Farewell, VIS

After nearly fifteen years of blogging, my friend Dom Cimafranca has put an end to his blog Village Idiot Savant. I've seen the end coming, but that does not make it any easier. Where once he would post frequently, for the past year - or longer - he has posted less than once a month.

In his final post, Dom writes that blogging is dead and social media killed it. Perhaps. I know that I don't post with the frequency I once did, but I put the blame for that on my own laziness.

I know that I am not the writer that Dom is and his blog has been, over the years, an inspiration to me. It has been difficult doing without his updates, and it will be more difficult knowing that I won't be able to read his thoughts in the future.

One consolation is that he and I have become friends and we exchange emails from time to time. He and his wife do, on occasion make it to Dumaguete and my wife and I enjoy their company when they are here.

I'm saddened by the thought he will no longer be a blogger. The blogosphere - such as it is in 2018 - will feel the loss.

Waiting on Piglets

According to two separate swine gestation tables that I've downloaded to my pc, our pig should be delivering this coming Monday. The breeder's record show that she was bred on Sept.16. 114 days later puts the delivery date at Jan. 8.

First VW Beetle Photos of 2018

Driving by the Volkswagen graveyard near the airport on my way to take my son to school, I saw two Beetles setting inside, in an ideal position for my taking a few photos.

These two, numbers 41 & 42 are the first Beetle photos for 2018. The Beetle on the left with the busted headlight looks very much like the first Beetle I photographed in 2017. The color is right and looking at the wheel covers closely, is another sign that the first of 2017 and the first of 2018 are one and the same.

The 2017 Book List Redux

I'm not revealing any arcane knowledge when I state that web pages look differently when viewed on a pc monitor versus a smart phone screen. For the most part, the folks at Google/Blogspot have done a good job making the pc versus phone views compatible.

However, after looking at yesterday's post, I saw that the view of the 2017 Book List on a smart phone is totally unacceptable. To remedy that, I've taken a screen shot of the list and I am now reposting the list as a jpg.

The 2017 Book List

Following a New Year's tradition that I've maintained for a number of years, I'm posting a list of the books I've read - or reread the previous year.

The 2015 book list contained 37 books. The following year, the number of books I had read dropped down to 36. I had hoped to read one book a week in 2017. I was able to keep up the average for most of the year, but I hit a slow point with José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and I was unable to catch up. The total for 2017 was 45, if you count the audio book I listened to on Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru. Otherwise, the total is 44.

Highlights of the year for me was my reading everything available by Elizabeth von Arnim,  in addition to the top ten best selling novels of 1917.

The list is as follows:

 Elizabeth and Her German Garden                   Elizabeth von Arnim
The Solitary Summer                                           Elizabeth von Arnim
The Benefactress                                                 Elizabeth von Arnim
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen                Elizabeth von Arnim
Mr. Britling Sees It Through                               H. G. Wells
The Light In The Clearing                                   Irving Bacheller
The Red Planet                                                     William J. Locke
The Road to Understanding                                 Eleanor H. Porter
Wildfire                                                                 Zane Grey
Christine                                                               Alice Cholmondeley
In the Wilderness                                                   Robert S. Hichens
His Family                                                             Ernest Poole
The Definite Object                                                Jeffery Farnol
The Hundredth Chance                                           Ethel M. Dell
Jerusalem                                                               Selma Lagerlöf
The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight                          Elizabeth von Arnim
Uncle Silas                                                              Sheridan Le Fanu
Three Short Works                                                   Gustave Flaubert
Herodias                                                                  Gustave Flaubert
Burmese Days                                                          George Orwell
1984                                                                          George Orwell
The Time Machine                                                     H.G.Wells
The War of the Worlds                                               H.G.Wells
The Island of Doctor Moreau                                    H.G.Wells
The Invisible Man                                                      H.G.Wells
Noli Me Tangere                                                         José Rizal
Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther                         Elizabeth von Arnim
The Pastor's Wife                                                        Elizabeth von Arnim
Christopher and Columbus                                        Elizabeth von Arnim
Out of the Silent Planet                                              C.S. Lewis
Perelandra                                                                  C.S. Lewis
In the Mountains                                                         Elizabeth von Arnim
The Enchanted April                                                   Elizabeth von Arnim
Fatima in Lucia's Own Words - Vol.1                        Sister Maria Lúcia of Jesus
Fatima in Lucia's Own Words - Vol.2                        Sister Maria Lúcia of Jesus
Hernando Cortez                                                         John S.C. Abbott
Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru             Frederick A. Ober (audio book)
Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol.1     Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Vasco Núñez de Balboa                                               Frederick A. Ober
Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol.2     Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Americo Vespucci                                                        Frederick A. Ober
By Right of Conquest Or, With Cortez in Mexico         G.A. Henty
The Hermit and The Wild Woman                                Edith Wharton
The House of Mirth                                                       Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence                                                    Edith Wharton