Januarium

Well, I didn't get my 84 miles for the month. But, I will have something near 70, so I am not too far behind.

Got our taxes filed today. So that's done. Yay.

Got another backpacking trip on the calendar to the Cohutta, which will be awesome! Going during the butterfly migration.

Accepted 6 friend requests from people I have not met IRL yet. That's borderline crazy for me. I'll probably panic when that sets in.

Started a joint blog with 2 other folks, it already has several followers and comments. We barely have anything going over there yet, I guess it just appeals to the right crowd. It's all hiking and backpacking stuff, one lady is a personal trainer, so she's covering exercises. I'm yammering and the other lady and I are writing up our assorted trip reports. People freaking love to read about trips! It's like I found my calling.

Got Matt a rain fly for his hammock, got me a rain kilt because I can't wear rain pants over a skirt, lost 4 pounds and an entire pants size doing an abs and back workout every day. I still can't do all of the exercises, I am in awe at how genuinely out of shape I am. I drip sweat after 2 minutes, half an hour later, there's me, outlined in sweat on the mat. I think my posture is better.

I also can't believe I am still so tubby. 27 days of sporadic walking and near-daily abing. I should be a size 6 already. That one size drop just gets me back where I was before Matt starting bringing home holiday goodies from work. So my normal clothes fit and I don't have to just wear the elastic waist pants. Hardly even seems right.

Have some social things lined up for the kids the next couple days, then backpacking this weekend with Matt and Melanie. Then it will be February and leap year to boot. Jake has a couple days off next week, so Monday won't be crazy for once.

I have not watched much of anything this month, it's been a weird month. I am still reading Station Eleven, still love it. Last night I stayed up overnight and read Grandma Gatewood's Walk in one go. The book was so good. Finished up The Abstinence Teacher today. Very interesting read, I like the insight behind beliefs, to see the process, even if it falls apart.

Matt and I are watching The Leftovers, a series based on a book by the same author and that has another angle on sects and beliefs that I am trying to puzzle out. Same thing in Station Eleven, though it's a gorgeous story about life and love and carrying on. I've never read a story about the end of the world that's given me such raw hope like this one.

Why do people latch on to what they do? What gap does it bridge? That's all we are, pocked and holey creatures who seek out people and things to fill those spaces and smooth us out, make rolling through this life less jolting, yo.

Wishing us all smooth travels.

Play Day!

We don't have enough play days with friends any more.  So when one works out, it's like a holiday around here.
Ben stayed with Alex and Emma all weekend, but wanted to come home last night, so we headed off to get him and stayed for dinner and hung out.  BAM it was 5 hours later, I don't understand how time keeps speeding up, a day passes in moments.

Today, we met back up with Katy and her crew as well as Amanda and her kiddos at Shakalaka, then headed to the park to play for a couple more hours.  We finished it all off with a grocery shopping trip. Woot. I am taking kids camping Wednesday to help Park Thursday, we needed food.  Last time, they ate everything I brought and then some.

Jake.

Shakalaka has been off our radar all summer because they don't do any sort of homeschool discount while school is out.  So today was extra fun, the kids love jumping, Ben most of all.
Since they opened the Ninja Course in the spring, that has been the new favorite.

With ropes, poles, ramps, climbing wall, slack line, rings and more, they pack a LOT of upper body work into a small space.

At the playground, the kids ran and ran and finally one of them realized they were TIRED and sat down to rest!  They occupied themselves for a few minutes playing a game by telling a story one sentence at a time going through the alphabet.  So the first sentence began with an A, then the next person added to the story with a sentence that began with a B.  And so on.
I stood away and used my zoom.  I recently listened to a story about a chimpanzee and felt a little like playing scientific observer.

I snapped a couple quick group shots, with barely any of the group actually looking at the camera.  AH well.  

The book club is reading Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, I LOVE that book.  I am excited to get to read it again.  :)  

That's the news, we area packing tomorrow for an overnight to help with the Fiery Gizzard reroute, then back home for 2 days, then BACK to do a caving trip, good thing we all love South Cumberland-best state park there is.  We are lucky to have it so close.

