Oops, Now What

I can't believe I read the whole thing! Yet, since my last post, I have read all of Louise Penny's mystery series. There are 5 all together and after reading the last one first, I hungrily dashed through the other 4. And now it's over. Please, Ms. Penny, please, please, please, write the next one soon.

I was listening to one of them while in bed on the 24th. It was very cold for South Pasadena, I think in the 50's. I kept debating about what I should be doing instead of being warm and listening. Then the reader talked about making split pea soup with a ham bone. That got me out of bed. I was at the counter of the Honey Baked Ham store in no time. I bought the smallest ham they had, honest. It was 11 pounds. For two people. Tsk. To make matters worse, I bought a smoked turkey breast because I started to think about how much I miss turkey. Tsk.

Thank goodness for the freezer. The ham bone, much of the ham and most of the turkey are tucked away for future use. The big plan now is to make red beans and rice for New Years with that ham bone. It's supposed to bring you good luck. And don't we need some of that?

Actually, I've been doing fairly well on the luck side of things. I started jury duty on the 28th and didn't have to go in for the first two days. We'll see if my luck holds for the last two days. I'm not sure how many trials start the day before New Year's Eve and on New Year's Eve. I'm guessing not many, but you never know about those lawyers.

I also found time to finish The Brothers Bulger. I didn't know that Howie Carr was some conservative talk show host from Boston. But I'd already paid the money to him, so I decided that I might as well read it. Not bad, but not very interesting either. I guess it would mean a lot more if you actually lived in Boston. The story takes place from the late 70's to the early 90's. What I learned was that the FBI was terribly corrupt in that area. In order to get rid of the mafia, they turned a blind eye on their Irish snitches. One of those was Whitey Bulger. The other brother was the president of the state senate. I totally believe the part about giving jobs to everybody and their dog and retiring with a huge pension. What I really didn't care for was the run down of every little action the brothers took. Boring.

Not boring was When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. He reads this series of random stories. For once, I'm glad to hear the author speak. He does have a little whiny voice that might be irritating, but it is droll. His observations are hilarious. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the last few segments of the book about quiting smoking, but I did. He and his partner move to Tokyo so he can do this. Like all his stories, the main topic is not what the story is about. Or it is, but there are 50 other main topics thrown in. His inability to learn Japanese, Japanese customs, lots of stuff.

When he is in the Japanese class he tries to learn how to obfuscate. The Japanese people are far less direct than Americans, so learning how to say something without really saying it is quite a knack. While reading about this, I kept thinking about the last time I was on jury duty. A couple of Japanese tourists were mugged by a local hoodlum and the police went to Japan to get an ID. The other members of the jury couldn't figure out why the victims didn't say absolutely that the picture they selected was absolutely the doer of the deed. Culturally, it was never going to happen. And I was never going to convince the other jurors of that fact. So maybe it's better that they don't call me in this time.