Thursday Thirteen #317

Thirteen Amazon top sellers. I feel I'm always waiting for a package from Amazon. So are millions of other Americans. Here's what we're buying, as indicated by the best-seller* in major categories.

I did this last year, if you're interested in comparing/contrasting.

1.  Beauty and Personal Care: Schick Hydro Silk Touch-Up Dermaplaning Tool. This is a skinny little razor for shaping eyebrows and removing peachfuzz. 3 for $5.94, which seems like a very good price.

2. Shoes. "Wendy" lace-up loafers by Hey Dude. These would be cute with jeans and a black or gray top. If I was still working, I might buy them and leave them under my desk. But I'm not still working, so I'm moving right along.

3. Women's Clothing. Werena shaping boyshorts with tummy control. These are highly-rated and very popular, but I've worn similar and frankly, they make going to the bathroom a little harder.

4. Men's Clothing. Under Armour Tech 2.0 white t-shirt. All I know about Under Armour is that my favorite-most ball player, Anthony Rizzo, endorses them. Therefore they must be good.

5. Household Cleaning. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. I like a good wipe. I have these in my kitchen and near the cats' litter boxes (but I didn't order through Amazon). PS These were #1 last time, too!

6. Home and Kitchen. HiWare 48-piece Silverware Set. This is service for eight and, as of this writing, 21% off. It looks like a great deal if I needed new everyday flatware, but I don't, so I'm moving right along.

7. Appliances. Magic Bullet Blender. Now why is this in "appliances" and not "home and kitchen?" Amazon's classifications and algorithms are beyond me.

8. Laptops. Apple 2020 MacBook Air, 13" screen. Hey! This looks exactly like mine. And the price is very good. 

9. Office Supplies. BIC X-tra Smooth Mechanical Pencils. I prefer a freshly sharpened #2 myself, but for those who like mechanical pencils, Amazon sells them in packs of 40.

10. Cell Phones. Apple iPhone 11. This one is refurbished and sells for $304. I wonder how many they have in stock.

11. Television. Vizio 4o" Smart TV. 40" seems too big for my living room, and my current TV is fine, so I'm moving on.

12. Video Games. John Wick: Chapter 4. Is this a video game or the movie or both? If only I cared.

13. Pet Supplies. Earth Rated Dog Poop Bags. This was #1 last year, too. Dog owners are a loyal breed.

 

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

*List is updated hourly.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I can no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Onassis: An Extravagant Life by Frank Brady. It occurs to me that Ari Onassis had turned up as a co-star in many, many of the biographies I've read. Jackie's second husband, business partner to Prince Rainier of Monaco, party pal to Liz and Dick and frequent host to Winston Churchill in Churchill's later years. So everything I know about him tangential. Until now.

 

I'm not that far into yet, but already I'm impressed with both the story and the storytelling. Aristo (as his family called him) is getting ready for college and can speak four languages (Greek, Turkish, Spanish and English). He's such a good student that at 16 he's considered for admission to Oxford. Though only 5'5, he's a lion with the ladies. Then the Great Fire of Smyrna hit. The Turkish military took over the Onassis hometown of Smyrna (now Izmir) and intentionally burned it to the ground, killing up to 125,000 Greeks and Armenians. Soldiers raped countless women. The Onassis family lost everything, and this teenage boy witnessed it all. My heart goes out to him. I always knew Onassis was considered a self-made man, but I had no idea the tragedy he endured when his family's upper-middle-class lifestyle was destroyed.

2. What did you recently finish reading? Such Good Friends by Stephen Greco. This is a fictionalized account of the real-life friendship between Lee Radziwill and Truman Capote. It's seen through the eyes of Marlene, Lee's live-in housekeeper. Slowly over time, Marlene becomes a friend to Truman, who encouraged her as a writer.

This novel concentrates on 1961 to 1984, so Marlene there when Lee was at the epicenter of society. She was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' sister, and the glare of Jackie's celebrity lit Lee up, too. During those years, Truman was one of America's premier writers. Together Lee and Truman partied with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Nureyev, Mick and Bianca, and Warhol. Marlene, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with a mysterious past, saw it all and took notes.

 

While I didn't NOT enjoy it while I was reading it, Such Good Friends does not bear up under scrutiny:

•  It's a historic novel, so I shouldn't be too bothered by inaccuracies. But this one really bothered me: BOTH Lee and Truman were alcoholics, BOTH Lee and Truman sought treatment. Truman's dependency is depicted in detail and Lee's is glossed over. 

