Dust if you must.
But wouldn’t it be better,
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed?
Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must.
But there is not much time
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb!
Music to hear, and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must.
But the world’s out there
With the sun in your eyes,
the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come round again.

Dust if you must.
But bear in mind,
Old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go, and go you must,
You, yourself, will make more dust.

      written by Mrs. Rose Milligan

Cyanide for a smile

I’ve just finished reading Cyanide for a smile by Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu. I liked it. It’s a little bit like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
The story is about six neighbors, who are sharing a house. There’s an exceptional old lady – Melanija Lupu – she’s a widow with very fine taste and sharp-witted mind. She is totally my favorite – very sly and she always knows what to say, how to fix things just to get out of the mess. I really admire these people. Then comes the other lady in the house – Valerica Skurtu - she is an old maid – always searching for a future husband; knitting and playing games of patience are her hobbies; constantly buying useless things just to make her place more attractive for men. Doru Matej is a sculptor. He’s the only young lad in the house. He has 2 passions – art and women. He’s a total loose fish and he’s never interested in the outside world. He’s just indifferent. On the other pole is Grigore Popa former military man – he has reached the limit of the human’s egoism; so filled with hatred that he has made a black notebook, where he writes down if someone bullies him or anything else. Horrible lonely man. Mihai Panaitesku is a math teacher. He lives with his wife and they enjoy living life – every night opera, exquisite restaurants, etc. The last guy is an accountant – Martin Walku. He has a lover and is a formal dentist.
The story thickens when the neighbors found accidentally two paintings – one from Francisco Goya and one from Rembrandt. The original plan is to sell the paintings and split the money in 5 (because one of the neighbors doesn’t know about them), but then the teacher dies, more precisely he was killed – with cyanide. The neighbors understand that someone is trying to kill them all. So they start to outwit the police and each other. The game of nerves gets tighter as they start dying one by one. There will be only one winner!

(via booklover)

(via booklover)