How did I function in a professional career for 34+ years

I ask myself that question because tomorrow AM I should arise about 6:45AM for a medical, , appointment to which they request my presence 15 minutes ahead of the appointment time and to which I will be driving across the river, a mere 10 miles but nevertheless not just up the hill in our little town.  I groan because this means use of an alarm clock to awaken me before I am likely to be ready to depart the covers. I have become allergic to alarm clocks in retirement.   I"m ever so comfortable in getting up when I am good and ready, which is usually around 8:00AM when Jerry who has been  up for awhile returns to the bedroom to check in on me  inquiring if I intend to greet the day and grace the morning with my presence. I remind him that for  so many years I had a much earlier  wake up call than he did; he was just thinking of arising as I left.  This is now my turn so I have this phobia of arising before he has been up and around.   

It took me over a year into retirement to shake my habitual 4:30 AM risings endured for the commute all those years.  Gradually I phased  to sleeping mornings until 5:30, then 6:00 and finally 7:00.  But now for this  winter I have surpassed my own hopes and mastered an  8:00 sleep in.  But then why not, this is the beauty of this phase of life, I can operate on my own schedule not the alarm clocks.  


In a moment of unawareness I booked this appointment for 8:30 AM when it could have been much later in the day.  So here I am  in my  years of freedom from work and very resentful of anything that interferes and inflicts a wake up call on me , even when it is of my own making.  It makes me laugh, how did I do that for so long?  Well, I often found a dark seat on the commuter bus and slept the morning commute into downtown Sacramento, and I  used mass transit as much as I could, so preferable to sitting on those bumper to bumper California freeways. Today we live in an area with minimal traffic so that is not a concern, and most places are 10 to 15 minutes at most from my garage door to inside wherever I am going.  About the only complication can be the winter white weather, fluffy snow which has now returned to create a Minnesota winter wonderland.  Roads and highways are clear, but there is care to be taken.    


I found this blog link today in between computer "chores"  by a blogger who knows just what I'm talking about with retirement time and spurts and how life changes.... what caught my eye was the "Time Wasters"  tab http://marlisep.webs.com/


I also found a more opinionated, inspirational blog site suggesting what we ought and ought not to do in retirement,  way too ambitious  for me, but I do appreciate that someone went to the keyboard to solidify what I do automatically, like not spending my time with people I don't enjoy.   http://postworksavvy.com/2011/06/08/are-you-making-each-day-count-strategies-to-ensure-you-keep-growing/   


What I like most about retirement is the freedom to float along and not schedule myself hither an yon, not planning moment by moment but having float time.  Lollygagging, dabbling, I have almost perfected those arts.  Yes, I do have many hobbies and accomplish tasks, but when someone asks, "what are you going to do the rest of the day?" I am mostly mystified.  Huh? Did I miss something?  I worked all that time so that I could amble and even this attitude took a few years to adjust into.  But I have mastered it. 

I hate alarm clocks...

I spent six hours today at the computer on genealogy research, and scanning photos which I enjoy as well as financial analysis on our "investments" which is not quite so enjoyable but a necessity.  Of course I had the freedom to wander around and interrupt myself which I do readily.  I recall wishing I could "work at home" in my  p j's during career years telecommute the staff called it but  my profession/position  did not lend to that, nevertheless  I held that fantasy.  Well, now I can say it is  good thing I did not have that opportunity--it surely would not have worked for someone like me who can be easily distracted by herself.  And to think, I   closed my office door to minimize the bureaucratic interruptions between meetings and  more meetings back  then...Hmm.....life has changed, how did I not only function back then, but  function rather successfully which affords today's lifestyle  I  ponder, "how did I do that."  And another thing, "how did I even have time to work, because I seem to waste more time now than I could ever have dreamed of whiling away back in the day.....Truly I have overcome!


Well, so here I have done it again, sat at the keys and shared my thoughts with whoever happens by....what's your schedule these days,  like it  or not?     

