Man! Am I behind on posting! Oh, well . . . life has been rather busy, so my blog is always one of the first things to fall behind. This time it was because of books, clearing out the house, and colds. Let's see . . . where to start. After doing all these books sales this year, Mom and I looked at the stacks of books boxes waiting to be shelved and realized that there was no possible way to cram them onto the already bursting shelves. We also had a discussion about the structure of the house. So, we started going through all the books and doing a massive weed job. Scanning them and deciding if we wanted them, if we were interested in having a book on the particular topic, if we got a better replacement, etc. We are hoping at the end to get back to the approx. 10,000 volumes we had several years ago. We've done a good chunk of it already. Dad has been taking loads down to the Knox County Friends of the Library Book Sale.
We have also been going through the house and all the stuff we have accumulated over the years. The house has gotten way out of hand and we all decided it was time to get rid of a lot of stuff. We have four grown people, living in one house for many years, collecting a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. So, we decided that we are going to pretend that we are moving. If we really moved, would you really want to pack and move each thing you pick up? One day a couple weeks ago, while Mom and I did a lot of books, Sarah did the walk-in closet. Man! Is it nice! Even went through the games and puzzles!
I am afraid the the end of September and all of October haven't been very fun for me. Six weekends ago, I caught a cold, right at the beginning of canning tomatoes. Well, I was hoping it was just a quick cold, but it turned out to be an awful thing. The typical flu-shot-time-of-the-year cold, but terrible. Mom ended up getting it right after I did, so we spent a lot of down time. We were actually going down to Cincinnati to visit Walt and Janice, but we had to cancel the plans and postpone the weekend. Well, I had trouble shaking of the remains for a couple weeks. Then, to top it off - I got another cold two weeks ago! I was really depressed. I mean, this isn't a banner October for me. Actually, it will be fabulous when it ends. So, suffered through some more symptoms, and sadly Sarah came down with it last Monday. Well, our plans for Cinci had been changed to this past weekend. We played it loose, hoping we would feel better by then. Then Mom sprained her back lifting books. Man! We were beginning to wonder whether it was a message about going down to Cinci. Problem was, should we go, or should we not? Well, our colds are down to terrible sounding coughs, but that is about all.
We ended up going down on Saturday. Walt and Janice had some friends over on Saturday night and we played cards. It was really fun! It was really fun to play games with so many people. Even if I was so nervous I probably looked like a scared rabbit! Ah, well . . . Terrible being shy. But, it was fabulous. Wish I had felt better, too. Sunday we all hung around and played some more games. We left after dinner and stopped at Whole Foods on the way home. Got some olive oil and coffee. It was a terrible drive, rained all the way home. However, I didn't see much of it. I slept the whole way. First time I've been able to sleep since coming down with this cold. I think I am suffering from sleep exhaustion!
Yesterday, we made some coffee in the morning and took it nice and slow. Then we went down and visited Buddy and Kay for the evening. They were home for half a day, and it might be the only time we get to see them for the rest of the year, except Thanksgiving and Christmas! They have a super busy schedule.
We have gotten some fun fan mail back these past two months. I think the first was Ann Blyth. Something happened to it, and it got wet along the way. Not just damp, but soaked! I think it was on the way to her, because my letter had been stuck to one of the photos. However, she signed them very nicely and I was able to get the paper pulp off and the photos look great! Amazing printer! They are fabulous photos and she did a beautiful job signing! As she is one of my all-time favorites, I was really excited! Here is my very favorite song she ever sang (that I've heard so far, that is!)
Next, we got back Linda Evans, who was Audra in "The Big Valley" TV show. We already had Peter Breck and Lee Majors, so she was our last "Big Valley" cast member. I really thought she did a great thing with signing, because she wrote "Love Audra" instead of her normal signature!
Just last week we got back a really fun one. From British actress Joanna David, who played Mrs. Gardiner in the 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. She not only sent our photos back signed, but a nice note as well apologizing for the delay in replying and that she included newer photos of herself, and ones of her daughter, since we mentioned we liked her, and she sent us autographed photos of her son - who is also an actor. So cute! Well, that was a surprise and a really cool success. I love her daughter (who we wrote too, as well, but haven't heard back from yet), so I was excited to get an autograph of her, as well.
Book sales are over for the year (Um . . . maybe. Mom just found another that might be good!). Three weeks ago was the largest Ohio library book sale up in Elyria. Dad even went us with us. They had approx. 70,000, and I found the book that I had been searching for all year! A nice, old library-bound copy of Pitcairn's Island, which is the last of the Bounty Trilogy by Nordoff & Hall. I was so thrilled! I have been looking at every sale! We had nice library-bound hardbacks of the other two in the set, but only an old, cheap paperback of the last one.
Throughout the book sales, I have really worked at collecting nicer (and more) Christie books. Slowly but surely, I now have 61 titles and four trivia books. Some really nice hardbacks of titles I like. Even got the movie tie-in cover hardback of Murder on the Orient Express. A nice hardcover of Ordeal By Innocence. Even found copies of Cards on the Table and N or M?. We got a new shelf for them (while we have been rearranging) and I thought it would give me plenty of growing room, but it is almost filled! Really fun, though.
Oh, before I close, I discovered a new favorite singer and favorite song. A friend down in Australia, who also likes opera, asked me about my thoughts of Anna Netrebko. Well, I had only ever listened to a few tracks of hers, so I didn't really have any thoughts. So, I ordered in four cds from the library and started listening. I liked her last half of La Boheme (Always my starting point). She was very good. However, when I heard track 13 of her album, Souvenirs, I was sold! A traditional Jewish lullaby, it is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever heard. Dad even loves it! My new favorite. Then I listened to her highlights from La Traviata album, which was so fantastic! I love highlights and this is one of the best. You never realized when they skipped sections. Very well done and beautiful!
Well, that pretty much catches up to the present. This morning we woke up to a bit of snow on the ground! It is really, really windy and cold. So, I think Winter is close! More house cleaning/sorting and book weeding is on the agenda for the next few weeks.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven . . ." - Ecclesiastes 3:1
