Mornin’ friends. How goes your Monday so far? I know, it’s just getting started. We had a low-key weekend; it was nice. On Saturday, Steve thought it would be fun to do a hiking double-header of sorts. We drove out to Rust Nature Preserve for the first hike; it got off to an auspicious start when we saw a gorgeous fox out the car windows as we drove in. We had a lovely stroll through the nature preserve and ate a picnic lunch when we finished – the perks of living in Virginia; sitting down for an outdoor lunch (with parkas on, of course) is doable even in early March. And then we headed off to Beaverdam Reservoir for our second hike of the day… which was immediately scuttled when Nugget jumped off a boulder into a large puddle (despite being repeatedly warned off of said puddle) and got himself soaked from the waist down. We headed home and made up for it with a walk through the neighborhood park after we’d gotten him into dry clothes, but – sheesh. This is why I can’t have nice things.
Sunday was an even quieter day. We hit the trails again in the morning – just our local favorite, Riverbend Park – and then headed home to feed the kiddos lunch and have a FaceTime date with Grandma. After FaceTime I got the kids out of Steve’s hair for a few hours, taking them off to the playground. They ran around and played “escape artists” with a gaggle of other kids, and I sat on a bench in the sunlight and read my book. Headed home at 5:00 and slapped a quick breakfast-for-dinner on the table, then ended the weekend with a book, a candle, and an early bedtime. Not too shabby.
Reading. It’s been a good reading week! I spent most of last week completely engrossed in Vere Hodgson’s Blitz diary, Few Eggs and No Oranges. Totally fascinating and absorbing. Finished it up on Thursday (or Friday? can’t recall) and picked up Black Narcissus, a vaguely unsettling, atmospheric story of a convent of nuns that sets up shop in a mountaintop palace. It was both gorgeously written and quite eerie – and a good read for this time of year, since so much of the action takes place during Lent and around Easter. I finished it up on Sunday evening and immediately turned to The House of Mirth, which I’ve been meaning to read for so long. I love Edith Wharton and have been saving this one – but I have in my head that I might finally make it to The Mount, Wharton’s estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, this summer when I visit my parents, and I absolutely have to have read The House of Mirth before I do. I’m loving it so far, but it’s too soon to tell whether it will supplant The Age of Innocence as my favorite Wharton.
Watching. Well, we had a moment of parental indecision about what to watch for “family TV time” this week, and Nugget stepped into the breach and insisted on Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet on Disney+ NatGeo. It’s a beautifully shot show, and I am soaking in all the gorgeous footage of scenery and wildlife in Alaska, although I could do with less animal scat and half-eaten salmon. We have half an episode left and then the little dude will probably capitalize on the fact that it’s his birthday week to insist that we start over and watch the entire show again. Other than that – I did sneak in a few episodes of Miranda Mills’ BookTube – even on the “big TV” on Sunday morning when no one else was using it. (I wasn’t really in the mood for television at the time, but it’s so rare that I get the remote that I felt I had to take advantage of the opportunity.)
Listening. More podcasts this week, mostly The Mom Hour. Highlight of the week was the validating episode on getting through the rest of the school year – encouraging listeners not to worry about kids falling behind academically this year, host Sarah reassures: if your kids have food to eat, a safe place to sleep, and the security of love, you’re doing just fine.
Making. Ummmm… not sure I made anything last week, except for the standard work product. I guess – the beginnings of some plans? Steve and I started some very preliminary conversations about traveling to Europe with the kids, but that’s a few years away. 2023 is looking good? Hopefully COVID will be over, and the kids will be able to use booster seats in the car – making rentals easier. We have a big international trip, sans kiddos, coming up before then… but planning and dreaming is always fun.
Moving. It was a big week for foot traffic. Looking for sunshine and fresh air, I logged multiple runs and neighborhood walks, and the standard two hikes over the weekend. I need to get back in the habit of strength training regularly, so maybe that’s for this week.
Blogging. Just some silliness for you this week. More “tales from the exurbs” on Wednesday, and an update on library shenanigans on Friday. Check in with me then!
