Greatest global online bookclub in town

Yes indeed, Darlyne has it right. I am definitely alive but I’m not kicking all that high lately. I’m still having a bit of a problem with my left knee, the one I hit the hardest when I fell on them. Actually I never did kick all that high to begin with. LOLOL

Thank you for the nice compliment, I always try to post something in response to those of us who don’t post very often…we miss them for sure.

I too hope I’m still posting when I’m 96; you’re a wonder woman, Jenny!

I volunteered my dining room, kitchen and bathroom to a neighbor, Amy, who wanted to give a welcome baby party for her daughter who has just had her second. Amy lives on the second floor and no room for 20 some people in these apts. She figured to have it outside and I’m the one with the yard, so to speak. So I said OK and the party went very well. I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen and she and another neighbor (Beth – 3rd floor) decorated, and did a lot of the pre-party stuff Friday. Then Saturday there wasn’t all that much to do before the party which started at 3. Some few of the attendees stayed a bit later but that was OK.

My g’daughter, SO and 3 of their 5 kids came over to invite me to dinner. And I went. I left with nobody and came back with two of my g’g'sons, ages 4 and 6. The 4 yr old, BIG brown eyes and all, charmed all the ladies. Mom and the rest came back in half an hour or so and picked up the boys to finish their shopping etc.

I’m reading a series I’ve have for some forty-leven years (that’s the bedtime read) and also a series by Robin _____, which is a sci-fi romance. The story itself if quite good and I speed read through the romance stuff. I feel like the little boys when the kissing stuff comes on in the movie — eeewwwwww!!!

Other than that, very little is happening. It is beginning to get warmer and more humid, so I’m not going out a whole lot. I don’t mind the heat so much, I’ve discovered but the humidity makes it hard to breathe. I’ve never learned how to breathe underwater. No gills!

Well, ladies and Jerry, take care of yourselves, stay healthy, cool (warm as the case may be) and if any of you are soggy, I hope you dry out pretty soon.

Hugz around,
Jo

PaJo is alive and kicking. She posted June 18th. Never fear, she will be posting again.

i have not seen any mail from  pa  jo in a long time.  i sure hope she is alright.  her former adress was  granmuzzy and she was holding the whole group togethere.  my family is fine,  my granddaughter  jill who is in advertising is at the moment at the  INT.AVERTISING FESTVAL in Cannes.  The young people have more courage now than  i ever had. 4 years ago she won a trip around the world and was traveling for 4 months all alone.  my other 3 grandchildren also are all far away from me. one in Oregon, one in Caliofornia  and the fourth one in Tennesee.   i rarely see them.    regards to all   Jenny

Jacky,
There is absolutely no hurry in getting the book back to me. Take your time.

I am so glad you enjoyed it.

What a wonderful person our Wede is and I just love her daughter. They are both so very articulate. Thanks to both of you for writing this book.

Judith

ggobit is on my desktop!!!

Jacky

Its been kind of a hassle to get GGOBIT, well not really a hazzle, but I had to go to my old home page, then to my favorites, then scoll down to GGO. I have a lot of favorites—-that I never look at, have to clean that up too someday. I have a Windows XP for Dummy’s, but the author tries to be funny and isn’t that easy for me to understand, when I tried to figure out how to put GGO on my desktop. I must be below “dummy”. Any way, today I got to this page and for some reason right clicked on my mouse, and found the question, “Do you want this page on your desktop?” yes or no. I clicked “yes”. But haven’t checked yet if its actually on my desktop. I’ll let you know.

Driving back from St Paul last Sun, I heard Dr Timothy Johnson being interviewed by someone from my denomination, ELCA, Dr Johnson is the medical advisor for ABC. He was asked about his book Finding God in the Questions. I realized I’d bought the book several years ago on sale, and it was somewhere in the pile of “read someday” books by my bed. I dug it out and find it interesting and helpful. Johnson is an ordained minister, but went to medical school at the age of 29.

But i’m reading Phyllis’s book first and am so proud to know you, even if its on the WEB, Wede! But now my buns, homemade breads, are ready to bake, we are invited to my sister’s cabin on Lake of the Woods tomorrow, and I wanted to bring some food. And I love to read as a car passenger, but our middle daughter and son in law are going with us, and I’d rather visit, —you can see why I’m a slow reader. But I’ll get the DD book to you next week, Judith. Sorry for the delay.

Jacky

I’d been thinking about you lately. I hope I’m still posting when I’m 96. We’re lucky to have someone available to get us out of those computer viruses. Wish all of the old AOL group would post here more often. Those were such good times. I get out “our” book and reread it from time to time.

Candace

I am glad your son got rid of the virus problem. I had one once and I think it took my sil two days to get rid of it. Welcome back.

I had a virus in my computer, it took my son many, many hours to get rid of it.  its very annoying and  i still not understand how it happens.     as you see  i am still around and kicking.  i am  Jenny from  Alabama and will be 96 years old in  August,  i hope you all are fine and  i say  hello to all the ladies  i used to talk to , special JO, who always answered.

Doing that definitely does pay off. Some of these companies are jsut too free and easy with their little ‘deals.’

