Farewell, Anne McCaffrey - You Will Never Be Equaled

It doesn't seem possible that I heard no news stories, nor saw any write-ups, about the passing of writer Anne McCaffrey.   She died Monday, at her home in Ireland, shortly after having a stroke.  Anne was a prolific writer; she created many worlds in her books, and I have visited each one many times.  She created whole histories and civilizations, but all of her heroes and heroines were very human.  The way that she crafted her characters made you really care about them - whether they were humans, dragons, unicorns, horses, cats, or shape-changers.  Personally, I loved her books about the planet Pern the best.  I'm very happy that I read that series in the order that she wrote the books, and now, whenever I need a vacation from real life, I can go visit Pern at almost any time during it's history.  In the first book of the series, Dragonflight, I cried the first time I read about the death of Ruatha Keep's old watch-wher; now, 40 plus years later, I still cry at that scene.  I learned a lot about the world, and myself, from reading Anne McCaffrey's books.  I don't think that her like will appear on the writing scene in a long time.  Rest in peace, Anne.  May you be reunited with all your friends and loved ones on the other side of between.

Forty-eight years ago, a small new television show appeared today for the first time (on BBC1) - it's title was Doctor Who.  I don't believe the writers and actors in the first few episodes would have believed that the Doctor would be going strong even now - or that the Doctor would be on his thirteenth regeneration.  As there have been so many actors who have portrayed the Doctor, it seems as if  most viewers' favorite actor is the one that they first saw portraying the Time Lord.  For me, it was Tom Baker, he of the wild hair and widow's peak, the flashing grin, and the tremendously long knitted scarf.  He played the Doctor with dash, elan, and, definitely, with tongue in cheek. 

It doesn't seem possible that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.  I'm currently back at Aiko and Yoshi's, having had Shady as a bed partner last night.  Cloudy jumped into bed with us, but hissed at me when she discovered I wasn't Alexy, and immediately left.  Yoshi and AIko's family will be returning this afternoon or evening.  And I need to make the corn pudding tonight, as well as rinse and dry the fruit before making the platter tomorrow.  Thursday night, I'll need to bake brownies for my bus driver buddies.  Olie, Annie and Bentley have been totally super on their walks.  Rosie has been full of excitement with the cool fall air.  Remy is still having problems with his hips or pelvis.  He started out walking fine yesterday, but 40 minutes into the walk, both of his hind legs just... failed; and he did a belly flop on the sidewalk.  He looked so confused and embarrassed, it was pitiful.  I stopped Rosie and knelt beside Remy, soothing him, and letting him just lie there.  After about 5 minutes, I urged him to get to his feet, which he did, and I took them straight back to the house.  Remy limped all the way.  Thank goodness Nancy was there, so I could tell her immediately what had occurred.  And, thank goodness, Remy is already scheduled to have a full check-up at the CSU veterinary school on December 8.  This is just not right....