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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 23 January 2006
Latest Update: Sunday, 29 January 2006 2:30 p.m.
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Monday,
23
January
2006
Today
kicks off a very busy week for me. Tonight I went straight to the gym
from work to catch the 5:30 spin class. Tomorrow night the Friends of
the Library will be hosting our annual meeting from 7 to 9. I will have
just enough time to get home, fix a quick dinner, and get to the
library by 6 to get things set up.
We have a local Celtic music group playing at 7:30 followed by a
local author with a quick business meeting at the end. Wednesday is the
usual grocery shopping night and off course back to the gym on
Thursday. I am not sure when I will get back here to post.
I am currently reading the second book in a new series by Susan Wittig Albert. Bob
reads her China Bayles series. We both read the combined efforts of her
and her husband under the Robin Paige pseudonym set in the Victorian
era where she often combines real characters with fiction for her
mysteries.
In this new series, Albert has combined the true life of Beatrix Potter
with fiction titled the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. She uses both
the human and animal characters from Beatrix Potters children's books
as well as some she makes up. Being a librarian and very fond of
Beatrix Potter, I am enjoying these books immensely. Both humans and
animals have a part in telling the story as Beatrix becomes involved in
solving the murders which take place in the small town of Near Sawrey
where she actually lived during the latter part of her life. She did
purchase Top Hill Farm and eventually lived there. If you do not know
the life and background of Potter and how she started writing and
illustrating children's books you can learn a lot about her from this
series. Albert lists a wonderful bibliography of further reading about
her if you are interested on the web site.
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Tuesday,
24
January 2006
No update.
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Wednesday,
25 January 2006
We had a great turnout last night for our
annual meeting. About 70 people which just about filled up the little
auditorium. The Celtic music was excellent drawing most of the crowd.
But, a fair number did stick around to listen to the local author,
Danny Ferguson. He just published his first mystery.
I had an appointment after work today which made me late getting home.
I picked up Bob afterwards so we could drive out to the little diner
for a quick bite to eat.
The weather has turned cold and windy again. We either have warm and
calm or cold and windy so far this year. Guess I better run, I have two
days of mail to catch up on.
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Thursday,
26 January 2006
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Friday,
27 January 2006
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Saturday,
28
January 2006
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Too pretty today to be indoors. It is
currently 50 degrees outside. I think it made it up to at least 55
earlier this afternoon. After spin class this morning I stopped for
gas, books at the library and the grocery store.
Before lunch I picked up the sticks in the front yard from several
windy days. Our neighbor across the street came out for a chat then I
walked down to visit with Kim and Jasmine for a few minutes to see how
Mary is doing.
After lunch I cleaned up the sticks in the back yard, mowed down the
monkey grass and did some general clean up. I called dad to check on
him and mom. He suggested I come over and put out the grab grass killer
in his yard. I can't do mine until the neighbor gets the tree out of my
back yard.
I drove over to the house about 2pm. After spreading the Scott's stuff
I dug up some more monkey grass to plant on the hill then it was back
home for a shower.
I am taking a short break from reading mysteries to pick up something
from my TBR shelf, Walking the Big
Wild from Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bear's Trail by
Karsten Heuer. Karsen, a wildlife biologist has worked as a park
warden in both Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada. He and his
girl friend decide to become involved in an animal conservation project
title Yellowstone to Yukon or Y2Y.
You can read more about the project if you wish on the website. The
basic premise is to develop a corridor for wild animals from
Yellowstone to the Yukon up through Canada's parks mentioned above.
Karsten, on a shoestring budget hires a young man fresh out of graduate
school looking to do some travel as his publicity agent. Justin was
responsible for arranging meetings in some of the small towns along the
hike route, advance publicity, etc.
In addition to Karsten and his girl friend a Border Collie named
Webster whom Karsten rescued also joined the trip. Justin would drive
ahead to where the hikers would be over the course of two weeks or
whatever to pick them up for in town publicity, food drops, and showers
before dropping them back off at the trail head.
Along the way Karstens sees the gamete of wildlife from eagles to
Grizzly Bears and wolves. Some of the trail goes through public lands,
private and governmental. He obtained permission to hike through
private lands such as ranches and homesteads.
My attraction to the book besides the fact it features a BC was the
hike follows a natural trail through a part of the US and Canada of
which I have traveled through via bus several years
ago. Karsten lives in Banff, a place I hope to one day make a
return trip to. Obviously he is hiking through wilderness areas of
which we drove in places such as Montana, Yellowstone, Banff, Jasper,
etc. but I have seen and enjoyed those beautiful areas.
I am about halfway through the book. Karsten and his girl friend have a
falling out which looks as if it will jeopardize the project. She drops
out after several weeks while he continues on. Once in Canada he picks
his sister up for a week on the trail between Calgary and Banff.
I love personal adventure stories especially those of which I have
either been to the places or have a desire to go. If I never do get to
some of the places I read about I can at least be an arm chair traveler.
Guess that gets you caught up. Thursday night I went to the gym. Last
night the viewing conditions turned to crap by mid afternoon thus no
observing last night. Instead we are watching more episodes of Duchess
of Duke street. Time to grill the steak and chicken for dinner.
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Sunday,
29
January 2006
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Another nasty, windy, rainy Sunday thus no
golf again today. The temperatures are in the 50's but the winds are up
again gusting to 25 and 30 mph.
The weekly house cleaning chores are completed with the laundry still
in progress. I have spent most of the afternoon working on my computer.
After I pay some bills I will watch the golf tournament, play some ball
with the fellas and get in some reading.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.