Author Topic: Non-Fiction  (Read 434435 times)

nlhome

  • Posts: 984
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1600 on: March 19, 2011, 09:19:52 PM »


TO NONFICTION BOOK TALK

What are you reading?  Autobiographies, biographies, history, politics?

Tell us about the book; the good and the bad of it. 

Let's talk books!


Discussion Leader: HaroldArnold



Have fun, Barb.

We too are trying to sort out and simplify, too much "stuff."  But as soon as we get an area cleared, it seems to get filled up - it doesn't help that we are still a storage place for our children as they move around. But, then, we do get to see them a bit more often.

Something else to ponder: as we sortted some old boxes, we came across our very first tax returns - such memories, such little income! And more, we found a packet "love letters" which were a few special letters I saved, and some letters from my parents when I was first married. My husband and I chuckled over the "love letters" and reminisced, and enjoyed the letters from my folks  who were trying to ease our homesickness as we were far from home those early years. Lots of memories.

But, my husband said, what will our children have to hold in their hands and look at? Who writes love letters these days? (My future SIL says they saved some of their emails - but will they be able to read those as technology changes?)

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11331
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1601 on: March 19, 2011, 10:23:06 PM »
oh you know that is another that has gone by the boards - again, my friend Charlotte every morning sits at a table overlooking her patio filled with potted plants and bird feeders and sends out some cards and notes - now that is something I could consider at my weekly tea - I have no way of knowing if the notes would be saved but the idea fills me with a feeling I am really here and not something as fleeting as a cyber message.

Golly there is more to reconsider - it is us that let these oldies but goodies slide - it seemed the thing to do - I am remembering a magazine - maybe Victoria -  but it was charming and filled with marvelous photography that captured what was good about how we lived. So I become what is eccentric for today - if I can't be eccentric then too bad - it is time!

I have thrown out so much and now I am thinking I would have made other choices - well better then it all going to a dump so onward - not up to living like Tasha Tudor but a bow now and then to the little things that mattered not so long ago.

I bet you did feel a tickle re-reading those love letters - so glad you AND your husband could share in those memories. How special...
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1602 on: March 20, 2011, 03:33:04 AM »
Well I am one of the eccentric ones too Barb!

I still write letters by hand to my mother and to the two of my children who are away, also to friends abroad and in other parts of the UK.  The thing I have found is that it is possible to keep up a correspondence so long as the other person reciprocates - hence I have (like most of us I expect) lost touch with people who say "I love getting your letters" but never write back.  I have a good friend in the south of England that I see maybe once in 2 years, but she is a great correspondent and we have written through our marriages, babies, jobs, and now our children leaving home.  My children, need I tell you, never respond, but I let them off   :)  I find writing a proper letter very enjoyable when I have time.  Emails are fine, but you can't hold them in your hand.  Also I am also slightly wary about putting anything too personal in an email, whereas I know my friends will keep letters to themselves.  The only problem I am having these days is that I spend so much time typing that my hands seem to have forgotten how to write for more than a few pages without my thumbs becoming quite painful.

I think the idea of laying a proper tea for yourself is wonderful.  That is something I am very lazy about - when I am here on my own I tend to live on coffee and handfuls of nuts and raisins.

I love the picture of your friend writing overlooking her patio. One thing I have been thinking of doing when I have finally moved properly is to acquire some good quality writing paper and a fountain pen - my letters at the moment tend to be scribbled on any old paper I can find.  Two of my friends have been to calligraphy classes, and their writing is so beautiful you almost want to frame it.

Rosemary

 

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1603 on: March 20, 2011, 09:25:30 AM »
Good question, NL. As we move more and more into paperless technology, what will the
mementos of the future be?  Photos, maybe? They are still being preserved, aren't they?
Not that that would be much help to people like me, who never got in the habit of taking
lots of pictures. (After the first baby, that is.)  I still have a box full of photos
that others have taken and shared, that I doubt very much I'll ever get sorted and placed
in yet more albums.
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

nlhome

  • Posts: 984
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1604 on: March 20, 2011, 05:40:37 PM »
Yes, my husband and I are blessed to be able to share the memories in those old letters. I think there is another collection - some from his days in Vietnam - and I'll have to pull those out.

