Sussex, England of the last century

I finished reading Neil Gaiman's book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, just yesterday. 

I'm not sure what to think of this book.  Labels do not easily fit.  It reads like a children's book, but the lessons are for so called "adults."  The book caused me to question my memories, and ask why I was given this day.  The story swirls with images and stabs at reality.  It is deeper than one expects, and should provide excellent discussion for any book club. 

I wasn't able to get any true fix on life in Sussex as there is truly no fix of time or place in the plot.   Instead, I feel like I will never look at a duck pond in quite the same way, regardless of whether it is in Sussex or at the end of my lane....

Enugu, Nigeria

I finished listening to Purple Hibiscus this afternoon.  I want to sit with it in my head for a while.  It is written by one of my favorite authors, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  It is a powerful book full of universal themes that disregard borders.  Told with the voice of Kambili, a 15 year old girl living in a  house of wealth and tones of white - the book is about calculated brutality and uncontrolled rage from a beloved parent doing God's work.  It is the conflict of pride and fear a child feels for an abusive, yet successful father.

I am a fan of Adichie's work.  This is the least African of her novels because it is about a family that could live any where; the setting of Nigeria truly matters in only the last chapters of the book.  Then again, it is also the most African of her books.  The failures, whether the head of state or head of the family, bring painful growth and eventual maturity.  The family can serve as an analogy for the larger community and the youth of Africa's democratic self-rule.  The path to independence in an authoritarian state is no less dangerous than saying "no" to a bully of a father. 

The narration is fabulous by Lisette Lecat.  Her reading is slow and full of emotion.  She captures the shy hesitancy of Kambili.  She also narrates The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency audio books, so you might recognize her voice. 

At the end, I am grateful that I do not live in Nigeria and have had the gentle generosity of wonderful parents.

Train Trip to Fort Worth

Last Saturday morning, Sophia and I, along with our friend, Kristen and her daughter, Emma caught the 8:32 a.m. Amtrak train in San Marcos bound for Fort Worth.  The seats recline, the legs come up, and it is easy reading for hours.  There is an outlet for each seat so running out of juice is not a worry.  The coach area is quiet with most people napping, so nothing to disturb us except the occasional announcement by the conductor.  We ate lunch in the dining car, despite our better judgment.  We paid excessively for food opened from plastic bags and reheated in a microwave.  Nevertheless the travel was easy, inexpensive and convenient with bathrooms available throughout the train.  No need to pull over for a potty break.  We arrived in Fort Worth at 1:50 p.m., about the same amount of time it would have taken to drive that distance.

We rented a car from Enterprise which has an office in the Fort Worth train station.  We checked into our hotel, then headed out for some fun.  We did LOTS of walking over the weekend.  We visited the Log Cabin Village, watched the cattle drive and did the maze at The Stockyards, giggled at the baby gorilla "Gus" at the Zoo, watched a show on our solar system at the Planetarium, climbed the Water Gardens, strolled the Botanic Gardens, and hunted Pokemon on Pokemon Go.  We were very fortunate to enjoy perfect weather while there.  Despite the hours of activity, we were asleep by 9:30 each night and slept in each morning.  IT WAS GREAT!

Our return trip on the train departed Monday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. and brought us back to San Marcos at 7:30 p.m.  We learned from the earlier trip and brought our dinner on board with us from Montgomery Street Cafe, a destination all its own.  Yummy pork chops, butter beans, yeast rolls, and peach cobbler. Yum!  I finished reading Last of the Mohicans traveling down the tracks.

Three days, two nights of very pleasant company and a nice diversion from the routine.  I highly recommend this trip to anyone with kids or grandkids, or a good traveling buddy.

American Wilderness 1757

There are few books wherein the movie can compete with the novel.  Last of the Mohicans is one of these, but that is not to diminish the book.  The movie is that good.  Yet, they are wholly different. 

The narration of the book was aloof and disappointing at first.  It was omnipresent  and cast its spotlight on various scenes full of descriptive landscape, but lacking any emotional investment.  Readers only get to know the characters from afar, yet I grew to enjoy the book with each new chapter.  Because it was vastly different in plot and relationships than the movie, it was a revelation.  I picked up the book fully expecting a specific ending, yet the ending was not at all as I anticipated.  I did not know who loved who, who was friend or foe, nor who would live or die.  I read the last quarter of the book in earnest.

