Light a Penny Candle
By Maeve Binchey
582 pages
Copyright 1982; 2007
This is a reissue of a book that I am pretty sure I read when it first came out.
For some reason the title always stuck with me, anyway. But when I picked it up at the remainder bin at the book store a few weeks ago, I couldn't recall a word of the story, so I decided to reread the book.
Elizabeth White is a child when bombs start falling on England during WWII. Her mother, an agitated and anxiety-ridden sort, sends her to Ireland to stay so she will be safe.
The family that takes in Elizabeth is not kin but instead the mother, Eileen, was Elizabeth's mother's friend in school.
Elizabeth meets Aisling there, Eileen's daughter who is Elizabeth's age.
The story follows their friendship and their lives as the two grow up. Elizabeth returns home to her parents much older and wiser and the intervening years have left quite a void. Her mother leaves her father shortly after she returns home; her father is a helpless soul who is not capable of much love.
Together the two friends take on the world.
The book is an interesting glimpse at life during and after WWII in England and in Ireland. The characters were well-drawn and the heroines both grew exponentially over the course of the book.
4 stars
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday Thirteen: Allergies
1. I am allergic to well, practically everything. I don't get just a little sick with an allergy, either. I have asthma, which is bad enough, and when my allergies flare I also develop a sore throat, bronchitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, and a lot of other -itises. It pretty much sends me to bed and can keep me there for weeks because it takes a long time to clear up.
2. Pets are a problem. I am allergic to dogs and cats and will lose my voice just being in a room where those lovely animals live, even if they're not there at the time. We had to keep our dog outside when we had her and I hated doing that to her. I love dogs in particular and sure do miss having one.
3. This allergy issue can and does interfere with my work. I interview people and write stories about them. The best place to do this is in their home, so you can see if they collect plastic roosters or have posters of Harry Potter splashed in the living room. It makes for a better story, I think.
4. I work around it by asking people I don't know to meet me in neutral places. Non-smoking restaurants and the local library are favorite meeting places. It's not ideal but it will do.
5. I have not yet found a polite way to say to a stranger: "I want to interview you, but I need to know if you have dogs or cats in your house, smoke or wear heavy perfume, because if you do any of that, let's meet someplace besides your house." Sometimes if I really want the story I am just blunt about it.
6. When I last tested for allergies, I was positive for 34 of the 35 things they tested me for. The only thing I wasn't allergic to was some kind of ornamental Asian grass.
7. Other things I am allergic to includes oak trees, pine trees, elm trees, roses, all grasses except apparently that Asian one, golden rod, wheat and pepper.
8. I once bought some local unpasteurized honey because I read that if allergy sufferers ate a little bit of it, it would help build immunity to the things they were allergic to.
9. I put a dab of the honey on my finger and put it in my mouth. My throat began to swell immediately. Thankfully we keep a lot of Benedryl and an Epipen on hand at all times.
10. I do not frequent smoking restaurants at all. I sometimes eat in restaurants that are supposedly sectioned off, but that doesn't work. The smoke goes everywhere regardless of how good the ventilation system is. So I don't eat in those unless I have to.
11. Lots of smokers stand in front of doors to non-smoking establishments. This angers me because I have to walk through it. I hold my breath and dash inside.
12. I do the same thing if I find myself having to walk through the perfume section in a department store. Heavy scents will set off my asthma, so I hold my breath and move quickly away. So I don't shop in a lot of large department stores if the only way to the women's clothes is through the perfume.
13. Fortunately most of my friends understand my problem and know that the reason I don't visit them is not because I don't like them or their dog but because I want to be able to get up and breathe and work and be normal the next day.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 86th one.
2. Pets are a problem. I am allergic to dogs and cats and will lose my voice just being in a room where those lovely animals live, even if they're not there at the time. We had to keep our dog outside when we had her and I hated doing that to her. I love dogs in particular and sure do miss having one.
3. This allergy issue can and does interfere with my work. I interview people and write stories about them. The best place to do this is in their home, so you can see if they collect plastic roosters or have posters of Harry Potter splashed in the living room. It makes for a better story, I think.
4. I work around it by asking people I don't know to meet me in neutral places. Non-smoking restaurants and the local library are favorite meeting places. It's not ideal but it will do.
5. I have not yet found a polite way to say to a stranger: "I want to interview you, but I need to know if you have dogs or cats in your house, smoke or wear heavy perfume, because if you do any of that, let's meet someplace besides your house." Sometimes if I really want the story I am just blunt about it.
6. When I last tested for allergies, I was positive for 34 of the 35 things they tested me for. The only thing I wasn't allergic to was some kind of ornamental Asian grass.
7. Other things I am allergic to includes oak trees, pine trees, elm trees, roses, all grasses except apparently that Asian one, golden rod, wheat and pepper.
