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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 8 July 2000 (Week 28)

 

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To respond or comment on something I have written email me. I would love to hear from you.  If you have problems reaching me at the first address, I can also be reached at fritchman@triad.rr.com.

You can view the Netwidows Recipe web site for recipes from myself and the other Netwidows and Daynotes Gang.


Saturday, 8 July 2000

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Another tragic racing accident. Kenny Irwin was killed in practice yesterday at the same track and in the same turn as Adam Petty was about 5 weeks ago. There is not much else one can say. 

I have a home visit to do this morning here in Winston-Salem. I am meeting one of the local rescuers that fosters who is bringing a really nice dog, Duke to meet the family. 

We had corned beef hash for dinner last night. I will not send that recipe to Marcia's recipe page since all it involves is cutting up potatoes, cooking them and adding the corned beef. We had plenty left over for another meal.

The women's tennis final is this morning but I will miss most of it to do the home visit. I will watch the men's final tomorrow morning.

I think I will mow this afternoon. It is to be a little cooler today. I need to get back to work on Monday after having taken last week easy. I have a busy week on tap.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunday, 9 July 2000

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It's raining in Wimbledon, I have cleaned house and am doing my diary page later than usual. Between tennis and racing, I will not do much work until after dinner. I can work tonight.

We watched an interesting movie on Movie Plex last night. It was a 1988 make of Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine.  It was done like a Masterpiece or an A & E type production. They showed it in two back to back episodes from 9 o'clock until midnight. It was actually pretty well done. I am not sure if it just never ran here or if we missed it.

We're taping the A & E special tonight, Longitude. It looks like it is going to be pretty good too. 

I am reading Rona Jaffe's new book The Road Taken. This one is not as good as some of her others but it is not bad for light summer reading. It is a Forest Gump type novel where one person portrays her life through the events of history. Rose is born in 1900 and as she and the other expanding family members  take turns narrating their chapters, they reflect the various events from wars, medical discoveries, and political developments to the cultures of the flappers and hippies. 

She is not tedious and keeps the story moving. Some of the plot's developments are a little contrived but not ridiculous and she writes well. Her last book Five Women was also a generational theme and I think it was a lot better. I only lack about fifty pages, so I may read on it while I am watching the race.

I need to read at least a couple of chapters in my Russian novel tonight before I go to bed so I can keep moving on getting it finished.

Hot and muggy, hot and muggy. I hate to see what August will be like if this is July weather. And, they are long range forecasting thunder storms for Thursday again. We may need to change our golf day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Monday, 10 July 2000

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I have a busy week ahead getting ready to go out of town this weekend. I have most of my materials ready for the writers conference but need to do a few last minute things. 

I have an eye doctor's appointment this afternoon, so after I go to the gym this morning I will try to get some work done in between. I need to get back to work on the web sites today. 

I read most of yesterday afternoon, finishing my Rona Jaffe novel while watching rain interrupted tennis and racing. At one point Bob and the dogs were sleeping and I had a nice quiet time to read. I paid some bills after dinner and then read on my Russian novel until bedtime. 

We moved the scanner back to my office yesterday morning. I need to finish getting things reorganized from moving things around on my desk to make room. Bob does not have it working yet but when he does I can do all the scanning and copying myself.

Hot and muggy, hot and muggy. It is really getting old. 

I hope everyone gets their week off to a good start.

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday, 11 July 2000

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We watched Longitude last night which we taped on A & E Sunday night. It is based on a book by the same title that come out in 1996. I thought I was pretty good. I bit confusing at first because the story is told by two men at the same time who lived 200 years apart. Jeremy Irons plays the WWII character Rupert who restores the clocks invented in 1714 by a carpenter John Harris and played by Michael Gambon, who spends his life pursuing a dream to win a prize offered by Queen Anne "to build a purposeful and useful instrument to measure longitude at sea."

