The Library

[JoanP]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat always out. Do come in and join us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not) right now. Let the book talk begin here! Everyone is welcome!

I love reading Sharyn McCrumb. Her Ghost Riders, is an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians. I loved it!

Hey there, Phyll!  I am still amazed the PDJames continues to turn out mysteries - one has to be really sharp for that - and she still is at 88!  Do you think her book characterization of Dagliesh is as dark as his portrayal in the BBC series?  The actor's choice?  Sometimes actors don't read the book!

Some exciting news - our sharp octogenarian will be back with us by popular demand as soon as he finds his place in Story of Civilization.  You will be hearing more about that very shortly.

Brian, as soon as Robby's discussion opens, you might email some of his former participants with the url to this site...still www.seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php  until we get the homepage up.  We'll send out a message in Pat's Book Bytes too, but a personal invitation just might bring your old group together sooner.

By the way, just to be clear, contrary to what others may suggest, we plan to stay right here forever, no matter what.  We're putting in too much time and effort to ever turn back. 

[Robby]

I just entered Senior Learn today with the help of Ginny, Joan, Jane, and Pat.  So I am browsing around here in the Library and have enjoyed all your comments.  I most definitely will get SofC going again.  Be patient with me and it is my hope that a number of you will join us so that we can have the large participation that we once had.

I feel great and am continuing my practice as a Clinical Psychologist.  I see patients every hour from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. five days a week.  It increased to that amount since the economy downturn - depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc.  But as good as I am (notice my usual humility?), there is something even better than coming to see me.  It is being active here in Senior Learn.

Robby

[Persian]

Our ROBBY is Home!  Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robby, take as long as you like.  We'll wait right here in the Library.

[Steph]

Robbie.. Bringer of chocolate to the beach party in winter.. Glad to hear from you. All of the old familiars seem to be here. I am so glad I decided to rejoin when all of the fancy stuff went away. Feel wonderful to be with all of you again

[Robby]

I forgot all about my bringing those chocolates.  That was loads of fun at the Beach House.  Not to mention the fact that I was the only man among how many(?) women.

Robby

[EvelynMC]

Hi Robby:

So glad you may be starting the Story of Civilization discussion again.  I will probably join you again.

I am a fast, accurate typist and will be glad to type the portions being discussed as you need them, if this will help. Just let me know.

Joan K. and Phyll - I agree, the actor who portrays Adam Dagleish on TV is handsome, but sooo broody.  I didn't notice that he was so sad in the books.

Evelyn

[Robby]

Thank you, Evelyn.  I will let you know as we go along.  Do you have a copy of the fifth volume or maybe all eleven volumes?

Robby

[ALF43]

How can we go wrong?
Evelyn that is so thoughtful of you to step up to the plate for Robby, if he needs you.  Thank you.

[straudetwo]

Good afternoon!
With the help of kind and patient old friends I have come back to the fold and want to thank all those who have alerted and led me here.  First and foremost my gratitude to Ginny, JoanP, Jane and Pat for the arduous work this must have been.  I have in turn alerted Bubble (ET) that Robby is here and SoC on is going to be resumed.
It's so good to see so many familiar names!!  The library exchanges are as lively as ever. It is pure joy. We have come out of the wilderness.

Great suggestions.

The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Preel Society by Mary (Mary Ann?) Shaffers and Annie Barrows (an aunt and niece team) is an epistolary novel based on Shaffers' papers from 1946 about the war just ended.

Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was written in 1989 and should be available in public libraries and paperback, not unimportant in these penny-pinching times.

I seem to have missed the name of the author of Indian Summer . There are six or more books with that title.  (My notes are incomplete, I was so anxious to first read what everyone had to say.)

