Reading

Word game

I haven't figured out all of these yet, so let's do it together.  Do what you can on your own before continuing, because I'm going to list possible answers at the bottom of this post.

To Barbara on her birthday

I miss you, Barbara, and the fun times we had together.  I still think of things I want to tell you, ask you, share with you.  I'm so glad we met.

A song that's on my mind

Listen to the song "Bind Us Together with Love" on YouTube by clicking here.

Reading ruminations

The Lost Stetl by Max Gross (2020), historical fiction about Poland, is taking me longer than I expected because I have to look up the many, many Yiddish words in it.  I wanted to read Jürgen Moltmann's 1979 Experiences of God next, but I can't find wherever I put it down.  (Yes, I'm getting old.)  So instead, I may read his brand-new 2021 book Resurrected to Eternal Life: On Dying and Rising, which was published today and was automatically downloaded onto my Kindle today — publication day!  Click on the titles to read about these books.

Don't peek at my answers before trying to solve the puzzle at the top

1 = Sandbox, 2 = Man overboard, 3 = I understand, 4 = Reading between the lines, 5 = Long underwear, 6 = Crossroads, 7 = Downtown, 8 = Tricycle (three wheels/cycles?), 9 = Split-level, 10 = Three degrees below zero, 11 = Neon lights, 12 = Circles under the eyes, 13 = Highchair, 14 = Paradise (pair of dice?), 15 = Touchdown, 16 = Five feet underground, 17 = Mind over matter, 18 = He's beside himself, 19 = Backwards glance, 20 = Life after death, 21 = G.I. overseas (?), 22 = Space program (?), 23 = See-through blouse, 24 = Just between you and me.

End of the year ~ a time to meditate

Clever idea for the new year (but starting TODAY).  In one of my clergy groups, someone lamented:  "Never tell the pastor anything important on Sunday!"  There are too many people and too many distractions to remember it all, even in small congregations.  If it's important (like a prayer request, hospitalization, upcoming event, need for a visit), give the pastor a written note.  Another pastor responded with a card she had made up (illustration above).  This is a great idea!  I told her:

"Thank you!  I'm retired now, but I typed up a slightly revised version of this and printed out a dozen to give it a try.  Living in a senior retirement center and making plans with lots of friends to get together or to do something for someone means I occasionally forget to jot it on my calendar.  I'll try this out today, as a matter of fact.  Looking forward to it."

What else do I plan for the coming year?

Barbara's cat Mindy

• I'll write in my new Becoming journal.
• I intend to do more with my music, like regularly practicing the piano and teaching Gail to play.
• I'll miss the friends who died this year:  Evelyn, Barbara, and Sandy
• I'll also miss their cats:  Mindy (Barbara's cat, who moved to Vermont), Sasha (Sandy's cat, who moved out of Donna's apartment this afternoon), and Patches (Evelyn's cat, who has never appeared on my blog before).
• I'll exercise with our little group of friends on Friday afternoons, as we've been doing since April.
• I'll continue to clear out the books in my apartment, keeping only the ones I'm likely to read or re-read in this lifetime.

One way I'll do this "book removal" project is by climbing Mt. TBR, the challenge to read the TBR (to-be-read) books already on my shelves.  My goal is to read at least 48 of them before the end of the year.

Now I need to finish these library books and get them out of my way, right?  Right.

Advent meditation

Sasha on Donna's bed

Low: An Honest Advent Devotional ~ by John Pavlovitz, 2019, theology

God comes to meet us in the low places of our lives, Pavlovitz says.  When we plant our feet firmly in the dirt of everyday life, we see Jesus meeting us in our low places.  The invitation of Jesus, he says, is not to escape this world "to an elevated heavenly sanctuary somewhere; it is to bring heaven down" (p. 5).  Jesus gets low, meeting us on the ground where we are.

Today is the second day of Advent.  Yesterday, I started this book that Donna gave me four months ago.  She and I met the author last year when he talked about an earlier book, so we expect this one to be thought-provoking, and it is.  Today, the book really got to me.