Loving. So, I told you I would report back on the hand cream I ordered from Beautycounter (it’s this one). Update: I love it. It’s as light and smooth – but effective – as the gift set I received from my friend Samantha, and the bright citrusy scent is delicious. At $30 it’s a little spendy, but the bottle is huge (for hand cream) so I’m expecting it to last a long time. It’s definitely helping with my scaly late-winter skin, and it doesn’t burn either. Go get you some.
February was cold. We had back-to-back snowfalls; a couple of ice storms; and a lot of icy rain. Our house doesn’t get – or stay – especially warm, and I took to walking around with my hands curled around a steaming mug of tea a lot of the time, just to keep from chillblains. I tried squinting and pretending that I was living in a draughty Scottish castle, but it didn’t work.
As you can imagine, with all this cold, it was another indoor month. We did make a point of getting out and hitting the trails most weekend days, but hikes were truncated and we did miss a few because of yucky weather. Between the grim skies and the hibernating garden, I spent more time in my reading nook than in the fresh air. Really hoping that March, and the beginning of more consistently warm weather, will be the turning point.
Trail report. I read a beautiful quote earlier this month: “We cannot learn the story of the year if we read only eight or nine of its twelve chapters.” (Edward Step, 1930.) That was really our philosophy in February. We hit the trails in the mud and slush, and we slipped around our neighborhood park in the ice. Although we made a point of getting out, it was mostly to our local favorite – Riverbend Regional Park. Riverbend is a favorite for a reason, and we definitely enjoyed our rambles there. (Well, mostly. There was one very muddy day that I could have done without. Hiking in the mud isn’t my jam.) Hoping that March will bring more consistently hike-able weather, and that we’ll get to some trails a little further afield.
In the garden. So, I realized that I shared the above picture in my January recap, but it was actually snapped on February 1 – whoops! This is what the garden looked like for most of the month – although after a few warmer days and rains toward the end of the month, the snow is gone now. I have a big stack of garden books to read in the evenings ahead, and am still trying to figure out what I’m going to do about the big wild area. Now I am leaning toward planting some annuals. I don’t have much time left to make this decision!
At the feeders. (Another January picture – busted! But that view was pretty prevalent in February, too.) With great caution I will tell you that – so far, knock wood – my starling-repulsion techniques seem to be working. Between putting out food they don’t prefer in the feeders they can access, and their favorites in the starling-proof cage feeder, I have seen very few of them. They stop by now and then to see if I have let down my guard, but they leave right away. And even better news is: surprisingly, the Eastern bluebirds are able to get into the starling-proof cage feeder, so they’re still around! I had thought they would be locked out of the good stuff, but they surprised me. I’m so glad that my war on starlings didn’t have the collateral effect of driving away the bluebirds. They’re so lovely.
1000 hours outside. Oof. So, another largely indoor month. I guess that’s to be expected in pandemic winter. It’s funny – I love winter sports, skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing – and every year I say this is going to be the year I get the family into something new, but it never really happens. I didn’t even try this year, so that explains why – only 10.5 outdoor hours in February. And it would have been even less were it not for a 3.5 hour outdoor playdate last weekend. I’m still holding out the hope, or expectation really, that outdoor time will go way up once the weather starts warming up and we spend more time in the yard, on the playground, and on the trails and the water.
Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I literally 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 February, 2021.
My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell – What a way to begin a winter month! With back-to-back snowfalls, I wanted to read about someplace warm, and Corfu sounded lovely. It was. Durrell’s classic (loosely factual) memoir of five years he spent with his mother and siblings on the Greek island was absolutely hilarious. His writing about the folk and fauna of Corfu was wonderful, but obviously I most enjoyed the hysterically funny scenes featuring his family and their reactions to the never-ending stream of wildlife “Gerry” brought into the house. Poor, poor Mother.
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison – To celebrate Black History Month, I finally ticked off a long-standing TBR entry and read Song of Solomon. As expected, it was absolutely mesmerizing. The story of an affluent Black family in mid-twentieth-century Michigan, it packed healthy doses of magical realism and lots of wisdom – I can’t recommend it highly enough. Fully reviewed here.
Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons, ed. Melissa Harrison – I have had my eye on Harrison’s collection of seasonal anthologies for months now, and it was time to dive in. Winter is actually the fourth in the series, which I didn’t realize until I had already started it, but you don’t have to read them in any particular order. In Winter, Harrison collects contemporary and historical nature writing, poems, and literary excerpts about the season. They were all wonderful, but it will not surprise you to know that my favorites were the (many!) essays about birds. Also: it may be my fourth favorite season, but when it comes to books I am eagerly anticipating Spring.
Crossed Skis: An Alpine Mystery, by Carol Carnac – A mystery taking place on the ski slopes seemed like a perfect choice for a stretch of wintry weather, and it was. In London, a house burns on a grim and gloomy January day. Inside is a corpse – but police investigation reveals that the victim was killed before the fire. There are a few clues on scene, and one points to the involvement of a skier. A world away, a party of friends and acquaintances is enjoying the bright sun and sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps – but one of the party is not who they claim to be. The action bounces back and forth between the police investigation in London (which caught just a few too many lucky breaks, my only complaint) and the growing unease among the skiing party in Austria. Such good fun, and one I will revisit again and again.
Me and White Supremacy, by Layla Saad – I added this book to my Kindle back in summer of 2020 and have been meaning to get to it ever since. Overall, I found it disappointing. The tone was extremely confrontational, which I think could certainly be warranted, but needs to be combined with useful information; this was not. Each “day” (the book is intended to be a 28-day workbook with journaling prompts) begins by reviewing a concept such as white privilege, white supremacy, white feminism, etc. – all important concepts that should be examined in detail and with honesty and directness. Unfortunately, the examination sticks to the very high-level and never goes beneath the surface. I was expecting more research-supported discussion of government-supported and economic injustice, along with concrete examples of how that injustice can be dismantled. There are plenty of well-researched and useful long-form articles and infographics out there for the finding on subjects like the direct connection between slavery and the so-called “War on Drugs,” or the systematic discrimination in finance and real estate that has led to a growing wealth gap between white and Black families – I know those articles and infographics exist, because I have found and read many of them. I think this book would have been much more helpful if some of those concrete subjects were examined, but they weren’t. Still worth keeping the book around, if for the bibliography and suggested reading list alone. But I don’t think I’ll be revisiting the main body of the book – I plan to check out Ibram X. Kendi’s How to be an Anti-Racist instead, which I hear is better.
The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith – What took me so long to get to this slim little book? Charles Pooter is a mid-level clerk in Victorian London. When Pooter and his wife, “dear Carrie,” move into a rowhouse in the suburb of Holloway, the clerk begins to keep a diary – mistakenly assuming that every tiny detail in his life is (1) worth recording and (2) of interest to future generations and the book-buying public. The result is hilarious. Between the antics of Pooter’s friends – the vulgar Gowing and the bicycle-mad Cummings – his sarcastic ne’er-do-well son Lupin, and the inscrutable Carrie, I laughed at least once on every page. (I loved Cummings, who regularly goes missing for a week or two, then turns up furious that he has been bedridden and none of his friends noticed; his response when they point out that they didn’t know is always, “It was in the Bicycle News.” And Carrie! You can never really tell whether she finds Pooter’s jokes funny, and I love that.) Only complaint: way too short.
Betsy-Tacy and Tib (Betsy-Tacy #2), by Maud Hart Lovelace – A re-read for me, and a read-aloud for me and Peanut. We’ve been gradually working our way through the Betsy-Tacy books and wrapped this one up this month. Just as good as I remembered, and Peanut loved it. It’s been such fun to start introducing her to classic literature – and I think the Betsy-Tacy series is a little more approachable than Anne of Green Gables, even though L.M. Montgomery will always have my heart.
Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville – Read for the Classics Club, and I really didn’t care for it. Although there were flashes of brilliance, most of this doorstopper of a tome was devoted to toggling back and forth between long, dull descriptions of everything you never needed to know about the whaling industry, interspersed with gory cetacean murder scenes. No, thank you. Fully reviewed here.
