A Happy New Year to You All

This poor little blog has been so neglected. In the last months family news has pretty much been shared on Facebook, and I haven't had the energy to put my thoughts in order to post here. I think the original motivation for the blog is no longer there, or at least something has changed. Not sure yet. There's a good possibility that I'm going to let it go, but haven't decided yet.

But for tonight, I want to wish you all a wonderful, bright 2014. This year hasn't been the easiest for any of us, I think, but there's been a lot of joy in it. When all is said and done, we all came through pretty healthy and probably about as happy as we let ourselves be. I am so grateful for having a loving, supportive family - I've seen friends that aren't so blessed. So I treasure every memory and every word and every opportunity we've had to be together, be it in person, on the phone or via the Internet.

So celebrate the rest of the season and know that I love you all.

The Case of the Velvet Claws

Did the rest of you read Perry Mason books? I think I read my first one after I'd read all the Agatha Christie books I could get my hands on at the liquor store - my one source for buying books as I remember. They had one of those paperback spinners - I have no idea what other kinds of books they had in there - but I remember getting my mysteries there.

I have a special project going at the library right now - repairing and putting new covers on the Erle Stanley Gardner collection. It's been great fun going through them all. We don't have a complete collection, but what we have came from the author's personal library. His wife donated them after his death. They're pretty fragile, but they circulate regularly and we do our best to keep them glued together. Prices are astonishing - the cover price on one of them was $1. The covers can be pretty lurid, like old Police Gazette covers.

I'm always looking for new series to read, so I think I'll start this one to see if I still enjoy them. The Case of the Velvet Claws is the first, published in 1933. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jim Jones, Brother to Grandad Jones

I might be behind everyone else on this, but I think I've found Grandad Jones' brother Jim. The last story I heard was that he disappeared when their mother took off. If I have my links correct (and I'm pretty sure I do), he showed up in Oklahoma and married his stepfather's niece, Lena Mayfield. They were married for about 14 years and had five children. Unfortunately, he left Lena and disappeared, so after the divorce decree, I haven't been able to get any further. I'm going to do some more poking around in other family trees to see if I can find pictures, etc. If there's anything I'm missing, be sure to let me know.

June

Summer is here.  How do I know?

Tomatoes

Zucchini

Christian's Birthday

Happy summer, everyone!

A Week Well Spent?

I'm halfway through my "stay-cation" and figured it's time to evaluate. My original intention (ha, ha) was to tackle house projects: cleaning cupboards, sorting through paperwork - you know the kind of stuff. But has that happened? Oh, no. I've nearly finished a baby afghan, read some books, took naps. The house looks pretty much the same. I have come to the bottom of my seemingly endless book stash, which means a fresh start when I'm back to work. I am feeling better, so that says a lot.

But my major project of this week has been genealogy. The computer keeps beckoning, and I've found myself sneaking away while everyone else watches tv to do "just a little more." I found some organizing tips online, and slowly, but surely, things are taking shape. Ancestry.com is great, but it is so tempting to just follow the "leaves" without digging any deeper. My challenge has been finding ways to do the digging with any level of success.

I found that I wasn't getting any sense of what the lives of these people were like - no sense of getting to know them at all. Not being sure how to begin, I pulled out Shirley Miller's book. It's unbelievable how much she was able to accomplish. She told me once that she stopped using the Internet - too much junk came into her inbox to make it worthwhile - so it was all done with slogging.  I decided to take her book and make sure all of the info was included in the Ancestry files - her work might be helpful to others out there, and it's nice knowing it is available to people who might be able to use it. It's been enlightening for me, and I'm starting to get a sense of the family story - more so than by just following the "leaves." The book is nearly empty now, and I feel like I have a better start. I'm also getting the bug to go see some of these places. Who knows - there may be a field trip in the offing!

Signs of Spring

Woke to another gloomy morning, but it matters not, because it definitely feels like spring. It's hard to say why things feel different from last week, but they do. We're spending more time outdoors. The yard is aswarm with hummers and house finches. The apple blossoms are gone, replaced with little green apples. The patio looks more inviting all the time.

