Viragos in Spring of 2010

We can have our own sakura festival!

OOOoooo! Pretty! Thank you, Tui. I can offer only apple blossoms, but they smell really wonderful. So do my bushes of Brown Betsy (I should learn the real name! I did. It's "Sweet Betsy" or "Carolina Allspice," "calycanthus floridus") which also smell like apples.

Here in Philadelphia, the forsythia and magnolias are done, the dogwoods, crabapple, and redbud are in full swing -- intoxicating!

Thank you Tui -- the salon is about my favorite place on LT.

And thank you Sqdancer for sending me the link.

It's Wisteria time in Northern California -- one of my favorite flowers. The Magnolias are pretty much done past their prime, but the redbud is blooming and so is the ceanothus (CA mountain lilacs -- blue and heavenly.)

It's time for azaleas, where I live.

oh you southern folk, I'm pea green! Our forsythia is only just coming out up here...but my daffs are bursting out everywhere, so joy is in the air. How I wish I could grow wisteria. It is such an elegant flower.

The forsythia in front of our house here in Minnesota is starting to drop its yellow flowers and leaf out, and the pasqueflowers are beginning to fade in the prairie. Here are some pasques growing on the prairie a few miles from town.

Gosh, Rob, mine are only thinking of sending out tendrils! I love those anemones.

Rob, those are so lovely. Thank you! All of these pictures are great. Next year I swear I will run around in the Vermont woods with my camera and get some of those wildflowers..... trilliums et al.

Lovely pictures, all. And hopefully this fall, sibyx, you will run around the Vermont woods with your camera and get lotz of pics of the turning of the leaves!~! Such a beautiful time of year in the N.E.
belva

Spending so much time in bed is for the birds. And so many birds are coming back to us now. It is lovely out this morning. I just want to go out and get my hands in the dirt. But instead I am soon going to be laying in bed. (reading Wives and Daughters..................it is sooooo very good; a real cozy, comfy read.
Yesterday I even watched a movie. Julie and Julia, which, surprisingly to me turned out to be a lovely movie. Meryl Streep is simply outstanding at everything she attempts and the young lady who played Julie was very good as well. I didn't fall asleep once. Good movie.
Happy reading all.
hugs,
belva

>11 rainpebble:: Belva, I really enjoyed Wives and Daughters also !

I just spent an hour on the Ohio Street beach pretending I was in Dalmatia with Lady Kilmichael in Illyrian Spring. Forsythia, redbuds, and grape hyacinths were blooming along Lake Michigan. I wish I had Ann Bridge's gift for describing flowers and gardens. The sand was still cool, but there were bare-chested lovely young men trying to get a jump on their early tans. All in all, a very satisfactory afternoon and Illyrian Spring is the perfect read. Don't know what I will be starting next.

And Streep was robbed when she didn't get the Oscar for J and J.

(Romain, are you doing work on the Timeline production of Julia Child next year?)

I am just finishing up work on two plays so I get to go back to my own reading soon. I love the blossoms but the trees are making me sneeze this year.

Liz I think you mixed me with Romain and I but yes I will be working on both Frost/Nixon and on Mastering the Art (which was actually commissioned before the whole Julie/Julia film the play is just about Julia and Paul Child and some of the political consequences of living abroad in the McCarthy era- that said I haven't seen J&J)

#14:
marensr;
It is said that the hayfever & allergy (pollen) season this spring is one of the worst here on the West coast as we didn't have a winter really so things blossomed out really early. When the cottonwoods come on people will really be miserable.
And you simply must see J & J. I never particularly cared for Julia Child. (hubby liked her though) Her voice just ran my brain right through the top of my head. LOL!~! But the movie is marvelous and yes, Streep does pretty much have that voice nailed. She is the dialect queen, you know.
hugs,
belva

On an aside for those who are interested:

Small Island premieres Sunday, April 18, 2010 on MASTERPIECE CLASSIC. When Hortense (Naomie Harris) and her husband Gilbert (David Oyelowo) leave Jamaica for the promised land of post war Britain, their dreams are tested by hard realities. In the small-minded country, their saving grace is Queenie (Ruth Wilson, Jane Eyre), married to the kind but dull Bernard (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Last Enemy). Bonded by high hopes and broken dreams, these four lives fuse together in a hopeful story based on Andrea Levy's award-winning novel. (Two episodes; 90 minutes each; TV-MA, S)

Looks promising. Anyone read the book?

