The Library

[Tomereader1]

It's 14 degrees here in Dallas at 8:22 PM.  Don't know what the wind chill is right now, but earlier the temp was higher but the wind would take the skin right off your nose!  My daughter raised a rumpus with me, because I was out for about 7 minutes putting my "Frost Guard" thing on my windshield, just in case it snows or ices over.  It's a really neat item.  She's the one who gave it to me, so she shouldn't have griped at me.  I have a Ring Doorbell, and she has her phone set up where she can watch whatever happens on the Ring.  So that's how she saw me.  I told her, jokingly, "it's not nice to spy on your momma", but she said she was just "watching out for me" not spying.  Oh, this new technology is something else.
Hope you all are staying safe and warm and anticipating the Holiday.  Love hearing from those of you who post here.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yep technology can become too invasive can't it - I get a kick out of both my kids wanting to take care of me but what I see is they want to take care of me as they see things without checking in with me and making it a team effort till I finally during the move blew - I was devastated - I never blew at my son, ever but it was a pile of stuff that I just could not let it go one more time - the process was not neat and tidy but they both realized I have my ways that must be acknowledged and worked into any plans to help... I used to have the energy to fix things as I would prefer after they went back home  but now I am trapped in this aging body and I need to learn how to speak up without blowing or creating an argument - always something to learn isn't there...

Here it is 11: and 19 degrees - the boys brought me back home at about 9: and it was already minus 8 in Lubbock - both were smart enough to leave their faucets dripping before they left - it was so good seeing both of them and they helped me today so much - we opened just about every box in the garage and they put all the garden type stuff in the back shed - organized what was in the garage and even found some boxes of kitchen things. what a boost to have the help of young strong grands...

Paul and Sally had me over for dinner and afterward we watched a great movie with Mark Rylance - he plays a 'cutter' not a tailor but a cutter - it is a gangster story Chicago 1956 - Not only twist after twist after twist - must have been 10 or more twists to the story but it starts out almost as a poem and then the dialogue is like reading literature before the crime story takes hold - superbly acted of course - don't remember where it was on TV but it was on the TV. If you have not seen it The Outfit it is every-bit worth watching.

[ginny]

Jane, that was a smart move! Just looking at O'Hare on the news last night made me tired. hahaha What on earth would one do? Sit on the floor like a teenager I guess.  I did my last (I hope) sitting on the floor several  years ago and it was in a nasty Roman train station and I hope to be able to avoid that sitting on the floor part  forever in future.

Much too cold  temps being recorded everywhere, hope everybody still has power!!! My internet just came back on so am using it while I can.

Sitting here listening to the wind howling. I hate the sound of the wind, so got up at 4 am, when I heard an ominous thud outside, so something came down but thankfully none of these towering trees has hit the house yet. One forgets the reach of a tree which is that tall, even though it's not slap against the house. Literally the wind is howling.

Once some friends and I spent a couple of weeks in Cornwall in a rented house slap on  the coast. It was a beautiful spot not far from where Doc Martin is filmed, in fact, it has that little castle folly on it where Mrs. Tichell took the baby? Anyway, it was wonderful, such views, such walks,  but at NIGHT? At NIGHT the wind literally howled. Didn't bother the other two who went with me, or so they said, in their bedrooms,  but all I could think of is "they call the wind Mariah."  How it shrieked and moaned.  One could easily imagine ghosts if one were fanciful.

Tome, so funny with your Ring doorbell and your daughter checking up on you! Love it! And Barbara how true, how true:     and I need to learn how to speak up without blowing or creating an argument - always something to learn isn't there.. Yes. Where autonomy meets a caring child. It's diffy on all fronts.

But it sounds like YOU have made a super choice in a home location!!  How lovely that post is, I am so happy for you! Dinner and a movie indeed!

Howling howling howling. I wonder how long the pine trees can stand through which our power lines come. They are always the first to go. Sure does remind me of Cornwall.


Hope everybody can stay safe and warm, it's something we here have not really encountered before. The noises the house makes sound like a ship plowing through the water with a fog horn.

