Wc 012021 Things I collected as a child

 

Today's topic: Things I collected as a child.

Comic Books, the one thing my parents splurged on for us. Every week we'd both get a quarter and could buy four comic books. 

My brother and I avidly read The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men, Sergeant Fury's Howlers, The Hulk, Thor, and others by Marvel. We also read Classics Illustrated. My first encounter with Frankenstein, Les Misérables, Lord Jim, From the Earth to the Moon, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island.

DC. Yes we read Superman, Batman, Super Boy and others.

Then one horrible day we came home from school and Mom put them all in the trash right before the garbage men came and took them away.

I ran track and cross-country in junior high and high school. I collected ribbons, medals and trophies. The one's I was most proud of were: City champion in the 660 yd. dash in 9th grade.

Team state runners up in Cross-Country junior year. 

State Champion in the mile senior year. In college we were team champions in Texoma Conference of the NAIA in Cross-country.

I finished 150th out of two thousand runners at nationals in Cross-Country in 1974. 

I was the first mile champion in the newly formed Texoma Conference setting the record, it didn't last long. I still have my trophies in a wall bookcase. The ribbons and medals are in a shoe box next to my scrapbook.

Cameras. These I inherited. My father had a photography minor and did photo shoots of weddings and birthdays for awhile. He left me an original Polaroid Land Camera. Around five of the old type 660 film cameras that you look down on the view screen. And two older 35mm cameras from the early 1960's. I've had a few offers on two of his look down cameras, but no takers on the polaroid.

One I think just about all of the members of WC have on their list is BOOKS.

These are my erotic stories under the name Javan Tenebrae. 

The Good Goddess by Javan Tenebrae is an anthology of erotic short stories.

It starts with an ancient goddess who answers the plea of a lonely man wanting someone to love. The goddess known by many names: Bona Dea, Isis, Aphrodite, Venus and others reincarnates and begins to answer the prayers of lonely people looking for love and meaningful relationships. Her followers share the love she gives them to others and they are attacked by other religions and the government. Some are martyred, but message of love and sharing with others only grows.

First Weekend is a corporate outing where everyone is into swinging.

Failure is about a man getting divorced and visiting an old girlfriend who married his best friend in college.

Triple Indemnity is about a gold digger who marries wealthy old men, even agreeing to signing a prenuptial agreement as long as she gets a multi-million dollar life insurance policy.

Toy Store I'll let you imagine.

A Bull Named Fu Manchu is about a man whose been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He decides instead of riding a bull to spend his last good days enjoying himself in other ways. 

Hadrian's Wall a Roman legionnaire gets rest and relaxation away from the wall and entertains a wealthy noble woman. 

Love Lust Story a law professor is interviewed on his life long fight against obscenity laws by recalling how it started with a fight at the University of New Mexico over the poem Love Lust by Lenore Kendall.

 

WC 011321

 

Today's challenge is five most interesting places I've visited.

Mexico. This is the only foreign country I've visited. Growing up as a family drove to El Paso twice and went across the border to Juarez. We didn't venture far into the city. It was fun watching Dad settle on the price of what we bought. I'm sure we overpaid. We ate a dinner each time at the Florida Club, one of the few places you could drink the water. 

Dad bought a velvet painting of a ship on a blue background. It hung on the wall of our house for many years.

While in college running track the first meet of the season was Border Olympics in Laredo, TX. In Nuevo Laredo I bought a leather hat that matched the fringe jacket I still owned from the last trip to El Paso and an Onyx chess set. No one in their right mind would eat across the border. I ran my fasted mile at the Border Olympics that year.

New Mexico. I've lived in the state most of my life. There is much to visit here. These are the places I've visited:

Mesa Verde National Monument: Cliff dwellings in the four corners area.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

White Sands National Park.

Bandolier National Monument.

Petroglyph National Monument, I drive by it often, it borders Albuquerque.

Elephant Butte Lake. During Memorial day and Labor day it becomes the second largest city in the state.

Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was exploded.

Colorado. We lived in Pueblo when I was a child we visited three places close together. Buckskin Joe's, Royal Gorge and Cripple Creek. Buckskin Joes was a mock western town that had a shoot out, trial and hanging every day at noon. Lots of trinket for sale. The Royal Gorge was built by the CCC in the 1930's. It was the world's highest suspension bridge at the time. You could walk across it and look down, but there wasn't a road on the other side so no cars were allowed. Cripple Creek is a gold mining town turned tourist attraction. There was a saloon with a stage and they put on a melodrama. It was a lot of fun booing and hissing the villain and cheering the hero.

