Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Thursday, August 9, 2018
My Favorite Authors
My problem in reading is that I enjoy a wide variety of books and authors - and I go back and re-read most of the books that were favorites while I was in school every two or three years...
I had several Little Golden Books as a child, and when I was 6, my parents got me a copy of Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, along with a wide assortment of small children's books about Misty - Misty, the Wonder Pony and a book telling Misty's story through photographs from the 20th Century Fox movie starring Pam Smith, David Ladd, Arthur O'Connell and Anne Seymour. Of course I received these because I was taken to my first Pony Penning at the age of 7 weeks, and never missed one until I was 28 years old. Mom was related to most of the people mentioned in the book, and remembered when Marguerite Henry was on the island and staying at Miss Molly's Inn. Because of that, and my continuing love of all animals, I have to say that my first favorite author was Marguerite Henry.
Both of my parents were voracious readers. Mom owned a lot of Zane Grey westerns, and I have read everything the man ever published - in book form or in magazines. I read all of the Nancy Drew and Dana Girl mysteries, and I was ten when I read The Once and Future King by T. H. White, followed by Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki. That started a period of myth reading, along with ghost reports (Hans Holzer), and embarked me into science fiction and fantasy.
I read Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, and Isaac Asimov. From there, I fell for J. R. R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and C. J. Cherryh. I also discovered truly heroic adventure - and was captivated by Frank Yerby, Rafael Sabatini (Scaramouche and The Black Swan are my favorites) and I still prefer unabridged copies of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Then Dad said that his mother, whose maiden surname was Lancaster, was a direct descendant for the Lancastrian kings of England. (She wasn't, but we do descend from John of Gaunt on Dad's paternal side.) So I started reading non-fiction and fiction about the Kings and Queens of England - Jean Plaidy brought the old courts to life - and my Dad thoroughly enjoyed reading all her books, too. For great historical fiction, I love Bernard Cornwell and Jack Whyte. For historical fiction/mystery P. C. Doherty is fantastic.
Mom was also a huge fan of mysteries - I read all of "The Saint" books by Leslie Charteris, and all of the James Bond books, and a huge variety of other authors. Of course, with my horse interests, I became enthralled with the books of Dick Francis, the former jump-jockey for the Queen of England. I also became enamored with the characters in Dana Stabenow's mysteries set in Alaska.
Currently, I'm reading Tony Hillerman and C. J. Box, having finished all of the books by James Doss. And I am so sorry that Margaret Coel has stopped writing - her mysteries set on the Wind River Reservation, and her seminal non-fiction book on Chief Niwot are phenomenal. Then, too, I love Rita Mae Brown and Shirley Rousseau Murphy and Carole Nelson Douglas. Mom got me hooked on the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald, and I introduced her to Randy Wayne White before her dementia became too severe for her to read.
And I also read "thrillers" - I love books by Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Lee J. Child, James Lee Burke, Alafair Burke, Linda Fairstein and every book either co-written, or written individually (non-fiction and fiction) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
If you enjoy reading, I think you'll enjoy any and/all all of the authors I have mentioned above.
I had several Little Golden Books as a child, and when I was 6, my parents got me a copy of Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, along with a wide assortment of small children's books about Misty - Misty, the Wonder Pony and a book telling Misty's story through photographs from the 20th Century Fox movie starring Pam Smith, David Ladd, Arthur O'Connell and Anne Seymour. Of course I received these because I was taken to my first Pony Penning at the age of 7 weeks, and never missed one until I was 28 years old. Mom was related to most of the people mentioned in the book, and remembered when Marguerite Henry was on the island and staying at Miss Molly's Inn. Because of that, and my continuing love of all animals, I have to say that my first favorite author was Marguerite Henry.
Both of my parents were voracious readers. Mom owned a lot of Zane Grey westerns, and I have read everything the man ever published - in book form or in magazines. I read all of the Nancy Drew and Dana Girl mysteries, and I was ten when I read The Once and Future King by T. H. White, followed by Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki. That started a period of myth reading, along with ghost reports (Hans Holzer), and embarked me into science fiction and fantasy.
I read Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, and Isaac Asimov. From there, I fell for J. R. R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and C. J. Cherryh. I also discovered truly heroic adventure - and was captivated by Frank Yerby, Rafael Sabatini (Scaramouche and The Black Swan are my favorites) and I still prefer unabridged copies of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Then Dad said that his mother, whose maiden surname was Lancaster, was a direct descendant for the Lancastrian kings of England. (She wasn't, but we do descend from John of Gaunt on Dad's paternal side.) So I started reading non-fiction and fiction about the Kings and Queens of England - Jean Plaidy brought the old courts to life - and my Dad thoroughly enjoyed reading all her books, too. For great historical fiction, I love Bernard Cornwell and Jack Whyte. For historical fiction/mystery P. C. Doherty is fantastic.
Mom was also a huge fan of mysteries - I read all of "The Saint" books by Leslie Charteris, and all of the James Bond books, and a huge variety of other authors. Of course, with my horse interests, I became enthralled with the books of Dick Francis, the former jump-jockey for the Queen of England. I also became enamored with the characters in Dana Stabenow's mysteries set in Alaska.
Currently, I'm reading Tony Hillerman and C. J. Box, having finished all of the books by James Doss. And I am so sorry that Margaret Coel has stopped writing - her mysteries set on the Wind River Reservation, and her seminal non-fiction book on Chief Niwot are phenomenal. Then, too, I love Rita Mae Brown and Shirley Rousseau Murphy and Carole Nelson Douglas. Mom got me hooked on the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald, and I introduced her to Randy Wayne White before her dementia became too severe for her to read.
And I also read "thrillers" - I love books by Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Lee J. Child, James Lee Burke, Alafair Burke, Linda Fairstein and every book either co-written, or written individually (non-fiction and fiction) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
If you enjoy reading, I think you'll enjoy any and/all all of the authors I have mentioned above.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Oh, The Wind.... Wind... Wind.... WIND!
Sitting here, safely enclosed within my second floor apartment, I can easily understand how many pioneer women were pushed beyond their sanity limit by the constant blowing of the wind. I grew up, pretty much, in the east; I was three when we moved from Virginia to Tennessee, and was five when we left Kingsville, Texas for Gainesville, Florida. I grew up with stories of tornadoes and the Dust Bowl in Kansas and Oklahoma, and with stories about hurricanes and high water on Chincoteague. Spending my school years in Florida, I was highly conversant with hurricanes and hurricane winds. We always lived in the suburbs, and had neighbors near by.
The winds that I have encountered in Boulder, Colorado are of a different variety than the sudden rain squalls on the island, and from hurricane winds. I find I get very tired after the wind has been blowing here for 8 hours or more. It doesn't matter if I'm in an apartment, a small house, or a huge mansion - the wind is tiring. Here, in the apartment I call home, I live on a corner of the building. We have a full size sliding glass door onto the balcony, a single large window in my bedroom looking west, another large window facing west in Bea's room, and she also has two smaller south-face windows, one in her walk-in closet. The only way to get fresh air inside is to open either of the two bedroom windows, the slider onto the balcony, or the entrance door.- Not that we want to open things up when it's windy.
The exhaust flap for the dryer is above my bedroom window, as is the exhaust vent for the stove. When the wind blows, both of those flaps move with the air. I hear it in my bedroom, in the hall beside the dryer, and in the kitchen near the range. With big gusts, the windows shake and shudder in their frames. Now, I know that this building was built to withstand straight-line winds of up to 120 miles per hour - but it's not something that's easy to get used to.
So, when I'm getting myself worked up about the wind, and how edgy it makes me feel, I think of pioneer women. Women who were used to hard work and privation, who were used to "making do" with what was available, but who had grown up with a large family, usually where another house was within walking distance... And here they are, inside a soddy, or a small cabin, probably not well sealed, listening to the wind blow and blow and blow, through the cracks, around the corners... blowing sand, snow, whatever inside, insinuating itself through every vestigial opening. No one to speak with, except a husband, who was busy with his own worries... And, frequently, no other women around except in a day's travel time. It is no wonder that so many women were placed into institutions, or killed themselves, or left to find a place without wind, and disappeared into the prairies and mountains.
I am very lucky that I can retreat into books, or music, or the television. I usually read during windy days... today I'm working on my family genealogy, but I find myself getting irritated when the PC slows down, or the *@#^$%* Comcast connection interrupts service. So, I think I'll go back to a book - and read - because of the wind.....
