Well, just like last year, we're a few days into January, Dave and I are up at Sauble Beach for the week, and I'm pretending like I had this all written and ready to go for New Year's Eve. And again: this has a been another year feeling disconnected from meaning in my life, and I've read even fewer books, made fewer posts on here, and wonder if a blog is still satisfying any need in me (but again: if I didn't have this, I'd have little proof of life, and I do like having a place to post that picture of my boys walking along a deserted offseason shoreline...still worth it for now.) The year that was:
 |
| I did love this dress |
And the other BIG event was our first major post-Covid trip and we went to Egypt; such a dream come true.
We got to see Kennedy in a play in February - the first time in the longest time, and it was a delight; she was the best part of a mediocre production, and I hope she keeps performing.
We saw other live theatre this year: King Lear at the Stratford Festival was well done (pretty much the Paul Gross show, but he's watchable), but Much Ado About Nothing was the most fun I've ever had at Stratford: they landed every joke and innuendo and involved the audience like we were groundlings; I'd like to see more of that, please. Also at Stratford, Kennedy and I went to see a panel discussion between three popular female authors on Gothic Literature (the source of my Halloween post this year), and in July, Rudy and I went to see Kinky Boots together (what a lame storyline, but the music was kinda fun?):
As in previous years, Dave and I attended a grocery industry fundraising gala in February - and although we usually have enjoyed the live concert (we've seen everyone from Michael Buble to Maroon 5), this year was Jason Derulo; an undeniably huge star, but we didn't know any of his songs; I think we've turned the corner and are no longer the target audience, lol. We spent time at the Lakehouse throughout the year (Family Day weekend and the week leading into Labour Day with the family), and Kennedy used it with her friends over Halloween and over the Victoria Day weekend - when they had a bachelorette party, complete with a trip into Owen Sound to see a knock off Thunder from Down Under Australian male strip group (and why does it seem that when men go to a strip club, women are being exploited, and when women go to a show - where the dancers brought women up on stage, placed their heads strategically in front of their lowered shorts, and grinded and thumped their uncovered junk into the back of the women's heads - why does that also feel like the women are the ones exploited?) In addition to the bachelorette party, Kennedy asked for a formal tea in the leadup to the wedding, and Mallory hosted one for her in her condo party room - a huge success with finger sandwiches, games, and prizes, and lots of laughs.
Now, my mother - who has not been well for a while, and hadn't been to a doctor in many years - was hospitalised in June; after identifying an internal bleed and transfusing her with many, many litres of blood, Mum was able to go back home with Dad and things seem more settled. Naturally, I decided to go down and visit them with the girls in August, and although it had been a couple of years since we had been there (I'm still annoyed that my dad blew off Kennedy's small wedding), we had a nice time seeing them, and of course I'm glad we went.
While we were away, and because Kennedy seemed to be getting a lot more attention than Zach was in the runup to their big event, I suggested to Dave that he organise some kind of manly night out for him. It might be a coincidence that I had just seen The Barbie Movie with my girls (and Aunt Rudy), but I suggested they go to the horse races (because isn't that manly?) and Zach's dad and buddies, and my brothers and brother-in-law and nephew, and a couple of Dave's buddies were all happy to attend, and they had a really good time; money was won and lost and Zach got to be the center of attention for a while.
I think that's it for trips and shows and big events in 2023 (honestly, the wedding, the trip to Egypt, and my mother being hospitalised took up most of my emotional energy this year; probably why I didn't read as much), and I continued to go to Boot Camp six days a week (not as much fun or social as before; I'm less active outside the gym, too), and I'm still working at the book store (but with a demoralising cyber attack this year, the company trying to recoup profits by cutting hours [and therefore, customer service] to the bone, and a new general manager who I think is an idiot, it's not much fun anymore, either).
