Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

Happy New Year! Link up in the comments!

1. Four more days until winter break is over! AUGH! I need to start doing the things I said I was supposed to, like re-caulk the bathroom shower, clean the garage, and take clothes in for donation. I've done the fun things, naturally. Luckily I don't have a pile of papers to grade looming over me, which helps significantly. 

2. My mom is in town with her husband and today we all went with my brother to see the floats from the Rose Parade in Pasadena. The level of artistry is off the charts! I was able to chaperone a group of kids to work on the building several years ago and was amazed at how long it takes to create each one. 

3. Yesterday we went to visit my grandma, who has Alzheimer's, in a new assisted living sort of place that she's in. It was a really hard decision for my grandpa to make, but he had triple bypass a few months ago and need some support. Luckily, the "facility" is really just a home that takes in people to care for and is basically across the street from my grandparents' home. My grandpa can walk to see her a few times a day and the place is immaculate and so well-cared for. It was reassuring to see her happy, taken care of (someone did her brows!), and comfortable. 

4. I've started listening to Vanishing Twins by Leah Dietrich, a memoir about her identity, sexuality, and marriage and am in awe of her writing. She reads it as well, which I think helps so much. It's always interesting to me, how people decide that "yup, my life has been fascinating and I can successfully write about it." I have a book on this topic, actually, but haven't gotten to it yet (shocking). 

5. I also just started Asymmetry, by Lisa Halliday, and I feel like such a failure for not knowing that it has been out of almost a year. 

6. I was upset to see some reports of bad behavior of people in National Parks during the government shutdown. To be honest, I think that they should just shut down as well- you can't trust people! Sure, most visitors are going to try to do their part, but the infrastructure in place just isn't built to run itself. Rangers and maintenance people are needed to take care of trash, plumbing issues, and supervision of the occasional hooligan that stops by.