The Library

[BarbStAubrey]

Wishing everyone a blessed and fulfilling thanksgiving tomorrow - we do still have lots to be thankful and this booksite is one of those blessings that has anchored our time on the internet all these years... wish I can share a glass in person with everyone but the next best is reading the thoughts and personalities that come through in all the thousands of posts for 20 years... thanks folks for making all this happen and Happy Thanksgiving.

[bellamarie]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  When I count my blessings each one of you are among them.

[mabel1015j]

LOL, that list was on the Williamsburg, Va Regional Library website. It does not mention what the criteria of the authors was.  . As i said, I can't imagine who read all the books of these authors to determine which one you should read first!!!

I had read 13 of them. Didn't we read Stones from the River on here?

We just had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, my favorite meal. I hope you all did too!

Jean

[ginny]

Well what a lovely Thanksgiving and what absolutely beautiful weather here, the leaves are gorgeous and it was  75 or so, isn't this almost December? It's just gorgeous here, I moved the geraniums back on the porch. The reds, the golds, just as I sit here, looking down the hill, are stunning. I took a photo and made a puzzle out of them in that magic puzzle  APP, do you all do those? I absolutely love them, am quite addicted. I won't say which level I do but you can be assured it's absolutely the lowest one and I love it.

 Yes we did read Stones From the River, Jean,  and several others as well.  I think most every list has to, simply by the fact that they ARE  choices, reflect somebody's taste. It's interesting to see them, tho, thank you for bringing that here.

Larry, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the Hopper and those Joeys.  How big is that "Joey?" The TV here is surrounded by books, do I have to do a lot of moving about of the surroundings? I am seeing some spectacular programming on this PBS Explorer site coming in  December and January, including a new Sherlock, in fact they are saying it's  Benedict Cumberbatch month(s) which I am excited THIS TIME to be able to get. And something about the Great British Bake Off Master Class. I know they have a Christmas special, too. Here's hoping our PBS and the BBC get together on this again.

I've been having the most delightful interlude watching the old Mapp and Lucia series with Nigel Hawthorne and Geraldine McEwan, and it's the version not shown here in the States, Part II. George and the beard. I didn't like him in a beard (!!??) am I crazy? the first time so never saw it till now. What a wonderful thing it is, especially following The Crown and Edward and Mrs. Simpson, and in Mapp and Lucia, when they all say God Save the King they mean George V.  Lucia and her "Roman remains" in the garden, Lucia running for Mayor, it's just wonderful. Now I'm going back to see the first series which was shown here.  I can recite the thing right along with the actors, kind of like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Monty Python's Holy Grail. Love it.

Tempest in a tea cup. Comedy of  Manners. My kind of escape. However, in this broadcast I am noticing something odd. All the cast face the camera,  it's beginning to look strange. I guess when it was filmed they did not use many cameras? I have no idea, but they line up like a stage play.

We're about to have a spectacular ending for the year 2016, here on SeniorLearn, our Books & Literature celebrating its  20th Anniversary Year, with a Homecoming, a Drop In, a Raffle for an Amazon (US or UK ) or B&N gift card(s), a great daily sharing of memories and recipes, and EVERYBODY is welcome. Countdown to the New Year, right here beginning December 1, don't miss it, we want to hear from everybody, new and old, so we can go out with a bang. It won't be right unless YOU are here. Write somebody you miss and tell them to plan to come to our  Virtual Party?

And then, yes, Cranford is coming to our book discussions  in January of  the New Year, which will be just wonderful. January will have "so much pleasure provided," to quote E.F. Benson (Mapp and Lucia) and it will fit right in with the current interest in Downton Abbey, The Crown, the new Victoria on PBS and all things Victorian. 

I know nothing whatsoever  of the Victorians, so I am glad to see our Books & Lit  offering this exciting choice.

Also our Shakespeare A  Day Sonnet discussion is drawing to a close, many MANY thanks to Barbara's innovative and splendid idea, and particularly the way she did it, those illustrations are a gift in themselves. A fitting accompaniment to our 20th Anniversary, too.

Rosemary, yes on the adverts, I am so glad to be rid of them, it's amazing how much time they take up  in a recorded program, and how little the program actually is. My DVRs at present are taping European Football (soccer to us here) with a vengeance. My grandson is into La Liga and  FIFA and UEFA  and of course the World  Cup and Manchester City and Manchester United and so they tape night and day.  I don't WATCH them all, in fact I watch only Messi of Barcelona, but they tape because our little fan  always has  one he needs to see.

AND, Larry, do they have that On Demand thing where any program that airs you can get again On Demand? If so do they offer Wolf Hall, by any chance? I've got to get Wolf Hall back, it was removed in the last blip  the DVR did.

It's just GLORIOUS weather here today!

