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[BarbStAubrey]

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Marj - it is all very confusing - last night shocked me as a young man who decided on his own to see the world on his motorcycle and ended up fighting in both Syria and Libya to support friends and was in a prison in Libya, solitary confinement for 6 months - there is a documentary about his life coming soon to our theaters - anyhow he films soldier after soldier taking photos of himself or his friends as if they were photographing Rambo - The current war has as many soldiers with their phone cameras out as those actually shooting - he suggests all soldiers were interested in showing themselves off as their inner picture of a hero - my thinking is, not so till we had movie after movie of war from the Hollywood storytelling point of view - but neither here nor there, it suggests to me if a selfie of you or your friend acting foolishly brave standing up in face of the enemy to shoot off a string of bullets is what war has become there is little left nor warriors left, that know integrity - they are not fighting for a just cause - cause or not, it is about them.

Which says our own soldiers upon return do not fit as well as we would like into civilian life as when they left for war with an education that talked about freedom, integrity, love of God and Nation - I am thinking they see themselves as a cog in the wheel and their only identification is how tough and brave they can show they are. If civilian life is not a battle field to provide opportunities to show how tough and brave then opportunities must be made - we hate to hear about this problem when they are really the innocent victims of a few making war but the down side is not just police brutality but an upsurge in the victims showing up on the doorsteps of Battered Women Shelters all over this nation.

  

[BarbStAubrey]

I am reading now several books written by Arab and Persian writers or those who can write from that perspective who are explaining among other things how the tribal system and culture works - we are so off the mark and so were so many who thought they were representing the Arabs after WWI - they were representing the leaders of the Tribes not the Tribal members who were screwed - I can see how the Arab Spring is partly a revolution against the leaders who bargained away for oil-money the tribal members oases leaving them with no place to live except in deplorable camps with no livelihood.

Mostly Americans but some Europeans did not stop at digging for oil, they stripped away and flattened many an Oasis that was the income for a clan within a tribe and used the land to create a Westernized City for employees so that the Arabs were left to the margins of the desert on the outskirts with no water.

I am also learning that tribal purity is paramount - reminds me of the line of marriages among the kings and how only recently have royalty married commoners.  The only way Arabs, Persians and other middle eastern groups preserve their tribal purity is by arranged marriages that is protected by women not being given the freedom that could risk an alternative marriage that will break the family's income because all wealth earned from oil and other tribal endeavors are distributed to the tribes and then supposedly to individual families. However, tribal leaders need to live well since they represent the tribe and so trickle down economics leave many living a marginal existence. We do not hear about this system.

We as Americans could not tell the difference but since public parks etc are for Tribal members paid for from Tribal profits - the police can tell if you are not a tribal member or from a mixed marriage and will not allow you and your family access to a park or other tribal owned buildings - intermarriage has always been an issue from the time of the Silk Roads but the line of wealth is to those who are pure tribal families. I've been gathering the names of these tribes (I have found 150 Bedouin tribes alone) each tribe has many clans before we get to individual families - Next I want to find out who the leaders are of each tribe and if they are Sunni or Shia or another affiliation and which tribal leaders are more influential and which tribes appear to live their traditional lifestyle without having been screwed by the tribal leaders.

So if a Muslim wants to watch their inheritance go out the window they allow their daughter to be in the presence of a man whom she could marry. A girl learns from an early age her value as the link to purity of the family and that is the link to the incoming wealth of the family. She may not have seen the system from afar but she plays into the system by choosing to wear a burka - Those who rebel and do not wear the burka or a headscarf, I wonder if they are from a family no longer in the tribal economic system or if they are western educated or what the difference is - I also think there is a difference among those Muslims, Arabs, Persians who choose to live here in the States - are they still in line for income from tribal wealth.

Books I am reading or have read in the past couple of years  - out of order but I would recommend if none other to read Tribal Modern - not a large book but wow - she even brings in how men enjoy looking at themselves in the mirrored walls of malls to adjust their tribal headscarf - the pride of being a pure tribal member is palatable.

