Home from our last Spring Break

So we are home from our latest epic journey! We traveled through eight states in seven days, not counting Colorado: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. We stayed in hotels in six states (all but Tennessee and Illinois). We drove about 2650 miles -- "we" meaning Teen A, who did absolutely all of the driving. I think Rocket Boy moved the car once, when we were at a gas station. I never touched the steering wheel, nor did Teen B.

We saw three National Parks, a National Historic Site, a Presidential Museum, and two cemeteries. We went up in a tower and down into a cave. We snacked on junk food from "travel centers" (my favorites are Skor bars, Gold Peak green tea, and Fairlife milk). Let's look at our trip, day by day. 

Day 1, Sunday, March 15th: Colorado to Kansas to Oklahoma

We got on the road fairly early (for us), 9:51 am according to my notes. It had snowed the night before (had to scrape off the car) and was very cold, but the real problem, especially once we got out east, was the wind! When we stopped for gas in Limon, Colorado ($3.699/gallon), the wind hit me like I don't know what. It must have been blowing 60 mph, and so cold! We saw a semi that had blown over into the median, and I'm sure it wasn't the only one that day. I was coming down with Teen A's cold, had a sore throat which I was trying to ignore, and the weather didn't help!

We took 287 south past various farming communities (Eads, Kit Carson) and the wind was just unbearable. Huge dust clouds making it hard to see the road. And so cold. I noticed on my phone that we were close to Amache, which is one of the Japanese internment camps that's been made into a National Historic Site, so I asked if we could make a tiny detour and see it. Only problem was the wind! I got out of the car and walked around briefly, but everyone else stayed in the car. I know this photo makes it look like it was a nice calm day, but it wasn't. Maybe another time we'll make it back for a better look.

We stopped for a very late lunch/early dinner at a Black Bear Diner in Garden City, Kansas, got gas ($3.159/gallon), and then continued on into Oklahoma. Our hotel for the night was an independent one, the Northwest Inn in Woodward, OK. Our rooms were next to each other and we could open the connecting door between them. I shared with Teen A. I had requested rooms with an outside entrance, so that we could get to and from the car easily, and that was a mistake. We went inside and looked at the lovely pool, but the thought of going back and forth in a wet swimsuit, with wet hair, and that terrible wind blowing... we just couldn't face it. We'll go in the next hotel's pool, we told ourselves. Dinner was snacks and leftovers from the Black Bear. 

Day 2, Monday, March 16th: Oklahoma to Arkansas

In the morning the wind had died down a little, but it was still blowing and the temperature was in the 20s. After breakfast in the hotel, we packed up the car, got gas at a Love's ($3.219/gallon) and drove southeast to Okeene, Oklahoma, where my great-grandparents (father's mother's parents) got a farm in the 1892 land rush, after emigrating from Russia. My grandmother was born there. I had directions from Findagrave, but it wasn't an address, more like "turn left, turn right, and go down a ways." As we were approaching the town, we saw a sheriff's car coming toward us. And he saw us, too. He pulled over, made a U-turn, and turned on his lights. Teen A pulled over and got out his license. Oh dear. Turned out he was doing 84 mph in a 65 mph zone. Oh dear. The ticket was for $279. Oh dear. "I'll pay it," I told Teen A. "But you SLOW DOWN." And in fact he did, somewhat, for the rest of the trip. So, for that we were really indebted to the sheriff, who I dubbed Officer Friendly (not to his face).

As Officer Friendly was walking back to his car, it occurred to me that he might know where the cemetery was. So Rocket Boy called to him and he came back. "Do you know where Ebenfeld Cemetery is?" I asked him. "I've been there once, but it was a long time ago" (in fact, around 35 years ago). Officer Friendly thought about it, and then gave us directions that matched what I'd gotten off Findagrave. Feeling more confident, we drove through town and turned right. And after a bit, we found it. It's every bit as desolate as the cemetery in Nebraska where my father's father's parents are buried. But it's still being used. Teen B found the grave of someone who died in 2024. Someone had put a sign saying "Merry Christmas" in front of it (obviously hadn't visited recently).

After the cemetery, we drove on across Oklahoma. I wanted to avoid Oklahoma City, so we took Highway 51 instead. Northern Oklahoma was quite pleasant, green and with lots of cows. We stopped in Stillwater for gas ($3.179/gallon at Walmart) and went to a Starbucks for a sort of lunch. While there, we noticed a man sitting near us wearing a MAGA cap. Ah, Oklahoma. But I've got to say one thing: I had expected to have to watch Fox News every morning at breakfast, but NOT ONE HOTEL that we stayed at had their breakfast room TV tuned to Fox. We saw ABC, NBC, ESPN, and the Weather Channel. Never Fox. Not even CBS, which is trying to become the new Fox. I'm used to having to watch Fox in every hotel, but not on this trip to the "Upper South." I don't know what's changed, but it seemed like something had.

I wanted to drive through Tahlequah (Cherokee capital), but we got our directions mixed up and just got on I-40 after Tulsa instead. But we still saw plenty of Indian license plates: a Muskogee one, several Cherokee ones, and some others. The kids couldn't believe Indian tribes could issue their own license plates. So it was a learning experience.

We finally crossed over into Arkansas and then we had a long drive to our hotel. We got our cheapest gas of the trip at a Harp grocery store in Waldron ($2.789/gallon). After checking in to our Best Western in Hot Springs, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant called the Brick House Grill. What I liked best about it was that I could order a single baked sweet potato! So that's what I had for dinner, plus a side salad. Delicious.

Our hotel, a Best Western across from a racetrack, had a pool -- but it was an outdoor pool. And it was still freezing, although fortunately the wind had calmed down. So no swimming. But again, our rooms were next to each other and we could open the connecting door. I shared with Teen B. My sore throat was turning into a real cold, so that night I took cold medicine, which did help.

Day 3, Tuesday, March 17th: Arkansas to Tennessee to Kentucky

I had only allotted an hour or so for our visit to Hot Springs National Park, because, you know, how interesting could it be? In fact, it was very interesting, and we spent a couple of hours there and could have spent much more. The Visitor Center is in one of the old bathhouses on Bathhouse Row, and it contains a large museum. We watched a film about the history of the park, and then wandered around. We also visited the gift shop (my favorite activity), which was in another bathhouse.

