karenmarie's eclectic reading - chapter 2

Welcome to my second thread of 2019.

There is no new way for me to say how much I love being retired, so here’s last year’s message, although I’ve changed the graphic.
Being retired is bonaroo! It’s the berries! It’s aces, snazzy, hot, smooth, sweet, swell, keen, and cool. It’s also the fox’s socks, the cat’s pajamas, the bee’s knees, the eel’s hips, the monkey’s eyebrows, the sardine’s whiskers, the gnat’s whistle. I do not miss working at all. I still do a happy dance every morning I don’t have to wake up to an alarm.



I read, am a charter member of the Redbud and Beyond Book Club, now in its 22nd year, am Treasurer for our local Friends of the Library (henceforth abbreviated FoL), and manage our home, finances and etc. as my husband heads off to work Monday – Friday. I love having the house to myself to recharge my batteries and have huge blocks of time to read.

I have been married to Bill for 27 years and am mother to Jenna, 25, living about 3 hours away and working on a 2-year business administration program at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington. We have two kitties, 18-year old Kitty William and 11-year old Inara Starbuck. We live in our own little corner of paradise on 8 acres in central North Carolina USA.

This year’s picture theme Children of the Family. This one, circa 1960, is of my family at Disneyland. Disneyland was about an hour away from where we lived so was always a day trip. This was on the Pirate Ship. I remember the Captain of the ship coming over. I brandished the plastic sword from my sandwich at him – he then pulled out his very real-looking sword and we had a mock battle. L to R: Me, Dad, Doug, Laura, Mom.




My goal is to read 100 books in 2019, down 5 from 2018. Of those 100, I’m going to try to read 45 that were on my shelves prior to January 1, 2019. I am only going to count pages, not strive for pages this year, so have set a counter for 30,000.







A few quotes from one of my favorite authors. I plan on reading all her fiction works in published order this year. I give you Dorothy Leigh Sayers, 1893-1957, one of the most intelligent and articulate writers I have ever been privileged to read.

The popular mind has grown so confused that it is no longer able to receive any statement of fact except as an expression of personal feeling.

Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.

A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, for such a society is a house built upon sand.

Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him – or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know how many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them.

My theme for 2019 is eclecticism – picking and choosing what to read from a wide variety of genres, styles, centuries. I always try to do this, but last year ended up being mostly American writers and mostly mysteries. Within the scope of my goal of reading what is fun and challenging yet pleasurable, I want to read more from my shelves – books I have acquired by non-US writers and that I don’t automatically go to when looking for something new.

Books read

1. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam 1/1/19 1/3/19 ****1/2 233 pages trade paperback
2. Nerve by Dick Francis 1/3/19 1/5/19 ***1/2 313 pages mass market paperback
3. The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams 1/7/19 1/8/19 *** 1/2 206 pages mass market paperback
4. Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers 1/8/19 1/9/19 **** 137 pages hardcover
5. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers 1/9/19 1/14/19 **** 296 pages hardcover
6. Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston 1/13/19 1/16/19 ****1/2 121 of 176 pages Kindle
7. Kindred by Octavia Butler 1/16/19 1/18/19 ****1/2 306 pages hardcover **Kindle**
8. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann b. Ross 1/18/19 1/20/19 **** 273 pages hardcover
9. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett 1/20/19 1/22/19 **** 180 pages mass market paperback
10. Relic by Preston & Child 1/22/19 1/25/19 **** 468 pages mass market paperback
11. Reliquary by Preston & Child 1/27/19 1/30/18 ***1/2 464 pages mass market paperback
12. Last Friends by Jane Gardam 2/1/19 205 pages trade paperback

Currently Reading:

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 1/30/19 420 pages hardcover 2016
Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake 1/5/19 224 pages hardcover 2016
These Truths by Jill Lepore 1/5/19 960 pages hardcover 2018
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 1/17/19 1349 pages trade paperback 1993
Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President's War Powers by James F. Simon 10/24/18
The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers edited by Carole Vanderhoof 11/10/18 235 pages trade paperbook 2018
Red:A History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey 6/28/18 218 pages hardcover
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari 5/5/18 464 pages hardcover, Kindle

Books added - goal: Less than the 422 *winces* added last year. Note: Any books acquired before 1/1/19 but added now will be noted and not counted against this year's total.

January
1. Louise - Betrayed by Lisa Scottaline
2. Louise - If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin
3. Louise - Accused by Lisa Scottaline
4. BookMooch - Bookmooch - The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams by Jeanne M. Dams
5. Louise - The Snow Globe by Judith Kinghorn
6. Louise - Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
7. Jenna - Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake
8. Amazon - These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
9. Habitat - The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
00. Kindle - The Dry by Jane Harper - acquired 11/19/18 added to catalog 1/13/19
10. Louise - Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
11. Louise - Orchids For Dummies by Steven A. Frowine
12. BookMooch - The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
13. Habitat - The Day of Atonement by David Liss
14. FoL Sale - Winny de Puh (Winnie the Pooh in Spanish) by A.A. Milne
15. FoL Sale - Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin by Dr. Seuss
16. FoL Sale - Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell
17. FoL Sale - Intensive Latin First Year & Review: A User's Manual by Carl A.P. Ruck
18. FoL Sale - The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie
19. FoL Sale - 1492: The Year the World Began by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
20. FoL Sale - Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman
21. FoL Sale - Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill
22. FoL Sale - How Language Works by David Crystall
23. FoL Sale - Latin Reader. First Part. by Friedrich Jacobs
24. Amazon - Last Friends by Jane Gardam

February
25. reconsidered from cull - The Red Breast by Jo Nesbo
26. Amazon - The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Books culled goal: More than the 84 from last year.

The Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo:
1. The Bat - hardcover
2. Cockroaches - paperback
3. Cockroaches - audiobook
4. Nemesis - hardcover
5. The Devil's Star - paperback
6. Redeemer - paperback
7. The Snowman - hardcover
8. The Leopard - paperback
9. Phantom - hardcover
10. Police - paperback
11. The Redbreast - paperback

12. White Noise by Don DeLillo - started it, didn't like it
13. The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams
14. The Shimmering Stones of Winter's Light by Constance Walker
15. A Man without Breath by Philip Kerr
16. Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear
17. Betty-Anne's Helpful Household Hints by
18. Billy Budd by Coxe and Chapman
19. Death of a Greedy Woman by M.C. Beaton
20. Death of a Bore by M.C. Beaton
21. Death of a Charming Man by M.C. Beaton
22. Death of a Dentist by M.C. Beaton
23. Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton
24. Death of a Dustman by M.C. Beaton
25. Death of a Gentle Lady by M.C. Beaton
26. Death of a Hussy by M.C. Beaton
27. Death of a Perfect Wife by M.C. Beaton
28. Death of a Prankster by M.C. Beaton
29. Death of a Scriptwriter by M.C. Beaton
30. Death of a Snob by M.C. Beaton
31. Death of an Outsider by M.C. Beaton
32. Four in Hand by Stephanie Laurens
33. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
34. Hard Courts by John Feinstein
35. In the Hand of Dante by Nick Tosches
36. Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley
37. Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
38. Summerland by Michael Chabon
39. Summerland -audiobook by Michael Chabon
40. Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch by Gerdi Quist and Leslie Gilbert
41. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
42. The Appeal by John Grisham
43. The Case of the Deadly Toy by Erle Stanley Gardner
44. The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner
45. The Case of the Howling Dog by Erle Stanley Gardner
46. The Case of the Substitute Face by Erle Stanley Gardner
47. The Case of the Troubled Trustee by Erle Stanley Gardner
48. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
49. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
50. The New Yorker Album 1925-1950 by
51. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
52. The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist
53. You Can't Be Serious by John McEnroe
54. Fiddlers by Ed McBain
55. Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
56. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
57. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
58. With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge
59. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
60. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
61. Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
62. The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig
63. Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
64. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
65. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by Daviud Wroblewski
66. The Pink Irish Rose by Hazel Rash Fleming
67. Bliss, Remembered by Frank DeFord
68. Grafton Square by Alfred J. Batty
69. Dandy Dutch Recipes by Mina Baker-Roelofs
70. The Twelve by Justin Cronin
71. The Cherry Blossom Corpse by Robert Barnard
72. The List of Seven by Mark Frost
73. Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
74. Death of an Old Goat by Robert Barnard
75. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
76. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
77. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
78. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
79. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
80. The Skeleton in the Grass by Robert Branard
81. A City of Strangers by Robert Bernard

Statistics Through January 31

11 books read
0 books abandoned
2997 pages read
0 audiobook hours
Avg pages read per day, YTD = 97
Avg pages read per book, YTD = 272

Author
Male 36%
Female 64%

Living 45%
Dead 55%

US Born 64%
Foreign Born 36%

Platform
Hardcover 27%
Trade Pback 9%
Mass Market 45%
Audiobook 0%
e-Book 18%

Source
My Library 91%
Other 9%

Misc
ARC/ER 0%
Re-read 27%
Series 73%

Fiction 91%
NonFiction 9%


Author Birth Country
England 36%
US 64%

Original Decade Published
1920-1929 18%
1930-1939 9%
1960-1969 9%
1970-1979 9%
1990-1999 36%
2000-2009 9%
2010-2018 9%

Genre
Fiction 18%
Historical Fiction 9%
History 9%
Mystery 45%
Thriller 18%

7. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
1/16/19 to 1/19/19





From Amazon:

The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Why I wanted to read it: It was going to be my book club choice for this year but I ended up choosing something else. Between having it on my mind and just finishing Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston, it seemed like the right thing to read.

It was the right thing to read, absolutely stunning and written when women didn’t write science fiction, when black Americans didn’t write science fiction, when there was very little first person fictionalized slavery narrative.

This book is not for the squeamish. It is the deliberate tale of a 20th Century woman is dropped into slavery as it existed in 1819 Maryland, with a liberated black woman’s experiences and understanding of herself and her place in the world. I kept going back and forth between believing that Dana would accept the things being done to her and screaming out in my mind “NO!” – nobody could possibly accept what she accepted. Yet the point is she had to accept what was being done to her because she had no power, control, or resources to resist. She had an overriding goal that caused her to accept the realities of the times and grimly continue to survive regardless of what she was subjected to.

The time travel aspect is nothing. It is never explained, never given anything more than a nod as a means to an end – to give Dana the chance to achieve her goal.

The writing is powerful, emotive, vivid, and poignant. I was immediately pulled into the story and the first chapter kept me hooked so that I wanted to understand why and what and how.

I’m sad that we won’t be discussing it for book club because, especially after our next month’s discussion of Barracoon, it would have been a wonderful follow up and companion read.

I will look up more of her books and try to understand more of her place in literature. My Kindle edition has a Critical Essay at the end by Robert Crossley of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. It gave clarity and insight into both Butler and Kindred. If it’s not in your edition, please make the effort to find and read it.

Welcome!

Howdy. Brought you some nosh.

Happy new thread, Karen. Love the topper and the saddle shoes!

Happy New Thread, Karen. I LOVE that family topper. Priceless. Good review of Kindred. This was my first and only Butler and I really enjoyed it.

Happy new one, Karen.

Have a lovely weekend.

Happy new thread, Karen. Love C&H and that's a great family photo! :-)

You getting weather there? I guess what's coming is headed across the country, rather than up along the Appalachians. Supposed to be snow later tomorrow, gifting us with 3"-6", topped with rain and a temp drop on the order of 20-25 degrees in one or two hours. I'm really excited about this prospect.

The mailman lifted his embargo on wooden hats today. (Last Friends still to come.) Coincidentally, I finished My Name Is Asher Lev. I'll start Mr. Woodenhead this weekend. Kinda want to complete Testosterone Rex first.

Anyway, I'll be done with Old Knothead by the end of January, read to begin Last Friends in February.

>8 richardderus: Thank you, RDear. I love AFB. The problem is that once I get starter I make the bread all the time and eat it all the time….

>9 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. I always loved saddle shoes and I absolutely do remember that dress. In fact, I think I wore it for my first grade picture... I'll have to check.

>10 msf59: Thank you, Mark. I have very few pictures of our entire family together, so it’s extra special. Thanks re my review. I’d like to read more of her work for sure.

>11 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Nice to see you here! Thank you.

>12 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. It took me a minute to figure out what C&H was until I looked at my topper again – when I think of “C and H” I remember an ad from when I was little. “C&H the Pure Cane Sugar from Hawaii”. How’s that for tying up brain cells in useless info?

>13 weird_O: Only cold, Bill, no rain or snow. We might get a bit of rain on Saturday. Stay safe. Most of my friends in the NE will be getting weather. For once we’re dodging a bullet. I can tell you’re excited for sure.

Yay for Mr. Woody. Finish him up. I’ll start making February Last Friends noises.

Happy new thread, Karen.

I'm glad you enjoyed Kindred. I thought it was magnificent when I read it a couple of years ago and was surprised not to have read her (or really known of her much) before that. She deserves more attention, I believe.

>6 karenmarie: Kindred sounds like a powerful book. Your review was great. It's on the tbr pile now!

Look at those curls!!!! Love the family topper, Karen! And congratulations on a new thread way before the month is out.
I keep thinking I'll read my O. Butler, and I keep not doing it. Maybe your review will be the encouragement I need.........
I'm still plowing through The Warmth of Other Suns. There's a wonderful book in it, but she has no trust in her readers. She repeats and repeats and repeats - and could have used a decent editor.
When I finish that, I give myself permission to read *Wooden Hat* and move on to #3. It will happen soon!

Happy New Thread, Karen! Great family photo! Disneyland was always something I lusted after in my Midwest childhood but never accomplished.

Happy new thread, Karen. I also loved Kindred; I wish Butler would have written more.

Happy New Thread Karen! I bet Disneyland, and the Pirate Ship were fun. Nice family picture as well.

>6 karenmarie: Good review of Kindred. It would fit in well with Barracoon, I can see that.

Excellent statistics.

Happy new thread, Karen! Enjoy your weekend.

>15 EBT1002: Hi Ellen. Magnificent is a good word for it. It turns out that I have Wild Seed on my shelves, the first chronologically in the Patternist series, fourth published. I’ve brought it into the Sunroom, will shelve it here in my catalog (changing tag L77 to tag S22) and consider it soon.

>16 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda. I see that you also have a collection of her short stories.

>17 LizzieD: Oh yes, I got my dad’s red hair and curls – it looks like Mom had red hair in the pic but she always described it ‘mouse brown’ and it was straight as a board. I’m the only child who got both Dad’s red hair and wave/curls. I’ve still got curls, but I’m definitely not strawberry blonde any more.

The SF/time travel nature of Kindred is what drew me to it, but like I wrote in the review it’s just a given, never explained, never used except as a plot device. I’ve never read about the Great Migration but it doesn’t sound like The Warmth of Other Suns is the place to start – evidenced by your using ‘plowing through'.

Yay for The Man in the Wooden Hat! @weird_o mentioned that he’ll have Wooden Hat done by the end of January, so I promised to start making February Last Friend noises/plans. Perhaps mid-February to give most folks time to read the first two.

