Author: Jaclyn

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (March 14, 2022)

Good morning, friends. I’m digging my parka and snowboots and Smartwool accessories out again over here – because after several downright hot days (the kids went to school in shorts and t-shirts; we hiked last weekend in shorts and t-shirts, too) we got about two inches of heavy, wet snow on Saturday morning. Around here, that’s significant. Even more significant: it’s not gone yet, although most of it is. Anyway, the snowfall meant a hasty reshuffling of weekend plans. I’d made appointments to take both kids for haircuts on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon Nugget was scheduled for a private ski lesson at an indoor ski center (I know!) – one of his birthday treats, since he turned seven (again, I know!!!!) on Friday. But the haircuts were clearly off, as they would have us driving forty minutes each way at the height of the bad weather, and the indoor ski center asked me to reschedule so they could release the instructor. So instead, Nugget spent all of Saturday playing his new Nintendo Switch and I don’t think he was mad about it. (In fact, I was the only one who went outside all day – for a long, delicious walk in the snow. If this was winter’s last hurrah of the year, I didn’t want to miss it.)

There was a lot of Switch playing on Sunday, too, but not exclusively – we had to put a stop to that. Swimming lessons broke up the day as usual, and then we bundled up and headed to our favorite, Riverbend Regional Park, for an afternoon hike. And then the birthday boy played more Nintendo. Well – he’d better not get used to it!

Reading. Pretty busy week in books! I finished up The Fairy Tale Girl on Tuesday and spent the rest of the workweek on Martha’s Vineyard, soaking up every beautifully handpainted and handlettered detail of Susan Branch’s story there. I finally ended the trilogy of her memoirs (The Fairy Tale Girl and Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams are books one and two, but I’d read the third, A Fine Romance, last year – I should re-read it, though, because it was a total delight) and moved on to the first book in Stephen Moss’s series of “biographies” focusing on British birds – The Robin: A Biography. Loved it, and flew through it (see what I did there?) and finally picked up this gorgeous new edition of Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel of Tudor London – The Armourer’s House. I’m about halfway through and really enjoying it, as I always enjoy Rosemary Sutcliff.

Watching. A little too much watching Nugget play Nintendo Switch! We’ll put the brakes on that. And some episodes of Gardener’s World, of course, and Despicable Me 3 on Sunday, to tempt Nugget away from the Switch.

Listening. I’ve been back on a podcast train. I recommended The Mom Hour to a newly pregnant mama last week, and then dove back into my stack of episodes myself.

Making. Progress on my Costa Rica photo book has stalled out, both because I have had less access to the family computer than usual, an especially busy week at work, and I missed the boat on a really substantial discount so the impetus to hurry up and get it done is no longer there. But I will get it done, soonish. I also made progress on Nugget’s scarf, and on my first pair of fingerless gloves. And a big dinner and birthday cake for the new seven-year-old!

Moving. The usual. Some running. Some Peloton classes. A few long walks, including one in the snow – which reminded me that my Sorel boots are warm but not up to three miles of tramping around the neighborhood.

Blogging. A post on reading in this season of life coming atcha on Wednesday, and back to Colorado on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. It turns out I am pretty good at Mario Kart. Who knew? I remember always finding Mario Kart difficult and frustrating – I was more of a Super Mario World kind of girl. But I’ve been playing Princess Peach and tearing up the track. It’s silly, but it’s fun to play a game with my little guy.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

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Colorado & Utah 2021: Off-Roading at Rabbit Valley

After our trip back in time to see dinosaur eggs and a bone imprint, the kids were clamoring for some non-educational fun. Luckily, Uncle Dan had another treat in store – off-roading! Vehicle-loving Nugget was hype for this, but we were all excited. And it was Steve’s birthday! So what better way to celebrate than by driving a RZR through the desert?

Our destination was a natural recreation area called Rabbit Valley. (Spoiler: I did not see any rabbits.) We met up with Danielle’s parents, who brought their own RZR, and got ready to hit the trail. There were six available seats and eight people, so Danielle and her mom set off on a walk in the desert while the rest of us divided up between the two vehicles – Dan, Nugget and I rode with Grampa Don (Danielle’s dad), while Steve drove Peanut in Dan and Danielle’s RZR. Here we go!

I suspect that Don could really open it up and drive wild in this thing, and that he was dialing it back for us. It still felt pretty extreme!

Yes, Nugget is wearing his Pokemon pajamas. Parenting is all about picking your battles.

