It's the most fabulous time of the quarter in which I update you on how well or how well or poorly my 2026 quarterly goals are going.
The Time for Change
A girl in the world
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
2026 Goals Update, Quarter 2
Monday, July 06, 2026
The Unseen World by Liz Moore
I read The Unseen World by Liz Moore because the guest on Sarah's Bookshelves really recommended it. I cannot resist it when people are enthusiastic about their favorite books. I have read The God of the Woods by this same author in the past and really enjoyed it, so I thought reading an older book by the same author would be a fun thing to do.
Ada is raised by her father, a computer scientist named David who is working on a very early AI named ELIXIR in 1980s Boston. David's past comes into question just as his health and memory begin to falter. Ada is taken in by one of David's colleagues and together they begin to unravel the mystery of her father's life.
In The God of the Woods, I thought it took a bit (70-80 pages) to get into the thing. In this book, the first fifty pages were a real snoozefest. I found myself starting to think that the person who recommended this book was insane. And then I was crying on page 111 and full out sobbing by page 140.
In same ways I have been lucky. My parents died at relatively young ages (56 and 67) and I never had to watch them go through a mental decline. My mom did suffer some brief hallucinations towards the end, but she knew they were hallucinations and honestly had so much fun with them that I couldn't help but wonder if my mom would have enjoyed psychedelic drugs when she was younger.
(This is a funny story, I think. But maybe it's only funny to me? I don't know. I'll tell and you can let me know. My mom lived on a tiny house on my sister's property and right next to her tiny house was another tiny house that my brother-in-law's mother lived in. My mom and my BIL's mom - let's call her C - got along well enough, but C found my sister challenging and didn't leave her cabin very often. My mom frequently hallucinated a man who would come and gossip about C. He called her names and was often unkind. My mom sort of knew this man wasn't real, but she would repeat the gossip as if it were from a trusted source. When I'd call my mom, this is what she would talk to me about. You know what? This story isn't funny. I'm leaving it.)
So I was caught by surprise at how emotional this book made me about aging parents. Maybe because I never really got to see it? (Add this to When the Cranes Fly South as books about aging that have made me sob.)
Anyway, outside of the slow start and the epilogue, this was such a lovely book. (Much like in Harry Potter, you should skip the epilogue entirely and let the book stand on its own without that tacked on garbage.) (How many parenthesis can I put in one post? Can I set a record?)
4.5/5 stars
*******************
Things I looked up (I might be on some list at Homeland Security after this):
There had been suicides already since the HUAC was formed. (Among themselves, they never called it the House Un-American Activities Committee, they called it the Inquisition.) Five, ten, fifteen suicides within the State department alone. (page 380) - I'm just going to leave this link here.
Thomas Patrick Cavanagh (page 393) - an aerospace engineer who was sentenced in 1985 after being convicted of trying to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Cordrey (page 393) - a Marine private who was convicted of attempting to sell classified information about nuclear, chemical and biological warfare to the Soviet bloc and sentenced to 12 years by a military court.
Ernst Forbrich (page 393) - an East German spy who was arrested in Clearwater Beach, Florida in 1984 after he paid an undercover agent posing as an Army intelligence officer for a classified document. He later admitted selling documents to East German intelligence over a 17-year period. Forbrich was convicted of espionage and sentenced to prison.
Bruce Kearn (page 393) - a Navy operations specialist assigned as command Secret control officer on board the USS Tuscaloosa, was arrested in March 1984 and convicted at a general court-martial for dereliction of duty, and willfully delivering, transmitting or communicating classified documents to unauthorized persons. While absent without leave, Kearn left behind a briefcase which was found to contain 147 classified microfiche (copies of nearly 15,000 pages of Secret documents), seven Confidential crypto publications, and child pornographic photographs and literature. He was sentenced to 18 months based on a plea bargain.
Karl Koecher (page 393) - usually referred simply as Karel Köcher, sometimes written as Karl Koecher (born 21 September 1934) is a Czechoslovak mole known to have penetrated the CIA during the Cold War. The Guardian wrote up a long article about his batshit life.
Alice Michelson (page 393)- Michelson was arrested in 1984 for trying to deliver material she obtained at Baltimore-Washington International Airport from an American double agent to the Soviet KGB. She was later involved in a spy swap.
Richard Miller (page 393) - an American FBI agent who was the first FBI agent indicted for and convicted of espionage. In 1991, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was freed after serving less than three years.
