The Library

[PatH]

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

[PatH]

Barb, cities sometimes get their due.  What about Upon Westminster Bridge?

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
   Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
   A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
   Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples lie
   Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
   In his first splendor valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
   The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God!  the very houses seem asleep;
   And all that mighty heart is lying still!

                                Wordsworth

[BarbStAubrey]

Thanks Pat - that is what I need to do isn't it - find poems that honor cities - it could be that I've been seeing and reading a rash of books that talk more about connecting with our deeper selves through our connection with nature - I love these reads however, as I've shared nature with little sign of mans handwork is not available to many but more, the city is typically not seen as a place to connect to our deeper selves, or to connect to God or equate with bringing a feeling of peace.

And so maybe there are other poets and writers who have brought cities and what is man made into the forefront and that viewpoint is not popular just now - because I have to agree I breath and even think differently walking where there are few signs of mankind however, I am wondering if that is programed into us by mostly writers from the past -

Thanks Pat for the heads up sharing this poem... Wordsworth sees and speaks of just the kind of wonder and inner awe that we typically read about a description of a field or wooded area - I had no idea he wrote this...

[PatH]

I think he wrote a lot more poems praising nature than praising cities, but the moral should be to appreciate all good things and take your beauty wherever you can find it.

[PatH]

Fran, when you get back to the tatooist, let us know what you think of it.  I couldn't make much of the review I read.

[ginny]

My current 2 am  reading is  Two One-Way Tickets to Rome: Our Year-Long Honeymoon in Italy by Dan Altman.

It's one of those free Kindle things and the write  up on it intrigued me.

It's.....I don't know how to categorize it.  The chronology of the divorce and remarriage (hence honeymoon) of a guy in his 60's, now a grandfather,  is kind of sketchy. As an "old wife," that kind of sets my teeth on edge.  But his descriptions of finding restaurants which don't charge an arm and a leg seem useful as well as their partaking of the wonderful free concerts....it's an odd book. It's unfocused, like a diary.  He seems a nice guy and he's really enjoying the ambiance, I guess that's what keeps me reading.

It's kind of like going to Rome, all the sightseeing, and he seems open to new experiences...but despite being an English teacher it seems to need editing, not for the grammar, for the way it's paragraphed. I almost didn't finish the Introduction which had no paragraphs at all.  And he's my least favorite character to read about ever: the ExPat. They all seem so charming, they all are avoiding taxes (sorry) and none of them seem to live particularly well, no matter how....eh....authentic it is. Climbing up 5 flights to get to their rented  room. No appliances to speak of, no toaster. Buying these things at the Chinese (secondhand?) stores...uh.... The authentic Italian life he says,  and he might be right but I think of Valentino Garavani  who is also Italian, and I can't see HIM doing what these people are. Or ever wanting to.

In short, I think this is another ...what do you call it... Late Mid Life Crisis ExPat escape..And I think Italy would not be the place I wanted to  pay taxes in,either.  (He's American). Or he was. 

I do agree that Rome and Italy are like Adult Disneyland. I like his joy in having said that.  And I do agree that to hear all the foreign languages in the fun  struggle to understand restores you again to being a child, and he loves that.

He's hurt, it seems,  and in need of escape and a new life.

He's charming and he needs an editor.

[ginny]

We actually, a long time ago, had an  Avowed ExPat on our website, anybody remember him?  It was on SeniorNet.

Oh the joys of Portugal, not like that awful America where you have to pay taxes, and such a good climate (and I'm thinking PORTUGAL with their human rights issues??) and how much better it was and learning Portuguese, the flowers, the fauna, the climate,  the bare feet, and on and on and then one day something about living in Portugal and the need to pay taxes there, they actually expected you to pay taxes to them,  and then suddenly he was gone.

I've always wondered where he went next, but I think about that time SeniorNet went down.


