Greetings!

This week, rather than post my whole essay into an email, I'll just be directing you to where you can find it on the web. (See link at the end of this email.) I'm hoping that will be a more pleasant reading experience.

Speaking of more pleasant reading experiences, have you ever found some long article online and known that you wanted to read it someday but maybe not right then? There are, of course, apps for that. I use Instapaper, but there is also Pocket, at least, and perhaps other options as well.

Continuing last week's apocalyptic book recommendations, I thought I'd mention that the children and I recently enjoyed reading John Christopher's When the Tripods Came. This is actually the most recently written of Christopher's series of now four books about the invasion of earth by aliens who move around in giant three-legged metal contraptions and subjugate humans with mind-control caps. But it's a prequel, set during the year of the tripods' first arrival, so we decided to start there. Good fun.

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And please enjoy this week's essay, which starts something like this:

Eating in bed is a weird thing to do, if you think about it. There is a pronounced risk of getting crumbs in the sheets and spilling your coffee, and simply balancing a tray on your lap while you bring fork and knife into action is awkward enough to take a lot of the fun out of two strips of bacon.

So where did Axl and Belle get the idea, independently of any suggestion on my part, that what Petra might most appreciate on this year's Mother's Day would be to enjoy breakfast without having to leave the warm embrace of her bed?

Click here to read the rest.