Live and Let Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 6)

Sorry about the lack of blogging this week...I will have a book blog on Friday. I have been very consumed with finding the right outfit to wear to meet Kitty Dukakis next week. For now, enjoy my vicarious Thursday Thirteen...let me know if there is any one item that really surprises you...

By the way, I need a new cool heading for my Thursday Thirteen if anyone has any suggestions.

Thirteen Things about Di
13 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE I KNOW

1. Stacy (Boca) studied at the Sobonne (for a semester during college). I knew her for weeks before I found this out and I just think that if I had the same experience, I would be walking around starting most of my sentences with, "When I was studying at the Sorbonne..." As a matter of fact, if I walk by the campus sometime in Paris, I may just study the architecture or something so I can start saying that.

2. Paula (Key Largo) was a stewardess with Pan Am when it was perfectly acceptable to refer to them as stewardesses. She actually taught at the Pan American Stewardess College. In addition to the obvious safety training, the stewardesses were taught how to apply their make-up, how to cross their legs and were subjected to periodic weigh-ins! Oh, and she got a hole-in-one within her first year learning to golf.

3. Stef (NC) is still working at the same company, SAS, that she started with just out of college...almost 20 years now! I can't think of anyone else I know who can say the same thing.

4. Barb (California) and I met and became friends when we were placed in a room together at Club Med in Cancun in 1989. It's still one of my favorite vacations and Barb and I have remained e-mail pals in the many years, boyfriends, husbands (just one each!) and children since!

5. Peggy's (Boca) aunt was Laurie Colwin, the famous author. There are some other things I know about Peggy but I won't put them here because I think her Mom reads my blog occasionally. (Ha ha...that's a joke Lesley...Peggy was a completely good girl the whole time she was growing up.)

6. My Mom (NY/FL) was valedictorian of her high school class and despite our constant assertions that she took classes like Basketweaving, she really did take real classes and actually met my Dad because she was in an advanced Math class and my Dad needed her help (or at least pretended to).

7. My Dad (NY/FL), after retiring as a crane operator, was trained and worked as a Blackjack Dealer at the Turning Stone Casino in New York. Oh, and he has had FIVE holes-in-one in his golf career!

8. My niece Ashley (FL) has earned extra money during college by modeling for photo shoots and at promotions. All her extra money goes to feed her travel habit...she's been to Europe several times as well as Australia and Japan.

9. My nephew Jude (FL) is on the golf team at University of Florida (Go Gators!)

10. My cousin Phil (NY) is an NHRA Championship Drag Racing driver. He drives Funny Cars and this year was ranked 8th, his best finish ever. you can see him on ESPN sometimes.

11. My best friend Amy (Mass) decided to go to the college where we met because she liked the picture of a girl in a down vest sitting on top of a mountain on the cover of the St. Lawrence University information booklet. Oh...and Viggo Mortenson went to our college...alas, not when we were there.

12. My friend Laura (FL) once made out with the lead singer of Cheap Trick!

13. I am way too boring to have such interesting friends, family and acquaintances!!!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
1. Susan
2. Katia
3. Caylynn
4. el-e-e
5. Sarah (a fellow SLU grad)
6. Chickadee
7. Ali
8. Ingrid
9. Delightful Duchess
10. Racy Li
11. Beth
12. Devra

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

    The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday.  Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!  If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments.  It’s easy, and fun!  Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well!  I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
    View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

.MAC with iWEB

My inner geek is guest blogging for me today. As a newly converted evangelical Macophile, I am gradually adopting every facet of Macdom into my world. (All hail, the prophet Steve Jobs.) "No," said I at my first Apple Personal Training session, "I won't be using iMail...I'll just stick with AOL's software." Well, here I am after AOL inexplicably closed down as I was almost done composing of one of my most brilliant e-mails ever...yes, I'm using iMail. (I secretly love that cute little sound it makes when I get mail...so much more subtle than, "YOU'VE GOT MAIL!")

Just so you know, my Mother is really pissed off as she is reading this.