The local group is considering Oivia Kitteridge, a novel of stories (all about Olivia) by  Elizabeth Strout, a fellow New Englander who lives in Maine.  Olivia too is a Mainer, by turns crotchety and kind.
In January the local  group will come to my house to discuss Loving Frank, a historical novel about Frank Lloyd Wright by Nancy Horan. I have recommended it warmly elsewhere and will report how the discussion went.
The Elegance of a Hedgehog should be amusing.  It's a little in the vein of  the 44 Scotland Street series b Alexander McCall Smith.  "Elegance" is about a Paris apartment house and the people who live there, among them a 12-year old girl wise beyond her years, and  said dumpy concierge who misses nothing.

My son and daughter gave me generous BN gift cards for Christmas and I am compiling my list now. Alphabet Juice is definitely going to be on it.
Donna Leon has a new Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery coming out in April, the title is About Face .  The first Donna Leon I stumbleld on  wasDeath in Venice first and I have not missed one since.
However, since the days of Dorothy Sayers and her Lord Peter Wimsy (sp) I have read few mysteries.  Donna Leon and an occasional Sharyn McCrumb yarn are the exceptions that confirm the rule. (McCrumb's I Should Have Killed Him when I Met Him was fascinating., though.)

The title of Barbarians at the Gate (heard about it but did not read it) reminded me of a similar title, different subject matter: Vulgarians at the Gate, one of the last things Steve Allen wrote.

So many books to mention, so much to catch up on ...

I'll be glad to commit to leading discussions again- health permitting., and to help wherever I can -- tech help EXcluded, of course.

[Gumtree]

Ginny: Thanks  for listing the titles of the museum mysteries - You can't scare me like that - I'll check Relic out in the New Year and let you know whether I had to shut my eyes tight and hide my head under the covers 

Maryz : Sorry, the Agatha I referred to was Agatha Christie and the series of TV films based on her mysteries. I enjoyed the Hamish McBeth too - the added bonus there was the Scottish accents and scenery.  Another favourite of mine was Inspector Lynley - I don't read much mystery but have been tempted to read the Lynley books - maybe this summer...

Traude: How good it is to see your post. I so enjoyed your commentary on the Raj Quartet - though I'm still slowly working through Volume 4. It is such a satisfying read and has such resonances  today. Bearing in mind Scott's uneven patches thoughtout the novels, to my mind he still remains an much underrated writer - perhaps his day will come once  sufficient time has elapsed and the events he depicts have faded more into the past and gain greater historical perspective. Thank you keeping the discussion alive with your posts - I was sorry I was only able to lurk about -

I agree wholeheartedly on the debt we all owe to the Fantastic Four  Ginny, JoanP, Pat and Janefor  their efforts in getting this site up and running for all of us to enjoy.  It's such a boon to have the book-talk active again that I can't thank them enough.

[Ella Gibbons]

THE FANTASTIC FOUR!  AMEN!

I love the open door heading in this Library and we all entered so enthusiastically.  What a great world this is when a Library never closes.

Traude - I read LOVING FRANK and enjoyed it very much.  Let me know what your book club thinks of it, I may recommend it for my f2f book club.

[JoanR]

Yes, indeed!  The Fabulous Fantastic Four!  Thank you so much Ginny, JoanP, PatW and Jane!

Everyone comes home here for the Holidays - not all at once but in waves.  The house couldn't hold all our children, their spouses and children all at once!
Right now all is quiet and I can come in here to post - 4 people have gone to the beach to say hello to the waves, 1 sad soul is ill in bed, her mother is staying by her, and my husband is in the cellar making strange noises.
I can't begin to say how much I appreciate having real book talk again!  I may not say much but I sure do listen!
All of the books up for vote for the next discussion are great choices.  I would vote for"The Elegance of the Hedgehog".  I read it last month and liked it so much that I bought a second copy to give my sister for Christmas!  Usually I pass on to her the books I think she would like but this time I felt I had a real keeper and had to get her another copy.
Right now I'm reading "Crossing to Safety" by Stegner.  I never read his prize winner "Angle of Repose" but now I think I'll have to transfer that one from the bookshelves to the tottering pile by my bed!
As they say - "So many books, so little time" .

