Birthday celebration

I had an early call from a former work friend. Chatted an hour to catch up. A little later my cousin that lives in Germany made a call. Birthdays are great in that respect. Later I got a call from Mr. and Mrs. Hawaii. Doesn't sound like they're headed back home anytime soon. Life is one long honeymoon and that is a good thing. Next was a call from my stepdaughter. Plans are made for a lunch in a couple days. That's good since both she and my granddaughter had birthdays earlier this month and we haven't connected yet to celebrate those events. Last was a call from my OLDER brother. We whined about not being together on our annual fishing trip! Off to meet my friend from childhood. She did a little shopping and I watched. I find it's so much cheaper that way. Off to the restaurant and the big celebration dinner. Nothing better than being with the family! After the dinner my friend and I headed to the movies to see "Mama Mia." What a great musical. I love ABBA and for this movie to encompass all those great old songs into a storyline was wonderful. The theatre audience was singing right along! I rushed home to spend the last ten minutes of my birthday with hubby who had decided to not do the movie and did a quick check of my computer and there was one final birthday wish from my friend in Denver. I haven't heard from her in ages and I was so relieved to hear from her. Life is good!

Today I assembled the fancy artist easel my son and his wife gave me. Took me about two hours to put it together. It came with watercolors and acrylics, in addition to some oils. Guess I'm going to have to learn how to do those mediums, also. I don't need such a fancy easel. Way above my abilities but it is impressive. Speaking of art works. My older stepson gave me a flower sculpture that he made and it was absolutely great. Such a talented family! Time to try out the new easel!

Sad

When you pick up a book and on the cover you see a warning label "this book could break your heart" then you deserve what you get. It's a novel by Charles Martin called "Where the River Ends." You knew from the first chapter that it was not going to end on a happy note. The wife is dying of cancer. Started with aggressive breast cancer and ended in her brain. The story weaves back and forth from the couple's meeting to the current day and the wife's "wish list." I thought that Nicholas Sparks was the only male romantic writer out there but this guy is edging past him quickly. He wrote this novel in such a believable fashion that you think it must have really happened to him. If you want a tear jerking wonderful read then this is the book to do it.

To add to my sadness is the fact that this is the last day I can say I'm 58. Yes, tomorrow is the birthday that no one will ever believe so I might as well jump right to saying 60. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the son and daughter-in-law that are in Hawaii. I so miss his cute face! Usually this time of year we are on a boat on a large lake catching fish (or hoping to do so). I've been spoiled by the fact that I have had a captive audience for my birthday for over 10 years. Guaranteed birthday parties! I have also been blessed to have that time with my brother who traveled with us and has a birthday just two days after mine (he's sooooo much older than me). I'm missing those fishing trips that brought us all together and hope that they haven't ended. Our 30th anniversary is in a week and my hubby has asked what I'd like. To be back in Canada or New York State fishing with the gang!

James Patterson again.......

So I rushed out, sort of, and got the latest James Patterson novel. "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X." It's co-written with another of his "authors of the month." This is another series geared toward the young. Full of aliens and heroes! Not as good, or as believeable, as his Maximum Ride series, but fun.

Got an email today from an old friend! We started working together on August 3rd 40 years ago. I lasted only a few months because of getting pregnant and having morning sickness all day long. We continued our friendship even though years can go by between visits. She's coming to visit the end of the month. It should be a fun day since we usually get on a roll and laugh through our visits. Another long time friend (the longest I have) is coming this weekend. She's going through a divorce after MANY years of marriage. Very sad time! Happy to see her but wish it were under better circumstances.

I'm struggling through "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It says on the cover that it's a National Bestseller and I'm trying to figure out who determines this and what they're smoking or taking to determine it. It's the author's experiences after she divorces her husband. She decides to spend a year (four months at a time) in Italy, India and Indonesia. She ate her way through Italy learning the language. After her 4 months she headed to India to live in a compound to meditate and do yoga (I think she just was trying to lose the weight she gained in Italy). This was such a boring part of the book that I wanted to skip right through it. Now she's in Indonesia hanging with an ancient "healer" trying to find GOD. She meditated for 4 months and she couldn't find Him then. I only picked this book because the woman next to me in the store said "Oh, I read this and it was funny!" I wanted a laugh but so far I haven't experienced it. I'm very close to just throwing it aside and not finishing the trip to Indonesia. YAWN!!!

"The Bean Tree"

This was a great read by Barbara Kingsolver. The main character is a young girl from Kentucky who is raised poor and her goal in life is to get out away and start fresh anywhere other than where she is now. It's setting is the 1970's. She buys a '55 Volkwagen and ends up in Arizona. Along the way she inherits a 3 year old Indian girl. She is befriended by a woman who runs the Jesus is Lord Used Tires which is also a sanctuary for refugees from Central America. She makes her home with a single mother who is newly divorced. Great story about love, friendship, and belonging.

Dog Days of Summer

I know that the dog days of summer are supposed to be in August but it sure seems like we're in them now. I don't want to leave the house for any reason. I was lucky this week and had a nice visit from my children. My son is off from teaching for the summer so he came out for lunch. My granddaughter was here visiting. Later my daughter and my grandson came by so it was a nice visit. I seldom get them to myself and it was a treat.