I have several boxes of "retirement projects," one of which is pictures. My goal is to save the best, in order, and dispose of all those odd faces and bad colors - except that sometimes those are the only reminders. I read an article today, on line, can't remember which newspaper, about a woman who had inherited some beautiful costume jewelry from an aunt. She displayed her favorite pieces in a shodow box and gave the rest away. Then she took all her photos, selected the ones she really want to keep, had then blown up and framed them for one big picture wall. That's the kind of person I'd like to be - but I suspect I won't.

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1605 on: March 20, 2011, 08:30:26 PM »
I like to collect greeting cards.  The ones from my ex I love, but they make me feel so sad; the ones from my daughter always remind me of our life's journey in which she is the only constant; birthday cards from present and long-lost friends; wedding day wishes and also cards sent to my mother and father for their birthdays from friends and family.

When I was teaching I had a completely different class every 10 weeks as the students would go up to the next level, or go back to their countries of origin.  Each class bought me a Thank You card which they all signed, adding their own little comments, a photo of the class and sometimes small gifts from their countries.  Ahhh happy to see them improve, but also sad to lose them.  The next class would nearly always make up for it though.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1606 on: March 21, 2011, 08:44:22 AM »
 I save the cards in which the giver has written a personal and meaningful note.  These mean so
much.
  I do like the idea of discarding the old photos that are blurred, or of people I don't recall at all.
That should reduce the pile a bit.  The only hope, however, is that I recall the idea one day when
I'm really bored.  ::)
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11331
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1607 on: March 21, 2011, 02:32:33 PM »
How lovely to have the memory of each successive group of students - there is an idea that more teachers need to be aware of... reminds me of the annual class photos I have of my kids when they were in grade school.
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1608 on: March 21, 2011, 08:22:24 PM »
I'm reading The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers by Thomas Fleming.  So far i've read about 100 pages which have been abt Geo and Martha Washington and their children and grandchildren.  I've read a lot about the ff's, so i thought it might be boring, but i've learned some new things. If the next part is John and Abigail, i may skim it. I haven't looked to see who else it talks about. ..... Has anyone else read it?....... Jean

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1609 on: March 22, 2011, 08:11:45 AM »
 I am happy to say that I've found Michael Grant's "Readings from the Ancient Hisorians" really
interesting reading.  I am presently reading excerpts from Tacitus who has got to be one of the
most readable historians ever.  Fascinating glimpses of the early Augustan age.  Truly, all of it
has been a great introduction into the beginnings of written history in Europe.
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

Ella Gibbons

  • Posts: 2904
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1610 on: March 22, 2011, 11:13:56 AM »
All your posts about discarding, cleaning up the past, getting ready for the future, are interesting to read.  And the books you are reading.  I'm a nonfiction reader for the most part, but out of necessity I do read fiction.  I stopped in at Barnes & Noble one day recently to look at new nonfiction and the store has changed so much - half of the store is their NOOK BUSINESS.  Make way for tomorrow!

I'm listening to a very good book while I exercise - and as I had to pay a fine because it was overdue I know I'm not exercising enough.

GHOST TRAIN TO THE EASTERN STAR by Paul Theroux, a very entertaining travelogue, but serious at times.  Travelling through France he observed the battleground of WWI and recalled the Battle of the Somme - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme

He stated that Britain and France, both colonial powers in those days, took the gold and diamonds from their colonies and taught them civilization.

