Ellen (EBT1002) reads what she can in 2023 - Thread 2

Hello again, friends! I won't redo all the intro stuff but I'm Ellen, living in eastern Washington with my partner and my ginger cat. I work in higher education. I love books, jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, hiking, camping, and women's basketball (watching, not playing).

I'll track my reading here, but also keep track of my Wordle each day and try to just generally "journal" about what's happening in life.

84 days until my trip to Tennessee.
183 days until my trip to Ireland.
292 days until retirement.
326 days until my return trip to Kaua'i.

I guess I like to travel, as well.

Carson, my favorite laptop (and yes, that is a heated bed in which he snoozes when not occupying my lap)

Challenges, shared reads, whatever

COMPLETED IN JANUARY

1. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell 4.5 stars
2. Out of Bounds by Val McDermid 4 stars
3. The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield 3.5 stars
4. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell 3 stars
5. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan 4.5 stars
6. The Magic Kingdom by Russell Banks 4 stars

COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY

7. What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez 3.5 stars
8. Horse by Geraldine Brooks 4.5 stars
9. The Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor 2.5 stars
10. A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis 4 stars

COMPLETED IN MARCH

11. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 5 stars
12. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai 4.5/5 stars
13. The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff 4.5 stars
14. Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet 4 stars
15. Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett 2.5 stars

COMPLETED IN APRIL

16. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow 3.5 stars
17. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 3.5 stars
18. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes 4.5 stars

COMPLETED IN MAY

19. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 4 stars
20. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

...


A highlight on our most recent trip to Kaua'i was seeing the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, a Threatened species, coming up onto the beach in the evening to rest until the next day's fishing adventures. They are incredible creatures. I saw 18 one evening but I heard that people would sometimes see as many as 50 or 60.

Hi! I'm never the first one to arrive...and still, I missed the party. I'm glad it was fun, though.

Happy new one!

>1 EBT1002: Love that countdown all fun things to look forward to!

I had an eye exam last Friday and it turns out the cataract we've been monitoring in my right eye has had quite a good year. The doc and I were chuckling about how blurry my vision is in that eye and then he showed me the pictures of my eyeballs (very weird, that). The cloudy shadow in my right eye is really large and he said "you're looking right through that." I'm not sure when this will get scheduled but I'm ready. I've been aware of my vision suffering more and more, and I wonder if it is contributing to my reduced reading. I mean, I know my work stress and general busy-ness is the primary culprit, but the fact that reading is just harder from a physical perspective might have a wee bit of influence.

Happy New Thread! And, as someone who has had cataract surgery, I bet that has impacted your reading.

Happy new thread Ellen!

>5 EBT1002: Ooo turtles! Love!

>9 EBT1002: Good luck with cataract treatment! I'm (not) looking forward to that, but it beats the alternatives.

>7 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda. Thanks for visiting.

>8 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. I love having fun things to which I can actively look forward!

>10 banjo123: Hi Rhonda. I'm actually really looking forward to this eye surgery. Even since Friday, getting the validation that my vision is so affected, I find myself noticing more and more how cloudy things are from my right side.

>11 quondame: Hi Susan. The turtles were truly amazing and breathtaking. I do hope the species is able to survive all we humans are doing to the Earth. And thanks for the good luck. I had better-than-average sight until I was in my mid-40s and I have really struggled with the loss of that with age. I'm looking forward to having some of it restored to me.

>5 EBT1002: Love the turtles Ellen, thanks for sharing.

Good for you Ellen, for having your eye exam and taking steps to remediate. Also, the turtles are fab. Thanks for the photos.

Happy new one, Ellen. Love Carson in his heated cave!

>9 EBT1002: - I had my first cataract surgery in January and the second, just 2 weeks ago. The difference is astounding. Warning: you will notice the wrinkles and saggy skin far more than you ever thought possible. Apart from that - and the annoyance of eyedrops for days and weeks on end, multiple times a day - it was totally worth it. My vision had also been becoming cloudier and I had been leaning into my laptop screen far more than I had realized. I don't know if I am in the minority, but even if I only get clear lenses, I do want glasses after I wait the requisite one full month to allow the eye to heal. I have worn glasses since I was 11 and I truly feel naked without them. Besides, glasses protect my eyes from wind and dust and that's a good thing. Go for it, you won't regret it.

>15 jessibud2: "I have worn glasses since I was 11 and I truly feel naked without them." I'm with you on that, Shelley. If cataract surgery comes to me, it won't eliminate the glasses. I think I look haggard and sick without them.

I hope you can get yours scheduled relatively soon, Ellen. Everyone I know who has had it seemed very well satisfied afterward.

Good luck with the cataract surgery, Ellen. I love your countdown; you have a lot of great, exciting things to look forward to this year.

I love the pictures of the turtles. I hope I get to see some.

Oh, and happy new thread.

You've had some great reading so far, lots of 4+ books.

Happy new thread Ellen, love the photos of the turtles.

Happy new thread, dear Ellen.

Happy new one!! And I am sorry you have a cataract, but glad that you feel validated. Hope you can get the surgery soon. Love your vacation/retirement countdown up top -- it's real!!!

Happy new thread, Ellen!

Happy New thread, Ellen. I love reading about your Hawaii getaways. Those turtles are amazing. Bummer about the cataract surgery. Good luck with it.

Happy new thread, Ellen.

>5 EBT1002: I never heard of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, how special you saw them!

Wordle 618 3/6

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share, prose, worse

3/6!! Nice. : )

Happy new one, Ellen!

Wordle 619 4/6

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ideas, flora, koala, polka

Today is day 1 of my retirement. It was quite an adventure getting retired, but I managed to get all the paper work done. I didn't have enough room in my car yesterday, to take out all of the accumulated stuff from my office. I had to go back this afternoon and get the last three boxes. I also had to move stuff around in my storage shed so that I could fit some of the boxes in there. I will be spending the next week finishing going through the remaining paper. I am going to have to get a filing cabinet for my house, but there are plenty of those showing up at thrift shops. I hope that I can use this upcoming week productively and then head out to Kansas to see what we can do with my mother and her situation.

I think it is going to be strange to not go to work. It probably won't hit me until I come back to Tuscaloosa around the first of April that I am retired.

Wordle 620 5/6

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suite, chase, prose, loose, moose

Once again, I talked myself out of a word. I wanted to guess what turned out to be the correct word on my fourth try and just couldn’t believe it because I like that word so much!

Hi Ellen.

>28 benitastrnad: Benita doesn't maintain a thread so I will wish her a happy retirement here if you don't mind and congratulate her on what I am sure was a satisfying career.

>28 benitastrnad: Benita, I'll add my congratulations on achieving retirement the preferable way.

>29 EBT1002: Your logic made me laugh, Ellen. It's impossible to outthink the Wordle gods and yet I always try.

Wordle 621 4/6

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slate, adore, awoke, above

>28 benitastrnad: Happy retirement!! I keep forgetting you don't have a thread so I have kidnapped Ellen's. : )

>33 EBT1002: Ohhh Hi!, Ellen. Nice job on the Wordle.

Wordle 622 5/6

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tears, saint, splat, stoat, squat

I can’t believe this one so eluded me, but it did.

Wordle 623 3/6

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soare, tired, trend

Much more satisfying!

I’m in L.A. on work trip. Dinner with a major donor last night. Today we drive to Palm Desert, dinner with another pair of donors tonight. Tomorrow is “Cougs of the Desert” fundraiser. Home Monday.

I was going to catch up on LT last night but the wifi in this hotel is too sloooow. I’m typing this on my phone using 5G.

Still reading Demon Copperhead. Still loving it.

I got invited to join a real life in-person book club! A small group of women from work. I’m excited. This month’s books are The Bandit Queens and I Have Some Questions For You. I’ll never get them both read by March 27 but I’ll try to get at least one of them read and it’ll be fun to eat, drink wine, and talk books with this group. By then my retirement plans will be public.

In other news, the WSU women’s basketball team has won their first 3 games in the Pac-12 tournament, including upsets of nationally-ranked Utah (#3!) and Colorado. Tomorrow they play UCLA for the championship. This is amazing! The Cougs have NEVER won more than 1 game in this tournament and I’m not sure they’ve ever won even one game. After a win the Cougs always (this year) gather on center court to sing “I Feel Like a Woman.” This has become their anthem and Shania Twain has tweeted about it. So fun.

Wordle 624 5/6

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arose, doubt, month, topic, toxic

A tough one.

Wordle 625 4/6

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heart, pious, picky, pinky

Go WSU women's bball!! And hurray for a RL bookclub! SO much fun to discuss in person with a few snacks can drinks on the side. Happy for you.

I finished Demon Copperhead. It was a long, satisfying read. I'm giving it five full stars.

Next up is Rebecca Makkai's new novel, I Have Some Questions For You.

I'm in the middle of a super busy travel period, all work-related and unfortunately not at all conducive to reading.

I've had a thought: since I don't think there is any way I'll complete 75 books this year (so far, I've read 11), I'm wondering about making it a year of long reads. The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois and Middlemarch and such. For now, it's just a thought, not a plan.

>28 benitastrnad: Congratulations, Benita!!!!!

