Books read in December and year end

 I managed to read six books this month. I thought I might finish book seven, but it will be waiting until tomorrow, so it is a wrap with six books. The total for the year = 93. (Last year's total was 108, so 15 fewer.)

1. A Few Right-Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill. Interesting author--born in Sri Lanka, raised in Zambia and Australia. An astrophysicist. A lawyer. And now, a stay at home farmer/artist/mother/author. This was her first book, and she has followed this book up with nine others in the Rowland Sinclair series--plus more, as you will see later on this list. The trouble with a few right-thinking men, is that the opinion of what exactly right-thinking means can vary, can't it? And when a few right-thinking men try to force their "right" ideas on others whose perspective is different--unpleasant things can happen. Very well researched book set in 1930s Australia! I was impressed.

2. Hot Lunch by Alex Bradley. The second novel by Alex Bradley. The second and LAST novel by Alex Bradley. I liked his 24 Girls in 7 Days better (that I read last month) but this one was also good and well-written and it was easy to get invested in the characters and their experience in the school cafeteria kitchen. I wonder why Alex Bradley AKA Jeremy Jackson didn't write more books like these, using his Alex Bradley persona? They were both really good YA books, I thought. He literally only wrote two YA books under each of his names. One of his Jeremy Jackson novels was made into a movie--not just optioned, but with follow-through. I am so mystified. He also wrote a number of cookbooks. But nothing recent, I don't think. It is a mystery to me.

3. It suddenly occurred to me that I had not read any Ian Hamilton books recently! He is a Canadian journalist/civil servant/businessman turned writer. I started reading his Ava Lee books in 2014, and when I checked my lists, I realized that I last read an Ava Lee book in 2018, so I had to see where I left off, because I had been reading them in order. This time I read book # 10 of, so far, 15. The Couturier of Milan. It was good, but I miss Uncle, the character who got old and died. Apparently others missed that character, too, because Hamilton has started a new series, The Uncle Chow Tung series, a prequel to the Ava Lee series.

4. The woman in the library by Sulari Gentill. Oh my goodness! This was a very good book!! Hannah is writing a novel set in Boston, though she lives in Australia. Her pen pal, Leo, does live in New England. Freddie is the main character in the book that Hannah is writing, set in the Boston Public Library. She lives in an apartment building where her neighbor is Leo. Oh, the layers in this book. It was amazing. 

5. Every Good Boy Does Fine: A love story in music lessons by Jeremy Denk. Memoirs are probably my favorite genre, and this one did not disappoint. I don't know if a non-musician would be as invested in the book as a musician would be, but I really liked it. Also, since I work with musicians in the classical world, I wondered if anyone I know would turn up in the book, and two people did. One of my viola friends, Atar Arad, who still teaches at Indiana, was there during Jeremy's time at Indiana. And Jane Gottlieb, who is, to me, a legendary music librarian (at Juilliard) was there with advice for Jeremy as a doctoral student at Juilliard. I honestly wonder if I have met Jeremy as a collaborative pianist before he built his solo career. He looks familiar, and I have met a lot of collaborative pianists at viola congresses over the years!

6. Betrayal (Svek) by Karin Alvtegen. After I read Missing, I wanted to read more of Alvtegen's books. Only four have been translated into English. (The Swedish titles of most of her books start with an S, for a small piece of trivia that is n'importe quoi.) I put an ILL request in for Betrayal, and the lending library sent a nonfiction book called On Betrayal by someone else. I was confused, but finally figured out what happened! So they sent the right book, and I read it, but oh my! This one was a bit too thrillerish for me! Like, it was still good, and well-told, but guys, the bad guy wins! All of the good or even just not plain evil people did not win at all. That was hard for me.

And that is it! Six books for this month.

It turned into a sad day for me, because the wife, Margaret, of a dear viola friend, Dwight, is dying. I do not think she will live to see tomorrow. Her husband was planning to come to Provo for David Dalton's funeral, which is a week from today. He was to give the eulogy. Instead, their family will also be planning a funeral. Perhaps they will be on the same day. Our other viola friends won't know which funeral to attend!! Dwight's email to me this evening:

"Margaret is down to only a few hours to live. She is comfortable, lucid, and at peace. She said to me only today that she had wondered how David had decided to let everything go…and then she said, “Now I know.” Such a beautiful moment and a testament to our friendship with David and Donna that she would mention him and his experience in her waning hours.

I love the poster idea and in memory of David Dalton. On a small piece of paper, could you write “Also in memory of Margaret Pounds?” Subtle, non-intrusive—just lying around someplace.

Our plates are full but we all are managing, with God’s Grace.

Shalom."

These people are so wonderful! The best people. Southerners full of grace and charm and faith. David and Dwight (and therefore also Donna and Margaret) have been friends for over 60 years. David and Dwight met as students at Indiana, where Dwight was getting his master's at the same time David was getting his PhD. They have been viola friends through thick and thin. They are not the same religion, but they are both men of faith and devotion to God. Their wives are the BEST. Margaret has had many close calls with death in recent years. I am glad she is at peace, but I will miss her. (I HAVE been missing her--she had needed to stop attending viola events. The last international viola event I attended in person, in Poland a few years ago, only Dwight was there of that foursome. Dwight and I hung out together a lot.) I am sad to see old friends dying. I keep thinking "We're next..." (Meaning me and people my age!)

Christmas passed

 Another Christmas is over. Phew. I always dread Christmas--the entire month of December honestly. Only a few more days to January! Already I feel better because A) it is getting lighter each day again! and B) Christmas is over! 

We enjoyed a Christmas get-together with Kelli and Allen on Dec. 17. Just five of us, which is a good number of people. We could chat together, and everyone got a chance to talk. Kelli and Allen brought a meatloaf and several candies they had made that were all gluten-free. We made mashed potatoes and vegetables. We roasted carrots and broccoli, but K and A were delayed due to an accident on the freeway that added 25 minutes to their travel time. Those veggies were very, very roasted. So I did more for the others to eat, and Josie and I shared the burned ones, and they were delicious. If you like the flavour of burnt, and I do!

As in most Decembers, I knew many people who had cause to mourn in this season. My cousin Marion's grandson, and my second cousin Darel both passed away early in the month. Marion's grandson was young, and had been making self-destructive choices for a long time. She had to mourn not only his death, but the loss of potential to change that the entire family had hoped for. Darel, on the other hand, was 85, and had lived well. Still, his family mourned him. One of Patrick's former roommates died, perhaps of causes incident to his Type 1 diabetes. In the beginning, his family were not even sure when he died, since he died alone in his home. Just in his early thirties, so that was sad.

Closer to Christmas, clustered right around Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve, my longtime friend Dr. David Dalton passed away. It was expected, but still sad to happen so close to Christmas. My cousin Eric died of pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve, another victim of our family's BRCA2 gene mutation. So his death was expected--but not quite that soon! They had barely discovered the cause of his long illness this year was cancer, and then he was gone. A blessing, because he was not going to get better, but again, difficult timing. And a sweet lady from my old ward died, too. Also elderly, but much loved and missed by her family. I feel like I might be missing one, but that is at least six families whose December was clouded by grief. No to mention all of those who were going through their first Christmas without somebody who they lost earlier in the year. Those firsts are hard.

