Surviving the Holidays

The "Holiday Season" is nearly over and I will be sooooo glad. Christmas is the biggest problem; Kwanza and Chanukh don't intrude on people's lives the way Christmas does. There is the sappy, too jolly music, the traffic, the angst, the irritability of many people. It's hard to do my normal food shopping because stores are so crowded. And there's candy EVERYWHERE!

In a few days, the hysteria will fade away.

There are some fun and enjoyable things about this time of year:

I send Christmas/Holiday cards to many people. There are so many people I've met or worked with over the years whom I no longer see on any kind of regular basis. Yes, I could call and talk with them and sometimes I do. But sending a card and hand-writing a short (or sometimes long) note about what's happening in my life is something that I enjoy. And given that most of the mail I (and many others) receive is either bills or requests for donations, getting a real letter is a treat.

I see most of my family. My siblings, nieces and nephews all live just far enough away from me that we don't visit regularly. On the Sunday before Christmas, everyone who can meets at my sister's for a visit and gift exchange. When my parents were alive, we met at their fairly large house. When my parents moved to a senior complex, we tried meeting at other places, but all were too small. Then one sister moved into a condo that has a community room. We eat, and chat and have a Yankee gift exchange.

We already all have all the "stuff" we need - and more; not everyone has the financial capability to buy things for such a large family. We tried drawing names and buying a gift for just one person. We tried giving gifts only to the "little ones". (Where is the line drawn?). The Yankee swap gives us a chance to find a new home for something we no longer need/want. While I sometimes end up with something else I don't need/want, I have also been gifted with an item that brings fun and joy, if only temporarily.

While it's not actually noticeable, the days are now getting longer. There will be a few months of cold and snow, but then the weather will be warmer and I'll be much happier.

And I won't have to worry about "The Holidays" for nearly a year.

Soaring Through the Letter S - and Life

It's been a busy few months - part of the reason for the lack of posts.

There have been 3 short trips to NYC and a week in Provincetown. Of course there is work, exercise class, a sad visit with family (my 37-year-old nephew died of a heart attack), fun visits with friends and all of the other things life has to offer.

I've been reading a lot. Louise Penny is my current new favorite author. Her series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is riveting. While one can pick up any of the books and become immersed in a complete story, each volume also flows into the next and often the story line spans 2 or more books. She includes a lot of subtle humor. One of the characters has a pet duck and the duck's facial expressions are slipped in to the narrative. Do ducks have facial expressions?

As an undergraduate, I was a history major. I didn't know why I wanted to be a history major, or what I would do once I graduated, but I that's what I wanted. I think it was because I used to watch a television show called The Twentieth Century, a documentary hosted by Walter Cronkite. I was fascinated by that show. Later, once I started classes in history, I realized I was most interested in current, social history - not ancient history, though there are aspects of that I find interesting.

I'm also interested in the American presidency - hence being able to plow through all four of Robert Caro's volumes on Lyndon Johnson. Recently, I read Accidental Presidents: eight men who changed America by Jared Cohen. While the information in the book was very well researched, it would take someone like me - a committed Presidential geek - to read the entire book. I found Cohen's writing style a little confusing. I sometimes had to re-read paragraphs to figure out who did what to whom. Cohen uses too many pronouns when describing multiple people.

Another thing that drove me crazy was the front and back covers. There are partial portraits of the 8 Vice-Presidents who became President on the death (natural or otherwise) of the President. I could easily pick out Lyndon Johnson and Teddy Roosevelt since both have distinctive eyes. Some of the others I could glean from their pictures within the book. But there are a couple about whom I'm not sure. They're not placed in chronological order or alphabetical order. Why not list the names on the jacket flap?

Included within the narrative is a lot of information about the U.S. Constitution and what it says about Presidential succession. Since the way the President and Vice-President were elected 240 years ago was different than today, I found this part both confusing and fascinating. Not a lot of thought went into the subject originally (too much else going on, maybe), but the process has evolved over the years.

