Great news!

My sister just emailed me to say that Hydrox are coming back! But is this just a temporary tease? And will they taste the same? They were always so much better than Oreos...

Hi, Drox!

Talking parrots

Could Kiki, the Blyton parrot, have done any better? Not that any bad guys were captured...

Fusty musty dusty!

Glamorous Airline Travel

Can you believe this? I can perhaps see charging for the second bag but do they expect us to travel with nothing more than a toothbrush?

American Airlines, the nation’s largest air carrier, said Wednesday that it would begin charging $15 for many passengers to check their first bag, eliminating a free service that passengers in the United States have come to expect during the modern jet era. . .

Manny Being Manny

Only Manny Ramirez would high five a fan while making a catch in Baltimore the other night! I don't find him a bit charming and the media would not have been quite so amused/rueful if he hadn't come up with the ball (it was a dramatic catch).

Books and Fudge

A woman in the Christian Science Monitor describes a charming little library in an unnamed town that is on the second floor above a fudge shop! I know what she means about loving her old-fashioned library: while I appreciate the convenience of being able to request books online, then go in to pick them a large armful every week or so, I mentioned to my mother recently that as a result I never browse in the library any more. I don't need to, since my books are held for me behind the circulation desk.

But I have been thinking a lot lately about the library at my elementary school which had a pretty amazing collection of books, including Beany Malone, Noel Streatfeild, Karin Ankarsvaard, Carol Ryrie Brink, Joan Howard, the Mummy Market (which I was reading the day Man walked on the Moon - I was irritated that the teacher kept trying to distract me to watch television), and all the Childhood of Famous American biographies. However, it was the yellow clapboard Boys and Girls Library in Newton Corner where I participated in every summer reading program, and one summer even persuaded the librarians to let me describe every book I'd read to them orally since I was bored filling out the required forms. I don't know whether they thought I was a pain or loved me because I was their best patron (my siblings think the former). Regardless, they would point out the new Margaret K. McElderry books as they came in (I remember in particular eagerly awaiting the new Ruth Arthur) and new books by Barbara Willard. I am not sure I still have my original library card but I recall the number was 18931.

The Four-Story Mistake on NPR

I loved Belong to Me, the new book by Marisa de los Santos (but do read the earlier book first, Love Walked In - charming albeit highly improbable) and was very interested to hear on NPR that she is also a fan of the Elizabeth Enright books I like about the Melendy family. There is something very poignant about finding out you share affection for a beloved book with someone else: granted, it is usually someone you are actually acquainted with - or is it?

Think of the online communities of book lovers many of us have come to know, and how we are influenced by them. The Betsy-Tacy listren have definitely enriched my life, and frequently we share both love for childhood favorites as well as suggestions of new books we are reading (and sometimes more than verbal recommendations as Betsy just sent me the new Diana Wynne Jones). I enjoy my Georgette Heyer list too but I could have continued to enjoy Heyer on my own.

Back to Marisa who "dreams of living in a house with a cupola" - what a kindred spirit! If Sarah Jessica Parker really makes a movie of Love Walked In, I think Marisa will get her cupola... When will I get mine?

Which candidate would you want to have a drink with?

The Boston Globe asked which candidate you would want to have a drink with. Of course, that begs the question of whether that is the appropropriate way to choose the leader of the free world. Not to mention the fact that supposedly Bush won that "likeability" vote last time, and look where that got us...

Russell Baker

I like this old Russell Baker Column from May 4, 1996, repeated in today's NYT:

Observer: Here's What Mad Is By RUSSELL BAKER

After a consortium of auto, asphalt, oil, trucking, garage-mechanic, traffic-cop, used-car-salesman and median-strip-landscaper lobbies, in collusion with the United States Government, made it impossible to live the good American life without a gasoline-powered car, though preferably two or three to show your patriotism, I gave up and went along.

Krispy Kreme donuts and Charles

A nice Krispy Kreme offer but sadly they have shut their last store in Massachusetts... How I miss those delightful hot out-of-the-oven original glazed! The last time I was in NYC I grabbed one at Penn Station, the last bastion of Krispy Kreme in Manhattan, but it was unusually hard and unappealing. I wish I could get some overnighted to me!

Last week I heard Charles Barkley talking about how much he loves Krispy Kremes! TNT even showed him doing a taste test (I am sure I could equal his performance). Despite the fact that I have an autographed picture of him and me hanging in my home, we do not have a lot in common other than our love of a delicate donut...