The week between

We're in that weird, in-between time that always seems to happen at the end of the year. The break from work has gone by in a blur so far, and I feel somewhat adrift as we approach the New Year. I'm enjoying the time off, but I'll be glad to resume a more normal routine in January with the holidays firmly behind us.

Gregg is currently up at the hospital, having some last scans done and one last consultation with his radiology oncologist. He has his first session of radiation tomorrow. It's going to be a short course of treatment, with 5 sessions in all: tomorrow and Thursday of this week, and Monday-Wednesday-Friday of next week. He's really nervous about tomorrow, since it's the first one and he doesn't really know what to expect. And what a way to spend New Year's Eve! 

I'm thinking any celebrating we do for the New Year will have to happen later in January, all things considered. This year has been full of upheaval, and it's not quite over yet, but I'm hopeful for an easier and calmer time in 2025, at least personally. (World events and US politics promise to be wild next year).

So, what are your plans for New Year's Eve? New Year's Day? Even if you're just hibernating at home, I'd love to hear about what you'll be doing!

 Also, since this is probably my last post of 2024, I'd like to wish each and every one of you a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

 See you in '25...

xx

Christmas Eve morning

Good morning to everyone, and happy Christmas eve! 

We've purposely done very little as far as decorating and socializing this year. We've had a lot going on over the past few weeks, and neither of us felt up to doing a lot of work. So, no tree this year, but we did put a few special Christmas candleholders on the mantle and a wreath on the front door.

We also bought ourselves one nice gift for Christmas: a new 75-inch tv! We'd been wanting a new tv since our old one died this summer, and Gregg's wanted a big screen for years. Yesterday two guys from Best Buy came out and mounted it on the wall, and it looks huge. We're enjoying it already, and the new chairs we bought over the summer make for really comfortable viewing.

Now that we've turned this whole room into a living room (the remodeled room is now our dining room) there's room for one of Marco's perches, and he seems to like watching the new tv, too.

As for Christmas baking and cooking, I'm keeping it really easy this year. I made a pot of chili yesterday that we'll warm in the crock pot later, and I'm also getting ready to bake a ham. Yesterday afternoon I finally got around to making two batches of cookies which will be shared with neighbors. 

Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies and Italian Angeletti

 I may make a third batch of cookies this morning before making the cookie trays. I'm thinking of Peanut Butter Blossoms, the ones that have Hershey's kisses in the center. I also picked up packages of dog treats for neighbors with canine buddies. There's a couple down the street with a cocky little dog called Alvin, and he's getting an extra special bag of goodies from George and Poppy.

After I drop off the neighbor's treats, we're going to enjoy a quiet evening at home with lots of candles lit, good food, and maybe an old movie or two to watch. I hope you all have a similarly pleasant Christmas Eve, whatever your plans! 

xx 

Jennifer

T-minus 6 hours

Six hours from now I'll be leaving work with the long winter break stretching out in front of me! I'm not overly excited about the holidays this year, but the break is sorely needed. I don't go back to work until January 6th.

I'm going to get as many of these as possible!

Silver linings

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday's post for your kindness. It was a terrible weekend. Yesterday once I got the diarrhea under control, I had terrible body aches for a few hours, then those subsided too. I was feeling a little better by last night, but even so, I decided not to take a chance on work today. I got in touch with my principal around 5:30 to let her know that I wouldn't be in today. I hate missing work (which is why I have around 50 unused sick days with more accruing every month) but when I've been really sick like this, I try not to feel guilty about it. 

This morning in the early wee hours before dawn I woke up drenched in sweat, twice. Then when I really woke up and got up around 7:30 I felt much, much better. Maybe I was sweating out the last of it. I sure hope so.

There's a bright side to all this, though. I lost 5 pounds! Haha!

But seriously, though, I've been actively trying to lose weight since May or June. I managed to lose 35 pounds by August, then couldn't seem to lose any more. Considering that I've had to take prednisone and antibiotics three or four times this year, a nurse recently told me that I've done really well to maintain the loss and not regain. I know she's right, but it's still frustrating to do all the right things week after week and the scale doesn't budge. Now thanks to this nasty little virus, I've finally hit the 40-pound loss mark! That feels like a win, finally. 

