Ponder: A World of Curiosities

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny ©2022, is her 18th novel in the series about the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. As a fan of Louise Penny I am familiar with her cast of characters and very much enjoy revisiting them. The characters that are old friends – second in command Jean Guy Beauvoir, wife Reine Marie, bistro owners Gabri and Olivier, book shop owner Myrna, artist Clara, eccentric old poet Ruth and her duck – beckon me to read on farther. Moreover, as a bonus, the mystery and murder motive in this book harken back to the very first case that Armand and Jean Guy work together, where their deep and lasting relationship first began. 

This novel takes place in the quaint Canadian village of Three Pines where a huge painting is found in a secret room. The mystery in this novel hinges around that huge painting, with clues sprinkled throughout the images. This painting is a parody of a real painting Paston's Treasure, which per Wikipedia

The Paston Treasure is an oil painting that serves as a historically rare record of a cabinet of treasures in British collecting. Commissioned by either Sir Robert Paston or his father Sir William Paston in the early 1670s, it depicts a small fraction of the Paston family's collected treasures.

New characters – which arouse suspicion – are strong, three dimensional, and highly developed. The climactic action scenes are well written and riveting. The mystery itself is quite convoluted. I was grateful that in the final chapters, the author has Armand Gamache explain to the villagers "what happened".  The plot and clues do all hang together, but a debriefing for the readers was welcome.

I must admit, though, that familiarity with the characters and setting are what made this book so enjoyable for me. I do not think it would fare so well as a stand alone read. I anxiously waited for it to be released and, for me, it was well worth the wait. Perhaps not so for the Louise Penny uninitiated. If I remove my fan-based bias, I feel I need to rate it three stars;  but I will still eagerly await her nineteenth novel in the Gamache series.

★★★☆☆ Better than average; not a waste of time

Ponder: Outlawed

In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.

Such is the opening sentence of Chapter 1 of Outlawed ©2021 by Anna North. Newly married, 17-year-old Ada is in love with her husband. She remembered when he was her beau and she spent "hours talking about his broad shoulders, his awkward but charming dancing, the bashful way he always said my name". The first few months of their marriage were sweet ones. "My husband and I were hungry for each other all the time." The situation changed to grim when she failed to get pregnant within a year, thereby being derelict in her duty to "produce a baby for Jesus". In this era and region, barren women were accused of being witches, believed to cause others to miscarry or similarly to fail to conceive.

Ada is forced out of her dwelling with her husband and forbidden to practice the trade she has been learning as an apprentice from her mother, who is a highly trusted and respected mid-wife in the community. Furthermore, out of fear for the wrath and harsh punishment, even execution, that could befall her as a witch – and her sisters by association –  she needed to leave her childhood home to fend for herself and keep her family safe. There is a brief sojourn in a convent with other women who also have not succeeded in becoming mothers. The path Ada's life takes is simultaneously courageous and heart-wrenching, and also unanticipated.

This novel can be described as a feminist western, complete with bank robberies, stage coach hold-ups, and the self-proclaimed group name "Hole in the Wall Gang". Although I am not a fan of western shoot-'em-up movies myself, I enjoyed the novelty of this book. Women banned from society and their communities because of infertility or sexual proclivity, or shunned because of inappropriate mannerisms, band together in a supportive pseudo family. Mutual acceptance is an overall theme and even extends to the other gender. This is not a lesbian focus nor a male bashing. This is a unique way to survive a life and live it to the extent their genetic makeup will allow them within the ignorant and cruel confines of a "Christian" society.

I will admit, this book is probably not for everyone; but, because of its uniqueness and oddly supportive nature of the relationships, I rate it 4 stars.

★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience

Ponder: The House in the Pines

The House in the Pines is a first novel by Ana Reyes, promoted as being a thriller.  It was advocated by Reese's Book club, whose selections I generally enjoy. This book was a dud for me but I did stick with it until the end. Although I'll admit it was page turner, but not out of fast paced action but rather from a confused desire to figure out what was going on. The introduction from the front flap of the book jacket drew me in taunting

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer.

Maya wants to blame Frank. Is Maya imagining things? She did have a mentally ill aunt, and the threat of possessing genetic similarities lingers over her. Seven years later she sees a YouTube video of another young women who similarly drops dead in a diner while seated across from none other than the very same Frank. Maya becomes obsessed with learning the cause and refuses to accept the mere coincidence of another "Unexplained Death" per the authorities.

Maya has stopped taking a prescription drug prescribed by a psychiatrist for her insomnia because she realizes it is addictive; to some degree she imbibes alcohol as a substitute. This book has too many red herrings to describe her periods in time where she has no recollection of what occurred – drugs, alcohol, genetics, weed, sleep deprivation? Do the last few sentences seem befuddled? That is the "thrill" part of this novel – no creepy witches, no bloody daggers, no snapped twigs in a dark foggy forest – merely a haunting absence of memory and an abundance of confusion. I was not satisfied with the only partially resolved ending, either. Amazon readers rated The House in the Pines rather tepidly. I rate it even lower at two stars.

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

Carquinez Model Railroad Society

On Sunday, February 26th Frank, Alex and I visited an open house at the Carquinez Model Railroad Society in Crockett CA. Crockett is northeast of San Francisco, about one hour northwest of Livermore. We'd been to see the model trains and tracks several years before and I shared a lot of the details of the multilevel layout in my 5/9/2016 blog post.

A new addition to the layout was a mini-camera mounted onto one of the traveling trains filming a track-level view that was projected on a screen on the highest floor. One complete circuit takes about one hour so, if you are willing to wait or happen to be in the right place at the right time, you can see yourself on the screen. Frank and Alex were captured in their film star moments on the big screen. Just in time for an Oscar nomination!

Walking along the layout Alex seemed very interested in the small cars parked throughout. He kept wanting to pick them up and move them to other locations. He was particularly intrigued by the pink cadillac and kept reaching for it.

 

Rather than being remembered for pilfering Cadillacs, I thought he'd be better remembered as another candidate for Mount Rushmore.

Alex loves to put money in slots, so he was engaged slipping dollars bills into a donation box. I guess we better not take him to Las Vegas! Spending all that money is exhausting so, after walking around for about an hour, Alex took time to chill in a cushy leather chair on one of the stair landings.

The building that houses the layout sits across from the C&H Pure Cane Sugar processing plant. North of it lies the Carquinez Strait which leads west to San Pablo Bay. The model railroad location is not far from downtown Crockett, so after our touring, we went off to get something to eat at Wanda's, a restaurant in downtown Crockett. It was a dreary, drizzly day so instead of strolling about, we popped into the first dining place we found. Wanda's had a limited menu but we were amazed at how delicious their pizza was. We ordered one Margherita Pizza and one Fennel Sausage Pizza and shared them among the three of us. Good and plenty!

One entire wall of the dining room was a huge mural of historic Crockett that we found interesting. Our impression was that the town has not changed much since its inception – yes, the streets are now paved, but only crudely. Crockett was first laid out as a town in 1881 along the south shore of the Carquinez Strait. The town of Valona was laid out in 1883 just to the west of Crockett, and the two towns eventually merged into the Crockett of today. In 1906, the California and Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company, today known as C&H® Sugar, began refining in Crockett, California.

We probably spent about the same amount of time roundtrip driving as we did at the open house and the restaurant combined, but it was an enjoyable Sunday afternoon outing.

Ponder: Wish You Were Here

Jodi Picoult is a very uneven author for me; I like some of her books but am disappointed by others. Wish You Were Here was a big disappointment for me. The premise is interesting, even if implausible. 

Diana  is a professional art seller and her boyfriend Finn is a surgical resident, both living in New York City. They are scheduled for a two week vacation in the Galápagos when an outbreak of COVID-19 decimates the medical response and hospitals in the city.  The crisis means Finn cannot leave his job, all hands are required. He urges Diane to go alone so at least she can enjoy the prepaid non-refundable vacation.  I found it odd that a woman would go off while her boyfriend is under such stress and choose to not stay with him for support. Nevertheless, that is how the book proceeds. The reasoning is that Finn will not be able to spend much time with Diana, plus she will be more vulnerable to the virus when periodically exposed to him if she stays.

There are lots of stressors on the island beyond the medical ones in New York. The island is shut down in hopes of securing COVID-19 isolation so amenities such as hotel, food, and stores are unavailable. The wifi and cell signals are down so communications between Diane and Finn are limited and strained. He manages to get a few emails off to her but instead of professing his love and how much he misses here, the emails are filled with horrifying details of failure to save patients and the dire progression of the disease. No spoilers here, but there is a twist near the end of the book which I thought was lame and a cop-out. I completed Wish You Were Here, ©2021, but rated this book one star. 

★☆☆☆☆ Awful but I read most or maybe even all of it.

I read Wish You Were Here back in February and just now got around to releasing this post. In order to brighten up this pessimistic blog post I googled some photos for Galápagos and COVID-19. I was surprised at the similarity between these two photos.

Four Grandkids' January Visit

Our son Dan brought his four kids to visit us for a 4-day weekend at the end of January 2023. They arrived around 6:00 pm on Thursday Jan 26 and left around 6:00 pm on Sunday Jan 29. It was a blast. The kids enjoyed their stay with us and their mom got the opportunity to take a bit of a break. 

MEET TEE
First on the schedule, as advertised, was that the kids got to meet and greet our newly acquired cat Tee.  Tee joined Frank and Snoopy and me in January of 2022 so she had over a year to adjust to our house and make it her home. Initially timid and hiding for only about a week, she is now very friendly and even brazen. Tee is so named because when she is happy and content, she twitches her tail. (Initially named T for Tail, we adjusted the spelling to Tee so vets and kennels do not mistake T as being only an initial and not a full name.)  Tee was patient and tolerated – dare I say even enjoyed – the kids hovering around her. But three kids was her limit. She would slip off and hide under a bed somewhere when a fourth kid arrived. The two older girls Vivian and Lillian were best with her, loving but wisely allowing Tee her space. Lillian was determined that at some point before she flew back to SoCal, Tee would sit in her lap.

HOPSCOTCH
On the first morning of the visit Lillian permitted me to do her hair in a French braid. I had to prove to Carrie that I was taking good care of her girls in her absence.

We did not plan any major outings while they were here. We had pleasant weather so I broke out our set of sidewalk chalk and the kids had fun making hopscotch boards. One of the neighbors came over and watched; he liked the nostalgic aspect of seeing kids doing classic sidewalk games. Vivian was the hopscotch chalk guru.

I took a turn at hopping along but I was not as flexible as Dan as he twisted over to follow the instructions of specially sequenced play. The youngest two, Will and Irene liked climbing our landscaping rocks in a pseudo king-of-the-mountain game.

PARK

Later in the afternoon we drove over to a local park. Grandpa was kept busy pushing Irene in the swing and guiding her on a roller slide. 

Vivian was the high climber. Irene was the low climber with assistance from her dad. The middles, Lillian and William, were running around up and down the hillocks so fast and far I was never really able to a get a photo of them in action.

I did manage to get all together for a group photo for proof of presence.

TRAIN TIME
Once back home, there was afternoon time spent out in the garage with Grandpa and his model trains. The "middles" Will and Lil not only observed, but they also operated the trains on the layout.

SEWING
Another day, we spent time in my sewing room on small projects the kids cut out, sewed on my machine, stuffed, and hand-sewed closed. More photos and details are in my other blog DianeLoves2Quilt in the post titled Sewing with Grandkids dated February 7, 2023. 

LEGOS
Dan and Frank went up into the attic and brought down four plastic bins of Dan's childhood LEGOs, each bin the size of the one shown on the table. The kids enjoyed playing with the bricks. I packed them up after they left and mailed them out in four 10"x12"x15" Home Depot boxes.

Irene enjoyed Fisher Price Mega Bloks, a jumbo toddler version of LEGOS, on her own while "the middles" hung out with her!

BROWNIES and BOARD GAMES
Another source of entertainment was eating brownies. This activity had no age limit! Afterwards was a rousing game or two of Sequence between Vivian and Grandpa.

In terms of other card games, Vivian learned to play solitaire on my computer. She explored a different selection of solitaire games than her other grandmother had taught her. My guess is that Nana had taught her the classic Klondike or Vegas Solitaire. I showed her Freecell. Vivian, after exploring the menu on the left, showed me Spider 1 Suit. Then 8-yr-old Vivian proceeded to guide her 6-yr-old sister Lillian through a few of those games.

A for APPLE
Irene loved the Squiggly Worms game. An apple with many holes holds green worms with colored dots on their bottoms. Once loaded with "worms", a spring-loaded side lever can be pulled, and, for a short period of time, the worms can randomly pop up and down waiting to be plucked from their individual holes. She giggled during the noisy, fast-moving part. The plucking was too quick for her to be successful in getting all the worms by herself; but she loved re-loading all the worms into their hole habitats.

B for BARN
I brought out a Vintage 1980 Little Tikes Build 'n Play Farm that Dan had enjoyed with his sister as children. It makes a pretty big structure as can be seen on the box lid; the components are large enough that they go together easily and quickly. Horse-lover Lillian was quick to build a corral as the first item of utmost importance. Irene decided that the horse was best placed in her daddy's boot for safe keeping. The barn did eventually get built, at least partially.

F for FOOTBALL
Not only the kids had fun. Dan and Frank got to watch the NFL Conference Championship game together. The Philadelphia Eagles went head to head with the San Francisco 49ers.

 

The company was good but the game outcome was not. Dan and Frank were rooting for the 49ers; the 49ers were trounced by the Eagles. At least the pizza roll snacks and male bonding made it worth while.

OTHER UNIQUE GAMES

Vivian enjoyed putting together a pieceless puzzle. I bought this many years ago as a novelty item and I see I can no longer get another one. The puzzle is one big long jigsaw cut-out out of the same foam material of mouse pads. It is a great manipulative and no piece can ever get lost. It has two sides to make two different pictures with the instructions, "flatten, connect, complete".

William found his own novel form of entertainment and took his older sister Lillian along for the ride. We have a cactus shaped scratching post for our cat. William planted his feet on the base and used the two protruding cactus arms as the throttles for his "motorcycle". With Lillian hanging on, they leaned around the corners, complete with revving engine and screeching tires sound effects. Irene remained a safe observer on the sidelines.

LOVES for SNOOPY and TEE before LEAVING
At fourteen years old Snoopy can be quite stiff and slow moving. Dan came out from his shower and was amazed to see that Snoopy had somehow managed to climb up onto the guest bed where Dan had been sleeping. Snoopy does not frequent this room in the house and climbing up like that was quite a feat since the bed is raised on blocks to make it high enough for beneath-the-bed storage. We guess Snoopy just wanted some extra love and petting when noticing that Dan was packing to leave. Dan delivered.

Lillian was patient and calm and quiet and she finally achieved her goal of having Tee sit in her lap before the end of the visit. On the last day, just hours before leaving for the airport Tee made herself comfortable in Lillian's lap and purred... and purred... and purred – and twitched her tail.  Lillian was thrilled.

We all enjoyed the four-day whirlwind visit. Frank and I really appreciated our grandkids being hand-delivered to us for our in situ enjoyment.