Sip and Chat

[Laurel]

Perhaps this post can serve as a starting point for those who want to greet each other, talk about this and that, and just have a cup of coffee or tea with friends.

[fanuzzir]

So this is our new community forum? I'm just getting the lingo; I like yours better. I hope you all had a nice holiday, if you are here in the States. What do they think of Thanksgiving and the heroism of the radical religious right (Pilgrims) in the UK, Choisya?

[Choisya]

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fanuzzir wrote:
So this is our new community forum? I'm just getting the lingo; I like yours better. I hope you all had a nice holiday, if you are here in the States. What do they think of Thanksgiving and the heroism of the radical religious right (Pilgrims) in the UK, Choisya?

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US Thanksgiving does not appear to impinge upon our national consciousness Fanuzzir. I was so unaware of it that I forgot all about it Brits think very little about religion at all these days (except for the terrorist problem) but I guess there were quite a few of our ancestors who would have liked to have joined the Pilgrim Fathers' flee from religioius persecution but weren't heroic enough. My own ancestors chose to put religion behind them instead - my great-grandfather came from a Quaker background but became an atheist and a friend of the first atheist Member of Parliament, Charles Bradlaugh. My grandfather and father followed suit and we are an atheist family root and branch.

[Jo6353]

Just out of curiosity....what is the difference between a reader and a contributor?

[willowy]

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Jo6353 wrote:
Just out of curiosity....what is the difference between a reader and a contributor?

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I'm not entirely sure myself, but I believe that it has to do with the amount of posts you have and I'm thinking possibly your frequency of visiting?? Thats pure speculation though. In the help section Choiysa asked that question about the ranking system and they said that they have a way of figuring the ranking, but I'm not real sure how that do that.

[fanuzzir]

I'm ashamed to say I don't know, though I'm almost sure it has to do with number of posts. I'm still learning the system myself. Can anyone help?

[ziki]

It has to do with the total number of posts you contribute to the forum. When you post certain amount of posts the 'title' will change automatically. Usually it is by 50, 100 etc.

It is a function of the forum that is set by the owner of the forum, in this case BN. Usually the owner can also disable it (or keep it on). The owner can also choose any terms that are used.

It's of no importance if you ask my private opinion.

ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 11-30-200606:42 AM

[BookWorming]

(Sipping on some heard earned tea here and typing, hardly do I chat hehehe)
Hello everyone. I don't know how much I will contribute, I sometimes forget I have these things..lol....Anyway..Nice to meet you all...And what do I think about Turkey day? amd the holidays...Well, I know that the UK, does not celebrate this holiday. I know that they celebrate most all else, and their own. But here for me, it's all gone too commercial. I mean, has anyone seen that the stores and the like have had their decorations up long before Turkey day even got here? I think businesses are becomeing too greedy for my liking. Not that anyone would care, I mean, they are there to make the money right? Sure.

Anyway..I am begining to read many books now. My fav are Dickenson, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and I have just discovered T. S. Eliot. I am looking for books by him; poetry more than anything else. If any one has a suggestion as to what is the best one to get the most of his work out of I would gladly run out and get it..or better stuill, order from B&N..lol.

Ok, well I have many intests and I guess this is the place to come. Anyone seen Happy Feet?

[fanuzzir]

I hope you like classic American literature, because that's what we do here. Please cultivate a taste in Whitman, or Thoreau, or Hemingway, because you sound like a very disarming thinker! (Not the first time you've been told that, I'll bet.)

[Choisya]

Being a cat lover, my favourite Eliot is Old Possom's Book of Practical Cats and here is a poem from it:-

http://www.dentonbach.com/poems/7.htm

Here are some readings by TSE from his most celebrated poem The Waste Land

http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/011894_harp_ITH.html

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BookWorming wrote:
(Sipping on some heard earned tea here and typing, hardly do I chat hehehe)
Hello everyone. I don't know how much I will contribute, I sometimes forget I have these things..lol....Anyway..Nice to meet you all...And what do I think about Turkey day? amd the holidays...Well, I know that the UK, does not celebrate this holiday. I know that they celebrate most all else, and their own. But here for me, it's all gone too commercial. I mean, has anyone seen that the stores and the like have had their decorations up long before Turkey day even got here? I think businesses are becomeing too greedy for my liking. Not that anyone would care, I mean, they are there to make the money right? Sure.

