You can’t see it very well, but it’s snowing. Lots of snow has been falling all night long and by the end of the day, we should have at least 6 more inches of snow on the ground. More likely 8. That will result in more than 30 inches on the ground at the moment. It’s very cold and snow isn’t melting. It’s accumulating.
I started in on The New Yorker puzzle – The Opera House. These are notoriously difficult because they’re based on art work, with all the brush strokes and squiggles and slashes of paint. Plus, this company – as I well remember from last year – doesn’t use traditionally shaped puzzle pieces. There are all sorts of weird shapes. I managed to finish the top of the puzzle and believe me, though it was quite difficult, it’s the easiest part of the puzzle.
And the other puzzle arrived in yesterday’s mail:
Appropriately, given my years of piano lessons, it’s entitled The Piano Lesson. Love this cover, with class clearly taking place in a New York City studio.
In the Sixties, as you can see, The New Yorker was 25 cents an issue. It’s now $8.99 per issue. Yikes.
Two things:
1. Don released a new single, one I really love. Here is the link. They’re all available for download – free of charge. It’s called Red to Red. Don plays his electric guitar in this one. It’s a nod to Don’s beginnings in his godfather’s Polynesian band, with (in my humble opinion) another nod to Les Paul and Mary Ford.
2. I’m just about to finish Winter Solstice. Love, love it. I read some Rosamunde Pilcher decades ago, some of her earliest novels. What would you Pilcher lovers recommend that I read next? I’d love your advice.
Thank you for all the lovely comments about our girl. We miss her terribly. We were her parents for 16 years, but she was actually 17 when she passed away. We rescued her at the age of 11 months. All of our dogs were rescues. We wouldn’t do it any other way.
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
Claudia, I would recommend the Shell Seekers and September.
Thank you, Mindy.
Stay safe!
Pilcher is definitely a comfortable, satisfying author. The characters are people that you’d like to spend time with in real life. I’ve read and re read The Shell Seekers, September, and Coming Home with great pleasure. Escapism at it’s finest – something that we can all use while we wait for vaccines and warmer weather!
You’re not kidding!
Stay safe!
The snow is piling here, too. It has been snowing 1-3″ every couple of days. The shoveling is non-stop. We also have well over two feet of snow on the ground. But even worse is the frigid temps. We have been below zero to single digits every day and looks like it’ll be that way until at least next week. To say that I’ve hit my winter wall is an understatement.
I tried getting into Winter Solstice a few weeks ago and just couldn’t. I tried three times, pushing myself further each time. I kept falling asleep! I loved The Shell Seekers though.
Just listened to Don’s song and I think that is one of my favorites of his. Please tell him I said thank you for his music.
I think you should try it again when you’re not so tired from shoveling!
Thanks so much. I’ll pass it on to Don.
Stay safe, Melanie.
good start on the puzzle. and good luck dealing with non-traditional shapes to the puzzle pieces!
love, love, love that style of metal gate, highlighted beautifully by the snow (good luck with that, too).
sorry; i have no rosamund pilcher suggestions for you … haven’t read a one. maybe someday that will change, given the many favorable comments here about her books.
your sweet scout, winston and riley will wait patiently for you and don to join them and they are together now, too. thank you for rescuing them.
thanks to don for sharing another song and to you for creating and maintaining a place to share it. have to wait to hear it after work so am now humming don’s “souvenir” song.
i am so thankful that somehow i made my way through the vast internet to you all at mhc. here i have found so many wonderful things that enrich my life … friends, inspiration, kindness, intelligence, compassion, beautiful photos, fun, book/movie/tv show recommendations and support. if there’s anything i can do for any of you, please let me know. thank you, claudia, don and everyone else here. love you!
stay safe in every way.
kathy in iowa
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Aw, thank you so much for your kind words, Kathy! Love having you here.
Stay safe.
I love Winter Solstice; in fact, I re-read it pretty much every December. I love all her books and short story collections. The plots of The Shell Seekers and September go together, so if you start with The Shell Seekers and go on to September, you’ll have the equivalent of a gigantic novel, over 1000 pages. Coming Home is also a great read, especially if you like books set in the time of WWII.
I also wonder if you have read Angela Thirkell? Talk about a long novel – her books are a chronology of Barchestershire County from the mid-thirties up to 1959. She left one unfinished at her death and someone else finished it, in 1961. There are 29, if you count the unfinished one. The characters come and go throughout the books, and she always throws in some little hints if you’ve forgotten what happened to a particular person six books back. I’m a bit down on tales of the English gentry since reading The Divide by Jason Hickel, a book detailing all the horrors of colonialism, but my brain allows me to put that aside for the most part when reading Thirkell’s books.
