Monday, May 5, 2025

First Lines: April 2025 edition

Redbud

 

April, as we know, is the cruelest month.  It was truly exhausting, capped at the end by a 20-minute storm that caused a two-day-seemed-like-fifty-days power outage.  The power outage broke the camel’s back – the schedule I was hurtling through came to a screeching halt.  For several days now I haven’t been able to concentrate on reading any book.


There were some good things about April.  I was cheered/challenged to be able to sing in two worship services for Holy Week.  Our Passover seder was wonderful - our son invited several friends, and our daughter and son-in-law were there too.  The pastor preached her sunrise service Easter sermon -- about birds -- as the birds chirped around us. The local grassroots groups had a well-attended Empty Seat Town Hall, and our own grassroots group held a successful and joy-producing sidewalk rally, on my dear departed aunt’s birthday.  But all along there is the fascist shit show, and then the power outage just depleted me.  


Thank goodness for cozy mysteries and short books.   There were also two DNFs but I forgot to record the opening lines.


The opening lines, without further ado:

 

Book 1

“Give it back,” muttered Isabel Dalhousie.

 

 

Book 2

December 1981 

I stood on the lacquered floor—a small woman in black with a rectangular name badge on my chest.

 

 

Book 3

The green school bus shuddered while it  hugged the curve leading to the main entrance of The Abbey: Senior Living.

 

 

Book 4

More and more people each year are going abroad for Christmas.  To celebrate the season of goodwill towards men, British Airways slams an extra one hundred and four pounds on each air ticket.  But the airports are still jammed.




 

The titles and authors revealed:

 

 

Book 1

The Novel Habits of Happiness (Isabel Dalhousie #10)

Alexander McCall Smith

272 pages • first pub 2015

fiction mystery philosophy

 

 

Book 2

The Lion Women of Tehran

Marjan Kamali

327 pages • first pub 2024

fiction historical literary


I rated this as “very good” although the reading of it was fraught with anxiety.  Everything that happens in this book to these Iranian women seems possible now in the US. It is not a spoiler to say that it’s mostly not positive.  I kept reading because the characters and the plot are lively and realistic, as real as I can imagine them from my American point of view.  This book is very popular - it took ages for the Kindle version from the library to be available. All kinds of content warnings - rape, sexual abuse, sex discrimination, and more.  I read it for book club at the end of April.

 

 

Book 3

Old Habits Die Hard (Nun the Wiser Mysteries Book 1)

By Melissa Westemeier

Great characters, fun to read.  Review here.

 

 

Book 4

A Highland Christmas (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, No. 16)

By M.C. Beaton

160 pages • first pub 1999

fiction mystery

I decided to give M.C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series another try, choosing an earlier book in the series.  This one is quite short, which was just what I needed.  This is the second book I have read this year containing a character named Morag, a name I am not sure how to pronounce.  And I just realized that both books are by M.C. Beaton. The mysteries in this book involved stolen Christmas lights and a missing cat.  Charming and light.

 

 

DNF #1

Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne

by Wilda C. Gafney

302 Print Pages.  2017

Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

More difficult to read than I had imagined it would be.  It’s a scholarly work.  But I loved the opening!  Which you can’t read because I forgot to note it down.

 

 

DNF #2

 The Guncle (The Guncle #1)

By Steven Rowley

326 pages • first pub 2021

fiction contemporary lgbtqia+

I got a third of the way through before the library snatched back the kindle version.  But I was not that interested, tbh.  A lot of talk about show business.  I liked the portrayal of relationships lost, but couldn’t keep track of who was whose sibling.  That is probably more me than the writing.


Thursday, April 24, 2025

Nebby Nun: A book review of "Old Habits Die Hard"

Lone bird on a branch at sunset.
Outside "Fennel Farmhouse" at
"Fairfield" retirement center


Old Habits Die Hard

By Melissa Westemeier

265 pages.  Published 2025.


I loved this book!  In all her books, Ms. Westemeier knows how to create characters the reader can feel sympathetic toward, despite their foibles and failings (the characters, not the readers).  I find it hard to read a book with no sympathetic characters.


Sister Bernadette (“please call me Bernie”) is a nun, retired from teaching, and living in a retirement home located in the building that was formerly the school where she taught.  This woman knows how to tell a fib, or ten fibs if necessary.  She knows the best places to hide out for eavesdropping.  But that’s blessed behavior, because it’s all done to solve a mystery in service to humankind.  I like the portrayal of the police detectives, one of whom was Bernie’s student back in the day.  And loved the author’s clever way of naming one of the bad guys, to evoke a real-life bad guy.  


