Reading list for Winter 2008

It is tough to be realistic about how much I will read in the next three months, especially when there are so many books I want to read! But after much agonizing, I have come up with the following list:

Rebels of Ireland--Alert readers will recognize this from the Fall list. I was about halfway through it when I got derailed by Stephenie Meyer's vampire books. And then company. And then Christmas. Time to dust it off (literally) and finish it.

How the Irish Saved Civilization--Also from the Fall list. See excuses above.

The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Last Week in Jerusalem--This is by the same authors as The First Christmas, and I am looking forward to reading it during Lent. I also want to read the four Gospels between now and Easter.

The Golden Compass--EM really enjoyed the trilogy that starts with this book. And I'm always interested in a book that gets people up in arms.

Twelfth Night--It's been a while since I've read any Shakespeare, and this is one I have never read or seen. Reading it before Epiphany would be ideal, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Cocaine Blues--This is the first book in a series of mysteries I've been hearing a lot about lately. And every book list needs something lighter.

Michael took the older kids out skiing, LW is down for his nap, the guests are all out and about, so I think I'll settle in on the couch with a book right now.

The First Christmas

Subtitled "What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth," this book looks at the birth stories in Matthew and Luke in the context of first-century Christianity and as a prologue to the rest of that particular gospel.

There are many similarities in the birth stories of Jesus and the Roman emperor. Borg and Crossan (the authors of The First Christmas) argue that the similarities are used to illustrate the contrast between the Roman Peace (peace through victory) and the message of peace Jesus brings (peace through justice).

In terms of prologue, one of the main themes in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the new Moses. Matthew includes elements in his birth story that emphasize the similarities between Jesus and Moses. Likewise, Luke's gospel emphasizes women, the marginalized, and the Holy Spirit, and all three of these elements are prominent in Luke's birth story as well.

I enjoyed this book very much and anticipate reading it again during future Advent seasons.

Early morning phone call

I was awakened from a dream this morning by the phone. As I reached to answer it, Michael mumbled sleepily, "Just so you know, it's ten minutes to six."

The voice on the phone was unbelievably perky. "Yes, I wanted to book a room for tonight and tomorrow. We've stayed with you before."

We don't have any room for tonight, but we do have a room for tomorrow.

"Do you know of anyplace that has a room for tonight? Then we could stay with you tomorrow."

The office is closed right now (hint, hint), but I know as of last night there were no rooms left in the Valley for tonight.

"Well, could you put our name down for tomorrow night?"

The office is closed, but you can call back after 7:30 and I can take a reservation.

"Oh. OK."

She didn't call back, but her fiancé did. I took their reservation for tomorrow night.

Then he said, "Can you call us if you have a cancellation for tonight? Because otherwise we'll be scrambling around for a room when we get done skiing this afternoon."

I don't know of anyplace in the Valley that has a room for tonight.

"No place in the whole valley? Oh."

I'm pretty sure he didn't believe me.

The Joys of Innkeeping

Today was a great illustration of why I love, love, love having housekeeping help: because it frees me up to deal with all the other guest issues.

Last night, the new guests checking into room 14 told us the phone had no dial tone. I went to check. Sure enough, no dial tone. So I swapped out the phone, just in case we were in luck and it was an easy fix. No luck. They were gracious about it. I added "Call phone repairman" to my list for today.

The phone repairman diagnosed the problem relatively quickly: while rerouting the sewer lines last week to avoid the freezing sewer pipes issue (a real fun one, that), the plumber cut one of the phone lines. This, of course, is easy to do because the lines are just strung willy-nilly under the deck. Grr. The nice man fixes the phone line and I add "Fix phone lines to lodge" to my list of long-term projects.

While he is diagnosing the phone line issue, one of the housekeeper comes to tell Michael there's something wrong with the toilet in room 14. Michael takes a look, decides we need to fix the flow valve tower, hands me a bunch of parts and an instruction sheet, and heads off to the hardware store to get a piece we are missing, instructing me to follow the directions.