It is hard for me to be giddy with joy when other people are hurting. And also--Christmas is just hard. So many expectations; so much stress.

In better news, my friend Inna and her daughter Milana were stranded at the airport in Edmonton for days as the weather in Canada turned very frightful. I knew they were stranded at AN airport, trying to get home to Burnaby, BC, but I didn't know which one. Josie messaged me to say it was in Edmonton. Didn't we know someone who could help them? (Due to the bad traveling weather, all the hotels were full, so they were just hanging out in the airport.) I messaged my cousin Janae, who would have loved to help herself, but they were all sick and didn't want to share illness with anybody. But Janae found a friend who lived close to the Edmonton airport who was willing and able to help. Another friend in Edmonton also responded with willingness to assist them. But before either of them could, through the LDS network, Inna connected with an old friend from Ukraine who had moved to Edmonton, and he and his bishop DROVE them home to Burnaby!!!! That is a 12.5 hour drive!!! I am just so amazed and touched by those good people in Edmonton. 

This and That

 Just two pictures:

1. Our beautiful snow! Shoveling almost every day last week, and Josie caught a neighbor on our new camera shoveling for us on Thursday while we were at work. Here is our great big "cake" in our back yard:

Our patio table collected inches and inches of snow!

2. Josie and I went to visit Rosie and Irie today. We had a lovely time chatting. Irie is growing up and is busy, busy, busy, getting into lots of things and learning and growing!

Breaking = A ; Entering = F

Sorry, bad guys, whoever you were. Last night, while you scored so well in Breaking, you failed to place in Entering. Earning a poor score on average. And thank goodness for that!

I have felt very safe in our new home. We are in a very nice area. Our neighbors are people like semi-famous composers and university professors and even a university president; and many of our neighbors are no longer young. We have only one adolescent living on our block and he lives with his grandparents. It is a safe neighborhood.

So imagine our shock last night, when our peace and security was assailed with a great big, indescribable noise. So that all three of us reacted with "What was that?!"

Let me backtrack a bit. It was the night of Bruce's work Christmas party. I have been sick all week, fighting off this stupid cold that I caught from Bruce, but which he only had maybe 2-3 bad days with, but it has been my constant companion for an entire week. But I said I would go with him, wearing a mask so as not to share with anybody else.

I picked Josie up from work; we drove home. Within ten minutes, Bruce and I were out the door again, on our way to the party which was supposed to start at 6 pm. I had left on the front porch light because I figured that Josie would be calling Uber Eats or something since she would want some dinner, and not making it herself might be her choice.

While at the party, I got a text from Josie to tell me that the front porch light was burned out, and she couldn't figure out how to replace the bulb. I was like, "But it was on..." And she was like, "But it is off." So, in the meantime, she turned on the inside lights, so the house was bright. Her Uber Eats delivery came; she ate. She went downstairs.

We came home at about 8:15-8:25, somewhere in there. I asked Josie if she was finished with those lights, she said she was. Around 8:30, Bruce said he was super tired and so was going to sleep. He went in the front bedroom, and soon the lights were out. The other front lights were out. I was in the back bedroom with the light on. Cleo was in the cage in the kitchen, with the light over the sink on--some light, but not a lot. So--two lights were on upstairs.

Josie was downstairs with Maizy and Cinnamon, and she had lights on, but was physically in the office, so on the north side.

I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with the night, and so was playing a game of Sherlock on my phone. When I was one minute and 37 seconds into the game, this noise, like a noise I have never heard before happened. Bruce was the first to cry out "What was that?" And I jumped up and ran out and said, "What was that? Josie are you alright?" (Because I knew where Bruce was and what he was doing--I didn't know that about her. I didn't know where she was in the basement or what she was doing.) Josie also called out "What was that?"  We were all alarmed.

Bruce was in bed--he heard a car drive away. And was getting his clothes back on. I ran towards the kitchen, because I thought the sound came from that direction. I ran through the living room about the same time Bruce came out of the bedroom, and I said, "It was this. It was our DOOR." Well, the door itself was fine, but the side of the door where the dead bolt goes into the wall was not fine. It looked like this:

Bits of hardware and screws were scattered all over the rocky floor, from this side to the wall on the east. And the door was now unable to close.

Bruce called the police and made a report, but then he needed to head over to Home Depot to get a sheet of wood (he got a sheet of particle board) to block the entrance, because we now had no way to keep the door closed, let alone locked. 

The police came. We had young Officer Guffey. He took statements from Josie and I. He said this was the weirdest call he had gotten this night, because it made no sense. Why would someone break our door and not try to enter? (Which--thank goodness for that!) He asked Josie those questions that you hear on police procedural dramas--any recent changes or disagreements with anyone? Any enemies? We are pretty quiet people--we had no clue.

The second policeman was outside looking for evidence and examining the door. He found what looked like a fresh kick place.

But Officer Guffey said the physics of that kick would not work with the damage on the door, but maybe a shoulder shove would. So maybe two people, one kicking and one shoving at the same time?

Well, we will probably never know. Unless we had a ring camera, which we don't, but which I anticipate that we will be getting now.

They went door to door to see if the close neighbors happened to have cameras--they don't. Meanwhile, our next door neighbor to the south, Sam Harris, called our RS president about it. And I texted Diana across the street, who had already been visited by the police.

So, by the time Bruce got back from Home Depot, Cory S. and Clark N. were both here to help Bruce put the piece of wood over our door.

We closed the door, and put a heavy piece of furniture in front of the door to hold it closed, and eventually we all went to bed.

This morning I emailed our Insurance agent, but will not be talking to her until Monday. And then we will need to figure out what to do.

I am kind of scared in retrospect, at how flimsy the protection this front door has been. It really was easy to impeach!! All the nights I have locked it and laid down to sleep feeling safe! The few times we have all been gone--not many, because usually someone is ALWAYS HOME at our house. Since we have dayworkers and a night worker, our house actually is not a very good choice to be a target at all.

But we did some experimenting. Josie went outside, and we tried various lighting configurations. She confirmed our suspicions that, from the outside, when the two lights are on upstairs that were on last night, and any light is on downstairs, but not the one over the stairs, from outside on the east side, the house looks all dark. You cannot tell that lights are on.

So our assumption is that our breaking people thought that nobody was home. What a surprise for them, then, to hear our immediate and loud reactions to their assault on our door.

November 2022 Books

 After two months of not being much of a reader, I was back to normal with eight books read in November!

1. Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt was a selection, once again, from OPL's freebies--me once again choosing from large print, thinking there was a good chance it would be a good book. And this book was okay. Lucy and Charlotte are sisters, orphaned at a young age and raised by an older relative, Iris, who becomes their adoptive mother. Lucy runs off with one of her high school teachers in this novel set in 1969 (but written in 2016.) It was good but a bit mind-boggling in places. The math didn't always sit right with me--I was always having to figure out this year minus that year, and sometimes...I dunno. Spoiler alert: Iris is really their half-SISTER even though she is 60+ years older than they are. The math around their father's age was the most frustrating to me. Also, the high school teacher was just creepy. Handsome, but creepy.