And what is America doing in the Middle East?



marjifay

  • Posts: 2658
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1611 on: March 22, 2011, 12:09:36 PM »
Thanks for recommending that book by Michael Grant, Babi.  I'll get it.  I read some of Herodotus' Histories when I was studying Greek history and really liked it.  The Grant book of readings sounds interesting.

Ella, I have Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux on my TBR list.  This book was recommended by AdoAnne in SrLearn some time ago (Is she still around?).  I'll have to find it and give it a read.  Sounds interesting.

I've been reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel with another group, and loving it.  Altho it's fiction I've learned a lot of English history from the Henry VIII period about Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey and others. 
"Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill."  Barbara Tuchman

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1612 on: March 22, 2011, 06:56:27 PM »
Am reading Boone by Robt Morgan. It's interesting, but the writer doesn't always seem to have currant history abt the period. Even tho in the preface he says one of the reasons for writing another book on Boone wasto be inclusive of Native Americans and the women in Boone's life, he doesn't have the current info on NA women's lives.

He also writes passively and generically which has been one of the ways of making women invisible in history. I.e. He writes Europen-Am'ns learned many things from NA's, learning to hunt various animals in the way NA's hunted; learned how to prepare hides for use as housing and clothing and to use sinews and bones for thread and how to use native herbs (etc).

Most contemporary historians know that is was women who prepared the hides, made the clothing, knew abt herbs and even did much of the trading, but the way he writes it, putting those skills together w/ hunting leads people who wouldn't think abt it too long to continue to think of "men" when the term "Native Americans" is used. I'll continue thru the book, at least for a while, bcs i know little abt Boone. .... Jean 


Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1613 on: March 23, 2011, 08:40:35 AM »
I found Grant's introduction and analysis on each historian especially helpful, MARJ. It
put what I was reading into perspective.
 AdoAnnie is definitely around. You can find her more frequently in some of the other
discussions.
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11331
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1614 on: March 23, 2011, 10:53:01 AM »
Babi I tried to find the book by Grant on Amazon - are there more words to the title - he seemed to have written many books about both the Greeks and the Romans but I could not find one iwth the exact name you posted earlier. It sounds fascinating and something I may like to also read.
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1615 on: March 23, 2011, 11:45:28 PM »
Presently I am reading "The Ancient Olympic Games" by Judith Swaddling.  I am not really "sporty", but I have been to Olympia and that fact, makes this book even more fascinating.  The Games were meant to be religious and dedicated to Zeus.  Only the winners received the kudos and an olive wreathes to wear in their hair; there were no prizes for second and third.  The part I found most interesting was about the horse races.  One charioteer handling four horses, going full pelt around the hippodrome appealed to my imagination.  The book is full of illustrations both colour and black and white.  Naturally, most of the depictions of the ancient games are from vases and the ancient site itself.  

Info from US Amazon

Judith Swaddling is an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum.  Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: University of Texas Press; Second Edition edition (2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0292777515
ISBN-13: 978-0292777514
Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
2 Reviews
5 star:    (1)
4 star:    (1)
3 star:     (0)
2 star:     (0)
1 star:     (0)

› See both customer reviews... 

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,181,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
 
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10015
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1616 on: March 24, 2011, 12:42:11 AM »
Barb, I don't think Michael Grant's Readings from the Ancient Historians is in print any longer. I got mine in a used book store over a year ago. Alibris lists a bunch of them for $.99. Hmmmmm! I think I paid something like $6 or $8 for mine.

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1617 on: March 24, 2011, 08:31:57 AM »
 Oops, sorry, BARB. I was quoting Grant's title from a faulty recall. It is actually
"Readings from the Classical Historians", not the 'ancient'. 
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11331
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1618 on: March 24, 2011, 10:05:23 AM »
My goodness the man wrote a vast number of books - the closest that I can find on Amazon is probably this one -
 "Greek and Roman Historians: Information and Misinformation"
However, he does have a few interesting titles like:
  • Greek and Latin Authors, 800 B.C.-A.D. 1000: A Biographical Dictionary
  • Myths of the Greeks and Romans
  • A Social History of Greece and Rome
  • A guide to the ancient world
  • The Ancient Historians: Plutarch, Herodotus, Tacitus, Xenophon, Polybius, Josephus, Caesar, Cato, Livy, Sallust, Eusebius, Ammianus, Suetonius
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10015
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1619 on: March 24, 2011, 12:24:52 PM »
Right Barb, how did I miss that last night. I have yet to read mine, so you are way ahead of me.