When I wasn’t wondering if we were going to roll over (we didn’t) I was taking in the scenery along the trail. Otherworldly! Finally, we came to what Dan described as a “pretty overlook.”

I mean. Yes, pretty. Pretty spectacular.

Down in the gorge, the Colorado River was sparkling in the desert sun.

I could have stayed all day, drinking in these views! We did stick around for awhile, but eventually the kids got itchy to be on the move again and we were back in the RZRs. We shuffled the party around a little – Nugget went with Steve and they drove in front so they weren’t literally choking on our trail dust, and Peanut joined me, Uncle Dan, and Grampa Don. What a cool experience, and definitely something we don’t get to do every day.

Next week: our adrenaline interlude is over and we are back to dinosaur hunting.

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The Classics Club Challenge: Romola, by George Eliot

George Eliot’s Romola is a tour-de-force; basically, it’s Middlemarch, but make it Renaissance Italy. (That’s simplifying things a bit, okay, but you get the gist.) The story opens with the arrival of a stranger, Tito, in the city of Florence. Tito is a Greek scholar, kind of, who has led something of an exciting life – but you have to extrapolate that from between the lines, at least at the beginning, because he’s playing it very close to the vest. The Florentines are naturally curious about this stranger who has appeared so suddenly on a feast day, but Tito isn’t sharing his history. He quickly falls in with a barber who knows everyone and wangles himself an introduction to a blind local scholar, Bardo de Bardi, with good connections that Tito can use.

When Tito meets Bardo, he’s interested not just in his connections – Bardo also has a daughter, Romola, who is beautiful, elegant and graceful. Romola is devoted to her father; her brother has run away to join Savanarola’s Dominican brotherhood and Bardo feels betrayed by this son who chose mysticism over logic. Romola lives to ease her father’s burdens, and Bardo quickly sees in Tito someone who could replace the son that he has lost. It’s no surprise that Romola and Tito quickly marry (against a warning from Romola’s brother) – but Tito turns out to be hiding a disgraceful past, and prepared to be as treacherous as he needs to be to ensure his wealth and position and keep his secrets buried. Bardo dies, happy in his mistaken belief that his daughter is married to a gem of a person, and Tito’s first act is to sell his father-in-law’s prized library to a disbursement of buyers, destroying both Bardo’s dearest wish (that his library be kept together) and Romola’s affection for him in one fell swoop. Romola runs away, determined to seek out a famous female scholar in Rome (or Venice? I forget which) and become an independent intellectual woman – but on her flight, she is intercepted by Savanarola himself, who talks her into being a good Christian woman and devoting herself to her husband, and sends her packing back to Florence.

Romola was labouring, as a loving woman must, to subdue her nature to her husband’s. The great need of her heart compelled her to strangle, with desperate resolution, every rising impulse of suspicion, pride, and resentment; she felt equal to any self-infliction that would have saved her from ceasing to love.

To be perfectly honest, this is where George Eliot lost me. I was already struggling a bit to get through this chunkster of a novel – it’s crammed full of overwhelming amounts of detail and political information about the players in Renaissance Florentine society; just try to keep all the de Medicis an anti-de Medicis straight. But I was stoked to read the story of a woman striking out for herself in a time when that was just not done, making a home among an intellectual sisterhood, and claiming her independence. And then not only did none of that happen, but the way in which Romola was stymied just rang so false to me.

Romola had no affection, respect, or allegiance to the Dominican monks – least of all Savanarola. For the entire first third of the book, she shares her father’s disgust for the monks who, in his view, stole away his son, converted him to mysticism, and caused him to reject the intellectual life that his father stood for. Romola visits her brother on his deathbed and is enraged and deeply upset by his mystical vision that if Romola marries (anyone, but it’s Tito that Romola has in mind) a parade of horribles will result. And it is presumptuous for this brother who ran away from home and rejected his family to then presume to dictate to his sister that she can’t get married because disaster! I was right there with Romola. But then in the course of one conversation over a couple of paragraphs, Savanarola convinces her to return to her husband (after previously urging her to take her brother’s advice and not get married) and to become Savanarola’s biggest cheerleader from among the fancy class of Florence. I suppose George Eliot is making a point about the magnetic force of Savanarola’s personality, and it’s my twenty-first century reader’s lens that is getting in the way, but I just didn’t buy it. And then Romola, instead of the single independent intellectual woman I wanted to read about, becomes a downtrodden wife and over-the-top Christian missionary to the poor of Florence. No, thanks.

