the location of reality

[Ellen]

It's over! They had a very nice luncheon for me: more pasta and cake. Time for a new diet!

I'm a bit in shock but very happy. Thank you all for being so supportive.

[Megan]

Ellie, happy retirement!! Onto the next adventure, how exciting! :)

[Petra]

Happy Retirement, Ellie! I'm so glad you had a good day.

[Ice, Pilgrim]

Happy Retirement - new mexico awaits !?

And for those of us still 'crushed by the wheels of industry' the future awaits.

[Ellen]

Thank you everyone!!

Ice, I'm still hoping for New Mexico but first I have to see Katie (my daughter) through her last year of college. The three of us are combining our incomes so we can stay in the city until she graduates. Then, who knows?

I am as happy right now as I have ever been.

And now the next phase of my life begins!

[Petra]

Good morning, Ellie. How did you feel this morning as you woke? First day of something completely new.
In a year your daughter will also have new adventures. That's exciting.

Magdelanye, I hope today's rain is helping with the fire. Haven't heard from you for a few days. I hope all is well.

[Ellen]

I left the alarm on for 4:20 just so I could turn it off and go back to sleep. It was wonderful.

Also, I am excited for Katie! She's doing an internship this summer at Rutgers which is also a wonderful opportunity for her. I'm so proud of her.

Magdelanye, how are you? Have the fires stopped?

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

gosh I missed this, I think.
That was one of the most intense weeks of my life, and thats saying quite a bit. The police incident with landlord was just days before the fire. We are so lucky they were able to contain it.

How did Katies internship work out? Was it as impressive as it sounds? I have a feeling Ellie that you are busy as ever in your retirement. Petra is an old hand right now-pun not intended. I can't imagine having to work full time now.
Sorry all you others still locked in. I wish you well and hope the world will carry on so you too can retire. Ice, I know you have a countdown calendar

I have decided I need to go to a music festival to celebrate the end of summer and today I managed to get my tent from storage, leaving early tomorrow with a lift to Comox. Then we'll see, there is a local bus I remember . I am taking a hokey book verging on romance about a bookstore, that I have just started and not even entered yet, The Moment of Everything Shelly King I have to leave my other reads behind :-) for 3 days which is sad but they are all hardcovers and heavy. Besides, I will be busy dancing,

I was on such a roll writing reviews this afternoon but I had to leave with a review half done to put up the laundry and get to my storage

May everybody enjoy this summer in September!
Autumn is two full weeks away!

what with the notification lag, hope you can find me here.

!

[Ellen]

Magdelanye wrote: "gosh I missed this, I think.
That was one of the most intense weeks of my life, and thats saying quite a bit. The police incident with landlord was just days before the fire. We are so lucky they w..."

I somehow missed the events going on in your life! Are you ok? What fire? Are your things ok? I'm so glad you are able to go to a music festival. It sounds wonderful. Dancing is always, for me anyway, so healing.

It's too bad you can't take all your books with you but I often discover new books that way. I have my "at home" (i.e., books that weigh a lot) books and my "travel" books (usually poetry plus my Kindle). Hope your "hokey" book is fun reading. I look forward to finding out--I'm always looking for lighter books to balance out my reading.

I can't wait to read your reviews.

Katie's internship was wonderful. She was very happy and made some good contacts which will help in getting into graduate school. It sounds like she did very well there, which is no surprise. She's bright and hard-working.

She may go to Canada for her graduate work. It's a little scary for me (we make it on our combined incomes so I'm not sure what I'll do without her) but also very exciting. It's wonderful to see your child come into their own and have their dreams come true (if she doesn't get into that school, which she has a very good chance of doing, I'm sure she'll find somewhere else).

I am very busy and happy. The weather has been beautiful, true September weather, warm and sunny. I am off soon to meet friends. There's still not enough time in the day to do everything I want to!

