Blog

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

by Matthew Perry, 2022

Update, 10/28/23, Matthew Perry died at age 54, found drowned in his hot tub. On 12/15/23, the New York Times states: “Matthew Perry, the “Friends” actor who publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades, died from the “acute effects” of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said in an autopsy report that was released on Friday.”

“The medical examiner’s office said that drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of an opioid, buprenorphine, had contributed to his death.”

“But the autopsy ascribed his death primarily to “the acute effects of ketamine.” 

“Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic that has become increasingly popular as an alternative therapy for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other hard-to-treat mental health problems. It is also used recreationally.”

“The autopsy report said that Perry had been on ketamine infusion therapy but that the ketamine in his system could not have been from his last known therapy session, which was about a week and a half before he died.”

““At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the autopsy report said. It noted that the level of ketamine investigators found in Perry’s blood was equivalent to the amount that would be used during general anesthesia.”

“Toxicology tests also detected “therapeutic” levels of buprenorphine, a drug that medical examiners said was used to treat drug addiction and for pain; Perry’s live-in assistant said in a witness statement that he was seeing a psychiatrist and taking buprenorphine twice a day as prescribed. Investigators also found evidence of sedatives but found no evidence of alcohol, methamphetamine or cocaine.

“Records unsealed as part of the autopsy report provided new details about the day Perry died.

“Witnesses told detectives that Perry had played pickleball at 11 a.m. His assistant left the home to run errands around 1:37 p.m., and upon returning at 4 p.m. found him “floating face down,” records say. The assistant jumped in, moved Perry onto the steps, and called 911. Paramedics who responded pulled Perry out of the water and onto the grass before pronouncing him dead, records say.”

Now begins my book report after I first read his book:

Brutally honest memoir by Matthew Perry, the actor who played Chandler Bing on Friends. He was an alcoholic and addicted to opiates. I remember laughing hysterically during the episode in which he is trying to quit smoking and is chewing nicotine gum and has nicotine patches all over him and says, “I’m alive with pleasure now.”

Little did I know, he couldn’t get through a day without taking 55 pills, drinking a huge bottle of vodka, and smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. He started life on barbiturates – he was colicky and his young parents took him to the doctor and the doctor prescribed barbiturates to get him to calm down and fall asleep. His mom was young and beautiful, his dad was young and handsome. The marriage did not last and he stayed with his mom and visited his dad once in a while. He and his mom lived in Canada. Him mom was Suzanne Perry, the “spin-meister” for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His dad moved to Los Angeles to try and make it as an actor. He is best known as the Old Spice sailor guy. His parents dearly loved him, but he never knew it. He thought he was not good enough. When he is 14, he discovers drinking and loves it. While his buddies are puking their guts out, he is lying on the grass staring at the moon and at peace for the first time. He loves that feeling.

He also loves tennis and has ambitions to be another Jimmy Connors. He moves to LA to live with his Dad and soon discovers top Canadian tennis players are not able to win even one point in a match against players who grow up in sunny Southern California. He turns to acting, and he’s funny and he’s good. The drinking is continuing, though. Soon, he’s drinking every night. A lot, too; the huge bottle of vodka with the handle, every night.

He lands the Friends part of Chandler Bing three weeks after he prays to God to please let him be famous. He believed being famous would fill all the holes in his soul. It is miraculous that he got that part. He tells the story in detail.

For a while, he keeps his life together enough not to mess up the best thing that ever happened to him. But then, he is filming Fools Rush In, and decides to ride a jet ski on Lake Mead. He ends up hurting himself and the doctor gives him some opiates to take away the pain so he can finish the film. That was the start of a 25-year addiction that should have killed him, but didn’t. He describes in detail what his life was like and how he lived day after day, making sure he could score 55 pills a day. He used several doctors at a time and when that didn’t work, he used drug dealers. He had love interests (Julia Roberts, for one) but he was always afraid they would leave him so he left them first. What he describes is tragic and dark and scary and awful. He calls addiction ‘the Big Terrible Thing.’ He went through detox and rehab many times. During a particularly bad detox session, he met God in his kitchen and he describes it so beautifully. He is loved and accepted and connected and safe and secure and it’s beautiful. He knows it was God. That feeling and vision keeps him sober for a few years. He goes back to drinking and drugs as soon as something happens, though. He abuses his body so bad, his colon bursts and he vomits into his breathing tube and shit and bacteria are all through his body. His good friend, Erin, is with him in detox right before she realizes he is in more pain than just the detox and needs to go to the hospital. She calls the hospital or 911 and says, “We have a high-profile coming in with severe abdominal pain.” He is put on an ECMO machine and no one survives that. He does, though.

After 25 years, millions of dollars, lots and lots of heartache, pain, suffering, trapped in an endless cycle, he finally breaks free. He forgives his parents, he is thankful for all he’s been given, and he forgives himself.

The last thing he quits is smoking, because if he doesn’t, he will end up with emphysema and have to carry around an oxygen tank, which he considers worse than the colostomy bag he had to wear for 9 months after his colon burst. It was so hard for him to quit smoking. He smoked three packs a day. He used a famous hypnotist and he thought he finally had it licked, but then he bites into peanut butter on toast and all his teeth come out. The surgery to replace all of his teeth is so painful, he has to smoke. He relapses but only on the smoking thing, and he only relapses for a short time. He is clean now.

