Greatest global online bookclub in town

I got turned off of Hockey when as a young person I attended a few hockey games at the University of ND in very -° weather. I remember not being able to concentrate on the game because I was cold. I may have not been dressed warm enough because of being young and wanting to look cool. I don’t care about looking cool anymore. I do have a hockey puck in my underwear drawer. You all know that story.

I am getting ready to fly to WI a week from today and will be there until after New Years. Winter clothes take up so much room I may pack a box and ups it. I can wash clothes there but I need dress stuff and my fun stuff and it all takes up room.

I am glad you are back on board Jo.

Jo, I can understand your liking hockey. When we had the Aeros here I went to my first game because I’d been invited even though I had no interest in it. I turned into a hockey fan that night–sure surprised myself. You already have made the team your fans, now they’ll be looking for you.

Candace

Good to read you, Jo. You certainly covered a lot of territory on your Colorado adventure–even finding more relatives. It is indeed good to be retired these days. Most of us have been through and well remember other “downturns” and job stress.

Candace

Hey everyone, I have returned - like the proverbial bad penny. LOLOL

I got back on Monday, the 8th, and believe me, it IS possible to be jet-lagged for only a two-hour time difference. It took a while when I got to CO, and it has taken a goodly while coming back home. It’s cold and rained two days straight - ALL day - and I’m having trouble getting warm. Is wet cold colder than dry cold? Hmmmmmmmmm.

I had a fine visit - as I mentioned, the independent living facility where I have my name on the waiting list is really nice. There are home for sale, duplexes for rent both market value and discounted, and an apartment building which has some 50 or so apartments. There is no way to tell which is which either, unless you know that the half-wall on the front ‘porch’ is the discount place. Otherwise no difference in appearance outside or inside. We saw the one bedroom apt the first time Suzanne and I went. My bro/SIL were there for Thanksgiving and we saw a two bedroom, shown to us by the 94-yr-old who lives there. And what a charmer she is. She caught a scammer at the bldg too and was written up in the Loveland paper. I don’t know the story unfortunately…we were rather hurried through the apartment…not by Annie, but by the Marisol ‘guide.’

My bro/SIL left the day after Thanksgiving to continue their trip to GA and their youngest. Their g’daughter was anxious for them to get there! Suzanne’s daughter Jenna arrived the next week. She went to Flagstaff and spent some time w/Paul before she drove on over to I-25 and then north for CO. Paul was working in the Flagstaff area that week.

The biggest thing as far as I was concerned however was the hockey games we went to. I’ve discovered I’m a hockey fan - I even bought a jersey so I can get autographs of the players. The first giveaway was a water bottle and I had the players sign that - I am infamous now as G’ma Water Bottle! When i got my jersey and started getting autographs on that, the players who were present at the doings all remembered me. And as I left after wishing them good luck at the next game, one of them said, “See ya at the game, honey!” I didn’t hear it but Suzanne did and told me what he’d said. He has quite a reputation as a lady’s man, but it was still nice to be called honey once again. LOLOL <==== to you uninitiated, that means Laughing Out Loud.

My daughter found a link to an online TV station so I can watch the games. I LIKE that! It isn’t the BEST reception in the world but I can tell what’s what mostly.

It sounds as though you all had a good Thanksgiving and weren’t too badly stuffed. We had food food food. And Thanksgiving twice. Once on the day itself, and then once the following Sunday when a cousin who had already met Suzanne and Paul invited us to her house to meet the other relatives who were also invited. I met cousins I didn’t know I had and got reacquainted with a couple I knew about and had met some years ago when I visited their mother, my aunt Gladys. It seems that we (my brother and I) are his only cousins. Since he has brothers and sisters, I’m not too sure that’s the truth, but since I didn’t know for SURE, I took his word for it.

I was glad to come home but really didn’t want to. My g’daughter here said she expected to get an email telling her to pack up my stuff and ship it to me. I wish!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, jet lag or not, here we are and please don’t let the blog go - I expect the others who don’t respond in this blog either can’t get it, as is the case with Traude, or figure they have nothing to say. We’ve told them often that even just signing in and saying hi is good but maybe they don’t believe us.

