Holly's Notes and Condition

I Called Mama - Ireland, Editing and Jane Austen Movie

Obviously, a miscommunication between my Mom and I occurred. When I sent the email to my Mom, upon her return from her trip to Ireland and said 'give me a call when you come up for air, as I didn't want to disturb you, but want to hear about your trip' - I didn't expect that I wouldn't hear from her for another week!
So, I picked up the phone on Sunday night and called her myself. We talked for an hour and 20 minutes - one of our marathon, multi-subject conversations. Topics included: how I'm doing with my radiation treatments and all about her fabulous Ireland experience, her friend Betty and Betty's grandson, Gavin and the actor Gabriel Byrne and Aunt Ruth finally breaking down and buying an umbrella in Ireland. (Aunt Ruth doesn't wear a jacket or use an umbrella - so that was really unusual.) She told me about the book that she's currently editing, written by a woman attorney, its a murder mystery - she's done 300 pages so far and has 4 more Chapters to finish and then she'll start on another editing project, an autobiography, also written by a woman. She also told me that she volunteered to go purchase and fill the (5) 'filled with school supplies' backpacks for the kids that her Soroptimists' Chapter are donating to - she commented that she had no idea that backpacks are so expensive, and then add the school supplies on top of that - Wow! I told her that I thought that was a great community project, that her group was doing, yet again. She finished up with her Chapter Secretary duties before she left for Ireland. This year she'll just be a member of the group - and she's good with that, she wants to 'slow' down a bit this next year. Having said that, she then told me that she was looking forward to going to lunch with her teaching friends, Sister Feliz, and then later in the week with Kara and Mary, from her Pomona Girls Catholic HS teaching years. And best of all, she's very much looking forward to seeing her baby great grandson on Thursday - niece Stephanie is coming with her baby Owen and dad Erik for a visit to Mama's. (Mama hasn't seen the baby since March, so he will have grown a lot in the last 4+ months.) Mama feels pretty well back on CA time, except for the night she stayed up late to watch a James Garner movie that she hadn't seen before! (Hard to imagine that there is a James Garner movie she hasn't seen, as he is one of her favorite actors, and a fellow native born Oklahoman and also part Cherokee - just like her.) So, as you can see - we caught up. Oh, and she's excited to see the 'Becoming Jane' movie, coming out in theaters this Friday, Aug 3rd. Its about the English romance novelist, Jane Austen's life (1775-1817), set during her youth and drawn from her personal letters and interweaving her characters from her stories. (OK, since you asked, my favorite Jane Austen stories, in order of 'favorite-ness' :'Persuasion', followed closely by ,'Pride and Prejudice', then 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Emma'.)

posted by Holly @ 7:39 AM