09/30/22
Filed under:
General
Posted by:
Ann @ 10:48 am
The leaves are beginning to turn to spectacular colors already; reminding me why I love fall best of all. Though I truly welcome all four seasons. We had a frost warning for last night but there was no frost. The night temperatures have been hovering in the low-mid 30s, yet the summer flowers are still glorious. I won’t be covering them when the first frost dose come; it’s time to say good-by.
What a month it has been! Our WiFi, television and email service were taken over by Breezeline several months ago. We were promised we would not have to change our email address, and nothing would change except every thing would be faster and better. (That quickly proved NOT to be true!) On Sept.7th they had a major upgrade and I have not had email service since then. Our computer guy told me some of my emails still go out. But I don’t receive any. So I’ll try to send my blog out this afternoon. Who knows, you might receive this blog; OR I may have to resend it in October when this problem is finally repaired. (Positive thinking, huh?) I’m hoping all these problems will soon be resolved. I’ve spent hours on
the phone with Breezeline techs. The cause has been identified as their
mistake and you’d think they’d just fix their typo…but nothing seems
to be simple these days. We also had trouble with our television, no service at all for a week until we called our TV guy and he got us back on track with that. And then the doorbell malfunctioned and we had to get a new one, beautiful loud chimes that we both can easily hear. Only problem is the back door’s bell rings We Wish You a Merry Christmas, loudly - every time someone rings that one! The electrician is supposed to be stopping by to fix the back door bell ringer… Oh, and I forgot to mention both our riding lawn mowers are broken down, the repairman is coming this afternoon and I hope he will be able to keep them going a couple more years. Frustrating!!
We spent a wonderful week with my sisters, Linda- who is also an RN, and Sue. Linda and I helped Sue, who had a bad stroke in April. She’s in a wheel chair and needs assistance with most everything. We shared many laughs and memories. It was a really special time. We took her to see the elk in the reserve in Benezette, shopping, hair salon and lunches out. We all enjoyed watching movies on tv: Elvis, Being the Ricardos and Desi and Lucy. Her husband needed surgery and has been caring for her at home, it’s not an easy situation. I was able to attend a high school class reunion picnic at an old friends home, thanks to my sister, Linda. It was a nice evening and always good to see old friends.
I’ve read only four books this month:
*Two I won’t mention till next month since they’re review books for Story Circle and I haven’t finished the reviews yet to send to Story Circle.
The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore. Fiction. 2021. Kensington Publishing. Mirielle West is a wealthy Hollywood socialite, a hands-off mother of three who relies on nannies to care for her young children. Her husband is a successful silent film actor. After the accidental drowning of their young son during one of their lavish parties, Mirielle turns to alcohol more each day. Her husband insists she see a doctor about a small skin sore on her neck and within a few hours she finds herself on a train to Louisiana to a leprosy hospital. And that’s when the real story begins. Her character slowly evolves from an unlikable selfish woman to one of a nurturing kindness. The plot twists and wonderful characters keep the readers interest, and it is also educational about this horrible disease that disrupted thousands, if not millions of lives throughout history. (My only critique is that the font was too small and made reading a bit difficult.) This was our book club choice for this month that generated one of our best ever book discussions. It was a wonderful, well written book that we all truly loved.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Fiction. 2022. Ecco - Harper Collins. The two protagonists in this wonderful book is Tova, a seventy year old widow who is the cleaning lady in an aquarium and Marcellus, an elderly giant Pacific octopus. That sounds a bit far fetched but this debut novel is well written, educational as well as witty and charming. The entire cast of characters are likeable, the plot twists kept me turning pages and wondering how these seemingly far flung characters were going to come together. I was nearly to the end before it all made sense, though Marcellus kept dropping great hints throughout the book. I loved this novel too. It is a Read with Jenna Book Club Choice. It was a birthday gift from my cousin, Maureen.
Till next time, stay well and keep reading my friends.
Later, Ann