>18 ronincats: Thanks, Roni! I’m sorry you never made it as a kid. Now that you live in SoCal, have you ever been?

>19 BLBera: Hi Beth. She died relatively young at the age of 58. There are three series, 2 standalone novels, 2 books of short stories, one published posthumously, and many interviews, essays, and speeches, biographies, and articles about her. Have you read much by her?

>20 EllaTim: Every time we went to Disneyland when I was a child was magic. We took Jenna one time with my sister – Jenna was about 5, so about 1998. L to R: Nephew, niece, sister, daughter, me.



I’m glad I read Barracoon and Kindred back to back.

>21 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry. We have nothing planned except a few errands and possibly cleaning the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.

Morning, Karen! All caught up with your last thread and this new one. Go me!

Hope you enjoy a relaxed weekend.

Yay you, Katie! I seem to have been verbose so far this year. Weekend will be errands and Outlanderand Bill will watch college b-ball and the NFL playoffs tomorrow - I may or may not watch the football.

Happy New Thread, Karen!

Happy new thread!

Thanks Joe and Jim! Continued thanks to you, Jim, for all you do for our group.

>22 karenmarie: Karen, I did, but the magic was gone. Once on my own on an Easter weekend--no crowd but they evidently had sped up rides like Pirates of the Caribbean so you didn't get the full effect, and once with my nephews when they were small, where the crowds were horrendous (but I could see the difference in the Pirates ride).

Happy new thread, Karen!
The family picture at the top reminds me of old color-photo's in our family album, they all were slightly bleached in time.

>28 ronincats: Ah, Roni, that's sad. I've never heard of them speeding the rides up but don't doubt you for a second. Sad to say it's something that I can envision them doing. When I was real little there weren't horrendous crowds. I think in 1998 they had some kind of quick pass thing so you could go away for a while then come back within a 15-minute time slot and go to the front of the line...

I went to Disneyworld with daughter when she was a senior in high school - that would be 2011 and it just wasn't the same. Plus most of the rides were a true danger to anybody with a back problem. I rode most of them to prove I wasn't an old fogey, but they were white-knuckle rides for me; while everybody else was screaming with joy I was screaming with fear.

>29 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! Yes, early color photos faded quite a bit I'm afraid. But they are still evocative of our families as they were.

Happy new thread, Karen! Hope you are having a great weekend!

>24 karenmarie: so you have been watching Outlander? Me too. I stated this winter just gone (that is June/July for a kiwi) and it saw me through a trying time of not sleeping. I would get up in the night and watch an episode on the couch and fall asleep eventually. I like it for that :)
It has given me an interest in 18thC America!

>31 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle. It's been mostly relaxing. After running errands we brought the food in the house and I set the eggs down too hard and cracked two. So I dithered around for a while about how to use them and finally decided on rice pudding, which is now cooling on the counter. Of course I had to double the recipe to make it worthwhile, so used a total of four eggs. It smells heavenly and I can't wait to try it. The recipe called for nutmeg so nutmeg it was, although I love cinnamon on rice pudding, too.

>32 LovingLit: Yes we have, Megan. Sorry you had insomnia, and glad Outlander helped. When daughter came home for Christmas we started the whole thing over for her although we'd already watched the first 3 seasons. We've continued after she went back to Wilmington, and are up to S4 E5. The thing is, I've read the books and know so much of what's going to happen and Bill is only seeing what's in the series and makes deductions from that.

18th Century America seems to be all around me this year - I'm also in the group read of These Truths. And, related to that although in the 19th and 20th centuries, are Barracoon and Kindred. It's a very unintentionally thematic start to the year for me.

I'm also participating in the year-long group read of A Suitable Boy. I'm finding it rather amusing that I'm in two group reads and have committed to hosting Last Friends, David Copperfield, and most likely A Tale of Two Cities. This from someone who usually avoids reading commitments like the plague.

Stopping by to say hi, Karen. Great picture of the family at Disneyland. I went there several times as early teen with my family and I had a lot of fun. However, we never did get out two sons down their, but my sister took them both, so they had the experience.

You have some big read there in >33 karenmarie:!

>6 karenmarie: Oh, yeah. I am going to have to get to that one soon.

Hi Karen! Happy 2nd thread. I also really liked Kindred, although I had a minor quibble with the end Why did she have to re-emerge in the middle of the wall and hurt her arm on her very last trip?

Love seeing your comments over on the These Truths thread. I am not a history buff, but am really enjoying this one.

Thanks for the pictures!

>34 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. As a child it never occurred to me that people couldn't go to Disneyland if they wanted to - the concept of different states, different countries, different time zones, heck, different TV and radio stations only became obvious to me when I went to college and met people from out of state and country and it then dawned on me that LA was not the center of the universe. *smile* I'm glad you and your sons got to experience Disneyland, even if at different times.

Yup. Lots of good and big and intense reads so far this year.

>35 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. I hope you appreciate it and are a stunned by it as I was.

>36 Berly: Thank you, Kim. Okay - regards the end. In the Critical Essay in my Kindle edition by Robert Crossley of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, he writes:

Only upon Weylin's death can Dana return permanently to 1976, but she comes back without her left arm. This is the shocking premise on which Kindred depends, and the author makes no effort to rationalize it. That is, Butler does not attempt to explain what she describes so graphically at the end of the sixth chapter: How could Dana's arm, from the elbow down be physically joined to the plaster of her living room wall? The author is silent on the process by which Dana's arm is severed in the twilight zone between past and present. Kindred, one could say, is no more rational, no more comfortably explicable than the history of slavery itself. But that is a little too easy. The fiction has a ruthless logic to its design, and in an interview Butler has stated that the meaning of the amputation is clear enough: "I couldn't really let her come all the way back: I couldn't let her return to what she was, I couldn't let her come back whole and that, I think, really symbolizes her not coming back whole. Antebellum slavery didn't leave people quite whole." (footnote: Kenan, 498)

Time damages as well as heals, and genuine historical understanding of human crimes is never easy and always achieve at the price of suffering. The loss of Dana's arm becomes as Ruth Salvaggio has suggested, "a kind of birthmark," the emblem of a "disfigured heritage."

I am a history buff, and These Truths is a wonderful book. I'm so glad we're reading it.

>22 karenmarie: The other Octavia Butler I've read is Lilith's Brood and I liked it a lot, even as not much of a SF/F reader.

>38 EBT1002: I'll be keeping an eye out for her books at Friends sales and at the thrift shop. Interesting fact: Lilith's Brood was originally published as Xenogenesis.

Our 18-year old kitty got me up at about 6:30 this morning wanting breakfast. I hate getting up to an alarm, even a kitty alarm, but coffee is a nice reward.

>37 karenmarie: That makes sense. Thanks for posting it, Karen.

You're welcome, Ella.

>39 karenmarie: I was thinking this morning that Parker will be 5 this year. When he's 7 the Science Diet I feed him will get bumped up to the 'for mature cats' kind. Can it be possible?

Tonight his furry butt is getting locked out of the bedroom so I can sleep through the night.

That's a great picture and did you pick out the dress or did your mom?

The temperature here is supposed to fall 40 degrees in a few hours this evening, and the full wolf supermoon total lunar eclipse later tonight. It's a world of wonders!

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. Bitter cold today. A nice one to stay in with the books. Some football and beer later too.

Love your Disneyland photo.

>42 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hi Larry.

Parker will be five?!? Wow. Bless his furry little head. Inara Starbuck has her annual checkup with the vet for Wednesday at 5 p.m. - Dr. Cindy is the cat doctor of the practice and her time is always at a premium. We love her. Well, I do. Inara doesn't like the experience at all. *smile*

I hope you can get some good sleep tonight.

I didn't pick my clothes until I was 12. Mom usually had terrible taste in what colors worked well for me - I'm an autumn and pastels are not the best. I remember crying quietly in my bedroom the Christmas I was 12 and had asked for clothes - came home from babysitting Christmas Eve about midnight, promised to not look at what Santa had left but did anyway - yellow, light blue, pink skirts with 'matching' floral tops. Pretended to love them the next morning. *shudder* When I got to choose, I started buying what are now called jewel tones and black. That dress pictured above was actually a beautiful blue/white check even though it looks like a pastel.

Today started off at 57F and will be 17F by midnight. Tomorrow's high will be 33F.

I love the idea of the super wolf blood moon lunar eclipse. I will probably not be up for it, but hey! You never know.

>43 msf59: Hi Mark! Yup, a day to stay inside even here. Books and LT for me and possibly some hot chocolate this afternoon, football for Bill. Your weather looks like it's actually dangerous to even be out today.

Morning, Karen! Happy newish thread! I love the 1960s photo - thanks for sharing.

>33 karenmarie: Good job avoiding reading commitments, Karen. :)

I have never been to Disneyland, so I think I missed my opportunity.

The rice pudding sounds great. I'm off to check my supplies. It is cold here, and that sounds like a great idea.

>45 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie, and good morning to you too! And, you're welcome.

>46 BLBera: Hi Beth. Yes, well. Ahem. The only consolation is my Book Seat, courtesy of Mamie. She got one for Christmas and I bought one on her recommendation with some Christmas money. It works beautifully for anything except a mass market paperback, and those aren't heavy or too awkward anyway. Kitty William insists on sleeping on the printer...



You probably have missed your opportunity, but I'm sure there are things you did I didn't get to do. I wouldn't go to Disneyland now on a bet - too much money, too many people, bad feet.

Yay for rice pudding. Mine came out a bit drier than I would have liked, but is still yummy.

Happy Newish thread! I love the family photos.

I never made it to Disneyland. I had hoped to go when the kids were that age, but alas, it didn't happen. I'm not a fan of huge crowds (and large cities) so I'll probably miss out, too.

I've only read one Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower which I loved. She's another author I need to get back to; I'll try to read the sequel later this year.

>47 karenmarie: Lovely photo! SO funny that Kitty William has snagged the printer for a bed.

I pulled Barracoon out of the TBR box near the couch when I pulled out my book of Mary Oliver poems. Hopefully as soon as I get through the library books and ARCs, I can get to it!

Hey Horrible, how's Sunday going? I'm hibernating to avoid dealing with the pain-ickies that come from very cold weather. I'm even finding the Kindle a bit too much for me to hold right now.

Poor me. At least it's warm and snug in here. *smooch*

>48 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. I’m sure my parents would never have gone out of their way to take us to Disneyland – it was an hour’s drive so it was easy. The only vacations we took were to go camping except once to visit my mom’s aunt and uncle in northern California, no camping involved. Otherwise, army surplus tent, cots, sleeping bags, Coleman lantern, ice chest, water jug and stove, using outhouses and filling buckets with water from a spigot. And bugs. And spiders. And the occasional snake. Several of the reasons that camping holds no appeal whatsoever for me and hasn’t since my early 20s.

I’ll keep Butler in mind, too.

>49 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie. Thanks. He’s such a mess, my darling boy. It keeps getting colder out today so now he’s in a basket in front of the propane stove in the living room taking in the heat and Inara is in the basket here in the Sunroom in front of the other propane taking in the heat.

>50 thornton37814: I hope you can read it soon, Lori. I will most likely buy the hardcopy at some thrift store or library sale one of these days and be able to read all the accompanying material in an easier format than the Kindle.

Happy new thread Karen my dear.

Thanks, John!

8. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross





From Amazon:

Miss Julia, a recently bereaved and newly wealthy widow, is only slightly bemused when one Hazel Marie Puckett appears at her door with a youngster in tow and unceremoniously announces that the child is the bastard son of Miss Julia's late husband. Suddenly, this longtime church member and pillar of her small Southern community finds herself in the center of an unseemly scandal-and the guardian of a wan nine-year-old whose mere presence turns her life upside down.

With razor-sharp wit and perfect "Steel Magnolia" poise, Miss Julia speaks her mind indeed-about a robbery, a kidnapping, and the other disgraceful events precipitated by her husband's death. Fast-paced and charming, with a sure sense of comic drama, a cast of crazy characters, and a strong Southern cadence, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind will delight readers from first page to last.

Why I wanted to read it: I wanted something light, not a mystery, and this caught my attention.

Southern eccentricities in my adopted home state of North Carolina are just icing on the cake of the fun and joyous ‘coming of age’ novel of Miss Julia. She learns to question authority, stop questioning her competence and intelligence, and goes back and forth believing her pastor simply because he is her pastor and looking at the true morality of what’s going on to do the right thing. She’s acerbic and dithery all at once.

Here are a few quotes.

Pastor Ledbetter to Miss Julia: You’re putting yourself between this child and his mother, and that’s just wrong. We have to do everything we can to keep families together not break them up, don’t you agree?

Well, no, I didn’t. I’d heard of too many families that needed to be broken up – cruel fathers, drunken mothers, drugged boyfriends, battered wives, and so on and so on. But I’d heard Pastor Ledbetter on all those subjects from the pulpit and, according to him, prayer and a good dose of family values would cure them all. To my way of thinking, about the only thing that would cure them was a baseball bat. p 88

… lowering himself into the rocker, his thighs bulging like hams. I don’t generally notice such intimate details of a man, but polyester makes for a snug fit. p 100

Then, on second thought, I put the pan up and took down Lillian’s cooking sherry. That ought to do it, I thought. Presbyterians aren’t supposed to use alcohol, but a lot do. Not Wesley Lloyd, though, who was a teetotaler by conviction, which meant that I didn’t either. However. It came to me as I tasted the vile stuff that the ABC store ought to have something better since so many people seemed to like it. I resolved to take myself down there and buy something decent to drink. I didn’t care who saw me, either, just to get a little something to help me sleep, you know. And to aid the digestion. Nothing wrong with that, since Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake. If you can find a verse of Scripture to back you up, even Presbyterians will leave you alone. p 11

This is the first in a 20-novel series. I’ll look for more because the first was so much fun.

I totally agree about Disneyland. I was out there for a conference when I was in grad school, and it was too expensive for us to go to. And what's the point? It's so full of pickpockets and crowds...

>47 karenmarie: Cool book seat. I use a small pillow, so this might be a neat alternative.

Morning, Karen. Happy Monday. It is so nice to just stay put today, where it is warm and cozy. I do have food shopping to attend to but that will be about it, for errands. Lots of book time later.

>56 The_Hibernator: As an adult it doesn't hold anything for me either, Rachel, but as kids it was truly magic. And it was also before the infiltration of everything Disney into every aspect of life.

>57 msf59: Thanks, Mark. What's nice about the Book Seat is that you don't have to hold the book with your hands and it's very easy to turn pages. Look at me, an advertisement for The Book Seat!

...
Today I will be continuing with A Suitable Boy and my (edited to add other) fiction read, inspired by @HarryGButler's thread and discussions of William Powell - The Thin Man.

>58 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen. Will this be your first time reading The Thin Man?

'Morning, Harry! Yes. I've had this book on my shelves for a minimum of 11 years but for some reason it never called to me before. I'm already on page 34 of 180 in this mass market paperback edition.

Afternoon, Karen! You are reading The Thin Man! Have you read any other Hammett?

Hi Mamie!

I've read The Maltese Falcon but don't remember much about it. I've also got The Continental Op and The Dain Curse, as yet unread. Is Hammett a favorite of yours?

