Books of December 2023

 Well, it is New Year's Eve! I can't believe we are one year short of a quarter of the way through a new century! 

So, to start with: about me--I am still daily walking for 20 minutes. Except for that one day I missed the day the plumber came I have walked daily for 1,094 days. (It should be 1, 095, but I guess I can forgive myself for missing one day!) I am also still planking for 2 min. 10 sec. but I am thinking of instead doing one minute twice? I might do that. I have until tomorrow to decide! And I am still balancing on each leg, and am at one minute per leg. Up from ten seconds per leg when I started, and 35 seconds per leg in August.

As for books, after the last few months of reading only six books, I read NINE this month!! It could have been because of holidays, but it wasn't--I read six of them before the holidays started! This was because of my arm. I mentioned how my left arm prevented me from putting up Christmas lights, but it also prevented me from doing other things. So to rest my arm, I was reading a lot. Because even typing hurt a lot. (I worked on an entire spreadsheet for work typing only one-handed!) 

Then on Christmas Eve, I was trying to prepare a meal using some breadsticks. (When we had Michelle's family here, I had ordered breadsticks with our pizza, only they neglected to season them. I just stuck them in the freezer to use later because they were not very good.) I had looked up a pizza casserole recipe that used breadsticks. I needed to slice them in half. I tried with my regular knives, but the pain of just holding the breadstick down to cut it was too much for my left arm. So I decided that if I used Josie's sharp knife, I could do it more easily. And it worked--for the first three or four cuts. Until I cut my finger! So I wrapped it and kept cutting, and all was going well until I cut another finger!! I had to sit down and cry for awhile. Now my left hand was well and truly out of commission. Sigh. 

Well, it is better on all fronts now. The cuts are healing, the arm is healing. Look at me--typing with both hands!!

So, without further ado, here are the 9 books read this month:

1. Antsy does time by Neil Shusterman (2008) -- Antsy's friend Gunnar Umlaut has only six months to live, dying of some obscure disease. Antsy "gives" Gunnar some of his time, and this grows into a happening in which Antsy is getting people to sign contracts giving a few days or weeks or months or years of their lives to Gunnar. When, after donating two years to Gunnar, Antsy's dad has a heart attack--well! Let me just quote from this lovely passage on page 209/10: "I'll never really know if prayer changes the outcome of things. Lots of people believe it does. I know I'd like to believe it, but there's no guarantee. Some people pray and their prayers are rewarded...Others pray and they get refused. Sometimes they lose their faith, all because they lost the roll of the dice. / That night, as I prayed, I wasn't praying for my own wants and needs. I prayed for my father, and for my mother, I prayed for my whole family. Not because I was supposed to--not because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't. I was doing it because I truly wanted to do it with all my heart, and believe it or not, for the first time ever, I didn't want it to end / ...that's when I realized that prayer isn't for God. After all, He doesn't need it. He's out there, or in there, or sitting up there in His firmament, whatever that is, all-knowing and all-powerful, right?...If He's there, sure, I'll bet He's listening, but it doesn't change Him, one way or the other, / Instead, we're the ones who are changed by it."

2. The true gift by Patricia MacLachlan (2009) -- this short little book by the author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, was our book group's December read. As a farm girl, I enjoyed this little cow story very much. I know that animals are pretty smart and that they have emotions. The children in this story know that too, and set about to give poor little lonely white cow the best Christmas ever.

3. Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt (2023) -- carrying on with the farm theme, I remembered that Marti's newest book came out in April and that I had not remembered to read it! Our library had one, so I placed a hold and had the delight of spending a few days with Marti. Because I know her, when I read her books, it is her voice I hear in my head telling the story to me. This story is based on ancestors of Marti's husband Greg, who migrated to Southern Alberta (establishing a town called Leavitt! but the book doesn't say that!) from Utah. (So, also ancestors of our cousin Lavon's children, conincidentally.) This is not a "Mormon" book--like, it is not written for that audience. It is just a story that happens to happen to some Mormon people. It is full of happy things and hard things. Many hard issues--abuse, natural disasters, illness and death--are dealt with as Rebecca Leavitt tries to assert her independance during a time when women were not allowed much of that.

