Bonanza: The Wilton Library Book Sale

 I got ten books today for $23.50 at the Wilton Library Book Sale, listed in the order I took them out of my shopping bag. 

1. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon: this is the second book in the Outlander series. I enjoy the TV show although Claire often drives me crazy. I doubt I'll read the whole series of books, but wanted to check this one out.

2. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman: another TV inspired purchase. I loved the series, so I'm looking forward to reading the book. 

3. The Romanovs The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie: I loved Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra as well as the film version. This book describes the exhumation of the mass graves to solve the mystery of the Romanovs' executions.

4. Katherine of Aragon The True Queen by Alison Weir: this is the first in a series of six novels about Henry VIII's queens.

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: After reading There is Confusion, earlier this year, I added Hurston to my reading list. This is a 20th century classic.

6. Jubilee by Margaret Walker: Another title I recognized from my reading list. This is the true story of Walker's great-grandmother that Walker wrote weaving together her family's oral history with her research. 

7. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins: a film inspired purchase--this book was in the nostalgic section of the sale. I can't wait to see how it compares to the movie. 

8. Queens of England by Norah Lofts: I have two books by Norah Lofts about Anne Boleyn: one nonfiction and one fiction. This book covers Boadicea (not technically a queen) to Queen Elizabeth II. 

9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: I was inspired by Laura Vanderkam to read this book. It's lots of short chapters. In the version I bought today, it's only 696 pages, but small print. 

10. Jane Austen: Three Complete Novels Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Emma: I loved Pride and Prejudice (when I finally got around to reading it.) Now I have three books in one volume.

Plenty of reading material for me. 

Don't Blink

I feel as if I blinked, and not only is summer over, but September too (well just about.) I guess it hit me when I realized that next week is October. 

I feel I should have done more this summer, but can't think of anything specific right now. I spent a lot of time walking Lola at Oyster Shell Park, or so it seems, watching egrets and baby swans. We did fun things such as DPF's, outside dining, listening to music, looking at art. I participated in a class reading of stories, have continued writing and made writing plans even if I haven't been very productive. 

In September, we went to a celebration of life and a memorial service (both postponed by Covid) visited with family, celebrated our anniversary with a mini-getaway, and celebrated Jeff's birthday yesterday. Jeff, Lola, and I went to the Biergarten at Nod Hill Brewery for lunch. Later we met friends at the grand opening of 314 Beer Garden. 314 was too loud and crowded, so we headed to Sedona Taphouse. 

Jeff and I were too full to eat a regular dinner, so we had salad and chocolate mousse cake. I had made vodka sauce Friday. Tonight's dinner will be penne a la vodka--to make it a birthday weekend.

September is almost over, but it's just the beginning of fall--my favorite season. I need to plan some fun things to do, make a list, and anticipate them. Don't blink; don't let the fall get away. 

Welcome Fall

It's been cool enough the last few mornings for me to have hot instead of iced coffee. 

It is now officially fall, as of 3:20 this afternoon. 

We don't have any specifically fall plans. I'll have to think about it.

Right now, we are planning for Jeff's birthday this Saturday. More to come. 

A Catch-Up Post: Our Anniversary Getaway

It's been a busy eight days since my last post. On Wednesday, I met a friend I haven't seen in about 10 years for coffee. It was great to catch up, and we promised not to wait another 10 years. I came home to do laundry, finish packing, and give Lola a bath.

Jeff had a doctor's appointment Thursday morning, but it's on the way to Interlaken. Lola and I walked around outside, and I played my Spelling Bee game on my phone as we waited.

We stopped in Kent for lunch and a little shopping. After we checked into our room, we headed to Harney & Sons in Millerton, New York. We were disappointed that the tea tasting bar wasn't open. We drove around Lakeside and Salisbury and checked out restaurant locations. (We were also disappointed with the Morgan's Restaurant menu at the hotel.) 

We decided to eat at The Woodland Restaurant; it was listed as dog-friendly and had outdoor seating. When we arrived, we learned that they weren't serving outside. We had a drink at the bar as we waited for takeout. Woodland had no utensils to go; we got them from Morgan's. We talked with another couple at the bar. They insisted we shouldn't eat in our room. Instead we should go to a park (without utensils apparently) or go to another restaurant with our Woodland food. I thought that was the height of rudeness. We were fine eating in our room (even though we had steaks, and I neglected to get steak knives.) Oh well, the steaks were delicious and large enough to provide Saturday night's dinner as well. 

