Lazy Sunday not quite

So yesterday I started scanning old family photos and I'm continuing that project today. Say hi to my grandparents! This morning I went to an interesting forum on women's voices before church and we talked heard about how NDI has been working to create programs to teach women in traditionally male-dominated countries how to take on leadership roles. Then we discussed how we still have a lot to do in our own country. There was a nice sermon in church about loving your enemies and we also got to see George Washington's family Bible.

I'm reading Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language which has not turned out to be as interesting as I'd hoped. There are a lot of interesting stories and anecdotes but less in depth discussion then I like. Good for a bit of light reading though which is good because I'm also reading Yasmina Khadra's The Swallows of Kabul. It's a short novel that takes place in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban. Depressing, yes, but the language is poetic. The narrative follows two men; a jailer who married a woman out of gratitude for saving him during the war with the Soviets and a young man who married his progressive wife out of love. Their individual mindsets are being explored as they both start to feel the effects of the degrading and terrifying treatment the population is facing. Almost daily public executions, beggars everywhere, little food, stifling heat, buildings in ruin, men casually using whips to clear their way, and the demeaning burqa all combine to paint a scream-worthy picture. By the way, spell-checker does not like the word burqa, as it shouldn't. I can't imagine this story will end well.

I am also reading a mystery by A.C. Baantjer, a Dutch writer, called DeKok and the Dead Harlequin. I've read a couple of his other novels and they're fun and not too challenging. How could I not read DeKok and the Geese of Death? I've just started and so far an accountant has announced that he wants to commit the perfect crime and he wants DeKok to give him advice on how to do it. DeKok is bewildered and trying to make him understand that he doesn't care how a crime is committed because he doesn't want them committed at all. Anyway, no matter what it will be interesting.