The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back by Charles Pellegrino

I am fascinated by the science of atomic bombs (read American Prometheus), yet a devout pacifist. I would like to believe that if The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino was required reading in high school history classes, we’d never have to worry about atomic war again. But I know that’s not true. War isn’t about what makes sense, it’s about power, or if you’re so inclined, standing up against tyranny, but whatever the motivation, it will never go away.

Aside from the following facts, I loved this book: (1) The author has, under huge criticism, admitted that he was duped by one of his information sources. The books were supposedly recalled and edits made (about 5 pages). (2) The stories are horrifying, graphic and soul crushing. FYI, James Cameron has optioned this book for a movie....

How could I love a book like this? Because I loved the way that Charles Pelligrino clinically broke down the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nano seconds, dissecting the mechanics of the bombs in a way I’ve never heard before, i.e., “One ten-millionth of a second later, a sphere of gamma rays escaped the core at light speed.” Click on Read More.

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 28

#28 – “Always compliment a man on his tie.  That will start the conversation on him and he will be flattered.”
(Mom - with Bruce Todd - totally busted! Bruce was Mayor of Austin, then County Commissioner and my boss.)

My mother was a shameless flirt, even when she was 85-years-old, even when she was 95! I vividly recall one particular incident at Las Palomas Restaurant in Westlake. We were celebrating her 80-something birthday and she was so “involved” with one of the waiters that we could have left the table, gone shopping, returned an hour later and no one would have noticed. I thought we were going to have to tell them to get a room.

Mother’s flirtations were never ever crude though. You may recall my saying that the naughtiest thing I ever heard come out of my mom’s mouth was “d-e-e-r-n,” which I suppose was a throttled-back damn or dang. Her flirtations were more like a Sally Rand fan dance, no flesh revealed, but plenty of titillation. I cannot tell you how many times I saw some hunk lured into the dance. You could see the evolution of attitude on their faces:
1. Ah, what a sweet old lady. I should be nice.
2. Gaud, is this old bitty flirting with me?
3. OK, so she’s a pretty funny ole’ gal.
4. Un huh, well, I got some stuff too. Take that!
5. Woo hoo, this is fun, but I sure hope that no one I know is watching.
6. OK, I’m blushing. Uncle!
Click on Read More.

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 27

#27 – “Put a dishtowel on the kitchen counter when you're making coffee in the morning so you won’t wake up other people.”

 (Photo is of my sisters Gloria, and Dot, my mom, my sister Honey and me - 1979)

This one of one hundred things that my mom taught me a million times nearly makes me tear-up. If I could only use one word to describe my mom it would be “considerate.” So many of the things she taught (tried to teach) me were about being extraordinarily considerate. I’d like to think that this lesson “took,” and from a very specific point, I know it did. To this day, I don’t make coffee in the early morning without tiptoeing around, taking care not to clang dishes or silver, and yes, placing a cup towel on the counter to absorb sounds. Click on "Read More" for the full story.

I Just Want to Play – An interactive, Practical Guide for Parents and Coaches by Debbie Lantz

Anyone who has experienced organized youth sports knows how crazy it can get, so millions of copies of Debbie Lantz’s book, “I Just Want to Play” should probably be dropped from airplanes over every American suburb!

Lantz has been coaching business leaders at Fortune 500 companies such as Hitachi, Nokia, and TI since 1991, has a master’s degree in exercise physiology, and is the single mother of a teenaged son actively involved in sports, so she has credentials. Check her out at http://crazysportsmom.com/

She says that she wrote “I Just Want to Play,” “…to help parents and coaches reclaim the culture of Youth Sports in leagues and schools from an overly competitive adult culture.” Although that sounds mighty lofty, I think this may very well be the “little book that could.” Click on "Read More" to see why.

