Reading vs TV

[ Language dictionaries ]

April 13 – Sometimes I wonder how old we’ll have to be before we throw in the towel and spend the rest of our years sitting, reading, napping, listening to music, watching TV, or playing board games. Thus far, though, that question doesn’t come to my mind very often. I guess I must go merrily on my way, not concerned about such questions, because I hardly ever have those hours or days of thinking, “Well, it must be about time to give up now, and head for the nearest comfortable chair, with a book on my lap, and the TV turned up to full sound!”

However, I can answer those questions right off the bat. These days, I hardly ever sit down except to write a blog and some emails. If I sit in front of the TV, I just about fall asleep. Who needs TV anyway? Just today as we watched the ads in between news items, I wondered who in the world would be interested in what the ad-makers were selling. And most of the news broadcasts never have anything good to say about anybody.

If I stayed by to watch all of the murders, car wrecks, beatings, or political arguments, I think I would watch in great disbelief, because if all of the people in our country lived lives like that, there wouldn’t be many Americans left in the world. With all of the bombings and murders coming from those in other countries who have been trained to think that crime is the only way to go with a big reward coming to the ones who do the suicide bombings, I am more appreciative of our family members and friends.

[ Living room bookcase ]

Now to reading. If you were to visit our home, you would see bookcases on both sides of the living room, two more in the kitchen, another in the living room, and more down in the basement, along with those stored in boxes in the attic.

That makes for a very interesting journey. Since the stairs’ are one of those narrow pull-down varieties, it’s pretty hard to move up to the attic with boxes of books under one arm while bracing yourself with the other. Who needs a fitness class when that sort of thing is a necessity if we are to keep our books handy?! Hundreds and hundreds of books of all kinds have been read, some second or third times. Some of Dale’s childhood books are still with us.

[ Cat Meets Chico ]

Oh, I have to tell you this before moving on. A couple days ago, one of our granddaughters and her sister announced that they would be coming out for a visit, and her chihuahua Chico would come, too. One of my first thoughts was, “I wonder if I remember how to spell that kind of dog?” So, off to one of the book shelves where we have English/Spanish dictionaries, along with another smaller Spanish, a French, German, and Italian. Good to see that I remembered how to spell the name of this little breed. I say, “Chee-who-uh—who-uh.” You’ll have to put the accent marks in the right places!

And as far as napping goes? I guess we could both use more sleep if we didn’t fill our days with action. When I sit down on that easy chair to watch TV, or even when I go out to sit on the porch to study various items, it doesn’t take long before I miss half the program, or have to close my eyes for a bit till I can center on the reading again. – CHRIS