I'm finally making some real progress in Demons and starting to really enjoy it. Looks like you were right, Magdelanye!

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

such mixed emotions reading Ellies last post. I decided this was a good place to put this comment because the location of my reality is shifting. Deep in the process of packing, I have had to be so flexible to the needs of the people who offred to help. So here, with more than a week till the end of the month my neighbourr with the trailer announced its gotta be done today. Its all very awkward but the intense work Ive been doing practicing mindfulness is so helpful and Im relatively calm.
very nice to hear from MJ
you are very welcome to play with us here! As a few of us know, you will likely have some astute observations about some of the threads.

[Ice, Pilgrim]

What I have been reminded of is that plans need to be flexible. This year the family holiday to Spain got cancelled 18 hours before departure, but we had a few nights away on a Staycation. The annual trip to Gozo is currently still on, but I will have to quarantine for 14 days upon my return. I have pushed the retirement calendar out by a year.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

@Ice, keep puushing

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

midnight here the silence is audible
my last day in this location before the big shift. I am so grateful for my time here.
Thank you too my fellow passengers for being a constant in my life.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

location sure counts for a lot. I have finally managed to find a more comfortable situation. Nothing like stable or permanent, but I can stay awhile in peace in exchange for looking after 3 cats and possibly the dog, all beautiful animals. It's across from a park and there a grocery store within walking distance. Tonight is my first night, it's all a bit strange but just right for now.

[Petra]

Magdelanye, that sounds peaceful and serene. Being surrounded by animals will bring rest and love. I hope you can stay there for a long time.
.....how close to the library are you? I hope it's within walking distance, too.

[Ellen]

I'm so happy Magdelanye: peace and beauty,

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Thank you Petra and Ellie for your continued support.
Peaceful and serene is what I am cultivating and it is blissfully quiet here.
Library is too far to walk to but bus stop is a block away and maybe a 20 minute bus ride.
Today begins a predicted snow storm. Petra maybe your getting it too.
But spring may not be too far off (big smile)

[Petra]

We had the snowstorm, too. It started around dinner time and didn't stop until the early hours. Hubby got up around 4:30 and it was still snowing heavily at that time. We got about 20 centimeters. How much did you get, Magdelanye?

That's a reasonable bus ride for getting to the library. Peace and a quiet surrounding gives the soul some rest.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

you might not be too surprised Petra, to hear that I still use inches, so about 6 of those. Does that mean you got more or less than we did? Today was gorgeous, bright and sunny, deep blue sky.

Ah the library! Turns out that my beloved Sechelt library is on a completely different system. It wasnt possible to transfer my holds to the library in Powell River, and though one can return books from Sechelt to the PRL and they will forward, the time I tried it, it took 6 weeks.
And as hard as I try, I can't seem to completely break the Sechelt connection. Last time Phil (the friend I was staying with)went down for a four day job he returned 6, leaving me with 9, but came back with 5. I have 4 now ready to return, and 4 I still have to finish copying my notes :-) including the Bryson and Michael Singer, and then theres Ravensbruk.
It's curious, Singers book is by far the shortest of those I just listed by at least 400 pages, but 3 or 4x the number of notes.
It's time-consuming but so worth it to have my notes even after writing my review I often have cause to look something up.

[Petra]

Magdelanye, if I request a book from another library system it takes up to 6 months (!!!!) to get the book sent to my library.
I once requested a book and by the time it arrived, I'd forgotten all about requesting it. ....plus......I had to read it in 2 weeks and there were no renewals.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Especially when out of the blue someone likes an old review of a book I'd almost forgotten

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Now that was strange. Just finished charging the fone and I noticed there was a new message from Petra (do your friends call you Pet?) so came here but the last message was from me. so I clarified it and posted that and then for some reason scrolled up to see what time had elapsed between my two messages and there was Petras message where it certainly wasnt when I began. Sneaky.
As for the length of time from request to delivery, it varies wildly. 6 months is a frustratingly long time to wait but I've waited longer.
That's quite funny that you'd forgotten your request by the time the book got there, but not so amusing that you had to read it pronto. Hope it wasn't a doorstop! And that it was perfect timing, just what you needed.
What branch is your favored library and how far away? Why did I imagine it at the community centre you go to for tai chi and carving- Probably because of Brittania and Carnegie.

