"Sundays at Tiffany's

James Patterson every so often leaves his murder and mayhem behind and writes a lovely novel. This was one of those novels. A young girl has an imaginary friend. Her only friend. Her parents are divorced and her rich famous mother has little time for her. Hence the need for an imaginary friend. This friend is a man in his mid 30's who walks her to school and takes her for ice cream. Unfortunately he has to leave her when she reaches nine and he tells her so on her birthday. He assures her that she won't remember him. That's the rule! Flash forward 20 years and she now is a career woman who has written a successful play about an imaginary friend! She never forgot. It's going to made into a movie. In a moment of depression she heads to one of her old haunts and looks up and there he is......he old friend. He doesn't know why he's there and she's not supposed to remember him. Totally enjoyed this one!

Oil painting class again tonight. We're busy making paintings for all our family! I'm trying stick figures next.

Harlan Corben again

I just finished Harlan Corben's "Hold Tight." He's increasingly becoming my favorite mystery writer. In this novel he takes four separate stories and joins them in the end. First is the transplant doctor married to a lawyer. Their son is a teenager and has changed since his best friend's suicide months earlier. Their concern leads them to put spyware on his computer so they can find out what's going on in his life. What they find is a nightmare. The doctor has a neighbor who is being treated by his partner. The child is in need of a kidney transplant and blood tests in the family disclose a terrible secret. The doctor's daughter is eleven and her best friend was made fun of by a teacher and now the whole school is making fun of her and destroying her childhood. This leads to her biological Mother's revenge and murder. The cycle conntinues. A great story and it was a quick read!

Hallelujah!!

The primary election is over! I'm so relieved that we'll have a break for a little while from all the nasty commercials and pettiness. Not thrilled with the results but Obama did shoot himself in the foot with his comments about Pennsylvanians. Can't say things about us and get away with it. I guess it doesn't matter if you lie about your trip to Bosnia. I'm surprised anyone from the Republican party bothered to go to the polls today. No one was contesting the major PA spots and it was just lists of delegates to be picked that brought any choices. Almost an "eeny meeny" decision. I was glad I had a movie rental to watch so I wasn't bogged down with all the election results until the late news.

Trying to refinish a piece of furniture that my Grandfather made. My daughter has had it for years and it's showing a lot of wear. I'm very emotional about anything concerning this Grandfather. He was my favorite and I treasure anything that I have that was his. Stripping the varnish and stain off the piece was devastating! Knowing his hands put it on the piece to begin with. It did make me think that part of the piece was taken from something else in the past. The front legs were of a different kind of wood and I think it might have been table legs that he used to make the piece. There were originally two identical sideboards and it looks like he used two legs on the front each piece. They were very ornate and the back legs are just straight. I don't know who got the other matching piece. Hope it didn't end up in an antique shop somewhere.

Have to attend a sales meeting tomorrow at the office. It's such a drag! Nothing of that much interest ever takes place. Same old stuff is brought up and the manager tries to make it a rah rah session. I hate that! She tells us what we need to do to get listings and it's the same old stuff we've heard for years and it didn't work in a good market and sure isn't working in this dead market. We could get by on one meeting a month. With gas at $3.50 a gallon we sure don't need the extra running around. Oh well!

Getting older

I spent some time yesterday in a nursing facility. No matter how many times in my life that I visit one it's always depressing and so very sad. This one was one of the better facilities that I have ever been in and yet you would still hear the inevitable "help me" from the rooms as you passed or see a patient in a wheel chair that was asleep with their faced smashed flat into the tray that was across their lap. It is a frightening ending! Imagine trying to pick from your beloved collectibles and possessions and decide what will fit into half a room. Something the size of my current bathroom. No books lining the wall! Just staring at those institutional walls and hospital beds. The closer I get to being elderly the more frightening it becomes. I'll be like my Grandmother and fight it to the end!

Started Elizabeth Berg's latest book. It's called "The Day I Ate Whatever I wanted." That's just one of the many short stories in the book. I don't usually buy books of short stories. Don't like having a story come to an end that quickly but her stories are so wonderful that I don't mind at all. I'm about half way through the book and am thoroughly enjoying it. Especially the one that the book is named after. That character gets "fed" up with Weight Watchers and the skinny people that show up at the meetings and decides to take a full day off and eat what she wants. She starts at Dunkin' Donuts and "eats" her way through the day. What heaven that would be. Even though she didn't finish all the many donuts she bought, she made sure she licked every single one before getting rid of them. I wouldn't bother with the donuts.......I'd head straight for the fried salty foods!!! I think that's a good way to spend my next birthday!