I started questioning our view of those from the Middle East when I read Orientalism by Edward W. Said who does a great job making the case how the west views as 'less than' those from the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Fabulous for understanding how Islam works is in Vali Nasr The Shia Revival - I would love to read more of his books but the others start at 'used' $50 and go over $100

Did not finish but started a few years ago Taliban by Ahmed Rashid - now that I have a further understanding about the tribal system I could go back and read this with more insight

These two are a good understanding of the Tribal system to day, Tribal Modern by Miriam Cooke and The Closed Circle an Interpretation of the Arabs by David Pryce Jones - I only received The Closed Circle and have not read enough to pass along any new information.

I'm really looking forward to Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East by Philip S. Khoury coming this week. My take as you must have guessed by now we still do not understand what is going on nor do we have a good handle on history except, from the western 'winners' viewpoint that were really condescending, based in profit, and trying to change the culture to a more docile culture that a westerner could understand, working side by side with greedy tribal leaders who have been at war with each over water and trade for a couple of thousand years if not longer and religion for about 1500 years.

History I have started - I know - I do read several books at a time and get a few chapters that other books give me an insight before I can go back - The Muquaddimah by Ibn Khaldun written in 1377 - tough and slow going and also The Arab Lands Under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1800 by Jane Hathaway and The Kurds: Nationalism and Politics by Faleh A. Jabar

From the western point of view, over the years after seeing the movie Lawrence of Arabia, I read, A Peace To End All Peace by David Fromkin - Setting the Desert on Fire - Desert Queen by Janet Wallach about Gertrude Bell's contribution to this mess and then recently picked up a copy of Like Hidden Fire by Peter Hopkirk that is supposed to show how the Arabs were planning to bring down the British - so far still not seeing the understanding of how the tribal system is at the root of so much and how the leaders are not the least bit democratic but very autocratic. Therefore, it is the tribal leaders who wanted to dismantle the Brits.

[Zulema]

Barb, I am coming back here after a long time.  Everything you write about is very disturbing, of course, and  particularly your first post about the soldiers.  It is so true.   

[maryz]

Barb, glad to see you back after your surgery.  Guess you did well.  Hooray!

[BarbStAubrey]

Zulema so glad to see you back - yes, in a way disturbing but better we know more about what is happening so we can realize what is really at stake when various commentators suggest solutions. I am realizing many of these commentators have no clue what is really going on.

Thanks Maryz - yes, the one with the long posts impassioned about something is back  - I think it went well - rather bumpy last week and over the weekend with no one available I was really getting scared - put the patch on that was only to be necessary when I slept and then I did a lot of napping so that I would not use my eyes - just listening to music made me too drowsy - yesterday was a week after surgery and I finally felt human - not tip top but not hurting or feeling like my eye was the rough edge of a rusty can. 

[maryz]

Barb, did you have cataract surgery?  I had that nearly 10 years ago - loved the results.

[BarbStAubrey]

a little more complicated Maryz - yes, cataract but I have that pseudoexfoliation and the droppings fill up your tear duct causing pressure behind the eye much like glaucoma so that a new way for my eye to drain had to be created - I find I am not healing as quickly as I did when about 4 years ago I had the right eye done and now that eye needs work because of the pseudoexfoliation but we needed to get this one done first - this cold front is not helping - I take practically no medicine so my body really reacts to any medication and of the three eye drops, one is for pain and one that is cortisone and the pain drops especially is affecting my whole body so that I feel like the old song my mother sang when we were young children - What Will We Do With the Drunken Sailor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyPuey-1Jw - no way could I drive much less take a walk without being able to reach for the back of chair for a few hours after I do the drops

[Steph]

Actually I grew up on a farm and we had a black snake for years that lived in and around the barn.. no rats anywhere. he earned his keep.

