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Lukka's 14th Birthday Interview

Although this past year was exceptionally strange, it was a huge time of growth for Lukka--physically, certainly, but also maturing as a person. He still loves movement: skiing, tennis, and now roller hockey and sword fighting. He is working his second summer lawn mowing for pay, has been learning how to break up goals and manage his time wisely, and still has a tender spot for animals. He has been working so hard at his schoolwork and has really challenged himself this year with higher level Physics. He had a goal to learn the violin and has already surpassed 3 levels in one year (!), along with maintaining his practice and ability on the piano. He is a deep thinker and loves to toss around unique ideas (ahem, and debate...regularly). He is curious about so much and also knows when something isn't working for him and is open to new ideas and advice. We are so proud of this young man he is becoming. We love you, Lukka, and Happy Birthday!! Lukka watching the baby robin perched on t
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April Titles // 2021

  April flew by, and there were weeks that I didn't even pick up a book--or if I did, I was minutes away from my neck suddenly jerking downward indicating I could barely read a page before turning off my light and heading to bed. The pressure of the end of the school year is here, and it won't really let up for another 6 weeks. It's not that I've been lacking in diligence the rest of the year, but we're so close, yet do have lots of finish up before we can officially have more lingering days with our hobbies, more free time to catch up with friends, and ultimately, freer reading time! The titles I finished this month were: We Were the Lucky Ones  by Georgia Hunter - I first heard of this book from the What Should I Read Next? podcast with the author as the interviewee. (#157 found here ) I wanted to pick this up immediately but instead bought it for numerous friends who I thought would enjoy it (weird projection, I know). I know one of them did, and really liked it,
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March Titles // 2021

  Never the greatest light in the basement suite, but a good stack of books! March was an good reading month for me. I finished a lot of books, and I started a lot of books I'm still currently enjoying. Just this week I started a 400 page book that I have to lead a book club with on Friday evening, and I couldn't believe that just doing nothing in my free time except reading , I'll easily finish it. I've missed that-the full attention, relaxed-into-a-story feeling that I haven't felt during the last year. I was so optimistic! ( groan ) From the stack above, I'm still currently reading quite a few of them, so only two will be on March's completed list, but that's okay. I'm almost finished with one, and halfway through 3 others! Dusk, Night, Dawn by Anne Lamott - This is the newest Lamott book and every single word she publishes I read. I read her books for her candor, her wit, her judgy-ness (it's a thing), and her self-depreciating humor, but mo
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February Titles // 2021

  Mt. Seymour looking fresh I don't have a book photo for you, as most of the books I finished were actually shown in January's post, but suffice it to say, it was a beautiful late Winter morning on the mountain a few weeks ago with this view. We'll be into ornamental cherry blossoms and daffodils soon enough, but I do love Winter and have enjoyed such an unusually sunny and enjoyable one on the ski hill! This month's reads are similar to last month's, in that there weren't very many as far as quantity, but the quality was excellent.  Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson - This was a book of YA poetry that I came across on a website (yikes, though I can't remember which one) and I instantly put it on hold at the library. History/memoir pairing with YA and poetry? Yes, please. It was right up my alley. I learned so much about George Washington Carver's life from this book, though I was aware in a general sense of what his most well-known achievement
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Anikka's Birthday Interview // 12

Ani has grown at least four inches this year and is nearly my height at 12. She has grown in her artistic ability and loves to change her room up, organize, and play with anything art or craft related for hours on end. Often her creativity amazes me for someone her age. She is a better skier than I'll ever be, and has that 'can-do' Mast attitude ("I just think I can do it, so I do it") that is worth its weight in gold.  She is determined when she has a goal and has gone from zero ability to kart wheel to not only kart wheeling, but doing back-bends, leg lifts (straight up and down with her legs!), the splits,  contortionist positions (see below), and incredible dance ability  all because she steadily worked at those goals.  We are so proud of you, Anikka, and we love you! self portrait    What is your favorite color? green  Who are some of your friends?  Lilah, Audrey, Anya, Marie, Kate, Ophelia, Charlotte, Charlee, Summer, Emily, Isla, Kathryn, Anna, CJ What do y
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January Titles // 2021

  Very few of the books above were completed in January, but (most) were done by February. I'm already quite behind in getting my monthly book titles out but I want to be a bit more faithful with posts.  A lot of my completed reading right now is tied with my kids' home school curriculum. We're studying the Ancients this year and we have SO many good books that we're reading. You'll see them below in the Read-Aloud section.  The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet - This memoir is a story about a young widow who sailed all up and down BC's local waters with her 5 children (!) on a small, 25-foot boat each summer. The descriptions of the places they went back to each year, the unusual events and people met along the way, the wildlife run-ins, and the navigational ability of this woman was incredible. Each chapter is a mini essay and although the author puts the essays in chronological order, the book does not always feel cohesive and sometimes the kids' ages
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Top 10 Books // 2020

  view from Abby Grind hike 2020 was not a great reading year for me. It wasn't terrible, but it was worse than the past number of years. I had focus issues, read a lot of books I didn't care for, and abandoned more books in this past year than I have in nearly my entire year combined. It was fairly frustrating, since all we had was time with the pandemic keeping us home and without many of our normal activities to look forward to.  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr  - I started 2020 with finishing this absolute symphony of a book. I still think about this book regularly, and am making plans to read everything he has ever written (which isn't much, to be honest, because he takes his time). This WWII story is clever, tragic, intriguing, and descriptive in the most beautiful way-I still think of the wall of snails he wrote about and it *still* can take my breath away. I could have ended this post with just this book. Stay the course-the first 150 pages can be quit
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