A Month in Summary - February 2026

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

February 2026

Well, that was one a hell of a month. And I wasn't the one who broke my femur! My poor mom. We were actually at her doctor's office, having just finished an appointment about her neuropathy, when she fell in the parking lot. We have a fabulous fire department and great EMTs who got her to the ER quickly where she was diagnosed with a femoral neck fracture, with some displacement rather than impaction. She had a partial hip replacement the following day, and had very good care in the hospital for a few more days before transfering to a rehab facility in Albany, OR (roughly 70 miles away). We were able to visit her several times during her stay, and are very happy that she is coming home this Friday! Whoohoo!

Meanwhile, I was able to read a few books, mostly at night, which helped to quiet my anxious mind. Two of the four books were re-reads, which was just what I needed. They were familiar, but yet still engrossing, and stood the test of time. My single audiobook (Wild Dark Shore) was outstanding, and I'm only sorry that I finished it before I started the long drives to visit my mom. It would have kept me more entertained than the other audios that I've been listening to this past week. The big disappointment was Louise Penny's follow-up to Grey Wolf, but I'm over it. She has a new mystery coming out later this year and I'm looking forward to reading that one. Ever the optimist!

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

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny (3/5)

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (4.5/5)

In the Woods by Tana French (4.75/5)

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring (4.5/5)

Movies & TV Series:

The Night Manager (Seasons 1 & 2) - Very good, but super intense! 

The Handmaid's Tale (final season) - Done! It took a long time to get through all six seasons, since I didn't want to binge on it. Too distressing and too timely. A powerful series, but I'm glad to be done.

Task - Excellent performance by Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, and Emilia Jones. One of the best crime dramas I've watched in a long time. As one reviewer wrote, "Task stands out as a character study with morally complex characters and a deeply grounded setting, making it more than a standard crime thriller."

Visitors:

No photos, but all three of my brothers were/are here to help out and visit our mom in the hospital & rehab. I couldn't have made it through these past two-and-a-half weeks without them. And my amazing husband. And my dear friends, near and far.

We the People... (No Kings Day 2025)

No Kings Protest 2025

Newport, Oregon

I participated in my very first protest this past weekend! My 92-year-old mother said she would really like to go, so we made a couple of signs, and joined 20 friends from our neighborhood to protest in Newport, OR. The weather couldn't have been more perfect; the sun was shining, temps in the 60s, and a gentle breeze kept us from getting too warm standing in the sunshine. There were hundreds of us along Highway 101 and it was incredibly uplifting! I felt proud to be among all those like-minded folks. We didn't have any serious problems with negativity. A few people held up hands with thumbs down. One guy flipped us the bird, one guy yelled that he loved Trump, a few people kept their windows rolled up as they stared straight ahead. But overall, the positive attitude from people driving by, some very slowly, smiling and waving and giving us thumbs up or peace signs, was so inspiring. A young girl (9 years old) walked by with her mom, pulling a cart full of snacks and bottled water to offer to the protesters. Her mom said it was her daughter's idea. My heart was bursting by the time we left Newport. 

Just a small portion of the crowd lining the highway!

From Heather Cox Richardson's daily column (Oct. 19, 2025):

Scholar of social movements Lisa Corrigan noted that large, fun marches full of art and music expand connections and make people more willing to take risks against growing state power. They build larger communities by creating new images that bring together recognizable images from the past in new ways, helping more people see themselves in such an opposition. The community and good feelings those gatherings develop help carry opposition through hard moments. Corrigan notes, too, that yesterday “every single rally (including in the small towns) was bigger than the surrounding police force available. That kind of image event is VERY IMPORTANT if you’re…demonstrating social coherence AGAINST a fascist government and its makeshift gestapo.”

Such rallies “bring together multigenerational groups and the playfulness can help create enthusiasm for big tent politics against the monoculture of fascism,” Corrigan writes. “The frogs (and unicorns and dinosaurs) will be defining ideographs of this period of struggle.”

From Brian Bahouth of KYAQ on October 19, 2025:

On Saturday in Newport, Oregon, roughly 1,200 people assembled as part of the nationwide No Kings II protest. According to organizers, nearly 7 million people turned out for more than 2,700 demonstrations across the nation, with at least one in every state. Thirteen rallies were held in Oregon coastal communities.

In Newport, protesters occupied both sides of the Pacific Coast Highway from the intersection with U.S. Route 20 to just south of Newport City Hall.

Another source claims there were "more than 2,600 protesters gathered Saturday in Newport to protest President Donald Trump. Event organizers from Indivisible Waves had several counters present to capture the record number of participants. There were more event organizers present, with some taking on sections to count with manual clicker tools. The group counted 2,632 protestors in Newport."