Then there is Joanna Trollope’s work, as well as the six Starbridge Cathedral books by Susan Howatch. One year I sat down with the first Starbridge book on December 26 and read through the entire series by New Year’s Day. They were that good. (I love books in a series – can you tell?)
So anyway, just some suggestions to thank you for all the interesting ideas I’ve received from you.
Angela Thirkell has been on my list for a while, just haven’t read any of her books yet. I have read some Joanna Trollope but I can’t remember which book it was.
Thanks so much for the suggestions. I’m going to start gathering some Thirkell soon.
Stay safe, Anne.
Mindy took the words right out of my mouth! Yes. September and the Shell Seekers.
but she has so many others that are good too.
I dearly love Rosamunde Pilcher. her son isn’t too shabby either. I’ve read a couple of his.
he hasn’t written very many I think but he’s good too.
but in my mind… she is so wonderful in her characters and ability to Take You there.
and Claudia… Don’s latest song is just beautiful! thank you for the link.
stay inside and cozy! you’re a sunshine girl. and this winter can’t last forever. xo
So glad you liked his latest, Tammy!
Thanks so much.
Stay safe!
Hi Claudia,
Just stopping by to say “Hello” lately I have been just reading and not commenting. We too have snow, but not nearly as much as you are piling up. We will be getting more almost each day this week and that’s ok with me as I am not going anywhere anyway. I just shovel enough to feed the birds and make a path to the woods for Sheldon (the cat) to go take care of his business, he doesn’t like his feet to be wet or cold.
The coldest weather of the year is on it’s way. I am curious how far your temps dip in the next week or so, hopefully it won’t last any longer than that.
Did you know jigsaw puzzles are really good for you. It has been said they ward off alzheimers and lower blood pressure. I am almost finished one and have a few more on the shelf. Do you mind if I ask where you purchased the one with the book covers? That is one that my grand-daughter would like to help me with.
Take care,
Kelly
Someone gave me the book cover puzzles. They were puzzles she had completed and she passed them on. I’m pretty sure they were from Barnes and Noble, Kelly. If you can’t find them, let me know.
Stay safe!
Wow — that’s a fabulous puzzle and the one that arrived will be a killer. You motivated me to order a New Yorker puzzle — a cat one, of course! I may save it for summer at the lake but if we keep this cold a whole lot longer, we might be eating on our laps for the month of March!
Our lives are cattywumpus right now — we learned yesterday that in 48 hours they are kicking Rick’s mom out of rehab and we hve no idea where she will go as she still can’t really walk well and is healing — plus all the brothers live literally thousands of miles away — the closest — 1,200. My computer is in the throes of dying. Probably the hard drive but much to back up. And jiggling with my new meds because I’m so fatigued. Maybe Don’s song will be just what I need.
If I don’t get by for a couple of days…. it’s just life!
I’ve seen the cat puzzle. Good for you! I’m so sorry to hear about Rick’s mom. It must be such a worry for you both. And about your computer.
Rest up. And stay safe.
I can’t believe Scout has been gone for 5 years!! She was such a sweetheart. XO. More snow here too….hardly had time to shovel out from a few days ago. It’s pretty. But you’re right, a pain. In terms of Pilcher, I’m sure you read the Shell Seekers. It’s a favorite. Take care and stay safe!
I know it seems like I should have – and maybe I did – but I sure don’t remember reading it.
Stay safe, Nora.
I agree with Mindy. The Shell Seekers and September, in that order.
I just finished Winter Solstice this morning. Read it in large print and at over 700 pages it was heavy to hold
I bet it was heavy! Mine isn’t in large print and it’s still awkward to hold.
Stay safe, Joyce.
Claudia — still waiting for freezing rain to begin — dreading it even more each minute. I think that ‘Piano Lesson’ puzzle will be doozy, at least, for me — don’t do very well w/more muted colors — I find bright, vivid colors much easier. stay safe.
I bet it will be a doozy as well. We’ll see what kind of mood I’m in when I finish this one. And this one is going to take a few weeks, at least.
Stay safe, Linda
Years ago I read Rosamunde Pilcher’s “Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.” It’s a collection of short stories that I really enjoyed.
She’s a wonderful writer, Denise!
Stay safe!
I didn’t comment yesterday, but you know how we all loved following you with Scout….when he would join you on a few of your out of town jobs…how she would run with such joy! We lost one of ours right around the same time of cancer. It still brings so many tears.
The puzzle looks hard, and the Piano Lesson looks incredibly difficult. I am in awe of people who can do them. My patience level, I’m sure, is not in that wheelhouse at all.