This is a murder mystery, but not too gruesome for me to read.  The good news for me is that this is Nun the Wiser Mysteries Book 1, the first in a series.  I know it might be a while, but I am looking forward to the next adventures of Bernie the retired teacher-nun.   I haven’t met the author in real life but have corresponded with her.  I feel that we are like sisters – not nun sisters, but soul sisters.


Like in Alexander McCall Smith’s books (of which I am also fond), this one includes some poignant observations about humanity and the world.  And also a brief but accurate description of how snorkeling can blow one’s mind.  


The setting reminded me very much of the retirement place where my parents and aunt lived.  To preserve anonymity I will call that place "Fairfield" on this blog.  To my knowledge there never has been a murder at the real-life Fairfield retirement center.  In Old Habits Die Hard,  the author expertly captures the pace of life, the way people interact, the daily events of a retirement center – all spot on, based on my visits to Fairfield.


The real-life Fairfield campus still has the original farm owner’s house, which I will call Fennel Farmhouse.  For many years, it was set up as a guest house with four guest rooms, and our whole extended family would stay there while visiting my Mom, Dad, and Auntie.  Fennel Farmhouse had a back staircase, with secret access to each of the guest rooms, and the creepiest basement in the universe.  There was a full kitchen with many sharp cooking implements.  The fancy living room and dining room provide ample space for elegant parties, or for Hercule Poirot to gather the suspects and reveal all.  There would be no better setting for a murder mystery.  


I mentioned to my brothers that I was reading a mystery set in a place very like Fairfield.  My brother wrote back: 


Carolyn,


I'll see your Murder-at-a-place-similar-to-Fairfield, and raise you

"Murder at Fennel Farmhouse".  I found it in a Little

Library today.  Sticker says 14.95 euros, and on sale for "buy one

get one at half price".


No idea if it's any good.


It won't be the first time I've read a dubious book purely because

the title resonates.


"Christmas is fast approaching when a dead stranger is found lodged

up the chimney of Fennel Farmhouse..."


The title to Melissa Westemeier’s book Old Habits Die Hard definitely resonates.  I found four books with that same title on the Storygraph app.  Ignore those other ones; read this one.


I highly recommend Old Habits Die Hard by Melissa Westemeier for a cozy murder mystery.  Well done, Melissa!


The John Grisham section in the library
at "Fairfield" retirement center.



Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Hot Scots

This is how I picture Scotland looking.
Except with more rocks.
This is a park in Southwestern PA.


Today Bibliomama’s post prompted me to log onto my library’s website to find out official library policy on # of holds.  In the scrolling bar of newly acquired books, the title “Some Like It Scot” flew by.  I like reading about Scotland, perhaps due to my ancestry, our area’s topographical likeness to Scotland, or my Presbyterianish soul.  My original info quest was derailed.  


My library’s Libby has two books with this title, apparently both bodice-rippers.  (Storygraph has even more with this title – all romances.)


 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

The first book


Here is the first part of Libby’s description of Some Like it Scot by Suzanne Enoch (published in 2015), copied exactly as I see it on my screen:


CAN A CLASH OF WILLS


Nineteenth-century, Scotland:


When a mad lass in trousers shoots at him, Munro “Bear” MacLawry isn’t sure what impresses him more-the girl’s sure aim or her irresistibly tempting curves.  Catriona MacColl has fled to the Highlands with her half-sister to escape an unwanted wedding,  and wants no part of him, nor any  man.  But he can’t abandon the flame-haired, sharp-tongued wildcat now that he’s discovered her-not when she fits so perfectly in his arms…


LEAD TO A LOVE FOR ALL TIME?

(etc etc etc)


That first line really threw me.  What? Can a clash of wills do WHAT?   Put the clash of wills in a can?   


Sidebar for family nostalgia moment.  When we were kids, we had a book about an ill-mannered, prankish, and orthographically-challenged British schoolboy named Nigel Molesworth, who attended a suboptimal boarding school.  My father attended a British boarding school in India, so we felt a family connection.  Molesworth describes a geography test, with the following questions:


Q: Are the Andes?

A: I ask you! Are the Andes? wot a question. Wot does it mean clot? Do you mean WERE the Andes? Of course they were. They didn’t pop up overnite you kno. Nor will they pop off agane but i wish you would.

Q. In Africa?

A. i am waiting. the lunatick bin is second turning on the right. they will be waiting for you. In africa indeed! n.b. if the words “in Africa” belong to “Are the Andes” i neither kno nor care.