8. I once bought some local unpasteurized honey because I read that if allergy sufferers ate a little bit of it, it would help build immunity to the things they were allergic to.
9. I put a dab of the honey on my finger and put it in my mouth. My throat began to swell immediately. Thankfully we keep a lot of Benedryl and an Epipen on hand at all times.
10. I do not frequent smoking restaurants at all. I sometimes eat in restaurants that are supposedly sectioned off, but that doesn't work. The smoke goes everywhere regardless of how good the ventilation system is. So I don't eat in those unless I have to.
11. Lots of smokers stand in front of doors to non-smoking establishments. This angers me because I have to walk through it. I hold my breath and dash inside.
12. I do the same thing if I find myself having to walk through the perfume section in a department store. Heavy scents will set off my asthma, so I hold my breath and move quickly away. So I don't shop in a lot of large department stores if the only way to the women's clothes is through the perfume.
13. Fortunately most of my friends understand my problem and know that the reason I don't visit them is not because I don't like them or their dog but because I want to be able to get up and breathe and work and be normal the next day.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 86th one.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Historic Church
This is the Fincastle Methodist Church in Fincastle. It has a neat old graveyard around it.
The Botetourt County Courthouse is in the background to the left.
My husband has family buried here.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Book: Valley of Silence
Valley of Silence
By Nora Roberts
Read by Dick Hill
Copyright 2006
10 hours
Audio book
Valley of Silence concludes a trilogy that I started last year. The second book was Dance of the Gods and the first was Morrigan's Cross.
The entire story is about a circle of six who have been called by the gods to stop a vampire queen in her quest to rule not one but all worlds.
The first book dealt with the two sorcerers; the second with a vampire slayer and a shape shifter.
The third book deals with the last two in the circle, a good vampire and a scholar/archer/queen.
There seemed to be much more love story and less set-up for the final battle between good and evil in this third book.
Still, this was interesting enough and certainly worth listening to in the car.
Dick Hill as always did a great job of reading. He can make even a mediocre story sound good.
3 stars
By Nora Roberts
Read by Dick Hill
Copyright 2006
10 hours
Audio book
Valley of Silence concludes a trilogy that I started last year. The second book was Dance of the Gods and the first was Morrigan's Cross.
The entire story is about a circle of six who have been called by the gods to stop a vampire queen in her quest to rule not one but all worlds.
The first book dealt with the two sorcerers; the second with a vampire slayer and a shape shifter.
The third book deals with the last two in the circle, a good vampire and a scholar/archer/queen.
There seemed to be much more love story and less set-up for the final battle between good and evil in this third book.
Still, this was interesting enough and certainly worth listening to in the car.
Dick Hill as always did a great job of reading. He can make even a mediocre story sound good.
3 stars
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sicko
Last night I watched the Michael Moore documentary Sicko.
It made me cry.
I am not going to review it really; you can read a decent review at The Nation here if you want.
I am going to tell you why it made me cry.
The state of health care in this country is abysmal and I can't understand how we as a people can sit back and watch our neighbors lose their homes and everything they own simply because they are sick.
Do we think it isn't going to happen to us? Do we think we won't age and need care? Are we really that stupid?
I cried when I saw old ladies getting tossed from cabs into the streets. Kicked out by hospitals because they can't pay their bills. They were left in bare feet and in open hospital gowns, shuffling along looking for help.
It was enough to make me want to vomit.
I cried when I saw a 911 rescue worker learn she could receive an inhaler in Cuba for FIVE cents. The exact same thing cost her $120 in the USA.
I felt disgust at insurance agencies and at Congressional "leaders" who have let companies like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries run and ruin this country. This is not a democracy, not if we're letting the least of us suffer like this.
And don't tell me this is not the norm - I am in the health care system. I have my own horror stories. I've watched people I love suffer for lack of money. I watched my mother who had health insurance get sucked in and drowned beneath the cacophony of insurance calls and doctor bills. I watched the system fail her as well as her family as she was dying.
And I did the same with my grandmother and my great aunt.
Our health care sucks.
Statistically we should be alarmed that we're the 37th healthiest country. Or that our infant mortality rate is higher than that of some third world nations. Or that people in other countries live longer than we do.
Doesn't that scare you?
Supposedly this is the greatest and wealthiest nation. So why do people have to lose their homes? Or lose their jobs when they can't work? Why do people HAVE to work while they're taking chemo, when they should be home taking care of themselves?
I have never had a problem with "universal health care" or even socialist medicine. I'm already paying thousands to the insurance company; I doubt that it would take much more off the top for my share if I were paying it in taxes instead. Last year we spent $8000 in insurance costs; it's money out of my pocket anyway.
Since I am already out of that money, I would much rather give it to a system where you and you and my grandmother and my aunt and everyone else I know and love will be assured of some kind of care that doesn't leave them wandering the streets with an IV in their arm.
We are fools.
It made me cry.
