I’ve been enjoying my time on Texada – sewing, reading, and knitting – but it hasn’t been all play time.
We have cut and stacked almost two cords of wood that came from the trees we recently had cut down on the property. A few of them looked not-all-that-stable and Pat was afraid they would come down in a storm. We had an arborist come by to look at them and he came back to take down a few of the ones that weren’t in good health. We can’t use the wood for at least a year.
Some of the logs were really big!
I think we have enough wood to get us through the winter but a bit of it still has to be split and stacked – work for another day.
I heard about this book through listening to Eleanor Wachtel interview the author for Writers & Company. Although I enjoyed the book it wasn’t as good as I expected based on the interview.
Everything she said in the interview was quite correct as far as the book was concerned; she spoke a lot about terror and I can’t say I was terrorized. All of her characters are over 60 and that was meant to be one of the themes of the book. There are two sets of siblings and neither of their relationships is easy. Both sets are struggling to come to terms with their past and their parents.
The book is well written (I’m sure very literary) but it wasn’t the psychological thriller I expected.
Kathryn told me about this book. She said she couldn’t put it down and I had the same reaction.
It is easily read but the subject matter is disturbing, although not too graphic. The memoir deals with a young woman caught up in human trafficking. She was recruited to come to Canada as a babysitter but instead was forced into the sex trade. She managed to escape after many harrowing experiences and now works to help others caught in similar circumstances.
The co-auther of the book has also lived through difficult circumstances and I’ve ordered her book from the library.
Is there something wrong with me that I’m fascinated by these horrendous stories?
I spent most of the morning working on Hall stuff for my meeting tonight. My thought was that now that since I had passed the Secretarial duties on to someone else I wouldn’t have much prep work to do; I guess that won’t happen until the next meeting. Last year I worked on and distributed a procedures manual for the new Board members; today I updated the information and printed out copies not only for the new Board members but also for the “old” ones. Some of the information had changed and it seemed easier to print out new copies for everyone rather than figure out which pages had changed. I’m not convinced anyone reads them but they can’t say I didn’t try.
We had another squirrel whale moment at lunch when we were talking to Kathryn. Two humpbacks were swimming down the Salish Sea and doing a lot of pectoral slaps as they moved through; it was quite something to see. We’ll finish our conversation with Kathryn another day!
A couple of weeks ago I finished my first Hardanger lesson. I purchased a series of five lessons when we were in Victoria for Christmas. I started the first lesson the last time I was on Texada but finished it at home. When it was done I pressed it and attached it to the back of my door so I could admire it when I came into and left my sewing room.
The other day when I was cleaning up I took a break and stopped to admire my work because on this trip to Texada I’ll be starting lesson two. Much to my chagrin I noticed something asymmetrical about the piece. It was then I realized I had only done some of the cross stitching in the margin and not all of it.
Lesson One (No cutting involved)
I pulled it off the door today to pack in my bin but decided since it was a small amount I would get it done. Fortunately it was cross stitch and not any of the other “fancy” stitches or I might not have finished.