So glad you loved Winter Solstice. I am pretty sure you said you have read The Shell Seekers, but I had read it about 25 years ago, and surely enjoyed it, but at this point in my life, when I re-read it 2 years ago, it really was like reading a brand new book. My suggestion, like so many others have said, would be The Shell Seekers, September, and Coming Home.
It has been actual below zero temps every morning (-18* actual temp this morning) for the past 4 mornings, and below zero for at least the next 7. Our highs during the day have all been in the single digits. It is absolutely brutal. The highlight of our week has been an email with an appt for us to get our 1st vaccine inj on Friday!!! Quite exciting! Take care.
I don’t know if I’ve read The Shell Seekers. I certainly recognize the title, but whether I actually read it or not is open to question!
It’s a little warmer here – but not much! We got about 6 or 7 inches of snow. Sigh.
I’m starting to feel like everyone but us is getting the vaccine. Of course, I know that’s not true, but it’s very frustrating here in NY State. They just don’t have enough at this point. I’m happy for you!
Stay safe, Chris.
We got the call (it happened so fast) to show up early Sunday morning and both my husband and I have now received the first injection of the Moderna vaccine. We have our official vax I.D. cards and were already given our appointment date/time for our second injection in four-weeks time. Same for my cousin, in his 80s, got his first shot on Feb 4 (another state). My husband’s siblings got theirs (this is two other states) a few weeks back (the over age 65 tier). So, in SoCalif where I am, they started rolling out injections for the over 65s in my county yesterday but nobody I know can get a reservation yet; they’ve tried; you’ve gotta be on the computer poised and ready to go from the time indicated. They now have to try again next Monday. A friend of mine has a reservation to get her shot (thru UCLA, since she’s an annual patient there), but not til mid-March and also at a clinic in another city 40 miles from her.
I just got lucky, I think, because I had a primary-care physician/family doctor in my corner (have seen her a lot lately due to another health issue I’m having; she says that she counts seven co-morbidities in me as risk for the virus, so was really pushing for me to get the vaccine despite my concerns of allergic reaction since I have sensitivity to the antidote they use for a reaction) and her clinic is hooked into a larger chain of them which apparently (that particular, large healthcare network) had access to vaccine this past weekend (although a week ago they didn’t!) and perhaps the freezers necessary(?? [which she did NOT have at her location, where I usually go for care] but I’m just guessing; I didn’t ask any questions, I just showed up at where I was told to go, at my allotted time (appointment only, no walk-ins) in a nearby city, and we feel incredibly grateful it was made so easy for us since so many other people have to stand in lines, spend hours on computer reservations or hole up in their cars in long lines, whereas we were in a medical clinic and our shots were administered by a RN in a doctor’s exam room (private; nobody else in the room; very calming).
My doctor had felt it important that due to my health/allergy status, I should be (if at all possible) vaccinated in a medical setting and not a drugstore or a stadium or fairgrounds (although I’ve since read that, at such locations for mass vaccination, they do have ambulances waiting by in case you do get the rare severe reaction; as it was, we lingered at the clinic for a half hour before getting back in the car, just in case, although they request you wait at least 15 minutes post-injection).
The whole vax operation with the staggered appointment times was one of great efficiency, professionalism and accuracy; I was SO impressed. We were met by medical staff as we got out of our car in the parking lot and essentially had our hands held from beginning to end, completely guided one-on-one with paperwork, temperature check, etc. Escorted personally in and out of the building.
Our side effects to the vaccine injection were noticeable but minor (in the scheme of things), mostly fatigue for my husband (he had to take an afternoon nap at about the 30-hr mark; sort of just hit him like a wall) and muscle aches for me (neck and shoulders; noticeable at 45 mins after injection) which lasted on into the next day (same thing for my cousin; it hit him in the shoulders); some injection-site soreness still to this writing, but any of this is nothing compared to getting Covid. (So, Sunday morning, and now we’re coming up on Wednesday morning, and we’re just fine. The three days have been very manageable. We just took it easy; planned it. Feeling fortunate we could do that; but, you know, we’re retired!)
We don’t plan to change our lives; the ominous variants and potential surge is still out there. So, we will continue to double-mask (my husband is even masking when he walks the dog now; also, he shaved off his [bushy!] Covid-lockdown beard and moustache this past weekend when he’d read that the mask doesn’t fit as well with facial hair), physically distance ourselves, sanitize/disinfect as usual. I expect to live this way for the rest of the year. But what the vaccine does is tone down the hyper fear; that sort of helplessness against the enemy (gives you instead some armor!).
