Cousins’ Lunch

I accompanied my mother to the annual cousins’ lunch. The cousins took up three tables, and had a lot of conversation. Then we played a simple card game led by Delores and her husband. I do enjoy the Whitmores and their card games.

I took the picture of the group, and grabbed a few shots as they were getting set up.

I tried to get them away from that window, but there were too many cousins.

So we can see some of them.

Zentangle with a Sinking Chop

I enjoy how this one turned out, right down to the point where my initials fall off the page.

Note that the top and bottom one are both the same tangle, I just was much looser with the tracing inside the triangles on the bottom one.

I’m having trouble with that paper folding one, hence all the Bronx Cheer surrounding it.

The Librarians at the Tomorrow Theater

I accompanied current and retired librarians to a showing of the documentary the Librarians. That was a fun group to watch the movie with.

The documentary follows different librarians as their states and well-funded interest groups attempt to control what community members can access.

There are some people I was surprised agreed to be interviewed, and there was an interesting turn with the lady with the red hair. Overall, it was rough to watch librarians lose their jobs, get called pedophiles, and face community censure, but there was some hope to cling to in the end. Recommended!

Afterward, there was a Q&A session, and the MCL library director was one of the speakers.

Zentangle Season and Transporting Ballots

It’s budget meeting season at work, which means time for me to do some Zentangling while the meetings happen.

It had been some time since I tangled, and I had to remind myself how to do a few of the tangles.

It was also Election Day!

I transported ballots from the Northwest Library again. This was the last election at this location of the Northwest Library. They are opening a new larger location in January on NW Pettygrove.

It was fun to watch the ballots come in for the last 15 minutes people could turn them in. There were more than 10 ballots that appeared in the book return. Apparently turnout was very low overall (we only had a parks bond renewal to approve or reject—the easiest ballot I’ve ever cast), but it didn’t feel like that while I was waiting for the polls to close.

We only had to drive to the Elections office on Belmont (rather than the Yeon building, like the 2024 election) so I didn’t make a ton of overtime, but the money is just the cherry on top. I would transport ballots for free.

Boise Photos: Tea Report and a Thing I Hadn’t Heard Of

I sent Boise tea reports to a tea-drinking friend. The previous day at the bacon restaurant, I received a paper cup with water and one tea bag, while the coffee drinkers had ceramic mugs and unlimited refills. Tea discrimination!

At this family style restaurant I got a ceramic mug, a hot water pitcher (that they refilled) and THREE tea bags. Tea appreciation!

Because of the way the calendar fell this year, I was in Boise the last day of October and the first weekend of November, which meant different things were available than when I visit around the 20th of October.

We stopped by the Eagle Holiday Bazaar, a staple of my childhood. It had all sorts of things, none of which I brought home. It was fun to see the creators creating in between helping customers at their booths.

What I discovered is that at Eagle High School, seniors each get their own parking spot. This was not a thing when I was in high school. We just grabbed whatever space was available.

And what’s more, their spaces are decorated. I thought perhaps by the students, but my tea-drinking friend said it might be the parents. Apparently someone wanted to call out Deuteronomy 4:29 (“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul,” according to the first Google search result).

Someone is into the lord. Either the student or the parent.

Idaho: Where You Can Get a Don’t Tread on Me License Plate

This post brought to you by Sara’s game of “Send Me the Most Idaho Picture” while I was visiting in Boise.

I didn’t send her a picture of the Don’t Tread on Me license plate I saw in the wild because I was driving at the time, but I did tell her about it. Then I looked up when that plate had gone into production. Answer: relatively recently.

That sent me down a path of looking at ALL the Idaho plates available, which are many, some of which are pictured here.

I’m from the era when there was one plate: the white and green Famous Potatoes plate. In 1990, we could get the centennial plate, which is what most of the above plate are based on. And that was what you got. I don’t mind that people can pick their plates, and that organizations get a cut, but I do miss the uniformity.

Most interesting discovery: There is a Pearl Harbor Survivor plate available in Idaho. I’m guessing the number of people who have that plate is in the single digits, if not zero. There are only 12 survivors left nationwide.

Books Read in October 2025

*book group selection | bolded means favorite

Middle Grade

*The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez by Jasminne Paulino

Young Adult

*Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
*Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between by L.M. Elliott
*Rosa by Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz

Grownup Fiction

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower

Young Nonfiction

*A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, A Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out by Nicholas Day and Yas Imamura

Film Reveal: A Fun Film Diversion

The Guardian has a new game called Film Reveal in their Guardian App. You get three actors and three categories and then must guess a movie that fits the nexus of the two. The less common your guess, the higher your score.

Here’s a finished one:

It’s very interesting to see what category is hard. Sometimes it will be an actor I can’t picture in any movie, much less in a specific category. Sometimes, I will get stuck on just one film the person is in, and can’t for the life of me think of another.

I’ve also learned that it’s best to look at the different categories before committing a movie to a specific one. I might be able to think of several two-word titles, but only one film between 1990 and 2000. If I’ve committee that one film to the two-word titles, I gnash my teeth.

This was a particularly good score that I got at the very end of the puzzle day.