I'm pretty good at following directions, and these were actually written at my knowledge level (which is to say, very basic). It would have been a perfectly pleasant way to spend an afternoon, if not for my fear that the guests would check in early and if not for needing to still answer the phone. (I do understand that this week seems like a great time for people to plan their January and February ski vacations. But really, I'm just trying to survive this week.) Which brings me back to my original point--our first year here, we'd have been doing all this plus cleaning all the rooms.

It took us an hour and a half and another trip to the hardware store (turns out we had to replace the handle assembly as well) but the toilet now flushes and fills without running constantly.

Yea us.

Fifth time's the charm

This is our fifth Christmas at the inn--and for the first time, we slept through the night on Christmas Eve without any middle-of-the-night guest interruptions!

Just a recap for those of you who missed the previous Christmases:

• First Christmas--Guests can't figure out thermostat in their room on Christmas Eve and so, because they are too hot, shut off the gas to the heater. When they wake up cold at 4:00 in the morning and have trouble relighting the pilot light, they call us. It turns out they have discovered a problem with the heater. As long as the pilot light stayed on, all was well, but once turned off, it won't relight. We give them several space heaters, and try in vain to get a few more hours of sleep. The gas company is able to send out a repairman in the morning, at the lovely rate they charge for coming on a holiday. (We have since completely replaced that heater.)
• Second Christmas--Take a reservation on Christmas Eve from a travel agent for a group of three men already in route to the Valley. We only have one space that will work for them (they need three beds), and we make arrangements to leave the key out, as they will be arriving late. We are awakened at 2:00 in the morning by these men, talking loudly as they walk around outside, tromping up and down the stairs to their room. Michael goes out to ask them to keep it down. They are not happy with the room. It quickly becomes obvious that they are unfamiliar with the area and are looking for a more up-scale resort. They ask if we can call any of our friends in the area to get them another room. We explain that around here, most places don't answer their phones in the middle of the night. We point them in the direction of the nearest city and feel glad to be rid of them.
• Third Christmas--The father of our student worker from Ecuador calls us at 12:30 to wish us Merry Christmas and thank us for hiring his daughter for the season. It turns out, in South America, everyone stays up until midnight on Christmas Eve and then opens presents, calls relatives, etc. I don't think he realizes he woke us up, but his daughter is mortified the next day when he tells her he called us.
• Fourth Christmas--We get a call at 3:00 in the morning from guests saying that water is leaking into their room from the ceiling. Michael goes to investigate. Sure enough, water is pouring in at a good clip. He goes to the room above theirs and discovers that the men staying there plugged up the bathroom sink and left the water running when they went to bed. Eventually it overflowed and soaked through the floor into the room below. The guests who caused the problem were unapologetic. The guests who were dripped on were remarkably cheerful and understanding. We refunded part of their stay.
• Fifth Christmas--Aaahhh. Sleep. Of course, as Michael pointed out, we only had two rooms staying last night--our busy time starts Thursday this year--and so made less money than in Christmases past. Still, every five years or so, it's nice to have a quiet Christmas.

The Gnostic Gospels

I finished this book weeks ago, but just realized I never posted about it.

This is an interesting look at the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels and a discussion of why they may not have been included in the New Testament canon. One of Pagels's main arguments is that gnosticism did not demand an organized church and so its gospels were excluded from the New Testament in favor of gospels that supported a church structure. I found her argument convincing.

In general, I like to see diversity of religious thought, and I am wary of creedal faiths. But after reading this book, I wonder if Christianity would have survived in the early centuries if it hadn't stamped out the diversity by persecuting the "heretics." Was a strong central church necessary to the continuation of the faith? And would a strong church have been possible if the heretics had been left alone to promote their version of the faith? I don't know.

The one thing I found disconcerting about the book were the actual excerpts from the various Gnostic Gospels. I found many of them difficult. As I told my mom, they made me feel stupid. I don't know if it is just because the canonical gospels are so much more familiar to me, or because I was reading excerpts instead of the full text, or because my mind just doesn't think like a gnostic, but whatever it was, it was very frustrating. I alternate between wanting to read more (Pagels has a book about the Gospel of Thomas that I've been eying) and wanting to never read them again.