>16 rainpebble: Well, ---- I own it -----.

I have a copy too but, shamefully, have not read it yet.

> 17, 18
Same here. It's in one of the boxes, I think.

Yes, Bernadette, same here. But.....which box?

Ah, yes, that is always the (painful) question.

Read it, liked it -- it's an Orange Prize winner. I also like Benedict Cumberbatch and although Bernard is indeed dull, Benedict's presence may entice my other half to watch.

I'm looking for some sympathy -- I should be pretending to be an interesting character in a Virago novel, packing to move somewhere... but..... The realtor wrinkled her nose at the contents of my closet (a small walk-in) and said, "Thin it out." I've been at it for several hours and the closet looks a lot better but the bedroom looks as if someone stood in the middle of it throwing things around. Luckily my spouse is away for one more night. I may have to sleep somewhere else. Oh, and too many books by the bed...... I guess that puts some people off. Of course, I don't want them as don't read to buy our poor old housie, so I'm going to keep as many there as I can get away with. Plus it is my TBR shelf, I have no idea how to handle that packing issue. Can't mix them up with other books!

You were all very funny about that book!

17, 18, 19> same here

Sib, the classic make a mess to tidy a mess conundrum. Much sympathy.

Ok, just went through this with Number One Son By Two Minutes, so here's what I did with him: get three large boxes. Lable one "keep", one "charity" and one "rubbish".
Rules: if you haven't worn it for a year, you aren't going to. It goes. Still good? Into the Charity Box. Grotty looking? Toss it. Don't keep anything which doesn't fit. Don't keep clothes for sentimental reasons if you never wear them. Be firm with yourself at the start and then you'll find the going easier.

Once he got going, he had clothes flying through the air into those three boxes and got rid of tons of stuff. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find your bed. Good luck!

ETA: you know the ending, right? Charity = get it right out the door. Rubbish = out it goes. Keep = stuff already packed! Whoo hooo!

Wow, Tui. My daughter is even harsher than that.
She says: "If you haven't used it within the past year & if you don't love it, out it goes!"
She is damned lucky I love her so much. Sometimes when I am tidying up a room, if she stops by.............she will send me on an errand and when I get home the room looks pretty bare. And when she asks me what I am missing and I can not name anything she quietly rests her case, grabs her kids and goes home; usually leaving me smiling my thanks.

Belva, I'm really good about doing this with clothing but I'm awful about other things. E.g., I still have the birthday card my Grandma gave me for my last birthday before she died (1961)(do you have any idea how many times I've moved it?). I'm finally almost ready to let it go.

Oh Belva I wish your daughter was here.... Tiffin you are scary but wonderful.....I have pretty well done that with my clothes, I am more undone by .... hairbands, say, and scarves and all the necklaces my daughter made me -- and my pin collection (They say things like : Don't Tell Me What Kind Of Day To Have!) Broken jewelery... especially if I liked it before it broke... All my needlepoint wool and projects were stuffed on the top shelf there along with our Xmas stockings. Fix the jewelry, I know, yeah yeah, except I'd rather read a book...

How to pack it sensibly so I'll ever find it again when I need it?

I might just try taking a picture of my bed.... if I can find my camera... It's in the rubble somewhere. Ha ha

Ah, yes, Tiffin, I see your next post -- now you know the jam I'm in. That's what I'm struggling with. I am serious about taking a picture because then I can spend several hours figuring out how to post it on here and avoid having to do anything else. My spouse is away, my daughter is invited out for supper, so I can be as bad as I want. I'm going to eat popcorn for dinner. Ha!

We are retired military so our house is totally minimalist. I have become ruthless about tossing things. Every now and then I make a huge blunder but most of the time I never think about them again. I have very few books that are older than 20 years. If I find a nicer copy I toss the old one, so although many of the titles remain constant the actual books change. About 5 years ago I decided to get rid of any Viragos I thought I would never re-read. Now that was a massive mistake.