North Carolina: I was born in this state, but Dad was in the marines and while still an infant he was transferred to California. 

Summer of 2000, I took four students from New Mexico to Ashville, NC. for the annual YMCA Conference on Youth Affairs. We flew from Albuquerque to Dallas where we joined forty other students and their sponsors. We then left Texas on a bus and drove with only minimal stops through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and into North Carolina. The whole way it was like driving in a tunnel. There were trees on both sides of the road.

We got out of the bus in Ashville at a shopping center to buy a few necessities for the week ahead. I looked at the headlines on that day's newspaper. A city councilor was being accused of something, the mayor was under fire for something he said. We traveled fifteen hundred miles, but the politics were the same. Had a great time watching the kids debate loads of issues. It was a long drive back and flight.

Kansas. The most interesting place I visited on all many trips from Albuquerque to Nebraska to visit wife's family was a stop in Abilene, Kansas at the Eisenhower Presidential Library. It's the only presidential library I've visited, and he was president when I too young to remember him, but I was impressed with the library. There's the house where he was born well preserved. He and his wife are buried in the library. I was most impressed with his military section. It housed his command jeep, uniforms, trophy case with his medals, lots of weapons and information about D-Day. In a glass case is a special commemorative sword made by the Wilkinson Sword company in England. The only other commemorative sword the made was for the Duke of Wellington.

Captain's Log 011021 I Don't Speak Whisper

 

Captain's Log 011021: I don't speak whisper.

Concerning Star Trek Discovery.

This last season was nearly incomprehensible as to what was happening and how it was resolved. Enough said on this point. I did like the two episodes that were in the mirror universe.

My beef with the show is not any different than other shows currently on TV and the movies, but Discovery has taken this problem to the ultimate degree. 

I  DON'T SPEAK WHISPER!

What is so awful about speaking by using your diaphragm? A normal speaking voice that can be understood. Not one that has so much air leaking out that the words are unintelligible.

The actor's voice doesn't need to be projected like an actor on stage, but it does need to be understood by the audience.

Does Michael Burnham played by Shaniqua Martin-Green always have to whisper? No matter how loud the volume, if I use earphones or any other method I've used to figure out what she's saying I can't understand a G#######m word. I shouldn't have to use closed captioning to understand someone speaking English!

It's irritating to the Nth degree.

The problem is that whoever she's talking with also whispers. I can't figure out any of the dialogue. Sometimes that's the only part of the show that's not action and I have to turn down the sound so the music doesn't shatter every every window in my house.

I use hearing aids and have an external speaker for the TV that filters out music and other background noise so what comes out is the voices. It works great (particularly with football commentary) but it doesn't help with whisper. Like I've mentioned many of today's movies and other TV shows go into whisper mode at times and that's just as irritating, but Discover has made it an art form.

Complete works on Amazon

 I've stumbled upon some classic writers who have complete work collections. They are at reasonable prices.

H.P. Lovecraft. I'm not a fan of his work or style, but many of my blogger friends are. Thought I'd tip them off to this.

H Beam Piper. His Little Fuzzy books are about the best ever written on colonizing new worlds and encountering alien species. Inspiration for David Gerrold who wrote Trouble With Tribbles for Star Trek. He originally called them Fuzzies, but had to change the name due to copy write law. 

I've been enjoying Pipers early short stories written in the 1940's for pulp magazines. A real trip through memory lane.

Science Fiction super pack. Classic writers like Asimov, Poul, and others.

Zane Grey. I still have a box full of the hard bound books my brother and I read growing up as they came in the mail. 

Amazon offers this pack for over a thousand dollars in paperback. As e-books a buck. Riders of the Purple Sage, The Rainbow Trail, Rogue River Feud, 30,000 on the Hoof. Oh what it was like reading them growing up.

Wednesday Challenge 010621

 

Today's topic is: My goals for 2021.

Last year started with so much promise and went bust. Writers2writers was resurrected and I was meeting  with four to five other writers at a library and we were sharing our stories and ideas. I started a story that's been on the back burner for over forty years. I was writing at the library as I can't write at home.

I revised most of my e-stories on Amazon and turned them into paperbacks. This is a launching pad for what I want to do this year.

Just when I have books that I can have book signings at Treasure House books and other places, they were shut down.