4. Royal Crown (from the notebooks of a middle school princess) by Meg Cabot (2019)--This was one of the books I got free from Rachel's cart of books she had reviewed but not added to the library collection. And I must say!! I had no idea that the Princess Diaries franchise was carrying on with a bazillion books in a bazillion series. I had to look it up to figure out how Princess Olivia could be Princess Mia's sister--and found all the fan sites, and whole lists of the family tree of this imaginary family. I was not too impressed with the way Mia's father went around leaving children here and there, I have to say. But--he isn't real, so...

5. Peace for a Palestinian: One woman's story of faith amidst war in the Holy Land by Sahar Qumsiyeh (2018) -- This book was very good and made me so sad. I mean, her experiences did not take place during an actual war, because she is a statistician who lives in the US now, but life was hard for Palestinians living, as she did, in the area of Bethlehem. Getting into and out of Jerusalem, or going pretty much anywhere was so, so difficult. Sahar had to plan her life around trips of 50-60 miles taking five to eight hours with checkpoints and road closures and bullying behavior. They were at war even in "peace" times. My heart hurt for her now because how must she be feeling now, watching helplessly from afar?

6. The Grandmother Plot by Caroline B. Cooney (2021) -- I very much enjoyed this book about Freddy, who is pretty much a slacker pot-head, but he loves his grandmother dearly. When a suspicious death occures in grandma's memory care center, Freddy is on alert. Who did it? Is it the drug enforcers who are after Freddy? Is it the husband of the dead woman? One of the workers in the care center? Freddy, who is himself under suspicion by the police, only knows that he didn't do it, and he needs to keep his grandma safe. His three sisters, who live far away, are always texting and calling and saying he needs to get grandma out of there so she isn't murdered next! But Freddy knows he can't take her home--home is not safe for a person with her level of dementia. Very interesting how Freddy inventories the house, because he will bring her home if he has to, but his inventory reveals too much danger at home. Who knew that The Face on the Milk Carton author was still writing so prolifically? A very good read.

7. Your guide to not getting murdered in a quaint English village by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper (2021) -- Huh. Okay. So this was a picture book for adults, and it was Jay Cooper's illustrations that compelled me to keep reading. Because the story was, well, kind of stupid. This book had a yellow "Humor" sticker on it, so I don't know what it says about me to admit that I did not laugh once or even smile, really. I was always just "huh."

8. 6 events: The restoration model for solving life's problems by Stephen R. Covey (2004) -- we were studying this book in a faculty group I belong to (with my brother) on campus. It was very good. I read it slowly over the past few months, finishing on Dec. 26. In a very sorry and wholly inadequate nutshell, the model teaches Who you are, whose you are, how you are those things, where to find support, what to do, why to do it, and when to do it. All to be approached with love, respect, and kindness to our fellow travelers on this crazy planet earth.

9. Holly Jolly Summer by Tiffany Stewart (2018) -- was another book I got from Rachel's cart of library rejects. Although, it was pretty good. Christmas themed, so an appropriate read for the only book I read during the actual Christmas break, and just finished yesterday. Changes are afoot in Christmas, Kentucky, and the mayor's daughter, Darby Peacher, learns about herself, and how to let people in, and how a team of misfits can work together to make things better. I really liked when St. Nick, the crusty veteran who runs Holly Jolly Land (an amusement park) tells Darby that we are all misfits--because aren't we? Don't we go through life feeling like misfits from time to time or even always? So we find common ground with other misfits and can help each other out. 

Arlene!

 It has been awhile since I had a nightmare from which I woke up myself by yelling out, but early this morning, I did. I don't remember much of the dream, apart from the abrupt ending.

