Book Board Chat

I got the "Windows" phone call this afternoon.
I said, I'm going to hang up now. I did and no additional call for today.

Still cold (below 30 degrees) and quite windy.

Rained a bit this morning and now overcast. Tomorrow will be high in mid-20's and very windy and snow and/or snowshowers for the weekend. We have had a few days of mid-40's, sunny weather and reasonable snow melt.

Joanne- I read Riven Rock a few months ago as T.C. Boyle is a favorite author of mine. I loved Riven Rock - you forgot to mention his wife, Katharine Dexter McCormick who was wealthy on her own. Since she couldn't live with Stanley McCormick she became a women's activist on her own including suffragette movement and she used her own fortune to fund the doctor who created the birth control pill. Stanley was the son of Cyrus McCormick the inventor of the reaper and the company became International Harvester. Other books I enjoyed by T.C. Boyle were about the caretakers of the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara - San Miguel and a book about when these islands were taken over by the National Park Service - When The Killings Done.
San Miguel is a wonderful book about isolation, dramatic weather, hard work and hopefulness.

Currently reading Swedish author Henning Mankell's series of books about Kurt Wallender, homicide detective. Mankell has written other books not about the detective and I want to try those. The detective books were written in the 1990's but the descriptions and comments about increased crime, more violent crime and lack of adequate funding for police sounds contemporary - USA. The detective identifies the changes in Swedish society as related to when people stopped darning socks. The throwaway society that became attitudes towards people too. Interesting.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I am only 1/4 Irish but with a grandfather named Thomas Francis Kelly.......

Peyton Place and God's Little Acre were two books that passed around in high school - with a plain brown wrapper!

In college I read Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer etc), Jean Genet (Our Lady of the Flowers), The Story of O (Pauline Reage), Last Exit to Brooklyn (hubert selby,, jr) and some others. I found Last Exit to be a disturbing read.

Currently reading Swedish mystery writer Henning Mankell and his detective Kurt Wallender. Mankell has written
other books that are not in the Wallender series.

Finally - it is 45, sunny and breezy. I noticed that the mountains of snow are becoming hills.... progress!

Beth- I could never get rid of boxes without looking in them. I am currently doing what I call a first go through to get rid of things. That way I don't get too bogged down in decision making.

I've had a head cold that is making me tired so I've been behind things including the computer. Happy B-day to anyone I missed.

Overcast and snow predicted overnight. Ho-Hum.

I've been trying to do a "first sort" and remove stuff from the house for more than a year. Despite what has gone out the door, it doesn't look like much has happened. Prior to retiring I was going to thrifts, yard sales and auctions and buying not just books but framed items, clothing and "smalls" with the intent of selling on ebay and having a booth in a group shop. I've tried a boot several times but didn't do well selling my items and ebay and amazon haven't done what I had hoped. So I look at things that I know are worth money and hate to donate them.
Sometimes I go through old paperwork but there is a lot of that; - there is a lot of everything. I've read books on hoarding and how to declutter and I belong to an on-line group for this but it is slow going. Calling my current activities a "first sort" has helped me move on as I don't have as many decisions to make.

Off to buy dog food, wine and do some grocery shopping.
Enjoy the day.

June- apparently you are getting some very cold weather too. 19 degrees here at 11am. This may be the coldest feb. since records kept (1869) in NH!! And we have an ample amount of snow! Melting and leaks and flooding may be our next problem.

Ann- Is this true? A place I always wanted to visit but haven't made it thus far:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/retire-to-madison-wisconsin_n_6744142.html

Paula has a birthday.... the title of my next children's book. 🙂

June - is there a Senior Jeopardy that would allow for slower response time?

I am reading another book by T.C. Boyle - Riven Rock (1998). It is fascinating - about the youngest son of Cyrus McCormick who had schizophrenia and had to be locked away in a family home in Santa Barbara and his wife Katharine Dexter McCormick who became active in the Suffragette movement and who funded the development of the birth control pill with her own money. I like Boyle's writing and have read several by him.

I grew up in Queens NYC and we had plenty of winter snow but I don't remember extreme cold. I walked to school through 8th grade, but it was only a few city blocks. For high school we took a regular City bus and had to walk to the regular bus stops and then walk about 5 long city blocks to the high school.
I was never fond of winter and was a sissy when it came to boys throwing snowballs and iceballs although I do remember the boys building forts and having snowball wars. Several years my Dad built an igloo in our yard and a bunch of us played there and he also made a high pile of snow in the yard so we could slide down it on our butts.
I lived in an area of parks and cemeteries and a golf course and we did lots of sledding and ice skating there. I went along
because that's what my friends were doing, not because I loved the activities or the snow and cold. But I did love indoor ice skating and took lessons with the Girl Scouts.

Sandy - I think my sister would disagree with you about the winter weather. Some years they have had more snow than we have as the storms go out to sea and don't get up here. This year we are about even but we didn't get that storm yesterday.

Fortunately I'm not the one driving to Burlington Vt - it's my friends.

It was 6 degrees when I went out about 9:15a.m. and had risen to 11 by the time I came home at 10:30. We have had such cold weather for so long now. No days above freezing and many barely at 20.

Ok, gloat it you will. I just hope we don't lose power as we have no back up.

BLIZZARD WARNING:
Issued at: 9:07 am EST on February 14, 2015, expires at: 7:00 AM EST on February 16, 2015
.Blizzard Warning remains in effect until 7 am EST Monday...
hazard types...heavy snow...blowing snow...and blizzard conditions.

Accumulations...snow accumulation of 11 to 18 inches.

Timing...light snow begins around midday today and increases in intensity late this afternoon and tonight. Snow ends during the day on Sunday or Sunday evening but significant blowing snow continues into Monday. The height of blizzard conditions are not expected to occur until late tonight and especially during the day on Sunday when the winds will be the strongest.

Impacts...heavy snow and blowing snow will lead to blizzard conditions at times...mainly late tonight and Sunday. Travel will be dangerous with snow covered roads and low visibility. Wind chill values are expected to be well below zero Sunday and Sunday night.

Winds...north winds will increase to 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph late tonight and Sunday.
Visibilities...one quarter mile or less at times.
Temperatures...in the single digits and teens

Beth- nice to hear a success story. Too bad schools don't have more funds for this type of individualized attention.

2 degrees, 16mph ,with gusts, white outs in my driveway, another snowstorm beginning tomorrow afternoon.
The wind chimes are singing!