The winds that I have encountered in Boulder, Colorado are of a different variety than the sudden rain squalls on the island, and from hurricane winds. I find I get very tired after the wind has been blowing here for 8 hours or more. It doesn't matter if I'm in an apartment, a small house, or a huge mansion - the wind is tiring. Here, in the apartment I call home, I live on a corner of the building. We have a full size sliding glass door onto the balcony, a single large window in my bedroom looking west, another large window facing west in Bea's room, and she also has two smaller south-face windows, one in her walk-in closet. The only way to get fresh air inside is to open either of the two bedroom windows, the slider onto the balcony, or the entrance door.- Not that we want to open things up when it's windy.
The exhaust flap for the dryer is above my bedroom window, as is the exhaust vent for the stove. When the wind blows, both of those flaps move with the air. I hear it in my bedroom, in the hall beside the dryer, and in the kitchen near the range. With big gusts, the windows shake and shudder in their frames. Now, I know that this building was built to withstand straight-line winds of up to 120 miles per hour - but it's not something that's easy to get used to.
So, when I'm getting myself worked up about the wind, and how edgy it makes me feel, I think of pioneer women. Women who were used to hard work and privation, who were used to "making do" with what was available, but who had grown up with a large family, usually where another house was within walking distance... And here they are, inside a soddy, or a small cabin, probably not well sealed, listening to the wind blow and blow and blow, through the cracks, around the corners... blowing sand, snow, whatever inside, insinuating itself through every vestigial opening. No one to speak with, except a husband, who was busy with his own worries... And, frequently, no other women around except in a day's travel time. It is no wonder that so many women were placed into institutions, or killed themselves, or left to find a place without wind, and disappeared into the prairies and mountains.
I am very lucky that I can retreat into books, or music, or the television. I usually read during windy days... today I'm working on my family genealogy, but I find myself getting irritated when the PC slows down, or the *@#^$%* Comcast connection interrupts service. So, I think I'll go back to a book - and read - because of the wind.....
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Miscellany
The past several days have been a television viewing pleasure - Clint Watts has been interviewed multiple times, as has Malcolm Nance and Naveed Jamali. Several appearances by Richard Painter, and some of my favorite Congressmen and Congresswomen have also sweetened the view. I did not watch the State of the Union address last night, but I did watch Joe Kennedy's Democratic rebuttal. And I loved Joe Biden's tweet about Joe's speech. I also laughed myself silly when Sarah Suckabee Sanders said that polls show that "no one" in America is interested in the Russia investigation.... What a hoot!
Anyway, we've had warm weather and wind the past few days, but there is still snow and ice in the parking lot here. It was 62 degrees yesterday, but then 26 last night... Today, clouds are clinging to the tops of the Flatirons, while there are mostly clear skies to the north and east. Besides our filled bird feeders, Bea tossed out raw almonds for the birds and squirrels this morning. The usual ravens and blue jays were here, and then a flock of about 100 starlings appeared, but they left after ten minutes. Tipsi, the white tail-tipped squirrel, has been much in evidence the past few days; and our usual sparrows, finches and chickadees are abundant.
Tonight is the really wild and crazy lunar event - there's a "super" moon, a "blue" moon, a "blood" moon, and a total lunar eclipse. My brother-in-law and his neighbor are planning out the best place to be, at the best time, to take photos of the event... I plan on sleeping. I'll see all sorts of wonderful photos via the internet tomorrow.
I finished reading Emergence, the latest C. J. Cherryh Foreigner series book. - And I want another new one, immediately, as usual. Last night I finished reading the latest Pendergast novel, City of Endless Night, by Preston and Child - and I want another new book in that series, too. I'm starting to re-read all the Pendergast novels, in order, again.
And - just to be silly - Enlighten yourself! Go read a new book!
Anyway, we've had warm weather and wind the past few days, but there is still snow and ice in the parking lot here. It was 62 degrees yesterday, but then 26 last night... Today, clouds are clinging to the tops of the Flatirons, while there are mostly clear skies to the north and east. Besides our filled bird feeders, Bea tossed out raw almonds for the birds and squirrels this morning. The usual ravens and blue jays were here, and then a flock of about 100 starlings appeared, but they left after ten minutes. Tipsi, the white tail-tipped squirrel, has been much in evidence the past few days; and our usual sparrows, finches and chickadees are abundant.
Tonight is the really wild and crazy lunar event - there's a "super" moon, a "blue" moon, a "blood" moon, and a total lunar eclipse. My brother-in-law and his neighbor are planning out the best place to be, at the best time, to take photos of the event... I plan on sleeping. I'll see all sorts of wonderful photos via the internet tomorrow.
I finished reading Emergence, the latest C. J. Cherryh Foreigner series book. - And I want another new one, immediately, as usual. Last night I finished reading the latest Pendergast novel, City of Endless Night, by Preston and Child - and I want another new book in that series, too. I'm starting to re-read all the Pendergast novels, in order, again.
And - just to be silly - Enlighten yourself! Go read a new book!
Friday, January 19, 2018
Books
A study says that people who read several books each year have a tendency to live two years longer than people who don't. Now, I definitely don't want to live forever, but there for a while, I was reading a book a day; I've currently slowed down to one every two or three days. How much more will that extend my life, I wonder? - Not much, I'm sure.
Today is my sister's 68th birthday.... Kathy Jo was born at the Chincoteague Naval Air Station today, with the help of forceps, as she was a breech presentation. Mom had so much internal damage they told her she'd never conceive again - but here I am! (Our family likes to confound the medical profession.) For her birthday, I gave her a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon - The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. I'm on the reserve waiting list for a copy from the library.
I've been re-reading some favorites, and found a three-in-one Andre Norton hardcover. Apparently I read two of the novels when I was in 7th grade, but I don't remember the third one, which I'm about two-thirds through... I have a copy of the new C. J. Cherryh Foreigner series book, Emergence, to read; and I'm awaiting the arrival of my autographed copy of City on the Edge of Darkness by Preston and Child.
I just received my new Bas Bleu catalog, and I've spotted another 10 books that look intriguing - I'll have to order them from the library - and I still need to sitdown at my PC and read May Day Over Wichita, which my cousin Sarah highly recommends.
After several nights of single digit temperatures, the Chinook winds arrived early this morning, and it was 47 degrees when I left to care for Pip and Squeak; 49 when I returned. It's supposed to reach the mid-60s again this afternoon (it was 68 yesterday), before getting chilly again tomorrow. Then snow is forecast for Sunday, with a high of 30.... We'll see!
Today is my sister's 68th birthday.... Kathy Jo was born at the Chincoteague Naval Air Station today, with the help of forceps, as she was a breech presentation. Mom had so much internal damage they told her she'd never conceive again - but here I am! (Our family likes to confound the medical profession.) For her birthday, I gave her a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon - The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. I'm on the reserve waiting list for a copy from the library.
I've been re-reading some favorites, and found a three-in-one Andre Norton hardcover. Apparently I read two of the novels when I was in 7th grade, but I don't remember the third one, which I'm about two-thirds through... I have a copy of the new C. J. Cherryh Foreigner series book, Emergence, to read; and I'm awaiting the arrival of my autographed copy of City on the Edge of Darkness by Preston and Child.
I just received my new Bas Bleu catalog, and I've spotted another 10 books that look intriguing - I'll have to order them from the library - and I still need to sitdown at my PC and read May Day Over Wichita, which my cousin Sarah highly recommends.
After several nights of single digit temperatures, the Chinook winds arrived early this morning, and it was 47 degrees when I left to care for Pip and Squeak; 49 when I returned. It's supposed to reach the mid-60s again this afternoon (it was 68 yesterday), before getting chilly again tomorrow. Then snow is forecast for Sunday, with a high of 30.... We'll see!
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Critters, Wild and Tame
It doesn't seem like a week since I sat down in front of a blank blog page... All sorts of things are going on in the news and wildlife areas. And I've been taking care of multiple houses full of critters, as people decide to vacation on a whim, without planning for pet care. I've been running around like crazy. I think I have two days off, Wednesday and Thursday this week, if nothing else pops up.
I've started re-reading my Robin Hobb collection, and am currently reading Dragon Haven. After I read her books, I'll hit my Rafael Sabatini novels, and then my un-edited editions of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. That should keep me busy for a little while.
