A Month in Summary - December 2020 (and Happy New Year!)

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

December 2020

What. A. Year.

Who knew that on January 1, 2020 we would be heading into such an agonizing year. 

The pandemic: Social distancing, masks, hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer, sheltering in place and quarantining, Zoom happy hour and distance learning, singing from balconies, grocery deliveries and take-out, streaming movies and TV series, baking bread, doomscrolling, but most sadly, more than 342,000 Americans dead.

George Floyd's death and the subsequent protests across the nation.

Wildfires burning across most of the western states.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death.

The presidential election (and the post-election drama from the White House).

Rod's bike accident and shoulder replacement surgery.

My mom's emergency hospitalization and surgery for a umbilical hernia.

Oh, and let's not forget the murder hornets. ;)

On the positive side, I am grateful for:

Safe travel (nearby) in our RV.

Celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary.

Biden and Harris win!

A healthy household (surgeries aside!).

My Peloton and great workouts.

Weekly Mah Jong games (outdoors) with my "pod."

Game nights with my mom and Rod.

Curbside pickup at the library.

The L.A. Dodgers win the World Series.

Financial security.

Zoom visits with friends and family.

Discovering new recipes.

Discovering some great TV series.

Book club via Zoom.

Puzzles.

My overflowing shelves of unread books.

Audiobooks.

Take-out from favorite restaurants.

My blogmates.

Rod's Music Mondays.

Living in a semi-secluded area on the Oregon coast.

Walks in the forest and on the coastal path.

I am hopeful that 2021 will bring more joy than worry, more time with family and friends, zero trips to the Emergency Room, and more road trips with my husband.

Adios 2020. 

Now, on to my December summary!

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

Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene (3/5)

The Rural Life by Verlyn Klinkenborg (3/5)

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins (5/5)

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson (3/5)

Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (2/5)

On Interstate 80, three or four hours into the long westward drive across Nebraska, with the sun hovering mercilessly in the midsummer sky on a cloudless and broiling July afternoon, there were moments when I thought there was no way I'd ever find what I had come here to seek:

The best America there ever was. Or at least whatever might be left of it. (Once Upon a Town)

Every year about now, I feel the need to keep a journal. (A Rural Life)

One of the very first bullets comes in through the open window above the toilet where Luca is standing. (American Dirt)

Throughout the night of Friday, September 7, 1900, Isaac Monroe Cline found himself waking to a persistent sense of something gone wrong. (Isaac's Storm)

It began like this. I went to the shelves on the landing to look for a book I knew was there. It was not. But plenty of others were and among them I noticed at least a dozen I realised I had never read. (Howards End is on the Landing)

Movies & TV Series:

The Undoing - Wow. Great series. The last episode was very suspenseful! Kidman, Grant and Sutherland are all excellent. 

The Crown - This season rather depressing, but Olivia Colman is still great to watch.

The Missing - A good series with lots of red herrings. Kept me guessing!

Baptiste - We enjoyed this one a lot.  Tcheky Karyo is marvelous!

Wonder Woman 1984 - A silly, loooong, superhero movie that missed its mark. 

The Midnight Sky - We didn't love this one. Somewhat predictable and on a few occasions utterly implausible, wrapped up with a manipulative ending... Caoilinn Springall (Iris) made it worthwhile. Probably should've read the book instead.

Away - Watched the first episode and probably won't watch any more.

Puzzlemania:

This was probably the most challenging puzzle we've done! I think we'll stick to 500-1000 piece puzzles from here on out.

Another challenging puzzle!

I love Charley Harper puzzles from Pomegranate Puzzles! The colors are great and this one was very easy due to the oversize pieces. We finished it in one day.

Spotted this cute little guy as we were driving through Philomath on our way home from a post-op appointment in Albany. You can read about DAX here. 

A beautiful homemade Christmas bouquet from a friend.

I wish you all a safe and healthy 2021!

New Year Resolve

New Year Resolve
by May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

"New Year Resolve" by May Sarton, from Collected Poems 1930-1993.

Happy New Year!

One final sunset for 2015. Happy New Year, dear friends!

Click on image for larger view.

A Backward Glance

2014.

