Somusing

It took me several months to finish this short book by Elizabeth Gaskell, but I loved it. As usual, delightful characters and humorous insights into human ways. It's different from Wives and Daughters and North and South in several ways: the main characters are older single women; there's hardly any romance; it's more a collection of stories about the same place and people than a traditional novel; the narrator, unnamed until the very end, is mostly an observer and doesn't have much to do with the story itself. I loved it, though. I'm an Elizabeth Gaskell fan!

I'd like to introduce you to our oldest son, Zed. Here he is regaling Seth, Lillian and Jacob with exciting stories about Cedar Badge: It doesn't look like they're giving him the rapt attention he deserves. I guess he's actually talking to Phin, the front of whose cap you can see. Or maybe that's me. Anyway... Zed is 13 and a half and at least 4 inches taller than I am. (He's very proud of that, even though I'm pretty short; still, it is fun to be taller than your mom.) Yesterday afternoon he got back from Cedar Badge, a Boy Scout youth leadership training camp, where he got very dirty and lost his voice yelling funny BSA songs. He had a great time. Zed plays the piano very well and has been teaching himself to play the guitar. He loves to read and play video games, when his mean mom will let him. He's a great older brother to his younger brothers and sisters, especially Mira. Yesterday when we picked up Zed at camp and Mira got a glimpse of him...

Zed and I are in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for a few hours before we board our plane to Amsterdam, so we thought we'd post a few photos from my phone.

Saw this at our local drive-in with the kids. I love going to that drive-in. Anyway, my siblings and I liked the Witch Mountain movies when we were kids. This new one has very little to do with those, but it was fun. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is sort of a goofball.

When I decided that I wanted to make a sweater for an adult, I thought I should make one for someone small, and since I had never knitted anything for Leah or any of Leah's progeny, I chose her. Here it is: I apologize that the pictures are pretty lame. The actual color is closer to the top picture.

This book is marketed as a business book, but it should be required reading for everyone, whether you want to persuade others or you want to avoid being persuaded. It's fascinating and fun and sometimes mind-blowing. Seriously, I'll be having our kids read this as they get older, and maybe I'll reread it every five years or so. Highly recommended.