At any rate, we do still have email and I’ll got in there and tell all I have returned to chilly damn PA.

I missed you all. Suzanne was in training in the evenings but that job fell through as the company didn’t get as many contracts as they thought. Once she was home all day instead of being gone from 2 pm until 11, it was tough getting the computer - she was job-hunting. And I discovered after I got home that one of my neighbors was laid off but she hopes to go back in January or maybe as late as February. I am SO glad I’m retired.

Take care, y’all, and stay warm and dry.
Jo

I was thinking about you when I saw pictures of snow in Alabama. It’s nice to see and enjoy it occasionally–especially if you don’t have to drive in it. I know you’re glad to have your daughter nearby and I’ll bet she’s glad to be out of Wisconsin’s cold.

Candace

hello, i am jenny from alabama. We also expect snow, that very seldom happen here. i am glad my daughter, who lived in wisconsin moved last week down here, to be near me. She is in the prozess of finishing her place. In the meantime she stays with me in the Retirementhome, where i live i also miss Jo`s always interesting comments and hope she will come back to us.

Raining and dreary here.

I attended the book group discussion this morning. The book was The Brief and Wondrous Life 0f Oscar Wao. Some liked it and they all admitted that it was great writing. In fact I think most liked it. They all agreed that it was hard to read.

Oscar Wao is an overweight nerdy child growing up in New Jersey. He has no friends, is made fun of and most of all when he is a teenager very unsuccessful with girls. The story involves his family who are from the Dominion Republic, the rule of Trujillo. The author writes much of the history of Trujillo’s reign through footnotes. Oscar becomes a teacher, goes back to Santo Domingo and the story goes on. It involves much of his family and acquaintances. I agree that it was wonderful writing, I just couldn’t’ get interested in it. I do enjoy hearing what others thought of the book and many points were clarified for me.

There is snow on my front yard and sticking to the palm fronds–can’t remember the last time we had snow that stuck. Wish it was light so I could get a picture. The last pictures I have of snow that was enough to make a snowball was around 40 years ago. The news this evening had pictures of snow to the north and west but this is close to downtown Houston!

Candace

PA Jo is back home in PA, when she gets over traveling from West to East, she will post here I’m sure. We Instant Messaged this AM and I would have thought she might have posted here already.

Joanne

Glad to see more messages here, but have been wondering where Jo is too?

A cloudy snowy day here in Oslo, we have a Lion’s Senior meal this evening, always a good meal! My husband used to be in charge of it each Dec, but is now retired from that too, but he’s still a Lion. They do a lot for vision problems, seeing eye dogs, ect. He is also a Shriner, and works at the Circus in the spring. We’ve had kids helped around here at their hospital in Mpls.

We were to a hockey game, grandson’s, and then his brother’s wrestling match in Grand Forks, 25 miles from us. This is where our son’s kids go to high school, our school closed 11 years ago.

Jacky

PA Jo was fine last Friday or Saturday when she instant messaged me. She was getting ready to go someplace else. (I forget where! LOL) If I hear from her via IM I will let you all know.

Joanne

That’s a new name to me, Miselle. I’ll look for those–my favorite to listen to are fast-moving thrillers of whatever type. The deeper, more philosophic ones I like on Kindle.

Candace

Oh, please don’t go..I am one of the sinners,who looks but doesn’t do anything…I’m sorry
I love have the connection from the good old days.. Please Birkie,bookie buddies don’t go !!!

If you are in the mood for a thriller..I suggest Beautiful Lies,by Unger and the sequel, A Sliver of Truth…my DD told me about them,,,Amazon helped and I could not put them down.!!!!

I too hope Jo is ok..
Have a beautiful day, my beautiful friends.