This year I'm back into an office twice a week. My attorney friend shut down his practice, but has reopened it part time. I get to use the office on the days he staying home. I'm making progress Private Pain, my next book. It's a science fiction story about colonizing new solar systems.

I have three short stories: Apple of Success, Cloisonné Heart and Convert or Corrupt. I'm combining them into an anthology and will publish them as paperback in a day or two. 
I'm hoping that the restrictions will be lifted by spring or summer and I can have book signings.

Top Ten Tuesdays

 

I looked at this months TTT and really didn't have much to say on the topics. I'm taking a break in this.

Captain's Log 010221

 Relaxed New Year's eve. Son was off work so we watched all three Matix movies to ring in the New year. A few fire works, but not as many as usual. Dogs did okay.

New Years day we stayed home, read some, relaxed and watched Let Them All Talk, with Maryl Streep, Candice Bergin, and Diane Weist on a premium channel. Like watching paint dry. Watched three Mission Impossible movies, Rogue Nation, Ghost Protocol and Fallout. 

Wow three movies with the same villain that you can't kill. Brings to mind Dracula, Fu Manchu, Moriarity, and others.

Today we drove up to Santa Fe to visit my father's and mother's grave. First time since Mom died. There wasn't time to get too emotional at the site. It was cold and windy.

Important Birthday

Two score years ago (that's 40 years), my son was born. This is his high school graduation picture. Hard to imagine that was over 20 years past.

This is how I remember him fondly. Hard to imagine him that small today.

December 30th is a big year in my family. My brother was born on this day, my son and my sister's daughter. Three within the family are celebrating this day. May they all have a happy birthday.

Enchanted by the Light

 It's Christmas day, barely. Still it demands attention. Hank Bruce has been a dear friend for over fifteen years. We met at Southwest Writers Workshop and Writer2writers back in the day. He's reviewed all my books on Amazon, and for most his is the only review. I've read many of his books and actively promoted some of them, they are great. He has done wonders in third world countries by promoting the Moringa Tree.

His gardening books are a delight, he has Cowboy ghost stories and a wide range of topics in different books.

Hank is best telling short stories, He has a wonderful way of turning a phrase and making a truth abundantly clear. The latest one I'm reading is Enchanted by the Light. The ebook is free with unlimited on Amazon.

Fifteen short stories set in New Mexico during Christmas.

There's a little girl who somehow makes her way from Acoma Pueblo to Chimayo to get sacred dirt for her dying grandfather and brings it back.

There's the story of a six year old girl who suffered brain damage as an infant, but during Christmas when she's six where she impacts the small village and they have a special Christmas pageant in her name.

An old cowboy in the 1800's who everyone knows, but is not really valued until he's dead.

Hank even lets us in on the most important secret in New Mexico concerning the alien landing in 1947 outside Roswell, NM. If you read it you have to swear to keep the secret and tell no one. Oops, maybe I messed up here.

A Native American boy named: In a Hurry Hawk.

My favorite is about a disabled Vietnam Vet recently returned and facing PTSD and poverty. He blessed his village with tumbleweeds.

A judge and junior high school principle agree that seven boys arrested for vandalism be punished by making them sew a quilt.

Some of the stories make you laugh, many make you cry, others are heartbreaking, but uplifting at the same time.

Hank gives a glimpse into the life of people of all races, religions and social standing and how Christmas brings all of them together by shedding light on their love.

There's a heated debate in New Mexico about a certain Christmas decoration. They are brown lunch bags filled half-way with sand and a candle is lit. Sidewalks, walls and roof tops have them spaced out and they make a beautiful sight.

They come from a tradition of lighting the way on Christmas when people traveled to be with family and they needed something to light their way home in the dark. They built little fires. Hank used the Spanish word for this "Faralitos."

Others refer to them as little lights or "Luminarias."

Here Hank and I disagree.

Captain's Log 122320

 

I have another blog named Captain's Log, but I've used this one the most for the last few years and I've decided to incorporate the Captain into this one. I'll still do Wednesday Challenge and Top Ten Tuesdays after the first of the year, but from time to time I'll also do Captain's Log.

Captain's Log 122320

This date in 1971,hard to imagine that was 49 years ago.

Subject: Dennis Elliot.

I was staying at a friends house down the block from mine while they were out of town. I woke up on the morning of the 24th to a phone call from a friend from church. He asked if I heard about Dennis. The bad news he was killed in a car crash the previous night.

