Virgil Wander

 

Contemporary Fiction   Audiobook

Excellent reader on the audiobook with a delightful Norwegian accent.  The story is about Virgil and the people of a little town in Minnesota.  I loved the immersion in the culture and in Virgil’s life.  Enger has an unusual, quirky writing style.  It fits the story and the characters.  Virgil is the narrator and you will come to love him as well as most of the other characters.  3.75 stars

The Life We Bury

 

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thriller/ Mystery Audiobook
I went into this one blind. It was available now on Libby so I clicked on borrow. I loved it. A college student has a writing assignment for his English class. It ends up being much, much more than that. I listened to the whole thing in less than a day. I just couldn’t quit. It has some rough parts and language, but it is exciting. I didn’t know it at the time, but it is the beginning of a series. Though I don’t care for series, I will probably pursue this one. 5 stars.


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Grandma Ruth Doesn't Go to Funerals

 

Contemporary Christian Fiction   Physical book

Ready for an immersion in southern culture?  If so, this is the book for you.  It is

Full of small-town charm, gossip as only a Georgian can do it, lots of baking and family.  It was a fun, light read. 

The Mother-in-Law

 

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thriller Audiobook
This is a thriller, but it also about motherhood and family dynamics. What appears to be a suicide is very suspicious. The killer is a well-hidden secret until the very end. Great on audio.


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The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

 

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Magical Realism Physical Book
Our narrator throughout the book is music. Frankie is born during the Spanish Civil War. Music bestows on him a gift for music at his birth. His is a tragic life, but one full of music. His incredible talent leads him to fame and stardom. But his joys come from his love of music, his mentor and his true love, Aurora. Each time he uses his incredible talent to bless someone’s life, one of his magic guitar strings turns blue.
This is a beautifully written and conceived story. The author weaves real-world history and people into the story. The story teaches of the cost of fame and fortune, and the burden great talent can be.


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The Spoon Stealer

 

The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Historical Fiction Audiobook
I really enjoyed listening to this excellent book. I loved the protagonist, Emmaline. Though she did not have a happy, secure childhood, she chose a life of serving and lifting others with her spoonful of kindness. I also loved Thora, her little dog. This is a cozy, warm story. I would give it 5 stars but for the unwanted surprise twist at the end. 4 ½ stars.



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Castle of Water

 

Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Contemporary Literary Fiction Audiobook
Two very different people become stranded on a French Polynesian island when the small plane they are on is struck by lightning. They are the only two survivors. At first, Barry and Sophie clash intensely, but learn to work together to survive, eventually falling in love. It is a beautiful, well-written story. The audio version is very well done.


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Wishin' and Hopin'

 

Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Historical fiction/ Christmas Physical book
Set in the 1960’s, this is a cute, little story about adolescent boys. I must say the author captures this age group pretty well. It’s a bit crude, but it’s funny and cute. I’ll give it three stars.


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Whistler

 

Contemporary Literature   Physical book

I have read several of Ann Patchett’s books.  I have enjoyed most of them, but my favorites have been two of her non-fiction: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days.  This is my favorite of her novels.  I really enjoyed it.  Beautifully written, it is a moving story of reconnecting with family.  I loved the characters and miss them.  This is an uplifting book that I highly recommend. 

Heart the Lover

 

Literary Fiction   Audiobook

A college love triangle that is very complicated doesn’t get resolved until many years later.  Everyone moves on, but really never heal until many years after.  I’m sure many can relate with that premise.  The book was okay, but I didn’t love it.  3 stars

The Wish

 

The Wish by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Contemporary Romance Physical book
I was surprised by how much I liked this book by Nicholas Sparks, though I don’t know why I was surprised. I have only read one other Sparks novel- A Walk to Remember, and really liked that one too. My pre-conceived notion was that his books were fluff. Not so. This book was well-written and was a good story with good characterization. It had a dual timeline and everything came together beautifully in the end. It was a gentle tear-jerker. I will read more of his books. 4 stars


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Musings of an Unwanted Roommate

 Remember this post?   Well, the story continues:

I think they thought they were rid of me, but I've been here all along.  There's not much food here, but it's warm.  I wander around the house looking for food: spiders, insects, whatever I can find.  I find a cozy place to sleep . . . and hide.

The other night I found a very warm, soft- oh so soft-green blanket to curl up in.  I was sound asleep when all of a sudden the blanket was moving and shaking and I found myself plopped on the floor!  I was disoriented and not sure where I was.  I saw shelter across the way, under a blanket storage chest.  I headed that way.  Before I could duck under for cover I looked up and saw that Amazon Woman! You remember that one who crushed me in her bare hands.  There she was again, looming over me.  I hurried and scurried under the chest. I stayed for a few minutes, but feeling like I would like more shelter, I came out, headed for under the couch. Suddenly a book came out of the sky and crashed down on me.  The Amazon Woman was out to get me!  Oh baby, this is WAR!  Stunned, but not entirely incapacitated, I scurried under the couch where I knew she couldn't come and nursed my wounds.  I stayed for quite some time.  When the room got dark, I came out, searching for a better place to hide. I knew the woman's husband would look for me under there when it got light. Where could I go?  A shoe.  One of her shoes would be a good place to hide.  Then when she slides her foot in I could lift my tale and give her a good sting.  Or, I know, I could hide under that throw rug in the living room.  Her foot is often near it when she is in her living room chair.  I could come out and sting her good, then scurry back under the rug.  Honestly, though, I think the best place is in her bed, where I first went.  It is soft and warm for me and an excellent place to wait to attack.  When she is sound asleep, I could stretch out and swing my tail and get her good.  This isn't over.  

