Monday, November 30, 2009

November 30, 2009

8:38 am I was having a dream that was confusing when I was dreaming. I seemed to be chief executive in a coutry which had two cultures. kind of a muslim culture. When I went to sleep I was wondering if one could make haj (that pilgrimage to mecca) only during this time or could one go any time.I plan to ask Nadia at dog park.

I am feeling better but have this terrible cough where I am coughing up mucus from deep in my lungs.

10 am Getting up and dressing. I dont ache but I feel depressed about the state of the house. Or maybe this is the post-flue depression.
I washed dishes and cleaned up kitchen counter. Step One. I feel much better.

Seminar at Wendy's. Judy and I each feel despondent over Afghanistan, health care reform, and other political ventures.
Came home, but could not get to sleep for a nap. So we packed up and went to dog park. It was sunny but sort of cool.

Blitzen's Tale
I got into it with a sharpei coming into the park. He went next door and I barked at him through the fence. Then I was trying to socialize another little dog and mom put me on time out.

Lady Chica's Tale
Not much to say today. Not many dogs to race. I try to pretend I dont know Blitzen when we are at the dog park.

BOOK REVIEW
Ian Rankin, *Blood Hunt*
This is a unique novel. Gordon Reeve is retired SAS (British special forces) who runs weekend survival courses. His brother, Jim, is a journalist who supposedly commits suicide. Gordon does not believe this and sets forth. He discovers that his bro was working on a story about herbicides. Interesting that after discovering the story, Gordon has problems eating. He thinks about the pesticides in his food.
I was intrigued with his covert operations. At one point, he dug a hole, disguised it and waited ten hours for the bad guys to come. He really scared them!


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Sunday, November 29, 2009

November 29, 2009

11 AM Woke up feeling better. I can breath. Vicks does a great job of cough suppressant. Will be going to dog park as soon as I contact Uncle Mark.

Blitzen was such a pest that we went to dog park and told Uncle Mark we would wait for him. it mizzled for a little while and then stopped. Blitzen loves Uncle Mark bc Mark pets him. Now 3 PM I am going to take a nap.

Blitzen's Tale
Uncle Mark came to dog park. He gives me a great rubbing.

Lady Chica
First it was mizzling. So all the dogs went home. Mom had a book and was reading. She is always reading.

5 PM I took a long nap. My nose is clear but my shoulders ache.

I dont feel too bad but I dont feel good. I can breath. I can breath.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I looked forward to it and now it is gone. Alas.



BOOK REVIEW
John Lutz , *Night Kills*
Police procedural. Retired NYPD homicide dick, Frank Quinn, is contracted back to find serial killer. We know who the killer is. A dating service provides special service. They kill a person and substitute their special client, a person who wants to change identities.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Saturday, November 28, 2009

November 28, 2009

11 AM. Sun is shining. I have a cough and sore throat. Going to dog park then I may stay in bed. I dont even feel like reading. Fortunately I have plenty of food cooked etc.

Trivia:
I keep thinking about Ellis Island. The Irish and Germans did not go thru Ellis Island. They got here first.
My Kroger Instant Coffee is a product of Germany. That blows my mind.
I am eating brie cheese made in Holland, Michigan. Wow.

2 PM Wind at dog park did not help my sinus. Wind is 14 mph.
The dogs raced and raced. Cassie and her mom turned up, Ray was there, the woman who owns Kevin the bulldog. Packs of dogs raced on either side of the fence.

Blitzen's Tale
That old bulldog was on the other side of the fence. I really gave him what for.

Lady Chica's tale
I love the wind. I was racing the wind. Blitzen and that bulldog said a lot of things they wouldn't have said if they were on the same side of the fence.

Took a three hour nap. I got up and am cooking a cabbage recipe. Substituting ingredients. Creative cookery. I found I do not have any vinegar in the house.

Now I have a stuffed up nose.



BOOK REVIEW
Michael Pollan, *botany of Desire*
Chapter Two -- tulip
Once more we are dealing with a plant which does not breed true from seed. The tulip originated in Turkey. At one point it was highly favored by royalty there. A Dutch minister brought some bulbs back to the Netherlands.
I am beginning to read about the tulip something.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Friday, November 27, 2009

November 27, 2009

For midnight snack I had a piece of pumpkin pie and one of pecan. yeah.
3 AM Up for a pit stop.
Yesterday we watched two football games. First was GreenBay in Detroit. Green Bay is Jeff's hometown. Then we watched the cowboys, playing locally in Arlington TX.

Martha called at 9 am to make sure I am OK. I got up at 10. I need to go over to get cell phone fixed. Debating on what is most efficient way to go.

I managed to find the AT&T device store where I was given a new phone. Then I got lost on the way home. The difficulty is the 820 flyover 183 where various roads converge. I never know how to get where I want to go.
Gave the dogs a local walk. Now for a nap.
3:40 PM Feeling refreshed.