My brother was at that time a Police Aide which was paying his way through college. He went to the desk where the reports came in on the accident. Dennis's twin brother, David, was driving. Two underage boys ran a red light and cut in front of them. Dennis was thrown through the windshield. He died on the way to the hospital. David's arm was broken. The two boys were cited for DWI.

When you're sixteen it's hard to go to a friend's funeral the day after Christmas.

The summer of 1971 the youth in our church went to a summer camp in the Sandia Mountains. Dennis and David were there. At lights out we were in a dormitory style room and naturally the preachers had a trouble getting us to quiet down.

All of a sudden music came from a bunk a few down from me. One of the preachers took it away from Dennis. In the morning it was give back. It was a curious instrument to me so I asked him about it. It was a recorder. I played Clarinet, but I like the way it sounded, it's also known as a straight flute. The fingering was much easier than the clarinet and when I got home went out and bought one.

I focused on track and cross-country in high school and dropped band. I found playing the recorder an easy way to destress. I now have three recorders of different sizes and sounds. But every time I look at them handing on a wall and take one down to play it I picture Dennis.

About six years ago I was called to jury duty. I've found this to be an exercise in futility. Someone with my credentials will never be allowed on a jury. My father was a deputy sheriff. My brother was on the police force. I'm a Baptist minister, I have a B.A. degree and was a teacher. In the waiting room I utilized this time to grade papers, helped me get caught up until I faced the ones generated while I was away.

Worst of all I didn't get paid for Jury duty. The school district was given the pay to reimburse them for the substitute.

For the most part we would wait around and every so often a few names were called off and they left. Around noon they sent us home.

I was called in for one screening. We were sitting in a group and asked a few questions with answers yes or no by raising hands.

The case involved DWI, the question was, "Did we have a family member or know anyone who was killed in by a drunk driver?"

I wasn't prepared for my response to this question. It was like forty plus years vanished as if it happened yesterday.

I wasn't selected.

Change of topic:

I now am back in my old office. My friend who's an attorney has graciously allowed me to come back and write. I haven't been able to do any writing since my wife retired. There are too many things she wants to do or for me to do.

My friend suffered a heart attack a year and a half ago and shut down his practice. At my wits end I called him and asked if he's still in the office. He is on a limited basis. 

I'm going in two days a week when he's home, and am doing some cleaning and other things for him so I can sit and write undisturbed. Now to get the creative juices flowing again.

Sad Day X12

 

Saying goodbye to my sister for the last time.

Twelve years ago today, she went to be with the Lord. She was only 45.

Summer of 2008, my sister was in the final stages of ovarian cancer, A Dallas news station payed for her family to come to Albuquerque so she could visit our father's grave. Dad died in 2007, but Penni wasn't able to attend because of problems with her cancer. She was in Palliative Care and the station used her as an example of how it helped the families facing a terminal illness. To view the broadcast click here. 

We traveled as a family to Santa Fe's National Veterans cemetery to view the plaque on his grave site. My mother joined him this year.

From there we spent time in the Square in Santa Fe. Penni's husband David is to the right of me and Michelle is behind her being shy.

Next stop was the Glorieta prayer gardens, where Penni and David were married, and where her ashes lie around a bench left in her memory. Our mother and combined family. Our brother, Bruce and his family were unable to attend.

After Glorieta we met up at my house and had a nice chat until it was time for them to leave. That was a very difficult parting for both of us. 

Penni's group of her husband David, her daughter Michelle, and the reporter went on to the tram to see the view from atop Sandia Mountain. I don't know how she put in such a long day in her condition. Penni was going to make the most of this day and she did.

TTT 121520 TBR list for 2021

 

Today's topic is my TBR list for 2021.

Every time Berthold reviews a new book I seem to add it to the list. Others I pick up on fb when they're advertised there and they catch my fancy.

Here they are:

I have a tendency to download box sets like this, but they gather dust in my Kindle until I'm really bored and want to tackle all at once. If I start and stop I'll never go back.

This one is a second book, Berthold recommended the first one and I liked it so I've downloaded this one, there are more too. Good spy adventure in the 19th century.

Oh my, hard to believe I've read all 49 of the books and this is number 50. A few ghost writers had their stories pulled for plagiarism. Since Tony Roberts took over they just keep coming. He tries to do 2 a year.

This is one of the two free books I can get each month. They tend to stay there until I get around to them. Some months I don't choose any of the ones offered.

Another free book, it's getting higher on my list.

One I'm looking forward to when I get the time.

