do not have any warning before it occurs. However, in cases of "classic" migraine headache, a visual disturbance called an aura happens before the headache starts. Classic migraine is different from "common" migraines (which have no warning sign or aura) or "complicated" migraines (which occur with speech, movement, or other problems in the nervous system). Auras usually last less than an hour. The headache typically begins less than an hour after the aura ends. About two in 10 people who have migraines experience auras, which are sensory or motor disturbances that precede the actual headache. Most auras consist of visual disturbances, such as a blind spot or a flickering zigzag line or crescent in your field of vision. Another type of aura involves unusual sensations, such as numbness and tingling of the lips, lower face and fingers. A third type affects motor function, causing problems with movement or speech.

Migraine headaches are a common type of chronic headache. Migraine pain can be excruciating and may incapacitate you for hours or even days. Some people do experience a variety of vague symptoms before common migraines - mental fuzziness, mood changes, fatigue, and unusual retention of fluid. Migraines occur in women more than men, most often between the ages of 10 and 46 years. In some cases, they appear to run in families. Migraines without aura strike without the unmistakable warning sign of disturbed vision or sensation. Still, some people say more subtle symptoms, such as mood changes and loss of appetite, alert them to oncoming migraines. True migraine headaches are not a result of underlying brain tumors or other serious medical problems. The pain of a classic migraine headache is described as an intense throbbing or pounding felt in the forehead/temple, ear/jaw or around the eyes. Classic migraine starts on one side of the head, but may eventually spread to the other side. An attack may last one to two pain-racked days. Influences in a person's life that tend to overload the nervous system are risks. Once identified in your life, you can counteract the negative effects of risks with the positive results of protective activities.

Migraine headaches constantly accommodates changes in hormones, emotions, and thoughts as well as the many chemicals in our food and beverages. Migraines are the most studied of all headaches, and there are various competing theories about what may actually cause them. Hormones seem to influence migraine development. Some women who take oral contraceptives or estrogen experience worsening headaches while others improve. Similarly, some women have an increasing headache pattern during pregnancy while others have diminished headache intensity. Other women develop migraines for the first time when they are pregnant. Headaches may increase in some women in the days before their menstrual period. Women who do not have migraines may develop migraines as a side effect to using Oral Contraceptive Pills (OCP). Many scientists now believe that migraines arise from problems within the central nervous system. These problems, which tend to run in families, affect the chemical messengers inside your brain — making you more sensitive to the types of triggers that can cause migraines. Many internal and external factors can trigger migraine such as ,Common foods — aged cheese, red wine, caffeine, chocolate, dairy products, pickled foods, lunchmeat, aspartame, MSG, peanuts, lima beans, bananas, raisins. Physical factors — fatigue, hormonal changes, missed meals, decreased sleep, oversleeping, stress

Guide to Headache Migraine Treatment Tips

1.Many medications can reduce the frequency of migraines such as ,Beta-blockers (e.g., propanolol) Anti-depressants (e.g., amitriptyline) Anti-convulsants (e.g., valproic acid) Calcium-channel blockers These medications are less useful and tolerable to patients with infrequent headaches.

2.Other medications are taken when there is the first sign of an impending migraine attack. In the case of classic migraine, Ergots (e.g., DHE-45) Serotonin agonists / triptans (e.g., sumatriptan) and Isometheptene.

3.Other medications are primarily given to treat the symptoms of migraine. Used alone or in combinations, these drugs can minimize pain, nausea, or emotional distress caused by the migraine.Anti-emetics (e.g., prochlorperazine) Sedatives (e.g., butalbital) Anti-inflammatories (e.g., ibuprofen) Acetaminophen Narcotic analgesics (e.g., meperidine)

4.Most patients with migraine can identify certain foods that are closely associated with their migraine headaches. To find out which foods are responsible, avoid all of the above-mentioned foods and then gradually work each food back into the diet.

5.Hormone therapy may help some women whose migraines seem to be linked to their menstrual cycle.