JoanK

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 8685
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1620 on: March 24, 2011, 03:31:53 PM »
ROSE: am I right in remembering that the prize didn't always go to the fastest, but was voted on? Or was that later, under the Romans.

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1621 on: March 24, 2011, 11:21:08 PM »
JoanK - As far as I know it was always the winner.  Are you thinking about Ostracism?  I don't know what they did in Rome apart from borrowing the chariot races from the Olympics.  You probably know the story about Nero at the Olympic Games.  Whenever he competed in any of the games he proclaimed himself winner even when he lost.  It's not likely that anyone was going to argue with him.

I rather like the way www.bbc.co.uk tell the story:

Delaying only long enough to take care of a few loose ends such as murdering his mother, castrating his former favourite slave boy and crucifying a few fans who didn't applaud loudly enough at his last poetry recital, he packed his lyre and all his cosmetics and set out for Greece to attend and compete in the 67 AD Olympic Games. Here he not only won the chariot race despite falling out of his chariot, but he introduced several new events of a musical nature. The judges prudently declared him the winner of them all.

Flushed with success, he made the rounds of the Isthmian, Nemean, Pythian and Panathean Games and handsomely won numerous events at every one. During his performances nobody was allowed to leave, although a few people got round that by feigning death and being carried out. These games were not usually all held in the same year, but in 67 AD they made an exception for Nero because his offer was just too good to refuse.

He returned to Rome, a tired but happy Emperor, with 1800 prizes. Normally these would have been wreaths of laurel or bay that an athlete could take home to his wife for the stock pot, but so overwhelmed were his loyal subjects by Nero's talent that they made another exception and presented him with jewels and precious objects. Medals were not introduced till 1904 or Nero would have made Mark Spitz look pretty silly with his meagre seven. Amazingly, the Ancient Games survived the Nero episode and went on for another 326 years before being banned on religious grounds by the Emperor Theodosius in 393 AD.

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1622 on: March 25, 2011, 04:00:23 AM »
Roshanarose: Great story about Nero and the games. Since I began taking Ginny's Latin classes I've learned more about Rome and the Romans than I ever knew before -though I've read a good deal about them, for me they always came in second after the Greeks. I don't think I'm changing my mind there but I sure have a better appreciation of them now than I ever had before. And I know a little Latin too!  :D 

I've been meaning to get my hands on Grant's 'Ancient Historians' - when will I ever have time to read it?
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

JoanK

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 8685
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1623 on: March 25, 2011, 03:36:12 PM »
ROSE: that must have been what I was thinking of. I hope it was a unique occasion. I would have been one of those who feigned death in order to get out of there!

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1624 on: March 25, 2011, 05:59:58 PM »
Its nice to know you are missed!  Again, I have read most of your knowledgeable  comments concerning nonfiction books including the Greeks and the Romans.  I don't always have time to comment but I do try to get here and read the posts.

After Tuesday at the city's Franklin Park Conservatory with my guy where we sauntered through the different exhibits of flowers, plants, parrots, butterflies plus all the Chihuly glass that the museum owns, we were sitting to rest in one of the indoor gardens and who should be standing out in the hall, talking with people around her but Jane Goodall!  Wow, and I was privileged to meet her and shake her hand.  What a sweet lady she is and I felt honored just to be in the same room with her. 

