Sleep

Can't sleep and I have to be in Owensboro at 7:30 for some sort of stress test that requires fasting. I'm not sure what that is about. Guess I'll find out.

Kristin's wrist

Kristin has broken her left wrist. It is the 5th break she has had in about 4 years. She gets her cast tomorrow.

Porch Cat

Several months ago a skinny, sickly cat began hanging around the house. I thought he couldn't possible live long so I fed him to make his last days bearable. Many days he could barely walk and ate very little. Twice I made plans to take him to the vet to be put to sleep. Each time he disappeared just when I was ready to leave. Maybe he had a sixth sense. The last time I planned to take him he was gone for a daya nd a half. I had even gotten the pet carrier out of the basement and called the vet. When he came back after that close call he looked much better. Since then he has gained weight and his winter caot is thick and warm. He wants to be a house cat but he needs to be neutered first. JW says he can't come in but maybe he will feel sorry for him when the weater is really cold. I think he would be a fine lap cat. He appeares to have some age on him, rarely venturing away from the house He may hide for days if he gets wind of the neutering. His left ear is bent, probably from a fight in his younger days and sometimes his upper lip hangs on his front tooth. He sits like this looking into the hall from the porch and I have a hard time not letting him come in. I'm sure he will eventually make his way from the porch to the house. But we'll always call him Porch Cat.

Books that came home with me

  Square Books: Had A Good Time Robert Olen Butler   signed   An Oxford Sketchbook Watercolors by Wyatt Waters   Square Books remainders: La France De Profil Photographs of Paul Strand Commentary by Claude Roy   Haunter of Ruins The Photographs of Clarence John Laughlin   Spanish Trail Books - Biloxi: Matinee Tomorrow Fifty Years of Our Theater Ward Morehouse   signed   Magnolia Blossoms Loretta Smith   signed   Pass Christian Books - Pass Christian, MS: The Salt Line Elizabeth Spencer   On The Gulf Elizabeth Spencer with the art of Walter Anderson   Hurricane Camille Monster Storm of the Gulf Coast Philip D. Hearn   signed   Warmly Inscribed Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone   signed by both and their daughter   Walking Through Shadows   ARC Bev Marshall   signed   Right As Rain   ARC Bev Marshall   signed   Witnessing Ellen Douglas    to be mailed after her signing   The Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson edited by Redding S. Sugg, Jr.   Along the Coast A reprint Originally published by the L&N Railroad in 1895   From Beauvoir - The Last Home of Jefferson Davis Beauvior A Walk Through History   Walter Anderson Museum  Ocean Springs, MS A Painter's Psalm The Mural from Walter Anderson's Cottage Redding S. Sugg, Jr.   Arcadia Books   - New Orleans the people, yes Photographs and Notes by Jerome Liebling   Southern Photographs William Christenberry   some little gas station/quick pick sort of thing, somewhere in MS Kafka's Last Love The Mystery of Dora Diamant Kathi Diamant  (no relation)

Books in New Orleans

I loved being surrounded by all these books in New Orleans!!

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Our trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast was over all too soon. We arrived after dark on Saturday October 9. It was raining and we had no idea where we were going. The traffic was heavy and we quickly realized we were in the middle of the Cruisin' the Coast group. We found a room at the first place we stopped. Supper was hash browns and waffles at the Waffle House. I have to say it was really good. I guess that shows how hungry we were. Watching the cars was fun and the rain slowed. The rain was heavier on Sunday morning. We couldn't check into the hotel until afternoon so we drover up the coast. The farther we got from Biloxi and Gulfport the more I liked the area. Storms had blown sand all over the road, backhoes were scooping it up and putting it in dump trucks. The wind from the gulf was blustery and I got out of the car to let it blow in my face. I could have stayed in the wind all day. We found a bookstore in Pass Christian, making me anxious to visit it later. I found out later I could have gone in on Sunday. We checked into the hotel around 3 and found it all to our liking. I was especially happy to see the soaking tub. Later we rode the shuttle to the conference site and talked to several people. On Monday morning John Wayne went to the exhibit hall and I ventured out to look for Spanish Trail Bookstore. After asking for directions 3 times I found it and it was well worth the trouble. I stopped to go through Beauvior, the last home of Jefferson Davis. After having a fine there I drove to Pass Christian and made my first visit to Pass Christian Books. Another visit was to follow on Tuesday. It was full of treasures. After that book stop I went to Ocean Springs to the Walter Anderson Art Museum. I loved every thing in it and did some Christmas shopping. If I can bear to part of any of it! At night we went to look around in the casino, no gambling for us. We had fun watching the old ladies play the slots. On Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel and drove to New Orleans. Walking the streets was fun and we found a couple of book stores, Faulkner House Books and Arcadia Bookstore. We then had beignets at the Cafe du Monde before heading toward KY.  

On our way to Biloxi we went through Oxford MS to visit Square Books and Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner. I loved walking through the house and grounds. It was a quiet place that had a life of its own.

Several wonderful books came home with me. I'll list them in the next entry.

Fast Internet

We added DSL to our internet service tonight. Now that I have it I can't think of anything I'm in a hurry to know. Olivia is asleep on the air bed. She had a hard time going to sleep, I guess she her nap a little too late. She watched a Sesame Street video twice before she fell asleep. I'm cold so guess I will freeze to death when it really gets cold.

Susan says the girls had good days at school. Leah didn't get time-out. At 17 months old I wonder how much good it can do. But guess it can't hurt.

I must get things ready to go to Biloxi. Hopefully the weather will be warm and dry. No idea what clothes to take. I need to take several books. I don't want to be caught with a little time and nothing to read.

The flowers at the edge of Mama's garden still look fresh and new. She tells me about the flowers that grew there when she was a little girl. Peonies, lilac bushes, she says any flowers grew if Muddy threw them on the ground. She takes after her mother, though, the seeds die before they hit the ground. I can make things grow if I try. I haven't touched a flower or herb for 2 years. Maybe next spring the garden bug will bite me. I can remember peonies growing in our yard when I was little. But Daddy kept mowing them down. Usually just as they were about to bloom. Easter flowers were everywhere but only a few have survived, or have been replanted.

The hour is getting late and I need to read.