Deb has just started her 4th day of recovery from shoulder surgery. She is managing the pain with pills and ice, and doing pretty well. The pills make her drowsy, and she slept well last night. She is currently sitting in her reclining chair watching "The File on Thelma Jordon," a late 40s movie with Barbara Stanwyck, one of her favourite actresses. It is 6 pm and very chilly today, though sunny. We had hoped to go outside for awhile, but it is too cold.
Last night we finished up our Harold Lloyd film festival with the remaining Hal Roach shorts now playing on the Criterion Channel. We had five more to watch, and they were just about perfect for Deb's mood. She is really looking forward to Wednesday, when we can take off her bandages and she can have a shower! For her the countdown has begun!
I am finding my days rather full but manageable. I am still getting in most of my piano practice, and my reading program is continuing, too. In fact, I have now completed three years of reading on my Avon/Equinox project! During the first year I read 100 books by the authors represented in the series. During the second year I managed to read 120. This past year I made it 125 books from the series, but an additional 25 books not related to those authors. So it was my first ever 150-book year!! How much longer will this project last, you ask? I would guess it will go on at least another 2 1/2 years, if I am able to maintain my current level of reading.
May highlights from my reading program include the conclusion to James Blish's unforgettable and terrifying series, called "After Such Knowledge." Only the last two books are directly linked, and I have yet to (re)read the first two. Black Easter is the 3rd book, and the one chosen by Avon for its series. The Day After Judgement completes the series, in a big way. Also outstanding was Norman Spinrad's novella called "Vampire Junkies," a very funny spoof on Dracula, and the adventures he has when he arrives suddenly in NYC. I also liked the first book of a young person's trilogy by John Christopher. The Fireball Trilogy takes a boy from England into alternate histories. His first adventure is in 20th C. England, but one still ruled by the Romans. Pretty fun material.
Harry Harrison came through again with a pretty fantastic story about the first transatlantic train tunnel being built. Also set in an alternate history, this world seems to be a direct descendant of Jules Verne's England, which is building the tunnel along with America, which is still a colony of Britain! Washington was killed as a traitor back in the day, and Benedict Arnold is remembered as a hero. Tunnel Through the Deeps is worth a read for fans of Verne. Another great read was a story by E. C. Tubb, who, when he is good, is very good. Death Is A Dream is the story of a man who is placed in suspended animation in the late 1960s. He has cancer, and hopes there will be a cure when he awakens. 338 years later he awakens, finding himself to be in remission. The world he arrives in is a really fascinating version of the future, one unique to me, and I've read a lot of books about the future. This one sees him owing a huge medical bill to the Institute where he awakens, and he must find a way to pay for it. His adventures are somewhat in the pulp vein, but more sophisticated than usually found in a pulp novel.
The final really good book was another odd one by S. B. Hough, who wrote SF under the pen name of Rex Gordon. In Frontier Incident (1950) a group of people are kidnapped in the Iraqi desert, and taken to a prison cell in a small mud village in the middle of the desert. It is a very tense book, as his always are. I think it was his first published novel, so it is not as good as some of his later ones. But any Hough is good enough for me. I am currently reading an undersea adventure by Hal Clement, another favourite author I discovered by getting interested in this series of books. An on I go, into Year Four of my reading epic adventures!
With all the spring rain and cool weather we have had, it has been a banner year for flowers and flowering shrubs. Our lilacs (and elsewhere) were the finest I have seen in many years. Our front yard has a banner display of spirea (bridal veil), and our recently reclaimed south rock garden shows the most flowers there, too (azaleas, I think). Earlier we had an incredible performance of our Lilies of the Valley display in our east rock garden, along with some enormous Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
Our bridal veil hedge.
That's a lot of flowers.
Not so long ago, this south garden was a jungle of vines, thistles, burdock,
small trees, and other assorted weeds. It is now filling in with flowering shrubs.
Note the jack-in-the-pulpit in left center.
Mapman Mike
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