Dream me suddenly became aware that I was not alone in my room, and that there was an animal there. Dream me thought that a cat must have gotten upstairs somehow. But then dream me "knew" that it was a big, vicious dog, and a zillion thoughts came all at once: where did it come from?, how did it get inside?, was a door open to the ouside and were there other dangers of which I was unaware? And then the dog pounced on me. Real me could feel the weight of both the dog and the fear! Dream me knew that I was alone upstairs and that I needed to get help from Josie, who was asleep downstairs, if she was not also in trouble herself! And dream me tried so hard to call for help, crying :"Arlene! Help!" but no sound came. Dream me, who by now was becoming also actual me tried as hard as hard can be, and shouted out, "Arlene!"

And that woke me up! There was no dog. No weight on me. And I was left to wonder why I called out for my sister, hundreds of miles away, instead of Josie! I know that in my dream I was aware that it was Josie who was also in the house, but in that moment of dream terror, it was Arlene's name I called.

Bloggity Blog Blog Blog

 Random things on my mind:

1. It is not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas--I should have put up the Christmas lights on the weekend of Thanksgiving, but I was sleeping off my COVID booster shot. Then I should have put them up the first weekend in December, but Saturday was very busy (although the play (musical) I went to, "Hattie's Echo" by Charlotte Westover was most excellent) but sometime after I got home, I hurt my left arm, and it was not fit to put up anything, including Christmas lights. At this point, I have no tree, no lights, and no desire to do anything about it. 

2. Also Bruce has lost five teeth this year. When he lost the first one, I was like, "Well, you now have only 31 teeth. Big deal. I have only ever had 24. So." Then he had to have two surgically removed. 29. Then he lost one in August. 28. Then another one in early December. 27. Only the placement of the lost teeth makes eating difficult. So--no nuts or raw veggies, not to even think about candy. So, our Christmas celebration will not have a food focus, either.

3. It just feels so--off--to be celebrating while innocent children (and people in general) are being killed in a hateful genocide that leaves me aghast and appalled and also feeling completely helpless. I think about my one Palestinian friend every day. Wondering if she is still alive today...It makes my heart hurt. Knowing of Palestinian friends of my children who have lost dozens of members of their families. Imagine that--losing your parents, and uncles and aunts, and grandparents, and cousins, and siblings, and niblings...all at once. Like, last year you had family and this year you don't. It is mind-blowing and sad-making.  Well, I know that the Savior came to atone for all of this evil and suffering, so I feel grateful for him, and so therefore I can also be happy that he was born to be our Savior, but in a low-key, humble way. So I expect a quiet Christmas at our house, and that is just fine with me. 

4. And then--yesterday, my cousin Myrna Lusk Montenegro McLean's son Alban Montenegro flew from Las Vegas to Kansas City to be home for Christmas with his mom and step-dad. And in the airport, some random person attacked him! So badly that instead of home, his destination was the emergency ward. When the guy was arrested, he said that the reason he did it was because--get this--he didn't like Alban's glasses. Like seriously? (And also, Alban's glasses are completely normal.) But it made me wonder if it was racially motivated in our hateful white supremist world. Alban is of mixed race, which means he is brown like his father with dark hair and eyes like his father. And if a person attacked a person from a racial motivation, they would not be very likely to tell the police, "He is a brown man, so..." Instead, he might say "I didn't like his glasses," which just makes him sound stupid and not like a hate-crime-offender. Anyway, Alban will be fine. He has a fractured lower orbital bone. Which means his face is banged up and broken and hurts, but he should be fine to fly back to Las Vegas next week. Where he is a military dude. He was not wearing his uniform while traveling; he was in civvies. Maybe if he had been in uniform, the stupid attacker would not have stupidly attacked? 

5. And now for a happy memory! My cousin ('s wife) Ellen is in charge of a Facebook group called "Taber AB Local and Family History," and today she posted about dial telephones and asked the question "who remembers their telephone number from Taber" during the era of dial telephones. Many people responded. I responded that our family phone number (223-8207) and my uncle's phone number (223-8592) are indelibly stamped in my brain. Another person wrote about how we had party lines, so, to quote her, "we had to listen for conversations before dialing. Occasionally someone would actually interrupt to say, “will you get off the line”. This is true!