Speaking of clearing away the detritus in our lives.  About  9 yrs ago when we were scheduled to celebrate our 50th in Dec '02, I spent 6 months chronicling our lives together by making memory albums using mostly many photos, with comments, memorabilia and letters.  After finishing those (there were 8 albums) I took myself down to the storage room and set up the slide projector and went through 50 yrs of slides throwing out the faded and bad ones. Then I put the slides in their little boxes that go with the projector and stored those in metal boxes that also came with the projector.  That took several weeks, but I did it!  Now, if one wants a family slide show which they could show on the clearest wall available, they can do that. I figure the families will see it once after we are gone and settled in our Eco friendly burial sites.
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1625 on: March 25, 2011, 06:13:06 PM »
Wow! annie! That sounds like it was a huge task, i'm impressed. We just need to set the goal and get ourselves started, don't we? What a satisfaction it must have been. ...... Jean

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1626 on: March 26, 2011, 01:23:31 AM »
Gumtree - It probably seems that I am terribly biassed re the Greeks and Romans, but this is not altogether true.  The aspect of Roman History I most enjoy is that they have primary sources; unfortunately, Greek History doesn't.  Although I guess you could regard Thucydides as a primary source, problem is I don't appreciate his style.  Herodotus is a good read, often historically incorrect, but very entertaining.  The only places I have any desire to visit in Italy are Sicily, Etruria and Florence.  I can't see myself ever visiting Italy though, Greece is too close and too tempting.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1627 on: March 26, 2011, 02:47:31 AM »
Annie, what a satisfying task that must have been.  I don't think I could do that, I would get too upset.  I thought it was just me being regularly weepy about how the children are all starting to leave home, but I met an old friend this week who was equally relieved that it wasn't just her.  We have both been driven demented by our teenage sons, but the thought of them leaving (mine has now left, hers will go this summer) fills us with regret for all the years that have flown past.

Everyone on here apart from me seems to have so many rooms!  In our last house (which was considered a reasonably large family home) we had no store room, basement, spare bedroom, conservatory, work room, utility room or garage.  I think this is maybe the difference between US and UK housing?  Our house was over 100 years old, and unless you were practically royalty, in those days (ie when it was built) you just didn't have so many things.

I am currently considering buying a virtually new-build house, which may not have all the things that American homes do, but does at least have a garage and a utility room.  Even a study!  I will be lost!  Unfortunately husband is not yet persuaded (as house is in a village east of Edinburgh), but I am working on it...


Rosemary

Gumtree

  • Posts: 2741
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1628 on: March 26, 2011, 03:18:41 AM »
Rosemary: I often think the same about the US homes being large - I think it is the basement and the attic I most envy. We live in a comfortable family home and apart from the usual living areas and bedrooms we have a workroom (utility), a small storeroom, our  study  is something of a library, computer room and office combined, I have a studio where I pretend to be an artist and where I keep my craft materials, and DH has his garage and workshop - even so we are overcrowded with 'stuff' - every room has storage for books including the back verandah which is fully enclosed and a very useful space. Our front verandah is open and a great place to sit in the late afternoon and watch the birds. But how I sometimes wish for an attic and a basement!

Adoannie: congrats on your efforts at putting all those photos and mementos into order - anything of that kind is a huge undertaking and can be draining on one's emotions as well.  Years ago I spent a long time just sorting photos into albums and labelling the images etc. I did my own collection and those that had been left by both my mother and DH's family - of course there were many photos among those that I couldn't identify but all in all we now have a representative collection of the extended family for four generations back and a few representing the fifth.
Added to that of course are the younger generations - children, g'children and g g'children - so as the years pass the work has added value (so to speak). My next task in that area is to get it all onto CDs --- one day!

Roshanarose: I'm sure we all have our preferences in all things. Like you, the Greeks do it for me but I've never tried to learn the language - At one time I did have an opportunity to do so but was so involved with other activity that I missed it. Too bad, but there it is. I agree with your take on Thucydides and Herodotus but then after reading Herodotus I always go back to Thucydides. 