But I do like Peter Mayle and have read all his books. I guess he carried it off with more grace and style. And  intelligence.  Secret Desires Dept: I've always sort of dreamed of winning the lottery and having  a small place in Italy or Britain, but just as a retreat, not a permanent residence. Obviously  that will remain a pipe dream. hahaha 


This coming Tuesday is the 100th anniversary of Patricia Highsmith's birth.

I have all four Ripley saga  books.  The sophisticated masks people  wear and what may be behind them.  I keep meaning to sit down and read them.  This is on the film adaptations.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/16/patricia-highsmith-at-100-the-best-film-adaptations

What's everybody reading?

[PatH]

I remember that member, but not his name.  He had increasingly serious health issues, and he talked of coming back to the US for treatment, but I don't remember if he did.  I forget the details, but it was obvious he wasn't going to last very long.

You've captured his tone exactly, and some of the things he praised sounded pretty dubious to me.

[ginny]

 Well I don't want to speak ill of the dead,  if he is, and now that you mention it I do seem to recall  he had contracted something....cancer? I did not get the impression that it was terminal, as he seemed to have plans to leave Portugal and move somewhere else...and I just can't remember where.... I almost want to say Punta Cana or the Canary Islands, or something like that?  One of the reasons I remember him was waiting to hear about his new situation and being surprised not to.

 At any rate  I am sorry if he did die, but since it's been such a long time quite a few people have passed,  from our site and SeniorNet.    I personally, having gotten to know him over that time,  sort of have the  feeling that things did not work out  for him in either  Portugal or the US or where he then moved, (where can you live without taxes?)   Canary Islands? and he just stopped extolling it because that was the only subject he ever spoke on.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes now that you have included a couple of posts about him I too now remember - I thought I Remember him saying something about Southern Africa but I may be mixing him up with another guy who was going to move to Southern Africa till he finally woke up that to have the sunny clime he hoped for he had to be close to the equator not closer to the antarctic - When one of the grandboys did a summer semester in Norway and then traveled first to Germany for a couple of weeks and then to Spain where he did a day trip into Portugal he too was extolling the virtues of Portugal - he liked the beaches in Spain but he preferred the people and food and look of Portugal - we seldom hear of Portugal so it may be a place still hidden from the hoards of travelers -

There were so many over the years whose posts we miss - not many guys compared to the number of women but those who did participate all seemed special - is there any news of Robbie - is he still with us or has he also passed. You know whose site is still up and running as if he left it yesterday... Chazz - https://chazzw.wordpress.com/

[jane]

I remember him, too, but thought he went to Cyprus, but that may have been someone else.  After there a short while, he started complaining about costs there, etc.  Apparently not Paradise and lots of ...uh...shady things there. 

Robbie passed away in Aug. 2019.

Ginger passed away in 2019 as well.

[Frybabe]

I remember not the man of whom you speak, but that Portugal was (still is?) a popular expat destination, not for Americans, but for Brits.  In fact, one of Mom's friends and husband moved there after traveling there seasonally for some years. The Chunnel certainly made it easier for Brits to escape from Britain's taxes and climate and still allow them to go back often for visits.  Found this interesting article listing the 10 largest expat communities: http://internationalmoneytransfer.co/10-largest-expat-communities-in-the-world/#:~:text=Profiling%20the%2010%20Largest%20Expat%20Communities%20in%20the,United%20Kingdom.%20...%2010%20(10)%20Amsterdam,%20Netherlands.

When I restricted the hunt to overseas retirement, Spain, Portugal, and France featured in all of them. Other frequently listed countries included Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Belize, Malta (another popular Brit place), Croatia, Cyprus and others. My sister's hair dresser vacations in Mexico every year, and is slowly planning to retire there. In fact, she is there now, and has been since the Covid-19 outbreak, unable or unwilling to come back (I forge which) during the pandemic.

[Frybabe]

I am still reading The Labyrinth of the Spirits Carlos Ruiz Zafón. What a strange and compelling series this has been. I found this review of the book which includes a quick synopsis of the first three as well. It is well worth reading in itself. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/14/labyrinth-spirits-carlos-ruiz-zafon-cemetery-forgotten-books-quartet-final-review   Aside from this series, he only wrote a few short stories and a four book young adult series before he passed away this past June at the age of 55. What a shame.

