I THINK I REALLY AM GETTING OLD!

Despite the fact that I'm having a VERY VERY big birthday later this year, I still feel fairly young

and hip enough to use apps on my phone to name that tune in a restaurant or pay my friend for lunch without taking out my wallet.  I like people and I like interacting with people of all ages and I like to think of myself as pretty broadminded and not easily shocked.

We all see the news on television or online and everyone is commenting on the terrible things happening in the world and in our own country almost daily, as well as the political divisiveness we're all living with.  I don't need to add my voice to those issues, especially since I don't have any solutions to offer.

But lately I feel like we are reaching the bottom of the barrel culturally and I think we're gradually being exposed to TMI from so many different sources.

My husband and I enjoy watching HBO and SHOWTIME series.  We usually start with dinner trays on our bed and catch up on the latest episode of HOMELAND or JOHN OLIVER.  We watch almost every decent movie that appears in the line-up on Pay-Per-View and stream NETFLIX series like THE NIGHT OF and THE KILLING and anything else that's new and engaging.  Being a Kiefer Sutherland fan, I'm partial to DESIGNATED SURVIVOR but my husband isn't a fan.  And I really liked BIG LITTLE LIES.  If we're binge watching, we usually pause for a few minutes and George makes a tray of coffee, cut up oranges and a cookie for each of us.  It's a really relaxing way to end the day together.

I don't believe I'm a prude and other than shows that have too many bloody scenes or over the top violence, I'm good to go as long as what we're watching is entertaining and not a western.  But I do think generally, we've all become used to watching things that 15 or 20 years ago would have made us too uncomfortable to watch in mixed company.  Kind of like what I felt when the first feminine product commercials aired while I was watching TV with one of our teenage sons or the ridiculous commercials for the wet wipes that can clean your "bum" so you can go commando.  I don't know about you, but I've never hoped to go commando.

Last night I caught the season opener of BILLIONS.  I like the actors in this show and I like the story line.  BUT...and it's a BIG BUT, I really didn't need to see Maggie Siff and Paul Giamatti acting out their escalating dominatrix fantasy.  We had a little insight into their sexual games before, including her character stepping on his chest with her stilettos or putting a lit cigarette out on his chest, but this one was truly porn with clothing.  She's beating him with a paddle while he begs her to describe her sexual dalliance in detail with a younger man while they were separated.  In a couple more seasons will we see her stepping on his face and gouging his eyeballs out with her heels?

I don't believe in censorship but we've come a long long way from Desi and Lucy sleeping in separate beds and I'm not so sure we needed to head all the way down the road to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Moving on to print.  A couple of months ago I was reading PEOPLE Magazine.  On the "CHATTER" page, actress Tiffany Haddish stated that she pooped in the shoes of someone she was involved with who cheated on her.  Why in the world would anyone in their right mind do this or want anyone (let alone EVERYONE) to know that she did this?  What a thing to be famous for!  I wondered at the time if the magazine printed this as a PSA to warn off anyone who was thinking of dating Ms. Haddish.

In the recent issue of PEOPLE there is a page devoted to celebrity romances called HEART MONITOR.  The magazine lets you know who's engaged, getting married or splitting up.  A couple who I never heard of, but who appear in their photo to be a man (Nico) and a woman (Bethany) tied the knot in NYC on March 9th.  The couple identify as "queer and polyamorous and wore genderblending ensembles that incorporated both dresses and pants."

The definition of polyamory is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the knowledge of all partners.  It has been described as "consensual, ethical and responsible non-monogamy".  Really??  I am forced to add a large and loud "LOL" here!  Okay, so from what the couple said, they consider themselves queer (their word choice).  She likes women and he likes men.  No problem there.  And they plan on being non-monogamous swingers right from the wedding ceremony, so why did they get married at all?  Did one of them need the other one's medical benefits?  And 'responsible non-monogamy' is an oxymoron if there ever was one!

But the bigger question is why in the world PEOPLE Magazine chose to celebrate the marriage of these two almost-celebrities?  If they were going for thought provoking, then give them a great big BINGO!  They sure got my attention.  Also the realization that despite the fairly decent book reviews offered, there is absolutely no reason to renew my subscription.

George Kimmerle, thank you for the sketch.

MELANIA TRUMP, IT WAS A NICE GESTURE!

When I read about the Cambridgeport School librarian rejecting Melania Trump's donation of Dr. Seuss books, I was shocked.  On so many levels.

Melania Trump is following in the footsteps of other First Ladies in having a cause she feels passionate about and promoting her passion.  Mrs. Trump is new to her position and she may have other causes she will promote in the days ahead, but currently it's books and reading for school age children, an enviable cause.  First Ladies don't have to have a cause, but it's nice that the tradition lives on.  (I've listed other First Ladies and their personal causes below, starting with Mamie Eisenhower.)

Librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro not only refused the gift and publicly insulted the First Lady, but she also denigrated Dr. Seuss's books.  I find it distressing that a professional working with young children isn't mature enough to keep her personal political opinions to herself.  Rather than seeing the gift as a teaching tool, Ms. Soeiro turned it into something unpleasant and to attack Dr. Seuss's beloved books is a tragedy.  Springfield, Massachusetts is the hometown of Theodor Geisel who wrote the Dr. Seuss books.  As Mayor Domenic Sarno of Springfield said, "Her comments that this is racist propaganda and that Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliche and a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature is 'political correctness' at its worst."

As I've written before on this blog, The Newark Public Library in New Jersey is near and dear to my heart.  I have the highest regard for librarians, in fact my daughter-in-law worked as a librarian in NYC.  I believe that the wonderful caring librarians who worked at both the main branch of the library as well as the ones who worked at the Bergen Street branch helped me to become the avid reader and the person I am today.  They led me to the Goofy Mrs. Goose in Animaltown series written by Miriam Clark Potter which opened up a whole new world to me.  A silly world of laughter, friendships, pranks and caring for and enjoying the differences between the animals featured, all centered around lovable Goofy Mrs. Goose.

Written in the '50s and early '60, Ms. Potter's books could also be painted with the same brush as the Cambridgeport School librarian painted the Seuss books...."steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes."  Whoa!  Back up, Mrs. Librarian!  I don't think a single child of any race or color would find the characters in these books to be racist or harmful stereotypes unless they were taught by someone to look for that, like Ms. Soeiro. 

It was a different era in our country and we hadn't yet become aware as a nation of the harmful effects of our insensitivity.  In fact, during the same time frame First Lady Mamie Eisenhower did her part to combat segregation.  She invited African American children to the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll and accepted an honorary membership in the National Council of Negro Women.

