December 2021 Books

 2021 draws to a close, and I have read a total of 108 books this year, which is an average of nine books per month. 10 books this month.

1. I guess I got kind of into those Elly Griffiths mysteries that I started reading in November. I read a bunch of them this month! First up was A Room Full of Bones. This was a pretty convoluted story involving some aboriginal heads and bones, and a drug ring that seemed to be associated with a riding stable. Both had the same owner, but he didn't personally have anything to do with the bones--they were in the museum when he inherited it--or the drug ring--he was a squeaky clean model citizen. But other people were not, as you will find out if you read this.

2. A dying fall, also by Elly Griffiths, sends Ruth to look into an archaeological find of her college friend, Dan, who has died, and since he was the only archaeology professor at the small university he worked at, they need to call in another expert. Ruth takes her daughter Kate, and Kate's godfather Cathbad, along so they can enjoy a vacation to Blackpool. Except of course lots of things happen that upset all plans for relaxation that anybody might have had.

3. Also Known As by Robin Benway was another book I quickly grabbed to read in the car while waiting. (I don't know what I will do when they move the Juvy section off my floor!!) Maggie is a spy whose specialty is safe-cracking. Her mark attends a private high school in New York, so for the first time in her life, home-schooled Maggie is attending school in person. If all she had to worry about was the case she is assigned to, that would be so much easier! All the high school drama!

4. The next Mormons: How millenials are changing the LDS church by Jana Riess. I read this book because of a Facebook group I belong to, in which some people were discussing this book, and one person was like "she lost me at the word Mormon," because this person felt like if an author wants to be taken seriously, they need to use the full name of the church. And another person was like "this book was written before President Nelson even said that." And I was all like, Mormon Studies is a thing! This writer is an academic, and this book is a part of her academic work, and an academic field is Mormon Studies. Eight of the universities that have some form of Mormon Studies are not church schools. Just saying. So, I read the book. And it was very interesting.

5. The life of our Lord by Charles Dickens was the short little book that my book group chose to read for the month of December. I needed to read it by Dec. 21, and I actually read it on Dec. 21, in fits and starts, all online, thanks to Internet Archive. Since I have been reading the four gospels of The New Testament on repeat for quite a long time, it is pretty clear that Dickens was making a more child-friendly version of the gospels, all neatly in one story, for his children. He never published it during his lifetime, and stipulated that it could not be published during his children's lifetimes either. So although it was written between 1846-1849, it was not published until the early 1930s.

6. The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow by Kate Umansky was up next. Remember I read one of her books in November for the first time. We don't have very many of her books in our library, despite her prolific writing, so when I went to find something else by her, this is what I found. Solomon Snow was a foundling, and he doesn't know who his real parents are, or how he came to be left on the steps of his adopted parents humble shack. But he finds out about a silver spoon that was in his mouth and sets off with his friend (or nemesis) Prudence to find the spoon, and maybe even Solomon's true identity. They meet a prodigy and a chimney sweep boy, get into all sorts of scrapes, and end up at home not that much the wiser, but a bit wealthier, and definitely changed by their adventure.

7. Back to Elly Griffiths and The Outcast Dead for my next read of the month. Mother Hook (Jemima Green) was hanged as a child murderer 150 years ago. This old story and its associated archaeological dig is mixed in with the murder of a baby named David, and the abductions of a little baby named Poppy (she is returned!) Ruth's friend Judy is the police officer who finds Poppy. Judy is the life partner of Cathbad, and she becomes frantic when their son Michael is stolen as well.

8. I didn't plan to read another Elly Griffiths, but the interlibrary loan dates were such that I needed to finish the next Ruth Galloway mystery and return it on time. So next up was The Ghost Fields. These are the abandoned airfields in England that were busily at use during World War Two. Ruth is called in when a digger driver unearths a plane, and the pilot is in the plane looking in way too good of shape to be the actual pilot of the old crashed plane. I totally did not foresee the ending of this one!