Pray for Matthew Perry. May you never have to go back down into that big, dark, terrible thing again. God, give him love and happiness, a wife and children, and let him find meaning and purpose in helping others overcome the terrible disease of addiction. Thank you, God, for Matthew Perry.

(more…) “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing”

The Exiles

by Christina Baker Kline, 2020

This was the 3rd book selection for the Old Town Library Book Club 2022-2023 year. Historical fiction set in 1840’s London and Australia; specifically, Van Diemen’s Land, the colonial name for Tasmania. Young governess, Evangeline Stokes, pregnant and wrongly accused of stealing a ruby ring given to her by the young aristocrat who wooed her and made her pregnant. She is sent to Newgate Prison and then transported to Van Diemen’s Land. She has the baby on the ship on the way over. An evil sailor, Buck, takes revenge because Evangeline saved her friend and fellow convict, Hazel, from being raped by him, and he is punished. He throws Evangeline overboard when he is released from his confinement on the ship. She drowns because the captain refused to allow the kind doctor, Dr. Dunne, to jump in and try to save her. Hazel and Olive, two fellow convicts, care for the infant daughter. Hazel loves her like her own, names her Ruby, after the ruby ring Evangeline was accused of stealing.

Another story line of the book is that of Mathinna, a young aboriginal girl taken from her home and family and raised in the governor’s home. Mathinna’s tale is tragic – she is unloved and easily discarded and sent to an orphanage when the governor and his family move away. She becomes a drunk, living on the streets of Hobart. Hazel tries to convince her to come live with her, but Mathinna chooses to remain in her drunken lifestyle.

It’s a good tale. The horrors of prison life, and of the ship, are not too graphic – she describes just enough to give the reader a taste of what it was like. The ending was good, except for Mathinna’s story. Hazel ends up with Dr. Dunne, the kindly ship’s doctor who wanted to jump overboard and save Evangeline, but the ship’s captain would not allow him to do so. He makes sure Hazel gets to take care of Evangeline’s baby. Hazel ends up helping him in his practice when he opens one in Australia. She has all kinds of knowledge about mid-wiving and herbs and uses those to help people, and also to save Ruby’s life when Buck, the evil sailor, comes to kill Ruby. Hazel gives him a cup of tea laced with the flowers (pink trumpet-shaped) of a bush that are poisonous. She saves the day.

(more…) “The Exiles”

I’d Like You More If You Were More Like Me

by John Ortberg, 2017

Highly entertaining book about intimacy and how important it is to be intimate and how God is our ultimate example of true intimacy. He became flesh and dwelt among us. He tells many hilarious, adorable stories of his family, like how his wife comforted their infant daughter by saying, “Honey, honey, I know, I know,” and when their daughter was a toddler, they heard her in her room comforting herself with those same words. How adorable!

He starts out describing how everyone wants a place at the table. We all want to belong and have our own place at the table. Each chapter ends with the Gospel, describing how Jesus surrendered His ultimate power and authority and came to us as a tiny, vulnerable baby, because of His love for us, that is our ultimate example of how to love others. Jesus always had time for people. He never had to say, “What did you say?” He was always listening, always “fully present.” He shared experiences with his disciples and for us to have intimacy, we must share experiences with others, such as walking together, eating together, learning together, doing favors for each other, resting together, boat rides, mountain climbing, praying, fishing, and car rides – that was a joke – “the apostles were together in one accord.”

The 10,000-Hour Rule is about as much time as Jesus spent with His disciples. Malcolm Gladwell, in Outliers, talks about how long it takes to master something challenging – 10,000 hours.

Ortberg reminds us that now, today, God is always here for us. We need only to seek Him out, call out to Him, spend time with Him. Ask Him for help when you need it and then pay attention. Thank Him when there is goodness or beauty in your life.

He talks about how we have a hard time being intimate with God because we can’t see Him, but actually it’s because He has always been there, like water to a fish, that we’ve never known what it is like to be without Him.

(more…) “I’d Like You More If You Were More Like Me”