Summer Day Twelve: Shelve

This is what I have been reading since the first day of summer.  I will give a VERY brief blurb, and I will admit, I kind of got hung up on boarding school stories somehow.  I often just go with the 'suggested for you' list and get in a rut.  I also read The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, set in a boarding school.  It is the first of a series and I liked it well enough to read the next one.  I don't want to screw up the plot by laying it out, it's one of those you should just read.

7 Souls by Barnabus Miller and Jordan Orlando
Spoiled girl is killed, you get to follow along as she finds out why.  Skippable

Bent Road by Lori Roy
Facing your past and overcoming grief.  Good

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Boarding School!  Wicca, teen love, angst and a mystery.  Skippable

Chimney Sweepers Boy by Barbara Vine
Mystery, obsession, lies, obsession.  Good

Dead Strange by Matt Lamy
Attempts to explain the truth behind 50 world-famous mysteries.  I am currently reading it to the kids, each section is 7-9 pages long, middle school level, but fun.

Detective Inspector Huss  by Helene Tursten
Another hang-up of mine: Police procedural or other type mystery set in another country.  This time, Sweden.  Introduces the title character and puts you in her story, first of a series in which I hope the character is fleshed out a bit more.  Looking forward to reading more of these. Good.

Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
Norway!  First book of a series following Inspector Sejer.  Good.  I looked at the first chapter of the second book(it's on hold) and it does not seem to have the same cadence as ths first.  I am hoping the series overall is as good as the first.  Good.

Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
coming of age story, giant squid, and a summer that changes a life.  Good.

Informationist by Taylor Stevens
First in the Vanessa Micheal Munroe series.
I did not like it...it was overdone.  That being said, if you WANTED a Bond-type read with a female lead, here you go.  I had hoped to find a new series to keep me busy a while.  If you want a  'surprise' kick-ass female protagonist, stick with Lisbeth Salander.

Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron
This reads like a movie script, it's fast-paced and is a great summer read.  Crazy woman, murder investigation, pregnant woman, lots of suspense and it's perfect for an afternoon read when your brain is like a kid at bedtime and just wants a story.  Okay

New Girl by Paige Harbison
Boarding school! Teen love, mystery!  Okay.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Riley Giff
I seriously loved this one, just read it. Short. Good.


Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
This is a very fast read and frankly, scared me.  The story starts at the first of summer following a 13 year old boy who is a bit shy, a little left-out-much like most kids feel at times.  There is a murder in his neighborhood and when the adults in the story get involved...it shows an investigation from a very different side than my usual reads.  Good.

Snatched by Karin Slaughter
This is a police procedural novella, about an hour to read.  Fast, exciting, gives a little glimpse into Will and Faith and their work lives.  She has a whole series about the 2 characters, working for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and I really like them.  It's a great series, I started reading it because a character in the Sookie Stackhouse series is called Karin Slaughter and it caught my eye.  My only complaint with the plot-it is NOT 45 minutes from the AL border to the Atlanta airport.
Also very good are the Taylor Jackson novels set in Nashville and written by J.T. Ellison, I am on the waiting list for the next one now!

Start of Everything by Emily Winslow
I have not started this one yet, it's next!  Here is the blurb:
 In this stunning psychological thriller for readers of Tana French, Kate Atkinson, and Donna Tartt, Emily Winslow has crafted a literary prism told through the eyes of her many intricately drawn characters. Masterly and mesmerizing, The Start of Everything will captivate until the very last page.  Sounds promising.




I just want to add that I have found, read and returned all of these books for free using my Nook and my library card.  Did not even have to put on pants!  For someone like myself, who gorges and discards when it comes to fiction, this is indeed the perfect set-up.  I imagine my $100 Nook has paid for itself several times over in saved gas and possible late fees.  Plus, I can watch Netflix on it while I walk on the treadmill.  I venture to say, it's the best invention since the camera.

Aftermath

Christmas went well, I think everyone was happy with their goodies.  We never go overboard, this year was a little more plump than in the past, though.  It's been a few years since we did stockings AND gifts.  The kids asked if next year we can skip Christmas and let everyone have 2 birthdays.  So, we are trying that.