9. My friend and colleague Rachel, our education librarian, was giving away THREE LIBRARY CARTS FULL of YA and Juv books!! I went the second day, and there was not much left, but I took some books home to read. The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzad was the first of these freebies that I read. Young Caro has been raised as practically an only child for eight years: her sister Hannah, eleven years older, entered a convent eight years ago--one of those where they keep silent and pray. Caro had gotten in trouble when she told her school friends her sister was dead; she had to do some therapy and a whole lot of apologizing for lying. She thinks that is all behind her. But now Hannah is coming home, and Caro is embarrassed. Now she is in High School; none of her friends even know about Hannah. She finds herself sliding into lying again. She is so focused on her own embarrassment that she doesn't even notice that Hannah desperately needs help.

10. I think that maybe it was Bridget who recommended Holding Court by K.C. Held. I just finished it! In the first chapter I had my doubts, but then the author managed to hook me, and I did enjoy this book! Here is the author's own blurb about the book: "When a sixteen-year-old girl with an embarrassing psychic gift she can't control takes a job at a castle-turned-dinner theater, all she wants is the chance to wear a fancy gown and ogle her crush from afar, but when she stumbles over a dead body that promptly disappears, she must prove she didn't hallucinate a dead girl before the killer strikes again."

So--that is my reading for the year. 108 books. I liked them all, because I no longer waste time reading books I don't like. If I start a book and I don't like it, I move on. Life is too short--I don't have time to read books I don't like! 

Neighbor Gifts

 Very unusual for me to do two posts in one day, but this is too fun to not post.

So, this is our second Christmas is our new house. Last year for neighbor gifts we gave a box of tissues with a bow on top and a note that said, "We 'tissue' a Merry Christmas!" People got a kick out of the pun.

So this year we settled on giving a set of the cardboard salt and pepper shakers with a note that said "Season's Greetings!" a pun on seasonings.

And our neighbor just gave us a gift of a dozen eggs.

Great pun! But also, this neighbor doesn't really know us at all--what a great gift for a family that has our pysanky-doing Josie! Eggs and a really great egg container!

Christmas Letter 2021

 For the first time in forever, I wrote a Christmas Letter! Amazing. I put it in GitHub, but I can't remember how to make a link with the .io address. I am trying to follow the directions that my amazing brother gave to me when he helped me set up GitHub and add some repositories to it. ARRGH. I can't figure out what I am missing. I will try to post the unfinished link to it.  Here is the real link! Thanks, Brother!

Gifts

 The reason I don't like gifts has nothing to do with the gift or the giver. It is that I have a history that is life-long of being absolutely terrible at receiving gifts, and absolutely terrible at making my face look happy about gifts even if I AM happy about them. It is gift-giving itself that is really hard for me. Like, just thinking about giving and receiving gifts brings tears to my eyes.

After many many years of disappointing people with my gifts, (and disappointing myself because if I THOUGHT I got it right, and I didn't, well that is its own agony) I went to only money or gift cards, and that has worked well, because people can always find a use for money. 

As for gifts TO me, this is just a heads up that I will always probably seem like I don't like what you got me. Like, I hate December for this reason--I stress and worry about getting stuff that either I don't want or don't need and hurting people's feelings because I seem incapable of pretending in this particular realm. 

I have absolutely NO memories of me receiving gifts well. I don't throw them and say "I don't want this!" or "Why did you give me these ugly rocks?" anymore, but those are literally my memories. It is embarrassing and I feel ashamed of myself, but after living this many years, I still am a TERRIBLE receiver of gifts. Which is why I say "Don't get anything for me." Because I literally mean it.

A text, an email, a card in the mail. These I know how to respond to. I am usually okay with something to eat, too, because if I don't like it, someone else will, and it will get eaten. 

I have tried and tried to tell my family this. Like the best gift for me is not a gift, so I don't have to go through the agony of psyching myself up to try to be a gracious receiver, and then failing. Again. Like I have been doing for a lifetime.

Canada Part Deux (Dec. 5-7)

 I neglected to mention that David and Ruth supplied wonderful meals: perogies for lunch, cottage pie, roast parmesan potatoes, homemade pizza, butter chicken. They are good cooks! In fact, Ruth shared her pizza crust recipe with me. This was a crust that was firm enough to hold so that the pizza doesn't flop over, but not tough. 

But I am getting ahead of myself! Because homemade pizza was Sunday evening. And I need to start with Sunday morning, which was Millie's blessing day.

