Golly....

My mother keeps sending me boxes of treasures--the latest was mostly photos, newspaper articles, and about 30 napkins (clean) from our wedding in 1995.  (Ironically, I think I have about that many stashed somewhere, thinking long ago that we'd have a vow renewal at 10 or 20 years...I guess we've missed those dates...maybe at 25?)

 Anyway, when I told her that she was a week late because last week was my fall break and now I "don't have time" to deal with the treasures she said she is doing me a favor, that I can sort it all now, rather than later...Um, thanks?  In any case, I think I do have a plan for a new system...but it requires me making a mess first, so I'm not sure I'm up for it yet (Look out, Christmas break!)--I need to take all the assorted cardboard boxes of debris, sort them by type of item (photo, clipping, postcards, letters, misc debris) and by family (mine growing up, the Mr's growing up, and our kids) and repack them (labeled) in better (archival?) bins...In any case, every box I receive inspires me to cart out a box of my own and sort it, so I guess its all good...

Mom went on to say that "all her friends are downsizing" and that it seems like every week someone she knows, and not like just "knows from the community", but friends passes away.  I know that I am nowhere near that stage in life yet, but it has been a rough fall. and I sympathize with her (or is it empathize?  Which way is "I don't know what you're feeling, but I know it must stink"?)  First, my friend, Lisa, then my friend, J's, dad (that is a story in and of itself, Mike deserves his own post, but not today), and this one of my mentor-teachers, Dan passed away.  Dan, unlike Mike and Lisa, has been ill for several months.  We knew this was happening, it was just a matter of when.  As I told a mutual friend earlier this morning, I'm happy for him, that he is no longer in pain, but I'm sad for us.  I know that all three of these folks are in heaven, but golly, I"m sad for those of us left here.  

Then this afternoon I sat down to start reading a great book recommended by a friend...read about ten pages and thought..  "this seems really familiar"....but I kept reading.  Then I looked at the end. Hmm.  Don't remember it.  Read a little more.  Finally, looked at the publication date and looked it up...yep.  I read it in 2014. Apparently, it really made an impression, since I have no idea what happened, but it was familiar enough I have no desire to re-read it.  Sigh.  At least I have a pile of "next" books (including one for a class) that I can move on to. 

In happier news, I'm working on a greenhouse warming system (not heating, unfortunately, although if I can find a solar powered poultry heater I'll be in business...I don't want to run an extension cord all winter...).  If they survive the cold snap of the next few days we'll have beets, potatoes, and kale later this winter.  We also held a very early 13th birthday party for the Boy...his birthday is in December, but he wanted to have his friends Z and M over to watch a movie...and this weekend was very well the last Friday/Saturday/Sunday we'll be home until snowboarding season is over in April.  We'll still do something in December, perhaps with his snowboarding (yet to be made) friends, but it was nice to watch Purdue/Nebraska (Der, Purdue, really?Lead the whole game and then...sigh) and eat gluten free snacks.

Anyway, this is kind of a random post, so hopefully, you won't all think I am experiencing early onset Altizmers... (although some days I wonder)...Happy Halloween..perhaps I can organize another Halloween post for this year...

What I read....September 2017

September is always a weird month.  I feel like I should read more, because the fall is coming and it is cooler, and...well, no...

I did read an Amazon pick--(#1) and a few others...read the commentary for thoughts, I guess...

1.  All the Little Children (Jo Furniss)--An Amazon monthly pick a while back. If she hadn't announced that she has no plans to write a sequel, this would have made my top ten.  It is a nontraditional dystopian novel...instead of being about teenagers, its about two moms and their assorted children.  I wasn't disappointed because everything wasn't tied up in a bow, I'm disappointed because there were so many unexplained story lines that were just kind of left wide open or were ended in a way that wasn't consistent with the story.  The last chapter, the characters don't really act consistently with themselves either.  You'd have to read it I suppose to understand.  The premise of the story was really interesting though...perhaps she will write a sequel or someone else will take her idea and run with it.
2.  The Trapped Girl (Robert Dugoni)--Eventually he's going to stop writing sequels....right now I'm (impatiently) waiting for the one published a couple weeks ago...This one didn't disappoint, again, not top ten, but entertaining and work reading.
3.  Nevertheless (Alec Baldwin)--Parts of this autobiography were really fascinating and parts were not...I like biographies and autobiographies, so it was interesting.
4. Don't You Cry (Mary Kubica)--I think I've read other things by this author.  She was entertaining.  A couple twists.  Good mystery. No urgency to ready anything else by her right now.
5. The Last of the Doughboys (Richard Rubin)--Great book, maybe not top 10, but I do recommend it.  It just took me a loooonng time to finish it.  (It is a loooonng book).  I learned a lot about World War I.  It made me sad that I didn't meet more WWI vets and talk to them before they were all gone.
6.  Night Train to Memphis (Elizabeth Peters)--A classic, especially when read by Barbara Rosenblat.

What's up next?
Well, at the moment, I have these checked out of the library:

When I'm Gone (Emily Bleeker)
The Alice Network (Kate Quinn)
Close to Home (Robert Dugoni)
California (Edan Lepuki)
Commonwealth (Ann Patchett
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too (Christopher Emdin)
The Proving (Beverly Lewis)

I've also committed to a semi-informal book study at school, we're reading Teaching Adolescents with Autism (Walter G. Kaweski)  and to reading another Amazon pick from a few months ago, Beneath a Scarlet Sky (Mark Sullivan)  because one of my other co-workers read it and wants to talk to someone about it....so I'd say I have enough to keep me busy for the month.

Happy reading!