(I found this quote at this blog post about witty exam answers:  https://schutzer9.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/whats-the-best-thing-thats-ever-happened-to-you-as-a-tramp-and-other-stories-to-be-contd/   This book was apparently a big thing Britain during a certain era.)


In any situation, if you want to make my brothers or me laugh, just say, “Are the Andes?” This is what the first line of this book description reminded me of.


Back to the important matter at hand.  After reading the whole book description, I realized it’s meant to be read as a movie trailer.  The book title does not capitalize “it”.  What should be em dashes are written as hyphens.  The library categorizes this book’s audience:  “Mature Content”.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


The second book


Libby’s description of Some Like It Scot by Donna Kauffman (published in 2010), copied exactly as I see it on my screen:

There Goes The Bride…


She’s cautious, careful – and about to lose control of her future to a marriage of inconvenience.  So, what can reluctant bride Katie McAuley do?  Easy – let a modern-day prince charming spirit her away for a month to his Scottish castle.  There she can take refuge from her overbearing family and finally figure out what she really wants.  But the more Katie sees of Graham McLeod, the harder it’s getting to keep their arrangement strictly business…

(etc etc etc)


And here are some of the blurbs:

Their Scottish brogues and sexual prowess will tingle your spine and…just make you feel good.”  – Romantic Times on Bad Boys In Kilts


No one does a Scot quite like Ms. Kauffman.”  - Coffee Time Reviews


The library categorizes this book’s audience: “General Content”.  I wonder who decides these things.


Thankfully, this book description employs the em dashes properly.


 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


Despite these tantalizing reviews, I’ll be sticking to the “44 Scotland Street” and “Isabel Dalhousie” series by Alexander McCall Smith, for my Scot needs.  Or maybe I should read up on Adam Smith or David Hume, two fine Scottish men, I’m sure. 


I still don’t know my library’s Kindle hold policy.


Or maybe Scotland looks like this sometimes.
This is somewhere along the PA Turnpike, 
taken in 2021.  No bodices in evidence.



Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Unofficial National Holidays

Some non-Hostess-brand snacks for
a non-cannabis book club gathering.

On “Tax Day”, that universally acknowledged and scorned US observance, I was in the car on the way to mail my deceased aunt’s final tax returns, when I heard an announcement on the radio.  The announcer said that this week through April 20th, Hostess brands is going to station a Munchie Mobile outside cannabis dispensaries.  I don’t partake of either, but I thought the world should know, because these are ripe times for both unrestricted cannabis and unrestricted snacks.  Seems like a golden opportunity for J. M. Smucker, now the hapless owner of the Hostess brand, which brought us such delicacies as the Twinkie, the Ding Dong, and Donettes.


I heard this on, of all places, the classical music radio station.  Yet another way in which our world is topsy turvy.


Forbes calls April 20th “the unofficial national holiday”. 


At the Post Office there was a lengthy line of law-abiding citizens who were there to get the official USPS date stamp on their tax return.  If only we could count on the government on the receiving end to also be law abiding.  

Our nation's flag, on Nov 4, 2016


Where will these citizens be on Apr 20th, I wonder?


While I was there, I realized I could get some of those pre-stamped postcards.  Which I intend to use to send messages to my Senators.  I bought fifty.  What messages should I send to them?


Then on the way back home, my car’s Check Engine light came on.  My anxiety skyrockets when this light comes on.  But I have learned that, unlike some current dangers, the light often just goes away after a while.  


May it be so.


Some tax-related political rally costumes of the past (first one still applies today):






Friday, April 11, 2025

Hands off, you jagoffs!

 Sunday April 6, 2025

Yesterday, April 5th, was a very good day.  As good a day as I could hope for given the current situation.  The spring blooms are starting to show, and so is The Resistance.


TL;DR - our Hands Off rally was a huge success.  We showed up, we listened, we yelled, we sang, we brandished signs, we marched.  I hope to God somebody noticed.  Maybe at least God noticed, although the track record might not be too promising there.  According to the Bible it took God 130 to 400 years (depending how you count it) to notice the Israelites in slavery.   Regardless, I’m in it now for the long haul.


If you went to a Hands Off rally on April 5th, I would love to hear about your experience.


