Looking to the future 03-30-20

Now that we have another month of isolation I am thinking I need to get myself on a schedule.  Of course, we have a daily schedule for KoKo and, therefore, for me.  Out for our walk sometime between 7am and 10am, breakfast, play with Froggy, sometime between 1pm and 2pm out to backyard to piddle and look for dogs in the park behind us, 5pm dinner, 7pm out for our evening walk.  In between we have Froggy on demand and lots of petting, brushing, and massaging.  

Guess I don't really have time to do anything else, eh?  

Today I hauled the step ladder in to change the light bulb over the sink, which I use a lot.  I don't do ladders any more, but I felt more secure on it than on a step stool with nothing much to hold on to.  It worked okay and I was glad I had a new bulb I could put up there.  

I also finished reading "The Pelican Brief" (John Grisham's third book published in 1992) which I had not read before, but I remember the movie very well, it was a great one.  It is interesting to see what changes were made in the plot and I wonder why they were necessary.  One thing that isn't in the book is the chase and explosion in the parking garage.  Those scenes have stayed with me and I am always a little apprehensive when I park in one of those structures.  Of course, the characters in the movie give faces to the characters, even if they do not resemble the descriptions in the book.   I have been borrowing books from my friend Carol's little library structure on the sidewalk in front of her house.  There are half a dozen of these handy libraries around my area, offering a selection of books that you can borrow and return, or replace with a book donation of your own, or just borrow.  In a pinch I could visit them in the middle of the night when I have an attack of insomnia. 

In keeping with everyone's recommendation I talk to someone everyday; today the girl in the window at Starbucks and my friend Liz on the phone.  A pause in the isolationitis. 

Stay well.  Stay home.  Stay in touch.  Love, Del & KoKo

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Author Jacqueline Winspear 04-06-13

Yorba Linda, which adjoins Placentia to the northeast, participates in the One Book, One City program and the current book is "Maisie Dobbs" by Jacqueline Winspear.  I have read all nine of the series and now own the latest, published last week, " Leaving Everything Most Loved".  Today Jacqueline did a "Meet the Author" program at the Yorba Linda Library and had a full house.  Liz and I went early because I have heard that these events are popular.  Since we were early we had front row seats which is a good place to sit and not have distractions from other members of the audience. 


The current book was for sale, thanks to Barnes and Noble, although it is only hardback.  Soft cover will take a few months.
 

The librarian had a list of questions and Jacqueline was very good at answering them, and those submitted by audience members.

She didn't talk much about her private life, but was very articulate about the way she does research and about what she has learned about the era the books are set it - immediately after the" Great War" - 1918 and continuing. We think of it as WWI, but the British have an entirely different take on that event and the resulting massive changes in their society. The "Great War" is still a part of the curriculum in their schools, whereas I doubt that there is more than a sentence or two in schools here in the USA.
 

I especially enjoyed her story about the first time she decided she would be a writer, when she was about six years old and already an avid reader.  With her mother she regularly rode a double decked bus along the same route.  Sitting so high she could look down into the houses along the way.  One in particular was near a bus stop and the room she could see was lined with books and had a black manual typewriter on a table, along with paper and books and sometimes a cup and saucer.  She asked her mother who lived in that house and her mother suggested it might be a writer.  Jacquelyn decided she wanted a room like that so she would have to become a writer.  She didn't start writing until later in her life after a career in education.  And then it was because she was recuperating from an injury and couldn't be active.  She is a good story teller and a good story writer.  Her character Maisie Dobbs is someone I have gotten to know and like, almost like a friend I can visit only every year or so.   Some of you may have also met her in your reading journey.