I received my National Geographic DNA information back some time ago - my Haplogroup is J1c4. But I have recently sent my DNA for processing to both Ancestry and to 23AndMe, also. I'm waiting to see what is reported by the other two agencies...
We've recently had moose in North Boulder - a woman was tending her garden on the edge of Wonderland Lake, and said she "suddenly felt a presence looming over" her. It was a mother moose with twin calves, and the mother decided the woman was threatening her babies. She was knocked down and walked upon. Luckily, she only had scrapes and bruises. And another moose with a single calf was reported at the Justice Center near the end of Boulder Canyon.
Of course it's now summer, and we're having our usual incursions of coyotes, mountain lions and black bears. The coyotes have been grabbing small dogs who are off-leash on walking, jogging, and biking paths, as well as cats loose in neighborhoods. The mountain lions are grabbing the mule deer and fawns. The bears are smashing bee hives and stealing honey, as well as raiding any bird feeders they can reach. A friend has a one-inch thick wrought iron post for her feeders, and thought they were safe - this morning the post was bent at a 70 degree angle and the bird feeders were crushed and empty on the ground. And folks around my sister and brother-in-laws house now have teen-aged bobcats out hunting with their parents, as well. The fox are staying under cover as much as possible. The cottontail rabbit birth explosion is feeding most of the smaller predators.
Tess, one of the dogs I care for, is not doing well at the moment. She started having seizures last fall. They began occurring every 4 days a couple of months ago, and she has finally been placed on Potassium Bromide as a daily medication. (Her owner is a very firm believer in holistic medicine and diet taking care of everything.) The K-Bro medication has increased her appetite amazingly, as well as her thirst. But the main side effect is ataxia, her hind legs don't support her well... The vet told the owner that once Tess reaches her optimal medication level, she'll return to normal. The vet told the owner it would take one month. I read the information, and it says the optimal level is reached in three to four months... We'll have to see. In the meantime, the dog who always bounced and danced on her hind legs is now shuffling with her nose to the ground. It's pretty sad...
Still at 59 new foals on the Chincoteague NationalWildlife Refuge - 56 after the three losses. One foal died from an umbilical infection, one foal got stuck in the marsh mud and couldn't break free, and one had a congenital defect of the forelegs, which could not be healed. All the others are quite bouncy and bold. As usual, there are some really stupendous pinto markings, quite a few solids with great conformation, and a few real stand-outs. I'm happy with the foals so far...
I've started re-reading my Robin Hobb collection, and am currently reading Dragon Haven. After I read her books, I'll hit my Rafael Sabatini novels, and then my un-edited editions of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. That should keep me busy for a little while.
I received my National Geographic DNA information back some time ago - my Haplogroup is J1c4. But I have recently sent my DNA for processing to both Ancestry and to 23AndMe, also. I'm waiting to see what is reported by the other two agencies...
We've recently had moose in North Boulder - a woman was tending her garden on the edge of Wonderland Lake, and said she "suddenly felt a presence looming over" her. It was a mother moose with twin calves, and the mother decided the woman was threatening her babies. She was knocked down and walked upon. Luckily, she only had scrapes and bruises. And another moose with a single calf was reported at the Justice Center near the end of Boulder Canyon.
Of course it's now summer, and we're having our usual incursions of coyotes, mountain lions and black bears. The coyotes have been grabbing small dogs who are off-leash on walking, jogging, and biking paths, as well as cats loose in neighborhoods. The mountain lions are grabbing the mule deer and fawns. The bears are smashing bee hives and stealing honey, as well as raiding any bird feeders they can reach. A friend has a one-inch thick wrought iron post for her feeders, and thought they were safe - this morning the post was bent at a 70 degree angle and the bird feeders were crushed and empty on the ground. And folks around my sister and brother-in-laws house now have teen-aged bobcats out hunting with their parents, as well. The fox are staying under cover as much as possible. The cottontail rabbit birth explosion is feeding most of the smaller predators.
Tess, one of the dogs I care for, is not doing well at the moment. She started having seizures last fall. They began occurring every 4 days a couple of months ago, and she has finally been placed on Potassium Bromide as a daily medication. (Her owner is a very firm believer in holistic medicine and diet taking care of everything.) The K-Bro medication has increased her appetite amazingly, as well as her thirst. But the main side effect is ataxia, her hind legs don't support her well... The vet told the owner that once Tess reaches her optimal medication level, she'll return to normal. The vet told the owner it would take one month. I read the information, and it says the optimal level is reached in three to four months... We'll have to see. In the meantime, the dog who always bounced and danced on her hind legs is now shuffling with her nose to the ground. It's pretty sad...
Still at 59 new foals on the Chincoteague NationalWildlife Refuge - 56 after the three losses. One foal died from an umbilical infection, one foal got stuck in the marsh mud and couldn't break free, and one had a congenital defect of the forelegs, which could not be healed. All the others are quite bouncy and bold. As usual, there are some really stupendous pinto markings, quite a few solids with great conformation, and a few real stand-outs. I'm happy with the foals so far...
Friday, November 18, 2016
Snow and Books
So after more than fourteen hours of snow fall, the sun is shining, and most of the sky is bright blue. But it's 23 degrees outside - not the 80 degrees we had two days ago. There is snow on our balcony, and on top of Bertrando's telephone pole. The parking lot and street are almost entirely clear of snow. There is a small amount of snow scattered across the grasses and bushes in the little area between our apartment and the restaurant next door, but the community building across the creek looks to have two to three inches of snow on their large yard.
I had to turn the heat on this morning when I got up. We'd had the air conditioning turned on Wednesday, but my legs were chilly under my blanket when I awoke this morning, so I turned the heat on. We have eight biscuits left from last night, and a large amount of soup - that's all in the refrigerator at the moment. And I had two raspberry muffins for breakfast today - yum! Waiting to hear from various clients as to whether they want their dogs walked today... I'm very happy to do so, but a few will want their dogs to stay home because of the cold, and a few because of the snow and ice on the ground. Winter day walks are always a toss-up.
I finished reading The Rest I Shall Kill, a very good, but incomplete, biography of William Tillman. It's incomplete because we really have no history of the man before the incident that made him a "Northern hero," and because, like today's 15 minutes of fame, he disappeared into obscurity a month or so later. It's really a shame that a man can have so little known about him, even after he's been acclaimed a hero of the Civil War. - I also just finished reading the new Jack Reacher novel,Night School, by Lee Child. I also find it funny that Lee Child, an Englishman, is the author of a series of books that introduce and maintain the idea of the iconic American ex-GI.... But I thoroughly enjoy each and every one of them!
Going back to read a few more Eight Countries books by Elizabeth Moon that I haven't seen before... Should be a snug reading and sewing weekend.
I had to turn the heat on this morning when I got up. We'd had the air conditioning turned on Wednesday, but my legs were chilly under my blanket when I awoke this morning, so I turned the heat on. We have eight biscuits left from last night, and a large amount of soup - that's all in the refrigerator at the moment. And I had two raspberry muffins for breakfast today - yum! Waiting to hear from various clients as to whether they want their dogs walked today... I'm very happy to do so, but a few will want their dogs to stay home because of the cold, and a few because of the snow and ice on the ground. Winter day walks are always a toss-up.
I finished reading The Rest I Shall Kill, a very good, but incomplete, biography of William Tillman. It's incomplete because we really have no history of the man before the incident that made him a "Northern hero," and because, like today's 15 minutes of fame, he disappeared into obscurity a month or so later. It's really a shame that a man can have so little known about him, even after he's been acclaimed a hero of the Civil War. - I also just finished reading the new Jack Reacher novel,Night School, by Lee Child. I also find it funny that Lee Child, an Englishman, is the author of a series of books that introduce and maintain the idea of the iconic American ex-GI.... But I thoroughly enjoy each and every one of them!
Going back to read a few more Eight Countries books by Elizabeth Moon that I haven't seen before... Should be a snug reading and sewing weekend.
Monday, October 24, 2016
TV, Books and Rosie
I finished watching another episode of Gotham... the latest episodes are much better than the first two of this season, but I still don't like the reporter, Valerie Vale. Benedict Samuel was perfectly cast as Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter; and I am truly enjoying his performances. Poor Penguin! Finally deciding that he loves Ed Nygma, and then Ed meets a doppelganger of Kris Kringle - Penguin will be crushed, I'm sure...
