PAJo

Posted by bookwrm on March 31st, 2007 12:18 pm

Okay, I’ll be JoTx in this blog. Or TxJo. Anything to keep ya happy!
Wouldn’t want anyone to have to blog with anonymous folk!! LOL (As if we weren’t doing that already!) Have a good weekend!

JoTx, TxJo, Joanne

Signature

Posted by Co Jo on March 30th, 2007 9:44 pm

Yeah but . . . . .
Anon

Signatures

Posted by Jerry Horgan on March 30th, 2007 8:57 pm

Hey Jo, you forgot to sign your last two posts.

Anon

Jo

Posted by Co Jo on March 30th, 2007 5:42 pm

Tell ya what, Joanne; I’ll be JoPA and you be JoTX. How about that? LOL

Signatures and feet

Posted by Co Jo on March 30th, 2007 5:41 pm

Unfortunately the systems doesn’t allow us to make our own signature blocks; maybe we can remember that Bookworm is Joanne of TX. We’ll try.

As for feet, right now I am wearing Futuro’s Sport ankle support, a not too bulky elasticized thing which is, worse luck, only made in black. However, he said that hving an arch support in the shoe(s) would help considerably and I found that my clog-type slipons from LL Bean do have the molded foot which feels ever so much better. I wear the support except when I go to bed and, of course, with those slipons. He also said that surgery down the line may be in order. That doesn’t enthuse me a whole lot! My foot has pronated a bit more and I expect to have trouble with it for a while although I have no pain. It’s just a very weak ankle (I have a great cane that I bought at Bird in the Hand, PA – in the heart of Amish country. I love the name.) and if that’s all I get for a goodly period of time, I’ll be thrilled.

Posted by bookwrm on March 30th, 2007 10:33 am

PAJo, the bookwrm is, as ever, Joanne. Can’t very well sign “Jo” as that’s you. I’m so used to the way it worked on AOL, where when you designated your “signature”, it signed it for you, every post. Mea culpa.

JOANNE

Jo’s foot problem

Posted by cajunlady on March 30th, 2007 9:34 am

Jo: What is the outcome of your foot problem? Do you know anything yet? I am going to a foot doctor today to see about my problem, which sounds identical to yours.
JOY

booksfree

Posted by Co Jo on March 29th, 2007 10:45 pm

And Broken for You was rated 4 of 5 stars. I ordered it.

A couple of things

Posted by Co Jo on March 29th, 2007 10:43 pm

Bookworm still doesn’t sign her posts – it makes it very difficult to connect with someone whom we don’t recognize. Tsk tsk!

I’ll have to see if Broken For You is available at booksfree. It sounds rather interesting. I’ll give it the 50 page thing.

I read Poitier’s Measure of a Man and thoroughly enjoyed it. He wrote another book about his life; this one tells how he got to be the way he is. And I thought it interesting. He tends to stress certain things again and again but I didn’t really mind that; I scanned those parts quickly in case he slipped in something else. He played by his own rules, for sure, and only took the work that he wanted. You have to give him credit for that; he picked excellent roles, I think.

Jo

The Castle in the Forest

Posted by Jerry Horgan on March 29th, 2007 9:18 pm

Finished this new novel by Norman Mailer and really enjoyed it. An extrapolated (from many books about Hitler) version of Hitler’s life from birth to his teens, narrated by a devil who was helping him along towards his infamous career. An interesting if dysfunctional family.

I’m now starting on “The Measure of a Man” by Sidney Poitier. Twenty pages in and no comment yet.

Huggz to all,
Jerry

Broken For You By Stephanie Kallos

Posted by Darlyne C on March 29th, 2007 5:29 pm

I wanted to finish this book before I wrote so here it is.

I finished this book last night. I just couldn’t put it down because I enjoyed it so much. This is the story of an elderly lady living in a mansion in Seattle full of valuable antiques for company. Young Wanda Schultz appears on her doorstep answering an ad for a boarder. Wanda plans to look for her way word boyfriend. Their friendship develops and they both find the strength behind things that only seem fragile. Margaret finds out that all the antiques were stolen from Jews by her father for Hitler. She tries hard to rectify this. Many others come to board at the house and work with her. The Library Journal wrote that it is a compelling ,richly layered story reminiscent of works by John Irving and Anne Tyler in its bittersweet humor and well-drawn characters.

I personally was a little put off by the way the antiques were used and will be anxious to hear what my library book group thinks. I think I am in for a lively discussion. It won’t be until the 8th of April.

Posted by bookwrm on March 29th, 2007 4:59 pm

I wondered where everyone went? Guess people are busy getting ready for Easter/Passover holidays, or took a trip. I still look in everyday. Don’t readily have anything to add each time.