6.Stress management strategies, such as exercise, relaxation, biofeedback, and other therapies designed to help limit discomfort, may also reduce the occurrence and severity of migraine attacks.

I have no life but this,

To lead it here;

Nor any death, but lest

Dispelled from there;



Nor tie to earths to come,

Nor action new,

Except through this extent,

The realm of you.

-Emily Dickinson



art by J. Wall

title: Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila


author: Jeannette Katzir


genre: memoir


pages: 374


published: 2009


first line: I hurried down the hallway but stopped when I saw her.


rated: 4 out of 5






Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila is inspired by author Jeannette Katzir's own experiences. Her parents are Holocaust survivors.




The book starts off with Jaclyn and her siblings showing up at the reading of their mothers will. Right off you can see there is some conflict between them for some reason or other. The story then takes a turn as her parents stories are told. Her mother Channa, and her father Nathan, survived the Holocaust as young adults. Channa was able to get away and live with her brother on the run in order to survive. Nathan was eventually sent to a concentration camp, but somehow managed to survive as well. They both lost family members and barely made it out alive.

As the sun was coming up one morning, the sounds of gunshots and shattering windows woke Rachel and her daughters. They ran over and looked out the window. Rachel knew instantly what was happening: a pogrom, an organized killing. They ran out the back door and sought entry to a hiding place beneath the house that they had prepared for such a moment. They crawled on their hands and knees and then on their bellies until they were deep inside. The earth was cold and wet, and the floorboards above them left little space for movement.

Once the war is over, Channa and Nathan move to the United States to try and start new lives. That is where the two meet and fall in love. Once married, the couple has five children. They live your average everyday lives, Channa mostly stays home while Nathan works and eventually starts up his own business. All the while you can see that Channa has deep rooted fears about her husband leaving her for 'someone better'. The war affected Channa so much that she deals with issues for the rest of her life. She is always afraid her husband will suddenly leave her and she is weary of and does not trust strangers. She eventually becomes a hoarder, as the direct effect of having to struggle to find food and nearly starving during the war.

It was moments such as these that I especially loved that momila of mine. Not because she gave me the lovely gift of furniture, but because she rose above her anger at being disobeyed and remembered that I was her daughter.

As the story goes on you get to see how these parents interact with their family. Jaclyn marries first and has a daughter. She is very close to her mother who is very old fashioned and a bit controlling. Jaclyn's sister Shirley is next to have a son. The two sisters are very close, but as time passes, they begin to have problems. They fight mostly over money and business issues since both their husbands end up owning their own businesses. There is alot of competition between the sisters, mostly due to Shirley's jealousy and resentment. All the while Channa insists that her children be loyal to one another, because family is what matters most.



She deals with medical issues for some time and when Channa has a stroke, all her children are at her side. And after she passes away, they gather to read her will, which is not what they expected it to be. Sadly what ensues is a drawn out legal battle between siblings over their mother's estate.

I tried very hard to accept the fact that Mom and Dad were broken birds, with horrific pasts that would always continue to haunt them. Mom's torturous past made her suspicious of the future. The present was simply a state of anticipation Mom endured as she waited for everything to go to pieces around her, just as it had in Baranavichy.

When I first started reading Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila I didn't know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect to find myself totally immersed in the story and unable to put the book down. It was interesting reading about the effects the Holocaust had on these survivors and how this trickled down to their own children, who weren't even born during the war. This is a great book club read, it's one of those books that makes for a great discussion. It's a book about the Holocaust, it's survivors and families.

Within the walls of that meditation suite were the consequences of Adolf Hitler's handiwork. Although he had been dead for years, he had been instrumental in shaping my parents and destroying this family. Mom and Dad lost their parents in those pivotal formative years. Their only proxy, The War, never taught them how to balance money, family, loyalty, love, and hate. Lacking those basic ideals, they raised us to view these same issues through distrusting eyes.