A Thrill a Minute

I am suffering from vacation let-down. It was worse last year, when I returned home from a lovely long weekend with my extremely helpful family, to real life with just me spending all day with a crying 3 week old baby and a non-sleeping almost 3 year old. I cried almost the whole way home. My poor husband!

But I am still a little sad. There is just something to be said for being in the same house with grandma and grandpa, not to mention my sister and her husband. The kids loved the attention, I loved the free time and help, and it didn't hurt matters that our rental home had this view from the backyard.

We introduced Emma to the wonders of the beach. She was not impressed. Lake Michigan was far too cold for her, but she did seem to enjoy digging in the sand with both hands, like an eager little puppy. I spent a fair amount of prime tanning time fishing out small pieces of apparently delicious rock from between her cheeks and gum, where she was clearly storing it for later. However, she does remain the undisputed cutest baby in the world.

Will loved every second of vacation. He had a long list of activities that he wished to accomplish while we were "at vacation house," such as: stargazing (I am not making this up), camping, fishing, catching lightening bugs, swimming, eating s'mores, and building a tidal pool. Some achieved, some not so much. He did however, start each day in character, and I have the pictures to prove it.

Meet, scary wolf! It's hard to tell in this picture, but he has construction paper ears paper clipped to his hat, his ever present tail on, and the piece de resistance, construction paper "sharp fangs," brilliantly fashioned by my mom. This was for a hike in the woods. The best part of it was that he didn't want to wreck his teeth, so he didn't speak one word for the entire car ride to the state park, and for a good portion of the hike. It was possibly the longest stretch of quiet we had on the whole trip. Or ever.

Here, he is a robber. What does he steal? Why fish, of course? Why fish? He is a kitty robber. He wore this mask all day long. You can also tell that he is a robber because of his striped shirt. And you'll have to take my word for it, but he had on striped underwear too. Nothing like a complete look. We were on a boat ride in this picture, which Will loved and Emma hated.

Next up, pirate! He wore this costume more than one day in fact. The hat and eye patch are construction paper. The most brilliant part of the costume was alas, not captured in this photo...his peg-leg. He wore one of N.'s tube socks pulled up to about mid thigh and limped around. In public. My parents taught him pirate phrases, such as, "Argh, mateys!" and "Shiver me timbers!" and his favorite of all, "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" Hopefully that one won't make it to daycare. Sadly, we forgot to bring his small stuffed parrot, which he usually makes me tape to his shoulder.

Finally, a standard for most days, SUPERHERO WILLIAM! I made him this cape right before we left on vacation, and he's worn it pretty much everywhere he goes. One side is red, for days when you feel like a superhero, and the other side has pirates all over it. The look is completed by a Superman t-shirt, mask and his Spider man sandals. Did I mention anywhere that he dresses himself? I have VERY little to do with any of this, beyond trying to fulfill requests through the creative use of construction paper and tape. 

Anyway, I think we all had a wonderful time and it's been difficult to adjust back to the real world. I spent every afternoon reading in the sun, or napping in our beautiful bedroom overlooking the lake. I took a bunch of thrillers/crime novels with me and I loved them all. Also, Barbara Pym (A Glass of Blessings--lovely), because you can't go wrong there. 

I read three great thrillers and I highly recommend them. Denise Mina's Still Midnight, Sophie Hannah's Little Face, and Tana French's Faithful Place.

Sophie Hannah was new to me, and probably the weakest of the three books, but still worthwhile. She has quite a few novels and is very popular in England. Little Face was her first book. It's about a woman who gives birth, spends an afternoon away from her home when the baby is about two weeks old, and comes home convinced that the baby at her house is not her own. This was a whirlwind read, with a fascinating plot and interesting character studies. However, everything fell apart at the end. She really had me going, turning every page with anticipation, thinking, "how is she ever going to pull this off?" It's to her credit that I believed that she would do it, but sadly it didn't quite work. But it's one of those books that keeps you thinking about it afterward, and it was very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

Denise Mina is one of my favorite writers. Her Garnethill trilogy was amazing. Amazing in every way. You just have to read those books. I would read them and come up for air, bewildered that I wasn't in Glasgow. Her other series starring Paddy Meehan is also good, but it doesn't hold the same place in my heart. Her stand alone books are great too. Still Midnight is not as great as some of her other work, but again, still enjoyable. You might actually like it a lot if you haven't read anything else by her. It was too...lighthearted, I guess is the word. What I love about Mina's work is how real and gritty and dysfunctional everything and everyone is. She is funny too, but in a very black humor way. This book had the dysfunction too, but it had disconcerting moments of levity and a bizarrely happy ending. Not really what I'm looking for in crime fiction. 

Finally, Tana French. I think she just keeps getting better and better, and I LOVED In the Woods and The Likeness. Her newest book, Faithful Place, is wonderful. Like Denise Mina, her books and characters are incredibly detailed, believable, dysfunctional and utterly engrossing. Unlike her previous books, this one has an ending where the crime is solved! I couldn't stop reading it. I neglected my children in order to keep reading. I pretended that I was sleeping in order to keep reading. I have to warn you though; it is sad. Both in a bittersweet, melancholy, reminiscing about better days type of sadness, and a sadness that is deep and depressing. It makes you wish that you were Irish, and then extremely glad that you aren't, all at the same time. Beautiful writing.

Happy reading!

Comments

[Kerry Clare]

Thank you for the reading update. And perhaps lakes are just a bit much for one year olds, and Emma and Harriet will be splashing around NEXT summer. Congrats also on your breastfeeding milestone, and thank you for sharing your experiences.