May’s Mutterings: Rants and Ramblings
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Best Buddies Miami 2014
In case you hadn’t noticed, fall is a busy time for us. 🙂 We traveled down to Miami for the Best Buddies gala, which was held on November 21. Best Buddies is a non-profit organization that helps developmentally disabled folks by providing them with friendships, jobs, and leadership training. We flew down on Friday morning.…
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YMCA – Fairfax County 2014 Gala
We attended the Fairfax County Y gala on Saturday, November 15. The theme of the gala was “Unmask Your Potential” and Mardi Gras-themed masks were the order of the day. (To the woman who wore the two feet high peacock blue feathered mask, one word: Don’t.) The gala raises money for underprivileged kids to attend…
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Book review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn
Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 4 of 5 stars I discovered this series a few years ago, upon the recommendation of the lovely folks at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop (located in Seattle, of course). The series takes place in England (mostly) in the 1800s. Lady Julia Grey comes from a family…
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Halloween 2014
Our 13 year old suffered childhood trauma (his words) upon being told he was too old to go trick-or-treating this year. And our Chinese was insufficient to explain the quintessentially American way of celebrating Halloween to our exchange student. (I’m not sure our English would have been sufficient, either—it is surprisingly difficult to give a…
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Book review: Finder by Greg Rucka
Finder by Greg Rucka My rating: 4 of 5 stars It always (pleasantly) surprises me when I find an author in the thriller genre who develops three dimensional and flawed characters. Greg Rucka is one of those unicorns. The main character in this series, Atticus Kodiak, is an ex-Army professional bodyguard. He suffers a tragic…
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Book review: A Morbid Taste of Bones by Ellis Peters
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have a dim memory of reading this book many years ago and not liking it (I’m not quite sure why). I picked this up (again?) a couple of weeks ago and found myself enjoying it very much. Brother Cadfael is…
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Best Buddies DC 2014
The annual Best Buddies bike ride/run/walk in DC was held on Saturday, October 18. Best Buddies is a non-profit that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, both socially (hence its name) and professionally, by encouraging companies to hire people with disabilities and by providing leadership development. The annual event is made up of a…
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Book review: Keeper by Greg Rucka
Keeper by Greg Rucka My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am reading the work of Greg Rucka backwards, having started with his Queen and Country series, “Alpha” (the first book in his new Jad Bell series) and now back to his initial series with Atticus Kodiak in “Keeper.” As I’ve mentioned in a previous…
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Disneyworld…the ultimate Americana experience
We now have a third child (a temporary one, before you all get too excited about the news). Yinan is an exchange student from Beijing going to our kids’ school, and she is staying with us for the school year. She is a lovely person, and my only concern about her is how she could…
Got any book recommendations?