Much and Nada

  

Which is what’s been happening around my household lately.  I’ve finished several projects (started and set aside because . . .  who knows the because, I don’t).  I’ve had company, been alone, exercised and been a bit of a couch potato.  The weather has been dry, really hugely wet, warm, and cold all in the span of a couple of weeks.  I’ve also watched some mindless TV, rewatched some movies, and started watching a new series on Netflix.  Absolutely nothing of great interest or excitement going on here to write about.

The outdoors is starting to sing to me but as it is January with our (possibly) coldest month yet to come, I am ignoring the song to bring the plants outside, to dig in the dirt, to arrange the rest of everything that goes outside.  Nope – been there, done that and had to cover, carry things back inside, lost things planted. 

News:

I got my first COVID shot last week – yay!  Have the second one scheduled for February. 

I watched the terrorist attack on the Capital with the same horror and shock as when I watched the twin towers fall on 9/11.  And even though thousands of people were not killed or injured, it was the worst thing I’ve ever watched because it was Americans attacking the basis of America. 

I’ve read several books. 

Two by Donna Andrews – The Meg Langslow series.  The Penguin Who Knew Too Much and Cockatiels’ at Seven.  Both are good – fun, light, and a good mystery.  Meg Langslow is a very good mystery solver AND very, very patient.  I believe I’d have locked my father (possibly mother too) in a closet if he’d done some of things hers does!

I also read Emerald Blaze, A Hidden Legacy book by Ilona Andrews.  I think I’ve read all of their (they are a husband/wife team) books and have enjoyed every single one.  I specially like the Hidden Legacy series because it’s set in Houston and having grown up there, I recognize all the reference points.

As Prime magic users, Catalina Baylor and her sisters have extraordinary powers—powers their ruthless grandmother would love to control. Catalina can earn her family some protection working as deputy to the Warden of Texas, overseeing breaches of magic law in the state, but that has risks as well. House Baylor is under attack and monsters haunt her every step . . . .

My granddaughter Abby recommended a book for me to read – American Gods by Neil Gaimon.  In the first pages, the author talks about this particular edition.  This particular book is the 10-year reprint.  And, the editor had him put back in some 12,000 words that had been eliminated from the original printing.  It’s long and a bit wordy.  The book is about America and its immigrants, a road trip, a little romance, and a mystery.  It’s full of mythology and fantasy – I mean, how often do you talk with various gods brought to America hundreds of years ago.

 Released from prison, Shadow Moon finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming -- a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

 Some of the people (gods) Shadow encounters and interacts with – Mr. Wednesday, Low-Key Lyesmith, Czernobog, Mr. Nancy, the Zorya sisters, Mr. Jacquel, Bast, Easter, Whiskey Jack, John Chapman, Hinzelmann along with several others.  There are some “new” gods he encounters also but I’ll let you read it yourself as they are pretty easy to figure out.

 So, what do I think about the book?  Well, it’s like the “GREAT AMERICAN (or English or Russian or, or, or) NOVEL” we’ve all read at different times in our life.  You read it, close the book, and think – that was really good! I’m not sure what it was about but it was good!

 The new tv series on Netflix – Lupin.  My daughter recommended it.  I was originally put off by the fact that it’s either in French with English subtitles or dubbed in English meaning nothing matches up exactly.  She recommended I watch it in French with subtitles.  It’s very good.  And, in case you are watching it also and wonder about the “book” - Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar – it was a real series of 17 or so books written in the early 1900’s by  Maurice Leblanc.  The good thing/bad thing is, of course, having to read the subtitles meaning there’s no doing anything else while I watch.  The other good/bad thing is it is very good and now I’m hooked.

 Well, that’s all of any interest right now.  Everyone think positive thoughts that Wednesday goes well and there are no more attacks on anything.  And, that all those that broke the law – ALL THOSE – are arrested and 1 put in a deep hole; 2 shot at sunrise; 3 sent to a deserted island in the middle of hurricane paths; 4 forgotten about except for “yeah – I remember that guy, a real idiot”.