Spring is not my favorite season - fall and winter are much more appealing to me. I never get tired of rainy days and I love watching the clouds over the hillsides on my drive to work. Maybe what I'm enjoying now is the release of energy - out of the house and into the world at large. Primarily, kid energy. The current MO is to have dinner pretty early and to send the kids outdoors to play basketball, ride scooters, whatever they can do to burn off some of that energy. There's nothing worth their watching on tv, so why not keep them out in the fresh air as long as possible. Even we grownups are more active in the evening. A little yard work, tinkering on the Sprite, lots of little stuff going on.

I'll bet this all sounds very familiar to Mom, I just didn't appreciate it like I am this year. So here's to spring, longer daylight hours and lots of outdoor time.

Nature Morning

When we woke up yesterday, it felt like spring. No one needed to stay indoors for the day, so we searched out an adventure. Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary is in Modjeska Canyon, about 30 minutes from us. We hadn't been there in fifteen years or more, but we remembered it as a quiet outdoor place to be. The kids were willing, so off we went.

Fifteen years has brought some changes to the sanctuary. It is overseen by Cal State Fullerton and is a popular spot for school visits, etc. The site was originally the vacation home of a Los Angeles banker (named Tucker, obviously), but not much remains of the original house - the porch and the well are all that remain. The porch has been maintained as a "bird porch" with benches on the porch and a variety of feeders hanging in the trees outside it. At certain times of the year, the feeders are overrun with hummingbirds, but yesterday there were hummers, jays and a grosbeak to watch. Since I was last there, paths and bird-watching shelters have been added. The kids had a great time watching squirrels and poking around near the koi pond.

There was also a 75-year old desert tortoise and a feral cat or two. And of course there was a small museum/gift shop. The gift shop was very popular. We came home with a "tortoise egg," a ceramic owl, a hand puppet and a hummingbird patio clock (on the $5 clearance table). James made a new friend.

We started on a ranger walk, but it was getting so close to lunch time that we gave it up. Lunch at Fuddrucker's on the way home made a perfect end to the morning.

Nothing too exciting, but we were reminded that we spend a little too much time at home "getting things done." We all came home tired, but kind of refreshed. I can see going out again in the early morning just to spend some time on the bird porch with a cup of coffee. Maybe you and I can go sometime when you're down, Mom.

Goodbye to an Era

Any one in my family will tell you that I do not care about cars. When it's time to buy a new one, I send Jim out and say "Bring back whatever you want. I don't care." And I don't. Rosanne cares much more than I do. Christian and Mackenzie care more than I do.

Fifteen years ago she and Matt went out with Jim (at least I think they went) and they came home with a white Explorer. To me, it drove like a truck. It never seemed all that comfortable. It had a lot of space for loading stuff, and boy did we pack it in sometimes. The back seat used to seem roomy, but has felt more cramped in the last couple of years.

Well last week it was time to say goodbye, and I found out I cared. There were a lot of memories in that car - it was part of our family for a long time. I hope its next life is as much fun and that it is as useful to another family as it has been for us.

So, goodbye, dear friend.

Still Thinking

The atmosphere around here is definitely different - my "interior" atmosphere, that is. We still deal with the day-to-day stuff with the kids and everyone's hectic schedule atmosphere. I'm tired. It's time for a change. I won't go into lots of detail here. I'm fine, but I'm ready to make some changes - and I hope they are major. For me it will mean more reading, more knitting, less tv, and less cooking! And fewer library shifts. I know you are all my cheerleaders, and we are moving toward easier times here. Enough said for now.

As to my latest book (The Fate of Mercy Alban - Wendy Webb), I was hoping to be able to recommend a rousing ghost story. But it wasn't strictly a ghost story, and it was "pretty good," not great. However, it was a good read, not a waste of time. I got Mike's book recommendation from Goodreads the other day - I hope to see more.