I am not going to review it really; you can read a decent review at The Nation here if you want.
I am going to tell you why it made me cry.
The state of health care in this country is abysmal and I can't understand how we as a people can sit back and watch our neighbors lose their homes and everything they own simply because they are sick.
Do we think it isn't going to happen to us? Do we think we won't age and need care? Are we really that stupid?
I cried when I saw old ladies getting tossed from cabs into the streets. Kicked out by hospitals because they can't pay their bills. They were left in bare feet and in open hospital gowns, shuffling along looking for help.
It was enough to make me want to vomit.
I cried when I saw a 911 rescue worker learn she could receive an inhaler in Cuba for FIVE cents. The exact same thing cost her $120 in the USA.
I felt disgust at insurance agencies and at Congressional "leaders" who have let companies like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries run and ruin this country. This is not a democracy, not if we're letting the least of us suffer like this.
And don't tell me this is not the norm - I am in the health care system. I have my own horror stories. I've watched people I love suffer for lack of money. I watched my mother who had health insurance get sucked in and drowned beneath the cacophony of insurance calls and doctor bills. I watched the system fail her as well as her family as she was dying.
And I did the same with my grandmother and my great aunt.
Our health care sucks.
Statistically we should be alarmed that we're the 37th healthiest country. Or that our infant mortality rate is higher than that of some third world nations. Or that people in other countries live longer than we do.
Doesn't that scare you?
Supposedly this is the greatest and wealthiest nation. So why do people have to lose their homes? Or lose their jobs when they can't work? Why do people HAVE to work while they're taking chemo, when they should be home taking care of themselves?
I have never had a problem with "universal health care" or even socialist medicine. I'm already paying thousands to the insurance company; I doubt that it would take much more off the top for my share if I were paying it in taxes instead. Last year we spent $8000 in insurance costs; it's money out of my pocket anyway.
Since I am already out of that money, I would much rather give it to a system where you and you and my grandmother and my aunt and everyone else I know and love will be assured of some kind of care that doesn't leave them wandering the streets with an IV in their arm.
We are fools.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday
This morning as the skies lightened to reveal a grey and overcast day, I saw shadows creeping along the ridge through the glen.
Five deer moved softly and swiftly through the opening, leaving the darkness of the pines for the hardwoods on the other side.
I stood savoring my cup of piping hot tea, watching the animals glide along without a glance toward the house.
Darkness was all around, for I had left the lights off so I could see outside.
It was too dim for photos, so I listened to the silence of the house, sounds undiminished by traffic or human voices. The sound of a dwelling in the forest, where only the sighs of the breeze dashing along the vinyl siding can be heard.
Deer are curious creatures, and one stopped to investigate something I could not see. It lingered to eat, and I imagined it felt safe and secure in the open. I have never given the deer reason to fear me, and so they don't.
The doe moved onward and I cast my eyes toward heaven. Another day. I could see streaks of blue cutting through the clouds, a hope that maybe the clouds would lift and brightness would return.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday Thirteen
1. This morning I used for the first time a monostick for my camera. My husband bought it for me for Christmas.
2. I thought I might need it to keep the camera from blowing out of my hands when I tried to take a picture of the wind this morning.
3.
4.
5.
6. Did I catch the wind?
7. Also this morning my computer suddenly shut itself down and then booted back up. It said it recovered from a fatal error.
8. It advised me to look at the last thing installed because that would be the likely problem.
9. That would be a MICROSOFT UPDATE to your brain, computer! That just happened last night without my say-so or design.
10. Of course the computer doesn't recognize that its brain malfunctioned; it wants to blame some outside source.
11. Doesn't that sound very human?
12. And I don't understand why when you add a picture in the "compose" mode of blogger you have to go back and edit out the HTML for the lines or you end up with no line breaks.
13. And then the stupid code comes back again if you move out of the "edit html" portion of the program. You'd think they could fix this.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 85th one.
2. I thought I might need it to keep the camera from blowing out of my hands when I tried to take a picture of the wind this morning.
3.
4.
5.
6. Did I catch the wind?
7. Also this morning my computer suddenly shut itself down and then booted back up. It said it recovered from a fatal error.
8. It advised me to look at the last thing installed because that would be the likely problem.
9. That would be a MICROSOFT UPDATE to your brain, computer! That just happened last night without my say-so or design.
10. Of course the computer doesn't recognize that its brain malfunctioned; it wants to blame some outside source.
11. Doesn't that sound very human?
12. And I don't understand why when you add a picture in the "compose" mode of blogger you have to go back and edit out the HTML for the lines or you end up with no line breaks.
13. And then the stupid code comes back again if you move out of the "edit html" portion of the program. You'd think they could fix this.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 85th one.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Not Writer's Block
I never say I have writer's block, because I never think I do.
However, sometimes, like right now, I certainly do find writing to be more work than fun.