As you can no doubt tell, I was disappointed in Romola the character and in Romola the book. It was no Middlemarch. (Part of my problem was also that I, unaccountably, thought that Romola was about Romani people, and I spent the first five chapters wondering why were in Italy and where the caravan was. But I did eventually figure out that I’d gotten the wrong idea about the plot and lean into the actual story, only to be deeply disappointed by Romola, the side characters, and – well, everyone.) If Romola de Bardi is supposed to be a Florentine Dorothea Brooke, she has some backbone to grow.

Have you read Romola? What’s your favorite George Eliot?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (March 7, 2022)

Good morning! It was downright warm here yesterday, and we slept with the windows open last night. Spring is most definitely on the way. On that note, rewinding to Saturday, Nugget and I decided that it would be our last mountain day of the ski season. We are lucky enough to have an indoor ski center just twenty minutes or so from us, so he can take lessons all summer and keep his skills sharp for next year! But with the weather warming up steadily, there will be no more trips up to Pennsylvania until December at the earliest. So we shoved off early on Saturday morning, determined to make the most of our last day on the slopes for many months. It was almost sixty degrees (Nugget wore shorts under his snow pants instead of his usual base layer) so the snow was basically slush and there was mud poking through the base in sections, but the flip side is that there was almost no one at the mountain and we sailed through almost every lift line. We made twelve runs, including a couple from the top of the mountain, and at the end of the day I introduced Nugget to apres ski and we toasted our ski season at the mountain tavern (him with lemonade, me with a Blue Moon). It was a great day – and a great season, and I’m sad it’s over. But the silver lining is that paddling season is right around the corner.

Anyway, Sunday was quieter. I spent the morning on the couch with my book; it had been weeks since I did that and it felt so good. Mid-day, we did our usual rush to swimming and soccer. (Last week of that – swimming will continue but indoor soccer is officially done for the season. Spring really is coming.) And after soccer, we took advantage of the warm day to get in a family hike at Riverbend Regional Park, our local favorite – it had been ages since we hit the trails as a family, due to Nugget’s and my ski schedule this winter. The first crocuses are out, my bulbs are sending up shoots in the front yard, and spring is almost here – with all the fun that warmer weather will bring.

Reading. Bit of a slow reading week – thanks partly to the fact that I was slammed with work (still catching up after vacation – I think I finally have now) and partly to a mini-reading slump brought on by the fact that I was bogging down a bit in The Dud Avocado. On Monday, I finished A Poem for Every Winter Day and pulled out A Poem for Every Spring Day, and also turned back to The Dud Avocado. I’d started it before Costa Rica, but left it home – I travel with my kindle only, these days – and took awhile to get back into it upon my return. It was very good, but just not what I wanted to be reading in the moment. Eventually, after some self-discipline, I finished it up on Sunday evening and turned (with some relief) to The Fairy Tale Girl. I love Susan Branch’s artwork, and this book is as beautiful as all her others.

Watching. We finished up The Book of Boba Fett this week; I definitely enjoyed the latter part of the season more than the first few episodes (which were still good, don’t get me wrong, but the series really picks up when the Mandalorian returns). Aside from that, we watched a couple of episodes of Rock the Park and an episode of National Geographic: The National Parks – read on for why.

Listening. I always want quiet after traveling, and I did the first few runs and walks of the week without my earbuds. But toward the end of the week I did ease back into listening – my summer playlist came back out, prematurely but probably as a result of the warmer weather, and I put in about half an hour on Agatha Christie’s The 4.50 From Paddington (read by the incomparable Joan Hickson) on Audible. I’m feeling drawn back to nature podcasts, too, so maybe a few of those are on the agenda for the coming week? Who knows.

Making. So much this week! Progress on Nugget’s knitted scarf and the beginnings of fingerless mitts for me. A pile of edited photos (almost done!) from Costa Rica, and a start on a Shutterfly album of the trip. But most exciting making of all – we made more travel plans! (We always have to have an adventure on the horizon.) Flights and lodging booked for a summer family vacation out west to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and we are super stoked! We watched Rock the Park and National Geographic episodes about Yellowstone and Grand Teton (but mostly Yellowstone, where we will spend the bulk of our time) to get the kids excited about the trip, and I’ve started a list of hikes to check out. Between work trips and family travel, it’s looking like a busy spring and summer season ahead and I don’t mind in the least.

Moving. Not as much movement as I’d like, thanks to a jam-packed conference call schedule last week. I do try to make movement a priority but sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and it was one of those weeks. But I got in some running and plenty of walking, and kept up my 10,000 steps a day streak, so that’s something. Back to yoga and strength training this week!