>43 EBT1002: "I'm wondering about making it a year of long reads." Maybe not exclusively, but giving those chunksters the attention they deserve appeals to me too. Thinking about "how many" tends to push those longer reads to the bottom of the list, and there's really nothing more satisfying than tucking into a story that you know will keep you engaged for a good long time.

>43 EBT1002: 5 stars for Demon Copperhead! We are of one mind on that, Ellen.

Re: your year of long reads, I made a similar decision about non-fiction this year. Last year I found myself avoiding it for no good reason except the books tended to be longer, or denser, or more challenging. And yet when I reflected on my 2022 reading I felt like something was missing. I'm enjoying this change in my reading diet.

I'm about to start I Have Some Questions for You, too!

I tend to put off long books, so I think your potential plan is a good one.

>46 lauralkeet: I'm reading a non-fiction tome right now that is over 700 large format pages long (two text columns to a page!), and I just try to read a few pages a day, without caring how long it takes to finish it. Luckily this one is nicely sectioned by subject matter, and this approach works well.

>43 EBT1002:, >47 katiekrug: I just finished the Makkai and LOVED it.

Happy newish thread!

Wonderful photos of the sea turtles! Thanks for sharing!

I'm also reading Demon Copperhead right now. The utter sadness is pulling me down, but I guess that is a nod to her ability as a writer.

Did you know Berly currently has a group read thread for it? https://www.librarything.com/topic/349040#n8087077

>43 EBT1002: Thanks for the heads up on the Makkai, Ellen. Straight into the cart it went.

I am planning a (4th?) reread of Middlemarch, probably starting at the weekend.

Reading is supposed to be fun and enriching. Read what appeals to you! The heck with making that 75 goal. : ) Finally getting into Demon Copperhead -- glad it was a 5-star for you. Did you put any comments up on the thread? If you have time? LOL

Wordle 626 3/6

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adieu, store, horse

Woo hoo!!!!!

Wordle 627 4/6

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crane, laser, alert, regal

So many yellow squares!

I want to share this link to the article about my retirement.
It's official!!

And I am LOVING I Have Some Questions for You so far!!

>55 EBT1002: Woo hoo!!!! That's a nice article too.

And while I'm at it, I'll share this story about Shania Twain's engagement with the WSU Women's Basketball Team. Very fun!

>56 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. I'm so excited that this is real now. Emerging from the surreal stage of the experience...

> 52 I have not posted any comments about Demon Copperhead, Kim, but I'll say this: it is both nothing like David Copperfield and absolutely like it. Demon is a compelling main character and the exploration of the stereotyped thinking about folks who live in Appalachia, our society's continued neglect of children from poor communities, and the impact of the opioid crisis on working class communities was all stellar. I think it's one of Kingsolver's best novels. And that is saying something because I'm a long-time fan of her work.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: I'm really enjoying I Have Some Questions for You so far, Caroline. It feels like another potential 5-star read. Too early to say for sure, but I'm looking forward to finding out. :-)

I remember that you are a regular re-reader of Middlemarch. I bought a lovely copy with deckled edges at a bookshop recently.

>50 streamsong: Hi Janet. Oh, your comment about the sadness of Demon Copperhead is spot on. Its dismalness is one thing it absolutely has in common with David Copperfield, along with some memorable characters. Mr. Dick is one of the best.

>49 vivians: Good to know, Vivian! I was immediately pulled into the story.

>48 laytonwoman3rd: and >47 katiekrug: and >46 lauralkeet: and >45 laytonwoman3rd:
Linda, Laura, and Katie,
Thanks for the comments about my idea (still an idea, not a commitment) to read more tomes this year. I would definitely not read those exclusively but perhaps avoid them less. Like you, Katie, I tend to avoid them and some of that is driven by the silly counting of books. But I wholeheartedly agree, Linda, that there is something uniquely satisfying about immersing oneself in a good, long book. And Laura, I have several long-ish nonfiction books on my wish list or on hold at the library. I tend to put them on hold and then skip out on reading them when my turn comes around.

So, all good musing. Once I'm retired, I know I'll be able to read more books, and more long books, but for this year I'm working to give myself permission to, as Kim says, read what I want to read. I mean, I usually do that, but I'm just examining my internal process.

Aloha! So glad you loved Demon Copperhead. I am looking forward to the Makkai. Great news about your book club. Have you seen the Women’s Prize long list.? Thoughts?

Truly funny that you solved the Wordle in >53 EBT1002: much quicker than I did.

>55 EBT1002: Yay!

Demon Copperhead is certainly a book that I won't forget, which is saying rather a lot. Often I can't remember anything significant about a book a week after I've finished, and here it is getting toward 2 months since I read it and I can remember quite a bit.

Truly funny that you solved the Wordle in >53 EBT1002: much quicker than I did.

Wordle 628 4/6

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least, drone, curve, where

It took me a long time between my third and fourth guesses.

>55 EBT1002: Very nice article and Whoohoo on your retirement being official!!

>58 EBT1002: I am copying and pasting on the Demon Copperhead thread for you!! LOL. Nicely put. I am on page 100 and enjoying it (hard life that it is) very much.

>55 EBT1002: Lovely article and good to see your work has been so appreciated.

Lovely article about your retirement, Ellen. You have a lot to be proud about.
And I bet you are also breathing easier and sleeping better now that's it's really official!😊👍

>55 EBT1002: Great article -- and congrats on your forthcoming retirement. You definitely gave them long enough to find a good person to assume your role.

Congratulations on making the retirement official, and on a lovely announcement by the Uni.

Wordle 629 X/6

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route, reads, remix, renew, repel, rebel. The word was revel.

My first fail in Wordle. 😕

Sadness. And you were so close. But look how many you did before losing out your first time -- impressive!

Wordle 630 3/6

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adieu, irate, email

Redemption!

Congratulations on the public announcement, Ellen.

Hope Shania can make the schedule work for a WSU team meet-up, looks like they are a great ad for her music.

I am enjoying the tome discussion. I have been reading Günter Grass' 600+ pages of fictionalised German reunification, and whilst it was slow going initially, there is something about the depth you can enjoy of the author's imagination at that length. (Reader time permitting, of course)

That's a very ambitious bookclub, Ellen. I've never heard of reading two books in one month before. Do they keep that up all year long?

Best of luck with your plan to read tomes. I had no idea how big The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois was until I hauled it home from the library. I would have thought twice about reserving it if I'd known!

Wordle 631 3/6

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raise, orbit, birth

😎

Great article, Ellen!

Wordle 632 4/6

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soare, plate, flame, blame

>60 BLBera: Aloha, Beth. I'm glad you're enjoying your Hawaiian vacation. I'll be interested in your take on I Have Some Questions for You. I think it reads as a "simpler" novel than it is. The prose is very straightforward but there are layers to it.

>61 streamsong: it is indeed funny, Janet! And I thought of you when I completed that particular wordle. 🙂

>63 quondame: Hi Susan. I'm surprised to hear that you don't often remember significant elements of a book a week or two after reading it. This is definitely true for me but I think I've had the sense that I'm the only one who can read a really good book but then forget most of its detail very quickly. In any case, I think Demon Copperhead will stick with me.

>64 streamsong: 😀

>66 Berly: Thank you, Kim, both for the kind words and for copying and pasting for me. Nine more months and I'll be roaring around the threads! LOL

>67 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks, Caroline. It is starting to feel real!

>68 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley. Yes, starting to breathe more easily. Last Thursday and Friday were the Board of Regents meeting days. I got lots of acknowledgment and appreciation from them. November will be my last board meeting and I expect they'll set aside time then to formally thank me. It's all a bit weird but also truly lovely.

>69 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. I feel good about the timeline. Honestly, it feels a bit long, but I know my team appreciates it.

>70 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda!

>72 Berly: To be clear, Kim, I hadn't done 600+ Wordles. I just started a couple months ago. But still, I did go more that 60 without a fail. 😎

>74 Berly: Thank you Kim. Nine more months and every day will be Saturday! 🥳

>75 charl08: Hi Charlotte. I believe the athletic department is working on getting the team into Shania's concert in Spokane in May. It's become quite the ad for both of them.

I have delicious memories of getting lost for hours at a time in good long books in my youth. It's hard for me now because I just don't have (or won't create) those long periods of uninterrupted reading. I look forward to that in retirement.

>76 Familyhistorian: I'm learning that the book club is perhaps less committed than it sounds, Meg. I will be the newby so I'll tread gently, but I plan to suggest we choose one book and all focus on it. Conventional, I know.... These are good, intelligent, and thoughtful women so I'm looking forward to the discussion!

I bought The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois in softcover. It would be a kindle kind of read but I look forward to getting absorbed in a good long traditional-format book!

>78 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda!

Hoo boy, it was dark when the alarm went off this morning and my body was pretty convinced I should be sleeping for another hour. But once I'm up, I'm up and I do love my quiet mornings to myself.

I'm making slow but happy progress on I Have Some Questions for You. As I said to Beth up there, the prose is pretty straightforward but I think the novel has layers that I don't quite grasp yet. I'm about halfway through.

I'm following The Women's Prize. I've only read Demon Copperhead and The Marriage Portrait. Both are excellent. I have a couple more either on hold at the library or in my TBRs.

I finished I Have Some Questions for You a couple of days ago and loved it. I need to write up some comments on it, but you are right about the layers. I thought Makkai handled so many themes really deftly.

