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Showing posts from December, 2020

Daytrip Sandy Hook, NJ

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Today we snuck down to Gateway National Park at Sandy Hook. We saw the Lighthouse , took a driving tour of Fort Hancock , and saw the sunset from the beach. It was lovely.  But 15 minutes into town when I stopped for gas and realized I forgot the stroller at the beach. PANIC. Luckily it was still there when we went back, heh. ‐---- Originally, I'd planned to only go 30 minutes to Cheesequake, but the boys were asleep when we arrived. I checked the map to look for coffee (ok, Dairy Queens) and saw we were close to  Gateway National Recreation Area  on Sandy Hook! But, it was a 30 minute drive... Not finding any DQs, I went for it.  The island is a 10-kilometer-long spit in the Atlantic. It's almost perfectly North-South-oriented so the sun would come up perfectly over the ocean (#bucketlist). As it was near sunset, it flashed off Raritan Bay and made the ocean clouds start to turn the color of orange sherbet. It was so windy, and very cold (30⁰F), but still there we

2020 Top Ten Books

I reread the Dresden Files this past year, gearing up for the double release of 1. Peace Talks & 2. Battle Ground by Jim Butcher. The really are one book, cut down the center for length. There's about one minute of time passing between the two books. I thoroughly enjoyed them both, though I had to stop and reread the first half of Battle Ground, it moved that fast. 3. Driftwood by Marie Brennan. I love her for her Lady Trent books but I haven't read any of her high fantasy. Her world building was great, and I loved the method of story telling in this book. 4. The Widow by Fiona Barton. Murder mystery told in boomerang time over five characters. I couldn't put it down. 5. American Demon - Kim Harrison. This is the book I never thought there would be; I thought she was done writing this series and I am do glad she gave in. Even after everything the story and characters felt fresh. 6. Honor Girl - Maggie Thrash. Graphic memoir of a lesbian coming out at a con