Week 1 ~ Monday

"All our relationships can be understood as intersections:  the places our road meets that of another person and both stories are rewritten, sometimes wonderfully and sometimes less so. ... Today, dwell on the people who've crossed your circuitous path and changed your story. ... Sit with gratitude for them and for the difference they've made on your journey" (pp. 8, 9).

You may wonder why I've shown you a pensive cat to illustrate my thoughts.  Donna has been keeping Sasha while Sandy Richter was in the hospital and rehab and back in the hospital for close to three months.  I was at Donna's Sunday morning when she got a call that Sandy had died around 3:00 a.m.  Somehow, Sasha seemed to know and had been acting strange all morning, Donna said.  In this photo, Sasha reflects how I was also feeling ... sad, bereft ... but also grateful that I got to know Sandy.

Sandy Richter (1940-2019)

Sandy crossed my path here at the Crown Center, where we ate at the same table.  This photo was taken in the Café last year.  I reflected on how Sandy impacted my life, and my thinking branched out to other friends who have died this year:  Evelyn in July, Barbara in October, and now Sandy seven weeks later.  An ambulance wailed out of our parking lot yesterday, taking another very sick friend to the hospital.  Here's Sandy's version of the Litany of Remembrance that I wrote for Barbara.

Litany of Remembrance

When I see a funny cat picture on Facebook and want to share it,
I'll remember you.
When I recall you saying, "We only grow taller until we're perfect,"
I'll remember you.
When the elevator door opens on your floor at the Crown Center,
I'll remember you.
When the friends at "our" table sit around talking after dinner,
we'll remember you.
Because you've been so much part of our lives at the Crown Center,
we'll remember you.
So long as we live, you too shall live, for you are now a part of us,
as we remember you.

It's been a sad year, with lots of us feeling low.  I guess I really need this time of meditating on the pages of Low: An Honest Advent Devotional.

Nonfiction November ~ a favorite book

This quote is from page 259.

This week, folks who are doing Nonfiction November are talking about what makes a book you've read (specifically, a nonfiction book) one of your favorites.  A book that immediately came to mind when I read what Helen posted on her blog was Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (2014).  I read this book in February and rated it 10 of 10 because I couldn't put it down.  I've recommended it to several people since then, both online and in person.  I notice  that I saved several quotes from it in my list of books read in 2019 (scroll down to #14), but I've never shared them in a post here on my blog.  Now's a good time to do it.

"Research has shown that loss of bone density may be a better predictor of death from atherosclerotic disease than cholesterol levels" (p. 30).

"The three primary risk factors for falling are poor balance, taking more than four prescription medications, and muscle weakness" (p. 40).

"Three Plagues of nursing home existence:  boredom, loneliness, and helplessness" (p. 116).

"Four crucial questions.  At this moment in your life ... :
1. Do you want to be resuscitated if your heart stops?
2. Do you want aggressive treatments such as intubation and mechanical ventilation?
3. Do you want antibiotics?
4. Do you want tube or intravenous feeding if you can't eat on your own?" (p. 179).

"What were her biggest fears and concerns?  What goals were most important to her?  What trade-offs was she willing to make, and what ones was she not?" (p. 234).

"For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. ... And in stories, endings matter" (pp. 238, 239).

"People want to share memories, pass on wisdoms and keepsakes, settle relationships, establish their legacies, make peace with God, and ensure that those who are left behind will be okay.  They want to end their stories on their own terms" (p. 249).

The vital questions:  "What is your understanding of the situation and its potential outcomes?   What are your fears and what are your hopes?  What are the trade-offs you are willing to make and not willing to make?  And what is the course of action that best serves this understanding?" (p. 259).

Why is it a favorite?  I live in a retirement center, so I see lots of elderly people daily.  One of my friends died in July, while I was in Montana.  Another died in October.  A friend who eats at my table in the dining room is in another hospital getting chemo, and a neighbor on my floor is in another hospital.  I'll be 80 in April, so end of life is on my mind, too. 

Yesterday, some of us took a survey about senior housing administered by Washington University students inquiring about what's offered, what's needed, whether we have those things here, and to what extent.  The Crown Center is for independent living, but HOW independent are we?  Do we need help dressing? taking medicine? cooking? bathing? shopping? cleaning our own apartments?

