Category Archives: books

2023, books, Mysteries, Travel

Hurry Up and Wait

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My mother trained me well.  Get to the airport with PLENTY of time.  My travel career cemented this for me.  2 hours for a domestic flight, 3 hours for an international flight, 1½ hours for a connection – this is my general rule.  Too many variables, too many possibilities for things to go wrong (flights late, long lines for security, people behaving badly, etc.)   I will admit that I do make an exception for flying out of the Humphrey Terminal – usually just 1½ hours prior is OK for me. 

Last week as I was heading to Nashville it seemed as if every employee at Humphrey was in a hurry.  I stopped at a check-in kiosk to get a paper boarding pass (just in case) and when the attendant saw that I had my phone with an electronic pass, she tried to shoo me through (unsuccessfully).  At security, where you normally have to wait behind the line until it’s your turn, they were pushing folks up in line – like social distancing had never been a thing.  Then the TSA folks were practically putting your stuff into the plastic bins themselves.  They did still make everyone take their shoes off (except the man in front of me – not sure he could have stooped down to take them off anyway) but they were gung-ho in arranging your stuff and if it was too crowded, THEY were grabbing an extra bin to accommodate things.

Of course it meant we all got through check-in, security and TSA in record time.  In time to sit at the gate for 1½ hours!  Oh well, I had a good book. 

Tell me about your travel habits!

2023, books, Movies, Mysteries

Tomatoes of Wrath

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Remember last May when I watched all those killer tomato movies?   I watched some of them online and so found a lot of assorted information, including several sites that said the initial movie was based on “the best-selling novel The Tomatoes of Wrath” by Paul Watkins.  I couldn’t let that pass by, now could I? 

Couldn’t find the title either in my library system or the inter-library loan, but I did find it online.  Please don’t ask me why I thought this was a good use of $12 – I don’t remember what mania overtook me that day.  It showed up promptly and then sat on my nightstand for several months.

I’m here to say that whoever says the movies were inspired by this book is a lunatic.  The book is subtitled “Adventures of a Tentative Traveler” and there isn’t a killer tomato in sight.  The chapter titled Tomatoes of Wrath is ostensibly the account of Watkins when he picked tomatoes for a day in California however most of the story is a reminiscence of the three days he spent sightseeing in San Francisco.  And not a very well-constructed nor interesting reminiscence.  (And I have to admit that after reading this chapter, I didn’t read the rest so I haven’t the vaguest idea WHY was traveling around with no money, hence needing to go out to pick tomatoes.)

When he finally gets back to the tomato picking, it is more of an expose (although a very short expose) on farmers vs. pickers and the injustices meted out by the tomato industry onto workers.  On the next to the last page there was a mention of Grapes of Wrath, comparing the Joads’ struggle to survive picking fruit in California and how unfairly and unjustly they were treated.  Hence the title of the chapter and the book.

All of this is to say, I didn’t like what I read of the book and to think that the Killer Tomato movies were inspired by it is ludicrous.  After this critical review anybody still wants to borrow it, just let me know!

Do you read the book before you see the movie?

2023, books, Family, Fantasy, home, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Sit Behind The Stove

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A favorite book when our children were growing up was “Louhi, Witch of North Farm” by Toni de Gerez with illustrations by Barbara Cooney. It is a story taken from the Kalevala about Louhi stealing the sun and the moon and hiding them. The hero, Vainamoinen, eventually gets them back with the help of Seppo the smith.

A minor character in the book is Sit Behind the Stove, a character from Russian mythology, who lives in Louhi’s cottage. Husband sketched pictures of Sit Behind the Stove, which our children loved. I imagine Louhi’s kitchen looking like this:

I hadn’t thought about this until recently when Kyrill our Cesky Terrier found a small red ball in the yard and brought it in the house. It is an official Minnesota Twins T-Ball that he loves to chase. At times the ball seems to have a mind of its own, as it is ultrasensitive to even the smallest imperfections and dips in our laminate flooring in the dining room and living room. It gains momentum for movement with every dip in the floor and then rolls. Kyrill has learned that if he tosses it under the furniture it will eventually roll back to him. He watches intently to see where it might emerge, and then pounces on it.

The other day the ball rolled under the buffet in the dining room. When that happens, we usually have to retrieve it for him. After a minute or so, though, it magically rolled back out! It was rather unsettling, I admit, and I imagined that Sit Behind the Stove or perhaps a tomten must have tossed it back out.