Now must head to the kitchen and try to decide what to do for dinner that will suit both the vegetarians and the carnivores!!!

[JoanP]

Joan, welcome here - I love Elegance too!  Would you go second my nomination in the Book Club Online discussion if you haven't yet done so?  I'd love to discuss that one in Feb. too!  I haven't finished - just in case it is chosen.  I never like to know the ending of discussions I'm leading!

Again, welcome!  I know what you mean about trying to feed carnivores, vegetarians - and how about picky toddlers, all sitting around the same table!

[Brian]

By the way, just to be clear, contrary to what others may suggest, we plan to stay right here forever, no matter what.  We're putting in too much time and effort to ever turn back.  

This is an important statement by JoanP and I think that we should endorse its sentiments.
I am still extremely keen to return to the Renaissance period of the Story of Civilization, and am not prepared to wait for SeniorNet to drag along its Discussion Groups in its own sweet time. 
So be it - - - Amen.

I have tried to get back into the archived discussions without avail, and I can see no wrong in moving SoC to this site, as JoanP suggests FOREVER - - - though I may not be around that long

Brian

[EvelynMC]

Robby,

Regarding the Story of Civilization, you asked if I have Vol. Five, yes I do. I have the first nine volumes. As I said, I'll be glad to type any portion whenever you need it. 

I really enjoyed the discussion before and will be glad when it starts up again.

Thanks again to the Fabulous Four who have made this site possible.  I  looked forward all day to getting to my computer to talk books.

Evelyn

[Gumtree]

I see that Bernhard Schlink's The Reader is due for release at the movies early in January. I read it when it first came out and it has stayed in my mind but I've dug it out to reread as I want to refresh the detail before I see the movie. Will be interesting to see what a job they make of turning the book into film - Schlink has a couple of other books available in translation - Flights of Love is one but I haven't read his  latest - Grrr  the title escapes my memory.

[straudetwo]

Gum and Frybabe, to repeat, it's great to see you here now.
It's a pity we could not finish the summarization  finish the summarization of Volume Three of the Raj Quartet nor go on to Volume Four A Divison of Spoils.  That is the summation of the simmering conflict between Hindus and Muslims; the unbridgeable gulf between the rulers and the ruled; Whitehall's refusal to consider even moderate form of self-rule; and the abrupt announcement that he subcontinent would be partitioned within a few weeks into India and Pakistan.
The two nations have fought several wars after Partition.  Both have nuclear arms. Tensions are at an all-time high, the fate of Kashmir hangs in the balance.
Yes, the Raj Quartet is still relevant.

At the end of WW II Britain was exhausted, and not Britain alone. Rationing continued for a time, thousands upon thousands of Indians from the former Empire poured into the homeland. Nobody was interested in past history. Scott's literary achievement was not recognized until the publication of the shorter novel Staying On. For that novel Scott won the Booker Prize in 1977. He died a year later.
The radio dramatization of the Jewel in the Crown and the subsequent TV programs finally brought posthumous fame.
The author's personal life remains in shadow. No biography has yet appeared. He is believed to have been bisexual. At the time of his writing the Raj Quartet, such inclinations were never named.  Even so  there is little doubt about the proclivities of  Captain Ronald Merrill, who appears in all four volumes of the tetralogy. 

Gum, I noticed with interest your mention of  Sackville-West. Would that be  Vita Sackville-West, intima of Virginia Woolf and other women of the time? She had an open marriage with Harold Nicholson, I believe. 

[Gumtree]

I've got it! Homecoming was the other Schlink - he's also written some detective fiction but I don't know if they're available in English.