Being Mortal is a book for people ready and willing to face their own mortality, but I think it's equally important that physicians and medical people read it.  As a doctor speaking to other doctors, Gawande says they've been focused on the wrong thing:  keeping people alive, even if they are miserable and maybe tied into a wheelchair in the hallway of a nursing home.  He advocates asking people what THEY want out of what's left of their lives.  I agree wholeheartedly.

This single book is enough about nonfiction favorites for me today, but maybe I'll write about another book or two later.

If you click this link, you can read what others have written about nonfiction this week.

Clawdia meets Mindy

I was turning on my laptop when Clawdia decided to sit beside me.  When my desktop picture appeared, Clawdia noticed it for the first time.  I hadn't realized the photo of Barbara Land's cat Mindy, now living in Vermont, was so close to life-sized.  Even though it's a bit dark, I'm glad I captured Clawdia's confusion about that cat who suddenly appeared in our apartment.  Actually, she appeared right in front of Clawdia's face.  How odd!  She studied the other cat's eyes for what seemed like a long time, but the cat never moved.  Not even her eyes moved, and Clawdia lost interest.

Remembering Barbara

Barbara Hyman Land

April 13, 1947 — October 14, 2019

Litany of Remembrance

When I see a funny cat picture on Facebook and want to share it,
I'll remember you.
When I go out for pizza as we did the last time we had fun together,
I'll remember you.
When the elevator door opens on the seventh floor of our building,

I'll remember you.

When the friends at "our" table sit around talking after dinner,
we'll remember you.
Because you have been so much a part of our lives at the Crown Center,
we'll remember you.
So long as we live, you too shall live, for you are now a part of us,
as we remember you.
_____________________________________________________________

Mindy 1-15-19

She is also greatly missed by her elderly cat Mindy, whose grief and confusion are palpable.  Mindy will be on her way to Vermont soon, going home with Barbara's beloved Rebecca and her family; their photos covered Barbara's pantry door.

Barbara's obituary can be found here.

I wrote this litany of remembrance for my friend, whose graveside service will be later today.  The poem A Litany of Remembrance by Rabbi Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer was my inspiration, and the photo at the top was taken on the day before Barbara's 72nd birthday this year.
_____________________________________________________________

Mindy today (click on photo to enlarge it)

Update after the funeral:  This photo is too good not to share.  Rebecca texted it to me, saying, "Mindy decided to use the sink to hide in."  When she sent the text, they had Mindy and were almost to the arch.  Except for her nose, she blends in nicely.  I wish you well, Mindy.  Goodbye, pretty girl.  I'll miss you, too.

Happy Birthday?

Did you hear what she said?

I told her you wouldn't like it!

                                  \\

                                    \\

                                      \\

Mindy Cat

Caturday ~ here's Mindy

I fed Mindy and cleaned her litter box for a few days while her person was away.  Since Barbara came home, Mindy has snuggled and kept her in sight, something Mindy didn't do before.  Maybe absence really DOES make the heart grow fonder.

Hygge Holiday Challenge ~ third update

Dec. 15 ~ make a new friend

This one was easy-peasy.  I found a new friend named Amy on Facebook and got to know her.  She lives in North Carolina, so I haven't met her face-to-face.  On a slow day, I also got to know Sue in the Circle@Crown Café and "friended" her on Facebook.  Two new friends!

Dec. 16 ~ treat yourself to an at-home spa day

Two quotes from Albie, who came up with this Hygge Challenge:  "keep calm and spa on" and "a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind."  When I think of "spa," I think of a hot tub.  Or hot water in my bathtub at home.  So I filled my tub with warm water, lit a candle, and read a book while adding more hot water whenever it cooled off.  I also did a bit toward a less cluttered space by sorting another box or two of "stuff" I need to get rid of.  (Yay, me!)

Dec. 17 ~ enjoy some hot cocoa or tea

I had hot chocolate at the party for Crown Center volunteers.  I'm weird — I asked them to leave off the whipped cream.  (I volunteer as an "ambassador" for new residents, and I re-shelve books in our little library.)  Another time, I had tea with someone who couldn't understand why I let it cool, but I don't like tea to burn my tongue.