•  Lee had two children, Tony and Tina, whom our narrator had to watch grow up. I mean, Marlene lived with the Radziwills in that Manhattan apartment for more than 20 years! Yet the kids are scarcely mentioned. Wallpaper patterns and couture are described ad nauseum, but Lee's relationship to her children is non-existent. It left me feeling that both Lee and Marlene had to be very shallow women.

 

I don't regret reading this book, but I don't recommend it to anyone, either. Life's too short.

3. What will read next? I don't know.

  

A mixed bag

So many feelings on Monday! My friendships made me happy and sad. I guess that's just the stuff of life, right?

First I got a text and an email from John, thanking me for celebrating his birthday with him. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be that big a deal. After all, we've been doing birthdays together since the 1980s. Plus this year was especially low key. All we did have drinks at his favorite bar. The Cubs were playing the Yankees and I really wanted to see the game and John wanted to show me off to his tavern buddies. (He feels my knowledge of baseball is unexpected and impressive.) While the birthday gifts were carefully chosen -- a pin from the TCM Film Festival, a magnet from my trip to Springfield last year, and a bawdy mug and equally NSFW bar napkins from Tampa -- they were certainly not expensive.

But he and I have been somehow "off" all summer. He's been grumpy and finds me especially annoying at times. It's bothered me and, I sense, he felt the same way because he seemed so happy that we're happy together again. We've been friends for 40+ years, and it's such a comfort to know we're still us.

But then I stumbled upon a quote from Jose Marti, and my heart broke. I only know Jose Marti because of my dear friend Henry. We saw his statue in Key West's Bayview Park one day and Henry told me Marti was a Cuban poet, revolutionary and hero during the Ten Years War.

Henry was so well educated and so intrigued by Key West's rich and colorful past. But now he has the mind of a child -- the cumulative effects of alcohol, traumatic brain injury and dementia -- and he and his husband, Reg, are leaving Key West forever this week because if they didn't sell the house, they would lose it to the bank. I fear that Henry will fade further into his own world when the ballasts of his life in Key West -- his friends, his church, the familiar surroundings -- are gone. 

I try not to be angry, but it's a losing fight. I miss Henry so much, and I can't shake the suspicion that if Reg had not been so fucking stubborn and gotten real help for Henry earlier, we wouldn't be here now.

But that doesn't really matter, does it? We are where we are and it is what it is. Henry is receding from me and at an alarming pace. I must accept it.

As light as being good with John feels, that's how dark that Marti passage made me feel.

Little things that mean a lot

 "You're cool. You're a nice lady." So said the homeless man who chatted me up this morning while I was on my way to yoga class.

I'm always in a hurry and kind of embarrassed when I go to yoga because I'm wearing yoga pants and a Bruce Springsteen t-shirt. And carrying a mat. I think I look quite silly, but it's only around the corner and I remind myself I'm not a Kardashian and there are no paparazzi waiting to splash my déclassé attire across the internet.

As I'm headed toward the streetlight at the corner, I hear a voice behind me say, "Hi." I'm in front of the bank and look into the reflection in the windows to see a young man I don't recognize. It was a fleeting glance, and I assumed he was talking on his phone through headphones.

"I said, 'hi,'" he repeated. I turned and took a closer look. It was the young man who usually sits in front of the bookstore. I think that's probably where he was headed to begin his day of panhandling. 

"Oh, hi," I said. "I'm sorry. I thought you were on your phone."

Stuck beside me at the red light, he said, "You're the one who gives me the bag with the food and the money." It's true. Every time I see him I give him a blessing bag with a $1 bill, a breakfast bar, a packet of tissues, cough drops or hard candy, and a chapstick. Since I shop at Dollar Tree, the baggie probably costs me $2.

"That's me," I said. "But I don't have anything with me now. Just my keys and my yoga mat."

"I know. I just wanted to say 'hi.' You're cool. You're a nice a lady."

I was both pleased and embarrassed. "Well," I said, "I'm happy to help because we're all in this life together, right?"

"Not everybody thinks like that. Wish they did, but they don't." 

I didn't know what to say to him and was grateful the light changed. I crossed and he turned left. "Take care," I said over my shoulder.

During a quiet moment in yoga class I smiled to myself. It feels very good to know my little efforts made another person feel good. "You're cool. You're a nice a lady." felt like great praise.

 

Sunday Stealing

Stolen from SwapBot

1. Do you trust people at restaurants who handle your food that they aren't doing anything gross to it while you can't see them? Yes. I worry about many things, but this is not among them.

