From Where I Sit

Charlotte (Lotte) Coleman never thinks much about religion or faith in God, yet she hopes for a great future. She believes that she does not need to pray for things that she can accomplish herself. Her outlook dramatically changes when a car accident sends her and her fianc, Craig, to the hospital. While Craig quickly recovers, Lottes injuries are devastating and leave her unable to see. Craig does the unthinkable and leaves Lotte to face her future without him. During Lottes second hospitalization, she receives a visit from a priest, Father Gabriel, who tells her that she must regain hope and faith in God to succeed in life. Upon his suggestion, Lotte and her family depart on a pilgrimage to Ftima, Portugal. There, while Lotte crawls toward the shrine on her elbows and hands, a man talks to her about his own pilgrimage and prays with her for miracles that he believes could happen. Lotte becomes a believer in God and resigns to her faith, but miracles begin to happen when they land in Geneva to wait for a transfer flight. A doctor from the Geneva Casablanca Institute approaches Lotte with an offer that was too hard to refuse. Lotte believes that it is the beginning of what the strange man and what Father Gabriel were talking about, so she agrees. In Gstaad, Switzerland, she falls in love with two men, Roman, a man in his early sixties, and his right-hand man, Carlos, about Lottes age. Once again, Lotte arrives at a crossroad in her life and she must choose carefully and wisely. Lotte is only certain of one thing, her unshakeable faith in God, and she hopes that she has chosen the right man to live with for the rest of her life.

A scientist before he was a beekeeper, Mark L. Winston found in his new hobby a paradigm for understanding the role science should play in society. In essays originally appearing as columns in Bee Culture, the leading professional journal, Winston uses beekeeping as a starting point to discuss broader issues, such as how agriculture functions under increasingly complex social and environmental restraints, how scientists grapple with issues of accountability, and how people struggle to maintain contact with the natural world. Winston's reflections on bees, beekeeping, and science cover a period of tumultuous change in North America, a time when new parasites, reduced research funding, and changing economic conditions have disrupted the livelihoods of bee farmers."Managed honeybees in the city provide a major public service by pollinating gardens, fruit trees, and berry bushes, and should be encouraged rather than legislated out of existence. Our cities, groomed and cosmopolitan as they appear, still obey the basic rules of nature, and our gardens and yards are no exception. Homegrown squashes, apple trees, raspberries, peas, beans, and other garden crops require bees to move the pollen from one flower to another, no matter how urbanized or sophisticated the neighborhood."

The author has described the poems in this book as the “songs in my heart” since they reflect the many varied experiences life has offered and the colorful variety of people he has been privileged to know. They also reflect the profound impression the natural world has left upon him. Through his poetry he seeks to share these experiences with others. Through his sketches he shares his keen observation of people and nature as seen through the eyes of a mature and sensitive soul.

From Where I Sit is a collection of the inane thoughts (those are the polite words) rumbling around in the tequila-soaked brain cells of Bob Rockwell, an old curmudgeon fighting a losing battle with the absurdity and the ridiculousness of everyday life. He rants about the stuff that pisses him off (and that's a lot of stuff), he teases society's morons especially what he calls pretentious assholes (his word, not mine), he maligns those that annoy him, but he is quick to pay tribute to his heroes. He says he writes to consume space on his hard drive but his clever wit is sure to make you chuckle (maybe even giggle) and experience a number of profound ah-ha moments.

As Marshall, with his wife and family, rolls through life, accompany him. Enjoy the witty and often whimsical episodes that occur. In work, play, travel, community, and worship, ponder the dialogues of opinions, perceptions, events, and realities of being physically challenged. The journey, which includes more than fifty years in a wheelchair, is presented in a topical display in chapters on different arenas of life: The Paradox - Diversities of perceptions and realties. The Good Old Days - Early life on a one-horse farm. Fate Knocked at My Door - The accident. Angels of Mercy - Hospitalization. Letters of Cheer - Student nurses’ letters. Give Me Elbow Grease - Rehabilitation You Can Go Home Again - Summer at home. The Halls of Ivy - Education. Keeping the Faith – Job searching. The Birds and the Bees – Love and passion. Dreams Come True - Marriage and family. Toiling in the Vineyards - Work experiences. No Man is an Island - Community life. On the Road - Travel. God Bless You – God, others, and I. Keeping the Juices Flowing - Adapting Can’t See the Forest for the Trees – Perceptions. Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk – Realities. The Golden Years - The senior years. The Journey has been one of challenges, physical, mental, and spiritual. It included two years of hospitalization and rehabilitation to prepare him to enter a world not yet ready for the physically challenged. He found himself looking inside with no way in. He boarded airplanes by hand-walking the support rails. He dealt with perceptions: “What can you do? You are handicapped!” His faith and hope were tested: Why me, God? Should I marry? Will any company hire me? Successes came: A lovely wife, two beautiful adopted babies, enjoyable work, friendships, health, and joy.

From drought to flood, from frost to flame, a plethora of emotions and events spanning over 50 years are recalled from a down home, porch swing perspective. These real-life short stories are derived from fond childhood memories from Wewahitchka, a small rural town in northern Florida. From this quaint village nestled between the Dead Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, the author strolls the reader through the sidewalks, past the storefronts and dips into the lakes and woods of this sleepy one-red-light town. The follies and fears of he and his family and friends are shared here and provide a long, but not so gentle segue to the laughter and tears of marriage and raising aging parents AND children alike. For your enjoyment, a few pictures have been dispersed among these 40 stories. The author's desire is that you laugh, savor and hopefully relate these events to your own life experiences.