Book completed

Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor. The author has a lovely writing style, but this book was a bit disappointing, in that the plot was, "let's make our Super Magical Girl be even more magical, in a new way." Blah.

In both books, though, the author has done well at getting us invested in a course of action for Binti that gets derailed - the first one was sending her off to university with a cool cohort, and this one was sending her on a pilgrimage that's part of her cultural heritage. Nope to both.

Now, on to the third book, to see what Binti does with all of her amazing powers. Will she save her entire people? The entire Earth? More than that?

Edit: I'm usually careful about spoilers, but my "nope to both" obviously is one. Upon reflection, I realized that I'd personally have been happier without the expectations and would have liked the spoilers. If that's not the case for you, my readers, I apologize.

Day 186 / Day 10 wildfires - a small but much appreciated miracle!

This evening, unexpectedly, the particulate level in the air dropped dramatically! Around 5 pm it was down to "very unhealthy," but every hour it dropped more and more until finally around 9 pm it was at the upper level of "moderate." I'd already noticed that things were different outside - as I mentioned on Facebook, visibility was almost normal, the crickets were chirping, and the neighbor's grandson was playing basketball with his dad. So at 9 pm, we went on a walk! Only half a mile, mind you, and the air wasn't perfect, it still smelled suboptimal, but it was so good to get exercise for the first time in 10 days. With the air as bad as it was, even exercising inside the house would have been problematic. And we still expect rain tomorrow, but even without that, this is so much more tolerable.

Once it really does rain, then we can open up the houses and air them out. And J. will be comfortable with opening his front door again - without the fan going like I have in my livingroom, he doesn't dare let the outdoor air in until it's normal. It's been a nuisance going around to the back of his house to get in, though.

Hm, maybe my usual celebration icon is inappropriate. The idea of fireworks is pretty alarming after all the wildfires...