Looking Back at 2016

This was the year that Sean became a vegetarian and I had to plan meals for both carnivores and vegetarians.  About burned me out!!!

This was the year we took in a young woman and her baby and have been immeasurably blessed by it (but also I have discovered how introverted I really am).

This was the year we renovated three and a half bathrooms.  Lots of noise and disruption that went on and on and on.  Our bathrooms are great now!  But the romance of renovating is completely over with me.  I can barely stand to watch an HGTV show anymore.

This was the year of Becky's musicals, Oliver and Little Women.  Little Women was great (well, both were great!), but Little Women is a really underrated musical that should be better known.

This was the year I went camping and found out I loved it (as long as the weather is cool).

This was the year I started a Master's degree in Theology and realized that while I love learning theology, I really don't want to have to deal with the stress of exams and due dates for papers when I have so much else going on in my life.

This was the year Will and Sean went to Poland to attend World Youth Day.

This was the year I took a real adult level Latin course and enjoyed it.

This was the year I felt the most relaxed at Aquinas Learning.  I am just teaching Latin 1 and it is
great!

This was the year I read many mysteries written by British women.  I began the year reading Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and ended the year reading Ruth Downie's Medicus series.

This was the year I finally read (listened to, actually) The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.

This was the year I joined the American Solidarity Party and met some really wonderful, intelligent, conscientious people.

Tabula Rasa - Book 40

I think Tabula Rasa was my favorite book in this series so far.  It just came together the best in my opinion.  The plot didn't get too complex and all the different personalities played off each other really well.  The atmosphere and the realism brought everything to life vividly.  It was thoroughly satisfying in every way.

Tilla and Ruso are now working up at the fort, Parva, with the army helping Hadrian build his famous wall.  Ruso's old clerk, Albanus, has asked Ruso to get a position for his nephew, Candidus.  Ruso does make him his own new clerk but after only a couple days, Candidus goes missing.  Ruso at first doesn't panic, the guy actually was rather annoying and didn't seem all that competent.  He thinks he might have deserted or run off for a while, but as the days pass he begins to get more and more nervous.  And then a rumor about a body being buried in the wall starts to make its rounds.  At the same time this intrigue is developing, Tilla has been befriended by an old man who knew her mother.  She wants him to bless her marriage to Ruso.  All these factors intertwine into a really great plot that involves the feast of Samain and the uneasy cease fire between the natives and the Romans.

Ruth Downie writes with such deftness and such a light touch.  She's never wordy but she paints evocative pictures of what life must have been like.  I really thought this story was brilliantly executed.

Now, on to the last book in the series (so far.  Maybe the author is still writing them? But now I've caught up to all the ones published so far.)

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Semper Fidelis - Book 39

Still on my Medicus kick.  In fact I am determined to finish the series before the new year.  I actually read Semper Fidelis a week ago and am having trouble recalling it because I just finished the book after it.  

Ruso has gotten his old job back as a medic for the 20th Legion.  He gets temporarily stationed at another outpost where he's actually only supposed to be there for a few days.  The big news is that the emperor Hadrian is on his way to visit Britannia and everyone is all adither in preparing for it. Hadrian and his wife Sabina are shipwrecked though and wind up at this outpost.  Before they arrive however, Ruso uncovers some really strange, creepy stuff going on.  The Britons who have volunteered are convinced they are unlucky because two of their men have died and on the very day that Ruso arrives another man commits suicide.  And then there is the strange native they found hiding in the woods outside the fort who ran away.  Tilla, as usual, acts as a go between for both the Romans and the Natives.  And Ruso is getting better at speaking the native language.

This was a face-paced thriller with some funny scenes, lots of tense scenes, and some really unexpected turns of events.  Ruso as usual is trying to figure things out, getting befuddled, doubting himself, getting himself into desperate situations.  Tilla is always just as much of a sleuth, doing her part, getting into dangerous situations herself and then together, somehow, even though they are apart more than they are together during most of the book, they manage as a team to discover who is to blame.

Ruth Downie is a really good writer.  She crafts her characters masterfully.  She recreates the atmosphere of Roman Britain in such a realistic way without ever getting too heavy.  This is a world of brutality and occupation, slavery, oppressed natives and arrogant Romans. And yet there is a sense of trying to do the right thing, of compassion, of affection, of humor.

Highly enjoyable read!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Read 52 Books Bingo

I can't figure out how to get the bingo card image here, but here is a link to it.  I wish I was more savvy at graphics and navigating my way around electronic devices and the internet.  Anyway, I am excited about the coming year, simply because I am going for my 52 Reads goal again.  I thought Robin's bingo card was fun.

