Month: December 2019

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A Black Friday Hike in the Albany Pine Bush

After a long car ride on Wednesday and an indoor, food-filled day on Thanksgiving, several of us were craving outdoor time and fresh air.  I’d been hoping to make a hike happen and was secretly cherishing an ambition to hike Mount Jo, Heart Lake or Indian Head in the Adirondacks, but the long drive up to the mountains wasn’t especially enticing – something closer to my parents’ house sounded much better, and after some discussion we settled on the Pine Bush.

The Pine Bush is a unique ecosystem – one of the few remaining inland pine barrens, with lupine and scrub oak also growing in the sandy soil.  (It’s also the home of the endangered Karner blue butterfly, but I figured I’d be safe from flapping wings in November – and I was.)  We parked near the Discovery Center, spent a bit of time exploring the indoor exhibits, then set off for a quick meander around one of the well-marked trails.

It was just Steve, me, and the little dude this time.  Peanut is the latest victim of the disgusting chest cold that Nugget brought home from school and has been passing around the family, so she stayed home with Nana to rest and recover.  Also – lest you think that all of our family hikes are perfect – you should know that Nugget screamed to be picked up the entire time.  We’ve gotten out of the habit of hiking, thanks to a busy summer and fall, and both kids have started complaining vociferously on the few hikes we have been able to fit in recently.  We ignored him and he finally stopped complaining and just hiked sullenly along with about five minutes left of trail.

The scenery was a good distraction from the caterwauling.  Can you believe this park and preserve is just a stone’s throw away from the largest shopping mall in Albany?  I know.

I was happy to be here, and not there, on Black Friday.  Trails suit me much better than a crowded mall.

Pine Bush, you’re beautiful!  I’ll definitely be back.  Just maybe not in butterfly season.

Did you hike over Thanksgiving weekend?

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Reading Round-Up: November 2019

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book. Here are my reads for November, 2019…

 

Plague Land (Somershill Manor Mystery #1), by S.D. Sykes – Murder mysteries set in historical times are very much my jam, so I was intrigued to check out this new-to-me series featuring an English Lord in a Kentish village just after the Plague.  I liked, but didn’t love it – Sykes doesn’t shy away from picturing the brutality of medieval life, which I mostly tolerate, but lately I’ve been craving gentler fiction.  The mystery also felt like a convenient device more than a plot driver.  I will probably continue with the series, but need a break first.

Slightly Foxed No. 8: Cooking with a Poet, ed. Gail Pirkis and Hazel Wood – At least to a certain extent, I can measure the success of an issue of Slightly Foxed by how many of the featured titles end up either on my Amazon wishlist or in my Abebooks cart.  In the case of issue number 8, there were a few, and there would have been more except for the fact that I already owned a few of the books the contributors profiled (like Another Self and Period Piece).  There’s not much that’s as comforting as curling up with a cup of tea and an issue of Slightly Foxed, and it was just what I needed.

Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell – It took me awhile, mainly because I was reluctant to lug the giant doorstopper volume I have (it’s a beautiful Folio Society hardcover) on the Metro – but Wives and Daughters was wonderful and worth every minute spent with it.  It’s a testament to how marvelous Gaskell’s storytelling is that I closed the book reluctantly, wishing it wasn’t over – after more than 650 pages.  My new favorite Gaskell!  Fully reviewed here.

The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste – I’d heard good things about this historical novel of Ethiopia in World War II, but try as I did, I couldn’t get into it.  Part of it was the author’s decision not to use quotation marks, which made it hard to follow the dialogue – but mostly, this was just the wrong time for me to read this book.  After months on end of extreme work stress, I am craving something gentler and calmer, and a book about a brutal war was never going to work for me at this time.  It was beautifully written but not for me, at least not for me right now.

The Stationery Shop, by Marjan Kamali– After feeling like my previous read was just too much, I approached The Stationery Shop with trepidation, but ended up really enjoying it.  There was a little violence, but most of the book focused on family interactions and cultural traditions – interspersed with luscious descriptions of Persian food – and it was wonderful.

The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2), by Margaret Atwood – This is an unpopular opinion, but I preferred The Testaments to The Handmaid’s Tale.  There is no question that The Handmaid’s Tale is the better book of the two, but The Testaments had a more hopeful feel and a pacier plot.  I found The Handmaid’s Tale deeply distressing – which was the intent, of course, so it did its job – and have never felt compelled to re-read it.  But for a gripping, plotty reading experience… I actually really liked The Testaments.

Magic Flutes, by Eva Ibbotson – Having heard that Magic Flutes is not one of Ibbotson’s strongest offerings, I had low expectations, and they were mostly met.  The story was fine, if formulaic, and the characters mostly the same.  Ibbotson clearly drew her hero in the Bronte mold (there’s even a reference to him being in “one of his Mr. Rochester moods”) and the older I get, the less alluring I find Bronte-style heroes.  What I really disliked about this book was its portrayal of a Jewish character.  I tried to remind myself that the book was a product of its times, but it left a very sour taste in my mouth.  If I didn’t know that Ibbotson’s other books are better, I’d probably be turned off the author completely.  As it is, I’ll definitely read more Ibbotson (if only because I love her settings – like Vienna and an Austrian castle, here), but won’t re-read Magic Flutes.

