Last Day of the Year Varia

 Today's post is going to be a mix of things. This year was a mix of accomplishments, successes, and defeats, negatives, and several incompletes, and continuances.

In no particular order, I'll attempt to say something about them as I think of them. The positives will begin with a plus (+) sign; the negatives will begin with a minus (-) sign; and the incompletes and continuances will be marked with a question (?) mark.

+ This year I read 101 books! An all-time high. A large part of that is because I belong to three book clubs, two of which began this year. Several books were either small young adult or children's books of 100 pages or less, but I read them because of a recommendation of a friend. Several were re-reads, especially my favorite mystery series. I haven't counted the fiction/nonfiction breakdown yet, but I think it will be roughly 60/40.

- Healthwise, it hasn't been the best. I've had celultis twice, one resulting in a trip to the ER and a two-day stay in the hospital amongst COVID patients. I had a small surgery on my left ear to remove a cancerous growth caused by the sun many years ago. And just earlier this month I had two molars taken out. One was loose and was going to fall out besides having a small decay which was rapidly getting larger. The other was what was left from a root canal years ago and needed to go if I am to have a partial denture put in (another story). My knees continued to weaken this year. I avoid stairs if I can. But my diabetes numbers seem to be doing a little better. I have my annual scope of my bladder for my 2011 cancer next week. I've been cancer-free since 2017.

- Because of COVID and my knees, I had to give my volunteering at the Stonewall Jackson House as well as the Lexington library. 

? I'm still trying to write, but the computer gods aren't working with me. I can't write longhand anymore to any extent. My hand shakes too much. And the laptop is so old it takes 30 minutes or more to open up usually. And then, it often just freezes so I have no other choice except to shut it down for another day. My writing goes back and forth between a mystery I have been working on for over a year and a memoir of sorts that I have just begun in the last three months. But neither is doing well because I spend most of my thinking about how to get the computer to work.

+ At least I'll have a good dinner - crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and scallops. And there's watching "When Harry Met Sally" again almost yearly since about 1990. I know I missed it in 1999 when I was sick with the flu and watched Y2K come in around the world with Peter Jennings. 

+ And of course, a big positive was the birth of our fourth grandchild, another girl, named Serenity. I think we're finished now - two boys, two girls.

+ Anyhow, Happy New Year!

A Different Christmas

 This was a different Christmas from years past without even considering COVID. This year I didn't get a book as a present. I can't remember when the last time that happened. I figure back in the 70's.

I am trying to cut down on my physical library. I use the library for most of my book club selections - unless it's one I have recommended; then I already have it.

This year I asked for DVDs. I had bought a book about the TV series, Numb3rs, on TV in the early 2000s where a mathematician helps his FBI brother solve crimes using math. So got the first three seasons - which happens to be what the book covered. Can't wait to begin watching and reading, though it will be not a continuous read,

We usually just buy a book and/or a CD for each other, but this year we decided to buy an old-style LP record (they are now called vinyl) player. We have about 300 of old records we both grew up with, but haven't played them in almost 30 years! So far, the few we've tried haven't seemed to suffer any damage.

We're not going anywhere due to COVID. We've got a baptism next month for our newest grandchild in Pennsylvania. And Lisa may have to go down again for our middle daughter's possible surgery. She was there at the beginning of this month for a surgery on a thyroid.

My Visit to the Dentist

 I don't like going to the dentist. I actually have an almost deathly fear of them. But I go dutifully twice a year for cleanings and checkups. Yesterday I had to have two of them pulled; #15and #20; Upper back left, and lower left side.

These aren't my teeth. just a picture from the Internet. The upper one was loose and falling out since it had no support from a bottom tooth. The bottom tooth was actually an old root canal that had broken and needed to go if I am to get a partial  lower bridge later ( haven't decided yet).

Anyhow, it went well. Excellent specialist dentistry. Maybe I'll talk more about it later. I just wanted to let everyone know.

Relief.

Going Postal

People say the U.S. Postal Service is all messed up. We got this in the mail the other day.

No stamps. No return address. $2.36 postage due. The flap on the other side was secured by the usual metal hook, but not sealed. I gave the mail lady $2.40. 

What was in it? Just the monthly Advocate newspaper we've been receiving from Lexington for the past three and a half years since we moved here from Rockbridge County.

