On the Home Front

When you have a kitty, you've got to expect a little clean up. Not as bad as dogs, but some. For some reason, she feels the urge to urp a hair ball after using the litter box, but doesn't want to use the box. Usually, supper comes with. So she looks for a pile of laundry. (The box is in the laundry room.) This morning she managed to deposit last night's supper in the change pocket of my husband's work jeans.

Yesterday my husband came in the kitchen when my hands were in a mess of meatball mix. He saw the Quick Cooking magazine (recipes) on the counter. A flicker of hope flashed across his face as in, Oh wouldn't a new recipe at our age be fun? But no, I was just fixing my favorite Sweet Sour Meatballs (clipped from the paper in 2000), and the magazine was for my hobby bloggy on premiere issues, In the Beginning.

I've started the audio book "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks about an Australian rare-book expert who has the opportunity to restore and preserve the Sarajevo Haggadah in 1996. I had planned to read this book for book club suggestion for 2008-2009, but there was only one copy with 12 saves at UAPL when I first inquired, and then it slipped my mind. So maybe for next year. The audio performer--Edwina Wren--is excellent with all the accents.

My husband has a cold so I've moved into the guest room. I woke up about 3 a.m. and flipped on the little TV and got to watch Secrets of the Dead on WOSU, "The Fall of the Minoans."

Five thousand years ago, the Minoans, Europe’s first great civilization, flourished on the island of Crete. The sophisticated inhabitants, named after the legendary King Minos, were the first Europeans to use a written language, known as Linear A, and the first to construct paved roads. They were an advanced society of highly-cultivated artisans and extremely skilled civic engineers. The Minoans were excellent ship builders and sailors, and their maritime empire was so vast, it rivaled that of the ancient Egyptians. They were an enigmatic people, worshiping snake priestesses and engaging in human sacrifice with origins not linked to Europe as expected, but to ancient Iran, which may explain why they were so different from the Greeks who rose to power after them.

It would be nice to see the art, but that's not on our itinerary this Spring. It was so interesting, I didn't go back to sleep. The civilization disappeared apparently after an enormous tsunami following a volcano eruption.

Tomorrow the retired OSUL librarians are meeting for lunch. There are so many of us now that I'm surprised the place can function without us! Not really. I had a lot of special contract positions and various appointments in my library career and I learned years ago that no one is indispensable.

Speaking of sleep, a member of my family who was told her aches, pains and restlessness at night might be fibromyalgia, bought a sleep number bed. She said the first night felt a little strange, but since then it's been the sleep of the dead. When the alarm rings in the morning, she thinks she just fell asleep. Also, no stiffness or pain in the morning. Maybe I'll have to try that. I think our mattress is about 11 or 12 years old.