The Most Delicious Vending Machine in a Crowded Seattle Airport

Airline schedules were such that I had to fly to Seattle before I could fly to Tuscon. Grumble, grumble, grumble. But grumbling was somewhat mitigated by this vending machine full of food that looked very, very good.

Salads! Sandwiches! All from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese!

Look at this though. No seats to be had at the gate.

And I’m back to grumble, grumble, grumble.

On the way back I had a grilled cheese from Beecher’s and I’m all in with them. Now there’s a good reason to fly through Seattle.

Old Photos

It seems strange to call these old, as they are pictures from when I was little and they are in color, but considering Ronald Reagan was president when they were taken, they are old.

That’s me wearing my mother’s Queen of the May dress that her mother made for her. I love the springy daffodil background. Choosing the background was my favorite part of getting my picture taken. A quick pull on this flower background and it would retract. Then you could choose a different one, like a snow scene, or a solid color. (Boring!)

Thank goodness I grew my hair out after this. I don’t love that bowl cut.

And here’s my brother. He wouldn’t consent to dressing in these types of clothing for much longer. But he looks so going-to-church.

Where do kids get their pictures taken now a days? I’m guessing not at Sears or J.C. Penny.

Hold the phones Edna! You can get your pictures taken at J.C. Penny! They even have themes. You can even get office head shots taken there. That’s the only place, though. Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart have all closed their portrait studios in the last decade. K-Mart closed theirs long ago.

Books read in September 2019

Well this is interesting. Only seven books read in September? [Pause to uncover journal where all books read are listed] Yep. Only seven.

Picture Books

Field Trip to the Moon
John Hare
Read for Librarian Book Group

A wordless picture book of a field trip gone awry with delightful consequences for one student.

Middle Grade

Stargazing
Jen Wang
Read for Librarian Book Group

Great depiction of a friendship when the parents don’t entirely approve of the friend. I also enjoyed Moon’s gasp-worthy bursts of anger, as well as her belief she came from the stars.

Young Adult

The Things She’s Seen
Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
Read for Librarian Book Group

Very mysterious novel set in Australia with a dead girl as the main character. She’s hanging around keeping her father, a police detective, company. He’s still pretty sad she’s gone.

While she is helping him solve a case, many things unfold. There are some poem bits here and there that I found cringy, but other than that, this is a good book. It’s also quite short.

Grownup Fiction

Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens

This book has wonderful descriptions of the marsh and Kya. There’s also a lot of rooting for Kya, given her terrible upbringing. I can see why so many people are reading this book.

Aside from those things, I cannot understand why they are still excited when they get to the end of the book. The dialogue is wooden, especially anytime anyone is in love. The physical descriptions of sex had me cringing. Also, the mystery is solved one way, and then resolved in a different way in the last few pages, which I did not at all find satisfying. It felt like the author finished the book and the publisher wanted a different ending, so we ended up with a “but what really happened was…” debacle.

The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt

While I found the prose of this book serviceable, never have I ever worried about a character as much as I have Theo. Tartt excels at characters: Boris, Hobie, Pippa, and even minor characters are complex and compelling.

I read seven-eighths of this book in four days and then it took me another four days to get through that last little bit because I was so very worried about Theo.

Grownup Nonfiction

The Millionaire Teacher
Andrew Hallam

Hallam got to his millionaire status by implementing standard FIRE techniques (extreme frugality and index fund investing) before there even was a FIRE movement.

Here he presents nine lessons, eight of which have to do with investing.

The Effortless Sleep Method
Sasha Stephens

The author recovered from chronic insomnia and walks us through what she did to get to better sleep. She shares mistakes and makes suggestions.

I really liked what she had to say about Sleep Restriction, as I have been trying that for a few years now and find it to be the torture she describes.

Top Movies: September 2019 (I went easy on a few movies this month)

(8 total movies watched)

Yesterday

The 2019 baby boomer nostalgia movie that’s actually good!

Annihilation

Five women attempt to figure out what the Shimmer is all about.

Hot Summer Nights

Not so much Good as it is “good” if you have a specific itch.

Hustlers

A story of friendship and family

Now and Then

Again, more of a “good” than a Good.

Downton Abbey

Assuming you know who all the people are, this is GREAT!

For Insiders, the Downton Abbey Movie is a Gem

The review:

Michael Engler creates an excellent two-hour episode* of Downton Abbey which will be enjoyable to all who have watched the show and which also will probably incomprehensible to newcomers.** While I wasn’t particularly pining for the Downton gang, the movie reminded me how much I loved the characters, and the movie—unlike, at times, the series—had a tight, comprehensive plot that touched on nearly all of the characters.*** Overall, a great movie, assuming you have done your background research.

The verdict: Recommended

(assuming you are already a fan)

Cost: $11.35
Where watched: Regal Tigard Stadium 12 (where they waste time making you pick your seat)

Consider also watching:

  • Downton Abbey Season 1
  • Downton Abbey Season 2
  • After that, the plot gets very soap opera-y
  • If you like the characters, the rest of the series is worth watching

Further sentences:

*It’s not really a movie, just a longer version of the show.
**Who are all these people? If you haven’t watched the show, this movie isn’t going to enlighten you.
***Bates wandered in an out and otherwise wasn’t present, but nearly everyone else was around.

Trivia:

The mansion that King George V and Queen Mary visit after Downton Abbey, where the ball is held at the end of the film, is Harewood House. Although the name of the village is pronounced as it is spelled (Hare-wood), the House and the title Lord Harewood are perversely pronounced Har-wood, as was correctly done throughout the film.

Here’s a bonus picture because I just love it so much

Now and Then Would Have Been Better Off Sticking with Then

The review:

In 1995, Lesli Linka Glatter directed Now and Then, a coming of age movie with a lot of young actresses who then were girls but now are grown up and still fun to watch.* The plot is a little thin, and would have been better without the grown-up story, but it was a fine palate cleanser on a Friday night. Plus, it’s a good 1995 time capsule.**

The verdict: Good

(Again, we’re not talking fine wine. We’re talking house red. Or possibly Two Buck Chuck.)

Cost: Netflix monthly subscription ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching/watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Gaby Hoffman is always a treat.
**And possibly a good 1970 time capsule, though that was before my time.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The movie (a.k.a. The Gaslight Addition) was actually written about a town in Indiana named Winchester, and its gaslight addition. The author of the story I. Marlene King grew up there, as did the director Robert Wise, in vastly different years. Winchester declined to have their name associated with the movie, so the name became Shelby, but later Winchester began to preserve areas mentioned in the movie.