>81 EBT1002: I'm sure my porous memory for books is largely due to my basic reason for constantly reading - as a habitual escape from situational consciousness. I seek absorption within the story, but once finished, am off to be absorbed elsewhere. Books like Demon Copperhead require a bit more alertness while reading than is my general preference, so they stick longer because my mind was more involved with them.

>83 EBT1002: I know. The number listed is the number of the puzzle, not how many you've done, but I still know it was a long stretch of wins. : )

Wordle 633 4/6

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house, trail, curls, surly

I tried a different approach this morning and it went okay. I have a friend who always starts with the same two words: dream and pious, in that order. Her track record is pretty impressive. I won’t use her two words (on some obscure principle) but after my first word here I did decide to use her strategy. Usually my second guess has to be possible based on the results of my first guess. *shrug*

I use *meaty* and *pious* as my first 2 words, because they use all 6 vowels, and I go from there. Works for me. Except when it doesn't, lol

I start with the same two words too. My first choice rules out (or in) 3 vowels, which I think is very useful. Depending on how that first one looks, I may not use the second word at all. Today, mine looked like this:
Wordle 633 3/6

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aisle, skull, surly

(Wonder why your incorrect spots are black and mine are white?)

>87 katiekrug: Good to hear that agreement, Katie. I'll cruise by your thread, see if you've posted comments.

>88 quondame: That makes total sense to me, Susan. I think I used to be more that way -- really getting lost in books as an escape from situational consciousness (I love that phrase). I'm more distractible as an adult than I was as a youth, far too susceptible to work or other concerns inserting themselves so aggressively into my consciousness that I can't fully lose myself in a book. I hope this eases in the coming months or years.

>89 Berly: *smooch* to you, Kim.

>91 jessibud2: Ooh, I like that, Shelley. Getting the *Y* in there can be helpful! I may borrow your two words, at least for Quordle where I'm much more likely to use two words to capture 10 letters right out the gate.

>92 laytonwoman3rd: That is excellent, Linda. My go-to first word tends to be *adieu*, although I like to mix it up. If I start with *adieu* and I don't get much info, my second word must have the missing *O* in it. I tend not to worry about the *Y* but I'm thinking that is a mistake. When I stray from *adieu* I almost always start with a word that has three vowels and two relatively common consonants. But I tend to use what Wordle calls the "hard" route of choosing my second (and third and so on) word as one that is a possible win based on the info from the first word.

I love how there are so many ways to slice and dice the Wordle!!

Re: the black or white for incorrect letters, I use the dark mode on my iPhone so the background is different. I assume that is the reason?

I choose different starting words each day, but always with the intent to confirm (or rule out) vowels. I like to use whatever I've learned from one move in the next one (I think that's what "hard mode" does although I haven't turned on that setting). So if I start with a word like STARE, and get gray/black for the vowels and yellow for R, my next word might be something like ROUND, to see if I can figure out where the R goes and also try out more vowels.

There's really quite a bit of strategy at play with Wordle, and I think that's what makes it enjoyable. Also what makes it so frustrating when you're down to one missing letter, and there are so many choices---there's just no way at that point to play it smart. Trial and error isn't much fun.

Congratulations on your official retirement notice, Ellen!

I just finished I Have Some Questions for You this afternoon. The second half went a lot faster than the first but it was all great!

Wordle 634 4/6

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slate, round, speck, sweep

Wordle 635 4/6

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aisle, tiger, diner, cider

I really wanted that second guess to be right. 🙂

I finished I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai this morning. So very good. I could not put it down for the last couple hours of reading and it provoked the kind of rare emotional reaction I cherish from really good novels. I didn't weep but it was close.

Next up: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. I also have Trust by Hernan Diaz queued up on my kindle as well as We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole waiting at the library. Thank goodness the weekend is almost here!

I am going to try to make you jealous. This morning I sat at the dining room table in a warm patch of sunlight and read for 2 hours. It is cold outside - in the 30's here - just above freezing, but the sunlight was amazing. It was a beautiful thing. When I finally put my book down, I thought - this is why I retired.

Oh - the book is Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow.

>100 EBT1002: I'm glad to see such accolades for I Have Some Questions for You. Katie already praised it so highly that I requested it from the library. The question now is, can I wait?

Wordle 636 4/6

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pause, feral, dealt, mealy

>95 lauralkeet: That is exactly my usual strategy, Laura. It seems to be keeping me mostly in the 4s with sometimes a 5 and very occasionally a 3. I have also not turned on the "hard" mode so every once in a while, I stray. I enjoy trying various first words and experimenting with strategies.

>96 laytonwoman3rd: I totally agree, Linda! I hate sitting there, staring at the Wordle, thinking of at least three or four words that fit and knowing it's a crap shoot. Of course, this morning I thought it was a crap shoot between leach and dealt but when I finally took a deep breath and selected one, it turns out neither of them was correct. Trial and error is less fun than strategy.

>97 Copperskye: Thank you, Joanne. I agree that the latter half of I Have Some Questions for You flew by. I think I'm giving the whole book 4.5 stars.

>101 benitastrnad: That sounds truly lovely, Benita. I'm glad you are so enjoying your "every day is Saturday."!! And Memphis looks interesting. Was it long-listed for the Women's Prize?

>102 lauralkeet: Hi Laura. I think you'll enjoy I Have Some Questions for You. I'll write some comments about it this weekend but I agreed wholeheartedly with Katie's excellent comments on her thread.

>105 EBT1002:
Yes. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow was listed for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. I don't usually read books as soon as they are published, but I am reading it because a book discussion group to which I belong is going to discuss it in June. Since I had to go to the library to pick up some books, and recorded books for the trip to Kansas, I decided to pick it up as well. I am 150 pages into it and it is a good story. I am not sure where the plot is going, but it is well written and interesting. It is one of those books that jumps back and forth in time. All the way from the 1930's to the late 1990's.

>103 EBT1002: - I had a very rare 2 today, Ellen. I never even needed my second go-to word; my first was all it took. Not likely to ever happen again, mind you, but it was sweet ;-)

Aargh!

Wordle 637 5/6*

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slate, paint, gamut, tarot, yacht

This was my stupidity. I thought of the word for my third guess but misspelled it in my brain. SO frustrating.

Wordle 638 4/6*

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alone, sober, retro, credo

>106 benitastrnad: I've put Memphis on hold at the library, Benita, so I'll read it in the next couple of months.

>107 jessibud2: Very nice, Shelley! I got a 2 very early in my Wordle experience. I wasn't yet keeping "records" (i.e., posting in my thread) so I have no idea what the word was or how I got it in 2 but it shows up in my stats.

I'm trying to get into The Bandit Queens but yesterday was a wash. It was really a bummer of a day. My basketball team played terribly, both Wordle and Quordle kicked my butt (I got Wordle in five but still...), and I had to attend a "gala" for work last night. The program was boring as hell and went on forever. There was an open bar (wine and beer) and both silent and live auctions. I was outbid on both items I bid on, which suited me just fine. Anyway, I was just grumpy all day.

I've worked on a jigsaw puzzle some to manage my mood. It helps. Now I'm parked in front of the television with women's basketball on again. Easier today because I no longer care a whole lot who wins. I'll root for the Pac-12 and Iowa (I did my internship at University of Iowa back in the early 90s). Oh, and I figure South Carolina will win the whole thing and I'm in favor of that.

Maybe I need a good mystery novel instead of literature right now.

Well. I've been making some of the rounds of threads but also watching WBB. Iowa had a ten point lead and now Georgia has gone on an amazing run and they're up by one. It's exciting but not in a way I wanted. Still, I love watching really good basketball teams play when I don't have a dog in the proverbial fight.

I said I'd write some comments about I Have Some Questions for You and I feel like what I have to say has mostly been said by others. Still, here goes.

Bodie returns to her New England high school prep school two decades later to teach a 2-week "mini-mester" course on podcasting. She quickly becomes obsessed with the murder, during her senior year, of Thalia, her former roommate and acquaintance. Omar, an athletic trainer who was neither student nor faculty, and who also happened to be Black, was arrested and convicted of the murder, but Bodie becomes more and more convinced that he did not do it. The narrative takes the form of a letter (?) from Bodie to Mr. Bloch, her music teacher at Granby, and includes speculation about his possible guilt. Regardless of his guilt or innocence with regard to murder, it's clear he was guilty of inappropriate relationships with young women students, including Thalia. Bodie and the students in her class investigate the old murder as part of the process of learning about podcast production. So many questions emerge, not only about Mr. Bloch, but about some of the boys in their class.

This is a #MeToo novel which also explores race, memory, justice, and the nuances of guilt. Even in its indictment of male privilege and the persistent and apparently unshakeable systemic protection of male predatory behavior, it also explores the nuance of guilt and responsibility. If a good man is accused of making a woman feel shamed, silenced, and abused, how do we balance the need to believe with our understanding of the complex dynamics of interpersonal relationships, especially if we happen to love and trust that man? How do we make sense of the cultural shifts that redefine acceptable and change our perspectives on fairness and justice?

The second half of the novel read much more quickly than the first, mostly because the story had shifted into whodunit territory. Sort of. And Makkai almost tried to tackle too many themes. She managed not to overdo any of them. 4.5 stars.