Ditto on this one.

I've read four of Audrey's Herbert West books. Berthold recommended this one. It's short stories tied in with the Herbert West series.

I've been putting this one off since April. It's just 12 books takes a lot of time from start to finish.

Another free book I'll get around to sometime this coming year.

Just kidding. I downloaded it for reference purposes. 71 books works better on my kindle that on my bookshelf.

WC 200920 Profession

 

This week's topic is a profession from a book you'd like to be.

I've always wanted to be a detective.

Deductive Detectives:

I loved the Purloined Letter and Murders in the Rue Morgue that I read in literature class in 7th grade. Poe's C. Auguste Dupin set me on a life of deductive reasoning.

I've enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and some of the other sleuths, but Dupin is my favorite.

Agatha Christy's Hercule Poirot. Still love Murder on the Orient Express. Love the twisted ending.

Private Investigators:

Micky Spillane's Mike Hammer's I the Jury made me addicted to his tough guy bowling ball approach to finding the killer and dealing justice. Thank heaven for used bookstores that practically gave his books away. Too bad Amazon is not as generous. 

Dashiell Hamite's Phillip Marlow. A tough guy, but milder than Mike Hammer.

I enjoyed James Garner is The Rockford Files. Magnum P.I. (the original), Charlie's Angels,

Police Detectives:

A staple in movies and TV: Starsky and Hutch, Cagney and Lacy, Rizzoli and Isles, Coogan's Bluff, Dirty Harry X 4, Mannix, Lethal Weapon X 4 or 5, and a TV show. Hawaii 50 both versions.

Forensic Detectives:

Loved CSI, hated CSI Miami, CSI New York was okay. Have watched NCIS through thick and thin.

TTT 120820

 

Today's topic is Holiday/Seasonal Freebie (holiday books/covers/titles, wintry reads, snow on cover, cool color covers, takes place in cold settings, cozy scenes on cover, etc.).

I couldn't come up with any books that had holidays or winter in as their focus. Now I think on it Harry Potter books took place in winter. Okay The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

Instead I have a dear friend from college. We were Patrick and Patricia with both of our last names starting with P. 

Professors and other students kept getting us mixed up for some reason. We kidded each other that we must be twins, so we've called each other twin for over 40 years.

When she became an artist she changed her name to Anne Littlewolf. I have two of her works on my wall. She's sold her work to Ricky Skaggs, John Denver and some other notables. After Denver's death she and her husband went to Windstar in Colorado and she donated a few of her paintings to their charity. Found out her husband and John Denver's brother worked together at NASA. Here are some of Anne's work she did while living in Colorado. It gets cold in Colorado!

Society of Friends (Quakers)

Settle in, I'm on my soapbox today.

 

Today Berthold Gambrel posted a review of a 1956 movie named Friendly Persuasion. 

I've posted about the movie a number of times. It is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's about a family of Quakers. I used the movie during the study of the Civil War when teaching U.S. history. In order to do so I had to enlighten my students about the beliefs of The Society of Friends.

I'm a licensed Baptist minister. I've never been to Quaker church. I've studied the Society of Friends solely based for a more profound understanding of this movie. 

Some in my wife's family are Mennonites. It is a sect very similar to Quakers and are followers of Menno Simmons, a German theologian that preached pacifism in the 16th century. The Amish are a more radical branch of Simmon's teaching. Both branches are pacifists.

In England during its reformation a number of illegal sects arose. Puritans, Baptists and Methodists and The Society of Friends. The official church frowned on them and imprisoned preachers who spoke without the official sanction of the Church of England.

John Bunyan was such a man and while incarcerated wrote Pilgrim's Progress.

The Society of Friends were quite different in some ways which got them into trouble. They were egalitarians. They believed that everyone was equal before God. This belief found its way into the Declaration of Independence.

The other distinction they're known for is pacifism. They are non-violent. They refuse to fight even when attacked, and will not join the military. The last part is a big no-no for commoners in 16th century England.

The Quakers, for being a rather small religious group, have had a profound impact on U.S. history.  They established the Underground Railroad to help runaway slaves escape to Canada. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a Quaker and wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.

She once met with Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Lincoln is said to have remarked, "So you're the young lady who started this war." 

The basis of Society belief is called: Priesthood of the believer. 

Protestants starting with Jan Huss, John Wycliff, William Tyndale, Martin Luther interpreted the Bible to mean no person stands between you and God. That we all will stand on the day of judgement and be held accountable for our actions and beliefs. The only advocate we have is Jesus who intercedes on our behalf, if we believed in him while alive. Salvation by Grace.

