The Season's First Gift...a great chance to update on The Twins

Sadly, we were napping Saturday afternoon, trying to shake off the effects of a seasonal virus; we missed the knock at the door when the Wonderful Twins, "Micah and Molly"  tried to deliver some Christmas cookies they made. Their Grandmother brought the cookies over later.

Some may remember funny stories of these two precious kids as babies and younger children. They still do pretty funny things, but now they also play trumpet, they are well into the lower grades at school. This is the first year they are in separate classrooms. They like to visit zoos in other cities when they are on vacation. Thanks for the cookies, Kids. Sorry we missed seeing you! (Credit: the photo of the kids was pinched from their Mom's FB; probably from last summer.)

Man and Wife: 19th Century Beauties:

During a visit to extended family in Kentucky this fall, there was a large family re-union picnic; everyone from my cousin almost 90 and some even older, to a weeks'-old infant. The annual re-union continues to draw family members from the local area and far away. You should have seen the wonderful country food everyone brought! Such wonderful people.

Of course, there were photos: the attractive young couple shown here are the ancestors of most of the people who attended; perhaps before their marriage, since every other photo of them as they aged were posed together. Evocative, they are; photos' probably made around 1880?

It is always personal with Detective David Robicheaux...

"Pegasus Descending" by James Lee Burke.

Burke creates readable, moody and atmospheric detective thrillers; in the 'Robicheaux' series, the setting is the deepest US South in Louisiana, which he calls 'an open-air mental institution'. The hero, Dave, is an older police detective, working for the New Iberia Police; he's honest to a fault, though flawed by post-traumatic stress left over from Vietnam and a hard life fighting evil bad guys, along with his PI friend, Clete Purcel (who is lucky he's not in jail, with his free-lance methods). Robicheaux is also a recovering alcoholic who attends AA meetings and has a lot to say about the condition. The characters are richly imagined, with names and descriptions that are entertaining all by themselves: drug dealer Monarch Little looks harmless as a cartoon character but can be a stone killer, or Bellerophon Lujan, thug.  A plentiful array of "suspects" for the reader to 'vet'. I mostly figured out "whodunit" but enjoyed the colorful and flavorful read.

Fail

   At least 3 times, over a span of several decades,I have tried to read, enjoy and complete a novel by Edna Ferber.
   She was one of the most wildly popular writers of quality mass-market fiction in the middle decades of the 20th Century. Recently, I tried again with her first major hit novel, "So Big", published in 1924. I could not make the story, the writing, the characters, pass my 30-page rule. It made me think a little of books read in the past year: "A Reliable Wife" and "Devil in the White City", with the references to Chicago in the late 1800's, but without the depth and maturity.

Seen So Many Better Days...

Somewhere in Kentucky, on a recent visit, I was able to pay a short visit to one of the extended, historic (19th Century) family homes. This is a classic early-to-mid 19th Century, prosperous farm home. Some of this style have been rescued and restored. Not so this one, I'm afraid. Thanks to my generous and helpful cousins for organizing the visit and being wonderful company.

"A Taste for Death" by P.D. James

I was sad to learn of the recent death of this fascinating Lady! She was in her 90's when she passed away last year. Her genre was mostly the criminal suspense "who-dun-it", but with so much literary value added: similar to John Le Carre and the spy novel genre. Her hero in this novel (and many others) Adam Dalgliesh is a high-ranking criminal investigator at Scotland Yard; more than that, he seems a proxy for the holistic person in the age of the big bureacracy of the modern age. "A Taste for Death" featured many characters: victims, heros, villians, helpers and hinderers of the process of detecting the evil that committed the bloody murders at the heart of the novel. The violent crime works changes of so many of the people in the book-from the initial victims to the small boy who discovered the crime to the young police woman among the investigators. I couldn't put it down and I was sorry when I finished this book.

Happy Birthday, Mother...

My Mother is the child about 6 years old in the middle of this little 1920's family group, sitting on the steps of their Cincinnati, OH home. This was probably about the summer of 1924 or 1925. Seems a long time ago. A long time gone. The little girl on the bottom step, with her hand hiding a giggle: she recently passed away--as a 93 year old matriarch of a big family of her own.