We have some phyllo dough leftover from a delicious Spanakopita Pie Prudence made last week, so tonight we're having Onion Pie. Lots of onions, sweet and savory, almost caramelized. Lime zest, lemongrass, chili pepper, flaked coconut..... It should be interesting.

Nice comments on the Makkai, Ellen.

And I'm intrigued by that onion pie!

>115 katiekrug: The onion pie was good but not great. It needed something additional but we're not sure what. It called for a "hot red pepper," which we forgot to purchase, so we went with chili pepper flakes. Next time we'll add some kind of hot pepper, red or jalapeño, and perhaps some red bell pepper? Don't get me wrong, it was good. Thank you, New York Times.

The phyllo dough was fun to work with. I did that part. You know, painting sheets of dough with an oil-soy mix. It's play!

By the way, folks, I will be in Boston March 31 - April 5. Flying there the 30th, flying home the 6th. Recommended indie bookshops?

Nice review of the Makkai!

>117 EBT1002: - Brattle Books and Commonwealth Books are lovely, poky used bookstores that we liked. And we didn't make it on our last trip, but Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge had been on our list...

Wordle 639 4/6*

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cause, drone, globe, glove

Happy Spring, Ellen. I loved your thoughts on I Have Some Questions for You. I really want to bookhorn this one in, in the coming months. I LOVED The Great Believers.

The Bandit Queens has quite captured my attention. Women’s basketball has been occupying a lot of my time but in between games (ha) I’m really enjoying this novel!

Cataract surgery (right eye) scheduled for April 18. Yikes!

Ellen, I just finished with my 2 cataract surgeries. First in January, second last month. The entire procedure is quite painless. The worst part, for me, was doing the drops afterwards. 3 different types, multiple times a day for 4 weeks. I thought I'd rather go blind than put drops in my eyes but believe me, it's amazing what one can get used to. And if *I* can do it, ANYONE can!

The difference between my vision prior to surgery and after was astounding. Be warned though: although the clarity of details will be exquisite, and colours brighter, you will also see details you have never seen before. I am talking wrinkles, skin details that, for me, anyhow, were better left unseen. ;-p

Good luck. (you won't need it!)

Wordle 640 4/6*

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stale, input, touch, tough

This is why I never buy lottery tickets. When it’s a coin toss or throw of the dice, my luck tends to be poor. I had three good words for my third guess and I just guessed wrong.

Wordle 641 4/6*

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arise, peony, muted, duvet

>118 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda!

>119 katiekrug: Oh good, I will check those out, Katie. Thank you. I definitely want to visit the Harvard bookstore, although I have been there before. I need to pick up some swag for some colleagues here. There is story there having to do with our not-beloved boss, but I'll save that for another time.

>121 msf59: You really do need to read I Have Some Questions for You, Mark. I think it's right up your alley. I also loved The Great Believers. She is becoming an author to watch.

>124 jessibud2: Hi Shelley. I'm glad you are through the eyedrops stage. I don't mind giving myself eyedrops but I'm still dreading that part of the recovery. My cataracts are apparently a less common kind (you know, I really don't always need to be special, for pete's sake), meaning they are more likely to develop due to diabetes, eye trauma, or something else (not remembering) -- none of which I have as part of my history. A colleague wondered if my stroke back in 2015 would count as trauma. *shrug*

Anyway, part of what makes mine complicated is that my distance vision is still very good, technically 20/20. He wanted to make sure I would notice a positive difference enough to be satisfied with the results of the surgery. He ended up recommending the surgery but for the right eye only. In another year or two or three, I'll likely want or need the left eye to be done.

I'm a little nervous about the whole thing but it makes sense to proceed.

A few books arrived in the mail today:

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan
How Should One Read a Book? by Virginia Woolf (Introduction and Afterword by Sheila Heti

Happy Wednesday, Ellen. I have not dug into Woman of Light yet but I will shortly. I am loving my audio of Empire of Pain. This dude has become another NNF master.

>127 EBT1002: - I know a few people who have only needed the surgery on one eye because their other eye was fine. I am not one of those people, though and so he did mine a month apart. I have what is known as mono-vision: my left eye sees only close (my reading eye) and my right eye sees only far. Weird but not unheard of, apparently and my eyes have been this way since I first started wearing glasses around age 11 or 12 or so. The implant he put in after removing the cataracts corrected my vision so the mono vision remains (I requested that as I thought that it might make my migraines worse if my brain would have to learn to adjust), but now, the vision is so clear, I could technically get away with no glasses. But I want glasses so the new prescription is only a mild one (MUCH thinner lenses!). I was also very nervous but honestly, I am such a baby for anything eye-related, and it was for naught. In and out in half an hour, no pain and totally worth it.

Hi, Ellen.

Adding my congratulations to Benita on her retirement. Her reading in that lovely sunlight and “every day is a Saturday” sounds so good, doesn’t it? You’re almost there!

>55 EBT1002: What a good tribute to you article. Nice comments from your colleague. From talking with you about this over the years I suspect they should be searching for two or three candidates to replace you, not just one.😀

I appreciated your comments about the new Rebecca Makkai book. It’s definitely in my future. Man, I sure hope the systemic protection of male predatory behavior is shakeable and destructible. It needs to become old news. I’m hoping that the younger generations are growing up more savvy about this as they are with so many other things; our generation sucks in this area.

Boston area bookstores: Harvard Bookstore is a treat that shouldn’t be missed. I also have a soft spot for Grolier’s, which last I knew was a musty, dusty old store full of great poetry and character.

P.S. we just missed each other in LA! We were leaving just as you were arriving.

Wordle 642 3/6*

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ideal, drain, staid

Nice to get a 3 now and then.

>128 EBT1002: Nice book haul, Ellen.

One of the results of my Hawai'i trip is that I have started to do Wordle. My friends hooked me. :)

I'm really looking forward to the Makkai book, which is waiting for me at the library.

Wordle 643 4/6*

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later, short, front, grout

Once again, I had a coin toss situation for my third guess and I just chose wrong. *shrug*

>129 msf59: Empire of Pain sounds fascinating, Mark. Really good NNF is such a treat and I think it can work particularly well on audio.

>130 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! Interestingly, my doc talked with me about that mono-vision phenomenon. I don't have it but he was talking about that situation being just right for the third option he outlined for me. He recommended the second option (laser surgery on my right eye only at this point) and I'm going with that.

>131 jnwelch: Hiya Joe. It is always so good to see you! Thanks for the kind remarks about my work and my retirement. I am ready!

"...I’m hoping that the younger generations are growing up more savvy about this as they are with so many other things..."
I can't say a lot but I share the hope and I have a bit of optimism. There are conversations happening on my campus and the students are showing up. They recognize that hazing is bullying on steroids, and they are speaking their mind (in a good way). It will help the university hold students accountable if the students are willing to risk holding each other accountable. And maybe that can lead to culture change. It will have to happen on someone else's watch, but it does give me a wee bit of hope.

>133 BLBera: I'll look for your postings about Wordle results, Beth. It's addictive. I have two friends here in Pullman who are also Wordlers and we text every day with our scores and sometimes a screenshot of our grids.

So far, I've found that 4 is my usual score, but I've gotten it in 3, the past two days!

>138 BLBera: I'm always happy with a 4, delighted with a 3, and grumpy with 5 or 6. Four is definitely my most common score.

Happy Saturday, Ellen. It is so nice to see you visiting the threads. A treat for us. I am into the 2nd half of Woman of Light and it has been really good. Expect more warbling. Did you read her story collection? Another terrific debut.

Cataract surgery is so worth it. And it sounds like you have a good doctor.
>139 EBT1002:. I try to just be happy if I get it. 4 is my average, but today I got it in 3.

I finished The Bandit Queens this morning and I've given it 4.5 stars. Darkly funny, it is a wonderful debut novel. Geeta is part of a small community of women using microloans to enable them to operate small businesses: jewelry making, tailoring, and such. Geeta's husband left five years ago and the local village believes she killed him; while this makes her a pariah, it also gives her the independence and solitude she desires. When one of the women approaches Geeta, asking her to help remove her nose ring (make her a widow), the story takes a strange turn. The abusive and oppressive husbands begin to die, but the means are just not straightforward. This delightful novel has elements of romance, mystery, social commentary, and dark humor.

>140 msf59: Hi Mark. I've not read anything by Kali Fajardo-Anstine but I have Woman of Light on hold at the library.

>141 banjo123: Hi Rhonda. I'm both excited and nervous about the surgery, Rhonda, but I think it's the right thing to do. And yes, I try to be happy if I get the Wordle in six but I sure like the 3s and 4s!

Wordle 644 3/6*

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raise, outer, voter

So fun.

*high five* for your 3, Ellen!

You hit me with a BB with Bandit Queens. Nice review!

Are you watching any of the women’s March Madness? Ohio State just had a well-earned win over Connecticut. South Carolina looks like the best bet, don’t they.

That Gideon the Ninth fantasy was fine, but no great shakes IMO.

I’m looking forward to digging into Poverty by America, the new one by the Evicted author Matthew Desmond.

>147 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura!

>148 jnwelch: I think you'll enjoy The Bandit Queens, Joe. It's a good one.

We are definitely watching women's basketball. We missed most of the UConn-Ohio State game but are delighted with the outcome. The parity in women's basketball these days makes it so much more fun. I picked South Carolina to win the whole thing; they are an incredibly talented and well-coached team.

