Another Year Whizzes By

November 2023

And once again, Helios guns his souped-up chariot around the globe in an attempt to make the year go even faster. Pesky little godling, that one.

Anyway, I’m still hanging in there, puttering around with this and that and trying to get rid of stuff. Trust me: it’s no picnic. I can easily distract myself with my various book clubs (live and zoomed), yoga and tai chi, boozy lunches with friends, and the occasional play, baseball game, concert, movie, music festival, museum visit, and whatnot. One big accomplishment for the year was (finally!) completing the 3rd edition of Pillars of the Past, an official guide to Cypress Lawn Memorial Park written by my historian friends Michael and Shirley Svanevik, for which I did the book design. This took longer than any of us expected, and the project earned a sobriquet that is not suitable for a family-friendly missive. But it’s done, and you can pick up a copy in the cemetery gift shop, if you’re interested in knowing where all the bodies are buried.

The big travel event of the year was my trip to Greece (with a side visit to London) in June. I’d been waiting to find the perfect itinerary that would include visits to some of the islands, and the Solo Female Travelers Club’s “Greek Island Sailing” tour caught my eye. You can read all about this fabulous adventure in my travel report (coming soon: watch this space!).

In March, I spent a few weeks in Arizona, flying down to Phoenix with my friend Ruth for spring training games and other festivities, and then driving to Tucson with old friends Sharon and David for exploring the high desert, food, and more socializing. In September, Ruth and I had a fun three-day road trip to SoCal to take in an Angels game, lunch with my brother Kevin, do some wine tasting in Paso Robles, and spend a day at Disneyland (my first return since my very first visit in 1971). I got to fly the Millennium Falcon, so my life is now complete.

A few images from the year’s adventures:

If I needed to sum up 2023 in one word, it would be “connections.” I was very lucky to be able to meet up with friends from high school, old jobs, travel, grad school, book groups, teaching gigs, exercise class, costume events, and various and sundry other past and present lives. I lost a half dozen friends this year, and this number is probably going to go up rather than down, as we just think we’re immortal. So if you get a random text from me warning you that I’m in your neighborhood, don’t panic. I’ll bring wine.

Meanwhile, have a festive holiday season and don’t stop moving in 2024.

Random Recommendations

Books: I read a ton of stuff on Greece before my trip — yes, including Homer (in translation, of course) — and discovered some delightful feminist retellings of Greek myth (you can check out my reading list here). My favorite of these is Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes. I also highly recommend Gifted Amateurs and Other Essays, an excellent collection of writings on fantasy literature scholarship (and fandom) by David Bratman, published by the Mythopoeic Press.

Music: I attended Clannad’s farewell tour concert at the Palice of Fine Arts in SF; such a wonderful ensemble with several decades of great music. Caught some good acts at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, including Rickie Lee Jones.

TV: Reservation Dogs: quirky, heart-rending, hilarious, mythopoeic, and criminally underrated. Plus, kudos to them for bringing this coming of age story to a very satisfying close in three seasons. No elasmobranchs jumped here. I’m finishing up the year rewatching all three seasons (plus) of Robin of Sherwood (I gifted myself a DVD boxed set with tons of extras), which is still absolutely brilliant.