[maryz]

Barb, I hope you continue to progress well - even though slowly.  If you take no meds, you're way ahead of most of us. 

[Steph]

Barb, sounds complicated, but you are handling it well. I must always have my glasses on, since without them, I see double. Cataract surgery in one of my eyes was messed up.

[mabel1015j]

I just had my final visit to assess my cataract surgeries. As soon as i get my old frames back with my bifocal lens - upper clear, bottom for reading; i didn't want to be searching for glasses so i want to wear them all the time - i will be great. My only problem now is an astigmatism in one eye. I hope you do as well as i did Barb.

Jean

[BarbStAubrey]

Great news Jean - this eye is taking longer to heal and during the first week had a bumpy few days - also like you astigmatism that was really bad in this eye so another lens was offered that is not approved by Medicare or is it Medicaid - get them mixed up - anyhow cash over $1,000 - ouch - but them when you consider the cost of glasses and a change in the prescription that is a given as we age it ends up being cheaper since I will only need drug store close up lenses.

I have this other issue that I will have to go and have the right eye done again - not for the cataract that was taken care of abut 4 years ago but this other issue where a new way of tears to drain which they also did on this eye so it could be why it is taking longer to feel good.

[BarbStAubrey]

Shoot my copy of The Muqaddimah is an introduction - there is one English translation and it is in 3 volumes with the least expensive used set costing - $311.82 - I need to find a 'free' copy - the Austin Public Library does not have a copy - I bet there is a copy at UT since the book is mentioned in several of these other books as basic to understanding the system and politics of the Middle Eastern Tribes and how they were changed when Islam changed the Middle East and Northern Africa.

This curiosity is turning into a wonderful adventure - I am barely hanging in but it appears there is two political systems working side by side and in modern times and this I am really trying to understand but it appears like three - there is the tribal system and side by side is the religious system and somehow the modern Middle East is not along the lines of an Empire which incorporated the tribal system and it sounds like it may be another layer that in some cases the national boundaries close around a collection of tribes but in other cases not - I cannot figure out how the tribal system affects the national politics but lots more to read -

If anyone has any idea how I could get my hands on The Muqaddimah translated into English please please let me know. My guess is if there is a copy at UT I will have to get some kind of special permission to go into their library and maybe pay a fee - I know I would not be able to borrow the books so I would have to spend time there - maybe I should see if I can introduce myself to a professor or a graduate student in the Arab or Islamic studies and try it from that angle.

Holy Hannah - I found it - online - would you believe - free - a PDF -
http://marxistnkrumaistforum.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/the-muqaddimah.pdf

[Steph]

It is truly remarkable how many things are on line, just require looking for..I missed the discussion on Girls of Atomic City for a variety of reasons, but just got a copy of the book and will read it all alone, although I may look up the discussion as I go along.

[MaryPage]