Finally finished

I finished "The Little House" by Philippa Gregory. It's not that it wasn't a good book; it just took me a while to get into it. The main character is a young woman who lost her parents in a car accident in her early years and was sent to England to live with her Aunt who didn't want her and never treated her with care. She married a man who was spoiled rotten by his parents and thought the world should revolve around him. His parents still treated him that way and it was difficult for the wife to have her own life. Their "flat" was owned by the parents and it was decided that they would sell it and that the young couple should move into the cottage at the end of the parents' lane which they also owned. The wife wanted to continue her career which was the only thing that she felt confident with. Unfortunately that ended with a layoff and off she went to live in the cottage. A unwanted pregnancy was forced on her and she delivered and suffered extreme postpartum depression. Instead of support for herself she found herself locked up in a mental facility and her child and husband living with the in-laws. Her struggle to come back and take over her life was difficult but I did love the ending! Totally unexpected!

Off to visit my elderly cousins today to see if they can shed more light on the family search. One is 99 so I'm really looking forward to meeting her. Most of these cousins are on my Mom's side and they can't understand the connection to my Father's side. ME! Duh! I hope they have a lead to someone in the Kansas connection of the family that can lead me to a good copy of the family history that I found on line. The pictures are just horrible from being copied and I want to get better ones for the Family Album. I had to promise lunch to get them to meet me! Feed them and they'll come.

Antique shopping

Spent the day in antique shops in a local village looking for a pedestal table for my daughter's house. Lots of wonderful treasures! Also a shock to see a lot of your childhood items that are now viewed as antiques. Found a couple of books that looked interesting. Just a couple of dollars when purchased as old books. We found the desired table in a shop that was owned by a guy that I knew 40 years ago. He married one of my roommates. The marriage didn't last and I've kept in touch with my old roommate but lost track of the husband. She told me he had a shop and where it was and that's where we found what my daughter was looking for. She wants it for her library and all it needs now is a crochetted tablecloth which I had already made and have in waiting. Little by little the mansion is coming together.

Finished my first oil painting last night. I'm definitely not going to make it a career move. I have to have another project by next week. This one will probably be a still life since the last was a landscape. My hubby is doing the reverse. He's got the still life almost finished and wants to now do a landscape. I can paint a "mean" sky and dabble some clouds. Other than that, I don't think I have a calling.

I'm dragging threw a book by Philippa Gregory called "The Little House." It's a slow process and I'm having trouble keeping it going. Taking a lot longer than usual to finish. Looking forward to the new James Patterson book coming out this month. Also, a new Elizabeth Berg came out yesterday and I have it on order. Hopefully they will spur me to finish the current one. I usually love Philippa Gregory but this is one that isn't based on history and it just isn't keeping my interest.

Moving Day

My daughter moved into her new home yesterday! It's been a long year of building by her husband to get to this point. Long days and nights on top of his regular job. Here's hoping that they have a happy life in their new abode. I wasn't much help in the lifting department with the neck thing still pretty fresh so I got to do some assembly of furniture. Hope it stays together with use!

The reunion of old co-workers was last night and it was very nice. Lots of people we haven't seen in 16 years were there. Lots of fuller faces and thicker waistlines. Even more gray hairs and bald heads. It was held at a restaurant in Parkville, MD called McAvoy's. A former co-worker now owns it and he had a really nice set up for everyone. Good food for free but drinks on the attendees. We'll have to go back again and try it when it's not so crowded. They say there's good steamed crabs and I'm ready for that.

Just saw a segment on the TODAY show about a British guy who's 101 and getting ready to run a marathon. I can't do that now! He drinks 8 pints of beer and smokes 14 cigarettes a day. Well that shoots all those health advisories that have been reported. Of course, it could be that we'll never know how long he would have lived if he hadn't done all that. I'll start training at 70!

"The Third Secret"

This is a book by Steve Berry who has a style similar to "DaVinci Code." I usually like his books but this one was more than I could fathom. It's based in the Vatican in current times. A lot of references were made to the Fatima sightings which were, according to the book, missing a true 3rd secret. The Pope, Clement XV has discovered the missing information on the 3rd secret which should have been locked in the Vatican vaults. He's old and a replacement is sitting in the wings waiting to take over. That replacement plans to take the Catholic church backward instead of forward in it's thinking. He knows the secret and he doesn't want the world to know or it would destroy the church as we know it. The book seemed to take a long time to reveal the secret and when it was it was so unbelievable that I was rather disappointed. I believe that the revealed secret should be what is taking place in the Catholic church today, but it was too far fetched to believe it could ever happen. All, in all, a rather big let down.