The next day--Friday--we stopped at a local farm to buy meat. It's usually open Friday, but was closed that Friday. We also attempted a visit to a winery we hadn't been to in years. It's also usually open Fridays but closed that Friday. Bummer. 

We drove to Norfolk; I wanted to see the house where I had attended a writer's retreat, but wasn't sure which house it was. We walked around the small downtown, then headed home. 

We stopped at White Silo Winery for a wine tasting and a cheese plate for a late lunch. We really like the dry rhubarb wine (as weird as it sounds.)

We met a friend at the dog park and got a bit wet when it drizzled. Dinner became a bit of a problem. We wanted to eat outside with Lola, but we were worried about the rain. We had trouble getting reservations and a parking space, but ended up having a good dinner at Sedona Taphouse even though they screwed up my entree. 

Overall, a good anniversary despite some disappointments. 

Plan, Anticipate, Revise

In a recent post, I mentioned our plan to spend our anniversary at Interlaken Inn. I started packing yesterday and today unfolded our gift certificate: it's on 8.5 by 11 cardstock, was folded in thirds, and given to us in an envelope. 

Whoops, our certificate is only good Sunday through Thursday at this time of the year. I called Interlaken to see if they would honor the certificate on Friday night--no luck. Now, we're going up Thursday, will wake up there on our anniversary, and return home that day. 

I'm disappointed, but we originally planned to go on Thursday, thinking Friday prices would be higher. The person taking our reservation should have told us about the gift certificate limitation, but we should have read the complete certificate of course. I'm just glad I saw it before we drove up there on Friday.

It won't make a big difference in our plans, and if the weather cooperates, we may make Dog Park Friday. 

In this post so far, I've covered plan and revise. What about anticipate? Laura Vanderkam is big on planning things because she enjoys anticipating them. See an example here. 

I've been anticipating this mini-getaway. Luckily, I read the gift certificate, so the getaway wasn't doomed before it started. 

On September 11

So it's September 11th, the 20th anniversary of that September 11th. Most of the news coverage for the past week has been about the news from 20 years ago. 

I get it: September 11, 2001 is a seminal moment of this century's history. Everyone will be asking where were you then.

I'm watching the Mets/Yankees game now. I was at the Mets/Braves game on September 21, 2001: the night baseball returned to New York. I know what that game meant.

There are enough stories without reporters needing to weave them out of nothing. I'm thinking of a Ken Rosenthal report on the Fox broadcast. I think the report was about Anthony Rizzo. Rosenthal gave a build-up of Rizzo's connection to the World Trade Center. Here it is: his uncle (I think) worked on its construction. Big deal. Maybe that's a story for a family dinner but not for a national TV broadcast. What's next? Random player's mother/father/brother/aunt once went inside the World Trade Center?  It's irrelevant. I'll go as far to say these random connection stories demean the meaningful memories,

It's September 11th, but every utterance does not have to be about that September 11th. 

Deep Space Nine: In the Cards

This is a light-hearted episode in the vein of the holosuite baseball episode, occuring just before the Federation abandons Deep Space Nine.

Everyone is depressed about the potential of war with the Dominion, when Jake learns about the availability of a Willie Mays rookie baseball card at an auction. It will be just the thing to cheer up his baseball-loving father. He enlists Nog's aid, but they don't have enough money to get the card. 

Jake says it's destiny to get the card, and they start negotiations with the auction winner. The winner decides they aren't involved with the soulless minions of orthodoxy and agrees to work with them. 

Jake insists that they keep their plan a surprise from everyone on the station. Their plan requires a series of favors exchanged. In the end, everyone is happy: Bashir gets his "teddy bear" back from Leeta, Worf gets to listen his operas in perfect pitch, O'Brien gets to shoot the rapids on the holosuite, Kira gets a standing ovation for her speech at the agricultural delegation. Even Weyoun gets a chance to go into a life enhancing machine.

Of course, Sisko revels in his Willie Mays card, but doesn't understand why everyone else is so upbeat. 

Thoughts for Thursday

A rainy day, luckily not like last week when Ida came to town. We got off relatively easy then with a few leaks, although I was upset at the time. So many lost so much more. 

I think (hope) that Lola is getting into longer walks. Last evening we did a full loop around Oyster Shell Park, as we did this morning in a drizzle. I took her out last evening because she hardly walked in the morning. Lola has regressed; she's more fearful recently and doesn't want to walk around the neighborhood. It's frustrating. 

