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Jude sez: “wondering what it is about April that seems to bring out the insanity in people.”

I think you might have something there Jude. Hitler’s birthday was on April 20th and that is the 6th anniversary of my quintuple bypass.

Just threw that in.

Huggz all,
Jerry

I have met my enemy, and it is “I”. My library is having their spring book sale, today and tomorrow. I always try to go, even though I know I shouldn’t. Like a starving person, faced with a plethora of food, I fall on the books to salve my hunger! I did exhibit a wee bit of will power, and only bought three books. Some older ones that I hadn’t had the chance to read, but thought I would like to add to my collection. I walk the narrow aisles, touching the book spines, picking them up, reading the liner notes, checking the size of the print, and making a decision. Sometimes I put the book back down, only to come back and add it to my stack. “Hurry and check me out” I tell the volunteers, “I must leave before I’m forced to buy an additional house to put my book collection in”. I may go back tomorrow!

Signed,
Slave to the Written Word
Joanne

I keep wondering what it is about April that seems to bring out the insanity in people.

The shooting in Virginia happened on April 16th, Oklahoma City was bombed on April 19th and the Columbine shooting happened on April 20th! Is it the long winter that causes depression to set in or what is it? I am very puzzled. Or, are all of these just coincidences that they happened in mid April?

Jerry, I have always loved Mark Twain. One of my favorite of his lesser known works is “Puddinhead Wilson”. Of course, Huckleberry Finn has been called one of the best books ever written. Roger Miller’s musical “Big River” based on Huckleberry Finn is also a joy. I have a CD of the music and just love it.

Take care everyone.

Judith

Seems like the weeks go by faster all the time.  I feel so sad about the events in Virginia.  And wonder how anger, hatred, evil, mixed into mental illness, can ever be curbed, and I was going to say in a free society, but a tightly regulated government doesn’t do it either.  Plus it has all of the above with in the power that rules.  And I’m sure that heroic Jewish professor would agree. 

 Jo, your little feline family are a pleasant relief from the media news. 

I’m slowly reading The Flattening of the World, the 2.0 version, I heard Tom F. on Book Span TV on Sun and he has a newer version out.  So far, its rather positive.

Jacky

Well, these ‘cute little guys’ are gonna be slipper liners if they don’t quit using my ankles as workout tools!

Jo, your posts about the baby kitties brought back memories…it’s been several years since I had kittens underfoot. When my son was little, he seemed to attract pregnant cats–plus “generous” neighbors who would give him one. There are few things cuter than watching them tumble and explore, those little spike tails acting as ballast or antennas for fat tummies.

Candace

A quickie note here as I’m spending time keeping the kitties from crawling up the inside of my pants leg, out from under my chair and generally out from underfoot. They are hilarious to watch; I love watching young kittens and/or puppies run. Good thing they don’t have far to fall. These mock battles have me in hysterics.

All is well here; the day is warmer than it has been lately, which is fine with me; I was eary of 40° weather.

Have good days, all.

This is a new book.

Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family’s troubles when her sister runs off with a rodeo cowboy. Her Mother never leaves her room and her father runs the ranch, a rather run down not really thriving place. To make ends meet they board rich neighbor’s horses. Eventually Alice and here family must weather a devastating betrayal and shocking violent series of events that will test their love and prove the power of forgiveness.

The setting is a small town ranch in Colorado. It is narrated by 12 year old Alice. I could not put this book down although it did start a little slow. I highly recommend it.

The unbelievable shooting is right and the really sad thing is they say there is nothing that can be done to prevent it from happening again. I recently read Jodi Picoults Nineteen Minutes and am amazed at how the author seemed to know the feelings of all involved, even the shooter. We have to think of something to stop the violence. I hate that we have to live in fear. I just won’t.

We visited our accountant today near Warroad, MN, where I have relatives.  In a last week Warroad newspaper in the waiting room of our “bean counter”, I noticed my ex sis in law’s present husband’s name.  Reading the article, I learned that Ray is a relative of Jordyn Sparks, one of the 8 remaining American Idol contestants.  She is only 17 years old, and one of the better voices, (in more than my opinion).  She has grandparents in Fargo, ND, and Ray and Yvonne, met her and her great grandmother, Ray’s cousin, when Jordyn was 14. 

