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William Gibson Heller

Good heavens, Bob, have we really been in covid hell that long?

Mark Wieting

Bob,

You must keep a TV diary, yes?

Are these things you've watched (all seasons of Fauda, for instance) or just a list of good to great TV you are recommending? If it's the former, I second Heller's comment/question. 

Bob Dove

I got much of the streaming list from an aggregated post on Nextdoor, but it was in no order with repititions. I copied it into Word, alphabetized it, then began adding titles from various sources. (I just noticed Fargo was missing. It goes in next to Fauda.) It's a totally haphazard collection, offered with no recommendation. The breadth of the list bespeaks its crowdsourced origin. There's stuff here we have enjoyed and stuff we would never watch. For instance we are not fans of horror, serious or satirical. I hope it helps address the "What is there left to watch?" question. (I also figure it's a kinda splashy post.)  

Thomas L. Bakos

Boib:

You should be celebratiing Valentines Day .

William Gibson Heller

Mark, I rather like the posters with ties.  It makes us appear (notice I said appear) civilized.  Tom on the otherhand looks like he's got a contaption ready to hurl rocks at the castle walls.

Bob Dove

Tom, True. We had cards, flowers, and a delicious dinner created and delivered by a local unemployed chef. The wine was a gift from a condo neighbor I helped recently. It was a TV-free evening  

Thomas L. Bakos

Mark Wieting

Tom, this is a follow-up to Bill's observation about a machine that throws rocks at castle walls. What is that thing?

And, yes, I'm going to keep the tie picture for a while longer because it is an old picture and I was younger.

Camilla Ray (Farley)

Catapult

Karen Kluender (Sewell)

 Hello, Everyone,

First of all, Mark, thank you for administering and encouraging this forum.  Even though I have not responded previously,  I have enjoyed reading each entry. It is wonderful seeing your names and faces and learning what is going on in your lives!

Introducing some new topics is good. I enjoy sports, but not to the extent and with the encyclopedic knowledge shown by many.  Reading is another matter.  I have always enjoyed reading, but with travel off the table there is more time available. Like Tom Marquardt, I have recently been drawn to books set in the time period of WWII.  I went through a phase of Tom Clancy and Clancy-ish stories, but the testosterone got a bit thick! Then I moved on to mysteries and eventually WWII.  The first, with a bizarre title, was recommended by a close friend.  The title? The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris, based on a true story.   

We have all been without controversy for several days now, so let's start something.  Opinions are important.  So, what is it? E-reader (Kindle, Nook, etc) or BOOK? I believe there are gently held feelings on both sides.  What are yours?  I'll save mine for the next round.

Here in coastal South Carolina it is a beautiful sunny 60 degree day.  My husband and I are getting together with a few friends for a Mardi Gras party a little later. We live in a small community and have all been quite careful during this time.  It will be masks (and masks), beads, coins and small flags in a private dining room.  

Karen Kluender Sewell

Don Comfort

We do a lot of reading especially at bedtime. Since hardbacked books take a lot of shelf space and I do not like to get rid of them, we have turned to Kindle.  It is convenient, less bulky on trips, and the reading material is much cheaper.  My Kindle library includes:

1. The Heart of Everything. The untold story of Red Cloud and the Indian Wars.

2. Slaughter at Golid.  The fight for Texas independence.

3. The Alamo Avengers. More on the fight for Texas Independence.

4. The Pioneers. First hand account of the westward movement.

5. The Apache Wars. The Indian Wars.

6. Leadership in Turbulent Times.  Abraham Lincoln's Presidency.

7. Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln's Presidency.

8. The Lincoln Conspiracy. The assasination of Lincoln.

9. The Bully Pulpit. Theodore Roosevelt's Presidency.

10.. Presidents of War. Several presidents handling of major wars.

11. The Hope of Glory. Reflections on Jesus' last words.

There are so many more.

On another note, Patti and I celebrated our third anniversary this past weekend at Lake Geneva.  Great restraurants, beautiful scenery, ice and snow sculptures, and most importantly all with social distancing.  We also played a lot of Mexican Train Dominoes which we are addicted to.

Thomas L. Bakos

Mark:

The thing at the road end of our driveway is a big post in the ground with a smaller piece pretending to hold the post up.  It also provides a place to hang an address sign.  It is not a catapult although, apparently, it gives a very good impression of being one.  It's been there for, at least, 15 years.  The wood tree trunks were from our property.  This is a close up of the sign.  

Thomas L. Bakos

Mark:

As for a picture, perhaps this might work for me if I wanted to look young and Klingon.  It also fits well with my return to Science Fiction.

This is a characture done by a characturist working off a younger me picture. 

Mary Lou Schmidt (Brunner)

Hi all.