Went over to meet Lea. After we ate, Lea and I went shopping at Joanne's fabric and craft store. Black Friday. Huge discounts. We shopped for beads to string. Then Lea bought a serger and some cloth for Xmas presents.

Bliten's Tale
Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

BOOK REVIEW
Michael Pollan *The Botany of Desire*
Recommended. The author presents a different perspective on the relation of humans to plants and animals, which he terms coevolution. The goal of plants and animals is to reproduce. By adapting themselves to human desires, plants and animals survive. An example is the wolf. There are 50,000,000 dogs in the US but only a few thousand wolves. (It's the same DNA).

Chapter One -- the apple
The author traces the footsteps of John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed. Apples do not grow true from seed. Eating apples come from grafts. People on the frontier used the apples to make cider (hard cider). Apple cider ferments easily, as anyone knows who had hidden a gallon of cider in her dorm room. So frontiersmen did not care what apples looked and tasted like. But every now and then a tree came up which had wonderful apples, like the Golden Delicious and red Delicious. With rise of Temperance Movement, apples were sold for eating. At the turn of the century the Stark Seed company had rewards and contests for a good eating apple.
Author has usual caution about commercial growing of only one kind. (Dole used only one banana which is dying bc of some kind of parasite.)
genetic diversity. Corporate farms use more and more genetic engineering, destroying genetic diversity. These cloned plants are subject to pests and parasites.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Listening to NPR about Ellis Island. I am one of the 60% of Americans who did not have an ancestor going thru Ellis Island.
9:30 AM off to dog park.

The afternoon has wafted away. Nobody was at the dog park. Lady Chica stalked birds. I enjoy watchig this.
Josh picked me up at noon and I sat around sipping wine all afternoon. Martha was cookign. We were all watchig Cowboys.

The food was delicious. Jeff and Martha drove me home. I am bounteously blessed.

Happy thanksgiving
Blitzins' Tale
Mom was gone all day. I crawled in the closet and sletp.

Lady Chica's tale
I slept all day.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

November 25, 2009

Tuesday night I watched NOVA on dreams. The research is beginning to get somewhere. I have some ideas the next time I dream. Supposedly REM dreams are sort of rehearsals. The rat was running a maze.

Wednesday morning
I love mornings when I can sleep in. 10 AM. The dogs are pawing to get out to pee. I need to run errands this morning and I have 3 books on hold at library. By now library is open.

Blitzen was barking to get out to eat grass. His tummy was upset last night. I was complaining to Martha that I have to do something about fridge to store leftovers tomorrow. She said isn't that a nice problem to have? not knowing where to put all the bounty!


Made a library run, post office, and boughta phone at Office Depot. Now for a nap. PPQS tonight.

Blitzen's Tale
Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

Lea and I worked on the quilt blocks. I had enough to make four lap quilts. Lea is quilting by machine. I am handsewing blocks together.

BOOK REVIEW
Keith Ablow, *Denial*
Wow. Forensic psychiatrist who is a coke addict. This is the first Frank Clevenger book. crime novel. Clevenger is called to evaluate a paranoid schizophrenic who has confessed to a gruesome murder. Clevenger is convinced the schiz just found a corpse and had sex with her. Really, really surprise ending.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

November 24, 2009

Baptist Center. We had a request for groceries as soon as we opened. I am still asleep.
10 AM Steady stream of people. twenty family units. Two disgruntled. People have this entitlement syndrome.
Other volunteers said people were resentful and disgruntled.

My Tuesday routine is to come home and take a nap. So then we went to dog park. My dogs didn't even try to run. Blitzen was on "time out" most of the hour and Lady Chica was smelling scents on the far side.

Blitzen's Tale
There was that old bulldog dressed up like a bumble bee. Mom put me on time out. then I was trying to socialize that great dane puppy. Mom put me on time out. Both those dogs went on the other side.

Lady Chica's Tale
We stayed until everybody else went home and I felt free to run around the park. I smelled a squirrel trail over there.

The traffice was terrible going home. A 12 minute drive took me 45 minutes. That commuter train always comes past at five and holds up traffic,

No book review. I never have time to read.

Hugs, Dr. Liz

Monday, November 23, 2009

November 23, 2009

8:00 AM Up for a pit stop. Strange fog over everything. Yet my sinus is dry for the first time since I can remember. (Remember that my memory is gone!) temp is 48

Judy and I enjoyed our seminar at Wendy's. After going through our political litany we discussed the aches of growing old. Judy's mother is 87 or 89. (My memory again.) I came home and took a nap.
We went off to the dog park and who should be there but Judy and Szabo, as well as Holly and Gracie.
Szabo and Blitzen had to be put on time out. They were having problems with an unfixed male bull dog. Eventually owners took male and female bull dog over to big dog side. They were probably afraid.

