July 25, 2019 THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

Today is my MIL birthday. Although she looks about sixty--she's actually 88. She's amazing. She REALLY enjoys life. She doesn't grow--ANY GRASS UNDER HER FEET.  If she's not playing bridge, she's taking piano lessons or enjoying dinner followed by a performance at the Garde Theatre. She even makes it to Carnegie Hall every now and then to enjoy her favorite--Opera. She especially enjoys getting together with friends. Take today for instance--My MIL had lunch with two old friends. These were not only friends from grammar school, but also friends from her Gardner Avenue days.  As they gathered around the picnic table-- it was obvious how much they enjoyed each other's company. They reminisced about the old neighborhood and their days together at Harbor School. Later in the  the afternoon,  they gathered around the piano and my MIL played the oldies but goodies. Music is a true window to the past. Before I knew it, the ladies were laughing about old boyfriends, dances--the good old days. They were back in time and--ALL AGLOW-- for a little while. What a gift. A present that money could never buy. Happy Birthday.

Max Morden is a middle-aged art historian who decides to reexamine his past after the death of his wife in John Banville's Booker Prize winning novel The Sea. In an effort to understand his loss and come to terms with his grief,  Max returns to the seaside town where he summered with his family fifty years earlier and met the Grace Family.  Max was thrilled to spend his days with the twins, Chloe and Myles, as well as their nanny Rose. The trio spent every minute together and Max became a fixture in their summer house until tragedy struck and his life was forever changed. It's no mistake that the widowed Max lodges at Miss Vavasour's Guest House--the former summer home of the Grace family. It's here that he takes the reader back to his childhood and the shocking event that shaped his life. This novel seems simple and straightforward at 208 pages, but it's actually a 4 mile run.  The writing is lovely but demands that the reader work for the novel. FYI ---all you Benjamin Black fans--John Banville is the REAL author and they are great crime novels. If you enjoy books under his pen name, then give Banville a try when he signs his REAL name to the novel.