BOOKS

The closing of our  local Border's store was announced this week.  I will really miss it.  It is where I usually bought my book club selections, my coupon in hand.  About half the time I managed to find another book or two to take home, too.  Books are my splurge.  I keep trying to go to the library to be thrifty, but I still can't go without purchasing books pretty much every month.

I am a life long book lover.  I still have some of the Nancy Drews from my childhood.  The Edger Allen Poe book my aunt bought me when I was 12, eecummings poetry volumes I collected in high school and  the Jungian psychology of Robert Johnson I read in college.  I have lugged books up and down California and across 3 states when I have moved.  I still morn the loss of  a box of books that was pilfered during one move when someone saw the boxes on the sidewalk outside an apartment building and went through them, taking some choice volumes.

My dream home has rooms of floor to ceiling bookcases. 

When e-readers came out I had no interest.  As more and more people around me got them, I had some mild curiosity, but when I held one it knew it was not for me.  I love books - not just reading.  One woman in my book club said that if she really likes one of the books she reads on her Kindle, she buys a copy to keep!    That just seems so odd to me.  Other friends have told me that they never really know where they are in a book - they miss the placement of a bookmark and the glance that tells them how much more there is before they finish.

As my eyes get older, I sometimes get eyestrain and need brighter light to read by.  Sometimes I increase the font size on my computer and I appreciate the possibility of doing the same on an e-reader.  I can also see the benefit for travel when you would otherwise, perhaps, end up carrying several volumes.  Having one lightweight reader would be

nice in that circumstance. 

I know there are arguments on both sides about the greeness of paper and ink books versus e-books.  I would just miss bookstores so much and there are so few left that offer the pleasures of wandering through and discovering authors, subjects and stories which aren't on the current best seller lists. 

I sense that it is all going to go away so much faster than I am prepared for.  That my bookcases are going to be full of books that are considered as old fashioned as the typewriter I have in the back of the closet.

DOGGIE LOVE

When we  were putting ornaments on the tree we put one for our dear little dachshund, Hilda right up front and center.  I think Hilda being 14 and a bit blind and deaf makes us all the more aware that our years with her are getting limited.

This summer we had to get rid of the area rug we had in our living room because she spent last winter using it when she didn't wait to go out to the yard and when the grass in the yard was wet and she didn't want to walk on, much less squat in, wet grass.  Believe me, I tried everything to dissuade her from that practice and to clean up after those episodes.  I really liked that rug. 

Once the rug was gone, she could no longer get enough "purchase" on the floor to jump up onto the furniture.  Which is fine,  better for her back, actually.  Except that we have never forbidden the furniture so when we were around she is constantly pestering us to pick her up, then she jumps down and wants back up, then jumps down and on and on.  We have grown tired of this.  So I have been looking for a solution, other than those cheesy, yet expensive, carpeted steps they sell for pets.

I ended up, at least for the time being, with a cat scratcher thingy.  It is the perfect size ramp for Hilda.  She climbs up and onto the ottoman and then can choose whichever seat she wants.  Usually the one most recently vacated by someone and therefore pre-warmed.

And speaking of pre-warmed, the bed there in the photo?  It has a heating pad under it which is switched on all winter...Spoiled?  Not our doggie.

SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Tom and I were married on October 7, 1984. It wasn't the wedding of our dreams. We were so broke that our honeymoon was spent in my parent's Tahoe cabin, a place Tom didn't even like to visit.

He borrowed the money for his part of the wedding expenses, including the ring I still wear. No engagement ring.

My mom and I made my dress. It was pink silk with an ivory lace overlay. Our wedding colors were pink, violet and gray - very 80's. We had our wedding in a small park with a violin and flute playing music. The reception was on the patio of a restaurant next to the park. We had a DJ playing music and an open bar - my Dad's big splurge. We danced to the Beatles song "I Will" and Jackson Browne's song "Lawyers in Love."

My mom and I made little baskets with violets in them for the tables. Even though I asked the florist for no mums in my bouquet - it was mostly mums, but it was pretty. We planned a menu to be passed on trays as the reception was meant to be cocktail party style. The restaurant, instead, made a buffet so we ran out of food. That is why people hire wedding planners! Anyway, the cake was good - lemon with a basket weave design and violets.

My dad gave us some lovely toasting glasses which still reside in my china cabinet. Doves at the base of the stem. I am taking them to the restaurant we are going to tonight as a surprise for Tom.

We were watching some show about weddings and Tom surprised me by saying someday we should renew our vows and really "do it right." For 25 years I think we have been doing it right already. But I would never turn down a chance to celebrate that!

THOUGHTS PASSING THROUGH

As a long-time fan of the Oscars - I loved the show this year. I think Hugh Jackman was wonderfully entertaining and the way they presented the actor and actress awards was inspired. they actually made it an honor to be nominated.As a long-time fan of the Oscars - I loved the show this year. I think Hugh Jackman was wonderfully entertaining and the way they presented the actor and actress awards was inspired. they actually made it an honor to be nominated.

*****

I drive to the gym every most mornings down a long stretch of road which runs between gravel pits and cement plants. There is one brief part where one of the abandoned pits was filled with water, stocked with fish and landscaped to create a very popular regional park. Today I saw a huge herd of goats Set loose to munch on the overgrown grasses. The sight of this made me inexplicably happy.

*****

I have tried to see what is so interesting about "The Real Housewives of..." shows. I don't get it. I also don't understand why the Oxygen Network - Oprah's Network produces and promotes "Bad Girls Club." It seems that the women on these shows are encouraged to be trashy, ignorant and catty. I wish these women would refuse to play out such demeaning roles. Shame on Oprah.

*****

I am really tired of hearing about "Octamom" and have refrained from commenting on the situation. I will say that the young mother is obviously in denial and as intelligent as some may find her, I say that love is not enough. Love is wonderful and life affirming, but it is not anywhere near enough.

*****

I was unimpressed by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's canned speech and especially with the riff on the monies being directed to volcano monitoring. The governor of a state still reeling from the results of a natural disaster should have have nothing but respect for those who seek to protect people and property with the ability to anticipate volcanic eruptions. Personally I would rather 140 million go to the Geological Survey, to pay for dedicated scientists, than to a bank or brokerage firm.

*****

I will be very happy to put February behind me.

I LOVE THIS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q2R7O-0WRo

I am having touble with the proper way to add this Youtube video, but it is wonderful...