Well, back to translating Caesar for a January  in- person class, there's nothing like him for calm in the midst of any storm, then or now. 

Stay SAFE, everybody!

[Tomereader1]

Yes, Barb. "The Outfit" is really a good, mind bending movie, and I'm so in love with Mark Rylance.  He has those dreamy, sexy eyes; like a little puppy that has really messed up, and is trying to win back your love!
Enjoy the holidays, try to stay warm and we'll all keep praying that our power does not go off.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (when that rolls around)!

[Dana]

Going to try to get into watching soccer regularly so I can learn more about these weird rules.

Have been reading JK Rowling aka Robert Galbraith.  Her mystery stories are terrific and each one 1000 pages.... just started watching a BBC series Strike 1, which has the first 4 books...considerably slimmed down considering there's only 7 episodes in all, but very well done.

got 50 Hercule Poirot short stories on Audible. Very soothing listening for bedtime!

Merry Christmas!

[Frybabe]

Oh My! I have seen several programs and interviews with David Suchet about Hercule Poirot, but somehow, I missed this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX3ITew9Mpw One other thing I may have missed was Curtain.

[ginny]

Oh that's lovely, isn't it? Thank you for putting that here. He took that character very seriously, didn't he?

I  was quite depressed by Curtain and I'm glad she didn't kill Miss Marple off,  one does get so attached to the characters.

Speaking OF Miss Marple,  I decided, despite being disappointed by the short stories which begin the "New Miss Marple" volume of ventures of modern authors like Ruth Ware and Val McDermid doing Miss Marple reprises, I decided to try a few more and some of them are REALLY good. They have the character, I think, as Agatha Christie intended. There's a good one on Miss Marple's Christmas and another good one with her on a cruise, but I have to wonder why the editors chose the opening stories, which are, to me, off putting,  and not how I see Miss Marple at all. You can tell, however, when a character is not quite right and perhaps the age of the writer as well, in not "getting" how the character feels, in some of them. But an anthology is an anthology and some of them are right on.

I have to question my own taste here in Reading For Escape (which is what it is, to me, if I want drama and shock and unpleasantness and depravity,  and corruption and criminal activity  all I have to do is turn on the news) but I figure if you enjoy escape, you enjoy it.  There's a more ordered world in Agatha Christie, always somebody who actually knows right from wrong,  and who can set "right" back in its place, even in a short story, so no apologies needed.

What a mess for travelers, I can't imagine.  SouthWest and JetBlue seem to always have so many issues for travelers, are their tickets THAT much cheaper?

We had a good bit of damage when that front passed through, major tree down roots and all, two others damaged, siding and shutters off house in places, quite the storm.. One of the heat pumps went down Christmas Eve and howled like the Ghost of Marley when Emergency Heat was turned on. It's been quite the adventure.

But we had a fun Christmas anyway.

So how did your discussion of A Christmas Carol come out, Tome?

[Tomereader1]

Actually, Ginny, I missed that meeting.  I had other issues peeking in at that time, so I'm sure they had a fantastic discussion.  I, myself, had picked up one of the books the librarian had put out for our Club to use for the meeting. It was a gorgeous book, and I enjoyed reading it, even though I missed the Book Club discussion.  I also missed the meeting of the Mystery Book Club, which I also attend.  I do so find life getting in the way of my only entertainment (TV not included there).  TV is entertainment, but Book Clubs are cameraderie, educational and a lot of other good things (as you can tell, my mind is not functioning at a normal level tonight, absence of words or phrases escaping me).  I have a shed-load of worry, my daughter has the Flu, and she is suffering mightily.  We missed being together for Christmas, and may miss my Birthday on 1-1-2023.  I'm sorry about the whining, but I'm just scattered.  Sorry to hear about the storm damage in your area.  There was an occurrence here in my neighborhood that was crushing:  A house across the street, that had been through a very nice remodel (flip), has been vacant for quite awhile.  Monday morning I looked out and saw water running down the driveway.  Well, there has not been a Realtor sign on the property, so who you gonna call?  I saw this fellow drive up, and I flagged him over and told him, "I think you've got burst pipes in there".  He said, yes, water's over ankle high, running out back door, front door, etc.  The buyer (young couple) were supposed to close on the house the next day.  He said, all the carpet, flooring, baseboards, sheetrock where water pooled were ruined.  I don't know about the appliances, which were all installed with the flip.  Said the heat/air conditioning unit was not operable, so the heat was not on, and no one to drip the faucets. Don't know how that's going to work out, but  it was heartbreaking.  Brought back memories of last February when the temps got unusually low for Texas, and the pipes behind my washing machine burst, and sent water flooding out of the garage onto the driveway.  It ruined my flooring, sheetrock, baseboards, and other boards they had to take out with the sheetrock.  (I still don't have the laundry room repaired). Next on my To Do List.  Wah, ha, ha!
Later, kiddo.
Joanne