Oh, Barbara! How could you!???
I have already told the nieces that when we die, they should make one quick trip through to grab the good stuff and then burn the rest. I'm a pack-rat married to a pack-rat from a long line of pack-rats. So our stuff floats on the top with dead sister, parents, and grandparents' stuff underneath. And I have to say that I've almost never thrown away something that I haven't wanted/needed 2 or 3 weeks later.
On the other hand, I'm better than I used to be - and you can take that however you choose!

Sib, two words: Rubbermaid Totes. Stuff sorted, tubbed & labled, your real estate agent will purr.

Barbara, I rarely get rid of books but I did get rid of all my science fiction from the 70s - close to 1,000 books! However minimalist I am not: our place is furnished in early "oh don't throw that out, we'll take it".

Lizzie, dishes from 3 generations plus my aunt! Plus furniture going back to my 3x great grandfather.

I have to join Photobucket to share the photo I took....but encouraged by all your comments I just went up there and got serious. The bed is now clear.

Well, at least you can go to sleep tonight. I've sworn never to move again -- I've packed and repacked boxes of books -- I think I 'll leave the last packing to my children. The rest I don't really care about....

When I packed my TBR for the move here, it went in one box (um... a big box. Maybe 2) and I wrote a list before I packed it so I knew what order it lived in (I read in order of acquisition). Almost made up for the removers labelling the contents of BOTH our studies, "study".

Anyway in other news, hay fever season here in Birmingham, UK, is bearable with medication from the chemist not the doctor at the moment - hooray! Must be all the local honey I remembered to eat.

In still other news, I STILL haven't got back that big wodge of money I'm owed, but I've been working hard at my proof-reading business and have nearly made that money back - and am excited that I've got registered on the self-assessment part of the inland revenue website - cos it means I'm a real, viable business!

So things looking much less bleak than they have done. A lovely day today and after chores, I and Mr LyzzyBee are off for a walk down Sarehole Mill. That's the place Tolkein based The Shire on!!!!

I am thrilled with the idea of making a list of what is in the TBR box(es). It seems a little intense when you first contemplate it, but like many things -- like scraping before you paint -- it takes a little time but pays in the end.

Sigh. What I wouldn't give to be at home in Bag End. Today I'll be repacking some things, as I reconsidered some of it last night and I'll be muddling around in our bathroom. We have a bookshelf in there too, which of course, has to go away.

A hobbit house with a round door...bliss. Must google Sarehole Mill.

We have stayed here as long as we have because we both detest moving. I know it is coming within the next few years so I've begun to edit now. It would be too daunting to do it AND move.

Congratulations on the website listing, LBee! I'll forgive your wonderful fortune to be able to walk down Sarehole Mill just because you have deserved it. (I've just been looking at Moseley Bog!)
(Tui, I didn't even mention furniture and pictures of generations previous. We live with those too, but I like them! It's the layers of stuff that I'm not so crazy about......and then there are my books. I am crazy about them.)

We're going to Moseley Bog soon - it's even nearer our house than Sarehole! Wonderful today - we saw an orange tip butterfly (me: look at that butterfly, it's got orange tips... Matthew: oooh ooh it's an ORANGE TIP! me: (even though used to the very obvious names of butterflies by now) collapses in hysterics) and some grebes building a nest!

By the way - I'm not listed on anything exciting (cept my own web page) but I've managed to register on the Revenue Dept's online tax service which means I can submit my tax return online, hopefully easily, and it will work out my tax owed there and then. Which will be good - and you don't have to do it the week before the deadline next Jan, you can do it when you have all the info you need!

Anyway, this is A Good Thing, even though my fledgeling business, done in the "spare time" from a full time job, probably won't end up earning enough to pay any tax this year. Still good to have it all right and proper and legal etc.

I always wanted to visit Sarehole Mill during our year in Kenilworth. The most Tolkienesque place I visited (within walking distance of our house) was Warwick, which inspired a poem about the old Elvish town of Kortirion, that begins:

O fading town upon a little hill,
Old memory is waning in thine ancient gates,
The robe gone grey, thine old heart almost still;
The castle only, frowning, ever waits
And ponders how among the towering elms
The Gliding Water leaves these inland realms
And slips between long meadows to the western sea...

Ah Rob;
A romantic heart beats within thee.................

Am watching Julie and Julia for the third time this week.................just really loving this movie. And have my TIVO all set to record the later showing so I can watch any time my little heart desires!~!