I'm sorry this particular school librarian doesn't like the Dr. Seuss books.  I never liked them either because the rhyming made me insane!  But my sons loved them.  My nephew liked them so much, that his mother once made him green eggs and ham as a surprise.  However, since The Cat in the Hat was published in 1957, it is not only an international bestseller but also a classic children's book.  It is such a classic that Random House Publishers released a 50 year edition in 2007.  I doubt that too many people didn't have this book at home at some point in the last 60 years.  Mrs. Trump may have grown up with these books since she wasn't born until 1970.  She donated these classics because these were books she had read to her own son.  It's a lovely legacy.  So what's the problem?  Nothing except that a narrow minded person decided that she didn't like the person the gift was coming from and so she decided to turn this into a political debate.  Not nice and especially not nice coming from someone who has a daily influence on young children. 

Ms. Soeiro went on to say that her school district has plenty of resources and that the books should have been donated to an "underfunded and underprivileged community."  Perhaps this librarian should go to her local library and borrow a book on etiquette.  I'm sure she could find a section on how to accept a gift gracefully.      

I'm gratified to see that the school administrators in the librarian's school district do not support what she did.  She not only refused the gift and insulted the First Lady, but she also single handedly decided that certain books weren't up to her standards.  I didn't think librarians were the ones who would want to ban books.  Liz Phipps Soeiro, your elitism is showing and it's not very attractive. 

The following is a list of eleven of Melania Trump's predecessors and the causes they supported when they were First Ladies: 

Mamie Eisenhower led fundraising drives for the American Heart Association, as well as supporting increased benefits for military personnel and their widows.
Jacqueline Kennedy worked to restore the White House to it's original elegance.
Lady Bird Johnson supported the war on poverty and the Headstart Program.  She's most well known for the Highway Beautifiction Act of 1965.
Patrica Nixon supported the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as publicly disclosing her pro-choice stance on abortion.  She was also the first First Lady to appear in pants in public and model them for a national magazine.
Betty Ford was serious about the subject of equal rights for women, abortion and divorce.  She's best remembered for being very outspoken in her beliefs.  Having fought her own demons, Mrs. Ford helped establish the Betty Ford Center, dedicated to helping all people, but especially women, with chemical dependencies.  Through her work with the Betty Ford Center she began to see the connection between drug addiction and HIV/AIDS and she began to voice her support for gay and lesbian rights and same sex marriage.
Rosalynn Carter's causes were mental health and the welfare of senior citizens.  She is remembered for not only being very frugal in hosting White House events, but also by refusing to have hard alcohol served at those events.  She wore simple, non-designer clothing.
Nancy Reagan was the antithesis of Mrs. Carter at the White House.  She redecorated, ordered new china (all paid for from private sources and not taxpayer money) and generally turned White House events more upscale.  She created a public relations dilemma when she began accepting free designer clothing.  Mrs. Reagan is best remembered for her mantra "Just Say No to Drugs" as well as her close friendship with rapper and actor Mr. T.
Barbara Bush's cause was literacy and she worked tirelessly on the subjects of child and adult illiteracy, becoming actively involved with several organizations dealing with this subject.
Hillary Clinton dedicated her time in trying to help devise a better health care system and many critics at the time felt she was overstepping her role as a First Lady.  She was also a strong proponent of historic preservation and education as the honorary chair of the Save America's Treasures Committee.  She also worked on the conservation of the original Star Spangled Banner with the Smithsonian Institute.
Laura Bush pursued her passion for education, child development and teacher training.  She created a national initiative called Ready to Read * Ready to Learn to promote reading at an early age.
 Michele Obama focused her time on supporting military families, helping working woman balance their lives and encouraging National Service.  She is well know for her passion in fighting childhood obesity, her organic gardening initiative as well as having an organic garden and bee hives installed on the South Lawn of the White House.

RANDOM THOUGHTS.....

I was reading the Mystic River Press calendar of events this morning and a few items caught my eye.  Along with the usual nature walks, concerts and children's library programs, there were a few interesting events listed.

The first to draw my attention was the Coloring Workshop in Charlestown, Rhode Island.  The description reads, "Enjoy a relaxing morning by exploring the trend of adult coloring."  I don't live under a rock so I do know that adult coloring books were a popular Christmas item this year, but does anyone need a workshop to relearn what they learned when they were just toddlers?  Sounds like group therapy, but  it might be fun to attend on January 2nd, just to see what kind of instruction the participants receive.  Maybe they could have a Benjamin Moore paint store employee on hand to help with colored pencil choices and a nun in her habit, banging on participants' knuckles with a ruler if they colored outside the lines.

The second item that caught my eye and gave me a chuckle was Irish Language Lessons, commencing on January 7th at the Tower Street Community Center in Westerly, Rhode Island.  I've met a lot of Irish people over the years and we also vacationed in Ireland a number of years ago.  To my recollection, most speak the King's English.  I know about Gaelic, but that's not what the event proclaims to be teaching.  The only thing I could think of was the relatives from Ireland I met who would come over to visit our neighbors, the Ward family, in Morristown, NJ.  I loved hearing their lovely accents and sharing a cup of tea.  Somehow I don't think the Irish language lessons being offered in the events calendar would include such typical Irish sayings as, "You fekking idjit!"  Too bad really because that would be a fun class to take if they did!

There were lots of notices for stargazing and lectures, but the one I would avoid at all costs now that my sons are grown is Music Together, also at the Westerly Community Center.  The description reads, "Family music classes for children ages birth to kindergarten.  Sing, play, drum, dance and create musical memories with your little one."  That one definitely sounds headache producing....a room full of infants and preschoolers singing, banging on drums and dancing around like little whirling dervishes.  I hope they provide a nice glass of wine for the mommies!

REMEMBERING ELMER JACOB POORMAN AND MAUREEN O'HARA

Maureen O'Hara passed away yesterday at the age of 95.  Instantly my thoughts went to my maternal grandfather, Elmer Jacob Poorman.  Elmer, in later life known as Jack, was a huge fan of and more than a little in love with Maureen O'Hara.

I've been thinking about my grandfather a lot lately because I was contacted by a professor in England, a musicologist who is working on creating a database and website about the World War I items held at the University of Illinois and the Newberry libraries.  According to this gentleman, William Brooks, my grandfather’s song has one of the most complicated and interesting histories and I've been trying to help him fill in some of the details.  To my delight, Professor Brooks has been an invaluable resource for me in discovering more information about my grandfather.

Elmer is the fifth from the right in the top row

Elmer was born on May 18, 1890 in Fayette, New York, a small farming town in Upstate New York.  One of fifteen children (although we always believed it was eighteen), Grandpa left home in his late teens or early twenties for the big city.  After arriving in New York, he worked as a machinist while marrying and starting a family in Newark, New Jersey.  He invented a number of items and had them patented but he spent most of his spare time pursuing his true dream of writing songs.