Maybe I'll even get lucky, and this virus will have served as a good purge and reset. It certainly felt like one!

Miserable

I left work early on Friday, having been suddenly taken down by nausea, an upset stomach, and body aches. I was so afraid that I'd caught the horrible stomach virus spreading through the school, and unfortunately that seems to be exactly what's happened. 

Since late last night I've had the worst diarrhea of my life. I didn't know it was possible to have diarrhea like this. I'll bet I've had to run to the bathroom at least 20 times (probably more) and I just can't seem to stop. Gregg went out first thing this morning and picked up Imodium AD and Gatorade for me. It's only been about 30 minutes since I took the medicine and I've had to go 3 times since then. God, I hope it works soon. I can't stand much more of this. Plus I'm exhausted and my bottom is raw and feels like it's on fire. (Sorry if that's tmi)

I tried so hard at work to avoid catching this. Lots of hand washing, isolating in my office, etc...but it still got me. 

I'm absolutely miserable. I suppose I can thank all those germy little kids for this. 

Little jerk

 

Here's a recent photo of the Marcoman doing one of his favorite things: raiding the pantry! This time, at least, I got there before he had a chance to do any damage. 

I'm sure he's already plotting his next attempt.

Finished....finally!

The repair/remodel of the room that started months ago is finally finished! Finished!! I can't tell you how good it feels to have everything done  and to finally be able to get our house back in order. The guy we hired to repair the wall and ceiling (after water damage from a leak) was slow to come and finish the last little bit of work. Gregg finally texted him last month and told him, "You have to come finish up. I may have cancer treatments starting in the near future" and to Rick's credit, he came over the very next morning and finished everything that day. He did a really good job for a great price, even if it did take him way too long to finish up.

Then we had to paint. That took almost a week of careful prep work before Gregg and I could even get started on the actual painting. The last people to paint the room did a really crappy job, and the last owners left lots of scuffed places and nail holes. We finally startaed putting on actual paint on Sunday, and yesterday, we finished. 

Such a great feeling, and we're really pleased with how the room (and the coffered ceiling) turned out!

 

Things could be worse

This year the district gave us this whole week off for Thanksgiving instead of the usual three days. Everyone was super excited about it, especially folks who travel over the holiday. I imagine people who do lots of cooking/hosting will be grateful for the extra time, too.

 We won't be doing any traveling this year (not that we ever do). We're in the process of preparing to paint the remodeled room, and so the meal I cook for the two of us tomorrow will be small and relatively simple. I picked up three large turkey breasts for the freezer last week--they were such a good price that I couldn't resist--and I'll cook one of them for the holiday, and the other two will be handy to have around later in the winter. 

Gregg had three separate oncology appointments yesterday. He's going to be doing four or five radiation treatments sometime within the next few weeks, probably before Christmas. There's a small and (very) slowly growing mass in his lung and the doctors all agree that it shouldn't be ignored. His PET scan came back clear, thank goodness, although there was a slight bit of heightened activity around the spot. They can't do a biopsy, since that poses some risks when you only have one lung, so they've decided to treat it as if it's malignant and proceed from there. They're all confident that a few radiation treatments will eliminate any potential future problems. I'm really, really grateful that the doctors are being so proactive in taking care of him.

Radiation will be a new experience. The last time, it was surgery and chemotherapy, chemotherapy that he did not tolerate well at all. The first thing he said about this treatment plan was, "At least I don't have to do chemo this time." It should be over relatively quickly, and fatigue and skin irritation are the only major side effects they expect. But then, get this: the radiology oncologist Gregg met with said that occasionally a broken rib is a side effect of lung radiation.

A BROKEN RIB, Y'ALL. 

Hopefully, that won't happen. And the doctor assures him it isn't all that common and they have good pain relief available if it does. But still!