[LarryHanna]

Ginny, the Joey is a small box about 7 inches long, and 5 inches tall and 2 1/2 inches wide.  It receives the signal form the Hopper, which is a bit bigger.  It eliminates wires except to the TV for each Joey and the Hopper to the TV.  I predict you will like the Hopper and Joey's. 

[ginny]

 Thank you, Larry, that's a little bigger than I had expected, I better make way here.

Cub Fan, I keep wanting to ask you did you SEE "The Game?"

[ginny]

For those of you who like The Great British Bake Off, this Wednesday at 10 pm the PBS EX channel, the Explorer Channel will be showing Master Class, a Christmas Special show on baking  with Paul and Mary. I don't know if it's on regular PBS. But they are running Rosemary and Thyme this week on regular PBS, check your local  schedules but you MAY get EX, it's new. I know DISH has two channels of it 27 and 8187.

At the moment it's showing Queen Victoria and Albert's house on the Isle of Wight, and you can definitely see Victorian decorating styles, and since it's not been lived in since, what they liked in furniture, etc.

Also a special on British castles, there's a sudden run of British stuff on PBS EX.

[Dana]

Been on a cruise and so finished bk 4 of The Cazalets.  Then discovered there is bk 5!!  Have ordered, will take on next cruise.  Perfect cruise reading.  Found another author called John Wain (Brit) who writes about the same period.  Have ordered his books, let's see about pre, post and wartime Britain thru a man's eyes.  P Howard is a bit claustrophyingly female I think, perhaps...

Back to The Crown, still terrific, still think the Queen's a wimp....must watch The Windsors...I have read two great biographies in the past, one of Queen Victoria (who was a very impressive lady IMO)...what a command of language, I love her letters,.... and one of her son Edward VIII, pity he didn't have longer on the throne.  Anyone interested I will give the titles and authors, presently sitting here and too lazy to go look...

[rosemarykaye]

Hi Dana

So glad you enjoyed the Cazalets - but be warned, Book 5 was written many years later and the reviews were not good (see Amazon). I haven't read it myself so if you do read it, please let me know what you think!

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - are you getting Great Canal Journeys? There are lots of programmes and they all feature Prunella Scales (Sybil in Fawlty Towers) and her husband Timothy West taking their narrowboat along various waterways. It is quite poignant as Scales, who is ferociously intelligent, is now suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's - but it's not a sad programme, she is still able to function, do the locks, talk to people along the way, etc, and the caring relationship she has with Timothy (also a well-known actor) and their various family members who pop on board from time to time is lovely to see. She's immensely cheerful. We enjoy it a lot.

At the weekend we caught up with another British programme - this one a one-off called Carry on Caravanning. (It's a documentary not a Carry On film.) I know directors always look for the extremes, but as someone who has wanted a caravan for years, I must say I am cured! It's a very funny programme but it is enough to put you off caravanning for several lives. I will go back to wanting a narrowboat - at least my husband also wants one of those, whereas hell would freeze over before he bought a caravan.

Am also catching up with a very old PD James adaptation - The Murder Room. I don't think I've read the book, and it's all a bit silly, but it's good enough to watch when you're tired and want something undemanding. And I'm still working my way through the DVD of The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which I love.

Rosemary

[ginny]

Oh no, I haven't seen Great Canal Journeys, Rosemary, and will look for it, it sounds lovely. I am so sorry to hear she's beginning Alzheimer's, bless her heart. I like her immensely, too.

 Last night I watched Penelope Keith again in Hidden English villages or something like that, reading from the "Batsford" (Badford?) guides or something like that from the '30's. I had never heard of them, but I do enjoy her pulling out one of those yellowed old books and sitting on a wall or something in an English village and quoting from it. I just LOVE that type of programming.

 A lot of times those old books are the best.  There was one written about 30 years  ago by an  woman of a certain age who loved to travel to the UK, back when it was kind of unusual for women to travel alone and I absolutely loved that book and what she said. She said (stop me if I've said this, I can't find the book anywhere on the internet) that when you travel you get two trips, the one you plan and the one you end up with. And she's the one who pointed out  a bench on the Dover coast looking towards  France with the inscription: "One day, Mabel," or whatever the woman's name was.

I love that kind of thing.

I may try to find one of  those Batsford  Guides , she enjoys them so much.

She did Cumbria last night,  hound racing and sheep herding, and a village famous for Sticky Toffee Pudding which I love too much,   Cartmel is it?

Then a man got rhapsodic over the floors at Osborne House, I think it was, one of Queen Victoria's residences. His joy  was a pleasure to see, and it WAS beautiful inlaid...do you call  it marquetry when it's on a floor? Incredible thing, it really was.

  When you think of the people who walked over it through time!  Then there was a man exploring great houses which have been left to ruin, one had had the roof removed so that the owner, who was not able to keep it up,  no longer had to, removing the roof allowed it to...well..die... It was tremendous,  now a ruin, what a shame. One of the past owners was interviewed, in front of it,  it's just a gigantic stone front.   

