Sunday Bookends: Cabin Fever, Lord of the Flies, and hooked on Doc Martin

/ Lisa R. Howeler

This is my weekly post where I share what I am reading, watching, writing and occasionally what I am listening to.

Ice on our steep driveway kept the kids and I in the house all week until I braved backing the van down it on Friday to alleviate Little Miss’s severe cabin fever (and mine actually). Backing out wasn’t the issue in the end; getting back up was.

We didn’t go far, just down the street to a local restaurant that is also a store that offers a variety of gifts, including toys and board games. After our lunch I headed up the driveway with complete confidence that van was going up and into our garage. I’m a country girl, even if I did live in town for 18 years, and my parents have a very steep drive, I know how to pull a van up a steep incline. Unfortunately, ice and snow on part of the driveway sent the wheels spinning in place and it took parking the van at the bottom, spreading stone on the ice and breaking some of it up for me to finally pull the van in. I also had to pull it further over to avoid hitting snow along the edge.

Aren’t you so glad I explained that boring story to you?

Well, that’s just how our week was, fairly boring, even as we started school again.

What I’m Reading

This week I will be reading Maggie by Charles Martin, Lord of the Flies with The Boy for school, and hopefully starting And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie because my husband wants to watch a mini-series of it on Acorn this week.

I haven’t read Lord of the Flies since tenth or eleventh grade so I don’t remember a lot of it. I do, however, remember it’s not the happiest book. Somehow reading a book about a group of young boys who go all crazy on an island while trying to figure out how to live without adults seem to fit in with the news of this week. I think a lot of us have realized we are out here in this country being told what to do by a bunch of children arguing over who gets to hold the conch shell.

Little Miss and I were totally thrilled this week when we discovered we have not read all of the Paddington books yet. She didn’t want to go to bed one night until I told her I had downloaded a new one into the Kindle that we could read before bedtime. She didn’t make it very far into the book before she fell asleep so we will read some more each night this week. The only nights we don’t read is when we get to bed too late. On those nights we listen to Frank Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours, which we have listened to since she was probably a few months old.

What I’m Watching

The husband and I are watching Doc Martin in the evenings and The Boy has discovered even he likes it. He now scolds us if we watch it without him. We aren’t used to him liking the shows we watch and for a long stretch he spent his evenings upstairs in his room, online with his friends (most of which he met online through a couple of “in real life” friends), watching memes, or, occasionally, reading a book.

I swear I spend most of my time watching Doc Martin yelling at him to stop being such an odd duck and get some therapy for his Aspergers. I hope that comment isn’t read as a negative comment toward people on the spectrum, but just to say Doc has issues and he could use some guidance to help him communicate with people.

I think my family is tired of me saying things like, “well, just tell her you didn’t stand her up, you had to meet a patient! How hard is that?!” Or “just tell her ‘thank you,’ Martin!! Argh!” I know all Martin’s rudeness and anti-social behavior is part of who he is but it’s fun to tell him off once in a while. I know I yell at him because I love him. (Don’t tell me he’s not a real person. I know he is! Right here — in my mind!)

I’m also trying to finish Beecham House before our subscription to PBS Masterpiece runs out at the end of the month. We switched Masterpiece for Acorn TV, which has a lot more British shows we like. We also have Britbox.

Yes, we like a lot of British television. It is all that British blood in us, I suppose. I have a lot of British ancestry in my family’s background (some Scottish) and my husband’s family was both British and German. Interesting tidbit about my husband’s family is that he is somehow related to Eric Idle from Monty Python fame but so far we haven’t been able to figure out how. The connection is family lore, I guess you would say. My husband’s grandmother was an Idle, but he never met her or his grandfather.

What I’m Writing

I’m currently editing The Farmer’s Daughter and writing some on The Farmer’s Son and also adding sections to other books in the series as they come to me. I really, really, really can’t wait to write The Librarian. I have so many ideas for Ginny and she’s been tapping me on the shoulder all week, asking me when I’ll tell her story. I told her to shush, I still have to finish this part of Molly’s story, wrap up Jason’s drama, and then I’ll get to her.

So that’s me this week. How about you? What are you reading, watching or writing and what have you been up to? Let me know in the comments.

17 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: Cabin Fever, Lord of the Flies, and hooked on Doc Martin”

  1. Doc Martin sounds like a show I need to watch! I’ve been looking for another show to get into. I’ve been watching 1000 lb Sisters and for some reason I just can’t not watch those girls!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. It’a Tuesday, so that should say something, right? I love your humor. I was given a series of books from a friend and dove right in and am loving them. However, I bought myself a book and am obsessed. It is called, “The Rye Baker: Classic Breads from Europe and America,” by Stanley Ginsberg. I have just started soaking, dehydrating, and grinding my own flour from amazing organic grains. I tried this dense, stinky, dark, Russian Rye and my husband, German/Russian that he is, could only eat the outer slices. Too pungent for him. So I got this book and it is far more than a baking book. It is history and geography and recipes from around Europe and America. It is the perfect hiding place for my brain in these crazy days. I get to dive into something I am unfamiliar with, and then do something with it. Since I just cannot get the hang of needle arts and am generally un-crafty, baking is perfect because it really is science. I am loving it. My next project is Boston Brown Bread to eat with my Boston Baked Beans. Sounds yummy for the arctic winters here in Alaska! Keep writing. It is a lot of fun to read!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    • The bread making sounds like so much fun! I have never been a fan of rye, but if it was homemade I would try it. The idea of the history and culture mixed in with the cooking really intrigues me. I enjoy baking and cooking but I just don’t take the time to do it. I think it would be a nice distraction during all the craziness of the world right now. I write and journal, but I think something that completely takes my mind deep into something so basic would help focus my attention on the things that really matter in life more. Thank you so much for sharing about the book and that Boston Brown Bread with Boston Baked Beans??? That sounds sooooooo good right now. Stay warm up there!

      Liked by 1 person

    • We are just getting into it but I found out one thing that happened in the series and I’m already emotionally bracing myself. I don’t know if I will recover from it when we get there and I want to warn my family, but I don’t want them to stress out and not want to watch the rest of it. We just launched into the third season last night. It’s so funny to see our 14-year old son binge watching it with us. He talks to the characters with us. Cracks me up.

      Like

  5. I forgot to mention what I’m watching. My 13yo daughter got me to rewatch EVERY season of American Horror Story because she’s finally old enough to view the content (I still covered her eyes at certain parts)We finally finished AHS:1984 and I’m looking for something new to watch

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Happy New Year! I’ve already finished my first book of the year and I was disappointed. However, I’m participating in a reading challenge and I’m looking forward to one of my picks for it, Followers by Megan Angelo. Happy reading!

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.