[ginny]

 Wow!!! I would say that's a  pretty good bucket load of things to be upset about!

That water damage is awful, on both counts.

But a January 1 birthday to look forward to, we must celebrate!

So sorry  your daughter has the flu, I hope she makes a quick and full recovery.

In retrospect, that was lucky for the young couple buying the house, wasn't it? The day before closing, so the house is not in their possession. I'd say they were very lucky with that one, despite the disappointment, I bet the disappointment would be 100 fold worse  if they HAD just closed on it. Dodged a bullet there.

It's been quite cold here, below freezing (this is cold for us) every night. My husband is not much on the drip faucets thing. I am drippy all the way and still dripping even though it's to be near 70 in the coming days, it's still below freezing at night. Tonight is to be the last, however, in a week of below freezing temps.  You can't drip the whole house though if one person thinks it's not necessary so fingers crossed on following the weatherman's advice to drip the faucets farthest from the intake pipe. My husband  likes to keep the temps  as a sauna anyway, so hopefully this end of the house will not have the issues you  so graphically described.

The Winter of Our Discontent is working overtime for some of us!

Sitting here waiting for the roofer now, he'll be here at 8 am, that walk about ought to be brisk!

I'd say {{{{HUGS}}} to you and your daughter  for the pile up of worries, and in your case a happy goodbye to 2022 and its worries,  and welcome to 2023 on your birthday Sunday!

 

[Tomereader1]

The weatherman here specified "the drip" as being like a strand of spaghetti in size.  I especially use the drip on the North side of the house, and along with keeping the cabinet doors open where pipes or drains might be exposed to the cold, it lets the heat in the room add to the warmth for the pipes.  I cannot understand why Realtor or Inspector would let someone contract on a house with no operable heating system.  Just think how they're going to suffer when our Texas temps get to 100+ in the Summertime and there is no A/C.
Thanks for all your encouragement and good wishes for a Happy Birthday and a New Year that will be better than 2022.  A happy new year to you and yours, Ginny.

Joanne

[BarbStAubrey]

OUch Joanne - the cold is really a reminder isn't it if what we went though during those days in February - had no idea your pipes burst - that disrepair reminds you every day of our inability to handle what nature throws our way but more how we have to delay having things fixed - I'm not in here a month yet and already I'm seeing how water must have crept into this house and now the worry about what to do to prevent water flowing into the house after a storm...

Sounds like a bum holiday season and Birthday with your daughter in bed - hope you can do something special for your Birthday - so you were a New Year's baby - by any chance were you the first born that year in the hospital? That used to be a big deal...

A shame the house across the street has now further repairs - looks like they will have to drop the price further with the water damage - if an investor buys it they will probably cover the water aftermath with paint and even though they are supposed to declare it the insurance companies have them by the tail because if a house was damaged from water finding an insurance company that will insure is a nightmare plus of course the premiums are upped ten fold... and so most do not declare water damage.

Wish we could make more of a fuss but Happy Birthday - it can only get better so sing out - a New Year and a birthday to kick off the New Year... terrific...