I do want to say: I wish my kids were happier. Mallory is finding it hard to carry her condo by herself, and despite having two cats, she's feeling lonely and isolated. She asked me how long it would make financial sense to live there before selling and maybe buying a house for her and some friends (who are all facing housing insecurity) to live in together. This isn't a great market (low inventory, high interest rates), but I did tell her we would look into it. And Kennedy has been so unhappy in her work that she quit before Christmas and just started a new role this week: not something she's interested in, but it was the first job offer she got, and she took it. Even Zach isn't happy or satisfied in his work, and it's just hard to see. I will say that I noodled around on the real estate site and saw a beautiful flower and gift shop for sale in the charming small town of St Jacob's, and I was 100% serious when I told Kennedy that I would buy it, send her to floral arranging school, and work the shopfront with her: at least it would be creative, she (and I) would no longer work for idiots, and she did like doing her own flowers for both of her weddings...but I guess she needs something more stable than that. Bonus: just a block away from the flower shop is a three residence property - a three bedroom house for Kennedy and Zach with a two bedroom inlaw suite (something we've been talking about for our retirement, with summers at the Lakehouse), and detached from that, another three bedroom house for Mallory and her friends. Mal could always work in the shop too...but I acknowledge that's all just dreaming on my part of refilling the empty nest (on the bright side: Mallory will be promoted to manager at her vegan grocrey store next month, so hopefully money will get a little easier for her then.)
On to the books: and as a sidenote: this was the first year since joining goodreads in 2013 that I nearly didn't make my reading goal of 100 books (some years I read 150, even 160) but I have to admit to padding my numbers in December of '23; reading a couple of short memoirs, a lecture, a book of poetry, and on December 31st itself, I read and reviewed a graphic novel just to tick that goal to completed. I hope to be more engaged with my reading in 2024.
Top Ten Fiction
This won the Giller Prize, and I'd have given it the Booker, too. My top read of the year.
Timely and riveting.
Love an Irish storyteller and an unreliable narrator.
Timely and terrifying.
I love a book that makes me think and do research off the page.
Riveting and heart-pounding, based on true Canadian history: yes please.
A love letter to Toronto and the mythology of its Carribean population.
Another book that I didn't understand until I did after-reading research; and then loved it.
I adored this alternate take on the events in Huckleberry Finn.
A perfect "state-of-the-nation", even if it's not my nation.
Top Ten (or so) Nonfiction
Shocking recent history of the Philippines.
Swashbuckling history that makes us question why we allow old ways to endure.
Gorgeous narrative nonfiction.
A fascinating wakeup call for the field of Neuroscience.
Perfect marriage of thought and format; incredible life story.
The only read I found worthwhile from the "Hard 75 Challenge" (in which I had to read from a self help book, among other challenges, every day for 75 days). Wonderful.
The following each look at early human history in a different, enlightening, way:
And perhaps not surprisingly to me, there seem to be answers to the problems of modern life in Indigenous wisdom, as found in my first and second to last reads of the year:
As for novels written in previous years, I didn't read many classics this year (other than Death on the Nile and Death Comes as the End while in Egypt), but I did discover that Virginia Woolf's Orlando was much more entertaining and accessible than I had feared. And although this was technically a new release, So Late in the Day is a collection of Claire Keegan's previously released short stories, so I'll put it here as an honourable mention for 2023.
I end the year grateful, once again, that friends and family gathered at our house for Christmas Eve:
And this year I need to note that my brother Ken, behind me on the stairs, has been given a terminal cancer diagnosis; a ten percent chance of living another three years; he likely has less than one more year. That makes Dave and me hesitant to book another big trip in 2024 (despite Ken's encouragement to live life while we're alive), but at Ken's instigation, a bunch of us will be going out to the Rockies together in February. This diagnosis is surreal to me - and especially when our parents, who do not seem to embrace life at all, are still ticking along in their miseries - and I wish I could say that it has made me more grateful for this life, but it's all too unreal to face. I need to focus in 2024, find ways to be there for my brother and his family, and really work on finding more joy and meaning.
 |
| There's those boys I love again |