One issue had to do with Franklin Roosevelt when he ran for his 4th term. FDR was very ill. What if he died before being inaugurated? Henry Wallace was the Vice-President during the 3rd term; Harry Truman was Roosevelt's running mate for the 4th term. Technically, if FDR died before inauguration, Wallace would become President because Truman was not yet VP.

I'm glad I'm not the person responsible for making decisions like that. I'm perfectly happy sitting at my desk at the MLS office merging duplicates whose titles begin with the letter S.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

No, I have not reached the letter S in my alphabetical list of possible duplicate records.

I did something stupid yesterday. Something that caused damage that is going to cost me money. More importantly, it's costing someone else time and energy. No one was hurt, the damage is superficial, but it's still damage.

I'm annoyed, irritated, and just generally pissed off with myself.

Okay, it's time to stop being pissed off and take care of fixing this. It was an accident.

Once again I resolve to PAY ATTENTION!

Roaring, Romping and Rippling

Yes, I've finally reached the letter R in my alphabetical list of possible duplicates. I got through Q pretty quickly despite a lot of music related titles beginning with the words Quintet and Quartet.

As usual, summer is passing by too quickly. It is roaring, romping and rippling through my life. Also, as usual, summer has been very busy. There was a 3 day trip to Lenox to see Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew performed by Shakespeare and Company. They always do such a wonderful job.

An added bit of pleasure during the Lenox trip was lunch with an old friend. H and I worked together at UMass/Amherst when the library was in Goodell. We weren't great pals, didn't hang around together, but were friendly at work. Several years later, when I was Head of Technical Services for the Western Mass. Regional Library System, I attended an OLAC (Online AudioVisual Catalogers) conference. H introduced herself and reminded me of our shared employment many years earlier. We spent some time together at the conference and went our separate ways.

Then a few years ago while M and I were in Provincetown, waiting in line to see a Tennessee Williams play, I spotted H! There was a flurry of "Hellos" and "How are yous" before entering the theater. She also told me that a mutual librarian friend of ours, R, was also at the TW festival. During the next few days, we kept running into each other and catching up in bits and pieces. It was fun to actually sit down with her and spend some un-rushed time together. We'll both be at the TW festival at the end of September with our spouses and may have another lunch date.

M and I have lived in our home in Hatfield for 21+ years and have talked repeatedly about hosting a street-wide (or is that street-long?) party. Two of our neighbors have done so in the past and it's fun to meet the people you live close to but only see as you're driving by. We live at the far end of the street, so we see everyone else's houses, but only one other couple, the one who live beyond us, ever sees ours. There's not a lot of turnover on this street, but there is some.

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Two of the newest people will be coming along with others we've met before. Weather forecast is for hot and humid with a slight chance of showers. M and I try to have parties (small and large) on a regular basis. It motivates us to keep the house and yard looking good and is the incentive we need to tackle all those little projects on the "to-do" list.

The little pond/waterfall sprung a leak last year. Guess what? It's FINALLY fixed and running.

Missing in Action

What do Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe and D.H. Lawrence have in common?

People sometimes misspell their names. And when that happens, it's impossible to find them or their books in an online catalog.

I've recently corrected Austin, Allen and Laurence in the MassCat catalog. I've also changed some squiggly symbols so that Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë have the umlaut over the letter e. There are also all of those Japanese manga (is that redundant?) authors. They often have accent marks as part of their names and those accent marks don't always import properly into a new catalog.

As long as I can remember, the copyright symbol was indicated by the lower case c. After all, we used typewriters and didn't have the option of too many symbols. Now with computers, bib records actually contain © and sometimes ℗ if the item is an audiobook. Those symbols sometimes don't import correctly. I spend time every day correcting all of those various and sundry anomalies.

In the meantime, I'm plowing, progressing and puttering through the letter P. I finished reviewing titles beginning with the word Pop. There were a lot of books about Andy Warhol - not one of my favorite artists.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Clark Art Institute with a friend to see the Renoir exhibit. I have my museum pass from my local public library. I remember the Clark back in the 1970s when it was a small, cute museum - and it was free. Now the admission is $20. I don't go there often enough to make it worth my while to purchase a membership, though I realize a membership is basically a donation and a monetary vote of support as well as the ability to visit for free.