Caveat Emptor - Book 38

Caveat Emptor is the next in the Medicus series by Ruth Downie, Ruso and Tilla have married and now travel back to Britainia because Tilla misses home.  Ruso needs to get a new job as a doctor somewhere, but before he starts looking, he is asked to be a investigator.  His reputation for solving the case in the first book has followed him, mostly due to his friend Valens.  A Briton who served as a tax collector for the Romans is missing and so is the money to pay the taxes.  Ruso and Tilla travel to the town whose money has been stolen and there Tilla is midwife to a woman who announces that the missing man is the father of her child.  All kinds of complications ensue.  There are officials who many be covering up crimes, there are tribal tensions, and a handsome but suspicious head of the guards who seems to be everywhere.  Metallus, also from the first book, shows up.  Everything is confusing and Ruso can't tell who to trust.

This books seemed a bit heavier than the others, mostly because Tilla has a dark secret she is keeping from Ruso. They both dream of settling down somewhere and starting a family but Tilla had an abortion way back when she was a slave and she fears now that is why she never gets pregnant.  Ruso's and Tilla's marriage is stretched to an almost breaking point.  Usually, there are really funny episodes in this series, but this time I didn't notice any.  There is a lot about marriage here, Ruso and Tilla's, Valens and Serena, and even Camma's lonely marriage.

In this book, Tilla's obstinance, which is usually endearing, really puts them and others in danger.  And she realizes it.  Ruso too feels like he hasn't measured up to what he ought to be as a husband.  Tilla comforts him by telling him what she wants is a husband who tries to do the right thing, even if he is a fool sometimes.  But though they love each other, their relationship seems a bit fragile too.

It was a good read.  The plot is complicated, lots of characters I was starting to have trouble keeping track of, and the mood is definitely a bit heavier than the previous ones.

For more book reviews, Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Trying to be a Better Environmentalist

I am sympathetic to environmentalists, in my own Catholic, leaning toward free market kind of way!  I like Roger Scruton and Front Porch Republic and Crunchy Cons, etc.  I believe in conservation.  I am a fan of the Catholic Environmental site, St. Kateri Conservation Center.  I think clean water is a really important thing.  However, I am pretty much a hypocrite about it all.  I drive all over kingdom come practically every day, polluting the atmosphere.  I am wasteful and I am sure I leave a huge carbon footprint.  I am a first world, spoiled, one percenter for sure.  I want to mend my ways, but I am terrible at forming good habits.  I was doing well, at least remembering to bring my bags to the grocery store, until I stopped remembering to do so, probably a few months ago.  How did I fall out of that habit, I wonder?  I was being so good for a while there.  Anyway, for days now I've been thinking about my New Year's resolutions, mostly spurred by the idea that my two youngest are already talking about how they want to go vegan for Lent.   I guess the season of Advent reminded them of Lent and Sean's 1 year anniversary of becoming a vegetarian is coming up soon (his 18th birthday is 12/22 and on his 17th, he officially gave up meat.)  I honestly don't think vegan diets are healthy.  I think you need some animal protein and fat in your diet, at least once in a while.  I think vegans eat a lot of weird food that is highly processed and also I think they tend to eat lots of sugar which I think is worse for you than animal products.  And I think we were made to eat meat.  I agree that we probably eat way too much and that we should be better about how we treat animals, but I still think occasional, humanely raised animal products is better than veganism.  The weird thing about my kids though, is that the vegan thing is I am pretty sure, just to be cool.  I don't see them actively wanting to fight for animal rights or caring about the environment.  I wish I did see that, even if maybe I wouldn't quite agree, at least it would be wanting to be vegan for a better reason than just, let's be cool and be vegan.

Anyway, that aside, here are my ideas about improving our habits in terms of the environment:

Goals:
To reduce trash
1) First of all, I need to call the recycling people because our one little bin doesn't begin to hold enough of the recycling we are trying to do.  So we just need a bigger container for it all, or more than one.  The paper bags I put out there get blown over and are subject to messy investigations by wild animals.
2) Be more conscientious about buying things with less packaging.  I need to get the whole family on board with this.
3)  Cook more at home - I really need to plan better.  We produce so much trash via take out and buying pre-made stuff at the store.
4)  reuse stuff more - like aluminum foil.  I can't think of other stuff right now, but I know I throw things out that I could reuse.
5)  Get things like this: http://mightynest.com/shop/kitchen/food-storage/bees-wrap-set-of-3
6)  Conscientiously avoid plastic as much as possible.  I am convinced that plastic is really the environmental problem of our time.  Not only is it made from fossil fuels, it is garbage we must recycle (but don't efficiently) because it does not biodegrade, plus it is dangerous to animals and changes our hormones because it contains phytoestrogens.  I personally think we need legislation to restrict plastic use.  It is great for medical purposes and for shipping food long distances, but we don't need it in many other places.  Except legos.  We do need legos.
7)  The one thing I am happy about is our composting service.  Thank you to a certain friend who told me about it!  I really appreciate it.
8)  Use cloth more than paper.  I am addicted to paper towels.  I should get cloth napkins now that I don't have lots of littles.  And I could really reduce my paper towel consumption if I had a better system with dish towels.

