10.12.10 ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Getting older, as they say is better than the alternative but it comes with mixed blessings. The doctor confirmed my annual physical with the news I am likely to live another year but beyond that she remains uncommitted(?).

October is always the month of collegiate homecomings, the baseball playoffs and the leaves are falling (Ed hates that!). We'll be enjoying the cool fall weather, getting ready for the upcoming holidays and it's back to making hot soups. Later this month I will be off to the Guild's QUILT SHOW "Quilting: a thread runs through it," is October 22-24 at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham.

For this year’s birthday I received a dozen red roses from my husband, a lobster dinner at Squid's, had lunch with sister Jan on Monday (with a champagne toast), messages from my twin cousins, more E-cards from Ed's family, a phone call from my brother Jim; and of course the annual conversation with Mother who always reminds me about the day her first child was born. Several Facebook Friends sent greetings and a couple of Facebook RE-connections that I thought were long lost. I am blessed to have such family and friends and with your encouragement I hope to see many more Octobers.

For Mother’s birthday I had suggested she remember “that which does not kill you only makes you stronger.” For my day, the usual: "Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, an advanced older woman is incontrollable by any earthly force." - - D. L. Sayers

The aging ‘old thing’ is getting a lot of play as we progress in our path to Carolina Meadows. Yes the acceptance letter came and then the contract asking for a big check. We passed the entrance exams with flying colors but now the WAIT.
The soon-to-be developed Phase V, an addition of 22 villas still has to assign lots and then note our floor plan preference. Not that I have been working on floor plans for weeks (and this is not the first floor plan chosen), my frustration is that all the furniture I hope to keep will never fit into a ‘downsized’ plan. The simple life is ahead. Along with living simply, I will also have to live without.
Reading Sue Bender’s Plain and Simple (Harper Collins, 1989), and re-reading Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort of Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach is not really helping that much. When you grow up poor, make headway and begin to acquire the idea of giving it all away seems most un-natural.

As of this morning I finished Kathryn Stockett’s Help (Amy Einhorn Books, 2009), an ambitious novel about black domestic-working women in white households in the 1960s. A winner if ever there was one, the construct of the novel is that the author writes both the black and white perspectives in the story, a difficult undertaking done exceptionally well.

No one told me about Frank Bruni. He will be The Lantern's featured speaker for lunch on November 5th. Bruni is the author of "Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite," and has been invited authored the book to be the keynote address at The 6th Annual UNC Conference on Eating Disorders. See the luncheon menu and details at www.lanternrestaurant.com.

Was anybody surprised that "The Situation" got eliminated last night on DWTS? The test was easy; which did I enjoy more - watching the show or listening to Pandora Radio? When you can answer that truthfully - DWTS is in big trouble. bbf

FRIDAY once and again

This morning could not have been worse, the afternoon is turning our much better. DH and I just finished dance practice and I feel better for getting the workout. Our major aim is to distinguish between the Shag (this year's lessons), and the West Coast Swing (last year's lessons). And we have less than two months to get up to speed for the upcoming Labor Day "Beach Music" weekend bash. Coaster step, here I come.

Several things are on my mind today. Since I was ill most of last night I figured why not start the second of the Millennium trilogy, "The Girl Who Played with Fire." All I can think is that Larsson must have been a liberal sex object for someone early in life - his writing covers just about all the vice you can put in print. Of course, he did not become the best selling mystery writer for no reason. So far the story includes a husband attempting to kill his wife but instead is killed in a hurricane (just desserts!), and sex trafficking in Sweden. And that's just the first three chapters. What Lisbeth Salanders can get into next is what keeps one turning the page.

IN June I read the first, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and wondered why I started since I ignored everything that needed doing to inhale the book in the shortest time possible. For anyone who has difficulty with the summer heat (me!) and who adores the air-conditioning, this is summer reading like no other. The protagonist is female, tough and victorious.
And between the two I read the Michael Crichton book "Pirate Latitudes," and now wonder why. The manuscript found after is death was unpublished for a reason, it is not even close to his other best sellers: mostly a lot of pirate fighting and thievery. The recent Caribbean pirate films with Johnny Dep are far better.

Next week is the premier of "Pillars of the Earth" on Starz USA network. Bummer.
For one who read Pillars years ago and just finished "World With End," this is cruel to air the series on a Comcast network. Double Bummer.
And right after that the film of "Eat, Pray, Love," with Julia Roberts premiers. This is a flick the chicks must get out and see.

Speaking of the girls, the ones from my last "Artist Way" class will be surprised to see what I have just uncovered (with a little help from Oprah's website). Who knew about the "Proust Questionaire? An exercise in self-study, the questions you are asked to answer probe into who you think you are. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Questionnaire and see if you have the answers.

This will keep me thinking for the next couple of days. Saturday morning I aim to do the early Zumba class and then back to reading during the heat of the day. This hot-house flower does not like hot, direct sun. Until the middle of August I will be reading in the shade. bbf