2. How do you wear your hair each day? Parted on the left and blown dry.

3. Have you ever worn:

A gas mask? No

A blindfold? Yes

4. Would you be willing to go hang gliding? I'd need to know more details before I answer this.

5. What is the difference between a man's button down shirt and a woman's button down shirt? It's been my experience that women's shirts have narrower sleeves  and the buttons are on the left.

6. Have you ever taken a lock of someone else's hair? Nope

7. Have you ever given anyone a lock of your hair? Nope

8. If you had a locket what would you put inside? When I was a little girl, I had a cheap gold locket with a teeny-tiny picture of Paul McCartney inside. I'd cut it from a magazine.

9. Have you ever written something on a bathroom wall? Yes. I was very drunk and waiting for my train home after a group of us went to the movies. It occurred to me that I was in love with one of my coworkers and I was so astonished by this revelation that I wrote it on the wall of that ladies restroom at the train station. No, I am not proud of this. BTW, he and I are still in touch. Today he's the father of four and a new grandfather.

10. When was the last time you fell down in public? It was the winter of 2019. I slipped and fell near the Picasso in Daley Plaza. I was hurrying back to the office and the street was very snowy. I don't slip on the snow and ice anymore since chiropractors have my back issues straightened out. (Pun intended.)

11. Are you more aggressive or mellow? Since retirement I find myself far more mellow.

12. What have you done with your self to keep your life worth living? I try to give back. Every day I ask myself if I've done something kind, generous or useful to please God. Sometimes it's big, sometimes very small. But every day I try to do something good.

13. What is the most incredible thing you can do? See #12.

14. Do you bury your pets, flush them, or throw them away? These are my options? Really? I say "none." My pets have been humanely euthanized by veterinarians who have very kindly given me their paw prints as keepsakes before they were cremated. (That was thoroughly depressing.)

15. What's your favorite thing that is yellow? I don't have a lot of yellow. The only thing that comes to mind is the potholder in my kitchen. It's bright yellow flowers on a deep green background.

16. Do you have any tattoos or piercings? One piercing in each year. No tattoos. Dull, right? 

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Mercy (2013)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
 
1) In this song, Shawn Mendes pleads with the girl he loves to be careful with his heart. Clearly he feels she's more important to him than he is to her. Do you believe that, in every relationship, someone always loves more? Yes. And I mean that about every relationship, not just romance.

2) He says that he'd willingly drive through the night just to be near her. Do you enjoy your time behind the wheel? Or do you consider driving necessary but not necessarily pleasurable? I don't drive.
 
3) He acknowledges that she has good intentions, but she hurt him anyway. Can you think of a time when you unintentionally hurt someone's feelings? Yes. I was sorry. I think I'll just leave it at that.
 
4) Shawn Mendes was a serious skateboarder during his high school years. Crazy Sam admits she's never even been on a skateboard. How about you? Are you more like Shawn or Sam, or are you somewhere in between? I have never been on a skateboard, nor do I ever expect to be on one any time in the future. But I'm happy about this question because it gives me the opportunity to share this photo. Here's 60-year-old Katharine Hepburn, learning to skateboard between scenes on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

 

Wasn't she fabulous?

5) While in his teens, he taught himself to play guitar while watching YouTube videos. Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube? If yes, what type of videos do you watch most often? I watch videos that relate to something else I've just watched or read. For example, after finishing Season 5 of The Crown, I rewatched (the real) Princess Diana interviewed by (the real) Martin Bashir.

Real vs. reel

 

6) When he's traveling or busy working, Shawn eats cold cereal for every meal -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. He says it's fast, tasty, and better than the fast food he'd grab otherwise. Will you be getting any meals "to go" this weekend? Kinda sorta. I picked up pizza on Friday afternoon and shall enjoy the leftovers Saturday.
 
7) In 2016, the year this song was popular, Game of Thrones was TV's hottest show. Were you a fan? Nope. I'm sure it was well made and entertaining but I just don't like sci-fi/fantasy.
 
8) Also in 2016, a German shorthaired pointer won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show. Tell us about a dog who holds a special place in your heart. Sheba was a collie mix who lived at the resort my family stayed at every year. She was -- unwisely, I felt -- allowed to wander free around the grounds. Sheba was as fond of me as I was of her, and so I kept her with me for the entire time we were there. At least I was sure she was safe when I was there. She'd sit by my towel on the beach, listen to Cub games with me on the porch of our cabin, sleep on my bed. Except for that last one, my mother was very understanding and indulgent. I really hated those vacations except for Sheba. I loved the fwap, fwap, fwap of her tail on the floor whenever I said her name. She belonged to Eddie, the chief cook at the resort, and when Sheba died he was kind enough to reach out to my family to let me know. He didn't want me arriving in July, running around calling her name, and no Sheba.