Blitzen's Tale
Mom put me on time out and Szabo's mom put him on time out cuz we wanted to take care of a mean ol bull dog. He went on the other side of the fence. I barked at him to come get me but he was on a leash and dragged away.

Lady Chica's Tale
Nobody was there to run with me. I just wandered around sniffing at things. Why do boy dogs have to be so aggressive all the time. Boy dogs are a bother! Except for Pup. Altho he and Blitzen have gone at it once or twice.

BOOK REVIEW
Linda Lael Miller, *Never Look Back*
Romantic police procedural. This book is well written and has a neat plot but a great deal of time is taken up with the romance off and on of Clare and Tony Sonterra. Clare Westbrook is a lawyer who inherits money frm fa and decides to set up a law practice in poverty stricken area in Phoenix. Somebody targets her for murder. She finds a body floating in her swimming pool.
Sonterra is a homicide detective. Actually he is the target of the serial killer. Killer wants to punish Sonterra by killing Clare.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Sunday, November 22, 2009

November 22, 2009

Noon. Just got up. Going to rest all day. We are going to dog park soon. Then I may take a nap. Get up in time for Mystery.
I sat up reading last night, "just one more chapter" until 4 AM. See Book Review.

Dachsund meetup day at the dog park. They were all over. Otherwise the visit was calm. Neither dog was very energetic.

Blitzen's Tale
I am still tired after Friday night at Pup's. I am getting on in years, you know. I am as fast as ever but I dont have the stamina.

lady Chica's Tale
Nothing exciting going on. I raced the fence just once. I wandered around smelling things.

Uncle Mark wants to know where the pups will spend the holidays. They aren't going anywhere. Mom goes over to Aunt Martha's for Thanksgiving. Then she leaves them alone all the night before Xmas. And we all stay home to watch the Rose bowl Parade.

I took a nap. Feeling more rested. Waiting for mystery. It will be Part III of "Collision". I watched part of an old movie this aft. some guys escaping from WWII prison. It was an old movie.

BOOK REVIEW
Beverly Connor, *Dead Hunt*
See above. Reading this book is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Diane Fallon is a forensic investigator, director of Museum of Natural History, director of crime lab. The museum is accused of buying stolen Egyptian artifacts. (They did buy them by mistake and returned them to Egypt.) Then a convicted killer escapes prison. Her blood is found in Diane's apt and she is almost arrested for murder. The ending is rather unbelievable, but I enjoyed how we got there.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Saturday, November 21, 2009

November 21, 2009

Up at 11:30 AM. I can feel the hassle I went thru last night. Up and at em. I need to run over (no comments, please) and see about cell phone.

I totally hate Northeast Mall. I had a most frustrating journey. Went over to regular cell phone store. My battery was defective. It is still under warranty. So they sent me to a store which replaces devices. It is on the feeder road of 183. I could not find it. Stopped at my bank and they directed me back to original store. I was almost in tears. I wanted to have a tantrum but decided that was useless.
Original store gave me a sheet of paper and told me it was in parking lot Of Purple Beans. Blackeyed Peas. Well, back I went. Still could not find it but drove around and there it was.
They put in a new battery but I dont think it is charging right. I have enuf till Monday morn.

Now to dress and off to church. then to an open house.

I attended a renewal of vows ceremony. It was beautiful. The woman had wanted a wedding, and did not have the money. So this was it. And really beautiful. The ceremony was elegant. the ritual.
One thing about Baptist weddings. No alcohol. Costs less. We had a wonderful reception --- wonderful food. Anything you could think of.
I sat with Bette H. We had fun together.

I was invited to Leta's open house, but I just could not face another drive. I just came home.

Blitzen's Tale
We didn't go anywhere today, but I didn't mind. Mom was gne all day and we slept.

Lady Chica's Tale
Mom was gone all day and I just slept.

No book review again today. Too much activity. I did not read a page.




Hugs, Dr. Liz

Friday, November 20, 2009

November 20, 2009

I was up and off to tai chi. Had chile at the Senior Center. I have mislaid my cane. But I have the wooden staff that John made for me.

My cell phone is not working right. I took it to the store and the clerk pushed the button. I may have to find a man to push the button. Hand strength.
Now for a nap. Play tonight with John and Lea.

Midnight
I had a lovely evening with Lea and John. We went to dinner at La Isla with Candy and somebody. Then the play. The play was well acted but we were not satisfied. The villain was not punished. And the play was in starts and jerks. It was "Book of Days" at UTA.

HELL
Driving home was total hell. To avoid 820, I planned take Collins to Trinity Blvd. (There are only three bridges over the West Fork of the Trinity.) Well.... the Collins St bridge over I30 will not open until Monday. I had wrong info. I had to take a detour and I got lost. It was dark and I did not recognize the landmarks I passed daily for fifteen years!!!! I wandered around and found myself on I30 going to Dallas.
I got off on 161 --- and could not get off. Ramps closed. Not yet constructed. I was lost and did not know where I was going. And no cell phone. I was scared.
Finally, finally, I was poured out onto 183 --- the road which goes past my complex.
Highways are full of huge trucks spewing fog and water. I managed to find my way to Trinity Blvd, where I had been heading in the first place. No traffic and I knew where I was.