PBS Ex has gone British and what a calming night last night was.

In contrast, I tried valiantly to read Dan Brown's Inferno, now in paperback, and I got to page 75. Langdon is not chuckling so far, but having chuckled thru The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, maybe he's tired?  But the thing is so formulaic I can't seem to pick it back up. BAD writing, I'm sorry, it's bad. Hilarious article on "Renowned author Dan Brown" here in the Daily  Telegraph, if anybody besides me finds him hard to read:
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown/

What's everybody reading?

[PatH]

That Dan Brown spoof is hilarious.  It would probably be even funnier if I had ever read any Brown.  When the Da Vinci Code came out, JoanK read it, and gave me a scorching list of fallacies, inaccuracies, factual errors etc.  I've forgotten the details, but there are many math and cryptography errors, and a scene in which someone rolls up a painting which is actually painted on wood, not canvas.  I decided I didn't want any part of it.

[BarbStAubrey]

interesting how we are all getting a bit of Britain during the PBS fund raising drive - we are not getting any of the literature or drama or sitcom's or mysteries that y'all are mentioning but we are getting The Proms from Belgium and from Royal Albert Hall - both classical and rock

The rest of the programing is all the music that is beloved in this part of the country like

Last Waltz, The Band - their last concert that included the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Neil Diamond, Bobby Charles, The Staple Singers and Eric Clapton -

Van Morrison: Live at the Rainbow -
Carpenters: Close To You
Last of the Breed:  Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price
The usual Austin City Limits with repeats of mostly Texas and Mexican musicians

Lang Lang's New York Rhapsody 
Salut Salon a female string quartet from Hamburg Germany 
Andrea Bocelli: Cinema

Road to Austin - Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel, Bob Schneider, Carolyn Wonderland, Bonnie Raitt, Stephen Bruton, Malford Milligan, Joe Ely, Delbert McClinton, Ruthie Foster, Kris Kristofferson

The sitcom, the Detectorist comes to an end - loved the quirky characters on that show and they finished the second re-run of Death In Paradise and they are doing a rerun of Cambridge Spies and a rerun of Whitechapel

Nothing cozy here and the only nod to travel is Rick Steves’ European Christmas

I do like all the music - I can get something done with the TV as a background sound. Tonight I will get to the cookies dough ready for an overnight in the frig listening to Great Moments From Soundbreaking a show that includes, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Daltrey, Quincy Jones, Ringo Starr, Niles Rogers etc.

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - yes, Cartmel is famous for its sticky toffee pudding (you can actually buy it in many places now, in little foil dishes with 'Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding' printed on the top). I have a recipe for it if anyone want to make i! Cartmel is very near where my parents-in-law live - it's a very pretty village, but tiny and a nightmare to park in. I have to say the villages of Cumbria (especially the pretty ones) are real costa geriatrica these days and I would not like to live around there myself.

Osborne House is, I think, on the Isle of Wight. I seem to remember it has Queen Victoria's dolls houses (or maybe her daughters'?), which I liked when I was taken there as a child. Many of our family holidays were spent on the Isle of Wight - of course at the age of 6 I thought it was amazingly exciting to go anywhere that involved a trip on a boat, but it was really most unexotic. One of our outings was always to Blackgang Chine ('the world's oldest amusement park' - but do not think Disneyland, nor anything like it...), which I think had a miniature village, and where you could buy glass ornaments like lighthouses filled with layers of coloured sand.

I believe many of those old country piles were de-roofed and left to rack and ruin. I may have previously mentioned the diaries of James Lees-Milne, who was employed by the National Trust to go round and see which of the decrepit old houses the NT might 'save' - it was, I think, between the wars, and many of these places were still inhabited by old aristocrats, who didn't really know what had hit them (no more servants, money all gone, etc). They wanted the NT to adopt and pay for their houses while (a) they still lived in them and (b) no-one else - and certainly not the great unwashed - was ever to be allowed within miles of the place. They had so many shocks coming. Lees-Milne's diaries (and there are many volumes) are very entertaining.

I am finishing off Angela Thirkell's Summer Half, then I do think I'd better move on to something more modern. Possibly...

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Barb - I love The Last Waltz, and Van Morrison. I saw him live many years ago with The Chieftains - it was at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, and I still remember what a great night it was.

I think Death in Paradise is rather cosy - no? My daughter and I enjoy the predictability of it all, especially on a Sunday night for some reason. I think it helps us not to think about Monday morning.

Rosemary

[Dana]

Just finished the last episode of The Crown, looked up the Graham Sutherland portrait of Churchill and thought it was very good, shame it was destroyed. 
 The exchange between the two men about the deaths of their children, leading to Churchill's realization about the unconscious meaning of the swimming pool, whether true or not, was a remarkable example of how psychoanalysis works, one could feel for one's self that ah ha moment, which certainly knocked Churchill back.  Brilliantly done, I thought.

