Why Read Series?

People have been asking me why I like the Harry Potter books so much. Well, first, they are well written. The characters and story line are interesting. For some very good reason, they started to release the movies shortly after we in the US read the first few books. All of a sudden, the characters had faces and visible personalities. So when you read the next book, you can picture the characters more vividly. And you become more involved in their lives than you would otherwise. And you want to know what happens to them. What comes next becomes a huge driving factor. How will each story line end. That's why the last book was so great. Even when it ended badly for a loved character, you learned what happens next.

That's why I enjoy the Feathering mysteries by Simon Brett. They are pretty silly, I don't know why I read the first one. It's about two English ladies who get involved with murders. I think they kind of remind me of Karen and I, but loosely. One woman, Carol, is very serious and does things right. That's Karen. She's more hidebound than my dear sister, but she works hard to do the right thing. The other is Jude and is more loosey goosey. Hummm, wonder who that is. She approaches things slightly unprepared but often manages to hit the right path. Carol pulls the right answer out of her sense of what is right as often as loosey-goosey Jude does, so it isn't about one knowing the better path.

I look for these books because I want to know what else happens in their lives. It isn't as compulsive at the Potter books, but the hype is far less. Carol's son got married in the last book, what's happening with him? Jude has a sick friend, will we hear more about him? The Stabbing in the Stables is the lastest story. Pretty light weight, but advanced my agenda. I know how their lives are progressing. They solve a mystery (big secret.) And everybody lives happily ever after (no secret.)

And now I will finish the mystery of how sulfur came to save our lives.

Holy Cow! - revised

I have purchased several India books for my IPod and I'm just now reading them. This is the non-fiction story of an Australian, Sarah MacDonald, who moves to India for a year to be with her boyfriend who works for ABC. My guess is, that's the Australian Broadcasting Company, but just a guess. She may have mentioned what it means, but that's the problems with listening instead of reading. It's hard to go back to review and find a fact.

Her first impressions of India are like mine. In fact, she uses the same words. Exactly the same, but the opposite. She lives in Delhi, so there are some differences, but you must read her description of traffic, hygiene, drivers, housing, manners. She captures it all. It's read with a wonderful Aussie accent. Don't know why that makes it more inviting. The first part of the book deals with getting acclimated. That was the really familiar part. Then she goes on a spiritual search. That wasn't familiar, but it was interesting.

I forgot to mention that she has her picture taken all the time by the people there. They had her hold babies and do other things, but that is one lasting image I have of India. I had my picture taken all the time whenever I left our regular haunts. I was going to say it happened only outside of Bangalore, but the first time it happened was inside Bangalore at the Tipu's Palace. I don't know who that guy was, but his friend wanted my picture with the guy. And then there were the nuns on the same visit. So this settles it. It is being an identifiable other. Aussie or American. So happy that the mystery has been answered.

She comments on how tolerant India is religiously. That point was made to me several times when in India. Religions and languages mix freely and intermingle. On the surface. When you get down to the basics, love and marriage, they don't mingle. Anyway, Sarah visits every religion in the country. I'd forgotten the derivation of Zoroastianism. Zarathustra. Nietzsche wrote the book "Also Sprach Zarathustra" that I now think I want to read. Ms. MacDonald says he was from Iran and preceded Christ, Mohammad and maybe Moses. Now that's interesting.

She writes about all the other religions, too. I'd studied India 40 years ago. It looked a little different than I remember imagining in my studies, but this book and some of my experiences while in Bangalore reminded me of what a major role religion plays in their lives and culture.

Now I'm on to another non-fiction book about the first people who used Sulfur to cure the body and also a little mystery to balance things out. Nothing Indian. The book about the Taj Mahal will have to wait.

That Potter Boy

It arrived. I got the CDs and had to put down "Holy Cow!" until I could find out the mysteries of the Deathly Hallows. Per got the book a few days earlier and finished before I could start.

I made him reveal the things that worried me the most. Does Harry live? Does Hermoine? Ron? Although I cared less about Ron. What a whimp. Snape? He answered just those questions so I could read the book without being kept in too much suspense.

What did I like the best? Rowling doesn't just tie all the loose ends together in the end, she invites all the characters and tropes from the other 6 books to participate in the end game. House elves show up and participate in the end. The Sourcer's Stone is referenced. The memory bowl (what is that called? a pensive?) plays a big role. I just loved this book. I'm not going to say any more about it. If you want answers, you can ask me. No spoiler alerts required.

I did do what I alway do with Harry's books. I read the first half and then listened to the last CD. Sorry. I have to know the ending so I can enjoy the middle. I listened on my laptop with gchat open. Per kept emailing, just asking page or chapter. All I could tell him was CD number. That was fun to be listening and chatting about what I was listening to.