I think I'll skip Gideon the Ninth. It's not my usual fare and there are so many other books on my reading list!

Prudence read a review of Poverty in America (still no touchstone?) and we're thinking we'll purchase it. I listened to Evicted a few years ago and it was SO very good. I learned a lot and his new one sounds just as good.

>144 EBT1002: I think I am just starting on The Bandit Queen, Ellen. It seems like a good read, but until I am about 40 or so pages in , I don't like to let folks on LT know I am reading a book. I just never know if it is the right book until I get further. I 'm quite keen on the Women's prize and this will be my third Women's Prize read for 2023 . Raider Girl set up a place to rate your opinion on the Women's Prize Longlist here - https://www.librarything.com/list/44469/2023-Womens-Prize-for-Fiction-Longlist

Beth, Charlotte, Elizabeth , me and couple of other people are participating so far. Everyone is welcome to weigh in on the books they have read.

If you have a chance, do visit me on my new thread in the 75's

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement!

I've had a good Saturday. I did a few loads of laundry and cooked up a big pot of pasta sauce. It's one of my cooking specialities. I used a bit of spicy Italian pork sausage as well as super lean ground beef. We'll be having spaghetti tonight. We also opened a bottle of good Cabernet Sauvignon to go with it.

We went for a short walk, made even shorter by the surprisingly cold and windy day with which we were confronted.

We also watched a couple games of women's basketball and are tucked up on the couch to watch Virginia Tech and Tennessee. It should be a good game. And I'm so pleased to see more Black women coaching teams to success.

>150 vancouverdeb: Deb! So great to see you! I will come find your thread. This year I have missed a few threads during the New Year transition.

I'll also come visit the thread for rating the Women's Prize nominees. I've now read three of them and all three were truly excellent.

Currently reading:

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet. I've only read the first chapter but I'm already interested and curious about where this is heading. The writing is spare and Gil seems like an interesting character.

Reading plans:
Beth and Kim and I have been choosing one book each month for a shared read. We're skipping June because of Beth's planned trip to Ireland Spain (I think).
Folks are welcome to join us!

April: Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
May: Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
July: A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
August: Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (reread for me but it has been decades)
September: 11-22-63 by Stephen King (Beth's first-ever by King)

>154 EBT1002: I'm not going to Ireland - I wonder where that came from??? ;)

I am glad The Bandit Queens worked for you and will watch for your comments on Dinosaurs. I loved that novel.

Wordle 645 2/6*

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adieu, untie

Woot! Woot!

>155 BLBera: lol Beth. Right. I'm the one going to Ireland. You are traveling in June though. I know I got that part right. 😉

I picked up Dinosaurs based on your recommendation. So far it's a quiet and interesting read.

This has been a good Sunday. I made scrambled eggs for our breakfast then spent several hours working on a challenging but really pretty jigsaw puzzle (brand is Jacarou -- such vibrant colors!).

It's cold but no precipitation so we went to the University of Idaho Arboretum over in Moscow and walked the 1.5 mile loop. How have we not been there before?!? It's lovely. And we saw a moose! She was about 15 yards off the trail, peacefully sitting there chewing her cud. She was huge and looked healthy.

After lunch at Taco Time ( the only fast food place I actually like unless you count Blizzards at Dairy Queen) we came home. More puzzling for me and now we're watching the Miami-LSU game (WBB) with minimal interest. I'll be rooting for Iowa against Louisville in the next game.

I'm reading Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet and quite enjoying it.

Tomorrow my new RL book club meets at an excellent restaurant in Moscow to discuss I Have Some Questions for You and The Bandit Queens.

Sounds like a pretty nice weekend, Ellen. I'm glad you remembered that YOU are the one going to Ireland. Ha! And I eagerly await your report-back from book club.

Congrats on Wordle in 2!

Wordle in 2 !! Wow!

>159 lauralkeet: and >160 jessibud2: Thanks Laura and Shelley!

>154 EBT1002: This is very cool. I am so glad you are doing this. I have loved doing my shared reads this past year or so. I really enjoyed A Children's Bible, the Atwood and the King. Have a good time with those.

I am trying to bookhorn in Dinosaurs. Sighs...

>162 msf59: Dinosaurs is really good, Mark, and a pretty quick read. I'm about halfway through. It packs an emotional punch.

Some of you may recall my BIL Joel who lives in Palau. Prudence went to visit him for a couple weeks last spring after his cancer came back. It's been a tough year with a gradual decline; there was not really anything else they could do for him beyond palliative care. Anyway, his wife says the end is near. He's in hospital which is really too bad. But he's had a couple bleeds that require their attention. Anyway, it's very sad. He's a good man.

Sorry to hear about your BIL, Ellen. I am traveling in June - to Spain. I look forward to your report on your book club discussion. I thought you would enjoy Dinosaurs.

I'm so sorry to read the news of your BIL, Ellen. That's very sad. I'm glad Prudence was able to visit when she did.

Also sorry to hear about your BIL, Ellen. I haven't piped up in a while-loved the article about your retirement. And I see that your old women's team, the Huskies, are in the WNIT final four with my Kansas Jayhawks.

Sorry to hear about your BiL Ellen. May his passing be gentle. Keeping you all in my thoughts.

It's such sad news about your BIL. My best wishes for comfort to you and your family.

So sorry to hear about your BIL, Ellen. I hope Prudence finds some comfort in having been to see him fairly recently.

So sorry hear about your BIL . That's a hard time. I hope Prudence finds comfort in having seen him fairly recently. Take care.

Adding my sympathies here for you and Prudence. Will she go back again now?

Wordle 646 4/6*

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train, plane, shank, guano

Book group was fun last night! We talked about I Have Some Questions for You because a couple of people had not yet finished The Bandit Queens and we didn't want to do any spoilers. It was great conversation, mostly about the books, also about other books, also about life and work and such. Very fun. I'm glad they invited me to join!

For next month, they accepted my suggestion for Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes which makes me happy -- I'll be reading it for that group and for my shared read with Beth and Kim here. I have it on order and it should arrive from Book Depository the first week of April.

Dinosaurs continues to be an excellent read although it broke my heart a little bit this morning. The best books so often do that.

I went for a good brisk walk this morning. It's finally above freezing (barely) at dawn and dawn is finally at around 6am. It felt so good to walk! The wind in my face was brutal on the home stretch but my body so craves exercise and I just have not been good about taking care of it in that manner. So. Feeling strong and centered.

I leave for Boston on Thursday. Looking forward to the conference a little bit, definitely looking forward to visiting a bookstore or two and finding some good cannoli. :-)

Wordle 647 5/6*

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dealt, pious, crumb, furry, hurry

This was a slow chase today.

Beth, Laura, Roni, Caroline, Susan, Katie, Deb and Shelley,
Thank you for the kind words. I doubt Prudence will go back but she may change her mind. It's such a very long trip to get there -- one flies Pullman to Seattle to Honolulu to Guam to Koror. It's a lot. But, we'll see.

>167 ronincats: The Huskies have done well in the WNIT and I'm glad to see that. They didn't have a great season but they did beat Stanford and they improved at the end of the season. My current Cougs went to the big dance for the third straight year (having been there only once EVER before, and that in the early 1990s), and lost in the first round for the third straight year. Sigh.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I am ready for spring, people!

So sorry to hear about your brother in law.

>177 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda!

I had insomnia last night, first time in a while. Stewing about budget cuts I have to make in the next couple of months for next fiscal year. Ugh. There is no fat in this organization so these cuts are going to hurt.

Anyway, while awake in the middle of the night, I finished Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet. I'm giving it an enthusiastic four stars. The ending *almost* didn't work; it felt like she struggled to wrap it up with the "right" amount of explicit philosophizing vs letting the story do that for us. Still, it was a compelling and original novel that packed an emotional punch. Themes of friendship, love and loss, authenticity vs self-protection were deftly woven through the narrative.

Gil is an independently wealthy man who was orphaned at a young age when a drunk driver killed his parents. His long-time girlfriend leaves him so he sells his NYC apartment, buys a house in Phoenix sight-unseen, and walks across the country. Once settled into his new home, he befriends the neighbors: Ted and Ardis and their children Clem and Tom. Gil becomes something of an uncle to ten-year-old Tom and finds himself gradually letting the family, and their close friend Sarah, into his heart. He deals with neighborhood bullies, navigates unexpected communication from the man who killed his parents when he was a child, and falls in love with the desert in which he lives.

Thanks to Beth for recommending this one!

Tomorrow I fly to Boston. I have three books loaded onto my kindle:

Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Safe travels, Ellen. Some good reading ahead, it looks like. I'm so happy your book group had a good discussion.

Hope the conference is worthwhile and that you enjoy Boston!

Wordle 648 4/6*

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leant, debut, beret, beset

>181 BLBera: and >182 katiekrug: Thanks Beth and Katie!

Just catching up here. I am sorry to hear about your BIL ((hugs))

>176 EBT1002: I agree with you, I am ready for spring as well. I thought it was nearing but this afternoon we received snow * sigh*

>176 EBT1002: Any other year and I would be regretting winter by now, but we were without the usual Southern California warn and hot winter weeks so it has been cool for a long long time for these parts. This morning at breakfast I looked out on a gray rainy street, but when I went to pick up lunch for Becky and myself it was sunny with a chill wind. And the cool weather is still forecasted over a week into April.