Like most people I know, I have to make decisions on where and how to spend my money. I donate as much as I can to my local public library and they use my donation to help purchase museum passes that anyone can borrow.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Two New Favorite Authors

I've been reading books by Mary Higgins Clark for many years even though I find her writing style stilted and awkward. I keep reading her books (some more than once) because the plots are gripping and once I get started, it's hard to stop. Plus I read so many books, I can rarely remember "who done it." Clark's most recent books, the ones that are part of the Under Suspicion series written with Alafair Burke, are better in terms of writing and the plots are just as good.

When I saw that my local public library had recently purchased The Better Sister, I requested it. Now Alafair Burke is on my list of "must read" authors. The twists and turns in this story rival any by Lisa Scottoline (though Lisa's last book, Someone Knows, had a few twists too many making the ending feel contrived).

Another author (actually two writing as one) I really like is Liv Constantine. Her first book, The Last Mrs. Parrish, was a fascinating thriller. When I saw The Last Time I Saw You was available at the library, I immediately requested it and was not disappointed. While I suspected one particular person might be the stalker responsible for "gaslighting" the main character, I had many doubts about his/her guilt (no spoiler alert here) and was vacillating till the end. My only criticism is that some issues (e.g. the husband's financial situation) were left unresolved while over explaining the stalker's background. Both are minor points.

As I get to the end of the series of a specific author and wonder what I'll read next, it's good to know there are always new authors to discover. After all, how many times can I re-read Mary Higgins Clark?

Eat Your Leafy Greens

As a fitness instructor and an aspiring personal trainer and wellness coach, I read many of the new books on health, fitness, diet and nutrition. Here are three recent ones. I did not read these one after another; I read mystery books in between. I'll do a post soon on my new favorite author.

The premise of What to Eat When by Michael F. Roizen and Michael Crupain is one that appeals to me. I've always been a daytime eater and tend not to nibble late at night. When I go out to dinner and/or have a big evening meal, I often have trouble sleeping. Roizen and Crupain's theory is that your body best uses the food you eat when your body is active. Their recommendation is that you eat a big breakfast and lunch and then a minimal dinner. In fact, at least 2/3 (or maybe 3/4) of your daily calories should be consumed before 2 p.m.

The authors present a lot of information about the body's physiology to support their advice. Unfortunately, much of this advice is presented in a manor that I'm sure they found humorous, but I found too cute and rather annoying. Regardless, this book is a worthwhile read. And certainly brings to mind the old adage  "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper."

Next up is Eat to Beat Disease by William Li. Li looks at 5 physiological functions of the body - angiogenesis, regeneration, microbiome, DNA protection, and immunity - and looks at different foods that can support these. His theory is that the body can heal itself if we give it the right foods to do so. He lists several foods for each of the 5 functions and recommends eating 5 of the foods each day to support each function. There are menu plans for guidance.

The Longevity Paradox by Steven R. Gundry is somewhat of a combination of the above two books. Gundry proposes certain foods feed what he calls our "gut buddies" - the good bacteria in our gut - and when those "gut buddies" are well fed, they keep our body young, strong and free of disease. He also claims that good bacteria need some (but not too much) stress in order to remain strong themselves and recommends an occasional fast. He also recommends eating at least 4 hours before going to bed to let our bodies process the food we ate.

This is the most restrictive book in terms of what to eat: minimal animal protein (certain seafood is okay), no cow dairy (sheep and goat are okay), no legumes, no grains, fruits only when local and in season. He's also very much opposed to strenuous exercise such as marathon running. He feels it depletes the body and weakens the immune system.

Of course there is a lot of conflicting information among these three books. William Li says stone fruits are good, especially plums while Steven Gundry says our bodies evolved when fruits were only available at a certain time of the year (summer/fall) and we should respect that.

What they do agree on is that eating green leafy vegetables is good and eating processed sugar is bad.

Otherwise, I guess we're on our own.