Gals Graze

I cannot tell you how stimulating, interesting and surprising my Very Smart Gals luncheons always end up being. There’s really nothing quite as dramatic as the real lives of the people we most often swish by nonchalantly each day.  Wednesday was no exception.  
(Left to right, Mary, Sandra and Paula)
 

Mary Moore Harper, whom I love, is my daughter’s sister-in-law, a 5th generation San Antonio rancher and commercial property owner, former Wilhelmina model and rodeo queen, and currently a partner with her husband in the Austin Capitol Chevrolet dealership and a precious nine-month old daughter.

Paula Disbrowe is a chef and a food and travel writer, famous for her fab cookbooks, Cowgirl Cuisine, Crescent City Cooking, co-written with chef Susan Spicer, Down Home with the Neelys (Food Network fame), co-written with the Neelys, and for her magazine writing for New York Times, T Living, Food & Wine, Spa, Health, Cooking Light, and Saveur. In spite of the fact that she and her husband have two young daughters, they’ve launched a new, ubercool business with some Amsterdam-ians (ites?) called "Feather Down Farm Days," which is like eco-tourism, but farm-y, fun and luxurious. Check this out! Click on Feather Down Farm Days.

Sandra Martin is a long time friend, mentor, and icon of ethics and professionalism. She is also the founder of CASA Austin, founding and current CEO of the Kozmetsky Center for Child Protection, and an Austin Woman Magazine cover-gal! Her PlayBingo and Dancing With Stars fundraisers raise more than half a million dollars a year to help abused children in Central Texas. She and I raised more than $10,000,000 a couple of years ago to build their new beautiful center. Check out their website. Click on Center for Child Protection. Click on Read More.

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel By Colum McCann

I didn’t want to like this book, which won rave reviews in 2009, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps I had this preconceived notion that it would be about Philippe Petit, the young French tightrope walker who in 1974, illegally rigged a wire between the World Trade Center Towers, and walked, hopped and toodled his way back and forth for nearly an hour. If you haven’t seen the Academy Award winning documentary, “Man on Wire,” which includes excellent film footage of everything from Petit’s youthful days of tightrope walking, to the blow-by-blow of the harrowing and historic walk that made him famous, go rent it. It is really very good.


Let the Great World Spin is rather about the lives of ordinary people who walk the tightrope of life every day, just like us. McCann begins the book with stunned crowds on their way to work, stopping to marvel and gawk at Petit, just a tiny speck in the sky, weaving back and forth between the towers, above the fray of life, but McCann then quickly gets to the spectacles going on below.

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

In the process of going through a bunch of photos today I came across a few from Halloweens past! Corky Hilliard, Aralyn Hughes, Crouse and I, and about 10 or so other crazies, used to throw the best Halloween Party each year. They were always held at the hottest clubs in town, Antone's, the club above Katz's, some place on Lake Austin that I can't remember the name of, etc. Tons of people came (250-400), people really went all out on their costumes, and we always had a killer band. Someday I’ll post photos of some of the outstanding costumes that our friends came up with, but here are just a few of ours.

Costumes included, Homer and Marge Simpson, Rambo-ette, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, "Cow-man" Miranda, "The Morality Police" and a Deadhead.

One year we were the cover of a romance novel (see photo on
left above). The signs say, “Passion On The High Seas,” and “Taken captive by the dreaded she-devil pirate, scourge of shipping and the terror of the V-birth, he became her cabin boy & love slave.” I also had a jeweled eye-patch and a scary whip!

We went as Marilyn Monroe and "Just Another Dead" Kennedy" (that 's my mom in the mysterious outfit), and "Nurse Naughty" and Watermelon Girl.

ALERT - DON'T CLICK ON 

"READ MORE" 

UNLESS YOU'RE OVER 21!

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 26

#26 – “Always turn the lights off when you leave a room. It saves electricity and helps keep the house cooler.”
(Photo is of my San Antonio Grandkids, Cassie, Will & Syd)
People often ask me, “Do you really have a hundred things, or is that just a catchy title.” I really do have one hundred things. Actually I think it’s right around 103, but who’s counting. Sometimes though I can’t decide which lesson to write about. I just read through them waiting for my muse to jump out. This morning I guess my muse slept in, so when Crouse-y-poo (the husband) wandered through, I said, “Pick a number between 26 and 103.” He picked 87, and #87 on the list became #26, and today’s topic.

