Positive Quotes

Cinderella

What's in the Vietnamese version of Cinderella (Tam Cam)? At the end, Cinderella dismembered her step sister, put the body into a jar of food and sent it to her step mother to eat, which she enjoyed until she found the skull at the bottom of the jar and died of shock.

Won a free book on Goodreads. "The Lost Codex' by Alan Jacobson'

The Color Purple

 

The color purple is the royal color because the dye was so expensive to make: "dye-makers had to crack open the snail’s shell, extract a purple-producing mucus and expose it to sunlight for a precise amount of time. It took as many as 250,000 mollusks to yield just one ounce of usable dye"

Toaster

   

  I have this toaster that was a wedding present - that makes it 47 years old. Used almost every day. Still works. General Electric and made in the U.S.A. They don't make them like that anymore. The problem is, it has one drawback. We can't toast a bagel. I have to use the toaster oven, but it doesn't do a good job. So, my wife bought a toaster at a yard sale. Cost her $5.00. White. Cheap. A piece of junk. But, it does toast a bagel. Guaranteed not to last 47 years.
      My bathroom was supposed to be worked on this morning. He called last night and said he was sick. Even plumbers call in sick. At least he didn't say he was working from home. The new date is set for Friday.
      It's supposed to rain all day, but it hasn't started yet. I'm on the road today. That's my term for taking my wife to do errands.

Review: Richard the Lionheart - Crusader by Tristan Clark

Richard the Lionheart - Crusader is a very short story. If you are looking for some pages from a history book - this would be it. You would find the same, if not more by looking King Richard up on the internet with no need to spend your money. More or less a list of facts.

My lawn is being de-bugged. Lots of birds.

Ripley's Believe It or Not

Beethovens Ninth

Review: Dark Web by T.J. Brearton

	"Dark Web," is a murder mystery that will make you think twice about what teens see on the internet. A fine example of what can come from the dark side of the web. The end of the story and the culprit hold no surprises - expected, which I found disappointing. Still a good story.

Sunday Afternoon Encounter

This is what went on Sun. afternoon after a knock on my door.

Me - "Hello."

Man - "I got the sign."

Me - "What sign?"

Man - "The 'For Sale' sign for your front lawn."

Me - "What 'For Sale' sign?"

Man - "For your house."

Me - "My house is not for sale."

Man - "Isn't this #18?"

Me - "Yeah."

Man - "Well, I got the sign."

Me - "I think you have the wrong house. Maybe next door?"

Man - "No. That's an empty lot."

Me - "Well, they tore down the house a few weeks ago and I heard the lot is for sale."

Man - "OK, I'll call the office and find out.

After awhile, I hear tap, tap, tap. I look next door and he is pounding the sign into the vacant lot. By the way, that lot is priced at $90,000.

Jell-O

Conversation with my son.

Jack - "I hear we are going to have a mini ice age in 15 years. Like the one they had in the 1860's."
John - ?
Jack -"We'll have to stock up on food then. Yeah, I'll be 87 then. Still able to eat."
John - "We'll need lots of Jell-O."

Review: "A Bitter Truth" by Charles Todd

"A Bitter Truth" is the third in the series "Bess Crawford." This book did not catch my imagination as much as the first two. It seems to drag along trying to make a story. The author(s) seem to be slapping something down hoping that it works. I'm always waiting for her to meet Ian Rutledge. I feel that is why this second series has been added.

Novels Are Never About What They Are About

But novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it. A novel’s whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.

DIANE JOHNSON

Need A Plumber

      The plumber was here to see me on Friday. I have to tell you that story. The pipes for the bathtub were in an outside wall, so when the wind blew in a certain direction, they always froze. I tried different options to cure the problem - more insulation, electric cord around the pipe. etc. A couple of years ago I said enough is enough. I'm going to move the bathroom around. At one end of the tub, I put up a wall with all the pipes inside it. On one side, the pipes went to the tub taps. On the other side of the wall, they went to the sink taps. The sink taps are where the bathtub taps used to be. I figured that would do it. Surprise. When winter came, they froze again. When I looked to see what they had done, I found that they had taken the pipes in the new wall and hooked them back up to the pipes that always froze. So that is what I have to get changed again. I'm watching this time.
      I also need him to clean out the drain pipe. It's starting to make noise, the kind you hear before it plugs up. Then I need him to clean out my furnace.
He has to wait until next week he do this. I'll be away all week. Taking my daughter on another mini vacation to New Brunswick.
      I put up a photo showing the wall between the sink and tub.

Review: The Kidnapping (Inspector Rutledge #12.5) by Charles Todd

"The Kidnapping," is a short story from the Ian Rutledge series. It shows Ruthledge at his best solving a crime by his wits and brainpower. He can't have all cases that last for weeks or months. Some are short, lasting only a few hours. There is no mention of Hamish in this story. Takes less that a few hours to read because half of the download is a preview of his next book.

The Hollywood Totem Pole

In Hollywood, you’re dealing with a power structure where the writer is really at the bottom of the totem pole. Actually, I think that the writer isn’t even at the bottom of the totem pole—they’re at the part that they stick in the ground, and then there’s the totem pole.

BRUCE JOEL RUBIN

Character is the Very Life of Fiction

Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand. Plot exists so the character can discover what he is really like, forcing the character to choice and action. And theme exists only to make the character stand up and be somebody. 

JOHN GARDNER

Review: Bloodlines by James Rollins

"Bloodlines" is #8 in the Sigma series. I found it the best of the series to date. This book has a return of the dog "Kane." Wonderful to see him and his handler as part of the team. Continuous action till the end and it has a great ending.

My Heat Pump.

      Yesterday was check the heat pump day. It's a Kerr. First off, I dug up the manual on the internet. Great to have the internet when you need it. As it turned out, the only thing I could do was clean the filters. That turned out to be quite a job. The dust on there is like grease. Cleaned them and anything else that needed it.
      My wife bought new ceiling lamps for the kitchen and dining room. Do I have to hang them up deciding on the kitchen first - smallest lamp. This is a job I dislike. It gives me a sore neck. First I had to take the fan down. With a heat pump, don't need fans. It has a fan. It's heavy when standing on a ladder, and you can only hold it with one hand. Eventually, the new lamp was up. After all that, I find out it comes without bulbs. Of course, they need a special type. I won't be putting up the one in the dining room until I'm sure I have bulbs. So I have to go to Home Depot, where I bought the lamps, but not today. I have to wait for the plumber, but that's another story.