I put "Cloudsplitter" aside for reading when I'm at the office. I'm almost finished. John Brown was a definite nut job. His goal was a good one but his methods were insane. I'm in the middle of his Kansas brutality and butchery. I'm finishing "The Savage Garden" by Mark Mills. Very interesting study of an Italian garden and villa. Is the garden a memorial to the builder's wife or a clue to her death (1548)? Is the villa holding secrets of a more current murder (1944)? Very intriguing!

Once

Netflix's doesn't usually make mistakes when sending out their movies but they've done it twice in my case. The first time they sent an apology and immediately sent the right DVD and told me to enjoy the incorrect one. Which I did. This time they sent something I hadn't ordered but didn't realize, I guess, that it was wrong. Once again, I enjoyed it. It's a little Irish musical called "Once" and I remember hearing about it a while back when it made a hit at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. I think I had even seen the performers on the TODAY show or one of those daytime things. Other than struggling a little with the accent and my aging ears, it was quite fun. That little vein of Irish blood that flows through me made me want to join right in.

I'm still struggling through "Cloudsplitter." Only a third of the way. If I didn't want to refresh my mind as to what John Brown had actually done other than the stuff I learned in history class, then I would give it up. It's like pulling teeth to get through all the ramblings to learn my history. Good thing that none of my regular authors have come out with anything new. I know there's a James Patterson due out later in the month so I have to finish by then or it's "history!"

Slow reading

I'm about a quarter of the way through "Cloudsplitter" by Russell Banks. I bought it when on our "staycation" trip to Harpers Ferry. It sounded like a good history lesson about John Brown, from the view of his son Owen who survived the massacre. When I actually started reading it I discovered it is pure fiction with historical events somewhere along the way but not much. It rambles! With less rambling it would be a good read and much shorter. It's almost 800 pages. Owen is narrating and he's only educated through elementary school and yet he uses words like truculent. When he writes about Negroes he has them speaking as illerates. Consistancy, please. I'm hoping I can stick with it and finish the book.

I'm still reeling from the men's finals at Wimbledon on Sunday. What a fantastic game but I was routing for Federer and he just couldn't do it. I think I suffered mutiple coronaries before the game was over. I'm glad my hubby had to leave during the first rain delay so that he wasn't subjected to the stress. Hope that isn't the end for Federer! If it would have been Roddick playing then I would have gladly watched Federer fail.

Happy 4th....

It turned out to be a nice 4th after all. Our youngest daughter invited us at the last minute to a cookout and we had good company and good food. Even got to see some fireworks that were legally purchased and set off in the yard. Nothing too elaborate but it was good. Didn't get to see anything major from where we were but that was all right. The early part of the day was spent watching some tennis. The final for the women at Wimbledon is tomorrow and the men's on Sunday. Heard from my two step sons so I know they had a safe 4th. The other 3 children didn't check in!

The 4th....

No plans this year for any picnic or anything. We used to celebrate pretty much every year when my father-in-law was still alive since it was his birthday. Somehow along the way we just stopped having picnics. The grill is shot and the deck hasn't been used in years. Haven't had the cushions out for the patio furniture or put up the umbrella either. Once in a blue moon I fire up the grill and work with what's left of it to grill some chicken. It's a backup if we lose power in the winter and we need to cook in a blizzard. Going out on the deck just reminds me that we need to do some painting and now it's too hot. A couple of months and it will be too cold. I've played this game for a year now. It's hard to match the paint when you can't carry the door into the hardware store to get the original color off of it. If it doesn't match then we have to paint three doors in the back and two more in front plus shutters and garage doors. In addition, the trim around the door is the color of the siding which is tough to match also. To look good they should be spray painted so that would involve hiring someone to do it. Sounding good to me!

Another dilemna is trying to hook up the digital converter boxes to our two televisions. We don't have cable so before the dreaded deadline next February we have to convert to digital through these boxes. We bought them but I'm having a dreadful time figuring out why I can't get them to work. I'm usually pretty savvy with the electronics in the house. Stumped the dummy!

When I read a really good book it's tough to pick another. I look at them and read the cover to see if it looks like it will come close to what I just finished. If it doesn't grab me immediately then I want to put it aside and try another. I'm looking at a stack of books but none are jumping out at me. None of my favorite authors are publishing until July and August. Should be a good opportunity for me to get through some of these others.

While browsing....

Several months ago I was antique shopping with my daughter and ended up in their used book area. Surprise! I found a book there by Robert Goddard called "Painting the Darkness." Published in 1989. I hadn't heard of the author but the story sounded interesting. It proved to be a very good purchase. Time frame was late 1800's in London. After 11 years, James Davenell shows up to claim his rightful birthright. A baroncy and a fortune. He had left a suicide note and disappeared those many years ago so when his Father died, his younger brother inherited. Is he really the missing brother or a good fraud. This novel was filled with twists and turns that were very intriguing. Great story which kept me up till 3:30 this morning. Browse the used books! I'm going to search for more of this author's books.