Good grief, it was so cold this morning that there was frost along a join in my bedroom window. I've never seen that before.

>58 karenmarie: Back in the 1980’s I think my Dad’s bosses promised him a trip to Disneyland if he beat his budget by a certain amount. Well, he beat the budget, but then announced that he didn’t want to go to Disneyland and couldn’t he go somewhere else instead? It had to be somewhere that could be sold as vaguely related to his role as manager of a leisure park, and in the end him and my Mum ended up driving through Spain and Portugal to a very obscure caravan exhibition in Lisbon, which detained them for all of three hours or so. But they had ten days of touring around staying in some very nice hotels on the way!

>63 SomeGuyInVirginia: Brrr. It only got up to 34F today and is supposed to be 15F tonight. This calls for London Broil, baked potatoes, mushrooms cooked with wine and butter, and a glass of the same wine. Potatoes are baking...

>64 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Wow, what a story. Ten days of touring around Spain and Portugal sounds wonderful and certainly better than a few days in Anaheim. Your dad was clever.

Stopping by to get caught up. Continuing to love the "trips down memory lane" and love the pic of Kitty William in >47 karenmarie:!

>55 karenmarie: I read a few in the Miss Julia series before LT. I don't remember how far I got into the series. I liked some installments but didn't like others as much. A colleague of mine loved them all though.

Congratulations on your second thread, Karen. I love the pictures of you as a child and at Disneyland with Jenna et al. Your frilly dress and saddle shoes in the first one brought back the memories.

I do want to read Octavia Butler...someday. Your review gave me a good snapshot of the book. I get so many good recommendations from you and others here. I may have to hire a ghost reader!

Purrs to Kitty W. and Inara S. I will feel mean depriving you of The Warmth of Other Suns, Karen. You know that most other people have loved it. I think I gave it four stars. I've just gotten finicky about writing. I thought that it was a good starting place for looking at the black migration. On the other hand, I did slog. Do, please, try the sample at Amazon or read another review or two.

>37 karenmarie: Karen--Ah, thank you so much for that quote and taking the time to find it. I still think it is a bit of an overkill because I already knew the experience changed her in inescapable ways, but OK.

>55 karenmarie: Dang.

I just finished Part 1 of These Truths and I am really enjoying it! Good thing since I started the group read. ; )

Happy second thread - I remember an early 60s trip to Disneyland - a rarity for us - though the Polaroids to prove it are probably all faded away.

>66 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori. Kitty William is being persnickety this morning. His yowls woke me up and he won’t eat the Fancy Feast I put down for him.

It’s interesting to see how many people either made it to Disneyland as a child or didn’t and how it’s a firm memory in their minds. My sister is coming to visit in May (2nd - 13th) and I hope we can find some time to go through photos. I've always been the keeper of the family photos and I'm sure I have some she hasn't seen.

>67 thornton37814: I need to find the second through eighth in the series, Lori. I bought 9, 10, and 11 at the same time but won’t read new-to-me series out of order any more. There are very few series where I liked them all equally so we’ll see. This was lighthearted and fun after two very serious books.

>68 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. I love the idea of a ghost reader.

My reading has significantly changed since I joined LT, thanks to book bullets and the occasional challenge.

>69 LizzieD: Purrs back to your crew, Peggy. Not to worry about The Warmth of Other Suns. If I find a copy of it at the thrift shop or a Friends sale I’ll snag it. Who knows, perhaps I won't 'slog'. I’ll give it an Amazon test read and look at other reviews for sure.

>70 Berly: You’re welcome, Kim. That critical essay was exceptionally helpful. Butler wrote it that way intentionally to shock, for sure, but her explanation through the essay does make sense. Her perception of the world and what she wanted to say are from a black woman’s perspective so I feel like I have to take her ‘overkill’ and respect it.

BB for Kim!

>71 quondame: Hi Susan. ..faded away… I’m actually surprised that this snapshot has done so well for being about 58 years old.

…
Another bright crisp 16F this morning. The Sunroom is 59F. Coffee and microfleece jammies, thick woolen sox and my LLBean fleece-lined mocs are not going to cut it so I’ll turn the propane stove on in a few to take the chill off.

Morning, Karen. Slept in just a tad, so still working on my first cuppa. I am enjoying my third and final off day and yes, it has been sweet, despite no woodsy rambles. I might slip off and see an early matinee of The Favourite. I have heard very good things about this film.

Some activity at the feeders yesterday, but mostly juncos, sparrows, cardinals, with the occasional downy.

Hi Mark! Sleeping in is allowed. I'd really have to out of my way to see The Favourite. - my 'local' theater, which is 28 miles away, has the following, none of which appeal to me at all:

A Dog's Way Home
Escape Room
Holmes & Watson
Vice
Aquaman
Mary Poppins Returns
Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse
The Mule
Creed II
Ralph Breaks the Internet

I just braved the outdoors to fill up my sunflower seed feeder and now four Cardinals have arrived.

Morning, Karen! I am really wanting to see The Favorite, too. I saw Mary Poppins Returns, and it was charming although a completely different story than the book. I have a soft spot for Mary Poppins, as those books were favorites of mine growing up. Craig and the kids went to see Aquaman, and Rae LOVED it. So funny what she really goes for - I have a hard time guessing.

>74 karenmarie: That looks exactly like the film listings at my nearby theater. LOL. The Favourite is the only outsider and it shows exactly once at 10:30 am. Grins...

>75 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I have never read Mary Poppins although I started it once a long time ago and it's still on my shelves. I liked the movie with Julie Andrews. I love Jason Momoa from Game of Thrones but not enough to sit through a superhero movie. So funny what she really goes for - I have a hard time guessing. That's what Bill says about me. What really irritates him is that I'll start watching something with him, like it for a few episodes or even a few seasons and then complete turn off and refuse to watch any more of it. Blindspot, and The Blacklist come to mind, much less the spin offs of NCIS.

>76 msf59: Ah, Mark, and here I thought you had access to more 'outsider' movies. This is one of the major reasons I miss LA, still, after almost 28 years.

Rae does that, too! If the series starts going in a direction she doesn't like, or even if she thinks that it might, or they kill off a favorite character, she's out.

Good for Rae!

...
So I've gotten really good at buying neat stuff for people for Christmas and then misplacing it. Here's a mug I bought for Jenna and only found yesterday, hiding behind some linens I hadn't decided what to do with in the utility room.

LOVE that! And too funny - I do the same thing and actually found stuff for both Abby's and Birdy's stockings in a bag in the car after Christmas.

Hi, Karen. I'm finally getting out to visit. I love your rereads of DLS' books, she is also one of my favorite authors - I adore Lord Peter! ...and Harriet is slowly growing on me over the years.

Have you ever read Jill Paton Walsh's continuation of DLS' series? There are 4 books: Thrones, Dominations, A Presumption of Death, The Attenbury Emeralds, and The Late Scholar. The first one is the best - I believe it was based on an unfinished DLS manuscript. IMO they go somewhat downhill from there - I vaguely recall that the last one didn't really capture Peter as he was. They certainly do not live up to DLS's work, but are readable, and somewhat enjoyable, especially if you miss the Wimsey family.

There is also a series of articles that DLS wrote during WWII for a magazine - letters between the members of the Wimsey family about wartime life. I haven't read them yet - but I definitely intend to someday. You can find them here. I think Jill Paton Walsh based the second book on some of them.

ETA >79 karenmarie: >80 Crazymamie: So, I'm not alone! I just found some snow scrappers in a bag under my desk last week that were supposed to be presents! Better late than never, I guess.

Also, I forgot to add that I'd be interested in the Dickens group read, as well.

Good morning, Karen. I scarcely ever look to see what is new at the movies these days, but we are likely to go see The Wizard of Oz this Sunday (thanks to Stasia (@alcottacre) for mentioning it on my thread a few weeks ago).

>58 karenmarie: My skids' mom took the kids to Disney World last year and they loved it. Just LOVED it. Even she seemed to enjoy it. Maybe because she knew how much the kids were enjoying themselves.

Hi, Karen.

Ha! I like that "I Don't Need Google - My Mother Knows Everything" mug. Our son works at Google, and his mother does know everything. We're thinking about getting him one. :-)

>80 Crazymamie: Great minds, Mamie. Or forgetful minds... I always have a list of who to buy for and put down ideas and when things arrive, looks now I need to write WHERE I put things once they'arrive on that list, too. I also found a gift card to Zaxby's I'd bought her.

>81 rretzler: Hi Robin! Nice to see you here. I have always loved Harriet Vane. I did not read the novels in order when I first discovered Sayers, but am re-reading them in order.

I have Jill Paton Walsh’s books. I hated the first because it was so clearly obvious what was DLS’s writing and what was Walsh’s. I loved A Presumption of Death because to me it captured Peter, Harriet, Bunter, and Talboys so nicely. Didn’t like or dislike The Attenbury Emeralds particularly, but I really loathed The Late Scholar. Thank you for the link to the letters. I also have The Wimsey Family: A Fragmentary History Compiled from Correspondence With Dorothy L. Sayers, which is amusing.

Snow scrapers always come in handy. *smile* And, I’ve added your name to the Dickens list.

>82 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! The Wizard of Oz was always a huge family event when I was little – NBC, once a year. These days if I see two movies a year at theaters it’s a banner year.

9. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
1/20/19 to 1/22/19





From Wikipedia:

The story is set in New York City in December 1932, in the last days of Prohibition. The main characters are a former private detective, Nick Charles and Nora, his clever young wife. Nick, son of a Greek immigrant, has given up his career since marrying Nora, a wealthy socialite and he spends most of his time cheerfully getting drunk in hotel rooms and speakeasies. Nick and Nora have no children but they own a female Schnauzer named Asta. Charles is drawn, mostly against his will, into investigating a murder. The case brings them in contact with the Wynants, a rather grotesque family, and with various policemen and lowlifes. As they attempt to solve the case, Nick and Nora share a great deal of banter and witty dialogue, along with copious amounts of alcohol.

Why I wanted to read it: The movie was mentioned on @HarryGButler’s thread so I thought, why not.

I get the sense of how much Nick and Nora love each other and also of how much alcohol is consumed in their marriage. There are the usual prejudices and derogatory terms for the time which still jar a bit. There are also quite a few very good descriptions of people. It’s a bit frenetic, frankly, but fun for all that.

I wondered about ¾ of the way through about why we hadn’t actually met Mr.Wynant and assumed that he was probably dead. Turns out that it's important. My spidey-senses were right.

Here are two things that don't seem to have a real reason for being in this book: What’s the purpose of Nick showing Gilbert Wynant an article about cannibalism and the very real Alferd G. Parker Packer? And why such a detailed list of types of axes: “… stone axes, copper axes, bronze axes, double-bladed axes, faceted axes, polygonal axes, scalloped axes, hammer axes, adze axes, Mesopotamian axes, Hungarian axes, Nordic axes, and all of them looking pretty moth-eaten.” p 96

A few interesting quotes:

Dorothy Wynant to Nick Charles: “It’s none of my business, Nick, but what do people think of me?”

“You’re like everybody else: some people like you, some people don’t, and some have no feeling about it one way or the other.” p 100

“Miriam,” Nunheim said.

She stared at him dully and said: “I don’t like crooks, and even if I did, I wouldn’t like crooks that are stool-pigeons and if I liked crooks that are stool pigeons, I still wouldn’t like you.” p 79

Nick: “Murder doesn’t round anybody’s life except the murdered’s and sometimes the murderer’s.”

“That may be,” Nora said, “but it’s all pretty unsatisfactory."

No sequels were written. There were a total of six Thin Man movies made. I like them both, but the chemistry between Myrna Loy and William Powell made the movie scintillating.

IIRC there was a slang use of "ax" at that time, not as in more modern musician slang sense of electric guitar, that made that list side-splitting. Or so my mama said in the 1970s, recalling her 1930s youth. Do I remember what it was? No, I do not. *sigh*

*smooch*

Hmmm. Slang use of axe in the 1920s/1930s. Drat. Oh, wait. Maybe Louise, born in 1934, would know. I'm on a mission now, RD!

>86 karenmarie: - I was also stunned by the amount of alcohol Nick and Nora - well, everyone, really - consumed in the story!

>86 karenmarie: Hooray, for The Thin Man! I have not read the book in decades ut recently saw the film and it was a delight.

Morning, Karen. I am back to the winter grind today. I could sure get used to not going in to work. My time will come...

>89 lkernagh: It's a prominent action in both book and movie, for sure. In the movie there's a funny scene where Nora comes out of the bedroom with an ice pack tied decoratively on her head.

>90 msf59: 'Morning, Mark! When I first retired there was a lot of envy and jealousy expressed by various people - I just told them "It's my turn now, your turn will come."

Your weather looks awful through the weekend, dangerous even. Stay safe!

>86 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen. I'm glad you enjoyed The Thin Man, both book and movie.

Thanks, Harry. Both were wonderful. I wanted to read The Continental Op yesterday, went to the shelf it's supposed to be on, and it's the less than 2% of my books that are misshelved, apparently. Harrumph.

...
I'm having lunch with a book club friend and then Miss Inara Starbuck has her annual exam at the vet at 5 p.m. She's indoors, so I've already locked the kitty door to ensure that she's available when it's time to go.

>79 karenmarie: I have that exact same mug except mine was a gift from my dad so it says my FATHER knows everything!

Happy new thread! We had friends for dinner on Saturday and they brought homemade rice pudding for dessert. I had forgotten how much I liked it and turns out hubby does, too. (You can still learn things after 30 years of togetherness. Or maybe re-learn as my memory gets older.) Do you have a favorite recipe?

That is so funny, Karen! Your dad and I - great minds.

I don't have a favorite recipe, and am actually looking for one that is like the rice pudding at the diners I worked at in Connecticut 1977-1980. The one I made the other day was too dry. I also want one that's not baked. I just found one I might try today. Gotta go to the grocery store and buy short or medium grain rice, a quart of half and half and 1 cup of whipping cream.

>79 karenmarie: Love the mug, Karen. I'm off to find one for my daughter, who is starting to treat me like I'm senile. That might be a good reminder that I still have my marbles.

I love Hammett and enjoyed The Thin Man. I don't know that I've ever seen the movies.

>86 karenmarie: There is actually a "sort-of" sequel to The Thin Man - Return of the Thin Man. Apparently, Hammett wrote 2 novellas which the screen-plays for After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man were based on. I don't think the novellas were released before Hammett's death - The Thin Man was his last novel - but they were put together and released as Return of the Thin Man. I purchased it last year, but haven't read it yet. Given how much I enjoyed The Thin Man, I'm a little afraid to read them...

So...per Green's Dictionary of Slang an axe is :

2. (US) the penis; thus axman, a womanizer, a sexual athlete.

1915 US Journal of Amer. Folklore 28 138: When I was young and in my prime, / Sunk my axe deep ’most every time.
1934 C. Patton ‘Jersey Bull Blues’ lyrics I’ve an old five pound ax / And I’ll cut two different ways / And I cut my little woman / Both night and day.
1969 US ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 50: His ... axe cast a cruel shadow.
1979 WI E. Lovelace Dragon Can’t Dance (1998) 104: It was one of those suggestive calypsos – filled with phallic symbolism ... The story was about the very best axe man in the island.