That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story, by Huda Fahmy – A graphic novel-style memoir of the author’s meeting, falling in love with, and marrying her husband, this was a quick read and a pure delight. Fahmy opens her memoir by paraphrasing Jane Austen, so you know it’s going to be good. I laughed out loud on just about every page (the cat hotel! so good) and loved every moment. My only complaint: it was too short; I could have read hundreds more pages. I’m definitely going to seek out her other work, and soon.
A Winter Away, by Elizabeth Fair – I have heard such wonderful things about this novel of a collection of misfits, and their various misunderstandings, in a Dorsetshire village in the post-World War II years, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. Young Maud Ansdell has moved in with her elderly cousin and taken a job as secretary to the irascible local squire, “Old M.” Feniston. Maud is intimidated at first, but she soon finds herself growing fond of old M., and of his owlish son Oliver and estranged nephew Charles. As Maud clumsily navigates the village gossip and intrigues, the reader is entranced by marvelous scene-setting and humor on every page. I adored it, and I can’t wait to read more Elizabeth Fair.
The Woods in Winter, by Stella Gibbons – Another Furrowed Middlebrow title, the last novel Stella Gibbons wrote for publication follows thrice-widowed Ivy Gover from her attic flat in London to a cottage in the countryside. When Ivy first receives a solicitor’s letter explaining that her great-uncle has left her a life estate in his country cottage, she thinks it might be a “take-in.” But it’s not, and soon Ivy – curmudgeonly, solitary, preferring animals to people – is settled in the country, where she encounters everyone from the local Lord to a twelve-year-old runaway. There were moments of humor, but this isn’t an especially funny book. I enjoyed it, but it did suffer in comparison to being read immediately after A Winter Away.
A Gardener’s Year, by Karel Capek – I’ve had my eye on the Modern Library Gardening series for years now, but this slim volume was the first I have actually picked up. I loved it. Between the beautiful writing and the charming line drawings (by the author’s brother) it was a delightful way to spend an evening. The end is poignant – the author reflects on the many years it takes a tree to grow, and expresses a hope that he will see one of his plantings fifty years hence; in fact, he only lived nine years after writing this lovely book, dying at the young age of 48 of a combination of bronchial infection and broken heart after the Nazis were permitted to annex the Sudetenland of his beloved Czechoslovakia.
Terms and Conditions: Life in Girls’ Boarding Schools, 1939-1979, by Ysenda Maxtone Graham – I’ve been meaning to get to this one for years now, especially after reading and enjoying Graham’s Mr Tibbets’s Catholic School. Terms and Conditions lived up to its predecessor, and to all the hype that surrounded it (at least in one little corner of the bookish world) when it first came out. I am not a boarding school “Old Girl” myself, but I still found the book fascinating – rather than relatable, for me it was a glimpse into a completely different world, and I loved it. Funny, too, in that dry British witty way. A definite winner, and one I’ll re-read.
Pigeon Pie, by Nancy Mitford – One of Nancy Mitford’s earliest books, this little volume – barely out of novella category – is a romp. Lady Sophia Garfield has “clear” ideas about what will happen when World War II begins. She pictures herself stumbling through the rubble, searching for “her husband, her lover, and her dog” the moment war is declared. Lady Sophia’s active imagination also casts her as a beautiful spy, but with her rather dull wits, she fails to notice “a nest of German spies” right under her nose until it’s almost too late. Definitely not up to the standard of Mitford’s later works, like her masterpieces The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, but still a fun way to spend an evening.
Well! After a slow January, I guess I more than made up for lost time in February. Fourteen books in twenty-eight days is a fast pace, even for me – and while some were quite short, the work of one evening, Moby-Dick was in there, too. As for highlights, there were several. I had such fun with winter-themed reading this past month, especiallyMelissa Harrison’s anthology, Carol Carnac’s Alpine whodunit, and of course Elizabeth Fair – a new discovery that brought me such delight. Terms and Conditions was another highlight of the month, and now I can’t wait to read the final Graham currently on my shelves – The Real Mrs Miniver – and to order her newest, British Summer Time Begins, which I am saving for warmer weather, naturally. I’m still having such fun reading through my own shelves, and I’ve got my eye on a few gardeny reads for March and April.