Recently I have been working on a series of articles for an upcoming special edition. This has been going on for the past month.
I thought I would enjoy working on these stories but they have turned out not to be, well, inspired. I think the stories are flat and lifeless.
I am not happy with a single one of them. (I haven't heard from the editor to know how he feels.)
I have felt like I've been writing these stories with skill only, and very little if any creativity. No zip, no zing. No bang.
It's a good thing I can string a sentence together or I'd be in trouble.
I have sat at my desk with my notes and stared at the computer for over an hour before writing a first sentence. I have performed "notebook dumps" (where I just type up all of my notes in the shear hope that some sentence in there will spark a great idea) and found them wanting.
I have, in desperation and with deadlines looming, started articles with blase and boring leads and hoped the editor would be helpful.
I do not feel I am doing my best work at this time. However, I do feel like it is the best I can do at the moment, if that makes any sense.
I don't think it is necessarily the subject matter (except for maybe one of the stories; they are not all exciting), but my own anxieties that are the cause of the problem.
Looking back at my private journal I see that I have been feeling angst over my health more so than usual. My high blood pressure has worried me, mostly because the medications haven't controlled it yet. It's taking a while.
I don't want to have a stroke or heart attack. I don't want to burden my husband with taking care of me, or paying for my health care bills.
But I can't figure out how to fix myself.
The economy has also loomed large. Like most people, our retirement accounts are much smaller than they were a year ago.
Gas prices are creeping back up.
Food prices never dropped back down.
Our electric bill, like everyone else who is served by APCO, increased by 25 percent. For us that means we're paying a $100 more a month than we did in October.
I have friends and family who are having financial problems. I pray for them.
I have young relatives who are growing up and venturing out into this world. I am scared for them.
It feels like walking on a treadmill that jerks and throws you off. You land on your arm and break your wrist! That is what my health, the economy and the world feels like to me right now. A broken wrist.
So no, I don't have writer's block. I am still writing.
It's just some days ... I have a broken wrist.*
*I don't really have a broken wrist.
However, sometimes, like right now, I certainly do find writing to be more work than fun.
Recently I have been working on a series of articles for an upcoming special edition. This has been going on for the past month.
I thought I would enjoy working on these stories but they have turned out not to be, well, inspired. I think the stories are flat and lifeless.
I am not happy with a single one of them. (I haven't heard from the editor to know how he feels.)
I have felt like I've been writing these stories with skill only, and very little if any creativity. No zip, no zing. No bang.
It's a good thing I can string a sentence together or I'd be in trouble.
I have sat at my desk with my notes and stared at the computer for over an hour before writing a first sentence. I have performed "notebook dumps" (where I just type up all of my notes in the shear hope that some sentence in there will spark a great idea) and found them wanting.
I have, in desperation and with deadlines looming, started articles with blase and boring leads and hoped the editor would be helpful.
I do not feel I am doing my best work at this time. However, I do feel like it is the best I can do at the moment, if that makes any sense.
I don't think it is necessarily the subject matter (except for maybe one of the stories; they are not all exciting), but my own anxieties that are the cause of the problem.
Looking back at my private journal I see that I have been feeling angst over my health more so than usual. My high blood pressure has worried me, mostly because the medications haven't controlled it yet. It's taking a while.
I don't want to have a stroke or heart attack. I don't want to burden my husband with taking care of me, or paying for my health care bills.
But I can't figure out how to fix myself.
The economy has also loomed large. Like most people, our retirement accounts are much smaller than they were a year ago.
Gas prices are creeping back up.
Food prices never dropped back down.
Our electric bill, like everyone else who is served by APCO, increased by 25 percent. For us that means we're paying a $100 more a month than we did in October.
I have friends and family who are having financial problems. I pray for them.
I have young relatives who are growing up and venturing out into this world. I am scared for them.
It feels like walking on a treadmill that jerks and throws you off. You land on your arm and break your wrist! That is what my health, the economy and the world feels like to me right now. A broken wrist.
So no, I don't have writer's block. I am still writing.
It's just some days ... I have a broken wrist.*
*I don't really have a broken wrist.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Twenty-one Questions
I pulled this meme from over at Sweetfluttersby's. Help yourself if like me you need something to put on your blog!
1. Do you like bleu cheese? It's okay.
2. Have you ever smoked? When I was a teenager I tried it but it didn't stick.
3. Do you own a gun? If I tell you I will have to kill you.
4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Lemonade.
5. What do you think of hot dogs? I choked on one in 1999 and had to have it surgically removed. What do you think I think of them after that?
6. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life
7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I have a cup of hot tea every morning.
8. Can you do push ups? I doubt it.
9. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding band.
10. Favorite hobby? Reading.
11. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Yes. And probably will soon need bifocals. Can you see me now?