Beth- my friend's much older sister (81) died this week and tomorrow they are driving from Manchester NH to Burlington Vt and maybe back on Sun. Bad weather for that drive!

aeg- I have a lot of those auction catalogs but not sure about Chinese items. Not sure where the boxes of them are as we've moved a lot of things here to make room for other boxes..... and so it goes.

Just skip this - need to vent.
wray's son may be with us for a while as I don't think his girlfriend wants him back. He does have a job at the nearby city ski area but it is on-call and not nice weather for the work but he goes in when called. He is an adult and no sympathy from me as he did some stupid things that he still doesn't understand were wrong. But he is in a Bible based therapy group that I got him connected with so maybe that will help him. Not my choice for therapy but that's what he asked about so it is not up to me to determine what may or not work.

and now the changing weather report....
Now we are in the 14-18" snow range from this morning through Mon. at midnight or early Tues. morning. We have several inches already.
These multiple day snow events are trying..... trying to turn me into a totally crazy person

Sorry Jim and others - our latest local weather report for the multiday snow.....

Hazard types...snow.

Accumulations...snow accumulation of 12 to 18 inches over the course of the 48 hour period ending late Monday night.

Timing...light snow will start tonight and continue without much break right through Monday night. The heaviest snow is expected Sunday night into Monday.

Impacts...roads will become snow covered and slippery. The additional snow will continue to add weight to any heavily snow covered roofs. Snow banks will continue to get larger...perhaps impeding vision when turning into roadways.

Winds...northeast 5 to 10 mph.

Visibilities...one quarter mile or less at times.

Temperatures...10 to 21.

What's with these multi-day storms?

I have a notebook with passwords, too but I need to streamline that system.

I know weather can be a boring topic but this endless cold and snow has got me down. Last evening and overnight temps dropped quickly as wind picked up and there was a frostbite warning. At 2pm it is cloudy and 14 degrees! We had another 8-12 inches of snow earlier this week and now there is a long term snow event predicted - Sat. afternoon to Tues. a.m. with temps in teens and some days into mid-20's. Accumulation total - another foot of snow over a couple of days.
It rarely gets above freezing and its been like that for weeks, now.

June- I remember when wray would type those lists of books for sale. Brief descriptions as he figured he was selling information and not collectible books - religion and theology specialty. It was nice when orders of several books from the same buyer would come in and some called to order. All done by paying with a check. Calling was good because then he could discuss other related books that were not on the llst.

17 degrees and some snow forecast for tomorrow. It has been too cold for any melting to occur.

5 degrees at 10am in So.NH.
We had another foot of snow all day yesterday!

Patsy, glad to hear you are recovering.
On the way back from a regional theater competition with two of her students my daughter encountered a hit and run in Barnstable, MA. All okay but her car had to be towed to NH - lost the front fender and a few other front end parts. This after a hotel room with no working toilet; moved and small fire in the room; no Wi-Fi at the hotel (conference center). I haven't heard all of the details and may not want to!

Brutal weather here. 16+" of snow on Wed and a couple of inches yesterday but it took all day. High of 15 today with 30mph winds and blowing snow. Another storm on Monday with equally cold temps, 8+ inches. I'm about to abandon ship.....

Logan airport (Boston) is closed until Wednesday afternoon! What a mess for air travel all over the country as flights get backed up.
Schools here already announced closure for tomorrow and Wed. I can't ever remember school being closed and announced two days in advance. Often I had to get up super early to listen to radio to find out whether or not there was school.

My sister who lives on Long Island said Gov. Cuomo has ordered 750 plow trucks from upstate NY to NYC!

So far no snow here, yet.

Every time I've checked the weather forecast today the snow accumulation goes up. Looking like 2 feet from Mon. night through Wed. early morning. Also strong winds and low temps - not a good combination. Temps to be single digits and teens only.
This is So. NH.
My sister lives on Long Island and she said there is a notice that there shouldn't be any traffic on the roads after 5pm Mon. They
could get 3 feet of snow.
The plus of this is that because of the low temps, the snow will be light and fluffy.

12"+ for Tuesday, sigh. wray and son just freed up the garage doors to access the snowblower and make sure it runs. We had ice in an earlier storm and were careless with cleanup so the doors wouldn't open over some accumulated ice. We have an old garage with two doors that open out - remember those?

I think we could write a little book about grandmothers. We lived in the house owned by my grandmother who was a widow. She was a more important influence on me than my mother but my mother was in the situation of living in her mother-in-law's house and that had an impact on her.

Snow today. So far about 4". A neighbor and sometimes book seller and his son did some shoveling for us although we didn't ask. Beginning to feel like "the elderly couple to watch out for", but much appreciated.

wray's son got a job at the local ski area which is within walking distance of my house. He went for training and was supposed to work on Mon but they called him this morning and off he went! It doesn't pay much but at least showed initiative in applying.

wray bought a modern, unusual bible this week - The Chunky Bible (NIV). It contains several plans for reading the entire Bible in three years rather than the usual one year plan. The book is short and fat (Chunky).
When I was a young teen I tried to read the entire Bible. Even skipping the Begats I couldn't do it. I got further in the New Testament. Then of course there were words I didn't know and looked up in the dictionary such as "sodomy".

Still cold here and snow predicted for Sat.

Sandy - you should "lot" the children's books as what you have may be overwhelming for one location. I am thinking schools. I've donated to a local elementary school but first I called the librarian to ask and took "as new" books. Also is there a Boys and Girls club nearby?
Here is an idea - contact a local Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop and ask if they would like a project to distribute used children's books.
Did I ever mention that I am an "idea" person rather than a "doer" ? 🙂

My sister saw an orthopedist who thinks her spine is badly bruised but nothing broken He gave her anti-inflammatory meds. She is still limited in how she moves. She starts PT tomorrow with massage.

Thanks for the kind words.
I am chugging along but more distracted than usual.
We went out for dinner as today is wray's son's b-day. I had a delicious vegetarian lasagna with plenty to take home.

My sister saw her MD today and sees an orthopedic MD tomorrow re: spine. She is a peppy woman and you can always hear that in her voice - not now. It upsets me to hear her voice but I also know much of that is probably due to the pain meds and relaxation meds.
I'm not going to visit right now.

Sandy, Ann etc. - books! What to do with them all..... I need to list and sort and release many of them but right now I am too mentally distracted to make much progress.

I just read several messages and seems we were very attached to the BB. I also learned a lot about computer use, security programs, and listing on ebay.

