A Conversation with Elizabeth
2007
Happy Holidays

I don’t know if I ever responded to her email of the last New Year’s Eve for I have no records it and here it is another year ending.

From:          Elizabeth
To:            Larry
Sent:          Tuesday, December 25, 2007 4:52 PM
Subject:       RE: Happy Holidays
 
Larry,
 
Good to hear back from you.  I apologize up front for the long note, but I haven't seen a soul all day.  The town is TOTALLY dead.  I just took a drive to get out and ONE gas station is open, that is all, and it was crowded with customers, being the only "hot" spot in town. 
 
Speaking of conversions--do you still have and keep your old journals--or do you still journal at all.  I've been very erratic about journaling, but at times I was faithful about it.  What troubles me is not wanting them to fall into just anyone's hands, should something happen to me.  What do you do with yours or do you worry about that--for example if something happened to you and then your daughter found your old journals in going through your things--OR have you gotten rid of yours and no longer keep them OR do you have them in computer files no one could access.  Just curious.  I don't know what to do with mine.  I'm hovering on reading them through one more time--maybe taking a few notes of things I want to remember--then getting rid of them!  Don't know.
 
Good luck with progressing through your record conversion project.  I've seen those converters advertised and contemplated getting one, as I have MANY records I'm still toting around, which I can only still play on my very old cheap stereo, which I'm also still toting around.  The one "hang-up" I came on though, was that I STILL don't think I could just discard them, particularly all the album covers!  So, if I can't do that, the only advantage would be having the CDs to play in my office or while on trips.
 
I also have several boxes of videos I'm still carting around, although most of them are taped from t.v.--in fact almost all, and I saw a VHS to DVD converter that I also got interested in.  I might go for that, as I wouldn't have any trouble chucking the VHS tapes!  If they are still good, there are many I'd like to keep, for example Leonard Bernstein's concert given in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down.  On the other hand, it could be that it might be easier to just repurchase those I want in DVD format--as practically everything is slowly becoming available on DVD.  There is a re-issuance of Blade Runner in DVD form that I'd really like to have--an anniversary edition of some sort.
 
I've heard about the AOL layoffs from time to time.  I'm glad you survived.  The president of the college here was very generous with our time off this year, giving us some extra unpaid days--we worked Friday and don't have to be back until the 2nd.  Part of it had to do with the calendar and where Christmas fell, as he said it would be better to just let us off throughout the entire holidays rather than having "broken up" time off--with staff probably using V days to take it all off anyway!   I knew well enough in advance to plan going somewhere out of town, but then I also felt like just hanging out and doing things around the house.  Also, I'm trying to take at least one "big" trip every year in May, at the end of the academic term, so I need to save some of my money for that.  You are certainly getting to go to some exotic international places.  The place I envied you the most about was Machu Picchu (sp?) as I've always wanted to go there. As for me, I'm trying to see some of the good old USA I've never seen.  Last May I finally made it out to the Grand Canyon, both N and S slopes, and Phoenix and Flagstaff, two cities I always thought about moving to.  Phoenix is totally out, now that I've seen it. This May, if all goes as planned, I'll go out to Yellowstone.  I've promised myself that my next trip will be an international one, but I can't decide what MOST I would like to see--Amsterdam possibly--just not sure.
 
 
At Thanksgiving I planted the most gorgeous pansies.  I have ALWAYS liked them as they are a winter flower.  When they were just about to burst forth in more blooms, I went out one morning to find that deer had munched them down to nubs!  Now I know why nobody grows flowers in their yards around here, except daffodils and narcissus.  Deer don't touch those apparerently.  So, just a day or two ago, I replanted a huge box of daffodil bulbs that I had thinned out back in early summer.  I thought I was late getting them replanted, but later I read that this far South you can plant them into late November and early December--so I was only a few weeks late.
 
I just found out that the Metropolitan Opera in NYC is broadcasting some of its live performances via high definition format to movie theatres around the country!  I really like opera and try from time to time to become more "knowing" about it.  I've only seen one or two "live" performances, with most of what I've seen being on a small t.v.  So anyway, I found out that one of the movie theatres in Jackson (the largest city near me) is hosting the broadcasts.  There will be the "live" show one day, then an encore replay a few days later.  It is about a 70 mile drive, but I plan to go to one in early January, then continue going if it is worth it (tickets are around 20 bucks).
 
Elizabeth

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