Dec. 18 ~ cook a new recipe with family

I live alone, unless you want to call Clawdia my family.  Her idea of food is "hurry up and open that can of salmon paté!"  New recipe?  Okay, the grocery store was out of one of her favorites in the Friskies brand, so I got her the Fancy Feast tender liver and chicken feast classic.  She gobbled it down.  Does that count as a new recipe?

Dec. 19 ~ get cozy and watch your fav movie

Now, see, this is the sort of thing that derails me.  Having to watch a movie is not hygge to me.  I'd rather read.  I prefer the movies in my mind as I read a good book.  Nope, not interested.  This month, I returned to the fictional Mitford with Jan Karon's Father Tim.

Dec. 20 ~ have a game night

Donna and I decided to play Scrabble and invited a couple of other residents of the Crown Center.  Not as "hygge" as we had expected, since the other two are SERIOUS about this game and don't waste time thinking about their next move.  Donna and I tend to laugh and talk and enjoy the game.

Dec. 21 ~ let in natural light

Every morning, Clawdia runs to watch me open the blinds and "let in natural light."  Mostly, she wants to see if that sunny white spot comes in so she can chase it.  Imagine this:  turning and turning my wrist so the spot "runs" across the floor and up the wall, with Clawdia turning on a dime to catch it.  Can you imagine such fun?

Dec. 22 ~ have a dance party

Only in my mind.  I do regularly get together with a friend or two and eat together.  Close enough for elderly women?

Dec. 23 ~ bake your fav holiday treat

I got all the ingredients to make "daisies" for friends, but still I procrastinated.  I never did get those daisies made and put inside tin gift boxes for a few friends living here at the Crown Center.  I taught Varvacille how to make a large Daisy three years ago.

Dec. 24 ~ pray, meditate, or just breathe

Probably none of these happened on the date chosen by Albie for us to do these things, but I can say that breathing in and out — in through the nose and out through the mouth — in through the nose and out through the mouth — happened consciously when I started exercising with Risé in the fitness center.

Dec. 25 ~ It's Christmas!  Give yourself a break!

Done!  I was supposed to take Barbara out to eat that day, but her back pain scotched that.  Today, we had lunch together at her table at home.  Whenever she feels up to it, we'll go out to eat.

The challenge
Click this link to see the complete Hygge Holiday Challenge calendar.

Update 1-2-18:  There's a different Hygge Challenge found by Barbara, my friend who wasn't up to eating out on Christmas Day.  Click the link to watch the video.

Hygge Holiday Challenge ~ first update

Dec. 1 ~ start a gratitude list

• Three children ~ Barbara, Sandra, and David.
• Seven grandchildren ~ Kendall, Cali, Brandy, Kenzie, Chase, Jamey, and Cady.
• Six great-grandchildren ~ Raegan, Jaxon, Shelby, Jonathan, Micah, and Shiloh.

Dec. 2 ~ add relaxing scents

I lit a vanilla-scented candle and bought a new hand soap scented with coconut water and mango to use in the kitchen.  I'm already using hand soap in the bathroom that's lavender-scented.

Dec. 3 ~ more gratitude

Since I'm retired, the challenge on the list makes no sense for me:  "sleep in 15 mins or more."  I can do that any day.  Instead, I'll add to my gratitude list.

Randi Schenberg

I'm very grateful for the Crown Center for Senior Living for being the great place for active retirees that it is.  That means being thankful for the wonderful people on the staff and the board.  Randi Schenberg, the Community Relations Director, was the first person I met at the Crown Center, when I applied to live here.  In February, Randi was given the 2017 JProStl Pillar Award, and I posted a 2-minute video about it on this blog.  Thanks, Randi, for your smiles and all you do for the Crown Center!

Dec. 4 ~ learn a new skill

I'm still trying to learn how to operate my new computer.  I've been very annoyed trying to use Windows 10.  Oops!  Being annoyed is not very "hyggeligt" ― it doesn't create a cozy environment.  I'll get someone to help me with the new laptop, but not today.  I'm going to get comfy, instead, and read a book.

Dec. 5 ~ get the Hygge book

I went to the University City Library and got a copy of The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking.  Loosely translated, hygge is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being.  It's about an atmosphere and an experience, like being cuddled up on a sofa, wearing cozy socks, and covered by a soft throw during a storm.  And don't forget to light a candle or two.