Oh woe is me with this blog and Sepia Posts

Blogger is adjusting the unknown with it's codes and that has made a mess for me...so many of us got bothered this weekend by that, even the Sepia Site....but not to fear, if you wandered here from Sepia, scroll below this to  my feathered ladies...and if your comment does not get through, that's Blogger too.  Some (few) comments are reaching me.  I have not been able to access my comments here other than to publish them.  There is nothing as fascinating and frustrating as the blog world.  It's a good thing when it works and after these years to have a glitch is not too bad, I suppose, but  patience and acceptance do not come naturally to me.   

Ladies with Feather Hats Sepia Saturday 108 (Click Here to Sepia Site)



Ancestress of the hats

         Meet my  unknown ancestral ladies of the big  magnificent feather hats.  I have not been able to identify these women by name but the photo was with Rose's, my maternal grandmother's, small leather box of  family photos and I believe they have a limb somewhere in the Ostrowski (Ostroski) family tree.  They do not appear to be the simple immigrants from Poland nor the regular coal mining town relatives with hats like that; on the back someone wrote in pencil only, "Eastern girls"   How much farther east than Pennsylvania?  For a time I thought that the woman on the left could be Helen Sajikowski (Salkowski) my grandmother's step mother, third wife of her father, Frank.  After studying the  faces very closely I don't believe it is the same woman.  There is quite a bit of stunning detail on the dresses, seam work and  ornate fitted stitching.  The two appear  related.  But most of all, the hats are an untold  story, how heavy were they.  How straight did these women walk to carry a hat full of plumes atop their heads?  Where did they wear such headgear? 

So many questions and most of all who are they?  Did the photographer supply the hats to have their photo taken?  I know that happened in the earlier times when itinerant photographers supplied costumes for folks on the farms, hills,  small towns to adorn themselves. 

Here is a photo of Helen, my grandmother's step mother so you can compare; let me know what  you think.   Quite a lace collar that she sports atop her dress but no feathers,  nor hat.

"A hat is a flag, a shield, a bit of armor, and the badge of femininity. A hat is the difference between wearing clothes and wearing a costume; it's the difference between being dressed and being dressed up; it's the difference between looking adequate and looking your best. A hat is to be stylish in, to glow under, to flirt beneath, to make all others seem jealous over, and to make all men feel masculine about. A piece of magic is a hat." (Martha Sliter)

This last tidbit is from the Audubon Society Website:  At the turn of the last century, stylish women wore hats with the latest feather-topped design from Paris, New York, and other centers of fashion. Millinery houses in Europe and America traded internationally and indiscriminately for birds and bird feathers. The more exotic or unique the hat design and feather display, the larger the sales.   By the 1890s, women were wearing whole bodies of birds on hats and clothing. In 1886, noted ornithologist Frank Chapman counted 40 varieties of native birds, or bird parts, decorating three-fourths of the 700 ladies' hats that he had observed in New York City.

This has been my Sepia post for the week , click on the title to my post to visit the Sepia Saturday site, see Alan's feathery hat prompt for this week, visit other contributors in  our inernational community.  You will be tickled ....( sorry could not resist...)

Sepia Saturday 107 Year Post (Teofil and his dogs and pets)

About 1942 Teofil and his coon hounds

I can't match that  angora rabbit that Alan showcases this week, but I have some different pets, photos from the family archives.  In this family we have an animal;/pet loving gene, that goes at least as far back as my maternal grandfather, Teofil.  He was crazy about his dogs whether they were his coon hounds and hunting dogs which were carefully tended to outside or whether in later years domestic pets.  In this photo it was a Sunday so he was dressed up, notice the white shirt and tie.  But before they could journey across the river to Rose's (my grandmother and his wife) family gathering, Pap (as the family called him) insisted he had to first go home to check up on his dogs.  This gave him a break between church service where he attended reluctantly and the busy noisy activity with his wife's sisters for the day.  He enjoyed  the gatherings where he would adjourn with the men outside for a cold piwa (beer) and cigar after dinner, but he stalled going each time.   Rose, my grandmother would be very frustrated because they could have taken the bus  right from church across the river to her sisters and ridden with her sisters.  But Pap would have a respite using his dogs as an excuse.  She said he  liked those dogs better than anything; after enough weeks of that she began to  take the bus immediately after church with her sisters and let Pap go home alone to  pet his dogs, feed them or  whatever excuse he had.  He would take the later bus and join them later, problem solved, schedules rearranged, every body was happy.   They had no vehicles so it was bus or by foot. 

