“Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.”
Today was warm, nearly 50˚, but it was damp. I stayed home and barely got beyond the sloth stage. I watered a few plants, straightened up and dusted a bit.
It is 2:30, and I am wide awake, Henry is sleeping. He had a difficult day yesterday because we went to the vet’s. Henry needed a regularly scheduled shot. The poor dog shook while we were in the waiting area. He got so close to me he was sitting on my feet, but despite his anxiety, I had to get him on the scale as we needed his weight for heartworm pills. He weighs 44 pounds. I kept patting him and talking to him hoping to comfort him. We next went into the exam room. The vet checked him out and tried to make friends. She offered him a few dog treats, but he wouldn’t eat them. She gave him some cheese and he slurped every bit. The technician then took him into the back room where he got his shot and had his nails clipped. Henry looked quite handsome in the snowman bandana they put on him.
When I was eight, my grandparents gave me a couple of Bobbsey Twin books. My grandmother wrote a birthday message. She had a flowery sort of handwriting. In some ways it looked like calligraphy. I always thought of it as old lady handwriting.
When I was a kid, I went to bed fairly early on school nights. I’d only read a bit before my mother would shout up the stairs for me to turn off the light. I’d complain it was too early, and she’d tell me to turn off the light. I did, but I wasn’t happy. I wanted to keep reading. My solution was to read under the covers so the light couldn’t be seen. It got really hot under those covers. My plastic light started to melt. I started to sweat. I’d take a break so the light and I would cool down then I’d go back to reading. Sometimes I got caught but not very often. I’d read until I started to fall asleep.
When I’d get a book for Christmas, I’d usually started reading it after dinner, after all the Christmas frenzy. My mother use to complain I was reading the book too fast. She said I should take my time. I didn’t know how to do that. I still don’t.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
January 24, 2019 at 11:53 am
Nasty cold here this morning but it did warm up some during the day. It would be a complete lie to say that it got even close to warm but it was less cold 🙂
Today they start to question why they should write at all, they have their phones and computers so they think they’ll never have to write by hand in their lives. I have a crappy handwriting but I do at least know how to write 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
January 24, 2019 at 2:18 pm
Hi Kat,
I used to do the flashlight under the covers thing when I was a kid. It wasn’t the most comfortable way to read. Eventually, I realized my mother couldn’t see the flashlight anyway unless she opened the door to check on me which she rarely did.
There are some good books I can take my time reading and there are some good books I have to read straight through, if possible. I’m not sure what the difference is as it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with seeing what happens. I guess it’s which worlds I want to linger in longer.
Piki Dog is apprehensive about the vet. Peanut butter overrides his fear so I bring a 2 ounce cup of it with me. I wish the technician wouldn’t hold him as I think that adds to his anxiety. They didn’t do that at his neurologists office and he was always ecstatically happy to be there. Even when the vet prodded and poked him and stuck him with needles. Peanut butter made him ecstatically happy enough that I could poke him with a needle. Lucky for me as I had to do it 4 times a month for over a year.
It’s 56ºF and blowing a rainy gale up here. The snow is rapidly disappearing and I’m not unhappy about that.
Enjoy the day.
January 24, 2019 at 3:21 pm
Hi Caryn,
Henry was like that when he had his picture taken with Santa. He still doesn’t do new people and places well, but he is getting better. I felt so sorry for him at the vets, but she was wonderful. He even ate the cheese from her fingers. She got down to his level and even suggested he get his nails cut another time. I knew he’d be fine, and he was.
I will read some books all the way through without moving. A few times I have read all night. Other times I struggle to finish a book. I used to feel guilty if I didn’t finish, but now I’ll stop if the book fails to catch my interest.
No wind here, and it is quite warm. It started raining around noon, and it is still raining.
Have a great evening.
January 24, 2019 at 2:59 pm
Hi Kat,
We are on a temperature roller coaster. Yesterday morning it was 27 degrees with a high of 45. Today the low was just about freezing and it’s warming up nicely to about 60 degrees.
Somehow dogs know when they are going to the vet. They are all nervous as cats on a hot tin roof during the visit. Maybe they have a sixth sense when I would pull into the vet parking lot our dogs knew exactly where they were going. 🙂
Once I could read, about the fourth grade, I read ‘adult’ books because I wasn’t interested in kid books like the Hardy Boys. I was into buying paperback books. They were inexpensive and could be easily carried. When I moved to NYC at 13 I had to take the subway to my orthodontist or to go to museums and found a lot of time to read.
January 24, 2019 at 3:34 pm
Hi Bob,
We are even warmer than you. It is in the high 50’s and could reach 60’s in some places. The rain has started and the wind too has begun. It will get cold again toward the end of the weekend.
Gracie never minded the vets. She liked them all. Henry is the first dog I’ve had who is afraid of the car, the building and anyone near him. The vet couldn’t have been any gentler with him. He was happy to get back into the car and was thrilled to get home.
I read all the classics starting with Little Women. I still remember reading that book every chance I had. I don’t think I missed any of the classics. Treasure Island was and is one of my favorites as is The Three Musketeers. The hard cardboard covered books were only 49 cents. I still have some of the original ones I got for Christmas. I didn’t consider them children’s books.
January 24, 2019 at 7:51 pm
I guess children’s books are not the right word. I read all the classics in comic book form. 🙂
January 24, 2019 at 9:13 pm
I read all of the classics in book form. I didn’t know there were comic versions until I was a little bit older.
The Classics Illustrated version was good but it left out many plot details due, I think, to space. Not many years back I found the Treasure Island Classics Illustrated and gave it to my sister who also loved the book. She loved that gift.