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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 18 December 2006
Latest Update: Sunday, 24 December 2006 3:50 p.m.
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Monday, 18
December
2006
I am reading the newest Stephanie Barron,
Jane and the Baroque of Frailty. Set in Regency England, Barron
introduces the author Jane Austen in her first book in the series by
way of a long lost journal discovered in a trunk. Using Austen's real
life experiences she intertwines them with Austen the sleuth who goes
about solving murders which take place in and around London England and
the upper classes. If you like Jane Austen, which I do, and Regency
period mysteries, these are excellently written. Barron also writes
another series under the name of Francine Matthews.
In this most recent book, Jane is in London overseeing the
publication of her first novel Sense and Sensibility while staying with
her brother Henry. After attending a local play in which she watches a
Russian Princess gaze longingly at a local politician. The next morning
the princess is found dead on the steps of the Lord's residence. Jane
and her sister-in-law Eliza become entangled in the murder and a
possible political fiasco for her brother and the country.
The weather remains unseasonably warm. After work I had the 9th of my 10 chiropractor visits.
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Tuesday, 19 December 2006
No update.
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Wednesday, 20 December 2006
I did not post last night for simple
reason...not much in the way of news. Tonight was my last chiropractor
appointment which will free my nights up again. I came home and picked
up Bob to meet Paul and Mary for dinner.
Last night Stephanie and I walked. It was late enough to take the dogs
for their last time out then bring them back home before continuing on
by ourselves.
I am working on various projects at work. Things are pretty slow with
attorney support with a lot of folks out this week and next for the
holidays. Drew and I are both out of vacation for the year. Steve will
be in and out certain days. With end of the year coming up I have
notebooks to set up for next year, etc to work on as well as my
destruction project.
All my shopping is done as well as wrapped and under the tree. Just waiting on the big day to arrive.
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Thursday, 21 December 2006
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Rain is in the forecast for tonight through
Saturday and we really need it. My winter pansies are starting to look
a little dry with no measurable rainfall for the entire month so far.
Tonight after work I had the usual stops to make; library, pet and
grocery store. I has been drizzling off and on since I left work but
not really raining.
We just got back from a quick visit over at Stephanie's. I wanted to
take the girls their Christmas presents since they may be busy Saturday
and Sunday with other activities. I bought them bubbles and bubble
wands at the craft show when Marcia and I went at Thanksgiving. I gave
Shane a soft stuffed giraffe with matching socks I found at
Broadway at the Beach. Jasmine is getting a pair of slipper socks
with Yorkshire Terriers, which is what their dog Missy is, that I
picked up in the same store.
I am still reading the Jane Austen mystery. I have been trying to walk
at lunch for at least half an hour which has cut down on my reading
time. At night I have made it through perhaps three, four chapters at
most before falling asleep. I have been way off my two, two and half
books per week for most of this month.
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Friday, 22 December 2006
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Wet and warm. It does not feel a lot like Christmas. Although we hardly
ever have a white Christmas we usually have cool or cold weather. It
rained/drizzled most of the day giving us a much needed .59 inches of
rain. I walked to the post office at lunch. It was very windy but only
drizzling.
Being a slow day at work can be a good thing or a bad thing. Due to the
lack of demands upon our department from attorneys left me with several
projects to complete. I ended up being a lot more tired by 5pm than if
we had been busy. But, I got a lot work done, which is all that
matters.
Last night I was determined to finish reading the Jane Austen before I
turned off the light. Sure enough, I made it. Today at lunch I started
another Hamish Macbeth. Nice light reading for a holiday weekend.
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Saturday, 23 December
2006
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Greetings from the warm and sunny south.
Morning clouds and fog gave way to 68 degrees with clear blue
skies. The dogs let us sleep in until 8.
I spent the morning doing the weekly cleaning which included
mopping the kitchen floor and starting one of many small loads of
laundry.
I boxed all the VCR tapes from the book case in the den to take
downstairs. The commercial ones I will give to my sister. She may also
want some of the ones we taped. We have some pretty good ones. We are
keeping a few we do not want to part with but by and large we can now
get them on DVD. I have a fairly decent collection of rock music shows
I taped over the years including Billy Joel in Russia from the late
80's. I may keep those.
After lunch Bob and I worked on the downstairs. He is still cleaning
out cupboards and setting up his chemistry lab. As always happens one
project leads to several for me. I need to make room for the surplus
canned food we were storing down there we purchase up here in the
kitchen. Some of the other stuff I need to make room for on the shelves
in the basement once I get those cleaned up.
I flattened boxes to go to the recycle bin, boxed up a pile of junk
from Bob's office to throw in Gerald's dump trailer and did a little
organizing of my lawn equipment. That was enough for one day.
While I check mail and rest I have Christmas CD's playing. I forgot to
have Bob burn those when he was doing my other collection. He can do
that after Christmas. I want to take the small book shelf sized stereo
system we moved up here to my office back downstairs now that I can
play my music on my computer
Thanks again Brian!
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Sunday, 24 December 2006
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Christmas Eve greetings. Dad and I did play
golf this morning. A light frost prevented us from teeing of until
almost 9 am. It remained cool and partly cloudy until about the 14th
hole when I was finally able to shed my sweatshirt.
On the way home I dropped some stuff off at Frances and Al's for mom
for tomorrow to lessen their load. Frances asked why I had not posted
pictures of my tree. I have not even taken any pictures of my tree this
year. I try to limit the amount of time Bob has to spend downloading
and putting pictures up on my web site for me. I will take pictures of
my tree tonight and of the festivities tomorrow and post some next week.
Bob gave me my Christmas present yesterday afternoon. The weather
looked promising for a session under the stars last night. Bob had
bought me a copy of Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.
He wanted me to try it out last night since we never know when we will
get out again. It worked very well along with my new green laser I got
for my birthday. Our friend Steve followed us out to our new place.
When we left our house it was about 58 degrees. Out there under the
clear sky the temperatures were already down to the high 40's. We found
a couple of objects we needed to finish up one constellation then the
conditions went down hill pretty quickly for finding stuff. We packed
up and around 9:30 to come home. Still, it was good to get out.
This afternoon's sunshine is to turn to clouds sometime tonight with
rain coming in for tomorrow. I am going to grill steaks for dinner.
Have a Happy Christmas wherever you may be tomorrow. I will be leaving
around 9 am to go over to Frances and Al's. Bob will come in the
afternoon for dinner. I usually stay on after dinner while he comes
back home to let the dogs out. Depending on what time I get home I may
or may not put up a post for tomorrow.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.