[BarbStAubrey]

I looked at The Labyrinth of the Spirits series and was tempted but I've got too much going to add another series...

YES, Jane it was Cyprus and yep, more complaints, as you say about shady people and activities - nothing after that though, never could figure out if he stayed or left. Thanks for the update on both Robbie and Ginger - now I remember the announcement about Robbie but had not heard that Ginger had passed - thanks...

Reading the simplest of story done so well - the descriptions are perfect including the feelings over the simplest of actions - so far two separate stories that will become one -

Young women outside her apartment getting out of a vehicle someone grabs her purse and she is knocked to the ground at 2: in the morning - she can get inside the front doors but with no keys and evidently not feeling OK asking for help from a neighbor she has no way to get into her apartment and so across the street is a hotel where with no money or ID she asks and seeing her willingness to leave her very expensive jeweled bracelet as collateral they agree to allow her a room that she will pay for the next day - we learn later the cut on her head must have been very serious since the staff notices she had not left her room and they find her unconscious, calling police and ambulance - the night before she was able to call across the street to her cat through the window she left partially opened and so that is a bit of the story in play -

In the meantime we have a fairly successful bookstore owner who was on his morning constitution and finds her purse abandoned on top of a trash can - should he take it and then later the struggle if he should look inside a woman's purse which was considered a no no since childhood - description of this beautiful purse and how you never see women discard their purse or good leather shoes - Inside the purse he finds a notebook with all her thoughts - have not read further but evidently he falls in love with the writer of the notebook and part of the story is his efforts to find who she is and to meet her...

It takes place in Paris with lots of french insertions like he pulls from his refrigerator the left over hachis Parmentier  and his unkempt hair is described like Rimbaud in Fantin Latour's painting, Un coin de table

After having looked up the painting of 8 authors and poets, I found another author new to me, Jean Aicard and found a very few of his books translated into English - I ordered one, Maurin des Maures (ENGLISH TRANSLATED) published in 1908 - described as “hero-comic” brings to life “with the Provencal accent the free spirit and frank gaiety of our old Gallic storytellers”.

OH yes, the book that all this is from - The Red Notebook by Antonine laurain

[rosemarykaye]

Hello everyone, from a slightly snowy Deeside.

I have just watched your President and Vice-President's inauguration, and I just wanted to say how glad I am that it all went off so smoothly.

Back to books: on BBC Sounds I have been listening to The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie, adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell in 1990. Lovely Stephen Tomkinson played Charles Enderby, a journalist who joins forces with Emily Trefusis to exonerate her fiance, James Pearson, from the murder of his uncle. Melinda Walker played Emily. This is one of those stand-alone Christies, with no intervention from Poirot, Miss Marple, or even the rather tedious Tommy and Tuppence. I liked it.

We had a little bit more snow overnight, but when I walked by the river this morning I felt drips from the trees and realised that the ice was melting at last.  There were lots of birds scurrying about, especially robins. We are due more snow and sleet tomorrow, but I do believe spring is coming.

I hope everyone is well.

Rosemary

[PatH]

I'm glad too, Rosemary; one more worry over.  And I thought he did an excellent job of setting the tone he hopes to maintain.  Easier said than done, of course.

If you didn't blink at the wrong time, you saw it snow during the inauguration--at least a dozen flakes.  There wasn't any where I am though, 10 miles Northwest of the Capitol.

I remember the book of The Sittaford Mystery, also called Murder at Hazelmoor here.  It was a good one.