The Doing of the Thing

The Brief Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom

by Vince Welch, Cort Conley, Brad Dimock, 1998

Excellent book recommended by Adam because Buzz Holmstrom was a “Boatman’s Boatman,” like Adam. Takes place in the 1930s and 1940s and tells the story of this young man from Oregon who built his own boat and started running rivers. His first was the Rogue River in 1934-1935. Then, the Salmon River in 1936. 1937 was “the doing of the thing;” he ran the Green and the Colorado Rivers all the way to Lake Mead, solo. He ran all the rapids except for Lava Falls. Then he got kind of famous and that was hard for him. He went on another trip with his friends this time, in 1939, and this time, he ran Lava Falls, too. He is well-liked, even loved, but seems very shy. The next major river trip is across the country from west to east with Mrs. Clegg, a wealthy Vancouver woman. This trip took 8 or 9 months in 1940 and 1941. They went up the Snake, then the Yellowstone, then the Missouri, then the Mississippi, then the Ohio, and finally the Hudson to NYC. By the end of it, WWII had started in Europe. He is drafted and volunteers for the Navy. He serves admirably helping to build and repair boats as a carpenter’s mate, and man PT (motored patrol torpedo) boats in the Pacific, around Australia and New Guinea. Once home, he drifts doing various jobs and finally lands on a survey trip down the Grande Ronde. He is tasked with running a scow he helped build down the full and fast river. He doesn’t think he can do it. He borrows a shot gun and says “I’m going to shoot a chicken” and his body is found with a bullet hole in his head a few hours later. So sad. He was such a talented, likable, humble guy, a credit to the human race. There is controversy over the death. His mother cannot believe her son committed suicide. There are others, too, that think it may have been murder or an accident. But the coroner’s report is pretty conclusive in the way the gun was laying and where the bullet hole was. There is speculation as to why he did it because he wasn’t really a chicken. The one that gets closest to it, in my opinion, is the theory that he was depressed, that he had done the most amazing things in his youth and nothing could ever come close. Here’s what Bob Sharp, a member of the 1937 Carnegie-Cal Tech research trip which met Holmstrom in the Grand Canyon, wrote 60 years later:

“If you have a remarkable experience as a young person, there is no encore. Everything else was going to be anticlimactic. Some of the astronauts have had a tough time. Grand Canyon is not that caliber, but it was the best trip I ever had. I had intellectual interests which went beyond the Canyon trip. I don’t think Buzz had such a background of interests to tide him over. He had lived his dream and everything after that was dull. I believe that he could have easily deteriorated psychologically. He was a workman and just plain work was no longer satisfying. It’s tough for somebody to have a marvelous experience like that. What do you do for an encore? What more do you have up your sleeve?”

Very well-written book. You feel like you are on the rivers in 1930s and 1940s. There are lots of snippets from Buzz’s river journals throughout the book and those help the reader to know the young man. Such a tragic end, however, and breaks your heart.

(more…) “The Doing of the Thing”

Nature Wants Us to Be Fat

by Richard J. Johnson, MD

Scientific book about the survival switch, a set of responses triggered in our body when we eat sugar (especially fructose). It is there from millennia ago to keep us from starving. It causes our body to store fat and lower our metabolism. The switch turns on when we eat salty foods and umami (savory) foods also. We can prevent the switch from turning on by not eating high glycemic foods, by drinking 8 glasses of water a day, by exercising 3-4 days a week for 1 hour each time, and by intermittent fasting (16:8 one to two days/week). Eating fruit is okay but limit it to 1/2 a serving at a time. Umami foods that we should avoid that trigger the survival switch are beer and red meat. We should start eating more chicken. Dairy foods (lactose) are okay and do not trigger the switch. Fish Oil (Omega-3 fatty acids) block many of fructose’s effects. He recommends exercising before breakfast. High-Glycemic carbohydrates to avoid are potatoes, instant oatmeal, cornflakes, watermelon, white rice, white bread, pancakes, bagels, sweet corn, and spaghetti. He okays the use of Stevia and Sucralose (Splenda); in fact, he and his family use them. They do not trigger the survival switch. Also, Monk Fruit, Invert sugar, Xylitol, Maltitol, and Erythritol are okay. He does not recommend these artificial sweeteners: Aspartame, saccharin, Yacon syrup, Tagatose, and sorbitol. Sorbitol, which is in most sugar-free gums, is an artificial sweetener that the body turns into frucose, so Wayne needs to find a sugar-free gum that does not contain sorbitol.

The Switch Diet to lose weight is to go on a low-carb diet for about a month, or the Switch Diet but limit high-glycemic carbs, salty foods, and umami foods), drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, reduce salt intake to 5-6 grams daily, intermittently fast (16:8) one or two days a week (optional), and minimize or avoid alcohol, take a daily vitamin C supplement of 500 mg or less, exercise one hour, 3-4 times a week, eat dark chocolate or take epicatechin, and drink green tea.

The fruits to avoid are ones with high fructose content: Dried figs, Dried apricot, Mango, Green or Red Grapes, Raisins, Pear, Watermelon, Persimmon, Apple.

Medium Fructose Content Fruits are okay if you eat a 1/2 serving only: Medjool date, Blueberries, Banana, Honeydew melon, Papaya, Orange, Peach, Nectarine, Tangerine, Boysenberries, Grapefruit, Pineapple.

Low Fructose Content Fruits: Strawberries, Cherries, Star fruit, Blackberries, Kiwi, Clementine, Raspberries, Cantaloupe, Plum, Deglet noor date, Apricot, Guava, Prune, Cranberries, Lemon, Lime.

One of the studies they did was with two groups of overweight and obese women. One group was allowed to eat whole fruits. The other group was not. Both groups were not allowed any soft drinks, fruit juices or sugary foods and were put on a mild calorie restriction diet. The group that lost the most weight was the group allowed some whole fruit.

Here are the types of sugars:

Fructose: a simple sugar (single molecule) found in fruits and honey.

Glucose: a simple sugar found also in grains, beans, and vegetables; the main sugar in our blood–the main fuel of the body.