1956 Teofil has a woodchuck to tame, but it was summer
and Rose allowed it outside
 

I heard stories that Teofil could easily hunker in a bush and snare birds to tame them as caged pets; I do remember they always had beautiful canaries.  He  was intrigued with making pets out of groundhogs aka woodchucks. About  1930 he brought a groundhog into  their family  home in a coal town; it was cold outside, winter time and he'd found the poor furry creature shivering on his way home from the mine. He was a softy for animals.  He picked it up and brought it home; he would tame it later but for tonight, unbeknownst to Rose, it needed to warm up. Teofil  set the  creature in a small box near the wood stove that heated the home and went to bed, it was late, he'd worked an extra long double shift and Rose and the kids were already asleep.  Rose got up early in the morning and was not amused to discover the animal there, so she immediately  tossed it out side, or so it is speculated.  Later on when Pap arose, he looked at the small box where he'd left his rescued ground hog and found the box empty.  "Rose, where's  the guy?"  Something like that he asked.  She looked straight at him and  asked what he was talking about.  He told her how he'd found it cold, shivering and she looked at him and said he must have been dreaming, she'd never  seen a ground hog and what would it be doing in her kitchen anyway.  He had no proof and Rose admitted to nothing, so that was the end of that although he did have the kids scurry round about and search for it.  Rose did not bat an eye but went on cooking breakfast.  I thought this was so like my grandparents when I heard this story several years ago from Uncle Carl; if I'd known about it as a kid I would have found out the truth, but I can believe my grandma tossed the critter out with a good hurl.  She was an eat off the floor housekeeper.  I can only imagine her  keeping quiet and not admitting a thing.

This is my Sepia post...for more click on the title to this post and see what others are sharing.   

1945 Germany Uncle Carl and the Totem Pole (Sepia Saturday) click here

1945  Carl with "German  totem pole"

I have been busy writing a memorial about my late Uncle Carl Konesky to be posted on a website established by Rob Haldeman to honor the US Army Tank Destroyers of World War II.  I have shared several photos of  my late uncle here on this blog and while going through more photos I found this  from  1945 in Germany, on the back he had written "myself beside a German totem Pole."  He was with the 809th Tank Destroyers  all through  Europe and on clean up operations in Germany,  end of the war, Olsenburg is one of the places he mentioned and on other photos, Goettingen.  I was taken by this photo because I have read much on World War II but  I have never seen anything like this.  It survived amongst his belongings all these years, a tiny 2 inch  by 3 inch black and white photo. I scanned it hoping to learn more.   I wonder if this statue was carved from a tree or something else?  Does it stand today somewhere?  I am glad Carl found it of interest and took that photo but I sure would like to know more.  

I have now other mysteries which will take research, letters to the US Army records center and crossed fingers.  I am assembling Carls ribbons from his military service and I find that he received a Distinguished Service medal, something not commonly awarded.  

  It is  "awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States Army, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility. The performance must be such as to merit recognition for service which is clearly exceptional.Exceptional performance of normal duty will not alone justify an award of this decoration. For service not related to actual war, the term "duty of a great responsibility" applies to a narrower range of positions, than in time of war, and requires evidence of conspicuously significant achievement. However, justification of the award may accrue by virtue of exceptionally meritorious service in a succession of high positions of great importance."   Although Carl kept meticulous records, there is nothing about that medal, only the medal itself, a red and white ribbon.  Another family mystery lingers; there was no talk about the "war"  around me because of the circumstances of my father, a US Army Air Corp b-24 pilot whose plane and crew disappeared months before my birth.   Everyone was quiet, and Carl who was always like a father shadow figure to me never said anything.  So now I want to know and will have to ponder and dig, there is no one to ask.  And really other than myself, no one who would be interested, so I share this here for the wide web.  