Thank goodness the treatments should be done by January, and we can leave this episode behind as just one more shitty thing that happened in 2024. I'm really hoping for a better 2025.

Wish List

Last week I got an email from Little P.'s mom that she knew would make me smile. Little P. had created a Google slides presentation (haha) of his Christmas wish list and shared it with her. She forwarded it to me because she knew I'd get a kick out of it.

Little P.'s Christmas List 2024

1. A cell phone ("please please please can I have one?")
2. Sneakers (not cheap ones, either)
3. An Xbox gift card
4. A new football to replace one he lost.

All pretty normal asks from an 11-year-old boy, but it was the last slide that made me laugh out loud. 

That boy cracks me up!

A small treat

It's always good to find a seed catalog waiting in the mailbox! Today I got the first one of 2025. Time to start planning next summer's garden...

Flare

After a long and grueling week, I'm grateful that the weekend is finally here. Outside my window, the sky is deep blue and the fall color in the trees is about as good as it gets. There's a sharp chill in the air this morning, and the hot cup of coffee I'm sipping really hits the spot. 

Monday night I had another extremely nasty eczema flare, one of the worst ones I've ever experienced. I'd just spent the whole day at work trying to function while pretty much having low key panic attacks all day. I had to close my office door to cry over and over, that's how bad it was. I've been under loads of stress, and it seemed to reach a boiling point that day. So then...that night I woke up just after midnight with painful, swollen, hot-to-the-touch skin in patches all over my body. My fingers were maybe the worst, so swollen with small hard blisters breaking out that I could barely bend my fingers. Large red welts had appeared around both elbows, and all the places where I normally have eczema (ankles and tops/sides of feet) were on fire. It was really, really bad.

 I did go in to work despite all this but called my allergist's office as soon as they opened. They weren't able to squeeze me in for an appointment until the next morning, but they immediately called in a prescription for prednisone to the drug store for me. I was able to start it that afternoon. 

When I finally saw the doctor the next morning, something good came of all this: he said he was pretty sure he finally had enough evidence to get my insurance company to cover Dupixent injections for me. It's a new and incredibly expensive biologic treatment that's supposed to be a total game changer for uncontrolled eczema. He took pictures of my skin to use as evidence and did all the paperwork necessary to send to the insurance company, and it worked! I was approved two days later! And since he was so sure he could get it approved for me, he gave me two sample injections to get me started. I'll be getting the refrigerated shots in the mail from an online pharmacy by the time I need to take my next shot, which will be in two weeks. 

It seems that a majority of people who use this drug have outstanding results, with over 75% achieving at least a 75% decrease in symptoms. Lots of people seem to be totally cured while taking it. After all these years of suffering through these skin problems, that's going to seem like a dream come true.

So at least one good thing happened this week.

Just coping

Just a short post today to say that no, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Writing anything for the past week has felt nearly impossible. I tried to sit down and write something once or twice but had to give it up; I deleted everything I typed almost immediately.

Obviously, the election results were a shock and very distressing. I've had to totally disengage with the news and the political podcasts I've followed so closely for months now. I'm also cutting way back on social media consumption (not counting blogs and blogging) and have removed some apps from my phone, like Facebook and Reddit. 

The morning of the election, right after we had voted, Gregg had an appointment with his oncologist to go over the results of his yearly chest scan. When he got back home, I asked him if everything was okay. He replied, "Some complications have come up." 

My heart dropped.

Since 2018 they've been monitoring a small, slow growing mass in his right lung. Which is his only lung, having lost the left one to cancer 12 years ago. Last year they had him do a PET scan out of an abundance of caution, and nothing lit up as cancerous. Well, at last week's oncology appointment the recent scan revealed that the mass has grown faster than usual this year. Dr. Smith is sending him for another PET scan next week, followed by appointments with both him and with Vinod, our pulmonologist friend. They're not screwing around or wasting time, and while I'm grateful for their sense of urgency, it scares me.