12. Middle name? I only give that out on a need-to-know basis.
13. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Unsweetened tea and water. I sometimes have hot coco or juice but that isn't regularly.
14. Current worry? My blood pressure, which does not seem to be responding to new medication
15. Current hate right now? The economy which is hurting people I know.
16. Favorite place to be? Right where I am.
17. Do you own slippers? Yes
18. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have.
19. Can you whistle? Yes. Once I was whistling in the store and a shop clerk came hurrying around the corner. She spied me and stopped. "I thought you were a man," she said, and whirled on her heel and away from me. I was greatly amused.
20. What songs do you sing in the shower? I sing along to whatever is playing on the radio.
21. Last thing that made you laugh? I must be pathetic since I have to stop and think about this and can't come up with an answer, but I laugh nearly every day over something.
1. Do you like bleu cheese? It's okay.
2. Have you ever smoked? When I was a teenager I tried it but it didn't stick.
3. Do you own a gun? If I tell you I will have to kill you.
4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Lemonade.
5. What do you think of hot dogs? I choked on one in 1999 and had to have it surgically removed. What do you think I think of them after that?
6. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life
7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I have a cup of hot tea every morning.
8. Can you do push ups? I doubt it.
9. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding band.
10. Favorite hobby? Reading.
11. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Yes. And probably will soon need bifocals. Can you see me now?
12. Middle name? I only give that out on a need-to-know basis.
13. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Unsweetened tea and water. I sometimes have hot coco or juice but that isn't regularly.
14. Current worry? My blood pressure, which does not seem to be responding to new medication
15. Current hate right now? The economy which is hurting people I know.
16. Favorite place to be? Right where I am.
17. Do you own slippers? Yes
18. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have.
19. Can you whistle? Yes. Once I was whistling in the store and a shop clerk came hurrying around the corner. She spied me and stopped. "I thought you were a man," she said, and whirled on her heel and away from me. I was greatly amused.
20. What songs do you sing in the shower? I sing along to whatever is playing on the radio.
21. Last thing that made you laugh? I must be pathetic since I have to stop and think about this and can't come up with an answer, but I laugh nearly every day over something.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Remembering 1970s music
Yesterday as I cleaned house I listened to the 1970s station on satellite.
At noon, The American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. The show counted down the Top 40 records in the United States.
During the first 20 minutes of this rerun from sometime in the 1970s, Kasem gave a shout-out to "great radio stations like WFIR in Roanoke, VA".
Ah, yes. WFIR was the top music station in those days. It was not talk radio like it is now. It was an AM station back then too.
It rocked.
Here's a history of the station; it's the second oldest in the area.
On Sundays I sat in my room and listened to the American Top 40 on WFIR. Often I had a tape recorder running and I would tape my favorite songs to listen to at night.
The radio reception where we lived was pitiful when the sun went down, so this was a necessity if I wanted to hear these new tunes before I could get the vinyl. I suppose nowadays I'd have the copyright police after me. Definitely a different time.
Anyway, listening to those songs eventually led to buying the vinyl.
In the late 1970s the station changed its format. FM stations became the thing; K92 and Q99 became the stations to listen to. I still listen to Q99; I guess I have been listening to that station now for almost 30 years.
And of course I bought record albums.
In those long ago olden days, vinyl was king. You wanted big speakers and loud bass. If the record skipped on the player, you fixed it by placing a penny atop the needle so the arm would stay down.
There were many a night I spent in front of my record player trying to learn a song on the guitar, jumping the song back to whatever lick of rhythm I was trying to conquer.
Nowadays I don't hear a current American Top 40; I couldn't tell you what the "number one song in America" is today.
I listened to a mix of everything but mostly bought pop music albums. And disco.
My husband is an straight rock and roll kind of guy; when we married we merged our album collection. His was full of The Rolling Stones and my was full of one-hit wonders and southern rock.
Now we have all of these record albums and nothing to play them on, so I am always glad to listen to the songs of my youth on the satellite.
Nothing makes me clean like a good strong beat and a little rock-n-roll.
At noon, The American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. The show counted down the Top 40 records in the United States.
During the first 20 minutes of this rerun from sometime in the 1970s, Kasem gave a shout-out to "great radio stations like WFIR in Roanoke, VA".
Ah, yes. WFIR was the top music station in those days. It was not talk radio like it is now. It was an AM station back then too.
It rocked.
Here's a history of the station; it's the second oldest in the area.
On Sundays I sat in my room and listened to the American Top 40 on WFIR. Often I had a tape recorder running and I would tape my favorite songs to listen to at night.
The radio reception where we lived was pitiful when the sun went down, so this was a necessity if I wanted to hear these new tunes before I could get the vinyl. I suppose nowadays I'd have the copyright police after me. Definitely a different time.
Anyway, listening to those songs eventually led to buying the vinyl.
