Pat's (phebj's) Idaho Reading Life--page 1

Welcome visitors! I’m going to continue starting my threads this year with pictures of notable places in Idaho. First up is Sun Valley, Idaho--the first destination winter resort. It was created by Averell Harriman in the 1930s to encourage tourists to travel out West on his Union Pacific Railroad. Ernest Hemingway was one of many celebrities who were given free room and board at the Sun Valley Lodge to help promote the resort. Sun Valley is only about a three hour drive from Boise but it seems like it’s its own little world up there separate and apart from the rest of Idaho. Partly that’s because most of its residents are pretty well off. As an example, they have a writer’s conference there every summer with a spectacular array of world class authors in attendance but so far I haven’t been able to justify the cost--about $900 just for the conference! In any event, it’s a beautiful place all year round and well worth a visit. This is a picture of the Roundhouse Lodge on top of Bald Mountain (known as “Baldy”):

And here’s a picture of Ernest tapping out the words to For Whom the Bell Tolls on the deck of his suite at the Sun Valley Lodge. The book is about an American fighting in the Spanish Civil War and he said the scenery in Sun Valley reminded him of Spain.

Hemingway loved his introduction to Idaho so much he spent most of the rest of his summers here. One of my favorite places in Sun Valley is the memorial to him. Here’s a picture of it:

and here’s a close up of the inscription which I love. It’s actually something Hemingway wrote about a friend of his who passed away in 1939 but it was also true of Hemingway himself:

Currently reading:

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light by David Downie

Books read in 2014:

1. Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller
2. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
3. To Dare Mighty Things: The Life of Theodore Roosevelt by Doreen Rappaport
4. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
5. Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner

Hi Pat, hope I'm not too soon.

Not at all! I'm thrilled you found me. :-)

Welcome back! Nice place...

Thanks, Jim!

Hi Pat! You make a great ambassador for your state. Those photos are gorgeous!

Hi, Pat! Love the photos and the info that you always provide.

Looking forward to my visits to Idaho via your thread. I've only been once to the state.

Can't wait to see photos of your new house as it's being built.

I'm going to try to do better at keeping up with the group this year, so I'm glad to see you back.

Amazing pictures- thanks for sharing.

Pat - I have to say in all fairness that Idaho looks delightful from your photos but perhaps Hemingway is not the tourist board's greatest selling point. Didn't he develop depression and commit suicide in Idaho?

I look forward to keep up with your big hearted self in 2014.

Hi Pat!

Fabulous photos, Pat! The Idaho Visitor's Bureau should pay you a commission for posting them.

Hi Pat! I love your Idaho pictures.

Beautiful new thread, Pat. I enjoyed the tip of the hat to Hemingway, I can never read enough about him.
Hope all goes well at the bank today!

Hi Pat! Thanks for sharing a piece of beautiful Idaho with us!

Hi Pat, love the Idaho photos and education on your thread. I hope to follow a bit more faithfully this year.

Beautiful, beautiful, Pat! I've connected with many of my Idaho relatives this year via Facebook, and I would love to go back. Sadly, I don't think the family hometown (Jerome) will make your list of Idaho's most beautiful... I did love Boise, though. The last time we were there we drove home through Idaho Falls and up through Swan Valley, which was some of the prettiest country I had ever seen.

Cheers to you!

Hi Pat- Congrats on the 2014 thread! Hope to see you around more in the new year, once things have settled with your home. And I am looking forward to meeting you at the Great Portland Meet-up. Yah!

Love the Sun Valley photos. I've passed through Idaho a couple times but have never had a chance to really visit it. I really do love the great outdoors.

Thanks for all the love for the Idaho pictures Carrie, Mamie, Lori, Suz, Paul, Darryl, Cushla, Lynda, Amy, Ardene, Anne, and Mark!

And thanks for stopping by Deborah and Diana. :-)

Paul you are right about Hemingway committing suicide in Idaho but his problems with depression plagued him most of his life. My understanding is that his lifestyle of hard drinking and risky adventures, which led to many physical injuries, finally caught up with him as he aged. Combined with his history of depression, it proved to be too much for him. Sadly, a series of electro-convulsive treatments that he received at the Mayo Clinic in early 1961 left him unable to write and that was the last straw. Writing had always been his salvation and without it, he didn't want to live. I think there was a total of 5 people in his family that committed suicide.

Anne we've never been to the Swan Valley but it's on our list of places we want to visit. We have a photograph of the Swan Valley over our fireplace and I love looking at it.

I never knew that about Hemingway, Pat. Very interesting. And what a view! Just stunning. I have a friend whose husband accepted a job in Boise a few years ago and she was devastated. Did not want to move that far away. They were both only a few years away from retirement. Sobbed for days on end. Then she moved and of course she absolutely loves it there. Never wants to move. Haha.

Pat - I know it wasn't Idaho that killed Hemingway, my dear, I was just pulling your leg. I have to say it does look like one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Perhaps if the place had not been unfortunately named Ketchup?!

Hi Pat - I've found you over here and look forward to more pretty pictures of Idaho and to following the progress on your new house! And books. Also books...

>26 PaulCranswick: Paul, you are terrible! *makes stern teacher face*. LOL!

Bonnie I think your friend landed in the perfect place as she approaches retirement. In one of our Osher classes, the teacher asked how many people had been born in Idaho and only 3 (out of about 50) people raised their hands (my husband was one of them). So many people have moved here from other places and many of them do so when they retire because it's so easy to live here.

Hi Paul! I did know you were kidding but couldn't let it go on the oft chance I might have a visitor who didn't know you (although I realize that is unlikely). ;-)

Actually, suicide is a very fraught subject in Idaho since we were rated the 6th highest in the country in terms of suicide in 2010. We're part of what's referred to as "suicide alley" (Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico). These are all rural states with limited mental health care services, access to firearms, and a rugged, individualistic culture that doesn't lend itself to seeking help. Most suicides here are accomplished with guns. (New York, which has very strict gun laws, ranked 50th in the country in suicide rates.) The recession also didn't help with the cut backs in services. Idaho has been trying to bring more attention to this issue with a lot of commercials and news stories so it's been very much in the forefront in the last couple of years.

Hi Katie. Hmmm. . . books? I did finally finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I can't figure out what I think of it though so haven't said anything about it. I did like it but I'm not sure how much and I feel like I need to go back and re-read a crucial scene in the beginning and then re-read the last chapter to see if I buy what the author was trying to get at. I was taken by surprise by how Tartt tried to wrap everything up at the end. I think it would make a great book for a discussion group but it's hard to say too much here without risking spoilers.

I'm also about 100 pages in to Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller which I first read about in either an NPR or Barnes & Noble newsletter. It's about an 82 year old former Marine who served in Korea who has recently moved from NY to Norway to live with his granddaughter. He witnesses a crime which causes him to flee with a young boy. He's starting to show signs of dementia and suffers from the long ago emotional trauma of pushing his son to serve in Vietnam where he was killed in action. Where I am now in the book, he's stolen a boat and is headed south with the boy along the Norwegian coast but in his mind he's in Vietnam and/or Korea. So far this is all holding together and at times it's also very funny. A very unusual book which I'm enjoying.

Thanks Anne! I can let the Ketchup comment go now. ;-)

Now Pat that does actually surprise me a lot in all seriousness. We get the view that rural communities are an idyll and the enormous benefits of wide open spaces are lauded everywhere. Is there an absence of good book stores in Idaho?

Yes, unfortunately, there is an absence of good book stores here, Paul. I keep meeting people who lament the closing of a downtown independent bookstore in Boise that apparently was fantastic. It closed just before we moved out here. There is a small independent that replaced it and, of course, Barnes & Noble and a few used bookstores but nothing that would attract a Booktopia meeting. As a result, I buy most of my books from Amazon.

Happy New Year Pat! Hope you have a great 2014!

aha!! Here you are :) Happy New Thread, Year and etc :)

Echoing the love for the Idaho pictures. Just need to take a few of my own someday!

Enjoy building your new home in that beautiful state. Have a happy 2014!

Happy 2014 to you too--Chelle, Kath, and Claudia! I'm sharing a glass of wine with my husband and we're toasting the fact that we finally broke ground on our new home! I'm not in any shape to try to post pictures but hopefully I can figure it out sooner rather than later in the new year.

Dear Pat, I wish you a happy, smooth, productive, satisfying 2014 --- and .....

Peggy! Thanks for stopping by and for the new year's good wishes. Do you have a 2014 thread yet? I've been looking for it.

Dear Pat, thank you for sharing part of your beautiful world with the group.

Have a wonderful 2014 and please excuse some of my crasser attempts at humour on the occasions they mis-fire. xx

Happy New Year Pat! Wishing you plenty of good health and of course loads of great reading. I'll try to drop by more often this year. xx

Happy New Year Pat! Hope you have a great 2014.

Happy New Year, Pat. You are a great Idaho ambassador.

I dropped by to wish you a happy new year and got drawn into Idaho...

Paul, Ilana, Rhian, Beth, and Katherine--Happy New Year to you guys too!

Well, I think I'm finally going to be able to post a picture of our lot because I got it into my LT member gallery right side up. We took it this morning and it was very foggy but it's a shot of the dug up lot with blankets covering where they will start laying the foundation. In the background you can just make out a row of tall trees where the greenbelt and the river are. We closed on Monday and they started that day so good progress to report this week. Sorry it's not a better picture.

What wonderful pictures of notable places of your home state!

Very exciting, Pat. Look forward to following the progress. Happy New Year!

43: So exciting to watch it from the start!

Happy New Year, Pat! Love the photos!

Sandy K

O! It's just beautiful! Nice blue sky - Even the fog is perfect ;-)
Congratulations! Keep us posted... please.

