We’ve been doing some things!

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We made salt dough ornaments with Wyatt’s cousin my niece, and my mom.. and also read some books together.

And we went for a chilly hike. We played with cattails – I had no idea that you could treat them like a dandelion with all of their fluff. How cool! We noticed some new developments on this walk too – the water on the pond was beginning to ice up, for the first time this year. And there were far less birds – I guess they have flown to warmer climates! We love watching for all the changes in the landscape and in the natural world.

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Then Billy and I had a date night! We went to his work party which was so fun. They had a Motown theme which was fantastic. The band was really amazing and we stayed out later than we have in four years! (11pm guys, we were home by 11..)

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Then we went to an art show called The Potter’s Market. Billy’s mom sells her beautiful ceramics pieces here every year, and every year I look forward to going. I also use it as an opportunity to buy special gifts for Wyatt’s team of therapists and teachers. I love supporting local artists and I feel like I am giving something useful and beautiful. The moon ornament is for Wyatt, the blue acorn is for me. I am really pleased with the pieces I picked out this year. I could spend hours here but Billy and Wyatt get bored after twenty minutes – which is probably good for our budget! I could leave with much more, especially since I am happily part of the more clay, less plastic movement!

We also went to see my cousin’s daughters in their play Frozen Jr. which was so cute! They did a fantastic job. We were not allowed to take photos though, so no pictures here!

What have you been up to lately?

Goodreads Summary:

21st-Century Yokel explores the way we can be tied inescapably to landscape, whether we like it or not, often through our family and our past. It’s not quite a nature book, not quite a humour book, not quite a family memoir, not quite folklore, not quite social history, not quite a collection of essays, but a bit of all six.

It contains owls, badgers, ponies, beavers, otters, bats, bees, scarecrows, dogs, ghosts, Tom’s loud and excitable dad and, yes, even a few cats. It’s full of Devon’s local folklore – the ancient kind, and the everyday kind – and provincial places and small things. But what emerges from this focus on the small are themes that are broader and bigger and more definitive.

The book’s language is colloquial and easy and its eleven chapters are discursive and wide-ranging, rambling even. The feel of the book has a lot in common with the country walks Tom Cox was on when he composed much of it: it’s bewitched by fresh air, intrepid in minor ways, haunted by weather and old stories and the spooky edges of the outdoors, restless, sometimes foolish, and prone to a few detours… but it always reaches its intended destination.

The book is illustrated with Tom’s own landscape photographs and linocuts by his mother.

My Thoughts:

I thought this book was so fun. I really enjoyed the author’s voice and storytelling style. I loved his run-ins with nature, although some of them made sad. I greatly enjoyed his stories involving his father, who is this larger than life character that made me laugh out loud. His antics cracked me up and he seems like he is a man of indomitable spirit much of the time. I found myself looking forward to the next time that Cox would relay a dad story.

There were some parts that were triggering, that caused me anxiety (Roscoe), and then the chapter about his Nana – beautiful. The picture he paints of this woman, his Nana, who bought her starter home with her new husband, started a family, then lost her husband young, and ended up being in the same home her whole life touched me. Especially when we learn that Nana began filling the back garden with shells, lots of shells, glued up in her back shed building. Then she passes away, and the second owners after her keep the shell house of dreams and even added to it. She just sounded like a tough lady, to keep practical and not really every go anywhere, but to just keep dreaming and finding a way to bring her dream to her. It was a wonderful tale of Nana, and it was obvious that Cox really loved her dearly. She was his Nana.

There were some spooky moody chapters too – particularly the scarecrows that he finds. I didn’t know that this was such a thing in a field anymore! Maybe in an English countryside and farm fields?

Overall I loved this book. I am really looking forward to reading more by this author!! He is a new to me author, that I discovered during Nonfiction November. This book called to me so strongly that I bought it online then and there when I read about it on Secret Library Site’s blog, and then read it as my first, and only, nonfiction read of the month. I wasn’t disappointed!

The last month of the year. And it is a big one, I think. Such a busy month, with the hustle and bustle, and then the new year right at the end. So many emotions, so much to think about when we allow ourselves those moments to actually slow down enough to think.

One of the names for the full moon this month is the quiet moon. I think about how in the past when the moon acquired this particular name, how quiet it really must have been this time of year, and how far we have come from that. I am trying to find little pockets and moments of time to find that quiet and peace. More family read alouds at night, more screen free days for all of us to unplug and be together. I had time over this holiday weekend to think about it. We spent all long weekend doing things that we needed to do, but also made sure we had plenty of time to just be together in the moment. We took a small hike, where we found evidence of beavers, which was really amazing. Beavers haven’t been in the Detroit River for such a long time, and they are finally moving back in and that is exciting stuff! We bopped around, but on our own time. And it was really lovely. I hope to keep that sense throughout this month, despite having a million things to do. They will get done, and if they don’t I am not going to worry about it. I don’t need to make dozens of cookies – if I only make a few, then that is what we will have. That sort of thing.