Barbara, you are lucky with your 1k additional cost.  When I had my eyes done in the summer of 2006, it cost me $5,400.00 out of pocket!  And what is more, I would not choose to go that way again!
What happened?  Well, I had each eye done, six weeks apart, and no difficulty whatsoever.  I bless the doctor for that.
But prior to the surgery, and after all the little rooms visited for amazing tests, she sat down with me and explained the choice we all know about who have been through this:  do you want me to implant a lens for reading and you will only have to wear glasses for long distance, to drive, etc., or do you want me to put in a long distance lens and you will require reading glasses?  OR, we have a new bifocal lens, but Medicare has not yet approved that, so you would have to pay.  That lens will give you both the long distance AND the reading, and you will no longer need glasses.
So I went home and did the arithmetic (how many pairs of glasses I would need over the next 10 or possibly even 20 years, plus the nuisance, and so forth) and decided to pay up.  I called her office and told them to set me up with the bifocal lens, and yes, I was prepared to pay the $2,700.00 for each right up front.  Which I did.
Imagine my ire then, when after both eyes had been finished and healed and I was able to put the drops away, and I went to see my regular opthalmologist to check me out, and he did so and told me it all looked great and handed me a new prescription for glasses!
I said something lame like:  WHAT?!?  And he said, yes, you will need these as you have a bit of Astigmatism.  And I said WHY?  Did the surgery do that to me?  And he said no.  And I said:  But I've never HAD Astigmatism.  And he said, yes you have;  you've always had it.  And then I spluttered and explained the Big Layout of moola and that I was to be without glasses for the rest of my days, and he said something like Sorry for the mixup.  And it was too late for my checkbook!
In all fairness, I have thrived with the cataract surgery and the implanted lens.  No side effects.  Only once have I been back to have one lens peeled.  And I do not mind wearing my wonderful glasses, a pair I just love.  The thing is, I am out a lot of money and will continue to have the expense of changing prescriptions for the remainder of my days, and THAT burns me up!
I write all this out as a warning for those who have not yet walked the plank of cataract surgery.  Ask every question you can think of Before you pay out additional money over and above what your insurance covers!

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh oh oh MaryPage - what a shock - almost like investing in the Stock Market and having your purchase fall to a level that makes even selling the stock a huge dent -

The lens I had ONLY does the astigmatism for long distance - the other eye is the basic lens and although I have astigmatism in that eye it is not as severe - I still need glasses for close up and the part that gets in the way and why I put off doing this eye for so long is that things between about 2 1/2 feet to 6 feet  I am doing a lot of guessing - not blurry but the close up lenses do not help. In time I will probably get so annoyed I will end up getting trifocals again with the top section clear and power for the middle vision and close up vision - problem is they do not like giving glasses with a huge range difference between middle and close up - well I will cross that bridge but at least I can see the highway signs again - since I know this town like the back of my hand I was fine but this January I need to renew my license because you cannot live here in Austin without a vehicle.

Had I been quoted just for the lens the kind of money you paid I am not sure what I would have done because on top of the cost of the lens there are other expenses that are not covered by Medicare or maybe it is the 20% not covered and I never did get any supplementary insurance. For me it just did not pay - I find alternative medicine to work for me including an antibiotic and the cost of the supplementary for a year added up to more than I spend in 5 years getting checkups.

Most of the Medical community now seems so annoyed when you do not have supplementary insurance - and I did learn they take the first and majority of costs from the supplementary before they turn to Medicare - not sure what that is all about.

[MaryPage]

This is the time of year we are all blessed/cursed (take yer choice!) with about a bazillion catalogs in our mailboxes.  I throw most of them out, but hold back a few to flip through in my easy chair just to see what may be new and different.  One such is called POTPOURRI, and I get a kick out of all the different little items.  This year I just had to come in here and share with you what you can get from them printed on a T-shirt:


You can't buy HAPPINESS

But you can buy BOOKS

And that's KIND OF the same thing!

Hear!  Hear!  Agreed?

[jane]

Barb...I'm guessing the amount you paid was the 20% Mediare approves but doesn't pay.  My husband has had cataract surgery and partial cornea transplants on both eyes because he has
Fuchs Dystrophy as well as Open Heart surgery and we've paid nothing out of pocket...beyond our Medicare and Supplement.  

It has been a very worthwhile insurance for us.

Everyone has to consider his/her own situation and decide what is best.  It's certain that each situation is different.


Jane

[BarbStAubrey]

could be Jane - trying to get an itemized bill is like asking for a trip to the moon - the girls at the desk look at you as if they were in 4th grade and you just asked them what is x+(x+1)=The Sum of the Total Bill much less do they appear to know what the word itemize means - unbelievable that these, and yes, they are always girls, graduated from High School.

I can understand how a medical group may not want to have the front desk girls do the job of the accounting department but since no one from an accounting department is readily available you get the feeling they just want you to pay the bill and most do simply because their insurance pays it.

