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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary Week of 5 August 2002 Latest Update: Sunday, 27 April 2003 08:39 |
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Monday, 5 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Just in case you missed last weeks announcement, I do have
the Canadian Rockies trip
pictures up.
I am almost finished with the second of six books in the the Julie Kaewert Booklover's Mystery series Unprintable. In this novel, Alex Plumtree, of Plumtree Press, discovers that his parents did not die accidentally in a boating mishap but were killed because of his father's inside knowledge of a powerful political ring trying to take over and rule the world. Alex is once again stalked along with the author, Angela, who's first novel the Stonecypher Saga, reveals the plot behind this government takeover using secret codes by Marcus Stonecypher. There are the usual sub plots with Alex and his girl friend Sara and his rocky relationship with his brother Max. The books are being heavily discussed on the Dorothy L mystery discussion list. It appears that readers either hate them or love them with no in-between gray areas. They are a bit far fetched at times as poor Alex is constantly in danger for his life based on the books he is publishing for his press. And, the underlying theme of saving the world and the British government/monarchy has put some readers off. I found the first book in the series, Unsolicited, a little slow at first but it gets better about half way through. I liked this second one in the series better in terms of action and plot movement. I am curious to know if any of you have read these books and what you think of them. Now don't send me spoilers to the endings. Just which titles you have read and if you did or did not like them, etc. Our library system only has the the second and third novels in the series so I will need to purchase the remaining ones. I am off to the gym this morning and back home again. I want to try and finish up the photo stuff today. Bob will visit Lenore this morning and I will go this afternoon. It is otherwise another hot and muggy day here in the Triad. I hope your Monday gets your week off to a good start. [Top] |
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Tuesday, 6 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
First of all, Marcia and Brian Bilbrey have made it safely
across the Continent to their new home in Maryland. I am posting this
message from Marcia to let everyone know her e-mail status for the time
being:
won't be able to post for awhile yet-- tell everyone that we're here and that we're fine. I am able to get email through my POP account on Yahoo-- at least, I think that's how I'm doing this! Let people know that they can email me and I will respond. And on the home front we all seem to be getting settled into a routine again. I will stay home this morning and work on the last of the picture albums while Bob goes over to visit Lenore. After lunch I am going out to SciWorks to pick up my volunteer project again. I will stop by to Lenore on the way home this afternoon. We are finally getting some cooler air down from Canada today. Hopefully it will blow out some of this haze and other junk in the air along with bringing the cooler temperatures. [Top] |
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Wednesday, 7 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| The cold front finally got here last night. It is a very
pleasant 59 degrees this morning with clear blue skies which we have not
seen in many weeks.
This morning I am off to the gym for spinning class then on to the grocery store. I will mow the lawn this afternoon. Tonight I have a Astronomy Club committee meeting at Bonnies. It is to be fairly good observing conditions tonight. I will either drive up from her house to Bullington or ride up with her. Guess that is about all the news for today.
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Thursday, 8 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
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What a beautiful day we had yesterday. High in the low 80's, no humidity to speak of, and clear blue skies. Since I am playing golf today I wrote this very quickly last night before I left to go up to Bonnie's house for my meeting. I will either go up to Bullington with Bonnie from her house our drive back over and meet up with Bob. A full report of the evening astronomical viewing will be forthcoming on Friday.
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Friday, 9 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| The neighborhood punks struck again last night. I wasted an
hour this morning getting their mess reported to the police and cleaning
up after them. They struck on our street and the one behind us doing a
wide variety of vandalism none of which was harmful but costs me time and
aggravation. Fortunately we have two policemen in our area of the city who
are aware of the problems we have been having and will be working with us
to get them stopped.
Now, to summarize the last couple of days. The observing for Wednesday night was pretty good. We did get a little cloud cover for about twenty minutes but other than that I managed to bag a few more Messier objects. For a week night we had a pretty good crowd of 7 or 8 people who were as happy as we were that we finally had a clear night. Yesterday was a wonderful day to be out playing golf. Dad and I played surprising well having had the five or six week layoff since we played last. I had lunch at my parents house and visited with them for a while. I played with dogs a little when I got home then took a shower. Next on the agenda was a quick stop/visit with Lenore before heading over to the library for my Friends meeting. After my meeting I swung back by the house to pick up Bob to go out to dinner. Then we made the evening visit to the nursing home. Bob and I watched the movie Midway from 8 to 10:30, walked the dogs, and I was off to bed. This morning I have some errands to run so I will do the morning visit with Lenore. This afternoon I have several small odds and ends of things to do. I think I will grill some ribs for dinner tonight and and fix red potatoes boiled in their jackets.
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Saturday, 10 August 2002 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| It is amazing the amount of small tasks that need attended
to get so piled up. I spent all afternoon yesterday getting caught up on
things like desk clearing, paperwork, folding a load of things for Lenore,
changing the linens, etc, etc. However, I did get almost everything caught
up before dinner time.
I started a new book last night that came in as a reserve from the library. I really do like Barbara Delinsky's novels. Her lates one is An Accidental Woman which is set in the same small town of New Hampshire as in one of her previous novels Lake News. She has picked up the character from that novel, Poppy, a quadriplegic who runs a small message center from her home for the town of Lake Henry. In her newest novel, Poppy is good friends with Heather Malone who has lived in Lake Henry for 14 years. She is living with Micah and his two children from a previous marriage. Micah is a native of Lake Henry and both he and Heather are very popular with the locals. In the very beginning of the book Heather is arrested in the wee hours of the morning by the FBI for supposedly fleeing California 14 years ago after murdering a man. Micah as well as the locals are all shocked at the news. Now Poppy and her other friends must help to get to the bottom of the story. What I like about Delinsky's books is the way she mixes good writing, a little suspense, a little human nature, and ends up with some really great stories. If you have not read her novels before pick up a couple from the mid nineties or later. She began publishing in hardback around that date and really came into her current style and plot development and continued to improve with each novel. You do not need to read Lake News first if you want to read her current book. ___________________________________________________________________
I am off this morning to help my dad with a project in the yard. He needs to clean out the old bulbs and weeds in the little garden around his shed. Tonight we are supposed to go to Bullington or the Parkway for observing if the weather forecast is good.
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[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| If you are wondering where we are this morning we were
sleeping in, late. We left home last night at 6:30 along with our friend
Bonnie to drive up to the Parkway to try observing from there. It was
exactly an hour fifteen minutes from here up to Doughton Park. While
conditions up there seemed to not be much better than at our usual place
Bullington, we did have some success. I bagged about six or seven new
Messier objects but seeing conditions made finding those a bit of a
struggle.
But, we had a good time, met a very nice couple from Reidsville, NC and managed to see a view objects naked eye later in the evening as conditions improved for a bit. We packed up and headed home around 1:30 getting in bed about 3:30 this morning. All in all it was a lot of fun. I am not sure I would drive up there a lot but it will be a nice place to go from time to time. Bob just yelled back to me from his office that several club members were up at Bullington last night and conditions were terrible for viewing so they all packed up and left early. We made a good choice in going up to the Parkway after all. It will be better later on this year when it gets dark much earlier and we can drive up and back on a much earlier time schedule. Bob will get the laundry started and take a run over to see his mom. I will get started on the house cleaning chores.
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