#27

Maeve Binchy is a wonderful author and she didn't disappoint me with her latest, "Minding Frankie." She took us back to an area of Dublin that we've become familiar with since she wrote "Tara Road." Some of the same characters have come back in many of her last 5 or 6 novels. This time we got to know some new ones and they tied in nicely. Stella is dying and she's pregnant. She wants the father of the baby to raise it but he doesn't know about the baby until just a few weeks before Stella is to give birth. They were both drunk on the night of conception and he doesn't remember. The baby is a girl and her name is to be Frankie. Noel is the father and to be a good one he has to change his life. No more drinking and he must better his life by getting a better education. To do all this he needs a good support system and that comes from his newly discovered American cousin who has come to Ireland to find her roots, his parents, and his neighbors. What a great story! Hoping for many more novels that take us back to Dublin.

Tomorrow is my granddaughter's 16th birthday. Oh my! Where did the time go. Driving and her trip to Germany this summer are foremost on her mind right now. Takes me back to that time in my life. What great memories!

A wonderful Irish storyteller

I finished the latest Maeve Binchy novel, "Heart and Soul." She's a marvelous writer and has many such books to her credit. This one tells a story of family, friends, patients and staff who are part of a heart clinic in a community caught between the old and new Dublin. Dr. Clara Casey is offered a job establishing the underfunded clinic and agrees to take it on for a year. The staff she pulls together create a saga of their own. My only difficulty was remembering the names of all the characters and their roles. Her books are the kind that you are sad when they end.

Easter was very nice. We had a great dinner at my daughter's house and it included her in-laws and my son and his wife and mother-in-law. Lots of good food and too much of it. Our stomachs are bursting. Great to be home though so we can put on comfy clothes and sneak a nap.

Two more

I've had lots of time to read since I'm basically bed bound. I will be venturing out this morning to see the dreaded neurosurgeon again. I guess this time he won't be giving me encouragement because I'm doing so much better. Oh Boy! I had to beg for an appointment.

I read a Maeve Binchy book called "Star Sullivan." Very short book and once again a wonderful story by the Irish author. Star just wanted everyone to be happy - wanted her father to stop gambling, her mother not to work so hard, her brother to stay out of trouble, her sister to stop worrying about her weight. This was life for her until Laddy moved in next door and everything began to change. She was no longer the sweet, thoughtful girl everyone loved and no one worried about.

I also read James Patterson's "7th Heaven." Talk about a short read! My husband brought it home to me about 4:00 and I finished it by midnight with several naps in between. Patterson could save paper if he wrote longer chapters. This one was about the Women's Murder Club (four women who join forces to solve the crimes) and there were two story lines going at the same time. A serial arsonist/murderer and the disappearance of a former governor's son. A typical Patterson page turner.

We got a dusting of snow this morning. Just enough to make it miserable to drive and not enough to keep me home.

A day out

I took an afternoon trip to a couple of local yarn shops yesterday. A former client and now friend asked me to go to a new shop that opened recently not far from where I live and off we went. The shop is rather small and was very expensive. A small selection of yarn was available but I was assured that the owner could get whatever we wanted quickly. After leaving there we went to a more established shop a little further away. This one was huge! The offered weaving lessons and looms to use during the training. I'd always thought I'd like to give it a try but after checking out the prices on the looms and seeing tags with amounts close to $5000 I decided that it might not be something I should fall in love with. My great great great grandfather was a rather famous weaver in Pennsylvania. There's even a book published with his patterns. The selection of yarns and threads at this shop was mind boggling. I wanted to bring tons of it home. It's been a little while since I've knitted or crochetted and I was itching to make something. Too many choices! The friend with me is an avid knitter and quilter (which is something that I never had a desire to try). I do enjoy knitting and decided on trying out some of the new yarns on some new patterns of scarves.

I finished Maeve Binchy's "Light a Penny Candle." I've read her quite often and always enjoy her books. A wonderful Irish author! This book was written in 1982 and somehow I'd missed it. Once again the story started with WWII and the setting was London. A child was being evacuated to Ireland to live with Irish friends to keep her safe from the war. At the age of 10 she went from living with her rather remote parents to a family full of children in a strange country. She and the Irish daughter became best of friends. After 5 years in Ireland she returns to London to try to live with her parents. It wasn't long till her mother left them and sought a new life with a new man. The daughter stayed with the father and at 15 became the housekeeper. She finished school and then college. Her friend in Ireland barely finished school and went on to secretarial school. Over the years there were few chances for visits between the two girls but through trials and mistakes they made in their lives they were brought back to the closeness they had shared for those early years. A great story of friendship even with differences in background and religion.