I am totally exhausted!!!!

Blitzen's Tale
Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

No book review tonight.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Thursday, November 19, 2009

November 19, 2009

I hve been watching too many documentaries. I dreamed that I was in a foreign land and joined a revolutionary group. (Are you surprised?) We/they decided to mess things up by everybody confessing to a particular murder. And we were supposed to go naked to the police station. So we all took our clothes off. I kept my Depends on, figuring I would really need them. And then I woke up.

I sat down at my computer and my sister called on Skype. We first argued about "terrorism". I knew that was a mistake. We stopped that and discussed the everyday trivia.

About terrorism. I resent that Joe Leiberman is using the fort Hood incident. I believe that Dr. Hassan was just another "crazy". I am amused that despite his orientations he acted just like an American, a two gun shooter from the Old West.

My Juno is acting up this morning. My goal for today is to do my laundry.

And I achieve my goal. Also washed up my sink of tops. lids. I completely forgot I meant to get my hair cut. Beautican is on site only Thursdays. Any place else is far, far away.

Last night the PBS documentary on 1918 influenza was about England. The English virologist has a hypothesis that the strain originated in 1916 in an army depot. The American journalist found it in rural Kansas in 1917.

Uncle Mark came to the dog park to visit Blitzen and Chica.
Blitzen's Tale
Uncle Mark came to visit us at the dog park. I liked him because he petted me a lot.

Lady Chica's Tale
Mom showed Uncle Mark how I can do the agility course.

I have not finished any more books.

Hugs, Dr. Liz

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

November 18, 2009

Sherry asks how I named my dogs.
Blitzen means Lightening. No, he was not a Xmas dog. Donder means Thunder. Donder and Blitzen were Thunder and Lightning. My generation heard a lot about Blitzkreig.
I named Blitzen before I met him but I must have been psychic. It absolutely describes him. He moves so fast he is invisible.
(Actually Blitzen means the act of lightening. German has two words: blitz and blitzen)

Chica is Spanish for "girl", used meaning "kid". Chico is the male.
Somehow I began calling her Lady Chica in order to give her some respect.


Wednesday morning 10 AM
The sun is shining. My sinus is clear. I can breathe. I feel energetic, within limits. Have great plans to do chores today. Fantasies, fantasies.

I dragged out a box (Xerox size) of quilt blocks ready to quilt and sew together. This fits into the category of "unfinished project". Eight blocks are done. what a lot of work. Lea can use her fancy machine and do the quilting. I am so excited about them!!!!!!!

Lea is excited, too. She quilted one tonight and it looks splendid!.

Blitzen's Tale
Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

BOOK REVIEW
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, *The Book of the Dead*
An Egyptian tomb was reconstructed in New York Museum of Natural History. Sayings from the Book of the dead were written on the mantels.
Preston and Child write these books that seem to be supernatural but turn out to be real. The protagonist is Special Agent Pendergast. This book begins with Pendergast in a maximum security federal prison. Nora is an archaeologist with Museum and is in charge of opening exhibit in tomb. Villain plans a mass slaughter at the opening.

Hugs, Dr. Liz

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

November 17, 2009

Baptist Center. I have been steadily busy. 12 units. People have asked the funniest questions this morning. I mean the weirdest. People think we are 211 (the information number).

Every Tuesday I come home expecting a different set of emails. It is hilariously amusing. I tried to take a brief nap. Dogs were not ready to take a nap. They harassed me. I had a massage. Of course i always come home feeling kneaded.
Then we made a library run and off to dog park. Lady Chica raced Buddy for a while. Chance arrived wearing a lovely pink tee shirt, just as we were leaving.

Blitzen's Tale
Not much to say today. We hassled Mom when she tried to take a nap. We wanted to go to the park.

Lady Chica's Tale
It was nice and chilly. So I felt like running. I wish Chance had gotten there sooner.

7 PM About to see Nova and why homo sapiens alone survived of the hominids.

No book review. Have not finished another book.

Hugs, Dr. Liz

Monday, November 16, 2009

November 16, 2009

The dogs hassled and hassled and hassled. The alarm rang at 9:30. Off to Wendy's Temp is 46 degrees. Autumn is here.

Our seminar at Wendy's lasted almost three hours. We were chewing over the cultural consequences of China becoming a world power. And various other political topics.

Then we went to dog park for another hour. There we regaled each other with the endings of PBS programs. Szabo and Blitzen double teamed a poor deaf cocker spaniel. The deaf dog couldn't hear the warnings.

Blitzen's Tale
Szabo was at the park today. We raced Buddy. Mom had me on time out for a while.