If you love adventure stories, this book will not disappoint.

A Very Different Road Trip

I just finished listening to Dodgers: A Novel written by Bill Beverly and narrated by J.D. Jackson.  The book begins in "The Boxes" of Los Angeles where a young boy (Easton, known as "East") stands guard in the front yard of a crack house.  A young girls dies for being in the wrong place at the worst time, and East finds himself with his younger brother and two other teens on a cross-country drive to Wisconsin.  These boys have never been outside L.A., and the exposure to the world outside is transforming.

I love a novel that introduces me to people, places and situations that I would NEVER otherwise know.  The book is full of unexpected twists and revelations that leaves the end in doubt.  It is a coming-of-age story like no other, and I'm glad that I was along for the journey.

Cross Country Road Trip 2016

It was the perfect age, the perfect time for the mother-daughter, All-American, cross-country road trip.  Sophia (age 12) and I headed out in my Pathfinder on a late date in July.  We returned in mid-August with 3000+ miles of wear on my new tires.  This is how we spent those precious days:

(1)  Exploring Hanger 25 Air Museum in Big Spring where the hostess chatted away, thrilled that the museum had two visitors.

(2)  Catching Pokemon in Roswell, New Mexico.

(3)  Eating HOT New Mexican food and warm sopapillas outside Albuquerque at a hidden gem called "The Pinto."

(4)  Walking around and bribing Sophia to take photos at Aztec Ruins National Monument.

(5)  Passing through Durango for the second time this summer.

(6)  Climbing up a 30 foot ladder into Balcony House, one of the many cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park.

(7)  Climbing again, but this time Wilson Arch near Moab, Utah.

(8)  Touring the Hole N' the Rock, a home carved out by a married couple who lived in the Rock for 20+ years, into the 1970s.  Truly one of the creepiest places I have ever been due to the husband's hobby of (bad) taxidermy.

(9)  Eating the best waffles of our lives at "Waffle Love" in Provo, Utah.

(10)  Visiting the Leonardo in Salt Lake City where the passions of DaVinci are for exploration by children of all ages:  arts, sciences, and humanities.

(11)  Ate fabulous Pitmaster BBQ in Idaho Falls.

(12) Bought opals from the woman who mined and cut them herself in Spencer, Idaho.

(13)  Walked the streets of a well preserved ghost town at Bannack State Park outside Dillon, Montana.

(14)  Slept, read, ate, played, laughed, baked and froze in a yurt in Philisburg, Montana.

(15) Toured Grant-Kohrs Ranch in western Montana, the kind of place that Gus and Call would have founded after leaving Lonesome Dove.

(16)  Mined for sapphires, and found some.

(17)  Rafted the Clark Fork River and spied 6 bald eagles.

(18)  Went fly fishing in Flint Creek, where I watched Sophia make the line gracefully dance.

(19)  Saw three performances at the old Opera House where we enjoyed unexpected talent.

(20)  Stopped to visit the Montana Grizzly Encounter, a rescue center where the bears are loved.

(21)  Walked the Little Bighorn Battlefield, stood where Custer and his men took their last stand, and wondered why they were so greedy for the abundant land.

(22)  Hiked under George Washington's nose at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, then felt guilty about it once we toured the Crazy Horse Memorial.

(23)  Observing web like formations at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.

(24)  Eating bison's rocky mountain oysters, all but the one that was "stringy."

(25)  Driving through Badlands National Park stopping to take pictures every 1/2 mile.

(26)  Enjoying countless horses and fields of sunflowers while driving through Nebraska.

(27)  Walking through the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby, Kansas, including a great barn perfect for dancing on a summer's evening.

(28)  Visiting Dorothy's House and Land of Oz with its collection of movie artifacts and memroabilia in Liberal, Kansas.

(29)  Feeding giraffes at Abilene Zoo.

(30)  Consuming a great cheeseburger and root beer float at Owl Drug Store & Fountain in Coleman, Texas.

(31) Starting and finishing five audio books:  Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas, Miss Pergrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn by Joseph M Marshall, III.