I was at the Apple store last Saturday, after walking through Nieman's to get there only briefly visiting the $140 shirt that would be so perfect for my husband but is too ridiculously expensive for me to actually buy it for him. Don't worry, my husband doesn't read my blog even when I ask him to...like when I said something nice about him on my Thanksgiving Thursday Thirteen. Many of his friends read my blog regularly, but they all tuned out after the word "Nieman's".

Anyway, I was at the Apple store to buy an iTunes gift certificate as a gift for one of Rory's friends when this book caught my eye. I had just purchased the .MAC (pronounced dot-Mac) software for my Mac, primarily for the iDisk feature which will allow me to back up all my important data on-line. Having just had a couple brushes with losing 6 years of financial information (on my Windows laptop, natch), this sounded well worth the price of admission.

I tend to be a little impatient when I can't jump on a new software or system and intuitively become an expert. And my problem with help and tutorials is that I don't even know the questions to ask or terms to use. So I decided to go the old-fashioned route and read this book. It is, as indicated, "Quick and Easy". The language is conversational rather than technical. Step by step instructions including pictures of screens are provided for each feature of .MAC. So now I feel sufficiently armed and ready to take the leap into the .MAC world and I have Monday (which is laundry day at my house) cleared so I can spend hours on the computer getting everything set up.

So, soon you can expect to receive links to my .Web page with my pictures instead of e-mails with attachments or embedded images that take up valuable drive space. I don't think I'll be moving my blog because .MAC is admittedly not out to compete with blog-servers like TypePad.

I apologize to my bleaders who were hoping for an in-depth analysis of a fiction masterpiece. I'm kind of in a book dearth right now since I seem to have left the book I was reading (One Child recommended by Vicky, the appliance lady) at home in Boca, so nothing I brought to Merritt Island is really grabbing me.

I thought about blogging about my very strong feelings about SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED GREY'S ANATOMY YET, READ NO FURTHER:

why Christina went to the Chief about Burke. Please feel free to share your thoughts and then I will tell you what I think.

Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 5)

Many of the regular Thirsday Thirteeners are taking today off, but I’m on a roll, so I thought I would go ahead with the slightly treacly topic of What I Am Thankful For. There will be no links or pictures because I’m doing this off-line, it takes too much time and once I get to Danny & Sonia’s, where there is wireless internet, I’m just going to post and go. So, if you do leave a comment, don’t be mad if I don’t get you posted on my list right away…I haven’t figured out that cute trick where it automatically adds you.