2. Missing (Saknad in the original Swedish) by Karin Alvtegen - I found this one while walking in the library, since it was the last book on a shelf. The author is Astrid Lindgren's great-niece--Pippi Longstocking, for those who don't remember who Astrid Lindgren is. Like her great-aunt, Karin Alvtegen knows how to tell compelling stories! Sibylla is living rough although she was born into a family of privilege. Occasionally, when she wants to treat herself, she will con a susceptible man into treating her to a night in a hotel, leading him to believe he might get something out of the deal, but really just so she can have a shower and a nice bed alone. This time things go awry when the man she conned turns up dead. The only person who trusts Sibylla and who Sibylla trusts is a high school boy. When the murderer, who the police suspect is the unknown woman--Sibylla--strikes again and again, it is up to Sibylla and her ally to solve the mystery and clear Sibylla. Very well told! I am excited to read more books by Alvtegen.

3. Do-Over by Niki Burnham. On the OPL "take me I'm free!" cart. YA fluff about an American girl Valerie and her prince charming in a fictional European country, Prince Georg (#3 in a series called Royally Jacked) It was an easy read, but not compelling. I am not going to track down the rest of the series.

4. Forsaking all Others by LaVyrle Spencer. Also free from OPL. Since this woman is an NYT best-selling author, it's gotta be good, right? Hmmm. Not so much. When I was a teen, I would read Harlequin Romances passed to my sister and I by our Auntie Beulah (much to my mother's horror--she thought they were trash) and this book was WORSE. Graphic descriptions of intimate moments, and not much plot. 

5. East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon with Marriage by Rachel Rueckert. Another book that Andrew worked on with BCC Press, this book was wonderful. I really enjoyed it! Rachel reluctantly agrees to marry Austin conditional on a year-long honeymoon that takes them around the world. South America, the Amazon, Thailand, India, the camino in Spain, and home again. "Step by step, choice by choice." I love memoirs, and I enjoyed growing with Rachel through her experiences.

6. 24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley (which is an alias for Jeremy Jackson.) Jack Grammar's friends create a personal ad so he can find a date for senior prom. This was one of the funniest YA books I have read in awhile. Great characters, fun situations. It was a pleasure to read.

7. The dignity of difference: How to avoid the clash of civilizations by Jonathan Sacks. This book was selected by BYU's Kennedy Center, and I got a postcard about it, so I decided to request and read this book. It. Was. So. Good. I took several pages of notes. I need to reread it. I will share just a few quotes:

"God no more wants all faiths and cultures to be the same than a loving parent wants his or her children to be the same. That is the conceptual link between love, creation and difference. We serve God, author of diversity, by respecting diversity." (p.56)

“The Hebrew Bible makes the same point early on—though in a way systematically missed in translation. God says about the first human, ‘It is not good for man to be alone.’ He then creates the first woman, and the man, walking and seeing her, says: ‘This is now flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone; she shall be called woman [ishah] because she was taken from man [ish].’ What is lost in translation is that Biblical Hebrew has two words for man, adam and ish. Adam (meaning taken from the earth, adamah) signifies man, the biological species. Ish means roughly the same as the English person. The subtle point of the biblical text is that this verse is the first in which ish appears. Adam must pronounce the name of his wife before he can pronounce his own. He must say ‘Thou’ before he can say ‘I.’ It is this conception of personal identity that lies behind the concept of covenant.” (p.150-151)

“Hope is a human virtue, but one with religious underpinnings. As its ultimate, it is the belief not that God has written the script of history, that He will intervene to save us from the error of our ways or protect us from the worst consequences of evil, but simply that He is mindful of our aspirations, with us in our fumbling efforts, that he has given us the means to save us from ourselves; that we are not wrong to dream, wish and work for a better world.” (p.207)

If you read nothing else in this book, read the concluding pages of chapter nine! So good.

8. Girl, Unstrung by Claire Handscombe was a book I really wanted to like, about a young girl who is determined to become a professional violist. And I really liked the book for ten chapters. And then--I did not like how much the author introduced sex into the book, when the main character is only fourteen years old. Sigh. It was on its way to being a good story without that. Really diminished my respect for the book and the author. 

Korean Dramas

 I have recently discovered Korean Dramas on Netflix, and I really like what I have seen so far. I started out with Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and really enjoyed it. Next up was Cinderella and the Four Knights. Again, really good. Now I am watching Business Proposal, which is also good. (I did try a couple that I did not enjoy. Like Boys Over Flowers. I could not even with it. Those four arrogant boys!)

I found someone who explained why she likes K Dramas, and I agree. She said:

1. Acting - As someone pointed out, the actors are very accomplished. Even the idol actors are held to a very high level of performance. I find that the base level of acting skill demanded in Korean Dramas far outstrips the majority of American shows.
2. Values - America used to do this, but doesn’t anymore. Korean shows are a vehicle for transmitting Korean values. If you watch a number of shows you will see a pattern. While some might not enjoy this, I find it refreshing. The bar has been set so low in American media that I prefer watching shows that have a moral compass.
3. Soundtrack - I don’t know how they do it, but Korean Dramas have some breathtaking soundtracks. There are certain songs, that when I hear them, I get verklempt. That is some seriously mad skills right there.
4. Story Arc - Korean Dramas tell a story, more like a book than a series. You get a beginning, middle and usually a satisfying ending. If everything is going wrong, you know you only have X number of episodes before you are either weeping in your coffee for a week or the good guys finally win and the bad guys get what is coming to them.
5. Cinematography - The production values and the cinematography is first rate. Some of these series rival movies in this way. If you think I am kidding watch Goblin, Descendants of the Sun or Legend of the Blue Sea.
6. Love, Love, Love - Korean Dramas know how to present love. Not lust, not sex, but love. You may have to go through six or eight episodes for a single kiss or a back hug, but the wait is worth it.

Employee of the Year

 Bruce had the honour of being selected as Employee of the Year by his hotel. Each hotel in the Woodbury Group selects one EotY, and then they bring them all to Salt Lake City for an entire (paid) day.  The sad thing for us was, they gave very little notice. It was only a week ago today that Bruce was notified that he was the EotY, and he was told that he could bring a plus one earlier in the day, but not for the banquet. (Which seemed backwards?) So...we just decided that I would not go. Today was a busy, important day at work, the only important day of the work week, honestly. Tomorrow is a Tuesday following a Friday schedule, and Fridays are always light because Friday. And then Wednesday is a holiday for the students, so super slow for the employees. And then two holidays. So. Of the days this week for me to go to something with him all day, Monday was not a good choice. (And we are in the middle of a very difficult problem which I, as department chair, had to deal with today for sure since we have a time crunch.)

Then, fast forward to Thursday, and he found that he had been misinformed. He did have a plus one for the banquet. Then the issue became that I do not have good night vision, so how could I go up at night? So, we decided that it would be good if Kelli could go with Bruce. She has been working so hard to get Allen situated, and make home alterations for a guy in a wheelchair or on a scooter, and it seemed it would be nice for her to go with her dad, and it would be nice for all the people on the roads to have me not there. She has excellent night vision, and is a commercial driver. 

Another complication was that Josie needed rides to and from work today, and that tomorrow she has an early morning flight to Atlanta which has been booked for much longer than we knew about this EotY event. And that Bruce was planning to stay the night at the hotel in Sandy, since he would be there all day. And a hotel room was a part of the prize for the EotY recipients. I just could not figure out how to be all of the places at the same time.

