On Monday, we went to the Technosport annual team banquet. Wendy was posthumously given the team's award for coaching excellence, and we heard many testimonials to the extent of her contribution to the team; we also saw the presentation of the inaugural Wendy Buckner Award, for most improved athlete, to a friend and teammate Wendy cared about a great deal.
On Wednesday, the memorial celebration of Wendy's life was held at Pinecrest: it was a large and moving gathering of family and friends.
Meanwhile, Wendy's cat Onyx a.k.a. The Boarder is settling in at Iain and Deb's place.
I've been reading bits and pieces around the edges. I was still finishing Anna Karenina last week; I cannot say that I like it as much as I do War and Peace, I find the central trio of characters much less attractive and interesting than their counterparts in the earlier novel. My favorite parts were the horse race (shades of Dick Francis!) and the hunting scenes: but say what you like, these novels are extraordinarily immersive and transporting ... even suitable for reading on a plane!
Desperate situations call for desperate remedies: I went and spent a lot of dollars at Books & Books before we left Cayman. It is not good value for money or, really, suitable for travel, as I read this sort of book much too quickly, but I could not resist Robert Crais's The First Rule. Our route was Cayman-Tampa, Tampa-Philadelphia, Philadelphia-Ottawa, and basically I have to thank Crais for making the second leg of the trip pass in the blink of an eye; it was certainly the most relaxing couple hours I have had in the last week and a half.
(Oh, and I read Joshilyn Jackson's Backseat Saints the week before also - very good, very gripping.)
Then I took up another new purchase, Elizabeth George's This Body of Death; she is no longer a favorite of mine, but her books are lengthy and readable and thus suitable for travel. Fortunately I have no need to say anything else since Maxine has made all of the observations I would have wanted to note!
And then an appealing but to me ultimately unsatisfactory novel called A Madness of Angels: too much under the sign of Neverwhere/Harry Dresden, too much lovingness of description of a fashion that feels a bit self-satisfied rather than really furthering the purposes of the story. But it whiled away an hour or two.
I've had hardly any time to read since arriving in Ottawa, and no time or opportunity to exercise; without these two refuges, I do not do very well, so I am hoping to get back into some sort of exercise routine and reclaim a bit of evening reading time over the next few days. We will stay in Ottawa through the end of next weekend; I was scheduled to fly from Cayman to New York on Wednesday the 14th, but it may be that I'll instead fly from Ottawa to New York or Philadelphia, stay the week visiting family and friends and get myself back to Cayman on the 18th or 19th instead. I will wait to see how things unfold before booking anything.
(Picture courtesy of Afsaneh.)
That's a lot of books - hope you get some time to get out for a run or swim
ReplyDeleteJenny, with all of your reading I was wondering if you use a Kindle or some other electronic reader. I have been considering moving in that direction for some time now but have yet to pull the trigger. I have loved collecting books but now, as we are getting older, we are trying to move away from maintaining so much stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking of you so much the past few days - sometimes mindless travel reading is the best we can ask for in trying times. Glad you found some.
ReplyDeleteThinking of all of you-and so glad that Wendy will be thought of in this way annually.
ReplyDelete