Peter Robinson

I've just finished the latest book in Peter Robinson's series with Inspector Banks, Watching the Dark. For those of you who haven't read his books, I highly recommend you give them a try. The characters are so well developed, and if you read from the beginning of the series forward, you learn to know his detective very well. My favorite book series are those in which I find people I would really like to know. So try them.

This poor blog is gathering dust, I know. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it - my good intentions are getting me nowhere. It kind of feels like my life has become such a routine that there isn't much to share over and above what goes into our checking in letters. But the original intent of the blog was not to share news. My hope was to start conversations, which has happened a few times. I really miss our times of being together, so I plan to muster my ideas and get this working again.

Love you all.

Book Review: Step-Ball-Change

This book was so much fun. Refreshing story involving a stable married couple weathering all the storms that come from being part of an active, slightly crazy family. The lesson in this book - embrace the things that make you happy.

Vengeance by Benjamin Black

Seems like I've done nothing but book reviews lately. Since the Kindle found its way into the house, I've been pushing myself to read the "real" books sitting on the shelf. I'm limiting my Kindle choices until I catch up. That being said, here goes:

I don't know what I like most about Benjamin Black's books - the plot twists or the sense of actually being in Ireland. My affinity for Quirke is stronger with each book. The plot moved well and it wasn't until very close to the end that I saw where it was going. Not a long read. Highly recommend.

Additional note about this series of books. They're actually set in the 1950s and Black is very good at placing you in specific spots in Dublin or parts of the Irish countryside. You can find every spot he talks about on the map, which makes them fun for Jim and I to read.

Book Review - Dutch Me Deadly

Dutch Me Deadly by Maddy Hunter. I chose this book for two reasons - it was available from the library for the Kindle and it was populated with a group of tourists from Iowa. It wasn't bad, it just didn't have any depth. This could have taken place just about anywhere in the world, they just so happened to be in the Netherlands. I never did become engaged.

Short Book Review

Not much to write about lately - between knitting, reading and working, there hasn't been much going on. Jim bought me a Kindle for my birthday, so I've read a couple of books on that. Christian has been reading on it, too.

I just finished a book by Heather Graham - The Evil Inside. I've read a couple of her books before. She combines mysteries with a little bit of a paranormal twist. Pretty light, but entertaining. This one took place in Salem during the Halloween season, and a couple of the ghosts that appeared were haunts from the witch trials. A different twist.

Hope you're all having a good reading year. What's on your nightstand (or ereader) right now?

Re: Congressional Hearings

Dipping into the Congressional Records transcript Scott found for us has been a surprising experience. First, it was the heady thought of, "..my dad was talking to..." That was more exciting to me than I would have suspected. I kept going back to read a little more, then a little more. Then last night I realized what was going on - I was digging to find out more about Dad, the person he was that I never knew.

I don't have an opinion about how important these hearings were. What is evident is that he was part of a larger process, and an important process for the time. Mike, you were about five and I was six when these hearings took place; I have no memory of these events. If I'm right, it must have happened near the time that we moved to California, so his being away wouldn't have felt strange, I guess. But what actually happened? How did he feel? Did he ever talk about it afterwords? It would be interesting to talk to him about it. I'm going to keep reading to see how many answers I can find for myself. Thanks, Scott, for finding this.

Book Review - Dead and Kicking

So I went from the difficult to the ridiculous. Ridiculous in a fun way, though. Dead and Kicking by Wendy Roberts is a very light-hearted cozy about a woman who cleans up after crime scenes and also sees dead people. A nice mix. The character is very likeable. This is the third in the series, and I will probably get around to reading the others, in order, though.

Lady in the Fedora

We have a patron here at the library who owns an amazing assortment of hats. Actually, it isn't really an assortment - all of her hats are fedoras. She has a matching fedora for every outfit she wears to the library. Sometimes the theme is nautical; she has at least one outfit in animal print. Today it is lemon yellow. The hats don't just coordinate - they absolutely match. Where does she have them dyed? Does she buy the hats first, then buy the outfits to match? How does she store all of these hats? Inquiring minds want to know!!

Currently Reading ...