So, we asked Kelli to be Bruce's plus one, and even though it was Allen's first day home from the hospital, as this picture illustrates--and by the way, he is doing well. Still cannot walk, but in a few weeks, he will start to try to put weight on the foot that was broken every which way--

they decided she should go with her dad and have a break doing something different for a while. Bruce even remembered to ask for a gluten-free meal for her at the banquet.

He left at 7:15 in the morning--which was early, but he ended up getting lost a bit. Because there was an accident on the freeway, so instead of waiting, he got off the freeway and then all the landmarks that he used to know--were gone. So he could not drive from memory! Still, he arrived on time.

They loaded all the people onto buses for a tour. The Woodbury Group has hotels in Wyoming and Idaho as well as Utah, so a tour of Salt Lake City was on the agenda. (This was less interesting to Bruce, since he grew up in Salt Lake City!) They went to the Capitol Building, to the Mormon Tabernacle for an organ concert, just touring around. Then they went to their company's head office and had a tour of office cubicles and such. (Not totally thrilling.) This was followed by a nice lunch, and by three pm, the guests of honour were in their free hotel rooms to rest and get ready for the banquet, which was a dressy affair.

Kelli was a better choice for his plus one than I would have been--she is more of an extrovert, and also she took all the right pictures, and even a video. I would not have done that as well as she did. I am very grateful for her that she went with her dad.

Here is Bruce's photo on one of the awards table:

Here he is, standing beside the picture of himself on the awards table:

Here is the elegant table setting at their banquet table:

And here is a picture of Bruce's page on the program:

That is a lovely tribute to him! And also you can hear it, because she took a video of it!

And here is his physical award.

And last of all, some very nice pictures of father and daughter together. They look so great in these pictures! I am so proud of both of them! Kelli, for bearing this difficulty with Allen and his accident with grace and dignity, and for being there for her dad. And Bruce for winning this award for his diligent work at his hotel.

Good job, Bruce!! Congratulations!!

October Books

 Wow. What a month was October. It went fast, and was packed full.

And I did not get a lot of reading done. I think I have lost the ability to read! Or I have too much to worry about. I just can't seem to gather the concentration that reading requires. To quote a play called Jocko, "my mind is on fire!" When your mind is on fire, reading is asking too much of it. Apparently.

Which is all to say that I only read four books this month. Which is one more than last month! 

1. Dwelling in the promised land as a stranger by Scott Abbott. I read this nonfiction book because Scott was my department chair when I taught at UVU, so I wanted to read about his difficult experiences at BYU. This is a BCC book, which means that Andrew did the typesetting, and he is mentioned in the thank-yous. My takeaway from this book was that sometimes we--the well-meaning people who think we are living the gospel--are the thorns that choke people. I listen to the Four Gospels while I do my planking every day, so it happened that I was listening to Mark in the mornings at the same time that I was reading this book, and Mark 4 just really resonated with me in re Scott's experiences:

"And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred."

Because I felt like Scott was choking, like he just couldn't even breathe. And it made me sad. And I thought that sometimes we do that to people--we are thorns to them. Sigh.

2. Death and the Conjurer by Tom Mead was the only fiction book I read this month. It was a locked room mystery. Dr. Rees' murder seemed impossible, and yet--it happened and needed to be solved. Here is part of the blurb from Amazon: "In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions?"

3. What the eyes don't see: A story of crisis, resistance, and hope in an American city by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was our book group's choice for the month of October. It had been last years chosen book at UVU, so we had access to a bunch of copies. It was about the problem with lead in the water in Flint, Michigan, and I thought it was a riveting read. Lead is very scary!

I seem to have lost my ability to write as well as read, so I am going to borrow from Amazon again: "Here is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water—and then battled her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, What the Eyes Don’t See reveals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice."

4. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner was a beautiful book. Michelle Zauner is the Korean-American singer-songwriter of the group Japanese Breakfast. (When she named the group that, she was not expecting the success they got, and did not expect to have to explain where the name came from, since she is not Japanese at all, but in fact Korean, but oh well! What can you do?) The book documents much of Michelle's life, but especially is about her mother's death from pancreatic cancer. Michelle and her mother had not enjoyed a great relationship. Very close when she was a child, her teen years were turbulent and difficult. Part of it was normal teen rebellion, part of it was a Korean mother raising an American child, and the culture gap that neither could bridge. 

I loved this paragraph, in which Michelle comes to terms with her mother's choice to be a mother, first and foremost. (Teenage Michelle had thought her mother should get a job or whatever, so she would stop smothering Michelle.) quote from p. 159: "I wanted to uncover something special about her that only I could reveal. That she was so much more than a housewife, than a mother. That she was her own spectacular individual. Perhaps I was still sanctimoniously belittling the two roles she was ultimately most proud of, unable to accept that the same degree of fulfillment may await those who wish to nurture and love as those who seek to earn and create. Her art was the love that beat on in her loved ones, a contribution to the world that could be just as monumental as a song or a book."

And that is it! My four books for the month. I liked all of them.

What happened on Friday and Saturday

 We had a busy day planned for Friday, to rush around doing what needed to be done before leaving to drive up to Idaho. Dad had booked a room at the Hampton Inn for us for one night. But before Friday even really got started, Kelli had called us about what happened to Allen. (Before she really knew what happened to Allen!) You can go to the link for Nancy's tale about that scary family call.

So, I decided that I needed to drive to the hospital. Josie elected to come with me--her boss was understanding about it. So we drove up, and spent an hour and a half talking with Kelli, just being with her. Only one person at a time was allowed in with Allen, and I did go and take a peak at him, but he was asleep, which I felt was a better place to be than awake at that point in time. For him.

This is basically what Allen looked like, only I approached him from the other side, so my view was a bit different.

Kelli posted pictures of his car. 

So, although he is terribly injured and will have weeks or months needed for recovery, he is alive, and seems to be in good spirits. And Kelli is very good at being resilient, so that is super helpful--she does not fall apart under pressure.

Then we drove up to Idaho. Bruce and I made a deal that I would drive in the light, and he would drive in the dark, but he was feeling too much pain in hands and shoulders, and only lasted about a half hour. I am glad it was not stormy, because my night vision is not good.

We stopped in at David's, arriving there about 9 pm, and Millie was so delighted to see Josie. Josie opened her arms, and Millie would run right to her. When we were all sitting in the living room, Millie would fake like she was going to run to Bruce or I, but she would veer off, and confined herself to actually running only to Josie or David.

Our room at the Hampton was really nice! Very roomy. We got up and had their (hotel supplied) breakfast, arriving back at David's at about ten. We unloaded all the stuff that he would need, and then we just enjoyed watching Millie play. 

Millie really likes Josie a lot!

That is a still from a really cute video Dad took of Josie and Millie. The next picture was taken while Millie and Josie were having a conversation with Patrick, before Millie just grabbed the phone, and held it to herself, giving Patrick a nice close up of her purple pjs.

Here you can also see David. We were all laughing at something silly Millie did. Oh yes, it was fully taking possession of Josie's phone, and then exulting in her success.

David, Josie and I went for a walk--Josie making sure I got my 20 minute walk in. Only it was a 30 minute walk instead.  Then the three of us went and bought lunch at Costa Vida (I think) Cafe Rio and brought it back to David's house. Ruth was busy working on homework that needed to be submitted on Saturday night, so didn't feel she could take time off to go out for lunch. Dad slept on the couch while we ran to buy food, and Millie had a nap.