[BarbStAubrey]

We are finishing up the Shakespeare Sonnets with 2 Sonnets today and the last 2 Tomorrow so that we have completed all 154 starting July 1 and at the rate of one a day till these last two days will complete them on November 30th - If you would like to comment on the last of the Sonnets just come on over to Poetry page 121 - hope this line works.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=176.4800

[Winchesterlady]

Ginny and Rosemary, you two are giving us too much information on TV programs to watch. I do not get the PBS Ex channel on DirecTV, however I did find Great Canal Journeys on YouTube, which I will begin watching in a moment. Then I will see if I can find Hidden English Villages. I don't have enough time to watch all these programs! There are so many good ones available now. Rosemary, it was interesting you mentioned James Lees-Milne. I have two of his books -- one called The Country House, which is a very small book that he compiled with quotations from the inhabitants of various country homes throughout the UK; the other is a volume of his diaries from 1942-1954. I love reading about the country houses and grand estates in the U.K. And have many books on them. Thank you both for the suggestions.

[BarbStAubrey]

Found it - here are the English Villages - one after the other to view - each just over 45 minutes long.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2coniq_penelope-keith-s-hidden-villages-s01e01-east-anglia_travel

[ginny]

Rosemary, I would kill to have your recipe for sticky toffee pudding, I love it. We can't get the Cartmel   pudding here, but we can get their "dessert sauce," would that help me making it?

I could not live in the UK I would weigh 800 pounds, the millionaire shortbread or bar or whatever you call it, is an absolute  obsession with me  when there. I made one here, I did the dulce de leche myself and I'm glad I've got a bottle of the real stuff  in the cabinet, but it WAS interesting. Not good, but interesting. hahaha

Milne! THERE he is, I was going crazy, Rosemary and Winchester Lady, trying to remember his name when I saw that great house with no roof, I knew you had mentioned it before, it's the diaries! Off I go, that one was on my TBO (to be ordered) list a long time ago and the list, like my brain, disappeared.


I have it ordered now and hope it's not as depressing and  poignant as that skeleton of a great house was. I like ruins, but it's a lot more sad when they are new. We have  torn down so many beautiful buildings in the US.

Dana, I thought so, too, The Crown is brilliantly written. I personally disliked the Sutherland painting  because Churchill looks old and tired, vulnerable and useless.  I imagine he hated it. I did read that she destroyed it, I was not sure actually in the film who was out there in the fire, they showed her quite a few times, but I thought he was there, I'll have to watch it again.


And I'm really glad to hear that Great Canal Journeys is available on youtube. I wonder if you tube works on this new TV set up.

 You were right, Larry, I love it.

Barbara, good for you, those are lovely programs, I am enjoying them so much.

I feel extremely smart this morning and I'm sure it won't last but we now have  a Hopper and 3 Joeys and I just managed (thanks to their instructive website) to program Netflix on to all of the TV's so I can now watch a movie from Netflix on any TV, even the big ones (just watched bits of The Crown again),  and watch it any time. THIS is a major accomplishment for me, let me tell you. The technician yesterday said that you can make the  TV interactive if you turn on the wifi, I'll let that wait for a while, one accomplishment a day is almost overwhelming, definitely about all I can handle. hahahaa I keep waiting for the TV to blow up or something.

Barbara, your Shakespeare Initiative was splendid, many thanks for adding that to our offerings here in our 20th year of book clubs online!

[bellamarie]

I agree Winchesterlady, I can not keep up with all the interesting shows being posted, let alone the books mentioned.  I am still only on episode 3 of The Crown and here Dana and Ginny have finished all of them!   Where do you ladies and gents get the time?  I am still recuperating from Christmas decorating an entire week leading up to Thanksgiving, and don't even get me started on the whirlwind of preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the family.  Just as I thought I had the rest of the evening to snuggle and read after all the kids and grands had left, to my surprise my daughter in law's parents had bought us tickets to join them and the kids and grands to go see the movie TROLLS!  As much as I wanted to say no, I could not possibly disappoint them or my grandkids, so off we go to the movie theater at 6:30 p.m.  I loved the movie, and sharing that time watching my two little grandkids enjoying the movie was worth every minute.  I've been battling an upper respiratory/ear infections, with laryngitis for weeks now, and I think little rest is not helping it.

I do want to thank Barb for her brilliant pictures she placed above each of Shakespeare sonnets.  I am a bit disappointed so few members contributed for all the work she put into it.  Seems less and less members are interacting with the book discussions.  I so wish the lurkers would take a second to post a comment every now and then.  It's exciting to see others thoughts and points of view.  But now we are wrapping up the sonnets and good, bad or indifferent on Mr. Shakespeare's sonnets, I can say I am very glad I was a part of them, because it was my first introduction to any of his writings.  I know I can hear the, you have got to be kidding me sighs from all of you well versed readers, but as I have said before, I am a young chick to this hen house.  Believe me, I love learning from all your experiences! 

