Okay. I read The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell in one day – not because it was particularly good, however, just because it was somewhat engaging and a fast read. It’s what I call “Mystery-Lite” – somewhat like popcorn or sugar – after eating it, you don’t feel particularly nourished. Empty calories. Apologies if some of you are Lisa Jewell fans. The premise is an interesting one and Jewell is good at writing from the point-of-view of multiple characters, but, in the end, it was fluff.
So, I’m moving on to the Lee Child – Blue Moon. I’ll take that with me to Hartford today.
Speaking of Hartford, the wind chill is in the teens right now. Oh joy.
So, I’m packing up my stuff (even for one night, it’s crazy what I need to pack!) and making lists. The one good thing about this, besides actually being employed, is that today’s driving weather is not snow, ice, fog, or rain, all of which I’ve dealt with during my two previous trips to Hartford. So I’m very grateful for that!
It’s Valentine’s Day and I was able to wish my husband a Happy Valentine’s Day this morning, even though we won’t be together tonight. Don spoke the truth this morning, “Actually, every day is Valentine’s Day here.” He’s right. I have mixed feelings about this day because there’s so much pressure involved. I was single for many years and even though I was happily single and uninvolved by choice, I still felt that pressure to have a Valentine of some sort. And that’s ridiculous. As you know, I tend to avoid what I call Hallmark holidays. Tell your mom you love her every day not just on Mother’s Day. Same for your dad on Father’s Day. Same for your loved ones, your partner, your mate – tell them you love them every day. I can only speak for us, but we say it several times a day, every day.
I’m not going to post tomorrow, as I don’t want to take my laptop for this short visit. And I have to spend the morning tomorrow writing up notes for the actors. I’ll be back home later in the day on Saturday and I’ll post again on Sunday.
Happy Friday.
Safe journey Claudia. Hope all goes well in Hartford and you’re soon home to your cottage and Don!
X Chy
The wind chill here this morning is -6!!
Have a safe trip. I just booked our trip to LA next month and wow, what a pain just booking it and then trying to figure out the details of how we’re going to get to and from the airport, getting a rental car and then there’s all the details of my mom staying here while we’re gone to take care of the cats. This trip better be worth it because I have a massive headache!
I use the same word “fluff” to describe some books I read. I know Danielle Steel is a popular author. I’ve only read two of her books. I breezed through “The Klone” recently. Total fluff. Her style of story telling and subject matter, just doesn’t get it for me. Lee Child or Michael Connelly, I hate to see the book end.
have a safe trip. Look forward to your posts after your trip.
I’m curious – what sort of planner do you use? I am constantly searching for ‘the one’ that will win my heart and allegiance forever! My Franklin Covey planner became cumbersome for my retired lifestyle, but I may need to go back to using it again. I use my phone calendar occasionally but much prefer a written area for notes, comments, lists, reminders, and appointments.
I use Filofax pages in my personal-sized planner, the kind that have two days per page. I also have a larger planner – an A5 size – which I tend to keep at home, but which has a day on one page. I use that one to write in more detail about my schedule, books I’ve read, quotes I want to remember, etc. It’s sort of a planner/journal. I also like the room to write, I don’t do well in a tiny little box on the page! I’ve never used the Franklin Covey inserts, but I know a lot of people love them.
I do much better when I write things down in one space. It’s also a great way for me to remember what days I worked, etc., come tax time. I hope this helps!
Safe travels to Hartford!! I agree in that I can drive in cold. It is the other “stuff” where the difficulty lies. We had wind chills of -22 this morning. The sun is shining, so that really does help in some weird way.
I know what you mean about Lisa Jewell. I read that one a few months ago. I had to look at Amazon to read the blurb to remember it. I just finished The Dutch House on Tuesday. I really did like it. I was on the hold list since around Thanksgiving to get it.
Hope you have a productive time in Hartford and safe travels back home again to Don and MHC!!
Bonjour Claudia,
It seems a long time since I comment on your blog.
I agree with you about Valentine’s day : it is pure commercial business. Nobody needs to tell to someone ‘I love you’ that day … because it was decided by who ? it is the same for all these kind of celebrations. No need to buy red roses (in February ???) growed in desastrous conditions for human and for environment (lot of chemical products are used to grow these roses in Kenya or in Central America). They are laboratory roses as I call them, with no parfume, just chemical scent and they never open. A very lucrative business only for wholesalers. We shouldn’t get into this game (that’s only my point of view,)
Now I wish you a good trip and stay in Hartford (I do not know where is this city)
Bonne journée et bonjour de Paris
You have probably headed out, but thank you anyway for the sweet brief post – good thoughts. After losing too many near and dear, I hand out the ‘love’ words frequently also.
