Words I like to hear

"You've made it" the instructor says when we have reached the end of our 45 minute Senior stretch on the DVD. "No strenuous exercise for 2-3 days" said the dentist after he pulled my third wisdom tooth.

I am in a bit of a panic, having acquired a new phone about an hour ago. Feel like I have a new relationship, so many hours of learning to come. Have already lost it once as it is a slippery little devil. Am not paying even MORE each month, $80 before all of the taxes, so I sure hope it does a lot more than my previous phone. Am already missing some of the features on my old tried-and-true phone such as the keyboard and the comfortable size. But this phone has the TEMPERATURE on it, with which I am OBSESSED. Afraid to use it though as am totally perplexed about how much is 1 gigabyte of data. I had unlimited data with Sprint although I really couldn't DO much with it.

Through a glass darkly (e-book), by Karleen Koen. The book was about spies who were captured and milked for information. Not sure if any of it was plausible. How many spies are entertained and fed for months and never tortured to get info out of them? With all of the code names and double crossing, I didn't really GET it.

My trip to North Carolina

Cedar Creek Cabins, Black Mountain, North Carolina: Discount during November, all cabins $100. All you needed was provided. Friends has a more charming cabin, called the Bear's den. Ours was bigger, the Highlander. Electric heaters in each room, nice fake fireplace. Rocking chairs and glider on the porch. We had two bedrooms and a single bed in the living room. I liked the twig furniture outside, the labyrinth, the bubbling brook. The Bear's Den had a sliding glass window/door in one bedroom overlooking the stream.

Louise's restaurant, Black Mountain, North Carolina: Restaurant in an old house, with tables on the porch outside as well. You place your order and then they deliver it to your table. Interesting, natural foods and cool looking people.

Shoney's restaurant, Hillsboro, Virginia: We enjoyed the buffet at this place. Yummy mashed potatoes, fried fish, tarter sauce, banana pudding.

Is this my website?

Should I claim this blog as my "website"? Would more people read it if I mentioned it somewhere?

Sylvia Beach and the lost generation (book) : a history of literary Paris in the twenties and thirties, by Noel Riley Fitch.
Really loved this book since I love Paris and history and since Sylvia Beach lived briefly in my neighborhood in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Of course, she left and became an agnostic and a lesbian. I find most of the semi-famous people from my town are no longer here. Oh well. Sylvia ended up in Paris and had a bookstore/lending library. She concentrated on books in English, while her long-time companion, Adrienne, had a French bookstore on the same street. They fraternized with many famous writers, artists, etc. Her main claim to fame was as the first publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses, which was considered obscene in America. Joyce was, alternately, a blessing and a curse.

Going on a trip tomorrow. Can't decide whether to car-pool with a friend or drive to North Carolina by myself. By myself I can visit Hollins University (my alma mater) to see the new library or take any other side trips that occur to me and stay away an extra few days. With my friend, I will go along with what HE wants to do and have other adventures and save money. What to do, what to do?

The high cost of maintaining your 5 senses

Have just come from the dentist after having learned the hard cruel repercussions from having bitten down on an unpopped popcorn kernel last week - The "best" option involves 4 steps, two doctors, 10 months and $4500. (They tell you the other options but make them sound really unappealing). It made me think about the high cost of our senses. I will rank them in order of cost (just guessing here)
1. Taste - if it involves the TEETH it gets really expensive...cavities, root canals and now IMPLANTS
2. Sight - glasses and cataract surgery and laser surgery can get pricy
3. Hearing - an expensive, tiny, problematic object is a bitch to sic on the elderly person
4. Smell - those that lose their sense of smell just get by without it
5. Touch - pretty much the last thing to go

Am headphone-less and all the other people in this library are really getting on my nerves. All of my cheap headphones I acquired on airplanes have now bitten the dust. I have to listen to:
- talking
- phones ringing
- people quietly cursing to themselves
- the clicking as a woman photographs pages on the Internet
- one guy who is constantly turning the dial on the mouse to go down the page
- sighs and groans from people not doing well in their online games

Having a hot flash. It will pass. The weather is great outside and I am sort of warmly dressed.

Reading, reading, reading......

Rodin, sculptor (book), by Helene Pinet and Marie Sellier. I think I bought this little book at the Rodin museum in Philadelphia. Wish it was the original French edition. A kid's book with lots of illustrations. "Beauty is everywhere" said he.

The redeemer (audiobook), by Jo Nesbo. Now I see why they call it a THRILLER. Never have a seen more imaginative methods of killing people. But all is not as it seems. So many twists and turns in this mystery of a hitman hired to kill a ranking officer of the Salvation army in Oslo, Norway. And the weather is always hideously cold.

Whiskey, sun & fish : the early year of Fortescue, a fishing village on the Delaware Bay (book) by George Carlisle, illustrations by William Thomas Ternay. He wrote this thin book in 1959 and had to go back and edit it. Most of the people he interviewed for the book are gone, now. Illustrations are black line drawings which are given a two page spread whenever they occur.

The benefits of small towns

The town I am in today (Greenwich, NJ) is SO small that you can:
- drive really slowly and no one honks at you
- stand in the middle of the street having a conversation
- when you meet a few people you are bound to know some of them
- buy flowers from someone's garden

The downsides are:
- only one restaurant/store and it closes at 2 PM
- cell phone reception is very poor

The apple orchard (book), by Susan Wiggs. I probably put this on my list because it is about sisters? A young woman who discovers provenance of objects finds out that she has relatives she never was aware of. She leaves San Francisco to go to an apple orchard farm in Sonoma County where her grandfather has had an accident and may be dying in the hospital. She learns about family history and the delights of country living, which include a handsome neighbor who makes wine. She also gets to know the half sister she never knew.

The satisfaction of sorting STUFF

Buckled down this morning and went through a box of stuff my sisters gave me shortly after my father passed away. OK, he passed away in 2002. I knew there was some cash in there, but found $900, $200 more than I expected. Also some sweaters, shirts and many wet ones, kleenexes and travel and purse items. Oh, and OOODLES of socks, which I plan to wear. Never enough socks! Next, I will have to get the BOX out of the house, probably containing some things to give away.

Paris from $95 a day, by Haas Mroue. Borrowed through the Overdrive system at the library and read on my Nook. It doesn't matter that I am not planning to go to Paris. I did make a few notes but much will be outdated by the time I ever get back to Paris. It is a good idea to maintain a list of things to do, in any case.

Went to McDonald's today to organize my Monopoly pieces and enjoy at two-for-one Egg McMuffin. Guy at register somewhat baffled by my coupon. Perhaps I am the only one filling out the surveys online? I am gonna get SOMETHING out of this...either a job or a free something. A guy left his car running while he went in. I thought of confronting him about the damage to the environment but not sure how to do that nicely. I was dismayed to see a new sign: NO LOITERING PLEASE - TIME LIMIT - 30 MINUTES WHILE CONSUMING FOOD. Oh dear, there goes my two hour computer session! I was the only white person hanging around in there.