9) Random question: What's the subject line of the top email in your spam folder? "Accept your invitation to the 60601 Library Board." I don't live in zip code 60601. It was a misguided attempt at separating me from my money.

 

Thursday Thirteen #316

 

Thirteen things to buy at the dollar store. Dollar Tree is a 20-minute walk from my home, which gives me a chance to enjoy a little fresh air and exercise when I set out to save. Usually I stock up on things for the "blessing bags" I give to the homeless (breakfast bar, tissue packet, etc.) and stickers to decorate my cards for Letters Against Isolation. 

But that's me personally. I looked around the web and found financial and consumer experts recommend stretching your dollar by picking up these items at Family Dollar, Dollar Tree or Dollar General. They tend to be of comparable value to those you'll find at grocery/department/drugstores, but at a much lower price.

1. Greeting cards

2. Party paper plates, cups, plastic flatware, etc.

3. Gift boxes and bags

4. Notebooks

5. Reading glasses

6. Hair accessories like rubber bands and clips

7. Tote bags

8. Picture frames

9. Vases

10. Dish towels

11. Cotton swabs

12. Seasonal decor

13. Puzzles and coloring books (but not toys; dolls, trucks, etc. tend to be of lower quality at the dollar store)

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I can no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Such Good Friends by Stephen Greco. This is a fictionalized account of the friendship between Lee Radziwill and Truman Capote. Our narrator is Marlene, Lee's domestic for decades. Since Lee was the kid sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, this puts Marlene in a rarefied atmosphere. The course of her day-to-day puts her in contact with bold-faced and historic names, like JFK, Ari Onassis, and the author who was once Lee's dearest friend, Truman Capote.

 

You could shorthand this as "Camelot meets Capote," so it's easy to see why the Goodreads algorithm recommended it to me. I'm giving it a go because my library happened to have it available when I saw the Goodreads recommendation. But I admit I'm skeptical. In my non-fiction reading I've come to regard Princess Lee Radziwill as pretentious and shallow and Capote, though undoubtedly a genius, as a self-involved asshole. We'll see how much I enjoy spending 480 pages with these two.

 

2. What did you recently finish reading? Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O'Connor. This is Book #1 in a cozy mystery series. Twenty-something Siobhan O'Sullivan, is trying to keep her five siblings together after the sudden death of her parents last year. To do this, she stays in the small Irish village of the title, even though she'd planned to go to university in Dublin. She's now the guardian to her younger siblings and she's struggling to keep the family's coffee shop afloat. It's a heavy burden to bear. 

Made more difficult by the body in the booth.

 

It was a nifty mystery. A village of suspects, including Siobhan's brother. I thought I had it figured out about 3/4 of the way through, and I was wrong. I like it when I'm fooled. Also, looking back, I can't think of any plot holes. YAY! Plus, I really liked the Irishness of this book. It's a little thing, but I had to look up how to pronounce two of the charming but unfamiliar-to-this-Yank: Grainne and Ciaran. 

 

In all, this was hitsville. I'm going to have to look for more in this series.

 

3. What will read next? I don't know.

 

The ripple effect

Monday afternoon, hours before the game, Anthony Rizzo showed up at Yankee Stadium to learn CPR alongside New York Public School students and teachers.

Part of why I adore this man is that he always seems to find more ways to give back. I'm inspired. This 4th of July I'm celebrating by doing another round of Postcards to Voters and Letters Against Isolation.

PS Stamps are going up in price again on July 9.

Sunday Stealing

 
Stolen from The Pen Company
 

1. If your house was on fire, which three items would you save? The big cat carrier, which I am praying has both of my furbabies in it. My purse. That's it. I'm outta here.

2. What is the strangest or most awkward date you’ve ever been on? I don't remember how I met him, but I went on a date with a dentist.* We had a pleasant time but there was just no chemistry. After dinner and an unsuccessful makeout session on his sofa, he very politely drove me home. As soon as I got into my apartment, I saw a Blockbuster rental on top of my TV. I grabbed it and turned around and ran out to return it to the video store around the corner. By the time I got home – about 15 minutes later – there was a message on my voicemail. He very nastily accused me of running out for a second date! 

