Greatest global online bookclub in town

Happy New Year Everyone! We are having another bout of snow but we don’t have to go anyplace, but I think the young people here are all going out. They are pretty careful but I still will worry. It is funny, I don’t worry at all when I am not at their home.

My daughter and I will have a pizza delivered and enjoy a little wine with it and most likely go to bed early. Getting up at 5:30 AM causes an early bedtime. I am reading a Ken Haruf book that I am sure I read a long time ago but picked it up and am enjoying it again. He wrote Plainsong.

It is 81 today, supposed to get to 71 tomorrow and the 60s after that. 81 on New Year’s Eve Day?????????????? Bah Humbug.

>waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to warm here in the Tampa area.

Why don’t I believe you–anxious to get back to ice-covered car and snow banks–ssuuuuuurrre you are!
Everyone that believes that stand on your head!

Candace

To all of you and yours.

Daughter and I are going out for dinner and then running back home before all the crazies get out.

It is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to warm here in the Tampa area. Debbie has turned on the AC. I wanna go home where it’s cool…and probably cold!

LOLOL

From my Netlix, I rented “The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn” starring Sidney Potier and Mary Louise Parker. A sweet movie, good story, no cursing, no sex, no violence.

I recommend it, 5 stars. (I don’t think it was a book, but I just had to post this reco here in GGOBIT)

Hope everyone had a great holiday, I know the weather was “frightful” for those of you in the midwest and northeast. Hope you didn’t have to shovel any snow!

My best to all for a Happy New Year. I hope to have one too, except for the fact that 2 minutes after midnight, I will celebrate another Birthday.
Oh, well, I will watch the Ball fall, drink a glass of sparkling cider, kiss the old man goodnight (if he’s still awake) and fall into bed to wake up another year older!

Many of us read Pillars and I really don’t remember any sex in it. I will probably try his newest book when I have nothing else to read.

I am in WI and it isn’t easy to get to this computer. I received about three new books and will start on The Three Ruths next.

We are expecting a big snow storm. So far it hasn’t been bad.

Didn’t some of us in this group read Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” a couple of years ago? I’m quite sure I read it and don’t remember it being so saturated with sex as his new “World Without End”. It’s a good story and very interesting so I’ve decided to persue it to the 1000th page end but I’m disgusted with the author.
Huggz all,
Jerry

There hasn’t been a post for a week, or is it just my computer acting up?  My movers will be here Saturday in the middle of five more inches of snow.  I can’t even get my car out of the driveway.  A friend of mine from Huntsville sent me a musical video and told me to take a break and listen to it.  It was “Anytime you’re feelin lonely”.  I not only listened but warbled along with it even though I didn’t remember all the words.  Now I feel better!

 Jan

I meant to say that Mac and cheese was the only food that her kids friends would eat. Her kids learned to like most of the food served.

This is a year of food life. The author and her family moved to a place they owned in VA in the mountain area where they spent a year using only food, (mostly) that they grew, cooked on their own and bought from farmers markets in the area. They tried to buy only foodstuffs that didn’t have to be transported from other areas. She admitted to buying coffee beans and those boxes of Mac and Cheese that some of her kids would only eat. Even if you aren’t a foodie I think you would like this book. I did. I admit that one would have to have the time, the money and the land to do this. The food for the year cost less than buying the conventional way but I say the money because I think a working couple would not have time to do this, thus the money. They raised their own poultry, made their own cheese along with raising a garden.
I listened to this book on a CD. It was read by Kingsolver, her husband and daughter who also wrote parts of the book. It was her first non fiction book.

>Menniere’s Disease.

Jacky, I have decades of experience with this. The first time was about 45 years ago, sudden and severe. Over time, seeing different doctors and different tests, only when I met another retiree at a volunteer job did I hear the name for it. The best thing I’ve learned–it’s inconvenient and aggravating, but it doesn’t kill you. For what it’s worth in my experience and that of the person I just mentioned, they’re random, varying in severity and duration and for me Dramamine works–the original, not the version that doesn’t cause sleepiness. I’ve gone for as long as two years without one. On average, I’d say I’ve had four or five a year. That first one was by far the worst and lasted, slowly lessening, for two months. I used to avoid taking a Dramamine until it got worse but a doctor told me I should take one at the first indication because these “attacks” can be self-perpetuating and if you can lessen them they will likely become infrequent. I measure mine by the number of Dramamine tablets I have to take. I have tubes of Dramamine everywhere in reach now in case a bad one strikes without warning. Usually, I can sense when one is possible a few hours or a day before. My most recent one was last Thursday, ended Saturday, not severe–retired now, I can relax and doze until they pass. That was the first in nearly a year. For years, that wasn’t possible and it was difficult to fight through them for three or four days. For a long time I didn’t notice tinnitus but the last few years it has become louder and does accompany the dizziness. I’ve never been able to tie them to any food, activity, temperature–no consistency.