Wait for Me!, by Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire – I can’t get enough details and gossip about the Mitford family, and have had Debo’s memoirs on my list to read for years.  The youngest of the six Mitford sisters (and Tom, can’t forget about Tom – everyone does), Deborah Mitford married the younger son of the Duke of Devonshire, only to become a Duchess-in-waiting when her brother-in-law was killed in World War II.  Debo’s memories of growing up in one of the most famous families of the day, and of her years as a Duchess, are fascinating reading – even if she’s not as good of a writer as her elder sister Nancy.  (Debo also professes not to be a reader, but I think she should give herself more credit – in addition to Nancy and Jessica, her memoirs mention Anthony Trollope, E.F. Benson, Evelyn Waugh – who did not enjoy his stay with the Devonshires – and Patrick Leigh Fermor, to name just a few of the literary lights with whom Debo mixed.)

Poems of Gratitude, ed. Emily Fragas – I really enjoy making my way through the slim poetry collections in the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets series, but I think Poems of Gratitude has been my favorite thus far.  Fragas’ editorial decisions – for instance, to mix up the time periods instead of progressing chronologically in each section, and to include more works by women, non-native English speakers, people of color, and First Nations people – were really inspired.  Poems of Gratitude was wonderful reading on Thanksgiving.

Nine books seems like a relatively small achievement for November, which is a longer month.  But it was a busy month – lots of work and preparation for traveling over Thanksgiving and one Victorian doorstopper (also the highlight of the month) – made for slow going for a while there.  But I made up for it with a luxurious weekend of reading four books over Thanksgiving, which was wonderful.  Now on to the holiday season; I suspect my December list will look a little paltry as well, since I have a lot on my plate at work and at home.  But I’ll be turning to holiday books all month and I can’t wait.

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 2, 2019)

Well, here we go – a new week.  For those who enjoyed a long weekend, I hope it was wonderful and restful, and that your Sunday Scaries weren’t too bad.  Mine hit hard – after four days of not working (but lots of worrying that I should be) and a busy week ahead.  But let’s not talk about that.  How were your Thanksgivings?  We had a great one – shoved off early on Wednesday to drive up to Albany, NY, to visit my folks.  (What do you think of that skyline?  The river, the mountains, the sunset…)  Thanksgiving was as peaceful and relaxing as I’d predicted – after getting through the remains of my particularly time-sensitive work on Wednesday afternoon, I gave myself over to resting.  My mom cooked a delicious dinner and I didn’t have to help at all, and over the course of the weekend I got in all of the things I was hoping for – lots of reading time, visits with two of my closest friends, holiday lights in Washington Park and a delicious dinner out at Dove + Deer, a hike in the crisp November air, and a long afternoon of chatting with my grandmother and aunt.  We even managed to decorate my parents’ Christmas tree on Saturday night.  So – a successful Thanksgiving weekend.  Now it’s a busy December ahead, between holiday preparations and wrapping up the year at work.  Full steam ahead!


Reading.  It was a very busy reading week – as I’d hoped and expected, knowing that I had a luxuriously long weekend and limited responsibilities.  Sometimes I spend more time chatting to my mom than reading on visits to NY, but not this time, thanks to a painful cough and laryngitis.  So there was nothing for it but to read, and read, and read some more.  I finished Wait for Me!, the memoirs of Debo Mitford, a.k.a. the Duchess of Devonshire, on Wednesday evening, polished off Poems of Gratitude between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, then spent most of the rest of the weekend feverishly flipping pages in Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession.  I finished it just as we rolled into our driveway, chilled to the bone by the last chapter (shudder) and promptly – or as soon as the kids were settled in, anyway – polished off the December chapter of The Almanac 2019, which I’ve been reading all year, as a palate cleanser.  Still seeking something comforting to begin the workweek with, I’m now well into Not That It Matters, a collection of essays by A.A. Milne.  Next up – I’m not sure, but I’m thinking something Christmassy.

Watching.  I’m strictly Team After Thanksgiving when it comes to Christmas music and movies, but since we have now passed the date, all bets are off.  Most importantly in terms of viewing, the kids celebrated a milestone – the first viewing of Home Alone.  Nugget’s jaw was on the floor.  And Nana used it as a teachable moment for advising the kids about the dangers of being disrespectful and generally annoying.  (Look what happened to Kevin McAllister!  He had to sleep in the attic and then his family went to France without him!)  Just as important as Home Alone was the traditional post-Christmas-tree-decorating first viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which will be played on repeat all season.  You serious, Clark?

Listening.  This is the category that suffers for the wealth of reading and watching that was done this week.  I didn’t listen to much of anything, save a couple of podcast episodes in the early part of the week.  Can’t even remember what they were, so clearly nothing too exciting.

Making.  I’m rather pleased to report that I didn’t make anything.  In a week when most people were tied to their kitchens, I was relaxing on the couch with a book.  (Thanks, Mom!)  With all the holiday preparations ahead of me, that will surely change this week – but it was restful.

Blogging.  November reading round-up coming atcha on Wednesday, and a hike recap from our Thanksgiving travels on Friday.  Check back with me then!

Loving.  As gift-giving season gets underway, I am feeling rather smug, because I have teacher gifts all taken care of.  For those who are still looking for ideas, I love to give Rescue Gifts – there’s a variety of themes and price points, and Rescue.org has a good score on Charity Watch.  They’re good for last-minute shopping, because you can get an e-gift card delivered to the recipient’s email, but I like to order the printed cards for the kids to give their teachers on the last day of school before the holiday break.  I thought far enough ahead this year and ordered before Thanksgiving, which leaves me plenty of time.  I’m feeling good about having one of my holiday to-do list items checked off, and even better about the kids’ gifts – school supplies for refugee children, dedicated in their teachers’ names – this year.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?