>97 rretzler: No WONDER Mama was reluctant to part with the goods! HA!! Thank you, Robin!

>96 BLBera: I found it at Walmart, Beth, but you can get it on Amazon, too.

>97 rretzler: Robin! You are a font of information, both Thin Man wise and axe-wise. Thank you!

“… stone axes, copper axes, bronze axes, double-bladed axes, faceted axes, polygonal axes, scalloped axes, hammer axes, adze axes, Mesopotamian axes, Hungarian axes, Nordic axes, and all of them looking pretty moth-eaten.” Puts things in a new light. *smile*

>98 richardderus: No wonder indeed, Richard. *smooch*

>86 karenmarie: I can't tell you why Nick Charles would have brought up cannibalism, but Alferd Packer (not Parker) was a popular folk persona when I was in college. Lehigh U. was founded by Asa Packer, who built up the Lehigh Valley Railroad primarily to move coal from mines in Pennsylvania to NYC. Alferd was popularly—but of course without basis—regarded as a relative of Asa. I had it that Alferd was a member of the Donner Party, which got trapped in California's mountains. Some members resorted to cannibalism to survive the winter. But Alferd was not in the party. He was in a party that got snowbound in the mountains of Colorado. He confessed to cannibalism to survive, but changed his story when arrested and tried. Wiki has the story.

Alferd and Asa, though both were Packers, were not related. However, up in Green Bay... Well, that's a story for another day.

ETA: BTW, Last Friends finally was placed in my mailbox today. I've started The Man in the Wooden Hat.

Oh, and I ordered These Truths today and Jeff Bezos himself promised me it will be delivered Friday.

>86 karenmarie: >100 weird_O: So after posting the above post, I remembered to fetch The Thin Man from the living room shelves and skimmed through it looking for Alferd Packer. So much of the story came back to me. "Wynant tried to commit suicide down in Allentown." Hey, I lived in Allentown.

When I found Alferd, I discovered that Hammett had a pretty detailed account of his crime. I still can't say why he had Nick give Gilbert that story. But Gilbert did ask Nick specifically about cannibalism in the US. And having read it, Gilbert expressed disappointment, saying it wasn't "a pathological case."

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. It looks like our arctic blast arrives later today and tonight. It is supposed to drop to below zero. Oh, joy. Send warm thoughts.

>55 karenmarie: I started that series several years ago. I need to go back to it because I thought it was fun too.

>100 weird_O: Hi Bill! Fixed the review to reflect Packer. My fingers misbehaved. *smile* I wonder why he was a popular folk persona. I guess people (not me) are fascinated with cannibalism, although I did read and love Alive.

Oh, I am so glad you have started The Man in the Wooden Hat. We’re getting closer to the Last Friends group read for sure!

Well, if Jeff himself promised Friday, you know it will be so. It’s a well-written and thought-provoking book. I’ve finished the first section and am backing off a bit to read the second in February.

>101 weird_O: Yay for Allentown. It still doesn’t make sense why so many pages would be devoted to a throwaway that only puts on display how truly weird Gilbert was. He could have just said ‘Remember Packer or the Donner Party?”

>102 msf59: Hi Mark! Warm thoughts are winging their way to you as I type this. Single digits, and negative single digits at night… brrrr. Stay warm and safe.

>103 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! It’s one of those series that if I see them at library sales or at thrift stores I’ll buy them, but I didn’t immediately go to Amazon to buy the next one or two. I do love Southern eccentricity, though. Have you read Rita Mae Brown’s Runnymede series, starting with Six of One?

>55 karenmarie: Ooh, you got me with that BB (Miss Julia)! Excellent review!

Karen O.

Hi Karen! Thank you. I hope you like it.

>47 karenmarie: looks like a great set up :) And a happy (warm) cat!!

Horrible dearest, thank you so much for the Octopus Whisperer article! I love him. He's a role model for aging to us all. *smooch*

>107 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Lots of light, my Book Seat, the Cat, many books, coffee cup.... some of my most favorite things for sure.

>108 richardderus: You're so welcome! I saw it and immediately thought of you, of course. *smooch*

>99 karenmarie: Thanks Karen.

>95 karenmarie: I have reached out to my friend as well...she brought the rice pudding already made, and we whipped up some heavy whipping cream to fold in before we served it.

Karen, you and Mamie were discussing being in the South and the mindsets there. You've been there longer (forever!) and so I choosing you to ask a question I've had the last few years. I know that for much of television history, shows and ads and even movie scenes were severely censored from showing African Americans and especially interracial relationships. Now, here, I see so many commercials with interracial couples and more shows with them (and hurrah, since I am in one myself) and I wonder, are these also being seen in the South now or is that type of selectivity still in place?

>110 BLBera: You're welcome Beth.

>111 witchyrichy: Yum. If she shares, will you share? I ended up not going to the store yesterday.

>112 ronincats: Interesting question, Roni. My first instinct is to say that we probably see the same as the rest of the country, but that's not necessarily accurate - we see many interracial couples in ads but I'm not sure about TV shows. Bill watches network TV but I don't. I watch series that Bill records, usually Netflix, some Dish on Demand. So there may be some censorship for 'delicate Southern sensibilities' scared of interracial ANYTHING that I don't see simply because of what I watch. However, with YouTube and the Internet in general, people can pretty much see what they want. And of course I'm sure there are people, not just in the South, who simply would never watch something with an interracial couple.

I live in a rural area but 45 minutes from Chapel Hill and Cary - Chapel Hill liberal because of the influx of outsiders for UNC Chapel Hill and Cary because its attractive to transplants for some reason. We call it the (C)ontainment (A)rea for (R)elocated (Y)ankees. And I differentiate myself as a Westerner, not a Yankee because "Yankee" is still fighting words here. An interesting book that I read last year was Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz about the deep prejudices still here in the South and how they're lurking everywhere. My county is 'liberal' in the north and east and extremely conservative in the west and south. It's very polarizing, and I'm sure interracial couples would feel uncomfortable in the conservative portions of the county. Not to mention that Saxapahaw NC, just 20 miles northwest of us, and Sanford, 25 miles south of us are both still known as KKK country.

Good morning, Karen. Enjoy your Friday. It has been quite some time since I've read the Continental Op short stories, but I know I'll get around to rereading them sometime.

>104 karenmarie: No, I have not read Rita Mae Brown’s Runnymede series, so I am going to have to look for them. Thanks for the recommendation, Karen!

>114 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! I'm debating about going to see The Favourite today - Bill won't want to go to the theater to see it so I'm sorely tempted. I just need to find my copy of The Continental Op, so disappointed that I've misshelved it. Some inventorying seems to be called for.

>115 alcottacre: You're welcome, Stasia. The first three are very good, IMO. I didn't particularly like the 4th and 5th - The Sand Castle and Cakewalk. Cakewalk is actually the 5th in the series, but hasn't been listed here that way.

Here to say hello. Love the topper family picture and you in your summer dress, that takes me back! Being the second girl I had to wear a lot of my older sister's hand-me-downs . . . some of it was ok, some was not!

Happy reading!

>116 karenmarie: Oh, do go see The Favourite. I thought it was terrific, held my attention throughout every minute. How the Oscars made the nominations they did bobbles my mind, as it's such an ensemble among those three women.

>117 sibylline: Hi Lucy! Thank you. We had a whole round of hand-me-arounds in the neighborhood when I was growing up. I call them hand-me-arounds because they went from Linda to Pam to me to Janna to Colleen to Kathy and then to my sister - I, too, liked some of them, some not. Of course beggars couldn't be choosers, so I wore whatever fit. I don't remember that dress being a hand-me-down.

>118 ffortsa: I'll definitely go see it, but it turns out that I can get a haircut today. I need one desperately and Mandy had a cancellation and can fit me in. It's good timing, and I won't look like a ragamuffin tomorrow for a special Friends book sale. The movie shows at 11:15 and a 2 p.m., and my appt is at 1 p.m., so it's a no go. Next week definitely The Favourite.

Have you ever slept on LLBean's heritage flannel sheets? They are THA BOMB! Shirts, too.

>119 karenmarie: Funny, I was trying to get a haircut today too, but my hairdresser took the day off. Looking at next week, I have to hope he's working Monday, because I have scheduled myself to the gills. I like all the stuff, but I hate to be sooo busy. Good thing I have a quiet weekend ahead of me.

>112 ronincats: >113 karenmarie:

Given the year, 2019, it is intriguing to compare what has changed in the Colonial mentality since the first slaves arrived in Jamestown in 1619.

If aliens judged by the Senate, White House, MAGA Morons, and the seething conservative and confederate extremism,
they would wonder what we accomplished since the Dutch, the English, and that slave ship from Portugal guided thought waves.

That's a lot of years not to evolve.

Hello Horrible...I'm thrilled that 45 caved since it means I can eat next month...but phew am I fatigued. I posted a TL;DR teaser for my review of The King's Evil. I'm still wrestling that bad boy to the ground. It was an intense read and I want to get all the way into it, wrench open the cupboard doors and saw the green logs into what *I* see as their proper form...and I know how MEGO-inducing that is for others...and I still want to...and and and

So I'm taking an hour off the romp among the threads. How's by you?

>120 SomeGuyInVirginia: I have not, Larry. For the winter I have microfleece sheets, so snuggly warm. And a corn bag for my feet. *smile* We do love LL Bean, though.

>121 ffortsa: I’m back, with less hair more flatteringly arranged and beef vegetable soup fixin’s. I hate having a scheduled week too. I always end up liking everything, but fret beforehand. My weekend’s busy – tomorrow I’ll be busy from 8 til about 4:30 supporting the Friends Special Foreign Books Sale. Here’s the blurb:

The Friends of the Chatham Community Library will hold a special one-day sale featuring a collection of foreign language books donated from the personal library of a retired university librarian who specialized in Latin American, Iberian, and Classic Romance Languages. More than 1000 books, mostly in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Latin and Greek will be offered. Some other languages are included in smaller quantities, as well as some books in English related to the languages and countries represented. Included are classics, novels, histories, dictionaries, parallel language books, textbooks, phrasebooks, travel guides and teaching materials for all levels—a unique collection.

Hard cover books will be $3 or less; soft cover $2 or less.

In addition to providing and managing the cash I’ll be in charge of the credit card processing and any other financial stuff needed. Sunday we’re having lunch with some friends at their house. We haven’t been to their house before, so it should be fun.

>122 m.belljackson: Hi Marianne. You’re right – it’s a lot of years not to evolve. Thousands of books have been written about the Peculiar Institution, hundreds on Reconstruction, hundreds on each different aspect of how the forced mixing of peoples under the constraints of financial greed, prejudice, and power have played out in what is not a melting pot as much as a salad bowl. In some ways things have progressed stunningly, in others there’s been a tragic stunting of benevolent, humanistic, and moral tenets to support racism, prejudice, and control over others very lives.

>123 richardderus: Well. *blinks* I zoom around the countryside rocking out to Queen, getting haircuts and going grocery shopping, finishing Relic by Preston & Child, sign into LT, and come here to discover your wonderful news. I’m glad to hear that the bloviating orange gas bag caved. He probably saw his poll numbers declining daily, and recognized that he was not only not in a bargaining position, but not even at the table.

Yay for eating next month.

I’m going to make soup for dinner, along with corn bread, hopefully surprising Mr. Bill. He’s always happy when I cook. He never expects it, always appreciates it, and always thanks me.

I’m debating whether to write a review of Relic or not – perhaps I’ll just say that it’s first of the FBI Special Agent Pendergast series and I devoured it in less than 3 days, all 468 pages. It was scary and thrilling and horrific.

Yup. That’s good enough. *smooch*

>124 karenmarie: That's a perfect summary review of Relic, which I hadn't realized was #1 in the series. I've got it here somewhere, wondered why I did one day when it fell on my foot, and now I know.

What a great day! I am *vibrating* with jealousy about your Special Sale. Moments like this I wish for a private plane and a wad of cash to spend. I hope the Friends make a packet.

*smooch*

Thanks, RichardDear! It was a lot of fun. The cousin who gave it to me for Christmas gave me the second one in the series, Reliquary, both at my request. I unintentionally read #5 Brimstone first, now want to read the series in order. I have #3, need #4. Then eventually #6-18.

I anticipate looking for books first thing, of course! We have no idea how many people will show up, but I plan on shopping with everybody else, starting at 9 a.m. I have no idea of what I'll find, but just looking at books will keep me sane until the spring book sale in March. There are always around 18,000 books then...

18,000! {insert condescending elitist rural-South joke here} That'll keep anyone busy. It's shocking to me that March 2019 is less than two full months away. March 1989 is about where I think we should be.

>123 richardderus: I hadn't heard the news yet today so that was the first indication I had that the US gov't is back to paying people. The info I read is that another shut down could happen Feb 15?

Well, I thought I would have The Man in the Wooden Hat in my hands soon as my library has 2 copies and one of them was due Jan 23. Unfortunately, that was Jan 23 2018. Next one is due the beginning of Feb and I am number 2 in line.

Hi Karen, finally made it over here.

My son and his wife live in Garner which is just outside of Raleigh. He claims once you get outside of the urban/suburban area it’s like a different world. The night of the 2016 election he was worrying that NC being a swing state would be responsible for giving us Trump and he was embarrassed. Of course that was before everything became apparent and NC didn’t have to shoulder all the blame.

You’ve made me want to read Octavia Butler which I didn’t think was possible since I don’t go much for that genre. Maybe this year.

>127 richardderus: Yes, people do read down here. 1989? Really? That was the year I turned 36. A tad depressing, actually. 1999 was okay, 2009 was rather crappy.

>128 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. If they don't pass more bills and get the idiot in chief to sign his very scary oversized and spiky signature, the government will shut down again.

Hmm about The Man in the Wooden Hat. Does your library have OverDrive or some other ebook loaning software? I had so much fun checking out Barracoon and having it delivered to my Kindle. Not the ideal way to read that one, IMO, but saved me dinero on a book I wasn't sure I'd like.

I've got 2 group reads to start thinking of - Last Friends to start sometime in February and David Copperfield to start March-ish.

>129 brenzi: Hi Bonnie! Nice to see you here. Your son is right - rural is vastly different. A high school friend of mine (1971, California) lives in Garner and we get together monthly for dinner. The time travel aspect of Kindred got me excited, but it was simply a means to an end. I'm not sure I would have read it had I understood that, but that would have been my most grievous loss.

...
The only thing I don't like about this sale tomorrow is that I have to set an alarm. Grumble.

I remember the events of 2009 without fondness. You were bashed, buffeted, and blindsided on every front.

And that was 10 years ago!! Egads, we're old. *bwaaahaaahaaa* and they thought I'd be dead by now!

