Cozumel diving trip, all around the house, Feb 2023

First tropical vacation and trip to Mexico-woo hoo!  Our good friends, a Herd of Katz, invited up to join them on a dive trip to Cozumel.

The house was perfect.  Backyard pool with an ocean view.

The shady hut next to the pool became a handy place to play card games.

The house managers had a couple dogs that would visit randomly.

Welcome message is done with power washing.

The house was huge-lots of rooms and beds and extra space.

Funky/fun architecture enhanced the vacay feeling

Of course we opened a coconut.  

Why yes, we did buy random snacks from the supermarket....every other day.

You can get into the ocean from our back yard.

We had a lovely mother/daughter pair cooking for us.  Delicious, homey meals, but this came from the house managers-super sweet folks took great care of us.

Minneapolis Feb 2023

 A quick trip to Minneapolis to see relatives-first time in 3 years!

On the way out of the airport, the quilt exhibit caught my eye.

Didn't have time to get good photos, but wanted to remember them.

Love the mix of styles and all the details.

We visited some of Minnesota's famous lakes, this is near the downtown.

Of course they are (mostly) frozen.  Wind chill was wicked, but there were plenty of cyclists and joggers.

I lasted about 3 minutes outside in the wind.

Lunch at Park Dog!

It is a one man operation.

So it sometimes takes a wait.

So worth it!!

Finally a trip to Paisley Park gift shop.  Next time we will pre-book the tour.

Winter holidays 2022 - 2023

 All sorts of family fun during the winter break, 2022 - 2023.

Cabin time-love seeing the snow,

but not having to do snow removal.

Interesting insect

The last bits of snow melted after the rain.

We went to the de Young and saw the Ramses II exhibit, which was cool, but super crowded and distracting.  They put a mirror so you could see the underside of a sarcophagus lid, never seen that before.  But the African arts section was chill and relaxed, really enjoyed the masks.

And the giant cacao pod.

Mochi doughnuts!  They were fine, but I don't really need to have them again.

Cousin time at the Rosicrucian museum!  Also a trip to the playground and fruit smoothies to foolow.

My DIY shooting targets

At the grocery stop some of use went to the park.

It was not an exciting park, these weird ducks were the best they had.  

Books and food and art in Vegas Nov 2022 - Jan 2023

 What have I been reading recently?  Photos are from the trip to Vegas

-by Mark Wolynn

It Didn't Start With You:  How your parents and grandparents trauma may have negative impacts on your life.  Nice companion to What Happened To You.  A little drier, but has more exercises that seem useful.

-by Jenny Lawson
Broken:  Continues to be insightful and funny and sad

From the house of Momofuku, the U-wrap at the Bang Bar.  Soooo good we visited a second time to try all the versions.  Spicy eggplant was our favorite, but all of them are delicious.

-by Richard Osman

The Bullet That Missed:  book 3 of the Thursday Murder Club gang.  Still love this series

by Lily E. Hirsh

Weird Al, Seriously:  Just watched the Weird Al movie, hilarious!  Was reminded of this biography, so glad I read/skimmed it.  Wasn't quite as good as I hoped for, more a compilation of others' thoughts, but still worthy.

Also from the Bang Bar, like that time in New York...

-by Tove Ditlevsen

The Copenhagen Trilogy:  Woah, surprise love.  This won awards and had great reviews, so I picked it, but the cover looks odd and it sounds super boring.  Autobiography of a Danish poet, born just before WWI.  The bulk of it is about childhood and youth, growing up poor, but desperately wanting to be a writer.  The last section is about her drug addiction.  The writing seems straightforward, but it gets too you and I had no problems finishing this one. 

fancy lime cheesecake dessert

by Ramona Emerson

Shutter:  Part supernatural, part thriller, part slice of life that you likely don't know about (Navajo).  I didn't love it as much as the folks who recommended it because it had that over top feeling where everything happens in just a few days.  Also, if I grew up seeing ghosts, knowing the rest of the world doesn't, I think I would get better at lying about it.  Not sure why I'm hung up on that, but it annoyed me.

by M. T. Anderson

Feed:  Published in 2002.  Your phone is now implanted in your brain so you receive all your social media feeds all the time.  Much of our general education degrades.  Feels like The Fault In Our Stars plot.  Good length, kept me into it.

by Leila Mottley

Nightcrawling:  Based on events in Oakland, early 2010's where police were found taking advantage of  prostitutes.  POV of the young woman in bad circumstances who becomes the key witness.   Gives a full picture of her life and the writing is gripping.  Author is young, looking forward to reading more.

by Katy Hays

The Cloisters:  Light thriller.  Young, naive, intelligent, poor young woman moves to New York, works in The Cloisters.  Gets caught up in the world of ambition and almost supernatural art history.  I almost abandoned it halfway because it was looking like it might get a supernatural/nonsensical ending.  

by Andrew Sean Greer

Less is Lost:  A sequel.  I was surprised by the first one because the protagonist initially annoyed me, but then turned it around.  Found this ok, trying too hard to be wacky?  But short and well written, easy to finish, so why not.

by Terry Pratchett

Wintersmith:  Excellent as always.  Tiffany Aching is pretty much the best.

-by Louise Penny.  I've been binging the Gamache series

The Brutal Telling:  Expands the boundaries of the small town to the nearby forest.  I like this one, even though it doesn't expand our police team.

Bury Your Dead:  This has 3 threads:  The main mystery that takes place in Quebec City.  An important follow up the previous story.  A flashback to a terrible incident that happens to Gamache-maybe the start of a long story arc.  

A Trick of the Light: The art world can be nasty, long arc continues.

Beautiful Mystery:  The one in the monastery, long arc continues.  Not much of the village

How The Light Gets In: The one with quintuplets, end of the arc.

The Long Way Home: Very different, all about a couple of the villagers.  Not my fave.

The Art Automat! So glad this is still here.  For $5 you get handmade, small art.  

DNF

by Sarah Gerrard-Jones

The Plant Rescuer:  meh, not as good as I wanted it to be.  Yes, she gives some background about plants and general information.  But none of it is as specific as you need it for something you already have.  More like a book to inspire you if you don't have plants.

By R.U. Ginns

1-2-3 Scream:  Looking for kids scary books.  This is okay, but not amazing.

This is at the back of Aria, at the entrance to the restrooms....and I am almost certain I have photographed it before.  Eye catching.  Love that it reminds me of the woods deep in the middle of Vegas.