Nausea?

Nausea can be a symptom of FEMALE heart attack or EBOLA. Luckily, I rarely experience this symptom.

All the light we cannot see (audio book), by Anthony Doerr. Cried near the end, not sure why. Very moving the way the author brings together the stories of the young German soldier and the blind girl from Paris and St. Malo. Quite long and involved, detailing the flight of a young girl with her father from Paris at the start of the war. Always surprising to learn the trail of events in various countries during the war. A mystery of a missing diamond and its three copies. Almost wanted it to be over before it was over, but after that was when I cried.

Went to Philadelphia yesterday. Lured by a lecture called "Paris awakens". Was dismayed when I realized that I have been a member of the Philadelphia Museum of art for 10 months without going once. Now I am in the mood. There is a lot to see...sculpture garden, trolleys to the Perelman Center and the Rodin museum and who knows where else. If I go once a week for the next two months, maybe I will get my money's worth? I liked the feeling of being a member. Spending money to save money on parking, food and gifts. My favorite discovery was Charles Demuth...gentle watercolors. Part of a show of Steiglitz and his associates. That section included works by Steiglitz, O'Keefe, Demuth and Dove.

What was I going to say?

Interesting subjects occur to me, but after sitting here listening to an album, my brain is all afuddle. I had to access Hoopla due to fretting children in the library. (God, don't these people know how ANNOYING cranky children are to the childless?!?!?!)

Enjoying All this bad blood (album), by a group called Bastille. I borrowed it on Hoopla, available at some libraries. Their most famous song is Pompeii, I think. Interesting turns of phrase and a big sound.

Back to my weekday routine of getting online and exercising. Those two goals fall to pieces Friday through Sunday, when there seem to be a lot of conflicting events getting in the way. Was quite happy this morning when I got out my calendar to review it and found NOTHING on it for today other than yoga at 10:30 AM. Now, isn't THAT a good way to start out your week? And tomorrow nothing on the calendar except for a public meeting about CHICKENS. I am not really into that topic but it is sponsored by a group I am interested in....CAWA - Cohansey Area Watershed Association (?) Gee...I should have gone on VACATION this week. But I really do need to go to choir practice on Wednesday night. I hear we are supposed to sing some challenging music in some African languages on Sunday. Haven't been to one practice yet, due to my many conflicts.

Too many sweets

Have been eating too much...a snack every hour. Big lunch with an exercise group. Now another dinner meeting tonight. Yesterday I broke my Diet Coke fast because I had a free beverage coupon at our local movie theater that was about to expire. So I had one GINORMOUS Diet Coke cause that is how they serve it there. Plan to get back on the wagon today. Had movie buttered popcorn for dinner and then we went to the dollar store and bought pints of Hagan-Daz to eat for our snack.

The drop (movie) - A bit more violent than I can cope with but it was a slow moving, suspenseful, seemingly-low-budget story of two small time hustlers in Brooklyn. Wanted to see it as was James Gandolfini's last film. Woman looked kind of familiar, but don't think I have seen her in anything. She was in the Swedish crime series films (American edition).

Chains (book), by Laurie Halse Anderson. A young adult book. One more book about slavery. Interesting twist as during the Revolutionary war and in New York City. Read it for a book club. Got better as it went along. Family who owns the two girls are Tory sympathizers and not very nice. Mother of the husband is nicer and slave girl and grandmother develop somewhat of a relationship. There is a story of a slave boy who follows the rebels and gets incarcerated. Isabel helps him and moves messages around town. There are some charming little turns of phrase....like her "remembery". "My head was broke and my sister was stole and I was lost" was the most poignant line.

Not a role model

I always pay attention to the messages on people's T-shirts. There is a trend for BIG BLOCK LETTERS. A young black guy in my town was sporting NOT A ROLE MODEL.

Have spent too much time at home since after church yesterday. Ignored a classical concert and a Jersey fresh fundraising dinner to stay home and watch FOOTBALL and then 60 minutes. Football was quite engaging, despite the brutality and fights and injuries. We won! (The Philadelphia Eagles, that is).