You know how when you were a kid and your mom would say things so many times that you just wanted to run out of the house screaming? Well, that’s my #26, “Always turn the lights off when you leave a room. It saves electricity and helps keep the house cooler.” And you know how one day you’re just tootling along and all of a sudden you realize that you’re going room to room, turning lights off, and you get wide-eyes and shriek, “Oh my gaud! I’m turning into my mother!” Yep, I thought so.

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

Loved it, hated it, loved it, hated it, hated it, hated it.

“It’s back,” says the main character, Tim, referring to his mysterious, sporadically reoccurring illness (real or psychological – we never find out), that causes him to walk out of anything and everything, and walk until he drops from exhaustion, suffering frostbite, malnutrition and other physical disasters.  Tim’s a high-powered attorney, wealthy, healthy and smart, until all of a sudden he’s not. Due to his “walking thing” which no amount of Dr.’s worldwide can diagnose or cure, he looses his position in the firm and an important case, which causes one of his clients to eventually kill himself. His illness all but kills his wife. And I found that I wanted to kill him myself about halfway through the book just to be done with it all.  It’s sort of hard to explain, understand, or swallow, but honestly I think it’s more like a metaphor, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Gals Guzzle

Not only do “Gals Graze” (reference previous posts of Gals – Very Smart Gals luncheons), they also sometimes, “Guzzle”!  Thursday night was one such instance as I met Very Smart Gals, Angela Tharpe Guillen and Nancy Weiss Coplin for drinks at Red’s Porch.

(Nancy left - Angela right) 

Nancy is the Music Coordinator at Austin-Bergstrom Airport, has sold music posters at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar forever, manages several musicians/bands in Austin, is very good friends with Marcia Ball, knows more music people than anyone I know, and is very involved in lots of musician support groups. I met Nancy around 1983-ish through the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, which was just being formed.

Angela created and owns the Flamingo Cantina on Sixth Street (a successful music venue for close to 20 years), and is one of the masterminds behind the Austin Reggae Festival.  I knew her long before she became the “Bob Marley” of Austin as she worked for Bob Honts (County Commissioner and Developer) in his private business while I worked for him in his public office.

This And That

The Continuing Saga – My Husband the Housekeeper
Remember my posts saying that my husband Crouse decided that in his retirement, he would come our housekeeper? And then I posted that the “Thrill was gone,” and that he was slacking off? Well, he was a little hurt at my comment that he wasn’t doing such a great job cleaning, and really is trying harder. Can you believe it! I adore my hubby, and he knows it!

OK, this is precious and priceless. Guess what he said right after I returned from a five-day trip to New Mexico? “Did you notice how clean the house is?” Then he rattled off a list of the cleaning chores he’d done. It was so adorable!

My Kitchen Cabinet
Crouse always says that when work gets slow, we start renovating, and he’s right. Over the holidays we renovated and redecorated our front bathroom – not to worry friends, it’s still full of the nudes I’ve collected over the years – it’s just a little less “bordello,” and a little more “museum!”

Also, when we were camping in Fort Davis over Thanksgiving, my Friend Deb Harrington and I saw some bookshelves, the insides of which were painted bright red, and it look fabulous, so I decided that I wanted to paint the insides of my kitchen cabinets (which are open – no doors) a bright color. So, after my husband came down off the ceiling and warmed to the idea, we went to Home Depot to look at paint samples, and ended up with a completely unexpected choice – stop-sign iridescent orange-yellow.

Also – I’d recently, for what reason I can’t account for, purchased a couple of vintage TV lamps, but couldn’t figure out what to do with them. Well, one thing led to another, and a couple of forays on eBay, and next thing you know we owned a number of TV lamps and they were lighting my kitchen cabinets. AND I LOVE IT!