Also enjoying The Blacklist this season. I want to know what happens to Mr Kaplan, since she is chained to the foot of her iron bedframe... And I just wish they'd find Agnes and get her back to Elizabeth, so other stories will continue... I have to admit that I don't care who Elizabeth's father really is - Red or Kirk. I absolutely love James Spader, but the rest of the characters, other than Dembe, are becoming a real drag.
Just finished reading Boar Island, Winter's Child, and The Obsidian Chamber. Have started on The Legacy of Gird, then have three more Eight Kingdoms novels ready. After that, I'll need to visit the library again. - I've lived at this address for over a year now, and have received books from every club that I'm a member of. I was, therefore, quite surprised that my last order was, somehow, sent to my previous address. I received confirmation that it was delivered, and declared it missing; then actually looked and saw that it had been dropped off at my old address. Of course the new tenant and the management claim to have never seen the package of books. I'll have to order them again, and pay for them again, since they were to be Christmas presents... I can't believe that I was so stupid as to not be certain that my shipping address was correct. Now I double-check it each time I order anything.
And I move in with Rosie on Wednesday... We'll have a blast together, and I'll make certain she's comfortable and happy... She's such a wonderful girl.
Also enjoying The Blacklist this season. I want to know what happens to Mr Kaplan, since she is chained to the foot of her iron bedframe... And I just wish they'd find Agnes and get her back to Elizabeth, so other stories will continue... I have to admit that I don't care who Elizabeth's father really is - Red or Kirk. I absolutely love James Spader, but the rest of the characters, other than Dembe, are becoming a real drag.
Just finished reading Boar Island, Winter's Child, and The Obsidian Chamber. Have started on The Legacy of Gird, then have three more Eight Kingdoms novels ready. After that, I'll need to visit the library again. - I've lived at this address for over a year now, and have received books from every club that I'm a member of. I was, therefore, quite surprised that my last order was, somehow, sent to my previous address. I received confirmation that it was delivered, and declared it missing; then actually looked and saw that it had been dropped off at my old address. Of course the new tenant and the management claim to have never seen the package of books. I'll have to order them again, and pay for them again, since they were to be Christmas presents... I can't believe that I was so stupid as to not be certain that my shipping address was correct. Now I double-check it each time I order anything.
And I move in with Rosie on Wednesday... We'll have a blast together, and I'll make certain she's comfortable and happy... She's such a wonderful girl.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Books and Dreams
Went on a book buying binge yesterday - ordered four new (to me) Elizabeth Moon books regarding her Eight Kingdoms world, purchased the new Preston and Child Pendergast novel The Obsidian Chamber, an atlas regarding Native Americans and their cultures, a copy of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and couple of adult coloring books - one of animals and one about dreams.
I've had peculiar dreams the last few nights - the first was that I had to put real silk stockings upon the hind legs of a gigantic grasshopper. Her hind legs, in the resting position were taller than I am (five feet one inch); the greens, yellows and black-to-purple colorations were bright and shiny; and I was totally frustrated by the short spikes and spines that projected from her legs near the joints. I know I tried to place more than 100 stockings on the leg nearest me, and each was shredded by the way her legs were built.
The next dream was that I was trying to place laced-up shoes on the feet of a centipede - and that it couldn't keep it's feet still, and kept stepping out of the shoes before I got them tied.... I wonder what my sub conscious is trying to tell me - what am I frustrated about that I don't realize?
Halfway through Boar Island by Nevada Barr; then have Winter's Child by Margaret Coel to read. I had also ordered two very intriguing books from the History Club, and the USPS claims they dropped the package off at 5:01 pm on 8 October. Bea and I were home that afternoon and I went out at 7 that evening - never saw the package. Maybe I'm frustrated about that?
I've had peculiar dreams the last few nights - the first was that I had to put real silk stockings upon the hind legs of a gigantic grasshopper. Her hind legs, in the resting position were taller than I am (five feet one inch); the greens, yellows and black-to-purple colorations were bright and shiny; and I was totally frustrated by the short spikes and spines that projected from her legs near the joints. I know I tried to place more than 100 stockings on the leg nearest me, and each was shredded by the way her legs were built.
The next dream was that I was trying to place laced-up shoes on the feet of a centipede - and that it couldn't keep it's feet still, and kept stepping out of the shoes before I got them tied.... I wonder what my sub conscious is trying to tell me - what am I frustrated about that I don't realize?
Halfway through Boar Island by Nevada Barr; then have Winter's Child by Margaret Coel to read. I had also ordered two very intriguing books from the History Club, and the USPS claims they dropped the package off at 5:01 pm on 8 October. Bea and I were home that afternoon and I went out at 7 that evening - never saw the package. Maybe I'm frustrated about that?
Monday, September 26, 2016
Sigh - It's Really Fall
I guess I have to admit that fall, or autumn, is actually here. I wore a sweater this morning when I walked Lola and Cooper, as the 38 degree morning felt a little chill. Of course, the temperature is supposed to rise back up into the mid- to upper-70s this afternoon, but I definitely needed my sweater earlier. There's a cloudless, light blue sky outside my window, and the birds and squirrels have been partaking of their nuts and seeds in abundance. I'll be heading off to walk Rosie in an hour or so, and then I'll visit the public library on my way back - one of the Inter-library loan books I requested has arrived, and I have two weeks to consume it, before it must be returned.
Yesterday, Beatrice and I wanted to get away from Boulder, so we drove over to the town of Longmont and played tourist. We wandered through the Old Town area, and we both purchased books at Barbed Wire, a new and used shop. I found a copy of Carolyn Keene's Dana Girl mysteries that is based on Chincoteague Island - The Haunted Lagoon - and added it to my collection. I've had several copies of the book, and gave the last copy I had to my cousins, Nancy and Aleda, on Chincoteague, when Nancy turned 13... A few years ago, Aleda wanted to know if I still had a copy, and I had to tell her that I'd the books to her family, back in the 1970s and hadn't seen them since. She was able to find a copy in the Chincoteague Public Library. The edition I purchased yesterday was printed in 1959....
Bea and I also wandered around the "Old Town" residential areas, and had a wonderful time looking at the older houses and how the current owners have made small changes to fit in with the times. We saw a magnificent brick house that had been built in 1899 - the original wood floors and woodwork around the windows and all doors and passageways was intact. It was gorgeous.
After several hours of looking at the old neighborhoods, we drove a bit down the road and visited Prospect New Town in Longmont. It's a newer housing enclave that started out on an 80-acre tree farm. It combines all sorts of architecture and housing, but it's a quiet community with mature trees, great landscaping, wide sidewalks, community areas and play grounds. You can choose between starkly modernistic buildings or more traditional architecture. There are condominiums, town houses, row houses, duplexes and large single-family homes. Some of the buildings have businesses on the ground floor, with homes built above... It's a fascinating and eclectic place.
Yesterday, Beatrice and I wanted to get away from Boulder, so we drove over to the town of Longmont and played tourist. We wandered through the Old Town area, and we both purchased books at Barbed Wire, a new and used shop. I found a copy of Carolyn Keene's Dana Girl mysteries that is based on Chincoteague Island - The Haunted Lagoon - and added it to my collection. I've had several copies of the book, and gave the last copy I had to my cousins, Nancy and Aleda, on Chincoteague, when Nancy turned 13... A few years ago, Aleda wanted to know if I still had a copy, and I had to tell her that I'd the books to her family, back in the 1970s and hadn't seen them since. She was able to find a copy in the Chincoteague Public Library. The edition I purchased yesterday was printed in 1959....
Bea and I also wandered around the "Old Town" residential areas, and had a wonderful time looking at the older houses and how the current owners have made small changes to fit in with the times. We saw a magnificent brick house that had been built in 1899 - the original wood floors and woodwork around the windows and all doors and passageways was intact. It was gorgeous.
After several hours of looking at the old neighborhoods, we drove a bit down the road and visited Prospect New Town in Longmont. It's a newer housing enclave that started out on an 80-acre tree farm. It combines all sorts of architecture and housing, but it's a quiet community with mature trees, great landscaping, wide sidewalks, community areas and play grounds. You can choose between starkly modernistic buildings or more traditional architecture. There are condominiums, town houses, row houses, duplexes and large single-family homes. Some of the buildings have businesses on the ground floor, with homes built above... It's a fascinating and eclectic place.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Packages and Apples
I finished re-reading Visitor last night, and now have to wait until May for the next book in the series, Convergence. And, yesterday, we received three packages that we had ordered; new cooking assists - a couple of new frying pans, ceramic knives, silicon muffin cups, and some microwave gadgets; I got my copies of The Rain Wild Chronicles; and we received the audio book version of Ship of Magic, the first of the Liveship trilogy.... Enough to keep us busy for a small time.