Hello new week, and hello new MONTH! March used to be my least favorite month of the year – just a lot of mud, slush, and grim weather. But since 2015, March has been all about my sweet little guy and the joy and fun he brings to the family: happy birthday month, Nugget! He’s had a birthday countdown going since January and he’s very excited to be down to the final inning. My feelings are a little more mixed. How is he turning six already?
Anyway – it was a good, if not particularly restful, weekend. On Saturday, we were hoping to have a playdate with my law school friend, Carly, and her two munchkins. We’d tried to get together a few weeks ago, but the weather (ice storms) prevented. The forecast for this weekend was almost as bad, calling for rain, rain, and more rain. But mid-Saturday morning, Carly texted and said it had stopped raining near her and was supposed to stay dry, if cold and gloomy, for the rest of the day. Did I want to get together? I did. Carly and her kiddos drove out to my neck of the woods this time – her husband stayed home to supervise some renovations – and we passed a lovely afternoon first in my backyard, while the kids played, and then on a nearby playground. By around 3:00 even the clouds had burned off, and there were blue skies and warm sunshine, a welcome surprise. The kids ran around the playground while Carly and I chatted as hard as we could through our masks.
If Saturday was mostly given over to fun, Sunday was for productivity. The house had gotten pretty gross (#keepingitreal) between muddy boots, breakfast Cheerio casualties, scraps of art projects and just the detritus of four people living here 24-7. While the rest of the family was content with it, I couldn’t stand it anymore – the mess was stressing me out. I spent three hours cleaning like a maniac: folding and putting away multiple loads of laundry; sweeping and mopping the entire ground floor; deep-cleaning the kitchen and all three bathrooms. I was done by 2:00 p.m. and had the afternoon to relax in a (mostly) clean house. There really is nothing like that feeling, is there? The rest of the afternoon – quiet. I roasted a chicken and two sheet pans of veggies for dinner (+ leftovers), read Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill to Peanut, and sipped a Dogfish Head Namaste witbier. Finished the weekend curled up with my book; a good way to go into another hectic week.
Reading. Well! Some reading, all right. I closed out February with a banner week in books. The Woods in Winter, which I really enjoyed, occupied the beginning part of the week, followed by three more in quick succession – The Gardener’s Year, a slim but charming book; Terms and Conditions, which has been languishing on my TBR for far too long; and the very funny Pigeon Pie. I finished the weekend with Few Eggs and No Oranges, a World War II Blitz diary I’ve long been wanting to pick up. So far, it’s really wonderful.
Watching. I got the remote on Saturday, and thought it would be fun to watch The Durrells in Corfu, which I’ve been wanting to see. I figured the kids would enjoy Gerry and his menagerie. They did, but the older siblings made the show Not Appropriate For Children, and I had to turn it off – blah. Hopefully Steve and I can watch it together, but what with The Right Stuff, The Crown, and others that we are running behind on watching, it might be awhile. Other than my abandoned attempt to watch The Durrells, it was the usual Rick Steves all week. Can’t complain, although travel shows are not helping my extreme wanderlust.
Listening. I was on a bookish podcast bender and blew through several back episodes of Shedunnit this week, plus a Q&A episode of The Mother Runner Podcast while running (of course), a recent Sorta Awesome on morning routines for the Myers-Briggs types (fun, but not surprising – as an INFP, I like a slow morning with a book, big shock) and a couple of The Mom Hour episodes. The usual suspects.
Moving. Cleaning is my cardio! Or it felt that way this weekend. There was some running and some walking this week as well, but not enough strength training.
Making. A clean house (are you tired of reading about my clean house yet?) and a Sunday roast chicken, and I am feeling very pleasantly domestic about it.
Blogging. Recaps, recaps, get your recaps here! February’s reading round-up on Wednesday and outdoor report on Friday.
Loving. On a whim, I ordered this initial mug from Anthropologie, and I have been drinking my morning tea out of it all week. I know what you’re going to say: don’t you have enough tea mugs? (One can never have enough tea mugs.) My response to that is: (1) I have wanted an initial mug for years, but have always hated the design on every “J” mug I came across, until this one, finally, and (2) okay, fine, I don’t really need more mugs, but it’s a pandemic and this inexpensive little luxury is bringing me some joy right now, which I need. We all need.
covered in flour 