Ginny, I am having that, you have got to be kidding me moment reading your comments on finally having Netflix and thinking your tvs may explode.      Technology is truly my forte', I am glad to hear you have joined the living of the updated/upgraded society.  Enjoy!!   

Okay I am off to do a little Christmas shopping before I have to teach my class tonight, so ciao for now.....

[Frybabe]

Oh, good. Something else to watch on YouTube. I remember someone mentioning Great Canal Journeys some time ago on BBC. I think I spend just as much time or more on YouTube and Amazon Prime these days than I do on cable.

Bellemarie, I have also noticed the reduction in discussion participants, so I was happy to see several of the Latin students participate in a recent discussion. Whenever a new Latin student checks into the intro discussion, most of the time I take the opportunity, not only to welcome them, but encourage them to check out the rest of the site.

I am in between books right now. Tomorrow I get to download another book from the Kindle Lending Library (another scifi), but I haven't decided on a print book to read yet. What ever I do pick, it will be something here rather than something from the library this time.

Today, I spent some time rearranging some of my books since I added a shelf in the living room.

[Tomereader1]

As regards "The Crown" - I just have to say that "The Crown" is the most beautiful thing I have seen on TV or movies.  The cast is sublime.  I think "David" was a snake in the grass even before he abdicated, no respect for family, traditions, England in general.  I was brought to tears several times when Elizabeth realized her lack of education,and at the Coronation when she was anointed.  And who could not feel the pressures, from all directions, even (especially I thought) from Phillip.  The powers that be expected her to be only a "figure head" that could be manipulated and molded to suit their ideas and quest for power.  I think the entire cast should each be given an Emmy.  I am halfway through, (I understand there are 10 episodes in this first season) and I've finished 5.

I posted this over in Seniors & Friends, Television Today, with a short addendum. Somewhere in my Ancestry, there must have been an Englishman/woman. I am such an Anglophile!

[bellamarie]

Tomreader, good to hear you enjoyed The Crown.  I need to get back to episode three.

Frybabe, it was nice to see a couple newbies.  We need to continue to encourage participation in the discussions.  I am going to look into having built in bookcases for my living room in the coming new year.  I seriously need room for my books to be close by. 

[ginny]

Love the conversation in here. 20 years ago when we started the first ever online book club open to all, who knew that all this time  later we'd still be here, and still enjoying the opinions of readers from all over the world?

Starting today,  December 1, we're going to celebrate. I hope you will all come over to our Holiday  Drop In (it's come as you are, no need to dress up,) and we hope, here in our 20th year of bookclubs on the Internet,  you'll  have some cyber refreshments, and share the gift of your thoughts or memories every day this month.

Remember just by posting a message there you are entered in our Raffle for a $25 gift card to B&N or Amazon, whichever you choose, winner to be announced by drawing December 23.

The topics for the first 4 days are:

December 1-2:  Come on home and tell us the best book YOU read this year and why.
December 3-4:  Give us the gift of your favorite Holiday or any Recipe.

We hope you'll share a memory, a recipe, an opinion about one of the topics or a laugh with us this holiday season!

Just click here: Holiday Drop In/ Open House and sit right down.

We'd also like to have  a Homecoming, so if there is somebody you miss seeing and would like to hear from, please email them this link and invite them in for Auld Lang Syne.

Hope to see you there!

[ginny]

Good for you, Tome, spread the word, The Crown is  an incredible program! I am loving it on the big screen. I am loving everything on the big screen, to be honest. I MAY turn into a TV viewer. hahaha

Last night my new set up taped the Christmas Great British Bake Off Special, my first taped show. That new PBS EX station is just super, I hope some of you who like British programming can get it,  I just stumbled on it by accident.

Winchester Lady and Rosemary, holy smoke,  Lees-Milne has written 20 books in that vein and they all have incredible reviews, I can't  WAIT to start them and I so appreciate hearing about them (again). Have ordered 2, it's hard to even choose between them, so am starting with the first and then  the one where he was in his 60's.  What a find!

Bellamarie, how do we find the time? 4 hours sleep helps on my part.

[bellamarie]

Gosh Ginny, only 4 hrs of sleep, I'm not sure I could manage my day on that amount of sleep, and all the coffee in the world wouldn't help me.  I get anywhere from 6 - 8 hours a night.  I think I am going to have to make a few tweaks in how I am spending my waking hours to try to read a little more.  I started my granddaughter a knitted scarf for Christmas last year, and it is still in my knitting bag only one third done.  Oh how I wish I could "JUST DO IT" as Nike says.