[straudetwo]

Gum, years and years ago when I as a teenager  I read a biography of Vita Sackville-West and was positively enthralled, as only teenagers can be, about Vita's ancestral home in Kent, I think, the garden,
the photos of dark-haired Vita and of her mother, who was part Spanish. I have forgotten the details. Something about illegitimacy of the mother.

A few years later I read Virginia Woolf's  Orlando and did not understand why the protagonist changed gender in the middle of the book. Many years after that I learned that Vita Sackville-West was the inspiration for Woolf's gender-changing protagonist.  Then a coin dropped  Oh my!

[Gumtree]

Traude - How nice, We're here together today. I wonder whether we could continue to discuss the Raj series in an informal manner right here in the Library. Or maybe after Ginny and Joan have got everything organised to their satisfaction we could get a board for the purpose - I think we all want to finishthe Quartet and go on to read Staying On . Your regular precis enlarged the text for me immeasurably - even though the novels are extensive enough. I guess I'm saying that you increased my understanding of the text.

You're right about Sackville-West - I was referring to Vita - She wrote a few novels -( perhaps not top echelon but good enough of their kind) as well as The Land - her more famous response to T.S. Eliot's Wasteland  My study group will read All Passion Spent as part of a series of books written during or about the first half of the 20th Century - Passage to India is one and Wharton's Age of Innocence and - Lady Chatterley's Lover I always get a kick out of going back to reread books I've enjoyed in the past.

Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson did have and 'open' marriage which worked for them and of course together they created the garden at Sissinghurst Castle - which has become something of a lasting memorial to them. I have a couple of books about the creation of their garden - something of a horticultural biography, a volume of their letters (? Portrait of a Marriage ), and  Harold Nicolson's wartime diaries - The letters and diaries are very revealing. And there is the biography Vita by Victoria Glendinning (I think). Lots of material available for anyone interested - I came to her long ago through Virginia Woolf and Sissinghurst. She was a strong woman with decided ideas.

[Gumtree]

Traude - Just saw your last post. Orlando had me puzzled too when I first read it - (how young and innocent we were in those far off days). I couldn't understand either the gender changes or the shifts in time and place - I was really too young for it all. Have read it since and come to terms with it. Did you see the film?

Vita's mother was Spanish and illegitimate which prevented Vita from inheriting   Knole, the ancestral home of the Sackvilles, which went to a distant cousin- there may have been some consideration also regarding Vita being female which precluded the inheritance. She never got over being denied Knole. I have sometimes wondered if her sexual proclivities were influenced by the loss of what she saw as her rightful  inheritance and that she was trying to prove something - to herself or to others. 

[Frybabe]

Traude, I to would love to continue the Raj discussion if possible. I have Staying On and was waiting until we got that far to read it.

I thought I saw the other day that you will be moderating another book discussion in January. 

[JoanK]

PHYLL: EXACTLY!

[Marjorie]

This is sure a busy place.

[mabel1015j]

Hi All! So great to have you back! Thanks to all of you who have made it possible for us to communicate again.

Those of you who were in the Audubon discussion may remember that Ed Harris of Moorestown, NJ spent some time w/ JJA and worked w/ him on some trips and gave some finances. You may be interested in knowing that the Moorestown Historical Society is having a 6 month exhibit about EH and JJA and their friendship. I would never have known about Ed Harris if i had not read the bio in order to participate in the discussion w/ you all.  I haven't seen the exhibit yet, but intend to go over - a few blocks from my house and in a house owned by EH -  after all the holiday fanfare is over. I'll let you know if they have anything of interest that we talked about in the discussion.

Jean

[Robby]

To all members:

Are you interested in history?  Do you love non-fiction?Are you interested in the accomplishments and foibles of mankind?  Are you a pop psychologist and interested in comparing societies and individuals in the past with our society and people of today?  Are you intrigued by the era of the Renaissance?