Hi Karen. Poppy looks to be almost back to her usual self. She is full of beans and running around on her walks, but while inside she is definitely still more tired than she used to be. She usually follows us all over the house, but lately she seems to prefer the quiet of her kennel aka her house that is in our kitchen. But she is certainly doing well. Dave will maybe have a couple more weeks off work ,due to his fractures, but they are much better than in December. I don't think my husband would attempt to purchase me a book or two, because he really does not have much of an idea of what I like. I'm much more likely to pick up a book for him. I keep track of the authors he likes and introduce him to new authors.

I hope your soup turned out well.

>116 karenmarie: I saw the Favourite...loved it :)

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. -7 out there at the moment. I want to stay home. Wahh!!

I did start Part 4 of These Truths, which I am enjoying very much. Taking a breather from it now and will return to it, in a week or so.

>131 richardderus: I personally was bashed, buffeted, and blindsided on every front. in 2011. That was the year my daughter graduated from high school so I have no doubt about the year. Some aspects of what was going on have settled down, but in some respects I'm never going to forgive or forget. Non-RD folk - sorry for being cryptic.

Living well is the best revenge. You've got some health issues, but you're blessed with friends, YGC, books, and etc. And I've always said I'd be old when I was in my 90s. My maternal grandmother and both of her parents lived 'til their early 90s, and I have one paternal g-g-aunt who lived to be 101.

>132 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah. Poor Poppy. I hope this isn't her new normal and that she's going to be bouncing off the walls again soon. My Bill doesn't read books. He reads the newspaper, magazines online, and news on his cell phone.

The soup and cornbread came out beautifully, thanks. Bill was happily surprised. We both had seconds of both. *smile*

>133 LovingLit: I'm going to try to see it on Monday or Tuesday, Megan. The trailer was a hoot.

>134 msf59: I'd want to stay home, too, Mark. -7F is wicked. Be safe.

I'll get back to These Truths next week. In the meantime I'm going to start Part 2 of A Suitable Boy this weekend. By the year-long schedule I have until February 7th to read it.

...
Drat. Late yesterday I started getting a sore throat and woke up with it again this morning. We'll see how long I stay at the sale - the only thing they really need me for is to process refunds because nobody else is willing to take the responsibility, but they can call me at home and I can process any from there. We've only had one refund in 3 book sales, but you never know.

>124 karenmarie:, >125 richardderus: On the subject of Relic, the second was a bit of a retread of the first, but the series really takes off after that. It’s one of my fave brain candy thrillers!

>135 karenmarie: Oh, I got the years twisted, goodness it was a sucky time wasn't it.

*smooch* for better days ahead.

>136 drneutron: Good to know, Jim. I can see where it might a retreat because of the cast of characters - Margo Green, Pendergast, D'Agosta, and Dr. Frock. No problem! Sounds good.

>137 richardderus: You were close, RD, and I'm impressed. All smooches accepted. *smile*

...
Back from the sale. My throat is still sore. I stayed the whole time. The Book Sort Team had low expectations, I heard numbers like $150, $300, 'a couple of hundred', and everybody was thrilled that gross sales were $1745. I contributed $25 as follows:

Hardcover:
Winnie The Pooh "Winny de Puh edición en español"
Cattus Petasatus "The Cat in the Hat in Latin"
Gilgamesh a new English version by Stephen Mitchell
How Language Works by David Crystal
Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
1492: The Year the World Began by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie
Jacobs' Latin Reader - might not be right touchstone. Published 1833. 'Lucy A. Jones Dublin' written in copperplate. I can't read much of it, but had to have it.

Trade Paperback:
Intensive Latin First Year & Review by Carl A.P. Ruck
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill

Nice haul! Jacobs' Latin Reader sounds really great. As an object, I hasten to add.

Sorry about the sore throat, but I"m glad the day went okay after all. Nice haul! I hope are enjoying a nice quiet evening , with something to soothe your throat.

>47 karenmarie: I love that photo of Kitty William. Oh, and the book holder thingy too.

Sorry to hear about the sore throat. I'm suffering from a head cold. Snuffly, sniffly, sneezy, and generally gross.

Excellent book haul and nice revenue for the sponsors.

I echo Judy's recommendation for seeing The Favourite.

>140 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah. I don't feel too much better today, but have no obligations except to stay in my jammies and read, sleep, and watch whatever with Bill - we started re-watching The Office last night for something light. Probably more of that.

>141 EBT1002: KW is a mess for sure - in the best Southern sense of the word. Right now he's unhappy with me because he apparently has taken a dislike to Fancy Feast Chicken, which he has willingly eaten before. I put a dollop of Fancy Feast Beef on top and brought him and the bowl into the Sunroom so his meowing wouldn't wake Bill up. That seemed to trick him into eating enough to stop meowing. The book holder thingy is a wonder.

I'm sorry you've got a head cold. I feel like I might be headed that way, but perhaps coddling myself today will make it Go Away.

The Friends of the Library gets the revenue.

If I felt better, Bill and I might try for The Favourite but feeling the way I do it's a non-starter. I didn't think he would want to see it, but we saw a trailer yesterday and he surprised me when he said he'd like to see it.

Now it's time for coffee and my book.

Morning, Karen. Happy Sunday. I hope that your sore throat gets better and it doesn't lead to anything worse. Nice book haul up there.

I am going to have a lazy day with the books.

Morning, Karen! Great review of The Thin Man. And I appreciated the slang definition - I didn't get that part when I read it, either. Ha! I just finished Red Harvest, which is the first Continental Op book. Our library has that giant book that has all the Continental Op stories in it, and I will have to get that back out at some point this year while Red Harvest is still fresh in my mind.

Sorry about the sore throat - hope it goes away quickly. Feel better, my friend.

>143 msf59: Thanks, Mark. I'm very pleased with my books and just added them and scanned the covers for the ones I couldn't find custom covers already out there. I'm glad you'll be indoors with your books.

>144 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie, I had fun writing it. And Robin came through with the slang definition of axe - LOL. I'm going to be on the lookout for the Continental Ops book that I've apparently misshelved AND try to find a good copy of Red Harvest. I'll check your thread to see if you've reviewed it.

I haven't taken anything yet but have a temp of 99.5F. Drat. Should I let the fever combat the germs or ameliorate the symptoms?

>145 karenmarie: Not yet - hoping to put some thought together in a bit.

I'm readyyyyyy! Finished The Man in the Wooden Hat yesterday. Last Friends is right out there where I can see it. So. Ready as promised, Group Leader.

>138 karenmarie: Toughed it out, eh? How many library friends did you pass along your germs to? Eh? Eh? Good buys. I guess. Winnie the Pooh is the only title I recognize, but not a single author is known to me. You are so adventuresome! Thumbs up!

>142 karenmarie: Your mention of The Office reminded me that a fellow who administered successful CPR to a woman who wasn't breathing. Saw it on the tv news. The guy credited that sitcom: he saw an episode in which Steve Carell demonstrated how to do CPR for the staff.

ALSO. Speaker Pelosi, after getting the shutdown suspended, issued a statement with the following questions:

In the face of 37 indictments, the President’s continued actions to undermine the Special Counsel investigation raise the questions: what does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially? Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the U.S. out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin?

Have a better day.

>146 Crazymamie: No prob, Mamie.

...
I just got off the phone with Amazon. Jenna bought Last Friends for me for Christmas. The wrong ISBN# got sent, an Abacus edition, not the Europa edition I want. While she was still here for Christmas she got on the phone and supposedly worked it out for me to get the right edition - NOT. The wrong one came again and has been sitting here for 2 weeks or so. She's been busy with school, so I called Amazon today to make sure that if I ordered it, regardless of her sending back the wrong one AGAIN or not, that I'd get the right one. By the end of the call Daniel at Amazon had refunded her money, told me to keep the wrong edition anyway, and showed me how to change who would fulfill the order - not the same wrong default one for the third time - this time I choose Amazon to fulfill it even though it costs $.29 more. I'm not worried about $9, so Jenna's off the hook for the order. My correct copy should come on Tuesday.

So, does anybody want an Abacus edition of Last Friends? If so, PM me with your address. @weird_o's finished The Man in the Wooden Hat and I'm going to start the group read on February 1.

I'm reading Reliquary, 2nd in the FBI Special Agent Pendergast series, one of @drneutron's fave brain candy thrillers.

>147 weird_O: Yay Bill! February 1st to start the group read. I tend to keep messages open for quite a while before posting, so when I hit post message I saw that you had posted.

I sure hope I didn’t pass on germs – feel a tad guilty about not checking my temperature but don’t think I had one yesterday.

Wait – you must have heard of The Cat in the Hat. I don’t always go by authors – sometimes books just leap out at me. These are all books in what appears to be new condition, except for the 1833 Latin Reader, which is in beautiful condition for being 186 years old.

I remember that episode about CPR.

And yay for Pelosi. She’s asking the right questions, and now that she’s in power she can do something about them, as witnessed buy refusing the SOTU during shutdown and then causing the idiot in chief to CAVE re ending the shutdown.

I love the political cartoon you posted on your thread – I am herewith stealing it and reposting it here:

>142 karenmarie:

My 17 year old cat went slightly off of Fancy Feast, notably the Tuna,
and refuses most others, including Organics and even Organix.

I ordered some Tiny Tiger from Chewy = "Beef, Turkey, Chicken Assortment"
and "Beef in Extra Gravy" (usually her favorite taste).

So far, she loves them all!

Thanks, Marianne!

I just ordered a 24-pack of chicken, turkey, and beef with extra gravy. We'll see if he likes them - the first order on Chewy.com was 50% off, so even with shipping it was still way less than Fancy Feast at the grocery store.

>142 karenmarie: >151 karenmarie: My cats will only eat the fish flavors of Fancy Feast.

A completely crap day. I'm dog-sick again thanks to Old Stuff's slapdash hygiene and habit of leaving lung cookies in the sink, the wastebasket, the bowl....

That was gross, I know, but my filter's broken by this awful throat pain and hacking. The YGC wanted me to spend the night with him but I don't see the point of making *him* sick too. Still, my evil little homunculus of a "soul" was quite pleased that he was concerned.

>152 thornton37814: Kitties sure are persnickety, aren't they, Lori? Kitty William blows hot and cold on everything I serve him, all the way from 9 Lives to Sheba to Fancy Feast. We'll see if he likes this at all. Keep your fingers crossed!

>153 richardderus: Ah, RD, I'm so sorry. Your YGC is so very sweet. Boo hiss to Old Stuff's gross habits.

Morning, Karen. Yep, it is snowing here again, adding a few more inches to our wintry mix and making my Monday a tough one. I will have to make sure I give myself extra time, for the commute. Sighs...

>155 weird_O: Poi-fect, Bill! I'll be setting up the thread very soon.

>156 msf59: 'Morning, Mark! I'm sorry for your nasty weather. Stay safe and warm.

...
I'm still feeling puny. Now I've got a dry cough on top of the sore throat. No outsies for me today. Bank, PO, Library, and grocery store will have to wait until tomorrow.

Morning, Karen! I am sorry to read that you are feeling poorly today. Good for you letting the errands wait while you take some time for yourself. Feel better.

Thanks, Mamie. I can't remember the last time I didn't feel well for 3 days in a row...

Good morning, Karen. I hope you're soon on the mend!

Thanks, Harry! I get sick so rarely these days (knock on wood!) that I'm always surprised and cranky about it.

Sorry to hear that you are under the weather, Karen. Get better soon!

Thank you , Stasia - I finally broke down and took some Dayquil. It seems to be helping and I'm trying to not do too much - a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher and put dishes in, inventory a shelf of books... and read of course.

Good for you, Karen - take it easy, and read. Sometimes I think we get sick because our bodies are saying, you need to slow down for a while, and you won't if I don't do this.

Hope you feel better soon!

>164 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. It's much easier to slow down when there's no work pressure - I used to work for a company that really worked hard at making you feel bad if you took sick days. No guilt now.

>165 The_Hibernator: Thanks, Rachel.

...
I'm making good headway in Reliquary, the second in the FBI Agent A.X.L. Pendergast series. Somewhat formulaic to the first, but interesting nevertheless. I've also read some of A Suitable Boy for the year-long read.

>112 ronincats: >113 karenmarie: >122 m.belljackson: >129 brenzi: I am late to this conversation so probably missed some comments but I had to chime in. The Horowitz book is a great glimpse into Southern culture. The other required reading, I think, to understand institutional racism and how it has impacted the South even into our lifetimes, is Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County. It is history/memoir of Massive Resistance in Virginia, when local governments chose to close the public schools for five years rather than desegregate. Schools remained largely segregated even into the 1970s as white students went to private academies and black students populated the public schools. The Freedom Now Project features photos from Farmville, the epicenter of the closures and protests. Link: https://www.library.vcu.edu/about/special-collections/exhibits/freedom-now/ Sorry...didn't mean to shanghai your thread ;-)

Morning, Karen. Are you feeling any better? I decided to stay home today, so I am just finishing up my first cup of coffee. Should be a good reading day.

>167 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Thank you for the book bullet, info, and link. I remember when I first moved to NC in 1991 and was working at a different company than the one I ended up retiring from and met a woman who was from the town I live in - Pittsboro. She's black and my age and told me that she went to segregated schools. Her segregated black high school was, by the time my daughter came through in 2003, the desegregated middle school. I was stunned, frankly.

There was no bussing in my area of Los Angeles County when I was little, so I guess there was geographical segregation. I went to school with quite a few Hispanic kids and even more Jewish kids, a few Japanese kids. Only when l I went to high school, which brought in students from many junior high schools in the area, did I meet black kids. Then when I was in 9th grade and we moved (1967) to the Pomona Unified School District, there were many more black and Hispanic kids. I didn't think much of it, but I must have been in an academic/white bubble taking AP classes. A few black kids were in our 'academic group' if you will, but not many.

>168 msf59: Hi Mark! I am actually feeling somewhat better - my sore throat isn't gone completely but it's barely noticeable now. A bit of a sinus headache, too, but definitely better. Thanks for asking!

I'm glad you're going to be home today. I just looked on the National Weather Service for your part of Chicagoland. Currently 2F, wind chill minus 18F. A chance of flurries between 9am and 10am, then a chance of snow showers after 10am. Patchy blowing snow after noon. Increasing clouds and cold, with a high near 3. Wind chill values as low as -21. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. I wouldn't go out in it if I didn't have to either.

>169 karenmarie: Glad your health is improving.

I went to a pretty much all-white school K-12, without even noticing, sheltered thing that I was. Most of that was because Levitt, backward-thinking that he was (the kindest way I could think of putting it), had inserted a covenant into the contract for houses in Levittown, N.Y. that the houses could not be sold to black people. That was, of course, overturned in the courts, but not before the development had been sold to white folks fleeing Brooklyn and Queens because - well - you know. I did go to an integrated college, but the proportion of minorities to the white majority was pretty low. Now, of course, after many years in tech, I'm much more accustomed to an integrated environment, and I live in NYC. I guess some of my white privilege has been worn away. At least I hope so.

And I agree with your advice to Mark - just told him on Joe's thread.

Thanks Judy, and thanks for sharing, too.

I'm thinking back to my first job - a summer job after my freshman year at college - working for a Japanese-American man with a Mexican American woman as a co-worker. The minority in the office was actually the white guy. We all got along great.