2015 isn't starting out so good for us. The leaking hot water tank problem was solved but no hot water from Sat. evening until Tues. evening (last week). Switched from separate oil fired tank to electric tank.

wray's adult son failed to recognize some boundaries and the woman he's been living with for a few years threw him out. No job, no car (motorcycle in storage for winter). So he is here now and I am not happy. Several years ago he lived here for more than 2 years and I don't want that again. We took him to a meeting of Reformers Unanimous, a faith-based addiction ministry and I have told him that he has to go to the weekly meeting as long as he's here.

I had Christmas dinner with my daughter and her boyfriend and she informed that she was pregnant and they were both happy (both are in their 40's). Last Monday she had a miscarriage.

My sister had a bad fall as the pavement iced up in her yard yesterday morning on Long Island. She fell on her back and BIL had to call ambulance as she was in great pain. He got her into the house but she was on the kitchen floor and couldn't get up. They were at ER all day and x-rays didn't show any breaks. She is home with pain & muscle relaxant meds but can't get out of bed on her own etc. She will call her MD tomorrow. I feel as though I should go there as bil is taking time off from work. The trip is too far for me to drive and otherwise it involves buses and trains. We'll see.

So now you know why I haven't posted as I hate telling downer news.
But I do go out with the dogs although the extreme cold and the ice has kept me in more than I'd like.
Tomorrow is another day. 🙂

Sandy - you are right about apartments and tix. My daughter spent last week in NYC at a theater movement workshop and saw 3 plays. I didn't ask her about tix cost as I didn't want to know! Apartments in SF are higher rents than NYC! In SF some landlords are kicking tenants out and going condo.

Below zero overnight and 4 about 9am and 10 about 10am. Supposed to be 30's by Sunday.

We got our hot water last night - plumber and electrician as I switched from separate oil fired tank to electric water heater. Washing dishes this a.m. and laundry later this afternoon.

lele- the subway cars are air conditioned now - not when I lived there and that was an experience. I don't know if the stations themselves are air conditioned - I doubt it.
My daughter just spent a week in Manhattan at a specialized theater movement workshop. She used airbnb and got a place in midtown for most of the week and then was able to stay with a friend from graduate school a couple of nights. I'll ask her about her apartment stay. I'm not aware that NYU was ever called anything else.
Interesting about your mother & Queens college. Queens only opened about 1937 as my parents remembered it when the original buildings were a boys reform school! Not an easy commute from Brooklyn.

lele - if you do manage to stay in NYC for a few months, DO NOT stay in July or Aug. NYC gets hot and very humid in the summer months and it can be very uncomfortable. Of course there is much more A/C now than when I lived there. Also there are more cockroaches due to the weather and yes, I must mention those pesky bugs. They can be in the cleanest apartments.
You may want to check with an apartment rental agency re: sublets. I don't know where you live, but in cities a couple of blocks in one direction or another can take you into an undesirable or unsafe area.
I grew up in Queens, in a single family house and never lived in an apt. in NYC.
Sounds like a fun idea.

Rose Bowl just ended..... amazing, unpredicted game. FSU vs Oregon. Anyone see this fumble-stumble?

and now the game wray's been waiting for - Ohio State vs. Alabama.

dolores - let me know how you like Galbraith. As I mentioned they are gruesome but that never bothers me in a book.

Dan- at farmers markets and directly, one can buy "natural beef" in NH, but if you think beef at the supermarket is expensive.....!

We sold a few books on Amazon in Dec. from $10-$22. No ebay in Dec. for us and I have to get back to that.

Happy New Year!
My mother always insisted on sardines at midnight for good luck in the following year.
She also said that what happens New Year's Eve sets the tone for the new year....... I got a book order!

aeg- it is so hard to get rid of books! We've donated hundreds since wray closed his shop end of Aug. I'm putting together a small box of detective fiction to donate to a local organization that supports homeless and needy veterans.

Speaking of detective fiction - I just finished Robert Galbreth's second, The Silkworm. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas. Galbreth is ofcourse Rowling of Harry Potter fame. Both books focus on London private detective Strike. Except that they are rather gruesome, they are excellent reads.

No snow here but it is now quite cold. We are going to a local restaurant/bar tonight with another couple. Not our thing but we've done this for a couple of years because they like to go out. Age group is about 35-50 but some bring their parents or aunt so we aren't too out of place. 🙂

Happy New Year!

In late August I bought a new laptop with 8.1 but not a touch-screen. Everything from my old computer (XP) was transferred except programs I bought as they can't do that due to copyright.
My desktop looks the same in IE or Chrome. I haven't had any problems except for managing my new pictures. I haven't figured out how to do and file as I did before because I think it was program based. I do have picture components built into this computer (HP).
My computer use is pretty basic - online locations, email, ebay, pictures etc.

Merry Christmas! No snow here!

Visited with two families with children/grandchildren yesterday. Best line all day - Me asking 10yr old 5th grader girl -
What books do you like to read or who is the author you are reading now. Some thought and then..... Tolkein. Yes, she's
read The Hobbit.

Our tree was never decorated until Christmas Eve day and it wasn't taken down til after Jan. 6th (Little Christmas). My sister and I also got one "large" item - special doll, bike, etc, and some clothing or if needed a new coat -- and always at least one book. We got toys and games and paper dolls from grandparents and other family members.

My favorite Christmas memory was the Christmas dinner at our house each year. This included grandparents and aunts and uncles and great-aunts and uncles. We must have had 18 adults with all the leaves in the dining table and the children's table in the adjacent living room.

I'm off to a Chinese restaurant lunch with my daughter and her boyfriend.
Enjoy your day!

I just got an email that Walgreens is open Christmas Eve and Christmas day - boo!

aeg- we had sun for a brief time recently but otherwise it has been cloudy and dreary here too. At least we haven't had any snowstorms and we can get out and about without any hassles. Our only snow was the Thanksgiiving storm and a couple of inches another time that quickly melted.

And so it begins - drizzle and light rain today and torrential rain and high winds tomorrow into Christmas Day. Will be in the mid-high 50's on Christmas and still warm through the weekend. Yes, this is New Hampshire and the ski places must be tearing their hair out as it is the big Christmas school vacation time and not even cold enough to make snow - well maybe way up North.

Jim- I copied your info re: pics as I've been having trouble ever since I got my new computer and it slowing me down with ebay. Even when I get what I need to edit etc. I'm not sure how it happened. I use the SD card but I don't have the program I had on the old computer - they could copy my pics but not the program I used.

Jim- re: historical fiction. Rutherford is your man. He wrote several books of fiction about England, Ireland, London, New York etc. I really enjoyed the one on New York City. Big, fat tomes. Hillary Mantel is the one people are raving about now - English history of the time before and after Henry VIII. Wolf Hall has two volumes and readers are waiting for the third. Someone did a play of one of her books that is in London now and coming to New York in the Spring. I didn't read them as I'm not that interested in that period of history but wray and his friend have read them and rave about them - and wray doesn't usually read fiction.

