Curiosity. That is why this book got all of two stars. I wanted to know what was going to happen, where the plot was going to take us.
Sadly, I never enjoyed it and nearly quit reading often. I like my fiction to be enjoyable or intriguing. This was neither. Even without the political leaning, I don’t think I would have liked it. I didn’t like any of the characters except the snake, I guess.
This author is pretty popular, but I should have known I wouldn’t like this. I read Skinny Dip and found it equally boring. And not as annoying. Nor did I like the narrator, Scott Brick. Another male who made women sound like he despised them.
If you like Mr. Hiaasen’s writing, you might like this. Otherwise, go find something you might not feel you’ve wasted time reading.
Peace. I know. Who thinks of COVID as peaceful? But 2020 gave us a moment of peace. Many embraced this time as a time to grow, introspect. Many learned new skills or strengthened their talents. It all fit into my favorite part of the movie, Groundhog’s Day. What if we were given time to get better? Time to embrace our passions? We had that time and many of us were surprised at what we could do.
The thing is, I’d been thinking that way since ‘fibromyalgia’ took over my life. That’s what the doctor labeled the pain I went through. The pain left no energy and was all inclusive of my life. Yet at times it would disappear. That diagnosis was over 15 years ago.
But it was during that COVID year that I needed a tooth removed. The dentist gave me a round of antibiotics before he’d do the extraction.
On extraction day, I accidentally broke my baby toe. So immediately after having the tooth pulled, I went to Urgent Care. My mask was full of blood. I looked like a sated vampire.
That doctor looked me over. Yep, the toe was broken but outside of a crazy boot, there wasn’t much more to do. But with my temp he decided to put me on another round of antibiotics.
A weird thing happened. Even though my toe hurt, I didn’t hurt all over like I would have before that second round. Any hurt used to became body wide. Like every nerve was feeling the same pain as the stubbed toe. But suddenly the ‘fibro’ had disappeared. I don’t think it was ever that. But maybe a low grade infection had been in me for YEARS maybe decades.
So now I wasn’t working. I was living in a fear that the pain would return. But it didn’t. I was free to pursue my passions and curiosities. All languages, knitting, crocheting, loom-knitting, diamond painting, etc. etc. I was given Groundhog’s Day and pain relief.
That’s why I keep track of all my fun. The bits and pieces of my peace.
In lieu of Finishing Friday I offer this stream:
Haven’t done much in these. I need about two inches before the heel starts.
About the same for my watermelon socks.
See that wad of yarn vomit? Yeah. That’s how much I had to tink back. I was well into the heel when I noticed a big mistake. Hopefully, I can get back the lost bits soon. Once I start the heel, I pretty much stay with the one pair. See, once the heel is done, there’s only a couple inches of ankle bits. Then I finish each sock on it’s own set of needles. It makes the castoff easier that way.I don’t know if I shared but this ponytail holder finished with the beginning of my case of COVID. These little projects were about all the productivity I got done during the fever parts.
My latest ponytail holder.
Somehow I managed to keep at least one lesson a day in Duolingo. And I cheated here on the blog with the slightest post of a funny daily here.
Music and diamond painting had to stop until I started having energy again. I think that was about Wednesday.
Just a piece of sky left to do.
Piano and ukulele started then but I just picked up the violin yesterday. I just barely played Twinkle and that was enough.
Same with the stationary bike. Wednesday I did 12 minutes or around a mile. By Friday I got up to 15 minutes or 2 and a half miles. So energy is returning slowly.
With health I can regain my passions piece by piece. And that gives me peace.
I read this over a week ago. I think it was even before I caught COVID. It was thankfully short as my attention span for the past couple weeks. But I do remember it fondly.
This is a memoir that covers a portion of someone’s life. I appreciated her take of her own life. She seems a strong person with good values. She embraces her family and the lessons learned along the way. She also has a good attitude about being as kind and helpful to others as possible.
Don’t you love Libby, where you can borrow books, even audiobooks? This one was read by the author and her personality shows through.
After starting to read this in Kindle with text-to-speech from Libby, I decided to listen to the Audible version. I prefer the narrator, Alexandra Harris, to the TTS. It was a good read.
It has been a week or so since I finished the read. A little case of COVID got in the way of reviewing reads. Still, I do remember this fondly and look forward to more in the series as I can buy them. In the case of fantasy beings this was a different take. It was fun!
Well, this was fun. As a post-menopausal woman, before pre-menopausal was made popular by Oprah, I remembered my mother in her 60s talking about still getting hot flashes. My friend and I celebrated each other’s accomplishments in womanhood and crone with a talk about power surges. So it was nice years later to see our superpowers claimed and made real as all superhero actions work.
Still, it is nice that our younger sisters are finally getting the strength we were not awarded.
Again, the comic book was fun. But I have a huge problem. I hate cliffhangers! Obviously, this is to be a series. I may or may not fall for the next one.
Let me apologize. I know I’ve been phoning it in all week. I’m much better now. Temps are near normal. Coughing is minimal. I even have had a moment or two of energy. But they are seldom.
I love getting calls from my family and friends but this week my son got off the phone in a couple of minutes. My hoarse voice and constant coughing made conversation impossible. Still, it was nice to hear from him.
Tomorrow will be my week. Friday was Chris’s week. The other guys are Tuesday and Wednesday. It’ll be nice to not sound like a kennel. But better out than in, right?😂
I look forward to being back to normal. Whatever that is.
Fred Trump narrated his book quite well, I must admit. I love biographies now. Since writing my own, I have seen what goes into them. You need to be sensitive to others who shared your history over the years. Fred tried to make as many allowances as he could for slights, perceived or real. He stayed true to his wife and children, writing a book that could make them proud—or at least feel honest.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Books, games, music, and life — filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
Darswords 
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