I Have a Dream

With all due respect, this post has nothing to do with the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   It has to do with my dream of having a peaceful lunch hour under a tree, gazing out at the water.   It also has to do with my dream of having all of my favorite Robert Heinlein and Ellery Queen novels available on Kindle.

I've been dreaming about that quiet lunch for a couple of weeks now.  So every morning when I get to the office, I try to park under a certain tree.  It keeps my car cool, and it lets me hold out hope that I will relax there, on the banks of a retention pond, enjoying the shade, the breeze, and my knitting for a half hour or so.  On Monday, someone stole my parking tree.  On Tuesday, the tree was available, but I was pressed for time in the office and lunch was two bites of a Seven-Eleven Big Bite.  Even slathered with mustard and relish, it did not go down easily.  Maybe later today or maybe tomorrow ...  working in an industrial park these past few years has led me to appreciate the occasional shade trees and a glimpse of retention ponds that are well-populated with water fowl and ringed with cattails.  Sometime it is the simple things that bring the most pleasure.

I love Kindle, and I especially love the fact that I got it for free with my iPhone.  But it seems that many of the books I like to read and reread are not available on Kindle.  It might have something to do with the fact that some of those books are no longer in print, and that might have something to do with the fact that the authors of those books are all dead, and that might have something to do with the fact that my taste in murder mysteries was canalized in the middle of the last century, and that might have to do with the fact that I started out reading the mysteries which my grandmother had collected during her membership in various book clubs in the forties and early fifties.   Yes, I know it's a run-on sentence.  Just don't try to hold your breath while reading it, and you'll be just fine.

Now during the past year, Amazon has started to release a good number of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels on Kindle.  And as I mentioned previously, they have also released some Ellery Queen novels.  Well, just two to be exact, and I've already downloaded and read one of them.  Same deal with Heinlein; I think they may be up to four books on Kindle, and those aren't the ones I want to read.  So I went to Amazon, found most of the books I wanted, and clicked on the magic button:

Tell the Publisher! I’d like to read this book on Kindle
That was all for today.  I have other dreams, but nothing that can't wait until another blog post. 

Oh, have I mentioned lately that I am a rabid Magic fan and that I love Dwight Howard?

Check this out:  on Monday night, Dwight Howard went on Twitter and indicated that the Orlando Sentinel is trying run him out of town just like Shaquille O’Neal.

“Y does it seem like the writers of Orlando sentinel are tryna push me out of Orlando with dumb articles. It’s annoying. Can I enjoy my summer and get ready for next season in Orlando. Pls. Same thing u guys did to Shaq. Smh”  Smh is Twitter language for ”shaking my head.”

He went on to say in some other tweets:  “I’m not blaming the media. I’m saying stop with the dumb articles. They don’t make be decision of mine. I jus don’t want Orlando fans to believe them. Cuz they don’t know. I love my city.”

So in response, Mike Bianchi over at the Orlando Sentinel whined like a little girl whose mother told her she had to wear the pink panties instead of the lavender ones, and tried to make excuses about how it was a sports writer's responsibility to gossip and speculate about what I like to call "facts not in evidence."

Hey Mike, why don't you shut yer piehole?  You're not reporting the news, you're making it up.  Perhaps you would be happier writing for a rag like the National Enquirer.  Over there, they're perfectly happy with gossip and innuendos.

Point of information, I still love Shaquille O'Neal.

Listen, these players have got to do what they've got to do.  The days when a player like Larry Bird or Patrick Ewing would spend his entire career with one team are long over.  Loyalty is apparently a misplaced value, not just on the part of the players, but very much on the part of the team ownership.  I'm still shaking my head over the Magic's most recent peremptory  move, trading away Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Marcin Gortat and Mickeal Pietrus.  Now don't get me wrong, I love seeing Hedo back in a Magic uniform, and I know Gortat wanted more court time, but I think Carter and Lewis were the type of loyal player who would have continued to serve the team well.  So for both sides, it's all business now, and we can't blame the players (well, except for Lebron James, but he's an ill-mannered bully) for taking steps to enhance their careers and earning potential.

Back to the title of this post:  I also have a dream of finding a great peach bread recipe.  The boys are quite pleased with the peach pound cake, as is, and I really think I just have make minor adjustments to avoid the peaches settling and it will be perfect.  So if I find a great peach bread recipe along with this great peach pound cake recipe, I'll be heading to Georgia to stock up on the main ingredient.  I'm debating if my destiny lies with a quick bread or a yeast bread.  Stay tuned.