>185 figsfromthistle: I'm usually just fine with winter. I like snow. But this year it just feels gray and cold and icky. I'm so ready to sit outside in the evening with my book and glass of wine!

>186 quondame: My preference for particular weather is in conflict with my desire for the Earth to get what she needs in terms of temps and precipitation. Our county has just implemented a water restriction, not because this year was particularly dry but because we are depleting our aquifer. People need to stop watering their lawns so much! Anyway, I want warm and sunny weather but it's only March and we really should get more snow and rain.

>174 EBT1002: I love cannoli Ellen. Enjoy.

Boston is the only city I have visited in the US, many years ago, and loved it. I especially loved the Isabella Stewart Gardener house/museum.

Wordle 649 4/6*

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alert, cream, dread, bread

There’s a story to this one. Two friends with whom I daily share wordle stories were on the plane with me today. Kim always starts with dream and pious in that order. Erin and I were talking, she had already finished, and she said Kim would get it in 2 (she did). I shared what my first word was and said I planned to try bread next. Erin fooled me well: “what? Oh…” as if that word were a surprise. So I tried to outsmart the whole thing. Oh well.

I always start my wordle with crane, pious . If my first word yields some decent results , then I will use a different second word, as I did last night. Managed Wordle in 3 , yesterday , as posted on my thread. I'm glad your Book group went so well. Great to read that. I hope to finish off The Bandit Queens later this evening.

Enjoy Boston!

>188 Caroline_McElwee: I haven't spent too much time in Boston either, but I've been to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and really enjoyed it.

>189 EBT1002: Great story, Ellen. Chris and I have an unspoken rule not to talk about Wordles-in-progress. The exception to that is if one person has solved it and the other is on their fifth or sixth turn and afraid of the dreaded X. In that case, questions are allowed such as "Is there a Y?" or "Is there a repeat letter?"

It's fun to see the different ways people go about it.

>190 vancouverdeb: I like trying different first words but i definitely have preferred options.

>191 lauralkeet: Excellent rule, Laura, and one I realized last night I need to implement. This was on me -- I'm the one who shared what i was thinking I'd try next and put her in a terrible spot. In trying not to give it away, she inadvertently misdirected me. I was really frustrated and stewed about it last night. Had I stayed in my own head space, I'd have had it in two. It's like a mini life lesson.

So, one thing I need to figure out is how to get my kindle to sync on guest (hotel) Wi-Fi networks. I just checked out Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (I said I'd loaded my kindle up but i forgot about this issue and "saved" it so as to have it on loan longer) but i can't get my kindle to sync. I have Memphis loaded and i can buy a book when I go out and about in the city, but I'd like to figure out this sync issue.

I can enter my room number and name, as I did on this iPad, but i get a message saying Invalid Certificate: The Experimental Web Browser is unable to establish a secure connection. Has anyone else dealt with this?

I was momentarily stunned to see you posting so early, Ellen, and then remembered you're now in the Eastern time zone.

>192 EBT1002: I love your mini life lesson. Ha.

>193 EBT1002: I have not dealt with that issue Ellen, and have generally avoided trying to sync my Kindle on "strange" wifi networks because I'm afraid it won't work. Not logical, but there you have it. The hotel staff might have some insight; it could be this happens often. Here's a possible workaround: add the Kindle app to your iPad, and read the book there.

Wordle 650 4/6*

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canoe, erupt, elder, every

This four felt so much better than yesterday's. There is community around Wordle but it's best as a solitary endeavor.

>194 lauralkeet: Haha, it does feel early, Laura! Today's Institute starts at 9am so I could have slept in a bit more but i figured I'd force myself into Eastern time.

I have the kindle app on my phone and i think I'll add it to the iPad. I've put my kindle back on plane mode. And before I go to Ireland for three weeks, I'll be sure the kindle is actually loaded, not that i have books in the queue.

Hi Ellen. Well, you know that my first 2 words are always meaty and pious. That takes care of all 6 vowels, while pretty much ensuring I'll never get it in 2 (except for last week, when I did!). But I have tried various strategies and this one feels the best for me so far. It could change, though, who knows. I agree that wordle is a fun solitary game but I find it equally fun to see how others arrive at the same conclusion. That's almost part of the game itself, for me!

Wordle 651 4/6*

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arise, polar, tardy, march

Ha! on today's Wordle. felt a bit in-my-face silly. Although March weather is definitely continuing on here in Montana ...

>197 jessibud2: I wholly agree, Shelley, about the fun solitary game with just that bit of social element. I enjoy seeing others' paths to the word. One time Erin and i coincidentally started with the same word and we both had guessed the same second word. Third word different, fourth word solution. That was kind of fun.

> 199 I hadn't even made that connection, Janet! I love it.

As is usually the case, the conference is go-go-go. I've had a couple of good meals. Last night Erin and i ate at a noodle house. We shared two kinds of dumplings and a coconut shrimp bao and a spicy cucumber salad. SO good!

I started reading Memphis last night and got pulled right in to the story. It may turn out to be a perfect conference read.

Today is the Vice Presidents' pre-con. It's supposed to go until 4:00 but I'm tentatively planning to skip out in time to watch the women's basketball championship game at 3:30.

I just finished Memphis, Ellen, and found myself drawn into these North women's lives.

Hi Ellen! Hope you are watching basketball now! It is an exciting game.

Wordle 652 5/6*

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radio, house, stony, stoop, stock

I just wasn't seeing it today.

>202 BLBera: I'll read more tonight. Pleased with Memphis so far.

>203 banjo123: i watched the first half at a sports bar, Rhonda. I couldn't hear the announcers at all and i was pretty frustrated with the officiating so I went to the drugstore and stopped at a Levi's shop for a couple long-sleeved t- shirts on my way back to the room. I caught some of the fourth quarter. Credit to LSU; they were on fire. But I'm disappointed in the outcome.

Wordle 653 3/6*

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arise, board, flora

Sleep is completely eluding me tonight so I thought I'd go ahead and do Monday's Wordle. Satisfying.
Still, I'd like to be sleeping.

>206 EBT1002: I hope sleep found you soon after this post, and if not that you catch up tonight!

>207 quondame: Thanks Susan. I slept a little.

Today was a good day. I went to some conference sessions and this evening we co-hosted a reception with UW. My former boss, now my counterpart across the state, and I were pleased by the turnout. Good food and lots of connecting and conversation.

More sessions tomorrow including an award ceremony in the evening. A dear friend of mine, now the president of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, is getting an award and I'm sitting at her table. 🙂

I'm hoping to be able to take a quick jaunt to the Van's store tomorrow afternoon. I want a new pair of shoes. I'm pretty much done with dress shoes! Yay! Also, more and more people are wearing comfortable shoes, including Van's, with their professional attire. As a longtime wearer of sneakers to work (a colleague at UW told me it was my "brand"), I like this trend.

I do love Wordle! Nice result. Enjoy your awards ceremony and I hope find a nice new pair of Vans. Best wishes for some good , solid sleep.

>193 EBT1002: "saved" it so as to have it on loan longer

I did this when I was going to Cologne a couple of months ago - I thought I was being smart, checking out a couple of new books. But I'd never opened the Kindle app after checking them out so they hadn't downloaded yet ... which I found out sitting on the plane. Sad face.

I haven't had any issues with syncing on strange networks, but I mostly use the app on my phone or ipad, if that makes a difference.

Wordle 654 3/6*

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least, match, ratio

>209 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb. I got a good night of sleep last night. I feel so much better.

>210 ursula: Oh Ursula — that would absolutely sad face time!! I can sync on the iPad or iPhone kindle app, just not the kindle device itself. The issue is that the kindle device won’t connect with any wifi other than our home network. I think I just need to be sure it’s fully loaded before taking off for that 3-week trip, either from the library or the kindle store.

You are on a tear with wordle, Ellen!

>212 EBT1002: I wonder if you can do some kindle wifi troubleshooting once you're back home, with no pressure. Like go to a cafe or some other wifi and see if you can connect. Contact Amazon. That kind of thing. Because it *should* work, darn it!

Wordle 655 3/6*

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slate, shard, smash

Just catching up, Ellen, with award ceremonies and the various stuff that will lead you to your happy retirement.

Dropping in to say hello. Your wordle results lately have been excellent!

Wordle 656 5/6*

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arise, cheat, label, leaky, leafy
Humph I say.

>213 jessibud2: I had a nice little streak of 3s there, Shelley. Today went less well. I just guessed wrong on that 4th word.

>214 lauralkeet: That's a good idea, Laura. It has now not worked in at least three different hotel/condos, so contacting Amazon is probably the next step.

>216 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Thanks for stopping by.

>217 figsfromthistle: That streak of 3s was fun indeed!

>219 EBT1002:- Mine was even worse today, Ellen. I didn't have a single yellow letter, just all greens and it still took me 6! I should be grateful I didn't bomb altogether, but I still felt your hmph!

I'm home and exhausted. I got up at 3am Eastern time for an early flight. That means I've been up since midnight local time. I've not been this tired in a long time.

I finished Memphis on the plane. I really liked it. Then I started Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I'm only about 10 pages in so I will not express any opinion.

