Category Archives: books

2025, books, Family, Mysteries, Travel, Uncategorized, work

Packing

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When I packed for the book festival, I went about it like usual.  I printed out my packing list (that I keep on the computer), filled it out and started to pack.  I was gone two and a half days (six hours of which was driving) and two nights.  Since I was wearing jeans and t-shirt to drive down, all I really needed was two t-shirts, two undies, two pairs of socks, pjs, a pair of zorries for relaxing at David’s and assorted personal hygiene stuff.

Obviously I didn’t need a big bag for this so I pulled a small bag from the attic and threw everything in.  15 minutes from beginning to end.  Except then the conversation started:

YA: Are you taking that bag?
VS:  Yep.
YA:  What are  you taking (picking up the packing list and perusing it).
YA:  No extra socks or underwear?
VS:  Nope.
YA:  What two t-shirts?
VS:  The coral t-shirt with books on it and the black rocket sheep for breakfast with the boys
YA:  Nothing else?
VS:  Nope.
YA:  What if you decide you want a different shirt?
VS:  Then I’ll suffer from my poor choices.l
YA:  What about shoes?
VS:  My blue tennies.
YA:  No other shoes?
VS:  Not for 48 hours.
YA:  (sighs and walks away)

When I was traveling for work, I packed a little more robustly.  Having an extra shirt or pair of socks can’t hurt when you’re on a business trip, but I’ve always been a fairly minimal packer.  YA is completely opposite.  She packs her work uniforms then at least one full non-work outfit for each day.  Multiple pairs of shoes.   For a couple of years she used that cube system, in which you packed all your stuff into individual cube/cases and then put the cube/cases into your bigger suitcase.  Personally I never thought this was a big help to the packing process, but to each their own.  She got the cases free from work; they were popular as pre-travel gifts a few  years ago and there were always extras laying around.  I haven’t seen her using those the last year.

My packing strategy worked out perfectly.  When I got home from the festival, all I had to do was dump the contents of the bag straight into the clothes hamper.  Hygiene stuff all lives in one zipper pouch together so that’s easy to put away as well.  Two minutes to unpack.

I’m pretty sure I packed and unpacked in less time than it took to talk to YA about it!

What about you?  Over-pack or under-pack?  Do you have a “process”?

2025, Art, books, Gatherings, Travel

The Book Festival

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Barbara said last week (Where in the World is VS) that there was a book festival in Viroqua the weekend before.  Did anybody make the connection?

The first weekend of March I spent some time with my friend David, who lives in Viroqua.  His cousin lives in the Twin Cities, so I do get to see him several times a year.  In March he mentioned that this year he was the chairperson of the Ridges and Rivers Book Festival – he’s on the “board” and this year was his turn.  Is this right up my alley or what?

I put the festival on my calendar and then got busy reading.  There were about a dozen presenters and I tried to get ahold of the book that they were featuring; if not, some other recent book.  I volunteered to go down on Friday and help set up as a thank you for David putting me up.  There were a LOT of volunteers so it was actually short work.  I checked out the Viroqua Co-op for dinner – very big and nice for a small town.

On Saturday, the day of the festival, I had five presentations to go to.  The first was Keith Lesmeister talking about the EastOver Anthology of Rural Stories.  Very compelling speaker.

Next up was Maggie Ginsberg, whose first novel Still True won some awards in 2023 – she spoke well but quickly, maybe a bit nervous?

After lunch it was time for Erica Hannickel who has a fascinating book about orchids – her presentation was really well put together and included a great powerpoint with lots of pictures.

The fourth author was William Kent Krueger in the Historic Temple Theatre.  WKK hasn’t been my favorite author; I actually realized on Saturday morning that all of his books that I’ve read have been his standalones.  After listening to his talk, I decided to give his Cork O’Connor series a try.

The last author of the evening was also at the theatre – Michael Perry.  I’ve read several of his books but have never heard him speak.  He was SO funny.  His presentation was over 2 hours and all of us in the audience were just howling.