During World War I, Elmer, a pacifist, penned the lyrics to a song entitled, "AFTER THE WAR IS OVER WILL THERE BE ANY HOME SWEET HOME", music by Joseph Woodruff.  The sheet music I have was published by the Joe Morris Music Company in New York City in 1917.  While I had numerous copies of other songs Grandpa had written, I had never seen a copy of "After the War..." until I discovered it on eBay, along with a player piano roll version.  Family lore has it that the sheet music of this song sold a quarter of a million copies before the government banned it for being unpatriotic.

Elmer tried toning the song down, retitling it to both "AFTER THE WAR IS OVER" and "AFTER THE WAR IS OVER THERE WILL BE A HOME SWEET HOME", collaborating with gentlemen named Andrew B. Sterling and Harry Andrieu,  but these versions never had the same level of success.

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a young girl in the 1950s.  On his days off from work, Grandpa would sit in a tiny room at the back of their fourth floor walk-up apartment at 619 Hunterdon Street in Newark, NJ.  There he had a tiny tabletop electric organ and a beige tweed suitcase shaped record player.  These items were totally off limits to his grandchildren.

I remember hanging my arms around Elmer's neck and peeking over his shoulder at his opened record player.  Inside the lid he had affixed his prized possessions; three large black and white autographed studio photographs of Maureen O'Hara that he apparently had requested from her movie studio.  I even have sheet music copies of a song he wrote for her, "MAUREEN", and the first line begins with "Maureen, my sweet Maureen...".  My red-haired Irish grandmother, Margaret Mary Kenney, was totally jealous of his affinity for Ms. O'Hara, but Grandpa followed her career until his death in April of 1973.

If Grandpa were still alive I'm sure he would be drinking a boilermaker (a shot and beer) in Ms. O'Hara's honor today.  

DEAR STEPHEN KING

Dear Stephen King,

First and foremost, I'd like to say how very much I enjoyed your new book, FINDERS KEEPERS.  In this latest thriller, Bellamy is the perfect creepy fan of  John Rothstein, while Pete Saubers is portrayed as a nicely obsessive one.  Black and white hats and who will win?   Certainly not Rothstein.

What can I say about your books overall that you haven't already heard, except that I've loved almost all of them.  You were the first (and only) author I ever wrote to and that was way back in the early '80s;  just to compliment you and ask you to write faster.  I never heard back from you but I didn't expect to.   I love books and I love reading and your books are always at the top of my list.

Sometimes an author writes something that just zings to my heart and forces me to share the thought with friends.  FINDERS KEEPERS had that special paragraph that felt like it was written just for me.  To wit, "

"For readers, one of life's most electrifying discoveries is that they are readers--not just capable of doing it, but in love with it.  Hopelessly.  Head over heels.  The first book that does that is never forgotten, and each page seems to bring a fresh revelation, one that burns and exalts:  Yes!  That's how it is!  Yes!  I saw that, too!  And, of course, That's what I think!  That's what I FEEL!"  

ZING!  And I immediately knew what the book was that made me fall in love!  GOOFY MRS. GOOSE by Miriam Clark Potter.  It's also the reason I make yearly donations to the Newark Public Library.

My family never had any money, so there weren't going to be any summer camps or outings in our future.  On the first day of summer vacation from school, my brother and I took a friend's little red wagon to the branch library on Bergen Street in Newark, New Jersey.  I was about seven years' old and Bob was probably nine.  The very kind librarian told us we could each take ten books for the summer.  HA!  What did she know??!!  One of the books I borrowed was GOOFY MRS. GOOSE.  That was it!  I was hooked!  These weren't nicely colored Golden Books.  These were black and white with illustrations by the author, with more words than drawings, but Ms. Potter unlocked a whole new life for me!  One that used my imagination!  I raced through all ten books in a week, as did my brother, and off we headed to return our allotment and borrow more.

The librarian was fairly shocked that we returned so quickly, but I just had to get more of Mrs. Goose and her friends.  Three-Ducks, Mrs. Squirrel, Black Cat and Old Lady Owl, just to name a few.  Oh my, I felt like I had just discovered my new family!  A beautiful family who always helped Goofy Mrs. Goose out of her latest quandary with kindness and humor.  I could escape my own family's poverty, arguments and unhappiness and spend my time in Animaltown that summer.  And so, I was hooked on Mrs. Goose, but even more hooked on reading, and I have spent the better part of the last sixty years doing just that!

I'm now the proud owner of ten of the MRS. GOOSE series written by Ms. Potter.  They're in fair to miserable condition being library castoffs for the most part. But to me they are my prized possessions!

So, thank you, Mr. King, for reaching my heart and reminding me why I started this blog in the first place.  It's been my great pleasure to spend time with your books over the years.

Very truly yours, A Constant Reader

ISBN:  978-1501100079  
Pub. Date - June 2, 2015
448 pages
Hardcover and eBook       

A WEALTH OF WHITE SHIRTS!

My husband and I had dinner with our son Robert and his wife Stacey last night.  We invited them out to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.  Congratulations to the happy couple!

During dessert, I dripped a spot of chocolate on the front of my shirt.  My white shirt, of course.  Which I had just changed into to wear to dinner.

As I was trying to blot the spot with my napkin, my son turned to me and asked, "How many white shirts do you own?"  Thinking quickly, I responded, "Thirty?"  As the three of them laughed, I found myself explaining what white shirts mean to me.  And the more I thought about it, the more eccentric I guess I am, or have become, or always was.  Or is it just a clothing rut?

When I was a young teenager my mother taught me the importance of wearing ironed clothes.  To this day, I really can't wear a shirt right out of the dryer without at least touching it up with an iron.  Even if the shirt is one hundred percent cotton and will turn into a map of wrinkles within minutes of putting it on, I have to start out with a freshly ironed shirt.  This is one of the reasons that I tidy up in the morning in my pajamas; who wants to put on a freshly ironed shirt to wash dishes???

As a teenager, I was really skinny.  In fact, I was underweight at 5' 7" tall and 108 pounds.  I could wear almost anything, and did.  But my favorite go-to outfit was a freshly ironed white oxford shirt with capris and flats.

And here I am now, fifty years later.  Not so skinny, less tall at 5'6" (sorry, not giving you the poundage!) and what's my go-to attire?  You got it....a freshly ironed white oxford shirt with capris and flats.

But let me explain!  I have those hang-around-the-house white shirts.  You know the ones; they've been

kicked around and aren't new enough to really wear to go out.  Then I have the over sized, all cotton oxfords with the button down collars and long tails, better known as boyfriend shirts.  These shirts are perfect with jeans and sneakers for a quick run to the mall or food store, or for curling up with a good book.  Add to the mix the more fitted cotton with spandex shirts.  These are great under sweaters or vests, or any time you want to "up" your style a little bit.