Who or what are your favorite mythological characters?

2023, books, Mysteries

Long and Short of It

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Several weeks back Linda (I believe it was Linda anyway) recommended The English Understand Wool. I don’t even remember what we were talking about but I thought the title sounded quirky so I looked it up on the library website.  It had a good-size waiting list and I noticed that the author was Helen DeWitt.  I almost didn’t request it because I remember how long DeWitt’s first book was… The Last Samurai… almost 600 pages and DENSE. 

The Last Samurai was enjoyable, although a little sad in some places.  I try not to let long tomes scare me off so I went ahead and clicked on the “Place Hold” button for Wool.   Imagine my surprise when I went to pick it up on Saturday… just 69 pages!  I read the whole thing in about an hour – so I read it again. 

I’m reading another fairly short book this week – The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I requested it (yes, I know I could look up page numbers on the library site if I wanted to….) but I would have guessed that it wouldn’t be too terribly long.  Neil’s books aren’t usually really long; I assume he works hard not to overwhelm his readers with all he knows. 

Not sure how long my upcoming requests will be but I feel like a massive tome would be OK since I’ve had a few short books in a row now.

Do you know the longest book you’ve ever read?

2023, animals, books, Food, Gatherings

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut…

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For those of you not at Blevins yesterday, I tried out a new cookie cutter.  It was very cute and I couldn’t resist it when I saw it.

Unfortunately it was a big bust.  The little ears and feet often got stuck in the cutter and pulled off when I took the dough out of the cutter.  I tried extra flour, baking spray, even washing it off and re-flouring (repeatedly) but nothing helped.  I would get one, maybe two good cuts and then the problem began again.  For many of the cookies, I had to add little teeny bits of dough for the ears and/or feet.  It was really irritating and took the fun right out of the project. 

At Blevins, the cookies were a hit and got gobbled up by the end of book club.  (I used a cinnamon roll out cookie recipe and a roasted almond.)  It almost made me want to retrieve the cookie cutter from the trash can where I had thrown it.  I humored myself by sending off an email of complaint to the company.  I don’t know if I’ll hear from them – I’ve never had an issue with them before. 

Not sure if I will cave and rescue the cookie cutter before the trash gets picked up.

Any second chances that you’ve granted recently?

animals, books, Fantasy, TV

Claws for Alarm

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My local library (Washburn) has several little tables and displays at the entrance.  There is a revolving bookcase for the Book Sale, a table with the library’s BookPage publication and other library information (and masks).  Then there is my favorite display curated by the Washburn librarians which they change out every couple of weeks.  There is always an easily discernable theme but they choose books from all genres: fiction, childrens, non-fiction, poetry.  I love seeing what the librarians come up with and I often will pick a book from the display.

The beginning of September was all about bees and honey.  I noticed The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King, which is a favorite of mine.  Last week they put up a new theme – cats.  All kinds of fun stuff and I couldn’t help but be drawn to Claws for Alarm, a cozy mystery that I assume includes a cat.  You all know that I can’t keep away from silly titles so I scooped it up.  

As soon as I got home I looked it up to see how far along in the series it sits – I usually like to start at the beginning but wasn’t sure I wanted to read a bunch of cozies to get to the cat story.  That’s when I found out that “Claws for Alarm” isn’t nearly as original/funny as I thought it was.  I found FOUR books with the same title – all of them fall into the cozy genre.  These were easy to find so I’m guessing there may be more.  I even found this:

So now that I’m not as impressed with a silly title as I was when I was standing in the library, I’m not sure if I’ll read it.  Or maybe I’ll go off the deep end and read all four to see which is best!

What’s the last “unusual” title that you’ve picked up?  Did you finish it?

2023, books, History, Mysteries

Quitting

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Pretty sure I’ve mentioned that I’m reading biographies of the English monarchs in order.  It’s been awhile since anything got added to the list and when I clicked on the tab of my spreadsheet, I realized why.  Richard II is up next.  I suppose there might be a few more controversial English kings than this one but it would be a close race.  I don’t know all that much about Richard II but I do know that his death ended the reign of his line and that victors always write/rewrite history.  So when I went looking for a biography, I tried to find something more recent and hopefully balanced.

