October 31, 2025. BIG BERTHA

Marsha. WHY??  I  NEVER liked my name. I've been told that I was named after my mother's best friend in high school. Why wasn't her name Sophie? I would have made a great Sophie. Seriously--I was called Marcia Brady a billion times back in the day. UGH. Let's FACE IT -there are just some names that need to go AWAY. One that's at the top of my list (besides Marsha) is Bertha. Other contenders include--AND THIS IS JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION-- Esther, Edith, Edna, Ethel, Olive, Hazel and Eloise. FYI the name Marsha was ONLY popular in the 1950s-1960s. NO ONE in their right mind would name their poor daughter that today--thankfully-- BUT according to  internet sources --all the other names that-- I THINK SHOULD BE PUT OUT TO PASTURE-- are ACTUALLY vintage names that are MAKING A COME BACK. OMG. I can't image GEN Z  going that retro. Good luck to GEN Beta--they'll all need therapy........The reason I'm thinking about names is because I just finished this great book called Names by Florence Knapp. This intriguing story is set in 1987 in England as Cora, the main character, makes her way to the town hall to register and name her newborn son. Her husband Gordon, a well-known doctor, expects her to name the baby after him to carry on the family tradition. Cora has reservations about naming her son after his father for fear that naming him Gordon will shape his destiny. Cora dreams instead of naming him Julian, a name of his own. Cora and Gordon's nine year old daughter has her own idea about her brother's name--she thinks he should be called Bear because he is cute and cuddly. The story then branches off in three different directions that  explore what would happen if the child was named Gordon, Julian and finally Bear.  Each life is totally different and begs the reader to think about fate, free-will, identity and how important a name really can be. There is so much to this book-- but I don't want to say anything else-- so you will have to read it for yourself to find out what happens. Enjoy.

October 9, 2025 SPACE ODDITY

A few years back--I wrote a blog about my eyebrows. I was wondering what happened to THEM as they seemed to be mysteriously disappearing. I was actually being FACETIOUS at the time BUT NOW-- I'M NOT. Seriously--I pretty much only have ONE EYEBROW. The other one seems to be spotty at best with gray hair trying to fill the void. I look ridiculous--and can't walk out the door without trying to fix this injustice brought upon ME with age. I've had to spend an obscene amount of money on brow pencils, powders, gels and tints to make my eyebrows "look natural"??? Not sure if I should go to the extreme--maybe try the Nano Brow or Brow Tattoo. This is A LOT FOR ME........On to something I can handle....Recently finished a book I really enjoyed by Taylor Jenkins Reid called Atmosphere. As the story unfolds, it's 1984, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the Navigator Space Shuttle has been damaged in space and it's Joan Goodwin from mission control, tasked with the duty to get them home safely. The story then flips back in time to 1980 as Joan Goodwin, a physicist and astronomer, applys and is accepted into the NASA program. While training to be an astronaut she forges friendships and more with other candidates including pilot Hank Redmon, scientist John Griffin, mission specialist Lydia Danes and Vanessa Ford, an aeronautical engineer. She also manages a hectic like that includes helping her sister Barbara raise her daughter, Frances. Although the book is fiction, it is inspired by a real historical event includng the experiences of the first class of women astronauts and the difficulties they faced. Find out whether Goodwin gets the Navigator and the astronauts home safely when you read this hard to put down book for yourself. Enjoy.