Hugs,Miselle ( now IMH2@mac.com) in real life Isabelle

Darlyne, maybe you’ll like Oscar better after you’re further into the story. I thought it was a great book and could get around most of the Spanish terms by association. It’s really a different read and hilarious. I read on Kindle.
Huggz all,
Jerry

Darlyne, for several years, they didn’t bother me at all–very rarely was aware of them. They’ve increased in number and size particularly the last three or four years. At a recent routine glaucoma checkup, my doctor said that for people prone to them they often increase with age. Sometimes they startle me, thinking I see something out of the corner of my eye. Could be worse–still can see well enough for most things.

Candace

Candace, I found a few years ago when I had some floaters it I looked up and held my eyes in that position and then looked down it helped them to go away. They disappeared for some reason. I hope they stay away.

Jacky, Julie has Netflex and loves it. She watches very little TV. She gets the tv shows she likes like Boston Legal when they come out on tape. That way she skips the commercials.

I am reading The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and wish I weren’t. It is the pick for my library book group and I am having a hard time getting through it. It is written by Junot Diaz. One of the problems is he uses many Spanish expressions and words and I don’t understand those. I will write more about it when I see what the others think of it.

Jacky, I need to go by Half Price Books and pick up some more books on tape to listen to on the road. I’ve seen some of his books as well as other writers I’ve never read but don’t know what style of book they are. Does he write a series with the same characters–detective stories, mysteries, international intrigue? I don’t know if I mentioned before Edgar Allen Poe tapes that I did enjoy because the style of writing as well as the language was so different from detective stories today. The focus in the two stories on these tapes was on the expertise of the detective and the victims and suspects were incidental to the stories.

Candace

Haven’t heard from Jo lately. She should be back home by now, shouldn’t she? Maybe she’s busy getting organized for a move to Colorado in the Spring.

I would miss this place a lot. I know age and health and family situations have taken a toll on several of the original group.

I emailed Kindle about possibly adding a larger font, possibly replacing the smallest one. I’ve been using the largest one since I got it and new floaters have continued to appear which are just beginning to bother some. The darn things interfere now even when I’m walking out in the yard, looking at my plants.

Candace

I would miss it too, even though I don’t add much. I can certainly do better. I just looked up The Late Liz on Amazon. I really enjoyed the book back in the 50’s, heard the author on tape in our church and so got the book, loaned it to a friend, got it back, rather water logged, but dried, loaned it again and never got it back, can’t remember who I loaned it to? But it is still available and the one review of it was, “Boring book, poorly written” But I did find I still have her on an audio cassette. I’m thinking of ordering it, but will listen first. Its the auto biography of a very wealthy woman, I think raised in NYC mostly by nannys. She has a very troubled life, makes horrible choices, and tries to commit suicide, which she says, “I couldn’t even do that right!”

She remembers thinking of a night time prayer one of the nanny’s taught her before she lost conscienceness, one of her son’s finds her and get her to a hospital. The rest of the book is her revitalized life. I guess I will order it again.

Otherwise, one of our daughters gave us a Netflix subscription and my husband really likes movies! Last night we watched 1987 Lean On Me, Morgan Freeman, the true story of Joe Clark, a NJ principle who turned a messed up high school around. Clive watched it again, but I read, these movies cut into my reading time. It’s nice to watch them together though.

Now I’m going to reconcile my check book, offta! Jacky

This blog takes no effort at all. I would hate to see it disband also.

I check in here EVERY day, sometimes twice a day. I usually only respond to posts, but occasionally start one of my own.

If it is a lot of work for you, I guess the lack of response should herald the end of the blog. I would hate to see it go, but I am just one person.

Joanne

I wonder if we should give up on this blog. Only about three of us post and even then not too often.

Thanks for the chuckle, Darlyne. They are obviously interesting young folks.

Candace

I meant PHYSICS people. Quite a difference.

I got home yesterday afternoon after a great week at Julie’s. Her sons spent much of their time building a cloud chamber in an aquarium–don’t ask! they are all physic people. One of their friends makes and sells organic vegetarian marshmallows. She also has two other jobs. Other interesting people showed up. Julie and I saw Australia Saturday afternoon after everyone had left. We enjoyed the movie very much. I was very tired last night and barely made it to bed but I did. I didn’t get much reading done. It is good to be home and time to get ready for the Christmas stuff.