A Spot Of Bother

Mark Haddon wrote A Spot Of Bother. He also wrote The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time which I really loved. This book is good but not as good as the other one. The story revolves around a family living in London. George Hall is the father and a bit of a hypochondriac. The story is told from his view. He gets a bit of eczema on his thigh and totally freaks out. His wife is busy planning a wedding for her daughter, Katie, who is set to marry Ray. She is a single mother and really has no filter. She is quick to judge and quick to anger. George and his wife also have a son who is gay and just lost his best relationship through his own fault. George's anxiety builds up before the wedding. His panic attacks are coming fast and furious. By the morning of the wedding George has decided that giving a father of the bride speech is more than he can handle so he takes off walking. If this book were turned into a movie it would be slap stick comedy. 

 

 

A Family Matter

Claire Lynch is the author of the fiction book called A Family Matter. This book is about a broken family. This heart breaking story explores the social differences between the world of today and the world of 1980. A young mother has a daughter with her husband. When the girl is four the stay at home mother falls for another woman. The mother follows her heart. The husband has the law on his side. He raises the girl telling her her mother didn't want her anymore. This wasn't true. She asked for custody but the judge gave it to the father. The girl grew up to have children of her own. Only when his father was on his deathbed did he confess that he was the one who kept her from seeing her mother. The book was written beautifully.  

 

 

The Price Of Honey

Meg Waite Clayton is the author of the fiction book The Price Of Honey. Five young mothers start meeting at the park while their toddlers play at the playground. Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett and Allie becomes friends and mentors to each other. The year is 1967 and the park is in Palo Alto, California.  They all share a love of literature. One is athletic, one is shy and secretive, one wears white gloves every day, one is brusk. Both moving and comedic, this story about female loyalty was a pleasure to read. 

 

 

The Lotus Shoes

The Lotus Shoes was written by Jane Vang. She writes about two girls. One of the girls is a servant and one is a member of a wealthy family. Although she is a servant Little Flower's mother decides to bind her feet to improve her status. Li Jing, the girl Little Flower is sold to be her maid does not have bound feet. Her father decides against bound feet because he does business with foreigners who do not approve of bound feet. Li Jing forces Little Flower to unbind her feet because she is jealous. When the fortune of Li Jing's family burns and crashes Li Jing and Little Flower must fend for themselves. At times the two girls are rivals and tentative friends. Little Flower grows up to be less of a push over. Li Jing grows up to be less cruel.

 

  

How To Be A Good Creature

I listened to How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir Of Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery. The author talks about some of her many pets. She is also a scientific traveler to many countries for research work. She once had a pig named Christopher Hogwood. Two teenage girls would come to her house to give her pig their own special spa treatment. The pig enjoyed the warm baths and attention. She gets quite emotional when her pets die. She even mentioned suicidal thoughts after the death of a favorite dog. The author is definitely an animal lover. 

 

 

 

 

Best To Laugh

 I saw Best To Laugh on the shelf at the library and I thought to myself, "Here is a Lorna Landvik book you haven't read yet. This book is about a girl growing up with her Grandmother in Minneapolis. Her Korean born mother died at a young age. Her father was depressed by her death and he died when she was in high school so Candy Pekkala relies on her Grandmother. As a child Candy and her Grandmother watched the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. During commercials Candy would imitate Carson and the guests to her Grandmother's delight. Candy is a little lost after finishing college. When her cousin calls and asks her to sublet her Hollywood apartment while she works as an entertainer on a cruise line Candy agrees to go. She moves into the apartment building and decides to make friends by asking to borrow a cup of sugar. Candy loves to bake and her neighbors appreciate her yellow cake with fudge frosting. She gets a job at a record production agency as a temp. Her biggest ambition in life is to do stand-up comedy. When she finally faces her fears she finds out that eventually she is quite good at it. Her special talent is handling hecklers. If she has a heckler, she is bound to do well on stage. She takes the stage name Candy Ohi (yes, like the county in western Minnesota). The book is a hoot and I did laugh at this description or Lorna's years living in Hollywood.

 

 

Sugar, Salt, Fat

I just finished reading a non-fiction book called Sugar, Salt, Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us. The author is Michael Moss. His book was a best seller in 2013 so it is a bit outdated but the topic is still relevant. He writes about Coke and Pepsi, Kraft, Nestle, Capri Sun, Frito-Lay, and Cargill among others. These companies had techniques to find out bliss points. They know the exact amount of sugar, salt, and fat it takes to keep you coming back for more. These processed foods lead us to be a nation beset with obesity and heart problems. As I read along I was proud of myself for never buying a Lunchable for my children. Those meals are terrible for kids. The book is long at almost 1900 pages but the last 300 pages are references. Some of the CEO's of heavily processed food or drinks feel remorse about their work and they refrain from the products they produced for their own health reasons. The book was certainly an eye opener for me.