Lady Chica's Tale
The wind was blowing and I fly with the wind. Boys are so silly. I mean Blitzen and Szabo.

5PM I think I will finally take a nap.
And so I did, for three hours.

BOOK REVIEW
Jonathan Kellerman, *Compulsion*
Police procedural. Alex Delaware, psychologist, and Milo Sturgis, LAPD homicide. A woman disappears. Then another woman is beaten to death. I am halfway thru the book but I think I have read it before. Published 2008.

I read Kellerman over and over. I enjoy his style.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Sunday, November 15, 2009

November 15, 2009

Strange night of waking and sleeping. I thot I was awake and I was talking to Big Bird and cookie monster.

No pain this morning. What gives with thatt? I found a double yoked egg. Isnt that supposed to be lucky or something?
I over cooked my eggs and put too much salt in. Being a Child of the Depression I am eating them. Off to religious services.

Rather frustrated in Sunday school. During lunch the pastor came down to fellowship hall to make a little speech. The extreme right of the Baptist General Convention of Texas wants to get rid of Broadway Baptist bc we are too liberal. We are not sending messangers to this year's annual convention.

Knowing that rain was predicted, I made a choice to take a nap. Hence we only had half an hour at the prk before the rain came down. We drove home in a gulley washer. I may take another nap before Mystery comes on.

Blitzen's Tale
I raced around looking for friends of mine, but nobody was there. We didn't stay long. It rained.

Lady Chica's Tale
I enjoy being all alone in the park. I have time to smell all around. The park today was full of tiny little dogs.

Well, Mystery lasted two hours and it is still continued. We know mostly the mystery. There was a collision on the expressway (in England --- they were all driving on the wrong side of the road). Our hero was charged with figuring out the source of the accident bc the father of one victim was suing the Metro police.


BOOK REVIEW
James Lee Burke, *The Neon Rain*
First Dave Robichaux novel, published in 1987. I mention the date bc the novel assumes everyday knowledge about what was going on in Nicaragua and I cant remember. Anyhow, Dave is a rough and tough homicide dick with New Orleans PD. As always, he is an alcoholic. The bad guys pour alcohol down his throat and he has to start over again. He gets involved with a group who is sending arms to Nicaragua, but I am not sure which side. He works with an agent from ATF.

I enjoyed this thoroly. Even if I didn't know what was going on. Dave frequents AA meetings.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Friday, November 13, 2009

November 13, 2009

Adam lived on MI-5. It was touch and go that he pull through. Last night's episode was wild. MI6 is trying to take over the government in a coup.

Alarm rings at 9:30 and I am on my way to tai chi. I finally feel more rested but I am stiff. Martha pointed out that Nolan Ryan probably hurts more than I do. (He is on a billboard.) I heard an interview with a tennis champion who is in pain all the time. He retired bc of pain.

After tai chi I had lunch --- turkey hash with cranberries __- at the Senior Center. Came home and took a nap. Now for the dog races. 3:20 PM

It was a mild afternoon, exercise wise that is. Lady Chica came to ask to go home. We started for the gate and Blitzen beat us there. On the other hand, when we got home, B's terrior terrier persona took over. he grabbed a little box and shook it to death racing around the room.

Blitzen's Tale
Mostly at the the dog park i ran around asking people to pet me. When we got home I took it out on this box. I pretended the box was a rabbit.

Lady Chica's Tale
I am so tired of being associated with that crazy Blitzen. Will no one rescue me?

BOOK REVIEW
Kathy Reichs, * Deadly Decisions*
Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist as is her hero, Dr. Temperence Brennan. Temp spends the summers in Montreal working in their lab. In this novel, she is dealing with motorcycle gangs. According to this book, motorcycle gangs are the new Mafia, deaing in drugs. Her nephew, Kit, gets involved.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Thursday, November 12, 2009

November 12, 2009

10 AM The dogs were making a vast fuss and then I realized it is thursday. Then that horrible little brown dog stuck his face up in our window. I wish his owner would walk him somewhere else. He is new in the complex.

I went over to Walmart to buy a new telephone. They are so complex. I had intended to look them up online. I bought a Norfolk Island pine and came home. I had intended to go to a plant nursery and get one.

Took a nap before we went to the dog races. Lady Chica ran up and down trying to get a big dog to run. Blitzen just sat around. Then... he took off on an extra curricular run. he got thru the gate and zoom. he took off over the hill. I was really scared. A nice man trotted after him and somehow he came back. Maybe bc I started the car. He ran across the dog park and back and jumped into the car. Lady Chica kept barking that he was not in the crate. We arrived home and I took another nap.

8 PM Waiting for MI-5. I didn't see Adam in the previews. I guess he is dead. Who will be intel officer?

Blitzen's Tale
I really took off today. I didn't come to go out when she called. Then she held the gate and I went into the air lock. Then she went out and came back and I slipped thru. I took off across the parking lot and over the hil. I really meant to come back but i scared her!!!!