That being said, I am actually looking forward to the things that I DO have on our calendar. Making a yule log dessert with my mom, making Empire Biscuits with my mom and sister-in-law, making cookies with sister-in-law and one of our best friends. We do that every year, and every year my friend and I make abysmal cookies while Chrissy makes amazing cookies. Poor Chrissy. Kelly and I are just not great cookie bakers! But it’s not about the cookies, it’s about the memories. We all had babies the same year, and we started this tradition when the babies were just born. Our husbands stayed in the front room with the kiddos while we baked, and it was such fun. Now four years later we are still doing the same thing. I had hoped to be done by December with my holiday shopping, and I almost made it! Just a few more things for my nieces and I can call myself officially done. We celebrate the big Christmas day with our families in happy chaos, and we spend solstice together, having a small little family of us dinner and reading and a hike outside. I think this year we will decorate a tree for the animals as well.

We are also going to dig in and watch all the holiday movie favorites, including my very favorite of all, Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas! I have a feeling Wyatt is going to really love them this year, especially the Mickey Mouse one. And then one night we are going to load up in my brother’s big vehicle, his family, my family, and our mom, to drive through the local lights display. Simple things, nothing too big or too crazy. And of course we will see Santa. We discovered last year that our local metropark does visits with Santa and it was the best experience, so we are doing that again. You make a reservation for one of their three time slots, and there are only about 15 other kids there, tops. The kids make crafts at different stations, and wait for their name to be called; when it is called we go as a family into the room by the big windows in the nature center where Santa will sit, and have the room and the visit all to ourselves. It is so low key and fun and we love it. It is not too overwhelming for my little guy either. We can take our time and just enjoy the entire thing.

So, we have a lot on our plates, but we tried to keep them simple and easy and attainable, with an emphasis on family and friends. It will be a rough month I think emotionally, grieving my aunt and stepfather, but with family and friends I will get through it, we all will, together. Jeanie from Marmelade Gypsy encouraged me to find a way to incorporate memories of them into our lives this holiday, and so we are planning on lighting lanterns outside one night in memory of them.

How about you? What are you looking forward to this December? How do you plan on keeping yourself sane?

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My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

Last week was busy but fun, as I am sure yours was as well! Thanksgiving was hosted by my brother this year, and it was their first time hosting such a large gathering. They did a fantastic job – everyone had fun, and it was so relaxed. Perfection. On Friday we headed to the woods for a walk, opting outside, although we did stop in one store because I wanted to this specific wrapping paper I had seen there earlier. I have no idea why, but a gift wrap with serious faced farm animals wearing Santa hats just tickled me enough that I had to go back for it. Lol. The rest of the weekend we kind of bummed around, finish up our decorating, and basically just hung out together. To quote the Okee Dokee Brothers “we were busy doing nothing on our lazy day. ” It was really nice.

I think I was a little overambitious about how much reading I was going to get done on a short week, although I did manage to finish two books, neither non-fiction though. I did make it through nonfiction November and I loved it. So glad I participated but right now I apparently can read about one nonfiction book a month. Maybe I can bump that up a bit in the coming year.

Read Last Week:

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Alone in the Wild was FABULOUS!! I love this series so much, and it just keeps getting better. So good! And then feeling festive I moved on to Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop, which I also adored. This simple seeming little book actually moved me to tears – twice! I love a good Christmas book and I loved this one.

Reading This Week:

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I’m getting a little crazy here again. I will probably more than likely only finish one of these, but I am starting all three. The Call of the Wild and Free will be a slow read for me, that I will read all month long. Anyway, I am getting excited about reading Christmas and holiday themed books! They are so happy usually, and I like that at the holidays.

Posted Last Week

Nonfiction November Week 5 – New to My TBR

What Wyatt’s Reading – November

Watching:

We are still watching Criminal Minds, and we started Shetland on Britbox, which I am addicted to. We are also watching reruns of the Great British Bake Off as Wyatt requests them. Lol. Wyatt is also enjoyed Scout and the Gumboot Kids and Daisy and the Gumboot Kids on Amazon Prime. I have wishing and hoping they would become available to us (they are Canadian) and finally they are!

What is going on with you all?