Thirteen Things about Di 1. This year more than every before…my health. Not a day goes by that I don’t wake up and appreciate that I wake up full of energy, with a sense of purpose and able to really experience every moment…not just be an apathetic spectator in my own life. I know most people can’t imagine this, but it is a blessing to wake up and my first thought is NOT, “I wonder when I can take a nap.” 2. On that same note…I am thankful for my “team” including my husband Hurley, my sister Linda, Dr. Doran, Dr. Brand, Dr. Sharma, Amy (phone & e-mail teammate) and Teri. My off-site “team” of friends in Fuquay Varina who supported me in every way possible without actually being here. Sharis and John adopted Haley for three weeks. Tim and Emma absorbed Rory into their family…complete with giving him chores. Barb dropped everything and drove me 12 hours when I needed to get back to Florida. When they say “It takes a village to raise a child” Fuquay Varina is the village they are talking about! 3. My team of “new best friends” who have made life in Boca not just tolerable…but actually really fun. They know who they are, but for the record, Laura, Stacy, Vicky, Peggy, Virginia, Dominique, Andrea and Nancy…and if I’m forgetting anyone, my apologies…but I’m thankful that I have so many friends that I can forget to mention one! Without being trite…it is quality, not quantity…each of my “new best friends” has brought something unique and special into my life (and no, I’m not talking about the blender from Vicky) and makes me strong. And my “old best friend” Amy who knows she’s the original, my soulmate. 4. My children. No explanation necessary…especially in light of last week’s tragic car crash where a father a child were lost. I am thankful for my children. 5. My parents. I have friends, as well as Hurley, who have lost parents and don’t get the fun of watching their parents watch their grandchildren grow up. 6. My blog. Six months ago I don’t think I knew what a blog was. The first one I looked at was Tracy Thompson’s Maternally Challenged. Within a couple days I was reading several blogs a day and had started my own. Why do I blog? I think therefore I blog? It is an incredible creative outlet for me. It helps me stay in touch with friends who are scattered across the US and abroad. I love the “community” the develops around our blogs. 7. Toby. My 80 pound hunk of Doberman puppy makes me laugh and his fulfillment in life is simply to be near me. Now THAT’S unconditional love. 8. My MacBook. I love it. With apologies to my Mom, I have become an evangelical Apple convert. I love going to the Apple store. I just may be one of the only women in Boca for whom Nieman Marcus is just the closest entrance to get to the Apple store, NOT a destination! 9. Books, books, books! 10. Scrubs, House, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office and DVR technology. 11. Fitting into the size I wore over a decade ago…and Laura and Stacy for helping me find things to wear! 12. My IPod and XM Radio…for getting me listening to music and remembering how much I love it! Music is the soundtrack for all the memories from growing up to high school to college to work to dating to having babies and on and on from there. 13. Marriage. There are days it feels like a blessing and days it feels like a curse. Fortunately the former outnumber the latter. And to quote Jessica Rabbit (insert smoky, low, sexy voice here), “He makes me laugh.” Thanks to anyone who visits here. If you have a minute, I would love to hear what you are thankful for…everyone is excused from the usual and expected (family, friends, health…I’ve said it all here). So tell me something unusual, funky, crazy, unique or downright disturbing for which you are thankful! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) 1. Wacky Mommy 2. Susan 3. Jen 4. Ali 5. MommyBa 6. Teena 7. elementaryhistoryteacher 8. alisonwonderland

    Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

    The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday.  Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!  If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments.  It’s easy, and fun!  Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well!  I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
    View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Give me feedback on this Thursday Thirteen thing. Let me know if you think I should keep doing it, if you have ideas for a topic, etc. Please visit some of the other Thursday Thirteen blogs.

Di

Big News for Di's Book Blog (Part 2)

Just as I was basking in the excitement of hearing from Tom Hager about my review of The Demon Under the Microscope, I was stunned, honored and surprised to receive an e-mail from Kitty Dukakis.

When I reviewed Shock by Kitty Dukakis, I wrote Mrs. Dukakis a letter telling her about my feelings about the book and my own experience with ECT. Sunday I received an e-mail from her referencing my letter and inviting me to a private book party to be held in Boca Raton on December 9!

I am so delighted that my blog is attracting the interest of authors, other readers and helping the public at large, in the case of discussing an oft-misunderstood, but very effective treatment for depression.

After telling Amy about this exciting turn of events, Amy let me know that her Dad went to high school with Kitty (in her second e-mail, she invited me to call her Kitty which she prefers to the more formal "Mrs. Dukakis") and Mike Dukakis who, knowing Amy's Dad and running into them on the T on Amy's first day of work at the museum while in middle school, took the T one stop past where he had to get off and accompanied Amy to her job.

It's kind of like saying that you saw an article about Richard Thomas in Good Housekeeping and Amy has to add that she had dinner with him after his performance in 12 Angry Men. (For more information, Amy should really write a guest blog about her experience!)

Anyway...I happen to be a little star struck when it comes to authors and hearing from Kitty Dukakis was an amazing surprise and a little boon to my blog world. Kitty has also been gracious enough to allow me to invite three members of my care-giving team (Dr. Brand, Dr. Doran and my sister Linda) to the book party. I wish Amy was going to be here as I have just learned that the hostess of the party is Professor Emerita Wilma Greenfield of the School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University here in Boca Raton.