You will want to click onto The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant.  We were deep into Durant's fifth volume, The Renaissance, when the SN software crashed.  HOWEVER, be of good cheer.  In just a couple of days (don't go away now) we will return to this fifth volume.  Those participants who were not with us at the time will be able to ease into the discussion as we pick it up.  We will hold your hand.  You will not be a stranger looking on.

Stay tuned to the date when we will be open for participants to join us.

Robby

[PatH]

To the Orlando fans, I strongly recommend the 1992 movie.  It does a surprisingly good job of visualizing the book.  Tilda Swinton is superb as Orlando, and Quentin Crisp is hilarious as Queen Elizabeth.

The book has several scenes I found so memorable that I continue to think of them.  One is the freezing of the Thames in Elizabethan England, and the resulting skating, setting up of pavilions, etc.  Another is the coming of Victorianism, which starts out as a blot of ink, and spreads to take in the stifling fecundity and elaborate ornateness of Victorian England.

[Babi]

Clubfan, I haven't heard(?) anyone mention Taylor Caldwell in years. She was a great favorite of mine; her books always had a ethical depth to them that I really appreciated.

Straude, I'm a Sharon McCrumb fan, too, but there doesn't seem to be very many of her books about.  Has she written any new ones recently?

I am reading "Relic" now, and sometimes it rings a note that make me think I read it a number of years ago.  I didn't know there was an entire 'Pendergast' series, and I plan to read more of them. I know the library has the second book, "Reliquary", and some others.  I've also put a hold on the "Guernsey Literary, ...etc" book, when it comes back in.  Meanwhile, I have an intriguing, apparently somewhat Gothic book waiting to be read, "Four and Twenty Blackbirds", by Cherie Priest.  I'll let y'all know what I think of it in due time.

Babi

[Ella Gibbons]

HELLO MABEL!

I was not in the Audubon discussion, consequently I don't know anything about Ed Harris and his connection to JJA.  Can you tell us more about him; his home and how he made the fortune that helped him contribute to the Audubon Society?

The discussion was led by my nonfiction partner, Harold, if I remember correctly!  He and I did a number of books together and I hope he finds this site soon so we can continue with another history discussion or political discussion possibly.  Now is the time like no other to discuss history and try to learn from it! 

A new president, new ideas, news from Washington!  I hope it is all good news for all of us!

GOOD NEWS!

The nonfiction folder will be opening soon and those of us who enjoy reading books of that genre will have a place to discuss them in length and we may possibly decide to discuss one in the near future.

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!   As we begin, or should I say continue, with BOOK TALK!

Watch for the Nonfiction Folder to Unfold soon!

[mabel1015j]

I found an author last month that some of you who like western history novels may enjoy. His name is Don Coldsmith and i read one of his books titled Tall Grass. It was about the Kansas territory and included a lot about the Native Americans of the area. He has a series of books about that period of time and i'm looking forward to reading more of them. Here is the widipedia site about him,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Coldsmith    ............................jean

i don't know why that didn't "link" in "blue" but you can copy and paste the stite

[mabel1015j]

Clubfan - have you read Thomas Fleming's series on the Stapleton family? He is a renown historian, but has also written fiction. One of my favorites - not about the Stapletons - was Officer's Wives, probably his more famous piece of fiction. Here is a site about the Stapleton books     http://thomasflemingwriter.com/tfmaster.html  ...........

From the site: In 1975, Fleming began blending his novelist's skills with his historian's insights. The result was Liberty Tavern, which one reviewer called "the Gone with the Wind" of the American Revolution. He followed this with Dreams of Glory, which Delaware historian John Gardner calls "the best spy novel ever written about the American Revolution -- and that includes James Fenimore Cooper's The Spy."

In these two novels, Fleming introduced the Stapleton family, a powerful New York-New Jersey clan that he has followed through American history in four other highly praised novels -- The Spoils of War, Rulers of the City, A Passionate Girl, and Promises to Keep. In September, Forge Books, a division of St. Martin's Press, published another novel in this series, Remember The Morning.