I'll be lending the book to Tom next. I think when he is done, I might listen to it again or save it for my trip across country to enjoy with Karen. I don't know if she can wait so long to hear it for the first time. But it would be fun to read the book together as we drive so we can chat about it, whether we've read it before or not.

Did I Say I bought a Rug?

This is a little 6' x 9' silk on cotton rug. That means that silk threads are woven into a cotton woof or warp (whichever goes up.) I live in a little apartment, so this seems like wall-to-wall carpet. The carpet was shipped to my place and Adrian got to unwrap it and roll it to make sure it would lie flat and look pretty for when I got home. Re rolling it was a trip. Not a one person job.

I took the pictures when we re-rolled the carpet. I had to throw it over the couch. Where are those muscular guys from the store. I could barely lift the thing. Adrian had to help me re-roll it.


And speaking of the muscular guys - - When Bill was in India, he went shopping one day. Ramesh took him to Asian Art Emporium where I bought this rug. He told them he was from The Times or did some other secret signal, like "Peggy sent me;" because all the guys in the store said, "Oh, Peggy Norman!" My favorite salesman said that he would give Bill my special discount.


Good heavens, they are such salesmen. I told Bill that means that they raise the price by 300%. But this is the guy who made me the "offer of a lifetime." I was admiring a beautiful ruby necklace. The salesman (not mine) said it was something around $4000. No. Then I kept saying no and he got down to $3000. No. Really, I don't wear jewelry enough to warrent that. So my guy called me and said i could have it for $2000. I wonder what it was really worth. It was pretty, but Ms. Moneybags had left the room long before I got there.

My rug is beautiful. And I got such a deal.

Christopher's Ghost

When Karen (Madame X the sister) and I went to the Festival of Books together for the first time, we sat in on a Mystery panel. Most of the panelists were nominated for the Book Prize that would be held that night. Our favorite panelist was the writer who wasn't nominated, Charles McCarry. That must have been 2004. He was pushing his book, "Old Boys." The protagonist, Paul Christopher, is an old man. Hummm, I wonder if he is 60.

This book is a severe prequel. This isn't an old man, it's a 16 year-old boy. McCarry wrote 6 books about Paul Christopher before he wrote this one. It was sort of like reading about the young Indiana Jones. We all know what happened next; what happened first? Only I had only read that one book 3 years ago about the old guy. So I don't know as much about the protagonist. Not as much as I was assumed to know.

He's half American and half German, lives in Germany pre-war with his parents. They are pro-Communist and active. She is beautiful, he is bookish and the boy is quite the guy. It was enjoyable, but it isn't great. It is the kind of book you read that doesn't teach you anything or do more than make you recoil at the horrible things people do to each other. Stuff happens, people die or are missing. And believe me, they are missing. There is no closure. I suppose it's closed in a different book. I'm not sure that I want to know so much that I will read all the other books.

I've started to listen to "Holy Cow!" about an Aussie's adventure in India. Now that's a good book. More on that when I finish. And Harry Potter just arrived on my doorstep. What to read...

It's a Mystery

I love books, but I have to be the slowest reader on record. I have to read every word, hear it, at the speed of speech. And my mind wanders while I read the words. It takes a long time to read a page. No skimming. Even text books. No wonder I did so well in school. Actually I did. I guess I remember everything I read at my snail's pace.

And then, some one said, "let there be books on tape." And it was good and I read them like a fiend. It was great to have some one reading to me when I went to bed at night and when I was driving into work. First they were abridged and I bought them. Then I found Books on Tape and I rented them. They came in a heavy cardboard box. Unabridged, 15 tapes, at times, in a box. It was good. And I was able to send them back when done, so I didn't have to find bookshelves to hold them all.

And now I have my Ipod nano with 13 books on it. I'm not sure if Books on Tape still exists. I buy books from Audible.com and download them to the nano, deleting them when done. This is another miracle. I can't listen when I go to sleep anymore, because it keeps playing and it's hard to get back to where I fell asleep. But I can listen when I drive and walk and do the dishes and compute and eat lunch. Heaven.

I used to read mostly mysteries and spy thrillers. I've tried to vary my reading diet, now that it is easier to get beyond page 1. There are great books out there. I found a few good books because of The Times Book Prizes. The short list offers many good choices. So I have read mysteries and histories; novels, which I would never have read before; biographies; science; classics; economics; memoirs; current events; fantasy. Really, everything but science fiction and I guess the fantasy was science fantasy.

