Back in June I mentioned my frozen shoulder, which I am happy to say has improved markedly! I went to acupuncture about a dozen times but had no relief whatsoever from the pain, and the CBD oil was likewise a bust. I was so miserable I went back to the ortho, and he sent me for a cortisone shot with fluoroscopy (that's where they give you the injection aided by an x-ray to be sure they get the right spot). That did the trick, and a week later I was able to start physical therapy. I'm still going—and doing my daily exercises faithfully—and am in much better shape than I would've believed possible! I have regained nearly all my mobility, except for reaching behind my lower back.
When I mentioned last time the puzzles I like to do, I forgot to include a newish one. It's called Guess My Word, and it couldn't be any simpler: You try to figure out the word of the day by guessing other words and learning whether they are alphabetically before or after the hidden word. Every day there's a normal word and a hard word to guess.
The books we've been discussing in my book group have been hit or miss. We all really liked Flight Portfolio by Judith Orringer. (I knew that name was familiar, so I looked back and found that we had already done The Invisible Bridge—I'm not surprised that I couldn't remember it at all when I read my review!) My only regret about Flight Portfolio was that I wish I'd known ahead of time that it was based on a real person! I was sure it was fiction until I read the Acknowledgments in the back. Here's the Amazon description:
In 1940, Varian Fry traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to help escape within a few weeks. Instead, he stayed more than a year, working to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and arrange journeys across Spain and Portugal, where the refugees would embark for safer ports. His many clients included Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall, and the race against time to save them is a tale of forbidden love, high-stakes adventure, and unimaginable courage.
I highly recommend this book, and there's plenty to discuss.
Before that we read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which seemed to get rave reviews all over the place except in our group! The only thing we all liked was the author's nature writing—which makes sense, since she is a nature writer and had never tried her hand at fiction before. We all found the plot eye-rollingly contrived and nonsensical, and the characters two-dimensional and unbelievable. It was a huge disappointment.
Next up is The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I've loved every one of Patchett's books, so I have high hopes for this one.
Andy and I have seen approximately zero movies this year, but we did get out to Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles, a documentary about the making of "Fiddler on the Roof," and its long legacy. (If you go to that link, the violinist shown is Sheldon Harnick, the show's lyricist.) It was FANTASTIC. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who has ever seen any production of the show, or the movie. (And yes, it includes a clip from Lin Manuel Miranda's wonderful wedding video, which I hope you've all seen already!) We loved it so much we were tempted to just stay in our seats for the next showing.
Oh, and we got to ride on the USS Constitution during one of her harbor turnaround cruises. It was a sparkling-gorgeous day, and we were treated to a 21-gun salute, plus a speech from a special guest, local legend Marvin Gilmore. There were also crew members visiting from the USS Sioux City, and they got to climb the riggings on Old Ironsides, which I have to believe was quite an honor and a treat. (Longtime verbatim readers might remember that years ago I got a private tour of the Constitution with famous cookbook folks!) Update 10/18/19: If I’d waited one more day I could’ve posted a link to this story about our day on the Constitution with Marvin Gilmore!
And ... we celebrated our 31st anniversary yesterday! Imagine that. Two days earlier, Andy had a Big Birthday (hint: starts with a 6 and ends with a 0), and two days before that Julie turned 18! This is our last season of school sports, so we have been going to every one of her volleyball games. She is co-captain this year and loving every minute of it, as are we.
I guessed I missed out on a summer update. Well, we had a full house, possibly for the last time, as Steph is in her first apartment! She's doing her grad. studies at BU and student teaching first-graders, which she LOVES. Pete is a junior up at Colby and is spending next semester in Copenhagen! I hope we'll get to visit.
Other than that, there's mostly been a lot of editing going on here. Hoo boy, a whole bunch of cookbooks I edited have October publication dates! Here are some to keep an eye out for:
True, the one in the bottom right isn't a cookbook—it's a delightful book about two sweet little Scottish boys who have all kinds of fabulous adventures with their (incredibly enthusiastic and tolerant) parents.
*If you remember this sappy song, you're at least as old as I am!