That is what I am – a compulsive doer of jigsaw puzzles. Here is a sample of a puzzle in progress.

I wish I could show you my latest finished puzzle, completed this morning. It was an image of wildlife, aquatic and land based. I have not yet mastered converting my photos to computer screen images. That is the next problem to solve.

My cat held by a young me in the 1940’s. Note my U.S. Navy hat. My brother served in the U.S. Navy 1942 – 1946. I can’t remember that cat’s name. That’s my father’s handwriting below the photo..

If I Live to be 100 – That’s the title of a book I have just read. It was really a very interesting compilation of interviews with a series of Centenarians (100+ year olds). This book was a “New York Times Best Seller” when it was published 20 years ago. While I am not old enough to think along these lines – well, maybe I am. I remember my mother proudly saying she was going to live to be 100. This was when she was in her mid-80’s. Sadly that was not to be as the various problems of aging caught up with her when she was in her 89th year. I am not sure one has a choice – we sort of go along as best we can, having regular check-ups and having a healthy diet etc. Beyond that there is fate………….What lies in store? I wonder………

Where do I start to tell the tale of how I met the man with whom I am celebrating the 54th anniversary of our wedding?

A Sunday morning encounter on the balcony of the United Kenya Club in Nairobi Kenya? Followed by a walk downtown to the Post Office, an impromptu decision to view the Beatles film HELP, a stop for an alcoholic beverage on the terrace of the Norfolk Hotel, and a dash across the highway to return to the United Kenya Club in time for dinner. That was day 1 of a scenario that was to be repeated with numerous variations, extensions, and elaborations as we got to know Nairobi and the wider scene in Kenya and its East African sister nations Uganda and Tanzania. This went on for a year and a half until…………we were sitting on a sand dune on the island of Lamu within the sound of the Mullah’s Call to Prayer………..when my boy friend asked if I would like to be Mrs McKee. I of course mumbled YES. Three months later on February 10 1968 we were married by the Reverend Douglas Aitken in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Nairobi. The reception was at the Norfolk Hotel and for our honeymoon we went to Nyeri and Treetops (where Princess Elizabeth became Queen) and the Mount Kenya Safari Club, where many of the rich and famous in the film world had stayed.

Pictures to follow

Today I came across a relatively current copy of the Reader’s Digest (Nov. 2021). Gosh, I thought, is that publication still going? Well, its dimensions are much reduced compared with the editions of the 1940’s. I think that was the last time I saw a copy of this magazine. Back then I think it was a staple in most American households – it certainly was in ours. My father would read parts of it aloud and the jokes were enjoyed by the whole family, young and old.. The condensed books and the various articles were popular with our family as well.

Well, all that was 70-80 years ago. Society has changed, tastes change, etc. It looks to me as if the Readers Digest has gone downhill. I wonder.

Working on my genealogy this morning, I came across a particularly intriguing name – Digory Corwithin.. Digory Corwithin

There was a Professor Digory Kirke in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

But Digory Corwithin lived centuries before C. S. Lewis. In fact the given name Digory was quite common in the 16th and 17th centuries. “Digory is a boy’s name meaning “the lost one”.