September is Ending Already! (Books)

 Well this month, like all the rest of them, has just flown by!! 

I will begin with a picture of my sister and some of my many cousins taken at the family dinner after the burial of Heather in Raymond on Thursday.

Most of the cousins are from the Navrails, with only three others present. I wish I could have been there! Standing from L to R is Ron Hancock, then Darrel N., Donna N.N., Priscilla N.P., Lavon G. L., Kerry N. A., Rod N., and Dwayne N. In front is Lori N.O., and my sister Colleen in the black. So, all of the living Navratil siblings (7) plus three. (Did I spell Dwayne's name right? I am not sure...) I think that the two recent deaths in our extended Hancock family have been very hard on Ron, who is among the oldest of our surviving cousins, and he is not in very good health. (Recently put on oxyden.) And both Janeane and Heather were heathly in comparison, or seemed so, and then they died. Even though he is old and unhealthy, he also made the effort to travel several hours north to Lacome for Janeane's funeral, too. 

That brings me to books. With a Sunday and Monday left, if I was reading a book that I really like, I might finish one more this month, but I have started on four or five, and the one I just started is the most compelling, but is nonfiction and I won't finish it super fast. So I will just go with the ten books I have read thus far, feeling quite positive that ten is the right number for September.

1. New From Here (2022) by Kelly Yang. The author wrote this book during the pandemic, a fictionalized account of experiences her own family went through in 2020. The Wei-Evans children and their mother leave Hong Kong on one of the last flights out in early 2020 before the quarantine began, leaving their dad behind to work (an attorney). They were a family of dual citizens, and they owned a house in California, and decided at the time that it would be better to be there, since the US had hardly any cases of COVID 19, while cases were starting to explode in Hong Kong. The children had varying experiences--the oldest one, who looked more like his father, faced less prejudice than the younger two, who looked more like their mother.The title comes from the second child's decision to be "new from here" at school, rather than "new from Hong Kong" because of  virus-blaming. Quote on p.328: "if we've learned one thing this year, it's that we're all connected to each other. We all breathe the same air into our lungs. None of us are immune to each other's problems. That's why we have to care about each other." (It seemed like, for awhile, the pandemic was teaching us these truths...but then we got into worse political polarization, so I am not sure that message sunk in.)

2. My sister lives on the mantelpiece (2012) by Annabel Pitcher. It was the title that grabbed me. The illustration showed an urn on the mantelpiece, so I knew that this was about a sister who had died. She was a twin, killed in the London bomb blasts. (This story is based on that actual happening, though the characters are completely fictional.) The main character, a boy named Jamie was very young when Rose was killed, and he doesn't remember her, yet her existence has completely changed their family. Their mother left, their father has become a drunk, and the twin, Jasmine, is trying her hardest NOT to be like Rose, to whom she is constantly compared. I liked this story. The two surviving kids really are strong, and have a good impact on the family, at least on their father, who begins to change for the better as the book ends. Oh yes, and Jamie's only friend at school is a muslim girl, which complicates things immensely, because of the London bomb blast part of the story, which has caused some prejudice to arise in Jamie's father.

3. Apples Never Fall (2021) by Liane Moriarty. Because I read a Jaclyn Moriarty book last month, I checked up on her sister to see if she had new books I needed to read. Because those Moriarty sisters are fine story tellers! And there was something new to me! My notes to myself about this book are rather cryptic: Tennis, apple crumble, and a strange woman named Savannah. All of those things are important in this story of a family of athletes in Australia, whose mother goes "missing"--but is she really missing? Is she alive or dead? Things are not always, or often, what they seem to be... From the outside, looking in at someone else's life, we don't see very clearly.

4. Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the path of most reistance (2023) by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. With thanks to Kori Wakamatsu, who wanted a few chapters of this book put on course reserve, but the library copy was checked out. So a student picked the book up from her so the library people could do their work with it, and then it was given back to me to return to her. So, instead of being on the list of people who had a hold on it, I just got to quickly read it overnight, and give it back to Kori the next day! My two takeaways given a quick read: To follow Christ is to take the hard road--because look at his life--not easy! In fact, difficult. And secondly, that God loves diversity. He made this world full of diversity in geography, landscape, everything! Especially people. 

5. Princess of the Wild Sea (2023) by Megan Frazer Blackmore. This is a interesting tale loosely based on fairy tales. Specifically, Sleeping Beauty, but instead of fairies there are a bevy of magical aunts who bless or curse the princess. In her case, when she is pricked she falls asleep for only a short time. A boy comes from somewhere else, as prophesied, but he doesn't seem to be much of a hero. However, in the end the children solve the problem after consulting the library! (Research is important!) I have read several of this author's books in the past, and she is another story teller who knows her way around a story!

6. Last scene alive (2002) by Charlaine Harris. We were reading books with library settings or characters for our HBLL book club, and I remembered the Aurora Teagarden cozy mysteris that I used to read when I worked in public libraries, so I decided to look for more to read. An actress, Celia Shaw, is killed on a movie set. The movie is about a series of murders that occured in Aurora Teagarden's home town a number of years before, and the dead actress was playing the part of the librarian, Aurora Teagarden, in the movie. So naturally, Aurora (Roe) takes an interest in who might have done it!

