February 20, 2022 AGAINST THE WIND

 

What's with the wind? It's making THIS winter unbearable. Seriously. I can handle running when it's 15-20 degrees--BUT--when the wind makes it feel like 5--I get a little cranky. ANY wind--this time of year--is too much wind as far as I'm concerned. I've had to really bundle up this winter--it been a 2 pair of pants kind of year. I don't remember it EVER being this cold and windy. It's all I can do to go out for a run--then spend the rest of the day trying to warm up. I actually wish I could hibernate til spring but I'm not a bear. Maybe I'm just getting older and the cold weather is affecting me more. UGH.  I finally understand why SO many people head SOUTH for the winter. This weather SUCKS. I can't stand it. I got the February Blues--hoping March will be a little kinder. If you're in a purple funk this February then maybe Louise Penny's newest installment of the Gamache series, The Madness of Crowds, will help perk you up. In this book, number 17, Chief Inspector Gamache returns to his home in  Three Pines, a tiny Quebec village, after the pandemic.  Gamache is called upon to provide security for a Statistics Professor named Abigail Robinson who is giving a lecture at a nearby university. Although this seems like a strange request for the head of police, Gamache agrees to provide security but has mixed feelings when he finds out what the lecture is about. Professor Robinson is using pandemic data to further her agenda--a government policy accepting euthanasia for the elderly, sick and even deformed. When a murder is committed after the lecture, Gamache, his second in command Jean-Guy Beauvoir and team investigate the crime. I found this novel interesting, especially, because Robinson manipulates data to further her agenda. Blurring the line between fact and fiction and frighteningly enough--the people--the madness of the crowds--who believed in her message. This mystery is about 448 pages or a 5 mile run that is not only a good story, but a timely one that deals with social issues that are relevant today. 

February 4, 2022 THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN'

 

Now that I'm old--I have to go for BONE DENSITY TESTS.  Basically--X-rays are taken to make sure that MY BONES are strong enough. First of all--I was a little taken aback that I am actually--THAT WOMAN OF A CERTAIN AGE. Are you kidding me---I'm pretty sure that I was all that just a few years ago. OKAY--Maybe that was 20 years ago. It's hard to keep it all straight. Then I really freaked out when  I remembered that my grandmother--on the Polish side-- had such brittle bones that she actually snapped ribs when she SNEEZED. I am NOT kidding. She had something called OSTEOPOROSIS.   Fast forward to today and it's a NO BRAINER that I got a call the other day from my doctor telling me that I HAVE OSTEOPENIA. Basically--I have first stage Osteoporosis in my hip and lumbar. UGH. I already take extra calcium, vitamin K and exercise SO.................. now I have to go for a test every year to check MY BONE DENSITY-- so that they can tell me in a few short years THE BAD NEWS.  YUP--85%  of women with a family history will develop the BIG O. Remember when the BIG O meant something else?? Times --they are--a changin. I guess I'll just have to soldier on. Just finished reading Pulitzer Prize winning author Louise Erdrich's newest book The Sentence. This novel is set in 2020 over the course of one year  in Minneapolis as the main character Tookie faces many obstacles. Tookie is a Native American recently released from prison who feels lucky to be working a Erdrich's small bookstore, Birchbark Books. She also happens to be married to Pollux, the tribal policeman who originally arrested her for the crime she was sent to prison for. Tookie learned to love books in prison and her knowledge of the stacks and recommendations to customers are unmatched by other employees. Work is great-- until one of the customer's passes away and starts haunting Tookie.  In addition to being haunted, Tookie is also trying to deal with Pollux's rebellious daughter, Hetta, and her new baby, Jarvis. Stir in a little pandemic--COVID, Native American customs & lore, and a listing of great book recommendations by Tookie and this is one special novel. The characters are interesting and I actually learned a lot about Native American culture so that was a plus. This is a book that explores family, culture, forgiveness and the things that bind people together. It's a bit dense--a 6 mile run of 400 pages--but I did enjoy this book by one of the finest writers of this century.