And then we left about 2:45. If I was going to drive, I needed to leave in the daylight, since rain and snow were in the forecast. I have a hard enough time seeing just in the dark, let alone trying to see in stormy weather at night. And I was very glad we left then, because we did indeed drive through rain, sometimes very intense rain, snow, and sleet. We got home at 7:04, so only the last half hour was fully dark, with me needing Bruce and Josie to help me see where I was going.

Josie took the picture of us, just as we were getting ready to head out the door. It was a short visit, but very sweet to me. I love my family so much. 

Exhibit Event

 The exhibit event was tonight and I think it was very successful. I was initially chagrined because so few people came (45-50 people in an auditorium that seats 200) but then it got going, and it was just really good. The audience was receptive. The very few BYU students who took advantage of the opportunity got to make some connections with people who are very well connected, and some good advice was shared.

In the Q and A, a girl student asked about combining your faith with your work in music, and she said something like that she has been thinking of her music as a sideline on her path to eternity. And Zach Collier, our only presently performing pop musician on the panel, said "You've got to stop thinking of it as a sideline." He talked about how he and his bandmates are there for each other and support each other, and gave this quote from Brigham Young about "there is no music in Hell," and how all (or at least most) music has some redeeming value, and you can put goodness into it. Or words to that effect. He had very wise words, honestly. (He is in keyboardist in the band Michael Barrow and the Tourists. And they have a HUGE following in Turkey. In Provo, not so much.)

He gave a piece of advice about traveling on the road for out of town shows and not drinking--another musician told him, "Never say you don't drink. Say 'I'm sober, man,' and then people are like, "Oh! Good for you!" 

We ordered WAY too much food. But, I made them add on a veggie tray, and THAT was almost all gone, while we still had plenty of everything else. So good call, me.

Josie came with me, and she took the few pictures that I have to share, so thank you to her. Well, she took them or her phone did. She took the ones that Michael Hicks is in, and he took the one that she is in and he is not in. And thank you to my department assistant Kellie who was very awesome and supportive and I got two for the price of one, since her husband, Jordan, worked right alongside her.

Me, Melody, Patsy, Josie (Trevor is over Josie's shoulder. Matt Collier's brother Sammy can be seen between Melody and me.)

Melody, Michael Hicks, Patsy (and the back of Kellie's husband)

Michael Hicks, me, Paul Engemann, Patsy, Melody

Fun fact: three of us are the same age, and two are older. The three who are rocking their gray hair are the babies compared to our lovely Clinger Sisters. In case you were going to guess differently from that. Patsy is Uncle Bruce's age, and Melody is Aunt Judy's age, for context without naming numbers.

Speaking of which, another fun fact: When Bruce and Judy lived in Raymond, they bought and lived in the Walker home. Patsy married Cam Walker, whose father was one of the Walker children who grew up in the house that Bruce bought.

Addendum on Thursday morning: Paul talked about making a decision and then following through, so you don't have to decide how you will act every time, but that you have already decided. (Something I tried to teach my kids, and that my mother taught me.) Paul said that his father had done this, and even though he was surrounded, at Capitol Records, by people making different choices, he was just who he was. He behaved how he had decided to behave. 

One day, a famous recording artist called Karl (it was Bobby Darin) wanting him to change the date for when Bobby's next album would be released. Karl kindly but firmly told him no--that the label had other commitments to other artists, and that there were financial and personnel reasons for the order in which the work was happening, and so just no. Bobby was angry, because he wanted his own way. So he called Karl's boss at Capitol, and said that Karl had called him, and that he had been very abusive in his behavior, and Bobby "quoted" Karl's supposed string of expletives. Hoping to get Karl in trouble. But Karl's boss said, "You picked the wrong guy. I have known Karl for years, and the vocabulary that you just said he used--he would never do that. So I know that this never happened. We are following the schedule." Karl had decided how he would live, and he just quietly went about living that life, and allowing others to be who they were, and his colleagues knew, and respected him for it.

Zach spoke about fame vs. being a private citizen. I will have to email him and ask him to retell the story, because the details are fuzzy, but it was about the lead singer in a band who is a very low-key individual, and a girl on a bus who was actually wearing a T-shirt with him on it, but she didn't recognize him. Zach said he would like to be music-famous, but bus-invisible.

The Last Plea

 Deadline for news for "my" newsletter is today, so this weekend I sent my poor public another poem, this time a sonnet.

Sonnet for CT

We all want news to read that you have writ,
About the tasks you do from day to day.
So think of something long, or just a bit
Of fun things, if you’re more inclined to play.

We want to know about the good and bad,
Of happy times, or stuff that makes you wail—
The challenges, and things that make you glad.
Your photos, too, can help to tell the tale.

Conventional is part of our good name,
(This newsletter in which we tell our views)
With Title next—where we record our fame—
Or maybe just the hum-drum daily news?

We must receive your news by Monday next,
So write, just spell it out—or even text!

Email news to myrna_layton@byu.edu or you seriously can TEXT. Our new phone system is configured to allow for texting. 801-422-4334.

And then, soon after, I got one more piece of news, and someone sent a photo! So...success!

I once was a dab hand at writing sonnets, but I had forgotten the rhyme scheme and was merrily doing couplets, and then realized, when all I had left to write was the final gg, that I needed to do abab cdcd efef gg for a Shakespearean Sonnet. And not aabb ccdd eeff gg. "Oh no!" thought I!!

And then I used the same lines, only rearranging the order (and sometimes changing words in the line, but basically the same ideas) and it more or less worked. So that was fun. 

Poetry Pleas

 Every April and October, I use the dates of General Conference as a guide for remembering it is time to publish the newsletter that I edit for the Mountain Plains Chapter of the Music Library Association (similar to what Nancy does with the Hancock Hummer). I decided to try something new to beg for news--using poetry to plead for content.

So poetry, please? Or, poetry pleas! 

I had sent the usual "It's time for Conventional Title articles to be submitted" boring messages a couple of times.

Then, with this one sent September 19, I used Haiku as the form:

I need to have news—
Without it, what’s there to write?
You need to supply.

What is this we write?
The Conventional Title,
It carries our news.

There are my feeble attempts at turning my request for news for Conventional Title into haiku. If your news seems boring, I challenge you to turn it into poetry! All submissions gladly accepted. Send to myrna_layton@byu.edu by October 10. Thank you!

That didn't generate any response. So in the next reminder, sent on September 24, I turned to the limerick form. Because who can ignore a limerick?

The editor of a newsletter
Thought, “How can we make this thing better?--
It’s got to have news
From you guys and youse
And everyone who’s a go-getter.”

You guys!! Be a go-getter. Get your news and send it to myrna_layton@byu.edu by October 10. Thank youse!

This got reactions. The first reaction, from a friend who I shall not name, but who is in a rather terrible situation in his institution of higher learning, a place where, as my brother would say "the veneer of civilization has grown thin," made me almost cry.

There once was a [redacted]

Whose life had become quite amiss
There is no report
He said with a snort
My position is now an abyss.

Two other people replied saying they had something to share, or something they were preparing. A third one just wrote back to love on the limerick. One person sent actual news, in prose. And one shared news in limerick form. Anita wrote:

O.K., the limerick did it for me. Here are a couple of newsy limericks from UNL for the Conventional Title.

