Book #41 Another Disappointing Read

I don't seem to be picking them very well lately.  This looked very intriguing, and parts were, but I spent a good deal of time thinking about quitting!


Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was sorely disappointed in this meandering book.  I almost had to add it to my "Didn't Finish Reading" shelf, but every so often my interest was well-captured.  The premise is great:  Donovan Hohn heard about the container ship that spilled its contents, included 28,800 bath toys that started to wash up on shores in Alaska, and perhaps in Maine.  He sets out to investigate and winds up on a journey of several years.   He travels to Alaska, and joins in major beach cleanup projects, finding one of the legendary bath toys.  Trying to trace the path of the toys, he goes to China to visit the toy factory from whence the toys came, and he travels on a container ship along the path of the ill-fated ship.  But his quest doesn't stop there.  He continues his quest on several scientific research vessels in the Atlantic, and ends his journey by traveling through the Northwest Passage on a Canadian icebreaker.  He is never able to prove the legend of the "rubber ducks" (actually plastic), but along the way he shares a wealth of scientific research.  He covers ocean currents, ocean pollution, the chemistry of plastic, meteorology, and the formation of Arctic ice.  I got bored in many places in the book, having to go back to re-read or skimming over dense scientific explanation.  It would have been very helpful to include some visual references - maps of the Alaska coastline for example, and a map of the Pacific Gyres.  (I pulled out a science book from school for that).  I think the book would have benefitted from some serious rewriting.  I found the book most interesting during his description of his beachcombing days in Alaska and his trip on the container ship.  I also enjoyed reading about some of the researchers he met, especially Amy Bower, the blind oceanographer.


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Book #41 Another Disappointing Read

I don't seem to be picking them very well lately.  This looked very intriguing, and parts were, but I spent a good deal of time thinking about quitting!


Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was sorely disappointed in this meandering book.  I almost had to add it to my "Didn't Finish Reading" shelf, but every so often my interest was well-captured.  The premise is great:  Donovan Hohn heard about the container ship that spilled its contents, included 28,800 bath toys that started to wash up on shores in Alaska, and perhaps in Maine.  He sets out to investigate and winds up on a journey of several years.   He travels to Alaska, and joins in major beach cleanup projects, finding one of the legendary bath toys.  Trying to trace the path of the toys, he goes to China to visit the toy factory from whence the toys came, and he travels on a container ship along the path of the ill-fated ship.  But his quest doesn't stop there.  He continues his quest on several scientific research vessels in the Atlantic, and ends his journey by traveling through the Northwest Passage on a Canadian icebreaker.  He is never able to prove the legend of the "rubber ducks" (actually plastic), but along the way he shares a wealth of scientific research.  He covers ocean currents, ocean pollution, the chemistry of plastic, meteorology, and the formation of Arctic ice.  I got bored in many places in the book, having to go back to re-read or skimming over dense scientific explanation.  It would have been very helpful to include some visual references - maps of the Alaska coastline for example, and a map of the Pacific Gyres.  (I pulled out a science book from school for that).  I think the book would have benefitted from some serious rewriting.  I found the book most interesting during his description of his beachcombing days in Alaska and his trip on the container ship.  I also enjoyed reading about some of the researchers he met, especially Amy Bower, the blind oceanographer.


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A Disappointing Read

Love Mercy by Earlene Fowler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This first book of a new Earlene Fowler series was disappointing.  I really wanted to like it more.   Love Mercy Johnson is still getting over the death of her husband.  She is part owner of a local diner in fictitious Morro Bay, and she has a wide circle of friends, including Benni Harper.  One of her granddaughters arrives on her doorstep with a stolen banjo and a tale of woe.  There is no mystery involved, just a gentle and very cliched story of family and friends helping each other get by.  I found the character development forced and I got tired of reading all the background.  I also thought the book was way too preachy.  I don't mind Christian-themed literature, but I felt that I was being beaten over the head with it.  I'd much rather a more subtle approach.  Will I read the next books in the series?  Maybe, if my library buys them.  I won't pay for them -- I didn't think it was worth the download price on my Kindle.


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Is it Thursday?