To eat local food more:
1)  I do love shopping at our local CSA which I can walk to.  I need to be better at incorporating that food into our meals before it rots!  I waste too much food this way.  I've just got to get better at meal planning and cooking at home.  I am lazy and in very bad habits.
2)  I love shopping at another place too, a store in town that only sources food from local places.  I've been buying my meat there, and some other stuff too.  The beef is raised by the husband of our parish's children's choir director.  I mean she was the director for many, many years but I think she stopped when they moved out into the country to start the farm apparently her husband had always dreamed of owning.  What I should do is combine going to this store with also shopping at regular store to buy stuff you just have to get there (like pet food, etc).
3)  I would like to preserve seasonal food to eat out of season instead of relying on stuff shipped in from other countries.  However, this is a very intimidating thing for me, which will take baby steps for me to ever get to.  Instead I'll probably buy preserved foods from local businesses for the most part.

To reduce electricity usage:
1) We are so careless with leaving lights on, not unplugging things that ought to be unplugged, turning up the heat too high, etc. etc.

Bigger things:
1) Try to have one day a week where I don't drive anywhere.  Right now this seems impossible because my main role in life is to drive S, B and V (with D) to all their stuff.  But I could try to arrange things so that at least one day a week, I don't drive or only go out once for a short trip or something.
2)  Get solar panels on roof.  I tried to look into this before but never got very far.  We really could reduce reliance on the grid using these.  I notice the Montessori school up the street has solar panels as do the some of the houses in the groovy eco-village type development nearby.  There must be a way to do this.  I think this should be our next major house project.

Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson - Book 37

The narrator is terrific for this book!  Amazing job reading very difficult stuff.

The Life of Johnson has been an ambition of mine to read for a while.  It is listed on my 50 Classics page.  I bought the book several years ago and tried to read it but found it almost incomprehensible, plus the book is too large and unwieldy and the print too tiny!   So I got the idea to listen to it in the car.  I downloaded the audible version on my phone (which took up data space so I could only take a couple of photos at a time, before my phone would warn me I was running out of space!).  But anyway, I started listening in May and just finished it this Friday morning.  I didn't listen consistently.  I'd go weeks forgetting to listen and then pick it up again.  

Sir Joshua Reynolds was a longtime friend of Johnson's.  This is his famous portrait of him.

It is not the easiest listening.  The narrator though, Bernard Mayes, is phenomenal!  He can really read Latin.  There is lots and lots of Latin and the whole thing is written in the very erudite style of the late 1700s.  It is kind of a shocker, going from the rather dumbed down language we all use now, to the cultivated, voluptuous language of the highly educated back then.  Think Jane Austen on steroids.  Even though Johnson was such a wordsmith and so highly educated, he came from lower middle class beginnings and could only afford to attend Oxford for one year.  But he had a gift for Latin and for language and this is how he made his living.  He lived in poverty for many years, scrounging out a living by writing for a magazine or two, many of which were being published at the time.  He could write eloquently about anything at the drop of a hat, so slowly he gained popularity.  As his reputation grew, his circle of friends grew too and slowly he became the center of a intellectual circle which included Sir Joshua Reynolds, the painter, David Garrick, the famous Shakespeare actor, Oliver Goldsmith the Irish author of The Vicar of Wakefield, among many others.  

Sir Joshua Reynold's portrait of the famous actor David Garrick, who also happened to be a student and friend of Johnson's.

Johnson decided to write a dictionary of the English language.  Although, some had published dictionaries before, they were inadequate.  Johnson worked up in his garret, employing aides to help him for many years, struggling to find money to pay his workers and keep a roof over his own head (and his wife's).  Several years after the deadline, he produced his dictionary and it took British culture by storm for its brilliance.  Johnson not only defined the words, but the dictionary is annotated so he quotes the words from different lines in literature.  The dictionary meant Johnson had truly arrived at legendary status, even though he was already well known in certain circles for his essays and plays.  Because of the dictionary, Johnson began to receive a stipend from the King and after that, while he was never rich, he at least wasn't scrounging to pay the rent.  This was good because after his wife died, he rented rooms in his house to impoverished people, a blind widow, among others.  

Boswell is a young Scottish landed gentry who admires and befriends Johnson and decided he was going to record everything Johnson said.  Johnson was known for his great conversational abilities.  He spoke as if he was giving a speech all the time.  He was extremely witty, incisive, quick with words.  People loved to have him at their dinner parties.  He was an odd man too.  He could be abrupt, eccentric, odd.  He was a character!  Boswell and Johnson travel to the Hebrides at one point and Boswell wrote a travelogue about it which was fairly popular.  They do a lot of visiting back and forth.  They develop a pretty regular habit of spending Good Friday together.   They had a very long and loyal friendship.

