Changing Direction?

This has been a very busy week, bookwise. We had our Zoom meeting on Wednesday afternoon. It was a mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. I had read it some time last year for another book club and didn't like it. I didn't like it any better this time. But it did serve a positive purpose; or at least I hope it does.

The book's story takes place in 1948 in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Obviously, one of the themes is the racism of the times. That subject got the group talking about today's unrest with immigration, ICE, and the general unhappiness of the current administration. Long story short, I vented with my unhappiness about the current selection of our mysteries. I went on from there and expressed my unhappiness about not reading any nonfiction, like I had at Books and Brews.

As we continued to discuss our dissatisfaction with the current political climate, I suggested that we take a breather from our present lineup of mysteries and instead read a short book on political science, which asks twenty questions of yourself. That's the photo of it above. 129 pages only. "Why don't we read this instead? No need for questions beforehand. No need really for a leader. We'll just discuss each question for a few minutes and then move on to the next."

Surprisingly, we all agreed. So next month, we will delay the original mystery for a month and see how this interjection of political nonfiction works. If nothing else, it will give everyone a sense that we are not alone. But then again, maybe it will lead to better things.

RDG

Remembering an Old Friend

 Every once in a while, I search Facebook for friends or just people I once knew. The other day I went looking for a friend from my early running days. When I began running in 1978. I was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. So it was just logical that I would seek out runners on the post. One was an officer, a major like me, who ran every day at noon from the post gym. His name was George Estabrook.

George worked at the Command and General Staff College. He had gone to the University of New Hampshire, where he had a very notable running career. We often met up at lunch on weekdays at the gym and would run together for about 45 minutes. Soon, we decided to run the Kansas City Marathon scheduled for May 1979.

Here is a photo of us, with another officer from the post whom I can't remember, after we finished. 

George is on the right. I'm in the center. So an So is on the right. 

Anyhow, after I left Leavenworth, I lost touch with him like so many of my army friends.

Last year I went online to see if I could find him. I found a 2015 photo on Facebook and sent a message asking if he was the same George Estabrook I knew. I never heard back. 

I found later an obituary posted for him dying in 2018. 

That was him. I was so sorry to hear that.

When I went online to post this today, AI offered to generate an auto-generated icon for me (I can't remember what they are called).

Not bad.

RDG

Who is She?

 A few days ago, my brother posted his weekly email about local (Colorado) archaeology news. One item was about a book I gave him about Southwest digs quite a while ago, written by a woman archaeologist, Ann Axtell Morris. Excuse the poor quality of the photo, but I didn't have the capability of doing any better.

The photo intrigues me because she reminds me of someone I know or knew. I don't know if it's a famous person like an actor, or whether a friend I know or knew sometime ago.

Anyway, I'll keep it here so that when I remember, I'll have it.

RDG

Remembrance Shelf

 Cleaning my study today, I decided to rearrange many of my things I've been given or collected over the years.

I'll mention many of them later on in other entries. For now, I'm glad they are here.

RDG

Just Dropping In

 It's been quite a while - since May - and just thought I'd begin again to get back to writing each day. Not much, just things that are on my mind and things I remember. 

The two youngest daughters and their families are coming for a couple of days tomorrow; The oldest and her boyfriend from Nashville, and the youngest, her husband, and her two daughters, 11 and (almost) 4.

I'm busy with my three book clubs - one Zoom mystery, and two physical, classic, and mystery. They're keeping me busy reading.

Well, this is a start.

RDG