When UNL moved its library
Of music, things got sort of hairy.
“We have to dig fast,
Right under your stacks.
We’ll do it in spring—February.”

We quick found a sweet core collection
To keep in the reading room section.
Sent the rest away
For another day
And hope there is no insurrection.

Today, I thought, "What short form of poetry can I use to send another reminder?" I had to google "short forms of poetry" to find something because all I could think of were couplets.

Here is today's poetry plea: This week, a cinquain.

It’s time—
The day is near—
Conventional Title
Deadline for news is approaching
Write now!

A cinquain is 2-4-6-8-2. And the last line is supposed to echo the first line's concept. See how I did that with "write now" which, when spoken, sounds like "right now" which = "it's time"?! I was very proud of my brain for doing that, because my conscious mind cannot take credit. I was reading to see how I could fulfill that part of the requirement when I realized that I had!! Or rather, my brain did it on my behalf. 

I doubt that this poetry plea will be as effective in generating news as the limerick was, but I like it!

September Books

 Well, this will be a short report! Never have I ever read so few books in a month since I started keeping track of my reading. However, it was the first month of a new semester, and we had a lot going on. I am on three faculty hiring committees as well as being department chair, which is a big load anyway. We ended the month with two staff members out with COVID. I did a lot of writing for work while at home, instead of reading for pleasure. (And also, visiting family members! That beats reading!)

So I only completed THREE books!

1. Whisper by Lynette Noni was interesting. The main character, Jane Doe, is a "speaker"-- what she says--is. Ergo, she is silent. She is a captive, and no amount of questioning or torture (they do not call it torture, but it is) can change that. You see, she believes that her careless words, uttered in a moment of exasperation, had killed. She never, never, wants to do that again. So her self-control over speaking is highly motivated and tightly managed. Until the right person is assigned to her, and his kindness loosens her lips. Great read from Australia's #1 YA Fiction author.

2. The book woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. At some point this summer, I had learned about blue people. People who are carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue. At first I thought it was a hoax, but further research revealed that indeed, blue people had existed, and could exist again if two people who are carriers of this recessive trait were to marry and have children. Once I knew it was real, I wondered if anyone had written fiction that featured blue people, and I only found one example: this book. It was actually very interesting--combining pack horse librarians with blue people, giving some history of Kentucky, and highlighting miscegenation laws, because oh yes, blue people were considered "colored" because they were not white. The author decided to play with time a bit, putting the discovery of the treatment for blue people in the 1930s instead of the 1960s. That was unbelievable to me--but maybe she thought the racism against blacks and blues she describes in the book would be unbelievable for the 1960s, but seriously--are we all that much better today? Anyways--it was interesting for sure.

3. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. Our book club is planning to read this book for December, in honor of the movie Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, which is a remake of the earlier movie starring Angela Lansbury. I had read this book years ago, so it was fun to reread it. My only wonderment is--why is this book in the children's section? It is short, but the style and vocabulary are not juvenile. 

And that is it!! All month I was trying to read The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling, but I just could not get into it. And I am not going to keep trying. 

We are family!

 We just completed a week of family time. Since Patrick was going to be here, it seemed like it would be a good idea to gather his siblings who could gather. We decided to offer to fly Nancy (and Phoebe) out, and she accepted. She was brave to travel with a baby and all the extra baggage that traveling with a baby entails! Ruth and David and Millie drove down from Rexburg, and Kelli and Allen happened to have Sunday off (Sept. 11) and Rosie and Austin and Ireland were available, as was Matthew. So we planned a get-together for that day. Then I got an email from my brother asking if he could see Patrick, and I told him the others were coming on Sunday as well, so he and Sara joined us. 

Patrick and his friend Jordan spent the day on Saturday the 10th putting up some temporary shade on our back deck--totally temporary, since the rain storm a few days later completely took it down!! Josie and I picked Nancy and Phoebe up at the airport on Saturday, late afternoon, and we began our time together. Oh yes, and on Saturday morning, Patrick and I about broke the bank buying a ton of groceries to get prepared as well!

Since it would be Millie's birthday on September 16, and we would not be able to go to Rexburg for her birthday party, we had a small celebration in her honor on Sunday afternoon, with coconut cream pie as the birthday cake, and we gave our gifts to Millie then. Millie was pretty mystified about why were sticking food with a candle in front of her.

I wasn't sure how it would go with all the people here, which is why we did a little afternoon celebration of Millie, but Kelli had made a Tres Leches cake, and wanted to put a candle on it for Millie, so we sang to her again as a large group of family. And Auntie Sara took a boatload of pictures! She was absent from the photos because photographer. Bruce was absent from the photos because he got peopled out and retreated to the bat cave. I put two pictures, because one of them shows everyone more fully, and the other one is better of the babies. 

The top picture has Matthew, Patrick and Allen in the back. Kelli peaking over my head, Austin holding Irie, Rosie, Bruce my brother, David and Josie. Front is me, Nancy with Phoebe, Ruth with Millie. 

Second photo (actually was taken before the first photo) Josie and Allen are very hidden from view in the back.

I had really wanted to get our three 2021-born babies together during their first year. Well, for Irie, it was a bit past her first year, but not quite there for Phoebe, and very close for Millie!  Here are some pictures of them:

My children with their babies--so Kelli holding Rosie, who is holding her baby, while Kelli's siblings each hold their babies who are actual babies. Rosie grew up!

And Kelli needed to include Matthew, since he was once her baby, too:

It was fun to get together. But exhausting!! Worth it, and nice to have a rest after everybody went home.

Books Read in August

 My reading got off to a very slow start this month. Honestly, Black Cake, the last book I read in July, had a powerful hold on my mind, and I just needed some time to let that story simmer. It was so good that I didn't think I would even be able to find a book to follow it.

I decided that some easy reading from the children's section might do the trick, so I went down to the first floor to Juvy. (I am so sad that Juvy is not on my floor anymore!) I picked two books from the return shelves--a trick I often use, because if someone else liked it and recently read it, same might be true for me. I picked two titles, and they are my #1 and #2 for the month.

1. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg--who cannot resist a Pride and Prejudice retelling? Me, that's who. Especially when they are on the humorous side. So this little YA book did not disappoint. Lizzie is a scholarship student at an elite boarding school, so there are plenty of rich bees to look down their noses at her, despite her fabulous musical talent that brought her to the attention of the school. And there is a boy--Will Darcy--who Lizzie thinks is a pompous jerk. But who is misjudging whom? 

2. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett--this was a familiar book with a familiar cover, though I do not think I have read it before. It has been around longer than I have been--written in 1948--so I have seen it in library after library after library. I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. This particular book is a compilation of three of Gannett's books about Boris the dragon--My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland. Oh, speaking of--the dragon is simply "the dragon" for a long time, until the last story, when Elmer finds out the dragon's name and wonders why didn't he just tell Elmer his name sooner? He was embarrassed by it--and Elmer responds, "It's no worse than Elmer." That made me chuckle! Besides the fact that the original book--My Father's Dragon--was a Newbery Honor Book, it has been made into a movie twice: once in 1997 and again just this year, in 2022.

