Snow in Tucson and the monthly book round-up
The big news this week: it snowed in Tucson! A whole half an inch! Yeah, I know, all you East Coasters and Midwesterners and Canadians are rolling your eyes like Linda Blair rolling her head, but we don’t get much cold white stuff down here in Satan’s Anus. Let me have my moment, will ya?
But before we get to my moment: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer, and the What’s On Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Deb. Grab a mug of cocoa, curl up under a cozy blanket, and let’s enjoy winter in Tucson!
OK, back to the snow. By the time I got up and got outside with a camera, there was no snow on the saguaros (If it isn’t already, “Snow on the Saguaros” should be the title of a poem), but here are 2 of the golden barrel cactuses in my front yard:
I think the snow makes them look like weird, bulging eyeballs, but I write horror stories, so…
More snow stuck in the backyard than the front:
An actual winter garden scene! In Tucson! OMG!
Not quite like the garden I had in Flagstaff before we moved down here, but I’ll take it.
See that lone pink rose near the top left of the photo? Here it is in closeup:
This picture was taken a couple of days ago. I just looked out my back window, and this flower is still, well, flowering. Nothing seems to stop my Camille Pissarro rose. You go, Camille!
A few days before the snow, I made some time to get out in the garden for the first time in awhile. I pruned the roses and fruit trees, cleaned up winter debris, planted a new orange tree snagged from the 50% off rack at Lowe’s, and planted some flower seeds that might actually produce flowers if I remember to water them. It felt amazing to get back to playing in the dirt.
Before we leave the topic of snow, I want to assure you, my tens of loyal readers, that neither Long-Suffering Husband nor I have grown up. Even with only a half inch of snow, we managed to pelt each other with several snowballs–including in the parking lot in front of our dentist’s office. Yes, two middle-aged “adults” had a snowball fight in a parking lot with half an inch of snow scraped off the trunk of our car.
Life goals, people. Life goals.
Books, baby!
It’s time for the monthly book post. Y’all are probably tired of hearing this, but I’ve been *slammed* at work for, like, months. I had a little respite around the holidays, but now… well, let’s just say I won’t have a lot of time to read for pleasure in the next couple of months. All this blather is to explain why I read only 4 books since my last book post–and 2 of them were for work. Oh, well–4 is better than 0. Here we go:
Fired big-city journalist returns to her home town and ends up chasing a murderer. Standard domestic thriller fare, well-paced and well-executed–and with a great twist ending.
Trapper Road is part of the wonderful Stillhouse Lake series from the late Rachel Caine. Apparently this book was in progress when Rachel passed and was finished by Carrie Ryan, who plans to continue the series. I read the first Stillhouse Lake book at my mom’s bedside while she was dying. It helped distract me from my pain, so these books will always hold a special place in my life. If you like a fast-paced thriller, give ’em a read.
Right before Winter Break, a colleague asked me to moderate a panel at the upcoming Tucson Festival of Books. Sure, I said. Have I ever moderated a panel before? No. Has not having done something ever stopped me from doing it? Also no. Which is why I’ll be interviewing the author of Breathless in about 2 weeks–in front of a live audience. Good thing I loved the book, right? It’s another thriller, but a real-life one as scientists around the world identify and sequence COVID-19 and create a vaccine. This isn’t a quick, fluffy read–lots of virology and genomics in here–but Quammen does an impressive job of making complicated concepts understandable without dumbing them down. And the man can tell a story!
I’m sure you’ll be absolutely shocked to learn that librarians like to form book clubs. I participate (occasionally) in 2, including one sponsored by the Network of the National Library of Medicine, for which I read Bad Advice. Offit has spent much of his public career taking down pseudoscience and antivaxxers. The man has some stories, and he tells quite a few in this book. He’s funny, he’s passionate–and he’s right. I whipped through this book in a few days, and as soon as I have some free time (so, like, next December) I’m going to read more of Offit’s work.
