End of (a very short) Summer

I am so tired right now, as I have been staying up late every night to watch the Olympics. I have been enjoying it all, even the kayaking. I just can’t imagine the tremendous physical effort that goes into these sports. I’ve always been very lazy laid-back and now that the kids are grown and gone I don’t even have the exercise of chasing them around.

Lia started school this past week. Insane. What happened to having almost 3 full months for summer vacation?? I think she ended school in mid-June and now she’s back at it. Of course, she also gets 3 weeks at Christmas winter break and 2 weeks at Easter spring break. I guess you gotta make it up somewhere. She’s in 3^rd grade. My teacher then was Mrs. Pegendarm. Not sure about the spelling of her name. I don’t remember much about that year except making a faux leather skirt out of paper (girls) and doing a rain dance (boys).

I saw a couple of good movies this summer: “Ghostbusters” and “Nine Lives”. Excellent, both of them. Apparently Ghostbusters tanked financially and there will be no sequel. Don’t know why..I thought it was great. And even with just his voice in Nine Lives, Kevin Spacey is such a good actor! He was an excellent cat! And you can never go wrong with Christopher Walken.

We never did anything vacation-wise this year. Things just didn’t work out. Maybe Marv can get some extra days off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ve been steadily plowing through my books and being hard-nosed about what to keep and what to give away. And once again, I wish I could discuss some of the books that had belonged to my mom. I get a little pang each time I see her name written in a book.

And that’s about it. Back to school. The days will still be hot, the evenings long, but it’s a long slog until Thanksgiving…

August 2016 Book Report

 

Caravan (1943) by Lady Eleanor Smith

Adventure writer James Darrell is at the end of his life and grants one more interview. Afterward, he reminisces about all the journeys he went on and wrote about. He was rejected by his true love because he didn’t have enough money. By the time he had achieved fame, she was unhappily married to someone else. This was a well written, interesting book, but the ending was a real bummer.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~    

Cluny Brown (1944) by Margery Sharp

A top-rate little charmer of a book! Orphan Cluny is living with her uncle, who is at his wits end. She doesn’t seem to “know her place” as a middle-class young woman and is finally sent off to go into service as a maid to a wealthy family in the country. She still insists on doing things her way, and causes a great deal of turmoil. Lovely little book.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

For the Birds (2015) by Emily Thomas

Bluehill Library series. Coraline is sure that a local bird sanctuary is going to be taken over by a big corporation and the land spoiled. She disappears suspiciously and librarian Anne and her children have to take care of Coralines pet parrot.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

O River, Remember! (1943) by Martha Ostenso

A sprawling story of 2 pioneer families, the Wings and the Shaleens in Minnesota. Fighting, feuding, loving, losing. Prairie fires, blizzards and a plague of grasshoppers. Starts in the 1870s and goes up to the beginning of WWII. Well written, but sure a lot of turmoil, angst and death along the way.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A Fine and Private Place (1971) by Ellery Queen

The Importunato brothers have an enormous business empire, spread throughout the world. The oldest brother, Nino, is obsessed with the number 9 and allows his superstitions to rule. One by one, the brothers are murdered until the only ones left are Nino’s much younger, very beautiful wife and the handsome young private secretary. WHO DONE IT???

Scattered Thoughts

I am all over the map today! Usually, I will write my blog and post it late Thursday night. Then on Friday I will post the link on Facebook for my many, many readers. (HA!)

Today’s blog is fresh!! Could not think of anything to write last night to save my life. So random stuff it is!!

I am really looking forward to the Summer Olympics next month. I usually enjoy the Olympics, both summer and winter. This year, I find myself more anticipatory than usual. Don’t know why.

I miss the old department stores Grant’s and Woolworth’s. Grant’s was where we always did our before-school clothes shopping at the end of summer. And I always got my winter flannel pajamas there. That and Woolworth’s was like a playground to me when I was young. I loved looking through the toy section while mom shopped. When Marv and I moved to Oroville, there was a Woolworth’s here and the manager was a man who went to our church. I had so much fun shopping there for Dollar Days!

I was so stoked when McDonald’s announced they were going to make their breakfast menu available all day. I LOVE the Sausage McMuffin with Egg!! And there have been times that Marv and I have gone there for lunch and I’ve gotten that.

I mentioned on Facebook that my new glasses cost around $1000. I still think that is way too high, but with my steep prescription I am glad they are available. And they are so light! My glasses have always been heavier than most, because the lenses are so thick. Even going to the plastic lenses, they were weighty. These new ones, however, are not. I don’t have the big marks on my nose with these.

And now for the main reason I didn’t do a blog last night: Fishdom!! The various versions of this game is a real joy to me. Each time a new version came out, I would buy it. Twice now, the computer has crashed and I have lost the games. The first time it happened, I was able to contact the company (Playrix) and get the links to reinstall the games. This last time, I was getting no response from them. Months went by. I despaired of ever getting them back. Finally a response came through with new links. I contacted my tech expert Paul (my son) and we did FaceTime while he helped me through the reinstall and counseled me on how to keep the links filed so if the computer gets naughty again, at least Carbonite will have the backup. So I had a very nice chat with my son and got my games back to boot! The rest of the evening was playtime!! Don’t judge me!!!