Best People Events of 2024

 In January, I often do some posts that give "best of" posts for the previous year. This is one I've never done before. And, it's really hard, if not wrong, to say that some people events are better than others. Yeah, I'm not a people person, but I do know that relationships are important.

My "trail family" is very important to me.

I got a picture of four adults together who all attended the same Girl Scout Camp.

I increased my "friendship level" with a number of people this year.

I got to visit with a number of friends and relatives I haven't seen in a long time.

But for the best, I'm going to select meeting the members of my extended family that are descendants of my half brother John.

John had three children: Fredrick (Ricky), Jo-Anne, and Susanne. I learned a few years ago that Ricky died. He had a daughter Erin, and she has twin girls Elizabeth and Ellery. I had not seen JoAnn and Susanne since I was about 15, and they were younger. How did re-meeting them go?

In January 2024, I visited Jo-Anne (Jo-Jo) in Texas. There was an immediate connection


In July, I went east to visit Susanne, and to meet Erin, Liz and Ellery. Again... we just picked up like we'd been friends forever. I don't know if there is anything to the idea of "blood is thicker..." but it was almost strange.


I've spent my whole life with very few relatives, and I "lost" this branch of family after highschool. I'm delighted to reconnect.

In other news... this was not a stellar day. I like to talk about quality events on this blog, but sometimes people think that I never have to deal with the icky stuff. Of course I do, but I choose not to focus on it. I had plans for the day. But I didn't get to sleep until after 4 am last night. I woke up at 9:30. Had a headache. Started to get ready to do what I wanted to do. Still headache. And it turned into a migraine. This is a bit odd. I usually get one about every 3-4 years. This is two in the last month. Anyway, I threw up and had to go back to bed and not look at screens or words.

I have better hopes for tomorrow. Things seem to be OK now.

See Loss and Gain

Alternate-ing Universe

 In an alternate universe, I would be motivated and disciplined all the time. However, in this universe I woke up with no interest whatsoever in doing things I should do.

OK, I called Marie to grumble (she's very patient with me, and was already up and out to the store- she's a morning person). Then I gave myself a talking-to, and deployed my alternating tasks strategy.

I have to work on something for 15 minutes which seems to be the limit of my tolerance for some tasks, then I get a little treat... like reading a chapter or putting a set number of pieces in a puzzle. I don't even have to finish anything; I just have to put in the time working on necessary jobs.

Managed in total to do a significant amount of clean-up in the kitchen, mended two pairs of pajamas that were beyond wearing as is (even around the house), edited, got back into a much overdue project, started writing my LDN column. And I went shopping. I think I redeemed the day.

And I finished this puzzle which I got for free. It is missing two pieces, but the price was right! It's called "La-La Land." It was a lot of fun, and a little harder than it looks because there are a lot of yellow flowers but not all in one place, a lot of pink flowers that are not all in one place, a lot of blue flowers blah blah, etc. But there wasn't any section that was a total "dog" and had to be done by shape or subtle shading.

See No Surprise Yet

Zoup

 Apparently I haven't made split pea soup for about 6 years! It's one of my favorites. However, there were several years that I couldn't get the peas when I had a ham bone. And there was the hike.

I used the pan drippings for part of the stock, so it's much browner and hammier than sometimes.

I also made a complete mess in the kitchen. The blender got put away without the gasket (do I recall that it tore? not sure. Not even sure when I last used the blender). So when I poured in the stock and vegetables it ran right out the bottom. I looked around, but didn't find it. Well, I've ordered a new gasket.

Mashed up the veggies by hand. That works fine.

I did some editing, and worked on a couple of things. Mostly, I'm not happy with myself because there are some projects I need to be working on that I'm ignoring.

But the soup is yummy!

See Pea Soup and Hail

Best Books Read in 2024

 Read 83 books this year. Not bad. I was hoping for 100, but that didn't happen. Over 30,000 pages- not a very good way to track it because so much depends on the size of the book and the size of the type. But it probably averages out. This does not count the books I edited. That adds another 6 or 7 to the total. I probably should count those since I read them multiple times, eh?

Sunrise from December 14 for fun.

Here are the ten books I have selected as the best reads of 2024, in alphabetical order. I cheated and included one whole series because 5 of the books got my "excellent" notation.

