Later today or this eve I will get to my Sepia Sat posts, but for now I need to cool off inside. I am just in from my too late in the morning walk, because the morning sun was hot and temperature was 83 at 8:00AM; nevertheless I sweated out my nearly 45 minute walk including uphills and came back beet red faced and sweaty. So it is time to cool down inside before I clean up and attack the rest of the day.
We have usually Chamber of Commerce summer weather here in southeast MN, 80 degrees and clear blue skies (no smog or pollution) is just fine with me. But today and tomorrow until a thunder storm approaches we face the 90's and that feels hot. Jerry reminds me "no sun filter here." I am not a fan of hot weather anyway which is one reason we left CA and the hot "but dry", they claim Sacramento area scorches of 100 degrees on up. Don't kid me dry or not, 100 is hot.
I have been recovering from back strain or sprain from excessive vigorous weeding and that bothersome right Achilles tendon again, so I have a couple ice bags to use across neck, shoulders, and down the back and then on the tendon. Although this week's annual check up at the doctor finds me good to go, the aging parts act up and take their time to heal. The Achilles tendon shall remain one of those chronic troublesome aging things, treatment would be worse as it would involve wearing a destabilizing boot on that foot, and as the song goes, "fuhgedaboutit!" Spell check wants to correct that word to skateboard.:-)
This week I received a strange bill for $17 for the balance on my mammogram from the Mayo clinic where we get our health care. That service has always been fully covered between Medicare and my supplemental insurance so I thought this worth a phone call to the billing office. I learned that this was from 2010 which I had not noticed on the statement and that Medicare, despite all it does not do let alone efficiently, is going back and reprocessing claims from some time ago, making adjustments and causing general mayhem for doctor's billing offices and I suppose for the poor unaware folks who are generally baffled by all medical paperwork. The woman told me to disregard the bill that the computer sends these out and it needed to catch up to the prior payment by my supplemental insurance. She also warned me that I might receive other bills and to question or ignore them while Medicare churns the paper work. What a waste of time, resources, and my taxpayer dollars yet still. I recalled that a few weeks ago I had received a summary claim on Uncle Carl for services last November from the Home Health Agency after he'd been discharged back to the care facility from the hospital. That one is stranger yet as Medicare had previously paid the bill for $4200 and now was readjusting and paying $4600 to the provider! I suspect that seldom happens and the provider is likely delighted. But the question remains, "Why is Medicare mucking around like this?" As if they do not have enough to do paying and processing current claims! The woman I spoke to said they don't know how long this will go on or if Medicare is only doing this in certain regions or what to expect next. Now isn't that just dandy, more government in action. I do feel sorry for unsuspecting folks who will be stirred by this process and worry about paying some additional medical bill. This is one benefit of my career in state government health care financing, I know what's weird when I see it and I am able to navigate billing systems, frustrating as it may be, such knowledge is power.
I finished reading a few more books to add to my side bar. Just last night, I turned the last page 435 on one of my go to author's David Baldacci, an excellent story teller, "
The Camel Club." I have not ever had a disappointing read by him and in this book different yet again, I think he must be meeting with another of my favorite authors, Vince Flynn.
The Camel Club published in 2005 introduces Oliver Stone and his friends who exist on the fringes of Washington, DC to seek the truth about the country's business. This is a mystery, thriller, terrorist, suspenseful novel at it's best. Until I read this, my favorite Baldacci read years ago was "
Wish You Well." Now it is a toss up. Somehow I had jumped sequence because I first read the second in this venue, which is not a series, with the same four characters, charter members of the club, Oliver, Caleb Shaw, Reuben Rhodes, and Milton Farb but in this they join forces with Alex Ford, a secret service agent against a sinister plot of terrorists and ideologues that threaten the stability of the nation and the world. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but this twister kept me glued to the pages and in today's topsy turvy world with repetitive crises in the Mid east, this work of fiction could be predictive.
Oliver, whose true identity is revealed in this book, claims they chose camel because camels have great stamina and never give up, but Reuben, reveals page 432",, in the 1920's there was another Camel Club and at each meeting the members raised their glasses to oppose Prohibition to the last drop of whiskey." As always Baldacci writes well and introduces spectacular characters. Besides the four, there are ever so many more characters such as Djamila, a Muslim nanny, an Iranian posing as an Egyptian undercover of her peaceful job; two sided secret service agents who bring the country to the brink of the unthinkable; the ideologue Muslims who have infiltrated and settled into unsuspecting areas of employment waiting their moment; Brennan, the President of the United States, who is from a small town outside Pittsburgh, PA where terror manifest, North Koreans, Carter Gray the US Intelligence Czar appointed by the President (this book was written before we had Czars...) and more officials and agents. Camel Club is suspenseful and kept me guessing to identify who are the villains and who are the champions and that suspense kept me reading. Pg.154...."..he became Oliver Stone, a man of silent protest who watched and paid attention to important things...." Pg. 40 describing the issues faced today, ..."not a war of professional armored battalions vs. turbanned rabble in the streets toting rifles and RPGs. And it was not simply a difference of religions. It was a battle against a mind-set of how people should conduct their lives, a battle that had political, social, and cultural facets melded together into an exceedingly complex mosaic of humanity under enormous strain." Pg. 69.."ignorance and intolerance, in pairs, never one without its evil twin." Pgs 100-101 well describe the history of the Muslim and mideast turmoils from the Syrians, Chechniyans, Mindanos, Kuwait, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Morocco, Kurds, Iraquis, Baathists, Taliban, Mali and Senegal and more. Baldacci has summarized the escalation of problems the world faces today. I fully recommend this thriller and as I said, I hope it is not predictive.
Even though my book club lately is choosing new best sellers, I am plowing through my shelf of sale books picked up here and there proving that there are plenty of older books to read. I read the 197pages of Mitch Albom's
"For One More Day" from 2006 in an evening. It is a decent read, nothing spectacular but Albom has established a niche for himself as a spiritual type writer, easy reading with fans who like this sort of book. I admit being intrigued by the story line of the relationship between a mother and son and "what would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?" The story is told in retrospect about Charles "Chick" Benetto by his adult daughter who says, "because there was a ghost involved, you may call this a ghost story. But what family isn't a ghost story? Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them. " At one time I used to save my first edition books, but this is one and not one I will keep. I do think the old First editions have some value compared to these current quick prints.
And the last for this post, Helen Fielding's, 2003,
"Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination" is a mystery with traces of comedy over 306 pages that I enjoyed . I'd classify it as a chic read with Olivia's antics. Olivia is a journalist with a reputation for excuses and difficulties meeting deadlines who meets the handsome Pierre Ferramo, who may be an international playboy or a terrorist. The cover describes this book well, "stunning, sexy and decidedly female a new player has entered the world of international espionage armed with her own pocket survival kit, her Rules for Living, her infamous overactive imagination and a very special underwire bra." On page 30, we get a glimpse of how Olivia can crank it out when her deadlines loom, "In the capitol of England the worlds of fashion, music, TV, theater, movies, literature, newspapers and politics combine in one small city like a writhing knot of snakes. In America these areas are separated out into capitals of their own..."
Olivia's 16 rules for living offer good advice to get all of them, read the book:
- #2 No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.
- #10 Only buy clothes that make you feel like doing a small dance.
- #13 Don't expect the world to be safe or life to be fair.
- #15 Don't regret anything. Remember there wasn't anything else that could have happened given who you were and the state of the world at that moment. The only thing you can change is the present, so learn from the past.
In Olivia the author may have a new sleuth to entertain women readers kind of a comedic Nancy Drew for grown ups. I look forward to more antics and will pass this book along to a friend who will enjoy it.
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