It's been a busy week, but tomorrow we are off to Merritt Island for Thanksgiving, so hopefully I will have lots of time to finish the book I'm reading and read some more so I can post a book review one of these days! I have a couple of Thursday Thirteens in the hopper that I am pretty excited about...but I'm thinking that this Thursday I will stick with something traditional...13 things I am thankful for...since many Thursday Thirteen-ers are taking this week off. So check in if you have some computer time while you are resting and digesting...and let me know what you are thankful for!

Di

Big News for Di's Book Blog (Part 1)

I was thrilled the other day when, soon after I posted my review of The Demon Under the Microscope, I got an e-mail from the author!

One of my search engines turned up your review of The Demon Under the Microscope. I am very happy that you liked the book! I do a lot of radio interviews and talks in which it's clear that the interviewer hasn't read the book at all -- which makes informed comments like yours even more welcome.

All the best,

Tom Hager

After I e-mailed him back asking if I could post his e-mail here, he sent the following:

I am now working on another science history for the same publisher, this one describing a discovery that is directly responsible for keeping alive 2 billion people today (and it's not a medical discovery). Care to take a guess?

My first guesss was Merlot, but I think 2 billion would probably be on the low side for that. So, my bleaders...what do you think? Anyone have an answer? I've been thinking about this since yesterday and haven't come up with anything. How about a free copy (courtesy of Di) of The Demon Under the Microscope to whoever comes up with the right answer?

If you are interested in more information on this wonderful author who was kind enough to contact me and make me feel like my blog is really important, please visit his website.

Di

The Demon Under the Microscope

I am the only person I know who loves the kind of non-fiction book that is The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hager (subtitled From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug...the non-fiction books of this ilk that I like always seem to have subtitles that are longer than the titles...and longer than chapters in some fiction books!) If nothing else, these types of non-fiction tell me how little I know, despite how much I have learned.

Think for a moment about my sinus infection followed by stomach affliction. Annoying? Irritating? Inconvenient? Yes to all of the above, but at no time did it cross my mind that I might die. On behalf of most of the Moms I know, I will admit that I have taken a child to the doctor with a sore throat and said the following out loud, "Well, I kind of hope it's strep so they can just put him/her on an antibiotic and he/she will be able to go back to school in a day or so." Well, when our grandparents were small children...people DIED from strep! In large numbers! Something like 1 in 4 women who gave birth in certain hospitals died from something called "childbed fever". More people in WWI died from infection than from war wounds. In WW1, Gonorrhea (the clap) was second only to the flu as a cause of disability and absence from duty.

This was in a time when people had electricity, cars, telephones and movies...but they could not cure easily transmittable diseases from which people died!

The simple solution to these infections and diseases was a class of drugs using Sulfa as the active ingredient. The story of how these drugs were discovered, developed, tested and used spans several decades and countries and had far-reaching effects on our current system of drug research and testing. At the beginning of the Sulfa era, people were still buying "patent medicines" which were unproven at best and dangerous or fatal at worst. The country's food and drug laws had no teeth...a perfect example being when a drug was found to have killed almost 100 people, the company which produced it could not be tried for negligence or murder, but could be tried for mislabeling!

The story is fascinating. The "characters" involved are as complex, heroic and villainous as characters in fiction. And the narrative moves along at a clip that fiction readers can deal with.

The Demon Under the Microscope is meticulously researched without those annoying footnotes on every page. Hager instead adds a chapter entitled "Source Notes" which describes where he got the information on a chapter by chapter basis, followed by an extensive bibliography. As a non-technical reader of the book, this is much more helpful and keeps the book from being bogged down in details that would only be of interest to other researchers.

To Amy and Laura, whose husbands are in the pharmaceutical industry and Karen who is herself in the pharmaceutical realm, I think this book would be a great read. And for others who, like me, just have a weird appreciation of these kinds of historical NON-fiction...definitely a good addition to your library.

And, if you don't read the book, please take this from my review...trust me, when the doctor prescribes 7 days or 10 days of an antibiotic...take every single one. It really does mean something!

Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 4)

Thirteen Things about Di     13 THINGS THAT PROVE THAT I AM OLD 1. My kids were watching VH1's 100 Songs from the 80's and I overheard the following, "Wow! I wish I lived in the 80's. They had great music back then." BACK THEN!!!! 2. The 80's did have some great music and I graduated high school in 1980 and was in college when MTV premiered. 3. I had to have my daughter read the IMEI numbers to the cell phone people because they were too small for me to see no matter how much I squinted, moved it closer, moved it farther away, etc. 4. I mentioned my blood pressure reading at dinner last week. 5. When my parents were my age, they were empty-nesters...and they sure seemed old to me (although they seem much younger the older I get). 6. The guys playing college football now were born when I already had a career that didn't involve serving drinks and going to after-hours clubs. 7. The actresses who are lamenting the lack of quality roles for mature actresses are younger than I am. 8. I drink better and more expensive wine. My college hallmates from Penthouse in Dean Eaton dorm will remember our "Orphan Party" during Parents' Weekend with the gallong jug of Almaden Mountain Chablis that we thought was just the height of class! 9. It's the 25th anniversary of Luke & Laura's wedding and I was watching it in my college dorm!!!! 10. My flower girl from my wedding is about to graduate from UCF. 11. I can somewhat intelligently discuss real estate values and the impact of tax and insurance hikes on the future of real estate in Florida (and I'm not a realtor). 12. Any discussions of 40th birthday celebrations are in the past tense. 13. When hear the term "drug paraphernalia", I think of my little blue plastic pill holder labeled Sunday through Saturday. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (Leave a comment and I'll post a link to your Thursday Thirteen here) 1. Bellezza (who is also up late/early) 2. Nadnuts 3. Caylynn 4. Domestic Geek 5. Sonny 6. Tink 7. Barb 8. Ali 9. Melissa 10. Jenny 11. ElementaryHistoryTeacher 12. Susan 13. She 14. Alisonwonderland

    Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

    The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday.  Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!  If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments.  It’s easy, and fun!  Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well!  I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
    View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Slacker Blogger

Being a somewhat prolific (or is it obsessive?) blogger has its disadvantages. I get really annoyed when the blogs I like to read aren't updated constantly. I guess maybe those bloggers have a life! So this is one of those "Etc." posts just so anyone out there who reads this knows I am alive and posting.

In honor of the determined bacteria which have been assaulting my sinuses and giving new meaning to the word "phlegmatic" (which now that I have looked it up does not mean anything close to what I thought it meant...fortunately I do not use the word in daily conversation), I am reading The Demon Under the Microscope which explores the history and development of Sulfa, the original precursor to the $50 no generic available 10 pills that are finally giving me some relief. This is the kind of non-fiction book I love...filled with lots of facts about things I know nothing about. I consider it in the same genre as The Cruelest Miles, The Great Influenza, The Children's Blizzard and The Perfect Mile, some non-fiction books I really enjoyed. The downside is that reading non-fiction takes me longer, so it will be a few days before I can post on it.

The good news is that I have two Thursday Thirteens prepared and ready to post. I might just stay up until midnight on Wednesday so I can be among the first to post. (I swear I do have a life and friends and everything....although my husband MIGHT have implied that I have neglected him for my blog and I'm mainly mentioning this here to see if he says anything about it...because I don't think he reads my blog, EVER. I'll bet Dooce's husband reads her blog. OK, I'll save you the trouble and say it for you, "You're no Dooce!")

But I also have this week's Holiday Movie Preview issue of Entertainmet Weekly staring at me. If the Dreamgirls movie is as awesome as the cover picture, I'll have to see it! I need to start studying the movies being released at Thanksgiving for our annual day-before-Thanksgiving movie outing in Merritt Island. We did it last year, so if we do it again this year, it will officially be an annual event.

And while I am struggling under the pressure to read and blog and blog and read, I'm working with Stacy to put together a Thanksgiving semi-educational event (NOT a party) for our kids' 5th grade class. Two women who didn't choose teaching as a career for the good reason that we aren't really sure we want to be around more than 3 or 4 kids at a time are going to try to provide two hours of entertaining, Thanksgiving-related activity for 24 ten- and eleven-year olds. Did I mention that Stacy studied at the Sorbonne? I'm really depending on her to carry me on this...after all, she studied at the Sorbonne!