Your daughter’s experience may be different. I was just so glad after years to finally meet someone whose experience was so like mine.

Candace

I had a rash of those while I was working; dr said it was stress (which it may have been - never had another [knock wood\) and prescribed Sudafed and Meclizine which took care of the problem. Weird things !!!!!

Jo

Her newest book is The View from Mount Joy, the setting is again in MN. I went to her web page, but couldn’t see a place to write messages to her, but didn’t take much time looking either. It seemed to mostly be a place to order her books. The address is www.lornalandvik.com if anyone else would like to try.

I just got a phone call from our youngest daughter in St Paul, she has had dizzy spells and hearing loss with ringing in that ear, and her Dr thinks its Menniere’s Disease. They are also doing a mir for other problems tomorrow, but were fairly certain this is the problem. I don’t know anything about this, my mother had severe vertigo a couple of times and dramamine helped.

She is an ASL interpretor, so very involved with hearing or lack of.

Know you’ll love the sunshine, Jo, esp after all your ice. Jacky

I don’t think it ever melts or rains in MN to freeze doors shut. It is too cold.

and a very Merry Christmas.

This past Monday,  I needed to go to get my allergy shot.  It snowed through the night, but the driveway didn’t look too bad, so I got out my broom to sweep the snow off the car (it always looks like an igloo when it snows - it is a white Honda).  Managed to get the snow off and unlocked the door.  The locks weren’t frozen, but the doors were on both sides.  My daughter lives 12 miles away, but it was her day off and she came in, stopping on the way to get de-icer.  By the time she got here they weren’t frozen anymore!  She stayed anyway and worked some more on packing for me.  It will eventually get done, I guess.  I don’t remember that sort of thing (frozen doors) happening in 1950 in Minnesota, but maybe it didn’t seem like such a big deal when I was young and had more vigor!

Nothing is quite as easy as it was then.

Thankfully the two aren’t connected.

Yes indeed, that is what happened — it was very windy here too. But it was certainly an eye-opener to find two sides of a car iced shut and the third side with no ice whatever. AND no ice on the driveway on that side either. I wish I could leave clothes and things here and there but I don’t go anywhere often enough to do that. Darn it!

If I COULD, I’d have stuff in CO (#5 is there an hour or so north of Denver); FL (#4 is there on the Gulf coast, as well as #3 on the ocean side). If I go to TX (#2), I’d pack as I haven’t been there since I left in 1991 although we’ve been together for various 50th b’day parties. #1 is in MD but I don’t go there often either; they are the busiest people I’ve ever seen. Of course, they mostly now have an empty nest altho daughter does come home from college during breaks and sometimes other times, so they have no one to have to be home for. They do have a two storey house but fortunately for me, they have a loo on the main floor! LOL

I pretty much know what I’m going to take and all I need to fuss about is putting it in the suitcase. And I KNOW if I leave the thing open for any time at all, I’ll have two and maybe even all three cats in it. Helping, y’know.

I think what happened with your car is the wind blew the rain to the side that iced. We had a lot of wind that day and I suspect you did also.

I get ready for trips the way you do Jo. I have my suitcase out and have stuff ready to put in it mostly knitting and a bread mix I will make when I get there and of course a book or two. I have amassed clothes that I leave in WI and they have given me a drawer in my room and one in the bathroom. Sometimes some of my stuff is still in the br when I get there. With three teenagers home now and then stuff gets “borrowed”.

Jacky I am glad that Clives tests showed OK mostly. One of my 90 lb.5 foot grandaughters was on the HS boys wrestling team. They had to take her because there wasn’t a girl’s team. I watched a couple of her matches. She won mostly by forfeit because some boys refused to wrestle her or there weren’t any in her weight.

Do you know the name of the latest Landvick book. I like her books.

Have a great trip Jo. I won’t be leaving until the 23rd.

I would love to stay that long but they always give me a from-to date!!!!!!!! Ah well! LOLOL

But St. Patrick’s Day would be good!

Today I pack and shower and wash my hair and good stuff like that. Tomorrow make sure everything is good; wastebaskets emptied as the ‘boys’ LOVE to tip it over and strew whatever trash is in it all over the place. I think they do that just to give me something to do. I plan to leave the TV sound turned up a bit so there’ll be noise for them. I don’t have to turn on the TV for that.

Well, it’s almost here; I can hardly wait.

What an odd freeze pattern on your car, Jo–I never saw anything like that–just shows what wind can create. You will sure enjoy Florida, even if it’s cold for there–you’ve already seen REAL cold. You might want to think about staying through, say, Valentine’s Day–maybe St. Patrick’s Day–April Fools’ Day latest. (Is Fool singular or plural?)