No one it appears questions what is on those bills - so much that these girls are completely buffaloed if you ask them for an itemized bill. I've had to get my daughter to call as if she is being protective of me, her aging mother, to get any answers at all and even then they treat her like she is their pet dog that needs her head patted.

Grrrr then we wonder why insurance costs are out of sight. It doesn't take much a few dollars here and there for the owners or investors in the insurance company to rake in millions and we complain about the disappearing middle class when something small like paying a bill using insurance is left to those exchanging the dollars.

[Jonathan]

What's really great, Barb, the best part, is that your posts are as passionate as ever. I'm following your 'wonderful adventure' (#14332) with great interest. And now for a look at The Musqaddimah. There's a lot to be said for the tribal political system. Not exactly a constitutional business, but just as lively.

[JoanP]

JANE, a coincidence - my sister's husband has that Fuchs Dystrophy!  They spent two weeks in Indianapolis where a specialist repaired previous cataract surgery and then did both corneas.  They are very happy with the results - though it took a few weeks to recover.

Mary Page - I do recommend you scroll the main page here in SeniorLearn's Archives for the discussion of Girls of Atomic City - pretty special as our Ursamajor, who posts here, has lived right there in Atomic City - in Oak Ridge - since the 1950's and plans to live there in what was the Guest House when it is renovated.  She was a wonderful resource throughout the discussion - knew some of the "girls" in the book! 

I know what you mean about the insurance bills, Barb.  You feel so out of control when you can't see what you are paying for!

[Steph]

I had my cataracts done before 65, with a supplemental type insurance. I made a deal with stuff like that. We would pay the day of treatment, how much of a discount would we get.. Always..always a large discount for not having all that bookkeeping. Surprised me, but that is what happened. My right eye has astigmatism.. I have four prisms in order not to see double, a ruptured capsule and yag laser caused problems. sigh.

[MaryPage]

I am extremely fortunate medical insurance wise.  I have Medicare and Federal Employee Program (known as FEP in the health insurance world) Blue Cross/Blue Shield.  Once you retire from government service, the premiums for your FEP insurance continue to be taken out of your electronically deposited monthly retirement check, but the insurance itself becomes a Supplemental, rather than a Primary;  the result being that they pay just about everything that Medicare does not.  For this reason, since my FEP BC/BS was already picking up the cost of my prescriptions, I did not have to choose a Medicare Drug policy.  Because I have the same wonderful coverage our United States Congress has, I carry the certainty within me that it will never be changed except for the better, the most major trait of our elected politicians being self-interest!  (Cynical?  Me?  Nooooooo!)
If you get and read a Sunday newspaper, you may find that little magazine-like insert called PARADE in it.  And if you do, I urge you to read in full a short piece in the very back of today's:  PERMANENT COLLECTION by Monica Wood.  Oh boy, do I ever relate to this article, and I think most of you will, as well and all.  Read it!  You'll be glad of it!

[BarbStAubrey]

MaryPage since I get my paper online there is no Parade section so I looked for the article online and found several Monica Wood sites including her web page.

As often one site leads to another and I found this article on The Atlantic Magazine site that includes a sort of mission statement but more, a vow, as if a knight of old making a blood oath. You get the intent that this is who this young woman is but more, a broader view, if she, on her side of the issue is this intent than it is easy to understand those on the other side of any issue. Other side meaning the other side of our own beliefs -

This is what Shevchenko comes away with as a result of her ordeal quoted from the article - Shevchenko is a young 21 year old woman who with 2 friends sneak into Belarus to create a scene that would embarrass the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s final dictator.  

Shevchenko, in any case, learned one thing about herself from the ordeal. “As I waited for death, I felt something changing inside. I realized that I could do nothing except continue with my activism. I knew that if they asked me to beg them for my life, I would not do it. I was not ready to give up my struggle to save my life.”