With the advent of wrinkle-resistant cotton, I now own shirts that you can wear all day and they don't wrinkle.  These are great to wear with your dressier slacks and a blazer, sweater or your favorite shawl.  You could go from the mall to a client dinner in one of these and pull it off.  But don't kid yourself, you still need to iron these shirts.  And they do have one problem.  The fabric is woven differently so they don't really breathe and you wouldn't want to wear one of these on a hot day even though they're one hundred percent cotton.  I also own a couple of white on white prints for a dressier look.  Paired with dress slacks they are perfect!

Last but not least, I own three-quarter sleeve white cotton shirts for summer wear as shown on the left.

Am I in a rut?  I don't know.  I do know that I own shirts in lots of other colors,including solids, plaids and stripes.  I'm even wearing a blue striped shirt in my current profile picture.

Back in 2010, I blogged about Yuka, a young hairdresser who works at Vidal Sassoon in Manhattan.  I was really delighted with her outfit.  It was cheery and fun and colorful and upbeat.  She looked young and hip and made me smile when I looked at her.  But would I dress like that?  Not a chance!  I'd feel like I was ready to work in the circus!

Look at photos of stars like Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Diane Keaton and even Taylor Swift on Google.  You'll find photo after photo of celebrities wearing the tried and true white cotton shirt.    Call it my uniform, but they're simply timeless and they work and I love them!

I lamented over one of my favorite white cotton shirts last night that had to be retired a couple of years ago. I owned a Ralph Lauren shirt that was made from the softest cotton imaginable.  After owning it for about ten years, I literally wore it to death, because one of the sleeves simply shredded when I bent my arm while wearing it.

I counted my white shirts this morning and my guesstimate was pretty close.  I do own a wealth of white cotton shirts, twenty-nine to be exact!  But they're as different as the colors of the rainbow to my eyes, despite the fact that some would simply refer to each as a white cotton shirt!

THE BEST LAID PLANS........

I intended to sit down at my computer and start reviewing books again this morning, following a two month hiatus.  April was a very difficult month for our family.  There were many trips to Maryland to visit my husband's sister who was severely ill.  There were also numerous trips to Connecticut to get ready for a friend's wedding.  In mid-April, my sister-in-law passed away, a sad time for everyone, and consequently I wasn't in a blogging mood.

So here I am, finally settled back in New Jersey and ready to work!  Still dressed in my nightgown with my first cup of coffee of the morning, I had just turned on my computer when my friend who works for the Mendham Township Police Department called to ask if my husband's car had been parked in the driveway overnight and if yes, had it been broken into!!??  Luckily, George hadn't left for work yet and when he checked, sure enough, his car had been ransacked.  How did they even know that?

Well, apparently we weren't the only ones hit last night.  A number of cars had been broken into and one had been stolen.  The reason that the police called us was that the detective remembered that we had installed a video security system after our home was broken into last August.  Still in my nightgown, policemen started showing up to check the backup monitoring system for our cameras.  I couldn't figure out how to even reverse the recording on the system's monitor but remembered I could access it on my cell phone.

Scrolling from midnight to this morning, up popped the culprits at approximately 4:22:23 a.m.  Two of them walking down our driveway, one going to the side of the car to open the driver's side door and one going right to the trunk to hunt for who knows what.  Pretty creepy!

This photo shows the men rifling through my husband's car.  (You can read the article on the mendhampatch.com)

We soon found ourselves surrounded by three local officers, two county sheriff's officers and another sheriff's officer who is familiar with home surveillance systems.  Totally embarrassing since I had intended to also clean my office today because unfortunately it looked like IT had been ransacked.  No matter, they were soon able to download the footage of the perpetrators onto a thumb drive, and after complimenting us on the really good cameras we installed (apparently the high number of pixels will make it possible to enlarge the size of the stills when they print them, making the trespassers more easily visible), they were soon piling into their official cars and heading back to pursue their leads.

I guess I should thank the person or persons who broke into our home last year.  We would never have installed the cameras if that hadn't happened.  And if we hadn't installed the cameras, the police wouldn't have been able to know the time frame that the cars were broken into, as well as actually being able to see the people who did it.

Bravo to Mendham Township Detective Taquinto for remembering about our camera system.  And bravo to the police and sheriff's department officers who responded so quickly.  To my neighbors and friends, we live in a difficult time and there have been so many burglaries locally.  Please be aware that we don't live in Mayberry anymore.  You need to lock your doors and your car doors and do your best to keep your families safe.  Get an alarm, install outside lighting, get a dog or do whatever makes you comfortable, but please pay attention to strangers in your neighborhood and don't hesitate to call the police if something doesn't feel right.

NEW TECHNOLOGY....gives me a headache!

New technology makes me feel old!

Don't get me wrong, I have a computer.  I've worked my way through DOS, Windows 1.0, Windows 386, Windows XP and now, Windows 7.  I loved WordPerfect but finally gave up and switched to Word when my floppy disks wouldn't fit into any of the newer computers, although I tried darn hard!  I have more than one email account but even here I'm a little outdated...I still like the user-friendly format of AOL for my email.  I pay bills on line, keep in touch with friends on Facebook, play Pinochle with live strangers on line, sell on eBay and even have this blog.  I have a smartphone, a Kindle, a Nook and a Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE which I know how to switch from WiFi to cell in order to search the web if I'm in the middle of nowhere during a major downpour!  I know how to save data on a thumb drive, flash drive or a DVD.  Thanks in large part to having sons who guided me along the way, I know how to work all of these devices to handle most everything I need to do. But, thinking back on some of the jobs I've had in my life, I guess I have to admit that I am pretty old; in fact you could probably call me a dinosaur!

One of my first jobs when I was a teenager was at Woolworths at the corner of Broad and Market Streets in Newark, New Jersey.  Woolworths in Newark was a three story department store in those days, selling everything from hardware to women's lingerie to 45s to birds and goldfish.  Every Friday was payday and during the lunch hour we would all line up to receive a little brown envelope filled with cash (minus taxes of course).  We had real old time manual cash registers with buttons that you had to press down on really hard so that the receipt would print properly.  Since we had to count out the change ourselves, we received a full day of training to properly work the cash register and prove that we could add and subtract.

At my next job, I worked for New Jersey Bell Telephone, also in Newark, my first brush with technology.  I was a long distance operator back in the day when you actually had to plug the cords into the wall to make the connection.  I loved this job!  I always felt there was an element of poetry and elegance in doing the job properly and inserting the cord into the correct portion of the wall for the section of the country the person was calling.  If you put the metal plug end of the cord too close to one already inserted into the switchboard wall, you received a mild shock.  A supervisor stood behind you at all times, making sure the operators didn't converse with each other or chew gum.  The supervisors would also periodically listen in when you least expected it to insure that you were being kind and courteous.  Imagine that today....!  Now when you call information you can usually catch most of the conversation the operator finishes with her co-worker before he or she will even deign to greet you.

