Monday, April 23, 2007

Since this is my very first entry, here’s a bit about me, for context’s sake. I just turned 59 (let’s *not* go there!), live in Atlanta, GA, run a snack/card/gift shop in a Federal building, and am visually impaired.

You’ll find out about my many and varied interests as we go along, but mostly this blog is about my observations, the thought meanders my memories send me on, and my often irreverent commentary on just about everything and everyone, especially myself.

Don’t expect a lot of pictures …that probably isn’t going to happen, though links might appear if I figure out how to upload them.

I just finished Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon’s Kin …a thoroughly enjoyable book, as are all of hers. Since I get my books in Talking Book format, I often must wait a few years for the book to be recorded, so, unless I order a recent release from Audible.com, I’m behind everyone else in my reading. That doesn’t bother me, though …books have a *long* shelf life, and if they were good when written, they’ll be just as good when I get to them!

I’ve just started LA Dead by Stewart Woods, and, again, I know this will be an enjoyable read. I discovered this author about a year ago, and have read several of his Stone Barrington and Holly (oh, shoot, can’t remember her last name!) books. I like them, because the stories are generally engaging, and the ongoing characters are well drawn.

Yesterday was my birthday. Because I’m alone in the world, I didn’t do anything special, and that’s OK. I did some reflecting (not much, that way lies darkness), and some pampering, but mostly I considered the changes that I have seen in my own lifetime. The switch from huge radios that were pieces of furniture, and AM and short wave were about it. We had a huge thing …with knobs and a dial that looked like a clock face, sort of. The antenna was a *very* long wire and I loved it, because it brought me the world …drama, news, music... (I think I believed little people lived in there, just to talk to me!). When we “modernized, I got that radio, and I strung the wire all around one of my bedroom windows. By then, I knew something about the world (and radios), and I listened in on every country I could find. I heard, for example, of the death of Dag Hammerschold (one of my heroes), n the BBC news, and used to enjoy contrasting the news commentary on Radio Free Europe with Radio Moscow.

I remember Sputnik...and the glory days of the Space program …in fact, I wanted desperately be an astronaut, even though I knew how impossible that was, on several fronts. I’d still accept a ride in a Space shuttle, though …if they’d take an old, out of shape blind woman! (It might make a good “if she can do it and survive, anyone can” test, LOL!

I remember the Cuban revolution, the rise of Fidel Castro, the Cuban missile crisis (and the Suez crisis, for that matter, though vaguely), the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall (which I saw once), and so much more …more than I had realized, when I started ticking things off. It’s been an interesting ride …and I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it! If I have my way, I’ll keep riding, observing, and making snide irreverent comments or getting sentimental (yeah, I do), for the next …oh, 30 or 40 years, at least!

Eleanora

3 comments:

D'Onne said...

Wow I am so proud for you. Can't wait to visit again. You had my interest from the begining.

Eleanora said...

Thanks! This give me much hope, (smile).

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry that I missed your birthday. I do hope it was wonderful.