An admirer and a talking scooter

Today, or rather yesterday, my son, who is five and a half, got a little admirer. Unfortunately for her he only likes older girls and always has, so he didn’t even notice this little one who was maybe eighteen months or two years old. She must have said something to her dad, because they kept walking back and forth in that parking lot, so she could look at my son.

He was in a rambunctious playful mood and kept biting me. The dad smiled at that. He probably thought it was cute, not realizing how much it actually hurt.

I also heard an electric scooter cheerfully say: ”please don’t forget to wash your hands”. It felt surreal and absurd. The two teenage girls who had just left it were too far away to hear it and I certainly won’t forget to wash mine after being outside.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Wow. This was even better than I expected. It probably even helped me a little in my life. Difficulties can also mean opportunities. I’ll try to remember that in the future.

Nora ends up in the midnight library, a place in between life and death. She gets the chance to try out versions of her life where/when she can change what she’s regretted.

Bad luck

My sister and I have been trying to order clothes from an online clothing company. Four times. We haven’t even received one of the packages. Two have been returned against our wishes. One by mistake and one because we were away and didn’t realize packages are now returned after only one week. The other two haven’t arrived yet.

I was so looking forward to the new stuff. Most of of it is for the children.

4 for 3

New books

Dance or not

On Facebook I’m following a page for a family of seven children, five of them are quints.

They are about three years old, like my nieces. Two of the girls look a bit like my bigger niece. That’s one reason I started following the page.

The quints have started kindergarten and the three girls take ballet classes. This started a discussion in the comments below.

Why didn’t they enrol the two boys in ballet too? I can think of many reasons, but ultimately it’s up to the parents to decide. I almost commented too, but decided not to, because I don’t want to hijack their vlog post.

This is my blog so I thought I’d post my thoughts here. Or rather I will tell you about my brother.

We have lost touch again (he’s terminally ill and we’re not sure if that’s a reason he has distanced himself from us). Anyway, when he was a child he took ballet classes. We once overheard a hilarious conversation between D and a boy his age.

It went something like this:

Boy: So do you play football?

D: No, I take ballet. I’m the only boy. Imagine that!

Apparently, apart from enjoying ballet (and basketball and Taekwondo) our macho brother liked meeting the pretty girls in ballet classes.

My sister and I both had a chance to try ballet and figure skating, but sadly we were no good. Our talents lie more in arts and creative writing. All kids are different.

Some Amazon freebies

Lately, I have also found some new paranormal mysteries, my newish favorite genre. Reviews soon, hopefully.

Books in Swedish

Lately, I’ve read several new books, but mostly in Swedish, so I posted about them on my Swedish blog. I’m looking forward to getting more books in English and German. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to take a break from French books until I find something new that catches my interest.

Some Swedish books

More books in Swedish

And another

I also got the last three titles in the Bridgerton series. Unfortunately, I must say that Romances aren’t really my thing, not even historic ones. I did enjoy the one about Colin and Penelope and the one about Hyacinth though.

Bones of the Earth by Eliot Pattison

I think I have reviewed earlier books in this series, but that would have been on Booklikes, which by the way I can access again, for what it’s worth.

Tibet mystery

Earlier books almost made me cry. Maybe I have grown used to the heartbreak Tibetans are experiencing or the author has decided to leave Shan in a better place. Because it’s been hinted that this is the last book in the series.

Shan is in a better place in life, finally. The case deals with a huge dam project and a weather sorceror. Ostensibly, he can make it hail (hails as big as fists), killing people, and cause an earthquake.

If this is the last book in the series it’s a good ending.

All books deal with Tibetan religion and culture. It’s fascinating, but it’s almost like fantasy to me.

Shan is a tortured former police inspector from Beijing, sent to a forced labour camp in Tibet for political reasons.

I was once introduced to Tibet, like many Western kids, by Tintin in Tibet, by Hergé.

I was given that album on my fourth birthday and was fascinated. That album was read to shreds, but I still held on to it. Once, much later, on my birthday, again, a friend surprised me with a new copy.

Le prince de Cochinchine by Jean François Parot

It feels a little sad to be reading the last in this series. (The author passed away in 2018.) That means I probably won’t be reading anything else in French until I find something new that I like. So far there’s been lots of action. All these books have been good but this one seems to be one of the best.

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

This was a really good mystery. I liked the characters (Matthew and Jen) and the whole story. Some of the characters were women with learning disabilities. As it happens my mother was a special education teacher so I’m quite used to people, mainly kids, with learning disabilities.

The actual book was a pleasant surprise. It’s a hardcover but the price was very reasonable and the cover art is beautiful.

There are maps of the area (in Devon, England) at the beginning and end of the book. Very pretty.

As most mystery readers probably know, Ann Cleeves is behind the successful tv series Vera and Shetland.

I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series.

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