Sucrose: Table sugar formed from a fructose and a glucose molecule bonded together. They must be separated in the small intestine before they can be absorbed.

High-fructose corn syrup: Fructose and glucose mixed together, unbonded, to form a liquid. This is the absolute worst kind of sugar.

Uric Acid is a problem. When we eat sugar, uric acid levels in the blood go up.

Obese people are often dehydrated. Salt can create dehydration which triggers the survival switch. Drinking water (8 glasses a day) can prevent further weight gain even when continuing to eat a junk diet.

The survival switch is indicated in gout, which is when high blood levels of uric acid cause crystals to form which get deposited in the joints and cause painful arthritis.

Diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, dementia, NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), kidney disease, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, sudden death, cancer, alcoholism, behavioral disorders like ADHD and bipolar, Alzheimer’s – all can be caused by persistent activation of the survival switch. Fortunately, we can turn it off with the Switch Diet.

“The Switch Diet:

Sugar: Reduce sugar intake to 10 percent of daily calories (with 5 percent as a long-term goal), eliminate sugary drinks entirely.

Carbohydrates: Reduce high-glycemic carboyhydrates. Emphasize whole grains, low-glycemic vegetables, and high-fiber foods. Limit fruit to 3-4 servings daily, separated, with half servings for high-glycemic varieties. Avoid dried fruit, fruit juices, fruit syrups, and fruit concentrates.

Protein: Limit high-umami proteins (red meats, organ meats, and shellfish). Emphasize, fish, poultry, dairy, and vegetable proteins.

Fat: Emphasize monounsaturated and omega-3 fats. Saturated fats can account for up to 10 percent of total caloric intake.

Salt: Reduce salt intake to 5-6 grams daily. Limit processed foods, as they are often high in salt (as well as sugar).

Water: Drink 8 ounces of water 6-8 times a day.

Dairy: Dairy is generally recommended, especially milk. Butter and cheese are fine if LDL cholesterol levels are controlled. High-umami cheese (blue, roquefort, gorgonzola, parmesan) should be limited.

Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate: Coffee and tea are recommended, Dark chocolate is encouraged.

Alcohol: Reduce or eliminate alcohol. If you must drink, sip rather than drinking quickly, and alternate with water.

Vitamin C: Take a Vitamin C supplement daily.”

Also, incorporate intermittent fasting, 16:8 at least 2 days a week (I think), or 5:2 which is fasting 2 days (500 calories/day) and eating normal for 5 days.

If we have activated the survival switch, exercising while it is activated is counter-productive. It actually reduces our metabolism and dooms our weight-loss goals. He recommends going on a low carb diet first to turn off the survival switch, and then incorporating exercise programs of 3-4 days per week, one hour each time. It is best to get 8 hours of sleep and to exercise prior to eating breakfast. That will burn fat.

Here are Wayne’s notes from the book (he scanned it in one afternoon):

“Some thoughts on gut management (excessive fructose bad, glucose needed)…

-Fish oil – full dose

-C – 500 mg (pees out uric acid, more risks stones)

-16/8 fast 2/wk—include 2-3 mile walk before eating

-Jeanne tea at lunch at latest

-evening hydration: one beer, one tonic, one licorice tea

-limit: “added” sugars, white rice, potato, other high glycemic

-moderate: spaghetti (use: pre-water and big side dish) and big red meat to once/wk

-other/detail:

-Balance (week): spaghetti/chicken (2)/tuna/eat out/red meat/egg sandwich w/beans, cauliflower

-sugar less than 8 g per serving: Fruits: orange 6g, pineapple (dessert, 4 g/slice), cherries or raspberries 4g/cup, prune 1 g, grapes 12g/cup)

-pulses definitely have a place here

-whole grain bread ok, and nuts

-all veggies ok

-umami (moderate these: beers, beef/pork, V8, broccoli/spinach

-Pur gum (sorbitol a proven problem for me)

-stevia and sucralose good (beware sweet tooth), saccharin/aspertame ok’ish

-sodium calculation: 1g table salt = 400 mg sodium, 3000 mg max

-dark chocolate (85%) a good thing! as is olive oil.”

The Little Book of Bob

by James Bowen, 2018

A sweet little book about lessons he learned from Bob, his Ginger Tom cat that he loves so much. It is an easy-read and has darling illustrations. Here are some of the lessons:

“We are all stronger together than we are apart.” He needs to go one step further and admit God into his life – the giver of all good things. “A three-cord strand is not easily broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12.

Friendship “is not about being there every moment of the day–it’s aobut being there when it matters.”

True friends understand you and can just be there, silently present, when that’s what you need.

“We all need to be noticed. We all need to feel we are important. That we are needed.” For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.

Routines in one’s life are important – they make us feel secure.

People need to feel independent and in control of their lives. Good advice for my dealings with Mom.

“We all want to feel protected.” Yes, we are all scared little beings, but “if God is for us, who can be against us.” Romans 8:31

“We all need something to believe in…You are what I believe in, Bob.” Dear James, I’m so sorry for your hurt and pain. Remember all that you learned from Bob. He was a gift from God to you. God loves you and He cares for you.

Other things he learned from Bob – we need challenges (“insecurity”) to help us grow, learn, and have fun.