Lisa left a voicemail letting them know what happened, but as of yet (4 days) we have not heard anything.

We'll see next month.

Non-Reading Weekends

 Weekends are not good times for me when it comes to reading. I've reluctantly come to that conclusion over several months. While my weekdays seem to be available for scheduling reading times throughout the day, the weekends pose special obstacles. This is when I watch my sports and other pre-recorded shows from the past week. 

I watch my English Premier League soccer, PGA golf, as well as American Ninja Warrior. The soccer is mostly live or pre-recorded sometime during the weekend. The golf is recorded on the weekends, with round 3 on Saturdays and the final fourth round on Sunday. A caveat here - if I don't get to watch round 3 before the final round on Sunday, I usually delete it unless I know something major happened. Ninja Warrior shows are all reruns since I am just getting into watching it, so I watch them as they are taped. 

As for any other taped show, whether a weekly TV drama or comedy, a TNT movie, or any other show, more often than not they get saved to be watched whenever I have time and/or the urge to watch them. Needless to say, this does require a certain regular schedule of culling the programs.

As much as I try to meet my reading goals I'm afraid they most often fall short. The best I can do is read my fiction books each Saturday and Sunday evening after dinner, though most Sunday evenings I'm watching a couple of TV shows scheduled on Sunday, as well as the Sunday evening NFL football game.

So there it is. Just wanted to get it out there. Hopefully, now I won't feel (so) guilty for not reading on the weekends.

It's Been Awhile

 Not that I haven't been busy. At least in the active sense. More like things happening to me. Well, that's not true either. I have done some things. Like get skin cancer and had it operated on. Like getting another case of cellulitis and spending two days in the hospital just as Covid began surging here again.

Like getting my flu shot and then two weeks later getting my Covid booster shot (no reaction to either, except a sore shoulder from the Pfizer - but I think the nurse gave it too high and hit my muscle).

Like joining a startup book club at the local library, and went virtual after the first one. Now have to read for three book clubs which can be a pain when I have some personal books I want to read as well.

Like getting new phones and learning how to work them while not losing data and information from our old phones. 

Like going on vacation to Nashville to see our middle daughter and Pigeon Forge on the way back.

Like going to my dentist and finally have decided to get two teeth pulled and have a lower partial in front (which will involve more teeth pulled).

So all in all, I guess I have been busy except for writing this blog. I'll try to do better.

Another Biopsy

 Last Thursday I went to my dermatologist for a scheduled periodic visit. It was a couple of months late because I had canceled it twice before for scheduling reasons. Not that it mattered in the long run.

It's been several years (three?) since the last time I went and had a biopsy that turned out to be basal cell cancerous. Since then I've gone every six months with no problems. 

Except I have noticed that some of the scaliness on the tips of my left ear was not going away. I had applied the cream, but still, it remained. Maybe I didn't do the cream as religiously as I should have, but it always burned when I did.

This visit she decided to take a biopsy. Results will be back in 7-10 days she said.

She's taken two previous biopsies. Both have come back positive. She has a good track record. I hope she is wrong this time.

I'm Baaack!

 I'm finally back to writing. I've had several weeks' worth of reading to do for my two book clubs as well as just some personal reading that I felt I owed myself. Consequently, my blog has suffered. Additionally, we were finally able to take a few days earlier this month to travel to New Jersey to see my oldest daughter and her family. And we finished it off by seeing our youngest daughter on our way back through PA and taking her to dinner one night.

Reading-wise, as I said, it was busy. Six books in June from my last post on the 10th of June, and nine more this month - finished the ninth one just yesterday. Of those fifteen, nine were nonfiction, and six were fiction.

It wasn't always comfortable reading. We have had very hot weather - 90 degrees plus for over two weeks - and again our air conditioner has been broken for most of that time. Oh, and did I say I got no reading done on our 4-day trip north?

But I have been diligent in writing reviews on my Goodreads account. They are getting better. Not great yet, but a few readers do respond by hitting the thumbs-up icon. 

And I watched most of the 2021 Tour de France and am still watching a fair amount of the Tokyo Olympics. Remember, I carried the 1984 torch on its way to Los Angeles. And I watched the U.S. Open and the (British) Open in the last two months. So I have had a few things other than blogging to do I guess.