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoy Jasper Fforde, and this book was no exception. My only difficulty with it was that I evidently missed book #5, so I it took me a bit to get up to speed.   This book is set primarily in BookWorld where a Genre War is brewing.  Thursday Next, the writtenversion is the heroine of the hour when she is asked by Jurisfiction to investigate a book disintegration, and to determine where the RealWorld Thursday Next has gone.  Along the way she acquires Sprockett, a robot-butler, and runs afoul of the Men in Plaid.  She's given the opportunity to travel to RealWorld where she meets the man of her dreams, Thursday's husband Landen, but just as her fondest wish is about to granted . . . Let's just say her visit with Landen leaves her confused.  Is she the fictional Thursday?  Or is she the real Thursday who only thinks she's fictional?  Or is she the fictional Thursday set up to think she's the real Thursday thinking she's the fictional Thursday?

Jasper Fforde has an incredible imagination and wit.  His love of literature and words is apparent, and a reader must pay attention else a juicy line will be missed!  I will have to back and re-read the first 4 books, and find book #5.  These are definitely a treat not to be missed.


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A Dangerous Idea, Indeed

If you've ever wondered what effect ZERO has on our world, this book will explain!  I finally finished it this week.  Parts of it fascinated me, and I got lost in other parts.  While theoretical math may be engrossing to some, I'm happy to be content with the idea that it exists, but I don't need to worry about it!


Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At a recent teacher-training, the presenter shared the opening of this book as an example of excellent nonfiction writing.  He shared the first few pages and went on to describe the book as an interesting read.  I have to concur.  Charles Seife takes the idea of zero and illustrates how the concept has developed over time.  From a computer snafu that endangered an aircraft carrier, to geometry, physics, and highly abstract mathematics, the idea of zero has had a worldview altering effect.    This book took me a long time to read, several months in fact, because I was reading it during our weekly school-wide silent reading period, but also because the further I got into the book the more I had to re-read in order to understand the progression of ideas.  The first half of the book is fairly straightforward and easy to follow, but once Seife starts discussing higher mathematics, I got lost.  I think I got the general gist, but basically I got lost.  It does make me want to try to understand more about higher math however!


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And Finally . . .

I went with a friend today to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival.  It's about an hour away from where I live, and it's a lovely, small festival at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds.  The festival is usually held on Mother's Day weekend, but was moved this year so as not to conflict with the Maryland Sheep and Wool Show.

It usually rains when this festival is held, but although skies were gray, and rain eventually arrived this evening, our visit to the show was dry.  I forgot to bring my camera which is too bad.  One of my favorite parts of the day was visiting the sheep barn.  One of the youth events was happening, and it was fun to watch 7 year olds lead their sheep into the ring.  The sheep were judged but so were the kids as one of the requirements was that they wear woolen clothing.  My friend and I got to giggling as we visited with the sheep and lambs.  They were so chatty!!  When you're in a barn filled with baa-ing sheep, you can't help but giggle.  At times it sounded like my 7th graders trying to sound like sheep!!

There was a lot fleece for sale, and roving too. Since I'm not a spinner (yet! I think it's in my future, though), I was more interested in the finished yarns.  Two skeins of lovely local yarn followed me home as did a pattern.  Fortunately for my budget I managed to resist 1400 yards of the most beautiful merino I've seen in a long time.  It wasn't that it was even all that expensive, as luxury yarn goes, but I had absolutely no project in mind.  I think I just fall in love with color and texture.  Maybe I should just festoon my home with hanging skeins of yarn???

Anyway, this is what I bought:

100% Super Wash Blue Faced Leicester - fingering weight from a hand-dyer

100% Alpaca Cobweb Lace from Long Ridge Farm

The cobweb lace was part of a kit called Two Rivers Wrap.  The sample was exquisite and I fell in love with it immediately. 

It was a very pleasant excursion, with a very wonderful friend, after an extremely stressful week.  Just what the doctor ordered!!

And I Forgot to Include This Book Review

Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed the first novel in Lisa Kleypas' The Hathaways series.  Amelia Hathaway's brother Leo has suddenly inherited a title and a ramshackle estate.  She is the "caretaker" sibling, trying to keep her older brother and younger sisters together.  Leo is grieving for his dead fiance, running through the estate's money, and finding solace in alcohol, gambling, and opium.  When Amelia goes to rescue her brother from a gambling den, she encounters Cam Rohan.  Sparks fly between them, and continue to fly when several days later, she encounters him as she's exploring the new estate.  This is a entertaining historical romance, reminiscent of Georgette Heyer.  The difference is the inclusion of the  frequent, obligatory sex scenes.  I am sure that had I read this (and most present-day romances) about 30 years ago, I would be reading primarily for those scenes, but quite frankly, I skimmed over them.  I was much more interested in the rest of the story!  I am looking forward to reading the next books in the series.  Pure, escapism!


