And what does she do when she's not eating, you might ask?

Well, as of now, I am working again.  Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal has work for me, for which I am exceeding glad, as I have been spending more money than I am making for several months now, and, contrary to public opinion, I don't like doing that!  It looks like, between the Mental Health Review Board and WCAT, I will be working from now through October, with some breaks for the long-awaited trips in August and September.  Yeah!

So, what else does she do, you ask?  Well, most of you know that I am a news junkie.  John (my bridge buddy) keeps me in The Economist when he is done with it, and I read the New York Times every Sunday, as well as the local rags on most days.  Internet friend Bill (who I have never met, but who, I'll warrant, knows me better than most - he is a friend that Hank has graciously shared with me) and Hank ply me with articles, just in case I might have missed something.  What with all of that, I keep myself reasonably well informed.

Then, there are the books, which I get in three different mediums (?  "media" doesn't sound right...), actual real paper and print books, audiobooks, and, of course, my trusty Kindle.  As for the "real" books recently to hand, I just finished a biography of George Washington, by Ron Chernow.  It was amazingly well written, and I realized that, of all the founding fathers, I knew the least about him.  It also brought in world history, the place of the Brits, the French, the Spanish, the Barbary pirates.  (That's one of the things about getting old, getting more and more pictures of the puzzle...)  Now, I've finally started Crash of the Titans, by Greg Farrell.  The sub title says it all:  "Greed, hubris, the fall of Merrill Lynch, and the near-collapse of Bank of America".  My kind of horror story!  Replacing Clash of the Titans on my night table:  In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson, about Berlin in 1933, and America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany, and Devil in the White City ("Murder, magic and madness at the [Chicago] fair that changed America) by Erik Larson.  Both come highly recommended.  I will keep you posted. 

The audiobooks I have on my IPod.  Any long walks I have described come with audiobooks, as does the knitting at which I spend a lot of evenings.  Recent offerings:  All Shook Up:  How Rock and Roll Changed America; Atlas Shrugged (which is surprisingly current, and really scary!); The Brothers Karamazov, which I hadn't read in about 30 years, and should, like Dickens, be reread with age); The Confidential Agent by Graham Green (he is the best - I think it is time to re"read" all his books); Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, by Daniel Pink;A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre (even without the Cold War to write about he's great); and Michael Tolliver Lives by Amistead Maupin (I was thrilled to find out he had written two more books - haven't downloaded the most recent one yet).  Up next on the IPod:  Mission to Paris by Alan Furst, and The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Sesai.  So, you can see a theme here; non-fiction, real books, IPod, (mostly) fiction.

And Kindle?  A mix of the two.  Okay, I confess, I am reading - or trying to - Fifty Shades of Gray.  It is incredibly badly written.  Yes, I know it is (soft) porn, but months and months on the NYTimes best seller list, you would have thought.....So, on a more uplifting vein, I am in the middle of "Bringing up the Bodies", the second of the Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel.  It is about Henry and his wives, all told from the view point of Oliver Cromwell, the most hated man in England (although I must say, not by Hillary Mantel).  Once I got used to her style, I am liking it quite well - mind you historical almost anything has my attention.  Recently read: In One Person, by John Irving (am I the last person living to know that he was bisexual?); Arguably:  Essays by Christopher Hitchens (I had just finished his autobiography - what a vocabulary the man had); ....well, that's enough for now.  Next up on Kindle; Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and New Threatens the American Republic (which certainly wins the prize for the longest subtitle!)

So.  I read newspapers and magazines and books.  And I go to movies, too, when I can find an adult movie to watch.  (Speaking about movies and adults, I was appalled to read the number of 4 year olds attending the Batman movie in Colorado.  Who takes 4 year olds to a horrifically violent Batman movie?  And who takes them to a midnight showing of same?  And they say I hate kids!)  To Rome with Love, then.  Okay, it was Woody Allen, but I thought it was charming.  It was like a love song to Rome, the cinematography was lovely, and at least Woody Allen had the brains to play the neurotic old dad, and not the love interest!  And emphasis on the old, folks!

Specifically this week?  Friend Leah came over last Saturday, and we sorted through my overabundance of yarn.  I gave her three bags full (literally!), and still have enough yarn for this and several more lifetimes.  But it was a lot of fun to decide what was going on our needles next, and to fondle all of that lovely yarn.....

On Sunday, colleague and friend Joyce and I had dim sum.  She is from Hong Kong, so we usually go to the Cantonese dim sum places (yes, we can make those kind of choices in Vancouver), but she just got back from a trip to Shainghai, so we went to Shiang's, a Shanghai dim sum place.  Like most modern places, there were no carts going up and down the aisles (which I love), but they did condescend to have pictures on the menu, and even English descriptions (although I was the only "round-eye" in the place!).

Joyce, talking about her trip.....

note the chicken feet....

It was loud and noisy, as all these Chinese places are (Joyce's comment, not mine!) We even had shark's fin soup!  And spare me the lecture, I wouldn't have had it if I would have known what we were ordering.  I must say, though, the broth was delicious, the shark's fin, not so much.  (Joyce is all in favour of banning it, by the way; easy for her to say, she already had it at her wedding!).  It is interesting, though; although Joyce is from Hong Kong, I have seen more of Mainland China than she has.  She has essentially not been to Beijing, Wuhan, Zian, Guilin, or even Shanghai until recently; I, of course, been to all of those, twice.

A side bar on Shanghai.  When my relatives were being harrassed out of Eastern Europe, one branch of the family escaped to Shanghai, where there was already a large colony of Jews.  They later came to America, but I always had a soft spot in my heart for Shanghai, and was thrilled when, in the 80's, I got to see it.
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Only one more event to recount.  The Bridge Boys (as they are fondly known) were dispersed on the week of my birthday, and so we continued the ongoing celebration with dinner last Wednesday at Joe Fortes, an old standby in Vancouver.  It is still as loud and crowded and buzzy as ever, and the oyster bar is still going full swing, as is the piano (could it be the same piano player?  he looks about 90!), but I didn't remember it being that expensive (or else I surely wouldn't have suggested it - I am indeed a princess, but not in that way).

John, with new favorite beverage, beer from the local brewery...

Dennis, who sticks to Pepsi, but is happy anyway....

And Tom, coordinator of conversation and keeper of the peace...

And, of course, the infamous birthday girl...

The dinner was great, as, of course, was the company.  Another recommendation for when you visit Vancouver.

So, the days are warm, and long.  There is still time for me to plug in the IPod and go for a walk.  Till next time.....