I hear you all had a potato drop in Boise last night, Pat. Way to go!

And great pictures!

Cool. I did not hear about the potato drop... but
my elderly aunt and her friends tied a cookie on a string and dropped it into a glass of milk... ha!

Happy New Year! I love your pictures of Idaho---I am hoping to get there for a camping road trip some summer soon.

Happy New Year, Pat! I love your thread topper. What a gorgeous picture. I've never been to Idaho ... maybe I should consider Sun Valley for my vacation plans.

Hi Lori! Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you like the Idaho pics. :-)

Joe, Katherine, and Claudia--I'm hoping to post a picture a week of the house assuming there's some progress to show. It's so exciting now that we can see something happening. Since it's only a short distance from our current house, we're down there twice a day checking out what's happening.

Happy New Year to you too--Sandy and Rhonda! I love Idaho so there will be many more photos to come. Rhonda I hope you do get to camp in Idaho sometime. I've never done it but it's VERY popular here. So many beautiful places to set up camp.

Roni and Claudia--I was going to let Idaho's first annual Potato Drop go unremarked. It seems kind of silly to me but they got a lot of people to turn out for it. Here's a picture:

Hi Caroline. I think you'd love Sun Valley--lots of great scenery and outdoor activities AND lots of great restaurants!

Hi Pat! I finally found you! I love your pictures of Idaho!

Potato Drop!!! HA!!!

In Pennsylvania, we have pickles, pretzels, potato chips, crayons, chocolate kisses, and of course in Lancaster and York, red and white roses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_dropped_on_New_Year%27s_Eve

Pat - Since my profession is in engineering and construction I look forward with no little interest to watching your new home take shape as the year progresses. What schedule has your contractor given you?

The site looks very atmospheric, is there a hint of the high mountains in the background?

Hi Joanne. So glad you found me!

Hi Richard. Most of my Idaho friends have decided not to mention the Potato Drop to any of their out-of-state friends for fear of embarrassment.

Katherine thanks for that list. I didn't realize that so many cities other than NY were "dropping things". As usual, it looks like Idaho is well behind the curve.

Hi Paul. Our house is supposed to be done by mid-April but we'll see if that happens since we originally were supposed to start about a month ago. We're hoping to meet with the builder next week to review what will happen when. There are no mountains visible behind the trees from our lot (although there are mountains there--the trees block the view of them). However, there are mountains we can see just to the left and if we designed the house correctly, we should be able to see them from the study/sunroom which has wrap around windows. And, if we're really lucky, we may be able to see them from the rest of the windows along the back of the house.

Before I go back to check my starred threads, I am going to pause here for a moment and revel in being all caught up on LT! I know it won't last but it's so nice when it happens.

What???? You're all caught up? How is that possible Pat? I don't know where my thread even is. And I don't know which thread to click on first. Or do you mean you're caught up on your own thread. I'll go with that. Love your home site. It looks like you won't be putting in a basement. Is that right?

Hi Bonnie! Yes, for a moment I was all caught up on my thread and all my starred threads, but that was only by doing a lot of skimming and almost no posting (so you may not consider that really being caught up). If I have to stop and think and post, I'd never be able to catch up. And, you're right, no basements in this part of Idaho--the water table is too high so we just have crawl spaces.

A potato drop? You guys are sure crazy in Boise! LOL.

Looking forward to meeting you in Portland, Pat!

This Portland meet-up sounds epic.

*jealous sigh*

Hey Mark. After reading the link Katherine provided about all the other stuff that cities drop to mark NYE, the potato doesn't sound as crazy as I first thought.

Lisa--thanks for stopping by. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Portland too! Do you have a 2014 thread?

Hi Katie. I can't believe I'm finally going to my first LT meetup. It really brightens my day every time I remember that. :-)

I finally created my 2014 thread on Wednesday. I'm at labfs39's seriously serendipitous reading in 2014 on Club Read.

Pat - Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Hope that your meet-up with the builder goes well. April completion with the weather quite crook sounds a tad ambitious.

Thanks for the link to your thread, Lisa! I will check it out.

Paul I was surprised the builder didn't want to change the completion date in the contract after all the delays we had getting started in December but in the very beginning he told us that he completed houses in 4 to 5 months so we'll see. He said the worst time for them to start building was the spring when building supplies might get wet from the rain. He didn't seem too concerned about cold and snow. My only regret will be if the house is finished in mid-April as planned and we could have moved in and been settled before the May Booktopia in Colorado. I was afraid that wouldn't happen so I didn't register but otherwise I would have loved to go.

Hi and happy House building thread, Pat!
I'm almost as excited as you to see your house go up. I'm sure we'll never build so I'll live vicariously on your thread. Just curious, do you get sunrise/sunsets from any window in your house. When we bought ours that's the last thing I was thinking about and now I wish I had asked. There are some in our neighborhood who have great views but not us :0(

Looking forward to watching your house come into existence - how exciting!

Happy Belated New Years Greetings, Pat. I am trying to catch up with all the threads but it seems to be impossible. One minute I think I have caught up on a person's thread, then I look again and a further 30 messages have been added! Crazy.

I've placed my star here and I'm looking forward to following both your reading and your new house progress. It's going to be an exciting year for you.

Hi Lynda. We won't get any direct sunrise or sunset views from our house. The back, where most of the living areas are, faces northeast. We will see a fair amount of open sky so will probably get some color from the sunrises/sunsets. Ideally we would have loved an east facing backyard but then we would have lost the view of the mountains because of the way the lots were laid out.

Hi Mamie. I really enjoyed following your move to the Pecan Paridisio! I love seeing pictures of your pecan trees every time you or Abby post them. I'm so glad you love your new home so much and I'm looking forward to being in ours soon.

Hi Judy. It will be a very exciting year and I'm so glad we decided to go ahead with building the house. It's a fun project to collaborate on with my husband and I'm so looking forward to seeing the tangible result of all our plans.

Here's another progress shot of our house construction--two cement trucks pouring the foundation--supervised by our dog, Rocky, visible in the lower right corner of the picture.

Your picture isn't showing up for me, Pat!

Is it showing now, Roni?

Yes!

Yay!

The dog looks attentive.

Belated Happy New Year, Pat! Glad to see things starting to move with your new house.

Your photos of Idaho are lovely.

Hi Pat, just dropping by to see what I've missed. How exciting for you getting a house built, congratulations! Is it the first house you've had built from scratch? Rocky seems like he'll keep things in order.

I started on The Goldfinch when it came out (had pre-ordered it from Audible) and couldn't get past the first chapter. I can't fault the book or the author though, because I think on that particular day I was feeling very moody and wanting to read a classic, not a contemporary novel. I'll give it a try some other time, but you're the first person I've seen say they weren't completely taken with it, which I somehow find reassuring, though I couldn't say why since I hardly read enough of it to form any kind of opinion.

>59 phebj: twice, I read that you were going to meet your butler ( instead of builder )

That's a beautiful picture of Sun Valley, Pat. And thanks for reminding me about the Hemingway connection to Idaho. Your new house has started. How exciting for you. Rocky looks like a good foreman. I'm surprised they can pour concrete in cold weather. Surely it is cold in Idaho. Yesterday's high in Springfield, Missouri, was 3 degrees! Brrr. Wish I was back in Colorado where it is warmer. Lol.

How are you liking We are All Completely Beside Ourselves so far? I imagine it would be hard to concentrate on reading with visions of a new house dancing through your head! Good luck on everything. Thanks for including us in the process.

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves?
*scrolling up...* So you are! One of my favorites of 2013.

I've been lurking, but thought I'd better disengage the cloaking device and say, Hello! I'm excited to follow the progress of your house, especially since my husband and I are contemplating building our own in the nearish (?) future.

Looking Good! Love the picture of Rocky "supervising".
As I recall building our addition, breaking ground is one of the exciting events and gives you the feeling you are finally on your way :-)

How much land do you have there? Are you going to be the only house for awhile? I LOVE the straight, wide, flat, paved road. Looks so safe compared to my road - which I also love but is very narrow, bumpy, winding, and unsafe.

Carry on! Thanks for the picture.

Hi Katherine. We've been walking Rocky by the lot several times a week and it's mostly been very quiet so he was surprised to see the two big trucks and was trying to figure out what to do about it--bark or walk on by. He chose the latter.

And I took We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves out of the library after reading your review. It was the first I heard of it. I'm approaching the halfway mark and really enjoying it. It reminds me of an NPR interview I heard about a similar situation in real life. Unfortunately, I can't remember very many details but will try and look for it at some point.

Hi Terri. We're so excited that the building has started. We're a little worried that they'll be some weather delays coming up. We're supposed to get snow and then rain over the next couple of days. Glad you like the Idaho pix. :-)

Hi Ilana. Good to see you here! This is the first house we've gotten this far with building. About 14 years ago we designed a house to build on the Oregon coast but backed out before the building started. It was a combination of it turning out more expensive than we thought and not being sure we'd be happy living full time out there.

Part of my problem with not loving The Goldfinch is I was comparing it to my experience reading Donna Tartt's first book The Secret History. I got totally caught up in TSH and read it almost nonstop over 2 or 3 days. With The Goldfinch, I think it took me over a month to finish it. I found it very depressing in the beginning and just wasn't that motivated to go back to it. I was expecting the same obsession with finishing The Goldfinch as I had with TSH and, while it did have sections where I wanted to do nothing but read it, I was perfectly happy to take my time with it.

Hi Pat! Great picture of the progress and little Rocky!
but then we would have lost the view of the mountains because of the way the lots were laid out. Actually, I think that's even better, the mtns are there 24/7!

Kath I love your mis-read of my post about the butler/builder. If only we had a butler! Maybe I should create an online one like Richard's.