Once again sitting in the office at Lynn's with Lyra and Tess - Lyra's cat tree is positioned so she gets the first sunlight on the top perch, and that's where she is. Tess is grooming herself behind my chair. The housekeeper is due this morning, so I can go home and visit my kits, and make my Facebook postings. Then I'll walk Rosie, and be back here at the house for the rest of the day - other than going over to Donn's house and checking his mail and package deliveries. I had to pick up a piece of certified mail for him yesterday - boy, procedures have changed since I last received, or picked up, a certified item...
Our apples are starting to tumble from the trees - this neighborhood was originally an apple orchard, and every lot has at least two apple trees, if not five or six of them. The squirrels and deers have been munching away, and very shortly, it'll be time for the bears to arrive and finish the harvesting. That's when I have to be careful that I don't do what I did last year - turn a corner around the house and come face-to-face with a black bear. I froze. The bear turned and ran. Before I got back around the corner of the house, the bear climbed the wooden gate and took off.... Lucky me.
We will try to drive across Trail Ridge Road this weekend - the better weather will be on Sunday, so we'll probably do it then. Hopefully it hasn't snowed enough to close the road and mountain passes; and I'd like to stop in the bakery at Grand Lake again, just to purchase a few croissants. There is an Arts and Crafts festival on the Pearl Street Mall, and we might brave the crowds for a short time on Saturday.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Chilly, Books, Vikings
It was a grey, chilly day here. After temperatures around 90 degrees (F) over the weekend, having a high of 55 seems a bit cool. Not to mention the 100% humidity level we've had all day. It's almost 6 in the evening, and I can finally see the mountains, even though they are very hazy. And it looks odd to see the pockets of cloud tucked into the shoulders of the various peaks and arroyos. It's also the first time I've actually seen that the leaves on the trees a block away are green in color. It's typical during snow, but odd during the fall.
I've been catching up on this season's Vikings - saw two hours over the weekend, and three hours today. I'm still in love with Floki, even if he did kill Athelstan. And I was shocked when Aslaug handed Ivar the Boneless over to Floki as his instructor in the gods and the old ways - but it makes perfect sense, in retrospect. Linus Roache is amazing as always in his portrayal of King Ecbert; and I have truly enjoyed every minute that Ivan Kaye has been on screen as King Aelle. Rollo is certainly making waves with Gisla, and I'm rather enjoying the actor taking the part of Count Odo. Bjorn Ironsides is maturing quite nicely... And Lagertha certainly gave her husband an unexpected wedding gift...
I am re-reading Visitor to capture the nuances I missed, and have already found several items that I did not register in my first, hurried reading. I'm about to order the new Pendergast novel by Preston and Child, The Obsidian Room, that will ship out next month. In the meantime, I'm awaiting my own copies of The Rain Wild Chronicles (volumes 1 to 4) for enjoying a leisurely perusal. After that, I'll start the new Robin Hobb series, The Fitz and The Fool. I know there are two components already published, so maybe I'll be just in time for the third of the series... And then it should be time for a new Sigma Force novel by James Rollins, and then a new CJ Cherryh Foreigner book. Looking forward to good reads over the next several months!
I've been catching up on this season's Vikings - saw two hours over the weekend, and three hours today. I'm still in love with Floki, even if he did kill Athelstan. And I was shocked when Aslaug handed Ivar the Boneless over to Floki as his instructor in the gods and the old ways - but it makes perfect sense, in retrospect. Linus Roache is amazing as always in his portrayal of King Ecbert; and I have truly enjoyed every minute that Ivan Kaye has been on screen as King Aelle. Rollo is certainly making waves with Gisla, and I'm rather enjoying the actor taking the part of Count Odo. Bjorn Ironsides is maturing quite nicely... And Lagertha certainly gave her husband an unexpected wedding gift...
I am re-reading Visitor to capture the nuances I missed, and have already found several items that I did not register in my first, hurried reading. I'm about to order the new Pendergast novel by Preston and Child, The Obsidian Room, that will ship out next month. In the meantime, I'm awaiting my own copies of The Rain Wild Chronicles (volumes 1 to 4) for enjoying a leisurely perusal. After that, I'll start the new Robin Hobb series, The Fitz and The Fool. I know there are two components already published, so maybe I'll be just in time for the third of the series... And then it should be time for a new Sigma Force novel by James Rollins, and then a new CJ Cherryh Foreigner book. Looking forward to good reads over the next several months!
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Books, Glorious Books!
While on vacation, I began to re-read The Liveship Trilogy by Robin Hobb. I've been reading them slowly and absorbing a lot more nuances than I did on the first reading, and I've got about 15 pages left of Ship of Destiny. I do have the first book of the next connected series ready to read - Dragon Keeper, which is the first book of four in The Rain Wilds Chronicles. I can't wait to get pulled deep into this world created by Robin Hobb, aka Megan Lindholm, again... But first, I am going to take a short break, and read the last two C.J. Cherryh Foreigner series books - both Tracker and the new Visitor - they are calling me like the wi'itikin on the cliffs. I'm also keeping my eyes open for other new books by favorite authors... In a way, I'm looking forward to ice and snow storms, so I can stay at home and read in warmth and comfort, with a cat on my lap, and one on the back of the chair...
The "bundle" of services we get - telephone, computer and cable television - are paid monthly, by the bank, electronically. Our charge suddenly increased by $24+ this month, so Beatrice went to the office, as she pays the "utility" bills. They informed her she was behind in her payments, and, even though she disagreed with them, finally paid for two months of service then and there. I showed her the paid receipt for that month, and for the previous month. She went back to the office again, fit to be tied. They refused to give her a refund - just told her she wouldn't have to pay in September... So our finances are a little tight with three days left of the month. We have plenty of cat food, kitty treats and kitty litter. There is plenty of soda, juice and Gatorade in stock. We have fruits and veggies, soup, and all sorts of canned and frozen foods and meals. But we don't have any free cash - and we're (now) used to being to buy what we feel like eating on the spur of the moment... Let's order a pizza... I don't feel like cooking, let's go to Turley's, or Five Guys, or Glacier, or The Cork, or the Outback Grill.... It's seems extremely silly to be suddenly aware that we don't have any "throw away" money at the end of this month. Of course, we'll have plenty next month... But it's funny how that nibbles at your subconscious....
The "bundle" of services we get - telephone, computer and cable television - are paid monthly, by the bank, electronically. Our charge suddenly increased by $24+ this month, so Beatrice went to the office, as she pays the "utility" bills. They informed her she was behind in her payments, and, even though she disagreed with them, finally paid for two months of service then and there. I showed her the paid receipt for that month, and for the previous month. She went back to the office again, fit to be tied. They refused to give her a refund - just told her she wouldn't have to pay in September... So our finances are a little tight with three days left of the month. We have plenty of cat food, kitty treats and kitty litter. There is plenty of soda, juice and Gatorade in stock. We have fruits and veggies, soup, and all sorts of canned and frozen foods and meals. But we don't have any free cash - and we're (now) used to being to buy what we feel like eating on the spur of the moment... Let's order a pizza... I don't feel like cooking, let's go to Turley's, or Five Guys, or Glacier, or The Cork, or the Outback Grill.... It's seems extremely silly to be suddenly aware that we don't have any "throw away" money at the end of this month. Of course, we'll have plenty next month... But it's funny how that nibbles at your subconscious....
Friday, May 13, 2016
Back From a Trip Through Time and Space
Sorry, folks; between pet- and house-sitting and getting deeply involved in three new books, I just didn't get around to my blog. I'm embarrassed by my back-sliding (not really). I have been extremely busy in my critter-sitter business, and won't be sleeping at home again until the 26th of May.