This has certainly been a very different year. We have been enjoying the Winters down on the Gulf Coast of AL since 2014. However this year things are not the same. Our group of friends has dwindled because of illness and death. The area was also severly damaged by Sally and they are still trying to rebuild. The condo we had been renting is still not up and running, but luckily last winter we had decided to move to a different one, which did not suffer from Sally. All the Mardi Gras celebrations were cancelled, so no parades or beads. This year has been unseasonably cold and rainy but we have managed to walk the beach and trails when the weather permitted. Eating out has been limited to a couple lunches when we could eat outside. The locals are for the most part not masking up, so we are pretty much staying in the condo. All the Senior activities have been cancelled, so no cards or trips. We really miss seeing our Euchre playing friends.

We prefer books to the digital form and the library is our source of reading material.  Our list includes James Patterson, Sandra Brown and Sara Paretsky to name a few. For those of you not familiar with Sara, her main character is a PI who lives in Chicago and was raised on the South side. 

Hope everyone stays safe, warm and healthy.

Mary Lou

Thomas L. Bakos

By the way, if you walk up the driveway, this is the view you would get of the San Juan mountains to the south.  This looking out over a valley towards the mountaiins about 20 miles away.  The tallest is Mt. Sneffles - about 14,000 feet.  

We have not been too affected by any lock down orders.  We would tend to have ignored them anyway but really had no need to.  There are not a whole lot of other people around here.  

Restaurants have been open with slightly limited capacity in our part of Colorado for some time now.  What more do we need - a good book, a place to eat, and a view.

I hope by early spring, we'll have the Power Wagon.  It will look something like this.

It's been under restoration for about a year now in Idaho - just across the state line from Jackson Hole.  

Ethel (Jean) Snyder (Riskus)

I have always loved to read.  It's like taking a mini vacation.  I own a Nook, and I have Kindle on my computer for books I can't find on Nook.  If I had hard copies of all the books on Nook and Kindle I would have to build another room to fit them all.  My favorite author is Ann McCafferty.  I've read all her books more than once.  Next to Ann McCafferty is Simon Haynes.  As you can tell, I prefer fiction.  I believe Timothy Zahn went to Glenbard East.  I haven't read any of his books but plan on checking them out.

Thomas L. Bakos

Hey Jean:

Yes, checked Wikipedia, Timothy Zahn a Glenbard East graduate and a SciFi writer  Can't get much better than that.  Thanks for pointing it out.  I've still got 5 1/2 books in The Expanse series to get to the end of but that might be a next.

Gladys Christine Hallbeck (Hart)

Thanks, Karen. Just finished The Tattooist. I don't know how people survived! I've read a few others re WWII. Try Night by Elie Wiesel, a first person account of life in the concentration camp. And, one that made me cry, We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. Defectors by Joseph Kanon and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. In between, I read anything by Nelson DeMille, Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling!), and the Bosch books by Michael Connelly. Have also read all the Lee Child/Jack Reacher books. I do all my reading on the iPad through an app called Overdrive that connects to the Helen Plum Library. So, no books stacking up here!

William Gibson Heller

Thanks for mentioning Overdrive, Gladdie, I had never heard of it.  Will have to see if my library participates in it.

Karen Kluender (Sewell)

Gladys, Glad you found the book interesting.  I agree with a fascination about survival in umimaginable conditions.  I have read many non-fiction aocounts like Into Thin Air about climbing Everest, Knock Down about a tragic off shore sailing race, Dead Wake, about the sinking of the Lusitania,  Unbroken, Japanese prisoner of war camp, and many more.  All have caused me to consider whether I would ever have the strength and determination to keep going.  I guess that is the type of question we hope never to have to answer!  By the way, there are a couple of books by Susan Goodring centered in Europe and taking place during WWII and the 2000s. I particularly enjoyed My Name is Eve.  The author does a great job of weaving the characters and events of the wartime years with people and events more than 50 years later.

Is anyone one else watching "Resident Alien" on SyFy?  I am hooked. 

I realize there is a new "status symbol"...Have you had both shots?! It has become a weird topic among friends here.  It is also a way to find out who is a lot younger than you are!

Karen Kluender  (Sewell)

Karen Kluender (Sewell)

OOPS! If anyone is interested in reading the book I alluded to above, try looking for the correct author, Suzanne Goldring whose book is actually "My Name is Eva"!  Other than that you should have no problem!

Dale Hahne

Jim Iversen passed away this past Thursday at his home in Lombard.  I sent an "IN MEMORY" note to Mark but he hasn't distributed it yet.  Thought some of of you may want to know visitation info for today.  It's posted on the Brust Funeral Home site.

Don Comfort

Dale...thank you so much for this information, and thank you Mark for passing it along.  Jim and I were good friends from Pleasant Lane Elementary School, Lombard Junior High, and Glenbard East.  We were always mischievious and laughed a lot.  When I moved to California right after graduation from G.E. I lost track of Jim, but never forgot him and the great times we shared.  I will always remember him for the great fun we shared.

Don Comfort

Don Comfort

I concur Bruce!

Kerrin Anne Kinsey (Sgourakis)

Absolutely.  Never forget their sacrifice for our freedom.