Ginny I have to giggle at how much you are enjoying your new big screen TV and all the gadgets to go with it.  My sister in law is in her early eighties and JUST bought her first big screen tv and she sounds just as excited as you are.  We have to allow ourselves the fun things in life, because after all...... what fun is life if we don't?

I am wondering if it would be possible for someone to make a list of all the shows that are being mentioned in the posts lately and place them in our heading here in the Library?  Scrolling up to find them is getting difficult and I so want to try to find them on my listings. 

Tis the season to be jolly!  Let's all try to get over to the Holiday Drop In/ Open House and share some of our favorite memories and recipes, it will be so much fun! 

[BarbStAubrey]

this is a fabulous documentary about the history of the Lakota - what we did and mouth dropping what we are still doing - it is nearly 2 hours so you may want to watch it in pieces - I could accept this story if it was just the past but do not know how to handle this horror that we are still doing the same thing as if it were 100 and 200 years ago.

So different than The Two Old Woman who had nature to build a life - this is when a tribe is made dependent so that there is no resources left.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FDt180GgO0

[bellamarie]

I am up to Episode 6 of The Crown and simply love it!  I especially liked when Queen Elizabeth II is trying on the crown and she thinks back to herself as a child watching her father trying on the crown.  It was so touching watching her father have her read and anoint him before his coronation.  The relationship between King George and Elizabeth is so endearing.  She held on to all her memories and wanted to repeat them with her own children.  Sadly it seems once she was queen I read how she spent so little time with the children due to her responsibilities and travels.  Early on she just does not realize how her voice is what goes and she must make decisions that can alter lives.  The simple question of her asking if she could be allowed to keep the crown a few days to practice wearing it to get used to the weight of it and the man replies, "Who do you think the crown belongs to that you should ask to borrow it?"  She didn't realize it now belongs to her.  This is a beautifully written show.

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - I am really, really sorry, as I know you have told me this at least twice before, but could you bear to explain one more time how I can add a photo to a post? This time I will copy and paste the instructions into a Word document or something so that I can find them!

Thanks lots,

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Cancel that Ginny - I have just found the instructions you gave me this time last year!  One of the options was emailing the pictures to you - I will have a go at Photobucket, but if I fail at that is there anywhere I can find your email address? Are you on Facebook, in which case I could send you a direct message with my email address in it?

Thanks so much,

Rosemary

[ginny]

Yes, of  course!  I forgot to post I had emailed you and received an answer, sorry!

Very hectic here this week. And it's only Monday!

In keeping with our British theme, I've got a new book called Walking the Thames River Path: One Woman's Solo Journey of Adventure and Self Discovery by Joyce Mackie. It's got good reviews and I have to say a gorgeous cover and in skimming it I see she  read an article about the Thames River Path and wanted to go, but she  couldn't find anybody to go with her so she thought she'd go alone, tho she was not sure she could walk 10-15 miles a day the guide book by the English Ramblers Association called for.   She's not British and put aside the idea because she couldn't afford to go,  then, but in 2006 when she was 69, she attended a talk by a couple who had walked all the way across England and that awakened her desire to do the Thames River Walk.

 I love these "walking books," whether they are fiction or not. I love the idea, slug that I am, of just starting out walking and of course one could walk safely 15 miles a day, for three weeks, for the entire picturesque 215 miles with no problem, right?  So I'm going to be vicariously trotting (or slumping as the case may be) right along side her, it's not a very big book but I can see some very interesting adventures and people coming up.

Have any of you read it?

What ARE you reading? Anything good?

[Dana]

For The Crown afficionadoes (?).....my husb. who gets lots of DVDs got one called The Queen which is an Acorn one so probably available on amazon.  Quite recent and similar to The Crown in that it uses actors to play dramatic clips from the Queen's life, interspersed with actual footage as well.  It does several episodes throughout her life, the first being the Princess Margaret affair, with a slightly different take.  Interesting one we watched last night was on her rift with Margaret Thatcher.  As we didn't know about that we found it rather interesting.

[ANNIE]

I am reading Helen Simonson's  "The Summer Before the War" and really enjoying it. 
Ginny, how did you find PBS Ex?  So maybe it's only offered to those who have a Dish?  Sounds like your techie has moved in!  I hope you are feeding him well and that he is comfy in the spare bedroom!😄😄😄

[BarbStAubrey]

Ann each city or area of the country that is served by PBS has its own line up and they each have their own stations - for instance here there iare 4 PBS stations - the main one then one that offers only cooking, sewing, gardening and travel shows and then one that is a second one similar to the main one with more British and History shows but does offer the NewsHour an hour later than it is offered on the main one and finally the last PBS station in all Spanish - also the naming of these various stations is unique to each area - here they ar simply named 1, 2, 3 or 4 where as it seems the second stations in Ginny's PBS area has a formal name PBS ex

Another tidbit - here if you have cable or use Uverse for your phone, computer and TV hookup you cannot get the secondary PBS stations - we can only get all four if using an antenna- I have old fashioned rabbit ears but cannot get any of the cable channels and so I do not pay for cable which also means no netflex however, I can get acorn through Amazon.   

