The Library

[BarbStAubrey]

looking forward to your impression frybabe reading Clear (2024) by Carys Davies. I read it the early part of the summer - had no idea this happened in Scotland and I found myself glued to the book - forgot his name but the guy who lives alone on this island sure had more skills than a one-man band. I've a question about the ending but I'll wait till you get there - what this prompted and I have not started is a by chance what I see as a follow up - not by the same author and published in 2016 about the story from the other side - the areas where all these people were shipped to and left - Martyrs: Glendale and the Revolution in Skye by Roger Hutchinson

"In the 1830s and 1840s the district of Glendale on the island of Skye was swamped by immigrants cleared from other north Skye estates. The resultant overcrowding and overuse of land caused simmering discontent – not against the incomers, but against the landowners, who regarded their tenants as no more than chattels. This book is a definitive account of what happened when the powder-keg erupted and a full-scale land-war ensued. Pitched battles with police, factors and bailiffs, military intervention, arrests, trials, imprisonment and the personal intervention of the Prime Minister were to have huge consequences for crofters all over the Highlands, who, ultimately, were the victors."

Again - good luck with your surgery - please keep us abreast...

Bellamarie I haven't started The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeleine L'Engle but I'll get to it very soon - Monday, Monday by Elizabeth Crook has me by the tail - so glad I found this author - the story is not her Bio but her writing the story that I will be dismayed if it is only a novel - we shall see - she sure has the Austin of the 1960s down - she did grow up in San Marcos that then was where many a UT student attend Southwest Texas in San Marcos for their first year of college and from where my daughter graduated - There used to be a special student bus that left Austin for the 35 to 40 minute ride every morning - Then the college was far more protective of students rather than being a 17 year old thrown into a large University that for some was not only overwhelming but they felt isolated - for about 10 years now San Marcos is at the edge of Austin with subdivisions right up and into the town of San Marcos. The author, Elizabeth Crook attended Baylor, up the road from Austin by about 2 hours in Waco - it appears she has written a few other books about Central Texas and Texas lore.

Read somewhere that books like mountains will always be there to pickup another read/climb - and so I learned not to fret so much when my reading or other maintenance activities that are basic get away from me... plus let's face it for most of us our family is the center of our life. 

I know we should use another link on Senior Learn to talk about TV and Videos - but just a quicky - found a fabulous series that I get because I'm a prime member however it is from PBS Masterpiece - never saw it on my PBS channel - this series is in French with English subtitles but fabulous - storyline about current issues like the one I watched last night, international drug smuggling into this small mountain community, scenery is out of the world, the alps both southern and one episode was filmed at Mont Blanc, great actors that have no international fame - and the episodes are not only about current issues but are 90 minutes long - it is called The Mountain Detective.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B097NQBDN7/ref=atv_hm_wat_c_0sLMfd_1_1

[Tomereader1]

I am very concerned about Ginny, since the weather/flooding in No. Carolina.  Of course I don't know which part she's in.  Hope she will post and let us know.

[Tomereader1]

Just got my reserve copy of "The Situation Room" by George Stephanopoulos.  It is fascinating. And to think they've only had a Sit Room, per se, since 1961.  The front cover shows a sub-title of The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis.
There are some funny moments, but if you can think of all the crisis moments we have had since 1961, you will know it to be deadly serious.  If your friendly, neighborhood library has it, it is available in Large Print, which proves to be a godsend to me.  I had the book on reserve, but it didn't take awfully long before my number came up!  There are some pictures and details of how the Room evolved into its present configuration.
Love to hear if any of you get it, and how you like it.

[Frybabe]

Barb, I was looking at some of Hutchinson's other books. He has quite a few out, including another book I might be interested  reading too is  about St. Kildas.

Hutchinson is a journalist living on Raasay (island just off the coast of Skye) and writing about local history. I like that. We have a few around here, but I rarely ran across bookstores that carried them. I have two such books, both signed. One is about the Juniata River which is a tributary of the Susquehanna River and joins with it maybe 10 miles upriver from me. The other is the story of a local WWII vet who was shot down during the raid on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania.