In between presentations, I walked through the book vendors and author tables.  Bought a handful of items – that was a foregone conclusion.  Had Fried Sweet Potato Swirls for lunch from a food truck and fabulous gelato from a coffee/gelato shop in town.  Really the only downside of the entire day was that I couldn’t expand time to see more of the author presentations.  Oh and the very scary 30 minute drive back to David’s house in the dark.  Geez, it’s dark in the country.

Had breakfast with my godson and his family on Sunday morning before heading back to the Twin Cities.  I will definitely go again next year!

Here’s what I read in preparation:

  • The Fastest Drummer: Viola Smith by Dean Robbins.  This is one in a series of great kids books that feature women.  Great illustrations as well.
  • Forty Acres Deep by Michael Perry.  Not his usual funny stories but a remarkable look at depression at a farmer struggling with depression. Absolutely 5 star material.
  • Halloween with Morris and Boris/Morris and Boris at the Circus by Bernard Wiseman.  These kids books came out in the 70s.  There are twelve of them altogether.  Charming and funny.
  • We Could Have Been Happy Here by Keith Lesmeister.  Short stories, heavy on the theme of missing parents (literal and figurative).  Very nice.
  • Still True by Maggie Ginsburg.  Two women in a small town – one in an unusual marriage, one in a more traditional marriage.  Both have secrets that could rip their lives apart.  Really intriguing.
  • The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger.  This is his latest standalone – and it’s actually my favorite of all that I’ve read.  A not-well-liked character is found dead by the river.  Lots of secrets uncovered as the death gets solved.
  • Driftless Gold by Sue Berg.  This was my least favorite read for the festival, although it wasn’t bad.  I think this slots into the cozy mystery genre a bit, although the main character is a male – solving a mystery involving some lost gold treasure.  This is part of series.
  • Orchid Muse by Erica Hannickel.  Fabulous look at our fascination with orchids, including some history, some art, some individuals who’ve made orchids their life’s work.  No mention however of Nero Wolfe!
  • EastOver Anthology of Rural Stories.  Enchanting collection of short stories having to do with rural life. I’m not always a fan of short stories, but these were all excellent.  The anthology was curated by Keith Lesmeister and I think he did a great job.

There were a few others I would have like to have gotten to, but couldn’t get them in time.  Maybe next year I’ll start earlier!!

What’s the last “festival” you attended?

2025, books, Business, History, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Where in the World Was VS?

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Turns out that Renee and I were both out of town last weekend.   Any ideas where I was?

  • This town was established in 1848 and was initially named Bad Axe. (There is still a Bad Axe Music Store in town.)
  • A Masonic lodge and theatre was rebuilt in 1922 (after a fire) and was a hub of the community for decades. In 1995, after being shut for several years, it was purchased and the theatre was subsequently remodeled with monies raised by the Historical Society and the surrounding community.
  • 40 years ago, a one-room Waldorf schoolhouse was established in town. It is still operating with 125 students, grades kindergarten to 8th
  • This is the home of one of the earliest organic dairy companies, cooperatively owned and managed, opened in 1988.
  • In 2012 a guy named Randy moved to the area, built himself a cabin and then built himself a wood burning stove. Folks started asking him to build stoves for them and within a couple of years he founded a company for wood heating solutions which has been a runaway success.
  • This is the smallest town in America that hosts a book festival.

Any thoughts?

 

2025, animals, books, Kids, Travel, Uncategorized

Airport Mouse

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On Tuesday, we had several hours between our flight from Bismarck arriving in Minneapolis and our flight to Montreal departing. We settled in at our gate for a rather long wait.

Our gate for the Montreal flight was in the A Concourse, a section of the airport currently in the middle of renovation. There is new carpet, but no electrical outlets to charge phones and devices. There is unfinished drywall and exposed heating and pipes.

The monotony was enlivend by observing two little brown mice emerge from a hole in the wall and scamper under a row of seats, snatching any available crumbs on the floor. When startled, they went back in the hole until they felt safe to reemerge. Our fellow travelers were both alarmed and amused by their antics which went on for our whole wait. People took their photos. My main concern was that they didn’t run up my pant leg or end up as a stowaway in our carry-ons. A ticket agent commented this was nothing new, and she had seen them a few gates down earlier in the day. I thought that Airport Mouse would make a fine series of children’s stories.

