May’s Mutterings: Rants and Ramblings
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Disney Princess 10K & The Rise of the Resistance
What’s the best way to get rid of the winter doldrums? The answer is to travel to the happiest place on earth (aka Disneyworld), run a 10K during princess half-marathon weekend, and then luck into being able to ride the newest ride at Disneyworld, The Rise of the Resistance. This is the second year that…
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Book review: How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims
How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a wake-up call for all parents who are prone to worry, stress, and over-protect their children, which is to say, the majority of us. The author…
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New Year’s Eve 2019
We have marvelous friends (more like family) who, for some unfathomable reason, decided to host a New Year’s Eve dinner and invited us to help cook (the unfathomable part of it was letting us help cook). What that really meant, of course, is that they allowed us into their kitchen to create a gigantic mess.…
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Book review: Fire in the Blood by W.R. Gingell
Fire in the Blood by W.R. Gingell My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is the second of a trilogy (the first book being “Twelve Days a Faery.” Both books are standalone in the sense of despite the fact that there is an overarching narrative arc for the trilogy, the stories stand on their…
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Book review: Call Sign Chaos by Jim Mattis and Bing West
Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m not typically a fan of military books on leadership as I often find that the traits that make for strong and capable leaders in the military don’t always translate to the private sector. This book is an exception to…
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Book review: Twelve Days of Faery by W.R. Gingell
Twelve Days of Faery by W.R. Gingell My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is an original take on a traditional fairy tale plot where unfortunate accidents happen to a prince’s girlfriends/fiancees, and the king has offered a reward to whomever breaks the curse. I enjoyed the first person narrative of the king, who is…
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Book review: The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner
The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is the first in a historical mystery series. The protagonist is a veteran of the Napoleonic wars and has returned to England with no money, no prospects, and PTSD. This is no light-hearted and frothy mystery but, rather, a gritty…
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Halloween Week Festivities at Sidwell Friends School
Our son goes to a private high school in Washington, DC where the academics are excellent, the kids are (mostly) affluent, and the pressure can sometimes be intense. This is especially true during the last week of October when the seniors have Early Action college applications due (November 1 is the actual due date).Marcus (on…
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Book review: Blackfoot by W.R. Gingell
Blackfoot by W.R. Gingell My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second book of the Two Monarchies Sequence. (“Masque,” which I reviewed earlier, was the first book written but is the last book in the series.) “Blackfoot” starts essentially right where “Spindle” left off, although the actual story starts several years later. The…
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Disneyworld & an 18th Birthday
To be sure, we celebrate every trip to Disneyworld. And we certainly celebrate every birthday trip to the happiest place on earth. But this particular trip (the birthday boy’s 61st trip, to be exact) is best known as “the Galaxy’s Edge trip.” If you don’t belong to the Star Wars fandom, then that phrase has…
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