[BarbStAubrey]

How much fun can anyone have reading a book where the setting is in an area you do not know - A blast - I'm using the Google map that you know how you can turn the map into a video of the street or road that shows people that are nearby or waiting to cross the road when the camera attached to a vehicle goes by as well as videoing the other vehicles on the road and of course the houses and businesses near the road and those in the distance just as if you were driving along -

Couldn't wait any longer although I have a couple of books going and so I start Maurin des Maures - well first I learn it means Maurin of the Moors and then the concept described in the review that it was going to be a fun read told as only those who live in the Provence know how - well it starts out explaining on the first page of the story this particular spirit is called galégeade. Looked that up in a French to English dictionary and it means a tall tale or farce told at the expense of the story teller and particular to the Provençaux

Since I know where the Provence is located and have even been there I wanted to know where this Inn that was talked about is located - of course the story is written in 1908 so the chance of finding the Inn is infinitesimally small but I thought I could at least find the area and the story mentions it is halfway between Hyères and La Molle, along the road that follows in all its length the winding cut of the mountain massif of the Moors, in Provence, in the Var. And that is where the fun came in - using the Google map I'm following the road and see folks out talking to each other and gas stations and shops and miles of trees, some that look like a Van Gogh and others that look like a Cézanne and still others that look like a Gauguin - and then several times I saw small groups of 4 or 5 mostly women but a few men chatting with each other and at least one of the woman had been shopping carrying this huge sack that here in the US would be a paper sack - well these sacks are easy double in size and made out of woven straw so they are like loosely woven baskets that they carry them in their arms as a full sack of groceries.

Well back to my story - this is a blast - looks like I've two stories taking place in France going at the same time...

[rosemarykaye]

Barb, what a great idea to look a setting up on Google maps!  I'd never have thought of that.

A book I read last year that's set in Provence is Mary Stewart's Madam, will you talk? It's a fairly light-hearted romantic suspense novel, but the heroine is a typical Stewart woman - feisty and independent - and she knows how to drive fast cars, so she whizzes around the area. Stewart is always good on locations. The most recent book of hers I read, Wildfire at Midnight, is set on Skye.

Maeve Binchy always takes me back to the rural, undeveloped Ireland I first discovered in the 1980s, a place of poor farmers, cattle marts, and cottages often with no electricity or running water, even then. And HE Bates's Larkin books remind me so much of the way rural Kent was in my childhood (even though they are considerably older than I am!), where many people lived in a very ramshackle way, and the villages (now full of second homes and communters) seemed a million miles away from London. Barbara Pym can also instantly conjure up the London I knew as a child - cafes like the Kardomah and the Golden Egg, restaurants with wine that came in baskets, and which served Black Forest Gateau as the inevitable dessert.

Thanks for the idea!

Rosemary

[nlhome]

I've done the Google thing a few times while reading. It does help put the setting into perspective. I never had that much fun, though, Barb. I'll try it the next time it seems appropriate.

[PatH]

I never even thought of doing that.  It's a great idea.

[ginny]

 I read the most interesting thing today in reading an article on Judy Dench in the new Guardian online this morning.  She was talking about how in her own mind's eye she is not 86, and 5'1"  but instead she sees herself as 6' tall and 39.

I absolutely loved that. And then the quote was introduced by the interviewer I think, but it was quioted to say "If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you think you are?"

There are people who don't really know their real ages. The author of Educated never had a birth certificate so she doesn't know, and  you read about people who don't. But I love the question. I've been thinking about it all day.

So if YOU didn't know how old YOU were, how old would you think you were?

I'm of two minds about that.  One would be 100 and the other is the one I see in my minds eye. hahahaha

I wonder if it matters. haahah

In fact I am not sure I have an accurate picture of myself at all, to be honest. 

[Frybabe]

The first time I used a map, I followed Oliver Twist through the streets of London. My collection of National Geographic maps has languished since the internet and Google Maps. And speaking of maps, my next library read will be The Map of Knowledge: A Thousand Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found by Violet Moller.

I am almost done reading Labyrinth of the Spirits, which seems more lengthy than the other three. It has turned into sinister/horror novel which is not my usual fare. I would have preferred it to be a bit less dark. I am still hoping for a brighter ending.