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

I tend to launch right into my opinion, forgetting to tell people what the book I'm reviewing is about. So before I get carried away – Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin is sort of a behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential race, but with an "opening of the kimono" twist, revealing the candidates as we rarely see them,  people just like us – sometimes stupid, sometimes smart, capable of fear, insecurity, profanity, love, pain and plain ole' meanness. So on to the good stuff.

I loved Game Change. I couldn’t put it down. It was an interesting, cleverly written and fun story about a historic time in America. That’s not to say that some of the things about it didn’t tick me off, or that it was completely accurate, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Read on...

The View Out My Window

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning. I drove to New Mexico a few days ago, sick as a dog, but went to the Dr. and got some antibiotics.

So now I'm lying in bed working, blogging, and watching it snow! Beautiful.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 25

#25 – “Don't wear too much makeup. It will make other women distrust you."
(The photo of me and my youngest son, Colt has nothing to do with this blog post - I just like the picture)

This one of one hundred things that my mom taught me a million times, is one I’ve purposely put off talking about because I have such mixed feelings! Just reading and thinking about it makes me feel a little on edge, irritated. Why? Because I don’t want to believe it and intellectually know that it is not an absolute, but in a deeper place, I think it is true, sometimes, and that really, really bothers me. It bothers me that I think it is true, and it bothers me that it could be true. OK. Breathe, breathe. Now, let’s just back up and try to take a little less emotional look at this issue. 

Makeup has a sordid and deadly history. We know Cleopatra wore it - you saw the movie with Elizabeth Taylor, right?  Well, what Cleo/Liz didn’t share was that her lipstick was made from finely crushed carmine beetles mixed with ant's eggs.  This sounds pretty disgusting, but then I strongly suspect that my favorite 99-cent Walgreens lipstick is made out of ground up kittens, by a 4-year old in some 4^th-world country.

Midlife Gals Om Shinasti Yoga

I should have know that my Austin friends KK & Sal would have a better Yoga class for us.

This is just a sample of the hilarious antics these crazy gals are up to. Click on Midlife Gals Om Shinasti Yoga above to visit their website. Ommmmmmmmm.

Click on the arrow and turn up the sound!

Om Shinasti Yoga

MY 2010 EXERCISE REGIME - POO CHI

Going Rogue versus True Compass

I thought this review, which was written for the Odessa American Newspaper by my friend Charlena Chandler, comparing Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin and True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, was balanced, an interesting perspective, well-written, and well ...  you'll see ... especially since it was published in west Texas "Palin country!" I'd love to get your comments back. For those of you unfamiliar with how to comment on my blog, it is really simple. Click on "comment" then choose as your profile, "anonymous" and go at it.

Thanks to Charlena Chandler, author of the exceptional book  

On Independence Creek: The Story of a Texas Ranch, 

 for being such a wonderful writer, person, and friend.  

Going Rogue versus True Compass
 Reviewed by Charlena Chandler

I can’t see much difference in memoir and autobiography, but I am sure that writing either one objectively is a near impossibility.  To paraphrase Scottish poet Robert Burns, we “cannot see ourselves as others see us.”

Two recent publications, both on the NY Times bestseller list, prove that personal stories continue to intrigue us.  We like autobiographies, obviously, especially by political figures.

If you seek contrast in your reading, look no farther than these two books.  We have the old Democrat versus the young, well, somewhat, Republican.   We have the seasoned member of the political world versus a newcomer to the national scene.  And then there’s the interest of two so completely different lives that the reader will wonder if these writers grew up in the same country.

AID FOR HAITI

You can make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund simply by texting HAITI to 90999. 

It will be charged to your phone bill.  This is legit.  I checked it out.  

                                                     Easy. Good. Thanks.   SueAnn

The Best American Series

As previously mention in this blog, I am an armchair scientist, very, very armchair. But each year I can’t wait for The Best American Science Writing to be released. Before I get into the merits of this year’s collection, let me, as Ricky Ricardo of the old I Love Lucy TV show used to say, “esplane” a couple of things.