So keep in comment (the blog version of "keep in touch") and don't give up, I'll get back on one of those book-a-day reading streaks soon!

Di

Magic Hour

I just finished Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah and my brain is kind of fuzzy about how I want to review it. A part of that might be the ongoing battle with my sinuses which have now taken on a life of their own, battling my brain for space in my head.

Magic Hour was recommended by Sharon, my friend from college who lives in Park City, Utah. If Sharon is reading this, she is silently thanking me for not having a picture link with her name because if I scanned some embarrassing picture from college (and believe me, I have them) she would hate it. And since I changed computers recently I don't have one of her fabulous pictures of her family (husband and three boys) doing something adventurous and/or traveling to cool and rugged places which would show everyone how awesome she looks now.

Anyway, this book was temporarily removed from my library because Haley and Paige both wanted to read it. The premise engaged me from the start...a psychiatrist absolved of guilt in a tragedy, but hung from the rafters in the court of public opinion, her former prom queen Chief of Police sister, a rakishly handsome doctor and a child who wanders out of the woods accompanied by a wolf. Definitely enough to get me to the next chapter.

The child is clearly not civilized, can't (or won't?) talk and won't trust anyone. So along with the above characters the story unfolds. There are definitely elements of predictability in the story, but some surprises as well. The author may be accused of being too pat and predictable, but on the other hand, has the restraint to NOT overdramatize or go into excruciating detail about the tragedy that befell the psychiatrist...which would have detracted from the story she was telling.

So what do my three stars mean here? I guess three stars is recommended with qualifications. It is an entertaining book that I think you might enjoy reading. If it was overwhelmingly entertaining, thought-provoking or unputdownable, that would be four stars. And five stars is saved for those books that will stay with you for a long time, make you think about it long after you have closed the cover of the book and are top-notch in plot and beauty of writing.

Di

Comfort Me with Apples

Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl was the perfect comfort read as I was dealing daily with this impossibly annoying sinus infection that left me really irritable (hold your comments those who know me and say, "So what's different?"). What makes it interesting is that solely as a function of when which book got into my hands, I am reading her books in Memento-esque style (less the tattoos and violence) so as I'm reading Comfort Me with Apples, I already know about her experiences as the New York Times Food Critic. So I would find myself reading and saying, "Doug? Wait a minute, I thought her husband's name was Michael? Oh, I get it, different book, different husband." all of which is explained in the book.

Reichl's story begins in Berkeley in a commune-like house in the late 1970's where her career as a food critic begins to the great consternation of her housemates who are kinda earthy-crunchy, with strong political views on the ascension of restaurants to revered status reminiscent of a food scene out of Caligula. But, you can't help but get swept up in Reichl's almost reverent appreciation of food! She tries anything, goes anywhere and experiences the gamut of the process from finding the right ingredients to the presentation at the table. She hangs out with Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck...chefs who were considered maverick crazy Californians back then, but whose names are household words now and whose use of intriguing ingredients and combinations have infused the modern day Betty Crocker with flair and internationalism.

The intertwining of her own story with her "adventures at the table" never feels contrived. It never feels like she is promoting the food as justification for her life choices or vice versa. Through it all, the food is there...almost a backdrop while still a main character.

When you think about this "genre", the food memoir, it wouldn't have existed 30 years ago. Was the iconic Laurie Colwin the first true food memoirist? Although her oeuvre transcends the food memoir with several novels and books of short stories, Colwin made us feel comfortable about the food we prepare in our home in Home Cooking and More Home Cooking and gave us license to be adventurous, try new recipes as the guests are approaching the door and just live a little in our day-to-day food preparation. Perhaps not as lyrically or as timelessly, but Ruth Reichl makes us feel that same sense of adventure dining out.

I will be fascinated to read Tender at the Bone, her experiences growing up at the table...especially having read of her later years. I don't have it on my shelf yet, but word to whoever picked my name...here's a hint!

Di