Notable nonfiction during this period: Nuremburg: Infamy on Trial (Joseph Persico); The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert); Season to Taste (Molly Birnbaum); Essays After Eighty (Donald Hall); Gallopoli (Alan Moorehead)

Best fiction: Before the Poison (Peter Robinson); The Last Bookshop in London (Madeline Martin); Angels in the Gloom (Anne Perry); Flashman (George MacDonald Frazer)

Dreams

I am reading Oliver Sacks' book, "Hallucinations", for our July book club meeting. That has got me to thinking about my dreams; not that I believe my dreams are hallucinations. But they do have recurring themes or things that appear in most of them.

Most of my dreams consist of me doing some kind of military activity. It is not a war or fighting; usually just some kind of training exercise. It usually takes place in some unidentified location that looks like a military post with many barracks. Several common threads are running through each dream: running late, not packed for wherever I am going (and I am always going somewhere), and being out of uniform.

I see myself rushing to catch my train - my usual more of travel in my dream. If not a train, then it is a military jeep. I haven't packed well. Sometimes I am carrying my suitcase bulging with clothes hanging out, not zipped closed, and I am struggling to hold on to it as I run to get on the train. 

When I travel by jeep, it gets dangerous because I am usually not driving and the driver is speeding and reckless. 

I often do even get that far. I've got my gear laid out on my bunk and haven't even begun to pack when someone runs in and tells me to hurry or I'll miss my ride. I look at myself in the mirror and see that I am out of uniform. It's always BDU's. Never a dress green uniform. That's interesting in that I seldom wore anything BUT my greens for the last 11 years of my active career, and that continued for 17 years while teaching JROTC at Xavier. 

Sometimes though, the dream takes place at Xavier where I taught for 17 years. When that is the case I do seem to recognize people who I worked with at the school, but not their faces or names. I just know they are not strangers.

When I am at Xavier, I am in the building and running through the halls and different floors. I don't go outside.

I usually wake up before I get to where I am going.  

Dink or Beanie?

Cleaning my magazines this weekend, I came across the latest issue of W&J Alumni Notes. Among the articles, which mostly don't interest me, was one about the Freshman beanie, or as the article called it, the Dink.

The Dink was a small felt cap that the Freshmen wore their first year until about Easter. By the time I went to 'Jay, it was only the first six weeks. But that was long enough.

The beanie - what we called it - had changed as well. The design was now alternating triangular felt panels of black and red. It still had the "W & J" logo in black. As the article said, the freshmen had to doff the beanie and hit the sidewalk making a clicking sound with the metal button on top of the cap. 

By striking it hard on the pavement, eventually, the felt on the button would wear off and make a metallic sound. Initially, the sound was obviously muted. Being bright young men of some repute, it didn't take long for us to realize that if we scraped the felt off the buttons, we would be seen as respectful and dutiful Frosh.

I don't remember anything about the Lex Ultimo, or Freshman Court. It may have still been in existence, but I was never found not doing the right thing. 

I don't have my beanie anymore. It now resides at the home of a past friend of the opposite sex.

A Visit to the ER

 This has been a month of reading and book clubs and doctor visits with a short detour to the emergency room. Not much writing got done. My handwriting especially has taken a dive. 

Let's begin with the ER visit. Two weeks tonight I woke up with the worst shaking I have ever experienced. My whole body shook uncontrollably. I had to go to the bathroom where I threw up in a bucket while I had diarrhea on the toilet. Once I ejected things from my body, my shakes stopped, but I had an upset stomach the rest of the night and into Sunday. 

Monday I was still not feeling that good, but did not have any more shaking or upset stomach. When Lisa came home from work, she came over to where I was sitting in my LazyBoy, saw my legs, and said, "You need to go to the ER". So we went.

Once the ER people ran an Ultrasound and ruled out a clot in my leg, they pumped me full of antibiotics in an IV and said I had cellulitis in my left leg. They gave two antibiotic prescriptions and drew a blue line on my leg so I could watch whether the infection was retreating or still advancing.

Fortunately, it retreated. The redness is almost completely gone as is most of the swelling. Oddly, I never had any pain.

Andrew

I have been spending some time this month online looking for old friends who served with me in the military. This all started when I got a daily notice on FB for who's birthday it was. It was my first platoon leader, Sonny, from Vietnam in 1969. I happened to remember him posting a couple of years ago about having cancer from Agent Orange. So I went to his post to see what his status was.