Christmas Eve day we are going to a friends house where she will have some of her family whom we know and Christmas Eve I'm going to an open house with the family that has 5 young children. Christmas Day my daughter and her on again/off again boyfriend are taking me out for Chinese food but time is uncertain.

My daughter has had three boyfriends named John in the past few years so she refers to the current John as #3. 🙂

Enjoy your celebrations - be safe and be well.

Diane- did you sell your art books on ebay or.......

Here is what I am doing to try to lessen the load here - passing along items I think a specific person may use or appreciate. Good idea but this process doesn't even make a dent in the stuff here and in storage. I'm also sending some things to thrifts and tossing some items that are broken, stained etc.
The game now is - Will I live long enough to complete this task?

Lots of rain here, again. Our only snow was the Thanksgiving storm - not complaining.

Hello- We finally had sun today but still cold.

I finally went to a storage bin that I'd ignored for way too long. I lost the key to the lock so the guy had to cut the lock and I put on a new one. I had fun as I had forgotten much of what was at the front of the bin - can't get to the rear. So another job on the list of cleaning out and discarding or donating things. I've given some things away to people I know who'd like them.

I bought a small tree with a lighted star on top at a church thrift this morning and put it on the top landing space of my front steps. I also bought a faux kissing ball with dark red "velvet" ribbons at a craft fair and hung it on the front screen door instead of a wreath. We have an old wooden screendoor and have removed the screening so the dogs can look out and bark at will!

Finally started listing some of those art books on Amazon - the ones with ISBN's. Yesterday I listed some and we had an order
for one within an hour.

Jim wrote: I look forward to a time when I can have just a few months to sit around and do nothing. Yeah, some people think that's what retirement is like but we haven't gotten there yet!

Ann- glad to hear about the good sale on the Wright material. I was startled by your low opening bid but I see that worked for you. Do you know if they went to an institution or private collector?

Mid-50's temps and 8-10" of heavy, wet snow we had Wed. into Thurs. is melting away. We didn't lose power but others here and in other towns did. Electric utilities brought in trucks from NYS, CT, and Quebec. Lots of tree damage from the heavy snow.
Too early for that storm and the cold weather which will return tonight. Weird weather week ahead - warmer, cold, warmer, very cold with occasional rain or freezing rain.

Patsy- I read that list of items no longer collectible - there goes my daughter's inheritance. 🙂

I like Tractor Supply for dog treats and unusual items. They have a Carhart vest that wray wants - heavy, lined, canvass rather than puffy nylon. It is expensive but a new neighbor works for them and she gave me some coupons for a sale on Dec.8th.

My sister & bil drove to NH from Long Island today in the snow storm. Slow going in places but with the huge Yukon bil drives
they did okay. Earlier my sister called and said the hotel lost power twice. This is a heavy, wet snow here and many power outages in NH. The temps hovered around 33 degrees much of the afternoon and we also had some sleet.
We should be able to get to the restaurant for T-Day meal at 2pm. From my house it is only a few streets to a main road that goes straight to the restaurant - about 6 miles. Sister & bil aren't too far either.

Enjoy Thanksgiving.

Sandy - thanks. I checked the Today show. I didn't watch the video but her case is much worse than mine. I can relate to
total muscle control loss and falling down or being seated and slumping over. These attacks seem to come in clusters and I haven't had one for many months now. I have slumped over a shopping cart in a store, fallen on the floor at a supermarket and pharmacy and slumped at restaurants where management has insisted that I use a wheelchair to leave. Others have been
with me in all cases.
I had an attack during an IEP meeting at a school and that lasted rather a long time because the school nurse kept asking me questions and I was using recovery energy to try to answer - basically I can't talk but can hear. I had such a long attack at my MD's office that they called my neurologist who told them what to do...... nothing, I'd recover on my own. And I had a long attack at a counselor's office several years ago. I had told her about cataplexy but after a while she checked with her supervisor and they called an ambulance. By the time I was in a wheelchair on my way to the ambulance I had recovered and started to educate the EMT's about cataplexy. One EMT had a laptop and looked it up and finally agreed that what I was saying agreed with info online.
I'm comfortable about all as I can't control it so it isn't "my fault". I've offered to sign off on staff development (observing and learning about catapley) for the medical people but they don't think that is funny.

June- Buffalo area is astounding. It is supposed to warm and there is concern about flooding. I say, forget the flooding and try to get that snow off the roof. As the snow melts and gets wet it gets heavier.

It just turned 30 degrees here at 11am and it is windy. Seems like January out there... but at least no snow.

29 degrees at 10am - wind picking up!
So cold yesterday due to strong wind.
But at least there is no snow!

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Beth - is the "incident" such that it could be harmful to your son or others? If no, I'd say No Meds.
Will the meds reduce future symptoms by starting them now?
I tend to be cautious about med use although I am on several myself. One of the meds I take for narcolepsy is now
used for some with MS - Provigil (Modifinil). It is to counteract fatigue or sleepiness. I know three people with MS and fatigue
and stamina seem to be issues. One friend has a car modified for hand controls only. One fellow has issues with his legs feeling hot all the time so when not at work, he wears shorts year round. The people I know are all much older than your son and were in their 40's when signs first appeared.
You are fortunate that you are close to Dartmouth.

Beth - glad you are OK. Deer hits are a problem in NH also.
When I was about 16 I was with boyfriend and his parents driving in what New Yorkers would consider "upstate" NY when I saw a sign that said, "Deer Crossing Parkway". I said, That's a funny name for a parkway.... never lived that down as long as I knew this family!

June- are you thinking of Snapple?

Ann- you could try to offer the papers to a university or other organization with abolitionist archives - Yale & Indiana U are two I found. Also, contact an auction house. Southeby's features African-American related items in Feb - Black History month. I did quick research and Wright was controversial even among abolitionists. Pricing is difficult - sometimes we've used "reasonable profit" as a guide.

Colby Sawyer College in New London, NH is presenting The Importance of Being Ernest this weekend. My daughter teaches there and is the director for this student production. I am going to see it this evening mostly to see the sets which were done by children's illustrator Tomie De Paola who lives in New London, NH. De Paola and his home are featured in this month's NH Home magazine:
http://www.nhhomemagazine.com/November-December-2014/Tomie-dePaolas-magical-New-Hampshire-home/#.VFt7ozWAc2I.facebook

Heavy rain yesterday and cold (high-low 40's) and very windy here - all day. Lots
of leaves came off the trees.