Break a leg to the cast and Merde to you! Safe travels.
Have a safe trip and enjoy reading and working
I love Hallmark holidays and have since I was a teen-this has nothing to do with the facts that we had a little family owned Hallmark store before I became an educator.
The cost of a card is small tonthe jotnit might bring someone-I do agree telling one he/she is lived daily is important. Guess I like the best of both worlds. As to the commercial aspect, I suppose most of what we enjoy is commercial. Movies. Books. Plays. Amusement parks
Be safe
Bravo to you Brenda. I too worked in a Hallmark store in my youth. The wise older owner
taught me that in the leanest of times the simple act of giving a card could mean the world
to the recipient. We are all aware Valentine’s Day is promoted in every retail venue. But is there something intrinsically wrong in promoting love. After all, we promote all sorts of causes in life. and some of them are not very uniting. This Valentine’s Day someone left a message written in the snow outside the window of the
Cleveland Clinic as a Valentine message for a mother fighting cancer. It profoundly touched
the staff at the Clinic.
Is small compared to the joy it brings
My iPhone. Has a mind of its own lol
Have a safe trip back and forth. Keep warm.
Marilyn
No big holiday ‘do’s’ here except to lovingly acknowledge the joy of having each other in our lives. As I said to my husband yesterday, I had wondered if I’d ever have a special someone; I was a really late bloomer on the ‘love’ front and didn’t even date in high school. At one point, it seemed like everyone (my age) I knew was married, having kids, in a ‘regular’ house…and I was still bumping and stumbling around in my myriad of small apartments, job to job, alone and well into my 30s; somewhat uncomfortably rootless although I still always had my parents I could visit, in the one place and the one home they’d always lived in since the 50s (it was somewhere safe and normal, stable and supportive when the rest of my life could seem topsy-turvy; a comforting destination where I still ‘belonged’, and I’m so grateful I was welcome; my folks were generous people; they always provided a safety net for me). Unlike you, I often was NOT happily single and uninvolved by choice; I wanted involvement, with the right guy, but I just couldn’t find him. I thought I’d found him in my early 20s but, after six off-on years, it ultimately didn’t work out and I couldn’t get over him, so it affected my future relationships because every guy got compared to him (which of course was destructive and made it impossible for a new, healthy relationship). With age, you can look back at things and be shaking your head over the behaviors; a lot of wasted time.
To the day/today, though … Mom loved her callas, and her lily plants in the yard have survived for 60 years; I have no idea how, as I don’t even water them. They obviously like where they’re planted, facing north; up against the house; they clearly love SoCalif weather; faithfully bloom every single year (can count on them for Easter!); so, they’re not only OLD plants, they are unbelievably vigorous. This morning, we took an armload of them to the cemetery and put them at Mom & Dad’s resting place (my parents are buried together, in the same grave, and share one flower can). The two of them were sweethearts from the age of 16 til their deaths in their 80s. I figured they needed a Happy Valentine’s Day remembrance.
The lilies are so milky/creamy-white and velvety; they looked very pretty today on the green lawn of the cemetery, a matching white-flowering dogwood towering above the plot, sun shining through the branches, beautiful blue sky above and a nice 71-degree day; just wish the wind wasn’t as brisk but, sigh, we almost ALWAYS have wind where I live…yet how can I knock the wind, when it’s blowing those tiny white dogwood blossoms, carpeting the ground with a white ‘snow’ that’s not cold and wet like yours in the northeast (I’m very glad you’re not driving in snow today and tomorrow, Claudia; what a relief for you!).
Safe travels, Claudia. I hope all goes well in Hartford!
My husband can’t keep a secret – he always signals his thoughts well in advance. So I watch as he announces an annual necessary trip to the hardware store (or auto store, etc) and returns with a giant bouquet of tulips and that goofy look on his face that gets me every time. C’est l’amour.
Speaking of love and commitment, I am have been inspired to follow the example of the great (…”and a child shall lead them”) Greta Thunberg, and stand outside the local Federal Courthouse once a week with a sign that reads “Justice for All.” She has accomplished so much beginning with her weekly vigil. I am in my 70s, surely I can do at least that much.