Much of Muchness

So we go along.

The kids are doing their things -- Katie continues to love high school (she's reading Romeo and Juliet and also To Kill a Mockingbird in English, which seems fine, and she's still doing very well in math, which is little short of miraculous), and Travis has now registered for the spring semester at the community college, which should wrap up his high school career (he's still uncertain as to his next step, but I expect he'll come up with something). And we've been spending time with my parents and doing our usual stuff.

Oh, but it is the time of year when I bake cookies to send to friends and family! The other day I made fudge and "Babe Ruth" candies, and today I made butterballs, bourbon balls, orange balls, and white chocolate almond caramelitas (new to the line-up this year -- Ed and Travis love them). They still want wrapping and packing, and there will be more baking for local deliveries, but, still...

And yesterday I put together my list for my next effort at a library book group. Despite the pitiful attendance for my fall "Memoirs and More" group, the librarian who organizes such efforts asked me if I wouldn't like to give it another go. So, I've made up an alluring new list for the group that will start meeting (once a month -- very low maintenance) in January. This one is something (catchy title as yet undetermined) involving fantasy and mystery. Can't miss with that, right? Our community has resisted my bookish blandishments so far, but I'm sure this list will do the trick and they will flock to the library to discuss books with me! Of course, now that I've made my suggestions I have to wait to hear back from the librarian as to which books, if any, our very modest little system can arrange to obtain (I tried very hard to choose titles where the system had at least a few copies, but you'd be astonished at how narrow the options were.)

Livy has taken to lurking, gargoyle-like, on top of a bookcase.

And the sky this morning. The view would have been prettier if I'd taken it on the way, instead of from the driveway, as our current drive, thanks to a bridge construction detour, is lovely. But then I'd have had to pull over and Katie would have a conniption, despite the fact that we've been getting on our way impressively early. But she just can't get to school early enough. The mind boggles.