At 3pm the dogs were looking to be fed and wray fed them about 3:15. We have to
gradually wean them to 4pm. They know what time it should be 🙂

June- wherever I read this it was identified as one of the shortest jokes.
and full disclosure - my maternal grandfather was Thomas Francis Kelly.

Joke: An Irishman walks out of a bar.

I also bought a sheet of Joplin and Hendrix stamps.
As I've mentioned, I lived in S.F. from '66-'73 including two apartments on Stanyan St. across from Golden Gate park - the
fringe of Haight-Ashbury. I saw Janis shopping on Haight St. several times as well as all the concerts.

Paula - I don't put Lady Gaga in the same class as others you mentioned. She is a talented pianist and performer who does a lot of "theater" to attract attention. I saw a show about her with interviews and she is quite intelligent. She attended a private Catholic girls' high school in Manhattan. I heard that she chose her name as reference to Queen's Radio GaGa. Another talented musician - Freddie Mercury including having studied opera.

Hi Bob. Stamp story for you.
Since wray closed his shop, his routine has changed and he is stopping at a post office in a small NH town to mail some items.
The person at the PO asked him if minded having Jimi Hendrix stamps on his mail. No, its ok.
Seems people in this small town don't want Jimi Hendrix stamps and PO is trying to get rid of them.
Do post offices get sent a certain number of new stamps?

Finally sun and somewhat warmer weather,

It wasn't just the film or developing process that "made" the finished product but the paper too. I was intrigued by the
different results from different photo paper. I seem to remember a preference for Ilford paper.
My ex & friends were semi-pro photographers and I worked at the largest camera store in Calif. for about 5 years (long gone now).
As Paul Simon sang: Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Paula - got email. Will get back to you - feeling a bit tired and low this week.

It has been raining for days here. The heaviest rain was much of yesterday but still not clearing.

We went to a book sale at a local private college this morning. Way fewer books than in the past plus we aren't really in the buying mode right now as we are still plowing through the 1500 or so art books! Bought several nice bird books and a couple of books to read. I saw 4 people with those scanners for pricing books. And there were several AA third edition books so I asked the women at checkout if that was a reflection on academia. One said, oh they were donated and I said, That's my
point!

Anyone interested in art books in German or European museum guides in German? About 10 of the 80 or so cartons of books are in German as the man we got them from taught at Heidelburg for a number of years. The Pop Art books are interesting - some German some English. I'm spending a lot of time checking prices for the art books and really need to list on ebay and elsewhere, We've had good luck on ebay recently - especially with make an offer. These are all older, non-ISBN books.

Hope the sun comes out here soon.

mystery- I am sick of the telephone polls - usually around dinner hour EST (4:30-6:30pm).
We have never had so many calls - even for Presidential elections.

There is a tight Senate race in NH - Dem, Jeanne Shaheen vs. Rep. Scott Brown.
Scott Brown lost reelection in Massachusetts to Elizabeth Warren..... so he moved to NH to try again.

Before the pollsters start their calling it would be nice if they were trained how to pronounce a candidates name.
Jeanne has been called - Jennie, Jeannie, Janine.......

Paula - I discovered that I have a Redskins jacket. Is it too volitile to try to sell right now?

We had another good sale. At a yard sale, wray bought a family genealogy book privately published in 1903. Listed it for
$75 and got an email from someone that if it didn't sell they would pay $50. It didn't sell but it is sold! I need to do more make an offer on ebay.

Yesterday, Huffington Post had an article and video about a young woman with narcolepsy/cataplexy. This is the condition that
I have. I found other links and a better video showing a young woman having a cataplexy attack. It was brought on by laughter.

Sudden change in the weather here - much colder and very windy!

Anyone in Florida want to adopt me for the winter?

I also try to use natural light to take pics. I use a trunk in front of a west facing window to place the book. Sometimes I
stand on a small stool so I am directly over the book.

June- I am from a small family too. My Dad was an only child and my mother the oldest of three. There was my sister and myself and 3 cousins. My sister and one cousin did not have any children and I have one daughter. We grew up living in my grandmother's house - father's mother and my mother's parents only lived about 5 miles away until they moved to Florida.
At Christmas our house was the "go to" house for both sides of the family as well as my grandmother's brother & wife and niece and husband. It was a good crowd!
My daughter has 3 cousins in So. California, only one of which she is in contact with. Daughter does not have any children. So the small family gets smaller.

I didn't really run into large families until I moved here, Manchester, NH. The combination of French-Canadians and Irish led to larger families as well as some of the Greek families.

Re: airport smoking. Several years ago my daughter and I flew to SF with plane change at O'Hare. No smoking rooms at O'Hare so i decided to go outdoors as we had a long wait. So I started to follow signs to an Exit --- and I kept going and going and never saw an exit to outdoors!
Eventually I turned around and ofcourse I had to go through check-in lines to get back to our gate.
How big is O'Hare? Now I try to fly non-stop although I haven't been anywhere for a couple of years.

Good Morning from chilly So. NH.
We actually had some nice sales on ebay under wraysbks account.

1. First American MASONIC Magazine Freemason's Magazine & General Miscellany 1811 - $175

2. The Ninth Arch Kenneth Grant Aleister Crowley Occult Religion Limited 1000 2002 - $175

3. Alaska Arctic Ocean Steamer CORWIN 1881 Notes Observations John Muir Illus 1881 - $100

The Ninth Arch was a fun sale. wray got the book from the used book bin at the supermarket. He knew nothing about it but saw
that it was a strange book. We were stunned when we saw the prices for the few available. 1st ebay listing was an auction for $295 - lots of lookers but no bids. Relisted as Buy It Now w/offer at $195 and within 6 hours we had an offer of $175 + shipping to England - we took the offer.

I need to keep listing.

Good Morning from So. NH where it has been below average temps all week. It is supposed to warm slightly this weekend.

Jude- maybe I should look at the old patterns I have, again. Good sale.

So wray found an oddball book in the book bin at the supermarket. It is occult and limited to 1,000. Did some research and found only a few offered for sale and all in the several hundred dollars range. Listed it at ebay auction for $295 - lots of lookers but no bidders. Then I decided to do a fixed price with offer and listed at $195. Had an offer within hours - $175 + postage to UK and we accepted that. It's not like he had a lot of money invested in the book. Also sold an old Masonic book by greatly reducing the price - $125 is good though not great. We have to move books and I may try fixed price with offer for more of them. We have the remaining stock from the closed shop (thousands) and ofcourse the newly acquired 1500 art books.