Looking over his honorable discharge I see that he also had a bronze star, which is an " individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award (including both combat and non-combat awards) in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations. " 

 I found only this tiny photo of another soldier from the 809th (logo patch on shoulder pinning a large star on Carl in Germany.  How I wish I knew this story.  Maybe I will find out maybe I won't.   Carl was not one to brag, but I wonder if he ever thought how curious I would become about all things military.   I doubt this is a bronze star, it looks so big, but maybe they did what they could with what they had.  He had sent these photos home to his parents, who kept them for his return home.  All photos passed by the U S Army inspector as stamped on the back. 

These would all make suitables for Sepia Saturday to which I have not posted, but  suppose I should share these there.   So  click on the title to this post to get to the Sepia site, lots of interesting tidbits there from others world wide and across the sea...

Happy New Year 2012 Ponderings

New Year's Day...Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  ...   Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual............
Mark Twain

I used to be religious about writing down my New Years' resolutions, the first page of my journal, each year for so many years.  But sometime ago I stopped doing that, I still keep a general mental list of things to do in the New Year, all the niceties, striving to be a better, kinder, gentler person, more tolerant, patient, etc  all those humane attributes with which no one quibbles.  And there was usually an accompanying  effort to increase physical fitness and then after the years, was it around my mid 50's when weight emerged as something to fight, there was always a resolution to lose 10 to 15 lbs. 

Now I skip the written list, I can peruse past journals and see if there was ever one or two things I did accomplish over that year....and yes  there were some.  Retirement fully in 2005 was a significant achievement, of a resolution I first recorded in 2002, planning ahead.  Moving to MN from CA fully also occurred in 2005, which was first recorded in 2004 months before we purchased what is now our home, while we  were still living in CA and I was still at it in career time.  Looking back over how much effort the career took, I am amazed; was it all really so relevant?  The verdict is mixed, I think, but I have slid off into not even thinking about those days.  So much so that when a friend mentions something I have to pull deep into my minds folded recesses to recall it. 

Someone, unknown to me said that many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.   

Is it now in retirement that I have found fewer things to strive for or to perfect when I fully recognize that there is no perfection and we can accomplish without time lines or not.  New adventures, travels and new things to learn abound.  And some old attributes, patience for one still need my work but I have traded patience for ignoring the annoying and that way I go merrily along.  Yesterday we stopped at the grocery store on our way home from New Years eve burgers and Best ever Bloody Mary's at Tom Sawyer's here on French Island, a tavern/restaurant that was long closed and is now renovated and open.  I like the English designation of "pub" for that is what Tom Sawyer's would be called, a nice friendly bar and food can be ordered.  The burgers were delicious, 1/2 pounders and made with fresh ground beef, not frozen discs;  they also make their own  potato chips which were so good, warm and crunchy, but I am rambling so that you can salivate.  My  comment was to be about patience and my lack of it; we only needed a couple things and were  quickly ready to check out; I spotted only one woman in the aisle with a few items and thought that would be fast, but I thought wrong.  There she had 3 or 4  huge trays of  meats and crackers from the deli and was attempting pay for them first with a credit card that was denied  and then with a check that also did not meet the smell test.  Jerry looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.  The woman said to us, "well this is going to take me some time while I pay for all these...."  Oh, sigh, I already had our few purchases on the register belt.  Then I saw she had other items in her cart.  I mentioned to her, "you  still have items in the cart" thinking she might have forgotten them.  "Oh I know those are for other people and I have other money for that."  Oh, blather!  I'm thinking, why don't you pay for them and settle it up later on your own time and dime.  But it is too late.  The folks behind us made a bee line to another cashier and there we were.  The woman finally found cash to pay for her trays and then, here is where it gets good and where my tolerance escapes.  She pulled out food credits, aka food stamps to pay for a couple items; and then she  dug into another  pocket to use yet another credit card to pay for some other items and yes, are you still with me, she had two more items for which she went through the tedious process of counting out change from yet another envelope. By this time, my eyes  had rolled more than once, the poor cashier had lost her smile and I had no further  visions of "peace on earth..."  Later I commented to Jerry that someone relying on food stamps might try to save a dime or several by slicing and cutting up their own cheese and meats.  My tolerance is gone.  Perhaps I am uncharitable too, perhaps she is the neighborhood food runner and was buying for many folks although she did make a point of explaining that the trays were for the New Years Eve party.  It was all too much information for me and yet it was yet again another time I had chosen the wrong line to be in.  If Jerry had not been with me with his  normally  calm attitude, I would have taken our purchases off the register belt and followed the other people to another line.  But he assured me we were already here and so what.  So what, indeed....the so what is people are  a challenge everywhere!   