First, although I l-o-v-e to read, I read very few magazines (Discover, Time, Vanity Fair). In 1989, when The Austin American-Statesman did a lengthy human interest story on me (go figure), the free-lance writer who did the story asked me what magazines I read. My reply was “none.” Since magazine writing was her “bag” she was understandable stunned and asked why, to which I replied, “Too many seductive advertisements reminding me of what I don't have, but really don’t need.”  Anyway, long story short, The Best American is a series of books that comes out each year featuring the best magazine writing in a number of genres. They always have a guest editor (some hot author in the genre) who makes the final decision about what articles are included in the collection, writes the introduction, and justifies the selections.

Some of The Best American collections are topical, i.e., The Best American Science Writing, The Best American Travel Writing, Best American Sports, Mystery, Medical, etc. Some are general, i.e., The Best American Short Stories, Nonrequired Reading, Essays, Poetry, etc., but almost without exception, they are collections of amazing to pretty damn good writing, and mind-boggling to who-gives-a damn topics. And the bonus is that even if you’re not particularly interested in the topic, the articles are typically no more than 5-20 pages long, so you’re in and out pretty quickly, and/or can easily skip forward to something more beguiling. They’re also all in paperback and therefore, not prohibitively expensive.

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 24

#24 – “Always wear a good bra so your breast won’t sag."
(Photo is of mom and I camping on the Medina River)

Since mom and I share (shared) the characteristic of rather large “boobies,” and an unambiguous distaste for bras, we both, unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way. Mean ole’ Mr. Gravity!

I remember with such clarity the first time I put on a bra, which was around the age of 11. Being the Tom-boy that I was, the idea of needing or wanting a bra never crossed my mind, at least not until my across-the-street neighbor, Judy Buchanan, who was a year older than me, showed me hers. Then from some really slippery logic, I thought I needed one too. I didn't have the nerve or inclination to ask my mom to buy me one, so I borrowed one of Judy’s. My reaction was something along the lines of, “That's just wrong. How will I possibly be able to walk around without knocking things over?"

Although that “training bra” (training to be cranky the rest of my natural life) was probably a size 28AAA, I felt freakishly gigantic, embarrassed, changed – like I’d crossed over some invisible, intractable line. I wore the bra out with my mom and dad to the Lucky-something restaurant for dinner, the entirety of which felt very Twilight Zone-y. I just knew that everyone in the restaurant was saying behind their covered mouths, "Look at that girl. Her honkers are enormous!" I don’t think that I wore a bra again for a year or so, or until all my friends started wearing them, but I knew going into that era of my life that there was something about those buds on my chest that were going to impact me forever. An gal-howdy was I right!

It Was Horrible!

Do you have a minute? I just did something horrible and it was horribly horrible and I really need some writing therapy. Not “work” writing therapy, blog writing therapy. I made the horrible mistake of looking too closely at the inside of my refrigerator. Did I mention how horrible it was?  I do not understand how something that holds our food and stays closed 95% of the day could possible become that dirty. And wasn’t it just last week, or last month that I scrubbed it like a 15th century deck hand? Or perhaps it was last year, but anyway my point is that a place where food is stored should not get that nasty. How does that happen!

There was dog hair in there for gawds sake! Of course there’s dog hair everywhere in our house, but honestly, the refrigerator! The dogs are hardly ever in the fridge! Some day I’m going to die a suspicious death and when they do the autopsy and cut me open, gray and black Blue Heeler hair will explode out of me and they'll put me on that A&E medical examiner’s show. What’s her name?

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 23

#23 – “Always keep a little towel in the car.”
(Ann and Mom pictured left have nothing to do with this blog post. I just like the picture.)

This one of one hundred things my mom taught me a million times is one I can never seem to learn. My husband can't learn that pots on the stove are hot. Every time he goes into the kitchen I have to say to him, “Honey, that pan's hot!” Otherwise, he'll burn himself.  The "pan's are hot" cell in his brain is simply missing. Who knows. His great, great grandfather probably burned himself all the time too, and the gene was just passed down through the generations. It’s hardwired. Same with me and the “Keep a towel in the car” lesson. It just won't stick.