Speaking of butlers, did anyone see the new episode of Downton Abbey? I can't remember what Thomas' job is now. Isn't Bates still the Earl's butler? Thomas seems to have a more exalted position than he used to but I can't figure out what it is.

Hi Donna. Your weather seems to be worse than ours. We generally have below freezing temps in the morning (although not as bad as 3 degrees, which I can't believe was your high for the day) and then it gets up to the high 30s during the day. My understanding is that as soon as it hits 25 degrees they can do concrete work.

I'm really enjoying We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I had just brought it home from the library with a bunch of other good books when I saw your review. I was having trouble deciding what to read next and your review sealed the deal!

Hi Amber! So glad you de-lurked. :-) I see you posting all over LT and am thrilled you're following my thread. I went to look at your profile and saw that wonderful picture of you and your son. So nice to be able to put a face with a screen name. I hope you get the experience of building your own home. It's been more fun and less stressful than I expected but I say this as a retired person who can devote as much time as I want to it. Not sure how stressful it might be trying to fit it in with raising a young child.

breaking ground is one of the exciting events and gives you the feeling you are finally on your way :-)

Claudia you are so right! It's so satisfying to see things happening. We have a little less than a half acre of land but love the fact that we'll have nothing but landscape scenery behind us. If we didn't have to put in a fence for Rocky we could pretend we had many acres! And it is nice the land is so flat where we are. No pesky hills to hike up and down on dog walks like we had in NY.

Hey Lynda! Just saw your post. I'm really eager to be able to walk around the house and check out just what our views will actually be.

86: Shortly afterward, I read Nim Chimpsky, non-fiction which I happened to have on hand. It's about the people as much as the chimpanzee. At some point in the novel, the narrator describes what happened in several situations that are all for real.

Thanks Katherine. I think I must have skipped ahead in your thread at that point because I don't remember reading your review of Nim Chimpsky. It seems like a great companion read and I just put it on hold at the library.

>88 phebj:: By the time we get round to building our own home, Charlie won't be all that young anymore - ha!

Rocky was clearly a foreman in his last life.

*smooch* across the miles

Pat, I remember being really involved with The Secret History too when it came out, but that's been so long ago that I barely remember it at all, so moving on to The Goldfinch, I won't be comparing it to anything else. All the same, getting myself worked up to get through that rough beginning is going to take me a while, I can tell.

Hi Pat! Looking forward to seeing your new house go up this year.

Amber it would probably be fun to have a slightly older Charlie be involved in designing your house. :-)

Rocky was clearly a foreman in his last life.

Richard that's a pretty good description of a terrier personality!

Ilana I was surprised how the beginning of The Goldfinch affected me because I usually love depressing books. Maybe it's a testament to how well Donna Tartt writes that I empathized so much with the main character's plight.

Hi Ardene! We went over to the lot today for the first time since Monday and were surprised to see they've started to work on six other houses in the last two days. I love watching houses being built and am going to have a great time checking them all out.

Book Notes

Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller--4 stars

I first heard of this book from either a Barnes & Noble or NPR newsletter. It’s described as a police thriller but that seems too narrow a classification. I loved the main character--Sheldon Horowitz. He’s 82 years old, an American Jew, recently widowed, and even more recently transplanted to Norway to live with his granddaughter. When he rescues a young Bosnian boy from a crime scene and flees with him across Norway, you’re not sure if he’s thinking clearly or not. Are his memories of serving as a Marine sniper during the Korean War accurate and will they help him keep the boy safe or is he deluded and clueless? His past and present seem to be merging and you can’t tell what’s reality and what’s fantasy. He’s also very funny.

This is a relatively short book--290 pages. It reads quickly but covers a lot of ground. The repercussions of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Bosnian War of the 1990s all influence Sheldon’s decisions and actions. It also delves into the relationship of Sheldon and his son, who perished in the Vietnam War. The ending is ambiguous and I’d be happy to read a sequel and spend more time with the characters in the book. This is the author’s first novel and I’ll be eagerly awaiting his next one. Definitely recommended.

Oh, wow. That one sounds really good - I love the unreliable narrator bit, too. Wishlisted!

Yah, for breaking ground! How cool and Rocky seems to be thrilled. I also loved We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves but sadly never reviewed it due to chronic laziness. I hope between you & Donna, you can spread the word.
Good review of Norwegian by Night, It looks like my cuppa.

Sounds like an interesting novel, Pat. Your "definitely recommended" is good enough for me, so onto wishlist it goes.

#97: Norwegian by Night looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation, Pat!

Love the pictures up top, BTW.

Have a wonderful weekend, Pat!

Hope you like Norwegian by Night, Amber. I'm also a fan of unreliable narrators. I think my favorite one was Mr. Stevens in The Remains of the Day.

I didn't realize you also read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Mark. I just took Nim Chimpsky out of the library, the non fiction book Katherine recommended as a follow-up. I'm hoping I can get to it this month but next I think I'm going to start O Pioneers. Thanks for getting the American Author Challenge going.

Lynda and Stasia--I think you'll like Norwegian by Night. I just read an interview with the author and his next book is not a sequel like I hoped. It's going to be set in Maine but I'll definitely be seeking it out.

Thanks Diana. I hope you have a great weekend too!

I have been meaning to read We are All Completely Beside Ourselves. It looks really good!

Hi pat - I love the photo at the top of the page, so enticing!

Now I'm back because I wanted to come over here to encourage you to try Pynchon. In many ways his most accessible book is Vineland. He's easier to read now because you can read it with your laptop or phone handy and look things up as you go. He does a tremendous amount of research so anything he mentions is like a thread you can pick up and follow and learn from.

Norwegian by Night sounds fascinating. I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Hi Pat, my retired builder/husband tells me they put calcium chloride in the concrete and heat the water when pouring in the winter. They can then do it when the temps are in the teens.

Norwegian Night sounds very good; onto the teetering tower it goes:-)

Rhonda I'm really enjoying We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I hope you do too.

Lucy thanks for the encouragement with Pynchon and the recommendation for Vineland. I just picked up Bleeding Edge from the library. I only have it for 2 weeks and am not sure I'll be able to get to it. But I should be able to give it a try. If it seems like too much, I'll take Vineland out next. I am intrigued now after reading your comments.

Lisa I hope you get a chance to try Norwegian by Night. It was on my library's new book shelf.

Bonnie we met with the builder on Friday and discussed the weather and the concrete process and he mentioned exactly what your husband did!

Pat, when is your builder going to get started; I am impatient from my tropical remove to see just how quickly they can put your home up.

Norwegian by Night is on the to watch-for list. Really enjoyed your review.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Paul they broke ground on December 30th. So far, they've poured the foundation and it's been curing (if that's the right terminology). We met with the builder on Friday and they said weather permitting they should start the framing sometime next week. I'm starting to get a little impatient myself because I want to see some more changes!

Hello Pat

It is good to see photos of the site where your house will be built. Thanks for the lovely photo at the top of the thread!

Idaho looks like such a lovely state. I didn't know that Hemingway ended his life in Idaho.

Thanks for posting the lovely tribute to him.

Pat - terminology a-ok. Foundations poured then a good start has indeed been made. Will we be getting progress photos? xx

Linda, as you've probably surmised, I am absolutely in love with Idaho and am so glad you're enjoying the photos I've posted of it. Hemingway is another story. I've read one book of his that I loved--A Moveable Feast--and one I hated--For Whom the Bell Tolls. I think I find his life more interesting than his books although I'm going to give him another shot this spring when I take a course on his short stories.

Paul I'm hoping to post weekly photos of the house site assuming there's some progress to show. If you haven't already seen them, there's a photo of the site shortly after breaking ground up at msg #43 and another one of the foundation pour at msg #73.

Hi Pat! Norwegian by Night sounds like a good read. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Hi Pat! I'm finally getting caught up a bit. Thanks for sharing the photo of your building site. Rocky is adorable!

Happy Sunday!

Hi Anne. We're having a good weekend but are awaiting what looks like a major storm. At least it's above freezing so it should be rain and not more snow.

Hi Katie. Glad you like the photos of the building site because they'll be many more. ;-) Rocky is very spoiled and part of it is because we think he's so cute. He's hard to discipline anyway since he's a terrier but mostly it's because we're hopeless in consistently reprimanding him when the situation calls for it. It's probably a good thing we never had kids.

Ha ha, my husband and I are the same way with our Lab, Louis (and say the same thing about kids)!

Katie I'm glad to hear we have company in our pet parenting skills or lack thereof. Most of the time it's not a problem but every once and a while we have company that are not dog lovers and are not thrilled that Rocky wants to greet them so enthusiastically and no amount of "get downs" on our part do any good. Luckily, as he's gotten older (he's 5 now), he's calmed down and quickly loses interest in greeting people.

Our lab is wildly enthusiastic about company for about three minutes then goes back to sleep on his heated padded bed. He's twelve now and quite arthritic, but still happy!

Holy cow. Look at this thread! So many posts already. Love the Sun Valley intro.

Hi Pat - I love the Idaho photos and the house ones too. We are demolishing our house and rebuilding later on this year, so I'm very interested in how yours goes. And we will be out of here for much longer than 4-5 months - we're assuming a year!

Hi Pat- I hope you had a nice weekend. Yep, our Meet-Up time is approaching. Yah! What day are you arriving?

Pat, I am just realizing how late I am catching up with you. I truly thought that I had already been by, but apparently not. Sorry! But I was talking with someone the other day about how beautiful Idaho is and how that is something I have learned from you!

Norwegian by Night and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves both sound interesting. Hopefully the library will have them.

Lisa I love wildly enthusiastic dogs greeting me and am so thankful for our guests that make a fuss over our dog because he loves it so. One thing I enjoy doing is looking at all the dog beds available in the catalogs we get. Some of them look so comfortable and I'm glad they make the orthopedic ones for the older dogs. I'm not sure I've seen ones that are heated though. I'll have to look out for that.

Hi Jenn! Glad you liked the Sun Valley picture. I'm starting to think about my next thread topper since I'm getting closer to 150 posts. :-)

Hi Cushla. Wow, demolishing and rebuilding. You must love where you are. My husband's niece and her family did that with their house in San Francisco years ago. They also moved out for a year while the work was done. They started out with a very old 3 story home and ended up with a super modern 5 story one. I'll be really interested in how your project goes too.

Hi Mark. We're going out to Astoria on the coast for a few days before the meetup and will come back to Portland on Friday and leave on Sunday. I've blocked out most of Saturday for the meetup and am so excited about it.

I was talking with someone the other day about how beautiful Idaho is and how that is something I have learned from you!

Linda I loved reading that! I never expected to be someone that was such a fanatic about Idaho. I wasn't even sure exactly where it was until I had been dating my husband for almost a year. There's a t-shirt that they sell out here with the outline of Idaho on it but labelled "Iowa" because so many people mistake the two states and I have to admit I was guilty of that same mistake occasionally before I got to know it better.

Sad faced but happy that my LT buddies are having a meet up. Sooo looking forward to pics.

Hi Lynda! I can't believe I'm finally going to an LT meetup. We've been going out to the Oregon coast the last couple of winters and when Mark mentioned the meetup in Portland, I figured it would be easy to combine the two. I'm also going to try to get to Portland or Seattle when Paul is out here this summer. It looks like 2014 will be the year of LT meetups for me. There's even a slight chance I might meetup with Darryl in June in Paris of all places. He'll be in Europe for most of June and is considering coming to Paris the third week when I'll be over there with some friends. My fingers are crossed that it works out.

Wow! You are the LT meetup queen. :-) I need to make my room reservation for the Portland meetup. Do you know where you will be staying? Is Paul Cranswick coming to Seattle? I can't keep up with his incredibly busy thread, but would love to be part of a meetup, if he comes this way.

Hi Lisa! We're going to be staying at the Hotel Monaco for old times sake because we used to regularly stay at their former incarnation (The Fifth Avenue Suites) and we're curious what it's like now. It's not as close to Powell's as some other hotels and I thought Ellen (or someone) was talking about staying at The Mark Spencer which looks to be the closest hotel to Powell's. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't be raining that day.

I read recently on Paul's thread that he was planning to be in the US for about 26 days in July/August and was allotting 2 days to Portland and 2 days to Seattle although he doesn't know exact dates yet. I'm forced to mostly skim his thread because it moves so fast but I'm always on the lookout for mention of his US trip and luckily saw his latest post. Most likely, I'll try to catch him in Seattle since I love your city and haven't been there in a while.

It does seem like LT meetups are picking up steam. If I was still on the east coast, I'd be able to participate in the NYC ones and would try my best to make the ones in Philadelphia and DC as well.

>126 phebj: As it stands now there's a better than even chance that I'll stay in or pass through Paris during the third week of June, though I probably won't know for sure until March or April. I'll definitely keep you posted, Pat!

Ellen and I are going to drive down together, and since she is staying at the Inn at Northrup Station, I'll probably stay there as well. I guess it's on the tram line, but it is a little further out as well.

I would love it if you and Paul came to Seattle. Deborah (arubabookwoman) and, of course, Ellen are local too. DieF is as well, but I haven't heard from her in a while.

Darryl I'll be eagerly awaiting your final travel plans!

Lisa now I remember Ellen posting about that hotel because I looked it up when she did. The tram may be a good thing if you're carrying a lot of books. I've already decided that if I buy more books than I want to carry, I'll just ship them back. Both my birthday and thingaversary are on the same day and not that long after February 1st so I feel totally justified in buying more than a few books. I haven't been to Powell's in years but I remember it as huge so I'm confident they'll have anything I might want.

I've very much wanted to do a Seattle meetup after seeing mention of several of them over the years. If I remember correctly, there was a photo of you, Ellen, Karen and Deborah that I saw. I save all the meetup threads and often go back and look at the pictures. Hope that doesn't make me sound too strange.

I'd love to see you if you come to Philadelphia, Pat!!

Wow, how great that you guys will get to meet! All the popular LT folks are meeting up!

And not to mention Paris...

Pat is going to Paris!! A new house and Paris, your year is getting more and more wonderful. :)

A birthday and thingaversary? That calls for some serious book buying! I have never been to Powell's so I am very much looking forward to it. I was just browsing their used books online. Can I put holds on things? Ha, ha.

You are right, we did have a mini Seattle area get together at Third Place Book's 40% Used Book Sale a couple of years ago. Deborah and I have gotten together since then, but mainly we keep touch through LT since Deborah and I live in outlying towns.

Laura I really loved seeing all the pictures of the Philadelphia meetup last year. You guys got a great turn out. I can't remember when or if you're doing another one this year but I will keep my eye out.

Joanne I was hoping to be able to do a Booktopia this year and Boulder would have been a great location for me to get to but unfortunately it will probably be around the time we move so I never even registered. I'm sorry I won't get to meet you and the other LTers that are going.

Judy I have to say I really lucked out on the Paris trip. I have a friend that went last year and loved it so much she's rented an apartment there for the entire month of June. I'll be there the third week of June with several other friends staying rent free thanks to this fabulously generous person.

Lisa I joined LT 5 years ago on my birthday not knowing anything about Thingaversaries but it's turned out to be a great combination of events to celebrate. I've never been to Third Place Books in Seattle but it seems more popular than Elliot Bay Books at least among LTers.

Pat, all these meetup prospects look exciting! Do you think your friend in Paris would put me up for a few days?? Only semi-joking...

131: I save all the meetup threads and often go back and look at the pictures.
Oh, put this one in the meetup group so people see it! I’m sooo envious about the Portland meetup.

Ilana she probably would if there was room!

Katherine the thread was set up in the 75ers Group (http://www.librarything.com/topic/167476) by Ellen and there's a link to it in the Group Wiki. Thanks for the link to the separate meetup group. There's a lot of meetups listed that I never even knew about!

How great that your house is underway!

Envious of your meet-up, I've never met with more than one person at a time.

A meet-up in Paris! Besides the famous Shakespeare and Company there is another marvelous English language bookstore run by lovely folks, I think in the Marais - The Red Wheelbarrow.

Lucy I'm super excited about both the Portland meetup and the Paris trip. Thanks for the recommendation for The Red Wheelbarrow. I love the name. If Darryl makes it to Paris, maybe that's where we can meetup. :-) My friend's apartment is in the 5th Arrondissement which seems to be centrally located and within walking distance of tons of things I want to see.

I am with the others on feeling your excitement for all the meetups you have coming up, and in Paris of all places too! Wow.

I'm fairly green with envy about all these meet-ups Pat. The excitement is palpable. And what could possibly exceed the excitement of a meet-up in Paris of all places?

Hi Pat- Lots of good gab going on here! And you know, I love the Meet-Up talk! We are going to break some hearts with this one!

I wish we could have got a couple more LTers to go to Booktopia Asheville, like Booktopia Boulder. We NEED to take over that event.

Megan, Bonnie, and Mark--I'm so happy there are meetups in the Pacific Northwest that I can go to and I'm also glad I happened to see Darryl mention his trip to Europe in June. I'm often so far behind on threads that I skim and I could have easily missed it. Hopefully, next year I can make one of the Booktopias. I'd love to go to Asheville but the dates don't work for me.

I finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves last night and will have to see what I can say about it without revealing too many spoilers. It's a great book and I'll probably rate it 4.5 stars.

I also started Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. Mark, Megan, Julia, and possibly someone else, are all going to be reading it soon. I've never read anything by Dillard before but this one got the Pulitzer Prize so it seems like a good place to start. From what I can tell it's a collection of essays on nature and spirituality with a meditative quality to it. I'll probably be reading it slowly. It's definitely not a page turner.

Happy Saturday, Pat! Your meet ups sound so exciting and I look forward to going vicariously through the meet up thread.
Hmmm, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek sounds interesting, I'll await your review.

Hi Lynda. I'm afraid it will be awhile before I finish Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I'm spending less than an hour a day reading on most days. Wish I could devote more time to it but I've gotten in the habit of only reading at night after my husband goes to bed and the house is completely quiet. If I try to read during the day, I'm very easily distracted. I may try and post some comments as I make my way through it though. It seems like the kind of book I'll want to underline.

UNDERLINE *acute fantods* Have you not heard of Book Darts? They are The Bomb! And one need never vandalize ummm underline in a book again!

Hoping that I've made a convert....

Richard I remember seeing something like that in a Levenger's catalog once but have never tried them. Thanks for the push encouragement! I just ordered a tin of the mixed metal darts. I'm hoping you've made a convert too because I don't really like the way my books look when I underline them--too many squiggly lines and smudged ink.

Hi Pat,
I didn't realize how long I've been away from LT. I am glad to be back. And very happy to find your thread.
Your new house project is exciting! Can't wait to see the progress they make on it.
And I've added Norwegian by Night to the TBR stack.

Laura

I've used them for years, probably bought at least 1000 of them, and reused them multiple times. They do have a way of staying in the books I've reviewed...sometimes all the way to the liberry sale.

Ah, Pat... so much to look forward to... actually meeting some great LTers! In very nice locales :-)

I have Pilgrim at Tinker Creek on my Kindle and can't remember why. It keeps staring at me. Anxious to see what you think of it and maybe you can figure out why I have it in the first place????

Those book darts look good. I have seen them before. Now, I should maybe get some. I never underline - but I lose track of all the things I want to remember or revisit.

Book darts would surely raise prickly questions.

Have a lovely weekend, Pat.

