reading – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

June 6, 2019

The Long, Hard Road (DOG EAR)

’m currently working through Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. I’ll probably cover the first book (which I just finished) now, and then approach the second book (which I just started) in a couple of weeks. But even then, outside of splitting this in half and doing my best to get through the second book, I’ll be focused on it for some weeks. And that means I won’t be able to get anything else read. I’ve got some ideas on how to get around this (I’ve faced this same issue before). First, I can always use guest reviewers (hint hint) […]

September 5, 2019

Retyrement – finally! (DOG EAR)

retired nearly three weeks ago. It’s been very busy, all sorts of doctors’ appointments and linking up with a riding group. And then there was the first project (going through boxes of books and picking the ones I liked (more on that next week)). And then there was the hurricane which was going to sweep us off to Hell before it turned into a Sunday afternoon shower. But for that, all our loose lawn items had to come into the (newly cleaned) garage. So busy busy busy. Today was the first Thursday that wasn’t howling-busy, and for today, I wanted […]

December 12, 2019

Page Break (DOG EAR)

o the other day I was reading Louis L’Amour’s North to the Rails and my station came up (I was riding the train to the nearest station so I could launch the folding bike at the car shop – it is nice to have a bike that will fit in the boot of a Mini Cooper). Anyway, Longwood Station. Time to get off. And I was just to the part where our hero, Chantry, looks up from his camp to find two enemies sitting on their horses, looming over him. They were going to kill him. Koch would never have […]

January 23, 2020

Breaking Eggs (DOG EAR)

ough day yesterday. Lots of work around the house, cleaning out storage, and getting my model train layout to run. And at the train club it was kinda an off night (meaning a lot of people stood around and gassed while the rest of us picked up the slack). So by the time I’d gotten home and blogged the session, I was pretty beat. Fastwind to this morning, when those two lovable kittens, Chinki and Ritz, were screaming for breakfast at 5am (as always). Fed then and found my way back to bed. With two kittens slumbering (so cutely) on […]

May 28, 2020

Dead Slow (DOG EAR)

ell, this is ironic. You’d think that during the greatest pandemic we’ve seen in a century, in a house loaded with all the books I could ever want (and all my old favorites) I’d be burning through titles. But experience has proven otherwise. My primary issue is that I’ve been very busy. I’m experimenting with Squiffy Gamebook programming. And dental surgery has gotten in the way of everything. Then there are all those bike rides I’ve been making (I’d gotten pretty fast, now that my lack of junk food has shed some pounds). And with live streaming, I’ve gotten through […]

July 9, 2020

Juniors (DOG EAR)

hen I was working, we’d walk over to Juniors on Sunday mornings to have our omelets. And being readers, we’d settle into that crowded, muggy background and prop open our books and read. The waitress (who was used to this bookworm way of breakfast) would keep the ice-teas filled and bring us the check when we closed our books. Once I retired, we shifted to Thursday. Now seating was always available, the mood was slower and more casual. There wasn’t the Churchie rush at 11pm that packed the joint. We’d sit by the huge plate glass window, look out on […]

September 3, 2020

Summer Reading List (DOG EAR)

dear friend of mine wrote me Monday – she’s got two girls and for next year, they have to list forty books they might consider reading. Since she’s inert as a reader, but I devour books like a wood chipper, she asked if I could come up with some sort of list. Okay, I couldn’t come up with forty (challenge; can you?). But since they consider a book 150 pages and longer ones count as two books, I might have made the cut. Anyway, below is the response I sent her. See how many of these you’ve read and maybe, […]

September 10, 2020

Juniors Diner (DOG EAR)

e used to love going to Juniors Diner, a little hole-in-the-wall place just around the corner from us. When I was working, we’d go in on Sunday and try to time it between the church rushes. Still, once it got discovered by the swells of Baldwin Park it really crowded up – there could be a forty-five minute wait for a table. Still worth it. We loved eating omelets slowly, drinking coffee and reading our books. Once I retired, we shifted to Thursday mornings. That made it a walk in for us, right over to our favorite booth. With lighter […]

September 17, 2020

Reckless (DOG EAR)

ast night, a car came around a sharp corner behind our house, travelled 200 feet with perfect visibility, street lights, no rain, and managed to plow right into the back of a parked car. The debris field was scattered another 200 feet down the road and both cars needed to be towed. I’m willing to suspect, since external factors were nil, that the driver was either drunk, distracted, driving-too-fast, or drifting. You shouldn’t operate a motor vehicle in any of these states. Nor should you read a book in this condition. There are all sorts of books, brilliant books, world-changing […]

December 23, 2021

Reading and the modern world (Quoted DOG EAR)

wo kinds of conservatives are drawn to the business major at Liberty Tech. First are the genuinely naive, true patriots, often small-towners, admitted despite lower SATs, but nurtured on an undying faith in the capitalist system. And then there are their sharper, sharker brethren, more common to some suburbs, eighteen-year-olds who are already so practical, cynical, and business-minded – willing and wanting to extract as many dollars from the world with as little effort as possible – that the idea of learning to read, write, and think, perhaps only for reading, writing, and thinking’s sake, seems like a complete waste […]