Feline's Favorite Friend Award ~ on Caturday

This is our friend Donna, who saved my life two years ago when Bonnie disappeared.  Donna came twice a day to feed me.  And she held her cell phone by my ear so I could hear Bonnie talking to me, and then Donna would give me treats.

I gave Donna a "Feline's Favorite Friend Award of Excellence ... for feeding me and giving me treats when Bonnie left me all alone for over two whole weeks."  I added my picture to the award and signed it, "Kiki Jacobs, Cat-in-Charge."  Donna put the award in a nice frame.

And now she's in the hospital with the flu and her heart is weak, Bonnie told me.  That's not good.  I know now that's where Bonnie disappeared for so long, into a hospital.  I told Bonnie to take Donna a book she could read while she's there, a book you may have read yourself.  The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites, though I would never wear a hat myself.  Since it's about a cat, I hope it reminds Donna of me.  Here's the book's beginning.  Have you read it?

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

Bonnie usually does this meme on Fridays.  It's hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Bonnie was at the hospital with Donna yesterday and hasn't posted anything lately, so I don't think anybody will mind if I do it for her this time, even if it's Caturday instead of Friday.








Kiki Jacobs, Cat-in-Charge

(Click here for other book beginnings.)

Book report ~ Day to Read

Here were the rules laid down by Soccer Mom in Denial: "Please go read something not on the computer. A book. A magazine. The newspaper. Then come back here tomorrow to either tell about it or let me know if you wrote a post about it."

I called this a "book report," but the book wasn't all I read yesterday. Here's some of what I read, not counting road signs and billboards and the running commentary under the newscasts:

One of the seven books our city-wide committee is considering
Menu at my favorite restaurant
News
Obituary of the husband of an old friend
Social Security information
"Legacy of Women" brochure from my old school
Emails
Several of your blogs, though not as many as usual
Information about 135

I want to say a couple of things about that reading:

First, I cannot, absolutely can NOT, imagine what life would be like if I couldn't read. But mainly, I realized that what I read yesterday engendered lots of thoughts (as usual) that rarely make it into my book reviews. Are you interested in hearing about those thoughts swirling around my reading mind?

I read 142 pages of a 282-page book. Ha! That's exactly one page over half the book. Oh, you expect me to mention the title? I'm re-reading The Distinguished Guest by Sue Miller because our A Tale for One City committee is narrowing our current list down from seven books to three books ... and I need to write a review or six or seven. I am sharing this link with you, my readers, to allow you to make comments on these books before our January 29th meeting. In the meanwhile, let me tell you what I was thinking as I read the book ... this time.

Mortality ... I read The Distinguished Guest about a decade ago, found it interesting, and would have given it high marks back then, if I'd been reviewing the books I read. This time, however, I am seeing the main character in a whole new light, now that I have learned my favorite cousin also has Parkinson's. This go 'round, I am retired, as the protagonist is; she has temporarily moved into her son's home until her new place becomes available ... and I am very aware that my children have already discussed what to "do" with me, when "that time" comes. They (not I) have decided which daughter will "have" to take me in because the other two think they aren't able to do that, because of their circumstances. Yikes! I'm 67 and prefer to decide my own life, thank you very much! I don't want to live with any of them (sorry, kids). I'd rather live under the nearest underpass ... well, maybe not ... and saying such a thing would simply convince my children that I am getting senile ... or have the beginnings of Alzheimer's, which my mother had.

Speaking of mortality, I also read that obituary I mentioned above. At the funeral home I recognized my old friend (in the generation before mine) whose husband had died, but I had to ask someone to point out the second son ... I hadn't seen him since high school 50 years ago. He's two years younger than I am, so how come he looks so old??? Oops! I guess we all do, now. Which reminds me, I also read some stuff Social Security sent me this week. Do I have to read it? Yeah, I guess so. Scintillating reading? No, not exactly.

Then I ate out with a friend of mine. I chose the place, which happens to have the best fried okra in town since my mother died. And I read a brochure "The Legacy of Women in Theology and Ministry" from Emory University's Candler School of Theology. I was especially interested in "remembering the past" of the 1980s, when I was in seminary there. Two of the women faculty I studied under were featured in the brochure: Roberta Bondi, hired in 1978 to teach History of the Early Christian Church, and Carol Newsom, added to the faculty in 1980 to teach Old Testament.

And last, but not least ... I discovered that the number 135 is fascinating ... read all about it here. Some of you may remember I like numbers, so this is mere confirmation. What excited me was this fact:
135 = (1+3+5) (1x3x5)Do I have any readers who like numbers as well as words? Dewey, I know you mentioned numbers to me once, when I was talking about my fascination with the number 9.
__________

January 12th addendumm found online:

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321
1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10 = 1111111111
9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?
And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

But first a story from our sponsor.....

Soccer Mom in Denial selected January 10th as Day to Read with this comment: "And, according to research, did you know that reading books is linked to civic engagement?" Wait, I already blogged about that!

Today I want you to read what Soccer Mom in Denial said about discovering whodunnit in the wonderful book she was reading "deep under the covers, way past my bedtime."

Umm, and I'm here to remind you that tomorrow ... yes, TOMORROW, Thursday, January 10th ... is the day we're supposed to "take time one day in January to stop blogging - for the entire day or part of the day - and use the blogging time to read. A book. A magazine. A newspaper. ... Then on Friday, January 11th, write a bit about what you read."

Dewey and others have said they'll be reading ... of course, they'll be reading ... because some of us are readers who read every day. But take this as a challenge to blog about something you don't normally mention, like what you read in a magazine or what that newspaper article was all about that made you read it all the way to the end.

I personally need to write several reviews, but first I'll write about something you may not have expected me to read. Shh, don't bother me tomorrow. I'll be reading.

.

Day to Read

Mark it on your calendar: January 10, 2008, is a day to read. This reading challenge, conceived by Soccer Mom in Denial, should be easy for anyone who is a reader. According to Diane Gioia, the Chair of the NEA,

"The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read. The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people's lives are real."

What a thought! Reading makes us aware of the humanity of others. That is awesome! So let's read on January 10th and, on the following day, blog about what we read. Read anything you like -- a book, an article, the newspaper -- then tell us about it.