[BarbStAubrey]

the book on the history of classical Ideas sounded so good - looked it up on Amazon and reading the review I realized PBS had this story - I think it was several hour long programs showing these centers of learning - I always forget and now again I need to look it up how the magnificent library in Alexandria was destroyed - never can remember if it was war, fire, earthquake, flood - I can still see in my minds eye the documentary showing the bits and pieces found in the Mediterranean because as a Kid when we read about it in our books we all thought it was a made up story but filming the finding of actual structure made it real. What I do remember as kids we were informed it was larger and greater then the vast number of ancient books in the collection held by the Vatican and Spain put together.   

Now that would be a great page wouldn't it frybabe to include in an annotated book of Oliver Twist - a page showing an old street map of London and a new map with the spots in the story marked and then we could go to a google map and turn it into the street view and see what those spots look like now - now you have me curious and I need to pull out Oliver Twist - I think the one I would do first though is Bleak House - love to see where Chesney Wold is or was in relation to the Court of Chancery and in relation to the cemetery.

Age - I've gotten to the point where I forget it completely till some official something or other arrives telling me I must do things like apply for my drivers license differently because I'm now at what they think is a risk age. Ah so... - I can see it now - I'll die and my head will say - well, I was not expecting this - now what? 

[ginny]

 That does sound like a good book, Frybabe, will you keep us informed as you read? I didn't see the TV program, so I am interested.  Are you continuing OK health wise and what happened to the rest of the cats?

Barbara, I am always amazed when traveling to have people get up to give me their seats on whatever public conveyance. I appreciate it but don't take it and sometimes have to force my head to stop from swiveling around to see who they mean. I do have to say the mask hides a lot of faults (or lack of plastic surgery, take your pick) I mean eyes, hair, what is there left to look old? hahaha  Might be that old lady stoop?

I've read this morning about a new mystery just coming out in February  (with a much prettier cover in the UK than here) called Exit by Belinda Bauer.  Bauer is “Britain’s most original crime writer” (Crime Scene), one of the few authors in the genre to be longlisted for the Man Booker prize. "Now she returns with a heart-pounding, heartbreaking, and often hilarious new crime novel in which it’s never too late for life to go fatally wrong.

Perfect for fans of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, this is the page-turning, twisty new crime novel and Sunday Times Thriller of the Month from the bestselling author of Snap.

'Fresh, funny, flawless. The best crime novel you'll read this year.'"

That sounds good to me. Can't wait, February 2. Ugly U.S. cover, though.

I still haven't 'finished Jurassic Park, or even started  my other eagerly awaited new one,  too much going on here. I would like some peace and quiet for a while,  and no demands  for a while, just  a good book and my new electric lap robe, doggone it.   And now a nursery informs me they are packing a new rose to send here and I'm thinking, hello,  it's January, where do you LIVE? Not quite ready to get in the garden...  yet!

It IS,  however going to be 67 degrees here Tuesday,  as unbelievable as that  is.

What's everybody reading?

[Frybabe]

I'll have to see if I can find the PBS program. I have not watched PBS in years. I think the last was the Endeavor series up through season three or four.

[Tomereader1]

PBS, running tonight another episode about Agatha Christie.  I watched the first one, "The Mind of Agatha Christie" and enjoyed it very much. 

[rosemarykaye]

Good afternoon, from a cold and frosty (but not snowy, unlike much of the rest of the UK) Aberdeenshire.

I finished listening to The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line by Ruth Ferguson on BBC Sounds. A friend in France was also listening, and we were both agog for the final instalment - and then felt slightly let down. It sort of fizzled out in the way that seems to be fashionable, at least in short stories - though this is a novel - when we had both hoped for the heroine to extract her revenge on the chief villain(ess) and walk off into the sunset with one of the other characters. Diana (friend) said it reminded her of a typical ending to a French film. Having said that, the book is well written and we both recognised so many of the 'types' in it that I would still recommend it; the first nine chapters were wonderful.