Let's think about this: he sat in front of my building for the time it took me to climb four flights of stairs (no elevator), grab the video, go down four flights and go through the courtyard. And he had the nerve to be mad at me? I left him a voicemail explaining about the video, called him a stalker and asked him to lose my number. The memory still creeps me out. (Funny, but I still remember the blouse I wore. Long sleeved and ruby red.)

3. What are your biggest fears? Airplane travel. Squirrels. Clowns.

4. How do you spend your time when you are procrastinating? You're looking at it.

5. What has been your most memorable birthday so far, and why? My 6th on November 22, 1963. It was a Friday. My afterschool party was suddenly cancelled because President Kennedy had been assassinated hours earlier. My Saturday party with my grandparents was ruined because all the adults were riveted to the TV – my mom cried non-stop and my icky grandma kept telling me to shut up. Sunday morning I was playing on the floor at my nice grandparents' house and my dad suddenly pulled my head into legs. My forehead hit his knee and it hurt. He didn't want me to see the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. There was no school on Monday because it was the National Day of Mourning. It was all pretty awful. But certainly memorable.

6. What is your favorite snack? It changes. Right now it's Chips Ahoy cookies.

7. What was your first pet? The first one I remember was a big white cat named Tommy. He was very friendly and had lots of personality. I was little (4 or 5) and he was a great playmate. He would chase me up the hall from my bedroom to the living room and I'd jump on the chair. Unfortunately he developed cancer and in those long ago days there weren't a lot of treatment options so my parents had him put to sleep. It was my first experience with death. It sucked.

8. What’s your favorite city in your country? As we've established, I hate to fly. But I love to land at O'Hare when I can see Chicago's skyline. It's breathtaking and it's how I know I'm home. BTW, I worked in two of the tallest buildings (Sears/Willis in the back and AON, the pristine white tower center left).

 
9. Do you have a garden? Nope.

10. What is your favorite thing about your home town? The Cubs!

I skipped 11, 12 and 13 because I answered similar questions last week. You can read them here.

14, Is there a food that you hate? Uncooked tomatoes.

15. Do you get along with your neighbors? I kinda have to whether I want to or not, since I'm on the condo board.

16. Do you have any tattoos or piercings? One hole each ear.

*Considering how much dental work I have needed over the years, I wish I'd married a dentist. Just not this particular dentist.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Over There (1942)
... because it's 4th of July 

Unfamiliar with this rendition? Hear it here.

1) George M. Cohan wrote this song in 1917, inspired by our country's entry into WWI. It was not only popular with the young men who enlisted, it was reassuring to their families. Tell us about a time when music was a comfort to you. It was November 2004. I had worked very, very hard as a volunteer on John Kerry's Presidential campaign and let's just say it didn't turn out as I'd hoped. My much-loved cat Billy had just died. I was as sad as I thought I could possibly be. I was racing to Walgreen's to buy a birthday card for my nephew's 3rd birthday. I didn't want to go to his party, but he wouldn't have understood my not being there. Anyway, as I ran across the busy street, I got honked at and remember thinking, "Hit me. Go ahead. I don't give a shit." Then this song came through my headphones and suddenly, at least for 3:36, I was happy.

2) "Over There" was revived at the start of WWII, and President Franklin Roosevelt cited this song specifically when he awarded Cohan with the Congressional Gold Medal. What's your favorite patriotic song? America the Beautiful. I especially love the verse we sing in church: "Oh beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life." I would like America to live up to this. I want to believe our heroes died for a merciful, more inclusive nation (despite the disheartening anti-LGBT backlash this past month).

3) This rendition of the song is from the 1942 film, Yankee Doodle Dandy. James Cagney won an Oscar for his performance as George M. Cohan. Also nominated that year was Gary Cooper, who portrayed a different Yankee, Lou Gehrig, in Pride of the Yankees. Tell us about a movie biography you have enjoyed. If it wasn't for Funny Girl, I wonder if the name "Fanny Brice" would mean anything to anyone anymore.

4) Cagney had a rebellious streak. His boss, studio head Jack Warner, nicknamed Cagney, "The Professional Againster." Cagney joked that he was proud of the title. How about you? Are you rebellious? Let's just say I have a very sensitive bullshit detector.

5) In the clip linked above, a woman sings with Cagney. Her name was Frances Langford, nicknamed the "GI Nightingale" because during WWII she performed for the troops at bases throughout Europe, North Africa and the South Pacific. Do you have any nicknames? Not anymore. When I was little, my dad called me "Mouse."