6. And I thought of, and wrote this: "Two of my sister's best friends were on our same party line. They would pre-arrange with a fourth friend to call one of them--the others knew the approx. time and what series of rings to listen for--and the four of them would have a group chat long before anybody knew what a "group chat" was! My dad was the troubleshooter for all the rural telephone lines, so he would get the complaints about people tying up the line--he was not happy when it was his daughter and her friends who were the culprits, as they sometimes were." I did not post the names, but for the sake of my personal history, when Arlene was in upper elementary school, the two best friends on our party line were Karen Haynes and Jeannie Ferguson. Pat Odland was the fourth friend who would call them. Dad would get irritated because the four of them could indeed keep the conversation rolling!

Happy Birthday to me and you! (Dec. 12)

 Although David and Ruth's second child was due on Dec. 6, and they had been anticipating his birth since the beginning of December, he made his appearance at 8:27 AM on Dec. 12. A birthday buddy for me!

Ruth is a small person, so I do not envy her birthing this 8 lb. 6 oz. boy! I know that 8 lbs. is a normal size for a baby, but for me that seems big, because mine ranged from 6 lbs. 2 oz. (Patrick) to 7 lbs. 8 oz. (Josie) with David and Nancy both about 6.5 lbs. So this baby--seems big to me!

And here he is swaddled and cradled by his dad:

We are glad he is here safely, that he is healthy; and we hope his Mama can recover from the labour that is childbirth as quickly as possible! And he does have a name--it is Ethan. No middle name yet, but that will be decided.

And hopefully, I will be able to remember his birthday. My sister, in keeping with thoughts of a new baby on this day, posted this picture from 1957 (though on Christmas Day, so I was 13 days old):

We both had lots of dark hair! Welcome to the world, baby Ethan!

November Books

 It was a six book month again.

1. The audacity of Sara Grayson by Joani Elliott (2021) -- Sara Grayson is divorced, 32, and teaches writing in a college while writing greeting card messages as a side job. But her mother is a best-selling novelist. The world is anxiously awaiting book five in her latest series, when the author dies. In her will, part of her bequest to Sara is that she finish her mother's contracted novel. The publisher is not exactly thrilled to have an unknown take on the task. Can Sara do it?

2. Dreams and thunder: Stories, poems and the Sun Dance Opera by Zitkala-Ša, edited by Jane Hafen (2005) -- Reading for the exhibit we are doing in the Spring...this book uses only the authors own words, but edited by Hafen from her published writings and her writings in the Bonnin Collection in the BYU Library. So the actual libretto for the opera, besides stories, poems, and diary entries.

3. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (2002) was our book group's reading choice for this month. A very good book! However, our meet-up was on the same day that I went with Michelle and family to the park, and afterwards (mostly because of the booster shot, probably) I completely forgot to go. This is a novel in letters, which is not my favorite story-telling tactic, but it is also a novel in LETTERS ( for example LMNOP). Super interesting premise! Recommend. 

4. The library of lost things by Laura Taylor Namey (2020) was her first book, and it was very good. Darcy Wells is trying to be a normal girl, though she has a fabulous memory and is a "literary genius" but how can she be any kind of normal while trying to hide the fact that her mother is a hoarder? Few of her friends have walked the goat trails of the Wells apartment.

5. The Schwa was here by Neal Shusterman (2006) -- This author visited Josie's library, and she was talking about him, so I looked for one of his books, since I had never heard of him. (He is very prolific--what rock have I been hiding under?!) The story of Antsy Bonano and his friendship with Calvin Schwa and Old Man Crawley's 14 afghan hounds and blind granddaughter was a very fun read!! (I am reading book two in the Antsy series right now!)

6. The flight of Red Bird: The life of Zitkala-Ša by Doreen Rappaport (1997) is another book I have been reading to help me towards the exhibit. Again, based on Gertrude Bonnin's own writings and the materials in the Bonnin Collection at BYU, this telling was intended for younger chapter book readers.