Reading Recommendations: More Texas Siftings, Jerry Flemmons.

This "siftings" the reader will enjoy. Stories, sayings, old recipes, prices and even an item or two having to do with San Saba County, Lampasas and Lometa in the old days. This book is one to pick up or put aside on a lazy afternoon or at bed time.

What an interesting state we live in-lots of history, too. Indian stories galore!

And, the reader will enjoy Lawrence Parent's new coffee table sized book, Timeless Texas, Introduction by Elmer Kelton.

Longtime fans of Lawrence Parent will be introduced to a contemplative side of this talented artist, who, for the first time, presents his vision of the Texas landscape in black and white.

Parent's attachment to and recollections of these places come alive in extended captions that depict the adventure, hard work and funny moments in the life of a professional photographer. By climbing mountains, chasing clouds and taking a quiet pause at a hidden waterfall, Parent has created a Texas gem that is bound to captivate all who go with him.

And, Discovery, Unearthing the New Treasures of Archaeology, Thomas & Hudson, Edited by Brian M. Fagan, 320 Illustrations, 315 in color.

An unprecedented look inside contemporary archaeology, Discovery reveals the significant and astonishing finds from the last fifteen years that have changed the way we see our past.

Many of the book's contributions are written by the discoverers themselves, who give first hand accounts of their finds and assess the significance. They include famous Egyptologists such as Zahi Hawass, Kent Weeks and Alain Zivie; pioneering underwater explorers as Frank Goddie; and leading excavators and scientists from America, Britain, China, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, and elsewhere.

Discovery spans two million years of history, from the latest fossil discoveries that rewrite the story of human origins to wrecks of early submarines and ironclads from the American Civil War. There are revelations about the pyramids of Giza, a just discovered royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings and gold filled burials of Assyrian queens at Nimrod, Iraq, Italy's Ice Man and spectacular Inca mummies from high in the Andes bring us face to face with people from the past, while stunning wall paintings from San Bartolo in Guatemala revolutionize our knowledge of the ancient Maya.

Here are lost cities, as well as fascinating insights into the thoughts and beliefs of our ancestors. Many recent discoveries have been made through the microscope and in the laboratory, and we see how Neanderthals are being reconstructed from their DNA and how medical science is revolutionizing our knowledge of pharaohs and commoners.

And, The Attentive Life, Discerning God's Presence in All Things, Leighton Ford.

"Each of us is part of a Greater Story, and behind our stories is a storyteller calling us home. The deepest longing I have is to come home to my own heart, to bring my real self before the real God, to be changed into his true image, to become all that God has made me to be. It was and is a longing to belong, to have a home for God in my heart.

Why do I so often hide from this longing? Spiritual inattentiveness, I believe, comes in large part from our fear of being known for who we really are. Often we keep ourselves busy and distracted because we fear that if we slow down and are still, we may look inside and find nothing there.

This book is all about attentiveness, not simply as a path to self-fulfillment but as the very essence of our journey to the center, as the way of making our heart a home for God.

The reader will never forget this quiet and beautifully written book. I hope to acquire this treasure for my own library, to read and have always at my side.

See you at Rylander.