Dec. 6 ~ "unbook" yourself

Too late!  I had already agreed to drive my friend Barbara somewhere today.  Watching her enjoy old friendships was also joyful for me, so it worked out perfectly.  On our way back home, we stopped at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for Barbara and for another Crown Center resident, since we were going there anyway.  She and I also had lunch together in the Circle@Crown Café and visited with several people, including Judy and Marianne.

Dec. 7 ~ send a thank you note

I looked through my cards and found this one that says "Thoughts of you..." on the front and on the inside "...are the happiest kind!"  Who and why shall remain between the recipient and me, but the card is on its way.

The challenge
Click this link to see the complete Hygge Holiday Challenge calendar.

Thirteen things on my mind ~ including books

1.  My great-grandson Jonathan and his family were stranded at a Walmart when their car broke down three hours from home, as they returned from a great vacation.

2.  Here's some humor from Facebook that seems to apply to my life right now:

• Aging ~ "I love being over 70.  I learn something new every day ... and forget 5 others."
• Diet ~ "I don't mean to brag, but I finished my 14-day diet in 3 hours and 20 minutes."
• Exercise ~ "I just did a week's worth of cardio after walking into a spider web."

3.  Changes are coming to the Crown Center, as this notice of a public hearing attests.  I plan to attend tomorrow's meeting.

4.  Someone was in the Art Room Saturday afternoon, so Donna and Alyssa and I went outside to read out loud together in the gazebo.

5.  Our DASH group is still getting together to exercise.  Here's Barbara holding one-pound weights.  We meet in the Crown Center's fitness center.

6.  Colleen's recent Thirteen post started with a joke:  "When Donald Trump looks at a half-filled glass of water, he doesn’t see it half-full or half-empty, he sees his own reflection."

7.  Donna made us another Taco Pie, but this time she used tortilla chips instead of Fritos.

8.  The Smithsonian Magazine recently had an article about a corduroy road, with logs as the roadbed.  The "W Road" up Signal Mountain near where I raised my children began as a corduroy road.  The road got its name because the three switchbacks formed a "W" as it traversed the steep palisade.  This is a photo from 1914, long after the roadbed of logs had disappeared.

9.  My friend Jane will be moving into her new apartment soon.  She showed it to Donna and me on a recent Saturday.  Oh, by the way, Jane is Donna's sister.

10.  This week marked 3 years since Mike Brown was killed, sparking the Ferguson Uprising, so the West County Community Action Network (WE CAN) honored his life at Saturday's Black Lives Matter vigil with 4.5 minutes of silence.  Next Saturday, they will be in Creve Coeur from 11:30 to 12:30, atop the 270-Olive overpass, South side, to uphold the message that Black Lives Matter.  My friend Joy is in this group, and I met several others at lunch after the vigil.

11.  After the recent storm of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, I posted a video on Facebook from the Rev. Traci Blackmon who was among the people inside the church.  That prompted me to tell people about Traci's book:  White Privilege: Let's Talk ~ A Resource for Transformational Dialogue ~ by Traci Blackmon, John Dorhauer, Da Vita McCallister, John Paddock, and Stephen G. Ray (2016).  This resource is only 99-cents for Kindle, and facilitator's resources are available free from the publisher.

12.  The book I was reading earlier in the day had referred to a book by Richard Dawkins.  When I sat down in my recliner in the late afternoon, I noticed the sun was reflecting off the windows of the other Crown Center building through my window onto a stack of books I'd put there many days earlier.  Do you see which book was "calling me"?  Yep, it's highlighted:  The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006).  After taking this quick photo, I sat back down and glanced again at the stack.  The sun had moved and was no longer shining on the stack, much less that particular book.  How funny!

13.  New fence at the Crown Center.

Burnt tree.

Partially burnt tree.

Now you may be wondering why I'm calling these "burnt" trees.  As I was parking in a spot facing these trees a year or two ago, I saw the "burnt tree" burning.  Literally burning, with flames.  I reported it to the office.  A few days later, I saw a worker from the building (which is now BEYOND the fence) flick a cigarette to the base of that partially burnt tree.  Aha!  Now I knew why the trees were burning.  My first thought when I saw the new fence going up was that now we wouldn't have any more burnt trees on our side of the fence.