6) In 1942, when audiences were enjoying this performance of "Over There" in movie theaters, the fashion trend was for mothers and their young daughters to wear identical dresses. Moms would buy lots of fabric and patterns for the same casual day dress in both their own sizes and their little girls'. Can you sew? I can hem and mend and replace buttons.

7) The Fourth of July means we're in the middle of summer. Are you careful about applying sunscreen? Of course. I'm fair skinned and must be careful. 

8) Mosquito bites an be a major summer annoyance. Are you scratching any itches right now? Nope. 

9) Celebrity chef Rachael Ray says she considers mini-hamburgers, or "sliders," the All-American food. What will you be eating this 4th of July? I'm grilling salmon filets, and looking forward to it thoroughly.

Around town

Thursday I treated myself to a coffee shop lunch. I settled into the booth with my book, ready to be transported to wherever the author wanted to take me. But I was distracted by the drama in a nearby booth.

He was in his late 60s or early 70s. White hair, middle aged spread. She was in her early 20s, nose-ringed and tattooed. He was enjoying his lunch. She was trying to make a living. It didn't go well.

Photo by Esther Lin on Unsplash

He wanted to know her last name. He said it was because he was "into genealogy." He wanted to know how often she flew and where she vacationed, because he had been a pilot in the Army. He wanted to know how close to the restaurant her apartment was. 

She was firm and consistent. "That's not appropriate. I'm uncomfortable because you sound like a stalker." She repeated it every time he tried to make unwelcome, flirtatious small talk. 

I was proud of her. When I was her age, I went along with uninvited workplace flirting. I didn't want to be thought of as one of those "humorless feminists." I was also proud of the restaurant manager. If I could hear the ongoing exchange between server and diner, so could they, and clearly they supported her.

Friday I volunteered again in preparation for the local library book sale. Once again I overtaxed my back. But my stupidity isn't what alternately amused/annoyed me. It was the Queen of the Volunteers.

She had perfect makeup. Yoga pants and a blue/white striped blouse. Cork-heeled sandals. In short, she didn't appear ready to perform physical labor. And she didn't. A member of Friends of the Library board, she mostly gossiped with the real volunteer coordinator and hovered, ready to tell us what we were doing wrong.

Trust me on this: there wasn't much we could do wrong. We were taking already categorized books (I first handled cookbooks, then I moved on to mysteries/thrillers) and put them in packing boxes. Then we labeled the boxes with black markers. It was an important chore and I was happy to help but an advanced degree was not required. 

One year ago today I was creating content for a client who has a $600,000,000 advertising budget. There were actual consequences to creative decisions I made. And speaking of consequential jobs, there are doctors, dentists, cops, firefighters, air traffic controllers ... Nothing this officious woman did Friday mattered. 

I thought it was funny that she thought I needed assistance to sort and pack. If she really wanted to help, she would have offered to help me lift the full boxes and slide them under the table! I thought it was sad that she got dressed up to come over to the library to be bossy with volunteers she should just be thanking. Most of all, I thought I never want to be her. I never want my self-worth to become so tenuous that I have to be high-handed to feel important.

Then and Now

June 30 was our Rizzoversary! 11 years ago, my friend John and I were in the stands when Anthony Rizzo got his first home run as a Chicago Cub. I remember it so clearly because I believed then (correctly, it turns out) that Rizz was the going to be the linchpin of the next really great Cub team. 

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. One of the nice things about blogging this long is that I can look back and see how I felt about things in real time. And, on June 30, 2012, here's how I gushed about him.

Fast forward to 2023. 241 home runs, three All Star appearances and a World Series ring later. Now he's a Yankee, and he's hurt. He was plunked by a pitch in Oakland. Not an unusual occurrence for Rizz. The way he crowds the plate, he's one of the league leaders in HBP. I've seen him take a 90 mph ball to the thigh, the butt, the upper arm, and hardly flinch before trotting to first base. But Thursday it hit him in the elbow and he actually left the game in pain. Friday he didn't play in St. Louis. I hope he's better for Saturday. I want him to go into the All Star break on a high.

Thursday Thirteen #315

Thirteen popular Presidential Libraries. The Presidential Library system began in 1939, when FDR donated his personal and Presidential papers to the Federal Government. There are now 13 official Presidential libraries open and operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (or NARA, which you've no doubt heard a lot about lately). Abraham Lincoln's is outside NARA's auspices. 

I'm a nerd and admit I've been to five of the libraries on this list (*). Three I've visited more than once. It's true, I love this shit! Here are the most popular Presidential libraries, as determined by annual visitors.