Since my grandkids and some of our kids like Am Idol, I’ve started watching it too, but try to tape it as it has 5 minute commercials over and over.  There are two other young women with amazing voices and maybe you’ve read about Sanjaya, who has a poor voice but lovely hair and a big smile, and lots of teeny boppers and Howard Stern determined to make him the next AM IDol? 

And another unbelievable school shooting today!

 Jacky Jones

Jerry, the book was made into at least two movies. I think Will Rogers was in one, and in 1949, Bing Crosby was in another. There was also a stage musical by Jerome Kern. You might be familiar with one of the songs, “Thou Swell.”

I read the book when I was a teen and loved it.

Susan

Miss Puss, aka Whiskers, is a really good mother.

She has been known to cover her messes to the point of obsession, meaning over the side of the litter pan and onto the little rug I put under it and then piece of ??? in front which doesn’t do diddley for gathering the litter; she is just too neat.

And she hates the Dust Buster with a passion; she’s MUCH more intrigued with the dustpan and brush. But she still goes overboard in covering up the evidence.

re keeping Bravo: I’m not really sure yet – i should contact the office and see if the fee is per animal or per month only. Right now I pay just $5/month for Whiskers. And that is a WHOLE lot better than the $25/month PER ANIMAL I was paying in MD. No wonder I had to move!

Anyhow, I’m not really sure yet. One of the others has the typically marked striped face like Momma along with some unusual markings on his/her belly which intrigues me. And they all have such pretty faces. But no, I sure as heck won’t keep the remaining three. I’ll keep one to keep mama company.

I adore Mark Twain although I’ve not read all of his books. I don’t remember where it was we moved to when I was a kid, but that house had a built-in bookcase and scads of books. I expect Mother or Dad went through them all to be sure they were OK for me, and I read every one! Twain was there.

Glad you got your computer back together and are on line again, Georgianna. Being without the infernal machine is like having no electrical power and it’s the withdrawal that is so painful!

Take care all.
Jo

Haven’t been able to read a book becaue I was busy getting my computer up and running again. When I tried to move my curser on AOL, everything was swimming around. I called and they told me I needed to upgrade. I did but it took awhile to get things back in working order.

I like reading about what you are reading. I picked up two books a couple of days ago. I’ll have to go get them and let you know the names next time. Georgianna

I’ve had this ancient, crumbling tome (about 400 pages) on my shelves since 1976. “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”. I’ve always enjoyed Mark Twain’s writings and can’t imagine how I missed this one but am now immersed in it and chuckling all the way. He certainly has a way with words when it comes to satire.

When I get finished with Twain, I’ve bought “The Road”, by Cormac McCarthy. It’s about a man and his son travelling across the ruined country, (post nuclear?) and looks promising.

Huggz all,
Jerry

By Richard Preston is, to me, a fascinating true story about the redwood trees–information about their history, age and most unusual growth patterns which are unlike any other trees. It is anything but a dull academic presentation. These huge trees have fascinated me ever since I visited Sequoia National Park in the ’40s. I did not know that the Sequoias have different growth patterns than other types of redwoods. How much of this information was developed is an example of how much we have yet to learn about our environment.

The author of Winesburg, Ohio is Sherwood Anderson. There are many similarities to Santmeyer’s Ladies of the Club, now that you mention that. It may have been my own frame of mind listening to Winesburg that caused my reaction to be different from when I read Santmeyer. That’s leading to another thought–I was much younger when I read her books. Hmmmmmm.

Jo, are you going to keep Bravo?

Candace

I remembered after I picked up the cd of this book that I had heard not good reviews of it. However one of the guys at my book group said it was good. I think yuu are right. I am on the 2nd disk and will probably give up on it.

The Noreaster has dumped over 4 and 1/2 inches of rain on us since midnight and shows no signs of stopping. My sump pump is running continuously. I hope it holds up but if it doesn’t there isn’t a lot to do about it except to try to get someone to come out and install a new one. I am sure there are many in the same area with the same worry.