Mailbox Monday ~ Little Boy Lost

Little Boy Lost ~ by J. D. Trafford, 2017, fiction (Missouri), 9.5/10

Attorney Justin Glass’s practice, housed in a shabby office on the north side of Saint Louis, isn’t doing so well that he can afford to work for free.  But when eight-year-old Tanisha Walker offers him a jar full of change to find her missing brother, he doesn’t have the heart to turn her away.  Justin had hoped to find the boy alive and well, but all that was found of Devon Walker was his brutally murdered body — and the bodies of twelve other African American teenagers, all discarded like trash in a mass grave.  Each had been reported missing, and none had been investigated.  As simmering racial tensions explode into violence, Justin finds himself caught in the tide. And as he gives voice to the discontent plaguing the city’s forgotten and ignored, he vows to search for the killer who preys upon them.

This ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) arrived in my mailbox last week, and I started reading it the next morning.  Although it's 329 pages long, I finished it before going to bed that night.  Maybe it's that I have lived for almost three years in St. Louis, the setting of the book.  I was pleased when I recognized a location and just as pleased when I googled a location and looked at Google's "street view" to visualize the locale.

"We walked down two blocks from Crown Candy to my office on the corner of Fourteenth and Warren" (p. 32).

Sure enough, Crown Candy is exactly two blocks from a couple of buildings that could house a lawyer's office.  When I mentioned Crown Candy to my friend Barbara, she said we'll have to go there to eat.  Our friend Donna agreed.

"As the rest of the city emptied out, heading to South County and Saint Charles, I crossed Forty against traffic and drove back over to the Northside" (p. 38).

When I moved here, I quickly learned that the locals still say "Forty" instead of I-64.  It's both, but when I hear "Forty," I think of I-40 going East and West across Tennessee from Nashville to Knoxville.  In St. Louis, "Forty" is the highway that was there before the Interstates were built.  One local told me today, "I always say '40-64' so everyone understands."  Yep, I've learned that, too.  The author mentions...

• "...the Central West End's beautiful brownstones" (p. 72).
• "...eating ice cream from the Clementine's Creamery on Lafayette Square" (p. 120).
• "Castlewood State Park..." (p. 139).
• "...dinner together on The Hill..." (p. 166).  I've been there, done that.
• "...McKnight Road..." (p. 175).
• "...got off the highway in Clayton..." (p. 211).
• "...Carl's Drive In off Manchester Road" (p. 212).
• "...North Florissant..." (p. 226).
• "...Bellefontaine Cemetery..." (p. 240).
• "...Page Boulevard..." (p. 272).
• "...Bosnia..." (p. 274).  A lot of Bosnian refugees settled in St. Louis.
• "...Tower Grove Park" (p. 286).
• "Traffic on Forty wasn't too bad.  I took the Jefferson exit off the highway..." (p. 289).  I've taken that exit to go visit a friend.
• "Then I crossed an imaginary line, and everything dimmed.  Cafe's were replaced with dirty fast-food restaurants.  Churches went from majestic to pop-up, and the brownstones devolved into a mix of questionable housing, pawn shops, and dollar stores" (p. 72).

Aha!  That "imaginary line" has a name here in St. Louis:  the Delmar Divide.  Delmar Boulevard runs from the downtown area through the Delmar Loop, an area of shops and restaurants where an eclectic group of people hang out, from elderly folk like me to college kids and parents with children.  The Delmar Divide apparently ends at the Loop, and I live two or three miles west of there, near the western end of Delmar Boulevard.  I can see Delmar from my window.

My father took a deep breath, and then he ... turned around.  "I fought the battle over segregated lunch counters and the right to vote, but this is different."  He pointed at me, lying injured in bed, my face swollen and cut.  "The White Only signs have been taken down, but they're still there.  This is your fight now" (p. 57).

The story is about racism, so this quote feels loaded to me.  I moved to St. Louis in June 2014, a couple of months before Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson.  That area is, of course, north of Delmar.  The police in the story are "worried about another Ferguson" (p. 262).  It's a divided city, so this remark by one of the characters in the novel about a cemetery is on target:

"Truly sad that the most diverse neighborhood in our city is one for the dead and not the living" (p. 242).

