Day 132: Much Better

Posted on 07/23/2020 by chick

My husband had been threatening to cut Marshall’s hair for months. I was beginning to think he’d never actually do it. But then yesterday he put the kid on a chair outside and attacked the kid’s hair with his electric clippers. It was a little scary to watch, but now Marshall’s hair is short again, and it looks so much better.

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Day 130: Still Hot

Posted on 07/21/2020 by chick

OMG, it’s still so hot and it sucks to be outside, and the air conditioner whines at night as everyone in the state fights for electricity.

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Time to Go to Bed

Posted on 07/20/2020 by chick

When you see the phrase “respiratory therapist” and read it as “conspiracy theorist,” it’s time to go to bed.

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Day 129: Extra Hot

Posted on 07/20/2020 by chick

The last few days have been brutally hot. I didn’t even finish yesterday’s walk and only barely finished today’s. I hope this heat wave will end soon so that we can spend more time outside. We all need to get out more!

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Day 128: Surprise!

Posted on 07/19/2020 by chick

When the pandemic first started, I found websites of a lot of independent bookstores that offered surprise books and/or book subscriptions. I was temped by every single one. But I wasn’t ready to commit, especially because some of them were a mite pricey, even given my pandemic spending madness, even knowing how expensive books are at real (read: not Amazon) bookstores.

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across yet another, Honest Dog Books of Bayfield, WI. I liked the store name and the story behind how the owner bought the place (you can read about it here). For $9 the owner offers to pick out a used book for you based on the last three books you loved. I felt like a surprise book might be just the thing to perk me up, so I ordered one plus a book of poetry.

Today my books arrived. Here you can see my surprise book in its packaging.

Surprise Book

And here is a picture of my two new books, unwrapped.

Overture by Yael Goldstein and American Journal Fifty Poems for Our Time selected and introduced by Tracy K. Smith

Overture sounds interesting, and it’s something I probably wouldn’t have found on my own, so I’m thinking it was a good choice. And Fifty Poems for Our Time, which I chose for myself but which I had only heard of through Honest Dog Books, seems like a solid choice. That is, I trust Tracy K. Smith not to steer me wrong, or at least not to steer me wrong 50 times 😉 . I am looking forward to reading both books, though it may be a while before I get to them, because I currently have my nose sandwiched between the pages of a Barbara Michaels novel.

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Day 127: Early Night Tonight

Posted on 07/18/2020 by chick

I got up a little earlier than I usually do. Otherwise I followed my usual routine, then did some cleaning and called my mom. I don’t feel like I did a lot, but I’m exhausted. So, first a snack and a shower, and then I’m going to settle into bed with a Barbara Michaels novel.

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Hot!

Posted on 07/18/2020 by chick

I haven’t checked the thermometer for the exact temperature outside, but by my estimation it is approximately one billion degrees out there.

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Day 126: Missed Opportunities

Posted on 07/17/2020 by chick

I saw an interesting webpage today that compared postcards from old resort sites with pictures from their modern day ruins. It made me think wistfully of “Beautiful” Mount Airy Lodge, which was once a big resort in the Poconos. It was heavily advertised in the NY/CT area when I was a kid. My grandparents owned a vacation home, so there was no way my parents were going to shell out big bucks for a hotel vacation, especially since they didn’t have big bucks. So I never got to visit the fabled resort. It closed in 2001 and has since been demolished. There is now a Mount Airy Casino Resort built on the same site, but I’m not inclined to bring my family to a place with “casino” in the name. It’s seedy-sounding, not warm and welcoming like the “lodge” always promised to be. I guess I missed my window of opportunity on that one.

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Day 125: More Books

Posted on 07/16/2020 by chick

Today this stack of books arrived.

The Dark on the Other Side, Someone in the House, The Crying Child, The Grey Beginning, The Wizard’s Daughter, Into the Darkness, Houses of Stone, and Prince of Darkness by Barbara Michaels.

I’ve been in just the right mood to continue with my goal of reading all of Barbara Michaels’s books. Sadly, inter-library loans are suspended due to the pandemic, so the library wasn’t going to be able to help me. Better World Books was willing to sell these novels to me for a better than reasonable price. I cannot be certain that the company is as good as it claims to be in terms of its charitable work, but I’ve been happy with the quality of the books they’ve sent me. These all appear to be decent reading copies for their age.

I have two more book deliveries coming soon. One is another batch from BWB, but it’s for Livia. There’s also a pair of books en route from a random small bookstore (in Wisconsin, I think it was). I liked the story of how the owners bought the store, and I felt sad for them that the pandemic hit soon after, so I ordered a couple of books from them. I’m crazy like that. I do believe I am finally done ordering books, though. For now. But who knows how I’ll feel next week? 😉

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Day 124: Hooray for Salad!

Posted on 07/15/2020 by chick

My husband went to grocery store and now we have salad. I love salad! Hooray for salad!

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