Such awful temperatures coming - everybody stay safe and warm.

I hope you're feeling better, Karen.

Hi Beth! Thanks. I had a bit of a relapse this afternoon but am feeling better again. I'm not going out tomorrow for sure.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. I am glad I am sitting this one out. It is currently -20 out there and it might end up inching up to -12, as a high for the day and lets not even think about the wind chill factor. I ran my errands yesterday, so I am in for the day. Me & the books.

I hope you are feeling a little better today.

Hi Mark! I just posted on your thread. It's a nice bright 18F - cold for us but I'm sure most of the US would like to have it instead of the Polar Vortex.

I am better today although still not 100% thanks for asking. No sore throat, but congestion and a bit of a sinus headache. I actually need to go out for two errands - sigh - mail a book to RD (which I forgot to do yesterday in my marathon errand run) and pick up a hold at the library. Otherwise it's books and making a pot of white chili this afternoon. We had cornbread with the vegetable beef soup the other day, and I might make more again today.

>167 witchyrichy: You hit me with the BB for Something Must be Done about Prince Edward County, Karen. Thank you for that recommendation.

>173 karenmarie: Glad to hear you are feeling better again. Let's keep that up!

Thanks, Stasia! In recent years I rarely get sick so am cranky when I do. I plan on staying in tomorrow and Friday to get completely over this. What I have is minor, really, but I don't want to share germs any more than I have to.

Morning, Karen! Georgia is also experiencing cold temps...for Georgia. It's just 27F currently. Glad you are feeling better, and I'm hoping that the rest of the crud evacuates soon. I have a killer headache, which I think is weather related, as I am sensitive to that sort of thing.

Chili sounds good. Sorry you have to go out again today, I also have to go out - to the dentist. *grimace* Just getting my teeth cleaned, but still...

Hi Mamie! 27F is respectable.... below freezing is always worthy of attention in the South.

Barometric pressure affects me, too, although I do take Claritin-wannabe every single day of my life and the changes have to be pretty dramatic to trigger a headache.

Sorry about the dentist - I don't like going either because they might Find Something that may cause drilling. Our dentist retired last year. I wanted to get a new dentist closer to home (not the 30 miles one way I was schlepping for years) but none of the recommendations I got appealed, websites didn't appeal, and so yesterday I called and got an appointment for Feb 5 at 11 a.m. with the new guy. Sigh. I do not like change. But at least I know the receptionist and the hygienist.

>179 karenmarie: Right. I mean Craig wore a coat and everything. A coat!

Oof. Sorry about the change - I don't like that, either. What I do love about our dentist is that the office is just 5 minutes from here. SO at least there's that.

I'm crawling around the threads to say I'm not dead but woefully unread, both books and threads. Happy polar vortex.

>180 Crazymamie: Oh my goodness. A coat. When I went out this morning it was 37F. I had on a turtleneck, down jacket, and my long, thick, warm scarf, black jeans, heavy wool sox, and black tennies. It's up to 44F now, with wind gusts.

>181 richardderus: RD, you've had a rough time of it recently. *smooches*

...
I just finished the second of the FBI Agent Pendergast series by Preston & Child. I'm glad I read, and glad I've finished it. I'll hold off on number three for a while. I have quite a few books going right now:

A Suitable Boy - year-long read
These Truths - 4-month read
starting Feb 1 - Last Friends - group read
The Essex Serpent - for March book club discussion
The Great Believers - read @brenzi's review and felt compelled to read it

and a couple of others that are staring at me reproachfully, bookmarks at about the half-way point

I won't get any more books finished by tomorrow, so I've updated my statistics for January in message >5 karenmarie:

I love the story of you tricking Kitty William into eating the chicken feast. Cats are so funny. Abby is on k/d (prescription kidney diet) and she simply will not touch the pâté version. But as a younger cat, she wouldn't touch chunky wet food options. Silly felines (and those of us who spoil them).

It looks like we are a go for Last Friends in February. I return home on Friday so I'll get it off the shelf this weekend.

And I'm interested in how you end up liking The Essex Serpent. I quite enjoyed it.

You also got me with Something Must be Done about Prince Edward County. I'm adding it to my wish list.
I grew up in central Florida and integration was implemented in our town when I was in fourth grade, January 1970. We lived on the outskirts of town so I already rode a bus to school. What they did was take the kids who were already riding busses (since part of the anti-integration rhetoric centered on the evils of bussing kids around and across town) and bus them to more distant schools.* It was weird because, from my perspective, I ended up in a slightly more integrated school with clearly not-so-integrated classrooms (tracks, you know), in a Black neighborhood. But it did result in me having an African American teacher in fifth grade and he was one of the best. And I was a little kid without much understanding of what was happening around me with regard to race.

*I'm realizing that this is what I was told and what I understood. Of course, the Black children who had previously attended the school I was moved to had not been riding a bus. The school was in their neighborhood. So the talk I heard was one-sided. The administration clearly minimized the impact on white kids: if you were white and already rode a bus, you got moved to a different school. If you were a Black kid, you got moved to a different school. Huh. How subtle the distortions can be, and how powerfully they can be "integrated" into your worldview when you're just 9 years old.

Long post. Apologies for that.

Hi Karen. I found part two of the trilogy, The man in the wooden hat. Will start reading it now, it's a library book. But I don't want to rush reading it, so you just go ahead with your planned group read of part three. I will be interested to follow later!

Hi, Karen! I'll finish *Wooden Hat* tomorrow just in time to join you all in Last Friends. I like Gardam so much that I won't find the immersion onerous.
Hope you're soon feeling 100%
All that Latin!!!! I have Winnie Ille Pooh but not Cattus Petasatus. Enjoy!
I'm so old! I began teaching in 1970 in the first year of integration. I was happy to be in a school in which the principal was determined to make the thing work. For us, it did.

>184 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! I’m tricksy for sure. *smile* And our kitties sure are finicky. I love spoiling Catman and Inara. Although I must say that a heated kitty bed is one step up from our fleece-lined kitty beds.

I’ve got a preliminary first message ready for the Last Friends thread. I’ll refine and polish it a bit today and put it up first thing tomorrow. Then I’ll post the link here AND let everybody who expressed interest know.

I started The Essex Serpent yesterday after picking it up from the Library. I’m on ‘February’, and after not liking the first two paragraphs have adapted to her quirky writing style. Well, at least it’s quirky to me. Unusual sentence structure, interesting descriptions. I’m liking it so far.

Something Must Be Done About Edward County was from >167 witchyrichy:, but it’s a BB for me, too. Your childhood experience is interesting because of your perception then and your realization now what it really was.

We moved when I was 13 to literally a new town with no businesses, no schools of its own. It was middle- middle class, so mostly white. We were bussed to the schools in Pomona, CA, where the closest schools had the most black and Hispanic kids. I didn’t think anything of it – was in classes with mostly white kids because of what I thought as ‘gifted’ or AP classes. Stupid me.

Never apologize for a long post! I love reading them.

>185 EllaTim: Hi Ella! I’m glad you found the 2nd book and do hope you visit the Last Friends thread sometime down the road.

>186 LizzieD: Hi Peggy!! Yay. Honestly, I think I would have immediately started Last Friends except that Amazon was so ridiculously awful about sending the wrong ISBN, twice, and then my wanting to wait until @weird_o was ready to start since his reading Old Filth inspired me to read it. I’ll be anxious to start it tomorrow, even though I’ve got way too many books going right now.

I’m improving slowly and steadily. I’m not going out today. Just me, books, LT, a few Friends of the Library tasks, and then chili and corn bread. I was going to make it yesterday but thought Bill was going out to dinner with a friend. Didn’t work out that way. Today’s the day.

I haven’t read Cattus Petasatus yet – I don’t really know Latin just couldn’t resist. Maybe when I come to visit you (sooner than later, I hope) you could read it out loud to me!

Was the integration ‘just’ black students or the Native American students too? I’m glad your principal made it work.

Morning, Karen! I'm still working on Old Filth, so I will not be joining the Gardam read, but I will star the thread to follow when I get to that book.

SO funny about the chili and cornbread - that's what I made for dinner last night. You had mentioned it here, and I thought, sounds good, so that's what we had.

Hi Mamie! Not to worry - the thread will be there for whenever.

So glad I inspired you.

I was going to make white chili and cornbread yesterday - bought all the stuff on Tuesday - but forgot to start it in a timely manner. It takes about 2 hours once the chicken has been poached, and I always poach the chicken first so I can use some fresh chicken broth and some canned. Today I'll start things at 2:30. Timer on cell phone set. I'm determined.

Good luck!

*smile*

Good morning, Karen! Not much to add, just catching up here....

Chicken Chili. O brave new world.

*smooch*

>192 katiekrug: Hi Katie!

>193 richardderus: Tasty brave new world - green chilies, onions, garlic, Great Northern Beans, whole milk mixed with alittle masa, chicken broth, cumin, paprika, Monterey Jack cheese, and the aforementioned chicken which I poach with bay leaf, cloves, S&P and basil. I omit the jalapeño for Bill's sensitive stomach.

*smooch back*

Yummy stew! Not chili, but yummy yummy stew.

Said the Texan.

You mean green chicken chili, right? ;)

I just requested Last Friends through the interlibrary loan. It should probably arrive soonish.

Fun book haul. I would love to have a copy of Cattus Petasatus. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a copy (5 years of Latin for me - alas! most of it is gone).

I'm ready to read, my friend. Last Friends.

Making a bit of an effort to push through Jamaica Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother before the end of the day. Get to ten for the month, don't you know.

Went to a book sale yesterday. Felt the picking were slim, with prime stuff vanishing before my eyes as the horde of locusts swept through with their enormous bins, blocking the aisles. Left in a sour mood, so I stopped at Goodwill on the way home. Not too much of interest there either, but at least the place was virtually deserted.

>195 richardderus: Although technically a chili depending on which definition you use, I will acquiesce to your “stew”.

Said the Californian.

>196 streamsong: Yes. Green chicken white chili stew. *smile*

Glad you’ll be joining us for Last Friends.

I’ve never heard of translations of children’s books, although that is naïve of me. Cattus Petasatus and Winny de Puh woke me up. I knew about the HP book translations, but didn't extend that to other books.

>197 weird_O: Yay Bill. I’ll either set the thread up today or, more likely, first thing tomorrow. Good luck getting your tenth book in!

Oh, don’t get me started on dealers with their big tubs, scanners, and rude behavior. They’re pretty awful.

…
I’ve been inventorying my books in the Sunroom and have culled twenty two. I’ll purge them from my catalog and add them to >4 karenmarie: above later today. I’m going to cull all thirteen of the M.C. Beaton ‘Death of…’ series books. I’ve only read a couple and had some on my shelves for 10 or more years.

The Bethlehem people have bags with about 10 thrillers or sci-fi books in them, stapled closed. Sell them for $2. But of course you're buying blind; you don't know titles or authors. One of the locusts was ripping the corners of the bags, trying to see what was inside.

I hope the people who run the sale challenged them. Our book sale team folks challenge rude or dangerous behavior and would never let someone rip open stapled bags.

>198 karenmarie: Way to go, culling books, Karen. That is a hard job.

I love white chili. I'm eating a version of it right now. It's good soup weather.

Hi! I lost your thread somehow. Typical of my life at the moment, lol.

I agree about the quirkiness of The Essex Serpent. I ended up liking it pretty well in the end.

I hope you're all well. Mr. E tested positive for flu today, so things continue to be interesting here. :)

>201 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! It is hard, but as I was looking at each book and checking it off a spreadsheet (yes, I do spreadsheets!) it was easy to say "no" to certain books I knew I'd never read. Since I still have well over 2000 books on Mt. TBR, I'm feeling smug and good, not upset or sad.

Yay white chili. I just put the chicken on to poach with S&P, bay leaf, and basil, my favorite herb.

>202 nittnut: Hi Jenn. Your life has been so busy recently, I'm surprised you found me today!

I recognized the name Mary Anning right away and sure enough, she's the subject of a novel by Tracy Chevalier called Remarkable Creatures, which I have on my shelves. I will read it this year.

No. Flu? Poor Mr. E, and I hope that the rest of the family doesn't get sick. It's just one thing after another. Hang in there.

^I loved Remarkable Creatures, Karen. I think you'll enjoy it.

Hi Joe and thank you for the confirmation.

My friend Rhoda has been telling me to read it for a year. Now, I think in conjunction with The Esssex Serpent, I'll finally be motivated.

>203 karenmarie: - I second what Joe said about the Chevalier book, Karen. I LOVED it. I listened to it on audio and the 2 actresses who read the 2 main characters were outstanding. I would love to see this as a movie with the 2 of them (sorry, names are escaping me at the moment). I had not heard of Mary Anning before reading and, as I often do after reading a book I love, I began to google. Wow, I learned a ton.

Hi Shelley!

One of the best things about the internet is the ability to look up a reference, a phrase, a name, and have it enhance the reading experience.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. It looks like we are back to normal, although there are still plenty of school closings. It will probably be heavy volume for the next few days but that is the price you pay.

I requested Last Friends from the library. I am glad you initiated this.

'Morning, Mark! So glad that the record-breaking lows are gone and that you're back to just regular lows.

I just got downstairs - Kitty William was 'lost' at 3 a.m. so I came downstairs and fed him. Then I stayed up 'til about 4 a.m. and woke up at 8:30. Coffee in hand, I'm off to set up the thread and let everybody know!

>209 karenmarie: Hey Horrible, happy Gardam Day! *smooch*

Happy Gardam Day to you, too! Clever. *smooch*

I'm zooming around letting folks know that I've created the thread. Here 'tis:

Group Read: Last Friends by Jane Gardam.

Happy Friday, Karen!

Thanks, Chelle! Whew, half the morning's gone. I've had most of a first mug of coffee, created the group thread, and gone back to the people who expressed interested and posted the link on their threads.

Time for a bit of brekkie and a second mug of coffee.

>209 karenmarie:

Any Kitty Luck with Chewy's Tiny Tiger?

Touch and go, Marianne. He liked the beef right off, meh on the chicken, wolfed the salmon, and has now been rather iffy about them all. I'll rotate them in for variety with 9 Lives and FF. He does love the sauce and is very good at licking it all up and leaving the dry abandoned morsels of meat. Sigh. I'm not sure I'll buy more, but I got a great price on the package of 24, 1/2 off, and with the shipping cost it still came out to about 50 cents a can. Chewy is a great vendor - the package was here within 3 days.

I just started Last Friends. I love my Europa edition, acquired in a hard-won battle against Amazon. (daughter ordered right isbn, wrong one sent, wrong one returned, wrong one sent again, Mom stepped into the picture and learned about how to select a particular vendor, was told to keep second copy for our trouble, and got correct edition on Jan. 29.)

Her writing is so smooth, so seemingly effortless...

Hi Karen! Hope you're having a wonderful day! I wanted to say something intense and thought-provoking, but now my baby is crying, so I'll leave it at that. lol

>215 karenmarie:

Glad some of them worked and we've done the same rotation, with the meat always totally licked over, then ignored.