 

Photo credit: Corey Buckner

The crowd extends well down the street in both directions.  Estimated attendance: 6,000+.  That’s probably me standing next to the sound equipment table, behind the pillar on the right.  Or not.  But that’s where I stood when I wasn’t trying to herd the general public off the portico.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   


The excruciatingly long version, which I write mainly so I can remember it later:

Three rallies in Pittsburgh

The leaders of seven grassroots groups in Pittsburgh worked together to hold one of three “Hands Off!” rallies here in Allegheny County.  (The “Hands Off!” rallies were a nationwide effort.)  


My grassroots group is Progress PA, (or if that doesn’t work you can find us on Facebook, on Instagram.  PPA is also on Bluesky but haven’t posted much there yet.  I and my good friend J, the PPA Treasurer and person who holds the group together, helped with planning.  


Our rally was held at the City-County building in downtown Pittsburgh – we had about 6,000 attendees.  At the same time, another grassroots group, called “50501” (Fifty-fifty-one), held their rally at Schenley Plaza near the University of Pittsburgh. I haven’t seen any attendance estimate for that.  


Then later in the afternoon, there was a Hands Off! rally in Shadyside at the corner of Fifth and Shady Aves, hosted by a woman who has been bravely holding a one-woman daily protest at that location – that one had about 1,200 in attendance.


5 PM rally crowd at Fifth and Shady Aves.   I wasn’t at this one. 

 Photo credit: Rory M. 


Who was there

Our downtown rally had 10 (!) people slated to speak, including Conor Lamb, my former congressperson, and candidate for US Senate in 2022, who lost to John Fetterman in the primary.  Most Democrats I know now keenly rue that loss.  Only one of our speakers couldn’t be there.  


Other speakers were a disability rights activist, a reproductive rights storyteller, a trans activist, a public health advocate, a queer activist, a union leader, a chemistry prof, and the executive director of the PA Democratic Party (he did the most cussing of all of them).


Several members of Progress PA were able to attend, and helped with carrying stuff and herding wanderers off the portico.  


Pittsburgh Raging Grannies.  Photo credit: Heather Mull


We also had The Pittsburgh Raging Grannies, a singing group that writes alternative progressive lyrics to well-known songs.  At one point they led the crowd in singing the first verse of “America the Beautiful” (regular lyrics).  It was heartwarming to hear our huge crowd of patriots sing.  Then they launched into their own lyrics, of which here is one verse: 


How beautiful it could have been

Without unending greed,

And special interest politics

Have made our nation bleed.

America! America!

Where is the Bill of Rights?

All our dreams have been replaced

By rampant corporate might.


Chantress

For our Hands Off rally, I was put in charge of chants - pulling from various sources and writing some original ones.  I had about 10 days’ warning, but found the portion of my brain concerned with rhyme and meter is not what it had been.  (For instance, I wrote this in 2013.)  


I did come up with a chant in which the crowd’s response was “Hands off, you jagoffs!”  Jagoff is a local derogatory term which means “jerk” but it is more insulting than that.  


In high school, I would have been voted “Least Likely to Raise Hand in Class” and definitely “Least Likely to Stand In Front of a Crowd and Shout”.   But incipient fascism calls all of us to strange duty – I was tasked with doing crowd warmup with those chants, before the event start-time. 


Before the rally I printed off 3 copies of my 15-pages of chants, in 14-point font.  I didn’t have time to memorize anything.  I also did not have much time to practice, because these days I’m:

  • writing snarky-furious letters to my Senators, 

  • managing our grassroots group Progress PA 

  • helping to plan for three more grassroots upcoming actions,

  • learning better how to use the voter list app,

  • getting ready to door knock on behalf of School Board candidates, 

  • working as a member of the anti-racism team at church, 

  • singing in the Lenten choir, 

  • cooking for Passover,  

  • reading books. 

All good stuff.  But overwhelming. Oh yeah, and paid work (part-time).  


I put my chant papers on a clipboard that says [Younger Daughter’s Name], glad to be taking some family support with me.



What I brought


In addition to personal items (keys, cell phone, tiny wallet w/drivers license,

a bit of cash, a credit card, bandaids, asthma inhaler) I also brought:

  • Cap in case of light rain

  • Umbrella in case of heavy rain

  • Sturdy comfortable shoes

  • pb&j sandwich

  • a very old box of Froot Loops that I found in the closet

  • Water bottles

  • Kleenex

  • Lip balm

  • Cough drops


  • 3 printed copies of rally chants

  • 5 letters from me to my Senators, including 3 handwritten, 2 printed

  • Tiny flags: US, trans, LGBTQ

  • Bigger American flags (about 25-inch pole, so still not huge)

  • Rally sign with message (double-sided), wrapped in plastic.  I hate using the foamcore and doubly hate wrapping it in plastic, but heavy rain was predicted and for this one time, I didn’t want to mess around with a floppy peeling sign.