I was up at 4 o'clock this morning, showered dressed, walked the dog, fed the critters, watered the garden and the flowers, and was standing at the end of the driveway at 5 o'clock to travel with clients to Denver National Airport. When they picked me up, dawn was breaking, the robins and smaller birds had begun singing, and a few of the neighbor's ducks were wakening and quacking. As we drove out of the neighborhood, there was an oddly-moving eye-shine reflected back in the headlights. The driver asked what it was, and I was able to answer it was a raccoon - although it was moving sideways, more like a crab than a raccoon. I didn't give it anymore thought, as we were soon on the Expressway, where the speed limit is posted as 75 miles per hour - the family had decided to sleep in a little later and then rush to the airport. As we passed one automated signal, it said we were traveling at 98 mph. Oh, boy.... I drove back to Boulder at the rather sedate 65 mph posted for the Interstate, instead of racing back on the Expressway.
First, I fed and walked Roxie and Finnie, the two Brittany Spaniels. Then I went to the house behind Roxie and Finnie's and I walked Cooper and Lola, then fed those two, as well as the two cats, Pounce and Tipsi. I had already fed and walked Tess and the cats, but I stopped by to allow Tess time to go outside again. Then I went to my apartment, fed my kits and cleaned the litter boxes, and took a 50 minute nap. After that, it was off to walk Rosie.
Rosie and I had decided to visit my sister and brother-in-law's yard this morning. (She's visited Tess the past three days.) So we ambled toward my sister's house. As we approached, I saw a raccoon (this was at 10:25) sidling sideways across the road from Olivier's house. Rosie also saw it, and wanted to run and grab it. The raccoon was having great difficulty moving. It crossed the street, and had a seizure. Then it licked it's hind legs, which were completely hairless and looked like raw meat. It started sidling sideways, again, like a crab into the back yard at my sister's. The (d'uhh!) realization came that this was the same raccoon I'd seen about 400 yards away at 5 this morning. It had another seizure before it hid inside an airplane wing beside the shed. I told my brother-in-law and sister what I had seen, and they agreed to call the Animal Control officer.... Rosie and I came over to Tess's house instead.
After walking Rosie, I have bounced back and forth between the three houses of dogs and cats. I have walked dogs, watered flowers and gardens, and gathered mail and newspapers. Tonight is the penultimate presentation of Peter and the Starcatcher at the Boulder Dinner Theater, and Max is back in town to see his Dad on stage. So I'll be headed over to Rosie's soon to keep her company while her family is out for the evening.... I do have to go feed Roxie and Finnie and the ABCs before I go to Rosie's.
I just finished three new books, as well as re-reading another trilogy set of C J Cherryh's Foreigner series. I find myself thinking in the alien language, Ragi, occasionally - and I sometimes throw an atevi into a conversation, because the alien word is a better fit than the English one. Sometimes I feel that I'd rather exist in Ms. Cherryh's universe!
I was up at 4 o'clock this morning, showered dressed, walked the dog, fed the critters, watered the garden and the flowers, and was standing at the end of the driveway at 5 o'clock to travel with clients to Denver National Airport. When they picked me up, dawn was breaking, the robins and smaller birds had begun singing, and a few of the neighbor's ducks were wakening and quacking. As we drove out of the neighborhood, there was an oddly-moving eye-shine reflected back in the headlights. The driver asked what it was, and I was able to answer it was a raccoon - although it was moving sideways, more like a crab than a raccoon. I didn't give it anymore thought, as we were soon on the Expressway, where the speed limit is posted as 75 miles per hour - the family had decided to sleep in a little later and then rush to the airport. As we passed one automated signal, it said we were traveling at 98 mph. Oh, boy.... I drove back to Boulder at the rather sedate 65 mph posted for the Interstate, instead of racing back on the Expressway.
First, I fed and walked Roxie and Finnie, the two Brittany Spaniels. Then I went to the house behind Roxie and Finnie's and I walked Cooper and Lola, then fed those two, as well as the two cats, Pounce and Tipsi. I had already fed and walked Tess and the cats, but I stopped by to allow Tess time to go outside again. Then I went to my apartment, fed my kits and cleaned the litter boxes, and took a 50 minute nap. After that, it was off to walk Rosie.
Rosie and I had decided to visit my sister and brother-in-law's yard this morning. (She's visited Tess the past three days.) So we ambled toward my sister's house. As we approached, I saw a raccoon (this was at 10:25) sidling sideways across the road from Olivier's house. Rosie also saw it, and wanted to run and grab it. The raccoon was having great difficulty moving. It crossed the street, and had a seizure. Then it licked it's hind legs, which were completely hairless and looked like raw meat. It started sidling sideways, again, like a crab into the back yard at my sister's. The (d'uhh!) realization came that this was the same raccoon I'd seen about 400 yards away at 5 this morning. It had another seizure before it hid inside an airplane wing beside the shed. I told my brother-in-law and sister what I had seen, and they agreed to call the Animal Control officer.... Rosie and I came over to Tess's house instead.
After walking Rosie, I have bounced back and forth between the three houses of dogs and cats. I have walked dogs, watered flowers and gardens, and gathered mail and newspapers. Tonight is the penultimate presentation of Peter and the Starcatcher at the Boulder Dinner Theater, and Max is back in town to see his Dad on stage. So I'll be headed over to Rosie's soon to keep her company while her family is out for the evening.... I do have to go feed Roxie and Finnie and the ABCs before I go to Rosie's.
I just finished three new books, as well as re-reading another trilogy set of C J Cherryh's Foreigner series. I find myself thinking in the alien language, Ragi, occasionally - and I sometimes throw an atevi into a conversation, because the alien word is a better fit than the English one. Sometimes I feel that I'd rather exist in Ms. Cherryh's universe!
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Good Books
I have read a lot of really good, entertaining books lately - James Rollins' Bone Labyrinth, Alafair Burke's The Ex, Shirley Rousseau Murphy's Cat Shout For Joy, Margaret Maron's Long Upon the Land, and Preston & Child's Crimson Shore, plus a few new Clive Cussler books. But the book that I recently read, that made me very thoughtful, was Independence Lost: Lives On the Edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal. Some people might consider the book a little too dry and tied down by footnotes - but it is one fantastic read, especially if you like American history.
I grew up and attended school in Florida, where I suppose I received a pretty run-of-the-mill background of American history from my school books. Certain aspects of different eras of our history made me ask more questions, which led to wider reading. I've read a lot about 'the Founding Fathers' and the battles of the American Revolution.I particularly studied the impact of the Revolution on the colony, then state, of Virginia. I thought I had a pretty well-rounded grasp of the Revolution from both the American and British points of view. Professor DuVal's book made me consider the Revolution from the viewpoint of colonists not living in the confines of the original thirteen colonies - people living in Florida, in New Orleans, slaves working for freedom outside the western boundaries of Georgia, and the fates of several Native American tribes caught up in the colonial turmoil.
When I hear, or read, the words "American Revolution," I consider only the original 13 colonies, and Great Britain. I know that France came in with support - who can forget the Marquis de Lafayette? - but I had forgotten that Spain came in on France's side, too. Florida was Spanish, and then New Orleans became Spanish (via the French) and the Native Americans were trying to work out the best deal they could get from everyone - Great Britain, France, Spain, and the new colonies. I had never even thought about the Mississippi and Ohio valleys in terms of the American Revolution, property rights, tribal rights, and European meddling.
Originally, the African slaves in the southern and western areas of the colonies were allowed to earn money for themselves, so they could buy their own freedom. Soon after the American Revolution, this practice ceased to be lawful - especially as the plantation way of life bloomed in the South. Soon, it became hard to earn any money for a slave to keep for him- or herself, and then they could no longer purchase their own, or their loved ones', freedom.
Early agreements between the white colonists and the Native Americans stated that the white colonists would not move further west than five miles from the seashore. That soon became seven, then ten, and, finally thirteen miles in a treaty with the governing body of Georgia. And the colonists believed that they had a right to any land not claimed by another white settler. They made huge in-roads into hunting territories of the local tribes; they took over villages and planted fields that belonged to the Natives; the colonists kept pushing further and further west, and south. This was causing the eastern tribes to collapse back upon other tribal areas to the west and south. Native Americans fought among each other, then turned against the settlers. I can't blame them at all.
One of the numbers that completely stunned me was that in a 10 year period, from 1782, more than 25,000 families moved west into what was then Indian territory - much of it still east of the Mississippi River.... Most settlers claimed 20 to 100 acres, but some claimed square miles, and sold it, or developed it into hated plantations.
I love my country, but I sometimes dislike the way that the colonists and settlers took over the land - and I know it's a futile dislike. It happened too long ago, and nothing, really, can be done today to make up for the loss of land, the loss of a way of living, and the loss of faith in fellow men.....