I never heard of The Mountain Detective. I will have to look into it. Sounds interesting.

So far so good with the eye. I sat about four times as long in the waiting area as it took for the procedure. No eye fuzziness afterward, but I was still glad that my sister drove. Not much bruising, a little pain that one Tylenol took care of, but I had to use a lot more tissues than usual to catch my usual morning runny nose since I can't blow my nose for a while and a short round of itchiness. Now all I have left is the follow-up appointments for the tooth implant and the eye, then I will be up for tackling a few other things including getting my DEXA scan and the COVID shots, etc. On my agenda for October is buying and planting daffodils in my little dirt plot beside the patio.

I've been a little concerned about Ginny for a while now. She usually spends a little more time with us over the summer than  she did this year. Right about now she will be busy with the online and her Furman U. Latin classes.   

[bellamarie]

Frybabe, I am so happy to hear the eye surgery is going well! 

Tomereader, it's good to see you posting.  I too was getting a bit concerned about Ginny, so, I just checked her status, it shows:

Last Active:September 16, 2024, 05:25:35 PM  I hope the flooding is not in her area and she is not dealing with it.

Barb, I am also a Prime Amazon member so I may check out The Mountain Detective.  I am so bored with television lately and am always channel surfing at night for something interesting to watch. 

Must run I have my granddaughter's fiancé coming to quote me for a patio, driveway and garage cement floor.   I seriously hate the thought of putting so much money into cement, but it must be done.

Ciao~ Bellamarie

[BarbStAubrey]

tra la so glad for you frybabe that the eye surgery went well and now that is over - nice you are near your sister for things like this - and I'm so glad you kept us in the loop - actually you have given me a shot in the arm to be a bit more courageous and trusting that all will be well - Paul has a list of questions that he sent by way of the doctor's portal - we have estimated costs that we had to ask where the surgery is done and even the anesthesiologists to give us a quote on top of her quote - nothing easy any longer and then she wants me to have a current EKG and an approval from my GP - don't see this happening for weeks if not a couple of months and based on her responses to the questions Paul sent over maybe not at all - losing eyesight in that eye bing bang thank you is a risk I'm anxious about.

Like both of you have not heard much from Ginny this summer - looked up the flooding on the national storm tracker and it appears to be the southern coastline of North Carolina on down along the coast of South Carolina which is far far from where Ginny lives - not sure exactly where her home is located but years back while visiting my daughter who lives in Saluda which is between Hendersonville and Tryon Ginny and I got together for lunch - her son did have a garden center in Tryon - not sure if he still does or not and so Ginny's home must be in the area which is located on the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mt chain. Any flooding in that area my daughter would know - since she is actually in the mountains probably she would not be affected but she would know and my sister lives on the outer banks and she is not affected - and so you can breath Tomereader - doubt seriously Ginny would have experienced flooding. Glad to see you poke your head in to visit us.

Bellamarie yes, TV is for the birds of late - only till the end of the month do I have the Astro games to look forward to watching and then unless they nab an after season spot that will bring a few more games it is over - I know in the north autumn weather is in full swing where as here it is simply an extension of summer mostly in the 90s rather than triple digit and so baseball season feels right - no longer much of a football fan except for local high school and some of the colleges and surprise the one high school team in the area is on TV Thursday night rather than the traditional Friday night - amazing but fun to watch. and so through the winter I'm forever looking for a movie or a series that is not some inane nonsense.