When I signed up for Lifeline, the rep told me the installation fee of $70 (!!!) was being waived for a certain length of time. (Installation: Plug it into the wall, plug the phone into it, test the buzzer to see if it works at far distances in the house or apt. That’s it. I admit that my eyebrows went up a tad. He had the good grace to blush.) So I expected my first time bill to be around $50. It was $120, the $70 had been added. So I called the rep, complained and he said the company told him I could go ahead and deduct the $50 when he called to find out about it.

I let it set a few days and then wrote them a letter; this is what I was told and this is what I expect — the rep’s words should be honored. They finally did cash my check…for the $50.

That kind of doings doesn’t fly with me and I will definitely make waves. Besides, $70 is a ridiculous amount.

I finished that book while at Julie’s and gave it to her. I did enjoy it. It was both funny and sad and I have a great admiration for Phyllis after reading it.

I just spent at least an hour trying to figure out why my Verizon bill was $30.00 more this month. It is deducted from my bank automatically. When I first called about it I needed an account number and since I don’t have a bill I didn’t have one. I finally found an old bill from two years ago and it had an account number. (thats an advantage for having a bad filing system). I finally got a live person and found out that my yearly contract was up and I was no longer getting the two discounts I had been getting. The letter I received about the year being up said I had to do nothing to keep the same service so I didn’t. Anyway the nice young man gave me back the discounts for the future. If I hadn’t called I wouldn’t have received them. That would have been $360.00 more a year. Sigh. I am glad I spent the time looking into it. I think it is a scam. Think of all the people who don’t call. I have fios for both phone and INTERNET and the phone service is the same no matter how many calls I make. That is why I questioned the increase.

Back to books, I am now reading Bleeding Kansas and so far find it a page turner. One of the characters finds a diary of someone from before the civil war and the farm families are divided by those who think slavery is fine and those that don’t. It is very interesting reading and I will tell more when I finish it.

I’m really enjoying the daughter book, brings back memories of my mother and makes me even more thankful for my little sister, Leah. We shared the care and concern. I still think of phoning Mother, once in a while when something happens that I know she’d be interested in. But she lived 96 and 1/2 years, and her mind was clear til the very end. Leaving her home after she died, I noticed a message on my cell phone. It was Mom, the night before just, “wondering how we were” and wishing us a “Good night”. I still tear up writing about it. She loved much and love is the best.

We had potato soup too quite often, as a kid, and it happens to be my husband’s favorite soup, so I still eat it every once in a while. It’s good with bacon bits or peas, and cheeze. Or plain.

Jacky

I love it on baked potatoes or even on the boiled potatoes. I had some of the dressing left over after I finished the cuke slices. I had made that cuke salad where you slice cukes very thin, salt them and let them sit for a while to get a goodly amount of the liquid out. Squeeze ‘em and plop ‘em into a bowl. Add water, vinegar, sugar and sour cream, blend well and chill. I always rinse off the cuke slices after having been salted too – that does help in case you salted them too much as I did once. LOL Anyhow, I had eaten all the cuke slices and here was this perfectly good dressing but oh too vinegary. So I diluted it with sour cream (I didn’t have much left so I needed only about a cup), stirred it well and poured that over the potatoes. It was REALLY good and not at all vinegary as I was afraid it might be. The tartness was there, but it was good. And I’m making myself hungry here; it IS getting on toward lunch. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Tiger tied the man who was ahead in the US Open yesterday – so they play 18 holes today to see who is the champion. Tiger is playing with a bum knee; he has surgery in mid-May and it has been bothering him some. The other player, Rocco Mediate, is some 45 yrs old and has never won a major championship and so while I’d LOVE to have Tiger win, it would be something if Rocco won. He and Arnold Palmer both live in PA and not too far from each other. I expect Arnie is glued to his TV also. I know I am.

Well, enough of that – have a good day all
Jo

I’m sorry you can’t handle the potato skins, Jerry, as they are SOOOOO tasty. But you keep yourself healthy and only fall off the diet on very rare occasions.

Thank you for the stuff for the cucumber soup; I’ll try your recipe too. It sounds much quicker than the one I printed from Panera.

Jo

Jo, with the advent of my kidney problems I can’t leave the skins on potatos and they have to be boiled in a lot of water to reduce potassium. This soup I made yesterday is a departure from my strict renal diet. (Don’t tell my nephrologist.) The cream of chicken soup and the bacon are no nos too but I just had to have some cream of potatoe soup.

Today I have a sore throat and a cold and can barely taste my wonderful soup. Sniff, sniff!

Cucumber soup is also wonderful. I’ve been making it now fow quite a few years. I just take a couple or three good sized cukes, washem’ and leave a lot of the skin on to enhance the beautiful green soup. Cut them up and throw ‘em in the blender with a can of cream of chicken or cream of celery soup, eight ounces of sour cream and a little dill weed and whip ‘em up. Chill and serve…yum. Don’t worry about the leftovers, there won’t be any.

Huggz all,
Jerry

I went to www.panerabread.com and got the site easily. I did print off a recipe for Chilled Cucumber Soup w/Grilled Croutons.