For example, we have a dog named Velcro (seriously – if you met him you’d understand the name), a beautiful yet annoyingly affectionate Blue Heeler. Anyway, Velcro (formerly named Isaac Ivanovitch) was a stray in San Antonio, which my son-in-law took in and passed on to us.  So on the way from San Antonio to Austin, transporting Isaac nee Velcro to his new home, he became so excited that he threw up …  a lot … into my purse, which was coincidentally and unfortunately between the seats, directly below his head.

Introducing Our New Granddaughter – Khloe Angelia Noelke

Anyone that doesn’t believe in miracles has probably never been around the birth of a child. There is just something magical and surreal about a child floating around in the body of a mother, then being born to a infinitely different world – and thriving.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL YOU STINKERS!

From SueAnn and Her Grandkids, Sydney, Quenten, Will and Cassie!

Click on the arrow and turn up your sound!!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

In Case You Were Wondering....

• When I was 9-years-old, my dad showed me how to set a dynamite charge (he owned a road construction company).
• After I graduated from high school, I was offered a scholarship to Texas Tech as a twirler but turned it down to get married.
• I took a job in 1981 at a ranch in New Mexico that was once a survivalist’s commune under surveillance by the FBI as a suspected hide out for the Symbionese Liberation Army, which were holding Patty Hearst captive. Turns out the survivalists were growing marijuana underground. The man whose job I assumed supposedly committed suicide, but I found out that he was actually murdered, by my boss!
• When I was 10-years-old I pee'd my pants on 3rd base because no one could hit me in. Since I had on a dress, no one knew. I threw my socks in the trash in the school bathroom.
  

"Pre-Loved" Designer Handbags & Accessories

I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of women. Last Thursday my husband and I stopped by Mighty Fine for a burger before our trek to our daughter’s for Christmas.  Although I’m not easily distracted from a mighty fine burger, I couldn’t help but notice that the gal sitting a couple of chairs away had a mighty cute denim Louis Vuitton purse. I am also not a hard-core designer bag person, but there was just something about this one that felt special, so I said, “Cute bag! Where’d you get it?” The equally cute gal lit up and said, “Thank you. I actually buy and sell used designer handbags and other accessories on my website b.chic. http://bchictoo.com/!” 

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 22

#22 – “Always rinse your face with cold water. Hot water breaks down the tissue and causes more wrinkles.”

(Photo of these "Young Bohemians" was taken in 1968 at my niece's wedding, left to right, nephew Jack (Jay) Morgan, former sister-in-law Freida Kay Noelke Davenport, me, former husband Herbie Noelke, nephew Monte Morgan, niece Jolinda Morgan, nephew Wade Hudman.)

When I saw #22 on the list of the one hundred things mom taught me a million times, I was reminded of the Bible verse in Ecclesiastes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). See, I’m not a total heathen!

As far as we know, Ecclesiastes was written by Qohelet, who introduces himself as "son of David, and king in Jerusalem," who, according to Wikipedia, “proclaims all the actions of man to be inherently ‘vain’ … as the lives of both wise and foolish men end in death.”  Now there’s a cheery thought for Christmas Eve!

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

About 3 minutes into The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter (listening to it on my iPod while driving to Ft. Davis), I texted my book club members, and a couple of other over readers, “Good book – Fincial Lives of the Poets.” Then pulled over and stopped on the side of the road to text, “Correction, Financial.” I live a dangerous life. On the edge. Jane Bond in an SUV! I would like to see Daniel Craig text multiple parties while speeding 75 mph, steering with one knee (naked). But the point is that Jess Walter had me at “The milk is like $9 a gallon,” (you’ll just have to trust me on this).