After that, I went through a number of jobs.  I was a waitress, I did cold calls for a shop-at-home carpet company, I worked as a collection clerk for a law firm that did all of the collections for the Bambergers Department Store chain and I worked in the offices of the Benjamin Moore Paint Company (stinky job in the industrial section of Newark).  All typing required in any of these jobs was done on a manual typewriter.  My next position was as a legal secretary for a small law firm and for the first time I worked on an electric typewriter....so cool!  Only problem was, no one had copy machines back in the stone ages, and legal documents had to be typed on onionskin paper in copious quantities using carbon paper.  If you made a mistake, you had to correct all gazillion copies with an eraser and then line the paper up in the typewriter again and hope you retyped the letter in the right spot.  I actually remember making a total mess of a document one day, and after redoing the entire thing, I stuffed the mangled copies under my skirt so I could throw them away in the ladies room which was out in the hallway because I was too embarrassed to throw them into my wastebasket!

Then I decided to work in New York City!  I worked as a payroll clerk for the paymaster in charge of all Seatrain and Hudson Waterways payrolls which was then located on the 27th floor of the Chase Manhattan Bank Building. That was my first brush with a totally new form of technology....the telex, which some of you may not even be old enough to have heard of.  You'd type messages to send to the ships on a telex machine.  The machine would spit out a long coded tape that was about one inch wide and miles long depending on the size of the message.  The tape would then load into another part of the machine that transmitted the message to the ship.  The one saving grace was that you could see the text of what you had typed without having to translate the braille type coding from the tape so you could catch any major errors before transmitting.  An interesting footnote about this job.  I worked here during the time of protests against the war in Vietnam. On two occasions when I arrived at work, the building security people were turning everyone away because the elevators had been bombed out by protesters.

Other jobs followed.  I worked as a secretary in the Rehabilitation Department of Morristown Memorial Hospital, ran the office for an emergency elevator repair company, worked in the office of the Morristown Senior Citizen's Center and also worked many different jobs as a temp.  I was the office manager for a Morristown architectural firm where I met my husband and then for a large law firm in Newark.  But the technology during this period remained pretty much the same.  Electric typewriters and adding machines were the tools of the day; no more counting on an abacus!

Next I took a job as a temporary secretary for Carteret Savings.  This quickly morphed into a full time permanent position as a mortgage underwriter.  That job was really fun!  Like being a detective, examining documents to decide if people qualified.  By this time we had xerox copy machines so everything was easier.  Also during this time the fax machine was introduced in offices.  Way cool, you could rubber band a typed page to a large roller and when you turned it on the roller would spin and spin while transmitting the information to a receiving fax.  Also during this time, Carteret moved us to larger offices and introduced the staff to the Nixdorf Mainframe Computer which took up about a city block of space and had to be temperature controlled in order to supply us with the simplest data on pages and pages of green and white striped computer printouts.  Remember these anyone?

Other jobs followed, but not much was changing in the world of technology, but now we were moving into the realm of HOME computers!  Our older son was the first in our family to get a home computer and it was a crazy Atari that worked in DOS.  The printer paper was pretty much the size of an adding machine tape and since Al Gore hadn't invented the Internet yet, the Atari really only worked like a glorified typewriter, producing very tiny pages.  Around the same time, my husband got his first portable phone; a crazy contraption that took a technician about three hours to install in George's car.  The shoebox sized phone was mounted on a post drilled into the floor of the car and if you knocked it off of it's post you better move your foot if you didn't want a large bruise!

Back to where I started and why technology today gives me a headache.  It seems that you just barely acclimate yourself to a new device like an iPad or Kindle Fire when it's replaced by something bigger or better or smaller or thinner and you're stuck with this obsolete relic.  Forget disposable diapers, I'd like to know how many computers, laptops, eReaders and cell phones are filling up the landfills?!?

This entire blog entry came about because my younger son did this drawing of me tonight when we went out to dinner.  He drew it on his over sized Samsung Smartphone with a stylus in about three minutes.  Never mind that he depicted me as a chicken in a purple coat, I was amazed by the Sketchbook X app Bill  used as I watched him switching back and forth between the sketch and a color wheel to insert the chosen hues.

I totally lusted after the Sketchbook X app, even though my Android Smartphone isn't all that smart and isn't smart enough to have a stylus.  And even though I can't draw anything that looks representative of anything except possibly a flower, I still want that app.  My Smartphone isn't even smart enough to have the flashlight feature, and though it takes great pictures, I'm not scheduled for an upgrade with my Verizon contract.

My point is that every time some new and improved technology comes along, by tomorrow or the next day, some new widget or gadget is introduced that makes yesterday's hot item look like a telex machine.  I'm just glad I have some brain cells left after the sixties to embrace some of the ever changing devices.  This is why new technology gives me a headache!

March 1, 2013 Footnote:   My husband asked me how I could have held so many jobs in such a short time. No, I wasn't hopping around from job to job like a bunny!  Having grown up in Newark, I was intent on starting a life and the best way to start was to earn money.  Most times when I was in my teens and twenties, I had two jobs, sometimes three.  For example, when I worked for the collection attorney, I also worked evenings for the carpet company and weekends as a waitress.  

HAPPY 2013 EVERYONE!! (A little late)

I've been MIA on Monarch Book Reviews for quite a while and I apologize to my  faithful followers.

Toward the end of the summer our home was broken into.  The thieves took too many things to list, but most importantly, they robbed me of my sense of safety and comfort in my home.   I spent many sleepless nights worrying over the "what ifs".  Luckily I was away when it happened, but since the burglary occurred during the daytime, what if I had been home when they broke in?   What if they came back?   It took almost two months to deal with just the missing checkbooks, credit cards and other personal items, as well as the insurance company, not to mention the many many upgrades to our home alarm system.

We added motion lights outside and it took a while to get them to work properly, spending more than a few nights with so many lights on all night long, you could probably see us glowing on the moon!

Not long after returning to New Jersey, Hurricane Sandy hit our state with a vengeance.  Unlike so many people, we were fine; just without power for ten days.  As collections of donated items for the hardest hit at the Jersey shore began, I met a neighbor on my street who was accepting donated clothing.  As chance would have it, her home had been  broken into just that week as well as another on our same street.  You can imagine how all the worry and what-ifs returned.