Having a yard sale tomorrow and Sun. The word "on the street" is things aren't selling unless they are very cheap so I am standing in front of a mirror practicing saying, one dollar. 🙂 In order to clean out the packed garage I advertised "mystery boxes". I'm going to bring boxes etc out of garage and let people go through and make prices cheap. I have plenty of other things priced and ready for display. I have a strong, metal work bench at the back of the garage that wray wants to use to stack boxes of books - but he can't get to it.

Reading Patricia Cornwell again - Kay Scarpetta. Finished another Jo Nesbo (Norwegian writer) - Harry Hole (that's Holl-ay).

Sandy - ouch! I had a tooth pulled his afternoon and so far things feel pretty good.
Sam - nice travels recently and thanks for FB photos.

Hot and humid here in New England. That is supposed to change by Sun. and then be in the 70's.

Patsy - you know the drill and when to see MD. When we were little my sister must have had a spider bite on her upper lip as she got all swollen and puffy. We were on vacation and every pic shows my sister's swollen lip! Yes, my mother took her to a local MD.
They are off! wray, his son and a friend. We rented a U-Haul cargo van and they will be moving the almost 1,500 books to a storage unit today. My job is to sort them in the unit and decide which we want to donate on a first sort.

We knew all the years, makes and models of cars. The first new car my Dad bought was a '61 Ford Fairlane - now that was a big car! It was the one I also used since i lived at home and commuted to college but in NYC public transportation was good.
My longtime boyfriend got a 56 Ford convertible in 1960 - white with red interior - classy. We couldn't get a license in NYC until we were 18.
Then I moved to San Francisco - again good transportation so no car necessary. The first car my ex and I got was an older VW and it was a complicated deal related to the porn kings of SF - the Mitchell Brothers. Friend of a friend etc. and we had to pay police storage fees to get the car. Registering it was a nightmare as this Mitchell brother was in prison and someone made visits to get papers signed etc.
So I never really had my own first car until much later.

Paula - 🙂 Yeah, that's what we thought.
We are already planning to donate some as we go through them - high school library, local art institute and museum libraries or museum annual book sale.

June- I am amazed that your sales are still related to aircraft books. How many years has it been?

At what point is someone "certifiable"? I've mentioned that wray is closing his shop and some portion of his cases and books are slowly being moved to storage with better books coming here.
Out of the blue he got a call from a retiring professor who is also moving and needs books removed from his house.... free books. He taught medieval history and art history. So we went to look at the books. This professor has already packed up 174 boxes of books to move and these are books he needs gone.
There are somewhere between 1,200-1,500 books, mostly hard covers and heavily art related. Some are paperback but most are hardcover. They are in fine condition as he mentioned that he never let anyone touch his books if they had lotion or cream on their hands etc. We have to take them all.
Even though we know that selling books is more difficult these days we can't pass up this offer. He offered them to the librarian where he teaches but they are moving to another building soon and will have less space and she needs to get rid of 7,000 books!
We have to move the books next week and that will probably mean renting storage space and a van and paying someone to help with the move.

Diane - interesting to hear that you are writing and "publishing".

Somewhat cooler and lower humidity so I trimmed the other side of the shrubs that line the 40' driveway. The shrubs are on the property border but i end up doing both sides. Sometimes later wray will use lawnmower on the debris.
I don't get much done when there is high humidity.

My daughter made it back from Texas and I'll see her for a bit this evening. 10 weeks is a long time to be gone from one's home and routine and two cats. Ofcourse she is stopping by to pick up two chairs for props and the two packages she sent here from Texas.
wray continues to work on clearing his shop. Tomorrow he and others are moving a couple of bookcases to storage so he can unpack books listed on-line.

Ann- yes, he advertised a sale to other book dealers and the response was sparse. His stock is mostly antiquarian and heavily theology so not of general interest.

How do I know my daughter is coming back from Texas soon? She's asking me for items to use as props in play in mid-August! She will have been in Kilgore for 10 weeks, returning this Wed.
She said, There is heat and then there is Texas heat! Overall she prefers the warm- hot temps.
wray continues to work on shutting down his shop which will be end of Aug. I'm headed out there now to take pics of some of his cases and other furniture to try to sell on craigslist and decide what may come here.
Haven't paid too much attention to weather but am hearing something about severe storms and rain here later today and tomorrow.

Jim- enjoy your cruise - sounds interesting.

Hoping t-storms later will lower temp & humidity here.
I picked up a book I never heard of and am finding the author is an excellent writer. If you are or were raised Roman Catholic you should enjoy this book and even those of us not RC can enjoy it!. All Saints by Liam Callanan. It is about a 50 yr old woman who teaches theology at a Catholic High School in Newport Beach, Ca. Example:
" There are those schools and churches who put all their eggs in one basket,
naming themselves for, and thus invoking the protection of, a single saint.
Saint Monica's say, or Saint Robert, Saint Aloysius, Saint Joseph.......
Some hedge their bets with two: Saints Peter and Paul......
And then there were outfits like ours.....who threw up their hands and said
oh, heck bring it all on: this is how you ended up with a school like the one
where I taught, All Saints Catholic High School."

I haven't read enough to know where the story line is going.

I am sorry to hear about Bill. RIP.

Belated thanks to Jim & Jude re: clearing cache. Very busy here recently.

Diane- I love the new you!

Computer question - how do I clear the cache?

June - you chose Windows 7 - now I hear that is on the way out.

I have 42 hits on my 1901 novel set at UC Berkeley and illustrated with campus photos. It closes this evening - will it sell? No bids thus far. Yes, I think it is worth $22.

Barbara - I like to see books selling.

Summer arrived here - close to 90 every day and increasing humidity.

Patsy - highly recommended by Wray - Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall and others - about England before and during Henry VIII. He doesn't like much fiction but he raved about this and one more that he read by her.

I've read a couple by Mariah Stewart - they are okay mysteries.

metal skates and key- up and down the block on the concrete walks.
shoe skates - I did a ton of that including taking a class with Girl Scouts and learning figure 8's and dancing backwards. From 6th-8th grade I went to a roller rink many Saturdays with a few other girls. No one had parents who would drive you back then so we took two buses or one bus and a long walk. That was when we started to use lipstick which was forbidden by parents when in the 6th grade. We used Tangee so it would be easy to wash off. Brazen weren't we? There is always that one girl.... and it wasn't me 🙂

Kathleen - I laughed out loud when I read that!
Good to "see you" - come back more often.

