High Rotation Monday #8 (the “Again already?” edition)

Another week has flown by. We are counting down to our epic trek South. We fly to Australia this coming weekend so lots of what this last week has been about is getting organised in a largely disorganised world.

Drawing:
More Botanical Water-Cooler conversations. (above)

Watching:
We watched the first four episodes of Netflix’s House of Cards which I will continue to watch, despite not liking any of the characters much yet – especially now that (trying not to spoil) Z disappointingly shifted the power by sleeping with X… while Y didn’t sleep with sleazy ex-W due to, I’m not sure, feelings of loyalty to X? Disappointing all ’round. Such a let down in a show that seems to have a good number of gutsy, powerful, interesting women characters. But I will continue to watch.

Reading:
Books for Mother/Daughter bookclub. The brainchild of one of my friends here on the island. It’s just as it sounds – Mums and Daughters get together once a month or so for book discussion. We rotate book choice and hosting with book inspired snacks being all the rage. Thus far we have read Because of Winn-Dixie, A Wrinkle in Time (both the novel and graphic novel were included in the discussion) and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Grade five seems to be the perfect age for this, and ours is a small group of five girls and five mums. The girls are all from a collection of different schools but they will all be going into (deep, dark) middle school together next year so this is a good way for them to get to know one another. You would be amazed at the enthusiasm of this group as they chat about the books.  The girls have strong opinions and they experience the books with such strong sensitivity. Super cool.

Amelia and I both read Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell last week and loved it. Micro-review: Based on a true story. A 19th Century Nicoleño Indian girl is stranded on a small island off the coast of California for 18 years, left behind after the rest of her people are taken away by boat by white people.  She waits for her own rescue while surviving many hardships – including wild weather, wild animals, isolation and grief. It was slow to start but after about a third of the way through neither of us could put it down. I had to download an e-version to compliment our old tattered print copy so that we could read side-by-side. Everyone else at bookclub loved it too – though it should be said that some found it scary and sad in places.

Also:

I was talking about this article the other day to someone – (Kim? Aidan? Maybe both you guys?) and I see that GeekDad has re-posted it again – it’s a good one:  67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age 10.

Cooking:
I’m still hunting down pad-thai recipes – this one looks pretty good. (via Dinner, A Love Story – my new favourite food blog)

I made chicken wings with a blue cheese dip which was pretty good.

Lastly:

Don’t we live in a pretty place? It really is as good as those pics, especially on days like today when the sun is shining.

My soon to be niece-in-law wrote this piece on her blog about the traditions of name taking and giving. I gave her the advice “do what you like!” – and if my ultimate plan works then they will be one day moving to Salt Spring, and each one of their children can all be given different last names (or even better, choose their own last names) and fit in with everyone else on this crazy island. 

Anyway, time to go and do something constructive. March Fourth!