7. Real murders (1990) by Charlaine Harris. I didn't do it on purpose, but I accidentally chose two Aurora Teagarden books that were closely related, since this one is the one about the series of murders in Lawrenceton, Aurora's home town, that would become the subject of a movie in the book I read before this one. I should have read the books in opposite order, but alas, I did not know it at the time! Roe is one of the members of a local book group who like to read True Crime and discuss these books. Then real murders start happening, seeming to target the actual members of the book group, who are either victims, or set up to be looked at as perpretrators. 

8. Better than perfect (2015) by Melissa Kantor. Juliet thought she had the perfect life, with her perfect parents, and their perfect home, and her perfect boyfriend, and her perfect grades, and her perfect privilege that would lead her to the perfect university (Harvard) and then to the perfect career--until her parents split up, her mom falls apart, and trying to maintain a perfect image gets really old and tiring.  You know what is better than perfect? Good enough is better. Almost anything is better, because perfect can be a perfect trap, and many things are better than that.

9. The emperor's orphans (2018) by Sally Ito. I do not remember how I learned about the existence of this book, but when I read about it, I needed to read it, so I put in an ILL request. Sally Ito is seven years younger than me, born in Taber, but never lived there. She is a writing adjunct at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, although she is herself Anglican. I loved this book! I thought that I was well-educated about what happened when the Canadians moved the Japanese inland during the second world war, but I did not know that after the war was over, people could choose to either remain east of the rockies, OR be repatriated to Japan. Sally's grandfather, who had not wanted to live in Canada, chose repatriation. His Canadian-born wife (who was also his first cousin) did NOT want to go to Japan, leaving her parents and siblings behind in Canada. But they had five sons, and husbands were the boss back then, and she didn't want to be alone in Canada raising five boys, so she went unwillingly. Her oldest son, Sally's father, was also not super happy about it, and vowed to get back to Canada as soon as possible. They entered Japan at a really hard time, as they were recovering from the war. Such an interesting story!! Sally's dad and two of his brothers did make it back to Canada. So, our neighbor, Toshi Miyanaga, was an Ito. She was a first cousin to Sally's dad, though he was much older than her. So that connection made the book even more interesting to me!

10. The Grandest Game (2024) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. She is one of my favorite authors, and I have read and liked most of her books. So, it saddens me to say that this book disappointed me a little bit. It may be my own fault, because I failed to read The Brothers Hawthorne, and I am pretty sure that some of the characters in THIS book first appear in THAT book, and so it would have given me much-needed context had I already read it. (I have a hold on it, but no book yet.) And also, this book ends in a cliff-hanger of epic proporttions, and the next book will not be published until 2025!! That is a long wait to find out what happened to Gigi at the end, because clearly something terrible happened, but I am not even sure WHAT. 

A trio of funerals

 A trio of losses in late August, early September. 

August 28, my cousin Janeane died. She was 18 years older than me, and I was not super sad about her passing because she lived to be 85, which seems like a good old age to me. Although, my sister Colleen said, "Now that I am 72, 85 doesn't seem very old at all!" And there is some truth to that!

My memories of Janeane were of her as a young mother when I was a young girl. Her daughters Barbara and Donna, these really cute little blondies, were born in 1965 (late in the year) and 1968 (early in the year) respectively, so my memories of them are from when I was an early teenager, because Ron and Janeane (he called her Jan; I only ever knew her or thought of her as Janeane) had lived in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is where they adopted their cute little twins Wade and Wayne, whose social workers were delighted to place them with a family who were leaving the area because of whatever potential situation they were worried about. That is just a memory I have of probably overhearing information not intended for my ears. Anyway...I loved to play with Janeane's beautiful children! She apparently got a virus (unidentified to me) and went into the hospital and died very quickly. She had otherwise been in good health. So it was a suprise, but it felt okay to me because 85 seems like a good age to live to. (Colleen's opinion notwithstanding!) Both of her daughters already died, unfortunately, one in her late 30s, the other in her early 40s. They didn't get to have very long lives!

My sister-in-law Sara's sweet mom Shirley Cox had her 92nd birthday on August 28 and then died a few days later, on September 3. She was quite the go-getter, learning at 75 to do the splits so she could be the dancing star of the performing group she belonged to, Jean's Golden Girls. She performed all over the place, within Utah and to far away places like Hawaii and New York City, shocking the audiences with her amazing agility. Her last splits were, I think, in May of this year, so at age 91 and some change. But what I liked about her was how kind she was, and how nice. She always greeted me and was, I think, genuinely happy to see me and anybody else who crossed her path. She was always interested and interesting. What a lovely person! I was glad to get to know her. 

