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2018 so far

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We had a lovely beginning to 2018, enjoying a stay cation of sorts. We visited our favorite cafes, took long walks, ate out a lot and spent loads of time together. We bought a new griddle pan and finally got Emma a twin bed. We took a road trip to the Mitsuwa marketplace in San Jose and stocked up on groceries and sweet treats. We drove to Alameda and ate a great bagel place and maiki and Emma played at an arcade. 2018 was the best of times, until I got sick.

This whole lovely holiday time I have been advertising how I have not gotten sick in ages. Emma could cough in my face and I would be just fine. Unfortunately I got all the sickness. Chills, headache, vomiting, body aches, chest and sinus congestion, sneezing, runny nose, etc. The super flu apparently includes every symptom. And then my phone died.

I kept meaning to back up my photos. I even remarked that I should actually start using the new removable hard drive to back up files soon. I am pretty sure that I lost five whole months of photos that I will not be able to retrieve. I am thankful now that my Instagram posts auto post here to this blog or I would be truly morose. So new phone, no apps, no B.S. or Google tracking. Maybe I will even use a walkie talkie.  🙂

Bright side: its Magnolia Season!

 

 

2017 Book List

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The Light of Paris

A Piece of the World

Miller’s Valley: A Novel

The Other Einstein

Circling the Sun

To Capture What We Cannot Keep

At the Waters Edge

Between the World and Me

The Course of Love

The Historian

Juliet: A Novel

Modern Lovers

A Man Called Ove

This year I read some of the best books of my life and some of the fiction was based on truly amazing women. The year was a tough one for so many reasons, but good books make the world brighter for me. As I have mentioned before I love using the library to read books on my Kindle. It has been a great experience and I appreciate not having to purchase e-books.

only the essentials

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As I dwell on our current circumstances and how we all exist now in what is basically a one room studio with a big closet we can access, I realize how few things we use. Its all here in this room: books on the shelf, photos on the wall, blankets and pillows, Emma’s dollhouse, our electronics and a functional kitchen. We have access to laundry down the hall and more clothes and shoes than we need. We have the best food we can buy. We have clean water. Outside is the lake, garden, libraries, museums. What else could we need?

When I read about people fleeing their homes and rushing to grab those precious items that they do not want to lose I wonder what would I take? Photos, hard drives, friends’ artwork, momentos? They are spread all over our home. I keep the things I love and use all around me and would be floundering to collect them all if I had to evacuate in a hurry. I would want to take everything! It is an interesting thought exercise for me. At the very least I should better organize our important documents since our individual social security cards, birth certificates, and passports are kept in different locations in the closet!

winter solstice and schooling with Emma

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We have been focusing on winter and Christmas lately in our home schooling. It is the coldest and longest night of the year but I don’t think any amount of wishful thinking will bring us snow (which is definitely for the best since our ceiling is still torn up in the bedroom!). Talking about driving a Gig car up into the hills to look for some snow for the afternoon some day soon.

Learning about why snow is white in Mystery Science.

Watching the Snowy Day.

Reading White Snow, Bright Snow.

Listening to Lullatone’s album Winter Whispers on repeat.

 

holiday reading

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We have been reading a lot more since school is out for the holiday and our activities are on hold. It has been nice to visit the library with more frequency and we have read so many great books lately. Usually I will find many new picture books and a few non-fiction and Emma will pick up a stack of the short character stories like Strawberry Shortcake and Peppa Pig and we will read through them all. Here are some of the holiday/winter titles that we have been enjoying at home and from the library.

At home we own many books by Jan Brett as we love her illustrations. “Gingerbread Baby” and “The Mitten” are favorites. I also picked up this tiny copy of the “12 Days of Christmas.” The way she uses borders around the main pictures in all of her books is so brilliant.

I recently ordered a copy of a book from the Noisy Village series that we did not yet have. I know there is a “Christmas in Noisy Village” but I had read that you could get the same story by getting the longer chapter book. We have not read the whole thing yet but skipped to the chapters in the middle where they celebrate Christmas and it is wonderful!

Emma is in love with the book about “The Dolls’ Christmas” by Tasha Tudor. I picked it up at the library knowing she would fancy it and I had no idea that it was a true-ish story! Such a sweet little read.

We were sad to be missing “The Nutcracker” this year (although the holiday concert was a fantastic event) but still read the story often. We own a copy but have to look at other versions whenever we find them because the illustrations are always so good.

Of course we also have “The Snowy Day” and LOVE the new animated version so much. Ezra Jack Keats’ story and style of illustration is so beautiful and the new animated one is up to par.

Thinking about reading the chapters in “Mary Poppins ” where they go downtown to the big department store to buy Christmas presents. We love the part when Maia the star comes in to get things for all of her siblings. Also the part about the gingerbread wrapped in paper with stars gets me every time. It is so memorable.