The first post I saw was "Happy Birthday in Heaven". I didn't have to read more. I knew he had passed away. I read a few more and then decided to look at his friends' list. I found my second platoon leader, and through him, one of my medics. I have found five so far from Vietnam. I decided to look for more.

I had gone to a British Army school in England in 1971 for 13 months. It only had 30 army officers in my class: 24 British, 3 Australian, 2 US, and 1 Canadian. One of my friends I always remembered well was an officer in the Household Cavalry. This is one of the mounted units that protected the Queen. Andrew was a captain and belonged to the Life Guards. This unit wore bright red tunics (the Blues and Royals, the other mounted unit wore dark blue).

When I googled his name, it was a hyphenated name, I found him quickly. He had evidently died in 1985. Searching a little more I found that he was murdered in a botched robbery attempt in his house where he lived in Zimbabwe. He discovered the burglar, shot at him but missed. During the ensuing fight, the burglar wrestled the pistol from Andrew and shot him twice. A trial two years later found the man guilty and he was hanged for Andrew's murder. 

I plan on writing more about Andrew in the future, but for now here are a couple of photos that show him in our class. Not the best but the only ones I have. He is in the upper right corner.

As you can see, the Household Cavalry soldiers were selected for their height as well as other attributes. A lot like our own Old Guard who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns.

More later.

Return of the Missing Blogger

I have been busy though not on the blog. I have been reading. With one day to go, I have read 11 books. I may have another by the end of the month. IN any case, this has been a good month for reading. I have read books for simple enjoyment; I have read for my book clubs, and I have begun reading for my monthly classic challenge (see my March 21 post).

Breaking them down-

For the book clubs: 1

For the monthly classics challenge: 1

For learning/study: 2

For enjoyment: 7

Another way of looking at them-

Fiction: 8

Nonfiction: 3

I am actually in the process of selecting my next monthly classic. After reading The Warden I decided I wanted to read something from the 20th century. I was looking at five books when I came across this Facebook post from one of my reading groups:

So I decided to see if that might help me. Here are the first sentences of each book. See if you can identify any of them.

"Upon the half decayed veranda of a small frame house that stood near the edge of a ravine near the town of Winesburg, Ohio, a fat little old man walked nervously up and down."

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

"U Po Kyin, the Subdivisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, in Upper Burma, was sitting in his veranda."

"Hughes got it wrong, in one important detail."

"Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes."

Before I give you the titles and the names of the authors, try to see if you know any of them, have read any, or can just guess from the first line. (Note: I will tell you that the fourth one is not by an author on my original list of the March post, so it doesn't really count. It was in the pile just I could decide if I wanted to begin reading it.)

So here they are:

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell

Burmese Days by George Orwell

Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I'll choose by Saturday. Any suggestions before that?

Grocery Shopping a year later

I went to the local grocery store today. The first time in over a year. It sure felt strange. I basically helped my wife. I went to the deli and bought the lunchmeat, and then walked back and forth getting simple things that didn't require a lot of thought.

You would think we were stocking up for a year, but not really. It's only for a week or so. We did get our free ham for Easter dinner.

I double-masked to be on the safe side but didn't see anyone else who did. As we continue to get more and more people vaccinated, I am wondering if I need to do double-masking. Now if I went somewhere I knew was not into masking - first I would have to convince myself I need to go there - I think I would definitely wear two masks.

Watching people in the parking lot I observed everyone donning masks as they parked their vehicles and before they got out. And the reverse procedure when they came out. They waited until they got into their vehicles before they took the masks off.

A Haircut

It's been over a year. I couldn't take it anymore. So I called the hair salon I used when I last went - March 2020. I took pictures.

The barber was not the one I used last. I had a young man of about 22. This time I had a woman about 45. I explained to her how I wanted it cut. She did her best.

She cut it a little shorter than I wanted, but to tell the truth, it feels good not to have all that hair. And some of it will grow back.

And we all had masks.

A Reading Challenge

It's almost the end of the month and there will be nine reading months left in the year. Trying to decide on what classics to read has been a chore for some time. So I have decided to make it a little easier. I am going to choose 10 authors I have either not read or if I have read them it has been so long I can't remember what I read of them.

