Sunday Salon, Nov. 8

At the end of the Trail of Tears

Weather: overcast and rainy. This week the thermometer registered temperatures in the mid 30s one night. The storm of lat weekend had it snowing on the mountain passes. It is getting cold.

Today: I attend the memorial service for my second friend/colleague who died a week and a half ago. This service will be held in the school gym. I hope there is a good turn out.

Home from Oklahoma: Don was gone for the past five weekdays to a conference in Oklahoma. He got home just time as Carly and I were putting together some homemade pizza. I am so spoiled by Don. He always gets up in the morning and makes coffee and potties the dog so I can just get ready to go to work in peace.  When he is gone I have to scurry around to do these other tasks and always end up arriving late or harried. I am glad he is home!

Fair Trade Market: Yesterday I attended a fair trade market at my church hosted by two friends who have started a little business to sell fairly traded products. I think they were doing really well. I saw a lot of people shopping for gifts and food products. I bought a bunch of stuff for Christmas presents again this year.

Books read this past week:

• I Crawled Through It by A.S.King---a YA book written in a surrealistic style. It is really strange but has literary merit so I am adding it to our Mock Printz list of books at school. Review pending.
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness---another YA novel. I listened to audio version of the book. It is set in Western Washington and could be described as half realism/half paranormal. Click on the hyperlink to read the review.
• The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, and Four Patient's Lives by Theresa Brown, RN.---I read this nonfiction book for Nonfiction November and really liked it. I just raced right through it. Check out my short review. 

Currently reading:

• The Emperor of Any Place by Tim Wynne-Jones---I just started this book yesterday. I think it is historical fiction set during WWII and has something to do with Emperor of Japan. how's that for reading a book I know nothing about?
• The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow---an audiobook and a fantasy story. Progress: 12%.
• Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War---another audiobook, nonfiction. Progress: 20%

There is an hilarious pileup of audiobooks available NOW on my library account:  (This is a problem that happens once in a while where everything arrives in my account at the same time. It is pretty challenging to listen to more than one audiobook at a time, for obvious reasons.)

• The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow (I've started it. CD set)
• Most Dangerous by Steve Sheinkin (On my Overdrive account on my iPod. I've started it.)
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen (CD set waiting for me at the library)
• Dead Wake by Erik Larson (Waiting to be borrowed on my overdrive account)
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (CD set already borrowed but needs to be renewed from library.)
• Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead---a CD set just arrived in the mail. I paid for this one and own it, so it is going to the bottom of the pile and I will get to it when I am finished with the others.

The Piano Guys have a new video! This is Your Fight Song!