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1629 on: March 26, 2011, 03:53:25 AM »
Gumtree - how lovely to have a verandah, something I think I have always wanted since I read What Katy Did.  They don't really exist in this country - or at least not in Scotland - the weather would just be too bad.  Many people do have (enclosed) conservatories, but they vary a lot in attractiveness.  There are firms in London that can build you amazing ones along the lines of the Orangery at Kew, but as you can imagine, they come with similarly amazing price tags  :o

Rosemary

BarbStAubrey

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 11331
  • Keep beauty alive...
    • Piled on Tables and Floors and Bureau Drawers
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1630 on: March 26, 2011, 05:02:37 AM »
We have rooms but unlike other areas of the country - no basements - here a basement is a place for snakes so even before builder's knew how to build on slabs they used a pier and beam construction that raised the house off the ground but no basement - and as far as attics go - with such a long summer the attic holds the heat with the best of insulation and turbines in the roof the temperature an attic easily reaches over 120 degrees [Celsius 48] and higher during May through October - Our summer daytime temps from usually June through September is over 100 [Celsius 38] with May and October in the high 90s.

In the Austin area starting after WWII houses have two car garages versus the one car separate garage in the back of the lot that often had more space for a tool shop as well as, a place to keep your vehicle from the weather. No houses built during the war so there was a marked change in floor plan after the War and we had the first family rooms in the late '40's early '50's - Families included several children and the parlor was considered inappropriate space for growing children so it was replaced by the formal dining and then the big combo kitchen/breakfast room/living area. -

Life was good in the '60s so houses grew in size - we had two living rooms- two dining one of them the breakfast room usually next to the kitchen and the separate family room/den, a separate laundry room and at least 2 full bathrooms as opposed to one full and one half bath in an average home for the average mid-income blue collar and young professional.

We only had a large pool of professionals whose income increased rapidly after the War who hit their stride in the mid to late 60s and that is when houses became for many still larger with game rooms and large pantries in addition to an office and a formal living and family room and two dining plus a breakfast bar and separate laundry and that 2 car garage with storage space in the garage - before WWII only 5% of this nation had a collage education - after the war the VA Bill of Rights changed all that and folks spent money on their homes.

I think for most of us on this site who live in town - [rural homes always had outbuildings] We townies have empty rooms because our children are grown - I know it took my years and years to actually realize my kids were not coming home late to slip into bed without disturbing me - I bet they were married 12 to 15 year with my grandboys filling their houses before I was conscious of how I was tense waiting each night for their safe return. Crazy, I know but true. Anyhow we have those empty rooms that one may be a guest room but the others are a computer room, an office, and another a craft rooms etc.

Another challenge I remember was rediscovering the man you married as a friend and not as the father of the children - most folks that I chat with say they had to get to know each other all over again. Looking back now it was really such a short amount of my life that I had the children to fill my life and yet they remain the focus of my life - However, for me it was never the same after they grew up and started their own households.

My son and daughter-in-law just faced the loss last year when all three boys decided to move back to Lubbock to attend school and my daughter and son-in-law are facing it now as their oldest is finishing up his second year at the Savannah School of Art and Design and the youngest has next year as his last year at home and then off to collage. He goes for 6 weeks this summer already since he was first pick in
western North Carolina for Governor's School which means he spends 6 weeks all expenses paid at Wake Forest this summer. Sure we are all proud but Katha is already getting teary eyed over the least little thing.
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ~ Goethe

rosemarykaye

  • Posts: 3055
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1631 on: March 26, 2011, 05:50:03 AM »
Well Barb - tell her I empathise from this side of the Atlantic!  My friend Claire and I were almost in tears in Starbucks this week, thinking about our babies leaving home   ;D :'(