They do have a way of staying in the books I've reviewed...sometimes all the way to the liberry sale.

Where some poor Friends of the Library volunteer has to remove them so the book will sell! ;-) We once had a wonderful person donate their library to the sale, complete with no less than a thousand bizillion book darts (the post it kind). The volunteers took it in shifts to remove them, and my daughter and I removed a pile as big around and high as a volleyball. Some books had so many, I just threw the book away. I too use book darts, but please remove them before you die and your books are hauled to the liberry. :-)

BTW, Linda, I now have Norwegian by Night sitting on my chair-side table.

Hi Pat! Just a quick catch up, and vote for book darts or ripped post it notes such as I use :p

All leading me to wonder why any book sale would remove them? Were there any in my books, I would want to investigate. Seems a shame to remove apoint of interest :)

Good morning, Pat! I think it's highly likely that I will visit Paris during the third week of June, as I had originally planned. I hope to see you there!!

*waving* at Pat

Hi Laura! I'm glad you're back too. :-) I will have to track down your 2014 thread. I'm hoping to have a new picture of the house to post soon. We walked over there yesterday and today only to find them working both days so we didn't want to get in their way to take a picture. They've got the sub floor down and should be getting the framed walls up early next week. Hope you like Norwegian by Night.

They do have a way of staying in the books I've reviewed...sometimes all the way to the liberry sale.

Richard I could see where that would happen. In the past, I've used sticky notes to mark passages in books and often forget to remove them before returning them to the library or donating them.

Claudia I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my book darts but I do see myself leaving them in my books so I can refer back to passages I liked enough to mark. I'm hoping I love Tinker Creek. I've only read the first chapter and unfortunately it's not calling to me to pick it up again but the mini LT group read should motivate me to keep going. I just read two very easy books and I think this one may require a bit more attention.

Lisa I can't imagine a whole library of books with post-it book darts to remove! When I have to remove my sticky notes from library books, it seems like it takes forever even with one book. I can understand it not seeming like it was worth it after awhile. Hope you like Norwegian by Night!

leading me to wonder why any book sale would remove them? Were there any in my books, I would want to investigate. Seems a shame to remove apoint of interest :)

Kath I like the way you think! As long as a used book isn't too badly marked up, I often like to see what other people thought was important and that's with underlining. If it were something removable, I don't think I'd mind taking them off myself after seeing what had been marked.

I think it's highly likely that I will visit Paris during the third week of June, as I had originally planned. I hope to see you there!!

Wow Darryl you made my day! I was just looking at all the Paris books I've either bought lately or taken out the library as well as a few online sites. I'm getting so excited about that trip.

Hi Stasia! Thanks for stopping by. I will have to check out what you're up to this Sunday.

Hi pat; I'm thinking about starting Tinker Creek, too in about a week. I've tried before and didn't make it. I'm hoping the group read will help me get it off Planet TBR -- (one way or another).

House, Paris, and Portland. Wish I could type with green ink!

Hi Janet! Good to see you. I'm sorry you can't make it to Portland but can completely understand not wanting to chance driving there in the winter. Hopefully we can both make it to Seattle or Portland when Paul's in town. :-)

I'm glad I'm not alone in having trouble getting into Tinker Creek. It gets an overall rating of 4.22 on LT so I feel like I just need to persevere. I know part of it is I'm very distracted by real life.

I started a book of essays on Paris last night (Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light) and that grabbed me right away. It helps that I'll be going there. I've never been to the area where Tinker Creek is and probably never will so it seems less relevant although I know the point is learning to see what's around you so I just need to focus on applying what she's doing to Idaho.

Hi Pat :) So many travels coming up! Fun.
I am in the camp that enjoys reading a moderately marked up book. I also find it interesting to see what others marked. I am sometimes mystified too...

Hi Jenn. Wish I could also travel to your new neck of the woods! And, I know what you mean about sometimes being mystified by what other people think is noteworthy.

Here's a picture we just took of the house. They have the subflooring in and should be putting up the framed walls this week. The concrete flooring of the garage is what you see in the front. Unfortunately, it's been super foggy here so no view of the mountains which would normally be in this shot just right of center.

It must be exciting to see the footprint coming together!

Ooh, it's on its way!!

A trip to Paris -- how wonderful! Not to mention other meet-ups. Pat, it looks like 2014 is shaping up to be a year of celebrations, and you definitely deserve it. I'm so thrilled for you!

Oh gosh, it's so exciting to see the progress made on your house! Thanks so much for sharing!

Wow, Pat! They are really moving! So exciting to see the progress !

>145 phebj: I'll probably be reading it slowly. It's definitely not a page turner.
Exactly. In a silly move, I am reading a real page turner at the same time and it is hard to swap between the styles. I think I might have to hurry through the easy fast one (The Demon in the Freezer- which is great, btw) to allow myself to immerse better in Tinker Creek

Reading the thread backwards, I read "the progress with your house", scrolled up and was surprised to see a flat concrete pad! I thought that looked like the opposite of progress. But then I clicked. :)

Pat, I forget which book site I was on when I read a review of Norwegian By Night. It sounded like it was right up my alley so on the WL it went. Thanks for reminding me about it. I can see where you might have trouble getting into Tinker Creek. I've read it several times and it is a solid 5-star book for me but I love lyrical nature writing. I was a lot younger when I first read it and was completely blown away by the beautiful writing.

I'm looking forward to seeing your mountain view. At least we can see that nice stand of trees in the distance.

Pat- I am still kicking myself for not reviewing We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves a few weeks ago, after I read it. Maybe, I was worried about the spoiler issue, which of course is clearly stated on the book jacket. But the way she gradually divulges "it" in the story, it felt better not knowing. I loved that book.
I am really enjoying Tinker Creek in the early going.

Lisa it's very exciting and I almost feel like it's moving too fast now. We're going over in a couple of minutes to see what they did today.

Anne we had a Paris planning lunch today with the four of us that will be there that week. There is so much to do. We're thinking of taking a day trip out to Monet's Giverny home, a boat tour on the Seine, a private tour of the Louvre, a trip to the Musee d'Orsay which has the art of a lot of impressionist painters in what used to be one of the grand train stations, just to name a few things we discussed today. I'm so glad we have all this time to plan because I love to plan.

Amber my husband walked our dog past the lot this morning and they had already put up one wall so I'm very eager to see how far they got today.

Lynda they do seem to be moving fast and they work long hours. It gets dark here now between 5:30 and 6 and we're hoping by waiting till 5:30 they'll be gone so we can take a quick walk through the house. Fingers crossed that we'll be able to do that.

Megan it may be that I'm not really in the mood for Tinker Creek. So much is happening in RL at the moment that my days are blurs and I have trouble calming down at night. I'm going to have to check out The Demon in the Freezer! I hope I can get into Tinker Creek though. Last night I raced through the second chapter and I feel like I'm not giving it its due.

Hi Donna. Like I said to Megan it may not be the right time for me to read Tinker Creek although I'm going to keep going with it for the moment. I did start O Pioneers! last night and loved it immediately. Which is funny because I tried to start it a year or two ago and couldn't get into it.

Imagining the mountains up there is almost just as good as seeing them. I'm loving O Pioneers! too!

Pat, I'm smiling thinking of you at the Philadelphia meetup!!!! It would be wonderful.

Please post photos of your upcoming meet up. And, thanks for posting more photos of the beginning stages of what will be your new home.

Ilana I'm not sure if I knew you were reading O Pioneers! too. I'm glad to have the company!

Linda one of these days you and I will end up at a meetup together and that will indeed be wonderful. I will do my best to take some good pictures of the Portland meetup and post them.

Book Notes

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler--4.5 stars

My brother and my sister have led extraordinary lives, but I wasn't there, and I can't tell you that part. I've stuck to the part I can tell, the part that's mine, and still everything I've said is all about them, a chalk outline around the space where they should have been.

Ideally, this is a book you should read without knowing anything about it. For that reason, I’m not going to say too much about what happens. It’s a story of a uniquely dysfunctional family told by one of two “twin” sisters. At the age of five, Rosemary is sent to stay with her grandparents. When she returns home, her sister, Fern, has disappeared and her family is in the midst of falling apart.

It takes most of the book to find out what happened to Fern. It’s a complicated, multi-layered story and surprising information is revealed a little at a time. I found it to be fascinating, funny, tragic, and heartbreaking but most of all thought provoking. It would be a great selection for a book club discussion and I highly recommend it.

One more quote that I loved, which doesn’t have much to do with the story but is one of the reasons the narrator is so appealing:

When I run the world, librarians will be exempt from tragedy. Even their smaller sorrows will last only for as long as you can take out a book.

Hi Pat!
The house is getting off the ground! Looking good!

A Paris planning meeting.... how very, very lovely...
One of the best parts of going on vacation is the anticipation and all the planning :-)

Hi Claudia they had most of the exterior walls up when we went to check it out this afternoon but they were still working so we just walked around the outside. And, I agree about the anticipation being one of the best parts of going on vacation.

Hi Pat, looks like the house is well underway. I had to smile when you said how much you enjoyed planning for your trip to Paris. I love planning trips. That's a big part of my enjoyment in the whole traveling process. It's so great when you plan a day in advance right down to restaurants etc. and then everything just falls into place perfectly.

Nice to see your house underway, Pat!

I don't know anything about book darts, but I'm told that book preservationists hate post-it notes, because they damage pages when left in long-term. (I've messed up a few of my books that way.)

145: It happens that I just got Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in my last batch of books a week or two ago, I don’t recall why, I think it’d been on my wishlist for awhile and some mention on a thread kicked it into the cart, but I just noticed the group read today so I’ll be joining in.

164: Oooh, a floor!