Okay, so what does this have to do with Quakers?

Society members because of their egalitarian belief ruffled feathers. English society was very class oriented. Lords and commoners. Even today in their parliament it's divided that way.

If a commoner passed a lord or lady on the street they were required by law to tip their hat. The civilian version of a salute. It was a sign of respect for your betters. Society members, considering everyone is equal, refused to do this. 

A man by the name of George Fox was arrested for this crime. When brought before the magistrate, the judge scolded Fox and admonished him by saying that if he didn't repent from breaking the law he would face punishment.

Fox replied, "It is thee that shall quake and tremble in the presence of God on the day of Judgement."

It is from this statement that the Society became known as Quakers.

It wasn't just refusing to defer to their betters, but they also insulted the aristocrats with their language.

We think of the usage of thee and thou as Shakespearean and biblical. It was also a caste distinction. 

"Thee" and "thou" was class specific. A lord used thee and thou when speaking down to a commoner. The commoner was required to use "you" and "your" towards the lord.

Shakespeare did not make this distinction in his plays because it rhymed better in iambic pentameter. The same can be said of the King James Version of the Bible. 

Quakers refused to use "you" and "your" toward aristocrats. Hard to imagine, but that was a crime. They were imprisoned, they were hanged and burned at the stake over this.

In the New World the language went upper class for all with "you" and "your." It makes Quakers still using thee and thou a little archaic, but it's still very poetic when used for effect. 

Many Quakers fled to the New World to escape this persecution. In New England they were persecuted by the Puritans for being pacifists, and being egalitarians who allowed women to be preachers. All Quakers are considered to be a minister in the church: Priesthood of the believer taken to it's logical conclusion.

In Captivating History's Anne Hutchinson, about a woman whipped and finally exiled from Massachusetts for speaking her mind over the "faith" or "works" argument. At the end of the book I was shocked when it told of Anne's daughter who lived in Massachusetts and was hanged for being a Quaker. It seems the Puritans did more than hang witches.

This was one of the reasons why William Penn petitioned the Crown for the charter of Pennsylvania, for it to be refuge for Quakers from both England and other colonies.

A day in the life...

 

Today's topic is an average day in my life.

The mundane: Get up test my blood sugar, eat breakfast, get on computer check e-mail, fb, blogger, and friend's blogs. Tuesday is for TTT and Wednesday of for WC. Go outside, clean up dog's mess, every other day fill up bird's feeders, in warm weather water back yard then front yard.

 Take do for a tug, err, walk.

Before pandemic I'd hit the gym. Loved the water aerobics. 

Before noon get in recliner and read or go into my office to write. Since the pandemic started I've been too stressed to do any writing and am doing a lot of reading. 

Get take-out for lunch. There's a fast-food Mexican place called Twisters that makes really good enchiladas and a Twister's Burrito (comes in 1/8,1/4, 1/2 and whole sizes. It's a burrito covered in curly cue fries and red of green chile sauce. A 1/8 is too little and 1/4 is too much. A whole one will feed a family of 3 or 4.)One of the Twisters was used as the El Pollo Hermanos chicken place in Breaking Bad.

Sit down restaurants are out. Wife and I miss going to some of our favorite places. If we feel like splurging we'll order take out, but it's usually lukewarm by the time we get it home.

There's also a Blake's hamburger place within walking distance that has great breakfast burritos and hamburgers. It was prominent in the Breaking Bad series.

After lunch wife wants to watch TV. We do marathons on Netflix, Prime, CBS All Access, Hulu, IMDB.

Snack for supper. Watch more TV.

Being retired my routine hasn't changed much even with the lock down.

Since my mother passed away I've been busy sorting through her possessions and doing all the legal stuff. She's buried with my father in the national cemetery in Santa Fe. Waiting for the pandemic to abate before getting family together for a memorial service.

TTT Books I want to read again

 

Todays topic is books I want to read again.

1. The entire Chronicles of Kastania by Tony Roberts. Book six will be coming out after the first of the year and I like catching up before I read it.

2. Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I listened to them on audio the first time and this year I think I'll read them. I imagine to pick up new insights.

3.Into the Dark series by J. A Southerland. He has another one due out the next year too.

4. The Dark Blade series by Tony Roberts. Can't wait for the next one.

That's 17 books to re-read. I'll be busy.