– by Neil White (on my Kindle) – a really, really interesting book. It’s a memoir about the year the author spent in prison in Louisiana. About his sanctimonious attitude when he arrived there (he was convicted of kiting checks trying to keep his publishing business afloat) and what he learns during his year. But as much as it’s about his life as a prisoner, it’s more about the other residents of the prison – the last remaining lepers (Hansen’s Disease) who are provided for in the facility. Neil White is quite a character and I wondered more than once if he was ever going to “get it,” that he was greedy and egotistical. The book wasn’t published for about 10 years after his release, so at least he didn’t profit immediately by telling tales. The epilogue was so sad – listing the deaths of many of the leprosy patients and some of the inmates he came to call friends. One person at amazon commented that it was not worth reading because the author profited from his incarceration, and that he didn’t appear to have redeemed himself. I disagree – I think he did. If he didn’t, then he knows how to spin a good yarn. I choose to believe he learned a whole lot about himself and where his life took a (wrong) left turn, and that he’s trying to atone for his failings by publishing the book. You decide.
- by P.D. James (on my Kindle) – if I hadn’t read about this book in the Los Angeles Times a week or so ago I’d never have pursued this book. It’s nothing even close to her wealth of books of the mystery genre. But yes, it IS a mystery (not something I normally read) but it takes place about 5 years after Pride and Prejudice leaves off. That was the hook for me. An entertaining read and a way to keep in touch with all the lovable (and not-so) characters from Jane Austen’s classic. It’s not a page-turner in the true mystery-murder style, but it’s fun to read.
– by Judith Ryan Hendricks – I picked up this book at a lending library I use now and then. I have to laugh, though – the collection of books (probably numbering about 350 or so) is divided by paperback and hardback. And then by color. COLOR? I find that so ludicrous. But anyway, the title caught my eye. It’s definitely a novel, about a youngish woman who’s been a baker and a chef, but who is suddenly single. It’s about her struggle to find herself, to find a new rhythm of life. In the telling of the journey some recipes are included (baked goods, including bread-bread), which are available on the 
– by Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) – most everyone who reads blogs knows about Ree – the Pioneer Woman, from Pawhuska, Oklahoma. She’s always entertaining, whimsical and enjoyable to read. A couple of years ago she wrote a memoir of her romance with Ladd, her now husband. I can’t count how many times, as I was reading this, that I was LOLing (Laughing Out Loud). She is such a witty writer and knows how to tell a story. Even though I know she married Ladd and has since had 4 children, I was caught up in her story from the first page. I wrote it up in more detail on
– (on my Kindle) Michael Tucker (from L.A. Law some years ago) and his wife, on a whim almost, buy a home in Umbria. An old, old, old house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, I think, and a nice terrace (where a lot of living goes on in Italian homes and families). It’s the story of the purchase itself, the friends they meet, the neighbors, how Michael finds the best butcher(s), bakers and candlestick makers. It made me long for another trip to Italy, actually. They enlarge the home, although they’re not there for most of the construction. It’s a similar tale to Frances Mayes’ books and Peter Mayle’s books too, but it’s different. Tucker is a TV star; his wife’s a stage actress. They live on some higher plane than I do, for sure, with lots of friends with connections. But it’s a cute story and I enjoyed it clear to the end.
(Stacy Schiff); 
; and 
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Oh my goodness gracious. Rain. You’ve probably heard we’ve been having rain here in Southern California. It’s unbelievable. On Monday we had such a torrential rain that it overwhelmed the area drains around our house. The dozens of small 3-inch drains around the exterior of our house work fine under normal conditions. But not with the downpour that occurred. Water began pouring in a back door because our driveway (which is above the level of our home) just funneled water towards the house and the drains just couldn’t handle it. Too hard to explain, but water poured in our back hallway (underneath the door, pictured below), down into our wine cellar, and flooded into our family room about 6-8 feet. I was busily shoving pool towels everywhere I could, but it couldn’t begin to staunch the water flow. I took this picture above from inside our living room. At that moment in time this morning it wasn’t raining. We also had water seep into a downstairs bedroom (where we’ve had a problem before). We spent thousands of dollars getting a water barrier put in so it wouldn’t happen again. Uh, well, something didn’t work right because we did have more water, although nothing like it was before the repairs were done some years ago.
At right is a photo of our back hallway door (a door we never use). Those are dry towels waiting for the next onslaught. During the worst of it on Monday, I had dozens of towels by the door, which hardly made a dent in the flow. The water was up the door about 6 inches, so if I’d opened that door we’d have had a much bigger flood. Now we have a sump pump ready to operate during the next storm, expected today.
When we bought this house about 6 years ago, I can’t say that I gave much thought to rain/water/drain issues. We live in a desert environment, and although we do get rain every winter, it hardly makes a blip most of the time. We knew from the home inspection that we could have a problem, and tried to rectify the specific areas as best we could. We have our drains cleared fairly regularly (hmmm, not often enough, obviously). What we didn’t know was that an end cap on one of the gutters had come off so water from our roof was pouring down into a small flat pad just outside this door pictured. We’ll get that fixed as soon as we can. We’ve plugged the gutter end with a towel. Won’t stop the flow, but should force most of the water to flow to the other end where it might go out the drains.
Here’s a view from our front door looking west. The pool is out past the opening there. During the worst of the rain, water was coming towards the front door like a small river because our next door neighbors had a flood too, and water seeks its lowest level, so it poured over to our side. Unfortunately the ground here is not level, but tilts back toward the house. Don’t know if it’s always been that way or not. Surely that’s not what you’d want. We’ve never had a problem with THIS before.
Rain filled up this area (and further back from where I’m standing) like a lake, and rose, and rose, to the point that it began seeping into our front door (up about 3-4 inches above the brick entranceway). The rain was so heavy we couldn’t begin to help. I stood in our doorway, in tears, knowing there was nothing at all we could do. Thank God, the rain subsided just as I was moving in more towels, pulling our Turkish rug out of harm’s way, pulling furniture out of our front hallway. Trying to find more and more towels. Trying to protect the hard wood flooring from damage.
The French drain shown at right looks so innocuous there. But debris can so easily fill it up when you have a lake covering the drain altogether.
There are people in the world, like Haiti, who are suffering terribly, and would probably welcome rain. Our problems are trivial when you compare the two.
Kathleen Heckathorn
said on January 20th, 2010:
Oh my Carolyn. So sorry to hear about your water problems. It wasn’t too long ago that you had the leaning flagpole from a ground leak. Are you an Aquarius? (I am!) Water seems to play a big part in your life! Well, you must have it somewhat under control if you are up to baking cookies
Well, the cookies I baked a couple of days ago – the story just didn’t get posted until yesterday! We weathered the storm today, but tomorrow’s is expected to be the heaviest yet. . . .carolyn t