I did not greet the stroke of midnight.  I used to think I was a night owl, but no more, when the eyelids say it's time for bed, I go along.  2012 holds promise, our 50th high school reunion in September in PA, hope to sell Uncle Carl's home to clear the estate and taxes, and  travel Alaska beckons as well as a Christmas week cruise in 2012. 

Today is the day to imbibe from the bottle of Korbel Dry bubbly purchased for  last night's eve.  And while I enjoy that I am posting.....Happy and Best and Blest 2012 to all.   

Last books of 2011, continued from yesterday

This completes the post I started yesterday.  It is as though I have saved the best for last.    Rating from  * lowest to ***** highest  but here I have included more commentary and photos. 

The Scalpel and the Soul  by Allan J Hamilton MD, FACS, paperback, 

published in 2008, 241 pages, *****

This was another selection from our local book club and an outstanding read.  Based on the medical experiences of a neurosurgeon who specialized in brain tumors and the science of psychoneuroimmunology at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.  He explains the difference between a doctor and a surgeon and beginning with his trip down the Ogoue River in Africa as a Schweitzer fellow, we learn about the link between the supernatural and medicine. He emphasizes the importance of connecting with a medical professional and of bedside manners.   The writing is exceptional, pg. 28, "Some folks never listen to the little hairs when they stand up on the back of the neck.  I listen hard to those hairs, because they're my intuition.....There's a distinction between a decision and choice.  ...superstition, I choose to believe it."   Through stories based on actual patients we learn so much about what lies beyond  modern medicine and its miracles. My favorite patient tale is the gypsy queen, whose family takes her to the roof of the hospital so that her spirit may leave and be free from the body a process facilitated by Dr. Hamilton after the nurses complain about all the candles the family set up in the patient's room.  His patients are  terminal, at the best he buys them some time with surgery  but often these tumor recur.  This is an amazing read, very different than anything else I've read in years, when I started it I feared it might be too technical with medical terminology that would lose my intetest, that was an unreasonable suspicion.  

His final chapter has 20 rules for patients with explanations of each one; here are 1--10:
1 Never under estimate luck--good or bad;
2 Find a doctor who cares about you; 
3Never trade quality for quantity of life; 
4 Live your life with death in it;   
5 You cannot dodge the bullet with your name on it,   
6 Ask your doctor to pray with you,
7 Never believe anyone who says "nothing will go wrong"
8 Don't be turned into just another patient
9 Listen to your favorite music
10 Never let hospital rules interfere with patient visiting hours

 Pg. 167, "What one is to become is largely predetermined by forces beyond our control, ...we ride our destiny....the sensibility of discipline and self determination draws its inspiration from an earlier stage in life for which we are hardly able to assume responsibility."   He explains that luck and hope are flip sides of a coin and gives a harrowing example of what occurs in medicine when hope is removed.  However he does not advocate sugar coating nor deluding oneself in a terminal status, he acknowledges there is a time to not pursue further treatment.   I am purchasing  another copy of this book to give to our wonderful family physician at Mayo.  I hope he will be as intrigued as I was.  It is brave and different  for a prominent physician to write such a book, especially in these times of health care reform; his acceptance of the unknown and alternative medicine makes him distinctly different. 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, 

