A dreary dismal day missing one tooth

My only consolation is pain pills, some really good ones. Plus I got my nails done. New color is by OPI - called "Color to diner for". It is a sparkly red.

Full planets, empty plates : the new geopolitics of food scarcity (book), by Lester R. Brown. Given to me by his brother-in-law, it is a nice thin book, detailing many of his thoughts which I have heard before. How the balance of the planet is off, how eating up the food chain contributes to food scarcity, how the increasing population numbers put a strain on our food resources, how political unrest contributes to food insecurity, how water shortages make it difficult to grow crops in the places where the food is needed. Food is the new oil, land is the new gold. One of our best environmental theorists comes from our area.

OK, so it is ONLY December 1st. But I have missed Black Friday, Small business Saturday, Cyber Monday AND Giving Tuesday. The fact of the matter is, I am totally uninspired as far as Christmas gifts go. On my list of things to do today was to make my Christmas list, both what I want, and all the names of all the people I should/want to get gifts for. Shopping isn't much fun for me. Deciding isn't much fun for me.

You are not going to believe this

Heard on the radio today that the most popular name for boys in Britain is MUHAMMED. Next is Oliver.

Thoughts about the sign "Black lives matter". If that is the case, please stop shooting each other.

Finished The handsome man's De Luxe café, by Alexander McCall Smith. The newest in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective agency series. Satisfyingly comforting in spite of things going wrong. Mme. Makutsi starts a new business venture without a whole lot of thought. Charlie becomes a detective and then a secretary. A cup of red bush tea helps with most problems, as usual.

It is harder to schleppe in winter

I have enough trouble getting my many bags from here to there without the addition of a COAT! I find that everything slides off of my shoulders when wearing a coat. I should just break down and clean up my clutter enough that someone can get into my house to install the wifi. I have been informed that WIFI is not the same thing as WIRELESS.

Starting a relationship with my new phone. It is probably smarter than I am, but I foresee many happy hours of getting to know it. Missing my KEYBOARD with my old LG phone. I can't deal with "pictures" of keys. My nephew and my brother-in-law tried to straighten me out on some procedures with the Samsung Galaxy S IV. There are scarily on top of technology. I am at the other end of the spectrum. What is the opposite of an "early adaptor"? I have to be dragged kicking and screaming into anything new. Not really the update kind of a girl.

It is so frigging COLD around here. I must try and plan some future vacations. A friend called and told me he got a round trip ticket for $60 on Spirit. How come I never see those kind of deals? Plus, I DETEST Spirit for their nickel and diming of customers.

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.