Then we drove into the park proper and went to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. I had read that this is run by a private company, but they still gave us a discount based on my parks pass. I didn't pay much attention to what things cost on the trip (except gas). It's only money, I kept saying. We took the elevator up to the top of the tower, which is 216 feet tall, and spent some time looking at the view. Then I had the bright idea to walk DOWN from the tower, which you can do -- you can walk up it, too, if you're crazy. Anyway, we all walked down, and after 216 feet of steps down, my legs were in pain.

It would have been nice to spend more time there, but we needed to get to Kentucky. So we got back in the car and drove all the way across Arkansas to West Memphis on the border, right across the river from Memphis, Tennessee. Rocket Boy found a restaurant that sounded interesting, Sizzlin Skillet, so we drove there. And I took one look at the sign, which advertised "Soul Food," and panicked. "Let's not go here," I said. "It's going to be all Black people." My kids were horrified. "Mom!" Teen A said. "How can you be so racist?" I felt so ashamed of myself, and yet I was still afraid. "Why don't you go in and I'll wait in the car," I suggested, but of course Rocket Boy wouldn't agree to that. Finally we ended up at Applebee's, a few blocks away. And of course, ha ha, everyone in Applebee's was also Black. But I felt safe, because it was a chain restaurant. Sure. Makes so much sense (not).

I did a little research on West Memphis, and although it's majority Black, it's about 30% white. It was OK for us to be there. I didn't need to be afraid. And yet I was. I apologized profusely to the kids for being so racist, but I couldn't shake my fear. I told the kids I was feeling racial guilt because we were approaching Kentucky where I knew I had ancestors who had owned slaves. I left our Applebee's waitress a large tip, which I explained to the kids was in lieu of reparations. Oh, the whole thing was nuts. But there you are.

We got gas at Exxon ($3.499/gallon), and drove on, across the river and into Tennessee, and then all the way across Tennessee (from top to bottom, that is). It was very pretty, very green and rural, although I kept thinking that it would be so much prettier in about a month. We finally crossed the border into Kentucky very late, and reached our hotel in Kuttawa around 8 pm. Motel, I should say. It was a Relax Inn and I shared with Teen A. The rooms were next to each other, but we couldn't open the connecting door. It was an older motel, right off the highway, but actually very comfortable and quiet. We decided to skip dinner, just ate some snacks from the car. I took another dose of nighttime cold medicine and slept well.

Day 4, Wednesday, March 18th: Kentucky to Indiana

Time to face my past. Kuttawa, Kentucky is very close to Eddyville, Kentucky, where some of my ancestors once lived (the slave-owning ones). They actually lived in old Eddyville, much of which is now underwater, but the old cemetery still exists (it's on a hill) and I knew that a sister of my mother's father's father's father was buried there. Her name was Arisba and she was born in 1820 and died in February 1864, same month and year as her husband Elzathan (the photo shows their two headstones). 

The cemetery was pretty easy to find -- it's historic, so there were signs leading to it. We parked the car and started wandering the hillside. It had been snowing lightly earlier, but had stopped by then. I knew what the headstone looked like, from Findagrave, so eventually I spotted it. It's almost illegible, but I could still read her name. There were numerous confederate soldiers buried there too. I texted a picture of her gravestone to my sisters and said something about how there must have been "something going around" in 1864 to kill both Arisba and her husband. My sister texted back, "The civil war was going around." Oh, yeah. Kentucky in 1864 was not a good place to be.

After half an hour or so we got back on the road and drove to Mammoth Cave National Park, stopping at a Marathon station for gas ($3.699/gallon). Our tour wasn't until 2:30 pm, so we first walked across the footbridge from the visitor center to the lodge and ate lunch at the Green River Grill. The menu was minimal, but I had a grilled cheese sandwich, which was fine. They had desserts -- and we had time -- so Rocket Boy and I split a piece of "Derby Pie," Teen A had his own piece, and Teen B had chocolate ice cream. A little before 2:30 we walked over to where we waited to board the buses that would take us to the cave entrance. It was still fairly cold -- at one point it was sleeting.

In retrospect, I think I made a mistake here. There were various tours you could sign up for (I had done this online, a week ahead), and I had signed us up for the "Domes and Dripstones Tour," which was billed as "scientific." But I think a better choice would have been the "Historic Tour." Either way it probably would have been hard for me, because of my questionable decision to walk DOWN from the Hot Springs Mountain Tower the day before. My thighs and calves were still aching. I could barely walk on flat ground, and walking either upstairs or downstairs was exquisitely painful. The "Domes and Dripstones Tour" involves 640 stairs, including 96 that were optional (guess what? I skipped them!). Because we were part of a tour (with 100 people on it!), you had to keep moving, you couldn't stop. I did stop at one point, going up a dreadful staircase, and tried to get the people behind me to go ahead of me, but they wouldn't, they just stood there sympathizing. So I pulled myself together and kept going.

And the silly thing about the whole tour was that the cave wasn't even very interesting! Nothing at all like Carlsbad Caverns last year. I kept waiting for the big reveal -- the room of beauty. There wasn't one. It's not really that kind of cave. Its main claim to fame is that it's incredibly long, over 400 miles, the longest cave in the world. But it doesn't have a lot of beautiful things to look at. Just these "cave crickets," which looked like spiders. Apparently there are also eyeless fish, the length of someone's pinky, that are endangered. And bats, but we didn't see any.

After the tour, which I somehow survived, we went to the Starbucks in the lodge, bought some more things at the gift shop, and got on the road again. It was only about 100 miles to our hotel. We crossed another river (the Ohio) and whoosh, there we were in Indiana. 

Our hotel was a La Quinta, and I was predisposed not to like it, because it kept sending me emails. All day long I got emails from La Quinta, asking me to preregister, asking me when I was coming, sending me confirmation after confirmation after confirmation. Seriously, it sent me FIVE confirmation emails. I ignored them all. But when we finally got there, it was fine (although it had an outdoor pool, closed for the season). There was a laundry room on our floor, so after buying some Tide and exchanging $4 for 16 quarters from the desk clerk, I did a load of laundry. Teen B didn't want to go out, but Rocket Boy, Teen A, and I went to a Red Robin that was still open. It was pretty bad. I ordered a Caesar salad with grilled salmon, but the cook made a mistake and fixed it with chicken instead. So the waitress brought me both -- first a gigantic chicken Caesar salad and then a gigantic salmon Caesar salad. And I wasn't hungry -- in fact, I was nauseated. My cold, the effects of my GLP-1 drug (I took my shot Saturday night before we left), the cave trip... whatever it was, I didn't feel like eating. I picked at the salmon, picked at the croutons, ate a few lettuce leaves. One of the TVs in the restaurant was showing a dog show, so I watched that and tried not to think about my stomach. Back at the hotel I took more cold medicine and got a good night's sleep.