Still reading Wives and Daughters. I guess I am still a little weak because I keep falling asleep and believe me; the book is not a bit boring. Only Mr. Preston is boring & the new Mrs. Gibson; both so selfish and self-serving & thinking they cover it up so well. NOT!~!
I have a feeling that at some point we will be finding out something dastardly regarding the new Mrs. Gibson, Mr. Preston & perhaps Cynthia, whom I happen to like a lot.
Well, back to my movie. Cheers all.
hugs,
belva

>16 rainpebble: Loved the book as well as the television adaptation! Good stuff!

16 Belva - that was a brilliant production we watched it live here!

28 We have my Mummy's stuff - plus stuff from Keith's ex home of at least 20 years ago aghhhhhhh ....

I can't throw books out - to the charity shop, to you guys .... yes .... but it is soooo hard! And I am so sad at having to out some books from Mummy's Minty book cases. However, I am being inspired by your stories and will continue.

So very difficult for you. I will remember you tonight when I hit my knees.
warm hug,

At my book group yesterday, everyone was talking about how nice it would be to have a Kindle and be able to clear more books out of the house. Everyone admitted that they periodically weeded their collections. Clara said, "Rob doesn't. Books come into the house, but none of them ever leave." It's true. I may be spending the day today building a new bookcase.

Yes, Rob, but then you have a collection. I, on the other hand, have a settled mass of trash - both in format and in content - and I love every browned, crinkly page of it! I'm sending stuff away to pbs though as quickly as I can. Only, if I don't want a book, nobody else does either.

And Rob .... I am presuming you have space for more shelves and book cases .... we are simply bulging ... the only place I can 'out' things to is la belle France!! What a problem ...

~45 Thank you dear Belva :)) I need those prayers I can assure you!

I know I have mentioned this on this site before but for those of you who have not read My Family and Other Animals the Durrell family arrive in Corfu in the early 30's with the then unknown 'Larry' with crates and crates of books and his clothes in an attache case.

Yes! Yes! I devoured Gerald Durrell when I found him, sometime in my teens, and then later it was so amazing to realize that Larry -- irritable and intolerant was Laurence who wrote the Alexandria Quartet. What a family!

Oh I love Gerald Durrell. There is supposed to be a BBC adaptation of My family and other Animals but I have not yet seen it. One of the few books that made me laugh out loud.

Belva, I had heard that this spring was particularly bad for allergies.

Julie how difficult. I will be thinking of you.

How are all our Brits any ashfall from the volcano or is it even noticeable?

The BBC adaptation is very good -- my daughter was only ten or so and was riveted. I would happily see it again.

I saw the BBC adaptation recently and enjoyed it. It managed to convey at least partially the mood of the book, which I read and loved when I was twelve or thirteen.

And no, we can't see any ash here (just south-west of London). It's a lovely spring day (magnolia, forsythia, birdsong, no planes).

Oh Parma dear - are you near Kew Gardens? Likewise here in Oxfordshire no ash in sight .... the particles are too small to see with the naked eye .... we are returned to being an island nation once again!

I have many Gerald Durrell books from Mummy's library - hardbacks with their lovely covers. Strangely enough I never read them though ... maybe now is the time to start.

I watched the BBC adaptation of My Family and Other Animals when I was unwell lately. It was the perfect comfort watch and I copied it to DVD in case I need it again.

54: Closer to Hampton Court, but not that far from Kew, juliette07. We were there at Easter, swaying about on the overhead walkway, and took in Kew Palace and the Marianne North Gallery.

Speaking of ash, my partner's mother in Scotland tells us she has collected a bucket of it. It looks like powdered glass and she is keeping it for us to examine when we next visit.

Well I am glad there is little ash. I am sure it depends so much on weather patterns. I have the vaguest childhood memories of the Mount St. Helens erruption when I was a child but we were too far south to see much ash.

My husband drove from Vermont out to Washington State with a friend. they brought back a bag of Walnuts on which they wrote, "These walnuts came from Mt. St. Helen." Every now and then I find one.

What I really got on to say was that I loaded a lot of old children's books today -- an assortment really -- going back as far as the 1880's (great grandparents) up to Clifford...... As you all know, since all I do is whinge about it, we are moving soon -- these are all the books that have been in my daughter's room. It has been lovely seeing the names of grandmother's and great-grandmother's and father's and even some great greats in their own childish handwriting on the inside covers.

