The first few days of 2022
We've been in OR a week now, and while it doesn't SEEM like we've done a lot, I suppose we have? I've washed the walls in the living room, kitchen (except behind appliances that will need to be moved), the hall, both bathrooms, and my dad's bedroom, and the ceilings of the hall and both bathrooms (Will has done or is in the process of doing the other ceilings). After painstakingly putting on Frog Tape around every bit of window trim, door trim, and bottom trim, I've cut in the Kilz (the pre-paint "paint" that we're using to seal in any lingering smoke stains and odors) for two coats in the living room, hallway and my dad's bathroom, and am working on his bedroom now. Will has rolled 2 coats of Kilz on the living room and hall walls and ceilings.
We've also cleaned the gutters of probably at least five years of leaf and apple sludge (in some cases I was literally digging it out with a trowel), found and fixed the roof leak - a vent cap came off - trimmed a bunch of overgrowth that was crowding the long driveway, and dismantled the decaying homemade greenhouse lean-to off the front porch.
So ... progress?
It has rained quite a lot - we've had to make good use of rare opportunities to get outdoors things done. We had a wind/rainstorm a few nights ago, resulting in our being without either internet (which went down first) or power for most of Monday. Thankfully, both were restored in time for me to cook dinner (and to get back online to video-chat with the family). Also, since we're already only using the woodstove for heat, not having any electric heat made absolutely no difference whatsoever, and we were perfectly content with the wood fire. The only real bummer was a lack of hot water, but thankfully that was back by the time we took our nightly shower.
Meanwhile, through the magic of borrowed e-books (Libby app) and audiobooks (I joined Audible for this purpose, so I could listen while I cleaned and painted the walls), I've already finished FIVE books this year, including the three I had listed "in progress" on my year-end book meme. Granted, two were pretty quick reads, but still!
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley: A recent HS graduate in Sault St Marie, Michigan, Daunis (her name literally means "daughter" in Ojibwe) has grown up feeling split by her white (French) mother's side of the family, and her (now deceased) Ojibwe father's side. There's a lot of family turmoil going on, part of which has prompted Daunis to defer her attendance at U Michigan in order to stay at home and go to a local college instead, with her best friend. But when she witnesses a drug-related murder-suicide within the tribal community, she gets coaxed into serving as an undercover citizen "agent" by local (also undercover) FBI officers to help them figure out where the root of the drug problems are. Daunis struggles with her feelings for the younger officer (only a little older than she is), with lying to her friends and family about what she's doing, and with some of the things she discovers - all while trying to stay true to the Ojibwe values that are part of her lifeblood.
Although I had seen multiple rave reviews for this book (which I need to read for my YA lit class), I wasn't sure I was personally that interested. But having been forced to read it, I can say that it's well worth it. I learned a lot about some Ojibwe traditions (and language), and it was also refreshing to see someone struggle with sometimes competing familial cultures other than Black and white (or, in the case of a book I read for Children's lit last summer, Indian and American). I loved that Daunis wasn't a tiny stick, but she was still very athletic and considered attractive. I admit some of the twists caught me by surprise. TRIGGER WARNING: There is mention of sexual assault about 3/4 of the way through the book.
Spoiler alert: I really didn't understand why the FBI didn't need to know that mushrooms weren't part of the problem. Why should they continue to chase after that unnecessarily? I understood there was concern the FBI might look askance at traditional Ojibwe medicines instead, but I don't remember them entering the conversation at all. So ... what was that about? /Spoiler
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera: The opening scenes are set in 2061, when Halley's Comet is next scheduled to come around. In this story, the energy from a massive solar flare throws off Halley's normal orbit, and sends it straight into Earth's path. While there had been tentative plans to begin exploring a planet ("Sagan" - heh) across the galaxy, those were suddenly rushed into play in the sudden planetary emergency. Only those of certain ages and certain skills were granted passage. The protagonist is a 13-year-old girl of Hispanic descent; her parents are both important scientists (botanist and geologist), so she, her little brother and parents all get to go - but must leave the grandmother - the family storyteller - behind. Petra (the girl) wants to be a storyteller (cuentista) someday, like her abuelita but, of course, her parents want her to be a scientist, like them. They board the ship and are put into stasis for the 380-year journey to Sagan, to be watched over by "monitors" - generations of people who give their lives into keeping tabs on the sleepers. When Petra is finally awoken, she discovers that the ship was taken over by monitors who wanted to eliminate all war and hunger by a) erasing everyone's memories of Earth b) reprogramming them to serve the "Collective" and c) making everyone exactly the same. You know, your basic dystopian, totalitarian situation. And Petra's parents (along with many other adults) are gone, purged when their brains failed to accept the reprogramming. The little brother is gone, too. But there's been a glitch with Petra - she still remembers everything, including her grandmother's stories, which are skillfully used throughout the book as Petra figures out a way for her - and some of her new friends - to escape.