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Medieval Forensics

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Adelia Aguilar is an anomaly. She has been educated in Salerno and trained as a doctor.  Her specialty is forensics.  It's 1171.  In what is now Cambridge, England, several children have been brutally murdered and the local Jews have been blamed.  Henry II who is dependent on the Jewish bankers, asks the King of Naples to send a medical expert from Salerno's famous university to investigate.  Adelia is the chosen expert.  She travels to England in the company of Simon, and a Saracen eunuch who masquerades as the doctor to protect her.  As the investigation unfolds, Adelia finds support and cooperation from some- a prior returning from pilgrimage who finds great relief from her medical skills, several of the townsfolk whose trust she earns, and she meets hostility from others-  Sir Joscelyn, a Crusader knight, rabble-rouser Roger of Acton.  She is puzzled by others like the tax-collector sent by Henry to sort out debts owed the jailed Jews.


At first, I had a hard time getting into the book, and it took me a long time read (mostly because it was my bedtime reading and I've been so tired, I'd only manage about 15 minutes a night!)  I think I'll read the next one during my daytime reading!


It was a good "process" book, comparable to the forensics shows on TV like Bones or CSI.  The story wasn't the mystery, but the process of unraveling the clues, and the relationships between the various characters.  The premise of a female doctor during medieval times was interesting, though not historically accurate, but I felt that the author captured the atmosphere of the time well.


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Friday Five: Word Associations

As posted at RevGalBlogPals  by  Songbird:


It's been a busy week for me, trying to get back into the routine after a post-Easter vacation. (How did it get to be Easter 3?) So to keep it simple, here's a Word Association Friday Five, with a bonus twist for those feeling creative. First, for each of these five words -- all of which remind me of my *most* excellent vacation -- share the first word that comes to mind when you read it.

1) Airport    -  Logan
2) Baseball  - Autographs
3) Art  -  The Old Man
4) Chocolate  - LIndt
5) Grill  - Summer!


Bonus: Tell us a story that comes to mind based on one of the word pairs.


Baseball and autographs are linked in this way.  When my parents were on their honeymoon, way back in 1953, they were at a hotel having dinner.  My mother, who was a big baseball fan, recognized 2 players from the Cleveland Indians having dinner at a nearby table.  She made my father (who never understood the fascination of baseball) go over and get their autographs.  No one had paper, so the two players signed their names on a paper napkin.  When we were going through my parents' things after both of them had died, we found the paper napkin in an envelope in Mom's cedar chest.  The autographs were still legible.  We actually looked up the players (and for the life of me, I can't remember who they were!).  One name was basically unknown, but the other one had a decent record, and his autograph was actually worth about $40 on Ebay.  We gave the napkin to my cousin who was more like my mom's little brother to her instead of her nephew, who really appreciated it!

Introducing Joe Pickett

Open Season by C.J. Box
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Several people have recommended this series to me, so since they've steered me to some great books, I started with the first book.  I have to admit that I almost abandoned it, but I'm glad I kept on.  The 2nd half of the book grabbed me, and I finally started liking Joe Pickett, the game warden "detective" protagonist of the series.


Pickett is a Wyoming game warden. He and his family are struggling on a small state salary. They inadvertently become involved in a murder  when the victim staggers into their yard in the middle of the night, scaring Sheridan, the oldest daughter.  While the local authorities pass off the murder as the work of an unhinged resident, Joe isn't so sure.  When the possibility that the extinct Miller's weasel isn't extinct arises, tensions heighten.  Joe is not perfect.  He has a reputation for "bonehead" mistakes - arresting the governor for fishing without a license, allowing a miscreant outfitter to take his gun, but he also has a reputation for honesty, sincerity, and loyalty.  He's also a good warden.  Joe's daughter Sheridan, a second-grader, plays a pivotal role in the unraveling of events, and Joe's determination to protect his family gives him the strength he needs to get to the bottom of things.


I knew early on who the "bad guys" were, and the actual mystery was not hard to figure out.  I did really like the main characters, and I also liked the way CJ Box created a sense of place.  I will try the next few books in the series to see if they continue to grab my attention.


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Home Today For A Bit, Anyway.

I have a doctor's appointment today that I had to make right smack in the middle of the day.  That's hard when you're a teacher, at least in my district.  I had to take the whole day off..  You can get a sub for half a day, but that's either from 7:30-11:15or from 11:15-2:12.  When your appointment (and travel time to get to the appointment) overlaps that split, you end up having to take the whole day, unless your planning period is in the right spot.    I am not minding too much.  I've had a chance to get some things accomplished that have been on the back burner for a bit.