[BarbStAubrey]

Hmm The Summer of the Great-Grandmother is nothing as I imagined... evidently it is a Journal - Book 2 and so there must be at least one other - I did not catch that when I downloaded it I was so caught by the name of the author, Madeleine L’Engle, who wrote A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door - This is a family drama of 4 generations, who every year spend their summer together in an old Farmhouse purchased as a falling down structure that over 20 years the story teller, Madeleine and husband Hugo restored - the Journal is about a summer coming to terms with Madeleine's mother, age 90 who has Alzheimer's and within the last year now has not only severe loss of awareness, but accompanied with constant fear and the typical symptoms of anger - Madeleine remembers her life as the child of this women she no longer recognizes, who played the piano with symphony orchestras and whose one homemaking skill was cooking of which she can do neither - Madeleine has hired several young women to be with her mother during the evening and night that ended up quickly becoming all day, who were children in the area when she and Hugo first moved into the house - she knows she and her mother are fortunate since they are not wealthy but can afford the help that allows the mother to be with them in this house during the summer and who spends her time during the remaining part of the year in Florida. Madeleine is becoming aware it may be their last summer since her mother has so deteriorated although against the advise of others she refuses to subject her mother to a home care center.

Reading is a challenge and I can only take it in small doses - essentially without saying it or even acknowledging it Madeleine is going through the 5 steps of loss -  denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - and with each event the steps are what I see as her feelings written in this Journal.  One bit of information I did not know is that in the last few years Alzheimer Disease has sky rocketed.

All I can say is I'll be 92 this January and where my hip has arthritis that has me using a walker and I'm struggling with Glaucoma in one eye that is it... yes, I get tired and can't physically do what I would like and think I should be able but that is me being impatient with my aging body - I am so lucky and reading this I am over and over aware just how lucky - now if I could only stop scolding myself for not finishing each day what I think I ought to be able to accomplish and feeling disappointed because I cannot get down on my knees to garden and so I have to settle for less than I would like but reading this is like being hit on the side of the head with the reality I am really lucky.

As to recommending the book - ah - not sure - if you need to read about how Alzheimer's affects a family, especially how it affects grown children then without having read other books on the subject this appears to tell the story without pulling any punches - L'Engle is a gifted writer and knows how to bring a reader along and so each chapter seems to beckon to the next - without batting and eye I'm already at chapter 8 but it is not providing me a good feeling and so I don't plan on going further at this time... enough with angry people for whatever reason... just now I need a laugh or two or following an adventure or stories about ways people make their surroundings satisfying for themselves and others. 

[bellamarie]

Barb, I can only hope and pray to be 92 yrs. old one day and still be as sharp in the mind and capable of getting around even if it is with a walker to help my balance as you are.  I'm sure you will figure the eye surgery out as to whether to have it or not.  I'm glad you have Paul to help with the questions needed to help make your decision.  If it makes you feel any better, I too have gotten to the point of feeling disappointed and beating myself up for not accomplishing things on my "to do list" each day.  Every night as I go up to bed, I think about what I thought I would get done and feel droopy for not.  We need to stop the "stinkin thinkin" as my Bible study teacher reminds our group. I am clearing out some of my flowers that have gotten overgrown, and I don't intend to plant any more since I can't get down on my knees as much as I used to.  I do love the cushion gardener's pad my kids gave me for Mother's Day which helps greatly on my knees.

The weather here in Toledo, Ohio this week was in the mids 80s which is too hot for me as we enter Fall in a few days.  Next week looks more like Fall temps in the low to mid 70s.  I am hoping to get away with hubby in a couple of weeks to go up north into Michigan to see the colorful leaves.  We love to go to Frankenmuth and stop at the large Christmas shop called Bronner's.   

Thank you for the update flood situation, it's good to know Ginny's area was not affected.

Yes, the rise in cases of Alzheimer is what I have also been hearing and the medical journals are now saying Diabetes seems to be considered a major risk factor.  If I am not mistaken, I do believe I heard a doctor say they are going as far as naming Diabetes a form of Alzheimer.  Other than knowing the medical aspects, I am not likely to read a book such as The Summer of the Great Grandmother because I've experienced so much loss of loved ones this past year, I need to avoid these types of books for now.  I have to say my hubby is loving Confronting the Presidents book and shares daily some tidbits he finds interesting or comical about things he's never read about the presidents.  He is a history buff, so this is right in his wheelhouse.  He amazes me how he retains history facts, names, dates etc.

Frybabe, I do hope you are still doing well with the recovery of the eye surgery. 

Ciao~  Bellamarie