I grew up and attended school in Florida, where I suppose I received a pretty run-of-the-mill background of American history from my school books. Certain aspects of different eras of our history made me ask more questions, which led to wider reading. I've read a lot about 'the Founding Fathers' and the battles of the American Revolution.I particularly studied the impact of the Revolution on the colony, then state, of Virginia. I thought I had a pretty well-rounded grasp of the Revolution from both the American and British points of view. Professor DuVal's book made me consider the Revolution from the viewpoint of colonists not living in the confines of the original thirteen colonies - people living in Florida, in New Orleans, slaves working for freedom outside the western boundaries of Georgia, and the fates of several Native American tribes caught up in the colonial turmoil.
When I hear, or read, the words "American Revolution," I consider only the original 13 colonies, and Great Britain. I know that France came in with support - who can forget the Marquis de Lafayette? - but I had forgotten that Spain came in on France's side, too. Florida was Spanish, and then New Orleans became Spanish (via the French) and the Native Americans were trying to work out the best deal they could get from everyone - Great Britain, France, Spain, and the new colonies. I had never even thought about the Mississippi and Ohio valleys in terms of the American Revolution, property rights, tribal rights, and European meddling.
Originally, the African slaves in the southern and western areas of the colonies were allowed to earn money for themselves, so they could buy their own freedom. Soon after the American Revolution, this practice ceased to be lawful - especially as the plantation way of life bloomed in the South. Soon, it became hard to earn any money for a slave to keep for him- or herself, and then they could no longer purchase their own, or their loved ones', freedom.
Early agreements between the white colonists and the Native Americans stated that the white colonists would not move further west than five miles from the seashore. That soon became seven, then ten, and, finally thirteen miles in a treaty with the governing body of Georgia. And the colonists believed that they had a right to any land not claimed by another white settler. They made huge in-roads into hunting territories of the local tribes; they took over villages and planted fields that belonged to the Natives; the colonists kept pushing further and further west, and south. This was causing the eastern tribes to collapse back upon other tribal areas to the west and south. Native Americans fought among each other, then turned against the settlers. I can't blame them at all.
One of the numbers that completely stunned me was that in a 10 year period, from 1782, more than 25,000 families moved west into what was then Indian territory - much of it still east of the Mississippi River.... Most settlers claimed 20 to 100 acres, but some claimed square miles, and sold it, or developed it into hated plantations.
I love my country, but I sometimes dislike the way that the colonists and settlers took over the land - and I know it's a futile dislike. It happened too long ago, and nothing, really, can be done today to make up for the loss of land, the loss of a way of living, and the loss of faith in fellow men.....
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Bits and Pieces
Read Speaking In Bones yesterday, and then started a new J A Jance mystery. Roxie slept with me the night before last, but Finney has never gotten in bed with me - until this morning. I had to answer a call of nature at 4 a.m., and when I returned, Finney was asleep in my spot, with her head on my pillow. She went totally limp when I attempted to move her, and I finally had to "scoop" her off the bed and onto the floor. Before I could get my butt down on the side of the bed, she was back up, in my space again. I finally got her to settle at my feet, and we had another good sleep until my alarm went off.
Victor and Xena's folks are back from their 12 days of travel, and I need to transcribe my appointments for next year on the new calendar, today or tomorrow. Saturday morning I'll meet with a couple about walking their 5 dogs while they are out of town in February. They have a a lady who will be the live-in care-taker while they're gone, but she recently injured her back, and the dogs pull, so I'll have walking duties.
I gave a friend a Surfer Dude calendar for 2016 as a Christmas gift, and she cried when she opened it... Didn't mean to make her cry, just wanted to give her something SD oriented. She loved that stallion. Guess I'd better get a copy of the book about him for her birthday present.
Taking the Christmas tree down today. Will carefully pack the ornaments and lights, and take our welcome Santa down from the front door. They are coming by tomorrow to pick up trees to make into fresh mulch - so ours will go onto the pile. Both Beatrice and I get checks tomorrow, so we'll also grab cat food, squirrel food and bird food tomorrow. Not doing anything special for New Years Eve. But I'll watch the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade without commercial interruption on the Home and Garden television channel on Friday, and I think the Gators play in a Bowl Game that afternoon. We'll probably have black-eyed peas, pork chops, collard greens, apple sauce and corn bread for supper - not making Hoppin' John this year.
Please enjoy the rest of the year 2015!
Victor and Xena's folks are back from their 12 days of travel, and I need to transcribe my appointments for next year on the new calendar, today or tomorrow. Saturday morning I'll meet with a couple about walking their 5 dogs while they are out of town in February. They have a a lady who will be the live-in care-taker while they're gone, but she recently injured her back, and the dogs pull, so I'll have walking duties.
I gave a friend a Surfer Dude calendar for 2016 as a Christmas gift, and she cried when she opened it... Didn't mean to make her cry, just wanted to give her something SD oriented. She loved that stallion. Guess I'd better get a copy of the book about him for her birthday present.
Taking the Christmas tree down today. Will carefully pack the ornaments and lights, and take our welcome Santa down from the front door. They are coming by tomorrow to pick up trees to make into fresh mulch - so ours will go onto the pile. Both Beatrice and I get checks tomorrow, so we'll also grab cat food, squirrel food and bird food tomorrow. Not doing anything special for New Years Eve. But I'll watch the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade without commercial interruption on the Home and Garden television channel on Friday, and I think the Gators play in a Bowl Game that afternoon. We'll probably have black-eyed peas, pork chops, collard greens, apple sauce and corn bread for supper - not making Hoppin' John this year.
Please enjoy the rest of the year 2015!
Monday, December 28, 2015
Books and Critters
Yesterday and today have been busy - met the Brittany Spaniels' family at 5:20 yesterday morning, and was a passenger to DIA, then drove back home to feed the girls. Roxie and Finney are fun. Then over to take care (feed, water, and walk the dogs, and feed and water the hens) of the Chandler critters. Discovered their Subaru in the driveway has a flat tire this morning - I hope they have a spare. Spent the night with the girls, and enjoyed the fireplace. But, after feeding and walkin them, and taking care of the Chandler critters this morning, it was still only 4 degrees (F) when I came home to my place to feed the kits and clean their boxes. Lovey attached herself to my chest and wouldn't let go, once I sat down. Nedi explored the balcony for 5 seconds and returned inside. Taking down the Christmas tree tomorrow - have to find a small box to place all the new ornaments in. Finished re-reading Betrayer and Intruder yesterday - began another Jack Reacher novel last night, and it's very good, as usual. Then I'll begin The Bone Labyrinth....
Beatrice made herself Belgium waffles for breakfast today - glad I picked up milk on the way home from the Spaniels. Looks like I'll have a pizza while watching the Broncos and Bengals play tonight; I could prepare chicken and broccoli risotto, but I think I'll put that together tomorrow. It's 3:55 now, and the sun is going behind a cloud that's sitting on top of Mount Sanitas - it'll be behind the mountains in 8 minutes and the darkness will begin again. I don't like winter, even though I know that the natural world has to have time to prepare for Spring renewal. I want sunshine and warmth! Or the sea, at least!
Beatrice made herself Belgium waffles for breakfast today - glad I picked up milk on the way home from the Spaniels. Looks like I'll have a pizza while watching the Broncos and Bengals play tonight; I could prepare chicken and broccoli risotto, but I think I'll put that together tomorrow. It's 3:55 now, and the sun is going behind a cloud that's sitting on top of Mount Sanitas - it'll be behind the mountains in 8 minutes and the darkness will begin again. I don't like winter, even though I know that the natural world has to have time to prepare for Spring renewal. I want sunshine and warmth! Or the sea, at least!
Monday, August 17, 2015
Back in Boulder
I'm almost amazed.... After arriving home at 9 last night, I realized that I have 2 full weeks to stay at home with my kits and get my belongings arranged in the new apartment. I need to put together my two new bookcases, and then I can unload my boxes of books. I'm going to try to weed out at least one-third of the books; luckily the used bookstore is only 1.5 blocks away now. A few of my older and rarer books will be in special storage, but the majority will be here where I can put my mitts on them.