We're going to a potluck dinner tomorrow at the Merwinsville Hotel. I wouldn't normally go to this, but the speaker will be discussing forgotten railroad stations, and I want to hear his presentation. After some thought, I am bringing a curry-chutney cream cheese dip. I am also making a salmon cream cheese dip when we visit some friends for drinks and snacks on Saturday, after a celebration of life for my sister-in-law.  

 

I've been trying some new dishes to get out of a cooking rut. Some are successful; some are failures; some just aren't worth the work. Tonight I made Chicken Milanese a favorite I learned from Blue Apron. Unfortunately, for the first time I messed up and much of the breadcrumbs came off. Ugh. 

The latest New York Magazine has two annoying features: a three page cover that unfolds when I try to turn the pages and two magazines in one: you have to turn the magazine upside down. The Cut is the upside down magazine. It has an article "Good-bye to All Black." Subtitled: "New Yorkers, for the first time since forever, are wearing actual color."

I don't wear black. About 30 years ago, my sister bought me a color analysis for my birthday. It was in the time of Color Me Beautiful, but it was a more thorough analysis. I learned why dresses I loved didn't work on me. It confirmed what others told me about black and white (they washed me out.) I learned that colors I hadn't considered--olive green for one-- look good on me. 

I remember taking a class in New York City and a classmate told me that I was brave for wearing an orange coat. (Bitch.) Maybe I was just ahead of my time. 

September

I can hardly believe that September is here; why is this year flying by? 

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a busy weekend. We also have three events next weekend (okay, things to do is more accurate than events.) 

The following Friday is our anniversary. We're returning to Interlaken Inn for probably the last time. We'll use our gift certificate from Christmas 2019. Unfortunately, I'm worried we might be sheltering-in-place again soon, so we better use it while we can. 

I'm disappointed that Interlaken is no longer offering its petaway package. Actually, there are no packages listed on the website. Morgan's Restaurant used to be a highlight of an Interlaken visit. It's gone downhill, and I don't know what to expect from the "light dinner menu" listed on its website. We will still enjoy our visit. 

Family Weekend

It was a busy weekend. Jeff's sisters and their families were in town.

Many of us had spent Friday at Tod's Point, now called Greenwich Point, in Old Greenwich; I haven't been there in over 30 years; Jeff took me there a few times when he lived in Greenwich. Then a family dinner Friday night at Tutti Pazzi in Stamford where luckily our nephew could get a safe gluten-free meal (he has celiac disease--I had no idea how tough it can be for him to eat out.)  

We had a service for Jeff's mother on Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich. She died last December 26th. Half of the family left after the service for a wedding of a relative in Vermont. 

After the service, the rest of us visited a completely gluten free bakery. We were also able to get a gluten-free dinner at Mecha Noodle Bar. 

I hung out with local friends on Sunday and Monday, possibly our first Dog Park Monday. 

A Re-Read: The Better Angels by Bette Bono

Bette is one of the best writers in my writing class. Her second book, Fear Itself was recently published; she read an excerpt--the prologue--in our last class. 

Before reading Bette's second book, I decided to re-read the first. I remembered the gist of the story, but forgot details of some characters; it was definitely worthwhile to read again.

In The Better Angels, Bette uses 118 pages before her character even practiced time traveling. Then another 50 pages before Aggie went on her mission. I'm looking forward to her second book devoting more to the time travel mission. I wrote that I preferred the second time-travel book of Jack Finney because he didn't have to spend time explaining the mechanism of time travel. I look forward to seeing how Bette handles the same issue.

Knowing Bette's writing, it will be masterful.

Book 19: Anne Boleyn by Eric W. Ives

I've read several books about Anne Boleyn, both fiction and non-fiction--I currently have 22 books on Anne and the Tudors on my bookshelf. Somehow, I have only now read this book which is probably the definitive biography of Anne as "one of the makers of history." Ives goes into great detail, researching correspondence, bills, and other records. So much detail that at times, I skimmed though a paragraph or two. 

I was especially impressed with Ives' analysis of the coup against Anne and her faction led by Thomas Cromwell. So many people think Anne's downfall was simply a case of Henry's eye wandering elsewhere. Ives skillfully explains how it was a coup engineered by Thomas Cromwell. Four years after Anne's death, Cromwell would also face Henry VIII's "justice."