No news to speak of, it's been quiet around here and we have been firmly at home all week other than grocery-related errands.  We discussed a few ideas for things to do this week, but the weather has been awful.  Not just cold, but cold and wet and not just wet, but windy as well.  The kind of weather than cuts into your bones and makes you want nothing more than a warm place to be dry.

Tonight Matt is making our turkey, I tried it one year and it put me off dead bodies for good.  That year it was a 20 pound thing, this year it's just 14 pounds, but it was still awful enough for Matt to spend the whole prep time screaming 'gross' from the other room while I hid out and read and pretended what I always pretend-that meat comes fully cooked and on a bun.

We had big meal plans, but the longer the turkey took to thaw, the more we piecemealed the meal pieces.  The pie went first, of course.  I actually ate my slice while walking on the treadmill at 9 in the morning the day before Christmas.  I think tomorrow other than turkey, we have dressing and...green beans.  And cranberry sauce, though I keep cans of that around all year, I love cranberry sauce.  I will eat it with no provocation needed.

I have been reading.  I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I rarely fall in love with characters, but Lisbeth is fucking awesome.  I was SO glad to discover it was the first of a trilogy, I must be WAY behind the times as once I started looking around, it appears everyone loves the series and there are movies in Swedish and English.  I don't want to watch the movies yet, I finished The Hunger Games and watched the movie in the same day.  HUGE mistake.  I can't even pick up the next book, the movie was so awful it dashed my interest against the rocks of the young adult franchise money machine.

Do John Green books as movies, gah.  No brainer, people who make movies!  They are practically screenplays and no special effects needed, just good actors.  Oh...that is probably the problem right there.  *sigh*  They are out there, but the movie casters can't seem to find them.

I am reading The Lost Songs now, I finished Fifty Shades of Grey some time last week. Not what I expected, I did not care for the whole plot and the characters were unbelievable, there is not a 21 year old American female college graduate who does not have e-mail.  And if I read another book with a male lead so beautiful to gaze upon that angels weep, I will throw up.  Seriously.  It's as done to death as girl meets supernatural boy.  Or girl is gorgeous and thin yet never exercises at all and has no clue-and is clumsy.  Hey, that was a major plot point in Fifty.  More like Fifty Shades of Yawn, I did not like either one of them and I probably would have hit her myself given the chance.  But he just needed to be neutered. Seriously?  A man who 'needs to punish' things he views as transgressions (like that 11th commandment: Though Shalt Not Roll Thine Eyes if Thy Possesseth a Pudenda) and totally control a woman's every move is both hot and romantic?  It's a trilogy, but I am leaving off at the end of book one, after she hobbles away from him to nurse her strap marks.  No doubt, she takes him back first chance at the start of the next one.

I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey in one go.  I started reading when I woke up and read the bulk of the day, on the treadmill and sitting in the bed and in the kitchen, just toted that book around.  Wow.  It's a book about his time in rehab, but it's also a peeled-back look into addiction and his insight is brand-new.  With no belief in God, the 12 steps are useless, so he forges his own way through and his need to shoulder the blame and not excuse what he has done had me cheering.  I hate people that point at others and say, "you are why I am poisoning myself".  I have never been drunk or done any type of drugs, but I have laid plenty of blame for other behavior and all it does is detract from what you can do with what has been done.  Trading your own future to wallow in your own past.  Everyone is capable of being better, everyone, everyone, everyone.  Even you.  Even me.  Be better.

Okay, I guess my soapbox is flat, I have read some more books, but nothing amazing, just time-fillers or self-help like I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna that I got at a bad time because I am sleeping fine and reading it puts me out.  So, I guess it's true, though in a month or two when my cycles change and I am manic, I will be wide awake at 3 a.m. trying to remember what he had to say.

Harry!

I stumbled upon Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series kind of backward.  I saw the TV series via Netflix, then read a couple graphic novels (Welcome to the Jungle and Storm Front) and FINALLY found the science-fiction section at the library where I discovered a whole row of the Dresden Files!

Granted, I read 80% non-fiction and the fiction I do read is nearly all from the young adult section, my only delves into adult fiction or specifically, science fiction tend to revolve around Charlaine Harris and my love-hate relationship with her heroines and inability to NOT read the next book in the series.  It's like brain candy.

