Year Ten

Welcome to my tenth year of blogging in this retirement series. As far as I know, this is not my last year of living, or of retirement living, but the final year of this particular blog sequence, or possibly the end of all blogging. All good things must come to an end!

Wreath by Megan - 2014

Christmas is officially over today (the 12th Day) and tomorrow I will pack up the three wise men along with the olive wood nativity set which I picked out long ago in a far off place--Bethlehem. Other items from my minimal decorating this year (and no tree) have already been removed. except for a couple of wreaths.

And the recycling was picked up a day late, on Wednesday. making room in the bin for a few more flattened boxes from the large Amazon stack.

So it has been a slow week of clutter cleanup, movies, and reading for book club--with two books to read by Sunday night!

The book I chose just this past week, in order to get it shipped in time for distribution. is A Moveable Feast, a memoir by Ernest Hemingway--a recently restored edition, originally published in 1964, after he committed suicide. It contains more of his original manuscript content than the previous edition, with some added material never before published, plus photos. The title was not one he gave the book, but one that reflected his feeling about his time in Paris and uses his preferred spelling for derivative words from verbs ending in e.

I thought it was time for us to read another more classic selection, this one written by an acclaimed American author, born in a city I lived in for a few years in my early marriage, also the city of Frank Lloyd Wright's studio home and the city of my first introduction to Scandinavian teak furniture. The book seems quite different from the one we were all required to suffer through in our formative years, The Old Man and the Sea. I confess I haven't read much else. This memoir describes (as only Hemingway can) a time in his life that is now nearly a hundred years ago.

Our next meeting is in mid-April, so there will be plenty of time to get through the book if anyone finds it tedious!

My interest in Hemingway was piqued somewhat less than a year ago, when we visited one of his former residences in Key West, Florida, which is now a museum and occupied by dozens of both 5-toed and 6-toed indulged cats. On the tour we learned of his 4 wives, the cats, his many travels and interests, his love for alcohol and his horrific suicidal end.

The evidence of his interest in cats and alcohol was apparent already in this book. This memoir was constructed from earlier manuscripts and later life reflections of a happier (if poorer) time in his life--while living with his first wife in Paris in the early 1920's. Perhaps I will do a full evaluation after some input from the book clubbers in April.

So anyway, please indulge me with one more year of this blog sequence. I continue to write (unlike Hemingway) without any hope of being published, or being paid for my work so that I can afford to eat (and drink lots of wine) in the cafes of Paris. That all sounds fun, but also unlike Hemingway, I would not put up with heat from a fireplace only, limited bath facilities and goats being milked out front in the street. Laundry facilities were not mentioned but were likely dreadful.

I will try to not ramble on and on ... but you might see too many photos of flowers and clouds. Flowery (or even more ordinary) adverbs (ala Steven King:"adverbs are not your friend") and too many adjectives (ala Hemingway) will be avoided whenever possible!