I took a few pictures of cute Millie, ready for church. They are all so cute that I couldn't choose just one.

David and I went and picked up Abra, and he dropped us off at the church. We had a nice visit while he drove home to pick up Ruth, Dad and Millie. (Car is too small for all of us.) Ruth's brother Glyn came as well (enough room in his truck to take Abra and I back with him)--it was a very small group, but David and Ruth wanted it that way. Their house is too small for a large group, and there is nowhere to park, really. It was very nice. David gave Millie a very nice blessing, and she was very good during the blessing. Glyn and Bruce both were peaking at her, and she was smiling at them, while her dad was holding her. After, we took pictures. Here is a picture taken by Glyn that includes Abra, and after it, a picture taken by Abra that includes Glyn.

Then a picture of Millie with her parents; Millie with her mother, and Millie with her Auntie Abra. Abra is very happy to have, for the very first time, one of her nieces or nephew living close enough to her that she can actually cuddle the baby on multiple occasions. She is very happy for the opportunity!

Then we all went home. And I took some more photos of Millie because she is adorable. That is her Uncle Glyn's hand in the second photo, giving her some tummy loves.

Some people had lunch, some people were fasting. Several people had naps. Abra hit up the piano again which is in David's office, to practice "O Holy Night" some more. And then I made the executive decision that some of us should go to High River. Because Deklan was working for Holly, who was sick, we could not visit them, but it seemed terrible to be so close to putting in a personal appearance, and then not doing it. Also, Josie had purchased an original painting of the Happy Face barn from Jocii Spackman Shields, and we could pick it up. So David, Abra and I decided to drive down and pick up the painting and see Deklan at work for five minutes. Since he was working. Abra called his boss, Adam, and Adam said he would allow us to quickly visit him in the kitchen. Here is the painting, and then Deklan making some food called Texas Twinkies--which is garlic cream cheese inside a jalapeno and slow-cooked barbecue brisket wrapped in bacon and then baked and flash fried.

It was very nice to have a sighting of Deklan, if only for a few minutes. He is worth it! And also I could give him our Christmas card for him!! So we drove, and everyone else slept, and it was worth it.

Abra slept over at David's and in the morning (but not early), we headed out to get our COVID tests for flying home. It was very quick. This time we got swabs on the back of the tongue. (We had spit tests for the first flight.) We took Abra to see where she would be heading for an interview later in the day, and then dropped her at home.

When we got back to David's, we found out that Equity Health had been trying to call us. David had been driving, of course, so we didn't realize. They had, by the time we got home, emailed David to say that they had accidentally done the PCR test on us. (David had paid for the less expensive test when he booked our appointments.) So they asked if they could run those (at the same price) and David responded yes, as long as we would have the results in time.

So, we watched a movie and waited for the results! They were both negative, as needed, and then we slept for a bit, and got up at 3 AM to be out the door by 3:30 and on our way to the airport. Bruce asked for a wheelchair, but we would have had to wait for 5:00 AM for that, and we didn't want to wait. We got through customs and were to our gate before 5. We ate some breakfast of insanely expensive grilled turkey, cranberries and cheese sandwiches (which were really good, I thought) and then we got on our plane.

This was the first time I have flown where de-icing was needed, and because of the position of our seats, I could watch.

We flew home without incident, were able to grab a shuttle ride in the tunnel so the walk between A and B was not quite so long, found the shuttle to the economy lot, got in our car and drove home. And just like that, our fun trip to see our children in Canada was over!

Let's go to Canada! (Dec. 2-4)

 I was really nervous about the trip to Alberta, probably more than I needed to be. I am glad we went—it was so nice to see the people we love—but traveling was stressful. The timing of getting the COVID tests and getting the results made the days before traveling difficult. Then I had to do the ArriveCan App. And that was not as bad as I thought it would be! I sure can make myself crazy with worry!

The drive to the airport was a little slow—accident on the freeway ahead of us—but once we were at the airport, finding our way to a spot in the economy lot, and getting to shuttle stop 3 was easy. At the airport we did a bunch of walking. Dad had mentioned that he wanted a wheelchair, and I guess we should have jumped on it right then, but we didn’t, and then another opportunity did not present itself. I did not anticipate that.

