Well, I am well and truly settled in. My stuff arrived from Vancouver as advertised on June 6, and here we are, a month later, and all is unpacked and stowed away. Of course, I have way too much stuff (yes, John, I will admit it), and will go through every closet and drawer and get rid of enough so that what I have is accessible. But I am here, and it still feels right.
For those of you concerned about the heat, a report. Yes, it is hot. Like everywhere else, it is probably hotter than normal this year too - we have already had a number of 116 degree days (that`s around 44 degrees I think). I know it is a trope to say, yes, but it is a dry heat, but it`s true. I swear, 80 degrees in Houston feels hotter than this. I go for my walk at about 5 A.M., and it is still a quite pleasant 70 degrees about that time, and stays reasonable until 10 or 11. I go for a brief walk around the neighborhood about 8:30 P.M.. when it is again quite balmy. Lots of people like the pool at night, although I myself haven`t tried it. And during the day, air conditioning everywhere makes activities like the weight training class at the gym, the Zumba class at the community center, bridge and dining, all quite pleasant.
With everything opening up again, friendships are increasing exponentially - I think we are all so grateful to be seeing - and hugging - people that people are connecting possibly more than they normally would. Admittedly, there are fewer people here than there will be when the season starts in October, but the good news is that I have the time and opportunity to solidify my newly found friendships.
Reading goes on too, of course. Helga, a neighbor, lent me Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo, which won the Booker Prize in 2019. Not the type of book I normally read - about black-lesbian-other women (and not the type of book I would have expected Helga to read either - you can learn a lot about your friends by sharing books....), but if the criteria for a good book is that it takes you somewhere you wouldn`t otherwise go, well, it was a good book.
Likewise A Hundred Suns, by Karin Tanabe. This is a book about Vietnam, a place that I know very little about. However, I have a trip to Vietnam scheduled for late October, and nothing beats fiction for getting to know the heart of a place (this one is about the French involvement, not ours, so a bit easier to read, I imagine). Anyway, I can recommend it.
Next up was Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Remains of the Day. Again, an unusual book for me - I am not usually fond of books about dystopias, but he is a wonderful writer, and I will read anything he writes (I think I already told you about Klara and the Sun, a book he wrote about robots designed as artificial friends, which, believe it or not, I couldn`t put down, or, more accurately, stop listening to)
Some time ago, I read Olive Again, a book about a cantankerous old lady named Olive, by Elizabeth Strout. I finally picked up the first Olive book, Olive Kitteridge, which shows how she got to be a cantankerous old lady. It reminds me of nothing so much as Winesburg, Ohio, the classic about a small town, with descriptions of the people of the town and how they interact.Again. two thumbs up.
Little Fires Everywhere is a novel by Celeste Eng, which I enjoyed. And for the middle aged white male contribution, I read two thrillers by an old favourite, Robert Crais, Free Fall and The Watchman. If you like thrillers, add Robert Crais to your repertoire. (I don`t generally speaking read thrillers, but I make an exception for him.)
Other books I`ve listened to since we last spoke: The Punishment She Deserves, a mystery by Elizabeth George; and The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova, who wrote the very popular The Historian a number of years ago. This one is difficult to listen to - the destruction of a country, Romania,through war and revolution - but a good book nonetheless.
What else can I tell you? Nothing right now - it is time for my evening walk. So, another boring post, sans pictures. However, my camera is charging as we speak, and I promise there will be pictures of my newly installed library and my environs next time....
