Books Read - Summer 2013

21. The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough
20. The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
19. Unless by Carol Shields
18. I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side by Michael Oher (audio book)
17. The Tales of Troy and Greece by Andrew Lang
16. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (audio book)
15. The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
14. Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs
13. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
12. Insight City Guides: Seattle
11. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (audio book)
10. Elliott Allagash by Simon Rich (audio book)
9. Animal Farm by George Orwell (audio book)
8. Planet Boy by Stuart McLean (audio book)
7. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
6. Canada by Richard Ford
5. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (audio book)
4. The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History by Alan Axelrod
3. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas (audio book)
2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (audio book)
1. The Vikings by Yves Cohat

Recognizing

It's really wonderful when you can feel a cool breeze blow through the window into your hot house.  Yay!

Sigh

Tonight I wrote a long entry, about starting a 30 day yoga challenge and being in a downswing.  I wasn't able to save along the way because I didn't have Internet access, and by the time I got home everything had been erased. Alas.
I don't have the energy to rewrite it, so I think I'll just go play some more Snoopy Roller Coaster.

Books Read - Spring 2013

15. Food and Friends: Recipes and Memories from Simca's Cuisine by Simone Beck
14. Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation by Michael Agar
13. The Partner by John Grisham
12. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
11. French Women Don't Get Fat by Mureille Guiliano
10. Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke
9. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
7. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
6. Beijing Confidential by Jan Wong
5. The Wisdom of the Shire by Noble Smith
4. Chinese Whiskers by Pallavi Aiyar
3. Travels by Michael Crichton
2. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
1. Here's Looking at Euclid by Alex Bellos

Books Read - Winter 2013

18. Frontiers of Heaven by Stanley Stewart
17. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
16. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks
15. Berlitz Handbook: China
14. Bad Habits by Dave Barry
13. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
12. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
11. China's First Emperor and his Terracotta Warriors by Frances Wood
10. Silas Marner by George Eliot
9. Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost
8. The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
7. China A to Z by May-lee Chai and W Chai
6. Sophie's Choice by William Styron (book club selection)
5. National Geographic Traveler: China
4. The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson (audio book)
3. The Fearless Gourmet: Decoding Menus from Around the World by Norman Kolpas
2. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
1. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (audio book)

Anew

Tonight Boris said to me, "I want you to be my girlfriend." And I said, "My pleasure."
teeheehee!

Books Read - Fall 2012

17. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
16. How to Cook Like a Man: A Memoir of Cookbook Obsession by Daniel Duane (from the library)
15. Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (audio book)
14. Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman (from the library)
13. Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich by Stephen Leacock
12. The Red House by Mark Haddon (from the library)
11. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (book club selection)
10. That's Not a Feeling by Dan Josefson (from the library)
9. The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha (from the library)
8. What Went Wrong: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis
7. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
6. Words to Eat By: Five Foods and the Cuinary History of the English Language by Ina Lipkowitz
5. Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean
4. From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals by Barbara Haber
3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (book club selection)
2. Insight Guides: Turkey
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (book club selection)

Astounding

It's a bird?

It's a plane?

It's my Mom, looking out from a hot air balloon over Cappadocia!

Even my Turkey book doesn't have a picture of Cappadocia this good. 

Wave hello to St. Basil, Mom!

There She Is!

See that blonde in the foreground there? Just right of center, with her back turned, holding up a camera?

That's my Mom!  She is there in Ephesus, in front of the Library of Celsus (or at least she was a few days ago). This is one of the famous things in Ephesus - a similar picture is in my Turkey book, minus my Mom's head.  It looks like she's taking a picture of whatever is on the right, though, and I have no idea what that would be. When you live vicariously through someone, your view is restricted to what they share with you and what your guidebook explains.  The guidebook does tell me, though, that the Library of Celsus held 12 000 scrolls, and that the humidity and temperature were regulated.  It was built in 114 CE, and destroyed in 262 CE.