published 2011,   343 pages  ****

I bought this at a Border's Bookstore that was closing in PA and when I opened it to read, I was surprised to see that it is actually  targeted to young readers.  This novel is based on a true but dismal part of history, 1941  in pre World War II Lithuania when the Russians invade and incarcerate the peopless  of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  The world ignores their deportation  to concentration camps and worse in Siberia.  How some endure and how many do not rivals the holocaust.  The world looked on and turned its head, concentrating on Hitler and ignoring Stalin's brutality.  This is the author's first novel and is a page turner, narrated by the 15 year old Lina who is preparing to study art when the doors t o their home are broken down and the family  taken away.  I am donating this one to our local library. 

The Greater Journey  Americans in Paris  by David McCullough    published 2011,  

460 pages,  +76 pages source notes, +19 pages Index      ***** 

The front  jacket

If I selected one book to be my very top nonfiction read of the year this marvelous, wondrous book must be it.  I enjoy everything that McCullough writes with his intense research, reminiscent of James Michener.  This book details  the stories  of the prominent and aspiring American artists, writers, doctors, pre-med students, politicians, architects and other professionals who go to Paris between 1830 and 1900 to study, learn and fine tune their skills while experiencing the broadening they believe can only come from Europe.  The go to experience the "prestige of age"  and they do so in a different way,  Pg 20.."Even without the impertinence, the whole requirement of passports--the cost, the vexatious ceremony of it all was repugnant to the Americans.  ....no one carried a passport in America, not even foreign visitors. " There is such a difference between the Europeans and the Americans and many of these travelers had never been away from home before, never experienced  the older cultures, there was no guarantee of success.   On pg 67 Nathaniel Willis describes his fascination with faces and how one could "always recognize an American.There was something distinctive about the American face, something he had never noticed until coming to Paris....the distinctive feature ...,the independent self possessed bearing of a man unused to look p to anyone as his superior in rank, united to the inquisitive, sensitive, communicative expression which is the index to our national character."

Inside  the book cover

I learned so much reading this book that covers history of the time, the arts, artists and more about authors, for example James Fenimore Cooper was an advocate for Polish freedom. The famous pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk launched his career in Paris at age 15. The experiences of  George PA Healy, Samuel FB Morse, Elizabeth Blackwell, Oliver Wendel Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain and Henry James  are only a few of what we read in this volume.  It is interesting to live through the popular rise of the automobile.  I wondered why McCullough emphasized Augustus Saint Gaudens, the sculptor and on pg 455 in the Epilogue I learned that Homer St. Gaudens  was  the director of arts at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, PA.  Likely more data was available through that resource and McCullough is from Pittsburgh.  I could not pick one favorite tale in this book, the world's fair, the Eiffel tower, the revolutionaries. I shuddered  reading about  the early days of medical practice and how poor it was, even in Paris, where they went to learn.  I wonder how much worse it was here in the states, lack of sanitation and so on at that time.  This is a book I will keep and read again sometime, there is so much here. It is McCullough's latest contribution to the history and art lovers among us.  

Front of the book

A local friend, a retired high school teacher told me about  a favorite history book she used in her class for advanced seniors literature, "My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House"  by Lillian Rogers Parks,  published  first in 1961.  It has been out of print and Cheryl advised me if I ever saw it to grab a copy.  I found it was republished with  annotations by Sam Sloan  in 2008 and now own it.  A fantastic read about the history of the  White House presidents and first ladies  from the Tafts to the Eisenhowers, from 1909-1960 and told by Lillian a seamstress and personal maid with notes and stories from her mother, Maggie, who was the chief White House maid.  They cherished their "full time" employment and served with honor although their compensation was always meager.   Summary intro  by Sam Sloan, page 9 and Pg  98 in the book: "After 30 years in the White House, Lillian's final take home pay was $103.60 for two weeks.  A single mom in the kitchen was supporting wo children on $48 per week.  Lillian was supporting her mother,  Maggie, whose pension was $111 per month.  During all these years Lillian and her mother had been supplementing their incomes through the tips they received.  Whenever there was a party or an event in the White House, Lillian or her mother would work the coat check rooms and would recieve tips.  Mrs Truman always made sure that the guests left tips and if they did not,  Mrs. Truman would cover it herself.  ...it was a cruel blow when Mamie Eisenhower decreed that the White House servants were not allowed to receive tips.  Many of the servants had to take outside jobs in order to be able to afford the honor of working in the White House "    I thought  the 1981 TV miniseries, Backstairs at the White House, was based on this book but learned it was not as it had historical privilege while the original 30 Years is all fact.   All 346 pages of this book are resplendent with history, tidbits, humor, reflections and personal anecdotes all perspectives from the domestic servants although all very discreet. 