Now I am reading Verily Anderson's Spam Tomorrow. I hadn't realised quite how posh she was - her pre-war and pre-marriage life consisted mainly of misbehaving at her smart boarding school, being packed of to finishing school in Paris, starting and immediately abandoning numerous jobs (if there was a party, a 'weekend', or whatever on offer she simply didn't turn up) and having very long holidays in Britanny or weeks on Scottish shooting estates belonging to the father of one or other of her friends.

She is a good writer and a very jolly sort of person, so the story rips along and is very readable, but I must say that something in me does get a bit fed up with all the faux poverty - 'we were so poor' - her father is a country vicar and the huge family live in a lovely rectory with staff, the garden has a hot house from which mother send grapes up to London for her, most of the father's relations are titled aristocracy, and she can always find some cousin or other to stay with in Belgravia or Chelsea if she's up in town. Now I am up to the bit when war has just broken out, and she is living with her new husband in a flat off Berkely Square, and her descriptions of the air raids and nights spent in the shelter in the cellar of the flats are very acute and interesting. (Apparently the smarter hotels built beautiful shelters in their basements where guests could be accommodated, complete with valets!)  She and her husband wander through Hyde Park during a raid, and in the morning they walk down Oxford Street where all the vast shop windows have been smashed, and John Lewis (a famous department store) is on fire -'blazing with giant fingers of red and yellow reaching for the raiders in the sky.'

Rosemary

[nlhome]

That book sounds interesting, Rosemary. I wanted to thank you for the Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast suggestion. That was a very comfortable book to read in bed for a bit just before turning off the light.

We had 6.8 inches of snow overnight. Definitely winter here.

[rosemarykaye]

nlhome, I'm so glad you enjoyed The Bachelor Brothers! I'm always a bit nervous about recommending it, as I expect some people would find it twee, but I don't think it is, and as you say it's very 'comfortable.'

No more snow here, just ice, though I think it's receding again today.

It was Burns Night on Monday. We had vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties. My daughter and her housemates must have had made quite a lot of Toasts to the Immortal Memory, as they certainly didn't feel mortal yesterday - she told me she spent most of the day in bed recovering. They are young (she's 22) - goodness only knows what that amount of cheap whisky would have done to me.

Rosemary

[nlhome]

Burns night?

[ginny]

Everybody is reading such interesting sounding books!!

I finally gave up on the chair and the electric lap robe and took Jurassic Park to bed and enjoyed it there, too, even though I only get a couple of pages at a time, I enjoy it.

Talking about Agatha Christie,  Tome, the other night I was looking for something, anything, on Brit Box on Amazon and they had the original Hercule Poirot with David Suchet the first season and I really enjoyed that no end. I don't think I've ever seen the first season of it, it was eons ago.

I'm going to watch the entire set.  It's good.

 I like David Suchet, I saw him on Broadway years ago in that....play that had Brendan Coyle and  David Suchet in Arthur Miller's The Price, the 50th Anniversary of it, two warring brothers, it was really good, but Brendan Coyle was on stage almost 99 percent of the time and how on earth he memorized all those lines is beyond me.

I always liked him the best on Downton Abbey, he was the one arrested falsely or whatever it was.

I'm going to start Jurassic World next. Other monsters vicariously  conquered in a world that is equally as crazy and sort of out of control, too.

How are you all getting along with the vaccine? Have you been able to get one yet?

[rosemarykaye]

Nlhome - Burns Night is the annual celebration of the life of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. The Scots take this VERY seriously, so there are Burns suppers up and down the land (and indeed in Scottish outposts around the world), though of course this year they all had to be enjoyed by people at home in their separate households.

If you attend a formal Burns Supper there is a set order to the evening, with many traditional toasts and recitals. People always dress up, so the men would be in kilts, etc. A special grace is said to start the meal, ‘the Selkirk Grace’-

‘Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit’

A soup is served, then the haggis (essential) is ‘piped in’ by a bagpiper. Someone ‘addresses the haggis’ - this is the recital of  a long poem, and there is a particular point at which the reciter stabs the haggis and slices it open from end to end  with a knife.