And yet there was humor in the book, too.  Like this from the narrator, who is a single parent:

"Like all middle-aged men who were about to have a romantic liaison in a fancy hotel, I called my mother first to ask for permission" (p. 236).

I rated it 9.5 out of 10 and definitely recommend this book, but the sad news is that it won't be published until July 18.

Sunday Salon ~ eating out and reading

My life outside books

Eating out with friends
When Barbara found out Joan would be moving in a couple of days, she set up one last meal together.  Joan moved to Montana yesterday.  Barbara took this picture of Donna and Joan and me at OB Clark's.

Although I don't have photographs to share, I also ate out this week with a bus-load of folks at Rib City, with Joan for lunch at Pumpernickles Deli, with Miriam and her friend Arlene at the St. Louis Bread Company before an event by the Holocaust Memorial Museum at our library, and with Donna at Sonic after seeing the movie "Fences."  I'm not sure who's going to Chevy's Fresh Mex for dinner this evening on the Crown Center bus, but I'll be there.  And this list doesn't include the evenings I choose to eat at the Crown Center with other residents and people from the community.  As you can see, I haven't done a lot of cooking lately.

My life in books

Books I've completed since last week's Sunday Salon:

22.  Tao Te Ching: A New English Version ~ by Stephen Mitchell, 1988, religion, 9/10

"Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know" (#56).
Po Chu-i, poet and stand-up comedian, wrote,
"He who talks doesn't know,
he who knows doesn't talk":
that is what Lao-tzu told us,
in a book of five thousand words.
If he was the one who knew,
how could he have been such a blabbermouth?  (p. 85).

23.  Two Tyrants: The Myth of a Two Party Government and the Liberation of the American Voter ~ by A.G. Roderick, 2015, politics, 9/10

"Educational accomplishment, social mobility, and economic stability should be bastions of American achievement" (p. 7).

24.  The Boy No One Loved ~ by Casey Watson, 2011, memoir (England), 9/10

"If there's one thing that absolutely must come out of this is that he knows there are people here who love him unconditionally, and that we will always be here for him.  Always" (p. 269).

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.

Snowball fight

Half an hour ago, I got this text message from my friend Beth with this photo of her:

"Do you want to have a snowball fight?"

My daughter Barbara immediately replied:

"Umm, I believe you'd win since we'd be without ammunition!"

But I wrote back:

"I'd love to.  Where are you?  I'll be right there."

Hey, Beth and I are still young at heart!  Maybe our children aren't old enough yet to see the logic of a virtual snowball fight.

Update          

I later sent this photo and text:  "I threw this, but I think I missed you completely.  Wherever you are, keep having fun."

My friend and neighbor Barbara (not my daughter) has joined the fray!  "I'm in for a snow ball fight too.  Where and when?"  I wrote back:  "The fight is on!  Yee-haw!"  I've already thrown virtual snowballs at Beth and Barbara.  Do any of you readers want to join in?  Send a photo, if you have one (or can find one), and I'll add it to our gallery in the post.  My email address is on the sidebar, and I'm serious.

Oh, now the fight is picking up!  Helen left a comment:  "I love that!  Someone will probably create a game soon where you can heave snowballs at each other for real ... virtually of course, but I like your method better."  I threw this snowball at Helen.

And Barbara added a photo when she sent this message to some of our mutual friends:  "Bonnie started this.  Throw her a snowball!"

WHOP!!!  Ooooo, that one got me!

Good shot, and the best thing about virtual snowball fights is that it doesn't hurt a bit.  I'm not even feeling cold.

The one with good aim was Helen.  She sent that one flying, saying, "I am not very good at making snowballs since I live in southern California, but I hope I hit someone."  You did.  Me!  Was it beginner's luck?

And one more!  This snowball fight of ours has garnered attention in the Friday Festival of the RevGalBlogPals blog.  No one from there has thrown a snowball, but they got our invitation.  I guess that makes us famous.  Or something.

"Bonnie takes time out for a virtual snowball fight, and invites you into the fray, at Bonnie’s Books."