I'm blocking my latest project - the Mystery KAL from Laura Nelkin.    Here are some pictures of what turned out to be a beautiful lacy beaded scarf.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I used a bit less than one skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino in Grass. You can see the particulars over at  my Ravelry project page.

I'm also swatching for a new project, catching up on some correspondence, and I even ironed!!  I will be leaving shortly for my appointment, and then who knows what will transpire after that.  

Gentle Delights

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An afternoon spent with Mma Ramotswe is just so refreshing!   I love visiting Gabarone, Zebra Drive, and the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.   The agency has been asked to investigate the mutilation of some cows, Violet Sepotho is running for Parliament, Grace Makutsi is preparing for her nuptials, Charlie has run away when his girlfriend gives birth to twins, and is the ghost of the little white van haunting Mma Ramotswe?  Once again, the gentle wisdom and practical commonsense of Mma Ramotswe rules the day.  I wish there were more books like this.Alexander McCall Smith writes lovingly of Botswana and contrast between tradition and the modern world, and he creates an almost timeless sense of place.  The characters he has created feel like old friends, the ones you can sit and talk with or not talk with for hours.


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Happy Birthday to Me!

Actually, my birthday was yesterday, but I was busy enjoying it!  I'd been feeling a little gloomy about it - not the fact that I'm fast approaching a new decade, but rather that for the past few years, I've ended up feeling disappointed at the end of the day.  I did a Friday Five on birthdays just a week or so ago, and since then I'd been trying to figure out how let some of my negativity go.  I guess I succeeded!  My biggest complaint about my birthday celebrations has been that celebrating a birthday just doesn't mean a lot to my husband.  He was an only child, with few relatives, and his family didn't do anything too special.  He rarely had birthday cake, he didn't get birthday presents, etc. etc. so when he married me, he was in for a bit of a culture shock. As our kids grew up we made big deals of their birthdays, and I always made a big deal of my husband's day.  The kids would cajole their father into making my day a big deal.  Since they've flown the nest,  all of the celebrating energy has to come from me. Don't get me wrong.  I always get a great gift from my husband, but there's none of the hoopla or ritual.  So this year, I decided to embrace the low-key celebration.  I even told my husband not to buy a grocery store cake which is his usual practice -- I don't really like them.  I said I'd wait until the next time we went to a favorite restaurant that serves an amazingly delicious lemony layer cake, and I'd have that for dinner!

So yesterday dawned really early.  I supposed it didn't really dawn --- I was awakened at 3:30 am by a very loud thunderstorm with vivid lightning, and I fell back to sleep just in time for the alarm to go off at 4:45.   I was surprised at school by this gorgeous gift from my sons

My classes were relatively well-behaved for a change, and miracle of miracles, we didn't have the usual Tuesday staff meeting.  I decided to give myself a gift:  I left work at 2:43, one minute past our "contract" time and went home.  I can't remember the last time I pulled out of the parking lot that early.  It's usually 4:30 or later.  When I got home, I decided to bake myself a cake from scratch. I haven't done that in ages.  I also threw a meatloaf in the oven for dinner and we had a very nice meal.  (I know, but homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas is a comfort meal for me!).  I got 2 very nice gifts from my husband - a set of folk CD's I wanted, and really gorgeous heart necklace.  And lots of phone calls from friends and both my sons.  What more could I ask for?  It was one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time.  I

And It's Another Book Review!

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jodi Picoult's new book doesn't stray far from her tried-and-true formula:  Take a current, controversial issue, create a difficult situation, add in some lawyers, some likable characters and some that aren't so likable, and you have voila! That's the premise here.  This time the issue is same-sex marriage.  Zoe and Max have tried for years to have a child via IVF, and when their latest attempt ends in a stillbirth, Max decides he's had enough.  In the aftermath of their divorce, Zoe meets Vanessa and they eventually marry.  Now they want Zoe's frozen embryos.  What makes this book different is the soundtrack that accompanies the book.  A CD with original music is contained in the book with recommendations to listen to specific tracks for each chapter.  I wasn't terribly impressed with this novelty.  I also wasn't impressed with how Picoult how the different points of view were presented. In most of her other books I have found her portrayal of the different sides of an issue much more evenhanded and balanced.  I felt her own beliefs were quite transparent, and unlike her other books, I didn't come away with something to ponder.  It was quite predicatble, even to the "surprise" ending, which also is one of Picoult's trademarks.  All in all, this was not one of her best.