With Chewy, I wait for specials on the light weight odorless (strong smell caused eyes to water) cat litter, then order FF, Tiny Cat,
a dry anti-hairball bag, and a large tub of catnip. This pushes the cost into Free Delivery which is faster than an Amazon Drone.

Hi Karen. I've decided that I won't be joining your group read. Initially, it appealed, not least because I haven't done a group read here, and the story line(s) sounds interesting. But once I learned that the book was the third installment of a trilogy and I hadn't read the first 2, it really doesn't make sense to me to jump in at this point.

Not to mention that library holds continue to pour in....

Enjoy, though!

>217 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! You’re doing pretty well keeping it together with new marriage, new stepkids, new baby, taking care of your parents, nephew/sister problems, and etc. Go take care of IL – we’ll be here when you’ve got time!

>218 m.belljackson: Free shipping and specials are always good. Like I said, I was very impressed with Chewy.

In 2013 Bill and I, with 5 cats and in desperation, went to PetSmart to try to find some kitty litter that wouldn’t smell terrible after one day and was easy to use. Instead, one of the women there told us to buy the Tidy Cat Breeze System. We took her up on it, never thinking it would really work, but it did. Amazingly well. Just clean out the poops regularly, change the pellets every 3 or 4 weeks, and change the pad weekly. No kitty litter all over, hardly any smell and certainly no urine smell. Some pellets do get out and about, but I pick 'em up with a tissue and just throw them back in the litter box. I bought one for my sister and one for a friend of mine and they love ‘em too.



>219 jessibud2: I certainly understand, Shelley. Maybe you can read the trilogy sometime down the road. Thanks!

…
I finished inventorying the Sunroom and have culled another 27 books. Now I have room to shelves the ones I have acquired since Christmas. *smile*

>220 karenmarie:

I'll look for Tidy Breeze since it is the only one of its kind with a place to put the cleaning scoop.

I usually turn the scoop so that it's on the outside of the box, but it works that way, too.

>203 karenmarie: I loved Remarkable Creatures. I hope you get to it!

>220 karenmarie: - Very interesting to see this right now, Karen. I have been having litterbox issues lately and just a few days ago, the morning of the snowstorm, before it began, bought a box that looks very much like the one pictured. I have a larger one, with a hole at the top for entry, that has worked remarkably well for years. But I have been finding *accidents* on the floor right next to it. It only seemed to happen when I was away in Montreal and I assumed that it was my *punishment* for leaving the cats so frequently. But it happened 3 times in the last week and I actually caught Lexi as the culprit, when all along I thought it was the other cat. My floor has been papered with Puppy training pads since. But even though I have a step stool next to the large box (Lexi is arthritic), I decided to try the one similar to the one pictured in your post. Now they both use it. It's not that model exactly, just a straight box with that shape, no tray (that looks like a printer tray!). That may be my next step.

Sigh...

>223 nittnut: Good to get another confirmation, Jenn!

>224 jessibud2: Kitty William and Inara both have hated the boxes with hoods or enclosures over the years, and so, frankly, have I because they seem to be more ... exuberant... about where things land with that type of setup and taking apart a hooded box got way too complicated. The Breeze is very easy for them to both step into and out of and they don't track sand 'cuz there isn't any. Good luck with your new box.

>225 karenmarie: - I just looked at our local PetSmart site and it appears that that brand isn't in Canada. I did see some very similar options but they are way more expensive than I would pay for a litter box. However, I also saw some other, high sided, open in the front options that I like and may try. I will not tell you how many styles I have tried over the years!

I just found it on amazon.ca - but it is CDN$ 77.99 Prime, which translates to about USD$59, almost double what it costs here. Probably not worth it.

The one that I saw on our PetSmart's site, that had a sift tray, Nature's Miracle Self Cleaning Litter Box, was in the $175 to $200 range. I love my cats but not that much! I have spent up to $49 for a fancy dome shaped hooded box but the one I bought earlier this week that is working very well, was $15. The 2 that I am now looking at to add to the one I have (and get rid of the top entry one) are $25 - $29 range. Much more reasonable.

>228 jessibud2: I think it's more about loving your sanity than your cats. If there was a solution to dachshund incontinence I'd pay a lot more than $175.

>229 quondame: - I hear you. In fact, I love dogs and had one, growing up, but it's weather like we are having now, if I'm honest, that has converted me to being a cat owner. I am not a cold-weather lover. Not to mention the bathroom component....

Hi, Karen! I hope your Friday has gone well. I think I'll investigate that Tidy Cat litter box.

For all the Cat Litter fans - Chewy.com has many customer questions answered about Tidy Breeze which also apply to other litter boxes.

It would be good if the Pet Pads were biodegradable.

I'm another fan of Remarkable Creatures.

Have fun with the Gardam read!! I wish I had joined in sooner, but there is no way I can catch up. Still, the triology is noted. : )

Happy Friday!!

>228 jessibud2: Financially smart options, Shelley, especially when they are working very well.

>229 quondame: We’d have paid more, Susan, although at the time we thought the cost exorbitant. We buy pads and pellets in bulk. Especially now that we’re down to 2 cats, the box is not an issue at all. First time in my life I can say that. I’d spend whatever it took for dachshund incontinence, too…

>230 jessibud2: When Bill and I first married, we talked about getting a dog. He loved German Shepherds, I loved Doberman Pinschers, he started making Sheltie noises, and then it just didn’t happen. He loves our kitties and we don’t miss the more dependent nature of dogs. We have a kitty door so they can come and go as they please. Interestingly, our daughter would love to have a rescue greyhound when she can afford a pet and has a better place for one. Her teensy 1-bedroom apartment wouldn't be fair to an animal.

>231 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! Yesterday was fun and productive. You have 3 kitties, as I recall, and if they’re all indoor kitties, then you might want to consider the same number of boxes you have now, or go by the recommendations for the Breeze system. At one point we had 2 for the 5 kitties. The second is in the garage for the times Catman wants to be in the garage.

>232 m.belljackson: I guess it can be a complicated a decision, thanks for pointing out Chewy’s questions/answers. Amazon probably has the same – it certainly has ratings and customer comments so between the two and even the Tidy Cat website there will be enough for informed decision making.

Yes – the pads are plastic lined, but the nature of the box requires waterproofed disposable pads. I don’t see an alternative that wouldn’t require much more maintenance time and/or washing of urine-soaked pads.

>233 BLBera: I actually started it several years ago and got distracted, Beth. I think now that I’m reading The Essex Serpent it will naturally segue to Remarkable Creatures. At least, I hope so!

>234 Berly: Thanks Kim. Most wish lists and tbr piles here amongst the 75ers are large, so what’s 3 more books?

…
Being up this early is strange but not unwelcome – I’m going to visit a few threads then read. Kitty’s been fed and is on the printer, and I have a lovely mug of coffee here, two sips in.

Hi Karen. I read and loved Remarkable Creatures. I'm adding The Essex Serpent to mount TBR. Quirky sounds good to me;-)

Interesting, your experiences with school integration. I grew up in the very white Dutch countryside. Primary school with just one coloured family (Indonesian). Secondary school with none at all, if I remember correctly. But Amsterdam is having trouble with integration, it's a hot issue right now, with parents trying to get their kids in the supposedly best schools (the whitest ones of course), and the council trying to get a lottery system working.

And right around the corner we are getting a British School, for British Expats, that is now already the most expensive school in town, as they have managed to get double funding from the city council. Of course, I mean the standards of Amsterdam schools are really not up to theirs, can you believe it!

Have a nice weekend! Kitty's on the printer, so you have good company;-)

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. Just finished my eggs and wrapping up my second cup of coffee, before heading to work. Should be much better out there today. Enjoy your day.

>235 karenmarie: >230 jessibud2: I got my first dog while living in a small student room. Space doesn't matter much if you walk enough, and I did walk a lot with him! I took him always with me, except to university, for these few hours he didn't mind the small room.

>236 EllaTim: Hi Ella! Thank you for sharing your childhood school experiences. I’m continually saddened to hear about segregation, white versus people of color.

After I moved to North Carolina almost 28 years ago and was shocked at the de-facto segregation and subtle bad race relations, I went out of my way to describe a person by anything except their skin color. In some ways this ignored part of what makes a person a person, but it also removed the ability to make prejudicial assumptions about people. It’s sad that I had to do that.

It’s also sad that my RL book club is only middle-aged and senior white women. The board of our Friends of the Library has only one woman of color and no men of color. That one’s particularly ironic as a black woman started the reading circles and book mobile services that eventually became the public library system of our county.

Yes, Kitty’s been snoozing and snoring. He just woke up and is wandering around and yowling. Spoiled thing, he doesn't like the hall door being shut. But Bill's still sleeping and I don't want KW to wake him up.

>237 msf59: Hi Mark! Glad to hear that you start your morning with some good solid protein. I know the volume will be heavy, so hope the day goes quickly for you.

>238 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I admire your devotion to you canine friends. Jenna’s morning schedule would make it hard to properly walk a dog first thing. She has some sleep/insomnia issues and having to wake up even earlier than she does would not be good for her right now. In addition, there’s a $350 per animal security fee and $25/month for each animal at her apartment complex. Since she’s living off her college fund, it’s something she won’t consider until she’s got a job and a more predictable situation. Her schedule changes every semester now, of course.

...
Gripe: I absolutely abhor the use of the word 'hack' to describe a hint or tip.

>235 karenmarie: Thanks for the tip, Karen! Have a good Saturday.

Chiming in on the cat litter discussion. In PetsMart, I talked to a lady who fosters cats at her home so she has lots of cats all the time. She said she uses the pine litter. It's cheaper than traditional litter, and the pine absorbs the odor. (I'm still using Arm & Hammer, but every time I sweep litter, I consider changing. I'm not sure that will solve the problem as Barney likes to back up close to the side of any litterbox. He kicks the litter over the box to cover what he did. Maybe I just need a box with taller sides and no step-in place, although that may be problematic as the cats age. Still my boys have a ways to go before they get to that point.)

So 1000lifehacks.com is not a regular stop on your internet rounds?

<240 You're welcome, Harry. Errands run, back home, in comfy clothes again, water to drink, books to read.

>241 thornton37814: Yes, older kitties might not be able to jump over a high-sided box. There's always a problem - at least with this system, for me, the only problem is a few pellets every once in a while. Good luck!

>242 richardderus: Not only no, but HELL no. I'm not even going over there right now to see what it's about. Boycott!

*smooch*

Hi Karen, I hope you are feeling better and have found something that KW will eat. Kitties do get more finicky as they get older, don't they?

Huzzah on feeling better! I get kitty litter around the box, but I don't get kitty litter in the living room. How does that even happen? And yet, I vacuum a few times a week.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I am going to enjoy a lazy A.M. and early afternoon with the books but I am heading into the city later on, to watch the Super Bowl with Joe & Company. It should be a good day. Enjoy yours, as well.

>244 Familyhistorian: I feel much, much better, thank you. The jury is out on Kitty William's dining preferences and probably always will be. One day he likes something the next he won't touch it at all. I end up throwing bowls of rejected cat food away - but only after giving him the opportunity to eat between breakfast and dinner or dinner and breakfast. Big sigh.

>245 SomeGuyInVirginia: Yes indeed, Larry. I have 2 sets of plans today - brunch with some friends who live in Chapel Hill, then book club tonight. I'm glad I don't have to cancel on our friends again. When we had the kitty box in the utility room both us and the cats tracked it at least as far as the hall. I swept a lot. Now with the pellets and in the Sunroom it's more easily contained. I even had one of those pads in front of the box that are supposed to catch all the kitty litter on their feet - didn't work well at all.

>246 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Sunday to you! Yay for books and the Super Bowl with Joe & Company.

O Happy Day, dearest.

Hi Karen. You will be happy to hear that I am finally going to see Bohemian Rhapsody later today. I can't wait!

Hi Karen my dear, hope you and Bill are having a good weekend so far, no doubts you are looking forward to Superbowl 53 as are many over here.

I am glad you liked Karen's January reading, I have caught up again but will no doubts fall back and then catch up again, I think this is how it will play out over the year. I will make sure her reading is in a prominent spot in future so that you can compare us easily.

Sending love and hugs from over the pond dear friend.

>248 richardderus: Thank you, darling RD! We had a wonderful time with our friends. Good conversation, wine, and food.

>249 jessibud2: Ooh, you'll have to let me know how you like it, Shelley! I bought the original sound track a while back and listen to it here in the Sunroom on my computer all the time.

>250 johnsimpson: So far so good, John. Bill will watch the Super Bowl, but I'll be at book club. I really want to be there for the discussion of Barracoon. I'd prefer the Rams to win but will be surprised if they do.

Sending love and hugs back to both of you!

Morning, Karen. Happy Monday. I had this week off but decided to cancel my vacation. I kept just today off, in case I decided to stay in the city last night. I did not but I am glad I took it off, despite the mild weather.

I had a great time with joe & Company. Plenty of solid chatter.

Hi, Karen! I hope your week is off to a good start.

Morning, Karen.

I've got Essex Serpent, and this is encouraging me to get it off the tbr shelf.

I hope you have a good book club get-together tonight.

>252 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm glad you have today off, too - what made you decide to not take the whole week off?

I'm envious of your fun times with Joe & Company. I about swooned on Joe's thread just now over a decadent display of Super Bowl snacks.

>253 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! So far just feeding the boy kitty, coffee, and LT. It's time for another mug of coffee. I'll make some brekkie, bring it back to the Sunroom with the coffee, and continue with a chapter or two of Last Friends. There are 22 chapters. I could read it all at one sitting, but I'm trying to savor it. That didn't work on Saturday, as I read 6 chapters. Then back to The Essex Serpent and starting part 2 of These Truths for the group read. After indulging in a bit of reading I do have a few things to do around the house.

>254 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Have you read Remarkable Creatures? I'll be reading it after The Essex Serpent.

We had a good discussion at book club although I didn't need to hear 20 minutes of Wikipedia biography read out loud by the book chooser. I think the book opened a lot of eyes - mine included - about some aspects of slavery that aren't part of the standard US cultural mind set. And then I came back to the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. I'm sorry the Rams lost but not enough to feel sad about it. Everybody at book club knows I'm from LA and wondered why I wasn't home watching my team, but my team is the Carolina Panthers.

>255 karenmarie: I'm in "Savor" mode re: Last Friends. I'm actually contemplating suspending the read and going back to re-appreciate all three in order. I shall ponder as I trundle through my day. Happy the-wrong-team-won day.

It sounds like you had a great discussion of Barracoon. Perhaps it would make a good book for my book club when we make our choices for 2020 in December.

(So in honor of the above, I've just started a new list: Books to Suggest for Book Club Nominations)

Last Friends is marked on my library account as 'in transit' so I should be receiving it soon.

Oh, your thread almost got away from me. Good thing most of it was about cats, so I could skim, not being a cat owner or aficionado.

I do know people who adopted a couple of retired greyhounds, and they say the dogs are the laziest creatures imaginable, unless they are outside and see something moving fast. Then they need a firm hand on the leash.

>256 richardderus: Hi RD! I'm revisiting my 'savor' mode concept. The books are so enigmatic and full of subtleties and innuendo that I think a straight read is required. I've gone back and re-started Last Friends, sigh.