There are several good, positive signs: his bloodwork looks good and mostly unchanged from the last few years, there's been no weight loss, he feels good physically, etc. Also, since he had a PET scan just over a year ago that was fine, chances are if there's a problem it's in early stages and will be more treatable...

I can tell myself these things all day long, though, and it doesn't do much to quell the sick anxiety that keeps rising up in my chest. I'm so worried. Knowing we'll have to wait two weeks for more information feels almost intolerable to me.

Gregg is worried, of course, but seems to be handling it all okay. I'm doing my best to be okay around him, and carry on as normally as possible. Yesterday was his birthday, and despite everything we had a pretty good day. I made him the meal he requested: meatloaf and mashed potatoes and I bought a small strawberry pound cake and ice cream for dessert. 

So that's where I am at the moment. Trying to carry on each day like everything's normal when everything is emphatically not. Between the election, and now this worry about Gregg, and everything else that's been going on this year, sometimes I feel like I'm barely hanging on.

Kids

Happy Halloween!!

We had several neighborhood kids show up trick or treating tonight, which was really nice to see. Every child that came to our door got a double handful of treats!

Marla brought Carsen over as usual, along with Carsen's little friend Ella. They were both really cute.

The young couple who live across the street brought their baby girl out dressed in a monkey costume! Little Georgia just turned a year old. They're a sweet little family. 

Dressed as a monkey, or as her mama said, "Curious Georgia"! 

It's almost Halloween!

 Spotted at the vet's office yesterday.

Poor George suddenly developed a painful ear infection a couple of days ago, which is what we were there for. This seasonal display in the lobby made me smile.

Also yesterday, I finally bought Halloween treats for this year. I dare not buy them too far ahead of time. Years ago, I bought chocolate and candy early in October, ate the whole lot, gained 4 pounds, and still had to buy more to replace what I'd eaten! I won't be making that mistake again.

I only bought one kind of chocolate this year, given how expensive it seems to be at the moment. I chose Reese's cups, which usually go over well (and I love them!) along with an assortment of Halloween themed lollipops and small snack sized bags of mini–Cheese Balls. And when they say "mini", they aren't joking! 

Happy Halloween Eve!

Updates

Just a few short updates on everything going on this month:

We did it! My friends helped me complete 400 Postcards to Swing States this past Sunday afternoon! We had a little postcard party over at Barbara's house. Out of the 400 postcards I committed to, I had already finished 275 (!!) ahead of time, so I only brought the remaining 125. Karen H. brought an additional 100 postcards she needed help completing (for down ballot races in the non-swing state of Ohio). We made short work of those 225 postcards, and had a little time left over for talking and eating the potluck snacks we'd brought. 

It's a relief to have it done.

Left to right, clockwise: Maggi, Marian, Barbara, Paulette, Karen, and Yours Truly, struggling to get a selfie that included everyone.

I may or may not have mentioned that I'd planned to have the Postcard Party at my house. Obviously, that didn't happen. Barbara was kind enough to offer to host because our small renovation project is still not done. Yep. Still not done! Our house remains in disarray with one room emptied out and being worked on.

This is what happened. The guy took longer than he expected, and at the end of the week he'd allotted for us, he was only about 70% done. He had other job commitments starting that Monday that he couldn't get out of. It's meant some delay in the finishing work, and he's been coming over for an hour or two here and there when he can. It's been dragging on a lot longer than I expected, though.

To be fair, Rick's doing really good, careful work. He's taking his time and every part that he finishes looks great. He pays attention to detail. We're also getting an absolute steal on the price of his labor. Since he'd never tried coffered ceilings before, he wanted to get some experience with them, and I think he lowballed the price a little bit because he was unsure of how it would go. Well, it looks terrific! So, if it takes him a little bit longer than we expected, so be it....

but DAMN I'm tired of all the furniture from that room being crammed into the rest of the house! We can barely move! It's okay for a week, but when it's stretching into the third week, it gets old, fast.

