Of "murder most foul" and a cousin settling in~~~~~

My Goodness Darklings,

Did I surprise you with that subject heading?   Well yes I did intend to post that.

I've been relaxing a bit while waiting for Sis to get home, then we'll have our manicures, so nice for a treat.

The stove man has been called and will be here to work on the stove in a few days, if all goes well we can start using it and retire our little workhorse apartment stove, my contractor is happy he'll have it back, he needs it for another job and the homeowners wife will still need a stove for Thanksgiving dinner.  We've kept it clean but we'll do another bit of cleaning (gloves on) so it will look nice.

This morning balanced the check book, the cleaning service came and gone, my contractor called to say he has the gates so this Thursday the fencing will have gates added.  But I think we'll still keep the temporary fencing up for a while until we can find something at the salvage yards, I told my contractor about that and he thinks that's a much better idea, instead of dividing the garden into sections with fences and gates.

Louise's chicken dinner was just delicious,  and she had little saute'd cut red potatoes and steamed green beans, with some sort of cream sauce she made from scratch, I need to ask her for the receipe.

She looked over what furniture there was that we still had in storage that we didn't need nor want, there were a few end tables and some lamps,  a plain writing desk with chair, a two drawer metal file cabinet, and a plain bureau and a mirror to hang over it that she chose.  There was a twin bed frame sort of 1940's modern style that she felt was just right for her, I asked if she would prefer to purchase a double bed frame instead and she said no, the twin was just right.  So to the mattress place we went with the measurements of the twin bed frame and she made her purchase,  I just got a call and she said that it was delivered today so she'll need to buy bedding, she took  the bus over to my house to borrow my car, I thought she was going to go to Macy's or even Sears but she said that Wal-Mart will have what she needs.

I asked if she wanted a couch and comfy chair but she said she'll take her time selecting something, she is just glad that she bought the other day some rugs in as well as curtains and kitchen things.  The refrigrator and stove that her friend had installed is working beautifully.  And she going to get some groceries for her place, but I told her she is always welcomed to drop by at my house, just to call and let us know.  How her divorce is going to proceed is something else, but she has her lawyer and is very confident that it will be settled in a year.

Sis and I think that we might as well move the remaining things out of the storage unit and into either my basement or hers until we can finally decide what to do with them.  I think that will be a project for the up-coming summer.

And now "murder most foul"----last night it was hard, should we watch "almost human" or "Secrets of Scotland Yard", Doyle settled for recording "Almost human" and we watched the latter, and I found it fascinating how Scotland Yard or the Metropolitan Police Department came into being and how each major murder had the police department develop their techniques of detection, oh there was corrupt police officers, that couldn't be helped,  and how they handled the "Jack the Ripper" case may have had blunders, but they came up against something that they couldn't comprehend, usually when someone was murdered, it was for gain, or to get rid of someone, so it was a formula to try and find the culprit.  But with Jack the Ripper they were dealing with something unusual----a Serial Killer, something that was completely outside of their scope, but during that investigation they developed even more techniques for investigation, even if some of the major investigators may have mis-handled some things.  

But with the use of newspapers and broadside sheets, murder became a sort of 'spectator sport', will the police catch the criminal, will the criminal escape?  Sort of a Victorian version of "Survivor", but more shocking to the sensiblities of the middle and upper Victorian class.  And yet I think they had a sort of "thrill" about it.  Scotland Yard had their version of Sherlock Holmes but a real live detective, Dick Turpin.  I strongly suspect that not only did Conan Doyle based Holmes on his teacher Dr. Bell but also on Dick Turpin. 

There was an author interviewed who talked about the cases and about Scotland Yard, Judith Flanders, who wrote the book "The Invention of Murder",  this is a book about how Victorian Society in its own way cultivated murder,  and how it was looked upon by Victorian Society.  When I saw her name I went to my Library to see if I owned it and I do, already I'm enjoying it.  Ms. Flanders also has books about Victorian Society and if you are a Victorian Goth or love the Victorian period then her books are a must to have in your collection.   I think I'll purchase her books on Victorian Society to round out my collection.

When I think back on it I am so glad that I found at the Friends of the Library Book Sale "The Complete Jack the Ripper".  I know Darklings what a morbid thing to read towards the holiday season, but with the early darkness upon us, it seems befitting.

And now my sister is here and saying to me "Are you ready?"  well of course I am.

Later Darklings

You can never go wrong with a good book to read.  And I mean a book, not Kindle or e-book, a real book.