Even reading isn't fun

I just finished "Roadside Crosses" by Jeffrey Deaver. He's famous for his books about Lincoln Rhyme's and does an excellent job. This is a new sequel about a CBI named Kathryn Dance. We first met her in a Rhyme's novel as a kinesics (body language) specialist. This is the third book about her and it just isn't as good as his regular sequel. I kept reading it because it was okay but it just didn't come up to par with what I'm used to from Deaver. I know my mood is down but I should still enjoy a good book.

Drifting

Just drifting and disconnected. Depressed? Extremely!

Another success by Koontz

I always enjoy Dean Koontz's books. His latest is "Relentless" and it had me hooked from page one. Couldn't wait to get home to get back to reading it. This one is about an author with a secret past who is stalked by a book critic who is "insane." Top it off with the author having a super genius 6 years old son who can do wonders with his electronics and it's a "can't put down read."

Memorial

Well, I'm set for the memorial for this Saturday afternoon. I got the church we grew up in and I found a minister that we knew when we were young so he has some background to base the sermon on. Now I just have to guess at the amount of food to provide and hope I've covered all bases. Both of my brother's older children are coming which pleases me. They were estranged from him for so many years that it's nice to know that they are joining me in this tribute. I know that at least 26 are coming and I'm planning on 70. If more show up I'll have to do some "miracle on the Mount" and try to produce more food. I'm hoping that this helps with the closure that seems to be lacking within me.

Looking foward to relaxing Father's Day with Hubby. We so rarely get a weekend day off together.

Filling the hours

I finished Clive Cussler latest novel called "Medusa." It was part of his NUMA Files so it featured Kirk Austin as the main character with his sidekick Joe Zavala. They are on the hunt for a missing underwater lab that was working on a cure for a new virus that could potentially whip out a majority of the world's population. As with all of Cussler's novels the story was full of the latest in technology and then some. As usual it was a good story and a good read.

My mind has not been on much but trying to get through this time of loss. I've decided not to make the trip to Kentucky to the Memorial for my brother but instead to hold one here for him at our little country church where we were raised. Now the burden is on me to put it all together and hope that enough people show up that I'm not sitting there all alone with platters of luncheon meat waiting for others to join me in my mourning. I know there will be a handful of people at least. I put out an email to some cousins and got a favorable response so I'm hoping that they will come through for me. Now I just have to book the church and the pastor for this Saturday and order the food. I need to contact the newspaper and put another little notice in that there will now be a memorial here and not just in Kentucky. I'll need to find some pictures of him from throughout his life to put on a poster board so people can reminice and then have a copy of the most recent picture so they can comment how awful he looked at the end.

Another good book

I enjoyed John Connolly's "The Lovers." You need to read all his books to enjoy them. There are a lot of them but you have to start at the beginning with Charlie Parker and read his adventures. I have trouble remembering everything from one book to the next but I enjoy the way it keeps me on the edge of my seat. Throw in his friends, Louis and Angel and your hooked. This book took us back to the beginning. Who and where did Charlie Parker come from. His father was a NY city cop who killed a young couple and then later killed himself. No real explanation was given and after so many years Charlie decided to find out why. He's a former cop and a former PI. He is good at what he does so he should be able to find out. When he does, his life is turned upside down. Not your average mystery novel.

My brother

The news came in the middle of the night that my brother lost his fight. The sepsis that ravaged his body after his valiant fight to survive won out and took him away. I haven't always seen eye to eye with this brother. He's made mistakes that have hurt himself and many others but he's my brother and I love him and will miss him. He came into our lives in a different way. His biological Mother came to live with us when she was pregnant with him. She had been married to my Mother's younger brother and they were divorced when she got pregnant with him. She already had a daughter my age. It's a very messy story and I'll just say that she stayed with us through his birth and for a while after. I was just 4 but I remember bringing him home from the hospital and standing in the back of the car starring at this tiny little baby with his little bracelet on. His Mother took him and his sister away and lived with her Father for a while until we discovered that she had Lupus and back then there was no cure and it wasn't long before she passed away. He came back to us and his sister went to other friends of his Mother. He was adopted by us and that was that. Good, bad and all. All but a year of his life he was with our family. I think back on all the silly stunts he pulled as a kid and the fact that he never got away with anything. He got caught "red handed" everytime. Goodbye, my Brother!

Fading miracle

I don't know what happened but I got a call today that my younger brother is "septic." Suffering from Sepsis which is a severe blood infection that is now affecting his body. They've moved him to the VA hospital and that's all I know. Our glimmer of hope is fading quickly. In his weakened condition will he be able to fight this latest attack? My older brother had a stress test yesterday and his heart is good which means that whatever he's suffering from might be coming from his brain shunt that he's had since he was in his mid 20's. If it is failing then it's major brain surgery again. The last time he had that was 30 years ago when he was healthier and younger. Oh my, both my brothers in need and here I sit. I will go to work but it's only to try to keep my mind off what is happening. Will I do my job? Yes, but probably not well. Concentration is lacking.

Poor Kevin

I've read some strange books in my day but this one ranks up there in the top 10. Kate Margam is the author of this strange novel and "Poor Kevin" is the title. It was one of the books picked up in the used book store and I guess since I lucked out with the others there had to be one that wouldn't make the list of better reads. I will just call it "strange" and let it go at that. Not worth picking up if you see it somewhere. The only reason I did was because I have a step son named Kevin and whenever we say "poor Kevin" to him he comments back that that is where pigs go when they die. I wouldn't even send him this book as a joke!

Thanks to my son I got a gift card from Amazon and was able to buy some great new books that are coming in little by little over the next couple of weeks. John Connolly's "The Lovers" is sitting here waiting for me to crack it's cover which I am about to do.

Good news

My trip to visit my brother ended up happy instead of sad. Not that there weren't sad times. We weren't sure what to expect and what was happening for the first few days but now he's making progress. There were times when I was there that we were hopeful that he might be coming out of it and starting to focus and now it seems he has. Since I've come home he's nodded his head in answer to questions, squeezed hands, and even waved his fingers at his wife. So much better than when we first got there last Thursday morning. I'm so glad his daughter went with me. She got to meet her half brothers for the first time and seemed very pleased. They are a couple of characters who made a difficult time light hearted when they could. Wish I could have stayed a couple more days to share in the joy but his daughter had to get home to the kids and I had to get back to work. If all goes well, maybe we can go see a fully recovered brother someday soon.