Lady Chica's Tale
That crazy Blitzen took off across the parking lot. Then Mom let him ride home in the front seat. I was mad.

BOOK REVIEW
Kate Wilhelm, *Cold Case*
Barbara Holoway legal thriller. Twenty-two years ago a graduating coed was murdered. Police closed case, assuming a transient killed her. She had been involved with two young men, Robert and David. David returns on a speaking tour (at the university). Robert is shot and David is indicted for the murder. Barbara is his defense lawyer and finds the real killer.

Holoway agonizes a lot in her pursuit of truth and justice.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

November 11, 2009

For me this is always Armistice Day.

Last night I dreamed and dreamed I was sewing quilt blocks. Dogs got me up at 9 AM. They wanted breaky. My bones feels as if a front is coming in.

I did a little bit of sewing. Took a nap. 3 PM Time to go. I am dropping stuff off at Martha's on my way to Lea's for the evening, dogs to visit Pup.

Lea was sewing curtains for Erin. Erin is an artist who cant sew. She is also sewing slip covers for Erin. Evelyn loaned Lea her serger.
As usual I just watched PBS. They had a navaho code talker on there and the story of Iwo Gima. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
I think PBS is biased about hating war.
I know when I bcame a Pacifist. On the News Reel I saw Japanese soldiers coming out of the caves on Okinawa, all on fire.

So much for that.

Dog Tales. What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's. Last I saw Lady Chica she was eating Pup's food.

BOOK REVIEW
I am in the process of reading five books. I get bogged down in one and change to another. Found a J>A> Jance I had not read.



Hugs, Dr. Liz

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

November 10, 2009

Baptist Center. Only 12 families today. Slow day. Everyt;hing was slow. United methodist was giving out winter coats. I guess everybody was over there.

Gentle Reader points out that my recent book review about a woman writing her dissertation. hence my dreams.

I came home and took a nap. Then off to the dog races. Blitzen had to be kept on time out. First he wanted to take care of a human baby. We moved tables. Then he kept humping a little Italian greyhound. Being a girl, I have a hunch she was getting close to esterus. (Blitzen is usually not interested in humping girls.) I sat and talked with Ray and Holly and Ann.

Blitzen's Tale
Mom had me on time out. I was attracted to the cutest little greyhound. She was a doll.

Lady Chica's Tale
I spent most of the time racing along the fence. it was a good day for it.

Came home, watched NOVA, a documentary on human evolution. We have reached homo erectus. Homo erectus wandered around the world. Fifty years ago, there was some thought about independent evolution.

BOOK REVIEW
Phillip Margolin, *Burning Man*
The title refers to a suspect who was set on fire in jail. Another inmate poured lighter fluid on him and set fire to him.
The protagonist, Peter Hale, is exiled to a small town by his father. Peter is a lawyer. He takes on the defense of a retarded young man who eventually is convicted of murder but Peter rescues him in the nick of time.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Monday, November 9, 2009

November 9, 2009

10 AM Another dream about being in grad school. Grad school is a different mind set, esp being a doctoral candidate for years and years. You are at the bottom of a totem pole but with high expectations and no money. [I feel at home at Broadway bc there are people who have been there.]
In the dream I was in a strange city, having come out of a sociology meeting at night. I was waiting for a city bus to take me to the Greyhound bus station. The dream went on and on and got later and I began to be scared that it was night and I was nowhere.
Suddenly I heard "Elizabeth". Some woman in the crowd knew me (crowd waiting at bus stop). She said she edited my boss' previous book. The book was *Biography of Edgar Agastar*. I never heard of him and it didn't sound like Charlie Snyder nor Charlie Loomis. Snyder wrote papers on alcoholism and Loomis wrote *Rural Social systems*
She kept talking. Eventually she invited me in to have a cup of tea and cookie with her grp. we went into this diner and I kept worrying I would miss the city bus.
Then the alarm rang and I woke up.

Gentle Reader recounts PTSD from being in grad school.

The feelings are all memories. I kept thinking I was in Cleveland. I have been in Cleveland just once and Shaylor Thomas took me to dinner. We argued about the role of women.

Well, up and at em and off to wendy's to deliver my seminar, as Judy calls it. Judy watches the news all week and conveys the gist to me and I deliver a sociological lecture.

I came home and took a nap. Then off to dog park. Lady Chica raced and raced and raced. After half an hour she asked to come home.

At home, we had an outdoor bday party for our neighbor Helen. Then I took another nap. Now I am mopping up the kitchen floor. Somehow I left a bowl of soup on the counter and somehow it fell on the floor. Somehow.

Blitzen's Tale
I just sort of hung around the dog park.

Lady Chica's Tale
There was a big ol boxer who wanted to race. We raced and raced and raced. I was always ahead but boxers are not known for racing.