Then to add insult to injury, day before yesterday we discovered an ant infestation in our pantry and kitchen shelves. We had to move all the food out, and everything stored in the kitchen cabinets where we saw ants, because the exterminator guy is coming later today...my house is a shambles. Seriously.

The only other thing I wanted to mention is that my skin is almost healed (and much, much better). Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement on my last post! Once I got started on antibiotics and prednisone I started to feel better, fast. That's a relief, at least.

I'll sign off with a picture of the front porch that I've been getting ready for Halloween. Several of our neighbors have been decorating, too, which is fun. As soon as I buy some candy, we'll be ready for trick or treaters. 

Feeling sorry for myself

I went back to work today. I had a lot to catch up on after being off for a week, and I was glad of it because the hours passed quickly. I wasn't feeling well and it's a relief to be back at home. 

Last week I had a really bad eczema flare on the tops and ankles of both my feet. It's nearly impossible not to scratch or at least rub the intensely itchy skin, and I've used steroid ointments for so many years that said itchy skin is paper thin. It tears easily, bleeds easily, and of course it gets infected easily.

 That's what's going on right now. My skin is angry red, painful, and weeping clear fluid. Even more alarming, last night I developed small red streaks climbing up my right leg...it's a little bit scary. Not to mention disgusting looking.

Of course I called my doctor first thing this morning and he immediately called in prescriptions for antibiotics (oral and topical) and a round of prednisone.  And he didn't make me come in for it, bless him. He knows how much I've struggled with this skin problem and he does his best to help. The last time I saw him he told me I have the most stubborn case of treatment-resistant eczema/dermatitis that he's ever seen. 

Anyway, I feel bad. I hate the way this feels and I REALLY hate the way it looks. It's disappointing that with all the changes I've made this year to take better care of my health, this keeps happening. I get mad at myself when I can't stop scratching. It's my own fault that things have gotten this bad.

At least I've started on antibiotics now. I picked them up on my way home from work. Maybe by tomorrow I'll start feeling a little better. 

Busy October

This week has been filled with the sounds of sawing, drilling, nail guns, and hammering. All of the furniture from the room being worked on is crowded together in the rest of the house, which makes me feel a little stir crazy. Other than that, the renovation is going really well and will be done either this afternoon or tomorrow. * There's no way we'll be able to paint before I go back to work. We plan to pick a couple of paint colors we're interested in and buy small samples to try on a wall before we commit to one. Then there's the pre painting prep work, then the actual painting, etc. If we're lucky we may be able to finish by the end of next weekend. 

The timing of all this isn't the best, because my sister-in-law and niece will be visiting for a few hours on Thursday afternoon. Our niece Melissa will be flying in from across the country to visit family next week, and Thursday is the only day that works for them to drive down from North Carolina to see us. The house will still be in some disarray, but it can't be helped. They of course understand, and I don't feel too bad about it, but it isn't ideal. 

Then on the Sunday after that (the 20th) I'm having a postcard writing party. (It's been planned for over a month now, since before I knew about the room remodel). Luckily, one of the friends who's coming offered to move it to her house when she heard about all this work we're having done. We should be finished painting by then, but if not it's good to know I have that option. 

Speaking of postcards! I ordered 400 total, 200 to the swing state of Michigan and 200 to the swing state of Georgia. That's a lot of postcards. Especially since the three suggested scripts are somewhat lengthy to print out (they recommend printing everything so it's easily readable). Here are the three scripts they recommend as being the most effective in getting out the vote: 

1. Hi (voter's first name),

Thank you for being a voter! Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. Please vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election!

-- (first name)

2. Hi (voter's first name),

Thank you for being a voter! Your friends and family may need your reminder to vote. Please ask them to vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election!

-- (first name)

3. Hi (voter's first name), 

Thank you for being a voter! When will you vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election? Please plan ahead!

--(first name)

As you can see, any of these is a lot to print out on 400 postcards! To make it so that my friends don't have a mountain of work in front of them, I've been chipping away at the lists a little bit each day. So far, I've managed to complete over 250! My goal is to get to 300 by the time we meet up. With four friends and me, that will only leave 20 for each of us. I'm grateful that they're willing to help me write them, and also that they're chipping in for half the postage costs. I bought the first 200 postcard stamps, and it came to well over $100. 