176: fascinating, funny, tragic, and heartbreaking
Yes. I put the key spoiler in my review (because really I wouldn't've read the book otherwise, but the author apparently would rather not reveal it so you get points for restraint).

Judy I agree that planning is a plus when traveling. There have been times when I haven't done it and ended up at a loss as to what to do.

Terri I'm anxiously awaiting my book darts. I'm tired of using and re-using post-it notes which eventually lose their stickiness and fall out of my books. The picture I saw of a book full of darts looked so neat compared to the post-its.

Katherine there is a growing number of people reading Tinker Creek. Glad you're joining in!

For some reason, I thought you read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves without knowing anything about it (I think because you said it was given to you). I don't think it took anything away from my enjoyment knowing the main spoiler and you may be right that I wouldn't have read it at all without that information.

182: It was given to me by my mother (highly unusual for her to read a novel) who thought I'd be interested because of the key feature.

Great review of the Karen Joy Fowler book, Pat. I hate typing in that long title! I managed to review it without revealing spoilers, too, but would have read it had I known the spoiler. Mark, not writing a review didn't matter to me. You were the reason I read it!

Must check into book darts...

Katherine even if I didn't know the main spoiler, the publisher obviously isn't too interested in keeping it a secret based on the picture that was on my cover of the book. I have Nim Chimpsky home from the library but it's not looking good for me getting to it before it has to go back.

Donna I somehow missed it when Mark read the book probably because he didn't write a review. I'm really hoping my book darts get here today since I'm holding off reading Tinker Creek until I have them in hand to mark passages.

Oooo your foundations are in!!!!!

I just use those plastic tab thingies - I always end up with sheets of them around, cos I re-use them til they don't stick anymore.

Hi Lucy! I got my book darts yesterday and have already used a few marking passages in O Pioneers!. I really love them (thank you Richard!). 125 of them come in a little tin and they're so much more exact in marking quotes than the sticky notes I used to use. I love when little things make such a big difference in my life.

They got the walls framed on our house this week and Monday the crane will be there putting up the roof trusses. Here's a picture we took this morning from the back of the house. The peaked roof is over what we're calling the sunroom and where most of my books will be.

Walls! It's shaping up nicely, Pat!

Thanks Carrie! We were amazed by how much progress was made this week although I'm told that once the house is closed in it seems like nothing happens for weeks while the plummer, electrician, etc. do their work.

Woo hoo!

It will be nice when it is done.

Looking good Pat! Such excitement surrounds the building of a new house. I'm glad you're sharing it with us. And thanks for another recommendation for the Karen Joy Fowler book. I hope to get to it soonish.

So happy you're liking the Book Darts already! I was amazed at how much easier the finding and using of quotes was once I got them.

Walls are a good thing to have in a house. Glad yours is getting some now.

ooh, sunroom with books...

187: Ooh, library under construction!

Lookin' Good! I'm glad the sunroom/library is the first thing to shape up. Brings hope and joy ;-)

I just got some book darts, too. Mine are in a tin, too.
I got 125, too. I am happy with them, too.
(Thanks from me too, RD)
Little things do mean a lot, Pat. Of course big things (like houses) are pretty exciting also.

there's the progress on the house! Wow, that seems fast.

Holy moly, your house is going up fast!

Hi Pat- Wow! The new house is moving right along. How cool. Are you building this is a different area in your town?

New house with a sun-room/library and book darts! What more could you want?

Pat I am really impressed. The builder is pulling out all the stops to deliver you your home with due expedition. Hope that their finishing work and detailing is just as impressive as their rate of progressive on the structures.

Amazing progress, Pat! What fun for you guys! and thanks so much for keeping us up to date with the pics. Nice to see good things happen to good people.

Ilana, Lori, Bonnie, Richard, Lisa, Katherine, Claudia, Megan, Amber, Mark, Linda, Paul, and Lynda--Thanks for all the enthusiasm for the house. I'll post another picture later today. We missed the crane raising the roof trusses yesterday. We thought it would be there most of the day but we were too early when we went by in the morning and too late when we stopped by in the afternoon. They were still working at 5:30 last night. Six guys were up on the roof and a couple were busy closing it in which is a good thing since we're supposed to get some kind of storm overnight.

We'll be off tomorrow for the Oregon coast for a few days and back to Portland for the weekend and the Great Portland LT meetup! Unfortunately, the cold I got 2 weeks ago has settled into my chest and I sound like a frog! Oh well, hopefully some good fresh coast air will do me good. We've had an inversion in the Treasure Valley for weeks and that always traps smog near the ground which is not good for a respiratory infection.

And Richard thanks again for the Book Darts recommendation. I love them so much I'm disappointed when I can't find a quote to mark!

New house with a sun-room/library and book darts! What more could you want?

Linda I had to laugh at that but considering I've also got the Great Portland LT meetup to look forward to, I feel like my ship has come in!

Enjoy your trip to Oregon, Pat. I hope you are able to quickly shake that cold off, I've been fighting my own cold for the last week and it seems as if I am winning.

Hope your cold clears up. Don't forget to rest.
Safe travels!
Enjoy, enjoy!

Love seeing the house progress, Pat!

Wishes for safe travels, and a wonderfully happy meet-up!

I developed a cold today, Pat, so I hope we are both as chipper as can be by Saturday! Have a lovely time at the Oregon coast for the rest of the week.

Happy Oregon trip! I missed this meetup by just a couple of months. :(

Looks as if the builders are using some of the great prefab stuff (trusses, etc) they have now. We had a Canadian outfit come in and basically install the insulated roof in three days. Amazing. Our house was post and beam, so first that, then these insulated walls and then the roof. Of course, after that, as you describe it seemed nothing happened for ages..... but of course, a lot was going on! This is such fun to watch! Keep the photos coming.

Hi Claudia, Anne, Ellen, Jenn, and Lucy! I've got to get myself going so I don't miss my flight but I wanted to thank you for the good wishes for the house and the LT meetup. Ellen from what I can tell, tons of people seem to have a cold this winter. I slept well last night so feel good this morning. Hope that's the beginning of a trend.

Here's a picture of the house from the front that we took last night. They didn't get it all closed in and it's raining today but I assume that's fine. We'll be going straight to the house from the airport on Sunday to see what they've done in our absence.

How exciting! It looks like a house!

Safe travels and see you Saturday!

The house is looking lovely!
See you soon.
*sniffle*

Love the house! And I'm so excited to see pics from your meet-up. Have a blast!

The house is looking great Pat! Have fun at the meet-up!

Wow, the house looks so cool! I hope your cold is better soon. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

And now Claudia is using BookDarts too! I'm very happy. I love them, and have no idea how I ever made do without them.

Happy travels and arrivals and meetups!

I don't know what everyone else has, but I caught some kind of epic cold in California right after Christmas. I just stopped coughing up a lung a few days ago. Hope nobody has that one...

Pretty blue sky, too! What color is the house going to be?

It's gonna be so great! How can I be so excited about a new house in Idaho? LOL

Wow! The house looks amazing!

Happy Meet-Up today!

I can't wait to see it after the outside is mostly done.

Pat, it was great meeting you today and getting to chat a bit. I love having a face to put with the great conversation on LT. I hope your flight back to Boise is smooth.

Hi Pat- I am with, Ellen, it was great to finally meet you. We had a terrific time. Hopefully, we can do it again in the future. Hugs!

Pat - it was great to meet you yesterday. Such a fun meetup.

Hi Pat! it was great to meet you. Hope you have a blast at the coast.

I hope both you and your book box make it home safely and quickly. It was great talking and shopping with you!

What books did you buy, Pat? What did you buy?
Looks like you all had a blast and a half!

Obviously a great time had by all, Pat. I'm with Cee though in wanting to know what you bought.

>217 nittnut: ah -HA so it was yo uwho brought the epic never ending cold from the US to NZ :) I have had it for 3 weeks already. There is no escaping normal duties around here, so am just trying to get a bit more rest than usual by lying down as soon as the kiddos are asleep- but this means I fall asleep early (too early) too! So it is matchsticks in eyelids to keep me reading at present :)

Great meetup pics on Ellen and Marks threads, so cool to see such a big group of great people!

Hi Everyone! Just making a quick post before reluctantly heading into a busy day. I say reluctantly because I'd love to be able to just hang out at home today and catch up on LT.

Our trip was great and the meetup was fantastic. It is amazing how you instantly feel comfortable with everyone. Powell's is an amazing bookstore. I think I was there for 2 hours and only made my way around one of the eleven(?) rooms. Granted it was the literature and history room so there was a lot to look at. I bought 16 books and a couple of bookmarks and had all but one book shipped. There was no sales tax and it cost a little over $12.00 to ship the books which was better than hauling them back to the hotel. I have to find where I put my receipt and then I'll post the books I bought.

I have to say I'm sad that we don't all live closer to each other. Our group on Saturday would have made for a wonderful book group and I'd love to see everyone on a regular basis. I'm hoping to get up to Seattle at some point this year so that's another opportunity for a meetup and I will be keeping my eye on Paul's plans for touring the US and hope to participate in one of his visits. And, of course, I'm looking forward to meeting Darryl in Paris in June! Meetups are now going to be very high on my priority list!

We checked out our house last night to find it's completely framed and the windows are in! It's moving fast, almost too fast for me. I'll take a couple of pictures later today and post them.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll be back later!

" Meetups are now going to be very high on my priority list!" That should be one of our many motto's! LOL.
We did have a terrific time, didn't we, Pat?

Hi Pat--it was so great to meet you and put a face to the name. We had a good chat, and I hope we can do so again soon. It would be really great if you could come to Seattle and visit. I can't wait to see the list of books you bought!

Hi Mark. The meetup was definitely the highlight of my trip and I'd love to be able to do them more often. LT people are quality people! I wish LT did something like the Booktopias where we could spend a whole long weekend together. The afternoon was great but I left wanting more time with everyone.

