That's Life

Long-time media man Ray Franklin has retired. 

Well, sort of.  What he actually did was create a new career teaching company execs how to be more effective in their in-person presentationa snd on-line meetings.  And, yes, he wrote a book about it.  

We met, as have several of my recent guests, on Office Hours and After Hours.  Ray has also come to many ofhte regerasals for "Birding With Lois" since we started practicing in February.  In the course of being a stand-in for not-yet-acquired panelists,  Ray got to pose questions, get answers, and start upgrading his systems for birding in his back yard.  New birdfeeder, new i=understanding of some of his feathered neighbors, and a new interest in the life around their Florida lake.

Lots of rambling stories in this episode.  Lots of laughter also.  Howp you enjoy!

Lois, Leanne, and Mary discuss a set of suggestions for improving your life gleaned from a book that Lois read.  That book -- "A Girl's Guide to Moving On" -- included a set of rules for people who were recovering from traumatic relationships.  We used these statements as a jumping off point to talk about our own life experiences, sharing with each other and with the listeners the ways WE have improved OUR lives.  I hope you enjoy the show and perhaps even use it as a starting point for your own discussions with freinds or partners.

Renowned science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson is an opinionated person.  And a thoughful one.  And a great researcher.  But mostly he is a very fine writer.  Of the many many books he has written and published since the 1980s, my favorite is "The Years of Rice and Salt", set in an alternate world where the Plague killed 90% of people in northern Europe leaving empty land to be resettled by people from further south and east.  This book is a series of about a dozen novellas tied together by a cast of characters who get reincarnated in different parts of the world amid different  circumstances and cultures.  A most fascinating book!

But then, I also was mesmerized by his possibilities of Orange County's future in the Three Californias trilogy: "The Wild Shore", "The Gold Coast", and "Pacific Edge".  What will happen in OC if (a) we start to recover from a nuclear war while the rest of the world decides that we are too dangerous to allow to re-build? or (b) we stop global warming but continue overpopulation in "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways, and malls"? or (c) we change our culture to a more ecologically-focused future and live in smaller places? These three award-winning books are also filled with fascinating characters.