As with Firekeeper's Daughter, I'm not sure I would have picked up this book on my own, as I don't often read sci-fi (occasionally, but not often) and I'm not really keen on post-apocalyptic dystopian stories. But this was, again, a required book for me - and also really really well done. I listened to this with my new Audible account, and the narrator really sold it for me, including the way she voiced the Spanish bits. I can see this really appealing to a lot of teens (or YA fans who like these tropes), given the subject matter and Hispanic perspective. The stories were really cool, too - again, a nice window into a culture I'm not as familiar with.
Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy: This graphic novel is written and illustrated by a proudly hijabi-wearing Muslim artist, known on Instagram as @yesimhotinthis. Her semi-autobiographical book covers the difficulties she had figuring out who she was as a high school freshman, when her family moved to a community with a higher Muslim population. Instead of being known as the sole hijabi-wearing kid at school, now Huda was just one of many, and having lost that "special" identity, she struggles to figure out what else honestly makes her interesting or special. She also has to figure out how important her faith really is to her. Thankfully, her friends - some Muslim, some not - help her reflect on her mistakes (and, as with many teens trying out various identities, there are many mistakes) and to find her true path. It was fun and funny to read, but also poignant, and heartfelt. I learned more things about living true to Islam, and some of the many outright racist or smaller but irritating microaggressions Huda faced even though - by the author's own point - the book obviously does not reflect ALL Muslim experiences. Although this, too, was a required book, I was already looking forward to reading it, since I follow @yesimhotinthis on Insta, and was delighted to snap up the lone copy at my mother's closest B&N after Christmas, using the gift card I'd received from my elementary librarian. Did not disappoint!
Starfish by Lisa Fipps: Although assigned for my YA Lit class, this could just as easily be considered a middle-grade book, as the main character is in 6th grade, and I think the author wanted it to be seen by the somewhat younger set. The main character, Ellie, has always been an overweight child, and is constantly facing bullying at school - and at home. Her own mother is constantly trying to "fix" Ellie, which hurts Ellie a LOT, and her older brother bullies her as badly as any kid at school. The dad is a lovely loving person, and it was interesting to read a book where the poor parental treatment comes from the mom, not the dad. Wow, did the mom's words and actions hurt - she meant well but she went about things so badly, you could just feel Ellie's pain. The title comes from the way Ellie likes to spread out her arms and legs in the pool, free to take up space and not feel bad for doing so - like she has to force herself to be smaller, like she's not allowed to exist or take up any room for "more deserving" skinny people. The author states at the end that although the book is fictional, she, herself, heard pretty much EVERY hateful, thoughtless thing that Ellie does, when she was growing up, which is why she wanted to make sure younger kids learn, early on - as Ellie eventually does - that she has value no matter what size she is.
This book is written in verse, which makes it a quick read. Ellie wants to be a poet someday, and she does, indeed, have a really good way with words. I highlighted a lot of powerful passages as I was reading the ebook.
The other book I finished was another audiobook. I'm out of Audible credits right now (you only get one a month) and audiobooks are INSANELY expensive - and also, alas - my public library does not subscribe to m(any) so I can't borrow any. So, in the meantime, I'm listening to books from the "free" section. I might eventually crack and buy another one from the YA class list, but not yet.
A Fashionable Indulgence by KJ Charles: Harry's father was from the Ton, but threw it all over by marrying a woman beneath his station and joining her in seditionist actions, calling for political reform (basically, they were Democrats, looking out for the downtrodden, not a popular view at the time). Their son Harry was, reluctantly, forced to participate, especially after his parents died and one of their revolutionary friends took Harry in. He lives a fairly poor life - he's fed and clothed, but not well; when his rich grandfather (father's father) sends for him, Harry must learn how to be a "proper" gentleman. His cousin's friend, Julius, is asked to teach Harry how to act, speak and dress and, of course, Harry and Julius fall in lust, and eventually love, along the way. But this book is somewhat different in that the "I love you" moment is really only midway through the story. Harry struggles to listen to his fellow noblemen complain about the seditionists, feeling loyalty to his old friends, even though he doesn't WANT to really get involved in politics and, of course, also doesn't want his previous association known or he might get thrown in jail. (Also, his stodgy grandfather doesn't want even a whisper of Harry's "old life" to reach him because he's absolutely disgusted with how Harry's father turned out.) He must learn how to balance wanting a comfortable life, and a life with Julius, with NOT wanting to turn his back on his old friends who might be in trouble. Meanwhile, we finally learn why Julius has been holding the world at arm's length for so many years. There is a fair amount of political talk, for the time period (1819ish), but it's important to the story. I liked that this wasn't JUST about the relationship and the sex, but there were more important issues driving the characters. (Although Harry did seem to get himself into trouble an awful lot. :P)
My only real quibble is that it was absolutely bizarre to hear sex scenes read out by a posh British narrator. :P
And ... now it's past time for bed. I'm doing a Paint Nite (yes, from here) tomorrow evening so I want to make sure I have a productive day before that point. But I've been averaging at least 8 hours of sleep a night on this trip so far (including the CA part) and it's SO NICE.