In the late 1970s the station changed its format. FM stations became the thing; K92 and Q99 became the stations to listen to. I still listen to Q99; I guess I have been listening to that station now for almost 30 years.
And of course I bought record albums.
In those long ago olden days, vinyl was king. You wanted big speakers and loud bass. If the record skipped on the player, you fixed it by placing a penny atop the needle so the arm would stay down.
There were many a night I spent in front of my record player trying to learn a song on the guitar, jumping the song back to whatever lick of rhythm I was trying to conquer.
Nowadays I don't hear a current American Top 40; I couldn't tell you what the "number one song in America" is today.
I listened to a mix of everything but mostly bought pop music albums. And disco.
My husband is an straight rock and roll kind of guy; when we married we merged our album collection. His was full of The Rolling Stones and my was full of one-hit wonders and southern rock.
Now we have all of these record albums and nothing to play them on, so I am always glad to listen to the songs of my youth on the satellite.
Nothing makes me clean like a good strong beat and a little rock-n-roll.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Thursday Thirteen
1. The ground outside my window is speckled. It's a southern hill and still snow-covered, with clumps of grass rising through it.
2. The wind has a frigid feeling about it today.
3. The sunshine is an illusion, because it brings no warmth this afternoon.
4. An animal streaked across my front yard at daybreak, so fast and quick that I could not tell what it was, only that something ran before my eyes.
5. Off in the distance I see a silo glimmering and reflecting light. It almost looks like a lighthouse set amongst the mountains.
6. I have not been to the sea in two years.
7. Some days, like today, my work does not flow well and the strain of writing becomes like the weight of a hundred horses trampling on me, all of them stepping on my heart.
8. My heart sometimes is so breezy that I think it might float from my chest and up into the atmosphere, moving like a hot air balloon on a beautiful crisp fall morning.
9. It has been 30 years since I took a trip out of the United States. Sometimes I think I would like to take another. I would like to see Ireland, England and Scotland, for three.
10. My ancestors hail from Scotland, Ireland and Germany. They were planters, gunsmiths, farmers and millers. At least one fought in the American Revolution; he is buried about four miles down the road in the cemetery at the Fincastle Presbyterian Church.
11. I am at least the seventh generation of my family to live in my county. That's 200 years of my bloodline looking at the same mountains I see, feeling the same winds, smelling the same smells. Two hundred years of loving the same land.
12. I am Appalachian through and through; it is deep in my bones.
13. This is my home.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 84th one.
2. The wind has a frigid feeling about it today.
3. The sunshine is an illusion, because it brings no warmth this afternoon.
4. An animal streaked across my front yard at daybreak, so fast and quick that I could not tell what it was, only that something ran before my eyes.
5. Off in the distance I see a silo glimmering and reflecting light. It almost looks like a lighthouse set amongst the mountains.
6. I have not been to the sea in two years.
7. Some days, like today, my work does not flow well and the strain of writing becomes like the weight of a hundred horses trampling on me, all of them stepping on my heart.
8. My heart sometimes is so breezy that I think it might float from my chest and up into the atmosphere, moving like a hot air balloon on a beautiful crisp fall morning.
9. It has been 30 years since I took a trip out of the United States. Sometimes I think I would like to take another. I would like to see Ireland, England and Scotland, for three.
10. My ancestors hail from Scotland, Ireland and Germany. They were planters, gunsmiths, farmers and millers. At least one fought in the American Revolution; he is buried about four miles down the road in the cemetery at the Fincastle Presbyterian Church.
11. I am at least the seventh generation of my family to live in my county. That's 200 years of my bloodline looking at the same mountains I see, feeling the same winds, smelling the same smells. Two hundred years of loving the same land.
12. I am Appalachian through and through; it is deep in my bones.
13. This is my home.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 84th one.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
If wishes were dimes
There are 305 million people in the United States.
Let's say there are about 150 million households (I think it is a smaller number than that - more like 130 million - but I didn't feel like sifting through the Census Bureau website.).
It seems to me that if the government is giving away money, it would be easier, faster and cleaner just to send it to the households.
Let's skip the banks and all of this other stuff and let the people manage their own money.
If the government handed out $100,000 to 150 million households, that would $15 with 12 zeros after it. I think (hope?) that is $15 trillion.
Okay, that's a lot. And it's out of the $800 billion range, so let's make it $10,000. That's $15 with 11 zeros after it, and I think that is $150 billion dollars. That would leave $650 billion out of the $800 billion stimulus fiasco which I think should go toward building infrastructure and doing only things that are job related. It should not go to banks and financial institutions, even though my bank is one of the banks apparently gaining windfalls from tax dollars these days.
A lot of people are going to save that $10,000, you know. That's money in the bank. Some will spend it, but others will pay off credit cards, maybe catch up on those delinquent mortgages. The banks would get their share that way. Good banks would benefit the most, if the market theories are correct.
If necessary, somebody correct my math if it is in error, please, because I majored in English and not math.