BOOK REVIEW
Barry Maitland, *Dark Mirror*
Classic British mystery, police procedural. Brock and Kolla with Scotland Yard. A young woman collapses in library. Turns out she took arsenic. Did she do it herself? She was writing dissertation on Pre-raphaelite crowd.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Sunday, November 8, 2009

November 8, 2009

My schedule is topsy turvey. Turned off alarm and slept until 11:38 AM. Now past noon and eating breakfast. Plan to go over to Martha's. dinner and a movie

Martha picked me up and we went over to her house. Did some wine tasting. Had pork roast and purple cabbage. Like Oktoberfest.
They showed me pictures of Grand Canyon they took on their trip. Gorgeous.

BOOK REVIEW
Robert Tanenbaum, * Reckless Endangerment*
Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene. Set in 1981. The twins are babies and Lucy is ten. She is a linguist. Some Arabs are being terrorists. This is so innocent. before the twin towers.

Book was written in 1998.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

November 7, 2009

I took my nap without getting up between. Now 1:30 PM.
I dreamed about visiting my cousin when I was 16. (he was my fa's age.) They took me to see my first movie, Jimmie Cagney in *Captain of the Clouds*. My mo was angry.

5 PM We went to the dog park and I am ready for a nap. I am so tired today. Dog park was pleasant and as usual on Sat full of people and dogs.

Blitzen's Tale
I did a little running. Not much. Mom was sitting with some nice girls who petted me.

Lady Chica's Tale
I did some running. Enjoyed the afternoon.

8:30 PM I have literally slept all day. I guess I needed sleep.

BOOK REVIEW
I have not had time to read today. Slept all day.




Hugs, Dr. Liz

Friday, November 6, 2009

November 6, 2009

Oh, dear, Adam is killed in MI 5. He is my favorite. Are they replacing the entire cast?

Reading the Mystery novel. Place of Execution. The novel is more detailed but the tv program seems to be true to it. The tv program does not describe how medeival the setting.

Friday morning. I was up and down all night for pit stops. The dogs are scratching like mad and their tummies are talking. I wonder what they ate when they visited Pup.

Official unemployment is 10%. NPR figures that with discouraged workers etc unemployment is 17%. I did not know that unemployment was so high in 1983.

Went to Tai Chi. I come home exhausted and we dont do that much. Ate pea soup at senior center. Got food from food bank.

Blitzen's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at pups. we were there a long time tonight.

Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at pups. [Editors note: LC fell asleep as soon as we got home.]

We received the news that our glass projects were ready. So Lea, Erin and I drove over to pick them up. They are better than I expected. Beautiful. We are each happy.

BOOK REVIEW
T. Jefferson Parker, * Red Light*
This is the second book in Merci Rayborn series. I know the plot, having read the third book. In this book Merci has a son by her lover in the first book, who was killed. She has another lover and accuses him of murder. Arrests him for the murder of a call girl. The third book explains what happens.
I recommend this book. read in sequence

Thursday, November 5, 2009

November 5, 2009

10:22 AM drinking my coffee. Sun is shining. 70 degrees. Sounds improbable. Going for a pedicure this morning. I cannot reach down to cut toe nails. Massage therapist is always nagging me.

Blitzen greets me at the door as if I had been gone for a month. He seems needier by the day. Maybe it is old age. He is ten, 70 in our years.

I didn't even read today. I guess I just slept. I made a library run. I was so distressed by Sunday's Mystery that I got the book it was based on and read the last chapter. I had guessed that the missing girl was not dead but the whole story is bizarre.

Dog park was pleasant. Dogs did not run, altho Chance arrived as we were arriving. I have noticed that they seem tired the day after visiting Pup.

Blitzen's Tale
I tangled with this dog. His owner kept dragging him around on a leash. I showed him but Mom dragged me away and put me on time out.

Lady Chica's Tale
Not much to say. I slept most of th day. Fortunately, Mom was sleepy too.

BOOK REVIEW
Haven't finished anything, including the Case of the Midnight Rustler.


Hugs, Dr. Liz

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

November 4, 2009

Tuesday evening 9:55 PM. I am physically tired tonight from leaping up and down, sitting at the computer then leaping up to dispense a sack lunch. I am so tired I find it hard to read. That is a first.
I feel like talking to somebody but that is such hard work.

4 AM up for a pit stop, slathering on linament. I feel discouraged sometimes. On the way home every day I pass a billboard with Nolan Ryan's face. advertising something. I think about him often. He was famous for keeping in shape. he ran up and down the steps of the ball park.

9 AM That liniment helped a lot. I dreamed about some grad student whose name I cannot remember. I seem to be reliving my grad school days. What a bummer!
No dog races this morning; the dogs go to visit Pup this evening.

I did walk the dogs around. Then I actually got some stitching and pressing done. Yeah me. I am getting ready for a nap (2 PM) I turned on computer and my sister called. We talk almost every day on Skype. Brave new world wth video phone. Goodness.