Lillian worked for 30 years at the White House, beginning as a seamstress in the days when mending and alterations were the norm, her mother, Maggie Rogers,  preceded her with 30 years service and for 10 years their service overlapped.  Maggie often brought the young child, Lillian along to work because she had no place to leave her.  Lillian, born in February 1897,  had polio at age 4 and walked  the rest of her life with crutches as  shown on the book cover photo; she lived to be 100.  She does not say much about her retirement or even the date/year although it is assumed to be 1960 during the Eisenhower time. If there is any presidential family of disappointment it is the Eisenhowers.  She thought he would be friendly after the "I like Ike" campaign slogan, but infact he was not and Mamie reveled in running a formal military like household with perfection, even requiring the carpets be sept to not show any foot track prints.  That kept the help quite busy sweeping each time someone entered and left a room.   The stories are accompanied with historical photos, and backstairs wisdom, it precedes the current "The Help" in a far grander setting.   It's a book I will keep and browse through again.  ****





Before I found "30 Years..." I found an old copy of Upstairs at the White House, My Life with the First Ladies by J.B.West who served as assistant and Chief Usher of the White House between 1941-1969, published in 1973,  368 pages.  I read this book first and absolutely enjoyed it.  I recall hearing about it when it was released but hadn't read it then.  As I have said before, there are plenty of wonderful old books to be read, it  need not be a current best seller.  I frequent  book sales where  $1 to 50 cents are top prices for these books; and I volunteer at our local used "bookshelf room" where we accept and sell used books to raise $$ for our local library.  Working there gives me  pick of the litter that we accumulate between monthly sales.   This book is a warm anecdotal, historical look at the lives of six Presidents and First Ladies,  Roosevelt's through  Nixon's, from a very discreet gentleman, Mr. West.  It is a perfect companion to "30 Years...."   I learned a lot about the White House workings and the duties of a chief usher, a position that  remains today and how the usher announces all who meet with the president.  Photos of the bedrooms of the presidents and first ladies are inside the cover front and back and many other photos are throughout the book, "profusely illustrated with photographs" as the jacket inside reads.  The book is historic itself because the inside original price is only $8.95 a fine hardback first edition!  Between both books, reading about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt was the most amusing to me although the funniest stories were about the temperamental French chef's brought in by Jacqueline Kennedy.  

Sometimes we forget the drama and accomplishments of the first ladies but  Mr. West does not.  Page 367, "All the First Ladies I've known have been exceptionally strong in spirit.  They came in that way, because they'd been able to share their husbands' grueling political road to the White House......And each of them has performed a great public service to the people of America, filling a role that is nonappointive, nonelective, certainly nonpaid, the most demanding volunteer job in America."  After reading both books, about the families, the personalities, their friends and pets, I wonder if some staff could carry these forward with a sequel, or if it has been politically banned.  Both books are written with dignity; avoiding sex and scandals although the 2008 update to "30 Years." acknowledges the Roosevelt mistresses.  Both books reflect history from a close internal perspective and I recommend both as great comfortable  reads.  *****    

Up to date on Books Read

"When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue--you sell him a whole new life." Christopher Morley

A stack of books grows higher by the week alongside my computer, books I have read from late October until now, books  I have just set aside until I have time to review them for the blog......but as I posted  a week back time is running out and my stack gets taller.   I will have a new blog in 2012 solely to record my readings and my reviews.  For now, to expedite the process and  move books into either  donation bags or, if a keeper,  to the shelf in our home  library, I am borrowing a technique from Kat Mortenson and assigning stars  *****  to rank the books,  with 1 low and 5 high:

5 ***** being a top notch read and a book I loved.  

