It seemed fitting that this children’s book,  Pop Goes Thomas,  was one of the top image search results for ‘children railway mess’.    One of the things I have missed the most since retiring from the library is being continually exposed to children’s books.   In my library years I came across so many great children’s books and reviewed them.   My reading habits really have changed a great deal since I stopped going to the library for work every day.   These days I mostly read novels on my Android tablet.    I find I can easily check out eBooks from the library and load them instantly in my Kindle application.   I have also found lots of free books to download in Kindle.   I also sometimes buy books in Kindle and in the Kobo eBook store,  which is also installed on my tablet.

Unfortunately,  I have not yet seen any children’s eBooks that were of a quality that I could even consider recommending them.   eBooks are great for texts and seem to do okay with some illustrations,  but by and large the technology for children’s picture books just isn’t quite there yet.

I have many fond memories of travelling by train.   At different times I made long distance trains trips between New Orleans and Chicago and between New Orleans and Boston.   And in the years I lived in the Boston area,  I frequently used the Northeast Corridor service connecting Boston, New York and Washington, DC.   I find the rocking of a train soothing and really enjoy getting to see many different landscapes pass by as I sit back in comfort and leave all the work of travelling to somebody else.   Someday I hope to take the train from Seattle to Chicago,  a journey Mary Daheim chronicled in her mystery novel Loco Motive.  (See my review)

I hesitate to post anything on the subject of ‘mess’.    While I am not proud of it,  I have come to accept that I am a bit of a slob and the fact is that more often than not my home and my things are a bit messy.  There is however a lot of love at this address,  and a family who accept each other as they are and make the best of the time they have together.   And quite frankly,  I wouldn’t trade that any day for some spit-polished-looks-like-the-maid-just-left-palace that didn’t have love and kindness in its walls.