Blitzen's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

Lady Chica's Tale
What happens at Pup's stays at Pup's.

I am surrounded by sleeping dogs. Lea was sewing a cushion for Erin whereas I was goofng off watching Bill Cosby receive an award at Lincoln Center.

BOOK REVIEW
Margaret Atwood, *The Year of the Flood*
I read five pages and decided this was worse than *The Handmaid's Tale*. Returned it to library. I had to check it out.
Atwood has a penchant for eliminating most of the humans on the planet and imagining what the resulting society would look like. She needs to read *Earth Abides*.
Atwood does not seem to understand what humans do when left to themselves.

I just discovered that Ann Rand was born in Russia and lived thru the Revolution. No wonder she had cockeyed ideas about freedom.




Hugs, Dr. Liz

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

November 3, 2009

Facebook is wonderful for seeing pics of your grandchildren -- esp during those teen years when they distance themselves from family.

I had weird dreams last night. In one dream I was in the FBI interrogating prisoners and Lady Chica was licking their face until they confessed.
In another dream Frank Nall and I were somewhere out of the country doing research in some strange cult. They spoke English and then lapsed into some kind of gibberish with English words. We were staying in one household. The husband said he had four wives and four children. Then he lapsed into gibberish. After a while Frank was chatting away in this gibberish. (Frank has a gift for tongues.) I kept wandering around the household. The first wife spoke English but the younger wives did not seem to speak English.

7:30 AM and I am up dressing to go to Baptist Center.

Slow day. The third is pay day for Social Security and SSI. We had only seven families. I have been popping up and down, doing food pantry and handing out sack lunches.

Monday, November 2, 2009

November 2, 2009

Time marches on. November is here. Up for a pit stop at 6 AM. Back to bed.

10 AM Alarm rings. Lady Chica is walking all over my head. Blitzen is chewing a bone under the covers on the wrong side of the bed.
Coming out to the living room, I see that LC has been reading again. She has dragged a magazine across the room.
Sun is shining. 64 degrees. Off to Wendy's.

Somehow we got onto "Living Wills". I strongly urge everybody to have a Living Will and also a contingency power of attorney.

How can I be so sleepy? 1:36 PM And I took a nap until 4 PM. Then we went to dog park. Ray was sitting there all alone. So what could I do? He left at six and it was too dark to read.

Blitzen's Tale
There was an old hound dog making that awful noise all the time we were at the park. Sometimes we got him to run.

Lady Chica's Tale
I have been going up to people and asking them to pet me. Imagine that!!!

BOOK REVIEW
John Erikson, *Hank the Cowdog # 21*
The Case of the Vampire Cat. Slim the cowboy drives up to the cake house to get feed for the cows. Cakes are cakes of compressed cottonseed, fed to cows in the winter. There is a cat marooned there. And somehow Slim drives off and Hank is marooned there with the cat. A skunk drives them out of their shelter under the house. When they meet two coyotes, Miss Mary D turns into a vampire. They also scare away two buzzards. And Hank comes home. But dont tell anyone he made a friend of a cat.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

November 1, 2009

9:32 AM (Really 10:32) Even the dogs are up. I skipped religious services. I ache from sitting too long last night. Sitting upright uses back muscles.
Well, we will be off to the dog races. Blitzen has a tummy ache.
I am weary. When you get older, just getting dressed is a chore. I wonder how pro football players feel.

It is a perfect day. Everybody and his brother's dog was at the park. Prof. Cooper was there (ancient history at TCU). We had a great chat. Some preachers are preaching about the imitation stone henge being demon haunted. Maybe it will affect the Cowboys. [This is a bunch of stone imitating Stone Henge.] In Arlington near the Cowboy Stadium.

Marcus Borg thinks we have so made weird religious ideas bc we have store front preachers. They preach something shocking in order to get congregants. Nobody in Europe is worried about creationism.

Blitzen's Tale
I have a tummy ache this morning.
Had a great time racing at the park. People admire me for being handsome.

Lady Chica's Tale
I got to eat Blitzen's breakfast.
Had a wonderful time at the park racing, racing. The big dogs had a fight but it was too far away for us to get involved.

I took a nap and slept so deeply. I feel rested and my aches and pains have vanished. Blitzen ate his supper. Mystery will be something new.

True Crime Drama in Cleveland. Six decomposing corpses are found scattered around a house, one in the attic, one or two buried. Sounds like one of the books I read.

I found Mystery too tense tonight. It was *Place of Execution*, based on novel by Val McDermid.



BOOK REVIEW
Karin Slaughter, *Undone*
The author seems to be fixated on burying women alive underground. In this book they are buried in little caves.
Sue was going to live happily ever after in some previous book, but she has been widowed in this book. (2009). She has moved to Atlanta to work in the ER of the only public hospital (like JPS or Parkland.) A tortured woman is brought into ER.
This book is not for the faint of heart. Scenes of torture.


Hugs, Dr. Liz