A Month in Summary - April 2023

Astoria, Oregon

April 2023

While many of you have already experienced summer-like weather, we are just now beginning to see temps in the upper 50s. After several months of rain (and more hail than we have ever seen here on the coast), the sun has finally stuck around long enough to dry things out. I even played pickleball on the outdoor courts yesterday for the first time!

It's been a busy month, but I managed to read seven books. Two were outstanding, two were very good, and the others were good, but not great. 

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

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (5/5)

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet (4/5)

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (3.5/5)

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson (3/5)

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (4/5)

Recursion by Blake Crouch (5/5)

Go As a River by Shelley Read (3/5)

Movies & TV Series:

New Amsterdam (Season 4) - New cast members and creative writing keep this show from turning stale, but it does border on sappiness.

Deadly Seasons - 4 episodes. French with subtitles. Each case is solved at the end of the episode. Don't remember any of them! 

The Current War - I haven't read The Last Days of Night, but thoroughly enjoyed this movie about Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.
 

Dead Lucky - Enjoyable four-part Australian crime show. I hope to see a second season of this show. Fun fact: After watching the first episode, it finally dawned on me that Rachel Griffiths (who plays the lead) was in Six Feet Under.

The Night Agent - We enjoyed this series, but agree that it could have been half the length. Not the best acting, but some twists and one particularly surprising scene. 

Road Trips:

After our trip to Glacier National Park last fall, we parked the RV for the long, cold winter. With our upcoming road trip to Canada, we wanted to take a short trip in the RV to make sure everything was working properly, so we drove up to one of our favorite state parks (about 2 hours north of us) where we camped for four nights. The rain and wind were relentless, but we did have one afternoon of nice weather, which worked out well since we needed to drive a little further north to Astoria to make a Costco run. We also enjoyed a visit to the Columbia River Maritime Museum, followed by a good lunch at the Astoria Brewing Company. Heading home, we always make time to stop at Pacific Roots for mini-donuts along the Nehalem River. Delicious!

Celebrations!

My mom turns 90 on Sunday! We hosted a gathering for her with friends and neighbors this past weekend, and I plan to share more photos later, but here are a few favorites.

Gratitude

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have to say that I am very grateful that these two are both home and on the mend. Rod had a terrible gall bladder attack earlier this month and wound up in the hospital with pancreatitis. He spent a couple of days in the hospital getting that under control, followed by surgery to remove his gall bladder and was discharged the following day. Shortly after his follow-up appointment with his surgeon, my mother developed pneumonia and she wound up spending a couple of days in the hospital. They are now both resting, more or less comfortably, at home. 

Two ER visits, two paramedic transports and two hospital stays in two weeks. Let's hope that the belief that bad things occur in threes is just that--nothing but a superstition. My birthday falls on Friday the 13th, but I certainly don't plan to go into hiding. Life happens, whether in threes or more. 

This Thanksgiving I am very thankful for the amazing team of medical professional we encountered during the past two weeks. From the EMTs and ER nurses to the surgical teams and nursing staff to the support staff, each and every one was professional, knowledgeable and very compassionate in their care of two of my favorite people.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 Celebrating my mom's 85th birthday!

Oregon Garden Resort

Silverton, Oregon

May 7-8, 2018

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Wordless Wednesday {sort of}

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I love you!

Bandon, Oregon

Loot from Mom!

As some of you are already aware, my mom loves to read as much as I do. I can remember coming home from school and finding her curled up with a book, sometimes a mystery from the library or a novel that her sister or brother (both of whom are also avid readers) had sent when they were finished reading it. For many years, she worked at the library in Lincoln City (Oregon) -- mainly, I think, for the joy of being around all those wonderful books, but also to get first dibs on the books that are donated to the Friends of the Library for resale. ;) She's no longer a volunteer at the library, nor is she active in a face-to-face book club anymore, but she does have a blog in which she shares her thoughts on the books she's read, photos of her travels with my stepdad, and various posts about life on the Oregon Coast.

Mom has always been very generous with her books, sending me boxes of those she's finished with, or packing them up to bring when she and Bill make their annual trek out to Nebraska, as they did a little over a week ago. As promised, here is the list of books she brought for me:

As Always, Julia by Joan Reardon

Two Rivers by T. Greenwood

Blood Harvest by S. J. Bolton

Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser

Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons

Necessary As Blood by Deborah Crombie

Forward From Here by Reeve Lindbergh

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

The last two are actually from my stepdad for my husband, but I might give the Larson book a try. I've heard excellent things about it.

So, any recommendations as to which I should read first? I just finished a book by Anne Rivers Siddons, so I may wait a bit before reading Burnt Mountain.