So, we left home at about 5:15 pm on Thursday Dec. 2, and arrived at our gate at 7:35 pm. So the drive, the parking, the walking, getting through security and finding our gate took 2 hours and 20 minutes. It could be worse!

By 8:42, we were in our seats on the plane, and I turned off my phone. The plane started taxiing, but then it sounded weird, and we were headed back to our gate. It was 9:37, and we had a bad temperature probe. The plane needs to not be too hot or too cold, so the temperature probe was important. At 10:12, we were still in our seats, and the mechanics were trying to fix it so we could be on our way. They thought they fixed it, so were told we were going to take off with an anticipated arrival time of 12:40. (It was originally supposed to be 11:20.) The plane started taxiing again, and I heard that same weird sound, so I knew we were not taking off anytime soon.

10:57, we were back to a gate—a different gate—to deplane, and then go to an assigned gate to get on a different plane. We got off at a B gate and had to walk to an A gate, and that was quite a hike. When we had walked about halfway, we were told it was another seven minutes of walking away. But we made it. They hoped to take off at 11:45, but at 11:38 we were all still waiting to board. Dad and I were among the first to board because he felt he needed extra time, so we were actually on the plane at 11:55. At that point, I was projecting 12:15 for our take-off time. It took some shuffling around of seats, because the plane we got was roomier—much better leg room—but had a row and a half of fewer seats, so people got juggled around so everyone had a place to sit.

Through all this long delay and getting on and off planes, the people were all really calm and nice. Nobody was rude or entitled or mean. There were at least four children on board—the couple in front of us had a little boy about age 2 and a baby. And there was a mom with her brother and little boys (Deklan and Dawson) who looked like twins, and were about the same age as Alex. They were really good little troopers! It was very pleasant that people were pleasant while enduring a situation that couldn’t be helped. I mean, nobody wants to fly in a broken plane, am I right?!

I do not know for sure when we took off, but David messaged his siblings that we were there at 3:15. And soon after that, I turned my phone on and messaged “Landed.” Customs was easy. Because we were Canadians and had done the ArriveCan App, we didn’t have to do a health check stop; they just gave us a paper that explained the COVID restrictions, and we just had to show it, and then we were on our way out the door. We miraculously found David, and drove to his home in Airdrie. Must have been on the way to four AM by the time we fell exhausted into bed.

Friday morning we got up late and hung around doing a lot of nothing because everyone was exhausted. But we did get some baby-holding in!

 And we all got some sleeping in, but some of us look cuter than others while doing it:

Saturday, I had arranged with Amy that we would visit their family. Ruth still prefers not to take Millie out if it can be helped—and I don’t blame her! It is winter! COVID is still a thing!—so she didn’t want to come, but Abra did. So we (David, Dad and I) went and picked Abra up and we headed over to spend the morning with Amy and her children, and her mom, Leola. We had a really fun visit. I really enjoy Leola’s company, and it was great to spend time with Amy. Scarlett took David into her room to show her hamsters and all her Tui Sutherland books, and I think she gave David a very good schooling on the dragon book series that she likes so much. The boys were shy with us, but they seemed to like Abra. I try not to insinuate myself if children are not interested—I would rather just watch them play happily than be all scary!!

Amy and her mom had offered to have us share a nice pizza lunch with them. Amy ordered pepperoni and Hawaiian pizza from a nearby pub that she claims makes the best pizza, and it was indeed really good pizza. LOTS of cheese! And then we could have pineapple juice or grape juice or water with it. It was a lovely meal with lovely people. So good to see them and have the chance to catch up!

All the gang together:

Bruce and I together with our oldest grandchild:

We went back home to David’s house, and got a bit more Millie time in before Piper and her boyfriend Anton came to see us.

David had us play a round of Wit and Wagers, I think it was. We had a good time. I think Piper was the winner, and Anton came in last place. Ruth captured us at play:

Anton took the picture of all of us, and we did not return the favor, so he does not appear in a picture.

Wait! I am wrong! Ruth got him in a photo while playing the game:

And, Ruth took a cute picture of herself while she was walking the floor with sleeping Millie:

Abra got a little bit of baby-holding time in before she left with Piper and Anton:

So that was our Saturday! Abra also got some piano practicing in—David’s keyboard is better than the one at her own house.