A little too dog soppy but great all the same

The Dog Went Over the Mountain
by Peter Zheutlin

Seeing its less than stellar ratings, I'd decided not to put this book on my to-read list. But then I picked it up on the library's "new books" shelf on a days when I'd failed to find any of the other books I was there for. That was an unusual experience--to go in the library for three books that the library's tracking system said were "in" but to find none of them on the shelves. Occasionally this can be expected, but three at once? I don't think so--Murphy was out to get me that day.

So I had low expectations and it was a pleasure to have them contradicted. This was a delight! it could have been deeper, more soul-searching; the journey could have lasted a little longer--six weeks to circle the whole of the continental United States?  He could have repeated himself a little less frequently. But he set out...

to share a lighthearted, heartfelt, and dog-friendly tour of America and, in the process, remind us what remains wonderful and grand and good about it, even as it seems the country is coming apart at the seams.

And that's what he did. I wonder if it's possible that some of the negativity came from peoples' fear?  He does nothing to hide his honest dismay at the hateful politics going on in the country right now (it was published in 2019)?  Or, more likely, from highly religious people who didn't like the way he described driving through the South? He turns on the radio and flips channels one day, switching from a strident woman screeching that "if you don't believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, you cannot be a Christian," to a host proclaiming the joy of sharing his faith, to a man telling Christians to befriend Muslims in their community, but only so they could proselytize to them, to a man speaking of how one must suffer for the faith. He turns off the radio then.

Faith, it seems, allows for no dissent and no deviations from someone else's idea of absolute truth with a capital "T." If what they are pushing was so wonderful, why does it need such a hard sell?"...it was all very oppressive.

I can imagine a person of this faith closing the book right then. I persevered and was rewarded. He makes it to Woody Guthrie's hometown, to Steinbeck's land of broken dreams. And on the way he hears a few stories and sees a few awesome sights. It's not Blue Highways; it's not Travels with Charley and he makes no pretentions that it will be. It's just a good, solid trip report, and I liked it.

My kind of a thriller (not a thriller)

Careful what you wish for
by Hallie Ephron

I chose this mystery/thriller only because Hallie Ephron is a member of the Jungle Red Writers, a group of mystery novelists with a blog that I adore. I might have seen a blurb for it on there--they promote their own works as well as other writers', both up-and-coming ones and established ones.

Knowing it wasn't my usual cup of tea, I checked the story line carefully. The lead character was a former schoolteacher turned professional organizer, ala Marie Kondo. Between clients, she spent her time making and posting slideshows of her own clean-up process: starting with a shot of her sock drawer, she'd proceed to a photo of the socks on the floor, then each pair one by one on the bed, then the empty space where it was discarded or it living happily (neatly rolled and standing on end)  in its new, tidy home.

(I might have changed the details above a tiny bit but you get the idea.)
She's married to a obsessive collector of junk but wouldn't dare to touch any of it--that's one of the rules of tidying up: only your own stuff. Luckily, she doesn't need to--her new client needs help in clearing out her deceased husband's storage shed.

Since I've Kondo'ed my closet myself, I found the idea intriguing. I picked up the book at the library along with a memoir about traveling with a dog, and when the time came to decide which to start I was of course going to choose "dog" over "thriller"...but I decided to make myself read the first chapter of the thriller before making the decision. I did--and I never stopped.

It started off great and stayed that way. Not too violent and not too scary but action-driven all the way. And the heroine shows some serious lady guts at the end.

(I wanted to use the word "balls", but that's silly--why do I have to describe a tough woman as "having balls"? Who wants 'em or needs 'em? "lady guts" was the best I could come up with. What should I call a strong woman? Mark Twain said, "full of sand" but I don't think many people would understand the reference.

Too comfortable for me today

Murder Lo Mein
by Vivien Chien

After reading this and before writing this review, I started reading another murder mystery. This one suffered greatly by comparison and I'm sorry.

It's very much a "cozy" and although the characters have an interesting ethnic identity, Ms. Chien didn't do much with it. The lead character flares up a little when an old enemy harps on her for not being "Chinese enough." There are mentions of mother-daughter tensions, but they're all happily resolved. And there are various other interesting issues which I can't detail because they give away plot elements. But they, too, turn out all peaches and cream.

There are times when you need a good cozy under the quilts--if so, this is it. But don't expect any cold to creep through the cracks. And while it is lightly humorous, it's never snort-your-coffee funny.

Not my fave, but good writing

I'm sorry to say I didn't love this as much as Garlic and Sapphires. But a memoir speaks about things that are important to the writer, and some of the names and events that she finds important weren't that exciting to me. Other readers might feel differently, especially if they ever read the magazine (Gourmet) or knew anything about the people involved.

Still, I enjoyed it. it's honest and never forced, with great writing as I expect from her. And her trip to France on a shoestring (for a magazine article) was a delight. "Worth the price of the book" as Jennifer Reece would say.

Griping about recipes

Last weekend, wanting to get rid of the spaghetti squash from the CSA box, I made Sesame Spaghetti Squash Noodles. Results? Absolutely totally yuuck.



The idea sounded good--but only because I didn't think it through. Just like homeopathic "medicine", homeopathic cooking is Bunk with a capital 'B'.  You'll find a thousand recipes out there, saying: "Put spaghetti sauce on squash noodles to make a delicious and low-calorie main course."

