"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Sunday Salon -- October 10th

Our Purple Mountain Ash tree ready for its yearly dump of leaves.
 

Our deck this morning after a rainy, windy night.

A close-up of the leaves. Aren't they pretty together?

Update: The boys dropped by after church for a very autumn-y moment.

Weather:
Rain. Yesterday we guessed that our Purple Mountain Ash would shed all its leaves by next weekend. Today, after last night's rainstorm, I amend that guess to earlier in the week. See photos
above.


Waffletown Blocks:
Jamie has discovered the joy of waffletown blocks.  He and grandpa are having fun building with them and moving them around. (I made the photo into art using Waterlogue.)

Sick: I've been sick this week. I'll spare you the details but suffice it to say I read little and have little to share so the posting will be short this week. I'm on the mend, but staying home from church just in case I'm still contagious. 

Books:

  • I did finish one book this week: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeycutt by Annie Lyons. I think it will supply good fodder for our book club discussion dealing with the topic of end-of-life/death issues.
  • Still reading:
    • The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates. For an upcoming book club. Print, 75% completed.
    • The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Classic. E-Book. 22%.

News I found interesting this week (some of it distressing): 

  • COVID-19 cases linked to new cases of diabetes, and could be more severe effects for those cases (National Geographic, October 8th)
  • The Senate committee report on the ways Trump attempted to weaponize the DOJ so he could stay in power after losing the election. Sounds like a coup attempt to me. (TPM, Oct. 7th)
  • Facebook knows its service is dividing country whistleblower reports. "Facebook makes its money from “engagement-based ranking” -- that is, maximizing clicks from material that generates strong reactions. Sadly, negative emotions such as anger and bias guarantee more engagement. Thus, Facebook’s algorithms prioritize content that in many instances instills anger, fear and anxiety." (WaPo, Oct. 6th)

  • Surfing beyond life's scars in Liberia. I used to live in Liberia and I'm always happy to read good news out of this troubled country. (Reasons to be Cheerful, Oct. 7th
  • Beach front property seized in 1924 from Black owners is being returned to heirs 97 years later. It is now worth 75 million. If this story doesn't make you smile, nothing will. (Reasons to Be Cheerful, Oct. 6th)

Funnies...

This one goes with the Critical Race theory and teaching of uncomfortable topics in schools (above)

 
(This one's for you, Carly!) Ha!

And what are Fred and George up to this week?

Fred is tangled up in charging cords.

Fred again. Just hanging out in the sink.

Is this George? I don't know. It's definitely a cat, not a drumstick.


-Anne

7 comments:

  1. Your cats are so cute! And I love your leaf picture. It's like a piece of art you could frame and hang on your wall. :)

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    1. The cats are my daughter's boys. She lives in San Fran and sends me photos every week. They are both gingers and it is hard to tell them apart unless you look closely.

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  2. I'm so sorry you've been sick. Ugh. I'm not sure how I feel about Eudora so I will benefit from our future Book Club discussion.

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    1. I seem to have the same gastroenteritis that Don had two weeks ago. It comes on fast and I was pretty sick for a day and now I just feel funny. If it persists, I'll go get a COVID check.

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  3. What beautiful fall photos! I really miss that here in Florida. Sorry to hear you've been sick... hope you're back to 100% soon. Eudora Honeycutt has been on my wish list, but I haven't been in a hurry to get to it since my mom's reaction was ambivalent at best.

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  4. Oh, Anne, I'm so sorry to hear that you have been sick. I do hope you will get better soon.

    I hope you will report back to us on the Melinda Gates book soon. I'm eager to hear more about it.

    I've been very upset this week about the postponing of an author visit, Jerry Craft, in a nearby town. His books have been pulled off the shelves. I don't think the parents who initiated a petition to have these things done have any idea what CRT is. As a former librarian, this sort of thing horrifies me. Your memes tell the situation just like it is.

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  5. Ok, the misspelling of genes on the poster is priceless and says so much!

    I also like the CRT history meme. It's pretty exhausting to be in schools right now on many levels, but answering emails from every tom, dick, and harry who is paranoid about CRT and related topics is just ridiculous.

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