Various...

Rest in peace, Blanche. Rue McClanahan is dead at age 76, of a massive stroke. The report said she had had a minor stroke earlier in the year after by-pass surgery.

Jackie Collins Newest
"Poor Little Bitch Girl" by Collins St. Martin's Press 472 pages $26.99

I've always been a fan of hers because the situations and characters in her books have been so over-the-top. Perfect escapism reading. The "Lucky" series was particularly entertaining.

But this one fell far short of my excited expectations. The characters are one note (happy-go-lucky billionaire; spoiled daughter of a pair of movie stars) and the plot line is thin and has some glaring logic flaws. The "brilliant attorney" is far too defensive about her sex life 'way too often.

Still, who am I to criticize an author who has 26 NY Times bestsellers; has sold more than 400 million books in 40 countries to her credit? No one, that's who.

Richie Gets Irate

This morning Himself handed me a sheet of paper and said, 'Here's my letter to the editor." This, incidentally, is traditional here -- I go from wife to secretary in a heartbeat. I said, "Which paper?" and he grandly stated, "The Daily Breeze, the LA Times and Newsweek!"

"Dear Sirs:
Suppose NASA spent a little more time and money on inner space (underwater) rather than on outer space. We might have a better read on how to stop the Gulf-BP oil spill -- not to mention being able to recover the Air France "black box" deep in the Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil.
Sincerely,"