 

 

Stuff I Saw On My Walk Today

Walking around Lake Winona today I, for the first time in my life, found some Dutchman's breeches. I have looked for these before but never found them.

I also found a leucistic robin too.

Usually when I walk around the lake I see up to a dozen turtles. Today, because the trees haven't leafed out, I saw a grand total of 87 turtles. Some were painted turtles and some were map turtles.

 

The Magician's Assistant

 I like Ann Patchett's writing so I was happy to find The Magician's Assistant available on Libby. In this story Sabine is the magician's assistant. For twenty years she helped her husband with his magic tricks. When he died she learned that he had kept a secret from her. He made vague references to his past and his childhood but they were all lies. The magician's name was Parsifal. Parsifal was gay and had a lover named Phan. The three of them lived together. Parsifal married Sabine so she would be taken care of after his death. After his death Sabine learns that Parsifal grew up in Alliance, Nebraska and has siblings and a mother. Sabine gets to know Parsifal's family and has to do much explaining regarding his choices in life. His family helps ease her grief. I could hardly put them book down because it was so intriguing. Also, it doesn't have chapters so I never knew when would be a good time to put it down.

 

 

Mudbound

Mudbound is a historical fiction story that starts in 1946 near the Mississippi delta on a small farm. Author Hillary Jordan took seven years to write this book. The farmer, Henry McAllen marries his bride in Nashville, Tennessee. He promises her a house in town but circumstances prevent that from happening. Their farm is near a river. When it rains that river rises turning the farm  into mud. She struggles to raise two daughters in a home without running water and without electricity. She also struggles to live with Henry's racist, angry father.  Henry decides to keep only the best tenant farmers. When Henry's younger brother, Jamie, returns back from fighting the Nazi's in world war two he notices his sister-in-laws distress. Jamie becomes friends with the black son of one of the tenant farmers. This guy also fought Nazi's in world war two. Their friendship sets the stage for a tragic conclusion. This book held my attention the entire time I spent reading it.

 

 

 

 

  

Stoner

Stoner was published in 1965 by the author John Williams. The story is about a boy who grew up on a farm in Missouri. His family was dirt poor and he was the only child. His parents expected that he would inherit the farm someday. He was sent to agricultural college. After his sophomore year he switched his major to literature. He didn't tell his parents because he was afraid they would be disappointed. At his graduation ceremony they were very disappointed but tried to hide it as best they could. He went on to get to get higher degrees. Eventually he got a job as a professor of literature. He meets a girl at a college event and falls in love based on her looks. They end up marrying. She turns out to be a very poor spouse. She was less than a wife and more of an enemy. All of his life he is very accepting of the bad luck that falls his way. He does get some petty revenge against a plotting coworker but other than that he leads a very sad life. The book is about a literary hero suffering through a stark life of disappointments with very few real friends.

 

 

Mistletoe

 On our trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and France spring appeared in various stages. In the Netherlands the forsythia was in bloom and the trees were barely beginning to leaf out. Twas the same in Belgium. In Paris the trees were halfway leafed out and the lilacs were in bloom. I stopped to smell every lilac I could reach in Paris. In Normandy the forsythia was back in bloom and the trees were beginning to leaf out. Along the journey we saw trees infested with mistletoe. Some trees had 30 plus globes of mistletoe hanging from their branches. Others had one or two globes. Mistletoe is a parasitic growth. Too much mistletoe can kill a tree. Mistletoe spreads via birds eating the seeds and excreting the seeds on tree branches. One bird likes mistletoe berries so much it is named the Mistle thrush. Once the mistletoe seeds pass through a bird's gut they become very sticky and will adhere to the branches. Normandy has an abundance of mistletoe and exports it during the holiday season. Mistletoe threatens the apple trees that Normandy has in apple orchards. If humans eat the mistletoe berries or drink a tea infused with mistletoe the results can be deadly. The mistletoe we did see was mainly in hedgerows which are rows of hedges with a few trees mixed in between fields. I didn't see any mistletoe in forests nor areas where trees were close together. Years ago I saw mistletoe in Poland but it wasn't nearly as common as in Normandy. As we traveled by bus and train we saw miles and miles of European countryside. Not once did we see a raptor. We saw no eagles, no vultures, no buzzards, no hawks, and no kestrels. We saw several gray herons, lots of gulls and several sparrows. Also, just in case you are wondering where the milk is in a grocery store, don't bother looking in the refrigerated section. You can find cream in the refrigerated section but the shelf stable milk is kept on the shelves.