Remember The Morning describes the founding of the Stapleton clan in the tumultuous decades before the American Revolution. The story revolves around two extraordinary women (Stapleton women are frequently strong willed and intelligent) Dutch-American Catalyntie Van Vorst and African-American Clara Flowers. Linked by a girlhood as Seneca Indians -- they were captured in an early frontier clash -- they return to the white world and fall in love with the same man, a massive would-be soldier named Malcolm Stapleton. The narrative carries the reader through Indian wars and a Scottish rebellion in England and a slave revolt in New York to the eve of the Revolution. It is simultaneously a profoundly moving love story.

Margaret Truman says Remember The Morning "helps you discover the very essence of what it means to be American." Max Byrd, author of the bestselling Jefferson, calls it "an American panorama that I read with admiration and delight." The Library Journal declared it "a marvelously fresh interpretation of an era."




Ella - Ed Harris was heir to a Quaker farm family who owned a lot of real estate here in South Jersey. He was a business man and introduced Percheron horses to the U.S. He traveled w/ Audobon on one of his trips thru the South and over into Louisiana -  it's been a few years since we read the JJA bio, but i think that i'm right about that destination. I'll fill you in w/ more info after i've seen the exhibit at the historical society. ............. yes, Harold did lead that discussion. ............. jean

[Tomereader1]

Clubfan, I haven't heard(?) anyone mention Taylor Caldwell in years. She was a great favorite of mine; her books always had a ethical depth to them that I really appreciated.

Straude, I'm a Sharon McCrumb fan, too, but there doesn't seem to be very many of her books about.  Has she written any new ones recently?

I am reading "Relic" now, and sometimes it rings a note that make me think I read it a number of years ago.  I didn't know there was an entire 'Pendergast' series, and I plan to read more of them. I know the library has the second book, "Reliquary", and some others.  I've also put a hold on the "Guernsey Literary, ...etc" book, when it comes back in.  Meanwhile, I have an intriguing, apparently somewhat Gothic book waiting to be read, "Four and Twenty Blackbirds", by Cherie Priest.  I'll let y'all know what I think of it in due time.

Babi

Is "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" about Civil War ghosts that appear to the main character?  If so, I have read and enjoyed it, as well as her other books.

[CubFan]

Thank you Jean for the Thomas Fleming suggestion.  I will be placing a B&N order this afternoon and watching for the UPS truck every day until it comes.  Even though the tracking tells me when it will come - I always hope they will surprise me a day or so early.

In the meantime I will stay the course and try to finish up the rest of the non fiction books from this year.  I have several going in different parts of the house and then in December try to finish them so I can start a new batch in January.  So far this week finished the Marx/Engels' Communist Manifesto, and An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. Today I think I'll finish Everything Miscellaneous by David Weinberger, and tomorrow - Jacob's Well by Joseph Amato. That will leave me with American Sphinx by Ellis about 2/3 finished, and Halberstam's The Coldest Winter just started.   I have the next Rick Atkinson here waiting.

Am really looking forward to some good historical fiction.  The fluff/no brainers show up all on their own. Generally fiction books don't get set aside.  Everything else gets put on hold.

What a way to start a new year.  A new book/reading web site and a new author.  Now I don't care how much it snows!!!

Happy New Year All.    Mary

[BillH]

Just a reminder for those who signed on for The Hound of the Baskervilles.  The book discussion will open January 2, 2009.

I do hope you are still interested in joining in. I'll post a link here to that discussion as soon as it is moved out.

Bill H

[Judy Laird]

Jean the Fleming books sound very interesting. If I have time I am going into town and look at my bookstore for them.  The Stapleton family sounds good.
I am looking forward to the opening of new and old fiction shortly.
I see Steph in back I am sure glad to see you Steph.

[Ella Gibbons]

Thanks, JEAN, for answering my question.  Tell us more after you go to the exhibit.  A Quaker family!  Interesting.  I just visited Amish country and they are doing extremely well financially living outside the mainstream.