A few good memes
Before I get back to work, I’ll leave you with a few laughs.
That’s my electric bill in the summer when it’s 108F outside and the air conditioning is running 24 hours a day. In winter I get a break (except when it snows).
Or in my case, there was a land I lived in when cell phones became affordable enough that I could actually get one.
Once again my life has been encapsulated in a meme.
My father, being the creative storyteller he was, always added, “the north wind,” to his walking-to-school stories. Apparently he was always walking north–his version of, “uphill, both ways.”
When I die, someone do this. Please, I’m begging you.
I’m going to apologize for this next one up front:
And in case you thought the jokes couldn’t get any worse:
I’ll show myself out.
Read any good books lately? How’s the weather?
38 Comments
Writing Sparkle
We had snow this week in Northern Alberta, but we are also still living with a completely snow-covered ground. The snow on the cactuses looks out of place, but it makes a fun picture. Have a great weekend, Janet.
Janet Alcorn
Hope you have a great weekend too!
Laura Z
Love the memes! I appreciate your blog for many reasons, first and foremost that it is the one place I can go that combines literary discussion, memes/bad Dad jokes, and gardening/weather observations. Glad you and Long-Suffering Husband enjoyed your snowball fight!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks so much! My blog is kind of like the conversations in my house–but with a lot less swearing.
Kelly Wellington
Sorry, but Offit is on my shitlist. He is one incredibly arrogant asshole who has pointedly ignored the evidences unveiled by the likes of the Cochrane Collaboration. I’ll stick with Dr.Tom Jefferson and his critique of the entire medical research profession as it relates to ‘flu vaccines’. Offit is a KOL writ large and a tool of the pharmaceutical industry.
Elizabeth Seckman
We’ve not had much snow, which is both peculiar and a huge blessing because if it had been a hard winter, I’d have been looking at Snoop Dog gas bills.
Kelly Wellington
Personally, my bills are more likely to give me the Willies when they’re as high as Willy Nelson.
Janet Alcorn
And now I’m wondering who’s higher–Snoop or Willie?
Kelly Wellington
Instead of Offit, I suggest “White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine” (2010, Beacon Press, Boston) by cardiologist and medical ethicist Carl Elliot.
Sue from Women Living Well After 50
Hi Janet, the cactus does look a little strange with snow on it as you ususally associate them with the dry climate. Thanks for the book recommendations. I’ve not read any of them so more books for me to check out. So many books to enjoy! Thanks for joining us for #WOYBS and I look forward to you joining us next month with your reviews. x
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I love WOYBS b/c I always find something new to read that I probably wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
Jo
Snow on the Saguaros would make a fantastic title…and Bad Advice sounds like a good title to read. As for the weather? Well, it’s February…which means humidity…ugh. Thanks for linking up.
Janet Alcorn
Humidity–yuck. Thanks for the reminder to stop whining about how dry it is here right now.
Lydia C. Lee
That Bad Advice sounds good. I live next door to a COVID dr and he was tearing his hair out at some of the stuff that went on – including the medical staff being super cautious and then all taking their masks off to have lunch together and taking out half the staff (they probably would have got it anyway but…)
Janet Alcorn
Yeah, I could see where he’d be frustrated. I’m surprised medical staff would take chances like that, at least early in the pandemic. Now people are a lot more casual about it (rightly or wrongly).
Joanne
Snow on the cacti?! That’s amazing. We’ve actually had pretty warm weather this week… but our electric bill is still sky high after our provider instituted a huge rate hike at the beginning of the year.
Janet Alcorn
Boo for rate hikes! Ours is always high, but in winter it’s just college-student-on-a-Friday-night high. Come summer, it’ll be Snoop-Dogg-and-Willie-Nelson-locked-in-a-dispensary high.
