Updates, Book Reviews, and a Sweet Article

I've been at the hospital the last three days. It's just about a half out ride, which isn't bad considering this hospital is closer to my house than it is to Grandma's. The nurses all say she is doing great. Poor Grandma just wants to be left alone! She could not believe that the morning after the surgery they wanted her up and about! She kept telling them she was dizzy and nauseous, but they knew that she needed to be up and about. When mom and I visited yesterday she was very tired and having trouble catching her breath. She had been to rehab, been moved from the chair to the bed, had her bedding changed, and then they were preparing to get her in the shower. She just wanted to sleep, I know. It was hard to see her that way, hurting and tired. I got home around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, kissed the kids and went to bed. I did get up and go to church which was well worth the trip and refreshing. Grandma is scheduled to go home Friday or Saturday and she can't wait.

Don't you just love it when you pick up a book, not really knowing what it is, but you fall in love it? I found one of those in the piles of books that my girlfriend gave me before she left for Texas. A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins is just one of those books for me. I picked up this old yellowed paperback and just thought it looked like a keeper; a man with a backpack and a dog that decided to walk across America to decide if the Country was worth living in any longer. He was disillusioned in the early 1970's and set out to find good in the world. I figured it would be an interesting read just to see what life was like as he encountered it. It turned out to be a book I could not put down and one that had twists and turns that I never saw coming but touched me deeply. I am not sure if you can find his books in stores, but here is his website: http://peterjenkins.com/ . I was pleased to find that the way of living he began in the 70's has touched his life up to now.

Finally, an article from the August 2007 Better Homes and Gardens:

The New Backyard Fence

Growing up, many people watched their parents chat with neighbors over the backyard fence. But few of us have such opportunities today. That doesn't mean tthe backyard fence has disappeared; it has just taken on an electronic glow. Recent research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit Washington D.C. think tank, show that Americans who join online communities have, on average 23 "very close " online relationships, and 27 "somewhat close" relationships. And nearly a quarter of those relationships were with poeple whom they considered to be friends. What's more, instead of the popular image of a lonely person hunkered down in fromnt of a screen, the Pew study found that those who make contact online are 50 % more likely to have in-person contacts as well than those who never touch a computer. Computers, it seems are simply another way to make even more friends.

Thanks for visiting me over the fence!!