Anyway..I am begining to read many books now. My fav are Dickenson, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and I have just discovered T. S. Eliot. I am looking for books by him; poetry more than anything else. If any one has a suggestion as to what is the best one to get the most of his work out of I would gladly run out and get it..or better stuill, order from B&N..lol.

Ok, well I have many intests and I guess this is the place to come. Anyone seen Happy Feet?

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Message Edited by Choisya on 12-01-200605:41 PM

[Laurel]

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Choisya wrote:
Being a cat lover, my favourite Eliot is Old Possom's Book of Practical Cats and here is a poem from it:-

http://www.dentonbach.com/poems/7.htm

Here are some readings by TSE from his most celebrated poem The Waste Land

http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/011894_harp_ITH.html

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Thanks for these links, Choisya! What a delightful way to read T.S. Eliot!

While I was reading and listening, Riley stood on my lap, his head pressed against my right arm, while my left hand gave him a tummy rub. Precious just sat on her footstool sheep, gazing out the window at the grass and snow, and perhaps thinking of her arch-enemy, Prince Catspian, who, alas for me, is no more.

What names do your cats have?

[willowy]

I've noticed in a couple of your posts you've talked about getting lots of snow. Are you in the Midwest? I know this past week we've gotten lots of snow and even worse ice! Makes for nice reading weather though

[Laurel]

I live in northwestern Washington State, Willowy--almost in Canada. It's usually quite mild here, but we got the first big snowstorm of the season and then sent it on to the rest of the nation. I see lots of green grass now, but the roads and walkways are still packed and messy.

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willowy wrote:
I've noticed in a couple of your posts you've talked about getting lots of snow. Are you in the Midwest? I know this past week we've gotten lots of snow and even worse ice! Makes for nice reading weather though

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[book-nut]

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Laurel wrote:
I live in northwestern Washington State, Willowy--almost in Canada. It's usually quite mild here, but we got the first big snowstorm of the season and then sent it on to the rest of the nation. I see lots of green grass now, but the roads and walkways are still packed and messy.

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willowy wrote:
I've noticed in a couple of your posts you've talked about getting lots of snow. Are you in the Midwest? I know this past week we've gotten lots of snow and even worse ice! Makes for nice reading weather though

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I live in sunny Florida these days! However, I spent a bit of my life in Montana so I can understand this completely!

[Laurel]

Book-nut wrote:

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>
I live in sunny Florida these days! However, I spent a bit of my life in Montana so I can understand this completely!

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Belive it or not, I lived in northwest Florida for 31 years but moved back to northwest Washington State when I retired because I like the weather better here.

[fanuzzir]

That's wonderful; I can't wait to visit Washington, but have been to Florida. I saw the map of storms in the midwest, picturing a warm front hitting a cold front. Anyone afflicted by extreme weather?

[willowy]

I'm in the Midwest and we were supposed to get pretty bad weather but luckily just got a little snow though we got lots and lots of ice!

[holyboy]

Choisya

The musical "Cats" is as most know based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and other poetical works of Eliot's. I had not been aware of the other poem aspects until watching a fim biography in which T.S. Eliot was interviewed and asked about some of his lines and I realized the words were used in Cats also.

Cats make good muses for writers. Currently we have four.

[holyboy]

Bookworm

Welcome.

Well, if you are going to read Eliot, you have to Start by reading Prufrock and The Wasteland and Four Quartets.

Because Eliot is an early modernist writer (1920's), I'd suggest you read some secondary interpretations, particularly when you read The Wasteland. I've always found there is an element of "showing off" the writer's erudition in the early moderns and I'm afraid you need a concordance to understand much of what's said. In other words, when a poet puts footnotes at the end of the poem (v.The Wasteland) you might find a few interpretations helpful. I know I have.

[donyskiw]

We've had early freezing weather. While snow isn't uncommon, it's unusual to get lows in the single digits this early in the year. We usually get the cold freezes in late December. I'm hoping to get a real Christmas tree and then plant it in my yard this year. I can only do that if I can still dig a hole now. Normally, we can dig holes for live Christmas trees in November and fill them with leaves. But November 30th and the ground was covered with snow and it was COLD outside! So, I'm hoping the snow melts and I can find the borders of my flower beds and I can still get a hole dug. Just in case I can't, I put off buying the tree!

Denise