Before the end of the rally, I had left the bigger American flags behind

in a pile somewhere, and the people who had borrowed my rally chants

papers were at the opposite end of the march from me.  I only used my

rally sign during the march, as my role prevented me from holding on to

it during the speeches.  



Rally Day

On Saturday my good friend J and I arrived at the City County building at 11:30 AM and helped set up stuff.  We soon found our friend B, who also helped set up. At 12:15 PM I led chants for 15 minutes.  When I mentioned Senator Fetterman, there was a HUGE growl/ groan/ boo which took me aback – special animosity for our Dem Senator who has collaborated with the Musk-TrumPutin regime.  


Then the rally started in earnest at 12:30.  My voice was hoarse by then.  After a while I began to feel dehydrated, so I drank one whole bottle of water.  Not a mistake, but there were consequences later.  The rain held off.

Leading rally chants before the event starts in earnest

(sign language interpreter on the right).    Photo credit: Heather Mull



My other assignment was to keep random people from the crowd off of the portico, for the security of the speakers.  My friends J and B also helped with this.  It proved to be a near impossible task. A few people from the crowd came up on the portico to ask if they too could speak.  Ummm, NO.  One person told me she was dissatisfied with the first speakers because they hadn’t been using expletives.  “I just want to say ‘Fuck Donald Trump’,” she calmly explained.  (Later speakers used plenty of expletives.)  A few people just wanted a photo from up there. 


My former Congressperson (now private citizen) Conor Lamb speaks.  Photo credit: Heather Mull.

I heard almost none of the speeches, because the sound was distorted on the portico where I was.  I can tell you with certainty, though, that scientists speaking at rallies need to shorten their speeches.  I’ve been to several rallies now with scientists speaking 10-15 minutes.  Somebody please tell the scientists to just prepare an abstract!  No supporting evidence needed at a rally.  


Whenever there was a pause in the speaking, someone in the crowd would start their own chant.  Everyone was energized.


A few times I did go down into the crowd, to get some photos. The crowd extended way down the street both ways, and also into the parking lot across the street.   A congenial and yet angry bunch of people.  


The rally was a huge success.   Church friends and other friends later confirmed that whereever they were in the crowd, everyone was pleasant, friendly, and helpful.  The speakers and chants were invigorating.   The crowd stayed for a whopping 90 minutes listening to speeches.  I felt weak and dehydrated again so I drank more water.  There was one incident of fainting (not me).  One Progress PA board member, T, was nearby; T’s spouse L, who is a nurse, was able to assist until the paramedics arrived.  Thank you, L!  Such events often have at least one fainting incident. 


National reports noted that none of the Hands Off rallies around the country included violence.  (Unlike Jan 6, 2021.)







Marching to Mellon Square

The speeches ended, and we marched up Grant Street, turned the corner and marched down Liberty Ave to Mellon Square (which is not the same as Mellon Park or Bakery Square).  Waiting for us at Mellon Square were the giant Trump Chicken, and a tent with a place to drop off letters to be hand-delivered to our Senators. (I dropped off my 5 letters.)  A saintly person brought water bottles for marchers.  I was still parched, so drank more water.



The Trump Chicken.  Photo credit M.H.



And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

At Mellon Square we had one more speaker - a rep from an immigrant rights organization, substituting for the original speaker who couldn’t be there.  It started to rain.  By this time my bladder was like to burst, but I ignored it.  The director of the event unexpectedly asked me to lead a few more chants, but my three printed sheets of chants had disappeared, so I had to read them off my phone, in the rain.  We did a few, including this one (sing-chant):


I don’t know but I’ve been told

The people here are mighty bold!

And there’s one thing clear to me

The people here have unity!

Lies and threats will not divide

The People marching side by side!

Which I discovered afterwards is based on a US Marine Corp running cadence!  


Leading chants at Mellon Square,
near the end of the rally.


Finally at around 3 PM our resistance action ended.  My bladder said,

"Hey, it's been 4.5 hours." We trudged to the car and J sped us home

to her waiting bathroom.  I have to remember next time not to have

ANY TEA AT ALL the morning of a rally.


We will see if anyone pays attention to our effort.  Regardless of

what we do, spring has arrived and the trees are blooming beautifully. 

While I do like spring, my favorite season always is the fall

… of the patriarchy.