Why ten authors, not nine, so each could have their own month? Because that would be too easy. This is more of a challenge. I have a couple more limitations/rules, but first, here are the authors in no particular order:

1. Jane Austen
2. George Orwell
3. Anthony Trollope
4. Sherwin Anderson
5. George Elliot
6. Charles Dickens
7. J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Thomas Hardy
9. Aldous Huxley
10. (TBA later)

Looking at the list I see that male authors greatly outnumber female writers. Even if I chose a woman writer as my tenth choice, it won't make much of a difference. So be it.

Any other rules or limitations on the title selections? I don't think so at this time, but that may change.

How will I update the list? I will enter an update in a future blog post and include the label "Reading Challenge" with any others for that post. 

Reading and Re-Reading

 This was a weekend of re-reads. I re-read The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan and A Pale Horse by Charles Todd. I read the Buchan mystery again principally because I have saved a film by that name on the TV and it sounds nothing like the story as I remember it. The film said it was about a man and woman fleeing while handcuffed together. And oh, by the way, they hate each other.

See any woman on the cover? No, just a man running towards an automobile. And this correctly sums up much of the story. The only women I remember were a wife and a housekeeper who briefly play a good samaritan role in helping our hero get some water, food, and clean clothes. That's it. Everyone else is a man: police, spies, bad guys, and some ordinary folk. Fly fisherman, road worker, milkman, train passengers, and others. 

The other book is the tenth episode of my favorite mystery series of all. Written by mother-son writing under the name CharlesTodd, the series is about a Scotland Yard inspector, Ian Rutledge, who suffers from shell-shock effects of WW1. The time period is after the war, with the first book taking place in June 1919. Each book after the first one takes place a few weeks or a month or so afterward. This one is June 1920.

I won't give the plot away, but it is typical of the series. Peppered with many towns and villages, and peopled with many, many characters, it is not uncommon for me to write names down so I can remember them.

There are currently 23 in the series, published annually in February, the most recent coming out last month on schedule. I should warn you: read them in order! Some series might give you some slack in not reading in order, but this one won't.

A word about re-reading books versus reading new books. Most of my re-reading is fiction. In fact, while I was typing the previous sentence, I was trying to think of a nonfiction book I have read more than once. Not counting The Bible, I can only think of a couple of fly fishing memoirs. I'm sure there are others, but now pop into mind right now.

So why do I re-read? I guess because it is a lot like visiting an old friend: it is comforting. And probably a little safe. I know I will enjoy the book and won't be wasting my time. I hate reading a book, getting about 50 pages in, and then deciding I don't like it. Often it takes me two or three times before I actually can get through a book. It has to be the right time. And then, I will decide if I will likely read it again.

And that is why I keep so many of my books.

Lapsang Souchong Tea

 I may have written about Lapsang Souchong tea before, but that would have been before I was using labels, and in any case, I'm not going to try and find that post.

The tea has a very distinct smokey and peaty smell and taste. It actually reminds me of drinking a very peaty single malt scotch whisky. Very much like Lagavulin from the island of Islay in Scotland, known for its several peaty single malt distilleries.

There are a couple of stories about how the tea was first made - both by accident - but the one I like best is about when the Chinese army was marching through the region in the mid-1840s and delayed the tea-making process. The soldiers made beds from the freshly picked tea leaves, and when they departed, the tea had to be quickly dried before it was shipped to market. 

The solution was to quickly dry them over a fire from pinewood chips. The result was a very husky, woodsy, and peaty aroma which became very popular.

You can easily purchase it today online, but you normally won't find it on the shelves except possibly a specialty tea store; and then probably in loose form. I have one and a half boxes left of the bags that I had bought several years ago when I came across them in a grocery store in New Jersey. I bought six and they have held up very well.

An Old Friend - Running Shoes

 Recently I came across a photo of my old Brooks running shoes I bought in 2012. I actually used them for walking.

I thought I'd take a photo of them now and show the amount of weathering on them.

While I tried to place them in relatively the same positions - we were living in Lexington in the first photo and the floors were different - something still seemed different. It didn't take long for me to notice what it was. The soles were different colors!

Once I realized that I knew what must have happened. There was another pair between these. The second photo, my current pair, must be the third pair. Still, not bad for nine years. The model, barely readable, is GTS-1S. I'll have to see if they still carry the model.

Here is a closeup of the present pair where you can see a hole in the toe of the left shoe and the wear on the sole of the right. But they still have good cushioning. 