October is turning out to be really busy with all this going on. When I get back to work on Monday it's going to be really busy there, too. It's just one of those times in the school year. The great thing this year is that since Gregg's (mostly) retired now, he'll be home a lot and can continue with painting while I'm at work. 

Maybe November will be a little more relaxing!

* The work so far looks really good. I thought about sharing a picture of the progress, but decided to wait until it's done. We're really pleased.

More home improvement

I'm on fall break this week. It's nice to be off work, especially now that it's getting cool outside. Lots of pleasant dog walks are happening at the moment. 

Speaking of lots of things happening.....this is my den right now:

Demolished wall!!!

The ceiling in there had developed a crack that started to leak during the last storm that rolled through. It was a bad leak, and the crack got bigger and bigger. Then, it quickly became obvious that water was running down behind the wall, too, because the boards by the window started to warp. Not good.

 Here's a picture I took this morning before work commenced:

There's a place where the roof of this room joins the main house (the room was an addition to the original floor plan) and some sort of flaw there was letting the water in. That will be fixed first, then the wall with the warped boards will be repaired. And we decided instead of just patching up the damaged part of the ceiling, we're going to go ahead and redo the whole thing.

Something like this is what we're going for:

                        

Coffered ceilings

We're getting those same recessed lights in the "coffered" ceiling, and the old, clunky ceiling fan will be replaced with a smaller, simpler one. We've hired the same guy who remodeled our porch last summer to do the work. He seems to do solid work, and his prices aren't unreasonable. 

As soon as he's finished, we plan to paint the room a fresh new color. I'm hoping we can do that next weekend and have everything done when I go back to work on Monday. That may or may not be possible, though.

Randy does it again!

Randy Rainbow's newest parody video--using Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space"--is another gem!! I just had to share it. Enjoy!!

Double jab, hoarders, and Halloween lights

Every year about this time our school district offers employees a free flu shot. I always take it, and usually have no aftereffects other than a sore arm. Monday was the day. This year was a bit different than usual, because the pharmacist giving the shot had brought along Covid boosters to offer as well. I was super happy to get both at once and have it all done. I also read somewhere that getting a flu shot and Covid shot at the same time is thought to boost the effectiveness of both. It was something about a more vigorous antibody response. I think that's probably accurate, because for the first time ever I felt like crap after a vaccination. I developed a low-grade headache, muscle aches, and a feverish sort of feeling that lasted from late Monday afternoon until this morning. That never happened to me with either of those vaccines alone before!

I'm feeling a bit better this afternoon. That's a good thing, because I had to go all over town trying to find toilet paper! Yes, toilet paper. Since yesterday afternoon everyone around here has been suddenly buying up and hoarding toilet paper along with other supplies. I had to ask around to find out what the hell was going on.... apparently, the port strike has people in a panic about supply drying up and they're rushing out to grab everything they can get their hands on, with toilet paper being the number 1 (ha!) thing they're desperate for. It's crazy! I don't know if that's mostly around here or all along the east coast. Gregg and I were literally on our last roll of toilet paper (!!), and I had to go to three places to find any after work today. People are being the same jerks they were in the pandemic...buying up far more than they need and stockpiling it. The girl ringing me up at the dollar store (where I eventually found some) said that one woman had just been in and spent $140 on toilet paper!! People are ridiculous! Not to mention selfish and thoughtless. I bought enough to get my house through a week or so and left the rest for others. Hopefully someone didn't swoop in after me and empty the last of the shelves, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out they did. People just tend to suck sometimes, don't they?

Since this week has been a bit...bleh...I decided to order myself something cheap and cheerful on Amazon so I'd have something small to look forward to. It got here today: a string of bright purple and orange Halloween lights! 

