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| OHCC LIVING | APRIL 2023 | 11 The Month Of Hope As April arrives on the wings of March, we are reminded of the beauty of life renewed. Flowers are blooming, hummingbirds have returned, and the Monarch butterfly is emerging from its winter sleep. Our Clubhouse is once again full of activity and there is a buzz of excitement throughout its halls. Dance classes are filled with new members. Mahjong players are circled around tables. The music is heard from the new Music Lover's Club morning coffee time. Down the hall, we hear lines from familiar plays such as Neil Simon's The Odd Couple as the Encore Players hone their acting skills. Shouts of joy ring out from the pickleball courts, and our Library doors are open welcoming those who want to find that special novel. A one of a kind, must read story is, Above Average, written by D.D. Smith, a resident of OHCC. The book is his own memoir about how he fought his way from rural Minnesota to the blazing skies over Vietnam. It is a refreshingly honest story of the author's life and times when the machines of that time and the men who flew them were bigger than life. They were a rare breed of cowboys who lived on a razor's edge. Because it was before the age of computer-controlled flight, the pilot had to become one with his aircraft, and fly it as an extension of himself. He was the Navy's first Chief Test Pilot and flew over 138 combat missions, made 800 carrier arrested landings, and ejected successfully from the first flat spin in a Tomcat F-14, his favorite aircraft, and almost lost his life. He flew 33 different models of aircraft, and logged 4,826 flight hours. "No swaggering bravado here; this is a fresh, insightful look at life, luck and guts in Vietnam and beyond." – Stephen Coonts, The NY Times. The book boosts 4.8 stars and was #1 in Biographies of the Vietnam War. Perhaps Mr. Smith will join us for a fireside chat sometime in the near future in our Library. Library Association APRIL BOOK BUYS All That Is Hidden ...................................Rhys Bowen & Clare Broyles Citizen Justice (Nf ) .................................. Hon. M. Margaret Mckeown Code Name Sapphire ........................................................... Pam Jenoff Collateral Damage ................................................................. J. A. Jance Cradles Of The Reich ................................................... Jennifer Coburn Dinners With Ruth (Nf ) ............................................... Nina Totenberg Empty Theatre ......................................................................... Jac Jemc Forget What You Know .................................................Christina Dodd The Good Life (Nf ) ........ Robert Waldinger M.d. & Marc Schulz Ph.D It's One Of Us ........................................................................ J. T. Ellison I Will Find You ................................................................ Harlan Coben Just The Nicest Couple ......................................................Mary Kubica Love Clancy .............................................................W. Bruce Cameron The Mitford Affair......................................................... Marie Benedict The Sister Effect ............................................................. Susan Mallery Something Wilder ...................................................... Christina Lauren Standing Dead .................................................... Margaret Mizushima Victory City ................................................................. Salman Rushdie Worthy Opponents .......................................................... Danielle Steel The Writing Retreat ............................................................. Julia Bartz High Flight By John Gillespie Magee Jr. Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air .... Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark nor ever eagle flew — And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high un-trespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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