Deborah I am currently visualizing a meetup in Seattle and willing it to happen. My schedule is pretty packed until the end of August so I'm thinking September if not before then.

OK, I found my Powell's receipt and this is what I bought:

Fiction

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (because I loved the movie)
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (LT rec)
Bird Skinner by Alice Greenway (loved her first book--White Ghost Girls)
Plainsong by Kent Haruf (LT rec)
The World Without You by Joshua Henkin (read a recent review somewhere)
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine (read a recent review in the Times, I think)
Ablutions: Notes for a Novel by Patrick deWitt (Powell's rec)

Short Stories/Essays

A Simplified Map of the Real World by Stevan Allred (Powell's rec)
Cheating at Canasta by William Trevor (LT rec)
The Best American Essays 2013 edited by Cheryl Strayed (good plane book)

World War I

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild (liked King Leopold's Ghost and want to read about WWI)

Memoir

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett (recent LT discussion about Patchett on Donna's thread, I think)

Paris Prep (all these were impulse purchases; I've never heard of any of them before)

A Literary Paris: Hemingway, Colette, Sedaris, and Others on the Uncommon Lure of the City of Light by Jamie Cox Robertson
Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb
Coffee with Hemingway by Kirk Curnutt

And my 16th book I actually bought in Astoria:

Pacific Northwest

World's Most Dangerous: A History of The Columbia River Bar, its Pilots and their Equipment by Michael E. Haglund (bought this at the Columbia River Maritime Museum)

Now, of course, I wish I had all these books in front of me. They said it would take up to 14 business days to get them but I'm hoping that since Idaho is so close to Powell's they'll get here sooner. In any case, it will be a red letter day when they all arrive!

233: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
I just finished this, mere hours ago. It's 3rd in the queue for reviewing, so possibly not until the weekend.

That's a great list of purchases! Just think how nice they'll look in your new library when you move in to your new house!

If you ever get a chance to go to Powell's City of Books, you must take it. Here's a schematic of the store:

And here's a picture of the inside showing the different levels:

Hi Katherine! I'll be eagerly awaiting your review of The Bean Trees. Hope you liked it.

Hi Carrie! I am getting excited about displaying all my books in the new house. Hopefully, they'll be more organized there. I log most of my books into LT but sometimes I can't find them when I want them.

I wanna go to Powell's! Oh dear... it's so far away. This will have to be on my bucket list ;-)

Great book haul - and so glad you were able to ship them home. You will have a fun time opening the package!
I loved The Bean Trees and Plainsong. Looks like some good Paris books... any book on Paris looks good to me.

I don't know how you are going to keep up with yourself this year!

Hi Claudia. Glad to hear you liked The Bean Trees and Plainsong. I know a lot of people on LT have liked those books but I tend to forget who they are.

You would absolutely love Powell's but it really requires at least two, if not three, days to do it justice. I could see coming over by myself, checking into a hotel close by, and spending my time haunting Powell's. I may have to think seriously of doing that.

I actually am having a hard time keeping up with everything I've got going right now. I just bowed out of one of my two weekly yoga classes because I wasn't able to squeeze everything in. After we move, I'm hoping there's still a space for me because things should calm down then and I do love those classes.

I like both of your ideas, Pat: weekend-long LT retreats and checking into a hotel near Powell's and spending some serious time. I do hope that you get to come to Seattle. We could do one day at Elliot Bay Bookstore, one at the University Bookstore, and one at Third Place Books. Bring an extra suitcase for books!

I'm glad you had such a good time at the meet-up Pat and looking at your list of purchases I'm very jealous. I've had Out of Africa sitting on my shelf way too long so if you decide to read it maybe I could join you. I hope to pick up An Unnecessary Woman at the library this week.

Hi Pat, Wow, I didn't realize you did such an amazing amount of shopping at Powell's. Probably because they were shipped. We would have noticed the shopping cart if you'd taken them home! Out of Africa is one of my all-time favorite books. The stories of the Kikuyu are unforgettable. I know you'll love it. Looking forward to our next meetup.

Pat, I'm too far behind to catch up, but what an exciting 2014 you've had so far! A HOUSE!!!! A MEET-UP!!!! (With BOOKS!!!!!) and PARIS in JUNE!!!!!
I'm totally delighted to hear that life is so good for you!

Nice book haul, Pat. The one that sticks out for me is Plainsong. Such a good book. They've turned it into a play here, and we're hoping it's well done.

Paris in June. Sigh.

The Bean Trees! I Kindled it recently for $1.99 as a test to see if it's me or if it's Babsy baby who's not clicking.

Hi Pat, I'm so glad you had a good time at the meetup. I saw the pics Mark posted on his thread and you all look like a very happy bunch. Is it nuts that the idea of you doing a meetup in Paris has me seriously thinking of making my way there for the first time in just over 10 years so I can join you? Last time was Christmas 2003; my mum's in France and I haven't seen her in all that time, but that's a long story. Travel used to be my priority, but I've become reluctant to leave the house since my life took a major turn almost 7 years ago now.

So excited about your house! How can it possibly be going too fast?!? I just hope you don't end up eating your words, because I've only ever heard people complaining about construction being never-ending, and not the other thing!

Powell's looks amazing. I might join along if you and Bonnie do a joint reading of Out of Africa.

Hi Pat, it sure looks like the LT Meetup was a big success. Like Joe, Plainsong was a huge favorite of mine last year and I am looking forward to reading it's sequel, Eventide soon. I love his style of writing.

What a great book haul! Add me to the fans of The Bean Trees and Plainsong. I loved them both! And thanks for the pic of Powells. What a fabulous place! My boys say they would like to visit every Major League Baseball park, but I could be contented driving around the country visiting bookstores.

Oh my. Powell's looks like my kind of heaven. Whew, is it warm in here...?

Hey Pat! great pics of Powell's and the meetup sounds like it was a memorable LT moment! You did very well in the book buying department too!

Also add me to the Bean Tree love. That's the one that made Kingsolver one of my fave authors.

So glad the meet up was so much fun!

House picture????

I loved Bean Trees, too...

Hi - just stopping by and waving as I catch up after a couple of days away from my starred threads.

Sorry about neglecting my own thread. The house construction is in high gear and several issues have come up in the last two days that have caused us to make changes in a couple of rooms. I don't do well when I have to make quick decisions and I've been spending a lot of time looking for alternatives that I like on the internet. By the end of the week, the plumbing, electrical, and heating/AC should be done. And we have about a week or so before all the tile will be ordered and there are a few of those selections I want to revisit. So it's getting a little stressful but overall I love how the house is turning out.

I'm going to take my dog out now for his walk and hopefully will be back soon to respond to all my wonderful visitors. It started snowing this morning and hasn't stopped all day so I don't know how far we'll get. This is the first of several storms that is rolling through here in the next few days. The local weatherman just said we could end up with 8 to 18 inches which is unheard of in this part of Idaho (at least since I've been here). I will be one happy camper when this winter is over! It's been hard to adjust to the below freezing temperatures after being in Oregon where it was in the high 40s/low 50s.

Thanks for bearing with me. To be continued . . . .

It has gotten very cold again here in Seattle, and we might get snow this weekend. It was 14 degrees when I got up this morning and never got above freezing all day. For seattle that's cold. I'm worried about the chickens and our plants and shrubs. They are not used to the cold.

I'm glad your house was roofed before the snow. We did a major remodel a few years ago, and I sympathize with your stress. I am not a Martha Stewart so we were fortunate to have the help of a designer. Who knew there were so many desisions to make about things like cabinet knobs and faucet brands?

I do hope that you get to come to Seattle. We could do one day at Elliot Bay Bookstore, one at the University Bookstore, and one at Third Place Books. Bring an extra suitcase for books!

Hi Lisa! That sounds like a wonderful plan for a Seattle meetup and I really hope we can make it happen.

We were just listening to the local weather forecast and they showed two storms that are sitting just off the coast so it looks like we're both in for some bad weather. I'm so used to things starting to warm up in February that I'm not prepared for this. Unfortunately, I don't think Boise is really prepared for 8 to 18 inches of snow either. They don't plow residential streets so it will be interesting to say the least if we get that much snow.

Also, I didn't realize you have chickens. A number of people here have chickens and I must say they're beautiful--a lot of different color combinations and very healthy looking.

Hi Bonnie! I will definitely let you know when my package arrives from Powell's. I think I could probably start Out of Africa pretty soon and maybe it would help take the winter chill off of things. You'll probably get to An Unnecessary Woman before I do so I'll keep my fingers crossed that you like it.

Hi Jan! I planned to buy a lot of books at Powell's because both my birthday and Thingaversary are coming up and it seemed the perfect place to buy myself some presents. Since I planned to buy a lot I figured I'd ship them. I'm so glad you loved Out of Africa. I'm looking forward to our next meetup too and hope we can do at least one more this year.

Hi Peggy! Thanks for all the enthusiasm for my plans this year. It is looking to be a banner year and I need to remember to slow down and savor it.

Hi Joe! Glad to hear the love for Plainsong. Hope it turns out to be a good play. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to Paris.

Hi Richard! I haven't read anything by Kingsolver yet although I do own a copy of The Lacuna. Most people I know that have read a lot of her books think The Bean Trees is the best thing she wrote so I felt confident picking up a copy. Plus it had a very attractive red cover and I just wanted to own it. If I'm remembering it correctly, it was almost but not quite a dayglo color. Very eye catching at any rate.

I also picked up a copy of My Antonia in the new Penguin hardcover Drop Cap series but they had used a dayglo yellow on the edges of the pages. It was so distracting as I flipped through the pages I put it back.