Barbara
My mother walked miles (barefoot) to catch a bus like the one Perry Mason is riding in the photo at the link below
https://i0.wp.com/artofvfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PerryMason_Pixomondo_ITW_01B.jpg?ssl=1
Janet Alcorn
LOL. She gets bonus points for, “barefoot.” Come to think of it, I think my dad added that detail a time or two. It’s a miracle he had all his toes, what with walking barefoot in the snow every day.
trent
OK, I’ll admit that I chortled a little at the non binary gold prospector… Did you know that Ursula Le Guin said one of her biggest regrets in writing was not using them/their (I think she said “they”, but…)?
So while you were off having snow, your 60 degree weather came here for a visit. Nice. Unfortunately I think it is going back home and we’ll be back to Frozen again tomorrow.
Hope you have a great weekend!
trent
My Ursula Le Guin se,i-quote was talking about her book The Left Hand of Darkness, and if you have read the book, you understand her regret…
Janet Alcorn
I really need to read The Left Hand of Darkness.
Janet Alcorn
Glad you got a bit of warmth! We’re supposed to have a lovely weekend (76 and sunny tomorrow), so I’m going to try to spend some time outside.
I never knew that about Le Guin. Interesting!
Natalie
Janet, You had more snow than us here 🙂 It’s sunny this weekend and daytime highs 39F to 43F. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
Janet Alcorn
Now that’s just wrong 🙂 Enjoy the sunny weekend!
Yinglan
I think I would’ve felt the way if I lived in a climate that doesn’t really snow. In fact, I used to feel the exact way as I have lived in a snowless climate all my life until I moved to northern Utah. After so many years of seeing snow, I’m over it.
Janet Alcorn
I was over it after about 2 years in Flagstaff. It’s beautiful, and it was great on those rare occasions when my campus would close, and I’d get an unscheduled day off, but shoveling it and driving in it were a huge pain.
Yinglan
I agree and I happen to watch quite a bit of videos on gardening. Seeing those southern gardens make me green with envy.
Debbie
No snow down here at the moment Janet, but how cute are the cacti with the snow pellets?? I laughed at your memes and enjoyed your book reviews, thanks for joining us for #WOYBS. We always get great recommendations to add to our lists 🙂
Janet Alcorn
Definitely right about the recommendations. Every month I find new titles to add to my (several lifetimes long) TBR list.
Gary A Wilson
Ugh – I must need more coffee.
It took me 3 reads to “get” the dad/papa/popo/groaner-king joke.
But “snow on the saguaros” . . . I’d love to have seen that.
And I think it makes a better story title to be classed as part of the alliteration-collection.
Fun stuff Janet!
Janet Alcorn
LOL–thanks. I’ve seen pictures of snow on saguaros, but I’ve never seen it in real life. Snow in the desert is fascinating.
Retirement Reflections
Hi, Janet – Thank you for being a regular at What’s On Your Bookshelf. I always look forward to your posts and reviews. As a Canadian, I promise that I didn’t roll my eyes at your wee bit of snow (okay, perhaps they rolled just a little). Wishing you warmer days, and much leisure reading, ahead!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! And let those eyes roll. I used to live in Flagstaff, AZ, where snow is measured in feet. I rolled my eyes whenever my southern Arizona friends posted pictures of their “snow.”
Suzanne@PictureRetirement
No snow in Florida, but I will definitely attempt a snowball fight if it ever happens. The ‘love language’ meme fits my husband perfectly. He leaves at least a dozen per week in my inbox. Not all are memes, and sometimes it’s just a beautiful photograph that he knows I will enjoy. BTW, his nickname is KAT.
Janet Alcorn
Aww, your husband sounds like a great guy! In Florida you might have to settle for a water fight, which, if you think about it, is kind of the same as a snowball fight. Just warmer.
leannelc
Great memes as usual Janet and I enjoyed your little snow pics – it must have been fun to look out the window and see snow considering how hot and dry it is at your place for most of the year.
Janet Alcorn
Yep! The snow was the hot conversation topic at work too–did you get any? How much? Etc.