I did watch the series “The Hollow Crown” a ways back but never read the book so when I found Within the Hollow Crown I thought I’d give it a shot.  After two pages it went back to the library.  I’d prefer to have a more straight-forward biography without the author writing whole swaths of what they believe the historical figure is thinking.  If I had known this book was historical fiction, I wouldn’t have checked it out.  Just not my cup of tea.

Now I’m back to a hunt for a balanced biography… or even if I can’t find one that doesn’t absolutely vilify Richard II, I’d at least like one that doesn’t try to fill in the mental gaps!

If you start a book, do you feel compelled to finish it?  What was the last book you abandoned?

2023, books, Family, Food, home, Media, Uncategorized

The Curator

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We find recipes from numerous internet sources, and are rarely purchasing cookbooks these days. I subscribe to the The New York Times Food app, and that has tons of great recipes as well. We like to have paper copies of the recipes, however, and a week doesn’t go by that we aren’t running recipes off on the printer.

Husband loves putting the recipes in plastic slip covers and filing them in their respective three ring binders. He has the binders labeled. There is one large binder devoted solely to rye breads and sourdoughs. I am not allowed to rearrange the binders. That is his role.

When a sufficient number of new recipes have accumulated on the buffet, Husband puts them in their binders, culling older recipes we either didn’t like or never made in the first place. There are fewer and fewer of those. His devotion to the recipes does not extend to our bank and tax papers, however, and it is my thankless task to organize those.

How do you store your recipes? What is your filing system for important papers? What kind of a librarian or museum curator would you have been?

2023, Automotive, books, Fantasy, Food, Kids, Travel

Road Trip

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When I was packing for a long weekend in Madison, I noticed Henrietta watching me from her spot on my little dresser.  Since Henrietta was a gift from my Madison friend, I thought I would take her along.  She seemed excited to be on the move.

It was overall a very lazy and relaxing weekend – we spent a lot of time sitting and reading but we did have a few outings so Henrietta could get some fresh air!

We did the farmer’s market at the capital.  Henrietta enjoyed meeting some of the vendors and smelling all the good smells.  We stopped at the library to pick up a couple of books and then had to have ice cream from Sassy Cow, a great creamery close to my friend’s house.  Henrietta met two little girls there who petted and hugged her.

My friend is seriously considering buying a Tesla so we had a loaner for the weekend.  Henrietta enjoyed the view but didn’t get to drive because she couldn’t reach the pedals.  We drove up to Lake Merrimac and took the ferry across and back.  Henrietta appointed herself “authorized personnel” but since the ferry ride is only four minutes, she didn’t get to flex that authority!

All in all a great trip although Henrietta is not a great conversationalist so the drive to and from Madison was a little quiet!

Who do you like to travel with?

2023, books, Gatherings, Media, Mysteries, Stories

Six Degrees of Separation

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Today’s post comes to us from Cynthia!

“Six Degrees of Separation” is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

 I recently listened to Garrison Keiller’s “Writer’s Almanac” after many years of just reading at the printed version.  Maybe I haven’t listened since it went off the air. While listening I remember 1975 when I first discovered and loved Garrison’s radio show. We went to several of his live versions before and after it went national. But before it went national, I was visiting with a school friend and our English teacher in Cloquet. In the middle of the conversation my friend mentioned Garrison. She knew him! She had been the editor of the University of Minnesota’s monthly literary magazine, Ivory Tower in 1963 and 1964, and Garrison was her assistant editor. I was so happily astounded that I knew someone who knew him…Six Degrees of Separation!  When I finally met Garrison while working at MPR in Duluth, I asked him if he remembered her. Of course, he did. They reconnected again not too long ago. And she and I are still close friends.

 Another “Six Degree” tale to tell:

One of my favorite MPR classical music hosts was Australian Stephanie Wendt. I met her in person when she was the host of an event in Duluth and I was her “assistant.” She is also a classical pianist. She married a choral director and they moved to Sweden. We were Facebook friends and then I joined her blog where she posted beautiful photographs of where she lives. I recently asked a friend, Gunilla, who lives on the farm in Mahtowa she inherited from her uncle. She also lives and is a pastor in Sweden: “Is the town where my online friend, Stephanie, lives close to where you live?” Gunilla said, “Yes! I know Stephanie! She and her husband were just at and often are at my church!”

Do you have any “Six Degree of Separation” tales to tell?