[ginny]

Ann, as Barbara says, the Explorer Channel (UNCEx)   appears to be a North Carolina channel which has somehow bled on into our area of SC, and I am so glad it has.


on the tech live in, I wish.

Dana, I'll look for that, it looks great, thank you.

Well I'm half way  through my  Walking the Thames River Path book and I have to say it's probably the most unusual book I've ever read, and I'm not sure that's a good thing but it's a decidedly different way of reading a book. It's kind of like reading a journal or daily diary of the walks this person is doing, with some interesting tidbits of history thrown in,  and somehow, even tho I don't think she's a very good writer or story teller, I'm enjoying what personal remarks and anecdotes she does add, and learning a lot about the places she's walking in. It's unique but I am not sure it would be to everybody's taste, but half way thru, I like it.

 I think she is a serious hiker and they may have their own mindset, but it's certainly an adventure which I am enjoying, and learning a lot from.  Although she's not Bill Bryson.  I have a face to face Latin student who hikes and one who bikes and the biker's  adventures in riding across entire states and up mountains are wonderful. He posts them in journals online when he does them and they are incredible reading, he really needs to write a book, but won't, as he says it's nothing unusual!!!

This one you could use if you, yourself wanted to walk this trail, as notes  beforehand. I don't share her desire to have a friendly breakfast with strangers at B&B's, however.  She is disappointed if there is nobody else to join in her morning meal, so am not sure how well I'd get on. The B&B  seems to be  the preferred housing, but she is somewhat shocked to find that her B&B's bring her breakfast to her room, normally. I think that's very civilized. hahahaa   I think you really have to be a gregarious extrovert to enjoy the  company of strangers over breakfast.  REALLY. hahaha

[bellamarie]

Ginny I am with you on the B&Bs, my hubby and I stay at hotels which offer complimentary breakfast and we choose for him to go down and get our food  on a tray rather than go to the room where all the guests gather to eat their breakfast.

Annie you made me giggle asking if Ginny is feeding her techie person well and providing him a nice room.  I could only wish I had a techie person to turn to these past few days.  Seems my 8 yr old laptop whose battery died just days outside it's warranty years ago became a stationary computer using the ac outlet, now decided to keep shutting down at any given time causing me much frustration.  After going to Google and researching what the problem could be and nothing was working only to get messages that the Windows issue could not be fixed through their efforts I decided to go out to look for a new computer.  Oh what fun....   NOT!  I was sticker shocked at Best Buy, they go from plastic casing and slow processors around $300, to ones in the middle range of $600, and of course prices out of this world if you really want to get outrageous.  I priced getting mine fixed which began around $150 and could go higher depending on what was wrong and what the parts would cost, to the cost of replacing the battery and buying a new ac cord and decided it would be better to buy the new one, versus paying at least half the cost in repairs and replacement parts.  So I am now the proud owner of a DELL laptop with the new solid state processor and touch screen, with all the bells and whistles!  I feel like the little boy in the movie The Christmas Story who wanted the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and "this thing which tells time" (a sundial)!  Needless to say this will be my Christmas gift this year... Ho! Ho! Ho!  Now just to get used to it all. 

I am not reading anything at the present time due to figuring out all these computer problems.  I did watch the final episode of The Crown and hated to see it come to an end.  I rather thought the painter did a perfect job in capturing ole Winston Churchill, but he could not accept he could be seen as the picture depicted him and so burning it was his alternative.  I remember years back my daughter in law and son had a friend of theirs paint a portrait of me and my hubby from a picture they gave to her to go by.  Oh what a horror it was to open that gift and see what a disaster she had done to us.  My hubby looked at me and I at him and our mouths were hanging open.  My daughter in law said the woman would be glad to try again if we were not pleased.  I said, if you don't mind I think we should let her give it another try.  I have never gotten the portrait back to this day.  My hubby and I still laugh about our reaction to that gift. 

[rosemarykaye]

I know (re the breakfast) - whenever we book a B & B we try to find photos on their website to see if there are individual tables or one horribly communal one.

When we went to the Loire Valley last August we realised that French chambres d'hote, even the smart ones (and some of them are really smart) have a thing about everyone eating round a shared table. In fact it was (mostly) OK - at one of them the table was on a terrace beside the stream that flowed through the grounds - the husband was an amazing self-taught cook, and sitting outside as darkness fell, eating his fabulous meals, was lovely. The other people there were all interesting - some English, some French. Breakfast was OK as it was served over quite a long period, so not everyone appeared at the same time. I must admit I would still rather have had it on our own though!

