Book completed

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg. This was a favorite of mine when I was younger, and J's book club recently read it so I figured I should read it again too. As an adult, I can see that the most important outcome of the story for the children is not that they know the secret of the artwork they loved when they ran away to live in the Met for a week, but that they now know the extraordinary Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Day 1008: Thawed and better

By the afternoon today our neighborhood was quite thawed, except for a few patches on 40th Ave and in the Safeway parking lot on the other side of it that looked like they'd been actual snow; I don't know what was going on there. Anyway, I was able to drive to Market of Choice with some confidence and have bought what I wanted for Christmas dinner, and even for a spaghetti supper for tomorrow.

The "movie night" was A Charlie Brown Christmas, which I've seen a great many times, but I didn't remember the twin girls in purple dresses who are with all the other kids trying to put on the play. The internet tells me the girls are named "3" and "4"!

For the last three days I had worrisome lower abdominal pain, but today I feel both much better and reasonably sure that it was just a strained muscle. Whew! Maybe I had twisted in some untoward way when unpacking a Chewy box?

Meanwhile, I'm not sure, but I think I only need to read two more books this year to get to 100. What a silly goal! Nevertheless, I've made a point not to start any books that are very long, except the first book for this year's Oregon Bach Festival book club, for which I needed to read the first two chapters by January 5. Also I'm only in the mood to read cheerful and non-satiric books right now, at least through Christmas, but I've found several that look to fit the bill. And then I can start the long ones, of which I have several waiting for me.

Now J's about to carry gifts to my house, to put under the tree!