It's Monday--books and thoughts

It's been a long time since I have written a blog post about a book I like, or joined in with "It's Monday! What are you reading"
Truth be told, I haven't read much at all since April, when my dad passed away.
And I also haven't written a letter  (yes, snail mail by hand!),  2 things I really love to do.
I hope those things come back soon, because I LOVE THEM and I miss them.
I've cooked A LOT tho--I love that too.
And I've listened to books, which has been very relaxing and nice.
Right now I'm listening to 
The Girl I left Behind 
by 
Jo Jo Moyes

so I guess in a way, I have not given up on books. 

But there is no way I will make my Goodreads goal by the end of the year!

One book I did read and enjoy was

Signed, Sealed and Delivered by Nina Sankovitch.

Celebrating the joys of letter writing.

I know it sounds weird to YOU, but it was a really good book.

 I loved her passion and love for letters.  And also for writing those letters.

In this beautifully written book, Nina Sankovitch reminds us that letters offer proof and legacy of what is most important in life: love and connection. In the end, she finds, the letters we write are even more important than the ones we wait for.

I have always saved letters and notes, but I wasn't aware that my mother did also.

When my father passed away in April, we had to put my mother into an assisted living, ( and now a memory care home ) as she has Alzheimer's, and we began to clean out their home of the past 45 years.

What we came upon in my mom's old trunks and cedar chests were letters.  Lots and lots of letters.

Our most treasured find were letters that my parents wrote to each other the year after they graduated from High School until they got married a year later.

Her parents had made her to go college and he joined the Marine Corp.

They wrote every single day

It was September 1957 until the end of May 1958.

There was also a set of letters from when my dad was sent overseas to Okinawa.

1960 -62.

Again, they wrote every single day.

Letters from my Granddad to my Grandma when they were separated for a few weeks in the spring of 1944.  She had taken my uncle to Portland for doctor tests and my mom stayed on the ranch with him.

In one letter he wrote of someone dying from 'acute indigestion'.

The Handyman and I laughed over this one, not that someone died, but who the heck dies from acute indigestion nowadays?

Anyway, there were lots and lots of wonderful letters.

This has nothing to do with the book, EXCEPT that it was a book written by a woman who has her own love affair with letters, and it was so good to me.

I'm going to go write a letter now!!

And I am linking up with  Book Journy's

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

meme.

I have books---lots of books I want to read.  

I have a huge TBR pile and I have 3 book clubs where my friends are shocked that I show up without reading the book.

I really really want to get back into the mode again.

Soon, I hope.

******************

Rich and I do not have cable TV or Direct  TV or Dish or whatever there is.
We just have what we can get off an antenna and we watch Netflix shows.
My thought when we did this, was that we would read and watch PBS.
Rich's idea is to sit and flip thru the 7 channels we do have.
(sigh) men!
The other day,  I was kind of flipping thru the channels too, and I came upon an old Dragnet show on MeTV.
Rich walked in and said "Oh, this is an old one"
I looked at him.
He smiled and said, "Well, I guess they're all old, huh?"  But he had just seen it the other day.

We are also having an on-going debate. About meatloaf and what to have with it (also about Lewis and Clark...but that's another story). My mom had a steaming hot baked potato, loaded with melting butter, sour cream, etc. and Waldorf salad. Perfect fall meal! The Handyman's mom had her famous mashed potatoes and homemade mushroom gravy and a steamed veggie as a side.

Please vote for what you'd rather have on your meatloaf plate!