I love cucumbers: I have a recipe for cucumber salad like my mother used to make but she never got around to having me come over when she’d make them. I finally got a recipe from an online buddy. I love cucumber slices on sandwiches, too. But I’ve never had a cucumber soup. I see I’ll have to get a quart of buttermilk, which I don’t usually drink. I guess not liking it as a kid has carried over; I’ve not even tried any since going out on my own.

But next time I go to the store, I’ll get the ingredients and let you all know.

We had a lovely blue sky this morning but it is getting a bit cloudy. It poured yesterday and it’s a tad cooler today, I actually put on jeans and a tee shirt today instead of a housedress type thing. Some clouds are on the horizon so I must needs keep a weather eye out as my car windows are rolled down. Safe enough here at the apt complex but nowhere else.

Have a good day with the fathers in your family.
Jo

One I’ve never made but love when I go to Panera restaurant is broccoli cheese soup which they serve in a French bread loaf. The pieces they take out are served on the side. That is absolutely superb stuff.

Think I’ll check out their website and see if they’ve published the recipe.

I had to laugh at all the hoohaw Dan Quayle got when he made that goof and got the kid in trouble.

Anyhow, I’d be interested in the recipe too, Jerry. I love potato soup and have made it for years; it was good eating and not expensive when my tribe of five plus wasband and I for a total of 7 were still all at home. I added vegetable flakes a couple of times and nixed that, then I got a nice solid white fish and added that although I didn’t make a chowder out of it. The kids liked the flavor and texture with the fish in it, as opposed to just plain soup, so that was the standby. A loaf of French bread to go along with it and we were all well satisfied.

I used to wash the little gems and leave the skins on, all the good stuff in potatoes is right next to the skin which you can see when you slice the potato. Anyhow, I also like to use the Yukon Gold potatoes, such a lovely rich color. Salt and pepper, dill weed, onion of course but not browned, never tried it with bacon.

More info, Jerry.
Jo

Jerry, now I will make potato soup when I get home. It has been years but I do remember my Mother making it. I thought it was a depression dish and if it was the main thing it probably was cheaper than some. I bet you could have just washed those little red potatoes and left the skins on.

We had a busy couple of days but it is fairly quiet now, especially since the three grandsons are still sleeping and probably will sleep until noon or more. The youngest graduated from HS Friday. That is the second HS graduate for me this June. Now it is off to college for them.

Darlyne

Yes Candace, I used onions and a couple of carrots diced up small. I didn’t have any celery so used a teaspoon of celery salt.
Jerry

Once again a post has my mouth watering… did you use any onion, Jerry–what seasonings did you use? I remembered last week my mother used to use celery salt on some vegetables. Hadn’t thought of that in years, so I picked some up at Penzey’s spices.

Candace

I know, I know, that’s the way Dan Quayle spells potato but it’s part of my little story.

The other morning I was having my french toast in my favorite Greek restaurant when I saw one of the waitresses printing out the sign for the noonday fare. One of the offerings was “creamy potatoe soup”. I had to snicker because the word spelled this way is funny.

Anyway, the thought of potato soup stuck in my mind and I even dreamed about potato soup. I haven’t tasted any of this delicacy since I was a boy and I loved the way my mother made it.

Today upon arising I decided to try making some potato soup. I went to Google and looked up a recipe for the creamy stuff that sounded good and then headed off to the grocery store. I had half a bag of small red potatoes and a box of Swanson’s chicken broth so I bought cream of chicken soup, milk and bacon.

The hardest part of making this soup is peeling those little tiny potatoes and I would reccomend using big ones. The process took a little longer than the recipe called for but by one pm I sat down to a large bowl of the best potatoe soup I’ve ever eaten. I appologized to my mother but it was even better than hers. I felt so proud of this product I would not have been ashamed to invite even the pickiest of my friends over for a bowl.

Now, if anyone thinks potato soup is the cheap belly wash the movies lead us to believe, they would be wrong. The ingredients’ cost came to about seven dollars. But oh, wow! was it ever worth it. A bowl of this stuff in one of our downtown restaurants would cost about six or seven dollars and I have a couple of quarts still in the fridge. I only hope it will stand reheating in the mike.

Just remember…get big potatoes!

Huggz all,
Jerry

There were several days when the daily count showed 4; 4.2 etc.

I usually always click the Literacy Site, and Animal Site.

I have the link on Favorites and when I sign on every morning I click on all six of the causes. All need support and this is such an easy way to help. I have to wonder why the drop-off in clicks–there have been months that were up to a thousand. I would hope everyone would support all of those. I remind friends from time to time.

Candace

PAJo, I know you are a “clicker” of the “Breast Cancer Site”, and perhaps more of the folks here are too. If not, they are trying to get 8 Million clicks in the month of June so one of their sponsors will give $10,000 worth of mammograms. They are at about 38% as of yesterday with only 19 days left. So, if you are a regular “clicker” please do so with regularity this month, especially. (They are only averaging about 8 mammograms per day, sometimes less).

Joanne