Chelone, you can slam things around. That is what I do when I am having a crabby day. It must be something going around. I got up this morning just plain angry! And I don't recall having a bad dream that brought on the anger either. Saucy, I sure know what you mean about "getting the furniture presentable" before taking pics of anything. I have an additional problem....most of it is so surrounded by other items that I cannot get a clear view to take pics. I have several pices of furnishing I would like to add to that thread, if it were not for the above drawbacks. It will be fun hearing the name of the new member of Marie's family. One of the couples in our congregation have a very large family, and new great grandbabys arriving frequently. The latest is a boy, and I cannot remember the unusual name that the poor child will be living with. I am seeing a nickname in his future. Oh my! Mary, what a bummer. My sister is prone to having Strep throat almost with every cold. I do not recall ever being diagnosed with it, although it used to be thought a forerunner of Rheumatic Fever, and I 'was' diagnosed with that. Sister was not, so who knows? Thank goodness there are great antibiotics now that nip it in the bud. I hope you are already feeling better. I hope Scarlet Fever is not going around. Our Tim was telling me about a bout that he had with a "blazing red face", etc., just a week or so ago. LOL, V ! An Agave preparing to devour you! It does look rather menacing. :-) Ah, taxes...that is one perk of being in the financial condition that we are in. Filing a tax report has been a thing of the past for many years now. I certainly do not miss attempting to make out Nolon's self employment taxes. I would literally get sick every year that I did it. He was very bad at not keeping good records of any of his work and income. I always feared we would be audited and I would be hard put to come up with proof. I was very careful to err on underestimating our deductions and depreciations. After putting out extra bucks (only once) to pay for the filing, a good friend (my former employer) taught me how to do it myself. Julie, my mom was the neatness freak. If she saw us so much as to pick a piece of link off our clothing and drop it on the floor she would admonish us to " Pick that up and put it in the coal bucket"! Her house was never dust and debris covered like mine has become. :-( Part of mine is the hair clusters (like Chelone frequently speaks about). :-) And then there is all the residue from the wood stove, not to mention plant debris, and tracked in stuff from both of our shoes. I must sign off and tote in the firewood for the day, before getting ready for my Tuesday's trip to town. Marian

A lot of analysis has been around regarding what material makes a face mask effective. I have not come across much discussion about another equally important characteristic contributes to face mask effectiveness to block viruses. It seems to me that structural geometry of a face mask is equally if not more important than the nature of the material for making a face mask. A typical face mask has about 25 square inches. The problem with most home made face masks is that they lack structural stiffness, So when you exhale, you lung pushes out air thru 25 sq. in. of fabric, but when you inhale, you suck the fabric so closely attached to your face, and you are only filtering incoming air thru about 4 sq. in. of fabric. As a result, air will be forced thru the fabric at much higher pressure and speed, and more virus will be forced thru the fabric. dcarch

My last October post.. I finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Great premise, not so great execution. There were too many side stories that detracted from the best part of the plot - the Punjabi widows, their stifled lives and the freedom they felt when together in the classroom. I wish the author had focused on this part of the story and spent time developing the characters. I did appreciate learning a little bit about Punjabi culture in contemporary England. Overall 2 stars for me. Also finished Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. I long ago read her novel In the Time of Butterflies in which I learned a lot about the Dominican Republic’s dark history. This novel takes place in New England, about a newly retired and suddenly widowed college professor. A moving story about grief, sisterhood, and searching for a meaningful life amidst so many changes. Alvarez uses comic relief to balance the sorrow the main character is feeling. Quick read. 4 stars. Last week, dh and I had a 10 hr roundtrip road trip in one day to take our college son to a doctor appointment, Last time I made the trip alone, this time dh went to help with the long drive so I chose an audiobook that would appeal to both of us. We listened to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. Certainly not an easy subject as it’s a chilling and heart wrenching account told in a series of short interviews with first responders, survivors, witnesses, friends and family, govt officials. It certainly held our attentIon but it is a lot to listen to - I was in tears at point listening to one first responder talking about how he and fellow firefiighters laid the body of Fr. Mychal Judge on the altar of St. Peter’s. 5 stars Currently reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Really enjoyed her previous book, Homegoing. Not too far into this one yet to have an opinion.

I finally finished The Heart's Invisible Furies. It was just ok...I was highly disappointed it wasn't better, as I'd seen some raves about it and had to wait forever for it from the library. The story is good enough, as is the writing, but the underlying current of educating the reader about the issues presented in the book just kind of rankles me. I guess if you don't know very much about the things he's lecturing you about, it can be educational, but very off-putting to me. The contrived situations allowing for a point to be made, the over the top coincidences "two Cyrils"??? just fell flat for me. I'm being vague so as to not write any spoilers. It had the same effect on me as some Jody Picoult books, always trying to write a story to fit her lesson plan. I started Anxious People and so far am intrigued. I think I'll like it overall. It is filled with writing that makes me really think, in a philosophical way. Little sentences that make me think, "Whoa! That really is profound." It's very different, the way he's telling the story, but I think it will work for me. I've liked most of his other books (except for Beartown, where i just couldn't get beyond the small town sports crazy aspect, so I put it down almost immediately). So, I expect to like this one, too. (cross posted to POV forum)