I’ll just keep remembering what my ultrasound technician told me last week; that despite getting both her first and second shots as a front-line medical worker, she also works in a hospital and has seen Covid sufferers up close and personal, so she continues to have ‘a very healthy respect’ (her words) for the virus and she takes no chances at work or in her personal life, paying attention to every directive from the virus experts, never letting her guard down. There’s still too much that’s unknown about Covid-19 and its variants/mutations as well as the continued effectiveness of the current vaccines against what still could come at us; but, I’m tell’in ya, it’s sure a good feeling to know that I finally have SOME defense now against this killer virus that’s dominated my life for the past 12 months, and we’ll hope for the best!
We’d just like to get an appointment. Every site says “No appointments available.” Ah well. I’m very glad you got your vaccination, Vicki.
I agree, nothing much will change here even after we get our shots.
Stay safe.
Thanks, Claudia. I’m always relieved at how well you and Don do indeed stay safe during this crisis; you’re always intelligent and mindful about what you need to do. Your vaccination time is coming; just hang in there. The new presidential administration WANTS it to happen. Mass vaccination will hopefully stop these mutations; removing their ‘hold’ on us. The country needs to be vaccinated from now and throughout the summer so that we don’t come into the next Fall/Winter under-prepared. I’m feeling hopeful and confident for everybody. I just said a little prayer for you, that you’ll hear soon about a reservation for you and Don.
Thank you, Vicki.
It’s been frigid hasn’t it! Our vaccine appointments for Friday got postponed two weeks…sigh. Hope yours goes well! ;)
Oh, me, too, Donnamae! It is down to the day here on a countdown we have. The 1st shot is the 12th…..they scheduled the 2nd one for March 12th…. and the Little will turn one on March 21. Our son was brought back into work, so she has been in Day Care for 2 weeks, so we can’t see her til 7-10 days after shot #2. I hope it won’t get cancelled!! Then we will begin having her here every Friday. Can’t wait!! Her first steps were this past weekend. Thank goodness for Zoom, videos and FaceTime!!
Those puzzles looks extremely challenging…but gorgeous. Too difficult for my abilities…especially if you are talking weirdly shaped puzzle pieces.
I often felt as though I knew Scout, just by your descriptions. I’m sure she’s romping with Riley, and all her other friends, including my Rusty.
It’s been frigid here…and it’s going to be colder yet, by the weekend. Enough! Stay safe! ;)
Very cold here and over 30 inches of snow.
I’m not a big fan of this particular February.
Stay safe, Donna.
We are picking up our little rescue dog today – a 10 year old beagle left homeless with the loss of her human dad. A message to all – please consider rescuing a senior dog, they are often overlooked and, in my opinion, are a logical choice for those of us who are older.
Have a great day!
Oh, good for you, Anne! I agree. Older dogs need homes desperately.
Stay safe!
How heartwarming! I miss my beagles. (In the scope of my life, I’ve enjoyed four of them!) When our aging shepherd passes on, we’ll take a break but then we totally will adopt a senior pet as we have in the past. I wasn’t always for it at this age of my husband and me now, but we found a way to do it: We have a wonderful program (sort of a permanent fostering) with a nearby dog-rescue organization who will even take back the dog if you no longer can care for the pet (like if, as older people, we-ourselves got sick or died, never wanting the dog to outlive us and then be orphaned again, which has been my fear in these later years, as I used to be involved in pet rescue years ago, and saw far too many senior-aged dogs and older cats relegated to life at the shelter for the rest of their lives because too many humans feel they have to have a ‘baby’, like a puppy or a very-young dog, bypassing perfectly-perfect mature pets).
The senior pets from senior humans/retirees have usually been especially loved and attended to with a lot of attention, so it’s especially hard on them to then be left ‘ownerless’ when they’ve developed such a strong bond to the human companion. My parents once adopted a senior-aged lap cat whose old-lady owner died and the adult children had a heckuva time getting the old kitty to come out from the recesses of an unfinished basement/cellar to which he’d retreated when too much change was happening to him. We pulled it off, though, and my parents transitioned him indoors for several weeks but gosh was he traumatized and clearly grieving. The good news was that it worked out well, and Henry became happier with a new lap to cuddle in, which was my disabled mother’s, and that made her happy, too. She’d done this before (another happy-ending story), taking on a senior kitty who’d belonged to a beloved neighbor (who had to go into a convalescent facility [later passing on]). I have a cousin in Pennsylvania who just did the same thing: When her good friend and co-worker passed a few weeks ago, my cousin took home the lady’s two house cats (the two being inseparable since birth; strong feline companions) and my cousin hasn’t ever actually HAD a pet since childhood because her ex-husband was always allergic to cats, so it’s a whole new world for my cousin and the cats have also been a source of great comfort to her as she mourns the loss of her friend. Pets are of course such wonderful therapy. It feels so good to hug a dog or a cat. It’s LOVE.
Congrats on your new adoption!