No * indicates a book I did not finish,  which means it is  really  a poor read and  had no interest for me; oh does this mean I really have a 6 point rating system? 

1 * will mean a book I plowed through under some protest. 

I suppose  that technically I have six ranks from No to *****.   There would be few books with No and few with *****, most somewhere in between. 

It has taken me awhile to learn to discard a book that does not hold my interest, I have so many books to read and so little time to do so that it's not worth wasting my eyeballs on a bad one.  Why did I think I had to plod along when  the pages and words held no interest? 

 What I find enjoyable in reading and which will be my criteria in rating reflect my personal preferences.  I am not a fluff or what I term fiction comic book reader nor do I like science fiction.  I like to sink into a book like a nice comfy leather chair, so a novel has to envelop me.  My first preference is always non fiction or historical, memoir and biographies are first choice.  I look for excellent writing and research, well developed characters who appear lifelike with their tales, a sense of historical accuracy,  historical, memoirs that evoke emotion while reading, or a book that teaches me something.  I am as I have said many times before a life long reader from the time I learned to read as a tot.  I am never bored, lonely, or without something to do to entertain myself so long as I have a good book. 

No I do not e-read nor do I have any desire to do so, being the proud owner or stacks of books and a marvelous home library.   I never pass a book sale without picking up something.  You will see several on the list below that are used, older.  A book does not have to be on a current best seller list to attract my interest.  I have been exposed to wonderful books I might not have found nor read through my local book club where we meet monthly to discuss.

 Title,date published/comment             Author          Rating

Marilyn and Me-Sisters, Rivals, Friends 1992   Susan Strasberg       **               

Almost tedious reading but some interesting  pages
and reverie about the authors famous  parents. 

The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay  2010          BeverlyJensen       *****      

A novel saga over 7 decades beginning in 1916,
sisters from Nova Scotia who immigrate to
America.  Fascinating and humorous in parts. "She was
worn to the shape of a gnarled tree...." describes their
paternal grandmother.

The Knitting Circle    2007 paperback             Ann Hood                           *****

  Our book club selection; a novel with great

characters and their stories and the grief of losing a child.

Based on the author's life.    

Left Neglected                 2011                    Lisa Genova                             *** 

 She wrote "Still Alice" about dementia, which I enjoyed. This
novel is about a condition resulting from an auto accident

where the left side of the body does not respond.

Lit                 2010 Paperback                  Mary Karr                                     **    

Her 3rd memoir and the least interesting despite its glowing

reviews; about her days in  alcoholism.  Dreary

The Quilters Apprentice    2000 Paperback     Jennifer Chiaverini                ** 

A ho hum novel, my curiosity about the process of learning to quilt

 dragged me along.  First book in the Elm Creek Quilt Series.

Our Story: The Quecreek Miners     2002     told to  Jeff Goodell                 ***

 Concise, true tale of these PA coal miner

 spent trapped underground for 77 hours

The Seventh Life of Pauline Johnson   2001        Katy King                 No stars

  If this isn't the dumbest book it is close to it. The author

hawked it at a craft show; it has been on my shelf for years

to be read.  Supposed to be a  mystery/ recipe book.

Blind Your Ponies         2011 Paperback           Stanley Gordon West             *****

Our book club selection.  Outstanding novel about  a high school

boys long time loosing basketball team, and their town. 
Excellent characters and writing by a MN author. Selection of the title
and what it represents is a story itself.  Will read more of his books.

 

Four more books to add  but will post more later, I intend today with the others.  I'm off to walk  to Curves and not waste the fresh air of  this beautiful, balmy  sunny day!