I will stay in eating my dinner in front of the TV probably with the sound off reading a book. The book I am reading, The God of Animals is better than the Digging one.

Is the author Helen Hooven Santmyer, who also wrote And Ladies of the Club?

We’ve had rain off and on, mostly on, all day. If that’s all we get here, I’ll be happy altho parts of PA are supposed to have snow! Brr.

One of the kittens, I call her (I think) Brava!, consistently now climbs out of the box. AT present she is making friendly with my wooly slippers, which I have on, if you please.

The pair of kittens Cindy (neighbor) wants are the gray one I call Smoky and the one with the white markings, which she will call either Sylvester or Sylvia aka Syl until we’re sure whether he’s a she or a he.

Both of them seem to want to get out and look around but so far haven’t quite gotten the knack of front paws over the side, slide down to the floor and then wiggle the back end out. Funny to watch. Even funnier to watch Brava bounce down the hair on her 2″ long legs! She’s a real character! And if she turns out to be a he, he’ll be Bravo. Unless I think of something else.

End of the Tale of the Furballs for Sunday, April 15.

Jo

One of my face to face library book groups did Digging to America a few months ago. All in all, everyone there did NOT like it. So many characters that you just couldn’t give a darn about. Hope you enjoy it, tho’.

Joanne

I am glad you weathered the storm Joanne. We are expecting a Noreaster so I am not making plans to go out tomorrow, but it may not come to pass. The weather men get overly excited about the storms sometimes but I guess we should be happy that there are warnings. I did a bunch of errands today and got them out of the way, A big thing was getting my income tax mailed. I always have to wait until almost the last minute because I get some documents late and this year my tax man mailed the forms out and I never got them. It has been ten days so he made copies and UPSed them. Next year I will just ask to have them UPSed or done electronically. My friend says she has them do it that way and it is a piece of cake. I am off for a walk now and will listen to Ann Tyler’s Digging To America. I have started it and it sounds interesting so far.

For a drive to Austin, a friend loaned me a box of six tapes which were related stories that take place during the 30′s and early 40′s in the town of Winesburg, Ohio. At the moment I can’t recall the author. I’m not sure if that’s a real town–likely a fictionalized version of one. They were interesting since I grew up “next door” in Indiana during that time. The customs and attitudes of the time were familiar, as were many of the characters. At first the stories were enjoyable–remembering and identifying similar personalities and situations to those descrbed. However, by the third tape the prejudices and attitudes of the era–also accurately depicted–were more depressing than entertaining and I realized I was listening with an odd sense of “obligation.” I returned them–the auditory equivalent of the 50-page rule.

Candace

The weather was frightful, but the worst of it was in Ft. Worth (Haltom City) where a tornado (s) hit. Destroyed a lot of roofs, trees, and storage lots for trailers (semi) and RV’s was really hit. A Minyards grocery store got hit, and removed the roof. At my house, we had high winds, some hail – - from pea size to quarter size, lots of rain. Some places around Dallas suburbs got baseball, tennis ball sized hail. Awful! Only one person was killed in the tornado at Haltom City. Considering the strength of it, a miracle that more weren’t killed.

Thank you for your concern, Jo and all my GGOBIT buddies!

I know you are supposed to get a Nor’easter (or such). Take care.

Joanne

Internet Explorer had a long article about the weather – main part of the story was of the extreme weather around Dallas/Fort Worth. Joanne lives in that area and we hope she and her family are all right. Tornadoes and a heavy snowfall reported. Let us hear from you, Joanne, and of course anyone else who went through that weather system.

It is true that out of nine I was the only one that liked that book. I don’t finish books that I don’t like. They all agreed that it was a good discussion book. I know though, that I wouldn’t have picked it to read if it weren’t for the group.

I’m not enjoying The Memory Book as much as The Blue Bottle Club,  maybe too much similarity to the first one, but its good bedtime reading.  My author friend, Roxy Henke, just finished Jody Picoult’s newest book, and said it is depressing, but very well written and real.  Bullying is the theme. 

I too have a foot high pile of books by my bed, that I’ve not gotten desperate enough start again.  Not enough interest to finish them, but they are mine, not the library’s. 

The kittens sound so entertaining, Jo.

 Jacky