A sketch of James Boswell.

Johnson was a creature of his time, for all his intellect. He was convinced of British superiority, the truth of the Anglican Church and all the other beliefs of the time (about women, etc.)  In spite of this he was unusually kind to his Negro servant, Frank, whom he left the bulk of his estate to.  He was that kind of guy, often prickly and moody on the surface, but underneath loyal and generous.

This book is so long.  I mean it goes on forever!  I kept waiting for it to end as Johnson neared the end of his life, but then Boswell would talk about another friend that Johnson had corresponded with and then stick in 20 more letters of their correspondence.   But he did finally die.  The poor man had always had a horror of death and his long fading out does seem most painful.

I haven't even covered most of what is in this enormous book.  But there is a reason it is a classic.  It has got to be the most unusual and thorough biography ever written.  It used to be that everyone read this book.  I am sure Johnson is out of favor in the USA now as he is pretty conservative and old fashioned.  However, the British maintain an affection for him.  I'd love to go to England and visit his home where he wrote the famous dictionary.  

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Persona Non Grata - Book 36

These Medicus books are like potato chips to me right now.  Can't read just one!  Persona Non Grata is the third in the series.  Ruso breaks his foot trying to save a boy from drowning.  His term is almost up with the army and then he gets a letter from his brother that just says "come home."  So he and Tilla travel back to southern Gaul to see what's up.  Ruso's family consists of his step-mother, his two younger half-sisters, his younger brother Lucius and his wife Cass and their many children.  At his death, his father left the family in deep debt, and Ruso and Lucius have been struggling to save the family estate since then.  Now Lucius seems to have got them into deeper trouble.  He's got people trying to push him into bankruptcy.  Only it turns out that Lucius didn't send for Ruso to come home at all and Ruso's ex-wife has remarried, and his stepmother who ignores Tilla, has been thinking that if Ruso married the rich widow who lives next door, that would solve a lot of money problems.  Oh, and Claudia's husband, who was the one trying to ruin the family, shows up to confer with Ruso but then suddenly dies of poisoning.  Now Ruso is a suspect.  And I won't even go into the ship that sank that ruined a big investment of Claudia's father and how that ties into everything.

This was a complicated plot and I don't know if I understood it all.  But the pace was fast and there were some laugh out loud funny moments.  Downie does a great job of introducing the new religion that worships Christos, to comic effect and we get to go to the gladiator games, with Ruso as the surgeon who fixes up the wounded.  Pretty grisly stuff.  But not too bad.  The fact that Downie kept calling Christ 'Christos' (which is the accusative plural of the word, instead of Christus, which would have been proper Latin, bothered me.  Did she just like the look of 'Christos' or does that reflect more the Greek origin of the word?

Anyway, I enjoyed it and I"m already on the next book.  It is a nice form of escapism!

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Terra Incognita - Book 35

Terra Incognita* is the next book in Ruth Downie's Medicus (also known as the Gaius Petreius Ruso series).

Medicus gets transferred to an outpost where there is still a lot of unrest among the British tribes.  This is Tilla's home turf, from which she was kidnapped during a raid that killed her family.  She was then kept as a slave (basically for s@x) for two years before her master's wives sold her to a slave dealer, which is how Ruso happened upon her.  But confusion ensues before they even get to the post, for a strange god-like creature is seen; a man with the head of a stag riding a horse.  This man is associated with a grisly murder that has shocked the small fort.

Most of this story happens as Ruso and Tilla are separated.  Ruso is caught up with the crises going on with the infirmary.  The medicus there seems to have gone mad.  Tilla can't get into the fort because she doesn't know the password (and she's obviously a native) so the guards won't let her in.  She winds up wandering back to her old home, trying to find her uncle, and instead runs into an old neighbor who happened to be her young love before the raid that changed her life.

Lots of plot twists, confusion, creepy happenings, colorful characters, all set in a half Roman, half barbarian world.  Downie really makes it all come alive.  She's really imagined all the details and everything feels so realistic.  I have no idea what life was like in Roman Britain, but I feel like I do now!

A thoroughly enjoyable read.  You have read the first book in the series to understand this second one.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

*These books were published under different titles in England than here.  What's funny is that the English titles seem more marketed to American audiences (or typically what publishers would think would appeal to American readers) and the American titles all have these Latin names instead.  So in England this was published as Ruso and the Demented Doctor and here it is published as Terra Incognita.  Remember when they first published Harry Potter and they changed Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone?   Because American's wouldn't like a book with the word philosopher in the title???  Maybe the rise of classical schools is changing things!!!