Title	Author	Genre
Brief Review
Butch Karp series	Robert Tannenbaum	thrillers
I discovered the Butch Karp books this year, although they are about 20 years old. You will either like these or not. They are semi-believable and semi-outrageous, but it's a mix that I find wonderful. The series progresses from Butch meeting Marlene while they are young and both work for the DA through to their retirement years. They books are set in New York City with a few trips to other locations.     We watch their children grow up. Marlene discovers that she prefers confronting evil in a personal, armed manner, while Butch respects the courtroom. Their adventures take them through horrendous confrontations with criminals. An almost mythical man who lives in the world of the underground street people becomes part of the story, and also a Vietnamese criminal who becomes their daughter's protector. Of course there is a nemesis who continually confronts them.     My favorites in the series are: Resolved, Absolute Rage, Justice Denied, Reckless Endangerment, Act of Revenge. But it's best to read the books in order. You can find my reviews at Butch Karp series
Clear Thinking in a Messy World	Ken Samples and Mark Perez	non-fiction
This is an easy-to-read overview of how to use logic to clarify not only your own thinking, but to help you sort out the mixed signals you get from the "world:" social media, friends, family, organizations, advertising, etc.     The book is written from a Christian perspective, but the authors are very careful not to show bias. For every example they give that would support a Christian worldview, they give an example from a materialistic view. This is one of the many books published by Reasons to Believe.     Highly recommended. One of the top reads of the year.
Contagion	Robin Cook	medical thriller
Robin Cook's writing is inconsistent. He's either right on or really bad. This one is right on. I did stay up all night reading.     A woman in hospital dies from a strange infection. Of course, the medical team is trying to track down the source. Then another person also dies from the same virus.     Sounds like your typical medical investigation right? Nope. Soon, they have a couple more deaths from something very rare, but not the same as the first deaths. This pattern continues. There is no reasonable way these people could have contacted such rare infections. What is going on?
Iron House	John Hart	thriller
Michael and Julian are brothers who grew up in a horrific orphanage. Michael becomes the strong and aggressive one, while Julian is fearful and artistic.     The book follows the unfolding of their lives. Julian is adopted by a Senator's family and continues to need constant protection, but Michael becomes an enforcer for the mob. Their lives once again intersect after Michael tries to leave organized crime.
The Lincoln Highway	Amor Towles	literary fiction
This book is definitely one of the best three of the year. I expected it to end badly since it is literary fiction, but the ending is quite satisfactory.     Emmett has just been released from a detention home and returns to his own house to find his father dead and younger brother Billy in need of care. He had been sent away because he had accidentally killed a man. Soon a couple of neer-do-wells that Emmett knows from the reform school show up.     It is never said so in so many words, but Billy may have Aspergers. He is precocious and unusually focused. He is fascinated by a book he is reading throughout the novel. The book Billy reads is a book I wish I had written. I absolutely love it: Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers.. It contains adventurers whose names begins with each letter of the alphabet. These are everything from classical to contemporary, and there is a world map on the endpapers showing where they were from. The letter Y is left blank. It stands for YOU, and the reader is invited to write his or her own adventure. Billy is unsure where to start his story.     Anyway, they set off from Nebraska to drive the Lincoln Highway to California, but Emmett's "buddies" turn that into a trip that causes them to double back to New York and is fraught with adventure after adventure. There is never a dull moment.
Lost on a Mountain in Maine	Donn Felton	true adventure
I discovered this short book at least a month before learning that Angel Studios has turned it into a movie.     In the 1950s, several young boys with a couple of adults set out to hike up Mount Katahdin in Maine. Twelve-year-old Donn gets separated from the group in the fog. He has only rudimentary woods skills. Soon, his wet jeans have rubbed his legs raw and his feet are too swollen to keep his shoes on. He tries to hold on to his clothes while continuing to attempt to move downhill, but before a couple of days have passed, he has nothing except his underwear. Against amazing odds, he finds an occupied cabin after a week of attempting to follow a waterway downstream and is rescued.     I had never heard of this story, but apparently he gave talks throughout the east about his experiences. I really want to see the movie.
The Ryer Avenue Story	Dorothy Uhnak	literary fiction
This is one of those epic novels that spans four decades as it spins out the story of consequences arising from a childhood tragedy.     Six friends raised in a tough neighborhood of the Bronx manage to kill a bully who continually torments them. The father of one of the children takes the blame and is sent to prison.     As the book progresses, we learn how the children grow to adulthood and how they deal with knowing the truth.
The Silent Patient	Alex Michaelides	psychological thriller
A psychiatric patient refuses to speak, but one therapist believes he can get through to her. I don't want to give any more of the story away.
T is for Trespass	Sue Grafton	mystery
This is one of the Kinsey Millhone books. Kinsey is a rather sassy and independent private detective. I like them all, but this one is outstanding.     The elderly, cranky neighbor of Kinsey and Henry, Gus, takes a fall and is badly injured. When he is able to return home, he needs the care of a home nurse since his only relative, a neice, lives in across the country in New York. Kinsey does a background check and hires Rosie to care for Gus. However, Gus fails to improve and Rosie moves in to help full-time.     Kinsey becomes suspicious, but Rosie continues to get good recommendations wherever Kinsey checks. The situation goes from bad to worse.
Whip Hand	Dick Francis	mystery
I had kind of forgotten how good a writer Dick Francis is.     Like almost all of his books, this one is set in the world of English horse-racing and the jockey world. It is part of the Sid Hally series (there are four books by Dick Francis and two more by his son). Sid is a jockey who has lost a hand from a bad fall where the horse landed on him. He tries to find a new place for himself in the world, and ends up investigating the unexplained deaths of highly promising race horses who did well as two-year-olds but suddenly died or were incapacitated the next year. Regular testing has turned up nothing.     This book is the one of only two to ever win both the Gold Dagger and the Edgar Award. The other is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John LeCarre.

See Best Books- second half of 2023

New Year's Hike

 Apparently hiking for New Year's Day was popular this year. We had 25 people and two dogs show up to walk north from Timber Creek. Several hikers were new.

There was just a dusting of snow, and flakes gently falling as we hiked. This is that portion of the Lake Co. RR bed that we follow just south of 8th St. Nice trail pic.

This big burl (maybe 2 feet across) almost always attracts attention.

Almost everyone walked to 8th St and back.

It's the beginning of a new year, and so it's also the beginning of a new Hike 100 Challenge. This is year 10!

After I got home, I puttered at some of my other projects and worked on my current jigsaw puzzle.

Miles hiked in 2025: 6. NCT miles hiked in 2025:6

North Country Trail, Timber Creek (US 10), north to 8th St. and back. 6.0 miles

See Timber Creek- Sunlight Edition