 

Mistletoe

 

Etretat

We took a train and a local bus to travel from Bayeax to Etretat. Etretat is famous for the tall chalk bluffs and stony beach. We got to the top of this bluff by taking the hop on/hop off mini train. The beach was crowded with people. I can't imagine the crowds in the summer. We watch two motorized boats help sailing students navigate the English channel.

This is a beautiful section of northern France.

Here is the view from the top of the bluff.

Also at the top of the bluff are the Etretat gardens. They had a dozen faces stuck in the bushes. Each section of the gardens had a sensory theme. We heard music.. We heard the word "art" spoken in 30 languages. We left Etretat on a Friday morning. As soon as I awoke I could see the farmer's market setting up in the town square. Besides vegetables and fruit they had flowers, leather goods, striped long sleeved shirts, scarves, scents, shoes, dresses, clothes in every size, food and pastries. I was able to successfully navigate a Americano coffee by myself and come back to our apartment without getting lost.

The author Maurice Leblanche lived in Etretat. We visited his house and saw where he wrote his mystery stories. His famous character is Lupin who was known as the gentleman burglar. For example he stole a necklace from the Queen when he was six. As an adult he returned the necklace and won accolades for finding it for her. The character Lupin has a series on Netflix which I plan to watch once I get home.

 

Mont Saint Michael

Today we took another tour about 45 minutes away via van to Mont Saint Michael. This church, Abby, fortress, former prison is on the coast of the English Channel. We came at low tide. During high tide the structure can be completely surrounded by sea water. We walked up about a thousand steps to get to a balcony. We saw great views of the English Channel and the Normandy countryside.

 

John Steele

On D-Day a paratrooper named John Steele got tangled on the steeple on the church in Sainte-Mere-Eglise. That night there was a fire in the town. The townspeople broke the curfew imposed by the Nazi's to fight the fire. The fire illuminated John Steele so he played dead. He actually survived this ordeal and lived into his 70's in North Carolina. He was awarded the Bronze star for valor and a purple heart. This town has an American Airborne museum that was very interesting.

 

Utah Beach

We also visited Utah beach which had better success on D-Day. The beach is straight and shorter in length than Omaha beach. The hills behind the beach are not as tall.

 

American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer

Next to Omaha beach is the American cemetery. The United States was the only ally that gave the families of service men and women the choice to leave their loved one in France or have their body shipped home. Sixty per cent of families had the bodies shipped home. All the white crosses are made out of marble from Italy which is the whitest marble in the world. The cemetery is very well kept up by the ABMC (American Battle Monuments Commission). Although these are government employees they do not have their salary withheld during government shutdowns. Years ago some veterans came to visit this cemetery and could not get in due to the shutdown. Congress approved a bipartisan bill to prevent that from happening in the future.

 

Omaha Beach

We took a tour with a Normandy World War II outfit. We drove in a van to Omaha Beach. The curved shape of the beach and the cliffs behind it made it more dangerous for Allied troops. Nazi's could shoot guns from either end of the beach and mow down people as they got off the boats. This was a sad place to visit.

 

Bayeux

We traveled by train from Paris to Bayeux. We passed through the countrysides. Lots of the farms have hedge rows to protect the fields from the west winds over the English channel. We saw fields of wheat and flax. Most beautiful of all are the fields of canola (also called rapeseed). Picture the brightest yellow in your box of 64 Crayola crayons. Canola is brighter than that. Once we got off the train we walked through town to our lodging. The lodging was a bit tricky to find. Then we couldn't get the door open. We went to an establishment next door that sold wine, beer, soda, tobacco, and horse racing tickets. We eventually got in and have a really nice place. As we walked around a round about we came upon a garden with three topiary horses with knights mounted on them. This town is famous for a 68 meter tapestry that tells a medieval story. Unfortunately that museum is under renovation. The tapestry won't be available until 2027.

 

 

Versailles

We took the train out of Paris towards Versailles. The palace is a 5 minute walk from the train station. We waited in line with our tickets in hand. We spent a few hours walking through the palace admiring the artwork, the paintings, the sculptures, the wall paper and the furniture. We had lunch there and then proceeded to the gardens.

The gardens are massive and beautiful. We thought about renting a golf cart but the hop on/hop off mini train was more affordable. We stopped at two other palaces on the grounds. One was for Marie Antoinette. There was a lake where you could rent rowboats. Bicycles were available for rent as well.

The trees are trimmed in Versailles.

 

Pere LaChaise Cemetery

Frederic Chopin's grave at the cemetery in Paris.

Jim Morrison's (The Doors) grave.

Louvre

We spent quite a few hours at the Louvre looking at the artwork. This is a Degas painting of ballerinas.