[Tomereader1]

Barb, yes I think being the first baby in the New Year was a big thing way back then.  I was born at 12:02.  Beaten out by one minute by a stinkin' little boy at 12:01.  His family got all the gifts (I have no idea what they were) but I did get a little silver cup, compliments of one of the jewelry companies here in town; I used to know the name of it, but not anymore; nor do I know the whereabouts of the cup.  At one point we rented a house that had a detached garage, which was a magnet for things we needed to "store".  Well, one day the garage next door caught fire, moved over to ours, and burned up my mom's automobile, plus all the goodies that were boxed up.  I had probably hundreds of $ worth of collectible toys and games out there too.  I would imagine the silver cup was there  also.
I'm not much for staying up late (on purpose) anymore, but I have to stay awake because the daughters always try to call me at 12:02 (they make it a game to see who can call me first and sing Happy Birthday)!  I'm always shedding tears and singing Auld Lang Syne, which is my signature New Year song, along with Dan Fogelberg's  "Same Old Lang Syne" (the story line bearing no resemblance to anything in my life, but the music is so haunting and the story so sad, that I sit there and cry anyway).  I played my CD of Fogelberg's music, and he did some really great songs (he wrote most of them, if not all).  The one called  "Leader of the Band" is another tear-jerker. I have always been receptive to music, and these days I guess you could say "over-sensitive" to it. But, what the hey, I'd rather be over-sensitive than cold, unfeeling.
I hope you don't find terrifically bad water damage to your new abode.  My delaying the repair to the laundry room started out as back in that February, you could not find a contractor who wasn't purportedly "booked up" till the next Century! LOL.  And of course, I didn't want just "anybody" to come in.  I asked all my friends for recommendations, but none of the reco's could get around to me.  I will get it done in 2023, unless they're all booked up due to this latest freeze damage.
Take care, Barb, have a good New Year yourself.
Hugs!  Joanne

[ginny]

Well here we are on the 7th Day of Christmas and New Year's Eve, and this morning I just read two really good articles, one about finding time to read and the other about Forget the Bucket List, make a  Reverse Bucket List and you'll be happier.

I haven't made a New Year's Resolution in years so I've not had the pressure of failing at it, hahahaa, but these two seem good to me since I did one last year out of desperation and they are both coming up on my google page today, so I thought you might  like to know about them in case you are also not seeing them.

They both appealed to me,  in different ways. I loved the way the first one on reading (or finding time to do things) pointed out you  ARE reading, you just don't sit down with a book to do it. If you divert that time you spend online reading about  Harry and Meghan and other gossip you could actually be reading a book.  I thought it was great.

Here's the first one: on finding time to read: The Three Minute Habit That Changed My Life:

The author has just said she couldn't find the time to read, she thought, till she started keeping a journal.

Except I did read. I read 327 hours that first year, which is almost an hour a day. Unfortunately, I was using that time unintentionally, reading whatever was easiest–usually gossip and fashion magazines that showed up due to the magic of auto-renewal, and a shocking number of online comment sections. Once I knew this time existed, I vowed to use it more mindfully. I began going to the library, and ordering e-books I could read on my phone in little spurts of time. The result is that since I started tracking time, I have read War and Peace. And Moby Dick. And Ulysses. And Kristin Lavransdatter. And 1Q84. And so forth. Knowing I have the time to read like a graduate student is liberating.

From: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/this-3-minute-habit-changed-my-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab

And then there's the Reverse Bucket List:

A 2015 study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology looked into how “grateful recounting” enhances a person’s overall well-being. The study showed that participants who recalled three good things from the past 48 hours–and briefly wrote about them–every day for a week had an easier time accessing positive memories. And by routinely recalling positive experiences, it sparked an increase in their subjective well-being.

https://www.fastcompany.com/40497651/how-making-a-reverse-bucket-list-can-make-you-happier

I suppose both of these can be dismissed as "Pop Psychology," but the one on scheduling  time to do something works.  I know that because I started back (out of desperation, really, when I couldn't do anything else physically)  when I sprained my knee May 7 and literally could not walk for months or drive, etc., I kept re-spraining it when I tried to drive or shop.