Blogging. I’m planning to have another Classics Club review for you on Wednesday, but I haven’t written it yet – so we’ll see if it happens. And on Friday, more travel recaps (Friday will be travel day for the foreseeable future, so get comfortable).

Loving. I’ve already waxed rhapsodic so I won’t go on and on, but it has been so much fun skiing with my little adventure buddy all winter! I’m constantly impressed by how game he is for literally anything, and he threw himself into mountain sports with the same energy and openness that he does everything else. (Last week he said to me, “Mama, I thought skiing would be pretty cool but then I realized that, whoa, skiing is really cool!”) In just five (or six? I’ve lost count) trips up to the mountain this winter, he’s gone from never wearing skis (well, we tried once when he was two but he cried until we took them off and he didn’t actually do any skiing, so that doesn’t count) to riding every chairlift at the mountain and confidently skiing down even long green circle runs. I’m excited for his indoor lessons all summer and already can’t wait to see what he does next winter.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

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Colorado & Utah 2021: Uncle Dan’s Dinosaur Tour, Part I – Eggs!

One of my brother’s very favorite things to do is play tour guide and show visitors around the places he calls home. Since moving to western Colorado, he has leaned into the dinosaur territory in a big way, and when we decided to visit for Thanksgiving he promised to take us all on his ultimate tour of all his favorite fossil spots.

Part I of Uncle Dan’s Dinosaur Tour started in a non-descript pull-off from a back road. No signs, no trail markers – just desert. Dan and Danielle love to poke around and “find stuff” and on one weekend’s ramble they came across a big boulder studded with circular shapes that the local dinosaur club (society?) confirmed were eggs. It was tucked away, deep in the canyon, but Dan and Danielle led us there expertly.

Unmistakably eggs of some sort! Looks like they hatched – hopefully – so… dinosaur babies! Too cute.

It was so cool to not only be able to get close to these egg fossils, but to actually touch them and see how they were preserved in nature – rather than in a museum case. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good natural history museum, but this was just a totally different, very unusual experience.

We scuttled downhill and back to the car, and drove about ten minutes to the next stop – another non-descript pull-off. This time, there was no short hike – just a big natural stone pillar right by the road, with this:

Friends, that is a bone imprint. It looked like something out of The Flintstones. Too big for Pebbles to wear as a hair bow, sadly.

This was just the beginning! Uncle Dan had more dinosaur fun in store, but first an off-roading interlude – next week.

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Reading Round-Up: February, 2022

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, 2022.

The Worshipful Lucia (Mapp and Lucia #5), by E.F. Benson – It’s hard to choose a favorite from this sparkling, witty series – but this might be it? Lucia tries on a new identity as a financial guru and is wildly successful, much to Elizabeth Mapp-Flint’s chagrin. Absolutely hilarious, fully reviewed here.

Yummy: A History of Desserts, by Victoria Grace Elliott – I borrowed this adorable graphic history of popular desserts – from ice cream to cookies, to cake, and even macarons – from Peanut. Mom achievement unlocked! It was cute, made me hungry, and I actually learned quite a bit about the history of sweets.

Trouble for Lucia (Mapp and Lucia #6), by E.F. Benson – Sad to say goodbye to Queen Lucia Pillson, Elizabeth Mapp-Flint, and the rest of the quirky and endearing residents of charming Tilling. Lucia, now risen to Mayor of Tilling – with Elizabeth as her Mayoress – is in for a bumpy ride, but Lucia is never down and out for long. Fully reviewed here.

The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race #1), by Agatha Christie – I listened to this early (1920s) standalone thriller on Audible – it was okay, but definitely not up to Christie’s prime standard; the casual sexism and entrenched gender roles did the story no favors, even if it was of its time. I did enjoy seeing the influence of Christie’s around-the-world British Empire Exhibition promotion tour, which she must have either just completed or been in the process of completing as she wrote the book; for instance, her heroine goes surfing in South Africa – something Christie herself did on that trip. (Christie’s letters and photographs from the tour are collected in a fun volume curated by her grandson, Mathew Prichard, called The Grand Tour.)

Diplomatic Passport: More Undiplomatic Diaries 1946-1962, by Charles Ritchie – I wanted to read something travel-related as I embarked on my first international trip in years, and Ritchie seemed like a good travel companion – as a Canadian diplomat, he got around the world rather a lot. I read the first volume of his diaries, which mostly focused on his posting to London during the Blitz, in 2019 and loved them, and these were nearly as engaging. Richie’s career really takes off in this volume, and he spends time at the Canadian Embassy in Paris before going on to be Ambassador to Germany, the United Nations, and eventually the United States. His writing voice is charming and compelling and I loved his stories.