Much whisky is consumed. The dessert is usually cranachan, a delicious cold concoction of raspberries, cream, toasted oatmeal and whisky.

When celebrating the evening at home, few people probably go to all that effort, though everyone would have the haggis, neeps (mashed turnip/swede) and tattles (mashed potatoes). Vegetarian haggis is now also widely available, though purists wouldn’t touch that!

Originally haggis was contained within a sheep’s stomach. Now the outer layer is usually some sort of plastic bag, but in a local delicatessen I did see ‘haggis with traditional skin’ being sold last week. I’m afraid ours was the vegetarian version from Aldi.

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny - Brendan Foyle was the character both I and my youngest daughter loathed the most in Downton!  To us he just seemed really creepy and slimy, and also far too hairy!  I think we both preferred the chauffeur who married the youngest and short-lived daughter.

The vaccine rollout is continuing apace in Scotland, but I won’t get mine for some time. My mother has had her first one, as have most of the over 80s, some have even had the second - they managed to get that when the gap between the two was still 3 weeks, whereas the NHS has now extended that to 12 weeks to make sure more people get at least the first one more quickly. This is a controversial move, but I read that it is OK with the Oxford and Modena vaccines, though people don’t seem to know if it’s OK with the Pfizer one. Who does know, really?  My son (ambulance crew) and my friend (hospital consultant) have also both had their first one. I am looking forward to mine. It has been quite touching to see some of the very first people to be vaccinated saying (on TV) how thrilled and grateful they are, and how much they look forward to being able to see their children and grandchildren ‘in the flesh’ again.  Of course it is very important that they still continue to follow all the same precautions at the very least until their second dose has had 3 or 4 weeks to kick in. My mother says this was made extremely clear to them when she attended, but my doctor friend says they are still seeing people having to come into hospital because they thought one dose was enough, they could now return to ‘normal’ - and promptly caught the bug. She did also say, though, that it seems to be much less severe in people that have even had one dose of vaccine, so that’s something.

I’m very delighted to tell you that my son today passed the final part of the assessment to qualify to proceed to the paramedic course - this will give him far more qualifications and also more money, thank goodness. He doesn't know when his paramedic course will start yet, but it will be sometime soon and will involve some day release to Glasgow, as well as further learning on the job.   He had to drive through a snowstorm to get to the assessment today, so I’m glad he got there!

I have started watching an ancient DVD of Dinnerladies.  I don’t know if you will have had this - it was a series created by the late Victoria Wood, and I suppose it might be too British for US tastes, as it focuses very much on the humour and pathos to be found in the small things. It’s entirely set in a works canteen in a factory. The characters almost all work in the kitchens, apart from Julie Walters, who plays Victoria Wood’s own character, Bren’s, eccentric and delusional mother - she supposedly lives in a caravan behind the factory.

It is very funny in a gentle, kind, way. Victoria Wood was a genius at this sort of thing. The other actors include Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax, and many, many other things), Celia Imrie, Thelma Barlow, and Maxine Peake. Perfect comfort viewing, and it also comes in handy 30 minute episodes, so you don’t have to worry about staying up too late either!

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I just returned The Map of Knowledge to the library for the time being. I didn't get very far into it so can't comment of it just yet. I plan to read it later. Meanwhile, another on of my holds just became available. That should be the last of my  holds for now.

I still haven't gotten back to my usual reading pace what with checking on George's cats and getting stuff sorted and unusables/trash out into the trash and recycle bins. Yesterday I finally met George's girlfriend and together we took the "gang of three" over to the Harrisburg Humane Society and turned in the Xfinity equipment to Comcast to close that account. Today, I must head on over to the house again to help sort and clear some more stuff. The GF's grandsons are coming down to help her with some of the heavy stuff she is taking, and I have some cat litter boxes to clean out and dump in the trash. There is a little bit of a rush now, because of the upcoming snow storm, and the realtor, who will handle the sale once the will is probated, needs my house key. I will be glad when this is done. I feel like a vulture picking George's bones. It is depressing.