We had deal at the library yesterday. A local, well-known lady came to do a (for lack of anything better, I’ll say) synopsis of The Thirteenth Tale. We had just read this for another branch library’s book discussion, and I want to tell you, this lady spent an entire hour, and totally missed the point of the book, at least the ending. At times, I wasn’t sure I recognized what she was saying with the book we had read and thoroughly discussed. Only the character names were unchanged to protect the innocent! LOL. I guess it’s amazing that no two people get the same thing out of a book. But where our book group agreed, mostly, on the ending. She was kind of out in left field. I’m going to have to re-read to make sure I didn’t miss something. It was a terrific book, IMHO, and I highly recommend it.

Was it something I said?

Posted by GoGrandma on March 29th, 2007 2:25 pm

Goodness, no one has posted anything after my last one. I do hope everyone is ok. I’ve been too busy to read anything, but our next book club book is 1776, by David McCullough, and I’ve heard really good things about it.

Susan

Broken for You

Posted by GoGrandma on March 26th, 2007 3:17 pm

Darlyne, I will be interested in how you like the book. I loved it, but it might not be for everyone. Our book club all seemed to enjoy it, and we had the best attendance we’ve had in months.

Things have been in something of a flurry here, as my ex, the father of my kids, died Saturday. It was a blessing as he was deep into dementia besides being 90 years old, but the kids have been busy taking care of business. My son and his family are coming for a few days on Friday. I was amused, because he called and said he wanted to reserve two hotel rooms at the hotel up here, Casa Mom. I told him I’d take care of it. .

Susan

Cats, Babies and Books

Posted by Co Jo on March 26th, 2007 12:46 pm

Miss Whiskers, the mom, is rather put out with me. She had ear mites and I have to put drops in her ears twice a day for another week, yet. She hates me! And y’know what — I don’t blame her. But she is a forgiving little furball and comes back for hugs after a while. Her babies, in the meantime, nurse a lot and sleep a lot. When she’s gone from the box, they are all in a puddle…a black puddle with a dollop of gray as a relief. I kept thinking that there were multiple kittens marked with white but not so. ONE kitten has the socks, tip of tail and facial markings of white. One black one has freckles, so to speak, on his/her face. I still don’t mess with them very much; Whiskers doesn’t seem to mind it if I do, and Amy [aneighbor] is allowed but she’s a bit leery of Amy’s husband Jerry, who is just as gentle with them as I am.

I’ve still not seen my latest g’g'baby; they had colds and such like and I stay away from that. I shall do so soon, however. Trust me on that one. Miss Lexi is a week old today at 6 pm.

I’ve gotten on a kick of Fern Michaels’ books; one tale in particular had 3 or 4 pages of the sexual encounter which I speed-read through…I couldn’t believe she dragged it out for so many pages. But of the ones I’ve read, that was the only one that went on and on. I do like her characters. I greatly enjoyed her Sisterhood series. Celebration, Serendipity – good ones all.

Well, it’s time for some lunch folks. My tummy is telling me all about it, too, so I guess I’ll go do something about it. Stay warm or cool, as the case may be, and take care, all.

Jo

Goings on in WI

Posted by Darlyne C on March 26th, 2007 11:56 am

The twelve puppies afflicted with a stomaach complaint are well now. I found that I can give puppies shots which I did to help out my daughter. It isn’t that much different than giving humans shots except for the fur.

My daughter sent me to Barns and N to pick up the book, The God Of Animals by Aryn Kyle, I want to read it because it sounds very good. Since it is a gift I will have to wait. While there I did buy Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes to read later. Right now I am half way through Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos. This is the book picked for my library book group. I will report on it when I am through.

Jacky, did you forget about Mitsy? Seems to me she was a Boston Terrior and she had puppies.

Mic. Word, cats, and babies

Posted by jackyjones on March 26th, 2007 12:36 am

Thanks Jerry, I’ll look into getting some kind of Word, and have the address you gave. I really enjoyed Something the Lord Made too, and would recommend it highly. I like hearing of your kittens, Jo. Dogs are ok, but we only had cats when I was a kid so I’m more comforable with them.

Our youngest asked us to come and help a bit again this week, so we are leaving on Tue, I’ll miss my little sister’s 60th, so I’m taking her to a movie and dinner tomorrow. I’ve been reading good things about Amazing Grace, so that’s what we’re going to see. I graduated from high school the year before Leah started 1st grade, but she is my best female friend and has always been. Our youngest doesn’t have a baby anymore, but a 4, 6, and 11 year old, and since they live in St Paul, we don’t see them very often, so I enjoy the opportunity.