Last Post of the Month - Cleaning Up

 Nothing particular about this post today. It's the day after I made a day-long push to finish two books yesterday for my two book clubs. Neither one will make my favorite list. But I did read the 23rd book in the Inspector Rutledge of Scotland Yard series. The series is about a WWI police inspector who is suffering from shell-shock while solving very complex cases. This one is called A Fatal Lie. 

I also posted on Facebook pictures of me carrying the Olympic torch in 1984. It garnered quite a few views.

I was able to get the front page picture on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette because my mother gave the young photographer a ride to the run location; he was hitchhiking from Pittsburgh!

And I finished up my COVID vaccinations. Two of them. Pfizer. Lisa got the Moderna. I had no reaction either time. Lisa got chills with the second which lasted about eight hours. But that was all. 

We had a cold and snowy spell the last half of the month.

Looking forward to March!

Words - Calyx

 Words are amazing. I love studying the etymology of them. And I enjoy learning new words. One I recently learned was calyx. I came across this from a blog I follow - Adam's Apples. Yes, it is a blog about apples. All about apples. Anyhow, the calyx is the bottom end of the apple opposite the stem. This is where the apple blossoms. Here are a couple of pictures from his blog:

This picture is of the calyx. The blossom would have had to come from here. It's at the bottom of the core if you cut into the apple.

Around the calyx are a series of bumps. I think I read somewhere that there always five bumps, but will have to check that. Anyhow, they surround the calyx. And are called the crown. Interesting that the crown of the apple is on the bottom.

 

A Visit to the Outside World

 Two weeks ago today I received my second vaccine shot. I decided to go my wife to her annual breast exam. I couldn't go in - no one was allowed in except the patient -because of the COVID restrictions. That's okay, I read and napped in the car.

Then we went to Wegman's. Terrific grocery store. I hadn't been in a year. In fact, I hadn't been anywhere except to a doctor's office in a year. I only went in initially to get a few things and then gave them to my wife. Then I went back to the car and read and napped. I did use the restroom since we were allowed here. How do you know I went out?

I picked my sushi and sent a picture to my wife. She bought it when she checked out. I'm having it for dinner this evening, along with tilapia and shrimp. 

Next adventure - going out to get my haircut. Felt funny.

Snow, Car, and Furnace Problems, and Finished a Book - Busy. Busy, Busy

 This week has been a doozy. First, I got us cleaned up by Tuesday from last weekend's.

But then, the outside air conditioner/furnace unit froze up so the fan would not rotate, causing the motor to get to the "burning out" phase. So I had to trudge through the icy crunchy snow-covered grass to break up the ice around the fans.

Yesterday, the Saturn wouldn't start. I figured it was the battery. It was. Fortunately, it was still in warranty. AAA came out and started it. They ran a test on it and said it was a dead battery. So I drove it around the corner to the shop I had bought the battery from. They replaced it for no charge. Took about 30 minutes. The only negative thing was none of the staff was wearing masks.

Overnight, the snow and sleet returned. There's a break,now but it's due to resume anytime.

Tomorrow I'll have to clean the car off and then the driveway.

But on a positive note, I finally finished "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins. It is 626 pages. I began it in May of last year. Written in 1886, it was one of the first of the mystery-thriller genre. Collins wrote another in the same genre in 1860. It was called "The Moonstone". I actually liked it better. Now to choose another big book. My latest Charles Todd/Inspector Rutledge is coming; it was released on Tuesday.

An Active Weather Week

 It's been a real active weather week. It's snowed twice since last Sunday, and last night/this morning it began a freezing rain. I had to go out this morning to clean the car so that Lisa could go to work.

I only hope that it's not so bad that she doesn't have trouble coming home. I'll go out ahead of time and make sure our driveway is safe.

Sunday is forecasted for clear, but more trashy weather Monday.

Got Vaccinated!

 Got my second Pfizer shot this morning. No real problems getting there and into the facility next to the hospital. The organization was better than the first shot, but there were still a few areas that could have been done better. It probably didn't help that both 1st and 2nd shots were being given.

We stopped at McDonald's on the way home. I got a  sausage egg McMuffin with egg and cheese; haven't had that since COVID began. And a medium coffee. I always like their coffee.