We've also cleaned the gutters of probably at least five years of leaf and apple sludge (in some cases I was literally digging it out with a trowel), found and fixed the roof leak - a vent cap came off - trimmed a bunch of overgrowth that was crowding the long driveway, and dismantled the decaying homemade greenhouse lean-to off the front porch.
So ... progress?
It has rained quite a lot - we've had to make good use of rare opportunities to get outdoors things done. We had a wind/rainstorm a few nights ago, resulting in our being without either internet (which went down first) or power for most of Monday. Thankfully, both were restored in time for me to cook dinner (and to get back online to video-chat with the family). Also, since we're already only using the woodstove for heat, not having any electric heat made absolutely no difference whatsoever, and we were perfectly content with the wood fire. The only real bummer was a lack of hot water, but thankfully that was back by the time we took our nightly shower.
Meanwhile, through the magic of borrowed e-books (Libby app) and audiobooks (I joined Audible for this purpose, so I could listen while I cleaned and painted the walls), I've already finished FIVE books this year, including the three I had listed "in progress" on my year-end book meme. Granted, two were pretty quick reads, but still!
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley: A recent HS graduate in Sault St Marie, Michigan, Daunis (her name literally means "daughter" in Ojibwe) has grown up feeling split by her white (French) mother's side of the family, and her (now deceased) Ojibwe father's side. There's a lot of family turmoil going on, part of which has prompted Daunis to defer her attendance at U Michigan in order to stay at home and go to a local college instead, with her best friend. But when she witnesses a drug-related murder-suicide within the tribal community, she gets coaxed into serving as an undercover citizen "agent" by local (also undercover) FBI officers to help them figure out where the root of the drug problems are. Daunis struggles with her feelings for the younger officer (only a little older than she is), with lying to her friends and family about what she's doing, and with some of the things she discovers - all while trying to stay true to the Ojibwe values that are part of her lifeblood.
Although I had seen multiple rave reviews for this book (which I need to read for my YA lit class), I wasn't sure I was personally that interested. But having been forced to read it, I can say that it's well worth it. I learned a lot about some Ojibwe traditions (and language), and it was also refreshing to see someone struggle with sometimes competing familial cultures other than Black and white (or, in the case of a book I read for Children's lit last summer, Indian and American). I loved that Daunis wasn't a tiny stick, but she was still very athletic and considered attractive. I admit some of the twists caught me by surprise. TRIGGER WARNING: There is mention of sexual assault about 3/4 of the way through the book.
Spoiler alert: I really didn't understand why the FBI didn't need to know that mushrooms weren't part of the problem. Why should they continue to chase after that unnecessarily? I understood there was concern the FBI might look askance at traditional Ojibwe medicines instead, but I don't remember them entering the conversation at all. So ... what was that about? /Spoiler
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera: The opening scenes are set in 2061, when Halley's Comet is next scheduled to come around. In this story, the energy from a massive solar flare throws off Halley's normal orbit, and sends it straight into Earth's path. While there had been tentative plans to begin exploring a planet ("Sagan" - heh) across the galaxy, those were suddenly rushed into play in the sudden planetary emergency. Only those of certain ages and certain skills were granted passage. The protagonist is a 13-year-old girl of Hispanic descent; her parents are both important scientists (botanist and geologist), so she, her little brother and parents all get to go - but must leave the grandmother - the family storyteller - behind. Petra (the girl) wants to be a storyteller (cuentista) someday, like her abuelita but, of course, her parents want her to be a scientist, like them. They board the ship and are put into stasis for the 380-year journey to Sagan, to be watched over by "monitors" - generations of people who give their lives into keeping tabs on the sleepers. When Petra is finally awoken, she discovers that the ship was taken over by monitors who wanted to eliminate all war and hunger by a) erasing everyone's memories of Earth b) reprogramming them to serve the "Collective" and c) making everyone exactly the same. You know, your basic dystopian, totalitarian situation. And Petra's parents (along with many other adults) are gone, purged when their brains failed to accept the reprogramming. The little brother is gone, too. But there's been a glitch with Petra - she still remembers everything, including her grandmother's stories, which are skillfully used throughout the book as Petra figures out a way for her - and some of her new friends - to escape.
As with Firekeeper's Daughter, I'm not sure I would have picked up this book on my own, as I don't often read sci-fi (occasionally, but not often) and I'm not really keen on post-apocalyptic dystopian stories. But this was, again, a required book for me - and also really really well done. I listened to this with my new Audible account, and the narrator really sold it for me, including the way she voiced the Spanish bits. I can see this really appealing to a lot of teens (or YA fans who like these tropes), given the subject matter and Hispanic perspective. The stories were really cool, too - again, a nice window into a culture I'm not as familiar with.
Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy: This graphic novel is written and illustrated by a proudly hijabi-wearing Muslim artist, known on Instagram as @yesimhotinthis. Her semi-autobiographical book covers the difficulties she had figuring out who she was as a high school freshman, when her family moved to a community with a higher Muslim population. Instead of being known as the sole hijabi-wearing kid at school, now Huda was just one of many, and having lost that "special" identity, she struggles to figure out what else honestly makes her interesting or special. She also has to figure out how important her faith really is to her. Thankfully, her friends - some Muslim, some not - help her reflect on her mistakes (and, as with many teens trying out various identities, there are many mistakes) and to find her true path. It was fun and funny to read, but also poignant, and heartfelt. I learned more things about living true to Islam, and some of the many outright racist or smaller but irritating microaggressions Huda faced even though - by the author's own point - the book obviously does not reflect ALL Muslim experiences. Although this, too, was a required book, I was already looking forward to reading it, since I follow @yesimhotinthis on Insta, and was delighted to snap up the lone copy at my mother's closest B&N after Christmas, using the gift card I'd received from my elementary librarian. Did not disappoint!
Starfish by Lisa Fipps: Although assigned for my YA Lit class, this could just as easily be considered a middle-grade book, as the main character is in 6th grade, and I think the author wanted it to be seen by the somewhat younger set. The main character, Ellie, has always been an overweight child, and is constantly facing bullying at school - and at home. Her own mother is constantly trying to "fix" Ellie, which hurts Ellie a LOT, and her older brother bullies her as badly as any kid at school. The dad is a lovely loving person, and it was interesting to read a book where the poor parental treatment comes from the mom, not the dad. Wow, did the mom's words and actions hurt - she meant well but she went about things so badly, you could just feel Ellie's pain. The title comes from the way Ellie likes to spread out her arms and legs in the pool, free to take up space and not feel bad for doing so - like she has to force herself to be smaller, like she's not allowed to exist or take up any room for "more deserving" skinny people. The author states at the end that although the book is fictional, she, herself, heard pretty much EVERY hateful, thoughtless thing that Ellie does, when she was growing up, which is why she wanted to make sure younger kids learn, early on - as Ellie eventually does - that she has value no matter what size she is.
This book is written in verse, which makes it a quick read. Ellie wants to be a poet someday, and she does, indeed, have a really good way with words. I highlighted a lot of powerful passages as I was reading the ebook.
The other book I finished was another audiobook. I'm out of Audible credits right now (you only get one a month) and audiobooks are INSANELY expensive - and also, alas - my public library does not subscribe to m(any) so I can't borrow any. So, in the meantime, I'm listening to books from the "free" section. I might eventually crack and buy another one from the YA class list, but not yet.
A Fashionable Indulgence by KJ Charles: Harry's father was from the Ton, but threw it all over by marrying a woman beneath his station and joining her in seditionist actions, calling for political reform (basically, they were Democrats, looking out for the downtrodden, not a popular view at the time). Their son Harry was, reluctantly, forced to participate, especially after his parents died and one of their revolutionary friends took Harry in. He lives a fairly poor life - he's fed and clothed, but not well; when his rich grandfather (father's father) sends for him, Harry must learn how to be a "proper" gentleman. His cousin's friend, Julius, is asked to teach Harry how to act, speak and dress and, of course, Harry and Julius fall in lust, and eventually love, along the way. But this book is somewhat different in that the "I love you" moment is really only midway through the story. Harry struggles to listen to his fellow noblemen complain about the seditionists, feeling loyalty to his old friends, even though he doesn't WANT to really get involved in politics and, of course, also doesn't want his previous association known or he might get thrown in jail. (Also, his stodgy grandfather doesn't want even a whisper of Harry's "old life" to reach him because he's absolutely disgusted with how Harry's father turned out.) He must learn how to balance wanting a comfortable life, and a life with Julius, with NOT wanting to turn his back on his old friends who might be in trouble. Meanwhile, we finally learn why Julius has been holding the world at arm's length for so many years. There is a fair amount of political talk, for the time period (1819ish), but it's important to the story. I liked that this wasn't JUST about the relationship and the sex, but there were more important issues driving the characters. (Although Harry did seem to get himself into trouble an awful lot. :P)
My only real quibble is that it was absolutely bizarre to hear sex scenes read out by a posh British narrator. :P
And ... now it's past time for bed. I'm doing a Paint Nite (yes, from here) tomorrow evening so I want to make sure I have a productive day before that point. But I've been averaging at least 8 hours of sleep a night on this trip so far (including the CA part) and it's SO NICE.