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!

Butterfly Bonanza!

I'm very happy that we planted lilacs and butterfly bushes--check our our visitors this morning! (Yes, I know they might be moths...I'm not letting any in the house)...

Almost end of summer garden and other report

This has been an interesting garden year. Some of the veggies that have gone nuts before (cucumbers) have yet to produce anything this year. Due to that weird May snowstorm, the peach and cherry trees and the grape vines didn't produce any fruit (boo hiss).  But we've had lots of tomatoes...

and peppers (don't bother asking what kind...we discovered years ago that no matter what kind of peppers we plant they all end up as some weird, hot hybrid because peppers cross-pollinate..)

A couple weeks ago we spent a quick weekend at the apartment--I have real wildflowers outside the kitchen window! (Not for long...they had snow predicted today!!!)

This is my Alma gardening experiment--one little pepper plant producing some olive-sized peppers :)

What else have we been up to you ask?  Well, we discovered that hats cause Sid to become paralyzed and unable to bite...a win-win (see how cute he is?)

Five (fast) weeks of Cross Country...new team, new bests, new school--lots of fun.

More peppers... (the big one is from the CSA, not the garden)

More tomatoes (Heirloom and other) and enough okra to cook with (yay!)

And, of course, mint.  So much mint.  Do you want mint?  Come on over, we have mint everywhere...

Beets from the garden for beet salad...

And my favorite--carrots, parsnips, leeks, and potatoes from the garden.  There were only three potatoes, but I planted a fall crop in the greenhouse...maybe we'll get some later this winter.

A bonus photo of Claudia and I at a cross country meet...

I guess fall is officially here!

August 2017 books!

Hello...
This blogging thing may not be as used as it once was...


Books from August 2017:
 1. The Painted Queen (Elizabeth Peters)--Long-awaited and much anticipated.  Apparently, Barbara Mertz (Elizabeth Peters) was working on this book when she passed away.  There was possibly a lot of drama behind the scenes, as the family and the estate tried to figure out if and how to publish it.  Eventually, a friend of hers who is also a writer stepped up and finished the book.  There are some "errors" in the story--things that I don't think Peters would have let slip through, but nothing too terrible.  The book also set in the middle of the series, so we all know "what happens next" anyway.  It was a nice book, a good way to say goodbye (one more time) to Peters and her characters.
2.  Matchup (Edited by Lee Childs)--This is a collection of short stories (some fairly long) written by mystery writers in a partnership.  It probably would have been a lot more entertaining if I knew more of the authors.  Diana Gabaldon was a contributor and many of the other stories were entertaining. (Glad it came from the library though, not purchased).
3. in Scarlett (Elizabeth Peters)--CD in the car--always entertaining to listen to Barbara Rosenblat perform Elizabeth Peters.
4.  Loved (PC and Kristin Cast)--The Casts say that they never intended to write another sequel, but for some reason (that they never really explain, but hint at) they did.  It looks like there are going to be more books in this post sequel series. If you read the earlier novels, worth reading, if you didn't, don't start with this one.
5  And the Rest Is History (Jodie Taylor)-Entertaining as always...
6.  One for Sorrow (Mary Downing Hahn)--Not what I thought it was.  Someone (or maybe I read somewhere) recommended it as a ghost story, turns out it is by an author I've read before and really was an upper elementary school age book.  Quick read.
7.  Option B (Sheryl Sanberg and Adam Grant)--Interesting book.  She references "Lean In" a lot and how clueless she was.  It was an interesting book about how to deal with unexpected things in life.
8.  In the Clearing (Robert Dugoni)--Can I say I enjoyed a murder mystery?  I did....Robert Dugoni is very entertaining.
9.  Long Way Gone (Charles Martin)--I thought I had read everything by Charles Martin, then I saw this and didn't think I had...then I started reading and it is a very familiar story....but just published.  So maybe I read an excerpt or summary?  I always love Charles Martin's stories--a good read.  Follows a former country songwriter with flashbacks and current story.
10.  Trojan Gold (Elizabeth Peters)--CD in car--see # 3 :)

Goodbye, for now, my friend

I've written before about friends who are far away.  Who we communicate rarely, but when we do it is like no time has passed. I realize that I take for granted that those friends will always be "where I left them".  This past week my friend, Lisa, passed away after a brief illness.   I told a mutual friend that I didn't realize how much I missed her until she left us for Heaven.

 Lisa was one of the few people who we still exchanged handwritten letters. Especially since her stroke, she didn't use much electronic communication, at least not with me. The past few years we wrote a letter once or twice a year, trying to catch up in three to five pages (front and back) of loopy, 1980's writing. When I wrote to her family tonight, it was hard to remember I was writing about her, not to her. I loved finding one of her letters in my mailbox.

 In one of her letters, writing about her life as a single mom, Lisa said something like she was just a statistic now. As I told her at the time, Lisa could never be just a statistic. Lisa was an overcomer before Mandisa made it a thing to be.  She never found a problem she couldn't find her way around. Pretty much anything she set her mind to was completed.  When she had a stroke about eleven years ago, the prognosis wasn't good.  Against all the odds, she recovered from that illness, had another baby, went back to work.  She raised her four kids, leading them to follow Christ as she does.  Her kids are a stunning legacy to her overcomer skills.