Open our eyes

There’s wonder all around us

Don’t take revenge (Revenge is mine, saith the Lord. Romans 12:19)

Don’t obsess about what you don’t have, be grateful for what you do have.

“Enjoy the Journey…Take things little by little…Don’t be ruled by fear. (Fear not for I am with you. Isaiah 41:10)

Be in the moment. Matthew 6:34 – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…

Social interactions are important – do not be too socially isolated – even a quick chat in a shop or park – is good for you.

Do not turn away other’s love and affection.

Don’t be concerned with what other’s think of you – be yourself.

Never give up.

Something as simple as a smile and a kind word can change a life.

Music can bring bliss.

There are lots of other little tid-bits he learned from Bob. He tells cute stories about Bob with each bit of wisdom. A precious little book.

My prayer for James Bowen: Dear God, please comfort James as only You can. Help him to see and feel your love and bring him into your loving arms. Amen.

In the 3 books of his that I’ve read, he writes about encounters on the street with Christians. Each encounter was meaningful to him and sparked thoughts and wonder. I hope he chooses God in the end.

A Gift from Bob

by James Bowen, 2014

This is the true story of James and his beloved cat, Bob, and their Christmas together in London 2010. It is when James finally had a beautiful Christmas and learned that it is better to give than to receive. They start out freezing cold with the electricity and gas in their apartment turned off due to non-payment. James and Bob have to go out and earn some money. They do! Many of James’s loyal customers give him money and gifts for Christmas. They are able to get the heat turned back on and food and a gift for Belle, that he leaves on a bus. But, he finds a piece of concrete with beautiful stones on one side, in a construction spot where he had to let Bob down to go to the bathroom. Bob is there for him. There is a bad person – a drug pusher who tries to force James to take some free heroin. James literally has to run away into a crowd of people. There is a good person who is handing out flyers for a sermon he is giving on Christmas Eve. He talks to James and tells him he is being christian, like in Acts 32:5 (it is really in Acts 20:35) where Paul quotes Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” James has been giving out Christmas cards to his customers and seeing their faces light up has given him that warm, happy feeling. But James won’t go to Christmas Eve services – no way. He has bad memories of Christianity. But, he and Bob have a beautiful Christmas together, his first ever.

I looked up James Bowen and Bob died in June 2020 and it may be that James is back on drugs because there is a post on his facebook page from someone named ‘Sam’ that he has agreed to go to rehab.

My Brilliant Friend

by Elena Ferrante, 2012

This is the first book of the Neopolitan novels. There are three more – next is The Story of a New Name. I’m not sure where I heard about these – maybe the Library’s monthly emails on travel books? It’s set in 1950s Naples, Italy, and tells the story of two childhood friends, Lila and Lenu (Elena). Lenu is the one telling the story. She admires and loves Lila, and is in awe of her. Lila is a cobbler’s daughter. She is so incredibly smart. She already knows how to read and can do figures in her head when they are in elementary school. She grows up to be so incredibly beautiful that all the neighborhood boys fall in love with her. Elena is her only friend. Elena becomes brilliant only because Lila influences her. There are a lot of struggles between families and neighbors in this poor Naples’ neighborhood. Sometimes it’s hard to follow because of the many characters. At one point, Elena spends the summer in Ischia, an island off of the coast of Italy. It sounds beautiful. At the end of this book, Elena and Lila are 16 years old. Lila has just married the grocer, Stefano, a young man who is rich and kindly, but is he true? Lila made him swear to her that the Solara brothers would not be at their wedding, and at the end of the reception, who walk in, but the Solara brothers. Lila’s eyes get the piercing squint and, Elena, watching her, expects the bottle of wine to explode, but it doesn’t because she is looking at the shoes Marcello Solara is wearing. They are the shoes she made with her brother, the shoes she designed and made, that Stefano bought. Marcello, one of the Solara brothers, who loved Lila and thought she was going to marry him is wearing the shoes Stefano bought….hmmm…shall I read the next book? Maybe…

The I Hate to Housekeep Book

by Peg Bracken, 1962

This is a funny book loaned to me by neighbor Ben. It’s full of housekeeping tips for a by-gone era. I’m so glad we don’t have to do all of this. Life must have been so hard when you had to cook from scratch every day, keep a spotless house, iron your pillow cases and guest towels and hankies, dress up, wear hats, put on leg make-up under your nylons, etc. We have it so much easier now, 70 years later, when people wear their jammies and slippers to the grocery store, maybe even on airplanes. One thing we don’t do any longer is smoke in the house. She includes tips on ashtrays – have a special coffee can with a lid and go around and empty them into this can. Yuck! Anyway, here are some tips:

(more…) “The I Hate to Housekeep Book”

We Came, We Saw, We Left

by Charles Wheelan, 2021

Loved this book! It is our second Old Town Library Book Club selection for the 2022-2023 year, and so refreshing! It was fun and funny. Charles Wheelan is an incredible dad. He teaches Economics at Dartmouth but loves to travel. He and his wife, Leah, decide to take their three teenagers on a gap year around the world. They farmed out the two dogs and Leah’s sister’s family stayed in their house for the year (9 months, actually). They had to have a strict budget, and the two youngest children, Sophie and CJ, had to maintain their school status; Sophie by taking on-line classes, which was a huge battle, and CJ by home-schooling. Katrina, the oldest at 18, had just graduated and deferred her college admission for a year.