My point is, whatever the numbers, couldn't the populace do a lot of economic stimulating itself if we had the money? If you're going to throw away dollars, why not give it to the people who actually need it?
Couldn't every household use $10,000?
I don't have a problem with the government stepping in to help. Government should do that. I just wish it would step in and help the people who really could use the help, and not the high rollers and the folks who created the problem in the first place.
Let's say there are about 150 million households (I think it is a smaller number than that - more like 130 million - but I didn't feel like sifting through the Census Bureau website.).
It seems to me that if the government is giving away money, it would be easier, faster and cleaner just to send it to the households.
Let's skip the banks and all of this other stuff and let the people manage their own money.
If the government handed out $100,000 to 150 million households, that would $15 with 12 zeros after it. I think (hope?) that is $15 trillion.
Okay, that's a lot. And it's out of the $800 billion range, so let's make it $10,000. That's $15 with 11 zeros after it, and I think that is $150 billion dollars. That would leave $650 billion out of the $800 billion stimulus fiasco which I think should go toward building infrastructure and doing only things that are job related. It should not go to banks and financial institutions, even though my bank is one of the banks apparently gaining windfalls from tax dollars these days.
A lot of people are going to save that $10,000, you know. That's money in the bank. Some will spend it, but others will pay off credit cards, maybe catch up on those delinquent mortgages. The banks would get their share that way. Good banks would benefit the most, if the market theories are correct.
If necessary, somebody correct my math if it is in error, please, because I majored in English and not math.
My point is, whatever the numbers, couldn't the populace do a lot of economic stimulating itself if we had the money? If you're going to throw away dollars, why not give it to the people who actually need it?
Couldn't every household use $10,000?
I don't have a problem with the government stepping in to help. Government should do that. I just wish it would step in and help the people who really could use the help, and not the high rollers and the folks who created the problem in the first place.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
A little snow
Monday night we had a little snow.
The first thing I noticed when I looked outside at 6 a.m. this morning was footy prints. I'd had a visitor on my front porch.
I think those paw prints belong to a rabbit.
Most of the snow vanished today; however, there is a chance of a little more tonight. I am not expecting much.
We have been in a drought here for quite a while, and the moisture was welcome. Snow also adds nitrogen to the soil. We were glad to see it.
Sunday it was almost 65 degrees here. Yesterday it was warm too.
And the temperature dropped. And the snow fell.
Weird weather!
The first thing I noticed when I looked outside at 6 a.m. this morning was footy prints. I'd had a visitor on my front porch.
I think those paw prints belong to a rabbit.
Most of the snow vanished today; however, there is a chance of a little more tonight. I am not expecting much.
We have been in a drought here for quite a while, and the moisture was welcome. Snow also adds nitrogen to the soil. We were glad to see it.
Sunday it was almost 65 degrees here. Yesterday it was warm too.
And the temperature dropped. And the snow fell.
Weird weather!
Monday, February 02, 2009
GroundHog Day
Yesterday was such an incredibly warm day that it was hard to believe that not long ago the land was coated in ice.
I stepped outside in my shirt sleeves and moved cautiously around the yard. My roses looked like they were surviving in spite of the frigid temperatures we experienced in January. I could smell change in the air even though we're not out of winter yet.
Today the ol' groundhog pops out and sees his shadow (or not). This day always makes me sad because it reminds me of the one time I actually shot and killed an animal (I also once shot a snake but I didn't feel too badly about that.).
It was a warm spring day and the dog, who was on a chain because she tended to wander at this point in her life, started barking.
Ginger was a small black dog, part terrier, part Eskimo Spitz, mostly mutt. She was facing down a groundhog that was as big as she was.
My dog was at a disadvantage because of the chain. She kept hopping and moving around and the groundhog kept chasing her, moving forward, then sometimes backward.
I couldn't tell if the groundhog had bitten the dog, but it seemed imminent if it hadn't already happened.
This continued long enough for me to call my husband (who was of course at work) and ask him how to chase the groundhog off.
The fact that the groundhog was after the dog meant the animal likely was sick, my husband said. He feared it might attack me.
I know how to shoot a rifle and I have my own .22 caliber gun. I loaded it and opened the back door. I raised the gun and in one shot I felled the groundhog. It dropped without a twitch.
The dog was very excited and had a scratch across her nose that went near her eye but otherwise seemed fine. I called the vet and he checked her shots and advised that my Ginger would be okay because her shots were all up to date. The wound did not seem to need stitches.
However, I felt very bad about killing the groundhog, even though it seemed I had no other choice if I wanted to save my dog. Even now, 20 years later, I still wish I had found some other way to go about it.
And every groundhog day, I am reminded.
P.S. Ginger came to us in 1984 and she died in 2001. I haven't had the heart to get another dog.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
My Week in Review
Last week in spite of the snow and ice and general bad weather, I had a lot of work to do.