Day 5, Thursday, March 19th: Indiana to Illinois to Missouri

Finally, the weather improved. We were headed for St. Louis and it was supposed to be in the 70s there! Also, I didn't feel sick anymore. I put on my new lemon yellow t-shirt and wore it with my new lavender raincoat and sandals -- no more puffy coats or black sweaters or heavy shoes for me! I looked rather like an Easter egg, even my shape. And along the way across Illinois we stopped at a rest stop and there was a chocolate bunny in one of the vending machines! We got gas at Costco (Teen A's brilliant idea) for only $3.199/gallon, crossed the Wabash river into Illinois, and then the mighty Mississippi into Missouri.

Once we got to St. Louis, the springlike vibe shifted a little. St. Louis is not only just as screwed up as ever, it's MORE screwed up because they had a terrible tornado roar through there last May. We drove through north St. Louis (the poorest part) because Rocket Boy's old agency has moved into a new building there, and we couldn't decide whether the wreckage we were seeing was due to the tornado or just to St. Louis. I give money every year to an organization called Mission St. Louis that helps poor people, and I made a mental note to increase my contribution next December.

RB couldn't get into his old agency's new building and his colleague who we were trying to meet up with wasn't there, so we stopped by Crown Candy (bought some delicious gummy bears and some chocolate) and then drove on to our favorite place in St. Louis, Fitz's, where we proceeded to order enormous floats. Even Rocket Boy. This photo shows Teen A's float, which was called a "Pink Unicorn." It's vanilla and strawberry ice cream, Shirley Temple soda, whipped cream, berry drizzle, sprinkles, and it was supposed to have a mini ice cream cone (for the unicorn horn) but it had a cookie straw instead. I got a Pina Colada float, because I wanted something to match my outfit. We also ordered food (I got a hummus plate), but it's kind of hard to eat a meal AND actually consume one of these floats. I took most of my hummus plate to go and had it for dinner later. Rocket Boy dumped most of his float into two travel cups and took it to go.

Rocket Boy finally got in touch with his colleague, Manny, and he joined us at Fitz's, rather late, and ate a bowl of chili with us. I had never met him before, just listened to him and RB talk about really boring stuff on speakerphone, so it was fun to connect the voice with a body and face. While we were there, we bought 24 bottles of Fitz soda to take home with us.

We talked a long time and then realized we were almost late for our reservations (Rocket Boy and the twins had bought tickets to go up in the Arch again). So we all raced around in a panic, drove across St. Louis at top speed, but we got there in time. Our third National Park of the trip! It hardly counts, since we've been there multiple times, but anyway, it IS a National Park. While the three of them waited in line and finally went up in the arch, I walked through the museum and then sat down and waited. It was fun to people watch, see who comes to St. Louis to see the Arch. (The photo below shows me sitting there, looking like an Easter egg.)

After that, we went to the nearby city of Kirkwood to go to the Global Foods Market and buy tea and some other things that Rocket Boy has trouble finding in our area (they're probably here, we just don't know where). Fitting all that into the car, plus the 24 bottles of Fitz soda, plus all our suitcases and the coats we didn't need anymore and everything else we'd bought at gift shops was... interesting. We got gas at a Conoco in Wentzville ($3.699/gallon).

We drove on to Columbia, Missouri, to another Best Western, which turned out to be the worst hotel of our trip. It was right off I-70 and it was NOISY. Oh well. Teen A and I turned on the fan to create some white noise in our room and we slept OK, but Rocket Boy and Teen B didn't think of that and had a bad night. Oh, and the indoor pool was freezing, so nobody wanted to go in it. And no dinner (just our leftovers from Fitz). And the breakfast room was sucky. Not a hotel I'd return to, that's for sure.

Day 6, Friday, March 20th: Missouri to Kansas

Once we were in Missouri, it didn't feel as much like a vacation, because we've been here so many times. But we made a stop that was new to me -- the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence. I read David McCullough's biography of Truman last year and just fell in love with the man -- even though he's the guy who ordered the atomic bomb dropped on Japan. He was such a neat person, had so many setbacks in life, but just kept on trying, wanting to do what was right. Not to mention that he fell in love with exactly one woman in his life and was absolutely devoted to her until the day he died. 

The museum was very interesting and we spent a long time there (and of course bought lots of things in the gift shop, including three books). I bought a postcard with a picture of Truman's office and this quote:

"Not every Reader is a leader, but every Leader must be a reader." 

Then we got back on I-70 and drove through Kansas City to a Bob Evans where we had lunch. We got gas ($3.299/gallon) at the Love's that's in the middle of the highway near Lawrence, Kansas, and continued on to Abilene. I had originally planned to go to Eisenhower's library there, but I'm currently reading Eisenhower's biography, and I'm getting a little queasy about him. For one thing, he's responsible for the mess in Iran! I mean, OK, maybe Churchill is responsible too, and Theodore Roosevelt's son Kermit, but Eisenhower could have stopped it and he didn't, he told them to go ahead. It just makes me ill. Anyway, I'll go see his museum another time. Instead, we went to Russell Stover's! We bought a large amount of candy (jelly beans, French mints, s'mores candy, and two big boxes of chocolate), Rocket Boy got a milkshake, and Teen A got a hot fudge sundae, which he later decided he didn't like, so he gave it to me. A very satisfying stop!

And then we drove on to our hotel in Hays, Kansas, a Sleep Inn. It was OK, I guess. The hotel was full, so our rooms were nowhere near each other -- Teen A and Rocket Boy were on the second floor, and Teen B and I were on the fourth! There was an indoor pool, and we finally finally finally went in a pool on this trip -- but it wasn't very warm, and it was very small and you couldn't really swim in it, so after a little while we got out and went back to our rooms. Teen A and Rocket Boy went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but I just got some snacks from a nearby travel center (we got gas at the same time, $3.399/gallon) and Teen B and I ate snacks for dinner. 

Day 7, Saturday, March 21st: Kansas to Colorado

It was really hard to get up on this last day of our trip! Rocket Boy wanted to take an hour and visit the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, which would have been nice, but Teen A REALLY wanted to get home, so we just left. A few miles out of town Rocket Boy realized he didn't have his (prescription) sunglasses. He called the hotel, they found them, and he gave them his credit card number so they could mail them to us. We could have just gone back for them -- but it was at the point in the trip where you just need to go home.

Rocket Boy suggested we eat lunch at Helga's, in Aurora, but I was worried about all the chocolate we had in the car, since it was now getting very hot, in the 80s. So we stopped at Dulce Espresso & Bakery in Strasburg and the kids got smoothies. And then we just went home.  

I had cash left over (I'd taken about $850 in cash with us), so I texted the catsitters and they came right over and I paid them. We unloaded the car. I did a load of laundry. Teen A went off somewhere (his girlfriend's not back from Hawaii yet, so probably to see a friend). Rocket Boy and I went to Panera for dinner and brought Teen B back something awful from Taco Bell. We also got the car washed (it was soooo filthy from the trip). 

And later we all went to bed. For six nights I slept alone in queen bed after queen bed, no cats, nobody to bother me. It was so wonderful. And here I was back in the tiny double bed that Rocket Boy and I share, with its uncomfortable old mattress, and of course both cats had to sleep either on me or RIGHT next to me. I thought I would never fall asleep. I wished I was back in a hotel room. But then I thought -- I'm here with people (and cats) who love me. Isn't that better than a hotel room? I decided it was.

But we've got to do something about that mattress.

Now it's Sunday and I'm on my second load of laundry. The dishwasher is running. I need to pay bills. Teen B absolutely refused to do any homework, since it's the last day of spring break, and I can respect that. So I'm just doing my stuff. In a little while I'll go take a walk. I gained 7 pounds on this trip! I think it will come off quickly, though. It's just from not exercising and sitting in a car all day and eating Skor bars for dinner instead of lovely vegetarian casseroles. And Fitz floats. And chocolate from Russell Stover's. And... yeah.

We're home! 

Getting ready for the trip

Yes, I am posting a day earlier than usual, because we are supposed to leave on our spring break trip tomorrow. Only one problem: we don't have a car! Rocket Boy needs some body work done on the Highlander, our big car that we take on trips. He got a call from the garage last week and they said the part had come in, so he should bring in the car and they'd fix it up right away. He got his dad's old Montero running, so he'd have a way to get to work, and then we dropped the Highlander off at the shop. 

Thursday the mechanic called and said the part doesn't fit, so they'll have to reorder. Rocket Boy explained that we were leaving Sunday and needed the car back. No problem, they'll put the car back together and we can pick it up Saturday. Today, around 11:30, we were waiting for them to call. I said to RB, "You should call them. Don't they close at 12?" So he called. They'd forgotten all about us. "When are you leaving on your trip?" the receptionist asked. "TOMORROW!" "Oh...." Supposedly now they're putting the car back together. It's 1:04 pm. 

...

OK, we're back and we have the car! So one disaster is averted. We have a car. We have a lot of cash, more than we'll need, I'm sure. I like to have $100 per day, just in case something goes wrong with our credit cards. So I currently have $838 in bills stashed away (enough for the 7 days of the trip plus one extra), plus 15 quarters, 8 dimes, 5 nickels, and 20 pennies. I did have 42 pennies, but I decided that was silly, so I put 22 of them in my penny glass. If I come back home with a lot of cash I'll use some of it to pay the cat sitters (12 visits x $15 = $180), and the rest I'll spend gradually. Lots of places around here like it when you pay in cash, so it'll all get used eventually.

I have physical maps for the trip. I went to AAA and got a Central Sates & Provinces map, an Arkansas & Oklahoma map, a Kentucky & Tennessee map, an Illinois & Indiana map, and a Kansas & Missouri map. Plus we have lots of Colorado maps. Just in case the GPS stops working! 

We have reservations for six nights in hotels and I have all the confirmation numbers written down. Sunday night we are staying at the Northwest Inn in Woodward, Oklahoma. Monday night we are staying at the Best Western Winners Circle in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Tuesday night we are staying at the Relax Inn & Suites in Kuttawa, Kentucky. Wednesday night we are staying at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Evansville, Indiana. Thursday night we are staying at the Best Western Plus Columbia Inn in Columbia, Missouri. Friday night we are staying at the Sleep Inn & Suites in Hays, Kansas. And Saturday night we should be home! 

***

This was birthday week, of course, and we made it through that, although it wasn't easy. My sisters sent cards and generous checks -- the last checks, since in our family we cut off presents at age 18. Our next door neighbor gave them $15 each and Rocket Boy and I gave them $20 each (we figured the average was close to $18). And of course I transferred their social security money to them. And that was it. I didn't have any other presents for them. Nothing to unwrap, no gift bags to open. Truly the worst I have ever done with birthdays. How is it possible that I do not know what to get them? I'm their mother, I should know! But I don't.

On Friday a package arrived for Teen B. He orders things for himself from time to time, so I just handed him the box, no questions asked. Later I found the wrappings in the trash. He bought himself a new phone! I looked at his bank account online and it cost over $700! But he has (or had) almost $15,000 (the social security money plus all the birthday and Christmas money he's saved all these years), so heck, why not?

I bought these two terrible cakes from King Soopers for the birthday (I tried one of the fancier places I had thought of, but they didn't have anything, so I just gave up and went to KS). Both cakes were on sale, presumably because they were old, one for $7.50 and one for $5.40. COULD I have been any chintzier? I don't think so. I wrote "Happy 18th" on the white cake with an old tube of black icing that I found in the cupboard. (Couldn't I have bought a new tube of icing? Apparently not.) Soon after this picture was taken, the black icing began to run (probably from the heat of 18 candles plus one to grow on), and formed a black blob in the middle of the cake. When we cut the cake, the blackness dripped onto its innards, making it look moldy. Neither boy would then touch it. Rocket Boy and I each had a piece, while we watched the NewsHour. It wasn't very good.

We ate out both Sunday and Monday nights, since we couldn't eat out Saturday night (because of the musical) and of course Monday was the birthday. Sunday night Teen A chose BJ's, which is always fine, and Monday night Teen B chose the Teahouse, so that was fun. I had a delicious Mediterranean salad. Rocket Boy told the waitress it was the twins' birthday, so she said, "Dessert's on me!" but in the end, nothing on the dessert menu appealed to them, so we just went home and had (or didn't have) the nasty King Soopers cake.

Both boys went to school as usual on their birthday and the day after, and every day this week. They're so good. Teen B had to stay until 6 pm both Monday and Tuesday, to participate in what they call the post-musical "strike," which means taking down the set and cleaning up the stage, the workshop, etc. So he was really tired on his birthday. But no complaining. My good boys.

On Wednesday I saw my doctor for my yearly physical. I had gained about six pounds since I saw her in September, but she didn't comment on that. She was very impressed by my A1c (down to 6.1) and didn't get mad at me when I told her I'd been eating mainly candy since December and not exercising very much. (Actually, looking at my notebook, I see that I went for 12 walks in February, which isn't too bad. March hasn't been so great, though. Too much wind.) My triglycerides were slightly elevated, which she attributed to my "candy diet." I told her what I'd been upset about, to cause the candy eating and lack of exercise (the diagnosis) and she was sympathetic. She did say, "Most people seem to have a little autism in them." She also encouraged me to consider therapy, or family therapy. 

I had expected her to give me some cognitive or mobility tests, which I thought began when you turn 65, but she didn't. She had a nurse-practitioner in training with her, and maybe that was part of the problem. I didn't mind. I think I'm cognitively OK, more or less, and more or less mobile.

Well, maybe this is enough of a blog post. I really should go pack my suitcase! The one issue that I haven't mentioned is that I'm sick, apparently. I have a mild sore throat, have had it since Wednesday. Teen A had the same thing last week, and after about 5 days it went away. So maybe mine will go away in a day or two. I'm just taking painkillers at night to sleep and otherwise not worrying about it. But it would be nice if I didn't have it. However, I probably won't be doing any of the driving, so I can sit in the back seat and read and maybe even nap.

Wish us luck on this epic journey! 

March madness

OMG, Daylight Saving Time! I forgot all about it, even though it always starts right before or right after the twins' birthday, so I really shouldn't. I thought DJT was going to get rid of this, along with pennies! Why can't he do anything right? Actually, I guess one proposal is to keep us on DST permanently, so next fall they might cancel God's Time, as my grandparents called it. I'd rather get rid of Daylight Saving Time and just stay on regular time. But I'll probably be outvoted.

It's March, so we had some snow this week, finally (March is traditionally our snowiest month). It snowed pretty much all day on Friday. The temperature never got much below freezing, in fact, it was above freezing most of the day -- 33 or 34 degrees, mostly. So the snow was very wet and it didn't stick to the roads at all. Still, we ended up with some accumulation on the lawn. I just tried to find the official total and it said 3.3 inches. I think it was more than that, but it's hard to say. It's basically all gone now, though. Melted into the earth -- which could really use it.

Well, it's Sunday, so the musical is over. There were dress rehearsals on Monday (I brought a dreadful vegan casserole to the dinner) and Tuesday, Wednesday they performed for a bunch of middle schoolers in the morning, and then the real performances were Thursday, Friday, and two on Saturday. I spent a great deal of time driving Teen B back and forth to the school. I went to the Thursday performance alone, sat in the balcony, watched Teen B play but couldn't hear the dialogue very well. Rocket Boy and I went to the Saturday night performance together, sat about five rows from the front, and could hear everything. 

Teen B needed a white buttondown shirt and black dress pants, and he told me this on, I think, Tuesday. So that night we went shopping at Target and actually found exactly what we needed. I washed the pants and shirt on Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night, and I'll wash them again tomorrow (but he doesn't need to wear them again until their next concert, which is probably in late April).

It was great -- as always, they did a wonderful job. But I must say, I didn't like the musical itself (Chicago) very much. It's "satirical," which means nasty. There were no appealing characters, no one you could sympathize with except perhaps the Hungarian woman whom no one could understand and so she got hanged. Almost everyone wore black. All but one of the girls were in skimpy, revealing outfits the entire time, even when they were playing reporters. I think of musicals as happy plays with happy endings. I *guess* this has a happy ending, with Velma and Roxie out of jail and performing in vaudeville, but since Velma and Roxie are both nasty people, why should I care if they succeed? And this is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, according to Wikipedia. Why?

When the performance ended on Saturday night, the choir director came out and thanked various people who helped (including me, for bringing food). Then she asked all the seniors involved in the musical to form a line at the front of the stage. Teen B climbed out of the orchestra pit along with everyone else and went to the end of the line. They were each given a (real) red rose. Teen B stood there, awkwardly, holding his rose, and I burst into tears. I'm so glad he was able to participate, last year and this year. I think I'm going to miss high school more than the twins will. 

But we have college to think about. Teen B has now gotten into all three of the schools he applied to, so he needs to decide which one to attend and we need to put down that deposit. We should put down Teen A's deposit too. After spring break, I'll think about that. I need to find out how to get money out of their college savings accounts to pay for all this. 

***

We've got one more week until spring break and I'm busily planning our ridiculous trip. I went to Barnes & Noble and got a Lonely Planet travel book called American South, which reminded me that we are, in fact, going to be touring the south. Oklahoma isn't included in the book -- I couldn't find a travel book that mentioned Oklahoma, lol. But the other states -- Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky -- they're in there. They're called the Upper South.

It's going to be weird to be going through the South when we're so furious at Trump for everything (and of course that's where his supporters live). I suppose we'll have to watch Fox News in every hotel breakfast room. I wonder what they'll have to say about the war in the Middle East. 

For a few years now, for each spring break trip (and some others), I've made a little booklet on the computer, one page for each day of the trip, with all the information I know -- hotel reservations with address, phone, and confirmation numbers, suggestions of where to eat lunch and dinner, our activities for the day, and highway numbers. I print this out and staple it together and keep it in my purse, so even if our phones don't work, we'll have hard copies of the plans. I also plan to go to AAA this week and get some physical maps. We're going to be in some out of the way places, don't want to have to depend on the internet.

I've been working on this for a few days now, have four days planned, four hotel reservations made. Three more days to go (two more hotels). I try to do one each day. I think this is going to be a frustrating trip. We'll be driving so much, there'll be hardly any time to relax and enjoy ourselves. But, you know, Teen A really likes to drive, so he'll get us to all the places we need to go.

We're going to drive through Okeene, Oklahoma, where my great-grandparents (father's mother's parents) acquired a farm back in the late 1800s. I don't know how to find the farm, but I have directions to the cemetery where they're buried (I've been there once), so I'm going to try to take us there.

Then, on another day, we're going to drive past the little town of Eddyville, Kentucky, in fact, we're going to stay in a hotel very near there. And I realized that some of my ancestors lived there, too. It was longer ago, and I don't have very good information about them, but I found the grave of a sister of my great-great-grandfather (mother's father's father's father) in the old Eddyville Cemetery, Riverview. So I'm going to try to go there and look at the grave. We may not have time -- we'll be on our way to Mammoth Cave, and we have cave tour reservations for 2:30 that afternoon. We'll just see how quickly we can get moving that morning.

Of course, Daylight Saving Time. Not to mention, we'll be on Central Time. So nobody is going to want to get up early. Sigh. Maybe I could take the car and go look by myself, before everyone else gets up!

***

Well, I should stop here, because it's already 5 pm (stupid new time) and Teen B and I haven't spent any time on his homework. But first I'm going to go for a walk. I haven't walked for several days, and I see my doctor on Wednesday. I'd like to be able to tell her I've been exercising regularly. I am really happy about my bloodwork results. My good cholesterol, the HDL, went up to 56, which is higher than I think it's ever been. They like it to be at least 60, but I'm usually in the 40s, so 56 is great.

And my A1c is down to 6.1, despite basically living on candy the last three months. I was SURE it would go up, not down. I almost can't believe this result. I'm on a lower dose of Mounjaro, I've gained back some of the weight, I've been eating candy like it's going out of style, and my A1c went down (not very much -- it was 6.2 in September, but it was 6.4 last March). I'm happy about that. 

Next week I won't post on Sunday, because that's the day we leave. I'll try to write a short post on Saturday, and then a longer post the following Sunday, when we're home again. 

Post-note: I forgot to mention the twins' 18th birthday! Which is tomorrow! I am so unprepared for this birthday, it is beyond belief. We ate out tonight and will eat out tomorrow -- each boy got to choose one of the nights. Teen A chose BJ's for tonight and Teen B wants to go to the Teahouse tomorrow.  

Tomorrow morning I will go to the bank and transfer all their social security money to their savings accounts, so that will be done (other than a few more payments that may come to me). And then I'll buy some birthday cards and maybe decorations and get a cake from somewhere. I haven't even figured out the cake yet! What is wrong with me? OK, I just looked up where to buy a cake in Boulder and I found three places that sell specialty cakes and might have some available if I just show up tomorrow morning (because OF COURSE I forgot to order anything ahead of time). And of course there's always King Soopers, but it would be nice to get something a little fancier for their 18th. And really I should get a cake for each boy. I'll see what I can find.

OMG. I am such a failure as a mother. No, I know I'm not really, but I am a birthday failure, that is for darned sure. OK, we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck. 

Thank goodness it's March

This is not my usual attitude toward the beginning of March, but last month was so hard that I'm looking for a new start, and March will have to be it. 

I usually don't like March because (a) the twins' birthday, which is hard for me, (b) my father was born and died in March, (c) I'm often still frantically trying to finish the taxes, and (d) crummy weather. This year the taxes are done and the weather shows no signs of doing much of anything. I still have to live through the anniversaries of my father's birth and death, so there's that. 

And then there's the twins' birthday, which has me baffled this year. The main thing I know I have to do on the 9th is turn over their social security accounts to them. Teen B has $12,845 in his and Teen A has $10,909 (I've taken money out of his to buy him a computer, and to pay for the car accident, court costs, a speeding ticket, a parking ticket, etc., and both of them have been getting a $20/week allowance out of it, so this is what's left after that). That means giving them money as presents is going to feel sort of ridiculous. But what else? I've thought of giving them silly presents, like Lego sets, but I don't know. Spending money on stuff they won't use, just to be sweet and funny... not sure I'm into that. Their birthday is a Monday, which is dumb. I suppose we might celebrate it on Sunday. I could make a couple of cakes. I just don't know what to do. I don't suppose it matters a lot.

I'm actually really ready for them to grow up and move on. Part of the misery over Teen B's diagnosis is the thought that he won't do that. But I think I'm starting to come around. What's been very stressful for a long time is thinking about him growing up and then running into a sort of brick wall in my mind because I can't imagine him doing [whatever]. Now I'm starting to think, OK, he's probably not going to do that, or at least not right away, so don't worry about it. We'll take things slowly.

Teen A, on the other hand, is racing away into adult life as fast as he can go, and that makes me feel better about Teen B (i.e., at least one of them is going to grow up). It also, of course, makes me worry, because when you're going really fast there's a greater chance that you'll crash, perhaps literally. On bad days I imagine Teen A getting into a terrible car crash and ending up paralyzed, in a wheelchair, at home forever more with me looking after him.

Why do people have children? Such a bother. Of course, they say fewer and fewer people ARE having them. You can kind of see why.

***

We had a fire yesterday, up in the hills above Chautauqua. Teen A and I were driving downtown to pick up the pants for his suit which had come in at Men's Wearhouse, when he said to me, "There's a fire." "Where?" I looked around. "Right there, mom," he said, gesturing to his left. And there was a huge plume of smoke. Great. I opened the "Watch Duty" app on my phone and sure enough, the Bluebell Fire. 

It turned out not to be a big deal, no neighborhoods had to be evacuated, and they got the whole thing put out by the end of the day. But I thought it was sweet: the people who DID have to be evacuated were the hikers on the trails above Chautauqua. According to the fire chief (I watched his press conference), there were "hundreds of people on the trails." It was a nice sunny day, of course everyone was out hiking. I had thought about doing that too. The rangers had to go running up all the trails and get everyone down. According to the fire chief, people were very cooperative. Oh, Boulder.

Of course, the fire may have been arson, or possibly someone throwing down a smoldering cigarette or something like that. We won't know for a while, I guess. 

We got Teen A's pants (Men's Wearhouse had lost them, but eventually they turned up), so now his suit is ready. We just need a pink tie (his girlfriend's dress is pink). I looked at pink ties on the Macy's website and texted him some possible ones later. He showed them to his girlfriend and she approved them, but she said don't buy anything, I might get a different dress. That amused me. TWO prom dresses? I guess for a once in a lifetime thing like prom, you might want to go all out. As long as Teen A doesn't want to get a different suit.

For dinner, we (well, Rocket Boy) decided it would be fun to drive up north on I-25 to Johnson's Corner and go to the Black Bear Diner (the chain that has taken over the old Johnson's Corner restaurant that we used to go to in the old days, on our way to Wyoming). It's 40 miles from here, but Teen A was happy to drive. We first ate at a Black Bear Diner three years ago on our spring break trip to Arizona and we had such a good experience there that we always want to go again, even though the food is really not that good. 

It was fun, although Teen B complained quite a bit. Rocket Boy reminded him that we will be doing a lot of driving on our spring break trip in a few weeks, so this was practice. Hmm. I really need to get busy planning that trip. I haven't even asked the cat sitters if they'll be available. Should do that today.