I set an hour a day and translated Latin as I've said here before.  And that hour sort of was incredible. I ended up with a written record of accomplishment,   4 classes done, parsed, illustrated,  and ready and I've done it this holiday, too, and just finished a face to face course of  8 weeks in Caesar Book II.  Very doable and makes you feel much more organized and energetic. Or it does me.

[ginny]

Happy Birthday, Tomereader!!!

And many more!

And Happy New Year to us all, too!

January 1 is also Public Domain Day and anything printed in 1927 and back is open to all:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Quote from above interesting website:

Why celebrate the public domain? When works go into the public domain, they can legally be shared, without permission or fee. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees. Online repositories such as the Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books, and the New York Public Library can make works fully available online. This helps enable access to cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history. 1927 was a long time ago. The vast majority of works from 1927 are out of circulation. When they enter the public domain in 2023, anyone can rescue them from obscurity and make them available, where we can all discover, enjoy, and breathe new life into them.

Seems a propitious start on the new year so far.

[Tomereader1]

Thank you, Ginny for the beautiful cake and the good wishes! 
Happy New Year to you and family!

[Frybabe]

Today is celebrated unofficially as National Science Fiction Day. The date was chosen in honor of Isaac Asimov who was born on January 2. I have yet to discover who started this and why Asimov's birth date was chosen over other, earlier Science Fiction greats. Even Wikipedia is mum on its origins. This is the first I've heard of it.

[PatH]

I wouldn't have chosen Asimov.  Maybe because his name has greater general recognition? This National any old thing Day stuff is way overused.

[Frybabe]

Agreed! What I cannot figure out why the Hallmark Channel (not the cards, the channel) and, especially, the Scholastic Corporation recognize it, or at least, Wikipedia says so. I've always equated Scholastic with educational books and materials. Well, yeah, I can too. Scholastic is all for getting more children to read.

[BarbStAubrey]

Looks like the day after the boys left for home I could not stop sleeping and after 2 days of sleep woke up feeling awful - looks like I probably have Covid - so far I'm I've been handling it however tonight my upper chest (lungs) are not doing so well... Hope I can beat this on my own using my usual anti biotics... don't know what or who to trust with this anymore and once past a certain age you are more like a guinea pig than a patient... 

[Frybabe]

Let's hope it is a mild case, Barb, and that you are feeling better real soon.

[ginny]

I would seek medical attention and try to get some Paxlovid. Good luck! We will be thinking about you.

[jane]

Barb...I echo Ginny....get to medical care...it may be you have pneumonia...again, not something to mess around with if you've had it before or not.

jane

[PatH]

I agree about the medical attention.  At our age (we're the same) we have to be very proactive with this disease.  Mostly, they just say to care for yourself at home, but they will know if there's some danger sign that has to have more care.  They don't try to send you to a hospital unless it's necessary.  Paxlovid, if appropriate, must be started early to work. It makes the symptoms much milder.

  You don't have an in town doctor, but perhaps you can have a phone or online consult with your doc, or one of the online services.

Also, it might be the flu.  This year's version is a nasty one.

Good luck.

[Tomereader1]

Barb, do a Tele-Doc, or go to one of those emergency centers (can't think of what they're calling them). By all means at least speak to your doctor or the Phys. Asst. and find out what to do.  Do you have an in-home Covid Test? Do that to make sure it's NOT Covid, then treat per your doc, as flu or bronchitis.  Do you have chills, fever, cough?
Please let us know what you do, and what you find out.  Bad start to New Year, but our prayers are with you.

[BarbStAubrey]

I know it is not the flu - I've had it several times and know what that feels like - looks like my son has it also - talking with my daughter and there is so much mixed information with several alternative treatments that seem to be more based on politics than medicine  - My daughter has it again in NC after only having it in September - she just finished her 10 days of illness today and she has had all the shots and boosters -

I got worried yesterday but talking with Katha, the more we researched the move we learn that there are now variant upon variant and there really is nothing that attacks the latest variant they are coming so quickly - she has tests that work where as, even the test did not work on Paul and he has been every bit as sick staying home, working from his home computer - he finally broke down and called his Doctor who said to just see it out, drink and don't forget to eat - his stomach upset he handled with Sprite -

I ended up not keeping down the Sprite and with my bad reaction to so many meds and just about every anti biotic except the very old ones that you can no longer get without the last time we priced it was at a cost of $500 - doing a great amount of sleeping with a rough sounding throat - using what has worked in the past when I was down with a lung issue and so far so good - two more days and the 10 days since I first started with this will be over - I've been able to keep my lungs clear with the herbal capsules for Lung and Bronchial plus echinacea and golden seal and the colloidal silver - I'm convinced not taking my vitamin regime for nearly a month was my downfall - nothing is packed logically and I could not find my vitamin's   

As long as I can keep my lungs open and not painful I feel confident I can get through this... my daughter and Sally, my daughter in law, call me each day, sometimes twice a day - I've been able to have groceries delivered so I got loads of water, juice, applesauce, crackers, puddings - even got some honey for toast - the worst was over after the first couple of days of diarrhea - once I had that under control except for being concerned over my lungs that are my weakest link I've been not too bad - sleeping tons - two more days... with so many different treatments each condemning the opposite and now even the government suing the pharmaceuticals and all these awful outcomes happening to people who with good intentions either took the shots or a treatment I do not know who or what to trust - the medical profession seems to be at odds with each other -

Katha, my sister Elizabeth, who has had a mess of her own with no doctor wanting to order the MRI for her hand that is not doing well after all that surgery we are feeling an enormous lack of trust - my sister is a bleeder and she was able to track down that some of her issue is just that - we are seeing how we have to use our heads and our research ability and decide our own treatment - tell the Docs and nurses what we want and hope for the best - it is all about money now and if the insurance companies did not need the doctors to assure they are not sued they would get rid of them as well... Covid has just tipped everything over quicker the way it was going.

We have a friend in insurance who explained that they are trying to wean as many away for government paid medicare - that these programs are a system in which they have their own doctors - the insurance not only insures the doctors errors and omissions but they are salaried - the only way they increase their income is by educated to greater skill - every aspect of your health is covered within the insurance policy system therefore instead of fees paid by medicare it is given back and you are covered with an equal and then some monthly cost directly to the insurance system - nothing is decided unless approved by the insurance company. Finding a doctor that will take a medicare patient is no longer easy and so if you have a family physician you are lucky and hang on as long as you can - when your doctor retires than it is Katy Bar the Door...

After Sunday, having talked with my family has given me the courage that all will be well and if not, we are all on the same page now and I don't feel so alone as I was last year when their trust was way up there and mine had already plummeted. Reading that book on the ins and outs of medicare really opened my eyes and then talking to our family friend in insurance was all I needed... this change in trust has really hit my sister hard since she was in the medical field and finally realized everyone she admired got out --- I'll keep you all posted but so far so good and only two more days unless everything goes south...

[Tomereader1]

So, in brief, what you're saying is:  That you have Covid - a variant.

[BarbStAubrey]

haha yep... oh my --- just off the phone with Paul who wanted to get an OK from the Doctor since he has this big job this weekend that puts him around people - The doctor said that he could test till the cows come home and you will either show you do or don't for as much as a month and you may or may not actually be ill - there is simply no logic and as fast as they try to come up with something it changes...

One more day and my 10 days are over although according to Paul's Doctor the official word now is 5 days - both our chests are not 100% - Paul is using over the counter and I'm using my 'voodoo', a combo of herbs that I use that have done me well... finally today I'm feeling some better and everything is loose ---

The TV is giving the current variant a name or a group of letters and numbers BBX 1.5 - we'll see how long this lasts but in the meantime I'm feeling 85 to 90% and can get back to things like reading

Did not realize there was another Downton after that Christmas special a couple of years ago - watched last night this one where Nanny passes - the grandchildren are no longer babies and where Mary is married and will stay married he never shows - something about cars in I think India - the big event is they use the house to shoot a movie and how the movie they were making was stopped because it was not a talkie and then Mary and others on Staff or part time staff become part of making the movie - well done and for me put a period finally to the end of Downtown - everyone has their foreseeable future lined up which would all change dramatically in just a few years with the start of WWII - Nice chunk of history done well however, I believe I'm Downton'ed out...