If you sort by date, the ones I put in today go to Olive Beaupre, middle 3rd page. Somebody either ordered or shopped in England a lot, because many are from London or Cambridge.

The two I have saved out to read RIGHT AWAY are The Magic Jacket by Walter de la Mare (stories) and Camels to California by Harlan D. Fowler -- yep that's just what it sounds like..... San Antonio to LA. in 1857......

Edited to correct pathetic punctuation.

Just out of interest Sib, do you have in your collection a book of cat stories edited by De La Mare. I read it when I was a child but have never rediscovered the title to buy it.

Has anyone read Heartburn by Nora Ephron? Is it worth buying? I have my eye on a copy, Virago of course.

>59 romain: No -- two books of poems, Come Hither and Tom Tiddler's Ground and this one The Magic Jacket -- however the last story, Broomsticks, is about a cat -- and I see that in England he published a book of short stories called Broomsticks and Other Stories (or something close to that) -- maybe that book had more cat stories????

>#60:
Dear Tui;
Heartburn is an awesome book. I have read it probably 3 or 4 times. I do not have a Virago copy, but, yes, to my mind, it is one definitely worth purchasing.
Your question wants to make me go read it again. I didn't even know who Nora Ephron was for years. The movie is also very good & is with Meryl Streep & Jack Nicholson
So go, buy & enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, I will buy it from you if you like.
hugs,
belva

edited to add:
P.S. You will never look at Key Lime Pie the same.

I finished Wives and Daughters last night and must say that although I enjoyed the story & writing tremendously, I didn't care too much for the ending. It was a very pat & predictable ending, though I suppose that is perhaps the way Elizabeth Gaskell writes & this was my first Gaskell. I would have been much happier with a twist on the ending & I had it all in my head. Hmmmmmmmm, so perhaps it wasn't so predictable, after all.
I have now begun Albert Camus's The Plague, another G/R. I am only on page 47, but already it is a page-turner.
later dayz all. I am off my therapist & psychiatrist.
belva

>63 rainpebble:: Belva, the interesting thing about Wives and Daughters is that Gaskell died before it was finished. It was published in a magazine as a serial and when she died suddenly, the magazine editor had to finish the novel for her! So that might be one reason the ending is what it is.

Ahhhh, Laura, I did not realize this. That very probably & most likely is the case. Still & all, I did enjoy it very much. So many characters with such varied eccentricities to intrigue the reader.
Thank you for sharing that info. It puts things more into perspective.

I received a promotional email from Amazon this morning, one of the kind that begins, "Since you have purchased X from us in the past, you might be interested in these upcoming new releases."

This one was for "Popular pre-order romance books being released this week." It was a list of ten, with books by writers such as Amanda Quick, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Johanna Lindsey. Imagine my surprise, delight and amusement when I got to #10: Cousin Phillis and Other Stories by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Ah, marketing...

Sooo funny yesterday.
I had my appointment with my psychiatrist at 3:00 & cried through the whole 45 minute appointment. I never cry at my appointments with him.
Then I head over for my 4:00 appointment with my therapist and I always cry at that one. I am always sitting in the waiting room reading my book (in this case Ankle Deep by Angela Thirkell) & she calls me in & stops right in the middle of the hall in front of me so I bam into her and she says: "ANGELA THIRKELL; NO ONE READS ANGELA THIRKELL ANYMORE!" We both burst out laughing our asses off. This woman is probably in her mid to late 70s, and is an avid reader & it seems we love the same authors & we both love the whole Bloomsbury Group thing. Anyway so we talked books for about 10 minutes before we got serious. What a great start for a therapy session. I loved it. (I did still cry but...)
She has all of Thirkell's books.
Anyway, it turned out to be a really good session.
I am even excited to go back next week. She always wants to know what I am reading. It's great to have a therapist who "gets" you.

Dear Belva, you're very "gettable." (((((Belva)))))

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, does that mean I lay myself out too plainly; no mystery here? I guess that is pretty much true. Perhaps she is then overpaid. Nah!~!
hugs right backatcha LizzieD! :-)
belva

I've always had a fantasy where I go for THE job (or something similar) and the person interviewing me has a book on their desk that I recognize and we get chatting etc... Then I did have a temp job with a 'Murphy Brown' woman who I found hugely intimidating. One day as she went by my desk she picked up my copy of At Mrs Lippincote's and said "Oh!" And I did become her full time secretary and we swapped books for years. She even sent me care packages of books when I married and moved to Germany.