What are some of the odder things you have seen in airports. Think up some plot lines for Airport Mouse.

2025, books, Fantasy, Words

Last Lines

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The joy of occasionally re-reading a book is that you come across phrases or paragraphs that spark recognition, especially if you enjoyed them the first time around.

I’ve been reading the Gamache series by Louise Penny recently (my other book club had the first one on it’s list earlier this year) and I’m liking them just as much as the first time around.  Yesterday I came across section in The Cruelest Month.  The characters are taking part in a séance when they are frightened by an interruption:

A window pane rattled and a horrible face appeared at the glass.  The circle gasped and recoiled.   “For Christ’s sake, Dorothy, I know you’re in there,” screamed the voice.  It wasn’t what Clara had imagined would be the last words she’d hear on earth.  She’s always thought they’d be, “What were you thinking?”

This paragraph made me laugh out loud – again.  I know there are folks that like to find out the last words of famous and a quick internet search finds a lot of hits.  The only one that I can ever seem to remember is attributed to Oscar Wilde.  “This wallpaper is killing me.  Either it goes or I go.”   I’m not sure this is accurate but because it’s the kind of thing that Oscar Wilde would have said, I’ve always remembered it.  I also remember another quote attributed to him – “Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first.”

I’m pretty sure my last words will be “Will there be donuts?”

Anyone’s last words that you remember?  That you’d like attributed to you?

 

2025, Art, books, Family, Kids, Nature, Poems, Uncategorized

Flower Fairies

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I got a text from our daughter the other day asking if we still had the Flower Fairy books. I told her we had taken them with all the children’s books to our grandson in Brookings. I also told her I would order her another set, and did so.

I don’t know how many Baboons are familiar with these lovely books by British author and artist Cicely Mary Barker, but they have been family favorites since our son was born. Barker wrote and illustrated the books from 1923 to 1948. There about eight of them that feature seasonal flowers and flowers in different settings. The flower illustrations are quite accurate, and each flower is set with a fairy figure whose clothing corresponds to the flower in the illustration, along with a short poem. Barker used children from her sister’s Kindergarten as models for the fairies. Most of the poems were written by her sister.

We found these poems and illustrations wonderful for bedtime reading, as well as a great way to teach our children the names of flowers. We still recite “Scilla, scilla, tell me true, why are you so very blue?” when they pop up under the bay window in the spring.

What were your favorite childhood stories and poems? How did you learn about flowers and plants?

2025, books, Food, Mysteries

Glug Glug

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You know my drill.  Find an interesting cookbook out and about.  Get that cookbook from the library.  Try out a few of the recipes.  If they turn out well, consider adding cookbook to the collection.  And the hard part, getting rid of a cookbook to make room for the newbie.

So yesterday I’m made a Roasted Tomato, Potato, Dill and Feta Frittata from a cookbook of tomato recipes.  I like to follow recipes fairly closely when I’m testing a cookbook; I think of it as giving the author a chance to really show their stuff.  After a couple of paragraphs in the recipe, I came upon this phrase – “… heat a generous glug of oil over medium heat”.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen “glug” listed as a measurement in a cookbook before.  I was pretty sure a glug has to do with the sound of the oil if you tip the bottle all the way up and the oil makes a glugging sound as it pushes its way out.  But for fun, I looked it up.  Internet says “about two tablespoons”.  So is a generous glug three tablespoons?  Four tablespoons would be two glugs, wouldn’t it?  Not exactly a precision measurement.

What I didn’t say is that when I read that instruction, I laughed out loud.  The reason for that is that in an earlier recipe, the author explained in excruciating detail how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Arrange the cheese on one slide of bread, then put the two slices together.  Set a skillet that’s the right size for you bread (too large, and you’ll end up with burned butter), add about 1 Tablespoon butter, swirl it around to coat the skillet; as soon as it stops foaming, lay your sandwich in the skillet.”

To be fair, the grilled cheese recipe turned out great but not because I needed step-by-step instruction on how to grill a cheese sandwich but because it called for a Sun-Dried Tomato & Smoky Red Pepper Mayonnaise which was fabulous.