Lisa was one of those friends who I wasn't close to at school, but who I spent an extraordinary part of my childhood and teen years with outside of school.  As I get older, I'm the first to admit that some of my memories are a bit fuzzy on the details. I can't be trusted to remember if it was Lisa, or her sister, or someone else....really who said or did a lot of things...but I remember the feelings and the general idea: Slumber parties on living room floors, New Year's Eve parties (with chex mix), choir practices, after church "field trips"...I can't tell you all the details, but I can tell you there was a lot of laughter, usually because Lisa said something witty. I have no idea why we found it funny at the time, but I still smile when I think of one slumber party, very (very) late at night, when Lisa rolled herself up in a sleeping bag and we all giggled hysterically as she said, "I'm a piggie in a blanket".  (Hmm...I probably should go easier on my daughter's slumber party giggle fests...).  I have no idea to this day why that was so funny...but it was. There was the (in)famous 4-H Fashion Show where a slip had to be stapled.  Games of sardines in my tiny house on Jackson street, when we all piled (with my mom) behind the laundry hampers (best hiding place ever!). A few (too short and too few) visits to each other's dorms and apartments at Purdue, and even fewer and shorter visits as adults.  At one point as kids, we all had matching shirts, in theory, so our parents could find us on the field trips, but really because  we enjoyed having matching shirts (not matching with the boys though--yuck)  Lisa's shirt was just a little bit different than the rest--we all had green apples, but she had a fancy neckline. I also have a lot of memories of us walking places--walking to the store in Burrows, walking to church from your house, walking to my house from the elementary school (once in our costumes from the sixth-grade play..."monster" makeup and all).

I loved going to her house.  There were German lessons during dinner--after the devotions book was read and the food was served, of course.  I think I can still order a beer in German (why did your dad teach us that?) but I don't think I can ask for the milk...And I feel like I remember a story about chicken surprise that wasn't really chicken.  Or maybe that was just something we talked about...like I said, the details are fuzzy.  Once I was there when your cat had kittens in your closet.  That didn't turn out so well, unfortunately.  And there was the night there was the world's tiniest, cutest, MOUSE, hopping up the back stairs (eeeekkkk....)....But you did teach me about other livestock--I astound people who think I'm a city girl (which I am) with my ability to herd hogs back into their pens using the big board thingy!  I also remember fondly "stealing" frozen cookies from the basement at church...I still have an affinity for frozen cookies.

Lisa and I were at Purdue at the same time.  I remember hanging out in her dorm room a few times that first year, and then we had different friends and different interests.  We saw each other at home, at church, over holidays, but not often otherwise.  I love watching the film of my wedding, because there is a clear scene of Lisa and a couple other friends from childhood/high school talking in the back row of the church.  They are talking about who each of the folks in the wedding party are and all the other things people discuss at weddings.  Their lips are easy to read. When Lisa got married, she personally mailed me a photo of her and her bridesmaids, since I already lived far away.  I kept that photo on my desk for years.  She was diligent about sending photos of her kids (back when we all printed and sent photos)along with little notes about what everyone was up to.

When my daughter was young, I visited the church we grew up in and was able to spend a few lovely hours with Lisa, her parents, and the two kids she had at the time.  I loved hearing that her kids put my daughter's photo on their refrigerator and referred to her as "my".  I have pictures in my head of that day, but have not successfully found any actual photos.

As I sit here, so far away from Lisa's family,  I have a lot of "I wish" and "I should have"...but I continue to take a deep breath and remember this is not goodbye--it is just a "see you someday".  For now, I will remember all wonderful things that made Lisa who she was. I'll remember her legacy, brought to life in her four beautiful children. My mom said it well when she noted that while we'll always picture Lisa as the sixteen year old opening a toy car for her birthday, I am happy to hear of her wonderful adult accomplishments and the strong faith she was able to help her children grow.
 I'll  continue to pray for her children, parents, and siblings.  And maybe I'll be a little better at keeping in touch with those of you still here on Earth.

May God hold you in the palm of his hand, until I see you again, my Friend.

Other memories that didn't make the narrative and may or may not be part of Lisa's story(I decided to leave them here as my notes)
reheating waffles
sunday school--the 1950's manners books, the demons went in the pigs and they ran off a cliff
drop by visits to our house during fair
rat behind barn door (Beth?)
shaved ham--something smells like shaved ham (Beth)
"Jump"on big rock in front yard
watching sound of music on new years
watching mtv on sat morning
riding bus to your house

July 2017 Books

1.  Unbreakable (Angela Watson)--a book for teachers to get re-inspired--it was good, nothing earth shattering (or worth the $26 on Amazon, thanks, again, public library), but a good read.  I'm  going to watch for it at used book sales and resales on Amazon, I wouldn't mind having a (cheaper) copy of it to show and share with other teachers.
2.  Voyager (Diana Gabaldon)--re-read, still good
3.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (JK Rawling)--on CD, in the car, during road trip
4.  The Grownup (Gillian Flynn)--not her best work, but a good, quick (spooky) read.
5.  Dark Places (Gillian Flynn)--Much better than Gone Girl because the ending wasn't weird.  Very suspenseful, good book.
6.  Henry's Sisters (Cathy Lamb)--My parents' book club was reading this so they let me read and sit in.  Good book.  I've read other things by Cathy Lamb and liked them as well.  This one was about three (dysfunctional?) sisters and their brother.
7.  Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne)--read by Jim Dale.  I'd listen to Jim Dale read my grocery list.  A good book for the car trip through--the audio book we got from the library was well done.
8. My Sister's Grave (Robert Dugoni)--I think I got this for free through the Kindle Owners Prime Monthly book thing (got that?)  I've had it on my Kindle for a while and hadn't read it--it was very good! Looks like it is a series.  It centers around a female homicide detective in the Seattle area.  Good read.
9.  Her Final Breath (Robert Dugoni)--second in the series--just as good as the first!
10.  The Orphan's Tale (Pam Jenoff)--about a group of circus performers during World War II.  Loosely based on real people and real events.