We are in a battle here, folks, and I intend to win!  I'll keep you posted.

Rain and Flooding

Oh how we have prayed for rain for our dry desert land.  We have been abundantly blessed over the last month.  We have had three big storms making a remarkable difference in our water stores.

 

Unfortunately, it has also caused flooding and property damage.  I have copied a lot of pictures of the flooding from Facebook.

One neighborhood in Hurricane was flooded twice, causing much damage and property loss.

We continue to pray for gentle rain and snow in the mountains.  

 

Kitchen Cabinet Renew

 Our home is 41 years old.  We needed to renew our cabinets in our kitchen.  We had them re-stained about 10 years ago, but they needed it again.  

We hired a local guy to put in slide out drawers in our bottom cabinets.  What a great improvement!  We did lose some space by doing it, but it was nice to get rid of stuff we don't use that much.  We are loving these drawers!  We also had him repair our silverware drawer that hasn't worked right for years.  I sometimes go in the kitchen and just slide it in and out, in and out because it is so nice now!

We then had another company come and take all the cabinet and drawer fronts to stain them.  We had been working toward this for several months.  Ken and I had very different opinions on how to finish them.  I wanted to paint them white.  Ken did not want to cover the beautiful wood.  We both felt pretty strongly about our opinions.  I finally relented.  They pre-stained two of the drawers to choose between.  We chose the lighter, hoping some of the yellow would be darkened.  I was so nervous as I waited to see the final product.

It was quite a job to empty out all of the cabinets and drawers.

They were in our home doing the onsite staining and reattaching the newly stained cabinets on one of the days of our Gabrielsen reunion.  We came home to find this:

We both are very pleased with the result.  We then had the first guy come back and install new shelves in all of the upper cabinets as the shelves were old and worn.  Then we started the process of refilling all of the cabinets.  It actually isn't completely done yet.  We still need to sort the cookbooks and the tablecloth cabinets and a couple of others and put what we keep back in.  It's been quite a project, but we're so happy to have it almost done.

State Mountain Bike Races

 Our Caleb, a junior in high school, qualified for the state mountain biking competition.  It was held here in St. George out in the desert.  It had rained the few days before, so the course was muddy, but on Friday, the day was clear and sunny.  Ken went to support and cheer for him.  He did so well.  He came in third in his heat of 72 riders.  

We are so proud of Caleb and his hard work and determination to improve.  He trained all last summer. But then in August he had a bike wreck and broke his wrist.  He couldn't ride for a couple of months.  It was very disappointing to him and really set him back. But as soon as he got clearance, he was back on the bike, training hard. He was elated with the results of his performance at state.  And so are we!!

Gabrielsen Sibling Reunion

 October 20-24, we had a Gabrielsen Sibling Reunion in St. George.  Patty and Hal's son, Evan, owns a condo here and let us use it.  We had such a fun time together.  

Most everyone arrived on Tuesday.  They came to my Keynote rehearsal on Wednesday morning.  They were such a fun audience and the Keynotes sang well for them.  It meant so much to me that they would come.  Afterward we went to Kneaders for brunch.  The guys were supposed to golf after that, but the courses were closed for flooding and it was raining.  So we went to the condo and visited and caught up on each others' lives.  That evening we went to dinner at Cappeletti's downtown.  It was so delicious.  Ken and I shared a table with John and Cindy and so enjoyed that special time with them.

The next morning we met for brunch at the Bear Paw Cafe.  The food was delicious- again!

Waiting to get in the Bear Paw: Me, Pam, Patty, Cindy, Joan

Again, the golf was rained out, so went back to the condo.

Pam had downloaded a lot of throwback pictures on her Ipad and cast them to the TV in the condo.  It was so fun to see them and reminisce.

Singing together with John playing the guitar upstairs at the Bluebird in Logan.

Visiting Grandma Beena

We had fun identifying everyone in these reunion pictures.

Sitting in the condo watching the pictures.  Shonna, Gabe, and Caleb had just arrived.  Caleb was racing in the State Championship Mountain biking tournament the next day.

They brought Hal a treat to celebrate his 81st birthday.

The guys finally got to golf on Friday morning.  Ken didn't join them because he went to Caleb's race to support him.

That evening, after dinner at Village Baker, we did a sealing session in our Red Cliffs temple.  Ken was the sealer.  It was such a special time together.  It was the highlight of the reunion.

After the temple we went out for Froyo.  We had such a fun time visiting as we enjoyed our treat.

Then we said goodbye as everyone left the next morning.  It was such a lovely time together.  How we love our family!!!