I picked up a nice pair of Vans slip-on shoes. They're a black-on-black checked pattern so kind of "dressy." :-)

My friends Kim and Erin and I had fun at the Harvard Book Shop. Erin and I also poked into a poetry bookshop next to the HBS and we each got a book and I bought a t-shirt.

We had a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant in the North End, including a lovely bottle of Rossi di Montalcino that they let me select. And the couple next to us bought us glasses of limoncello.

I was too full for cannoli but I bought a couple and brought them home on the plane. Prudence and I will eat them this evening. I hope they travelled well.

Wordle 657 4/6*

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rouse, bonus, lotus, locus

>220 jessibud2: That was a challenging Wordle, Shelley.

Nice work with the Wordle, Ellen. I got in 4 as well. Congratulations on your dressy new Vans!

Ellen, I think of you often and speak to you almost never. Bah! I can't catch up, but you should know that you're securely in my heart.

Wordle 658 5/6*

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stale, clone, bulge, liege, ledge

I just did not see this word.

>226 EBT1002: Your next-to-the-last guess was the same as mine. Funny that that occurred to both of us before the answer.

I finished Part I of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow this morning and I'm enjoying it far more than I first thought I might. Sam and Sadie are such likable characters.

>224 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb! I'm going to make wearing cool and cute (and comfortable!!) shoes my brand for my last 8 months of work. 😀

>225 LizzieD: Peggy! It's so nice to have you visit. I'm glad to see you here and I will search out your thread.

>227 ursula: Maybe being readers gives us a more nimble vocabulary, Ursula. Haha. That being an advantage sometimes, but not always.

Wordle 659 3/6*

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adieu, bayou, snafu

Whew. This was a tough one.

Wordle 660 3/6*

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least, diner, under

This was a fun one!

I had a good weekend. P and i watched three movies:

Everything Everywhere All at Once - I get it but I hated it too.

The Sting - P had never seen this and it's streaming on Netflix. Still a classic.

Glass Onion - We'd seen this in the theater last year. Excellent.

I spent a lot of hours working on my current puzzle and a few hours reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow which I'm still enjoying.

Back to work today. Eight-ish months to go.

>232 EBT1002: Oh, sorry you hated Everything Everywhere. For some reason it just hit my groove. On the other hand, I did not like Glass Onion at all. Horses for courses.

I was just fair on Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow -- hope you continue to enjoy it! Jealous you watched 3 movies. ; ) I am still enjoying Stone Blind. Today is project day. So far I have done the laundry, the dishes, and worked my way through all my very old emails. Now I am headed to the garage to purge. Wish me luck!

>234 Berly: Good luck!

Hi Ellen!

Wordle 661 3/6*

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reads, plant, qualm

This one took lots of thinking time.

>236 EBT1002: That did take a bit of thinking. I'm watching Luther on Britbox and loving it! Really a great series I think.

Wordle 662 4/6*

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least, adorn, mayor, borax

It took me a really long time to get from my third to my fourth guess. Finally, I saw it and thought "is that really a word or just a brand?"

As my friend Shelley says, "learn something new every day." Indeed.

Wordle 663 3/6*

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raise, carob, carat

I'm not sure where that second guess came from but it has been a few weird words in a row for Wordle.

Wordle 664 3/6*

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slate, tired, thief

We drove over to Lacey yesterday. FIL is in hospital with aspiration pneumonia. Not good. P and I are getting him transported back to “home,” the care center where he’s lived for the past several years. It really is home. He’ll be on “comfort care” and the doc says it won’t be long once we make that transition. He’s not responsive although if I ask him to try to open his eyes he does so, with varying success. So he can hear us and knows we’re here.

>241 EBT1002: Crossing everything for a peaceful 'journey' for your FiL Ellen. Keeping you all in my thoughts.

It's so hard when you are not close by, isn't it, Ellen? Peaceful vibes out your way..

I am so sorry to hear about your FIL, Ellen. My regards to P.

>241 EBT1002: Sending sympathy, Ellen. Glad he can be at home.

Sorry about your FIL. Glad he is able to be back home in familiar surroundings.

I am sorry to hear about your FIL, Ellen. Bummer. Keep us posted.

Wordle 665 4/6*

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saint, plane, among, agony

I started with the same word as friend Kathy with whom we stayed last night. Kathy and Prudence grew up together; their parents were best of friends. Kathy’s mom died about a week ago. It’s been good to visit with her and husband Chris.

Fifty-fifty guess on number three and I just chose wrong. Still, a satisfying puzzle.

We got P’s dad to the care center last evening. Got a call this morning that he had “a good night.” We’ll head over there in a little while.

I appreciate all the kind words.

Sending best wishes, to you and P. xoxo

So sorry to hear about your father-in-law.

Dear Ellen, I'm wishing peace and courage for P with your support, shared grief, and love. It's a hard thing to lose a parent.

Just catching up on the news of your FIL, Ellen. Keeping you and P in my thoughts.

So sorry to hear about your father in law. I wish for a peaceful crossing for him and I'm glad you and P can be with him. Take care . Hugs.

Wordle 666 2/6*

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death, dwelt

I admit that first word was kinda morbid given the circumstances but it worked. If duvet hadn't been used recently, I'd have gone with that.

We're home. Exhausted. What an intense four days.

I just realized I didn't update. We got a call late last night that FIL had died at 11:45pm Saturday. What a tough night. I did sleep a bit but Prudence and brother David were up most of the night. This morning we went back to the care center and packed up his belongings. Clothes to Value Village, personal items variously distributed. One of the nurses came in to his room and broke down crying. He really was loved. She shared that after we all left Saturday evening, she and another nurse gave him a sponge bath, shaved him, and put lotion on his so dry skin. So very sweet.

Anyway, we got through today and then made the 6-hour drive home. I kept thinking of the line from Hamilton: "You never saw an orphan bastard more in need of a break." Okay, it doesn't really fit but you get the idea.

To work tomorrow. Eye surgery Tuesday.

I'm still reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

>257 EBT1002: Condolences to you and Prudence and her brother and other family members.

I'm so sorry to hear of your FIL's passing. Hugs to Prudence and David, and to you too of course.

Condolences to you all.

Good luck with the surgery, Ellen. You will see (no pun intended), it will really be a breeze and make a huge difference! Are you having just the one eye done, or both? They don't typically do them at the same time; for me, it was a month apart.

My condolences to you and P and all the family, Ellen.

Condolences to you and P, Ellen. Good luck with the surgery.

Condolences to you all on the passing of your FIL. How wonderful you were able to spend time with him.

Good luck on your surgery. Will you be going ahead or putting it off a few days?

Condolences to you , Prudence, David on the loss of your father in law . I’m so glad you were able to spend time with him , and the nurses treated him so tenderly in his final hours . ❤️

Adding my condolences to you all Ellen. It is always hard to let a loved one go, but we all must eventually.

My condolences to Prudence and to you. It sounds like a grinding four days as well.

Good luck with the eye surgery. I hope it produces a vast improvement.

Wordle 667 4/6*

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pause, tonic, whirl, whiff

Wordle 668 4/6*

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stare, cloud, found, hound

This could have gone on for a while.

>268 EBT1002: This could have gone on for a while
It did for me. I got the last 4 letters on my second turn and teh rest was ... not fun.

So sorry to hear about your FIL, Ellen. Hugs to you and Prudence both!

Thinking about you, Ellen, as so many things are happening at once. My condolences to P and all her family, and to you. I loved my own FIL, and people often minimize those relationships, which can be as close and loving as the blood kin kind. Hope the surgery went well.

Hi Ellen--So, so very sorry to hear about your FIL. Man, that was fast. Big hugs to you both. And best of luck with the eye surgery.

Wordle 669 4/6*

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least, tonic, thumb, thump

I didn’t like the direction this was headed….

Eye surgery yesterday seems to have gone well. Everything seems brighter! My eye is tender and a bit gunky from the various drops I have to use but I’m feeling good.

I finally finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow last night. I liked it but it was too long for its impact.

I started Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes this morning.

>274 EBT1002: Nice to hear the surgery went well.

>274 EBT1002:- Brighter for sure! And the achy gunky should be resolved by tomorrow, if my experience is anything to go by. Drops regimen for a month but so worth it.

I'm glad to hear the eye surgery went well. I am about halfway with Stone Blind.

Wordle 670 2/6*

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heart, plate

Well that was fun.

I hope your eye is feeling much better soon, Ellen. Great work on Wordle 670!

>278 EBT1002: Impressive!! Hope the eye heals quickly and you enjoy Stone Blind. : )

>274 EBT1002: Glad that went well Ellen, and you are already reading.

Wordle 671 4/6*

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raise, talon, wacky, kayak

>282 EBT1002: Fairly challenging I thought. For some reason it took me a long time to come up with the final word.

Wordle 672 4/6*

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audio, shore, crone, broke

>283 vancouverdeb: Deb, I agree that yesterday’s Wordle was challenging. It took me a long time to come up with my third guess. Once I got that one, the solution jumped out at me. Today’s was tricky because of so many possibilities.

Glad that the eye surgery went well!

Wordle 673 3/6*

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learn, input, unzip

My second guess was extremely lucky. I was just trying to eliminate and identify possible letters after first guess but it narrowed the universe a lot.

Wordle 674 3/6*

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alert, tonic, ditto

I studied this for a looooong time after my second guess. Finally I saw the word and it was absolutely the only word I could think of.