3. I decided to go up to Level Five and find an old book to read, since I enjoyed that 1948 book, and I have read other old books this year, as you may remember. I ended up somewhere in the PS 3511 section in the Fs, so I picked up The Almost Perfect Murder by Hulbert Footner. (A name that makes Boris and Elmer seem quite nice by comparison in my opinion. But don't feel too sorry for Hulbert--his name is actually William Hulbert Footner, so he probably went by Bill.) This book is five short stories about a psychologist/detective named Madame Rosika Storey and her secretary Bella. The stories were very well told, and the characters well developed and interesting. So I had to look Footner up, and I was very happy to meet him. He wrote 30 stories about Mme Storey for a magazine over the course of many years--1922 through 1935--and this compilation was published in 1933. So some of his earlier Storey stories. (55555!) Interesting factoid courtesy of Wikipedia, at least interesting to this Alberta girl:

"He accepted a reporter job on the Calgary "Morning Albertan" in 1906, which was the year after Alberta became a province. His job was dangerous in the lawless town. He was saved by an assignment that sent him to Edmonton to report on the first meeting of the new province's legislature."

4. The other F book (meaning up in the PS 3511s) I picked up on Five was Miss Marvel by Esther Forbes. If her name sounds familiar to you, she also wrote Johnny Tremain, which won the 1944 Newbery Award. Esther Forbes also won the Pulitzer prize in 1943. Miss Marvel was a marvelous book, written in 1935. Angelica Marvel just never quite saw herself as others see her--we meet her as a young lady, and stay with her until her death as an old lady, but she was living that whole time in her own head. Not really connecting to others very effectively, since she was making things up about other people constantly. Her sister Gwen was by her side--she had been engaged but her intended died--that tragedy figures in the story, too. Also their brother Harold. Interesting family, the Marvels.

5. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee--I found this in the sorting shelves on Level Five. It is set in Calcutta of 1919. Captain Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective, has been assigned to Calcutta, where he works alongside Surrender-Not Banerjee, and in this story they end up unearthing corruption within the police force and the controlling interests of India. This was an Edgar award winning mystery written in 2016. Interesting story--I may look to see if there are more books by this author about these detectives.

6. We were Dreamers by Simu Liu. I ordered this through ILL, because I am a great fan of Canadian sitcoms, and I really liked Kim's Convenience, in which Simu Liu played the role of Jung Kim. This is a good telling of how Chinese immigrant parents and their children experience their new country in completely different ways--which is, you know, kind of also what Kim's Convenience was all about. (Except they are a Korean family on the show.) Despite pretty big differences between Simu and his parents, they were able to gain some understanding of each other eventually. Fast read. I liked it.

7. On August 26, I got an email reminding that my ILL Me, Myself & Bob by Phil Vischer was going to be due on August 29. Oh my goodness! I had read a couple of chapters a month ago and then the book landed at the bottom of a pile, and I forgot about it. I had not instantly been hooked by this book, so I was going to try to read more of it before it was due--but then I got into it, and finished it by August 28, and I am really glad I read it. This is the Veggie Tales how and why book. And here is a quote that I liked from page 237:

"The more I dove into Scripture, the more I realized I had been deluded. I had grown up drinking a dangerous cocktail—a mix of the gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American dream. My eternal value was rooted in what I could accomplish. My role here on earth was to dream up amazing things to do for God. If my dreams were selfless, God would make them all come true. … The most important thing, though, was to be busy. Industrious. Hardworking. A self-made man—er, Christian. The Savior I was following seemed, in hindsight, equal parts Jesus, Ben Franklin, and Henry Ford."

Other Christians would confuse him—like Mother Teresa. “…she was literally feeding the poor. One at a time. Didn’t she see that her impact would be much greater if she developed some sort of system for feeding the poor that could be franchised around the world?...Wouldn’t that be better?"

 He learns to let go and let God. And that Mother Teresa's way was maybe even better than losing sight of God in the quest for success. Really good book after all.

8. I stayed up way too late last night finishing Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys. This historical fiction book is for September book group. We are all reading one of the author's books--so not all of us will read the same one. This one is about Josie, the daughter of a prostitute, growing up in the 1950s in New Orleans. There are some pretty unsavoury characters, and some pretty kind and wonderful characters. Also a good read. Though there were some things in the telling of the story that were too neat, especially given how very messy the lives of some of the characters were.

On to September reading!

Pictures or it never happened

 So, this never happened today.

I wasn't sitting at my desk working on revisions to an article, when the phone rang and it was my colleague Trevor saying, "Can you please come down to the exhibit? I don't know much about the foundations part of the exhibit, so I need you to come and help give a tour to Donny and his brother Tom."

I was just super happy that I was having a good hair day, and that I was wearing decent clothes. Like, not great clothes, but not my gray pants in which I have worn out the knees so much that it is noticeable (I really like those pants!) like I was wearing when the Clingers were here to see the exhibit!

So, I went downstairs, and there were all the library administrators looking like cats swallowing canaries, and then just a bunch of random people. Like, very ordinary looking people. Even a bunch of old and decrepit looking people, more so than old me. "Where is Donny?" I wondered. Then I saw that he was there, but looking very ordinary. In fact, their whole group was so ordinary that I do not think there was anybody, after, when they were walking down the long hall to the south end of the library that realized there was a pop star in their midst.

Andy introduced me to Donny; we shook hands. We talked randomly together about the exhibit. Then Tom turned to me, having not been introduced, and he said, "You look very familiar to me. I think I know you."

I said, "Well, you have met me before, but it was many years ago." (At a BYU 100th Branch activity when I was like 18.) "But," I continued, "I think you knew my cousin Gilbert Hancock very well when you were on your mission?"

"In Canada," he said. "Yes, in Alberta," I said. "Yes I knew him very well! So you are his cousin!" etc. etc. etc. Then he asked me how Bert was, and I sadly reported that he had died--cancer--about a year ago. Then he asked me if I knew about Sister Lowry, and I said that I know of several Sister Lowrys in Alberta, but I am not sure which one he means. His interpreter had to interpret that for him.

Oh yes, because Tom is deaf. Tom and Virl were the first deaf missionaries called by our church, and they served in Canada. Looking back at my transcript from Bert's funeral, his daughter had said Virl's name, not Tom's, but it didn't matter because Tom did remember Bert. And also, he said he needed to give me a great big hug, which he did.

It was very surreal to be standing exactly beside Donny, completely ignoring him, and having a conversation (and a hug) with Tom instead. Donny was fine with that. He is not arrogant at all--it was like that back in the day when he was a student at BYU. Never arrogant. He can do ordinary.

Unlike Jay. For example, my roommate Jeni had a fabulously wealthy and important father, who shared the same attorney that the O family used. The attorney wanted to set Jay up with Jeni. He called and made a date with her. On the night, he came to the door and asked for Jeni, and when she went to the door, he said, "I just wanted to see what you look like." And turned around and left.

That, my friends, was a tad arrogant!

I did have one bit of conversation with Donny at the end--he was talking about the Clingers, so I told him that Melody and Patsy had come to see the exhibit, too.

And then, the little group of very ordinary, or even like not ordinary, but so that the old decrepit people would attract more attention than the ordinary man walking along beside them, headed on their way, and I went back to my office.

I have no proof. But it happened.

