Author Topic: The Library  (Read 2085645 times)

pedln

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2040 on: July 10, 2010, 06:00:12 PM »

The Library



Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is  always out.
Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not).


Let the book talk begin here!




That LIFE program sounds really good, STeph.  I'm glad you went.

I loved Pompeii, although it's been 25 years since I went -- on that train from Naples.  DIL just dropped me at the train station.  Looking back, I can't believe I got there and back by myself.  Do we lose agressiveness as well as muscle tone, etc. at this stage of life?  As for Pompeii, I kept wishing I had a more detailed guide book.

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2041 on: July 11, 2010, 06:04:56 AM »
Horray for the past few days, I have been sleeping close to eight hours. The first time since the accident.. And I wake up smiling.. I can see some light in the tunnel of grief.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

JoanP

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2042 on: July 11, 2010, 07:14:06 AM »
Stephanie, reading your post is the perfect start for my day too! :D

Babi

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2043 on: July 11, 2010, 08:52:46 AM »
          HIP, HIP,  HOORAY!!!
"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

mrssherlock

  • Posts: 2007
Re: The Library
« Reply #2044 on: July 11, 2010, 03:07:17 PM »
Oh, Steph, you go girl! (Hugs)
Jackie
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2045 on: July 12, 2010, 05:37:51 AM »
Many thanks to all of you. I know it is silly, but I know that I could not be pulling myself into the real world again if it had not been for senior learn. I have never seen most of you, but feel as if we are all sisters under the skin.. Your support has helped me to live, because at first I really did not want to.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

serenesheila

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2046 on: July 12, 2010, 06:35:55 AM »
Thanks for sharing, Steph.  I am so happy for you. 

Sheila










than

roshanarose

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2047 on: July 12, 2010, 09:31:16 AM »
Steph - I have not know you for long, but my support is unconditional.

I remember a long time ago someone told me "Courage is everyday living".  This is my mantra, although often difficult to subscribe to.
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

ANNIE

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2048 on: July 12, 2010, 11:43:12 AM »
Hi Steph,
I am so glad that you are doing better in your travails.  Any chance of you going to NYC with us in Sept???  Eloise is now coming from Montreal but her daughter won't be witih her as planned.  So maybe you could share a room???  Take a look at our SeniorLearn's Soiree in NYC and let us know.  Do you remember Eloise from our stay on the Isle of Palms??  I guess I shouldn't be handing out her room as she may have changed it to a single now that Francoise is not able to be with her but you could ask her.  Remember, if you don't ask the answer is "NO"! ;) ;)
"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

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2049 on: July 12, 2010, 03:11:40 PM »
Got your message AdoAnnie. I just came back from taking a placement(?) test to qualify for grant money available for retraining. For some reason, this session, they don't have a Microsoft Office Certificate program listed on the approved courses list. If I can't get them to write a special on for me, I guess I will take one of accounting, banking or bookkeeping certificate programs. The bookkeeping looks pretty much like what I had in highschool way back when as a Business/Accounting major. The problem with taking one of these courses is that they are a year long, two of them are more than top grant amount, and my unemployment checks will run out before I finish (unless the Feds extend it).

In the meantime, I continue to file resumes here and there. No bites yet.  I'll be signing up for Latin shortly, and I am doing a free Roman Architecture lecture series online. Hurray for free stuff.

JoanK

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2050 on: July 12, 2010, 03:29:05 PM »
Steph: HOORAY! I know I couldn't have gotten through my husband's death without Seniornet (as was). Don't be discouraged if the blues come back sometimes. The smiles will come back too.

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2051 on: July 13, 2010, 06:01:11 AM »
I wanted to go to the NYC meet, but my 55 high school reunion is the 12th. For me it is somewhat of a recess from life. Met MDH when I was in college and he was out and he really did not know most of my class. So hopefully I will enjoy being back in the tiny rural area where I grew up. Never lived there more than a few years as an adult.
I really know about the blue meanies,, but some days they stay away,, others like yesterday reach up and grab me..
I agree, I got a fortune cookie right after his death, that said... Begin,, the rest is easy and I took it to heart.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

Eloise

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  • Montreal
Re: The Library
« Reply #2052 on: July 13, 2010, 09:06:33 AM »
Oh! yes Steph you could certainly have shared my room, but I see that you have other plans that are exciting too. It takes time to get over such a loss and there are ups and downs but eventually the downs will be further and further apart, I won't say how long it took me because we are all different but you have the power to overcome the loss. I remember our walk on the beach on the Isle of Palms very well.

Annie, I kept my double room as there was not much different in price.

I have read a few books lately and started others that I just couldn't get into. The last one I loved was "Ines of my Soul" by Isabel Allende, a fascinating story about the conquest of Chili around 1550. I couldn't put it down it was so gripping, well written and informative.