Did anyone ever break down and get a copy of the Downtown Cookbook?

[BarbStAubrey]

Today is the last of it... 12 Pipers Playing - I'm thinking the Hall would be full of sleeping party goers having had too much and in the morning they would let the pigs in to start the clean up...

[Frybabe]

I finally just started Justinian's Flea by William Rosen. Ginnie, I just loved the front page quote from Ernest Renan (1823-1892).

The two greatest problems in history are how to account for the rise and fall of Rome, and how to account for her fall.

Oddly, the author, who is an historian, starts out in his introduction with the mathematical concepts of the two-body problem and the three-body problem. Threw me for a loop there for a minute or two.

[Tomereader1]

Guess I'll take it on the chin, and post in here even though no one has posted since Jan. 6th.  Thanks, Barb.  Hoping everyone is all right.

Halfway through the first month of the year...hope that's not the way the rest of it goes.
Joanne

[BarbStAubrey]

so glad you posted Joanne and you also frybabe - sure is empty with no posts isn't it... still unpacking and so not much time for reading... 7 boxes marked laundry room that were actually the pantry in the laundry room and the closets above the washer and dryer - here, all that will go in the kitchen - large pantry that had I used it for food would be large enough to store food for a couple of dozen and so I'm turning it into a storage closet for china, crystal and little used cooking things like souffle dishes and Charlotte pans. Hate to toss but some of this I probably will never use again and having only grandboys they are not into the kind of cooking I did - I'm thinking even without a hole in the bottom I could put a deep layer of stones and use the Charlotte pans as flower pots - with all the cooking shows on TV now and people are not cooking - even HEB sells more prepared foods. I thought I had tossed so much before I moved and now that I'm putting things up I'm seeing more and more that I will never use again - sad- all that was important is now nothing...

[PatH]

A while back I asked for suggestions for mystery story series for my daughter Cathy.  One of my Christmas presents to her was Frybabe's suggestion, the first of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series of time-traveling literary detectives.  She likes it a lot; our family appreciates goofiness.  The other one, which she hasn't started, is  The Piper on the Mountain, by Ellis Peters, who wrote the Brother Cadfael series.  I don't know if she'll like the detecting, but the background is a loving, detailed description of Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia and the Czech Republic.  She and my SIL have good friends who moved there, and they've visited several times, liking the countryside a lot.

[Frybabe]

I am glad Cathy likes the Thursday Next Series, Pat. They are a lot of fun.

I am well into Justian's Flea and, so far, there is no mention of the fleas or the plague. One of the criticisms people have about the book is that it doesn't actually address the plague until late into the book. Still, the run-up is a reminder of events, people and their connections that I had briefly read about here and there but not in depth since I generally concentrated on earlier Roman history.

My reading has slowed down considerably lately. The only other thing I have going is a SciFi. I am between audiobook listens and haven't decided what next to listen to.

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I discovered that the audiobook I was waiting on to become available, Caesar's Civil War is actually an updated and revised version on an earlier work which includes new full color maps and images. The hardcover book is only 144 pages; the audiobook runs between four and five hours. Part of the Osprey Essential History series, it is essentially an introductory work or overview of the Civil War's, not anything in depth. Reviews of the older work are very positive. The new edition has only just this past week been released, so there are only one or two that I noticed.

[Tomereader1]

Where is Ginny?  Did the downed tree disrupt her access to computer use?

[Frybabe]

Don't know. I thought she had been unusually quiet too but chalked it up to her Latin classes keeping her busy.

[ginny]

Still here!! Swamped with stuff at home and in Latin, but still here. Not doing much pleasure reading, however.

Nice to be missed.