Jim Butcher, in creating Harry Dresden, has fulfilled a need I was unaware I had.  I love Harry, he's so stupidly optimistic and so brilliant and yet unaware, each book is like a ride.  My buddy Suzette has a thing for a cheesy series involving a MacGyver-like hero who can overcome anything in his path, rescue the girl and magically maintain his solid good looks.  Harry bleeds, he doubts, he wonders, he makes seriously bad puns, he falls down, gets beaten up, he has relationship issues, gets preoccupied with sex, he relies on magical items and other people to help him, he contemplates having a nap instead of saving the day.  He's more real, even written as a wizard, than most action heroes.  Even when he, unfailingly, saves the day.  There could not be a series of books if he did not prevail.  But he doesn't make it look easy.  I would not want to actually meet him.  Kind of like Buffy.  I am glad they are out there in some universe, but I don't want to cross paths with either of them.  Although a Buffy/Harry fanfic that was well-written would be SOOO cool.

I have read several reviews, most scathing, about the series.  I thought two things when I read them, the first was that the reviewers were being SUPER petty, picking out factual inaccuracies in a book written about a magic-using man who fights demons, vampires, ghosts and lycanthropes to name but a few.  The second was that they were lying about how much they did not like the first seven books they read all in a rush over a single giddy weekend.  If your profession/job is to write about good books, you can't really go on about how Harry is so awesome you could not stop eating humdingers and gulping chocolate milk during the fight scenes.  Or how your kid came in with a bleeding knee and you flapped your arm toward the band-aids and after glancing at him, said it was 'barely a scratch' so you could get back to the next page.  Or how you wondered just what was chasing him while you stood in the shower, only after your spouse said you HAD to "use soap this time, so don't just jump right back out to start reading again".   Killjoy.

The bottom line is, that for escape reading, The Dresden Files are perfect.  Lots of fun, action, enough explanations that you are not confused with terminology, but usually not so much that you feel talked down to.  He does kind of really fill in the backstory a bit on occasion, not quiet as much as Harris, who sometimes retells a previous plot line in such detail that it feels like re-reading the previous book. 

The joy of books and anticipation

Having made our big decision to hike part of the AT, some 550 miles of it, which is nearly exactly 1/4 of the total distance the trail actually covers, starting next April and, knowing we needed plenty of experience and a moderate amount of gear in the 11 months until our departure, our first stop was, of course, the library.

Among the books on how to backpack and what to take and cooking in the backwoods and defending camp against bears and skunks, we scored Bill Bryson's book about hiking the AT, A Walk in the Woods.  We started it on the way to hiking at Buck's Pocket last weekend and have made many slow drives to Dollar General, the mile taking an easy 20 minutes both ways so we could listen to it more.  Upon reaching the last disc in the van, the kids brought it inside to start it all over again from the first disc.  It's just as funny the second time, though I have to say, I feel more trepidation AFTER hearing him describe his hike, made at the age of 44 with no more prep than reading a little and buying a ton of gear he seemingly had no idea how to use.  He just...got on the trail and started walking North.  

I will be heading toward 38 when I finally get on the trail.  I have longed to hike it since I was 12. I was given a stack of Backpacker Magazines ranging from 1980 to around 85 by the school librarian and I was not without one of the issues for at least a year.  I memorized the whole vocabulary-always, always my favorite part of doing anything new are the words you can bandy about that are exclusive to that activity-then made gear lists, made lists of hikes I wanted to do, bought wool socks at the thrift store because they were best for hiking.  I got $50 a month in allowance starting at age 14 and I used it to buy hiking boots, a pack, fleece jacket, water bottle and a poncho, accumulating gear over the months, the whole while knowing neither of my parents would ever, ever take me backpacking. 

That summer, my mother went to Greeley for the summer quarter, a college just north of Denver.  She bought tickets for me and my older sister to fly out and we spent the next 3-4 weeks driving in her tiny car all over the Rockies, hitting the Tetons, Yellowstone, we drove into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, camping in a minuscule 3 man tent she bought at JC Penney for the main reason that it popped up and required barely 90 seconds from taking it out of the trunk to crawling inside.  On the way home we went through Kansas and stopped at St. Louis and rode the arch cars all the way to the top.  I was hooked on camping travel.