If you have not watched it, A & E will run it often this month. It is four hours with commercials so you might want to tape it. Or maybe you live in a household where you can get four hours of doing anything without an interruption of some kind. We cannot in our house. We started watching while eating dinner at 5:45 and finished a little after 10:30 pm. 

How interesting that Bob and I have watched so much British television over the years that I can recognize actors and actresses as easily as if I am watching an American production.

Change in routine today. I am working this morning and then heading over to the library to work for a couple of hours. I am going to lunch with one of the staff that worked there when I was the branch head. Back home to work this afternoon and then spinning class tonight at 6:30.

I have a lot of work to do on one portion of the Technomayhem site that involves the various investigative methods and criminology aspects of writing a crime novel. I hope to get those do today.

 

 

 

 

 

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Wednesday, 12 July 2000

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I imagine anyone who is an avid reader has a shelf of books in their house similar to mine. The "to be read" shelf. And, it never gets emptied. I accumulate this row of books that I buy at the bookstore, Hamilton Books, or library book sales that I wish to read. I can never keep up due to being busy and reading things that I reserve at the library that I don't want to purchase.

I also started collecting books from places I travel to. It is fun to find books by a local author from the area or state and purchase them. When you get home and find time to read them you can feel like you are revisiting the place you bought them. Often times this leads to the purchase of more books by the same author.

But, as a reader, that book shelf acts as a security blanket. I know I always have something to go to if I am between library books or if I am looking for something light to take along on a trip. Some of the books I purchase for my "shelf" are paperbacks of authors that are light fiction that I do not collect. A lot of books are non-fiction. I read a tremendous amount of nature, rural living, and books set in areas of the United States, Canada, and England. These are nice to pick up and read when I am reading a long, involved fiction work and want to have two books going at the same time.

I am still reading books by an author I discovered two years ago on our trip to Nova Scotia. The books I purchased last year on Mackinaw Island are yet to be explored. This year we are going to Toronto, Quebec, and Montreal, so I will have to look for something from those places.

I also buy music if I like the local artist. I fell in love with the Rankin Family after I heard one of their tapes while visiting Cape Breton on our Nova Scotia trip. It is another good way to remember the places you visit by enjoying the books and music of the area.

My "to be read" shelf books eventually end up on my review page and you get to share them too.

 

 

 

 

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Thursday, 13 July 2000

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New pictures of Malcolm and Duncan are up on my Border Collie page. When Malcolm plays with me or if I am playing with Duncan, he always has to have one or two toys in his mouth. Last night he picked up three.

The one of them laying on the sofa was better when Malcolm was laying all tucked in like Duncan. I think I got one that way on my print camera but he sat up by the time I got the digital one ready. 

Dad and I did manage to play fourteen holes yesterday. For one thing, we had to get a late start because he had an appointment. Play was very slow and it started to drizzle several times or just mist. On the back it started raining hard enough to need an umbrella and we were waiting on every hole. We finally called it quits after thirteen. It was well after one o'clock and we had five holes left to play. But, I was glad to just get out and play. 

It is raining this morning too, so we would not have been able to play today anyway. I had changed mornings so I could go to the store and get ready to go out of town. A woman I worked with at Rural Hall wanted to come by this morning and visit with me and to see Malcolm. We I was working at Rural Hall she got a Husky at the same time I got Duncan.

I was hoping to be able to mow this afternoon but if not, I can do it when I get back. We are eating dinner out tonight, so I may be able to mow by this evening after we get back.    Bob's brother is coming tonight or early in the morning so we can leave early.

I started the new Susan Howatch book The High Flyer last night. I will post a review on my favorites page.

 

 

 

 

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Friday, 14 July 2000

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Bob and I are off to Athens, GA for the Mystery Writer's Conference. His brother is coming to stay with Lenore and the dogs and a friend of Lenore's is also coming by to visit and sit with her to keep her company. 

I will post a review of the conference on Monday. Have a nice weekend.

 


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Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All Rights Reserved.