They started in Cartagena, Colombia, then down to the tip of South America, then they flew to New Zealand and did both islands, then to Australia and Tasmania, then to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, then to India, Bhutan, Burma, Africa, back to India, then to Eastern Europe, and finally, back home. It was from the fall of 2016 to June of 2017. They had a strict daily budget, which Leah kept track of on a spreadsheet. They each got to take one backpack. Charles wanted to read books along the way, so he picked places they were going where they would be staying with people they knew and mailed the books ahead to those places. CJ, the youngest child, a son, was a chatterbox. Charles and his oldest daughter are introverts. Sophie and Leah are extroverted. There were some meltdowns, maybe about 5 total. They happened when they were really tired, really hungry, and really uncomfortable. But they went around the world, learned so much, and grew so much. CJ became an eco-warrior (at the same time, he loved sports cars and any luxuries along the way). His major assignment was to write a paper on deforestation. He did so, and it was good. Charles and Leah had gone around the world together in the 1990s and they compared the times. One of the take-aways was there has been much environmental degradation – the coral in the Great Barrier Reef is dying, and there was deforestation going on everywhere they went.

Katrina, the 18-year old, picked up a flesh-eating parasite during their time in the Amazon jungle. They noticed these sores on her feet that were not going away. Finally, a friend of hers in Germany hooked her up with a doctor in Germany that specialized in tropical diseases and they figured it out – Leishmaniasis – which had to be treated before it was too late, with 28 days of pills that make you feel like you are on chemo.

(more…) “We Came, We Saw, We Left”

A Street Cat Named Bob

And How He Saved My Life, by James Bowen and Garry Jenkins, 2012

True story about a heroin addict in London, James Bowen, adopting this street cat (a “Ginger Tom”) in 2007, who ends up saving his life. What a wonderful gift this cat is from God to him. Because he had to care for this cat, it kept him from going back on heroin and gave his life meaning and richness. This cat, who refused to leave him, provided him the motivation to better his life, get completely off heroin, and provided the love and companionship and purpose he needed to stay off drugs. He healed rifts with his family. He could see beauty in the world again. What a wonderful tale, a true story. I learned about this book from the Poudre River Library’s monthly email on biographies. There are two more books in the series, and he has a website: www.hodder.co.uk and Twitter site @streetcatbob.

It is very easy reading but very engaging. I loved this book. You learn a lot about the programs there are for homeless people and addicts in London. Here are some interesting parts:

(more…) “A Street Cat Named Bob”

September

by Rosamunde Pilcher, 1990

Delightful soap opera set in mid-1970s Scotland. It’s 613 pages long. I got the book from a little-free library. First, Mom read it and loved it. Then, Carol read it and loved it. She said it takes you away to Scotland, and it certainly does. A rural village in Scotland with rich people and poor people and a crazy person and Indian immigrant shop-keepers who save the day, and an 8-year old boy named Henry, and lovers, and friends, and family, and marital discord, and haunting pasts, and a beloved sister coming home after 20 years away. It was a fantastic book and she spared no detail in describing Scottish manors and cottages, and the Scottish landscape and weather. I loved this book!

(more…) “September”

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong, 2019

Eew. Yuck. I hated this book. Too dark, too depressing, too sad, too hopeless, too graphic, too filthy. No goodness and light whatsoever. Set in Hartford, Connecticut, it’s about “Little Dog,” a Vietnamese boy who is beaten by his mother, who was beaten by her husband. He falls in love with a white boy who is beaten by his alcoholic father, who live in a dirty yellow mobile home. They meet farming tobacco, he describes in detail their sex acts. The white boy’s name is Trevor. He is addicted to Oxycontin from a broken ankle when he is fifteen, eventually becomes a heroin addict and dies from an overdose. In the midst of the darkness and sadness, he also philosphizes and I couldn’t make any sense whatsoever. This book is trash. It was the first selection of the Old Town Library Book Club for 2022-2023. I don’t know if I’ll go on Monday night because I have nothing good to say and I’m angry that someone even suggested this book and that it got selected. It’s deeply disturbing and I wish I never read it. I want to wash my mind of it. The only good things were his grandmother, Lan, and his grandfather, Paul. And the title, a very intriguing title. But the book is hopeless and dark. Yuck. I want to forget I read it.

The Frackers

by Gregory Zuckerman, 2013

Everything you ever wanted to know about fracking. Very detailed. This book was one of the books about oil that the Economist recommended. Thanks to the perseverance against all odds by a few determined men, the U.S.A went from being dependent upon OPEC for energy to being an exporter of energy. But it is so difficult to get oil and natural gas from rock. It took decades to figure out how to do it – horizontal drilling and up to 30 stages of fracking. Supposedly, the process does not cause earthquakes, or pollute underground water ways, although that is not definite. We have fracking spots all over northeastern Colorado, and when we drove to Steamboat, there is one in North Park right alongside the highway.