So I'm going to add a log of the books I'm reading as I finish them. A log in the middle of the blog. I have less than an hour left of... a spy thriller. Well, I wasn't reading them because I didn't like them, for heaven sakes!

Dinner With Dan

Amazing that the day I write a post about Dan having sat in Cynthia's chair, he wrote to say that he has a job working for the EDD starting August 1. We met at his favorite bar to celebrate his new status. His new wife Karen is with him. They have been together for 20 years and finally decided in April to make it permanent. Seemed a little permanent to me before this. Dan sent me this picture of the wedding. I think it's a great shot of the two of them.

Dan was my age when he left The Times. I was curious about how one manages with a year's salary and Times Mirror retirement money. He had the disadvantage of getting his severence pay in a lump sum. This time they are extending salary for the duration of the severence. This works well for those of us who have a year's pay coming. It wasn't so good for short-timers. Their lump would have been nice, not like doubling ones salary in a year for tax purposes.

It sounds like the worst part of the early retirement has been no reason to get up and seize the day when you don't have a job to do. That could be a problem. I have lots planned, so I don't think that will be an issue. But I do have a 5 month period before I will be able to drive the north country to D.C. with my Karen. Holy Cow. I just realized that there is yet another Karen in these threads. That must have been a very popular name in the 40's and 50's. Hummm and 60's. Sorry KJ.

I know someone who doesn't want his name to be in my blog. Ok. I don't use last names anyway. But what if I couldn't use the name Karen? There would be a lot of Madam X's running around.

I'm thinking that I might like to work part time for Festival of Books. Glen says he might have a job that would involve being nice to picky authors. Hummmm. I've been dealing with picky people for a very long time. And yes, most of them write. Would I want to throw myself on that spear? Being nice! Doesn't anyone know how hard that is? ;-)

The Black Hole

Monday was dismal. Cynthia and Gernard were gone. Clif had taken the week off. And another staff member was out. This left Idalia, Dean and I. We have been juggling our schedules so we can continue to help our friends in India and keep our sanity. Idalia is in her office. Behind her is the office that is Clif's alone, when he comes in. :-) It used to have Russ and Dan, too. They both left and Cynthia moved in. Now she is gone. So Idalia has a black hole behind her. She is smiling because I am being silly. We all feel these black holes

You wouldn't have believed that office with Cynthia in it. Her house must be amazing. Because her office had more decoration in a square foot than I have in my whole house. Clif will be very lonely when he returns. I sit in the office next to Idalia. This is my view when I look that way. On the other side of my office is the view that has been removed. Fred used to sit in that red chair, imparting his knowledge and friendship. Gernard sat in the chair on the left, but moved further left when Nigel left. For now, this is empty space, too It is so empty, the picture has been removed. May as well be. No reason to show a picture of a space where nobody sits.

This space on the left used to have Hao and Nigel in it. As I said, when Nigel left, Gernard took his desk on the right of this picture. We hate light in our offices. Most of the offices are left with only lights from the computers and the spot lights under the bins. We love it. It looks like we are gone and that's fine with me. But when Gernard was sitting in that chair and Hao had gone to Tech Support and the desk to the right of him was empty, this space was dead still. He was the quietest person I know. So although I miss his sweet-self, I can look over there and still imagine that he is sitting there.

For now, there are black holes to the left of us, black holes to the right. We stay focused on our goal - - retirement in 100 days. Or whatever happens in between.

A Sad Friday

They are really gone. I suppose it will be very evident on Monday. There will just be three of us in the room on that day. Idalia will be working the Service Desk, ordering people's computers and software. Dean will be chatting with (assisting) India on Instant Messager. And I will be trying to knit the lose ends of the project into whole cloth.

We invited all of IT and others to a final goodbye for Gernard and Cynthia. Shelli got two fabulous cakes. Not only did they look pretty, they tasted really good. My mom used to bake birthday cakes for the four of us. It was always the same, strawberries and cream for the girls and devil's food for the boys. We carried on that tradition.

It was a simple, sweet good-bye. Both will be taking time off to be with family and then finding that job that makes them happy. Cynthia says she wants to be a school bus driver. She is the most forthright, blunt, straight-talking person I know. That bus would be quiet. She is also the dearest woman. And very fashionable. I'd always ask her how she liked something new that I was wearing. Humm. I wonder if she was always honest. We decided that my next career would be to develop a fashion line for those without any fashion sense. Someone else suggested that the clothing line should be for men. They seem to have the least fashion sense, after me.
Cynthia is modeling the items that Laura from Chicago sent to me. The apron says "This Help Desk is Closed." The cup says "Call India." Everyone on Laura's helpdesk left Friday. That is the goal. Everybody out. We're moving a little slower - thank you Harriet and Bill. Laura is left alone to knit lose ends AND answer questions called in. Yikes.