The original plan was to string them up around our little front porch area to welcome the trick or treaters, but I like them so much on the mantle (along with some of the other Halloween junk I had Gregg drag down from the attic) that I might end up keeping them there and ordering some more for the porch. They were only $10, and they're making me smile.

Happy Birthday Mr. President!

 Happy 100th Birthday President Jimmy Carter!

Navy nuclear physicist. Peanut farmer. Governor. President. Habitat builder. Devoted husband (for 77 years!). Sunday school teacher.

A beautiful soul and an amazing American.

September book club selection: North Woods

This month it was my turn to host book club, and since we've begun letting the hostess pick the book, I had to choose something. Lately we've read a lot of what I consider "fluff" fiction, light and mildly entertaining but not all that literary. I decided that this time, I wanted something with a little more meat to it. I did an internet search for the best books of the past couple of years and came up with three titles that I thought sounded promising. Last month I told the group a little about the three books I was considering and put it to a vote. North Woods by Daniel Mason was the winner. 

What a joy this book was to me! It's the best thing I've read in ages. I think it's going to join my list of all-time favorite books, and that's a short list. 

From Goodreads:

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. Written along with the seasons and divided into the twelve months of the year, it is an unforgettable novel about secrets and fates that asks the timeless how do we live on, even after we’re gone?

North Woods was so beautifully written that I found myself reading and rereading passages and wanting to take my time and savor them. Since I'd bought a copy and offered to let my friend Marian borrow it before book club, I had to read it much faster than I wanted to. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, when she brought it back to me the night of book club, I immediately started to re-read it. I'm taking my time and finding so many wonderful things I missed the first time.

Spanning centuries from the perspective of one small piece of land in northwestern Massachusetts, it's the history of a place, with the human characters coming and going across the years alongside the changing flora and fauna of the area. From NPR's review:

North Woods manages, impressively, to balance both the narrow and the long view, intimately focusing on the lives of each of the house's inhabitants, yet expansively encompassing American history, natural history, and the relentless march of time and the cycle of the seasons.

And from the Washington Post book review:

Indeed, to read “North Woods” is to suffer the sweet sorrow of falling in love with fresh residents only to see them swept away by the passing seasons. Persist. The silent spaces between these stories articulate what the residents can’t. Their errant lives begin locking together in a winding chain of unlikely history. And when the moonlight strikes just right, you may even see some past homeowner flit across the corner of a page once again.

As you may have guessed, North Woods made for a really nice discussion. I even printed out a "book club guide" from the publisher's website.

As usual, I made a lot of food! We had a crudité platter, deviled eggs, ham and Swiss cheese sliders (pictured here before going in the oven and toasted!) hot spinach and artichoke dip, tortilla chips and plain potato chips. 

I bought ready-made desserts from Sam's. Large, fancy cupcakes and apple pie.

I also had several bottles of wine, as well as a cooler filled with ice and hard apple cider, assorted sodas, and bottled water.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it, and I'm happy to say my hosting responsibilities are fulfilled for another year! 

Equinox harvest

From my garden this weekend: dried zinnia seed heads and sweet, ripe pomegranates. 

Happy Autumn Equinox!

Hobgoblin

So, that pretty bag of homemade granola I showed you yesterday? Somebody else thought it looked good, too.

I swear you can't turn your back for even one second in this house.

(We got to him in time to save the granola, but not before he chewed holes in the bag and got a little taste).

Recipe

I made my second batch of granola yesterday, and I stayed right by the oven to ensure I didn't accidentally burn it this time.

Success! It turned out so much than the batch I scorched. 

It tastes so good with yogurt and frozen raspberries! I also cored and sliced apples and dried them in the dehydrator overnight. Some dried apple pieces will get added to the mix later today. 

Ingredients:

Oats

Walnuts

Almonds

Pumpkin seeds

Raisins

Dates

(Dried apples)

Coconut oil

Honey

Salt

I used about a half cup of coconut oil and a half cup of honey, mixed with the oats, walnuts, and almonds. I baked them at 325F for about 30 minutes, stirring constantly. The rest of the ingredients were added after it cooled.