It turns out that Europe has oil and natural gas, too, but they don’t allow fracking because they are so populated and don’t have the wide open spaces that the U.S.A. has. Poland actually tried fracking but they would have to go too deep, (16,000 feet), to get to the oil, and that’s not feasible. The UK is an excellent candidate for fracking, but the Crown owns the mineral rights and it makes it very difficult to frack. Also, they are so populated and the population is against fracking.

The major US oil companies, like Exxon, were not involved in fracking. They had given up on oil in America and were working overseas when these independent companies like Mitchell Energy and Chesapeake finally got it going and became billionaires. That’s when Exxon and Chevron came back to America.

It’s a very good, detailed book, but since it is 10 years old, I really want to know what’s going on now. I googled, “Is the US still exporting natural gas?” A Reuter’s article from Sept 9, 2022, came up and we are the biggest exporter of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) in the world.

He describes the history, lives and personalities of the main people responsible for making the US into a oil and natural gas powerhouse via fracking, and their various companies:

  1. George Mitchell of Mitchell Energy: It took 17 years but his people finally figured out how to frack and get oil out of the Barnett Shale in Texas. George Mitchell wanted natural gas to be used as a cleaner alternative to oil and coal while allowing renewables to advance in the meantime. He conceived and built The Woodlands community in Texas.
  2. Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward who started Chesapeake Energy: Oklahomans who took fracking mainstream and bought and leased land all over the US and fracked and fracked and fracked. He describes how rich they both were, but Aubrey especially was over-the-top wealthy. Twenty million dollar homes, $100,000 wine collections, etc. Aubrey made Oklahoma City into an upscale city with his donations and influences. He and Tom Ward were both forced out of their companies, though, after the 2008 downturn. I Googled Aubrey McClendon and he died in a single-vehicle crash in Oklahoma City–he ran into a concrete overpass in Oklahoma City and died instantly at 9:12 a.m. on March 2, 2016. Sounds like suicide. This was the day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for violating anti-trust laws while CEO of Chesapeake Energy from 2007-2012. Tom Ward is still alive and is still in the energy business. He currently runs Mach Energy. Former companies were Chesapeake Energy, SandRidge Energy, and Tapstone Energy.
  3. Charif Souki, the Lebanese immigrant who dreamed of importing Liquid Natural Gas and started a company, Cheniere, and held out hope against all odds, eventually turning it into a LNG exporting company. It is the first company in America to export LNG in 2016. He grew up in Lebanon and learned to ski in the mountains of Lebanon. His persistence was amazing.

There are a few others described in detail, too: Harold Hamm and Mark Papa. He also describes the town of Williston, North Dakota, when Harold Hamm finally figured out how to get oil and natural gas out of the Bakken. It sounds like a horrible town – no place for anyone but the dregs of humanity. The Walmart parking lot was where many of the oilmen lived and it was dangerous for women to walk through that parking lot. Streets were being built so fast, Google maps couldn’t keep up.

I end up rooting for the frackers. I totally forgot about nuclear power, the true answer in my opinion. Maybe there will be a book someday about the people who, against all odds, finally got rich on nuclear power. America is the place where this type of thing can happen because most of our land is not owned by the government, an individual can get wealthy beyond their wildest dreams through their hard work and persistence, and we have lots of wide open spaces.

Folly

by Laurie R. King, 2001

Fun mystery! Pat was reading it on her front porch one day this summer. Set in the San Juan Islands, a talented, rich, widowed wood-worker decides to escape her demons on an island her uncle bought in the 1920s. She decides to re-build the house he built that was burned down. There are good characters and bad characters. The setting is wonderful. The writing is superb.

(more…) “Folly”

Garden of Eden

by Ernest Hemingway, posthumously 1986

What a strange book! It was the September 2022 selection for the Classic Book Club. I gave it to Mom to read first and asked her if she wanted to go to this book club and discuss it. She at first said yes, but then she said no. I finally read it weeks afterward and I hope she has forgotten it. I wouldn’t have given it to her to read if I’d read it first.

A beautiful young couple go to the south of France for their honeymoon. They eat good food, drink (a lot), ride their bikes, swim in the beautiful sea, make love. It’s paradise until Catherine tells David she has a surprise. Enter the wierdness. She goes to town and gets her hair cut like a boy. She asks him if she can “change.” He can tell she needs it so reluctantly agrees. Nothing is spelled out, but something deeply disturbing to David happens, and Catherine apologizes, but wants it again. And then, Catherine brings home another woman. This one is just as beautiful as she is. Her name is Marita and both Catherine and David fall in love with her. David is a writer. In the midst of all this drinking and sex, he is writing a story. It is a story of he and his father and Juma in Africa hunting an old bull elephant. It really happened and David works hard to get everything right. He allows Marita to read it because she has read his other books and loves his writing. Marita secretly allows Catherine to read it and Catherine hates it and burns it up completely. She tells David and explains she had to do it. He tells her he wishes he had never met her. He’s afraid he’s going to kill her. He and Marita go for a drive. While they are gone, Catherine gets on a train for Paris. The book ends with David and Marita in love and David going through one awful day trying to write and only being able to get one sentence down over and over. But then, after a day without Catherine and her madness, and a day and a night with Marita, he is able to begin re-writing the story, even better this time.