Walked Rosie this morning, and stopped by Lynn's house. Was amazed that one potted flower that I watered daily, until water ran from the bottom of the pot, looked scorched to death. Everything else looked good - but the bleeding heart looks like it bled to death in a single day. I hope it can recover. I've never claimed to have a green thumb, but I do follow care instructions left by owners. The only things I've had good luck with were some asparagus ferns and pepperomia in Florida , but after taking great care of them, and nurturing and feeding them for three years, someone stole all my plants off my balcony while I was working night shift at the hospital. I think that Beatrice and I will try to set up a rectangular planter and put in some honeysuckle for hummingbirds for next year. Or should I just put in a trumpet vine? I'll have to ask Connie, who's a Colorado master gardener, which would be best.
Usually the mountains are clear and crisp in the morning air - but today there seems to be a large amount of haze. I know we're getting a visit from cooler Canadian air trough for the next few days, but I wonder if this haze is from an inversion, or from all the wildfires in California...
In any event, it will be grand to be able to relax at home, and spend time with Lovey and Nedi - and find that dratted dUSB cord for my camera, so I can download the rest of my vacation photos. Right now, Nedi is asleep under the bed, and Lovey is asleep in her chair. I am yawning like I haven't slept in days.... Maybe I'll take a nap.
Walked Rosie this morning, and stopped by Lynn's house. Was amazed that one potted flower that I watered daily, until water ran from the bottom of the pot, looked scorched to death. Everything else looked good - but the bleeding heart looks like it bled to death in a single day. I hope it can recover. I've never claimed to have a green thumb, but I do follow care instructions left by owners. The only things I've had good luck with were some asparagus ferns and pepperomia in Florida , but after taking great care of them, and nurturing and feeding them for three years, someone stole all my plants off my balcony while I was working night shift at the hospital. I think that Beatrice and I will try to set up a rectangular planter and put in some honeysuckle for hummingbirds for next year. Or should I just put in a trumpet vine? I'll have to ask Connie, who's a Colorado master gardener, which would be best.
Usually the mountains are clear and crisp in the morning air - but today there seems to be a large amount of haze. I know we're getting a visit from cooler Canadian air trough for the next few days, but I wonder if this haze is from an inversion, or from all the wildfires in California...
In any event, it will be grand to be able to relax at home, and spend time with Lovey and Nedi - and find that dratted dUSB cord for my camera, so I can download the rest of my vacation photos. Right now, Nedi is asleep under the bed, and Lovey is asleep in her chair. I am yawning like I haven't slept in days.... Maybe I'll take a nap.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Random Thoughts
I thought I was losing my mind yesterday - was discussing how all British and American thoroughbred horses trace back to only three stallions with a friend. The friend was amazed and wanted to know the names of the horses - I was easily able to say the Byerly Turk (or Barb) and the Godolphin Arabian. I knew the other horse was also known as an Arabian - but it took me 30 minutes to be able to say "the Darley Arabian." Since I have had that firmly implanted in my brain since I was at least 8 years old, I decided that my memory was going.
My sister called me last evening and stated that her reading glasses case turned up empty. I knew immediately exactly where they were, so I returned them early this morning. She had left them on the kitchen counter at Ba and Bob's on Tuesday. I walked downstairs, saw them, and placed them in my stack of things to bring back to Boulder with me today. So. Am I losing my mind/memory, or not?
Still awaiting news on the apartment - Beatrice and I will have brunch at Turley's and then she'll visit with Cyrano and Pounce while doing her laundry today. I'm committed to spending time with Rosie while Joel and Nancy go out to a dinner theater production tonight. I will begin cleaning the apartment this weekend, as I move items out and into the storage unit.
Have almost finished reading the latest Kathy Reichs' mystery. Have a new Gideon Crew novel to read by Preston and Child, and then the first three books about Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust - that should give me brain fodder for a few days. - My regular medication causes extremely vivid dreams. I'm still trying to figure out why I dreamed that I walked into my bathroom and saw the tub was full of greyish water with a nasty soap scum on the top, and a giant-sized dead ring-necked pheasant (in full breeding plumage) floating in the end farthest from the taps.... Anyone have any ideas? It was just weird.
We've had a lot of rain near Boulder and around Boulder - we haven't had any sluicing downpours, but just scattered showers here and there. However, Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley, to our north, and Denver, Evergreen, and Colorado Springs are having a lot of flooding... Boulder Creek is running high, but the Cache le Poudre River, Bear Creek, Clear Creek, Cherry Creek, and South Platte River are all overflowing their banks.... Multiple roads and streets are closed in quite a few cities and towns on the eastern side of the Rockies today. No rain is forecast for this weekend, so maybe we can dry up a bit.
My sister called me last evening and stated that her reading glasses case turned up empty. I knew immediately exactly where they were, so I returned them early this morning. She had left them on the kitchen counter at Ba and Bob's on Tuesday. I walked downstairs, saw them, and placed them in my stack of things to bring back to Boulder with me today. So. Am I losing my mind/memory, or not?
Still awaiting news on the apartment - Beatrice and I will have brunch at Turley's and then she'll visit with Cyrano and Pounce while doing her laundry today. I'm committed to spending time with Rosie while Joel and Nancy go out to a dinner theater production tonight. I will begin cleaning the apartment this weekend, as I move items out and into the storage unit.
Have almost finished reading the latest Kathy Reichs' mystery. Have a new Gideon Crew novel to read by Preston and Child, and then the first three books about Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust - that should give me brain fodder for a few days. - My regular medication causes extremely vivid dreams. I'm still trying to figure out why I dreamed that I walked into my bathroom and saw the tub was full of greyish water with a nasty soap scum on the top, and a giant-sized dead ring-necked pheasant (in full breeding plumage) floating in the end farthest from the taps.... Anyone have any ideas? It was just weird.
We've had a lot of rain near Boulder and around Boulder - we haven't had any sluicing downpours, but just scattered showers here and there. However, Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley, to our north, and Denver, Evergreen, and Colorado Springs are having a lot of flooding... Boulder Creek is running high, but the Cache le Poudre River, Bear Creek, Clear Creek, Cherry Creek, and South Platte River are all overflowing their banks.... Multiple roads and streets are closed in quite a few cities and towns on the eastern side of the Rockies today. No rain is forecast for this weekend, so maybe we can dry up a bit.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Reading Away...
After finishing Clive Cussler's The Assassin, I read through National Geographic's Atlas of North American Indians. In the past day and a half, I've read The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by John and Blaize Clement, and just finished Haunted, a new Hannah Smith mystery by Randy Wayne White. I am now re-reading C J Cherryh's Tracker. I'm out of new books, and will have to visit the Public Library again… *sigh* If you're looking for a light-hearted mystery with a touch of romance, I highly recommend the Cat Sitter series, which takes place on Siesta Key. A widowed pet sitter (and ex-deputy) takes care of various pets at various houses and helps solve crimes she encounters. The Assassin is part of the Isaaac Bell series - if you like history and mystery combined, along with a fast pace and discussion about planes, trains, and automobiles of the early 20th century, you'll love this series. Randy Wayne White has written several non-fiction books, but is also the creator of two highly readable and entertaining series - one about marine biologist Marion "Doc" Ford and his unknown black ops escapades; the other is about Hannah Smith, a woman who runs a charter-fishing business and an investigative agency on the side. Both of these series are set near and around Sanibel Island (Florida), southern Florida, Cuba, and several other countries (for Doc Ford). Hannah Smith is the fictions great-grand daughter of two of South Florida's most well-known pioneer women - Hannah and Sarah Smith. You get a lot of education regarding the areas, fishing and history in every one of Mr White's books. I can't put any of them down - or don't want to - once I start reading them. And I wrote about the atevi world created by C J Cherryh at the end of last month. I would love to be there. The cat that I lost to poisoning 4-plus years ago was named Banichi, after a main character in Cherryh's series; Nedi is short for Cenedi-ji, also a main character. I do love my books and authors!
Will we have a Triple Crown Champion after Saturday evening? Who will win the Epsom Derby? Everything in those two questions can only be answered by "racing luck." What will the trainers and riders strategies be? How well will everyone break from the gate? Will there be early speed? Will the winner just keep getting faster with each furlong, as Secretariat did? We'll have to wait until Saturday to find out.
Will we have a Triple Crown Champion after Saturday evening? Who will win the Epsom Derby? Everything in those two questions can only be answered by "racing luck." What will the trainers and riders strategies be? How well will everyone break from the gate? Will there be early speed? Will the winner just keep getting faster with each furlong, as Secretariat did? We'll have to wait until Saturday to find out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)