Winter - It's The Real Thing

I never thought I'd so enjoy reading. There's just something about long, coolish days to bring out the urge to curl up with a good book. It's not exactly like living in the North, but I can fake it if I turn the AC down to 55 and cuddle up under a warm throw. I can make some hot chocolate with little marshmallows and be in heaven.

I think I must be a reincarnated Eskimo. Lord only knows why the heck I've been living in South Florida since the mid-sixties. I always yearn for cold days and love visiting relatives in Michigan in the winter.




I think I'd be perfectly happy to see a new ice age take over the northern hemisphere. Global warming chills my blood. Scientists say the warming will give us, in the short run, more storms, including more hurricanes for us and more snow and blizzards for the North. In the long run, as the oceans rise, most all of us Floridians will just have to keep moving north. Although, in the long run, I'll be too old to move off the porch, much less drive to Barrow, Alaska.

Oh, yes: The books. Alan Weisman, an award-winning journalist and science writer, wrote this year “The World Without Us,” a study on what would happen here on earth if mankind were to suddenly disappear. Much research went into the book, and it takes us from the day after we are zapped out of existence (for one reason or another. For the sake of the book, it doesn't matter why we disappeared) to millions of years in the future. The fascinating part, of course, is what happens to all the man-made structures; our homes, skyscrapers, dams and nuclear reactors. How long would it take for your house to collapse into a pile of brick or board, and then become just a dusty memory covered over by a million years of rising seas or sandy dunes?

Which animals would survive and which wouldn't (adorable little lap dogs, I'm very sorry to say, would not thrive. Most are indoors in any case and would soon succumb to starvation. Larger dogs not trapped inside a building would revert to their wolfish pack mentality and do well as predators. Zoo animals, if they could escape, could repopulate some areas of the world. In any case, it's one of the most fascinating books I've read this year, especially because it's not guesswork, Weisman, probably because of his journalistic background, has gone to great lengths to get his facts straight by talking to all the right experts.

Another book I discovered is one I can't recommend to everyone. The TV Showtime series “Dexter,” it turns out, was based on a series of three novels. “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” was the first one. As soon as I read it I also found the last one at my local library, and have on order there, the middle one. Then I went to the video store and rented the complete first season of TV Dexter.

Dexter isn't a book or series made for the queasy. He's a monstrous serial killer, but only kills other killers. There's much more to him than this small introduction, but if you have a dark sense of humor you'll fall in love with Dexter as I have. I especially love the books and series because it takes place in Miami, a pretty monstrous place itself.
Enjoy !