Baby Meet

 I just wanted to put the pictures from this Facetime call here before I lose track of them. Fun to talk to David and Nancy, and to watch the babies interact online.

Also, these cute pictures of all three of our family babies. I asked Nancy to put these together for me for a slide show at work.

This is the one I am using for the slide show.

But this one is cute, too. But Phoebe in the first one is too funny to not use!

July 2022 Books

 This month, I was reading books pretty quickly at the beginning of the month and then slowed down near the end, the opposite of last month! I read ten books.

1. Wolves, boys and other things that might kill me by Kristen Chandler. This book, by a Utah author, was an interesting look at the competing interests of environmentalists who have championed the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, and ranchers, who were and are unhappy about the wolves in the park because of the danger to their cattle. KJ is a teen living with her father in a small community, where he owns a store and also is a guide for park adventurers. Virgil's mother is researching wolves and moves to town temporarily to follow the wolf groups in the park and learn from their behavior. The teens inadvertently stir up the feelings of the competing interests in the town, and some crazy things happen because of it. This book made me think--how important it is to look at things from multiple points of view.

2. The Secret Hangman by Peter Lovesey. One day when I drove Josie to work, I saw that Orem Public Library had put out a cart full of books to give away--book sale books that did not sell. I felt like I was kind of in a reading drought--unsure what I even wanted to read next--so I decided to park and hop out of the car and have a look. There were a bunch of large print books, and I knew that you can't go wrong with large print. Why? Because publishers don't want to invest in printing any books in large print, which use more resources, unless those books have already proven themselves in the regular market. So, I grabbed two of them, one of which was this one. I was familiar with the name Peter Lovesey, but had not read any of his books before. Even though he has written plenty! This one was one of his Inspector Diamond books, the ninth of 20, written between 1996 and 2021. The murder victims are couples--and are hung in a voyeuristic way. Even though they might initially look like suicides, they are in parks or towers in very public places. Who is doing this and why?  I decided that I like Peter Lovesey's writing style.

3. Swim Back to Me by Ann Packer was the other large print book I picked up that one day. This was a collection of short stories. I liked that, small bites to read and finish and think about. There were seven stories, starting and ending with stories about a girl named Sasha, the first when she was a preteen, the last when she was an adult. The first story about her is written from the point of view of her friend, and the last from her point of view. So interesting to see how differently the two characters perceived her family dynamics!! All the stories are set in California, San Francisco Bay area. All the stories involve loss and grief--sometimes the loss is because of divorce, or death, or trust, or sense of self. Very interesting, thought-provoking stories.

4. Lord of Garbage by Kim Fowley. My Clinger Sisters research piqued my interest in learning about one of their producers, Kim Fowley, who I didn't much like, so I decided I should read his autobiography and gain some understanding. Doing so was a gift of compassion to me--I could see why Peggy Clinger was so kind to him--kind enough to invite him to spend Christmas with their family one year, even though her parents felt like they had invited the devil into their home. Kim Fowley liked two things, by his own admission: he liked to get laid, and he liked to get paid. Not the Clinger family vibe! So, reading about his very difficult childhood allowed me to understand him, and have pity for him. He was really passed around as a child, and neither of his parents were great examples of fidelity. He survived polio not once, but twice. (Peggy Clinger was also a polio survivor.) Interesting read that would not be everybody's cuppa.

5. The Body on the T by Mike Martin. I just wanted to spend some more time in Newfoundland, so I ILL'd the second book in his Winston Windflower series. Still not the best books as far as the writing and editing go, but a nice dose of Newfoundland for me. I am a bit perplexed by "the T," which is a peninsula or jutting of land into the ocean that is shaped like a T. Is it T or t? I am not sure. I have been looking at the map and cannot be sure. Still, there was scenery and moose, and Newfoundland food. Winston Windflower is a reader. In his first book, the one I read in June, he was reading Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden (which I checked out but then couldn't read: too much war for me, although since it was a book about Cree boys who went to war, what did I think it would be about?) In this book he was reading a Louise Penny novel--and I already like Louise Penny, so I liked that.

6. The Happiest Girl in the World by John Held Jr. You will remember that I read one of John Held Jr.'s story collections last month. So I ILL'd this novel by him. At the book event for Glen Nelson, he had recommended this book as the one with Mormon characters, even though he never says so. Like, they are from Duchesne, Idaho. (There is no Duchesne, Idaho, but there is a Duchesne, Utah.) Salt Lake City is the nearest big city. Delphinium, the oldest child in a family of girls named for flowers, makes a promise to Steve, the boy she has a crush on, that when she is a famous actress and he is a famous cornetist, that she will marry him. Della, as she is called for short, becomes Miss Duchesne, then Miss Idaho, then Miss United States, and then Miss Universe before ending up on Broadway. She is not aware of Steve and his trek to California to play in Big Bands, and then coming to New York as the top trumpet player in a band that is going to be in the show she is in. They re-meet and marry, and she is the happiest girl in the world. This book was written in 1935, for some context.

7. The other non-fiction book I read this month (besides Kim Fowley) was Colorful Characters in Mormon History: The Good, the Bad and the Hilarious by Kathryn Jenkins--was interesting, but I did not find any of the colorful characters she included to be hilarious, honestly. I also wished she had included stories of more women. There was only one. There was only one historical woman who was either good or bad or hilarious? Surely there were more. Anyways, I didn't love this book. But since it was written as little capsules, each chapter about a different person, I could read at it slowly and it was interesting. 

8. The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey was actually the FIRST Inspector Diamond book. There's a conundrum for you! He thinks he is the last detective to use old fashioned detection, instead of relying on technology and forensics to do all the work. When pushed out of a case, he resigns. But still can't help but work on the case. This book was written so differently from the other Inspector Diamond book I had read that I was fascinated. Reading the last couple of pages, as I routinely do, I was upset to learn that the character I didn't want to be the murderer was the murderer!!! That made me not want to finish the book--so clearly I should not have read ahead!! The book was so well-written that I decided to finish it, so I could learn the WHY of it. And I am so glad I did. It was a good book, and nobody suspected the murderer. (He didn't mean to do it.)

9. As a read-ahead reader, I was in good company with Nora Stephens, one of the protagonists of Book Lovers by Emily Henry. This is a highly regarded romantic comedy, which sometimes was a bit Harlequin Romance-y to me, but in the end, I really liked it. Nora Stephens is a book agent, and she always reads the first chapter, and then flips to the end. Good ending = good book. From her point of view as a person who needs to promote books, to get a good editor to work with an author, to get a good publisher to pick up the book. Nora's sister Libby takes her on a holiday with a list of things to experience in a new setting. They meet wonderful people, and Nora does fall in love--just not quite in the way that Libby wanted or Nora expected.

10. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. What a book! A New York Times best seller. A read with Jenna pick, for those interested in reading with Jenna Bush Hager. Being made into a Hulu series. And truly a riveting book. This is Wilkerson's debut novel, and it is amazing. The way she moves between characters and through time, and slowly reveals to Byron and Benny that their heritage and their parents are so very different than they thought. And there is no recipe for Black Cake, by the way, just a list of ingredients--when Benny looked for her mother's recipe, that is all there was. In life, as in cake, there are ingredients--how are you going to mix them? How are you going to realize them? Seriously, read this book. I would be very surprised if you don't love it.