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Hallelujah!

Scandal Takes a Holiday

My holiday was certainly much tamer than Marcus Didius Falco's!  I really love this series.
'Scandal Takes a Holiday by Lindsey Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marcus Didius Falco and family (just about everyone related to him) are in Ostia, Rome's busy port city.  Falco is searching for the missing scribe, Diocles, who happens to write the gossip column for one of Rome's "newspapers."  He of course, eventually finds the missing scribe, but not before encountering Rome's nonexistent pirates, imposter vigiles, and his long-lost Uncle Fluvius.  Along the way, Falco takes a swim in the ocean, is imprisoned in a tomb, and experiences part of the initiation rites of Cybele.  I laughed out loud in spots.  I really appreciate Lindsey Davis' skill in setting the scene, and in the way she keeps her characters true, volume after volume.


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Finally, Some Sun!

It has been a pretty gloomy spring break so far, but today at least has some sunshine.  It's been chilly and gray for most of the week so far.   I haven't really been outside much other than to do errands.    I have instead been watching Netflix (Bones, and Midsomer Murders), knitting, and reading.

Here's the latest book review

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love the Maisie Dobbs series and I looked forward to this newest installment.  Maisie is recruited by the British intelligence to go undercover as a philosophy lecturer at a "peace" college at Cambridge.  It's 1932 and there is a growing fascination with Hitler's rhetoric.  Maisie's brief is to find out whether any of the "peace" activities are damaging to the Crown.  On the home front, Billy's wife is expecting a fourth child, James Compton seems to be less than truthful, and Sandra, a former Compton servant has been arrested for breaking and entering.


One of the appeals of these novels for me has been Maisie's studied, reflective manner.  Another appeal has been the way the author manages to evoke the time period in which the novel is set.  For some reason, this novel seemed to plod much too slowly for me. I kept waiting for the story to happen.  In some ways I felt this book was a place-keeper - something to mark the inexorable march towards war, but not go too far.  Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I read it, and I will continue to read this series, but this particular installment, just didn't wow me.


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And here's my latest knitting, so far

Spring Break #1

Started the day off by sleeping all the way to 6:30!  Doesn't sound like much but I usually pull myself out of bed at 4:45 am so 6:30 feels like the middle of the morning.  Had a leisurely breakfast, read through my emails, and had a second cup of coffee while I played some solitaire.  Then I spent 3 hours on school work - grading papers, mostly, and starting to think about the next social studies unit and ELA novel study.  Soon it was lunch time, and after lunch I settled in for some knitting and Netflix.  I watched 3 episodes of Bones, the last of season three.  Although it wasn't raining, it was very gray and chilly today outside, so I saved my exercise for my 5 pm water aerobics class.  Now I'm waiting for my husband to come in from chatting with a neighbor so we can have dinner.  And then some more knitting, and I can actually stay up tonight and watch Castle in real time!  (Or go to bed and read the newest Jacqueline Winspear novel.)  Decisions, decisions!  Lovely to have that luxury for a few days.

Book Reviews #29 & 30

Though Not Dead by Dana Stabenow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My biggest fear when I got the book was that it was going to be the last of the series.  I am happy to report that there Kate Shugak has more road to travel.  Old Sam Dementieff's death has left a huge hole in Kate's life as well as in the life of the park.  He has left everything to her, including a letter instructing her to find his father.  His death has also sparked a series of attacks on Kate and others. Kate's investigation leads her through her family's past as well as through Alaskan history.  Stabenow uses a double narrative to tell Kate's story and at the same time, Sam's story.   Advances are made in the Kate/Jim story arc also despite the fact that they spend almost the entire story apart.  This was one of the best installments in the series.


Behind the Secret Window by Nelly S. Toll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This memoir recalls the childhood of a young Polish girl.  When the Nazis invade her city, she and her mother are hidden in a Gentile household.  Their secret hiding place is between the walls of a bedroom and a blocked in window.  The story is realistic without overt violence and although it tells of a horrific time, it is appropriate to use in either an upper elementary or middle school classroom.  


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Saturday's Friday Five

One of the facts of life is that most weeks, because of my work schedule,  even if I have time to read the Friday Five, I don't have time to respond to it until the weekend.  Here's my response to yesterday's prompt over at RevGalBlogPals.

April is a month of family birthdays for me: Today is my mother-in-law's 80th birthday and on Sunday my third child's 26th birthday, so I am thinking about birthdays. Easter would have been my mother's 93rd birthday, but she died when she was only 72 years old.