Cluny Brown, by Margery Sharp – Cluny Brown’s problem, at least according to her family, is that she doesn’t know her place. Cluny does things like going to tea at the Ritz, just because she feels like it and has the money, and that’s simply not done for a respectable working class London girl. But Cluny’s attitude to life is: why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t she go to tea at the Ritz, if she can afford it? Why shouldn’t she have a martini or accept a party invitation? Cluny’s guardians are at their wits end, so they send her off to “good service” in Devon – hoping she will finally learn her place. Upstairs/downstairs shenanigans ensue, of course, and I think it’s hardly a spoiler to tell you that Cluny does learn her place – but it’s not quite what her relatives have in mind.

A Poem for Every Winter Day, ed. Allie Esiri – I really, really try to stay up to date on reading a poem a day, and Allie Esiri’s seasonal collections are my choice for 2022. In fact, I got woefully behind on this one, but caught up at the end of the month and the poems in here were truly a delight. I bookmarked a few for future reference.

Short month, short reading list! February was interrupted by a vacation, and I never read much when I’m traveling – I prefer to take in the sights, and spend time with my traveling companions; reading is more of an at-home activity. But in the few hours I did actually devote to books this month, I read some good ones. Cluny Brown was a highlight, as was Diplomatic Passport. And of course, any visit to Lucia and Mapp in Tilling is a total joy.

How was your February in books?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (February 28, 2022)

Morning, friends! I can’t believe it’s the last day of February. This month has flown. Thanks for hanging in with me while I caught up on some book reviews and other posts that I’d had sitting in drafts for too long. Also – busted! I really did need to catch up on content, but in addition to that, I was on vacation. Steve and I spent a blissful, adventure-packed week and a half in Costa Rica (the kids had school, so they stayed home and my mom flew down from New York to watch them, and my dad joined her later). Many stories to come, but not for awhile because I have to get through all of my Colorado posts first. We saw a ton of incredible wildlife (humpback whales playing right around our boat; toucans and scarlet macaws; resplendent quetzals in the cloud forest; dozens of hummingbirds; three different kinds of monkeys; crocodiles; and three-toed sloths were just a few of the many) – went scuba diving with sharks, sea turtles, and stingrays – hiked in rainforests and around an active volcano – ate delicious Costa Rican food – and said “pura vida!” to everyone. I’m sorting through my pictures now and can’t wait to share.

Anyway, we returned from our grand (and warm!) adventure to sloppy rain in the middle of last week. My parents hung around until Saturday morning and then had to shove off back to their regular lives in New York, and we were back to the usual weekend rodeo. I took Nugget skiing on Saturday; the snow was wet and heavy and the sun was warm – I think we have one more ski day left this season, maybe. The good news is we have the only indoor ski center on the East Coast about twenty minutes for us, so he can take lessons all summer. Sunday was also the usual – rushing from swim lessons to indoor soccer (just one more week of doing that mad dash before soccer wraps up too). I spent the afternoon playing outside with Nugget and also squeezed in a run. It’s good to be home, but I wouldn’t mind a Costa Rican sunrise right about now.

Reading. Only five books to show you, despite taking two Mondays off these weekly reading posts – I never read much on vacation, and this time was no exception. I was too busy taking in the scenery in Costa Rica, hanging out with Steve, and getting to know our new dive buddies – and crashing as soon as the sun went down, catching up on sleep. I regret nothing. Anyway – just before leaving for the trip I finally finished The Man in the Brown Suit on audio; it was okay, but not up to Agatha Christie’s usual flawless standards. Over the course of the trip, I read through Diplomatic Passport: More Undiplomatic Diaries, by Charles Ritchie (wanted something that was about travel, since I was traveling internationally for the first time in years!) and then started Cluny Brown on the flight home, both on my kindle. I finished Cluny up over the weekend and turned back to the physical books I’d left behind for my trip – got up-to-date on A Poem for Every Winter Day (which I’ll finish today) and then returned to The Dud Avocado. I’ve got to remind myself what happened in the first third of that book, since it’s been a few weeks since I picked it up!

Watching. The highlight of watching the last few weeks has been wildlife watching – of course! I can’t wait to tell you all about it. So! Many! Animals!