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2053 on: July 14, 2010, 05:45:44 AM »
I read my once a year Jody Picoult.. This one was called Mercy and I think was an early one. Extremely irritating book.. One of those instant love messes, where they manage to destroy all hope in the future for any of them.. I finished it, but was so annoyed with a female who would grab out for another womens life.. Husband, job, home and be ohhh so sweet and frail.. More like a bulldozer from my point of view. And the male needed someone to walk away. His ego was so massive it was scary..Oh well.. The other part of the story was interesting.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

ANNIE

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2054 on: July 14, 2010, 12:12:20 PM »
Frybabe,
Sounds as though are a really busy lady even though you are out of work.  About your Roman Architecture online class, is that from the NOVA program??? Did you know that NOVA is doing a program on the subject?? Maybe you can find the date by just googling NOVA-PBS TV Programs.  Have you seen this fascinating hour-long lecture?


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4-7bjljoMs&feature=PlayList&p=80E9A5AC5FED9CA1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

Take a look at all the other offerings on Roman building and designs on your right side of the screen.

Steph,
Glad you have some plans to look forward to and hope you have a super visit with old friends.  I did that in May which was our 57th anniversary from high school but most of us are 75 this year so decided to get together to celebrate birthdays.  We are planning to do the 60th also in 2013.  There are quite a few of us who are still around and kickin' up our heels.  I went to an all girl's high school academy in Indianapolis, IN.  Its closed now and has combined with the old all boy's high school and moved into new headquarters in Indy.  Beautiful campus! Lots of trees!

Eloise,
How nice of you wanting to share with Steph.  Should we shoo anyone who hasn't got reservations to your room???  Hahaha!   Can't wait to see you.  I hope our room--mine and Mary's is near to your room at the Leo.



"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

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2055 on: July 14, 2010, 01:35:06 PM »
Adoannie, the lecture course is from Academic Earth. They have both free and pay (for credit) courses available from various universities. All their current courses are from universities in the US except for Oxford and the London School of Economics.

 http://www.academicearth.org/


Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2056 on: July 15, 2010, 05:34:00 AM »
My d-i-l's and granddaughter are here and at 8am, we are off to Nashville.. A day and a half trip from Clermont.. We are all looking forward to the trip.. I was amazed to discover that the opening act at the Opry on Saturday is Little Jimmy Dickens.. I imagine he is at least 100 by now.. Oh well. we will have fun.
Frybabe.. Oh such energy. I know that something will come up for you. My eldest is very very recently out of work. They eliminated his whole department at the county that he lives and works in.. He will be paid until the end of the year.. but it is hard of course. He had worked for them a long long time.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

Frybabe

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2057 on: July 15, 2010, 07:59:39 AM »
Sorry to hear about your son being laid-off Steph. Have a good trip to Nashville.

Babi

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2058 on: July 15, 2010, 08:40:00 AM »
 Steph and Frybabe, I was in that position more than once in my life.  It's no fun, but I muddled
through, thank God.  And I mean that literally.  Times get tough, and through no fault of your
own you find yourself among the 'trimmings' from a tight budget.  Look for the unexpected;
it always seemed to turn up just when most needed.
"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

Frybabe

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2059 on: July 15, 2010, 11:54:18 AM »
Thanks Babi.

serenesheila

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2060 on: July 15, 2010, 07:37:17 PM »
I am one more, with an adult, child, out of work.  She has been looking for more than a year!  But, now she has ended up with a new career.  She has a BA in Political Science, and a Masters in Public Administration.  Last year she had some surgery, and hired someone to take care of her afterward, for a week.  Now, she is working for her care giver.  As a result, she is starting a business in marketing.

We just never know how things are going to work out, do we?  She is full of enthusiasm!  I am so happy for her.  I really hope that the other, unemployed, adult children will find their niche.  I know what a worry it can be, no matter what age they are, when they are unemployed.

Sheila

ANNIE

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2061 on: July 15, 2010, 08:33:17 PM »
Frybabe,
Your link took me to the same professor that I sent you a Utube link for.  This lady is very interesting and I am already hooked on her course.  She is in my link, speaking about Hadrian and Hadian's Wall plus the Pantheon.  I have touched the wall in England.  There are pieces of it everywhere you go in the western and nothern parts of GB.  Anyway, enjoy. 
I am going back to your link to see what else they offer free!! Amazing!  Who would have thought that we would be offered so many wonderful chances to increase our knowledge without leaving our homes.  Not that I would not like to travel extensively.  Its a matter of affording the trips and would my body hold up for all that traveling?  Oh well, we have these wonderful offerings right here on the net.  I love it!!
"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