Matt (main character) and his family feel like reality – not your gritty, gut wrenching tale of abuse and alcoholism and dysfunction – just your normal financially overextended (fiscal Ebola), neopolitan marriage turning to vanilla, yikes I’m middle aged, and my boss is Attila the Hun reality. 

Over Readers Anonymous

First, I want to say that I just read two new books that were so arresting that I had to add fourth and fifth runners up for best books of the year. Fourth Runner Up - Best Book Of The Year!! The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter – hilarious prose – stay tuned for full review tomorrow. Fifth Runner Up- Best Book Of The Year!! Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn – an eye opening look at female issues in 3^rd world countries – stay tuned for full review tomorrow

Next - Books I Read in 2009 That Didn’t Make It To My Top Ten List – Pretty Good, To “How’d This Even Get Published?” Unless you have an extreme book-addiction and a high tolerance for verbal flatulence, this will probably bore you out of your gourd. If you get through the whole list, I salute you! Click on Read More below to get the “Full Monty”.

The Year in Science

What most of you probably don’t know about me is that I’m an armchair scientist (emphasis on armchair). My college minor was geology and I took a variety of science classes as electives, simply because I love learning the what, why, where and how of life. If it had been a fathomable option for my generation and gender, I guess I would have become a scientist. But it really wasn’t, or didn’t seem so at the time, so for years I’ve read a lot about science – on a very superficial, novice-y level mind you, i.e., the annual Best American Science and Nature Writing books, Discover magazine (to which I have subscribed for years) and the books they recommend, and an occasional Popular Science or Scientific American, usually purchased in airports along with People magazine (which reveals the dichotomy of my whacky interests.)

Anyway, one of my favorite issues of Discover is the annual review of the top 100 science discoveries/stories of the year. Let’s see if I can summarize the top 10 in a couple of sentences, without boring you to tears. First, the list, then click on “Read More” for my “take” on each:
1. Vaccines & Autism
2. NASA – We Have a Problem
3. Anthropological Origins -Theory De Jour
4. Stem Cell Miracles
5. 12 Billion Years Ago
6. Swine Flu
7. Graphene – The New Silicon
8. Earth-Like Worlds Discovered
9. Burying Carbon Emissions
10. The Psychology of Overspending

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 21

#21 – “Never get on a motorcycle because if you have a wreck and scar up your face no man will ever want to marry you.”

This morning when I saw this one of one hundred things on the list of the things my mom taught me a million times, I let out a big honking laugh and flashed back on a vivid memory. When I was around 16-ish, I started dating my children’s father, who was five years older than me, in college and owned a number of very fast vehicles, including a motorcycle.

One might wonder why a mother (my dad died when I was 12) would let her 16-year-old date a 21-year-old. Simple. He was from a ranching family (which by our little west Texas standards meant “blue blood”), which was every mothers dream in 1964 – that her daughter might marry “well.” Although the fact that he lived on a huge beautiful ranch, drove a hot new car every year, and could afford to take me exotic places (Dallas, ha ha), didn’t escape my notice, but I was head-over-heels in love with him, so all that was superfluous to me.

2009 Books I Hope To Read Soon

What follows are books published in 2009 that I have not yet read, but based upon consistently good reviews and many “best of” lists, hope to soon:

Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn
Vignettes on women activists in Africa, India and China. I’ll listen to this one today on my way to my daughter-in-law’s baby shower!

Click on "Read More" below to see the full list.

MY FAVORITE 2009 READS

A friend suggested that I publish a "Best Books of 2009" list, since everyone else does. The only problem is I didn't read every book published in 2009, or even half the ones I wanted to. So my "best of" list is really just the best books I read this year ... ta da! "My Favorite 2009 Reads!"