I have never known any people of these two religions; the only reference that comes to mind is Richard Nixon, who was a Quaker and I'm sure the Quakers would like to bury that information!

Perceron horses:   http://www.percheronhorse.org/

MARY, I hope to see you soon the nonfiction folder.

[JoanK]

Jean: I loved ther Audubon discussion, fanatic birder as I am. Recently I read "An introduction to the bird of East Africa", which is not a bird guide, but a very charming non-fiction story. I absolutely loved it -- much of the flavor of "The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency". I was thrilled that I have actually SEEN some of the birds mentioned on Pete's Pond here in Seniornet. (Believe it or not, I have an East African bird list of birds seen on Pete's Pond -- talk about fanatic).

[ginny]

Oh this is such an exciting place to be!!

Tome, I know a lot of people who can't watch Psycho to this day! hahahaa

mary (Cub Fan) let's see if our jinx still holds, hahahaaa YES I know a good writer (or I used to think so ) of dynasties, Stephen Birmingham,  I wonder if his books are still good or dated, have not read him in years. He writes about Jewish immigrants,  and his books I used to think are very powerful. I think I've got them all, real dynasty things.

I love it here.

Ginny Ann, I have heard of Meyers, but never read anything by her, and she set off the teen age frenzy of reading? What sort of plots, teenage girls? Or? Kind of a Nancy Drew (or does that date me?)

Eragon is very big with teenagers I hear.

Jean, THERE you are, and this is high praise:

Moorestown Historical Society is having a 6 month exhibit about EH and JJA and their friendship. I would never have known about Ed Harris if i had not read the bio in order to participate in the discussion w/ you all.

Thank you for that, just for that you may have a cream doughnut from.....from....the bakery on Main Street...what are they called? Boy I miss them.

 hahahaa


What are you doing New Years? (Remember that old song?) New Year's Eve? I have such an exciting venue planned you better sit down? We're going to build a huge fire (with the yule log we have every year) and go to sleep watching it, like always. Boy the country life!  hahahaa

We'll eat  herring with onions in sour cream (good luck) and my mince tarts which I absolutely ruined when the people delivered the new freezer to replace the one in the barn which totally destroyed everything in it  this afternoon. I have been trying since Christmas Eve to bake my mince pie for Christmas and of course it did not get done and you do know the old superstition about mince pies so did some tarts today, eat a little mince every day of the 12 Days of Christmas.... and the people came to get the old freezer out of the barn and they burned up into mince nuggets. Look like coal actually. I think I'll read a good book instead. Read a page a day? I need a New Year's Resolution, never make them. Do you?

Can you stand all this exciting talk?

But on to the subject: I started reading John Grisham's The Appeal last night as I saw it in paperback in the grocery yesterday. It's GOOD. He's GOOD.  I really feel an insider in the world of trial law today, it's that good.  He really creates atmosphere, just what I was in the mood for!

Oh boy and there's Robby with his new SoC about to come out and Bill with the Hound, what a super beginning for us here and many more on the way, exciting exciting!

Thank you all for your good will and wonderful thoughts, great conversations here!

Happy New Year! We've got a new site, a new homepage (hahaha wait till google picks it up: http://www.seniorlearn.org), a new attitude and a new year, what more could you want?

Happy Happy!

[EvelynMC]

Hi Ginny,

We're building a fire too.  I made hot and cold pick and nibble (meat balls, shrimp cocktail, roll ups, etc) and we'll have that instead of a regular dinner meal along with some champagne.  I haven't stayed up until midnight for years. So we are also having a nice quiet country New Year's.  Happy New Year.

And I agree this web-site is fantastic.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Evelyn

[ginny]

Evelyn I am SOO glad to see you back! Is it too late for us to come over? hahahaaaaaaaaaa

Happy Happy,  Everybody!!