[ginny]

{{{HUGS}} Margie. It certainly sounds depressing, and I am sorry for it and your loss.  I AM glad you continue OK. It's good of you to honor George by helping out the girlfriend with his effects.   I would personally think she and her grandsons  could deal with the  litter boxes, however.

At any rate it seems you have certainly done your part.  It's no wonder you don't have time to read.


hahaha Rosemary, "creepy, slimy and hairy."  It seemed the story and his romance sort of took up a lot of film time there, though.  HAIRY? hahaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Never a dull moment.  The man has a steel trap mind, I can attest to that. (Or  somebody in his ear piece  reading the part).


It makes you wonder about actors. Some of them don't seem to have half a brain but then they can memorize an entire play..

Congratulations to your son for his fortitude in driving through a storm to pass his assessment so he can proceed  to his qualification as a paramedic! That bodes well for that work, too.   That is certainly a useful/ critical occupation, and one that is also never out of demand.

Nice to have in the family, too, for worrisome things that come up from time to time. I wish  I knew more about even the basics of first aid, it would be so useful, and I have thought of going down and taking one of those Public Interest Courses: what to do with a burn (apparently any sort of grease is out, ice water only) or a wound (tourniquet not wanted), etc. It seems it's easy to mess up when intending the best.


OH but the delights of reading again, even IF it's only  2 pages before sleep. Seems to set the world right. And actually very relaxing, isn't it? Just drift off in your own fantasy world for a minute. (Actually sleeping better, too, less screen time, maybe it IS the screens as they keep saying, that keep you up).

Dinnerladies is on Youtube.    Nice to see a younger Celia Imrie.  I had to wait to see the accordionist. That certainly takes me back---to the 50's and 60's.

I used to play the accordion, hahaha I really did.   Took lessons. Who on earth plays the accordion today? NOBODY.  In fact I just gave it away a couple of years ago, it was up in the barn. Gave it   to the mail lady who had always wanted one.   (The actor in DinnerLadies is not playing that accordion).

The last accordion I saw was on a train to Pompeii where the ....people wanting money..... jump on and play and jump  off the trains before the police catch them..and it was a concertina.

I can't believe I know accordions.

[PatH]

Frybabe:

I feel like a vulture picking George's bones.

Oh, that describes it exactly, doesn't it.  But it has to be done, and it's a favor to the departed to do it.

[Dana]

I am almost finished Kirstin Lavransdatter book 3.  They have been my bedtime last thing read for a while now and I need to find something else, equally detailed and long, a  family saga.....any ideas anybody.....?

I have really enjoyed them, quite intense and soap opera-ish in a way, maybe all the best stuff is, all that human drama, full of detail (too many names) and marvellous descriptions of the countryside and the times

[BarbStAubrey]

Dana - Amazon has a page devoted to Sigrid Undset that shows her other books - there appears to be another series plus many other single books to choose from -

It is easy enough to find books telling stories taking place in the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries however they mostly feature men rather then women and the stories are not as many faceted as those written by Sigrid Undset - I think that is part of the charm of Kirstin Lavransdatter - not only that they feature a women but a women's life is seldom a story or a warrior and where the Icelandic Sagas are interesting and set in the same time in history, and they also include strong women but, they do not have the charm that Sigrid Undset brings to her stories.   

here is the link the Sigrid Undset page
https://www.amazon.com/Sigrid-Undset/e/B000AP709Y/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

[Dana]

I want to take a break from Sigrid for now.  Was thinking of The Brothers Karamazov but I really couldn't stand Crime and Punishment and although I forced myself to struggle through it I hated every minute.  Might see if I can get The Brothers K. on my phone and then if I like it, switch to the book...what does anyone who has read it think about it?  Did you guys ever read it as a book club book?

Just off to take my new puppy to our first puppy training class.  Wish us luck!!!

[BarbStAubrey]

Dana I think we discussed the Brothers here on Senior Learn or maybe further back - but I would look in the archive and get a gist of how we were reacting - it is intense however what Russian writer is not intense...