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2062 on: July 16, 2010, 12:45:07 AM »
Me too Annie................I have all these resources that everybody here has suggested, and the ones my friend from my course gave me and another friend who is a quilter just sent me a site titled The Quilt Index, which has the collections of quilts in museums all over the country and in the process of looking for definitions of kinds of quilts i found another site titled The History of Quilts................i've been having a ball. I'm pushing my nephews to get my sister's computer working so she can share in this w/ me. Oh, and i recently found the digitized Library of Congress site................the only problem is i must make myself get up and do something else after an hour............doesn't always work, but that's the schedule i'm working on........ :D :D..............jean

Gumtree

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2063 on: July 16, 2010, 06:53:25 AM »
Those who were in the discussion of Possession might be interested in this trivia -

During yesterday's telecast of the Tour de France the commentator gave information on a castle the helicopter was focussing on (as they do). After hearing its name and a few details of its history I was startled to hear him add stuff about the nearby spring where the Fairy Melusinawas believed to live. Well, I couldn't believe my ears - he added a little more about how her lower part would change into a serpent form etc.  It was probably the Castle of Lusignan which was where her children were born - but she is credited with having built many castles. Amazing how literature becomes an entrenched part of every aspect of life - including bike races.
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

marcie

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2064 on: July 16, 2010, 11:15:50 AM »
That's interesting, gumtree! It's so much fun when we're reading something here on SeniorLearn that we learn about through other media too. I searched a bit and there is going to be a new opera, "The Legend of the Fairy Melusine," performed later this year.
See http://www.stevenjobe.com/the-legend-of-melusine

maryz

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2065 on: July 17, 2010, 04:21:35 PM »
Steph, sorry I wasn’t home to wave at you as you went through Chattanooga on your way to Nashville.  I hope you had a great time with your family.


"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."

Frybabe

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2066 on: July 17, 2010, 08:13:40 PM »
Marcie, Gum, I think Radioman would like to hear about the new opera. Would you like to post if over on the Classical Corner in Seniors and Friends? So, this is going to be a puppet opera? Sounds like fun.

PatH

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2067 on: July 17, 2010, 08:39:57 PM »
I had never heard of Steven Jobe before, and when you come on a new modern composer you don't quite know what to expect, but the sound clips were certainly likable enough.  I'll keep an eye (or ear) out for him.

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2068 on: July 20, 2010, 06:35:33 AM »
We did whizz through Chattanooga. If I had just had my granddaughter I was going to stop for a day for her to see some of the sights, since I think it is a lovely city,. but my two daughter in laws needed to get back to work.. Oh well. next time. We did have fun. The Opry is always a blast and my gd fell in love with Marty Stuart.. I told her that many many females over the years felt the same. It is the velvet voice..
Stephanie and assorted corgi

maryz

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2069 on: July 20, 2010, 09:24:50 AM »
Steph, glad you enjoyed your time in Nashville.  Let me know the next time you're going to be through Chattanooga, and we'll show you the sights. :D
"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."

mrssherlock

  • Posts: 2007
Re: The Library
« Reply #2070 on: July 20, 2010, 04:38:49 PM »
Those of us whose lives have been rather hum-drum, lacking the deep abyss of despair and the breathless heights of bliss, live alternate lives through books.  For the past few days I have been living on a dryland farm homestead in 1910 Eastern Montana with a family of three motherless boys and their father.  Havind been without a mother's care for more than one year the house has become a disaster zone.  An ad in a newspaper titled "Can't Cook But Won't Bite" results in the hire of a widow to keep house for them.  Ivan Doig, in Whistling Season creates a personable and attractive picture of that life. centered on the viewpoint of Paul, the oldest boy, one of the two seventh-graders in the one-room schoolhouse.  One hundred years ago  life was rural, farming being the major occupation of American families.  Every student, even the tiny first-graders, rode a horse to school.  Class time, recess, lessons, homework all are recounted by the narrator is hindsight as he deals with the occupational stress of being Montana Education Superintendent in 1957. Fron Halley's Comet to Sputnik we live through Paul's coming-of-age.  Five stars.
Jackie
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

maryz

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2071 on: July 20, 2010, 05:41:04 PM »
Thanks, Jackie, for the heads-up about the new Ivan Doig book.  We've loved his stories for years.  And I'm thrilled to get that one for my Kindle as we head out for a 3-week trip.   :D
"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."

JoanK

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2072 on: July 20, 2010, 10:22:29 PM »
Sounds like a good one.

marcie

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2073 on: July 20, 2010, 11:48:55 PM »
Hi, everyone.

We're looking forward to three new Wallander episodes with Kenneth Branagh in October on PBS. If you'd like a set of Mankell books (Faceless Killers, The Man Who Smiled, and The Fifth Woman) for only the cost of postage, please post in our PBS discussion. Limited quantities. First come, first served.