Suzanne was asked if she wanted to come back to work at the Texas Shakespeare Festival again next summer. She said to me that 10 weeks in Kilgore Tx is a bit more than she wants to do.

June- years ago in order to save money I bought a new car with no A/C. I never did that again :-).

Yes, half-court girls basketball. Our church had a league and I played in practice only and was a cheerleader. The Catholic (CYO) and Lutheran churches in Queens had quite a basketball league - boys. We had junior & senior teams. Spent many weekends going to basketball games. Our big "fight" with our pastor was wanting to play music and dance at half-time at our church. He never came to the games so we danced!
A friend who supports theater including my daughter's productions has the role of the Emcee in Caberet here. A friend and I are buying tickets as I want to show support for him and this theater organization. So my DD emails me and "warns" me that Caberet is very sexual and may have nudity. Shocking! 🙂

Patsy- glad to hear you will be involved with the library sale again.
Mystery- years ago we went to the races rather often including first day of the season in order to get a free pass for the season. It was our night out on Fri. We learned how to read the Racing newspaper and became familiar with some of the jockeys etc. We each had an amount beyond which we couldn't bet but we usually won enough to keep us going through the evening. $2 bets for the most part. Then they closed the track - Rockingham in Salem NH.

aeg- I've been sorting for months/years! I really need to get rid of things but I'd like to get a little money too. My daughter told me to cut my losses and donate all. I am "hoarder-lite". 🙂 I also need to list more here and there and use craigslist. My new plan is to schedule "work time" in order to be more productive.

Diane - my daughter is a runner and despite that her BP is still too high. She is on a second med. and did buy a BP monitor. She has one more follow up in Texas before returning to NH at end of July. She needs a referral to a cardiologist here. She is 5'1" and about 100 lbs - and tests showed no reason for high BP. Worrisome.

We've had more than a week of lovely weather, at last. When I see that May had the highest temps ever - not in New England!!

Another beautiful day in a string such days - first time this season.

Jim - is USA still in the competition with the tie game?

Yard sales are exhausting - setting up almost did me in. I advertised for Sat. along with most of the City. 🙂 Due to the rain and drizzle and showers for May, yard sales have been delayed here. As I was about to clean up on Sat. I discovered that neighbors across the street were having a yard sale on Sun. so I joined with them.
Much to my surprise I had way more people on Sun. than Sat.
I'm not going to be able to pay for a vacation from "my take" but I did okay and now there are cartons of books loaded in wrays SUV on their way to Goodwill. There are more where they came from. BTW- the books did not sell well even at 50 cents each.

Now to take the poor dogs to run and play which we didn't do on Sat or Sun.
Enjoy the day.

Fun day today with wray's son and GF, three grandkids and wray's ex-wife who came from Fl. to visit grandkids who now live in Michigan. Oldest has been doing youth ministries and charity work and is going all over the world. Off to Turkey prior to next assignment in No. Korea (invited).
5:30PM I get a call from my daughter who is working at the Texas Shakespeare Festival in Kilgore, TX. Her blood pressure is 220/110 and yesterday and today she had occasional "kalidescope" images for a few minutes. She is a little thing - 5'1" & about 100 lbs. She was crying - I don't want to end up in a hospital in Texas when I'm all alone....... She did go to Emergency Room and had CAT scan, EKG, etc. and she is staying overnight. She said her BP is coming down. She said tests didn't show any abnormalities. This is worrisome but at least she went to an ER.
Next job - our TV remote is freaking out and yes we changed the batteries. I have to call - it probably needs to be reprogrammed.

Lovely day here - sunny, breezy and mild.
Because of all of the wet weather we've had - some rain, some drizzle, some showers- green things are growing like crazy. I filled several barrels with bamboo and weeds today.
The only sport my Dad followed was boxing - Friday night fights on TV. He had been a lightweight in Golden Gloves in his youth. Living in Queens, NYC knowing about baseball was an important social skill in elementary school. You HAD to have a team. That's back when NYC had three teams - Dodgers, Yankees and Giants. I was a Dodgers team "fan". Seems to me that in the 50's there were several World Series games between the Dodgers and Yankees. Ofcourse now I live in Red Sox land.

Jim - we've read most of the Michael Connelly books. My fav. lawyer/mystery novel was written a number years ago - Walter Walker, Rules of the Knife Fight. While at the library recently I see that he's written others but I'd say that is the classic lawyer novel. Do not read the ending ahead of time.

My daughter and I have been reading the Nesbo Harry Hole books. Virgo daughter reads them in order; Gemini Mom reads whichever she can find.
For my b-day Suzanne sent me the newest Nesbo which is not a Harry Hole - and a Harry Hole - The Red Breast.
We've talked about the violence in the Scandanavian mysteries and wonder if the climate has something to do with it.

Ann- nice sales on the sets. How do you ship them?

June - wow, you are still selling aircraft books!
re: cursive. That is being discussed here too. It is sort of like when Germany switched to Roman letters from Fractur. I may have been among the last classes in high school to read Fractur. Thankfully we didn't have to write it.

Lovely day here. After sitting on the deck doing crosswords I finally decided to wash the kitchen floor. We have had so much wet weather that I haven't done a deep clean on the floor.

mystery - there is one of those here although I've never been.

Jim - what about historical preservation with tech changes. We can still read a book from 1520 or papyrus from Egypt etc. What happens when the disks or whatever can't be read because the hardware isn't available?
And I think about personal family histories that could be tracked through old letters.
There is a sci-fi novel there........

Thank you for the birthday wishes.

Jim, I'm reading a Patricia Cornwall novel from the 1990's and in one scene Kay Scarpetta's niece is telling her how to find out who got into her computer files without authorization.
Scarpetta's computer is slow and the niece says - I wish you had a 486! She also gives her instructions in UNIX using the keyboard. That caught my attention.

B0b - nice site about the new stamps.

Florida authors: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Finally, a gorgeous, warm, sunny day though showers are predicted for tonight.

It finally hit 50 degrees here and the rain has stopped for now. Rain and drizzle all morning, cold and breezy. We have had showers and rain almost every day for a week or more. My yard sale was cancelled due to morning rains on the weekend.
I don't think we will have Spring this year - probably go right to Summer.

I hope Beth is okay. Lots of rain and flooding in Vermont in the past few days.

Ann (aeg) - books, paper goods, framed art, vintage clothing, smalls, ..... nothing for you :-). I know I have some things priced too high and I will come down on some .... we'll see. Typical for books is $1 for hardback and 50cents for paper and I took a few art books and others and priced them at $5...
This is the tip of the iceberg..... and the first time this season that it shouldn't be misty or rainy as sale has to be in the driveway.