In fact, just got finally my copy of The Golden Child by Penelope Fitzgerald. I've been waiting what seems like eons, and it's a new paperback.  I read some of it on Kindle and thought it was a winner so ordered the paperback, well before Christmas, and it JUST came. I like her, I look forward to  reading more as soon as I get more time. Machinations in a Museum of Ancient History.

Frybabe, the maps in particular sound super. Can't have enough maps! I've got a big book connected with Caesar coming,  The De Analogia,  the collected fragments of Julius Caesar's lost two volume grammar with commentary. I can't wait, used my Christmas cards to get it. I've still got some left so will get another bird feeder, they are really hitting the feeders hard here.

I got a nice small pair of opera glasses for Christmas and really enjoy watching the birds up close. I hate trying to use our big binoculars because everybody has put them to their own eyes and I never can see a thing. So when I jump up to see the groundhog or whatever wild thing  we have here I have to first adjust them and by then it's gone. Now I have my own pair.

Barbara, at least you've made the move to clear out stuff,  you're way ahead of me. I don't know why the house doesn't sink under the weight of all this stuff I've accumulated since we've been here. So I congratulate you for your new start there.

Talking about  cooking, I'm in the last round of the latest Great British Bake Off and enjoying it no end. That's a great show.


What's everybody reading or are you watching funny movies to cheer up in these stressful times instead?

[ginny]

Tome, I also want to say I'm watching the Glass Onion again. I really like that movie, I think it's a metaphor for some of the self centered "disrupters" we have today, people who "disrupt" not to oppose wrong or tyranny but to their own personal gain, laughing all the way, and I can think of a very famous one as I write this, in our own world. Disruption for the sake of our own gain, not for the good of man.

You might give it another whirl?

[ginny]

Talking to myself, huh? hahahaa

I've taken to reading these free Kindle samples before going to bed. Sometimes they result in buying the whole book and sometimes they don't.

Am currently reading Snobs by Julian Fellowes, the author of Downton Abbey and Gosford Park. It's about snobs. hahaha The British titled families and the people who would like to be somehow connected with them, what those with those  titles are really  like and what happens when a beautiful woman marries into them. It's a novel and so fiction and he may be getting in a few personal jabs.

It's strange. Apparently he doesn't think much of the Lords and Ladies of the Realm. It's not new, it's from 2004. Not particularly well written. I'm trying now to think of his Gosford Park and Downton Abbey (the last series of which I did not see) and to recall who is portrayed with more sympathy, those  Upstairs or Downstairs. I  know who was in the original Upstairs Downstairs because the author of both those series,  Jean Marsh,  had the memories of her own mother who was  "in service," so she really knew or at least could recall what her mom said, about the Downstairs.

A different era. So far the Upstairs folks are not coming off well. Dull. Not overly bright. Hang about with the same crowd all the time in an almost self protective kind of behavior as if they fear somebody will realize they aren't much.

I guess in retrospect he's painting a pretty strong picture of snobbery, come to think of it.

What's everybody reading? IF reading at all? Or is everybody watching Derry Girls? hahaha

[Frybabe]

Since I have an interest in reading books and short stories from authors from other parts of the world, I looked up Brazilian authors and discovered that The Brazilian Ministry of Culture/National Library Foundation has sponsored a series of books called Brazilian Literature in Translation. I am especially interested, at the moment, in reading Rubrem Fonseca's detective stories. So far, I don't see any for Kindle so I am on the hunt to see if there are any used print copies available, or if the library has any (not likely, but you never know).

I am almost done listening to Justinian's Flea, which has very little to do with the flea or the plague. Interesting general history of the Eastern Empire during the 300's through the 500s though. It cleared a few muddled things up in my mind about the sequence of things going on and who was who at the time. One person mentioned in the book that I have a biography of (but still in my TBR pile) is Bellisarius. I am debating picking that up next to read finishing the first of a series on the rise and fall of the Moguls and the beginning of "The Great Game" era. The latter is most likely since I have it already started.

My third Agatha Raisin audio book is finished, so now I am most of the way through a short HALO universe novel by Kelly Gay and read by Scott Brick. The next will be Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today's China by Desmund Shum. .