I keep track of my holds and many of them are at least a year waiting for the library to acquire the book. >I may just cancel them all (although forgive me I did add a title today)

[Petra]

My mom used to call me Pet, but no one else. I guess I'm not as cuddly as one would expect a Pet to be. LOL....

You would be right, Magdelanye. Since the new Community Centre was finished (4 years ago?....something like that), the library is in the same building as Tai Chi is. Carving is in an Art building that is closer to City Hall, but is affiliated with the Community Center.
My favored branch is New Westminster but my main branch is Port Coquitlam.
Both libraries have mostly the same books, but the New West one has a wider selection with many less popular books. Also, they have a storage basement for older books. I've found many a gem in the storage room. The PoCo library system seems to get rid of books when they are no longer popular; there's no storage area.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Isn't New West way on the other side of town? I don't mind going out of my way to get to a library- they are all so different, don't you agree? It's curious how much.
When I was traveling a few years back, I found it thrilling to visit a few of the libraries that send me my requests, like the one in Kamloops which is grand. Vancouver Island has their own excellent system and I actually have a card. It's interesting to me which library carries which books, often surprising. Is it merely that that is the only library that has the book available to lend out? But it often appears that the lending library has The Only Copy in the province. In that system. Devon Price comes to mind.
Storage or the stacks are indeed wonderful! Even the discard shelves have some real gems, and the monthly library sales are usually a bonanza.
Culling books is a huge issue in libraries and bookstores as there is a laudable desire to keep the books relevant and fresh.
Still, I am of the opinion that certain authors be fully represented with at least one copy of their works available at all times.
I remember well the long hours we put in on inventory days that dragged on into nights as we reviewed the history of every single book in the store. I defended Anais Nin, who had been languishing on the shelf for 8 years without a sale. Gloria vehemently wanted to drop her. So what, I argued. Someday someone will be overjoyed to find it here. Like all books,waiting to be discovered, but even more precious because old and rare and often neglected, on the verge of being lost.

[Petra]

Magdelanye wrote: "you might not be too surprised Petra, to hear that I still use inches, so about 6 of those. Does that mean you got more or less than we did? Today was gorgeous, bright and sunny, deep blue sky...."

I forgot to answer this......funny the things that pop into my brain as I lie in bed trying to get to sleep. LOL.
We got about 8-10 inches of snow.

[Petra]

Yes, New West is the next town over and a bother to get to from our home. But whenever I go there, I make a trip to the library. I can return the books in PoCo, so no problem.
I come out of the New West library with way more books than I can hope to read, just because I'm there and have the opportunity.

The culling of books that aren't being often read is leading to the demise of many good and valuable authors. The young kids today don't see Steinbeck or Orwell or Verne or the Classics authors on the shelves as much, or at all. These authors and more slip from memory too easily.
New books today only hang around for a year or two. There's no longevity, it seems, and we're losing the longevity we had by discarding the books so easily.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

honestly Petra I am thankful we still have books in print. But you started me wondering about some of my old faves and if they are at all known to todays readers, like Somerset Maugham and Isak Denison and Jean Rhys and Knut Hansom. Virginia Woolf I think is still admired and actually Orwell too. I just read that excellent biography of GO published not long ago.

As for mainstream fiction a lot is shlock, but there's some amazing stuff being written these days that fills in so many gaps. Plus the amazing abundance of native writers coming out everywhere.

I wont list because on the fone so no links. I am going to see if my laptop works any better here but I haven't set it up yet. It needs to be plugged in and an extension cord found first.