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It tells the story of Thomas Cromwell and his rise to power during the reign of Henry VIII. I haven't read any historical fiction for quite a while and this came highly recommended. Not one of my faster reads, though.

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie

Seven years ago today we welcomed Mackenzie into our family. She was a cross, cranky, little baby. I know I'm supposed to say that didn't last, but it kind of did. Only now she is determined to live life her way and to learn to do as much as she can on her own.

She's been excited for days; the countdown to today started weeks ago. This morning, her eyes popped open (after a little prodding cuz she's not a morning person) and the first thing she said is "I'm SEVEN!" Apparently, seven is much better than six. She's taking cookies to her classmates and has a bowling birthday party planned that includes two school friends. It's a happy day for her and for us too.

Even when she's cross and cranky, I couldn't love her more.

Pictures to follow, I hope. Camera is a bit iffy.

Killing Kennedy - Bill O'Reilly (Book Review)

This was compelling reading, admittedly "history lite," but still informative. Some of the more personal information about the Kennedys was interesting - many of the rumors about the Kennedy brothers that floated around in my head were distilled. Jackie's responses at the time of the assassination were poignant; my respect for her grew. Mike and Scott, I think you'd both like this. Mom, Ed might enjoy it, too.

The Blackhouse - Peter May (Book Review)

This series is set in Scotland, so the vernacular is a little different. The detective is complex and interesting. I feel badly about giving this three stars in Goodreads. It's well written and I think the story is really interesting, but somehow the pace killed me. I'm willing to give the author another try.

Book Review - Winter of Discontent

It's going to take me a while to remember to do these reviews. Sigh.

Next to last (to date) in this series of cozies by Jeanne M. Dams. One of the things I've liked about this series is that the murders are not your typical murders. The root of this one was historical, not all that easy to figure out, at least not for me. I really like one of the secondary characters, the neighbor Jane, very much. This story let the reader get closer to her, which I enjoyed.

These are true cozies - no real blood and guts, no real scary suspense. Very much like Agatha Christie.

Zoo Day

I haven't had a full weekend off in more weeks than I care to remember, so when I found myself free this weekend, we decided to go on a family outing. Off to the zoo we went.

We chose Los Angeles - it's much more reasonably priced than the San Diego Zoo. It's not as large, but that didn't end up mattering much. We couldn't cover it all anyway. The kids were reasonabl excited about going, although they complained about the drive. Their primary interests seemed to be snacks and souvenirs, but we got past all that and saw some interesting stuff. James wanted to see a snow leopard, which we found. I wanted to see gorillas. Christian wanted to see the monkeys with the red butts, which we didn't find, but was satisfied with the orangutans. Mackenzie mostly wanted to shop. They all loved LAIR (the Living Amphibian, Invertebrate and Reptile exhibit), which I skipped. The weather was gorgeous and it wasn't too crowded.

A good day to remember.

2013 Reading Challenge

I've reset my book count sidebar and made my first entry. I thought some about upping my reading challenge, but have decided not to do it. For this year, I'm going to keep the challenge at 100 with the proviso that I'll try to write short reviews for each of the books. I don't really feel I'm very good at that. When I read Goodreads reviews, it seems that everyone just summarizes the story. Once someone has done that, what's the point? And I guess that I don't think my personal opinion really is very important. However, maybe I'll gain a little insight for myself on what it is I really like in books. That could be helpful when that inevitable question comes from a patron, "What would you suggest?"

So my first book of the year is A Dark and Stormy Night by Jeanne M. Dams. This series definitely falls in the "cozy" category - an older American woman who lives in England and seems to be plagued by dead bodies falling into her path. I like the character and have enjoyed following the relationships in the stories. I've read this one out of turn - it's the last in the series and although I have the one before it here to read, I accidentally skipped it. (It's the last on my list and I've started it.) This final book is my least favorite. There were a lot of characters and they didn't seem as thoroughly drawn as those in the earlier books. It alsoseemed the action was slow. If any of you are tempted to read the series, be sure to start with the earlier ones.