A Facebook Post

The following is a Facebook post about my library and books that I posted this evening. I thought I'd copy and paste it to my blog. Enjoy.

A very good friend posted a comment earlier on my page referencing my books and what I have actually read. He asked "...How many of the hundreds of books have I actually read." After I replied to him, I felt all of you deserved the same answer.

First of all, my library is not in the hundreds as he suggested; it is between 2-3 thousand separate books. About 80-90% are nonfiction. I have read a part or all of the majority of them. Sometimes, it is only the introduction, preface, afterword, and the first chapter or two. My plan is to return to it later. Often, I will stay with it and adjust my current reading list (5-7 books). About 50% of the fiction falls into that "read" category (reading the first couple of chapters). Not included are the books I take out from the library, which are mostly fiction. I buy very few books anymore. Before COVID, I stalked old bookstores and library book sales.

I read every day. As I said before I generally read anywhere from 5 to 7 books at a time, with only 1-3 being fiction.

I hope this helps to explain my "bibliomania" passion. I post the pictures of my books just to try to instill a passion for books in others. Thanks for reading.

 

Miscellany

This is a catch-up post. January was not a good month for my blogging. I spent most of it reading. I had two book clubs last month, one just beginning and the other after a month's break.

I also DID get my first COVID vaccine shot - Pfizer - and had no problems. I am scheduled for my second shot next week, the 10th, in the morning. 

We had our first significant snowfall in two years on Sunday. We got about 4-6 inches. Fortunately, the complex has a superior snow removal company and we were clear by late morning. No new snow is expected in the next week (good for the forecast for getting my shot next Wednesday).

Our B&B book club resumed well. We had a good discussion on "Marrow and Bone", a fiction book about a road trip through 1989 Poland. While I thought it was only okay, several enjoyed it. Honestly, I really don't get most of the fiction I read for this club. But I do like the nonfiction. We only have four this year so it will be a struggle. 

Our first meeting of the Mysterious Book Club was last week. We have seven members and six showed up. Our seventh has COVID and didn't really feel well enough to attend (virtually/ Incidently, both clubs are meeting virtually). My friend Dave and I started the club, so Dave selected the first book, a post-WW1 Scotland Yard series. It's a favorite of both of us so we had high hopes. 

Unfortunately, I don't think it went that well. Maybe it was because three of the members were new - three of us came from the B&B club - and might have been intimidated. We meet again in March (we meet every other month) so we will see how it goes.

I also re-read the last Inspector Rutledge again. It came out last February as they all do. I always re-read the last one in preparation for the next new release which comes in February. I've already pre-ordered it from Barnes and Noble. It is due to be released on February 16.

So my fiction is over for a short time, and I have decided to make a push to finish Wilkie Collins' A Woman in White. It was written in about 1880 or '86. Collins is called England's Edgar Allan Poe. He began the mystery thriller in England. 

It is over 600 pages and I still have about 190 pages to go. I began it last May! But it has been easy to drop off and pick back up again. Hopefully, I can finish it before my Rutledge gets here.

As I said - I didn't get much done last month except reading.

Morning Things

 The morning began well. 

I had an email from my primary care doctor informing me that our local hospital will begin COVID vaccine shots next Wednesday. I went online and signed up. I get mine at 8:10am, Inauguration Day! It's the Phizer vaccine, so I'll get my next one three weeks later. That puts me one day after my wife who got her first one this past Tuesday. She got the Moderna, so she has to wait four weeks.

Then I watched the news and It made me depressed, sad, mad, and then fed up, so I turned to English soccer. My team, Tottenham, is currently in fifth place, so that didn't help my disposition.

This past Tuesday we had our first meeting of the new year and we had 10 of 14 people show up (virtually). Most enjoyed the book. I began reading next month's book this morning. It is labeled historical fiction, so it's based on a true story. Sounds interesting.

It takes place in 1739 South Carolina and is the story of a 16-year-old girl who manages the family's three plantations making indigo ink. I don't anything about making indigo, so it should be interesting.

Finally, I got a text from my wife who is working this morning about 10 miles away. She said it was snowing heavily where she was. I went to the door and looked out. There was a small dusting on the ground, but only wetness on the street and walkways. It was barely snowing here. Thirty minutes later I decided to take a picture for the blog. Here's what I got.

Excuse the lack of clarity; the window did that. In any case, the snow was gone.