But through it all, I spent my time with books; lots of books!  Books by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Sue Grafton, Camilla Lackberg, David Baldacci, Kathleen Grissom, John Grisham, Dana Haynes, Cara Black, Michael Connelly and many others.  I made quick work of everything written by Robert Crais (love Elvis Cole!) and  Ake Edwardson.  Most were enjoyable, some were wonderful and some just okay.  But I'm sorry I wasn't able to focus on my blog and send my regular book reviews out into the Ethernet for others to enjoy.

2012 wasn't all doom and gloom.  There were many bright spots.  Our older son and his wife celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary!  Our younger son moved to NYC and is in a wonderful new relationship.  He also adopted a rescue dog named Ralph.  Ralph is a nine year old mini Schnauzer and he's an absolute delight!  He's a silly looking little dog and he's always messy and unkempt and constantly makes you smile!  Our older son's longtime friend and his wife had their first baby and it's been great seeing the photo updates.  Last, but certainly not least, my husband and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on January 10th.

There are even more new "men" in my life.  My husband finally realized a lifelong dream and is now the proud owner of two Clydesdales.  Mike and Sherman (they came with their names) are truly gentle giants, weighing in at about 1,800 pounds each, but acting like eager puppies! George now spends his vacation time mucking out stalls, riding Mike or Sherman and teaching them to work as as team pulling a cart.  The "men" are pictured here with our good friend Pete.  George rode a Clydesdale many years ago when he was a member of the Junior Essex Troup in West Orange, New Jersey.

Needless to say, I'm glad that 2012 is over and that we're just at the beginning of a bright new year.

Hope you'll come back and join me for new adventures and book reviews in 2013!

BIG GULP BANNED-WAGON

It was with great interest that I read Edward Morrissey's CNN Opinion  BIG GULP?  MEET BIG BROTHER, about Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban of supersized soft drinks in New York City.  Earlier this week, a friend and I were having a discussion about this very subject.

Years ago when everyone jumped on the smoking banned-wagon (pun intended), I warned everyone who would listen that we need to be careful about personal rights.  Unfortunately, most people don't care unless and until someone proposes to ban something they're fond of.

Recently my family was in a nice restaurant enjoying lunch in New Jersey.  An older couple came in and was seated at a table next to us.  Obviously these people were old school and stored their winter clothing away with mothballs; a horrible odor that I personally can't stand.  When I couldn't think of any way to get up and change tables without making the newcomers feel uncomfortable, I simply, accidentally on purpose, spilled my entire glass of water on the tablecloth, forcing our move to a different table, which my son thought was hillarious.  Should I start a petition to ban mothballs? 

Personally, I can't stand perfume or aftershave, especially when it's applied in large doses.  I don't like the smell of acrylic nails being applied when you go for a simple manicure.  Both of these could be considered second-hand health risks to people with breathing problems.  But you'll never hear me calling for a ban on perfume, acrylic nails, alcohol or mothballs because I believe we have the right to behave as stupidly as we want to without government intervention.  The powers-that-be can argue that sugar, like cigarettes, is a national health concern, but there are so many things that I wouldn't choose to do or ingest that could be considered a  major health concern if you're looking at figures and statistics.

Many years ago when my youngest son was in grammar school, the McDRUG FREE group in Morristown, NJ decided to include alcohol in their list of drugs, adding "ALCOHOL IS A LIQUID DRUG" to all their banners and fliers.  Now, I'm not much of a drinker and never have been, and didn't give this too much thought until I went to the grocery store with my son.   My in-laws were coming for dinner and I added a six-pack of beer to my cart, since Grandpa always enjoyed a cold glass with dinner during the summer.  My young son started screaming for me to put the beer back on the shelf because it was a liquid drug!  I had to explain in great detail that while the McDrug Free group had good intentions, they weren't always right.  As a postscript to this, the children were all asked to sign (along with their parents) a pledge to remain drug and alcohol free.  After a long discussion, we sent a note to the teacher explaining why Bill would not be participating in this particular pledge.  How can an elementary school child have the understanding of a pledge to never take a drink???  When they had the McDrug Free assembly at school and asked each child to stand if they signed the pledge, the students seated near our son wanted to know why Bill didn't have to stand up.  Interestingly enough, our children didn't grow up to be druggies or alcoholics, but they did grow up having a strong sense of themselves and a compassion for others.  Please don't think this is an attack on the McDrug Free or DARE programs, but our "war on drugs" hasn't been very successful....maybe because we didn't call it the "BAN on drugs"?

Almost every moment of every day someone is doing something that could effect our health care costs.   Happy hour, chocolate, riding a motorcycle without a helmet, fried food, riding a bike on two lane roads without shoulders, donuts, tanning salons, bungee jumping, and the list goes on; all have an impact on our health and health care costs.  Don't tennis elbow, shin splints and housemaid's knee add to the health care costs, too?  Maybe we need a ban on housework?  The big question remains...how far should the government be allowed to go to curtail our personal freedom?

I grew up in an age when people would buy cartons of cigarettes as Christmas gifts (back when we could still call it Christmas), the same with BB guns, and no one thought twice about giving their son or daughter a copy of HUCKLEBERRY FINN.  We used to have tubes of something called Plastic Bubbles, a horrible chemical smelling substance we could blow into bubbles to toss around.  Every young boy made models with that stinky airplane glue -- I'm not even sure this stuff is still being sold.  We've evolved into being much more health conscious than our grandparents on one hand which is great, but much less so when it comes to things like food additives and preservatives.

Banning things we don't personally like or enjoy has become a way of life.  Books, music, food, activities, pick your favorite.  It's frightening to think that our children and grandchildren are growing up accepting that these new restrictions on personal choice are the norm.

I'm just glad that Mayor Bloomberg didn't attack diet soda or I'd really be in trouble.   While I'm thinking about it, New Yorkers need to definitely ban a fourth term for the mayor.  I'd sign that petition for sure!

BOOK REVIEWS ON THE STONINGTON-MYSTIC PATCH

PATCH me in!

You can now find my book reviews and blog posts on the Stonington-Mystic Patch in Connecticut.  I've been submitting reviews for about two weeks and the response has been wonderful!  Thanks to everyone who emailed me.

Don't forget that you can also follow my reviews through the Recorder Newspapers in New Jersey.  You can find the Monarch Book Reviews link on the website of each of their sixteen community newspapers.

I've been reading some terrific new books and hope to continue to include more local authors, both in New Jersey and Connecticut.  Please check back to find new books to add to your summer reading list.

It's great to hear from each of you, so please keep your comments, emails and especially your ARCs coming!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I was thinking about being a mom and the different stages of my sons' development and, consequently, the different names children have for their mothers. 