Both of these ladies had their funerals on the same day: Monday September 9, Janeane's in Alberta, and Shirley's in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I attended Shirley's, but attempted to join the Zoom for Janeane's, which was supposed to start a half hour earlier, so I thought I might be able to catch a half hour. But apparently it started late, so by the time I left the Zoom Room to give my full attention to Shirley's service, Janeane's hadn't started. So I missed it.

Hardly had these ladies settled into their graves than the schocking news came that my cousin Rod Navratil's wife Heather had died!! Which she did on September 11!! Heather was only 65. She shares a birthday with our daughter Kelline, our grandson Alexander, and our great-niece McKenna, on October 14. She would have been 66. She is younger than me!! This made me very sad. I am still very sad. I attended her funeral virtually today. I really wanted to go to Canada for this. I just wanted to be with my family. Especially for tomorrow, which is Heather's burial day, and is when the family will get together in Raymond, in the same cemetary where my parents are buried. Heather went to High School with Rod and Nola, who ended up in the same grade because sometimes that happens, and when the Navratils moved to their new house, the Whiteheads, Heather's family, lived across the street from them. They were high school sweethearts, and married after Rod's mission and Heather's associate degree. 45 years ago. Heather has been my cousin for all those years. She was so kind and sweet. Her aunt gave the eulogy, and she used an ancronym SWEETHEART to describe Heather's life. She was that. So kind, always pleasand, patient. She was also sometimes silly and fun. 

Of the three, she is the one who breaks my heart the most, because she was only 65! That feels young to me, especially because she just died--Rod came home from work, and she had died. That was a shock.

Library Happenings

 What is happening at the library? Every day this week, something new has surprised me at the library. This de-construction is moving apace, and the crew never gives us a heads up!

Like, a week ago Friday, we found out they were taking down the glass wall at the west end of the Music Reading Room because they were taking it down, and then tearing into the brick wall a little ways, too. Yikes! We had moved so many things into the Reading Room to keep them safe from the construction mess, and so they brought the construction mess to the Reading Room!

Here is the view from my office doorway looking north. You can see how the wall is also being destroyed. And so many things are not covered or protected. So fun!

I managed to convince Jenne, our building manager, and Mike, the project manager, that they have gone far enough on this side, and if they finish the ceilings (with new lights, which we badly need, so hurray!) and floors (the carpet will be a lighter color, which helps with light, so hurray!) we will be able to move lots of things out so they can tear down the remaining area just fine.

So they are now destroying the other side of the floor, so they will be able to build my new office, and I will only have to move once. Fingers crossed!! Some days they are destrying so loudly right beside me or on top of me, that I expect them to burst through the wall or ceiling!

Here is my office door on the north side, so you can see how close they are to being right in my lap.

On the other side of the floor, standing just inside of the former door of the harp room, looking towards David Day's former office:

and then, standing in the same place, looking toward the "interior" of the harp room. As was.

Today's view of the Music Seminar Room:

And, standing in the doorway of the music seminar room, looking down the "hallway"--now with holes in the walls here and there. So fun:

All of the construction happenings were challenging to my fourth floor desk supervisor, Kellie, as she and her students were trying to plan their contribution to the library event that happened on Thursday evening. Because where they were going to do each of their three activities had to keep changing, as the crews hung more and more tarps up to keep people out and construction dust in.

The event was being patterned after the Night at the Museum movie:

I hope you can see this video that explains the premise of the evening's entertainment.

Kellie always brainstorms with the students, and their ideas were:

1. They wanted to feature our Samurai armor, so they had an activity about The Last Samurai. Student participants had to fight and win against him, I think? So Dallin was dressed as a samurai and only spoke Japanese, and the swords were foam, and obviously he would carry on for awhile and let them win. (This is not a great picture of the armor because of the way the lights are reflected. Sorry!)

2. They had a station for Disney movies in general, overseen by Walt Disney himself, how he may have once been as a younger man who was actually Carter. Carter had them answer Disney trivia questions. (The moustache is fake.)

Carter is in this weird little corner by the elevators because what you can't see just to the left and right of him are the tarps hanging to deny entrance. That was not where they planned to have him, but that is where they ended up putting him. Thanks, construction dudes!

3. This blew us all away, because who knew that 18-22 year olds absolutely LOVE the movie--wait for it-- Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses. This lovely 2007 production was apparently super popular with these kids, and they also love its original score, written by Arnie Roth. One of its songs was nominated for an Emmy. Who knew? Total shocker to me.

I am not sure what our student Allie did, playing Barbie playing Princess Genevieve, but so many students commented on her and raved about this movie. We were gobsmacked, honestly.

Allie/Barbie/Genvieve was the one from our area who had the missing piece of the codex. (If you watched the video I linked then you will know what I am talking about.)

On the fifth floor, Mary did something about a mummy, and I hope to get pictures from that, too, but I don't have them--Mary is off for a week. Also various librarians were either lost souls (Tim and Adam did this) or tricksters (Matt did this--typecasting). And Janice and the cataloguers did some library card catalog activities, because apparently we still have some of those upstairs, which they brought down and were set up in the atrium, and apparently it was a lot of fun.

Makes me wish that I had gone, but I missed out!! And those are some of the library happenings.