Just finished up a lot of books, which gives me a sense of accomplishment and allows space for some new books to enter my life (not today, though)

Paris in love : a memoir (book), by Eloisa James. Borrowed on my Nook through the library Overdrive program. She is a historical romance writer who spent one year in Paris with her Italian husband, two children, and dog. I like the stories and especially the list of her favorite stores, museums, etc. at the end.

The secret history (book), by Donna Tartt. An earlier book by the author of The goldfinch. I got a bit impatient with it and ended up kind of skimming. It was the story of a group of friends attending a college in Vermont and studying the classics. Their adventures and who knew what about whom and when.

Carsick (book), John Waters. John Waters hitchhiked from his home in Baltimore, Maryland to his apartment in San Francisco. The book has an interesting set up. First, he writes about the "good rides" and then the "bad rides". These are purely imaginary and almost made me abandon the book, they are so crazy. Then come the "real rides". I particularly liked the list in the back for his playlist of hitchhiking songs mentioned in the stories.

Letters to a fellow seeker : a short introduction to the Quaker way (book), by Steve Chase. The story from a young man from Vermont who discovered the Quaker religion. It is a slight book with 7 letters to a friend about various topics of belief.

What did we do before the Internet?

I should know that. I am a librarian. It has been sad to see the inexorable neglect of our reference collections of books. And, yes, I am guilty myself. When was the last time I actually looked at some of my favorite tomes, such as The statesman's yearbook or The encyclopedia of associations?

So, today, here is some of what I have been looking up:
- What is the name of the symbol that Prince, the musician, used as his name? I drew how I thought it looked and thought maybe it was called Ankara. Well, no, Ankara is a city in Turkey. Prince's symbol is unpronounceable but sometimes known as the LOVE symbol. It is a combination of the male symbol, the female symbol and the symbol for alchemy.
- How to grow poppies like I saw in Italy and are all poppies opium poppies?
- Why do I have a metallic taste in my mouth? There could be many reasons, but if the reason is unknown, it is called IDIOPATHIC DYSGEUSIA.

Finished an audio book, Seeds of hope : wisdom and wonder from the world of plants, by Jane Goodall (from the Millville Public Library - AUBK 580 Goo). Yes, that is the chimpanzee woman. She has many more interests. Talks about our relationships with trees and trees relationships with each other. Also clear cutting, rain forests, herbal remedies, how people ruin everything for greed, and GMO's, to just name a few of the topics covered. She travels most of the year giving talks. I found it interesting but hard to get through. Not exactly scintillating. And she actually reads all of the credits and thanks at the end. That was truly boring, but I stuck with it. I liked best the trees parts.

Advice from the cleaning lady

We were discussing how hard it is to walk up and down the steps and she mentioned a home remedy that has helped some friends of hers. Take one quarter teaspoon of borax in a glass of water and it makes your joint pain go away. I looked at her a bit quizzically and thought to myself, "Isn't that what I have at home to kill ants?" So, I looked it up on the Internet and yes, borax has MANY uses, just like coconut oil and apple cider vinegar.

Finished an interesting book on the Nook, Catherine the Great, by Robert K. Massie. She was quite a gal, with many lovers and children all fathered by different lovers and not by her husband. Got it from the Overdrive system, through the Vineland Public Library.

Was going to address "the law of unintended consequences" but now have forgotten the issue!

Life is good

Got to my 8 AM arthritis exercise class but it was a bit of a rush to get there. Traffic pretty horrible as it seems to be the first day of school around here. Only two of us in the class but I am trying to appreciate the teacher before she moves to another state.

Listening to T.I on Youtube. Live your life, featuring Rihanna. Love it, but can hardly take the video. It involves blood. I just have a thing for these gangster rappers. I know T.I. was in prison but I still listen to him. Yeah, I got no standards at all.

Picked up an audio book that I already listened to, but I didn't notice that until I got sort of far along. Selected shorts : a celebration of the short story is the series. The title is Are we there yet? (audio book) Bridgeton Public Library - AUDB F ARE). My favorite stories are James Thurber's A ride with Olympy, read by David Rakoff and Edward P Jones' An orange line train to Ballston.