That Damned Elusive Cosham

Did I tell you how much Karen and I love to listen to Louise Penny's mysteries? It's part Ms. Penny and part Ralph Cosham, the reader. After much discussion about him, we looked up books he had read in the past. I had to listen to him read The Scarlet Pimpernel. I've link this to the search page for the book because the book is so out of date, reading the reviews isn't much fun. What is fun is all the movies made of the book. I liked the Anthony Andrews one, but Jane Seymour could never act. The Leslie Howard one is pretty good. And there are more.

It's a great swashbuckler, romance, historical drama. No wonder they made so many movies from it. And a musical. Cosham reads it very well. Sir Percey, the Pimpernel, is a very mannered British fop at the time of the French Revolution. Fun to listen to. My favorite memory of the book has always been the poem Sir Percey recites to his guests:

We seek him here, we seek him there,

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.

Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell?

That damned, elusive Pimpernel

Here is how my garden is growing. Can you see the dandelions I mentioned the other day? The bottom part is just flying getting done. It's so easy when you aren't counting and moving all over the picture to put a drop of red or yellow in a flower.

Growth

Our lady of the garden is getting more of a garden to stand in. As I was working the other day, I set my instructions on top of my work. It's wonderful to see how the little codes on the paper can turn into a beautiful garden. It's hard to keep up with my progress. I am way past this. In fact, I've found the bottom right corner. Now I know that the stitching on the bottom right of this picture is a little edging shrub. Just below that, the lawn begins. I had to make sure to remember to stitch 8 little cross stitches of the color represented by a musical note. It wasn't until I got to the bottom that I saw I'd put two dandelions in the garden! I almost felt like ripping out the stitches in honor of my gardening sister, but I guess they just would have grown back some how.
As I was stitching I listened to two things. First was the newest John le Carre book called Our Kind of Traitor. You must read the bad reviews. Some people just hated this book. I can't believe that people don't know that these days le Carre writes slow, detailed books. It's just what he does. I love listening to them because they sound so British. So kinda bored and matter-of-fact. That's what people were complaining about. I guess you have to have a predisposition for this sort of book. If not, better leave it alone.

The other thing I've been listening to is old Dragnet radio shows, about 5 of them a day. I've almost caught up with the podcasts. They are published weekly by this guy from Boise, Idaho who sound like he is from the mountains of Tennessee. The fun thing about the Dragnet shows is that a lot of the action takes place around Spring Street (on which dwells The Times building) and City Hall (across the street from The Times.) It's from the early 50's, so crime solving was very different. Just listening reminds me of how happy I am that we have (until recently) been made more scrupulous about the rights of suspects. Joe Friday never water boarded anyone, or even slammed them against a wall. He did do a bit of illegal search and seizure among other things. Still, these are entertaining.

My discussion groups go on, although we have finished with To Kill a Mockingbird. Interesting facts: The book was written in 1960 about events that took place in the 30's. The movie was made in 1962. We watched the movie this last meeting on Friday. Some of us are also reading The Help, about black maids in Mississippi in 1962. Yes, that's right. Same-ole-same-ole was still happening in the South even as we were reading and watching this story. So, we have this group of old white folks wondering if any of this goes on today. I will not be surprised when the book is written 40 years from now about life as a minority in today's society. I won't be here to read it, but I still won't be surprised.

As for my What are Conservative Thinking group, I can only wonder. I suppose that's another reason why I'm enjoying old time radio. People are too freaky today. Too hostile. Best laugh of the week was the signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity. This may have been too little too late, I'm not sure that we can ever be civil again; but I sure did like those signs.

What Makes Me Happy

Lots o' stuff. Jon Stewart's lovely gathering on the Mall of America this morning/afternoon. The music I decided to listen to while writing this, rather than my usual podcasts or books. Laughed at myself when I was picking the perfect song to start with and realized that they all made me happy. My stock portfolio is growing at a surprising rate. I'm almost making as much annually as I used to earn. Happiness.

My meetings with old Pasadena. Not just that they are all old, but it has been like bursting out of my chair like Superwoman to see some of what Pasadena has to offer. OK, the weather has been wonderful. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes it rains, mostly it is sunny and clear and smile-inducing. All the meetings I've been to have been fun. For some reason, I've signed up to bring snacks to every one of our second meetings. For the second Conservative meeting I brought gingerbread I'd made. It was a big hit. Adrian made his fabulous banana bread for the second The Help meeting. The people there L O V E D it. And they should have. He has perfected this recipe.

As for the group meetings: Conservatives has devolved into people talking about what interests them. We have a lot of retired teachers, so we discussed education and unions. That was okay, but most fun was talking to Barbara Crowley, who is the widow of a past Pasadena mayor. She had a Pacific Oaks College bag. I didn't know that they had been very involved in the school. Adrian had gone to the children's school from 18 months to 5 years. Loved that school. Barbara is 80+. We had a lovely conversation about that.