My friend and I go to Stobo Castle once a year - it's a spa near Peebles in the Borders. Every single time we go down to the dining room the person on the door says 'would you be happy to share with other ladies?' and every single time we say no - in fact I'd be surprised if anyone says yes. I suppose they have to have some large tables for when big parties turn up, but then they don't have enough small ones for the usual numbers.

I certainly can't imagine ever actively wanting to share a table, anti-social old bag lady that I am. And come to think of it, I don't think my daughters would like it either.

Talking of B & Bs reminds me of the awful seaside guest houses we sometimes stayed in when I was a child. The dining room would always be deathly quiet, the only things people would say were 'pass the salt', the china was always that pale green utility stuff (it's probably 'vintage' now), there was never any alcohol, and the meals were served up on the plate in the kitchen (to make sure you didn't take too much). Even at breakfast, where you might be offered something exotic like fruit juice (which we definitely didn't have at home in the 1960s) it would arrive in a tiny glass, carefully and grudgingly measured out by the landlady. Cereals too - the choice would probably have been cornflakes or rice crispies, and your teeny portion would come to the table in the dish, with a tiny metal jug of milk. This is no doubt why I enjoy the extensive breakfast buffets most places now do - I don't eat that much breakfast but I do love to be able to choose, and to go back for more fruit, yoghurt, or whatever.

In No Fond Return of Love, Barbara Pym has the boarding house dinner down to a T - Dulcie and Viola have their evening meal at some terribly early hour, then go for a walk along the front and see, through a window, the rich and fashionable having their much more sophisticated dinner in a proper hotel;

'They ate their stewed plums and custard, and drank their thimble-sized  cups of coffee.....The meal was over and it was only twenty past seven....(They go out for a walk and find a big hotel)... A middle aged couple, looking like people in an advertisement - she in pearls and a silver fox cape over a black dress, he in a dark suit - sat at a table in the window. A waiter bent over them - 'deferentially', Dulcie supposed, helping them to some fish - turbot, surely?....'They're eating roast duck now', said Dulcie, 'I can hardly bear it'.

Oh the vagaries of British holidays, circa 1959

Rosemary

[BarbStAubrey]

How much fun is this... being so with it - we read three or four of the books as they came out...

Customers of all ages are invited to join us on Friday, December 9th at 7:00 PM - in all Barnes & Noble stores - for a spectacular magical holiday celebration inspired by the Yule Ball of HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE!

Costumes, holiday attire, music, dancing, and special themed crafts will be at the heart of this event to celebrate all things Potter! Due to high volumes of expressed customer interest, we encourage you to contact your B&N store prior to the event for any special instructions or store capacity limits!

[ginny]

Barbara.

I totally agree, Rosemary and Bellamarie,  on the breakfast with strangers. I have found that's one thing I really used to dislike about cruises (which have changed) and tours, (which haven't but the people I have met have on the few day trips I've taken have  truly been kind and interesting). It's just hard for an introvert to enjoy sharing a meal with a stranger,  making  small talk which means nothing.

I took both of my boys separately across this great country on the cross country train which goes from Chicago to the west coast and of course part of that is eating and in the dining room and of course one not only has to worry about oneself and making conversation one has to worry that one's children will somehow make the leap too to conviviality with strange adults. hahaha

I finished the Walker book and I don't know what to make of her personally. On the one hand she is constantly on about eating somewhat like a hunter gatherer: (I assumed this was a lot more healthy than I eat): salads, seeds, fruits, no meat if she can help it,  Vega in her morning smoothie (just those words turn me totally off) no bread! No bread for breakfast as it slows her down. BUT cake? Bring it on. Brownies? Bring them on. I am missing something here, but I am not in her class as a walker and maybe if I were I would be eating berries and seeds, and smoothies, too.

One thing I did get from the book which I do like, I thought was extremely strange at first. She does these "assertions." She asserts. If something hurts, she asserts it does not, and it doesn't? HUH?

However I did use this myself before dental surgery Wednesday (the second in 2 weeks),  I kept "asserting" to myself I wanted to be there, that  I was looking forward to having this done, I like doing this and it actually went better than I expected, attitude wise.  So I don't know what to think. I have a morbid fear of the dentist,  which is pitiful in an old woman but I have it, and this helped.

I am familiar with the "imaging" attitude where the pro or Olympic athlete "images" himself, sees himself in his mind making the goal, or winning the lap,  or whatever. I understand they all do it. I think this must be the same type thing. It's the first time I tried it and it worked, I am surprised to see. It's not "working" with the results of the surgery? It would be stupid to say "it doesn't hurt," when it does,  but it worked about walking into the Den of Hell World of Dentistry, and so maybe I will try it again.

Or maybe I've just gone crazy and it makes no difference at all.