Now that would make a good short story all by itself, Barbara. That's neat!

Absolutely! Get busy in your spare time, Barbara. (That was a joke, but it is a great story!)
And Belva, I simply meant by "gettable" that you're easy to love. You may feel free to be as complex as all get-out!

LizzieD;
I like that. Thank you.
But I also like being simple enough that I am pretty much an open book to people. They either get me or not; either like me or not. Makes life much easier for me & them, though quite possibly not as interesting to the other party. hee hee!~!
hugs,

That's a lovely story about the shared love of an author.

Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival 18-20 June 2010

It's just a 'chunnel' away for all of you lucky Brits!!

More about Sylvia Beach

Wonderful article, thanks Cate! Wish I could chunnel my way to the festival!

I thought so too, Christine! Glad you enjoyed it.

More Virago news....

Virago to publish Asham Award winners
26.05.10 | Victoria Gallagher

Virago has taken over the publication of the Asham Award, the national short story prize for new women writers, from Bloomsbury. The award is open to writers who have not yet had a novel or complete anthology of their work published and 12 winning writers will have their stories published in an anthology by Virago, alongside specially commissioned stories by well known writers. Bloomsbury has previously published four Asham collections.

Lennie Goodings, publisher of Virago, said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for us to join forces with such a prestigious and long-standing literary award. Wouldn’t it be exciting to find the next Naomi Alderman?"

Goodings will be judging the award alongside novelist Sarah Waters and Polly Samson, who is also one of the guest writers.

For the first time since the award was launched in 1996 there will be a theme to the competition - Ghost or Gothic. The deadline for entries is 30th September.

Thanks to the Bookseller.com for the blurb....

This is exciting!~! Yea!

Re: Heartburn an unqualified YES!! Buy it, read it, its marvelous, it gives one the heartache!

Vintage to revive "deliciously funny" Gibbons
22.06.10 | Benedicte Page

Vintage Classics editorial director Laura Hassan has bought rights to 14 novels by Stella Gibbons, all of which have been out of print for the past decade.

Gibbons' first and most famous novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932), in which the sensible Flora Poste sorts out the grim lives of the Starkadder family in a parody of the rural melodramas of the time, is published by Penguin as a Penguin Classic.

Vintage Classics will publish four books - Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm, Conference at Cold Comfort Farm, Westwood and Starlight - in print editions in August 2011. A further 10 - including The Bachelor, The Matchmaker, Bassett, Ticky and Here Be Dragons - will be published simultaneously in print on demand (POD).

Hassan, who acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the titles from Anna Davis at Curtis Brown, said: “Like Nancy Mitford, PG Wodehouse or Barbara Pym, her novels are deliciously funny and her dissection of the British class system is spot on. We’re delighted to be able to bring these books back into print for her legions of fans and to introduce her to a new audience.”

Oh how fun!

Great news! Thank you, bleuroses!

Hurrah -That is excellent news!

Awesome! I'm reading Nightingale Wood right now and enjoying it immensely, so I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

Calling all Alice Hoffman fans:

Over on the "Fans of Alice Hoffman site we have been tinkering with doing a group read. The group is fairly small but people who love Hoffman tend to REALLY love her work.

It has been decided that we will be doing two group reads this summer.
In July: Probable Future and
in August: The Story Sisters, which is now out in paperback. Yea!~!

So if you care to join us for either or both of these reads, we will welcome you ever so gladly.
hugs,
belva of:
(Fans of Alice Hoffman

Not getting too much reading in at the moment.

