Monday, October 25, 2010

Two More Grails

Quite some time ago, I wrote about my quest for a soup plate that I could use when making milk toast. (score!)
In early summer I wrote about the glass 10” pie plates. (score x 4!)
A couple of months ago I discovered 2 more “Grails” could be checked off my list:
Lobby Broom and a bottle brush long enough to clean Marv’s Stanley thermos.

That bottle brush had been on my Grail list for many years. Marv uses that thermos every day to take iced tea for his lunch. For a long time I used an old baby bottle brush that had a nipple brush on the end, making it ALMOST long enough to scrub the inside of the thermos. The nipple brush finally broke off, and that was that. A long bottle brush was not to be found. Every once in a while I’d pour boiling water in the thermos to try and get the grunge out. I finally found a kitchen brush that was OK, except the handle was too thick. I had Marv grind it down so it would fit in the thermos, and then discovered that the bristles were too wide as well. So I took my kitchen shears and gave the thing a haircut. It was still a bit wide and not quite long enough, but it was all I had. I struggled with that thing for more years than I care to count. I would look online occasionally to see what I could find, but there just wasn’t anything for a tall thermos. THEN—oh joy! I found it! The Sigg Cleaning Brush! And I was able to locate a store that had them: Target! (score again!)

The Lobby Broom was a minor Grail that only made the list recently. When we cleaned out Marv’s mom’s apartment, we found what is basically a whisk broom with a long handle. It’s ideal for getting into small spaces, and you don’t have to bend over. Lia also enjoyed using it as a hobby horse. It was pretty old, and the straws were starting to come out. I started looking in stores and couldn’t find a new one. I went online and at first all I could find were children’s toy brooms that were indeed only for play. Then I discovered that what I was looking for wasn’t a toy, it had a real name: Lobby Broom. Home Depot has ‘em! (score once more!)

That pretty much took care of my Grail list. At least for tangible things. There is one more thing that I’ve been looking for online that I just cannot find. A certain book. I will write about it in my next blog.

Monday, October 18, 2010

September Book Report

I know this is really late, but at least it's here...
"The Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett
"Pollyanna" by Elanor H. Porter
"Tickled Pink" by Rita Rudner
"Gilbert Stuart" by Ruth Langland Holberg
"No Time Like Tomorrow" by Ted White

"The Hogfather" was another fun romp in Discworld, this time with a Christmas-like theme. I'd read the book before, years ago and had finally gotten the movie they made of it on Netflix. Tons of fun. Then I read the book again. Can't say enough good things about Pratchett. You owe it to yourself to read these gems.

I've never seen the Disney movie of Pollyanna. I picked up the paperback of this children's book some time ago, and came across it recently. Very good read. I highly recommend it. Yes, it's a bit on the sugary side, but who cares? We need a bit more sugar in this bitter world right now. Pollyanna's "glad game" would be good for all of us to play.

I love Rita Rudner's style of humor. I've always enjoyed her on the talk shows and was happy to check out her literary endeavor. Good book! Lots of humor mixed in with serious stuff. I'd love to read more.

"Gilbert Stuart" was another young adult book I'd gotten at a library sale. As I was reading about the man who painted the portraits of several presidents, I was also checking into Wikipedia about some of the peripheral characters in Stuarts life and saw a lot of the portraits mentioned in the biography. I love early American history and this had some good peeks into that time period.

The Ted White book was a young adult sci-fi novel about a young man who is accidentally dragged into the far future. This book could've been a lot longer with lots more details about this future. I found it fascinating and wanted more. I found the ending a bit of a let-down, but admit it was the best ending for the characters concerned.

So--5 books for September. I think October is going to be a bit skimpy. Only read 2 books so far and might only get one more done before the end of the month. As we head into holiday season, I doubt I'll get a whole lot of reading done.