A visit from the great grandchildren today was tiring. The 3 year old kept us on our toes. The 4 month old giggled and slept the afternoon away. Now we're all tired and ready for a nap.

My final post op checkup took place yesterday and all is well. No more discomfort and movement is good. The bone graft looks good and seems to be grafting nicely. Now it's time to get the tremor taken care of since it's getting worse. No appointments with a neurologist until July. Glad it's not an emergency. I'd just like to eat a bowl of soup without wearing it.

Goodbye Ben Hur

I was very saddened today, when I heard of the loss of Charlton Heston. Oh, I loved that man! He was the star of the first movie I ever saw. I remember the excitement of going to the theatre to see "Ben Hur" so so so many years ago. I think I was 12 at the time. The only reason I was allowed to go to that was that it was a religious based movie so the parents took us. What a movie and what a man! I enjoyed the movies that I saw him in and always thought he was special. Wasn't hard to look at either!

Slacking in my reading lately. I made the mistake of picking up some knitting needles and therefore I'm clicking away with them making some items that will end up in the closet with so many others. I should probably just haul them to a nursing home and tuck them around some dear old soul. Found some interesting patterns that looked like a challenge so I was tempted. Also, they new yarns are so fascinating (and expensive). I'll have to give it up soon since it's hot to work with in the summer.

Bad Mommy

I always thought I did a pretty good job of raising my children. They're successful and other than a few glitches along the way, I was pretty much living in my little bubble in ignorance. I remember hearing a friend's kids confess to them that when they were 15 they took the family car and their younger siblings and drove 40 miles to a rock concert. No driver's license and a sister and brother younger than themselves in the vehicle with her. I could see the parents' faces drain of color when they thought of what could have happened; even though it didn't. I was positive then that I never wanted to hear that kind of story about my own children. Ignorance is bliss! I don't want to know that they are less than perfect which I take personnally as a reflection on my parenting skills. Please warn me if I'm going to hear something like that so I can stick my fingers in my ears and sing at the top of my lungs. Or maybe just not read what I shouldn't. I guess my folks did a pretty good job scaring me into being a pretty upright citizen. I never got the reward of being told they were proud of me but I have the knowledge that I have few regrets.

There's a reunion of former co-workers coming up next weekend. The corporation is gone now for some time but the friendships are missed. They've tried a few reunions over the years which haven't been very successful but they're trying again and we're going to see if a few might show up. The embarrassment starts when you no longer recognize people or remember their names. It's been 16 years for us since we've seen some of them. Hope there's a big turnout!

Old Novel

Once in a while I review my list of books that I've read and come across an author from the 70's or 80's that I enjoyed and I try to find other books by that author. I turn to a couple of old book dealers that I know and have used in the past to track them down. I recently got a copy of Michael Korda's "The Fortune." He's still writing but mainly historic novels such as his recent one "Ike." I got it for my hubby and he loved it. Said it was the best book he's ever read. I read "The Fortune" which was written in the 80's. Good read! Main character is Alexa and she's working for an art gallery owner in New York City. She's from a small town in Illinois. At a gallery event she meets the richest man in the country who is 40 years her senior. I thought it was funny that to be the richest man in the world in the 80's you barely needed half a billion to a billion. Anyway, they met and "hooked up." His children were not aware of his new love interest and he wasn't anxious to reveal it. He was already estranged from them. Months into their relationship he talks her into marriage but with the stipulation that it is to be kept secret until he can make the necessary changes he needs. Unknown to her he had written a new will giving her his estate. You guessed it! He dies on their wedding night from a heart attack and she's got to deal with the changes he's made to the will and with his family who had no idea she even existed; let alone married their father. Secrets are revealed and the fight is on. This would have been a good 80's miniseries.

Got a contract on my last listing. I've had this one for quite a while but it hasn't had much activity. Fortunately it's finally happened so now everything is wrapped up and under contract so if I decided to bail from this job, this is the time to do it. With luck it will be all settled by June 30th. The major settlement to get through is my daughter's. The sooner the better since they're moving into their new house in just over a week.