Shevchenko and I sat in silence. Her eyes were now empty, her voice drained. From that grim December on, she would suppress her emotions, her private concerns, any desire she may have had for a personal life, in favor of Femen. She often told me, “I don’t need a boyfriend. I don’t need human warmth. At this stage of my life, I’m devoting myself to my activism, and that’s that.” The experience rattled her. “I was paranoid. If the door rang, it took me 10 minutes to open it—I just trembled. I was sure I was being followed. Then my parents started calling. Mom cried and cried and even had to be taken to hospital, she got so upset. She shouted, ‘We forbid you to continue with Femen!’ My sister called and said the same thing. She said, ‘Don’t make mom cry!’ I refused. I told them, ‘Let’s live as each of us thinks best, and not try to live just so as not to make the other cry.’”

From Shevcheko's remarks it appears the greater the push back the more committed those acting from a strong inner core become, not only to their values but how they declare those values.

See what y'all make of it - here is the Atlantic article - Topless Jihadis: Inside the World's Most Radical Feminist Movement

[CallieOK]

MaryPage, I read the article and am interested in how/why you related to the content.

[pedln]

MaryPage,  thanks for the uptick about the MOnica Wood article.  I haven't had a chance to get to it yet, but I will because I read one of her books a few months ago and it was absolutely delightful. I'm ready to read anything else she has written.  The book is a memoir of her growing up years in Mexico, Maine.  Title -- When We Were The Kennedys'.  Just one of those pleasant sleepers that you find by chance while browsing at the library.

I've been following the discussion on cataracts  Guess I've been lucky so far.  Every year I go for an exam and every year the doc says, "Your eyes haven't changed, the cataracts aren't any thicker."  Tomorrow is my day.  We shall see.   I have lived almost 80 years with a "lazy" eye that wasn't discovered until I was 8 years old, and my parents were told it was too late to do anything about it.  I guess I won't be wanting any implants in that one.

[maryz]

MaryPage, I rarely read anything in the Parade magazine, but on your recommendation, went back and read that one.  How great to have a special "old friend" in your marriage, and to find it again. 

[MaryPage]

Well, MaryZ, that is precisely what I related to so strongly.  My Beloved Bob and I found such comfort and consolation (consolation from Life and all of its turmoils and disappointments and setbacks) in one another.

I have no knowledge of the author whatsoever, have never read one of her books, have no acquaintance with the article Barbara speaks of, and so on.  I just happened to encounter THIS article yesterday morning and had an epiphany about her relationship with her husband being actually very like that I had with mine.  Was IN NO WAY trying to push the writer or her beliefs, whatever they may be.  Wasn't trying to push anything, as a matter of fact:  just share the warmth the article brought to my sense of being.

[Steph]

Ah MaryPage, that particular feeling. When I met my husband all those years ago, it was like an old friend had suddenly reappeared in my life. For both of us, we always felt we had known each other before . With his dead, five years ago, it was and still is like an amputation. I feel as if half of me is gone and I struggle so hard in this life.. Sorry to be a downer, but that is my real feelings, which I share only with all of you and never ever with anyone else.

[MaryPage]

Steph, that is precisely how we felt and how I feel.  The best part of a perfect match is the amazing calmness of the consolation given one to the other, and not any bodice-ripping romantic type of sexual encounter so many writers conjure up.  I feel sorry for those who have never experienced it.  Fact of the matter is, I did not believe it even EXISTED until splat, all of a sudden, there we were:  on the same page, in the same place, deeply folded in a quiet cloud that separated us from all life, pain, noise, motion, anything.  Yes, it IS an amputation.

[CallieOK]

MaryPage and Steph,  thank you for your comments. 

[BarbStAubrey]

thanks for sharing - it appears her article in Parade Magazine is very different than the various articles she wrote for The Atlantic.