The crowd around the Mona Lisa was most unpleasant.

The inverted pyramid in the foyer of the Louvre.

Saint John the Baptiste

Venus de Milo was purposely carved without arms because arms are prone to breaking off.

 

Montmatre

We had a walking tour of Montmatre. We got there early enough to have breakfast at Cafe Richard's. I had cafe Americano and a croissant sitting on the sidewalk watching the foot traffic, the bike traffic and the vehicle traffic. Later we saw an accident between a bicyclist and a taxi. Both were yelling at each other and the taxi driver started to chase the bicyclist. Our guide said both parties were at fault.

Apartment were once cheap in Montmatre which is why many artists, especially impressionistic artists, lived there. This is where Van Goth lived with his brother. This is a very hilly and unique neighborhood. We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. The waiters were energetic and entertaining.

This is the Basilica du Sacre-Coeur de Montmatre. We waited in line for 30 minutes before we could get inside.

View from the front of the basilica. Statue of St. Michael on the left and Joan of Arc on the right.

A beautiful basilica.

 

 

 

I Love Paris In The Springtime

 We are staying in a Paris apartment. Out the window of our apartment we can see the very tippy top of the Eiffel tower. Our apartment is on the 5th floor. The bathroom appears to be in a broom closet. To flush the toilet you pull a chain on the overhead water tank. To wash your hands you have to walk to the shower room or the kitchen. We share the bathroom and the kitchen with others. The stairs to our aprtment are curving and have those triangle shaped steps as we ascent 88 steps. We walked to the Eiffel tower where we joined a tour which meant we didn't have long to wait in line. We took an elevator to the second floor and learned some history of the tower. From there we continued to the top without our guide. We saw Eiffel's office where they had a replica of Thomas Edison meeting with Alexander Gustave Eiffel. We walked around the top and ate some pistachio macaroons. We saw the landmarks of the places we wanted to visit. On the third floor is a net bridge that you can walk across the opening but we said  no thanks. After our tour of the Eiffel tour we took a boat trip on the Seine and learned more about Paris. For dinner we ate at a sidewalk cafe watching all the people stroll by. One thing I like about Paris is that some men wear classy leather shoes that really look nice. 

Our view from the top of the Eiffel tower.

Our view from the bottom of the Eiffel tower. That blue diagonal line is the mesh bridge you can pay extra to walk across. We passed on that.

War Museums In Bastogne

We went to a smaller museum first where we saw Patton's coat. Bastogne has cement markers around town showing every spot that Patton gave a speech.

The town was bombed on December 25th, 1944. Here is a diorama showing what it was like to be in a bomb shelter on that Christmas night.

Being in a bomb shelter during a raid must have been so frightening.

After lunch we walked a couple of miles to the larger museum. This museum was full of artifacts (helmets, bullets, grenades, uniforms, boots, etc) . But it also had the stories of four people that followed us throughout our tour. The four people included a young German soldier, an American soldier from Arkansas, a 13 year old boy living is Bastogne, and a 25 year old female teacher from a farm outside Bastogne. These were real people and their stories made this museum a hit in my book.

 

Private Tour

Today we had a private WWII tour given by Bob. Bob picked us up at 8:30 a.m. and we didn't get back until 5 p.m. The tour was personalized regarding my uncle. We started at the railway station in Saint Vith. The American forces protected this railway for three days against the Germans which gave time for American forces to join them.

The railway has been removed so now it is a bike path.

Bob has been studying world war two for 19 years.

He gives a great tour. Part of our tour was spent in Germany.

This is the Our river. Getting troops across was important in world war two because it is too deep to ford without a bridge. We think my uncle may have detonated several bridges. He also might have been involved in fixing up some rubber boats and laying wooden boards on top so American forces could get across.

We stopped at another town to visit a church. There was a woman in there mopping floors. Bob and the woman started talking. She was a young girl when the town was bombed. She and her family hid in the church basement for protection. Her father was taken as a prisoner of war by the Americans. When Christmas came they celebrated together. Only her father knew how to play the organ so he played holiday music on the organ for Americans and prisoners of war.

A beautiful red and gold banner, important to the church, was stolen during world war two. Forty years later, the cloth was returned to the church by the son of the man who stole it. The church goers were happy to see it back.

These are knee high or higher sturdy cement structures called dragon's teeth. Germany installed 5K of dragon's teeth to prevent tanks from entering Germany. The teeth are connected under the grass in both directions. They can be removed with dynamite but that gets expensive. The eventual solution was to pour tons of sand on top of them and drive over the sand.

This is an American tank pointed at the medieval town near Bastogne.

We had a fine day with Bob.