The Help leader asked me, when the meeting had ended, if I wanted to be a group leader. I'd thought about it, but I don't know where I'll be, so I'm not sure. One reason he asked was because I kept talking. But they don't seem to mind. I've tried not to talk too much, because we all know how opinionated I am and how much I can talk when I have a mind to. BUT, I do remember more of the book than these folks do (age, remember?) I haven't felt so young in years. Here's the really funny thing. I have not told anyone at these meetings that my ex- was black. In this group and in Mockingbird, we talk a lot about the black experience. I am not an expert, I just know what I know. There are times when I just listen to this white, liberal group talk about what they "know."

Mockingbird had devolved into just a few people. We finished the book. I loved it more than I remembered. Every word is great. One funny aspect is one of the member's incredulity that the character Dil was based on Truman Capote. She doesn't think he seems gay. Well, hum. Well, he's nine. In Alamaba. In 1930 something. What would he have to do to appear gay? Wear shorts that buttoned to his shirt? Attack Jem? Produce dramatic scenes of Boo Radley's life? We heard this week that the character played him in the movie didn't look like Capote. Well, that proves he wasn't gay. Right? (according to her.) IMDB says the guy who played Dil in the movie died of AIDS. I'm sorry about that, but I can't wait to tell Lee next Friday.

This is my needlepoint as it is today. It is growing quickly because I had another good book to read, The Disappearing Spoon. The Disappearing Spoon is about the Periodic Table of Elements. First, you must understand that I loved Chemistry in high school. I remember telling Mom about Carbon Chains and how elements combine to create wonderful compounds. I was ecstatic. Then I lost my chemistry book. I still got a B in the class because I took good notes. Imagine what I could have done if I had actually read the book. But I did read this one. Every element is discussed. I don't remember a lot about any particular element. Adrian and I had a discussion about listening to non-fiction or reading them on the Kindle. We both agree that paper is best for this type of book. I still enjoyed listening to the book. I got to learn more about the men and women behind the discovery of each element and how the elements affect the world. But I don't remember, nor can I refer back to, any specific element. Get this book, but in paper.

Speaking of Young Son, here he is in his Halloween costume, which he will have worn three days straight. Speaking of Jon Stewart's doings today, Yusuf Islam is singing Morning Has Broken as I write. Both things make my heart sing. Adrian is looking like he's in a line-up. But he looked really great. He continues to go to the gym almost every day.

Finally, my nephew Bill, is involved with wheelchair LaCrosse, as I mentioned in a previous post. His group will be featured in a Fox Sports program next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PST. The program is called Exceleration. Adrian and I are going down to San Diego next weekend to watch it with the stars of the show. Cool. And certainly a thing that makes me happy.

That and that Bob Dylan wants me so bad. I must remember to listen to this music more often.

Good Things

Adrian has been cooking the most interesting things. First is our weekly foccacia that tastes much better than it looks. And then there is this chocolate raspberry torte. I did not get a piece, although I caused a little accident which resulted in a the little piece of cake that stuck to the wire cooling rack. It was nummy. He shares all this stuff with his friends. He too practices the sport of bake and release. When the chunky peanut butter cookies were released into the wild, I wept. But it was for our own good.

While Adrian has been baking, I've been going to PALAC (Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Cword) group meetings. I've met a bunch of retired Pasadena Liberals. Do you think they took that Liberal part of Liberal Arts wrong? I've now attend one each of the three groups I'm involved in. Here's the report:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird group discussion. I learned not to read ahead. Bad form. I also learned that I really love this book. I knew I did, but it's been a long time. I also got to visit the home of a former Pasadena mayor. These are a lot of nice retirees who have lived in Pasadena for eons.
2. Figuring out what Conservatives are thinking by reading editorial pieces from the Wall Street Journal. All new group of people. One more conservative guy, which makes him middle-of-the-road, I think. The rest of us got to the Lean to the left part of the old cheer and never got the other two parts. Oh, maybe we did the fight, fight, fight part; but we never leaned to the right. My old boss leads this group. He's doing a good job. But I do hate hate, hate reading stuff by Peggy Noonan and Karl Rove. Yucky.
3. The Help group discussion. I'm getting good at this. I listened to this book some time ago. However, the guy leading the group is also the guy who said we shouldn't read ahead. Well, that ship has sailed, so I just didn't say anything when he was throwing out all these leading questions about what a certain passage could possibly mean. I knew. I knew to the point of wanting to bounce from cheek to cheek. But I sat quietly and looked appropriately blank. It was fun. I've already met four of these people. I will soon have a coffee date with the dimmest bulb in the group. It's a beginning.

Whoa, I took this picture last week. I am waaaay beyond this, but I've not taken a picture lately. Soon. Why such leaps of needling during my busy PALAC schedule??? I've been reading an absolutely fabulous book. Listening, that is. Room. OMG. Room, I did love to listen to you. And now you're done. I even listened to parts of it a couple of times. This is about a woman who was kidnapped and raped by a yucky man (of course) and kept locked up for 7 years. She has a 5 year old son by him. This book is told from the point of view of the son, Jack, who has a fabulous vocabulary and you would know why if you read this book. But you should really listen to it. It is read by a few people. I don't know who does Jack's voice. She is fantastic.

Speaking of listening. Since I listened to The Help and loved the voices of these women, I'm looking forward to reading it It's been a while since I heard the voices of these women. Will it be as good with my own voice? Would Room be as good? I'm doubtful.