1. Ronald Reagan -- Simi, California -- 383,000 visitors in 2019

2. Bill Clinton -- Little Rock, Arkansas -- 334,000*

3. John F. Kennedy -- Boston, Massachusetts -- 296,000*

4. Abraham Lincoln -- Springfield, Illinois -- 240,000*

5. George W. Bush -- Dallas, Texas -- 232,000

6. Dwight Eisenhower -- Abilene, Kansas -- 186,000

7. Gerald R. Ford -- Grand Rapids, Michigan -- 158,000

8. Franklin D. Roosevelt -- Hyde Park, NY -- 140,000

9. Lyndon B. Johnson -- Austin, Texas -- 139,000

10. George H. W. Bush -- College Station, Texas -- 136,000

11. Richard Nixon -- Yorba Linda, California -- 85,000*

12. Harry Truman -- Independence, Missouri -- 59,000*

13. Jimmy Carter -- Atlanta, Georgia -- 52,000

and to be complete, here's #14 ...

14. Herbert Hoover -- West Branch, Iowa -- 43,000

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I can no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O'Connor. The title pretty much tells you what's going on here. Our heroine, Siobhan O'Sullivan, is trying to keep her five siblings together after the sudden death of her parents last year. The kids work together in the family's coffee shop. As she tries to soldier on through her grief, one of her small-town neighbors tells her that her parents' fatal car crash was not as it seems, and if she gives him money he'll tell her more. Siobhan really does not need this right now! Life brings her more unwelcome complications the very next morning when the O'Sullivan siblings, racing to get ready for the breakfast crowd, find a dead man in one of their booths. 

So far I'm enjoying this, carried along by my affection for our narrator, Siobhan. She's a dreamer -- she wants to zip around on a pink scooter, she wants to be a fast and fit runner, she wants a lot of things -- but she's clear-eyed about running her bistro, about the strengths and weaknesses of her siblings, about her chances for romance in the small town. I really want good things for Siobhan and I hope that corpse in the booth isn't bad for business. The O'Sullivans need the money!

2. What did you recently finish reading? Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman. I didn't really choose to read this book right now. I had it on hold at my library and it suddenly became available. OK, Universe, I'll take the cue.

NY Times reporter Haberman began covering Donald Trump since his days in New York and he's always given her access. (The book even ends with a long post-Presidency sitdown at Mar-a-Lago.) Her reputation and experience in Trump World makes this book very credible and even though I didn't enjoy it, I recommend it. Because we can't let this reckless narcissist near the levers of power again. Really, I'd forgotten (blocked out?) exactly how chaotic and dangerous our world was with him at the helm. Now that he's a candidate again, it's more important than ever to remember.

She puts his Presidency in the context of his life story, and concludes that Trump (not a well-traveled or curious man) believes the whole world operates like New York City. That to succeed, all you need is fame -- not accomplishment nor even money, just fame and glamor -- and you can get it through alternately bullying and charming. He is not, nor was he ever, a public servant. He doesn't want to change the world for the better. He wants to be the center of attention, and is so fantastically shallow he can't comprehend what's wrong with that.

At times, though, I still felt sorry for him. After he lost everything in the early 1990s, he reached out to a young and guileless Southern belle for comfort, which seemed very human to me. His shortest marriage, it was the one I found most relatable. At the end of the book, when Haberman interviewed him in Mar-a-Lago, he kept steering the conversation back to New York and I could sense how he longs for his old home town. It's as though he didn't choose Florida, he's exiled there.

3. What will read next? I don't know.

 

Sunday Stealing

FROM SIGNUP GENIUS

1. Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? I haven't ridden a horse in a million years. Let's do it!

2. Who is your favorite author? William Goldman. He was wildly successful, but don't hold that against him. He won two Oscars: original screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and adapted screenplay for All the President's Men. Deep Throat never said, "Follow the money." William Goldman did. But now legal analysts quote it when discussing any political scandal, and that makes me smile. Goldman also helped Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (then first-time scriptwriters) on Good Will Hunting, for which they won Oscars.

He has a place in my heart for two novels that he turned into entertaining movies, but the books were so much better: The Princess Bride and Magic. The Princess Bride is a story of childhood dreams and adult disillusionment masquerading as a fairy tale. Magic is a thriller that begins with a murder investigation but is really about reckoning and self doubt. Goldman is also really funny. There's a moment in Magic where I literally laughed out loud, even though I was all alone and scared to death by the action. 