Listening. Not much listening. I left my earbuds home and didn’t take them on my trip. Shortly before I left for Costa Rica, I did finish up The Man in the Brown Suit, as noted above, and turned to 4:50 From Paddington (another Agatha Christie, this one a Miss Marple and read by the incomparable Joan Hickson, so I have high expectations) on Audible.

Making. Lots and lots and lots of pictures, although I have to sort through them, delete the blurry ones, and edit the keepers – and then those are destined for a Shutterfly book and possibly some canvas or metal prints for around the house; all in good time. And I started a new scarf for Nugget, which I’ll probably finish on the first eighty-degree day, but you know how it goes.

Moving. Well, no formal exercise other than that run on Sunday (which was both wonderful – I needed it! – and terrible, as I shook off the cobwebs from not running for two weeks) but our Costa Rica trip was an active vacation for sure. Two days of scuba diving, followed by multiple hikes (some quite strenuous), swimming in waterfalls, and wildlife walks. Good stuff all! And no regrets on not running, even though my speed went out the window.

Blogging. Monthly reading recap coming for you on Wednesday, and then off to Colorado (makes total sense after all this Costa Rica talk, right? ::winks::) for more travel recaps on Friday.

Loving. This helpful roundup from NPR with a list of reputable charities to support and information about the work they are doing to help the people of Ukraine right now. Feels weird to drop that in this “loving” section, since I – like many – am absolutely horrified by Russia’s invasion of a sovereign country. But I’ve really appreciated NPR and other news outlets for the detailed information they have provided about charities to support, where I can be confident that my donation is going directly to the mission and not being diverted to other campaigns or administrative costs. I chose to donate to UNICEF and added the transaction cost onto my donation, so that my contribution will go 100% to support for Ukrainian children.

Asking. What are you reading this week?

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Olympic National Park: Marymere Falls Hike, Lake Crescent, And Hurricane Ridge

Another day in Olympic National Park… another waterfall! You know how it is. 😉

While our main waterfall priority was Sol Duc Falls, we agreed that if time allowed we also wanted to check out Marymere Falls, which was supposed to be spectacular and – bonus – was reached by a trail that started and ended on the shores of the lovely Lake Crescent. We’d driven by the lake several times on our trips between Port Angeles (where we were staying) and the park, and I was itching to get my feet onto its shores. First things first, though.

The trail to Marymere Falls starts with a little stone and corrugated tin tunnel. Did we all shout “Echo!” as we walked through this tunnel? If you really need to ask, you don’t know us at all.

Much of the Marymere Falls trail winds gently through the woods – can never get sick of those towering spruces – but eventually comes out on a wide stream, so we knew that we were on the right track.

A short climb to an observation platform and –

There she is!

Marymere was just as spectacular as Sol Duc Falls, but in a completely different way. The observation platform was situated about halfway up, so we could look up to see the falls’ inception in a narrow stream and watch as they got wider as they cascaded over mossy and lichened rocks. Totally magical.

We tore ourselves away reluctantly, the blow at leaving the falls sweetened by knowing that our next destination was Lake Crescent.

The Twilight movies (and I think the books?) are set on the Olympic Peninsula, in Forks – not far from Port Angeles and the park. (There was Edward and Bella merchandise everywhere.) I haven’t read the books, nor have I seen the movies, but I can see why the setting – the scenery out here is mystical and mysterious. Case in point: Lake Crescent. As we drove past the lake on our way to one hike or another, I spotted something large and black out of the corner of my eye. Figuring it was the wind on the waves, I thought nothing more of it until Steve said: “Was that Nessie?” Hmmmmmm. And that wasn’t the only thing. As we were driving along the shores of the lake, a black SUV drove by us in the opposite direction, with Steve’s kayak – a red Current Designs Solstice GT with a Canadian maple leaf decal – on the roof rack. We laughed and pointed it out. Then, two minutes later – another black SUV with Steve’s exact kayak on the roof rack, again heading in the opposite direction to us. Now that’s just too mysterious.

I mean, with scenery like this – you can understand the presence of the unexplainable.

As you can imagine, we were a little bit relieved to get back to civilization and the ONP visitors’ center in Port Angeles. The kids took their Junior Ranger oath of office.

It was almost time to end our weekend in the park – sadly, because there was so much more I wanted to see, although it’s always nice to leave something for next time. But I wasn’t ready to go before stepping foot on Hurricane Ridge. This was what I was most looking forward to doing all week – I had visions of a jaw-dropping stretch of Olympic Mountains, and fields of frolicking marmots.