Is it nuts that the idea of you doing a meetup in Paris has me seriously thinking of making my way there for the first time in just over 10 years so I can join you?

Ilana it is absolutely not nuts to consider coming to Paris in June! It would be wonderful to meet you for the first time there. I'll be there from Sunday, June 15th till Sunday, June 22nd. I really hope you can make it. I had such a great time at the Portland meetup that I now think I need to make it a priority to meet as many LTers in RL as I can. As much as having the online connection is fantastic, the real life experience is even better.

I'll let you know about Out of Africa. It always more fun to read a book with others and I always enjoy your thoughts on the books you read so I'm sure I'd get so much more out of it reading it with you and Bonnie.

We'll see what happens with the house. One thing that gives me pause is that my husband was in the builder's office the other day and made a comment about how fast it was going and their response was it was going slower than usual as far as they were concerned! When we were at the house today, there were about 4 or 5 electricians and about 3 or 4 plumbers all working very diligently. It was making my head swim.

Hi Judy! Glad to hear you loved Plainsong too. I know I've seen a number of 75ers rave about it. Hope you like the sequel. I'm hoping Karen (maggie1944) goes ahead with her idea of creating a group for Pacific Northwest LTers. I'll let you know if she does because she was including British Columbia in the definition of Pacific Northwest.

Hi Amy! It sounds like I can't go wrong with The Bean Trees and Plainsong. Powell's was fabulous and I hope you get the chance to go there sometime but if you do make sure you block out the whole day to browse the aisles. Luckily, they have an in-store coffee shop so you can fortify yourself. And I agree with you about structuring vacations around book store visits. :-)

Amber you'll have to schedule a family vacation to Portland so you can introduce Charlie to Powell's. Most of the Rose Room is devoted to Children's, Middle Reader, and Young Adult books as well as games, tv, and movies. Here's a link to their map: http://www.powells.com/pdf/burnside_map_oct2003.pdf.

>259 phebj: Ooooh don't you just want to shake the fool who made that design decision? Something so unnecessary added to the book and it makes the whole experience of reading it unpleasant!

I read The Poisonwood Bible and wasn't impressed by it, unlike seemingly every other human being on the planet. It felt graceless and predictable to me. It was BLT, so this one...my last run on her ouevre...will get my newest eyes.

Hi Lynda! I LOVED the meetup and probably could have given Deborah a run for her money in the number of books bought if I had returned to Powell's with them after the brewery. Glad you liked The Bean Trees too!

Hey Lucy! Hope one day we end up at a meetup together! As soon as I finish my responses I will try to successfully upload the latest picture of the house we have.

Hi Kath! Looks like I will be reading The Bean Trees sooner rather than later with all these accolades for it.

Hi Suzi! Thanks for stopping by. :-)

Richard I agree it was a bad design decision. I didn't see any of the other Drop Cap books but I'm assuming they did it on all of them. I was considering ordering the My Antonia Drop Cap from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and am glad I didn't. That's one thing you can't see unless the book is in front of you.

Now that you mention The Poisonwood Bible, I did try and read that once but didn't get very far. Hmmm . . ., I just checked LT ratings for The Poisonwood Bible--4.22 vs. The Bean Trees--3.93. That's a little worrisome.

Here's a picture of the house from Monday with the windows in. It still looks like this from the outside but the inside is now full of cables, wires and pipes.

>264 phebj: I put the ratings gap down to the fact that TPB was published more recently, and thus has more fresh readers...I hope, anyway....

Whew! Thanks for putting a positive spin on it. Now I'm more confident about it again. :-)

It amazes me how book popularity, even with a famous/well-regarded author, moves on a sine wave. Earlier books go down, later books go up, then it reverses, on a weird time-scale that I can't quite figure out. Same with popular/famous writers' reputations in general.

Plainsong! Plainsong! Let the chant begin... I also liked the Bean Trees and hope to get to the 2nd book in the trilogy, later this year.

True to form, The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorite books, but I also Love The Bean Trees and at least like everything else of Kingsolver's that I've read. The Lacuna is also wonderful and amazing. Now I am back to my proper stance with regard to Richard.
And your house looks exciting!

Count me in for a Seattle meetup later this year. I would have loved Portland, but when it started to snow the Friday before the meetup, I knew I had made the right decision not to drive the passes by myself this time of year.

Your thread yesterday was my early warning that I could also get more snow. And, yep, snow is on the way here, sweeping up from the southwest after it hits you. Please take all of it you want; I won't feel slighted if there is less when it gets here! At least it will warm up our temperatures. My high temp was -2 yesterday. Right now it's -19. As clouds move in, it's predicted to warm up to the double digits. Ugh, ugh, ughity ugh.

Your house is beautiful! We're all invited to the house-warming party, right?

Holy cow! They think they are going too slow????
Your house looks so "together" now.

Don't forget to take inside pictures of pipes/wires/etc. Someday you might need to know where they are. During our bathroom makeover I couldn't believe how many workers could fit in there and work together so well.

Paris... Seattle... both sound like great locations for a meetup. *sigh*

Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors... and has been for a long while. I've never been disappointed.

It amazes me how book popularity, even with a famous/well-regarded author, moves on a sine wave. Earlier books go down, later books go up, then it reverses, on a weird time-scale that I can't quite figure out. Same with popular/famous writers' reputations in general.

Hi Richard! I've been racking my brain to try and figure out how to reply to your comments but I've got nuthin! Thanks to google, at least I know what a sine wave is now though. ;-)

Mark you're my favorite book cheerleader!

Hi Peggy! At this point, I'm chomping at the bit to try The Bean Trees. I need to see if the information they gave me on my book shipment contains any tracking information. It would be nice to know when I'll be getting all my new purchases. My fingers are crossed they don't get held up by the snow storms that are moving through Washington and Oregon.

Hi Janet! It would be great if you could make a Seattle meetup too. I really like Lisa's idea of three days and three different bookstores. I don't blame you one bit for deciding not to drive the passes in the winter. Better to be safe than sorry!

We haven't gotten too much more snow so far today but then it wasn't supposed to really start until about 5 p.m. I hope it isn't too bad in the morning because I need to venture out and I hate driving in bad conditions. I've been complaining bitterly about our temps in the teens but I see you've really been suffering with the cold.

Thanks for the compliments on the house. And all my LT friends are invited to the housewarming party, right now tentatively scheduled for late June to coincide with our 25th anniversary!

Hi Claudia. I think one of the reasons our house is going so fast is that we did do a lot of our leg work on picking things out over the last several months so they haven't had to wait for us to make decisions now. I need to check again with the builder but I think he said he'd give us a CD with all the pictures they take of the house. We've seen the pictures they have of their other houses and they are very detailed. They told us they sometimes use them in the event of any problems after the walls have all been closed up. My husband went over to the house this afternoon and said there were 15 people working in there! Maybe you want to consider Paris in June. Darryl will be there, possibly Ilana too. You know you owe it to yourself. ;-)

Hi Pat! The house is looking good. Your photos of Powells and talk of Astoria made me a little homesick. :p
You probably drove right by my parents house on your way to Astoria, if you were coming from Portland. You know all the huge container ships that come up the Columbia have to hire pilots - one to cross the bar and one to navigate the river. Pretty amazing.
A big thumbs up for your purchase of Out of Africa. I think you will love it. The language is beautiful.

all the huge container ships that come up the Columbia have to hire pilots - one to cross the bar and one to navigate the river. Pretty amazing.

Jenn that's exactly what I've been learning about on these trips to Astoria. I had no idea how dangerous it is for ships to cross the Columbia River bar and also how dangerous it can be for the pilots to board these ships. I loved our recent visit to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. They had some neat videos of rescues at sea.

Oh the house is looking like your builder is really on the ball Pat. Fantastic! So many people love Out of Africa that I am now officially excited to read it but I am really booked up so something will have to go. An Unnecessary Woman just arrived at my library but once that's out of the way I'm ready:)

Hi Bonnie. I haven't received my books from Powell's yet with my copy of Out of Africa and I'm hoping they weren't serious when they said it could be 14 business days before I got them so there's no rush on my part.

I did start An Officer and a Spy last night and I think I'm going to love it. I got out one of my Paris maps so I could track where things were happening in the city. Now I have to take a look at where Devil's Island is.

I'm wondering if the blast of snow that hit Oregon is contributing to the delay. It's snowing here now too, so my daughter is happy. I was glad it held off until after the Girl Scout hike though!

P. S. Where are you staying in Paris?

Wow, your house is moving right along! It's so exciting!

Hi Lisa. I'm also wondering if the weather may delay my books. Glad your daughter got her hike in. We were supposed to just have rain yesterday but the thermometer struggled to stay above freezing and the rain finally lost out to the snow. I was saying to Juli on her thread that I was glad we were in Portland last weekend instead of this one.

We're staying in an apartment on the rue des Beaux-Arts in the 6th arrondissement. It's been about 35 years since I've been to Paris so I'm no expert but it seems to be a great location with a lot to see within walking distance.

Hi Amber they accomplished an amazing amount this week on the house--heating, plumbing, electrical, central vac, and yesterday when we stopped by they were installing the fireplace. Next week, we wait for inspections so I doubt anything else will happen but we need to make some final decisions on tiles and a few other things.

Your house is really moving along spectacularly. Must be so much fun to pop in every few days to see the progress.

Happy Sunday, Pat! Just stopping be to show some house love. It's gonna be Awesome!

Lucy since the new house is so close we're up there every day, sometimes twice a day! Yesterday when we were there Rocky got off his leash and it took us about 20 minutes to trap him in the garage of one of the other houses being built. He's figured out that there's leftover food around from all the workers and he was going from house to house looking for it. He had a great time but it was no fun chasing him in the snow and ice.

Hi Lynda! Thanks for the house love. We're happy with the way things are turning out. :-)