He died in 2018. His work is so much a part of my life that I don't really get that he's gone.

3. Would you rather vacation in Hawaii or Alaska, and why? Hawaii. Because I went there twice in my 20s and that was a long time ago. I long to return. To circle back to question #1, one of my most amazing memories is riding horseback in Hilo. It was beautiful.

4. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? I used to always answer this with mid-19th century America because I've read so much about it. But it's summertime and I can't imagine how uncomfortable it was to be a woman back then. Here's Sally Field on set as Mary in Spielberg's Lincoln. It's a historically accurate dress and I bet it was fucking miserable in hot weather. So now I've decided I'll just stay here in the ac, thank you.

5.  What's your favorite zoo animal? Okapis. I love them. They are rather rare, but we have them here in Chicagoland at the Brookfield Zoo. They look like they're part zebra but they aren't, they are in the giraffe family. Very shy, they make these cute little clucking noises at others in their herd but are silent with other animals (including us). They're herbivores and like to hang out on riverbanks where there's lots of green leaves and buds to munch on. (This makes me want to visit the zoo again.)

6.  What's the tallest building you've been to the top of? I worked for five years in the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) which is 110 stories. I worked for more than a decade in the AON Center, which is 83 stories. As a tourist, I visited the CN Tower in Toronto, which is taller than either AON or Sears Tower but I must tell you, once you get that high up it's hard to differentiate. You're just way up and can see forever. PS In the 1980s I visited the World Trade Center and remember very little about it. I mean, I was working at Sears at the time and was all, "Another tall building? Yawn." In light of what happened, I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention. I don't regret much in life, but I regret that.

7. How often do you buy clothes? Seldom. I pretty much wear jeans and Cubs/Beatles/vacation destination t-shirts every day. Saturday I went to dinner with friends at an Irish dive bar and wore one of my "work" blouses, just because. BTW, my friend Nancy was wearing a t-shirt from her company's recent kickball outing because, well, it was an Irish dive bar.

8. What was the last thing you recorded on TV? Holiday from TCM. Holiday is my favorite Hepburn movie. TCM is my favorite channel. Don't get me started! I'm still in battle mode. #SaveTCM!

TCM is embattled! Please tweet #SaveTCM.

9.  What was the last book you read? I just finished Maggie Haberman's study of Donald Trump, Confidence Man. It's straight up, factual reporting (hell, Trump even granted her post-Presidency one-on-one interviews!) and though it's dry at times, it's important since he's running for office again.

10. What's your favorite type of foreign food? Italian. Love, love, love the cheese.

11. What kitchen appliance do you use every day? Microwave

12. How old were you when you learned Santa wasn't real? How did you find out? I figured it out. I was suspicious that Santa handled things differently in different houses. For example, at my oldest friend's home, she knew which gifts were from Santa because he didn't wrap his and there were no tags. Here we were, across the alley, and our Santa gifts were in special paper and the tags were written in block letters. What the hey? My older sister, never the sharpest knife in the drawer, was shocked, SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! when we were told the truth and cried and cried. My dad wasn't much into the father thing, but he handled this chore with care and sensitivity. Nicely done, Daddy.

13.  What was your favorite subject in school? It was a tie between American history and English.

14. What's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten? I was very proud of myself for eating breaded alligator at Taste of Chicago. To be honest, I don't remember how it tasted. I just recall being all, "Hey! I'm eating alligator.' 

15. What's your favorite family recipe? I don't cook. My grandmothers did, though. Icky Grandma made a good pot roast and my Nice Grandma made the best dinner rolls. My affection for the dinner rolls always surprised her, as she was far more proud of her cookies.

"That's the most American sentence ever!"

My friend Nancy likes it that I make her husband laugh. I'm happy to do it. Although at dinner Saturday, when I made him spit his Miller Genuine Draft, and I didn't mean to.

When I swung into the booth, the first thing I asked was about the coup attempt in Russia. I said I started the day watching the coverage and was riveted, but then the Cubs game started. 

"That's the most American sentence ever!" Paul said, when he recovered. "Maybe the geopolitical balance of power is shifting, but the baseball game is on."

Well, yeah. What's your point?

His laughter was kind, so I didn't mind. Besides, it wasn't any baseball game. The Cubs were playing the Cards -- always an event -- and in LONDON!

I'm proud to say that there were enough Cub fans representing us in Jolly Old England that this celebratory post-game rendition of "Go, Cubs, Go" sounded great.

 

Paul paid for dinner, too. So there's that. (Though I left the tip.)