This is a picture she sent me from Troy!  But I hear the horse is fake - both in the sense that, um, it's not a living horse, and that it's a modern reproduction of what the famous Trojan horse might have looked like.  (It sounds like you can go inside, though. Fun!)

I've really been enjoying the daily emails Mom has been sending me about her trip.  It feels like we're communicating more regularly now that she's on the other side of the world than when she is at home, but I guess we have all her new experiences to talk about. I feel like this makes me more a part of her trip, and I like that. 

Books Read - Summer 2012

23. Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman (audio book)
22. Cleaving by Julie Powell (audio book)
21. Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
20. The Firm by John Grisham
19. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
18. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
17. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
16. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
15. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
14. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
13. Stories by Anton Chekov
12. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
11. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
9. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner (audio book)
8. The Client by John Grisham
7. The Chamber by John Grisham
6. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (audio book)
4. The Rainmaker by John Grisham
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
2. The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube by James G. Nourse
1. The Physics of Christmas by Roger Highfield

Vicarious Adventure

Today, my Mom is in Troy.  Yeah, like the real Troy, over in Turkey!  She left on Monday for her Turkish tour.  I had hoped to accompany her, but alas, I could not get the time off work because a coworker is on vacation instead.  So instead, I'm living vicariously through my mother. I'm following along on her itinerary, and also reading a tour book about Turkey.  I might read the Iliad, and I have a "Learn Turkish in 60 minutes" CD.

Tomorrow she's going to Pergamom, and the next day, Ephesus.  It looks like they're skipping Nicea (now "Isnik") and Smyrna (or "Izmir") and, well, Sparta because that's barely a place now and it's not in Turkey, but towards the end of the tour they'll end up in Cappadocia.  (Will I read something by Basil the Great?  We'll see.)

I'm much more interested in studying this because I know that my Mom is seeing these things - and after following along, I'll be a much more interesting/interested spectator for her pictures and stories.  Even though I don't get to be there, I'm excited!

(none)

I'm having a problem with existential lethargy.  "What's the point?"

Vacation: Day by Day

Thursday 28: travel, layover in Chicago, arrival in Philadelphia, train to hotel, reunion with Mara, dinner at Shake Shack, walking around downtown, finding only closed Starbuckses, tea in the hotel lounge

Friday 29: Philadelphia! Starbucks, walking/food tour, sightseeing bus tour, zoo, ice cream sundae, train/bus to Delaware

Saturday 30: taking it easy, groceries/laundry, dinner at a local pub, evening walk

Sunday 1: Canada Day shirts! Starbucks, homemade postcards, lunch out, newspaper puzzles, velcro catch in the park

Monday 2: (Mara worked) Main Street, bus to Starbucks, yoga, tempura brownie

Tuesday 3: (Mara worked) shopping, haircut, Cheesecake Factory, Mall

Wednesday 4: America Day!  Rubik's Cube, pizza at pub, velcro catch, last minute moments together

Thursday 5: travel: car to Philadelphia airport, unanticipated landing in Indiana, missed connection in Chicago, flirted with standby, hotel

Friday 6: finally arrived at home, baggage didn't, taxi home, dentist

Books Read - Spring 2012

14. Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen (from the library)
13. Live Better: Yoga by Tara Fraser  (from the library)
12. The Backwoods of Canada by Catharine Parr Trail
11. American Cooking: New England by Jonathan Leonard (Time-Life Foods of the World)
10. Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
6. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton
5. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

4. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (audio book)

3. Whipping Star by Frank Herbert

2. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

1. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Books Read - Winter 2012

11. I Hate to Cook by Peg Bracken
10. The Acrobats by Mordecai Richler

9. The Street by Mordecai Richler

8. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler

7. The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

6. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

5. The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler (audio book)

4. Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese

3. The Egoist by George Meredith

2. Middlemarch by George Eliot

1. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope