We’ve had dry sunny, 70s -80s weather for a while and ‘though we need rain, it’s great for just being outdoors. My gtf (go-to-friend) Nadine, has her sister, Ruth, here from Canada and she invited me and another woman from the lunch group (they couldn’t all make it) to join them at a poolside lunch and book discussion. We have formed a book club of sorts and the first assignment was to read “Love in the Time of Cholera,” that, as some of you may remember I found so dull that I couldn’t get past p. 50.

We discussed it and I was shot down as being too impatient and the joy is in the details that I found so horrendously tedious and so unappetizing as he insists on describing every sordid and decadent scene he has ever been exposed to. Yes his writing is excellent but, I said, I had lived long enough to see such things up close and could not enjoy wallowing in such memories and I was hooted down for pulling “the age thing.” I really love this group.

Nadine then offered that I had early on sent her a preliminary E mail of what I thought of the book and, she said, it was interesting that I didn’t like his detail because my complaint went on FOREVER so, in essence, I write just like him. Then they said I should write something and I said I had an autobiography so they have leaned on me to E mail it to them so that it can be the next topic of a book discussion. This is daunting since it is full of revelations that I only sparingly offer to close friends. However, I agreed, and now am condemned to reviewing it one last time before sending it off with heart in mouth. That serves me right.

Both Nadine and her sister read a lot using Kindle and Ruth showed me hers and I am thinking of getting one. It has a screen that can be seen in direct sunlight, the typeface can be enlarged, you can order stuff right from the unit, it can be used without a computer but not for a wired house, so I’d have to use it as I do my iPod that I plug in periodically to get new downloads and re-charge it. The lesser of two versions (but good enough for the way I’d use it, Nadine said) is $130. I am considering it. There is free stuff and you can buy a great many books for half the price of getting the hard copy in a store. Thus I’d be entering the 21st century but contributing to the demise of my beloved publishing industry.

We then went into N’s saltwater pool that is also heated and I hung on to some foam strips that you can float with and exercised my legs in ballet leaps. We stayed in a long time and talked about everything including our European origins, the union crisis in Wisconsin, and the despicable actions of all Republicans everywhere, etc. When I got out I experienced balance problems and had to get used to gravity again as if I were an astronaut returning from outer space. It felt weird.

This morning I read in the AARP newspaper that there is a website, TeachParentsTech.org, set up so that “kids” can send a tech support care package to their parents. It was created by Google and offers more than 50 two-minute videos on common subjects that stymie the older generation. I will look into it for myself since, Nadine says, my sieve-like brain makes it impossible for me to retain anything she tells me past the first five minutes. She’s prepared to help me out again, however, if I offer her wine.

xx, Teal