Birthday Celebration Continues

Well, What can I say? My dughter took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday - even though it was a few days late.  Chedders - a restaurant I've never been to but hope to go back!  They do serve a nice sized drink...(I wasn't driving!)

Medicare Age is Here!

Yesterday I officially turned 65. I have my Medicare card. I have supplemental PPO coverage. I have Social Security.  Supposedly I am ready for the future - at least that's what I've been told since Medicare was enacted - wasn't that under Lyndon Johnson?  I've worked hard all these years to maintain insurance coverage, worrying about what job to take - not based on what I liked but on insurance coverage all the time glad to know that at 65 I would be covered by Medicare. Society would provide security.

And now I'm here and not feeling all that secure. Lower pay for women turned into lower social security payments based on my life long lower income.  Medicare is being threatened by greed, no monitoring of abuse, the expense of more technology and the baby boomers coming along 'en masse.

I didn't and couldn't possibly have saved up the million dollars during my working years (isn't that the minimum "they" say we need?).  And a bunch of what I managed to save was taken (lost) in the most recent Wall Street event. 2/3 of the "value" on our condo has been wiped out.  They actually sell for 20% less than what we paid for ours 9 years ago. 

I'm not feeling all that secure at 65.  But I celebrated with friends and neighbors and all was well for the day.  And I'm healthy, there is something liberating about being healthy - an optimism, a blessing that I have that allows me to celebrate not only reaching 65 but getting here without pain or limitations.  A belief that I've made it this far and I'll make it further. 

Retirement Coming Up Soon!

In about two months, I'll be retiring from my library job.  Hopefully, I'll be able to concentrate on selling books and other collectibles.  First, I hope to do some visiting family like every other retiree!  The one thing I won't have to do: Move South! I'm already here I can skip that step.

To start, I have this model ship for sale. It includes the framed case you see.  I also have a book to go with it.
$300.00

Tarpon Springs - No Book Hunting

I think you can see why my mind wasn't on book hunting during my recent trip to Tarpon Springs!  A nice overnight trip included a short sponge hunting demonstration by this Greek Diver - ompa!

Saturday continued with dinner on St. Pete beach to celebrate 3 November birthdays and enjoy Bob's daughters visiting from MI (2 of the birthday "girls".

The night ended with Bob and me bringing Sweet Baby "J" home with us for his first overnight without his mom and dad.  Jalen is 6 months and behaved very well.  What was funny was how he jabbered all of the way home Sunday night - I'm sure he was telling his mom everything he did!  I sure hope he didn't tell any tales.

With all of that you can see why I didn't have time for book hunting.

Palm Beach Visit

This weekend I had a great visit to Palm Beach.  I stayed with a girlfriend in her condo located right on the beach.  All I had to do was get up and go to the windows to see the Atlantic - what a life. Actually I didn't know that Palm Beach was an island or that the Inter-Coastal waterway was "right there".  There is a lot to learn about FL.  I also didn't know that there were sugar cane fields between us and Palm Beach - there is a very big difference between the trip across the state on 80 verses Alligator Alley.  I saw the sugar cane burning on 80, no alligators. I saw gas stations in the small towns, no signs saying fill up now or risk dying!

The Worth Avenue shopping was over-the-top - not my type of thing.  But the consignment and thrift store shopping was wonderful.  Oh, the things that are available there in thrift shops is amazing. Art work, statues, furniture and collectibles.  My girlfriend and I went into at least a dozen shops.  I bought only two books but hopefully will be able to sell them for a bit of a profit.  I didn't find many stores that "bothered" with books.  It would have seemed to me that books would be a higher priority but maybe the residents send the books they don't want to auction there instead of to consignment shops?  

I wouldn't want to live in Palm Beach but there were a number of small communities, like Lake Worth, that would do quite nicely.  My friend and I ate an early dinner sitting outside the restaurant watching the other diners and shoppers.  There were bands setting up for music later in the evening and some walking on the street and sitting at the tables had their pets with them.  How refreshing!  Goodness, I even saw a child eating out with their parents - how charming. 

After hearing about the Breakers Hotel for so many years, I walked through it and got some photos. I saw the church that the Kennedys attend when in the area and drove by Mira Largo and Trump Towers.  There is no parking on the street for Mira Largo so I didn't get to get much of a view (too bad).


It was good to see my friend again but also good to have a tour guide for the area.  We had both great food and shopping and great views and walks on the beach. I hope the books I bought are really good also!

Religion and Science

I bought a 1923 copy of  The Bookman at an antique fair last weekend because of an article "Religion for the Faithless" (if I remember the title correctly).  I found the article to be very interesting.   Science, the author says, does not end people's belief's in (or need for) religion any more than the scientific understanding of sex ends the quest for love.

Maybe because our understanding of science changes, our need for an emotional connection to both one another and to the universe continues.

This was long before TIME asked "Is God Dead?". I think the author has a good point.  Religion and science can live together in peaceful harmony!  They address different needs - they aren't opposing answers to the same question.  I'm comfortable with this conclusion: religion speaks to our need to know the "why" of the universe while science speaks to the need to know "how".   

I got my money's worth on that purchase! Madlyn

Madlyn

Query: Harold and the Purple Crayon

I can't find a book reference to help me identify the edition of this juvenile book:
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. The publisher is Harper & Brothers. The best information I can find is that it was published between 1955 and 1963. There is no d.j. to help identify it. First editions were published with an illustrated cover, this is plain brown with a light/while lettering on the cover.