Glug, pinch, dash, handful…. how closely do you follow recipes?  Do you even USE recipes?

2025, Art, books, History, Mysteries

This Week’s Rabbit Hole – Khaju Bridge

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As happens often, a book sent me down a rabbit hole last week.  Martyr by Kaven Akbar has been highly lauded recently – New York Times Bestseller & Best Book of the Year as well as finalist for the Waterstone Award.  4.2 rating on GoodReads and the same on Amazon.  Only 3 stars for me.  It was well written but the protagonist was exceedingly annoying and unbelievably full of himself.  It had a plot twist that I saw coming about a million miles away and the ending wasn’t very satisfying at all.  Oh well….

There was a good story embedded in it though about a Persian poet named Ferdowsi who wrote an epic poem in order to get money from the king to rebuild a bridge in his town.  Akbar ended this section saying that the king built a bridge like no other and it is known as the Poet’s Bridge.

You know this was more than I could resist.  Looked up Poet’s Bridge and discovered that there is such a bridge in Isfahan, Iran but it was built considerably later than Ferdowsi lived and is called Poet’s Bridge because “it has been a popular meeting spot and a source of inspiration for poets and artists, with many beautiful poems written about its beauty and the surrounding area.”  However Ferdowsi was a poet and wrote The Shahnameh, one of the world’s longest epic poems (50,000+ couplets) and the longest epic written by a single person.  Here is one of the most famous lines:

“Though you have little wealth, fear not the decree of fate; for the ocean of the sea was once a drop of rain.”

It was written between 977 and 1010 and there are some resources that suggest there may have been a bridge involved, but it’s pretty shadowy.  And clearly any bridge built in Ferdowsi’s time is not the Khaju Bridge which was built in the mid-17th century.   But the Khaju Bridge is gorgeous and is a significant landmark.  If Akbar had not named the bridge in his telling of the Ferdowsi story, I wouldn’t have found the Khaju Bridge.  Not sure if this was Akbar’s intention or not, but I’m glad it happened.

Any favorite bridges?  Do you have any worries about long, tall bridges?

2025, books, Fantasy, Kids, Uncategorized

Blond Book Party

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Stopped by the library Saturday morning to return one item and pick up another.  At the return slot, I waited between two little blond girls, excitedly putting books onto the conveyer belt that takes them into the library. 

As I entered the library, a little blond girl was leaving with her mom and a massive pile of books.  Inside, there was another little blond toddler; she was helping her dad swipe books at the check-out station. 

After I grabbed my book and was heading out, two families came toward the library, each from opposite directions.  Each family had two little blond girls who seemed excited to be going to the library.

It was clearly a little blond party.  I was going to feel out of place until I remembered that when I was that age, I was blond as well – a little towhead in fact.

What kind of party would you like to attend at your local library? 

2025, books, Uncategorized, work

They’re Everywhere!

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Writers, I mean. One of the perks of living in a smaller, more isolated community is that we get to know about the lives of people we wouldn’t necessarily get to know about in a big city. It goes both ways, though, and people get to know about us, too.

Husband and I usually purchase wine at the liquor store attached to our biggest grocery store. The liquor establishments have to be separate entities in ND, and grocery stores can’t sell liquor in the grocery store proper. We have come to know one of the liqour store clerks fairly well, and he always tells us about his day and recent life events, and he asks us about ours. He is a military veteran in his late 40’s. He knows we are both psychologists.

Yesterday while he was checking us out he stopped and grabbed a notebook and hurriedly wrote something down. He told us it was a for a scene in a novel he was writing about PTSD in military veterans and if he didn’t write it down he would forget it. He then shyly asked us if we had ever worked with veterans, and I was able to relate some of my experiences working in a VA hospital with Vietnam and Gulf War veterans some 30 years ago. He made it clear he didn’t have combat related PTSD, but he felt a need to write about it for those who did. At that point another customer came into the store and we had to end our conversation.

I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised that he is writing a book, and it was just delightful to hear about his ideas. It made me wonder how many other aspiring writers are lurking behind cash registers and counters in town.

What would you write about if you were to write a book? How many published authors do you know? Have any favorite store clerks?