It was not to be.

We had a foggy, white-knuckled drive up into the mountains, only to find Hurricane Ridge socked in with fog, the Olympics hidden behind a wall of clouds, and not a marmot in sight – clearly they were all tucked up in their nests, sleeping away the cold and wet weather (and who could blame them?).

Still absolutely beautiful in a windy, mysterious way – oh, and I almost forgot to mention, it started to snow, just flurries, while we were up there – and like I said, it’s good to leave something for next time. Because I will definitely be back to see those mountains and those marmots. And in the meantime, this view was pretty wonderful.

That ends our time in Olympic National Park – for now! I’ll definitely be making a trip back here. But we’re moving on, for the moment. Sad, because I’ve so enjoyed reliving this trip for you. Also happy, because this isn’t the end of travel posts – far from it; I have a lot more to come. Next week, off to Colorado! We spent Thanksgiving week with my brother and sister-in-law and they loaded us up with adventures, so there’s more travel fun ahead. Check in next week!

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Themed Reads: Galentines

Leslie Knope, the OG galentine. Credit to The Atlantic.

Romance, love, etc., etc., etc. I’m all for it, of course. My little valentines got books and chocolate this year (what’s better?) and Steve and I had a fabulous adventure, about which more soon. But Valentine’s Day isn’t what it was in my teens and twenties – a day of extreme relationship significance. It’s a day to celebrate love being in the world, which is great, but you know what else is great for that? Galentines Day, a holiday to celebrate female friendship, invented by the great Leslie Knope. And in the spirit of Galentines, here are three reads focusing on that very thing.

First of all, no Galentines reading roundup would be complete without Lumberjanes, the delightful comic created by ND Stevenson and Shannon Watters. For Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s sake, their camp motto is FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX. And it really is to the max, as these five girls face down everything from anagrams to dinosaurs to possessed boy campers – together. Galentines to the max!

All right, this wasn’t my favorite book (it was all right, but didn’t wow me) but on the theme of female friendship Tracy Chevalier has a lot to say in A Single Thread. Violet is a “surplus woman” left bereft by the death of her fiance in World War I and living with her domineering mother. She escapes – unable to face another year in her mother’s house – and falls in with a company of Cathedral “broderers” (women who embroider kneelers and cushions for the local Cathedral). With their support, Violet builds a rich life for herself.

All right, Verily Anderson‘s World War II home front memoir isn’t just about female friendship, but my favorite parts of Spam Tomorrow were the parts that focused on her friendship with her dear friend Julie. Verily and Julie bond over motherhood and put their heads together to start an inn to make money while their husbands are off at war, and it’s one of the most hilarious things I ever read. (They’re wonderful mothers and devoted friends, but terrible hoteliers.) I can relate to the experience of teaming up with a bestie to get through life’s difficult moments together (hi, Rebecca!) and Anderson relates this precious friendship resource in a funny and life-affirming way.

What are your favorite books about female friendship?

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Classics Club Challenge: Trouble for Lucia, by E.F. Benson

Photo credit: The Independent

At the beginning of this last (sniff) book in the Mapp and Lucia chronicles by E.F. Benson, we find Lucia on top of Tilling – where, she would tell you, she rightfully belongs. Recently wed to longtime bestie Georgie Pillson, ensconced as mistress of Mallards, and poised to ascend to the loftiest heights as the first woman to be Mayor of Tilling, it seems Lucia has finally achieved her dream of undisputed supremacy. But Tilling – unmistakably based on Benson’s own town of Rye – seethes with intrigue, and Lucia is in for a bumpy time.

A preview of the tribulations ahead comes when Lucia receives the shocking news that the Mayor of Tilling must have a Mayoress – a female helpmate who is obviously the First Lady of the town. Tilling isn’t sure what to do with this, because there’s never not been a Mayoress, but Lucia doesn’t have a wife to fill the role. She is instantly besieged by applications, mostly from husbands on behalf of their wives, for the post. The Padre applies on behalf of Evie; Mr. Wyse for Susan; Diva for herself; and Major Benjy lets her know that if she approached “Liz” in the “proper spirit,” his wife might be induced to accept the post. With Georgie’s snarky assistance, Lucia sifts through the applications and drafts tactful letters to the rejected aspirants, until finally Georgie begs her to tip her hand.

“Lucia, it’s too ridiculous of you to pretend to be absorbed in your sketch,” he said impatiently. “What are you going to do?”

