Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

A Month in Summary - December 2024

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Christmas Eve 2024

And just like that, another year has come to a close. It was a busy month with a book launch party for Rod, my birthday celebration, several social events, and of course, Christmas. We enjoyed having my younger brother and one of his daughters here to help us celebrate Christmas, which was a lot of fun. My niece and I enjoyed a leisurely coffee date on Christmas Eve (we had fun playing chess in the cafe), and after the gifts were opened Christmas morning, we all had fun working on a puzzle, playing more chess, listening to holiday music, and baking cookies. It was a very festive week! I am currently working on my year-end review, but wanted to get this final monthly summary posted before the beginning of 2025.

I had an excellent month of reading, which surprised me since December is usually super busy. Since retirement, however, I have a lot more free time to get things done for the holiday season, so reading doesn't need to take a back seat. Not only did I read a lot of books, but they were mostly all winners. 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron (4/5) 

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten (4.5/5)

Recitatif by Toni Morrison (3.5/5)

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney (3.5/5)

In Memoriam by Alice Winn (5/5)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (4.5/5)

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy (4/5)

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (4/5)

Movies & TV Series:

The Day of the Jackal - Excellent! Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch are outstanding.

The Quiet Girl - Based on Claire Keegan's novella, Foster, this film is simply lovely. Spare, yet full of depth and tender moments.

The Morning Show (Season 3) - I can't remember the last time I watched multiple episodes of a series in a single night. While it became a bit of a soap opera, I loved this show. 

Shrinking (Season 2) - Still enjoying this one! Great cast.

Joy: The Birth of IVF - Another quiet film that I enjoyed. Bill Nighy is one of my favorite actors. 

Granite Harbour - Watched two episodes and gave up.

The Agency - Watched four episodes and gave up. Too slow and convoluted.

Bad Sisters (Season One) - Great series! These sisters crack me up.

Christmas 2024:

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

 

Well, I meant to post this on the 25th... Ooops. 

Merry Christmas from Depoe Bay! 2023 was a fun-filled year of RV road trips and visitors. We spent a week in Nehalem, almost six weeks in Alberta & British Columbia (Waterton, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, etc.), and close to a month on Vancouver Island (a research trip for Rod’s latest book). Highlights include sightings of mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black bears, a lynx, humpback whales, and orcas. In addition to our travels, we hosted over 40 friends and relatives (not all at once!) who came to visit and help celebrate my mom’s 90th birthday (which was in May). It was great to see everyone!

 

We hope you are enjoying this holiday season and that 2024 brings you peace, love, and joy.

A Month in Summary - December 2022

 

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

December 2022

Well, that was a busy, yet fun month! We started off with Rod's book launch party, which was so much fun. The following weekend, we attended our neighborhood Christmas party. After two years of cancellations due to Covid, it was great to celebrate the season with friends & neighbors. The celebrating continued the following week when I turned 61 (!) and had a lovely dinner at a favorite restaurant with Rod and some good friends. Later in the week, we hosted a small cocktail party, and everyone brought either an appetizer or dessert, which is my kind of entertaining. :) We attended a Christmas chorale concert and then had another birthday dinner out with my mom. None of our family came out for Christmas, so we invited some friends to join us for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a lovely evening and the following day we opened our gifts, then relaxed for the remainder of the day, watching movies, eating popcorn, and sipping hot cocoa. The weather (ice & snow in the valley) wasn't the best for travel, so I'm glad nobody tried to come out to spend the holidays with us! Plus, we had a couple of power outages (one day it was out for over 6 hours), which is always annoying and stressful. We wrapped up the month by joining our friends for a New Year's Eve party, which began at 8pm. Yes, we actually stayed up until after Midnight (PST). Haven't done that in decades!

With all the happenings and excitement, I still managed to finish six books. I loved two, enjoyed two, and liked two. I'm in the middle of a 900+page saga, so January may be pretty light in the way of book news. I may start posting travel essays from our Glacier NP trip in order to keep things active on the blog. 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

The Guncle by Steve Rowley (4/5)

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (4.5/5)

Garden of Lamentations by Deborah Crombie (4/5)

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (5/5)

Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin (3.5/5)

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl (3/5)

Movies & TV Series:

Three Pines - Lots to love about this series! It's definitely an adaptation of Louse Penny's books, but we enjoyed it nonetheless, and hope for a second season.

Knives Out - We rewatched this one on Christmas Day. It was just as good as the first viewing!

The Glass Onion - After watching Knives Out, we watched this one, which really isn't a sequel. I might have liked it even more than Knives Out. The cast is marvelous, but I especially like Daniel Craig.

Slow Horses (Season 2) - This is a wonderful series, but I got so confused trying to keep the bad guys straight. We were happy to hear that there is going to be at least one, if not two, more seasons. 

Blue Murder (Season 3 & 4) - This series is pretty light as far as detective series go, but I still enjoy it.

Puzzlemania

Holiday Party:

Prepping the risotto cakes. So good!

The table before everyone arrived and added their goodies.

Stormy Weather:

Love our Rocksolar Power Station!

High winds (75-80mph) on the

 Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, Oregon

Power outage snacks!

I'm working on my Best of 2022 list and should have it posted in the next few days. 

Thanks for reading this far and for all your comments. I love hearing from everyone! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas from Little Whale Cove!