I also didn't think it would be fair to name the book and author without giving a clue as to what it is about, but I didn't want to get into lengthy descriptions, so I limited myself to a brief sentence (loosely put), and it ended up being kinda fun. So click on "Read More" below and comment on your favorite 2009 reads.  And the photo to the left, me at the SMU Twirling School in 1965, has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Push by Sapphire

Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere you’ve no doubt heard about the movie Precious, the Indy darling de jour. That movie was adapted from the book Push by Sapphire.  The book, Push, is a sophomoric, Jerry Springer-ish, pornographic, piece of weirdness that feels like a stereotypical, emotional exploitation of a topic that deserves better treatment. It is also a sometimes interestingly presented, albeit consistently painful story, that if it was a true story, and I have no doubt that it could be true, would feel less exploitive. I found myself alternately frustrated, compelled, disappointed and intrigued. There’s a good story there, but based on the movie reviews, it must be much more well told in the movie than in the book, which is really, really rare.

Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan

The word filicide derives from the Latin word filius meaning "son". Filia in Latin also means daughter. Filicide, like incest and child abuse, is a topic so hideous that no one wants to think about it, much less read about it, which is not much of a problem, because as a society, we tend to stick our heads in the sand about such things. And although it seems every other book that’s come out in the past few years includes child abuse in the plot, they are usually glossed over pretty effectively – just enough info to get us temporarily emotionally involved, but not enough to send us lobbying to our legislators, demanding a crack-down on child rape and filicide.

OK, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I’ll tell you about Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan, which is about filicide, marital dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, identity crisis, child neglect, rape, hormonal imbalance, psychiatric malpractice, job stress,  infidelity, pornography, postpartum depression, post traumatic stress disorder, etc., etc.

The Midlife Gals

I can be a little slow on the up-take sometimes, so thank gaud I have very smart gals around to give me a little leverage. I must be the last person in Austin to hear about The Midlife Gals, but as the saying goes, better latte then fever. Thanks to Very Smart Gal, Aralyn Hughes for hooking me up with KK and Sal Jackson, The Midlife Gals. Let me just tell you that I flipped out over these very smart gals. They are hilarious and they're famous. Click on the link above to check out their website. They have a blog, a radio show, videos (must watch), are AAS "Fortunate 500" picks, are guest writers for More Magazine, and are commentators on MidLifeBachelor.com (scroll down to Midlifegals.com Video Responds To Man Who Wants Girlfriend 20+ Years Younger - too too funny!)

So in January I'm meeting KK and Sal for martini's at the Four Seasons, and I can't wait! And I'm practicing my "Head Thwomp" (check their website for explanation). I love it when women come out of themselves to be the unique, special and wonderful creatures into which life has welded them - Very Smart Gals!  Yee Haw! Ride 'Em Cowgirl!

Aliens Return Husband

“Yep. That’s him,” says wife. “Whatever!”

I knew it was too good to be true. The aliens returned my lovable slob and took away Mr. Clean. But then who can blame him. Housekeeping just loses it glamour very quickly. I’m OK with that. It was really pretty spooky, and I was starting to have hallucinations from all the Fabrez. Welcome home honey, and get your dang Crocks out of the middle of the dang floor!

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 20

#20 - “Sauces are just to disguise poor cuts of meat.”
Of course the irony here is that my generation of cooking is all about sauces, which begs the question. Were sauces invented to, as mom said, disguise poor cuts of meat, or to, as we are taught today, compliment cuts of meat, and is there a difference?

I Googled “The History of Sauces” (as I do everything), and sure enough, at What’s Cooking America.com, http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/SauceHistory.htm
I found an entire page dedicated to what one would expect to be a rather obscure topic. First sentence, “The word "sauce" is a French word that means a relish to make our food more appetizing.” They go on to say, “Sauces are liquid or semi-liquid foods devised to make other foods look, smell, and taste better, and hence be more easily digested and more beneficial. Because of the lack of refrigeration in the early days of cooking, meat, poultry, fish, and seafood didn't last long. Sauces and gravies were used to mask the flavor of tainted foods.” Yikes! Click on Read More Below...

GALS GRAZE

Yesterday I had lunch at the Blue Dahlia with three Very Smart Gals, (left to right), Aralyn Hughes, Debra Winegarten, and Mari King, and I'm still buzzing.