Time for Easy Reading

This morning I finished reading the next book for our reading group. If you remember, we decided to go into hiatus two months ago. Well, several of us have been meeting virtually each Tuesday for cocktails and just general comradery. We talk about things, and books do come up, just not like in our meetings. Anyhow, we decided to resume in June, but again virtually. So I resumed my reading of "The Reluctant Mr. Darwin", by David Quammen. The book overall was very interesting, basically being a life of Darwin after his return from his 5-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. The only real difficulty I had was when I got to the last three chapters; that was where all the science lay in wait. It took a while, but I got through it. It should be a very interesting discussion in June.

The other book I just finished this last Saturday - 2 days ago - was another science/history book. This was on the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920.

I had read John Barry's bestseller over 15 years ago. Laura Spinney's "Pale Rider" is not strictly chronological, yet covered many various aspects of the pandemic. It was interesting to note that people were told in 1918 that to keep the spread of the flu was 1) avoid large gatherings, and 2) wear a mask! 

But reading these two heavily ladened science books was too much for me. My next NF book was to be a science/nature book about crows. I just couldn't bring myself to read it right now. So I am switching to some easy reads. 

My fiction is about a 16th Century Dutch painter as he travels and paints his way through Antwerp and Brussels, and then to Rome. The book has several of his paintings in B&W. My nonfiction selections are about fly fishing adventures, lives of five 19th Century Victorian couples, and a book of essays by a favorite author. More about them as I read them. 

For now, I'm going to relax my brain. See you later.

   

Fooling Around with Fonts

I'm writing in the evening just for some fun. If things look a little different it's because I just began typing with the default font that is set for the blog. Since there is no checkmark near the names of the various fonts I can't tell. I'll just have to experiment. Here's the list typed in the font in normal size:
(What do you think? Does this look the same as the first paragraph? I'm going to copy it and put it in alongside the first paragraph.)

Ariel
Courier
Georgia
Helvetica
Times
Trebuchet
Verdana

What do you think? Does this look the same as the first paragraph? I'm going to copy it and put it in alongside the first paragraph. Yes, it is Times Normal.

Why am I doing this you might ask? If you really want to know, go back and read some of the earliest posts - before July 2018- when I lived in Lexington and I was posting every day. I was doing a lot of experimenting. I don't know why I settled on Ariel Normal, which I have been using until now, but lately, I feel crowded when I am typing. So I am going to experiment again if you don't mind.

This is Verdana Normal. I like this. It feels more open and airy. And slower. What does that mean? When I was using Ariel it felt as if I was speeding along. Not so with this font.

This is Helvetica Normal. Slightly smaller, but still open.
This is Aria Normal. Pretty close to Helvetica. More jammed up.
This is Trebuchet Normal. Too small.
This is Courier Normal. Too light; almost like I'm running out of ink. It's spread out, but small.
The last one is Georgia Normal. It's probably the darkest one, but still too crowded.

I'm going to out Georgia and Verdana against each other. First Georgia, then Verdana:

Yesterday we had a Zoom virtual meeting for our book club. We had 8 persons online.
Yesterday we had a Zoom virtual meeting for our book club. We had 8 persons online.

I think I'm going to go with Verdana Normal for a few posts.