We had a small garden on a city lot but we still had many flowers - especially roses. My grandmother grew all types of roses.
Did anyone else bring cut flowers to school for the teacher? I especially remember bringing lilacs and roses.
Back to yard sale prep.

Send us some nice Spring weather. Showers, overcast, high of 60 today and similar dreary days on and off. We can't seem to get a long string of sunny, mild weather.
Having a yard sale on Sun & Mon.

Diane & Helen - thanks for your comments about East Texas.
Diane - Suzanne is aware of the political and religious attitudes in the area. There are people coming in from many places to work at the Festival.

Beth - we are walking on a bed of greenish-yellow here and tracking it indoors if not careful - yes, that is pollen from the trees!

Good Morning. More days of overcast and showers and maybe rain with humidity now thrown in. Dreary Spring thus far, following a dreary winter.

Anyone here familiar with Texas? My daughter has arrived safely in Kilgore, TX where she will be for 10 weeks - working at a summer job at the Texas Shakespeare Festival at Kilgore College.
Well, I found Kilgore on a weather map and it doesn't seem to be close to anything. It is Eastern Texas and Shrevesport, LA seems to be the closest big city. This should be an interesting experience for her. 🙂

wray has started the process of closing down his small shop. His goal is to have sales and be gone by the end of August. In the meantime he is moving his more expensive books here. Well, there is no room here and I still haven't been able to have garage sale #1 due to the wet weather. It has to be in the driveway and will be lots of books, paper, fabric and framed art..... can't get wet.

This too shall pass.......

Happy Mother's Day! Had a nice lunch with my daughter. She is off to Kilgore TX for 10 weeks. She got a summer job as Audience Service Manager (mostly box office) for the Texas Shakespeare Festival. She was told that this location is more "Southern" than "Texan" and closer to Shrevesport, LA than any Texas city. Also told it is very hot & humid but there is A/C. She gets airfare paid, private grad student housing and 15 meals a week, and a decent stipend. Wash. D.C. is as south as she's ever lived.

Jim- odd names have been around for a while but maybe they are increasing now. Years ago the Child Development class at my school had three girls named Heidi- all spelled differently - Heidi, Hiedi and Hidi. We wondered if the parents of the second girl didn't know how to spell. 🙂

Today is lovely - sunny and low 70's but the cooler weather is coming back - highs in low-middle 50's.

Diane- Boil water warning reduced now to: Effective Immediately, the MBWN applies to the following ONLY.

North Boundary: Interstate 10
West Boundary: Tippin/12th Ave.
East and South Boundary: Escambia & Pensacola Bays
Residents are advised to boil water for one minute at a rolling boil, or to use 6 drops of regular unscented household bleach per gallon of water, for water to be used for drinking of cooking purposes.

Diane- if you are safe, DO NOT go out! Latest weather news for Pensacola - 15-20 inches of rain, many roads closed, portion of Rt.10 closed and on and on. Mobile, Al. is worse.

Beth- Yes, Google Chrome - thanks!

mysteryhorse - I've been using Google not IE for quite some time. Find Google OS (operating system) and it is a simple download. I have it as an icon on my desktop and after I start computer I click on the Google icon... no problem.

Diane - are you near Pensacola? Apparently torrential rain now in Mobile Al. and Pensacola and much flooding.

Rain showers and steady rain here for next few days and it remains chilly - highs in the mid-40's. Even when we have highs near 60 we have wind with it and it still feels cold.

Stay safe, all.

I love seersucker material but it is not always "in style".

What happens when you have a buyer (foreign, newbie) who doesn't pay and doesn't respond to repeat invoices and emails? We'd just as soon not continue with the sale but will wait a bit longer. Then what do we do?

I've started listing again on my account and will have to do some books on wray's account.

Two of wray's granddaughters are involved in unusual projects. One (20) is completing her second religious mission. The first was in Southeast Asia and this one was in Hawaii - Oahu poor, dangerous neighborhood. Don't know what her next plans are but I'd like to see her return to college. She completed one year at Gordon College in Beverley MA.
The other grand graduated early from FSU in Tallahassee and started her hike of the Appalachin Trail in Georgia - by herself. There is a service that she uses that shows where she is - in No. Carolina now and has been for a while. I can see Asheville southeast of her current location. We hope to meet up with her in NH in August. She texted her Mom that she'd been hiking a bit with some old people. How old? 37... LOL! These girls are cousins - talk about Strong Girls!

Patsy- another excellent book sale!

Beth - our weather is similar but not as severe. It was still in the 30's at noon today although it got a bit warmer by mid-afternoon. The dusting of snow was more like ice.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez died today at the age of 87. One of my favorite writers.

Happy Birthday, Jim... enjoy!

We finally had the 70 degree weather I've been hearing about for days. It is 74 now and quite windy but after today it will be back into the 40's and 50's for the highs. I'm not sure we will have much of a Spring this year.

Psst.... would someone please tell me who Liz is.... ebay name?

I've been reading some of the Scandanavian detective books and also found a couple of other authers who I enjoyed. Canadian - Giles Blunt. i read The Delicate Storm but Forty Words for Sorrow seems to be the first in the series.
Lynn Sheperd - English. I am reading The Solitary House which is set in London in 1850 and she also wrote one called Murder at Mansfield Park.
Always fun to find more interesting authors.

Good Morning. A lovely day today until the rains come this evening. The ground is still frozen so too much rain is not good.

Jim - I was thinking about how far behind I am with technology when at one time I was in the forefront. I started using a computer at school early on and stayed ahead with that. I've used 5 1/2" floppies, 3" floppies, CD's, DVD's etc. I've moved from desktop to laptop.
But as far as phones or any other newer technology..... NADA. We even have an old 27" TV and only one in the house. A new 40" TV was next on my list of items to buy until I decided that I need to buy a new laptop re: XP and this old laptop that I have.
I've lost pixels on the screen so I have about a 1" white stripe down one area of the laptop screen and a couple of other minor issues, so yes I need a new laptop!
And I don't have any 10yr old grandkids to help me. 🙂

Recently there was talk about TV's and Netflix etc. I found this on Amazon's home page today: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CX5P8FC/ref=amb_link_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gateway-center-column&pf_rd_r=0RDFD9FTKQEAC0T01606&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1770741782&pf_rd_i=507846

Amazon Fire TV - $99
Not sure how this works with or without cable. If someone is interested to check it out maybe they could explain it. 🙂

Hi jcorn. In the old days I posted as wraysbks.