Rosemary

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1632 on: March 26, 2011, 08:58:41 AM »
 Congratulations to your son on his selection, BARB.  The summer program sounds really
exciting.  A word of warning,...or promise...to you empty nesters.  In my experience, at one
point or another, all my children returned for a while..some with family..during critical points in their lives. I was glad to have the room to offer them, and we got to know each other as
adults instead of simply parent/child.
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

maryz

  • Posts: 2356
    • Z's World
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1633 on: March 26, 2011, 11:29:38 AM »
I guess I’m the “odd mom out” around here.  I never had the first moment of “empty nest syndrome”.  We had our children when we were very young, and they were very close together in age.  As they left to go to college and start their adult lives, it gave us a chance to (as Barb said) get to know each other as friends and partners rather than Mom-and-Dad.  And even to learn who WE were as individuals.  We had 25 years with children and now  30 years without children.  It’s all been great.

That's great for your grandson, Barb - all good schools.  Our youngest grand is a senior at College of Charleston and is in the throes of application and choosing her law school.
"When someone you love dies, you never quite get over it.  You just learn how to go on without them. But always keep them safely tucked in your heart."

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1634 on: March 26, 2011, 11:34:12 AM »
Wow! I had forgotten that feeling of empty nest until ya'al brought it to the fore.  We actually moved to Atlanta before our senior in HS son had graduated from school in Ohio. I traveled back and forth all that year staying mostly in our old hometown.  Had to do the many high school things that parents do when the seniors ask them.  You know, attend the school play because your son ([part of the tech crew and the cast) is playing a dead body in "Arsenic and Old Lace".  Of course, there's the march in with the school band onto the playing field during the first football game of the year.  Lots of stuff like that.
Those were defininently the good old days for us.  
Now its wave bye bye to the grans as they leave for home in NY and OR and the great grans too.  Also, with the four here, its still sleepovers at our place, plus we attend all band concerts, musicals and awards nights and scouting events.  And these are our grans who are attending the same schools as their parents did.  We are truly enjoying having returned to Ohio.

Did I mention that we met Jane Goodall this week??
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

Frybabe

  • Posts: 10015
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1635 on: March 26, 2011, 06:53:38 PM »
Yes you did mention Jane Goodall, Annie. I take it you didn't realize she was in town. I just checked her itinerary. The closest lecture from me was at the Penn State's main campus two days ago. It looks like she has one more in Ohio and then a bunch in Canada.

 http://www.janegoodall.org/?gclid=CJ-WmpOo7acCFUPf4Aod_20kcA

roshanarose

  • Posts: 1344
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1636 on: March 27, 2011, 12:45:59 AM »
Adoannie - Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey rate very highly on my list of most admired.  Yesterday afternoon there was a documentary narrated by David Attenborough about a tiger family in India.  Mum and four cubs.  Tigers are the sort of animals that I always want to cuddle and spoil, they are just so beautiful.  Their markings, their eyes and the way they play when cubs is just the way kittens play.  The way they move and climb, such sensuous elegance.  My cat would look like that if she didn't have such a fat, furry tummy.

Actually there is another Jane Goodall who is a writer.  I hope I haven't mixed them up ???
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1637 on: March 27, 2011, 08:56:00 AM »
I envy you your great-grans, ANNIE.  My grands show no sign whatsoever of even planning
to produce some.  :-\
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs

ANNIE

  • BooksDL
  • Posts: 2977
  • Downtown Gahanna
    • SeniorLearn
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1638 on: March 27, 2011, 10:34:04 PM »
Roshanarose,
It was the true Jane Goodall, the animal lady that we all admire so much.  She is an amazing person and Babi knows way more about her than I do.
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." Robert Southey

Babi

  • Posts: 6732
Re: Non-Fiction
« Reply #1639 on: March 28, 2011, 08:51:23 AM »
 You must be thinking of someone else, ANNIE.  I know only the vaguest facts about Jane
Goodall, the sort of thing anyone might know.
"I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey."  John Burroughs