Conversation Club Chatter

the dollar store by the Kroger on Keystone is no more

A movie .. Sweet Land .. is playing at the theater at Keystone at the Crossing. It started last Frid so I’m not sure how long it’ll be there. It is set in Minnesota in the 1920’s, woman of German heritage arrives to become the bride of a farmer whom she has never met. It got good reviews. Is anyone interested in going this week or I could call and see if it’ll be there next week and we could go to an early show before we meet at Sue’s for CC.

You’ll never guess who sent me a Christmas card! The Mull family… you know, the one who sent me the baby announcement with the note a year after my Mom died. No return address - so I am sure it is someone playing a “joke” on me. Who doesn’t put a return address on a card?

Rachel has been home for less than 48 hours and I am ready for her to leave. I asked her to share any memories of grandmum with me - something she thinks about when she thinks about my Mom. Real simple … I remember when…. But she said ” I don’t want to talk about it.” She wouldn’t even tell me why she doesn’t want to talk about it. I told her she hurts me when she refuses to even talk about grandmum. So Merry Christmas!

I headed over to Deals on Friday with my Mom. I loaded up on the de-icers and bought a $1 umbrella to keep for emergencies in my car, along with some other Deals; we both had fun.

And the name of the book is Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman. All book lovers will enjoy it. It’s on my “highly reommended” list.

Maureen, sorry I didn’t call but I had an MRI at St Vincent, at 4:45 PM, yesterday. I was done at 6:00. Elliott met me at the hospital. We Visited a freind at St. Vincent and got home by 7:30. I was off, yesterday, and on a dead run. I did holiday shopping before the MRI and was really tired by the time I got home. I lay down on the sofa and the next thing I knew it was 10:00. I saw the movie Holiday, last weekend, and really enjoyed it. Then that evening I saw the Rat Pack, which I also really enjoyed. The Sammy impersonator was the best but Frank’s impersonator was good also. Dean’s impersonator was fair. I enjoyed the songs and their interaction! Wednesday night I saw Casino Royal and it was good. More later. Let me know what all of you are up to.

Actually it was worth a little more! I called Auto Zone before I drove the van over. It turns out that they don’t have a computer to hook up to cars before a certain year (ours is a 95). But he did tell me that if I turn the engine to the first position (just when all the lights come on the dashboard) 3 times, then on the 4th time the check engine light would blink in some Morse Code that would explain the reason for the check engine light coming on — if you knew the code!

Dave thought he would take a look under the hood in the 5 minutes he had before work and see if he could do anything. He did … he broke the cable that opens the hood! So…that committed us to driving up to Westfield Auto to get it fixed for 400.

Other stories: Rachel called, car broken into overnight, backpack stolen, had her professional portfolio in it, irreplaceable! F in class etc. Day later stranger calls her, backpack found in front yard 2 miles from where it was stolen. Rachel gave the guy a gift certificate to a restaurant.

A cousin called to tell me her Mom died. (My mother’s brothers wife). We are heading to Philly for the funeral on Saturday. Aunt Lucy was bedridden for the past 5 years but not really dying - emphysema etc. On that evening my Uncle was sitting by her bedside, she was lying there, eyes closed. She opened her eyes, said I love you, closed them and died. I’m sure the ending will be a memory he will cherish as he grieves. I don’t grieve so much for my aunt as for the pain that I know her family is experiencing.