I belong to a book club and enjoy it very much. I was invited by a friend who was already a member. They keep it to 10 people although there is one woman who has never participated in 4 years of membership and with life commitments we rarely have all 9 of us together. We meet monthly from September through May and take a summer hiatus. At the September meeting we all offer 3 book recommendations and the group votes on which we will read, and at our May meeting we choose a summer book as our September choice-that's usually something that is longer or conversely might be a popular beach read. The Goldfinch for example was last summer's pick. The group is diverse and accomplished; several doctors, lawyers and everyone has a graduate if not professional degree. I mention that because they come up with some very interesting book suggestions that have taken me well beyond what I would read on my own. Unfortunately though a couple of members are firmly in the 'I only want to read 4 star novels from Amazon' camp and there have been a few books I really didn't think were worth the effort. Oh well, that's life. All the Light We Cannot See is my pick this year and will be our May discussion topic. I just finished a non-club selection that is one of the best books I think I've ever read, Being Mortal. It's already been mentioned but for anyone who is dealing with aging parents, or pondering how to deal with one's own aging process or terminal illness (and let's face it that is all of us-there's only one way the human story ends), this is an amazing, compassionate and deeply nuanced view and discussion of these issues. Would recommend it to any and everyone!

Some thoughts. I'll miss Annie and hope she returns soon. Be aware that when someone states something akin to the following, it uses fallacious reasoning. Ex. "My brother has two PhDs (art history and biology) and he doesn't think for one second that the Challenger blew up because of a faulty O-ring." Unless the brother is an expert in the field at hand, his PhD or post doc or Mensa score is irrelevant. The above statement employs the logical fallacy _argument from authority_ or _appeal to authority_. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority There are people with assorted degrees who might habitually leave a cooked turkey on the counter overnight or goof when composing a simple sentence. Business owners tend to vote for the party they think will be better for their bottom line. The voters who supported Trump don't all come from the same motivation or perspective. I believe a good many (professionals or tradespeople, marginally employed or unemployed) might well be low-information(*1) voters. Some are surely racist, mysogynistic, anti-gay. I know (but don't play with Trump supporters who have spoken disparagingly of blacks, non-whites, and gays (LGBT). If someone utters the N word, or jig------ or other term, I think it's safe to conclude something unmistakable about what they are about in some of their beliefs. * LIVoter -- strong tendency toward unidimensional news, headline, emotional news; not wide, in depth or varied. I believe that there is a substantial element of internalized misogyny in some of the women disliking HRC. I think Trump recognized a good amount of "identity anxiety" and accompanying anger. "Crap, we've got a Whitehouse full of blacks and their friend for eight years! What? Now a woman! Maybe a femnazi. Over my dead body." Hillary Clinton, a "flawed" candidate? Remember Lee Atwater's handbook -- just repeat something often enough and long enough... Even NPR began parroting Fox News. There were no shenanigans with the Clinton Foundation. No quid pro quo. If certain officials from this or that country donated large sums, keep in mind that the Clinton Foundation does an enormous amount of charitable work both domestically and globally. It get's a solid "A" from a well regarded organization that reviews and rates charities. If King Tut gave a large donation to the CF in an attempt to curry favor politically, well, looks like all he got was tofu curry. HRC was repeatedly smeared by certain RW operators and media outlets. She got an undeserved bad rap. And repeated misinformation, sensationalized and misleading or untruthful headlines can stick to almost anyone. It's not about facts or truth, but about the power of innuendo or out and out lies (ex. The recent engineered lie by Fox News right before the election and which legitimized Trump repeating it at his rallies -- that an indictment would be forthcoming. BS of course, but I'll bet more than a few people still believe it, even though the liar "walked it back" more than a day later. Fox did a similar lie trick before Bush-Cheney's invasion of Iraq. I've seen more than a few straw man posts. Don't put words into someone else's mouth (post), then proceed to argue against them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man Tonight 60 Minutes features an "interview" with Trump. Unfortunately the interviewer is going to be a softy. I imagine that is the only way the Donald would agree to it. No Anderson Cooper. And I doubt we'll ever see a well-informed strong interviewer get to sit down with Trump.

Hopefully for the last time, a Power of Attorney is a piece of paper. It's not a person, a legal capacity, or a status. . I've been away from home but I have a copy of some forms in my digital possession with the following effect. The first, a durable and mostly limitless General Power of Attorney, says: "I, XXX, a resident of YYY County, State, appoint as my attorney in fact: My name". It's a 19 page document. As a result of which, I am that person's "attorney in fact". The document is a Power of Attorney Another document for that same person is a durable power of attorney for health care that names me as "agent". My title under that document is "agent". The document is a healthcare power of attorney. I also have that person's will that names me as Executor. As a result, when acting under that document, I am "Executor". The document is a will. This is an area I worked in, in my professional career, for which I had a state license and plenty enough training. Not much, it isn't that complicated, irrespective of what people think they know based only on what they've heard used or misused.

I have a bed that survived the Chicago fire and a stopwatch my dad treasured that I know about, but it is my mom's side that has no history and I wish it did. My sister has a sugar bowl that is the only possession from our maternal great grandparents because my grandmother and her 2 siblings were orphaned after the Spanish Flu epidemic. Because of that, my grandmother placed great value on owning fine things. She had a pair of compotes on her mantel that were a most prized possession -- we were always told how valuable they were and scolded if we were too close or too active in the room. I remember being told they were a gift from the grandfather I never knew (he died my mom's senior year of high school) -- delivered in an armoured car by men wearing gloves who set them in place with great care. My mother told me this or I am not sure would not believe it. I think the story was that they came from Germany after WWII and from the home of someone of high level in the Nazi organization -- not something I really value, and I have no proof of their historical significance. I offered them to a museum after my parents passed, but they were not interested. I can't donate them because that would be sacrilege and my parents and grandparents would haunt me, but no one wants them. I wish I had their story recorded so I could do something.