He started writing this in 1946 (wikipedia) and worked on it for 15 years until his death. I guess it was like 700 pages long. It was published 25 years after his death (he died in 1961). It is only 247 pages. It is a good book but disturbing. Catherine’s madness destroys paradise. He didn’t want any of the wierdness but she would not take no for an answer. His pet name for her is “Devil.” It mirrors the stereotype of Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden and sin entering paradise.

Oil!

by Upton Sinclair, 1926

Historical fiction about the early days of the oil business. Recommended by an Economist reporter in order to learn about the business. It follows Bunny Ross, a young “oil prince” and his life in Southern California with his father, J. Arnold Ross, former mule-driver turned oil magnate. Bunny is a sweet, compassionate, beautiful boy who loves his Dad but, as he grows up, sees the corruption and questions if it is necessary. His Dad insists, yes! But Bunny becomes more and more a Socialist, in favor of labor and the little people. As he grows up in the early 1900s in Southern California, he experiences worker strikes in which he takes the side of the workers (they were working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week).

(more…) “Oil!”

The Hummingbird’s Daughter

by Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005

Lori J. recommended this book. It was excellent. It’s about Saint Teresa of Cabora in Mexico and her life from the time she is born until she is exiled to the United States. She is the bastard daughter of Don Tomas, a wealthy rancher. He is a very loving man, too loving when it comes to beautiful women. He goes from not acknowledging Teresa (and Buenaventura, his bastard son from another woman), to loving them and accepting them as his own. That’s a beautiful part of the story. Teresa (Teresita) is recognized as special, a healer, when she is very young, by Huila, an old, cranky healer whom everyone depends upon and loves. She trains up Teresa and Teresa becomes an even more powerful healer. Many pilgrims take over the ranch and Teresa spends her days healing, and her father, Don Tomas, helps her pick the lice out of a little boy’s head late one night, and finds new meaning in his life.

Unfortunately, the corrupt government of Mexico, run by President Diaz, is threatened by Teresa and, of course, try to discredit her by spreading lies, and then capture her and her father and put them in prison. The ending is amazing. They have decided to exile Teresa and her father to the United States rather than kill them, and are moving them by train. However, the loyal Indian warriors are determined to ambush the train and rescue Teresa. She knows this, as does the compassionate Captain Enriquez, but she convinces Captain Enriquez not to shoot at any of the warriors as the move slowly through the canyon. She is standing on the flatcar of the train where the warriors can see her and she says to them and to the soldiers on the train, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, don’t shoot.” And no one shot. The train moved through the canyon slowly and the warriors saw their saint and she was telling them not to shoot and they obeyed her. No one got hurt. She never wanted any death or violence to take place. She was peaceful and loving.

I loved this book. The dialogue is fun and fast-paced and humorous. The characters are wonderful. There are some terrible things that happen, but the author does not use graphic language. There are a lot of native words used and no definitions provided. At first, I thought about looking them up as I went along, but I didn’t – you can tell what a lot of them mean by the context.

(more…) “The Hummingbird’s Daughter”

Love Warrior

by Glennon Doyle Melton, 2016

Memoir by a woman who was bulimic starting at age 10, then an alcoholic. She finds out she is pregnant for the 2nd time and decides to have this baby. She marries her boyfriend, they try to make a go of it, having 3 children, moving to Naples, Florida. She becomes a writer. One day, she clicks on a file on his computer and finds porn. It is the last straw. She kicks him out. Then starts an 18-month journey of finding herself. Her husband, Craig, is really sorry and really wants to save their marriage and he starts counseling, too. After a long journey, they do and it’s good.

When she was 10, she discovered bulimia. She thought she was huge, ugly, a monster. She could hide and be in control by bingeing and purging. Then in high school and college, she became what the world told her to become–thin and sexy. She was in a sorority where they had to remind the girls to flush the toilets when they threw up because so many of the girls were bulemic. The fraternities would put up signs, “No Fat Chicks.” She became an alcoholic on top of her bulimia. Her boyfriend, Craig, seems like a nice guy. When she finds out she’s pregnant the first time, he goes with her to have an abortion, but then leaves her by herself after she insists she’s okay. When she finds out she’s pregnant the 2nd time, she goes to a church and walks barefoot on the carpet towards a statue of Mary and God finds her there – She feels unconditional love for the first time. There starts a very long journey of discovering her true self through the lies that she has believed for too long. Mainly that we are beautiful and loved just the way we are.

(more…) “Love Warrior”

Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession

by William Skidelsky, 2015

This book is written by a huge Roger Federer fan, and it’s about life as a Federer fan: the joy of his victories, the agony of his defeats, and despising Rafael Nadal. Being a Roger Federer fan brought him through a dark period of his life. I wonder how he feels about Rafael Nadal now, and how he feels about Novak Djokovic. In 2015, Novak was far from Roger’s records, and now he has overtaken them. In 2015, it wasn’t widely known how much Roger likes and respects Rafael, and vice versa. I bet he now despises Novak Djokovic and doesn’t mind Rafael Nadal. I say that because he mirrors my own feelings.

(more…) “Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession”