England ~ August 2014

Oh my goodness, I have so much to write about, and so little time. So, instead of a long narrative for my not-so-successful journal keeping efforts, I'll simply post a lot of pictures and hope to write about them somewhere, some time.  

In August Ray's parents treated us and several of his siblings to a trip to England. Ray's parents were finishing up their mission there, and we spent 10 days traveling England with them. We saw so much--it was so wonderful. Time flew by, and we were going non-stop, morning to evening. One day in London we walked well over 10 miles. I'm glad we did so much because I'm not sure I'll be able to get there again. 

The first part of the trip was mostly the Liverpool/Preston/River Ribble valley area, and we learned about a lot of LDS church history there. Fascinating. The second part was several places between there and London. The last couple of days were in London. It was thrilling for me to see so many things that I've read about over my lifetime. I just couldn't get enough of it all.

Here are some pictures. Lots of pictures. But really they are a tiny fraction of all the pictures we took. Most of them are me and Ray in front of various historical or interesting landmarks. 

We just landed at Manchester Airport

Me and Ann

Paul and Orva

Ann and Charles

David and Sally

John and Ray

Liverpool

Preston (a rainy morning)

The River Ribble

Chorley, the LDS temple grounds

Mom and Dad

The Preston Temple

William Wordsworth's home

Hill Top Farm - Beatrix Potter's home

Herefordshire Beacon, the Malvern Hills

Warwick Castle

Anne Hathaway's home

The Eagle and the Child--Tavern frequented by CS Lews and JRR Tolkien (best macaroni and cheese I've ever eaten)

Christchurch, Oxford

Windsor Castle

Riding the Tube

London Tower

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum

Trafalgar Square?

Big Ben

Me and Sally, with a statue of Lady Jane Grey behind us

John and Ray

Popular: a Memoir Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya van Wagenen

I read/heard about this book, and requested it from the library. I need to keep track of where I hear about books - I like to "report back" after I've read a book and talk about it a little. I can't recall exactly where I heard about this one.

It was a very quick read, and very worth it. It's a true story - found in the non-fiction section of the library. Maya lived in Brownsville, Texas. A hard place to live in many ways. Right before Maya started 8th grade, she ran across an old book: Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide. It was written in 1951, when Betty was 24 years old.

Maya had evaluated her own popularity, and found it rock bottom on the list. So with some encouragement from her parents, Maya decided to try an experiment: implement Betty's wisdom in today's world and see if it would help her become more popular. She told no one but her parents what she was doing, then recorded it in her journal.

Maya chose a theme a month and applied it during the school year. It was pretty daring to try applying some of that 1950's wisdom, but she did it. The book is her journal of the year, and the results she ended up with. To put it in a nutshell, she found that pretty much everyone thinks they are not popular, and the best way to become popular is to be friendly and nice to everyone, no matter who they are.

I really liked the book. I found myself relating very closely to the life of an unpopular 8th grader. So many things in her school experience were similar to my own, and it's been 43 years since I went through that. I guess some things never change. And I never want to go through that again. 8th grade or not, the things she learned are timeless, and over the many years since I was that age I've learned a few of those truths myself. Reading this book made me realize that I need to keep reminding myself how important they are.

Throughout the book Maya gives a few popularity tips of her own. Here is her final one:
"Popularity is more than looks. It's not clothes, hair, or even possessions. When we let go of these labels, we see how flimsy and relative they actually are. Real popularity is kindness and acceptance. It is about who you are, and how you treat others."

The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

This is a stand alone novel by Jacqueline Winspear, who writes the Maisie Dobbs series. She is an excellent writer, and really knows her World War I information. This book is mostly set in the country, so it's a different point of view than most of the Maisie Dobbs books.

I liked it a lot. It's one you want to talk over with someone when you've finished reading it.

The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor

I read this book while up at the lake as well. It was just okay - nothing to set the world on fire. I did like it better by the end. Enough that I've requested the next book from the library. We'll see how that one goes.

A little bit of language problem with this book. A few gratuitous (I felt) f-bombs. Not as bad as some other books, but still. I just really don't see the need.

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

The television series Longmire is based on these books by Craig Johnson. I really like the TV show, so wanted to try the books. This is the first in the series, and it's pretty good. There are some language issues. I debated whether I wanted to keep reading it because of that. I did finish it, and liked it over all. I'm not in a rush to try more yet--really because of the language. So if the f-bomb doesn't bother you, I bet you'll like the book just fine.

Death Come Quickly by Susan Wittig Albert

Susan Wittig Albert never fails to entertain. I read this while we were on our vacation at Lake Cavanaugh, and sped right through it. I napped and read and played all day while we were there. No wonder I had such a great time!

I love these China Bayles mysteries.

Justice Hall by Laurie R. King

This is the next book in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. I really liked it. So far The Moor was the slowest going in this series. I need to request the next book, but I'm currently reading a very long book and I think I'll wait to read this after that one. (Stay tuned)

July Report

The title of this post should be:
An Optimist's Ever Hopeful Recording of Her Actual Life Hoping That It Will Read Like the Life She Wishes It Were Instead of What It Really Is

Perhaps that is a little more negative than I actually feel. Here is how my actual life is:

I don't want to list it all, so I'll just say it.

1. (Okay, I do love lists.) I didn't do great on any of my first things first things this month. In fact I sort of took the month off. I've eaten what I want to eat, failed to exercise these last two weeks, and did so-so on remembering to read my scriptures and say my prayers.
What I did do: rest and relax and sleep in whenever I could.
Evaluation: July felt great. I need to do this every once in a while. I will kick it in again in August.

2. Family History (my new name for this category): Fabulous! Orva and I finished scanning Ray's parent's slides. We did over 7000 scans in the last three months (hence the break the last two weeks - I needed the R&R). One very small negative note: we found some more slides that will need to be done. But we are not in a rush to finish them.

3. Projects? What projects? Everything has given way to the scanning. I haven't kept up on the yard, or house. see #1. for what I did do.
Next month, or September: paint my bedroom! perhaps a little cleaning here or there also. Perhaps. Depends on how well I kick it in, so to speak.

That's as much as I feel like reporting. It's July. I've taken a break. July isn't over, so I'm still taking a break.

Now I need to go hunt down some serious chocolate.