And last but not least, our UND hockey team won again this evening and will be playing Boston College April 5th in St Louis. I really enjoy hockey, there’s a lot of it around here, but cold climate is no longer as important for it to be played.

Oh, and Darlyne, Jackie Larson Adamson, tripped on a rug in her kitchen and broke her leg, quite badly, but now has a cast. I know what good friends you are.

Jacky Jones

Jerry’s post of 2/19/07

Posted by cajunlady on March 25th, 2007 8:15 pm

I couldn’t remember WHERE I had seen a recommendation of
the DVD -SOMETHING THE LORD MADE—-but I thought it was Jerry. So after going back over the posts of February, I confirmed my thought. As soon as Jerry recommended it I put it on hold at the library and picked it up yesterday and just finished watching it. Let me tell you, friends, do yourself a favor and rent it, or buy it, or get it from the library. You will be doing yourself a big favor!!!!!
Thanks Jerry for leading me to it. BTW, folks, it is a medical story of the first heart surgery .
JOY

Complications by Atul Gawands

Posted by Darlyne C on March 24th, 2007 3:10 pm

This is a surgeon’s notes on an imperfect science. I really can’t describe this book any better than the blurb on the book jacket. “None surpass Gawande in the ability to create a sense of immediacy, in his power to conjure the reality of the ward, the thrill of the moment-by moment medical or surgical dramas. Complications impresses for its truth and authenticity.” This is from the New York Times Book Revues. Although this is not an easy read and I found myself skimming I found it fascinating and I liked the way the author humanized people in the medical profession—with all their faults among the good stuff about them

New Precious

Posted by CCNL on March 23rd, 2007 9:20 pm

Thanks, Jo, glad to hear there is another out. I’ve read so little in print I hadn’t followed up on these. They
are are short enough I’m going to get it–still have more funds on my Borders gift card. Have my regular appt with the opthalmologist and am going to ask her if there is any progress on zapping serious floaters.

Candace

A new Precious Ramotswe

Posted by Co Jo on March 23rd, 2007 8:24 pm

It’s called The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. Amazon has it now and it’s 40% off.

The jackpot

Posted by Co Jo on March 23rd, 2007 3:12 pm

I’ve seen a picture of the new g’g'daughter, Lexi. She’s cute as are all newborns, and a chunky one. Chipmunk cheeks, kinda like Mom. but I won’t tell her that.

As for the kittens, when they’re not asleep, which is most of the time, their eyes are now open. They still spend most of their time plugged into Mom and she, poor thing, doesn’t get to leave for very long.

I answered an ad for Miss Whiskers; the foot has been happening since the early 60s (back problems noticed because of the influence of my right foot and it’s the troublesome one ever since).

I like Newhart; he is great. Shelley Berman is another one as is Bill Cosby. Funny funny things without benefit (!) of vulgarities.

Rain yesterday and today and doing a dandy job of melting the snow along with the 60° weather. I had my slider open a way today; I loved the fresh air. A mite chilly but nonetheless welcome.

So take care, stay warm, stay dry and sleep well. I plan to do all of the above.

Jo

Wi

Posted by Darlyne C on March 23rd, 2007 10:46 am

I got here in the land of dogs and cat without a problem. My first evening here was rather interesting, My daughter came back from a walk with three of her dogs and said it was an unual night. It was thundering and lightening and a siren was going off which made coyotes howl. We heard later that it was a tornado warning. We had a storm but no tornado, Otherwise it is a busy life here. I mostly answer the phone and do a little cooking and light housecleaning to help. Since the storm the weather has been very nice, There isn’t much time for reading but I do get in a few pages of Complications now and then,

Banner Week

Posted by CCNL on March 22nd, 2007 11:01 pm

Five kittens and a new great-granddaughter–Jo, you won the jackpot this week! Apparently I missed something along the line–didn’t know about your foot or how you came to have a kitty cat again.

Good to hear some of you like the SAS shoes. I’ve worn them for more years than I can remember. They’e expensive, but they sure last. The only part that I’ve ever had wear out is on the style that has a strip of elastic attached to the buckle. I never unbuckle them so the elastic gets eventually gets stretched and has to be replaced.

Listened to Bob Newhart’s book “I Shouldn’t Even Be Writing This” on CD on the way to Austin yesterday. His routines are so great. He goes into his background getting into standup comedy and includes some of his routines–one I had never heard before. His kind of humor, original, clever and free of four-letter words is timeless. Wish more of his kind were working now.

So happy to hear of successful cataract surgeries and the end of winter in sight for those of you who’ve had way too much ice and snow.

Candace

OOOps

Posted by Co Jo on March 22nd, 2007 4:02 pm

White tip on the tail! Had my head in my purse on that one!