Teen B thinks he doesn't want to take this trip we're (sort of) planning. "Where are we going again?" he asked me. "Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky!" I said, trying to make it sound exciting. "KenTUCKy! Why do we have to go to Kentucky?" he asked in horror. "We're also going to Oklahoma and Arkansas," I told him, trying to take the emphasis off Kentucky. "And we're going to stop off in St. Louis on the way back, see Manny, go to Fitz's." "But KenTUCKy!" he went on, unable to leave that alone. "You can stay home, you know," I told him. "You'll be 18, it's legal. You can take care of the cats." He gave me a look.

I don't know about this trip. It does sound a little ridiculous. But it might be the last, or one of the last, family trips we ever take together, so we might as well do it.

***

So, the week ahead looks very complicated, mainly because of the musical. Tomorrow, Monday, I have to make a vegan entree and deliver it to the school by 3:45 pm. I had several bad dreams about that last night, lol. I'll also have to come up with something for dinner, for me and Rocket Boy and possibly Teen A (he's sometimes home for dinner, sometimes not). And then pick up Teen B around 8:30.

Tuesday is another rehearsal day, so Teen B will be home very late again. I'll probably get fish for me and Rocket Boy for dinner.

Wednesday is late start except that Teen B has to be at school early, so it's not late start for him. I'll take him and then go on to Boulder Medical Center and get blood work done (for my appointment the next week). Then Teen A has a haircut at 11, but he can drive himself, I'll just give him the money. It'll be a normal dinner, with everyone home. I might make Brenda's sticky tofu.

Thursday is the first night of the play, which means that I'll have to get Teen B to the school by 6 pm, which means I'll need to feed him (and myself) around 5 pm. But feed us what? Then I'll attend the play at 7 and come home around 10 pm with Teen B... and feed Rocket Boy? I think he can feed himself, lol, or maybe whatever Teen B and I eat at 5 pm will have leftovers.

Friday will be a repeat of Thursday, except that Rocket Boy will bring Lenten Fish Fry dinners from some Catholic church, so I'll just have to feed Teen B at 5 pm and RB and I can eat later.

Saturday I'll have to get Teen B to the school by 1 pm (I think), pick him up again around 4:30, have a quick dinner of some sort, take him back at 6 pm, we'll watch the musical from 7 to 10, come home, and collapse. We'll eat out on Sunday instead of Saturday. And I suppose it should be a birthday-ish dinner, since their birthday is that Monday. OMG.

I'm getting stressed thinking about this, but at the same time it should be really fun, because the musical is fun and exciting. All I need to do is not get upset about things, do my best to smooth over any rough edges, make life easy for everyone else. Hmm.

I've been so depressed the last few weeks, even after getting the taxes done early, even after finally getting those stupid social security forms in last week. I honestly spent most of the month in bed. After getting the kids to school and the cats fed and breakfast eaten and the laundry started each day, I would climb back into bed and read. This is how I managed to read 13 books in 28 days, some of them long and difficult (some of them were mysteries, though). I also ate a lot of chocolate. Well, that's what I do in February, even on this drug.

Later I would get up and make whatever I had to make for the school dinners. Brownies on Monday (I actually made them on Sunday), fruit salad on Tuesday (that turned out well), and raspberry lemon bars on Wednesday. And put away the laundry. And make dinner for us. I did what I had to do. I remember my mother, when she was depressed, spending the day in bed, but she always got up and made dinner. 

I did not go for any walks all last week. My last walk was on February 22nd, last Sunday.

I try to be good to myself when I'm depressed. I know it doesn't help to yell at myself. I try to be kind. Wouldn't you like to go for a walk today? I say, rather than, "Come on, you lazy bum, get out of bed and go get some exercise!" But I didn't want to go for a walk (even though walking might have made me feel better), so I didn't go.

This week, despite the craziness, I am going to try to find time for walks. But if I don't, that's OK too. Just keep going, keep trying.

Oh, and now we apparently are at war. I can't even process that, it's so weird. There was a protest today about that, downtown. We didn't go. After the musical, after the birthday, after the spring break trip, I'll think about what's going on in the world. Unless the world comes to me first, which could happen. We'll see. 

Reading post: February

It's the end of the month, so it's time for a reading post. In February I focused on books, mostly fiction, by and about Black writers (because February is Black History Month). I had a very long list and I did the best I could with it. I think mainly I was depressed, and there were days when I barely got out of bed. I just read, all these interesting books.

Books I said I'd like to read

The Walls of Jericho by Rudolph Fisher (1928). In August 2020 I read Fisher's The Conjure-Man Dies, the first detective story written by a Black person about Black people, and I LOVED it. This month I read Fisher's first novel, which isn't a mystery, unfortunately. It isn't much of a novel, either, very little plot, but he was just finding his feet as a writer, I think, and it's still worth reading. Lots of funny situations, lots of interesting cultural information about Harlem in the 1920s. 

This book was published the same year as Claude McKay's Home to Harlem, which I read in 2020, and which is, I think, the better book. I'm still so sorry that Rudolph Fisher died young (age 37) and only had time to write two books.

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (2014).  After I read The Conjure-Man Dies, I made a note that I wanted to read more mysteries by Black authors. 

I have added to my to-read list the other seven Chester Himes novels... the ten additional books in the Easy Rawlins series by Walter Mosley... and the 13 additional books by Eleanor Taylor Bland... I'd also like to explore works by Barbara Neely, Gar Anthony Haywood, and Grace F. Edwards...

Out of this list, the only thing I went on to read was Eleanor Taylor Bland's series, so this month I read Barbara Neely's first book and it was so fun. Blanche works as a cook/maid for rich white people in North Carolina who neglect to pay her, thus causing her to bounce a few checks. Running away from the sheriff, she ends up working for another rich white family who have a lot of secrets, including murder. Blanche solves the murder and gets out alive. This is the first of four books, the rest of which I will now read.

Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed (1972). In August 2021 I read a profile of Reed in The New Yorker and noted,

His most famous book, Mumbo Jumbo, has been vaguely on my "to-read" list for years, and after reading this profile I'm more interested, because I learned that it is "a detective novel set in Jazz Age Harlem."  

It isn't really a detective novel, I found to my disappointment. But it's set during the Harlem Renaissance and mentions lots of writers of that time period, so that's fun. It's a pretty crazy book, very hard to follow. There's a virus spreading across the country, a pandemic called Jes Grew (I got the "Topsy" reference!) which seems to make people dance and be happy. A shadowy group called the Wallflower Order wants to stamp it out, stamp out Black culture and history, and make everything white and bland and boring. There's a long section at the end that basically rewrites ancient history from a Black perspective. The whole book was nuts. But I'm glad I finally read it.

If I Should Die by Grace F. Edwards (1997). Another from my list of Black mystery writers I said I'd "like to explore." I had to request this from Prospector (from the University of Denver library), because the Boulder library has nothing. It's the first of four books featuring Mali Anderson (named after the African country), former police officer and now sociology grad student.

I have to say, it's not a very good mystery. It was pretty obvious who the murderers were, and there were a lot of loose ends not tied up properly. But Edwards writes well. She just hadn't figured out how to write a mystery when she wrote this book. I might try the next book in the series, just to see if she gets better at it. What I did like about the book was its sympathetic portrayal of life in Harlem in the 1990s.

Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd (2003). Not fiction, but a biography of a famous Black writer from the Harlem Renaissance era. After I read Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2020, I said

If I were feeling up to snuff, I would have read some of her anthropological work, and either a biography or her autobiography. 

Later on I did read her anthropological Mules and Men, and this month I tackled the biography. And I almost didn't finish it. It's 438 pages of text plus notes, and the text is small and closely spaced. Boyd basically includes every known detail of Hurston's life and it just gets oppressive. I thought we'd never get out of the 1930s. But I stuck with it, and I'll be darned. All that text, all that detail, and all of a sudden I felt like I knew Hurston and understood her. And liked her, whereas before I hadn't, quite. Not sure I really recommend this book unless you are a huge Hurston fan, but if you are, then you should read it.

The Trees by Percival Everett (2021). My third book by Everett and my favorite so far. When I read James in 2024 I said I'd like to read more by Everett. When I read Erasure this past November I noted that I didn't enjoy it, and said,

But I was impressed by Everett (who also wrote James) and would read more by him. 

So, I tried another one of his books -- and hit the jackpot. The Trees is SOOO good. It's structured as a murder mystery, although it's actually about the history of lynching in America. It begins in Money, Mississippi, the site of the Emmett Till lynching in 1955, where the two redneck sons of the two men who murdered Till are themselves found murdered, and lying next to each of them is the corpse of a small Black man who resembles Till, which later vanishes. And that's just the beginning. It doesn't seem like a book about lynching could be funny, but this one is. Eventually I started wondering how Everett was going to wrap it up, and he may have wondered that too. It's a little unclear! But still, very good book, fun book. I'll read more of Everett for sure.

Women of the Harlem Renaissance by Cheryl A. Wall (1995). Not sure this belongs in this list, because I think I just found it when I was looking for books about Zora Neale Hurston. Anyway, it's a scholarly book about Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, and Hurston, as well as some more minor writers of the Harlem Renaissance, so it feels like it fits here. It's a pretty readable book, despite being scholarly. I haven't read Fauset, so I was glad to read about her novels and conclude, as I had thought, that they're probably not worth reading. Also interesting to read about Larsen, whose Quicksilver I have read, and I am planning to read Passing next month. And of course Hurston, a slightly different view of her. A good, quick read.

 

Books from the New Yorker's "Briefly Noted" reviews

Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jamison Webster. A genealogy book! And so interesting. The author, a white woman, learned through DNA testing that her father's father's mother's family was actually part Black. In fact, they were descended from a sister of Benjamin Banneker (the Black astronomer and mathematician who published an almanac in the late 1700s and helped lay out Washington, DC for Thomas Jefferson). She connected with other descendants who had been researching their family tree for a long time, and eventually wrote this book. 

The book itself is good but a bit frustrating. I didn't enjoy the chapters where she imagines the lives of Banneker and his parents and grandparents. It was impossible to know what she was making up and what was based on fact, because those chapters were written as little stories. But I did enjoy the chapters about the research and about Webster's interactions with her newfound Black cousins, who made the book possible. She spends a lot of time thinking about whether it is really appropriate for her to write this book, as a white woman who is descended from the branch of the family who decided to "pass," leaving their Black cousins behind to deal with racism in America. She never quite answers the question, although in some ways the book is her answer. But in some ways the book is the question. Very thought-provoking.

 

Other reading

Snow: A Scientific and Cultural Exploration by Giles Whittell (2018). In this year of no snow, I found this book on the "Staff Picks" shelf at the library. Whittell, an English journalist, explores many aspects of snow: the science (why no two snowflakes are the same), the linguistics of snow, big snows in history, the ski industry, Bigfoot, snow in art, how climate change is affecting snow (soon it'll all be gone), etc. I mean, it was a little dull (I used it to help me fall asleep), but I still liked it. One fun thing: Whittell tells the story of Rick Sylvester who did the ski jump in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me, so I got that from the library and we watched it. Pretty dumb movie, but that ski jump was awesome!

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster by Jacob Soboroff (2026). From snow to fire. I saw an interview with the author on the PBS NewsHour a while back and put a hold on his book at the library. Most of the book is a detailed diary of the first few days of the fires of January 2025, which Soboroff reported on. It's agonizing to relive, but I also really wished Soboroff had gotten a little more distance from it before writing this. He grew up in Pacific Palisades, where one of the two worst fires was, and he keeps talking about his lost childhood, but saying the same things over and over. The epilogue is interesting, focusing on what Trump is doing to make it harder to fight fires, deal with climate change, etc.

Ausome Parenting: The Guide to Endless Love, Emotional Support, and Acceptance for Your Autistic Child by Natalie Loveson (2024). I got this from the library and oh, it's so awful (or should that be "auful"?). I can see how parents of a newly-diagnosed toddler might get something out of it, but I got almost nothing. It's self-published, so there are lots of grammar and format mistakes that should have been caught by an editor. Also, the author is so perky! Like, this experience is going to be GREAT! And then she gives a lot of breathing exercises (presumably to be used when things aren't GREAT). Not recommended.

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida, translated from the Japanese by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell (2007). This was more interesting, although I guess it is controversial. Supposedly it was written by a nonverbal boy with autism, using an "alphabet grid," but some people think his mother really wrote it for him. I have no way of knowing how much of it Naoki actually wrote, but it presented a lot of ideas about autism that were new to me, and I found it easy to read and very interesting.

A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (1958). Oh, yes, February is when we read Barbara Pym! I almost didn't manage it this year, too busy with all these other books. This is not my favorite Pym, wouldn't choose it as comfort reading normally. But I read Less Than Angels last February, so it was time for this one. And really, it's very good, it's just that it's not as cozy as some of hers. The main character, Wilmet, is a little hard to like, but when she gets badly hurt toward the end of the book, it's still painful. But there are lots of cozy bits, and it all ends well, so I didn't mind reading it again. Still, not the happiest book and I wanted something happy. Next year!