Lucia appeared to recall herself from the realms of peace and beauty.

“Elizabeth will be my Mayoress,” she said calmly. “Don’t you see, dear, she would be infinitely more tiresome if she wasn’t? As Mayoress, she will be muzzled, so to speak. Officially, she will have to perform the tasks I allot to her. She will come to heel, and that will be very good for her. Besides, who else is there? Diva with her tea-shop? Poor Susan? Little mouse-like Evie Bartlett?”

“But can you see yourself approaching Elizabeth in a proper spirit?”

Lucia gave a gay trill of laughter.

“Certainly I cannot. I shall wait for her to approach me. She will have to come and implore me. I shall do nothing till then.”

Georgie pondered on this extraordinary decision.

“I think you’re being very rash,” he said. “And you and Elizabeth hate each other like poison–“

“Emphatically no,” said Lucia. “I have had occasion sometimes to take her down a peg or two. I have sometimes felt it necessary to thwart her. But hate? Never. Dismiss that from your mind. And don’t be afraid that I shall approach her in any spirit at all.”

You can see where this goes. There is a standoff, of course, and it ends with Elizabeth approaching Lucia to ask for the appointment – just as Lucia predicted. (While largely evenly matched, Lucia tends to be the more strategic, which accounts for her more frequent victories over Elizabeth.) Elizabeth throws herself into her role as helper and encourager to “Worship,” as she now calls Lucia – at first ostentatiously and later sarcastically. Lucia, meanwhile, throws herself into municipal affairs until she becomes a bore to everyone around her. Even Georgie grows sick of her local government obsession and constant protestations of overwork, and escapes more and more frequently to Riseholme, where he renews his friendship with Olga Bracely, the famous prima donna (leading to a hilarious supposition by Tilling that Georgie and Olga are being improper – nothing could be further from the truth). Lucia and Georgie meet “Poppy,” the Duchess of Sheffield, through Olga, leading to another hilarious misunderstanding in which Poppy assumes that Georgie is the Mayor of Tilling – not Lucia – and invites the Mayor to stay at her castle, only to dismiss Lucia when she realizes her mistake. Lucia, as always, finds a way to salvage the situation to her own benefit.

It was only by strong and sustained effort that Olga restrained herself from howling with laughter. She hadn’t been singing the prayer from Lucrezia this time, but Les feux magiques, by Berlioz; Lucia seemed quite unable – though of course she had been an agitated listener – to recognize the prayer when she heard it. But she really was a wonderful woman. Who but she would have had the genius to take advantage of Poppy’s delusion that Georgie was the Mayor of Tilling? Then what about Lucia’s swift return from the Castle? Without doubt Poppy had sent her away when she saw her female, beardless guest, and the clever creature had made out that it was she who had withdrawn as Poppy was so unwell, with a gallery of photographs to prove she had been there. Then she recalled Lucia’s face when she entered the garden-room a few minutes ago, the face of a perfect lady who, unexpectedly, returns home to find a wanton woman, bent on seduction, alone with her husband. Or was Georgie’s evident relief at her advent funnier still? Impossible to decide, but she must not laugh till she could bury her face in her pillow. Lucia had a few sandwiches to refresh her after her drive, and they went up to bed. The two women kissed each other affectionately. Nobody kissed Georgie.

Lucia’s ingenuity will be tested still more severely, though – and it’s all down to Poppy, the Duchess. Not learning from her previous efforts to annex the aristocracy (in Lucia in London), Lucia lets it get around Tilling that she and the Duchess are great friends. When the Duchess unexpectedly appears on Diva Plaistow’s doorstep and fails to recognize Lucia – in front of Elizabeth Mapp-Flint, disastrously – it looks as if Lucia’s reign has finally come to an end. But while Lucia may be down occasionally, it would be unwise to count her out. This is a woman, after all, who survived being swept out to sea on a dining-room table, with Elizabeth Mapp as fellow castaway. Lucia will go on.

This is my journey with Mapp and Lucia coming to an end, or at least an end to the first part. I have the show still to watch (starring the marvelous Anna Chancellor as Lucia) and there will be re-reads. But you only meet new friends once for the first time. And Lucia and company saw me through dark times in the world – an inept federal government; a global pandemic; most recently, a reckless state government that seems bent on undoing all of the progress we’ve made over the last decade and putting my kids at risk in school. It’s hard to live in 2021; we take our joy where we have it, and Lucia and Mapp’s deliciously malicious social war has been a lifeline for me.

Are you an E.F. Benson fan?