When your children are very small, it's music to your ears when your son or daughter begins to babble mamamamama, even though it comes long after da-da.  When they're toddlers, your name becomes Mommy as they wrap their sticky little fingers around your neck and give you a kiss and tell you how beautiful you are!  However, when they are just on the cusp of throwing a tantrum, that same Mommy can quickly become MomEEEEE! in a shrill voice. 

We morph into Ma (pronounced MAAAAA  which rhymes with the sound a cartoon sheep makes, in a loud voice) when our children reach middle school or high school, usually around the same time they begin to think you're just too stupid to have even grown up and had a family.  Ma and Mom can be used in alternating shifts during those teen years, depending on just how annoying your child thinks you are at the moment.  This stage doesn't last forever as you know, because you never see cards addressed to MA in your local card store for mother's day.

When they finally grow up and go to college or move on with their own lives, you can expect to settle into a nice, comfortable "Mom", if all goes well.  There can be minor variations on this theme.  For example my youngest used to call me Mommo which I thought was very cute.

Mother also crops up every now and then through the years as a form of reprimand when our children find us to be particularly annoying, i.e., "Mother, did you have to kiss me goodbye when you dropped me off at school?!?" 

I have a friend who refers to her own mother in conversation as Mother.  Not MY mother, but mother, as in, "Mother is having trouble with her computer", or "I'm taking Mother to Crate and Barrel on Saturday".  To me, that sounds cold and distant and I can't help but wonder if "Mother" beat my friend with a wire hanger when she was growing up, a la Joan Crawford.

Don't even get me started on those grown children who call their mothers by their given name.  I can't imagine one of my sons saying, "Lynn, would you like more coffee?"  Lynnie, however, they've used on occasion. 

Be it Mommy, Ma, Mom or Mother, a rose by any other name............!  Happy Mother's Day!

Flower photos taken by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.

CURIOSITIES

Why do phones start with the numbers 1-2-3 at the top while calculators start with 7-8-9 at the top?  Wouldn't it be easier if it were the same on both?  Who made the decision to invert the numbers on calculators which were obviously invented after the telephone?  What would Alexander Graham Bell think?


And that brings me to dear Mr. Bell.  As schoolchildren in the U.S. many decades ago, we were taught that he invented the telephone, definitively.  Our government has even issued commemorative stamps in his honor.  However, if you pose the question, "who invented the telephone" on Google, there are various and sundry possibilities.  


One is Johann Philipp Reis of Germany.  In 1860, Mr. Reis was the first to produce a functioning electromagnetic device that could transmit musical notes, indistinct speech, and occasionally distinct speech by means of electric signals.  He's credited with introducing the term "telephon" for his device.  The first sentence Johann spoke on his telephon was apparently "Das" which translates to "the".  No one seems to have documented what the rest of Mr. Reis' transmitted sentence was.  According to a source on Wikipedia, "Thomas Edison tested the Reis equipment and found that "single words, uttered as in reading, speaking and the like, were perceptible indistinctly, notwithstanding here also the inflections of the voice, the modulations of interrogation, wonder, command, etc., attained distinct expression."  As you would expect, Mr. Reis was also honored by his country in the form of a postage stamp.


Other American inventors had also claimed the invention as their own, including Daniel Drawbaugh, Elisha Gray and Charles Grafton Page to name a few.  Interesting that American schoolchildren never learned these names.  Numerous inventors worldwide have been credited with inventing the telephone as well,  hailing from such locales as Italy, Denmark, Hungary, France, England and Canada, just to name a few. 


I'm not even going to segue into that other train of thought....that history as we each know it, is only as it's presented by each country to it's citizens.  There's not enough room in my blog to cover that subject!

Despite the other inventors mentioned, Mr. Bell has been honored with postage stamps commemorating "his" invention by many far-reaching countries, including Swaziland, Sierra Leone, Togo, Guinea and Bulgaria, as well as an exceptionally suave image of dear old Alexander as depicted on the Grenada commemorative stamp!


So what are we teaching our young children today when they innocently ask, "Who invented the telephone?"  Do we give them the stock answer that it was Alexander Graham Bell?  Or should the answer be, "Well, honey, common lore has it that it was a man named Alexander Graham Bell, but it was actually a collaborative worldwide effort that included many bits and pieces that were improved upon along the way, by many different inventors, as well as a fight to the finish to see who could get the credit first?"  Now tell me, what curious six year old is going to be satisfied with the second answer?  But I guess if they're curious enough to ask the question, the answer should probably be, "Don't bother me with such complicated questions, just go Google it yourself on your iPhone!"  Which roughly translates to, "How the hell should I know, honey?!"

LIFE WITHOUT THE INTERNET or AT&T IS A HORRIBLE COMPANY NOW!

You've all heard the expression that begins with "the best laid plans..."  Well, I had what I thought was a great plan, but it sure didn't work out too well.

I'm sure most of you are seeing rising bundled services for phone, internet and television.  I recently decided to unbundle our service at our summer home in Connecticut.  Unfortunately in Southeastern CT, there aren't a lot of options.  You can use Comcast (which is what we've been using) or you can switch to AT&T or SBC.  Comcast is the only one with the so-called triple-play since AT&T and SBC don't do TV service.

AT&T is a good old household name, so I chose them to switch the phone and internet service to.  Mind you, this was not because there was anything wrong with our very reliable Comcast service, it was simply a financial decision.  After numerous phone calls I realized that I could save hundreds of dollars every year!  Why wouldn't I want that!?

About a month ago, I spend endless time on the phone and switched over the phone and internet service.  My friend and I proceeded to install the AT&T high speed internet service following the instructions provided.  Included with the new modem/router were three plug in filters.  The instructions were very clear and we installed one of the filters on a phone line that wasn't directly hooked up to the modem or my computer.  Everything looked good and worked great, for about an hour.

I was talking to my husband on the phone in New Jersey when there was a loud sizzling static sound on the phone, a popping sound coming from my computer and my house alarm went off.  For a minute I thought the house blew up!  I immediately called AT&T from my cell phone and didn't get too much advice, so I unplugged the modem and computer completely and went back to New Jersey.

Here I am, a month later, ready to tackle the problem with renewed vigor.....HA!  I arranged beforehand to have an AT&T technician come to the house last Thursday to find out what was going wrong.  He showed up as scheduled and proceeded to put a whole-house filter in the basement, telling me that the three filters that were mailed to me were nothing but junk and never work.  Interesting.  "All set", he said when he packed up to leave.  I tried to give him back the three plug in filters (definitely pieces of equipment I had never seen before and didn't want) and he told me to throw them away since that's all he would do with them anyway!!!  This might be one of the reasons that the prices of all of these services are going up; let's just throw equipment away!

