The Hardbound Book

I like to read. Unfortunately, I also lead a very busy life that doesn't leave me with much time to sit down and get lost in a good book. A few years ago, I joined a book group in order to get myself disciplined to not only read regularly but to comprehend and be prepared to discuss a book. It did help and we have read some great books together. It also has reawakened my desire to make time to read no matter what.

One of my favorite indulgences is to go out and purchase a brand new hardbound book. Usually it is by an author that I am already familiar with and whose newest book I am anxiously anticipating. Very occasionally, I buy a hardcover edition of a new book by an author with whom I am unfamiliar because the book has caught my imagination and I don't want to wait six months to find it on a used bookstore shelf. Sometimes, I have been disappointed that I purchased a hardback book at full price but mostly, I'm not sorry when I do.

Earlier this month, I was at Powell's in Portland, Oregon (a must-visit bookstore) and while my husband browsed through geology and history, I made my way to the literature section and hunted down a copy of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I have not read anything by this author before and I don't know that I will read her other books but this novel has caught my fancy and so I plunked down full price for a gorgeous, hardbound copy. Just the feel of it, the weight of it, makes me anxious to read it straight through. I will try and write a review after I have finished and let you know if it was worth it.

Novels I have purchased at full price in hardcover without regret in no particular order:

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

Making Money by Terry Pratchett

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

A Common Life: The Wedding Story by Jan Karon

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (a memoir not a novel but worth every penny)

The Birthday Beach Ball

I love my niece. She is six years old now. I called her Tuesday morning to talk to her a little bit on my birthday. We usually have the "shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings" type of conversation. We talked a bit about the hair pretties that I had sent to her the week before. I sent them because she had cut her own hair. As usual, the result was not perhaps what was hoped for and my sister had been hopping mad at her for it. Granted it was the THIRD time she had cut her own hair with disasterous results so her mother had a right to be upset. I sent the hair bands and bows because I felt sorry for her. EVERY girl cuts her own hair and ends up with a questionable outcome at least once in her life.

After hair, our conversation turned to my neighbor's swimming pool. I told her that Uncle John and I had been for a swim the day before and that when she comes to visit in August, she could go swimming with us. Then I said we would blow up the air mattresses and float around in the pool. She thought this sounded like a good idea. I mentioned that Uncle John and I did not have a beach ball and that we were going to get one to play with in the pool. My niece then said "Well, maybe you should just wait for your birthday." This remark went straight over my head. I thought how like a child to tell you to wait for your birthday to get something you want and then gave no further mental acuity to it.

That night when I opened my birthday presents after dinner, there was a small flat package marked "From Marta" that my sister had sent in the box with my other gifts. I opened it and burst out laughing because there was the beach ball. I was so tickled that she had managed not to tell me while still giving me the large, economy-sized hint that a beach ball I would have but not until my birthday!

Miss Potter

I adore Netflix. I've been a member for quite a few years now. I joined up when they first got going. I really enjoy a good movie. My husband really enjoys any movie that has explosions, aliens, gun fights and car chases so it is sometimes difficult to find a movie that we both like. However, I will say my husband is a good sport and will often sit down and watch a movie of my choosing.

My last selection was Miss Potter about the life of Beatrix Potter who wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many other well-loved children's stories. She also illustrated them with some of the most charming sketches and watercolors that I have ever seen. The story takes place in and around London and also in the Lake District in England where she spent her later middle years. It was acted and filmed with a restraint that was delightful. I would highly recommend it next time you want a movie that is charming, a true story and full of beautiful views of the English country side.

Red High Heels

A little over a year ago, I went out shopping with my soon to be sister-in-law. She needed a dress for my wedding and I was shopping for clothes for my honeymoon. If Jennifer had not been with me, I probably would never have tried on or even bought a pair of bright red patent peep toe pumps to go with a gorgeous filmy black and white dress I had just purchased.

But she was and I did.

I adored those shoes! I wore them every chance I got but especially with the black and white dress. I wore them to church, to work, out for dinner and sometimes just around the house because I could. I wore them one day to work when I was having some furniture picked up after hours and had to work late.

Since the red shoes were built for beauty and not for comfort, I had also wisely taken along a pair of black flats so that I could supervise the moving men without having to strut around in 4 inch heels at the end of very long day. I put the red shoes away carefully, took care of the furniture move and went home.

It was the last I saw of my red shoes for nearly one full year.

I was so unhappy with myself for losing my red shoes. I looked high and low. I asked the building lost and found in case I had left them laying somewhere by accident during the furniture move. I tore apart my car, my closet and looked in several unlikely locations for my shoes. Finally, I had to resign myself to their loss. Jennifer and my mother urged me to go out and get another pair of red shoes but I never got around to it.