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Candace

And for your ice, Jo, but glad your hearing aides are working out. We had a busy week with Clive’s tests but the results are fairly good. His bone scan was neg, and also his ct scan, but the biopsy of the prostate showed some problem even though it was frozen 3 years ago. The Dr is going to do another biopsy the 2nd of Jan and then will decide what to do next, probably another freezing, (cryo something or other) or radiation. It will be good to get an explanation for his elevated psa numbers, and fix it.

I just caught up on past posts, its been busy, and Jan, I know you’ll like your move. My mother really enjoyed independant living in EGF, although she had only one noon meal with the plan. She met many very nice people. And I don’t think you’d know Clive’s cousin, Joye, as she grew up and lived in the Seattle area. Her mother was Clive’s mother’s youngest sister, Leona Knutson, who married a dairy farmer near Stanwood, WA.

I don’t know if you all got my message about Lorna Landvik. Sorry if this is a repeat, but she was featured in the Grand Forks Herald with her newest book, and she was born in Grand Forks, but grew up in the cities. Jan, maybe you remember the Landvik family in Oslo in the 40’s? Lorna may be a relative. The book we’ve read in GGOBIT is Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.

Our son’s oldest son played hockey last night and tonight we watched his brother wrestle, a strange sport, but he does well and likes it.

We have a lot of snow, but its too cold for ice except on the Red River. I see snow mobile tracks on it, and marvel that folks dare drive on it yet. We lost a young man from our church through the ice a few years ago.

Happy traveling to FL, Jo, hope your cold is better. Jacky

That’s right - I was iced out. We had an ice storm come thru and it was a beaut!

It rained Sunday night and the temp was just right. The rain turned to ice and I stayed in the house. Monday was the same thing and I finally decided to try to get my car on the other side of the driveway which gets the morning and afternoon sun. The side of the driveway closest to me doesn’t and I’d have had ice on the car until spring. As it was, there was a full quarter-inch of ice on it. And the weirdest part was that there was NO ice the full length of the car on the passenger side. The top (hood, seats and trunk deck), the front and rear, and the entire length of the driver side was iced. NO ice on the passenger side at all. So I got in that door and climbed over the console (I’m glad nobody was watching - I definitely wasn’t graceful) and started the engine, the heater and the front and rear window defrosters. What an experience that was.

Maintenance people had come by to clear the sidewalks (big joke - we renters usually have to do a good job at that one) and the walk up to my patio and to the stairs to enter the building, so that part was easy. I got a container full of the ice melt stuff and dumped more on the sidewalk so I could at least get to the car. No snow or ice on the street at the passenger side either.

Took me an hour to get enough ice off of windows to be able to see to get across the driveway. And then I went to get gas and some important things like luggage locks and kitty litter.

I leave Thursday early afternoon, weather permitting, to go to FLorida for Christmas with daughter and her adult son. She tells me to bring clothing for warm and cold weather! Interesting, eh?

I am SO ready for this - I don’t like ice.

Take care all and have a very merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah season, Kwaanza and any holiday I may have missed.

Jo

I don’t remember how to get into the book group I think way-way back you had to go to the groups arts and leisure and you would find the book group there. I don’t go into AOL anymore and it has been a while. I hope someone else can help you.

Jacky returned the ggobit book that we all wrote and I have been re-reading and enjoying it. I am also trying to stay interested in Intuition by Allegra Goodman which is the library book group selection. It is about a bunch of researchers trying to find a cure for cancer and involves injecting mice etc, trying to get funding and I suspect there is going to be some cheating going on.

Thanks for the suggestions, Darlyne. We have read Water for Elephants and the Kite Runner and I will recommend Atonement and Middlesex. I’m not still an AOL member, but I may be able to get on with my old name (if I can remember it). My husband has an AOL account so I could go through him. Do I just go to GGOBIT?

Miggs/Kathy

Hi Miggs/Kathy - how nice to have you drop in. It’s been quite a while. Look back at some of the books we’ve read - if you’re still on AOL, you can find them in the Sr Net archives.

I think I shall pass on Follett’s latest; if it’s so heavily laden with explicit sex, that would kill the book for me right then. Maybe having that much of it helps for get his page quota and the book would be too skimpy without it.

I’m off to bed - been coughing up a storm, laryngitis, and general blahs. Hope it’s gone before I got to FL on the 20th. Hope OUR weather turns nice by then too; it’s supposed to be rather nasty the next few days.

Take care all,
Jo

I’ve finally given up on “World Without End” just short of 300 pages. The man is obsessed with sex and presents it explicitly. I was enjoying the story but with eroticism rearing it’s head every few pages I didn’t think I could take another 700 pages. This is not the first time I’ve been disappointed with this author but I’ll gaurantee it’ll be the last.
Huggz all,
Jerry