Monday I wrote articles for the newspaper.
Tuesday I attended a supervisors' meeting. When I go to meetings, I sit through them and then write about them. The meeting lasted from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a break around 5 p.m. for the supervisors to eat dinner. I came home and had dinner, too.
Wednesday I interviewed for articles for the newspaper. I also prepared my invoices for the month for my work.
Thursday wrote up the meeting and worked on a few other articles. I had lunch with my friend whom I had not seen since Christmas. She was looking great and I was pleased to see her feeling so chipper.
Thursday night my husband and I took our nephew a birthday card. He turned 18. I can't believe he is that old now. Seems like just yesterday...
Thursday night I was up most of the night with my husband, who somehow wrenched his back. He was in a lot of pain and sleep was out of the question for both of us.
Friday morning I visited the beauty parlor (it did not improve my looks, I'm sorry to say) and then it was back to writing more articles.
Friday evening I hovered over my husband and alternated heat and ice on his back in an attempt to get the muscles to loosen up.
Today I cleaned the house this morning and then went to the book store with my friend. I just love Books-A-Million. I walk in and there is the smell of coffee and new books. There is not a better fragrance in the world some days.
I did buy a couple of books. I didn't need anymore but I like to support the arts.
My husband just a few moments ago said his back feels better. Thank goodness.
Monday I wrote articles for the newspaper.
Tuesday I attended a supervisors' meeting. When I go to meetings, I sit through them and then write about them. The meeting lasted from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a break around 5 p.m. for the supervisors to eat dinner. I came home and had dinner, too.
Wednesday I interviewed for articles for the newspaper. I also prepared my invoices for the month for my work.
Thursday wrote up the meeting and worked on a few other articles. I had lunch with my friend whom I had not seen since Christmas. She was looking great and I was pleased to see her feeling so chipper.
Thursday night my husband and I took our nephew a birthday card. He turned 18. I can't believe he is that old now. Seems like just yesterday...
Thursday night I was up most of the night with my husband, who somehow wrenched his back. He was in a lot of pain and sleep was out of the question for both of us.
Friday morning I visited the beauty parlor (it did not improve my looks, I'm sorry to say) and then it was back to writing more articles.
Friday evening I hovered over my husband and alternated heat and ice on his back in an attempt to get the muscles to loosen up.
Today I cleaned the house this morning and then went to the book store with my friend. I just love Books-A-Million. I walk in and there is the smell of coffee and new books. There is not a better fragrance in the world some days.
I did buy a couple of books. I didn't need anymore but I like to support the arts.
My husband just a few moments ago said his back feels better. Thank goodness.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday Thirteen
1. We had an ice storm here Tuesday and Wednesday
2. This is my forsythia bush.
3. Winter can be very hard on the animals.
4. This is the deer behind the forsythia bush.
5. When I was taking pictures of this deer and others you can't see, one or two of them began making a high-pitched mewling sound.
6. It was something I'd never heard before. I've heard them snort or blow air but never mew.
7. On the other side of the house, I spied turkeys. If you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you'll see that the closest turkey has very pretty eyes!
8. As you can see, at one point they were dotting the hillside.
9. They moved up along the fence. I took the photos through the window screen so they aren't very good.
10. They look to be a young flock; probably hatched this spring.
11. We were fortunate in that we did not lose our power or have trees fall over the driveway.
12. Wednesday the ice melted; then the wind began to blow.
13. I dream of warmer weather.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.
2. This is my forsythia bush.
3. Winter can be very hard on the animals.
4. This is the deer behind the forsythia bush.
5. When I was taking pictures of this deer and others you can't see, one or two of them began making a high-pitched mewling sound.
6. It was something I'd never heard before. I've heard them snort or blow air but never mew.
7. On the other side of the house, I spied turkeys. If you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you'll see that the closest turkey has very pretty eyes!
8. As you can see, at one point they were dotting the hillside.
9. They moved up along the fence. I took the photos through the window screen so they aren't very good.
10. They look to be a young flock; probably hatched this spring.
11. We were fortunate in that we did not lose our power or have trees fall over the driveway.
12. Wednesday the ice melted; then the wind began to blow.
13. I dream of warmer weather.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Untitled
No snow.
Schools closed.
Rain falls.
Business calls.
Day slows.
Cattle low.
House cold.
Feeling old.
Husband sleeps.
Spirits weep.
Turkeys dance.
Deer prance.
Ice builds.
Feet chilled.
Fingers type.
Brain writes.
Cold day.
Let's play.
Schools closed.
Rain falls.
Business calls.
Day slows.
Cattle low.
House cold.
Feeling old.
Husband sleeps.
Spirits weep.
Turkeys dance.
Deer prance.
Ice builds.
Feet chilled.
Fingers type.
Brain writes.
Cold day.
Let's play.
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