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.