The summer I was 16, I took a job with the forestry service and mowed grass all of June to pay for a ticket to fly to Missoula, Montana the first of July and I lived in a small tent with a girl from Denver for 5 weeks while we hiked and chopped trail out of the woods along the Continental Divide.  I wrote Matt the whole time I was gone and he NEVER ONCE WROTE ME BACK and years later when I got back in touch with my old tent mate, she had trouble believing we were actually married as everyone thought I made him up.  hahaha!  But that's how long we have known each other-over half my life and then some.  Longer than we haven't known each other.  But not as long as I have wanted to hike the AT.

Tuesday

From Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith:

A Tuesday morning, thought Mma Ramotswe, is a good day on which to start work on a case.  This was largely because of the positioning of Tuesday: Monday was difficult for no other reason than it was Monday, the start of another week, with the prospect of another weekend as distant as it ever could be.  Wednesday was halfway through the week and a day on which, for some reason, there always seemed to be rather too much to do.  By Thursday one was getting tired, and then on Friday, with the end in sight, one was in no mood to begin anything.  That left Tuesday, which it was now; the day on which Mma Ramotswe found herself contemplating afresh the list of football players and deciding which of them to investigate first.

I got the first 2 discs of the series in, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and fell in LOVE with Precious Ramotswe and the people in her life.  Yesterday at the library, I scored a half-dozen or so of McCall-Smith's books, some from this series, some from other series he has written.  We are listening to The Good Husband of Zebra Drive in the van and I am reading one of the books now. 

The Spoils of My Day
ahhhhhhh

See the peel and seal holding up one end of the stack?  Yes-we are attempting to repair part of the roof with STICKERS.  I wanted unicorn print, but Matt insisted on aluminum coated.  It's actually to flash the chimney and it's made for such things, it's just amusing to me.

Another TV show we are liking (via Netflix of course) is The Dresden Files.  Those are written by Jim Butcher and the library has many of his books-but not actually ON the shelf.

Speaking of the library, Ben and Chan were in hysterics yesterday looking at the shelves.  First, in the adult fiction, there was a shelf 'Dun-For'.  Then the next one over said 'Hed-Jam' which was hilarious and then in the large print area, the first shelf was 'A-Bra'.  Chandler nearly fell over.
This was just after looking at the framed photos on display in the atrium-one had a typo ON the print label and it read 'Southside Squarf' instead of 'Square'.  It was in all upper case, so it was not QUITE as noticeable, but of course we spotted it and managed to use 'squarf' about 60 times in the next 4 minutes.  It works best as a vague threat and/or a description of a strange food.  Ah, good times.

We had dinner at Moe's, thanks to my Secret Sister-who somehow knew I like Moe's, hmmm-and the free meal certificate they send for your birthday, we made out QUITE well for dinner for 5 for $10!  

When I got in, I popped online to check in and saw a post on my cousin's FB page about our grandmother being with Jesus now.  News to me!

She was 91 and had been ready to go for several years-after multiple death-bed visits, the first one I can recall was in 6th grade.  Actually-I recall it MORE because I was in my mother's science class.  We had to make a model of a plant and animal cell that night for homework.  I was AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MY MOTHER.  The next day, I did not have my homework, so I got paddled in the hall BY MY MOTHER, who then whipped me at home for having gotten a paddling at school.  I just...well...anyway.

Grandmother had many, many 'call in the family' events, I don't want to say she liked the drama, but it did always rally her, sometimes for years, sometimes-like this last time-only for another couple of weeks.  She suffered intermittently with Alzheimer's-it came and went.  I don't think it's really Alzheimer's when it goes away-maybe only dementia?  My mother has a tendency to make the worst of a situation, so the label got tossed around until it stuck.

At any rate, today we are trying on clothes, I am happy to say at least that my funereal garb from years past is fitting so well that Matt made a pass at me in my black dress this morning.  Normally, I look like I am swathed in a tent if I wear a dress.  Yay weight loss!

I have to get shoes for all 3 kids and myself and pants for Jake and probably a shirt.  I need hose, they all need socks.  I don't know if Chan should wear lacy socks or panty hose or go bare legged.  12 is not an easy age for anyone, even if it's not you.