>257 streamsong: We did, Janet, for sure. I had a 'BC 2019' tag. I'm going to edit it to say 'BC 2020', remove Kindred since I've read it, and will add to before our February 2020 meeting. Fun stuff! Congrats on your new BtSfBCN list. And so glad you'll be joining us for Last Friends.

>258 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Yes, cat box issues wouldn't appeal to a non-cat owner/aficionado. I'm sure Richard's been skimming, too. *smile* I skim the dog stuff on threads. Had Dobermans in the early 1980s, loved them, and haven't had dogs since. I'm happy with that choice.

Interesting about the greyhounds - Jenna wants to give an animal a comfortable and stress-reduced/free life. She is used to walking huskies and undisciplined dog-sitting animals, so I think she would be good at managing a greyhound. I don't think she minds the 'laziness' aspect. She's been talking about a dog for years and has gone through wanting a variety of breeds. She's been talking greyhounds for 3 or 4 years now, so that will probably be what she chooses when she has the money and proper environment.

I think you have inspired me to get The Essex Serpent off my shelves, Karen. I have long been interested in Remarkable Creatures as well. Is there a connection between the two books?

Mary Anning is the link - she's mentioned in The Essex Serpent and Remarkable Creatures is a fictionalized account of her life. Here's what Amazon says about Remarkable Creatures:

On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man.

Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset.

Remarkable Creatures is a stunning historical novel that follows the story of two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever.

>249 jessibud2: I am another chain-dragger on that front, still haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody! Might do at some point though, it looks like a crazy ride.

>261 karenmarie: Oh, that sounds good.

>262 LovingLit: I've seen it twice already, both times just after it came out. I'd like to see it again. Go for it!!

>263 ffortsa: I've had a friend tell me for over a year to read it. I kept putting it off, but now with The Essex Serpent, Remarkable Creatures seems like a great follow-up read.

>255 karenmarie: Yes, I read and loved Remarkable Creatures, Karen. For me, it's right up there with her Girl with a Pearl Earring. You'll have a great time with it, I imagine.

>251 karenmarie:, >262 LovingLit: - I really did enjoy Bohemian Rhapsody. The acting was excellent and though I never followed Queen back in the day, so much of their music was very familiar, I dare say, iconic! So part of the culture and just wow at the crowds at Live Aid. I don't do crowds well in real life so seeing it on the big screen like that was more than enough. But he sure was a talent, vocally, wasn't he?

Thanks to my intemperate bookyness (?) I've got just over a grand of books cluttering The TBR Closet^TM. But all are promising reads, vying for my attention. I'm engrossed right now in one brick-a-book (These Truths), and a second brick (Little Women) is preening threateningly just behind me.

Oh, the horror...

>265 jnwelch: The Girl with the Pearl Earring was a 4 star read for me, so I have high hopes for Remarkable Creatures. I don't think I really grokked until just now that they were written by the same woman.

>266 jessibud2: I'm so glad you liked Bohemian Rhapsody, Shelley. Rami Malek is absolutely amazing as Freddie Mercury, and the actors they got to play John Deacon, Brian May, and Roger Taylor are eerily like them in appearance too.

>267 weird_O: You are an intemperate book-man, Bill, for sure. Yikes, over 1,000 books, and how many have you bought this year so far? I don't know whether to say I hope you reduce your tbr pile or increase it by year end...

Yay for These Truths, but Little Women is a no-go for me. I have never had any desire to read it. Strange, but there it is.

...
Bill and I just finished watching some of The Office and I was just getting ready to go into the kitchen when I caught a whiff of skunk even though our house is well insulated. Can't see the little devil, but whew!

How did I get so far behind????
I've scanned my 100+ posts-to-read and can't comment on everything I've seen (much less what I missed).
Best wishes for keeping KW fed and happy!
I've never smelled skunk. Wonder why?
Why don't people ask me about NC since I'm a native????
I haven't started *LFs* yet, but I will before many more days.
I think I over-expected about Essex Serpent and was, therefore, a bit disappointed.
Hand-me-downs..... I go on Search & Destroy missions in my mother's house for my 3rd grade school picture. I had been sick and forgotten that the day I returned to class was picture day, so I had 1) dark shadows under my eyes 2) no top front teeth, and I grinned 3) an unruly poodle cut (think Afro for white kid) 4) an ill-fitting, ugly hand-me-down-dress from an older cousin.
I'm sorry that Little Women is not for you. It was one of my first chapter books, and I've loved it ever since.

I came. I skimmed. I wave. I leave. ; )

"what made you decide to not take the whole week off." I am trying to make a concerted effort to "bank" more of my vacation time, for my retirement. They will cut us a check for the balance, up to 400-plus hours. I will not get anywhere near that but at least a two month check would be nice.

Morning, Karen! Happy Tuesday!

>220 karenmarie: I need to buy one of those for my mother!

Happy Tuesday, Karen!

>268 karenmarie: - Last night, I spent some time googling. I was curious if Malik did actually sing in the film and discovered it was a mix of him and Freddie. I also watched, thanks to google/youtube, the entire actual Queen performance at Live Aid. Watching the real Freddie Mercury was amazing, all the more so because it proved just how Malik got it so right! I read that he (Malik) watched youtube performances of Mercury hundreds of times, in his prep for the role.

>269 LizzieD: Hi Peggy!

This morning KW enjoyed Turkey & Giblets. That seems to be consistent on his ‘like’ meter.
You’re lucky you’ve never smelled skunk, but I wonder why there don’t seem to be any in your part of NC.
Maybe because I frequently compare my CA and NC living experiences? Or perhaps because I talk too much?
I’m almost ¾ of the way through Last Friends and hope to finish it today.
Why did you over-expect? Because of the author or the subject or something else?
I would love to see your 3rd grade school picture. I’ll be sharing a few school pics this year as part of my Children of the family theme.
I have no logical reason why to not read Little Women. I can’t remember any situation or opinion that would explain my illogical aversion.

>270 Berly: Hi Kim! I can’t resist seeing that in Latin: Ego venit. Ego cucurrit. Ego unda. Ego relinquere. courtesy of translate.yandex.com. (Peggy, is it correct?)

>271 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Happy Tuesday to you, too. Oh yes, having a chunk of change for your retirement is a very good idea. More books, right? *smile*

>272 alcottacre: Happy Tuesday to you, too, Stasia! Just might be the thing for her. I can't see why it wouldn't be - we love this cat box solution.

>273 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. I was aware of Malek’s singing in “BoRap” (I did not coin this, I have seen video of Brian May and/or Roger Taylor calling both the song and the movie BoRap). I’ve watched LiveAid dozens of times – fangirl here – and many other Queen and BoRap videos on YouTube. The YouTube video that got me going last May was a video of “You Take My Breath Away” recorded live at Hyde Park in 1976. I still get the shivers every time I watch it. In fact, I just watched it again to get the link: You Take My Breath Away

…
Today is an appointment with the first new dentist in 27 years. Ours retired late last year and he sold his practice to a nice young red-headed man named Sturdevant. (I love that name, it just rolls off the tongue so nicely but I won’t tell him that.) I thought about finding one closer to home, but in the end I at least know the office staff, hygienist, and assistant, so I’ll schlepp to Carrboro for an 11 a.m. appointment. Just a cleaning and hopefully no rude surprises.

Oh, and, ah, er... I acquired a beta fish yesterday. Book club friend's 12 year-old daughter is now officially bored with her 'pet' and Jacque asked if anybody knew of someone who wanted one. I've actually been toying with the idea of getting one recently, so I went into Fishy Acquisition Mode yesterday. I'm going to see if I can find my old beta tank.... frankly, this one looks pretty cheesy.

..

Good luck at the dentist. I totally get staying within your comfort zone, I'd be hesitant to start with a new dentist, as well. I don't really feel the same way about doctors, but they don't come at me with sharp things.

Wow, beautiful fish!

Ugh, dentistry. Have "fun."

Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln...

>266 jessibud2: I was also not a follower of Queen, but really enjoyed the film, and realized I had been listening to their music anyway. I'm hopeless with the popular culture of my youth, never followed rock. This film filled a lot of holes in my knowledge. And the acting was terrific.

>275 SomeGuyInVirginia: I actually like the new dentist. Unfortunately they found a 'pocket' so will have to go back in 3 months to see if it's healing up after a bit of semi-invasive scraping. *shudder*

He, meaning the beta fish, is beautiful. His name is Freddie. Jenna smirked, Bill doesn't know yet.

>276 richardderus: See above re dentist. But after the dentist I stopped and saw The Favourite. Pretty darned good, but the ending just came abruptly and that was it.

>277 ffortsa: I never followed Queen either, ditto re listening to their music any way. But in addition to Baroque music and some classical, I always followed rock. The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Judy Collins, ELO, Emerson Lake Palmer, Police, Santana, Carly Simon, etc.

Time for late lunch, early dinner.

>278 karenmarie: I don't care about pretty in dentists because sooner or later they're going to cause me pain and anguish.

...wait...all men do that anyway...well, never mind.

Sorry about the spoiler. That's no fun.

>279 richardderus: Freddie is the fish... Adam Sturdevant is the dentist. Red head. Young. Personable.

All men?

Yes. The spoiler. It didn't spoil it for me, just caught my attention.

>277 ffortsa: - Yes, that's what happened to me, too; I realized that even though I never was a fan or follower, I knew much more of their music than I would have thought. He does have a magnificent voice.

I tend to obsess a bit after seeing films I like. I spent far too much time on youtube this afternoon and found the original interview I had seen awhile ago of Freddie Mercury with (an aging and almost scary-looking) Dave Clark (yes he of the Dave Clark Five). Clark wrote and produced a musical back in the 80s I think, called Time. He had approached Freddie to do 2 songs for it. Among others who participated in this huge project were Sir Lawrence Olivier, and Sir Cliff Richards. The interview is long but I watched the whole thing again today, for the second time. I had seen a documentary film of Dave Clark last year which was really good and very interesting (he is quite an astute business man, I discovered) and found this interview after watching that film, when I turned to google.

So today, after more googling,, I found some other performance links and interviews, one with Mary Austin, (the love of Freddie's life) after his death. It was lovely and loving. I don't want to hijack your thread too much, Karen, so I won't insert the links here. Unless you want me to.

I've probably seen them all, Shelley - I've been watching Freddie Mercury and Queen videos on YouTube almost obsessively since last May. Daughter Jenna bought me Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake for Christmas and I'm slowly working my way through it.

>282 karenmarie: - :-) So, at least I am in good company...

Absolutely! I'm still having lots of fun with Queen and Freddie Mercury.

I just told Bill that the new beta fish is named Freddie. He said "Oh, God."

>284 karenmarie: - :-)

>284 karenmarie: *snerk* May Freddie the Betta turn into a concert-singin' icthyomiracle.

Karen, I'll be very interested in your take on Essex Serpent. I purchased it back in November, but just have not gotten to it yet. I loved the discussion on Kitty Litter and Kitty litter boxes. I'm going to have to ask my sister what sort of system she uses. I think it is just a plain jane version. I've always been a " dog' person, so all I know about is err - dog bags and such . And of course, initially Puppy pee pads and Nature's Miracle cleaning fluid ;-) We did use dog diapers for a several months when our last dog was nearing the end of her life. She became incontinent urine wise, so it was needed. It was surprisingly easy and not big deal. But she was such an easy going creature. My sister has an indoor only cat and she purchased a cat stroller for her cat to go on walks. Harriet the cat really enjoys her walks and my sister says she has met a lot of neighbours that way. I am very used to seeing dogs and cats in wagon and strollers and all manner of things around here. I guess in more urban area, people just do what they do and no one seems to look twice.

I should add that the cat stroller has a mesh covering. So , the cat can't jump out , but she seems to enjoy looking around and taking in the fresh air.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. We were supposed to get slammed with an ice storm overnight but it looks like we dodged the worst of it. Yah!! I hope the dentist went well.

We were talking about karaoke mistakes at work yesterday and Bohemian Rhapsody came in at number 2, after American Pie.

Happy Wednesday, Karen! I hope Freddie is a great pet :)

Good morning, Karen. I hope your Wednesday goes well.

Happy Hump Day, Karen! :)

>285 jessibud2: Freddie the Beta fish is doing well considering that he got moved 18 miles and jostled quite a bit.

>286 richardderus: Thank you, RD! So far I’m not hearing any “Ay-Oh”s. I need to teach it to him, I suppose:

LiveAid Ay-Oh

>287 vancouverdeb: I’m a bit less than halfway, Deborah. I’ll get some more reading done today. I need to go through the stack of stuff I haven’t gone through in a while. Sigh. But reading’s high priority since yesterday was so busy.

I’m not sure there were plastic puppy pee pads when we had our dogs and puppies – I just washed a lot of blankets for a while. I love the idea of a cat stroller. I would imagine you’d need to get it when the cat was young so she/he’d get used to it. We had a leash for Inara when we first got her. It didn’t work. When Jenna put her on the ground, she’d immediately crouch and not move. We waited another week and then she used the cat door like a champ.

>288 msf59: Hi Mark and thanks. I was hearing bits about an ice storm here on LT yesterday, glad you dodged the worst of it.

Sigh. Relatively minor dental woes - not gross but if you're not into them: I have a ‘significant’ pocket on my rear lower left molar. I’m going to be using a special brush and Listerine on it in addition to the good dental hygiene I practice. He said he noticed a slight vertical crack on the tooth. That, unfortunately makes sense, as I grind my teeth. He said it probably caused the pocket. And, since I was a bad girl and didn’t go to the dentist when mine retired, it’s been a year. Ah well, it is what it is. If it doesn’t shrink significantly, he’ll try a course of antibiotics, twice, and then if that doesn’t work, it’s off to a periodontist. (I accidentally typed periodentist – why aren’t they called that, I wonder?)

>289 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hi Larry! The problem with Bohemian Rhapsody and most of Queen’s songs, except the ballads which only Mercury sings, is that two or more combined voices make a complete set of lyrics. And the lyrics overlap. Why American Pie, I wonder? With karaoke aren’t the lyrics in front of you?

>290 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia. So far he’s not verbalizing his happiness at being here…

>291 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! Home stuff today – coffee, books, a stack to go through, etc.

>292 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

…
I had an anxiety dream. We had to get Jenna to camp (she want to Camp Seafarer for 10 years 2000-2010) and it was already late and she wasn’t completely packed yet. I wonder why? I haven’t had a true anxiety dream in a while. There’s more to it – like one of my MiL’s being in it and they passed away in 2012 and 2014, and we didn’t have enough food to feed all the guests at lunch before leaving to take Jenna. So I didn’t even wake up until 8:42. Coffee is my friend.

Jenna just sent this, taken outside the library at CFCC - Cape Fear Community College.

Every LTer's wish.

I been a live wire (not) for the last few days. I should be inspired by your busy-ness, but no. It'll take off for me soon.

I liked Peggy's list of questions, as well as your replies. Interesting. Up above somewhere.

Awk. Just roaming around...

>294 karenmarie: I love that!

New thread?

Your wish is my command.