*Time to Make Art by Jeff Mack *The Spaceman by Randy Cecil
Middle Grade
*Not Nothing by Gayle Forman *Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Young Adult
*Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang Geek Girl by Holly Smale We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Grownup Fiction
Lizzie & Dante by Mary Bly Between Two Strangers by Kate White Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
The Bridesmaids Union by Jonathan Vatner
Vatner’s Carnegie Hill charmed me by being about self-involved rich people, but also incredibly relatable. I was less charmed by the Bridesmaids Union because the main character really needed to say no. And she didn’t. Repeatedly. So the novel could happen, I guess?
I’m also quite happy that my era of attending weddings was much more low key than the one this book depicts.
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
Weiner finds an interesting and multilevel way into #MeToo.
Grownup Nonfiction
The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther by Ruth E. Carter
Young Nonfiction
*Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States by J. Albert Mann
Cousin Ron sent this postcard from Tartu, Estonia. He sent it in an envelope, so it’s in quite good shape. He said that he and Janelle are spending a few days in Estonia before heading back to Helsinki. They’ve been walking everywhere and the weather has been nice.
Here are the fun stamps that got this to me. It also took 24 days to arrive, not a terrible record for Europe.
This postcard was spotted by Shawn while it was laying on the ground near the entrance to Cal Poly Humboldt. He suggested Sara grab it and send it to me. She thought there was no way it would be blank. But it was!
And now here it is with me. She reinforced it with some clear tape around the edges before she sent it.
This took me the entire summer, and I’m not sure why, as the finished sampler fits in a 6-inch hoop. Maybe I need the motivation of more colors? Maybe all this blackwork was just straight stitches in different ways, and I got bored? Not sure.
I’m pleased with the results, though. And that floral lace looks really pretty. I’ve learned to make the sample stiches surrounding the main picture the last thing I do, so I’ve had adequate practice. Even then I pulled out many stitches where I didn’t get the needle in just the right place.
The bonus item was quite fun and stitched up quickly. They make a fun combo.
Back views!
I think the back side of this looks a little creepier than the front. The house looks disheveled from this side.
And the back of this one had a thread stuck to it. I was too lazy to collect the scissors and cut it off before I took the picture.
Here’s the final result of this piece, last referenced in this post.
I’m quite pleased with the result. And I will be taking it into work to catch the drips from my tea and water vessels, as I will be sharing a desk on the one day a week I’m in the office.
This view shows that it ended up rather thick, but I think that works well. I used part of an old shirt of Matt’s for backing, and I like how bright the blue was.
The upside of using Bankie as the filling is that this item has very good energy.
The first is from my mom, where she reports that they day was gorgeous and that the coast has been very windy.
Sara has sent me this postcard before, though without the sticker annotation. She writes that the previous evening she received an award, and that her day on the day of writing was filled with meetings.
Finally, cousin Ron wrote that Helsinki has grown and changed in ten years, but he and his daughter have mastered the transit system, along with second-hand retail.
Headed to my first day of work, I noted that our poor trees at the station are getting an upgrade.
You can see the problem. They look a little wan.
Mostly, I think because people carve into them, as this blurry photo is attempting to show. But also because they have very little space around them that isn’t brick or a paver.
I’m not sure if the trees themselves will survive the work, but we shall see what comes of it.
On this last day of summer, here are a list of my 2024 songs of summer. These are songs that I heard a lot on commercial radio. My affection for them varies.
Themes: sad men (Noah Kahan influence). Trending country (see also: Noah Kahan influence)
“Wondering Why” Red Clay Strays
Hitting both themes, “Wondering Why” included a nice arpeggio throughout. There is some good writing with these lyrics: She comes from silver spoon, golden rule, private school, never miss Sunday church / And I come from blue-collar, low-dollar, out here where concrete meets old red dirt
“I Remember Everything” Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves
A duet in the mold of “Leather and Lace” where one person takes a verse, and then the other one does. This also fits both categories. I like the chorus especially. Some good writing here: You’re like concrete feet in the summer heat / It burns like hell when two souls meet.
Also, an 88 Ford is not a very old truck, in my mind.
“Austin” Dasha
A great jilted/breakup/I’m-better-off song. Unlike the video, the radio version doesn’t overly linger on the physical attributes of Ms. Dasha.
Nice line: In 40 years you’ll still be here, drunk, washed up in Austin.
I guess “Austin” would fall into the category of sad men a woman doesn’t have to deal with anymore.
“Save Me” Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson
This is a very sad man song. It also is the song that really gets stuck in my head.
Chorus: I’m a lost cause Baby, don’t waste your time on me I’m so damaged beyond repair Life has shattered my hopes and my dreams
“Beautiful Things” Benson Boon
In the category of songs I probably would have liked more had they not been played ad nauseum on the majority of stations I flip through is Benson Boon, with his worry about god taking away/losing “you” aka the “girl my parents love” that god “sent my way.”
Benson Boon is Pacific-Northwest born, according to many radio promos. Monroe, Washington, apparently. He’s currently 22, which is crazy.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Shaboozie
This was also a song that played a lot that I grew tired of. It’s fairly plodding and weary, which fits the lyrics, but rankles when repeated.
Songs by women I liked that don’t fall into the country bucket, but do concern men.
“Please please please” Sabrina Carpenter
The chorus has a great dip into the low region that I’ve just discovered has a radio edit. Heartbreak is one thing/ My ego’s another/ I beg you don’t embarrass me/ Little sucker ahhh…
“abcdefu” Gayle
This is a very delicious breakup song and I always enjoy when people find something fun to do with the alphabet, musically. It’s quite the list of things to forget. (And yet another song I discovered is quite different in it’s original, non-radio state.)
It also is from 2022, so I’m not sure why the algorithms that program radio airplay played it so much this summer.
A song I did not like that was played a million times “Whisky” by Hozier
And for the second summer in a row, this song was a song of summer:
I guess the tortured poets didn’t produce any breezy summer hits.