Steph

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2074 on: July 21, 2010, 05:39:50 AM »
 I have joined the face to face book club at the library, but it is a real disappointment.. The books cant be that new, since the library supplies them for you.. This month was a Dick Francis, but one with Felix as well, which are not nearly as good as his early stuff.. Next month is a writer, I dislike.. Stuart Woods.. then William Faulkner, because they needed a classic. I can see where the picks are a bit weird.. But I am still working on this business of changing my life, so I  will go.
Stephanie and assorted corgi

Babi

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2075 on: July 21, 2010, 09:05:34 AM »
 I believe I've avoided the depths and blissful heights as well, JACKIE, being pretty much a middle-of-the-road person in most things.  I like to think of it as being well=balanced.  ;)
"Whistling Season" does sound good.

  How are the book picks made, STEPH.  Perhaps you will be able to suggest some you like
better.  Meanwhile, you might meet some people you really like. Good luck.
"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

ginny

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Re: The Library
« Reply #2076 on: July 21, 2010, 09:23:21 AM »
Buon Giorno,

Thank you everyone for the great comments on the photos of Vesuvius-- am sitting here looking at it right now -- and would see it if there weren't a haze over it--and the gorgeous harbor and talking to you!!

I just got here-- there is WI FI everywhere, even on trains.

Roahanna Rose, I'd love to see your photos and will look when I get home-- the Blackberry does not load photos here well.

Stephanie, our bookclubs have spoiled me for face to face ones, but give it another go -- I admire your go get em attitude. Wish you could come to NYC.

Jackie that sounds wonderful, I'll look it up.

I finished Gentlemen and Players and don't know when I ave enjoyed a book so. I hated.to see it end and still think about it. I want to read everything she's written now. Goodbye Mr. Chips with a twist.

I think I'll write her, maybe she'd discuss one of her books wih us.

Absolutely loved it.

Pedln, did you guess the  mystery person? Who dun it? I DID, for probably the first-- and last-- time in my life.Feel inordinately bright over that. Hahahahaha

I hope that when I hit Heathrow they will have one at TH Whites of  hers I can read on the return flight.

Oh and don't let anybody tell you flying to London by day instead of overnight does  not make a difference--no jet lag, just like going to Chicago from where I live. Will never go any other way.

See you when I get back-- oh it  looks like  I can see Vesuvius from the bed- what a sight to wake up to: makes all the  hitches worth it. You gotta just keep swimming,  don't you?

Tomereader1

  • Posts: 1868
Re: The Library
« Reply #2077 on: July 21, 2010, 11:04:01 AM »
Sounds like that should be a library "mystery book club" Steph.  We have two separate clubs at our library - - the General Book Club and the Mystery Book Club.  We have members in both groups who attend both meetings, and some who only attend one or the other.  I think mixing mysteries in with regular is a mistake.  I have an idea for you, Steph, go back through some of these postings or our archives and look up some titles there, and make recommendations.  Our facilitator makes suggestions, but the membership votes yea or nay.  If we suggest a title, she checks to make sure the library has enough copies. Since our group fluctuates from 6 to 12 or so, that is not always a problem. (It is if it's a new book)
The reading of a fine book is an uninterrupted dialogue in which the book speaks and our soul replies.


André Maurois

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: The Library
« Reply #2078 on: July 21, 2010, 01:35:07 PM »
The other sites on the suggested list of "going to college for free" info that my friend wrote about in her article are:

www.wonderhowto.com  - curators of this site comb more than 1700 websties for good instructional videos on how to do almost anything. The videos are short and specific and cover a wide range of practical topics.

www.howcast.com - like the preceding site, innumberable vidoes on how to do almost anything from Howe to Look Great in a Photograph to How to Avoid Snakebites.

www.Ted.com/talks - TED (technology, entertainment, design) refers to an annual conference that brings together some of the world's top thinkers and doers to give a talk in 18 mins or less about their work, thinking, or accomplishements. More than 600 of the best of these are gathered at this site in video format. At the home page, talks may be selected by event, length and rating (one of which is "jawdropping" and its sev'l subdivisions, suchs beautiful, inspiring, funny, etc.) Videos start as soon as the appropriate image is clicked.

And last,  www.forum-network.org  - this site offers live and on-demand lectures and readings by some of the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, policy makers and community leaders sourced from public tv and radio stations. Videos can be selected by individual lectures or series, and by the categories of "featured," "recent," and "popular."

I have barely had a change to check out each of them, but they all look very interesting. I hope you find something to entertain, or help, you....................jean

mabel1015j

  • Posts: 3656
Re: The Library
« Reply #2079 on: July 21, 2010, 01:41:41 PM »
BTW - in the last site forum-network, if you click on the "series" link, one of them is a "summer reading series," w/ authors reading and talking about their works.......scroll down to see the individual programs, click to view the one you're interested in.......many are non-fiction, but not all........jean