Spending most of my time monitoring Roger. The results of all the last week's test are:
His lower heart chamber (the back part) is getting no blood. This last test was to find out why. He only has one artery getting blood to his heart. The other three are completely blocked. Two of them in multiple places. He is still having the symptoms. Upper arm pain and chest pain. They sent him home with his blood pressure meds doubled and with nitro patches. Also when the pains begin, he uses a nitro pill. Five minutes later i the pain has not dissipated, he takes another. Five minutes later the same thing. If that doesn't work I have to rush him to the E.R. because he will then be having a heart attack. They are trying really hard to keep him from having that heart attack because this came on so fast that his heart muscle has no damage at all thus far & they want to keep it that way. The foremost cardiac surgeon in the N.W. will be doing his 3-way bi-pass as soon as they can get an Operating Room at St. Pete's in Olympia freed up. We are probably looking at Wednesday but won't know until tomorrow or the next day for sure.
He (without saying a word to me) gave up chewing, Diet Pepsi & is drinking water & gave up his cigars. I know we will be making a lot of changes down the road, but we are both prepared for that.
His spirits are wonderful. He has accepted this and is prepared to go through it. (He watched his mother go through 2 open heart surgeries.) He is happy and pleased to be waiting it out at home. They debated keeping him in the hospital until the surgery but the insurance put the kabash on that. He is to do NOTHING & lift nothing heavier than a coffee cup, but he doesn't drink coffee. hee hee.
So that is my husband & best friend.

Now then my mother. While we were at the hospital in Olympia and he was having the heart cath, my mother fell and it was almost 6 hours before she was found and of all people to find her; my sister-in-law. So a call to 911, an ambulance ride to the hospital, a transport to another hospital 50 miles away; a broken hip & surgery scheduled. My daughter sat with her at the local hospital while Roger and I were on our way home and then she spent the night with her dad monitoring him & I turned around and followed the ambulance back out to Providence Hospital in Centralia. My much beloved sister-in-law went with me and we stayed the night with mother. Then in the morning the surgeon came in about 9:00 and wanted to take one more X-Ray before he started the surgery. The only X-Ray was the one that came with her from the Morton hospital. Long story a bit shorter.............no broken hip. Yea!~! But they wanted to keep her for a couple of days anyway. She was dehydrated & undernourished. So finally I came home to hubby & hearth. Daughter went home to her hubby & children. And we are all now doing what we are supposed to be doing now.
Mother is home and I think my older single brother is going to move in with mother. It will be good. His health is not the greatest but at least they can call 911 for each other. LOL!~! And that takes a lot of pressure off me.
My daughter, prior to going to the hospital was with her husband and his entire family at his grandfather's bedside awaiting his imminent death. He passed quietly and comfortable at 3:17, but while Sarah was here with her dad. Thank goodness she has an understanding husband who loves his in-laws also and has the utmost respect for his father-in-law (my husband).
Well, I am sure the Hull-Pendergrass saga has held your rapt attention for 2 minutes. Will keep you posted after his surgery.
Now, all of you, BACK TO YOUR BOOKS. I want full reports.
hugs & luvs,
belva

Goodness me - holding you all in my thoughts. All quite simple and running smoothly over here (and I do count my blessings for that...)

(((hugs)))

What a testing time for you and your husband. Thinking of you and yours, and also of your daughter and her family/

The Stella Gibbons reprints are good news but I found Conference at Cold Comfort Farm very disappointing. Nightingale Wood is great, and Sophie Dahl's introduction mentions several which sound interesting, I hope those will be among the reprints.

I hope both husband, mother and you are all well. What a lot on your plate at once! xxx

Dear Belva, I had missed you and hoped that you were vacationing. It's really pouring in your NW, isn't it? My prayers for Roger and your mother and you. Have a book at hand that will help you relax!

Yes Belva - never rains but it pours. And over a holiday weekend too. You're in my thoughts girl and my prayers.

Belva -- life seems to be throwing you one curveball after another -- you must be exhausted. How lucky though to be surrounded by so much supportive family. Many healing and supportive wishes your way.

Thinking of you, Belva. Your husband sounds amazing and so are you.

Oh Belva, I am just catching up on threads now. I will keep you and your husband in my thoughts.

Belvina, I am just reading about Roger, and your Mom. All my thoughts and prayers are for you, dear friend, and I hope next news will be wonderful!

Belva dear - just catching up on threads as well. You do have so much on your plate at the present time. Hugs and prayers across the pond.

I'm just noticing that it is really full-blown summer and this is a spring thread. Hmm. My tidy complex is kicking in.

Oh, Belva, what a lot to handle all at once! I'm late catching up on this, but sending all my good thoughts to you and your loved ones.