Wordle 675 4/6*

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stone, older, cover, joker

I understand today’s Wordle has been a streak-buster. I can see why. I got lucky.

There really is more going on in my life than Wordle. I’m almost done reading Stone Blind and it’s really good. Next I plan to read The Glass Hotel and Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Commencement is May 6. I’m ready for the semester to be over!

Almost there! Hang in there. Wasn't Stone Blind great? : )

Wordle 676 2/6*

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meant, metro

So lucky with my first guess.

>292 EBT1002: I got it in two today as well. A lucky first guess is always nice.

>292 EBT1002: Jealous!

Wordle 678 3/6*

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stare, acrid, circa

I think I forgot to post yesterday’s Wordle.

Wordle 679 1/6*

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cedar

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m reading The Glass Hotel. In my phone notes app I have a list of “good” Wordle words. Most of them are words I notice in my reading. I just added this one yesterday because it was used in the book and I really liked it. Pure luck.

Oh, and so far I like The Glass Hotel a lot.

>296 EBT1002: - !!! Wow! What are the odds? I once had a word that was my starting word (today). I used it all the time until one day I decided to use a different starting word. Not long after that, the wordle word was *today*. Go figure.

Congrats! (and don't use *cedar* again for a starting word!;-)

>296 EBT1002: WoW is right! I got it in three today, and thought that was pretty lucky.

>296 EBT1002: Wordle in one! How terrific! I bet you made some noise when that happened. Congratulations,

Karen O

I got it on the first try once also, Ellen. Congrats. I was pretty sure you would like The Glass Hotel; it's very different from Station Eleven, but I do like St. John Mandel's style.

>296 EBT1002: oh. my. god. Unbelievable!
I've not had this experience yet. What a thrill.

Nice work , Ellen ! I’ve never gotten Wordle in the 1 st try . Second try , yes , but never the 1 st try .

>296 EBT1002: Fun!! Done in one!! I still have a screen shot of my first guess win. : )

Wordle 680 4/6*

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slate, plank, plaid, plaza

A more ordinary day. 🙂

Today P and I are driving to a nearby wildlife preserve to walk around and have a picnic lunch. It is the first gorgeous weekend of 2023 -- sunny and 70s. Then a quick side trip into Spokane to pick up shutters we ordered from Lowe's.

This evening she plans to grill steaks and we'll have a bottle of bubbly because it's the last day of the last April of my working life. 😎

I'm thoroughly enjoying The Glass Hotel.

Wordle 681 3/6*

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heart, lager, range

>304 EBT1002: Sounds like a lovely plan for your day Ellen.

Hi, Ellen. I am finally back from my travels and slowly trying to catch up on LT. Never an easy task. I hope you are doing well and I hope those books are treating you fine.

Wordle 682 4/6*

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paste, lousy, sully, sulky

I thought I had it in three.

>308 EBT1002: - Me too, I thought I had it in 3. My last 2 guesses were the same as yours.

Wordle 683 3/6*

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earth, shrew, horde

>309 jessibud2: I think those last two guesses were very common for number 682, Shelley. My RL friends also had them.

Wordle 684 3/6*

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proud, taupe, guppy

I just finished Pod and will send it your way.

>312 EBT1002: Three??? You got that in THREE? Wow. I almost lost it all.

>313 BLBera: Yay! Thank you, Beth.

>314 ffortsa: You know there's a bit of luck involved, Judy. Sometimes a lot of luck.

I'm in Spokane for the Board of Regents meeting. I went to Auntie's Bookstore during my free evening and purchased three books:
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn and
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

The first two were influenced by my new RL book group recommendations and the third by a podcast called "Booktalk" -- two young women just talking about books they love. For their 100th episode they did their respective top ten all-time faves and the description of A Little Life was compelling.

I finished The Glass Hotel and gave it 4 stars. I need to read Sea of Tranquility. I think Emily St. John Mandel is an author to watch.

Tonight I'll start Chronicle of a Death Foretold on my kindle.

Tomorrow all morning I have more board meetings, then drive home. Friday evening is Multicultural Graduation (a very awesome event) and all day Saturday is "regular" commencement. All day. Three ceremonies. Saturday around 6pm I'll be free and exhausted.

I listened to Episode 1 of the podcast 1619 by the New York Times on my way to Spokane yesterday. It was SO good. I'll listen to Episode 2 on my drive home tomorrow.

Wordle 685 3/6*

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least, melon, below

I've go a nice little run of 3s and 4s going.

Wordle 687 3/6*

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haste, pouch, ghoul

Yesterday was Commencement. Three long ceremonies. Then last evening we watched season 2 episode 1 of The Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn (thank you, Beth).

I did finish Wordle in 3, sitting on stage while hundreds of graduates marched across the platform to receive their diploma — we are one of the very few large public universities that still announces every graduate by name.

Yesterday’s Wordle:
raise, alter, anger

I finished Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez this morning. Started Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.

I loved The Glass Hotel.
I hope you like Nightcrawling! I heard the author speak at the Portland Book Festival, and she was super-impressive. And very sweet at the book-signing. I did like the book, but think her best work is ahead of her (as it should be.)

Hooray for getting through commencement! I am so glad you are enjoying "The Brokenwood Mysteries." They are addicting. I've been watching the season 9 episodes as they are released.

>322 EBT1002: I've got a hold on Trespasses at my library. (Which actually came in, but I pushed it back because I'm in the middle of a couple of other things. But I should get to it soon!)

This last weekend was two days of Graduation here in Tuscaloosa as well. The traffic was terrible on Friday so I stayed home the entire weekend, except for a foray to Starbucks on Saturday and Sunday morning for my weekend cappuccino's. In my retirement, I have discovered the joys of binge watching and so spent the weekend watching the first season of Star Trek Discovery. It was beautiful weather, so I did plant some of my kitchen herbs and flowers. I am going to be going back and forth to Kansas so I am keeping the planting down this summer to those plants that can tolerate heat and drought. Because I will have an erratic schedule they will have to accommodate periods of neglect.

It does look like I will be moving back to Kansas sooner than I thought because my mother needs help. That is the downside, as I really wanted this first year to be "me" time. The upside is that I am thinking about building a tiny house - or at least a small house, so that I can have my own space and she can have her house all to herself. I am also thinking of a trailer house just for me. That is exciting but no decisions have been made yet. We will probably do that in a few weeks when I go home.

>326 benitastrnad: Binge watching can be very satisfying. Now that we've caught up with 'Succession', we need to wait A WHOLE WEEK for the next episode. And since we don't watch it in real time, but on demand, we need to avoid the inevitable posts about what just happened until we see it.

And then I have a hard time watching TV when the weather is beautiful, as it is today. Got my steps in this afternoon in blazing sun and a balmy breeze from the harbor. Can't beat it. If and when the weather gets really steamy this summer, I will be happy to hunker down with what we haven't yet seen.

Sorry you won't have a 'me' year just yet. Your plan for a separate place for yourself is probably a good one, assuming your mother does not need your presence constantly (I hope not). It's nice to have your own space.

I really enjoyed Trespasses and hope you do too, Ellen. I also loved The Brokenwood Murders. I'll have to check and make sure I've watched any new episodes that might have come out. I just finished watching three new episodes of Grace - Roy Grace , on Acorn TV I think it was.

Wordle 688 3/6*

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aisle, along, aglow

Wordle 689 4/6*

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irate, shoal, capon, cocoa

Tuesday. Cold and gray with rain predicted. Taking a day off from my morning walks which I’ve been much better about over the past couple weeks. I’m feeling better in my body!

Tomorrow up early to take P to the airport. She’ll be visiting family in Madison GA and Wilmington NC with a stopover in Charleston SC. The we meet in Nashville May 21. I’ll be a solo cat mom for about 11 days. One goal: catch up on LT!

For now, back to Trespasses which is very good.

I got up at 3:30 to take Prudence to the airport. Once home, it didn't seem worth it to go back to bed so I've got a long morning before I go to work. Trying to muster the motivation for that morning walk as well as some reading. It's just now dawn and the birds are active! And Carson is confused.

This week has been surprisingly stressful at work. A couple thorny personnel matters and having to make (and communicate) final decisions about budget cuts from core (state/tuition) funds, and helping our auxiliary units like University Recreation manage significant projected budget reductions. All ugh.

I'm looking forward to several days on my own although I know I'll have moments of boredom or loneliness. I'm still deciding what I might watch on tv that would be outside P's preference range.

Wordle 690 4/6*

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least, toner, flute, ethic

Chasing the yellows today.

Enjoy your alone time, Ellen. I hope work becomes less stressful in the next weeks.

Sorry to read that work is so stressful right now, Ellen. I hope that soon resolves and you find something good to watch on TV in P's absence. Enjoy Trespasses.

Wordle 691 3/6*

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stare, proud, broom

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

>336 EBT1002: Not lucky, skillful! I went with the same second word, but took an extra word to solve it after that. I enjoyed today’s solve!

Karen O

Wordle 692 3/6*

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least, soapy, snack

I had several options for that third guess. Tried to choose the one that would narrow it down most for my fourth guess and voilà!

Happy Friday!!!

Wordle 693 4/6*

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shear, brand, laird, acrid

I am LOVING The Marriage Portrait, not a surprise, I guess.