I don't do Retail Therapy, I do Salon Therapy. I finally got my hair cut on Saturday. I will look good on Monday as I weep for the loss of my good friends. (okay, that sounds like they died. I believe both danced out the door. So maybe I'll just be weeping for me.)

Just a Day - Or Two

You never know what or who you'll run into at The Times. Yesterday I saw my friend Peggy in the cafeteria when I stopped for breakfast. I've known Peggy for an eternity and we have been Peggy/Peggy since day one. The cafeteria is great in the morning. They are building a police station across the street, so there are trucks and guys all down the block. Even if Peggy/Peggy hadn't been there, the view would have been pretty interesting. But Peggy was in the cafeteria to help out with the showing of the Stanley Cup. The Anaheim Ducks had won this trophy, the first time ever for a SoCal Hockey team. We were lucky enough to have it show up at The Times that morning. So I stuck around to see what a cup looks like. Silly me. The huge milk can looking thing was escorted by two gorgeous guys. One was the goalie, he's on the left here. The other was a not a goalie. I'm not sure what the other positions are in hockey. Probably forward and guard. Well, he was one of those. It was a good event. I understand that someone brought in a baby and got to take a picture of it resting in the cup. Bet that was a cute shot.

I had to leave before that would happen. How could it be so busy when my job is gone? There are no phones to answer. It is very difficult to answer the phone because people are looking for help outside the system. Sorry. But we are still trying to make all the applications and processes fully functional. I was kind of thinking about chilling a bit at work. Visiting friends. Having long lunches. Dream on.

We did have a nice lunch today. I forgot my camera. Too bad because we had a good-bye lunch for Gernard and Cynthia. Although it's sad to think of them leaving on Friday, it was good to have the HelpDesk and Tech Support staff together in one room. All at the same time. Since we weren't required to "man" (or staff, as I prefer) the phones, we could all eat and talk and enjoy each other. We had a good time. Moises played good-bye songs that had been compiled for another person's departure. Funny. A great way to say good-be to good people.

My Kind of Shopping

I spent more time physically shopping for "things" while I was in India than I normally spend in a year. Most of my "thing" shopping at home is done on the computer. There was a little withdrawal in India when I knew that I couldn't order something on Amazon and have it at my door in a couple of days. How long would it have taken to reach that door?


My shopping is done for food. I love to find and buy the best that is available. I buy fresh meat: line-caught fish, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, and pork in any form. I buy hard cheese, soft cheese, sliced cheese, cheese that stinks, cheese that melts like butta'.

Okay, so much for my arteries. But I also shop at the Pasadena Farmer's market and Bristol Farms to find the best fruits and vegetables available.



Yesterday I finally got to go to the farmer's market. I arrived home on Saturday the first weekend and last weekend I was at Karen's rather than at the farmer's market.

I had a wonderful time. June is a great month for the market. Everything is available. I bought:

• Strawberries from Harry's Berrys. They are from Camarillo and are absolutely the best. Every berry is plump and sweet. We had those with yogurt last night.
• Raspberries from the same area. I also got figs to be stuffed with cheese and wrapped with proscuitto. And little red currents. I'll probably make raspberry tarts today. With little currents on them.
• Patty pan squash from the 10 different types of squashes available. I stuffed them with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, bread crumbs and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then baked them with tomato sauce and more grated parmesan.
• Asparagus and cauliflower. I baked the asparagus and ate it for breakfast. I love that with more parmesan cheese. I'm baking the cauliflower tonight with garlic and olive oil.
• Rhubarb will be cooked and added to the left over strawberries. We'll probably have that with yogurt, too.
• Lettuce and basil and arugula. This will go into the salad that I'll be fixing to go with salmon for tonight's dinner. That and the cauliflower.

After I left the farmer's market, I dropped by Howies to pick up a couple of steaks for the 4th and got some beautiful king salmon. It was just a short hop to the Italian grocery store so I could pick up a plethora of starches (Adrian's words after seeing the foccacia, rolls - for the freezer, and breadsticks.) I also stocked up on Italian pork products for my freezer. This place is Claro's and they make the best sausages and lasagna. I also got some good olives to go with all this food.

As I drove home, I realized I hadn't had breakfast. Maybe that's why I bought out the town. So I stopped in San Gabriel, home of the area's best Asian food, and picked up some bao from a Chinese bakery. They were still hot from the oven.

I'm home. I'm shopping. Now, maybe, I can figure out how to get back in the groove at work and help make things run well for the consolidated help desk. I wish that were as easy as finding good raspberries.