Hi friends! I thought about trying to pull together some kind of 2022 recap, but - no. I’m keeping this simple or it will never get done! (Basically my motto for life.)
December notes
Two of our chickens were killed in the middle of the night - we think an owl was swooping down to get them and they flew into the top of the coop in fright. RIP Bob & Magenta. 🪦 😢
So much sickness! We dealt with a stomach bug and several varieties of bad colds running through the family this month. Even my poor dog had stomach issues at one point (unfortunately for my parents’ carpet! Yikes.)
I took a pottery hand-building class! It isn’t as fun as wheel throwing, but it was nice to try something new. I can pick up my pieces this week. 😊
Wild weather! Along with the rest of the country, we had record low temps right around Christmas. I think our lowest was -8 degrees F. (That’s not even talking wind chill.) We dripped all the faucets and managed to avoid getting any frozen pipes, thank goodness.
🌵 🌵 🌵 Arizona! My mom and the kids and I took a quick trip to Phoenix, Arizona after Christmas. Our highlights were the Desert Botanical Garden, the Zoppe Italian Family Circus, hiking the Treasure Loop Trail at Lost Dutchman State Park, the (free!) Wild West Shoot-out at Goldfield Ghost Town (but not the paid attractions - way overpriced/overrated), and (saving the best for last) visiting my friend Kelli!
Currently enjoying
Wednesday (Netflix). I’m quite sure I’m not the target audience for this teen-centric show about the adventures of Wednesday Addams at boarding school, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. In case you were wondering, I’m a big scaredy cat and I could handle this show. There is a monster storyline but it’s way less scary than Stranger Things. Bonus fun fact - the school dance scene has become a TikTok dance sensation!
Three Pines (Amazon Prime). This series is based on one of my favorite book series, the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny set in Quebec. The writers updated the story to focus on the past (but not too long ago) atrocities of the Native American residential schools and a missing Native woman as a through-line to the plot. Each book from the series has been turned into 2 episodes so it’s almost like a series of interconnected movies.
Book of the Month
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. This book is really popular right now, so I know I’m not breaking any new ground with this month’s pick. But it really was a very enjoyable read and it has a more complex storyline than the cutesy pink & pop-art cover would have you believe. There are a lot of potential spoilers that I don’t want to give away by describing the storyline, but I think the NY Times story summed it up nicely: “Beneath Its Pink Cover, ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ Offers a Story About Power.”
Picture of the Month
Oh so many to choose from this month, but I just had to choose a festive cactus from the Phoenix ZooLights display! I made good on my promise to use social media more (going on a trip to Phoenix didn’t hurt!), and I also reconnected Instagram to my Chatbooks account, so I was immediately rewarded with 3 books of photos spanning the past 12+ months. I use the cheapest subscription, so they aren’t high-quality photos, but I love having a little book of physical photos to flip through.
Until next month… Happy 2023! 🥂