[nlhome]

I enjoyed that essay in Parade also. I had to dig the Sunday paper out of the recyling bin to get it - the Parade magazine is now so thin I tossed it with the ads - glad to be reminded to read it. We celebrate 46 years next month - so much has happened, but certain memories of those first years stick.

[MaryPage]

So glad it resonated with you.  Since it was a real heart warmer, and not in the least speck controversial (political or religious), I felt safe in recommending it.

[BarbStAubrey]

Love this...

[Steph]

Good thoughts everyone.. I had a teeny spot on the end of my nose, the dermo removed a week ago and now I am told it is Squamus cell and must have MOHS.. So next Tuesday.. off I go and hopefully return with most of my nose.. Not a happy camper, but my husband had tons of MOHS and it never seemed to end.. But there does not seem to be another option.

[MaryPage]

Himself had exactly the same removed from precisely the same spot, and I still have pictures to remind me, as the spot on the tip of his nose was apparent for some weeks afterwards.  It WILL go away, however!

[ginny]

Yeah it's a good idea to have those seen about before they get big.

 I came IN to compliment Jane on the festive Thanksgiving headings (at the top of every page in the Newsline) she has done for Thanksgiving.  Super job, Jane! Really catches the spirit of Thanksgiving.

(I never heard of Fuchs Dystrophy!) Frightening!

OH man that 20 percent  Medicare doesn't pay could be astronomical.

I'm glad to see the holiday season coming. I love Thanksgiving and this year am determined to cook 90 percent of it ahead for once, so as to enjoy the day fully.  Not the meat or the stuffing of course. But the sides can definitely be the day before.

I'm not sure on the dessert. I always do a pecan pie but I hate nuts (I know, I know) and am always on the look out for a new "Thanksgiving" type recipe, what are some of the favorites you may recall from the past or make now?  I did make a nice apple/ cranberry crumble last weekend that everybody liked, but not well enough to make again.

Book wise I really want to sink my teeth into something enjoyable. I always read a Christmas Mystery between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I like them funny.  Any recommendations? I know about Rest Ye Merry and the Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor. I just found Christmas is Murder cleaning out a room by C.S. Challinor, has anybody read that one? A blizzard, a manor house, an the English countryside, it sounds right, to me.

And then I really want something substantive. I long for Dickens at Christmas and those wonderful rolling phrases. I think he's actually written a lot more Christmas things than A Christmas Carol which I read every year. I'd like to try one.

And of course the new Jane Smiley. Some Luck  Everybody is raving over this story of an Iowa farm family, are any of you reading it?

What are the holidays without a good book to sink into in front of the fire?

[maryz]

Sorry Steph!  It's good you were paying attention and caught this early.  We're with you!

Ginny, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, too.  We love all the foods associated with the holiday, and always have a houseful of family and friends (usually on the Saturday after the official day).  I can't do most of the cooking any more, and was going to give it up this year.  Daughters complained and will be doing most of the work here.  We're centrally located so it's a good place to gather.  We do a lot ahead, too.  Our weather is usually mild, but I hope for colder weather then, so we can used our screened porch for an extra "refrigerator". 

We don't change the menu much, but I do make two things that are sort of different.  I make a fresh cranberry relish - just cranberries, whole oranges, a lime/lemon, and some sugar, chopped up in the food processor.  It's probably my favorite.  And I make a cooked cranberry chutney, that we keep almost all year - great with all poultry or pork.  And, though it's a point of laughing contention with our middle West friends here, the dressing/stuffing is made with all cornbread.

[BarbStAubrey]

Finished last night  - The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy - cute - if you like a love story and cooking - She is getting her life together after having a rough time getting over a still birth and the book is dedicated to an organization that have to do with mother's loosing their babies in still births - the story though is nothing to get your teeth into - just a lovely tinkle in the French countryside.

Tonight I start The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning - something about three young girls/women whose parents die and they maintain themselves in Germany making glass Christmas Ornaments - the book is the first in a Trilogy - so we shall see but it sounds different than most Christmas stories.