I cried when I read that story. We have adopted all our sweeties...rather, they have adopted us. Each and every one of our pets, here and departed, have chosen us. I have never understood how people could do some of the things they do. I'm a big proponent of adoption, in both humans and pets LOL. I'm also in favor of adopting older/senior pets. They are usually the ones who are left behind because most people want puppies/kittnes or younger dogs/cats. The older pet will have their personality right out there. You know what type of companion they will be because their personality has been established. For the most part, they're usually housebroken and/or trained, and they are so grateful for someone who will love them and give them what they need, which is a sense of purpose. Our pug, Tootie, came to us from a rescue foundation when she was around 7 or 8 years old. We've had her for 3 years and we couldn't imagine her not being here. We just went through an illness with her, thought we were losing her, and our grief was unimaginable. But it wasn't her time to leave us, and we are so grateful to have another day, another week, another month, or another year with her. Hopefully more and if so, happy beyond words. Friends of ours have 2 Saint Bernards that they bought from breeders. They have a biiiig house, but do the dogs live in the house with them? Nooo, they live in the frickin basement. They let them out to do their business, and then back in the basement they go. Heaven forbid they let them come in the house and ruin their floors, knock over something precious, have an accident. I always ask them (and I'm sure they're tired of hearing it), "Why do you have pets? What's the reason? Would you like to live in a basement with little or no human contact for most of the day?". We don't go over there too much any more because we find we don't have much in common with them or their philosophies on life in general. I just don't get it. Neither do they or others like them.

We have a painting that hung in the family farmhouse for years that is really ugly to me. The frame is bad, the picture itself is not in good shape and so many times I have wanted to chuck it out the door. But it was given to my DH by his Uncle who never married and divided the household goods among the nephews and nieces. The artist name is Ernst. There is actually a well known painter by this name but we don't know if its the same one or not. Just recently learned of him. Anyway, the painting is large and sits behind the bookcases in my DHs office. Even if its by the well known Ernst, I don't like the painting and would never hang it. Its a landscape.

The show that I really like is Bang For Your Buck. On BFYB the camera takes its time and actually shows whole rooms and details with a well-photographed and easy eye. No jarring editing. No dumb "reveal." The owners explain why they remodeled as they did, how and why they made their decisions, what worked and what didn't, etc. Then the designers come in and critique the rooms. Of course, they're supposed to find something wrong, so they always do, even if it's silly. But you actually have a serious discussion of a room by two separate parties. I don't actually care much who got the biggest "bang", but I've gotten a lot of decorating ideas. Love HouseHunters just for choosing the house I like best and guessing which was the one chosen. Some of the stories on HH are very moving. Unless, of course, it's some 20-something whippersnapper who whines about granite or looks at a perfectly usable bathroom and says "dated". In that case, like some other posters here, I yell at him/her to go live in a village in Afghanistan or Iran, where the toilets are literally a hole in the floor (or the ground). Sometimes we don't realize how great our lives are! As an English teacher and cranky grammar-nanny, I do blame HGTV for its cruel assault on our beautiful language. However, I'll spare the forum my lecture. :o)

Mummsie, I have never read "Christine" so I am reluctant to comment. It seems, however, from what other writers have said, to take the fact of her teen-age daughter's death to create fiction. Elizabeth had a troubled relationship with this daughter and packed her off to a very strict school in Germany. Not long after, the daughter died of pneumonia during WW1 in Germany. Elizabeth wrote "Christine" under a different name, in order to protect yet another daughter still in Germany. She created fictional letters from a daughter who died to a mother abroad. The purpose was to aid the Allied war effort with the book's negative view of Germany. Elizabeth, according to what I have read, was roundly criticized for this device as so many people believed the book to be non-fiction when it was published. Not exactly a warm and fuzzy story.