No such thing. Tomato-based sauce on squash is hideous; most likely a cream sauce is too. But when I found a recipe that used sesame oil and soy sauce, I thought it was worth a try. I was fooled--some idiot was simply trying to substitute squash for rice noodles or ramen, and they failed royally. IMHO, the only good use for spaghetti squash is pig feed.

But I also made Veggie Sausage Sweet Potato Hash and it turned out surprisingly good. I have found another way to get rid of sweet potatoes!  Not that I'll need it; now that I'm quitting the CSA I won't have all those excess sweet potatoes any more. Unless I take a wild hair and grow my own.

After eating the hideous squash for lunch all week, this weekend I was determined to do better. I made my old standby "2nd Avenue Korma" and I tried a Vegan Japanese Soup recipe from norecipes.com. Here's the soup:




My immediate reaction was, I must have screwed up! There's no way in fishballs that a real Japanese Soup would contain so many vegetables for so little liquid. But according to his notes, it's based on a Buddhist monastery recipe and it's supposed to be "stew-ish" like that. So I'll just enjoy and not be all critical about it.

Traveling with all kinds of baggage..just not physical

by Warren Talbot and Betsey Talbot

I hadn't expected this to be about the luggage, but it sort-of was. Not the physical things they carried around on their world travels, but rather, the emotional ones. Although sometimes it was a little about the physical ones, like disconnecting from the cell phone and learning to live with the wind and stars. But more often it was how to deal with the expectations they had for each other...and themselves.

One significant chapter describes their attempt at role reversal. He was a habitual take-charger: a planner, organizer, and decision maker. She tended to hang back, follow, and worry the details. So they deliberately tried a month on/month off experiment: for one month she did the planning and leading, for the next he did it, and so on.

It was a game changer. She describes, "these daily decisions were mind-boggling." and eventually, "I began to appreciate the role Warren had been playing all along." It wasn't smooth nor seamless, and she doesn't pretend so, but it was an eye-opener to read.

Made me think hard about the habitual roles my husband and I fall into, and it just might for other readers as well. For example: usually I decide where to go and how to get there; he figures out the details of gas, water tanks (we have an RV), and propane.  Sometimes we carry this division of responsibility too far, like the time we were near San Antonio and I decided I was tired of driving around and wanted to skip the planned morning of breakfast and shopping downtown. But when I announced this, I could tell he was disappointed.So for once we did what he wanted to, and it was great.

So as to this book, it's delightfully honest, fun, and it taught me some stuff. Five stars!

Leaving Lake Livingston

                                   “Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” 
                                                                                                       ― Roman Payne

The skies did not clear up overnight and the wind was still blowing. We drank coffee in the shelter of Mammoth's Mass and watched clouds of chickadees, titmice, and yellow-rumped warblers chitter by. Then, after a quick breakfast, it was time to start packing up to leave.

There should have been no reason to rush--we had all day and no commitments to meet--but we were facing the Deadline of Dallas Disfunction--five o'clock rush hour traffic. The trip would take about four and one-half hours and there was no good detour around that sprawling mass of morons between Lake Livingston and McKinney, Texas. We wanted to be through Dallas by four p.m.

Zack waited patiently. I think he knew.


Ed undertook the novel task of dumping our black water tank. We'd been doing that at home using a pump and a hose that led into our septic system rather than wasting an hour at the park dump stations, but this time we had full hookups. First time for us! The procedure was relatively painless but probably not worth paying a premium price for.  (At this campground loop most of the sites were full hookup)  I can see, however, that if we were going to be taking an extended trip with many stops it would be worthwhile choosing a full hookup site every four or five days.  I'll need to remember that--it's a whole lot better than waiting in line at a dump station.

The sun was beginning to peek out when we pulled out at about 10:50; we arrived home at about 3:30. I didn't make exact notes. Coming into Dallas, my phone offered to reroute us on account of a six-minute delay on I-30 eastbound. I cancelled the option, thinking that six minutes didn't sound all that serious, but then later I passed one of those illuminated warning signs that said I-30 Eastbound had three left lanes closed. That did sound serious.

So we stayed on 635 all the way around to the High Five exchange with 75, and it wasn't bad at all.  That let us avoid getting off 190 at 75 in southern Plano, which is regularly  backed up. Maybe stick with this route in future.

So to sum up--good trip; so-so lake; lack of birdage. I never did get to confirm the American Pipits at water's edge.  All I saw was: Forster's Tern, Cormorant sp., gull sp., Carolina Chickadee, tufted Titmouse, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, American White Pelican, Bald Eagle, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Black Vulture.


NOTES:
1. On travel day, check out road conditions close to home. We must have wasted an hour dealing with road construction within ten miles of the house.
2. When you see a new bird, if at all possible make sure you've got the best ID you can make before leaving the site. This is the second time I've planned to go back for a bird another day, only to find it missing in place.
3. People in southeast Texas talk funny.
4. Check out all day trip "places to go" carefully beforehand and make sure the reviews are current.
5. On AN extended trip with many stops it would be worthwhile choosing a full hookup site every four or five days.
6. Retire from work so you can do more camping on weekdays. It's quieter and the good sites are free.
7. Also, when you arrive at a campground in the off season and you have a reservation for a not-so-good site, see if they've had any cancellations. Just in case!