He left and everything was fine for about an hour at most and then I had no internet again, but the phones worked fine.  I called AT&T on Thursday evening and the representative who answered the phone said she could see that we were "dropped" 14 times in just a couple of hours.  I could have told her that since the only way to get on to the internet was to unplug the equipment totally, reboot my computer, wait 15 seconds, plug everything back in and start all over.  All the pretty little flashing lights on the modem came on green, signalling that it was good to go.  Signed back on to Google and maybe five minutes later, POOF, the internet service light turned red.

I called AT&T again and the rep said that there were problems with the line and it would be fixed by Friday morning.  Okay, one night  was doable, my husband and I could spend time talking to each other for a change, all good.  Friday morning rolled around and same thing, intermittent short-term internet service.  I called back and another rep told me that I'd get a recorded message telling me that everything was fine within five or six hours on Friday, which would have been in the late afternoon.  What do you think happened?  You're right....no phone call and no message and no internet.

So I called back again on Friday evening and I think I reached someone in Guam.  I was told that they were aware of the problem and that I shouldn't be so impatient, I'd get a call back.  HAHA!  Not!  Amazingly, AT&T customer service is not open in the evenings or on Saturday or Sunday.   Nice that they get the weekends off, isn't it?

First thing Monday morning, I called Comcast and begged them to take me back!  And quickly, please!  They were wonderful.  They waived the reinstallation fee and had a technician here today to set everything up.  Of course we wound up with a temporary phone number for five to seven days, while Comcast wrestles our original number back from AT&T's clutches, but we can live with that.  What we do have is internet service.....glorious wonderful internet service!  I can even finally load a book onto my Kindle again without having to drive to the local Starbucks and I can finally blog again, so I'm a happy camper.  My husband can check his office email, too.  Wonderful!

I'm not going to tell AT&T that I'm switching back until I get my original phone number back, so that will be our secret.  Sad that such a once-prestigious company is so unreliable.  My advice to you is to be careful when you're looking for savings on these services...it's not as easy as it looks and it's really hard work!

I'M BACK...and HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter everyone!

After a much needed break, a time to reflect, I'm back and ready to blog!  I needed to put my book reviews and blog into perspective.  I found myself facing expectations that, quite honestly, made me uncomfortable.  I realized that I needed a "mission statement" for what I do.

My blog was intended as a small vehicle to share my reading interests with family and friends.  Much to my surprise and delight, I received hits from almost every corner of the globe.  The downside was that I began to take myself and my blog a little too seriously, feeling guilty if I took a few days off and feeling a little awkward in writing my own little insights apart from book reviews.

But I'm a curious and off-kilter person by nature and things and words strike me differently than they might other people.  I have one friend who often tells me that I "think too much!"  Is that even possible??

Just last week I had to replace a light bulb.  When I looked at the GE packaging, I noticed that my 60 watt incandescent bulb packaging also included information about the number of life hours of the bulb and 630 lumens.  For many decades, I never noticed how many lumens were in my bulbs.  Try to look up lumens, the noun, and this is the definition.....

1.  The Sl unit of luminous flux, equal to the amount of light emitted per second in a unit solid angle of one steradian from a uniform....blah blah blah.            
2.  The central cavity of a tubular or other hollow structure in an organism or cell.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not a rocket scientist and don't feel I need to know the lumens of my bulbs, or that I even have a better understanding of lumens, but my bulb works great.

The upshot of my meanderings is that I'm going to continue to provide the best and most honest reviews of the books I read from my point of view.  I'm also going to have a little more fun with my "Lynn's Blog" entries so I hope you'll come back often to visit and read what I write.

We're heading to the Jersey shore today with our son Robert and our daughter-in-law Stacey for a day of boardwalk french fries and skeeball...the REAL Jersey Shore!  I hope you all enjoy this beautiful and sunny Easter and get to spend time with people you love.

Happy Easter!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Thanks to so many people for entering the Margo Petitti Scarf contest!  

Because of my, ahem, senior moments and the hectic holiday season,  I had erroneously posted that the drawing would be held on Saturday, December 18th.  In follow-up emails, I listed the drawing date as Saturday, December 19th.  Of course, since today was actually the 19th, the contest was held over and Margo chose the lucky winner today.

Congratulations RALPH DONNELL, you are the winner!  I've just emailed you and as soon as you respond with your shipping information, your wonderful OSCAR scarf will be shipped to you.

Thanks to the many people who entered the contest and also visited Margo's booth at Grand Central Station. They're still working daily and will be on site until the holiday fair closes on December 24th.

A special thanks to Saloma Furlong for mentioning the contest on her blog.  A BIG thank you and hug to Margo for giving me the chance to run this contest again.  It's wonderful fun!

We all love this season, but it's so much work!  We're almost in the home stretch, so take a deep breath, enjoy your family and plunk yourself down with a good book.  I'll be back right after the 25th with a ton of reviews of great books, so stop back soon.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Second Annual MARGO PETITTI SCARF CONTEST!

It's that time of the year and I'm so lucky to once again have an original MARGO PETITTI SCARF to offer to one of my blog visitors!

Nothing to do, nothing to buy, just email your name to PetittiScarf@aol.com for a chance to win this year's scarf.

The winning entry will be chosen by the designer at her booth at the Grand Central Station Holiday Event in New York City on Saturday, December 18th at 2:00 pm.  The scarf will be shipped to the lucky winner in time for Christmas.

Margo Petitti is a young fashion designer from Rhode Island who currently has a booth at the Grand Central Station Holiday Event in New York City.  Ms. Petitti's scarves are all one of a kind and are handmade in the USA.

This year's scarf is the OSCAR as shown, an individually designed patchwork scarf.  The front is an arrangement of cashmere, silk and fine wool patches made from Italian suiting fabrics.  The reverse is 100% cashmere with a herringbone weave.  Ms. Petitti's "M" logo monogram can be found in the lower left corner.  It measures 10 inches wide by 80 inches long and retails for $250.00.

You can visit Margo's booth at the Grand Central Event which is open every day until December 24th (except Thanksgiving) from 10 am until 8 pm.  If you visit Grand Central, please be sure to tell her hello from me!

Ms. Petitti will also be in Chicago at the ONE OF A KIND CHICAGO SHOW from December 1-4, 2011.

She's has a busy year and was featured at the VIP LOUNGE AT THE EMMYS this past September in Los Angeles.  This is just a sampling of the celebrities who chose one of her gorgeous scarves.

We have a special connection to Ms. Petitti; she's engaged to our son Bill.  If they hadn't met, I might have missed the chance to own one of her wonderful designs!

Thank you, Margo, for providing us with another beautiful scarf this year.  And thanks to all of you for visiting my blog.

Don't forget to enter to win!

Don't be shy!  Email your name to PetittiScarf@aol.com and you'll be instantly entered into the contest.  Last year's winner was Michael Tonello, author of BRINGING HOME THE BIRKIN.