Last night while searching for my husband's little binoculars, I found my red shoes. We had taken the binoculars to the opera and he claimed I had put them in my purse at the end of the opera. Now the purse I had taken to the opera had been emptied into a different purse quite some time ago but to be a good sport, I looked in the purse again along with my two tiny opera purses without finding them. So, in case I had remembered wrong about which purse I had carried, I dug out my other purses and in doing so found my red shoes in my black purse with the red cherries on it. I don't know why or how my red shoes were in that bag but there they were, smiling up at me. Needless to say, I was completely distracted and overjoyed at the discovery of my red shoes, my husband had to continue his search alone. I had found my red shoes!

He eventually found the binoculars in his camera bag.

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

I just finished reading The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan. The subtitle for the book is How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. It was made into a movie not long ago but I haven't seen it yet.

I was attracted to this book for a number of reasons. One was the picture of the Ryan family (left) that appears on the book's cover. Another was the subtitle and description of the book on its back cover. My mother is the oldest of 10 children so that was yet another reason. Also, I am sometimes sorry that I missed the 1950's and early 1960's in America. It seems like a simpler time but I think it is because it has become idealized that way.

In fewer than 350 pages, Terry Ryan tells her family's story in a completely down-to-earth manner but without becoming sordid. The truth was that their father was an alcoholic -- sometimes violent and always difficult when he was drinking. He spent roughly $30 of his $90 a week salary on drink initially and eventually even more. But his alcoholism is merely a backdrop for the real story.

Their mother, Evelyn Ryan, was a contester. She entered every jingle, slogan and other contest she could to help make ends meet. With 10 kids, she could not work outside the home and so she spent every spare minute she had entering the Burma Shave, Dial, Dr. Pepper, Beech Nut Gum and other contest that she possibly could often entering multiple times under various versions of her name and her children's names. On average, she won at least some prize in 1 out of every 4 contests that she entered. Sometimes these wins were significant and, in one case, kept the family from foreclosure.

In the face of extreme difficultly, Evelyn triumphed over and over again. She had a buoyancy of spirit, a sense of humor and a love of her children that drove her against fantastically long odds to persevere in spite of it all. I find it hard to explain fully why I liked this book so well. I always enjoy a good true story but this one could so easily have drifted into maudlin territory and it never did. It has a "just the facts, ma'am" style but still maintains a warm family feeling to it at the same time.

Evelyn Ryan passed away in 1998 and her daughter, the author of the book, Terry Ryan, lost her life to Stage IV brain cancer in 2007. Go get the book and read it.

The New Foal

For Memorial Day, my husband and I took his younger half siblings to see his co-worker's new foal. The little guy was born May 20th so he is brand new. We had beautiful weather and gorgeous views of Mount Rainier as we drove down.

Wendy and my husband have worked together for many years and she was the one friend he invited to our very small, private wedding. She is a lovely lady and was very generous with her time yesterday showing us around her place and introducing us to all the horses.

I enjoyed getting to celebrate this new little life on Memorial Day and I am so thankful for all those men and women who serve in our armed forces to make my life possible.

In Memoriam

On Thursday of last week, my friend lost his battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS). My dad called to tell me. I spent most of the day weeping which both touched me and surprised me. His wife and I went to first grade together and were very close as children. We have stayed in touch over the years and while we are not very close as adults, we are still friends.

Two years ago, they came home from the mission field because Jesse was having some troubling symptoms. He was officially diagnosed with ALS. In April of 2007, they travelled to Costa Rica to undergo some experimental treatment involving stem cells. While it did bring a temporary slowing of the disease, it was no cure. They settled here in Washington and very soon he was wheelchair bound. When I last saw him in February, he could not even speak anymore but when I came through the door and when I left, he gave me a smile that filled the room.

In the last sermon I heard him preach from his wheelchair at our church, he talked about WHY? Whenever something like this happens, it is a very human tendency to ask why is this happening to me? He then went on to talk about how we need God's Wisdom, to have Humility and to Yield to God's will: W.H.Y. It was one of the sweetest and most touching sermons I have ever heard in my life. I am still amazed at Jesse's courage and his willingness to accept what had happened to him. Disease was never part of God's original plan for humanity but Jesse knew that God had a plan for him in spite of disease.

He leaves behind his wife and my childhood friend, Lisa. He also leaves behind four sons -- the youngest is 8 and the oldest is 16. My husband and I will be going to the graveside and memorial services on Saturday to remember this very remarkable man who is in heaven now.

I have not talked about my faith on this site before because I tend to be a bit private about matters of faith and belief. This doesn't mean it is trivial or unimportant to me. I know what I believe (Jesus loves me this I know) and why (for the Bible tells me so) and I also know that I will see Jesse again in heaven one day. In a time of loss, that knowledge is an amazing consolation.