Pack order

LW and Sammy (our golden retriever) have been scuffling over pack order lately. Sammy's been a bit rough with LW, but LW has discovered his trump card. "Crate, Sammy!" It's a funny sight to see our 35-pound two year old crating our 80-pound dog.

We usually only crate Sammy for extremely naughty behavior or when he gets too rambunctious. LW, however, apparently believes in preventative crating. We find ourselves releasing Sammy from his crate multiple times a day.

Owl sighting

When I was walking the kids to the bus stop this morning, I noticed a large shape in one of the trees along the creek. Is that an owl? I asked the kids. As we were staring at it and debating the question, it turned its head and looked right at us. Apparently our excitement was a little too noisy, because a minute later it took off and flew along the creek into the woods on our property.

I am not great at bird identification, but after eliminating the New England owls that don't live in our area, I think it's a barred owl.

Me drink juice. Me naughty!

Yesterday I had to step outside for a bit to listen to Michael and the plumber explain their theory on the septic system. I left LW inside eating a pretzel to which he had helped himself while I was on the phone taking a reservation.

We returned to the house to find him finishing off a juice box, one my brother's family didn't finish while they were here and nicely left for us. We don't usually have juice boxes, and we've been doling them out for field trips and special occasions. To the best of my knowledge, the juice box was in the fridge. LW appears to have opened the fridge, unwrapped the straw from the plastic wrap, and stuck it through the little hole on the top of the box. I know able-bodied adults who can't manage that. But my two-year-old can do it unassisted.

He looked up at us, grinned cheekily, and said, "Me drink juice. Me naughty!"

Stormchasers

Our guests this weekend are largely of a variety Michael and I affectionately call "stormchasers." They raced up here yesterday to take advantage of the big storm today. (We are already on our second shoveling of the decks, with many more anticipated.)

Stormchasers are almost always males between the ages of 20 and 50. They travel alone or with one or possibly two friends. They want a bed, possibly a television, and breakfast. They are almost never picky. They check in, they sleep, they eat breakfast with one eye on the road to the slopes, they chat with the other stormchasers, shower us with compliments, and leave. If they stay more than one day, they frequently don't want housekeeping. They are dream guests.

There is only one niggling worry in the back of my mind: will Sarah make it in to work this morning (I think she lives at the end of a dirt road), or will I end up cleaning all the rooms?

Peanut brittle and other homemade gifts

We received a Christmas package from Michael's parents yesterday, and when I opened it today to move the presents into our present storage place (aka my closet)*, I discovered a bag of homemade peanut brittle. Yum! I am trying really hard to not eat it all before Michael and the big kids get back from skiing.

Seeing the peanut brittle reminded me of the Christmas I decided I would make Dad some peanut brittle for Christmas. It would have that homemade touch and be a nice change from the usual coffee mug or pair of wool socks. I was in high school, or perhaps college, but I really didn't have much experience in the kitchen and had never made candy before. Mom offered to help. Alas, not even her skill could make up for my lack of it.

I'm still not sure exactly what went wrong, but when the dust had settled we ended up throwing out the pan and wooden spoon, after determining that no, we weren't ever going to be able to scrub the hardened candy mixture off them. I believe Dad got a box of store-bought peanut brittle that year.

Of course, at least he got something. I still owe Kristi a scarf from the year her present didn't quite get finished.

* We can't leave wrapped presents out in the open because LW will unwrap them for us.

Back seat driving

The problem with putting the toddler's car seat in the middle of the row is that he has a great view for back seat driving. If only he were reliable. Some recent quotes:

• Light is red! Light is red! Except it isn't.
• Go really fast! Said on a day with slushy, yucky roads.
  
• Watch out! Woman crossing street was two blocks away.
  

Random thoughts while shopping

Tuesday afternoon I went to the mall to wrap up the Christmas shopping. Shopping is not my favorite thing, and tends to bring out the snark in me. Here are this week's thoughts:

• Did you know you can buy the complete Full House on DVD? The box even looks like the row of houses. First of all, I can't imagine anyone liking that show enough to want to watch every episode. Second, is there somewhere that doesn't get this show on reruns multiple times a day? It's almost as ubiquitous as Law & Order.
  