Wow. I remember when I graduated from high school and I thought, "When the ball drops to begin the year 2000, I'll be 38!" At the time, that sounded so far off. But as we all know (or at least those of us over 30), time really does fly. A month ago, I turned 52. My daughter turned 30. (30!) I've been blogging for 8 years and working at Barnes and Noble for almost 7. I've been married to the love of my life for 25 years. Rachel's been gone for almost 9 years and Papa Bill only 4 weeks. And it all seems like yesterday.

Tempus fugit.

But, is it me or did this past year fly much faster than usual? Maybe it's the fact that I was away from home for almost 7 weeks out of the entire year. Or that I worked longer days than ever before. Or that I spent mindless hours watching a wide variety of TV shows on Netflix. What I didn't do is blog as often as I hoped. Or ride my bike as much as I should have. Or lose those 10 pounds…

But it's a New Year (I can still say that until February, right?) and a clean slate awaits.

For the second time in 33 years, I didn't send out Christmas cards. Back in November, I was ok with that choice. I was too busy with work, too sad about my stepdad's health and too worried about money. So I decided to skip it. Skip it and the gifts and the decorating and the baking. I just wanted to get through the holiday season, hop a plane and spend Christmas in Oregon with my parents.

We make plans and God laughs.

But I'm still making plans. I plan to catch up on all my book reviews before I post my Top Ten of 2013. I plan to post my Top Ten of 2012, as well. (Yep. Never did that, did I?) I plan to start exercising as soon as the weather permits. Gotta wait for those bike trails to be free of snow and ice before I can back out there, but I'm ready to roll!

Other than a few photo essay posts, I haven't been very active on the old blog and it felt strange to simply jump in with a couple of book reviews, so I thought I’d take this time to share the highlights of the past year with you. Consider it a belated Christmas letter of sorts. I’ll even try to brag about something. ;)

As mentioned, I was away from home for almost 2 months this past year. I think that’s a record! I took 7 trips, some with my husband and some solo. Here’s a visual recap:

Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

I learned how to snowshoe 

at an elevation of 9,000 ft. (approx.)

 Depoe Bay, Oregon
Celebrating my mom’s 80th birthday
with my brothers

Kingston, Washington

Celebrating Father’s Day with my dad

 The Black Hills, South Dakota

Road trip with the grandchild!

Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico

Celebrating our 25th anniversary

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Saying goodbye to one of

the most influential men in my life

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Spending Christmas with my mom

So, there was quite a bit of traveling; most of which was very fun and exciting. I saw whales, bald eagles, elk, and mountain goats, and I didn’t get trampled by a moose. Or a buffalo.

I also mentioned that I spent a great deal of time in front of the TV. Rod had back surgery in November and was out of work for 4 weeks. As a result, we watched A LOT of TV. And now we’re completely addicted to Justified, Dexter, Breaking Bad, Sherlock, House of Cards and Parenthood. It’s no wonder I didn’t have time to blog. Or answer emails. Or dust.

Speaking of computer time, I have made an effort lately to “unplug” and spend more time reading rather than sitting in front of the computer for hours. It’s going pretty well, but I still can’t seem to cut the cord on Facebook or Instagram. I got sucked back into Twitter, only to decide it really isn’t my thing. I miss keeping up on some of my blogmates’ chats, but there are only so many hours in a day… Same goes for Pinterest. I’ve still got my boards, but haven’t looked at any of them in months. After the demise of Google Reader, I discovered Bloglovin’ and while I may not comment as often as I used to (darn that clumsy iPad!), I still enjoy keeping up with what’s going in your lives, adding book recommendations to my insanely long list of books to read.

And on that note, it’s time to share some of my recommendations with you…

But before I do, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and say thanks for being such loyal readers. Here’s to the next 8 years. OMG. I’ll be 60!!

For more New Year's posts, go here, here, here and here.

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year, friends!

!

Happy New Year!

What a glorious day! It was sunny and fairly warm (37 with no wind). Perfect weather for my New Year's Day walk on the bike trail. Only a couple of people out with their dogs, so I had a nice time walking quietly, snapping pictures here and there. I didn't even take my iPod. I love the muffled sounds of snow dripping from the trees, birds calling out to one another, and the joyful shouts of children playing in the snow in their backyards. No need to have the distraction of music today.

New Year's Day provides a chance for a fresh start. I've decided to do away with my gardening blog and incorporate my love of nature within my book blog. Take a look at Emerson's quote in the header above. If Emerson can combine nature and books, who am I to argue?