I love to celebrate birthdays, but I know others don't like to as much. My second child doesn't care about birthdays that much.

How about you? What do you think of birthdays?

1. What are your feelings about celebrating birthdays, especially your own?


I've always loved birthdays, especially my own, which will be here in just over a week!  Unfortunately, birthdays were never a big deal in my husband's family, and he's never really gotten into them.  He does get me a present and a card, and in recent years he's managed to bring a cake home from the grocery store, but that's after over 30 years of training!  When my kids were at home, they tried to make a big deal of my birthday.  And my mom always made our birthdays special, even from 1000 miles away.  Since she's been gone, my birthday has had a touch of the bittersweet. I guess nowadays, I look forward to my birthday, knowing that in order for it to be a special day, it's up to me to make it so!  I've decided that this year I am going to make myself a cake, since I really am not fond of our grocery store's cakes.  Oh, and I don't mind getting old.  
2. Do you have any family traditions about birthdays?
Growing up, our birthday was one the day we were queen (or king) of the world.  We got to choose the kind of cake we wanted, the meals we wanted, and always got to go first when we were playing games.  We also got out of our chores for the day.  There were 5 of us kids, so my mom decided early on to stagger big parties.  One year we just had a "family" party, while the next year we could have a "friends" party.  That way she only had 2 or 3 big parties.  Our "friends" party consisted of 5-6 friends coming over to the house for ice cream and cake and games.  When we got older, we sometimes had a slumber party!
The family party consisted of our immediate party, my aunt and uncle, and our cousins who were just a little older than me.  And we got presents from everybody!
I miss the simple "friends" parties though that's basically how I handled my own childrens' parties. We never did EVENT parties,  The biggest events we did for our oldest child who had the dreaded summer birthday was to sometimes opt to take his friends to the state park for a swim party.  
3. Is it easy to remember friends' and family members' birthdays? If so, how do you do it?
Yes and no.  I have no trouble remembering my siblings' birthdays, my aunt and cousins, or my immediate family's birthdays.  I also remember my good friends' special days without trouble.  It's remembering all my nieces and nephews that I have trouble with.  Nothing seems to work for them.  I write the dates on my calendar, I  buy cards ahead of time, etc.  I will start off with remembering a couple of them, and then realize I missed somebody.  Or I remember that his birthday is in 6 weeks, and then remember the date 2 weeks past it.  I am known as the forgetful aunt.4. What was one of your favorite birthdays? (or your unhappiest?)
Some specific birthdays stand out.  The first birthday which stands out is my 6th.  I had had a party planned but my grandmother died just a couple of days before my party.  I remember feeling very disappointed, and I remember how sad my mom was.  I know I was sad that Nanny had died, but more oddly I remember feeling angry that I wasn't allowed to go the funeral home or the funeral.  I finally decided that I wasn't allowed to go because the skeletons that must have lined the walls of the funeral home would have been too scary for me!  Another birthday that stands out is my 16th.  I had wanted a piano and piano lessons for a very long time, but pianos were just too expensive.  My best friend gave me a surprise party and her gift to me was a sterling silver piano charm for my charm bracelet (which were all the rage back when I was 16.)  When I got home from the party, there in the middle of the living room was a spinet piano, and a gift certificate for 6 months of piano lessons.  That was probably the best gift I've ever received!

5. Post anything else you want to share about birthdays, including favorite foods, songs, and/or pictures.
The meal I most often chose for the birthday meal was steak, mashed potatoes, and peas.  I always wanted chocolate cake with white frosting and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  We always played Pin the Tail on the Donkey at my childhood parties, and  my mom always had other good ideas for party games.  We used to play what she called "Guggenheims" when we got a bit older.  She'd give us all a sheet of paper with a table on it.  The columns all had a letter heading it, and the rows all had topics.  She'd set a timer and the goal was to fill in as much of the table as we could with an appropriate item that fit the category.  I think there's a commercial version of the game called Scattergories nowadays.  We also used to play a memory game.  She'd fill a tray with a collection of items, and we'd have a minute to look at it, and then she'd cover it up and we'd have to list as many of the items as we remembered.  Other games included Musical Chairs and Drop the Clothespin the Bottle!


In the picture above, I'm in the 2nd row, 2nd in from the right, between the tall girl (my cousin) and the crouching girl (sister #1). Sister #2 is the youngest girl in the picture.  It's my birthday.  I love the way we dressed up for parties back then. I'm guessing this was probably my 8th birthday.