• Who decided that kids need help sassing their parents and created clothing that does it for them? And who are the adults who keep buying this stuff? If we all stop, maybe they will get the point. This week's example: a bib that said, "I'm cute. Buy me something." Right. Because my toddler doesn't already think the world revolves exclusively around him and his needs and isn't fully capable of expressing that opinion. Loudly.
• What is the deal with making everything electronic? Don't get me wrong; we buy plenty of electronic games and gadgets in this house. But why mess with games that have been non-electronic for generations? Did the world really need an electronic Uno?

You may now return to your regularly scheduled holiday cheer.

An 18-wheeler full of puppies

Last night, just after midnight, I had the most bizarre phone call of our four years at the inn.

It was a man looking for a room. Pretty standard. I asked if he was calling from the phone on the front deck. No. He was several hours away.

Yes, we have a room, I said. I told him the rate and mentioned that it included breakfast. He asked about breakfast, so I mentioned the menu for today would be eggs or French toast. He asked if we had an omelet station where he could point to the different meats and we would make the omelet right there. No, I said. We don't have an omelet station. We are one of the budget accommodations in the valley.

He asked if I could recommend somewhere that did have an omelet station. Because his wife used to cook him really good breakfasts but she isn't with him any longer. "I know the owners probably don't want you to tell me, but maybe you could while they aren't looking." I said I didn't know who had an omelet station, but he might try the inn owned by the ski resort. I mentioned that he might not find a lot of places that would answer their phone at this hour, that we answer ours only in case it is an emergency. *hint, hint*

I told him to call us when he got in and we would come give him a key. He asked if we had rooms that accepted pets. Yes, some, I said.

Good, he said, because I have an 18-wheeler carrying puppies I am driving to Maine. Maybe we could arrange a barter. I have labs, golden retrievers, Saint Bernards . . .

At this point, I began to seriously consider whether this was a prank call. But the voice didn't sound at all familiar, and it sounded too old to be teenagers.

I focused on what I thought was the critical piece of information. We don't have room for an 18-wheeler, I said. You won't be able to park it here.

It's a small 18-wheeler. It is heated and everything for the puppies. (Is that supposed to make it better? That means he'll want to run the diesel engine all night long, annoying the other rooms of guests.) I'm sorry, I said. We don't have parking for an 18-wheeler. No, I don't know anywhere nearby where you could park it.

Do you have a dog? he asked. I reiterated that we were not interested in trading lodging for a dog. I am creeping you out? he asked. No, I said, leaving unspoken but you are annoying the @#%^ out of me.

I said I was sorry, but we couldn't offer him parking, so he should probably find somewhere else to stay. Do you have a dog? he asked. "You aren't going to answer me, are you?"

And then I did what I have never before done to a guest or potential guest. I hung up.

Home Sweet Home

I arrived back home yesterday afternoon after five days in Waltham for work. It's always a little shocking to adjust to the energy level of a small home with four kids after I've been away for a few days. Life in Waltham is very calm and quiet. During the day, I interact with developers and fellow technical writers, both groups not known for their exuberance. In the evening, I eat a quiet dinner while reading or working on the day's Sudoku and then spend the evening reading or watching TV in my very nice hotel room. Other than working at my writing job (which I love) and taking care of myself, I have nothing else I have to do. No bills to pay. No housework. No errands. No schedules to manage. It's extremely relaxing.

But I miss Michael and the kiddos and it's nice to come home to hugs and kisses and snuggles on the couch. LW has already introduced me to his new favorite book. NB shared a new fact he learned about marsupials. IM told me about the field trip that got rescheduled due to their snow day last week. And EM reported on the culmination of a project he's been working on at school.

After we got the kids to bed, Michael and I lay in the dark and talked and talked and talked. It's amazing to me how much we have to say after only five days apart, especially since we talked on the phone every day I was gone.

It's good to be home.