Things I Like to Chat About

 I love to learn. I am a librarian and so many topics interest me. Here are some topics and people that I care about. Do we share any interests?

Authors: Rumer Godden and Agatha Christie. Fascinating lives, lived at same time but paths apparently did not cross. Rumer spent half her life in India and Agatha many years camping in harsh conditions in remote deserts in Syria with her archeologist husband Max. Favorite novelist Anthony Trollope. D.E. Stevenson. P. G. Wodehouse for good laughs. Mapp and Lucia books by E.F. Beaton. Poet Mary Oliver.

 

I like novels set in India during the time when British were there. Novels set in Turkey. Many mystery series. Alexander McCall Smith, especially Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency set in Botswana. 

Memoirs. A favorite memoir on aging is Essays At 80 by American Poet Laureate Donald Hall. He lives alone in an isolated farm house in New England once owned by his grandparents. He is aging well and inspires me. The memoirs by Agatha Christie and Rumer Godden.

Petra in Jordan. A place of wonder I visited. Two American college girls visiting the desert long ago.

 

My favorite coffee shop below. 

 

 Gad Saad, Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, Maye Musk, Russell Brand in his Christian path. Katie Hopkins.

TV shows. Tatort Munster. Great friendship between the detective and the coroner. The new 3 part Seven Dials. The new Northanger Abbey. Eastenders, watching it from almost the beginning. Munch (funny). Son of a Critch (based on memoir, funny, sweet). The current series of Father Brown, 13 seasons now.

If you know me, C.S. Lewis is my Christian mentor. One favorite of his books is The Great Divorce, fiction about people who reject God and who accept God and his imaginative look at what happens at the moment of death. 

Flowers flowers you can not have too many flowers. I treated myself to the above bouquet at Costco.  A week later on Mothers Day my youngest son came over with another glorious bouquet and card. 

What do you like?

funnies, blue Turkish ceramics

 

Above is a cup I bought in Bursa, Turkey, where they are famous for their blue ceramics. The second photo shows blue Turkish tiles in the Blue Mosque. I visited it several times, it is beautiful. In Turkey they were not allowed to depict people or animals in art, so many of the designs are floral. I wrote my B.A. Art History thesis titled "History of the Development of the Mosque" The old grand mosques are airy and uplifting as are the Cathedrals of Europe.

Gardening Brings Me Joy and Mamaw Tribby

 "Did I take time out to laugh, to love,

To see, to think, to pray?

These are the thoughts that cross my mind

At the closing of the day."  Mamaw Tribby 

quote from the book "A Garden's Grace" by Nancy Hutchins 

Gardening brings me such joy. I know many of you feel the same peace when you see your gardens. Also some of us love to see gardens our neighbors provide. 

 The above is from my patio fence and has volunteer nasturtiums.

 

 

 

My dad enjoyed nurturing his garden and lawn at our Wisconsin home. He especially liked pruning our forsythia and lilac bushes. Once in a while he pruned a bit too much but we always had yellow forsythia and lilac blooms every spring. We had a white lilac, a dark purple lilac and a light lilac flower lilac all next to each other. The white lilac was about 10 feet tall, almost a tree, I planted a lilac recommended for where I live in California but it doesn't produce blooms. This year it had one group of blooms! I have had this lilac for about 15 years and I am not giving up on it.

 

 

Christmas Joy and Beauty to All

 

The top two are from my home this Christmas.

 The above is a Christmas card I sent.

What a joy to know Jesus prepares a place for me in Heaven and for all who follow Him.

 

And a lovely card from penfriend Monica, I am sure it says "Merry Christmas" in Swedish.

Where I find health info, Where do you find health info?

 

I subscribe to the Epoch Times newspaper which arrives once a week in a paper edition. One section I like is the Mind and Body section. November 19-24 2025 has so many health articles. "Dehydration Spikes Stress Levels" and a favorite for me "9 Lessons from the Longest-Living Among Us." See above photo.

These long lived people share tips from their own lives. One of the women is an example of "Tap Into Forgiveness." 25 years ago when she was 79 at a prayer service she forgave the Communists who killed her parents and 5 of her six siblings. It lifted a load from her shoulders and she became more content. She is 104 today. Another tip is "Don't Dwell on Your Age."  

Another article is on preventing Pickleball injuries. Pickleball is very popular in my town, I live near a Pickleball court. "Eye Injuries Among Pickleball Players on the Rise: Study". Another article is "How Gut Microbes Influence Cancer Risk." I take a probiotic about 5 times a week and eat a healthy yogurt every day. 

Do you have favored sources for health info? I also subscribe to the Mayo Clinic Health Newsletter which arrives once a month. I have the Grok app and ask it health questions. Any tips you care to share for keeping healthy?

Several of you friends reminded us in your comments to stay hydrated. A great reminder. Sometimes we don't feel thirsty but I try to drink anyway, to stay hydrated. 

Bob Dylan postcards, Baptism, A Funny Exercise

 Do you love gardening? It is so calming, nature is patient. Plant a seed and hope. 

 Here are two old postcards of my much admired Bob Dylan. I have had them about 25 years and posted them at my desk at work. Now I am retired and still hang on to them. He is so playful and happy in the photos, and so young.My husband and I saw him in live performance in our city about 15 years ago. A show where he engaged with the audience. I still have the Dylan tee shirt I bought at the concert.

I had an especially joyful Sunday because my adult sons wanted to go to church with me. Adult baptisms were scheduled and that is very upbeat to see. It turned out one lady about my age was baptized and she told a little bit about her story, A month ago I attended with my sons and 5 young men were baptized. This gives me hope for the future. When I say young I mean in their 20s, 30s 40s, etc. Churches like ours are great places to find a future spouse!

"Younger generations now outpacing parents in church attendance, study finds." Hope for the present and the future. Charlie Kirk's assassination is motivating some of this return to church and to seeking, as young people reject violence. Hurray.

Memoirs,Writing to Authors,The Correspondent great novel

Earlier this month I happened to see the novel "The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans on sale on Kindle and bought it. This is now one of my favorite novels. It is hard to put it down. The main character is in her 70s and writes letters on paper. Not emails nor texts, too ephemeral. She even writes paper letters to favorite authors and loves when they answer her. She corresponds with some famous authors. She has a stalker who writes threatening hateful notes to her. 

I not only love the main character but I am inspired to write to an author, a physical paper note. The author I  chose wrote a memoir recently. I will tell you who I chose after I write the letter. I wrote two letters to favorite authors decades ago and they each wrote back to me! One was Sheldon Vanauken, for his memoir "A Severe Mercy: A Story of Faith, Tragedy and Triumph" of his love for his wife and how he recovered from grief at her death and was guided to be a Christian by correspondence with C.S. Lewis. 

 

The other author I wrote to was Madeleine L'Engle about her 4 memoirs, collectively titled the Crosswicks Journals. I wrote to her just using Crosswicks Connecticut as her address and she wrote back. All 4 Crosswicks Journals memoirs are brilliant and The Summer of the Great-Grandmother a favorite for me. She is famed for many novels including "A Wrinkle in Time" which was made into a movie.

If you have written to authors or other celebrities please tell me in your comments. Let me know if they answered you or not. I am curious.