Samuel Loring Morison (page 393) - a civilian analyst with the Office of Naval Intelligence, was arrested in October 1984 for supplying Jane's Publications with classified photography showing a Soviet nuclear powered carrier under construction. The photographs were subsequently published in Jane's Defence Weekly. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Charles Slatten (page 393) - an Army PFC who was arrested in 1984 for stealing military devices to sell to the USSR. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge. This was not the end of his criminal career, though, and he later set off a pipe bomb and was convicted of making, possessing, and conspiring to use a “weapon of mass destruction.” He was sentenced to another 24 years in prison in 1996.
Richard Smith (page 393) - Smith was a former army counterintelligence agent who was arrested in April 1984 for passing classified information to a KGB officer in Japan on several occasions. He claimed he was working for the US government as a double agent. He was found not guilty on charges of conspiracy and espionage.
Jay Wolff (page 393) - former Navy enlisted man, was arrested in 1984 in Gallup, New Mexico, for offering to sell classified documents dealing with US weapons systems aboard a US Navy vessel. Wolff, who was discharged from the Navy in 1983, met with an undercover agent and offered to sell classified material for $5,000 to $6,000. According to the FBI, a tip led to the meeting with Wolff at a convenience store where he was apprehended. Wolff pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to sell classified documents and was sentenced to five years in prison.
fontanelle (page 408) - (colloquially known as a "soft spot") is a normal anatomical feature on an infant's skull where the bony plates have not yet completely fused
Santa hat (page 62)
knit black hat (page 269)
hat and parka (page 271)
took her hat off (page 273, 321)
red winter hat (page 312)
overcoat and hat (page 321)
knitted Red Sox hat (page 356)
wearing his hat indoors (page 372)
hat rakishly askew (page 398)
pilgrim's hat or a Santa hat (page 406)
Friday, July 03, 2026
What I Spent: June 2026
As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, car, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out. Only, to be honest, this doesn't actually work out evenly. We had a discussion recently about how I make a lot less than he does and he has agreed that he's going to take over the Costco runs. We'll see if this works out.
Groceries ($893.73, 42.8%) - Look, we keep eating.
Pets ($374.17, 17.9%) - Once again I am asking who thought it was a good idea to get a dog? (Me, it was me. I'm my own problem.) Litter, food for the dog AND cat, flea and tick prevention for the dog, litter for the cat. The list never ends.
Savings ($300, 14.4%) - Boo.
Bills ($168.37, 8.1%) - Insurance. It went up by eight dollars AND DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE, insurance company.
Cars ($142, 6.8%) - I gassed up once and paid for registration for the new car.
Clothing ($131.71, 6.3%) - I bought some stuff for work.
Personal care ($27.20, 1.3%) - Some face lotion.
Eating out ($24.17, 1.2%) - Okay, this is where I splurged this month (outside of HAVING PETS). I got coffee A LOT. June was rough at work and some mornings I just need a pick me up.
Entertainment ($13.70, <1%) - Spotify subscription.
Gifts ($12.63, <1%) - A couple of greeting cards.
Why am I broke all the time? Well, I think we just need to look at those first two categories. *sigh*
****************
What's something fun you spent money on last month?
Thursday, July 02, 2026
June 2026 Accountability Buddy
Sunday, June 28
![]() |
| Every attendee at the outdoor class. |
Wednesday, July 01, 2026
What I Read: June 2026
6/1: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (library ebook, 1998) - What a snoozefest. 2/5 stars
6/2: Dog Show: Poems by Billy Collins (library, 2026) - Perfection. No notes. 5/5 stars
6/7: The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy (library, 2023) - I sped through this book in a day. Lovely. 4/5 stars
6/10: Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence - and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg (library, 2008) - Super interesting look at the life of an animal biologist. I think this would be an interesting book for some of our STEM students to read because there's a lot about trying to get funding for work with animals. 4/5 stars
6/13: Into the Blue by Emma Brodie (library, 2026) - Sometimes you just need a romance novel. 3.5/5 stars
6/14: Sweep of the Heart (Innkeeper Chronicles #5) by Ilona Andrews (library ebook, 2022) - This series is so good. There were a lot of characters to keep track of in this book, but the author kept us paying attention to the main plot. I really am enjoying this series. 4/5 stars
6/19: How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (library, 2024) - The middle third of this book was such a bore. And the main character was an idiot. And I do not think I understood the ending. The premise was actually pretty good, but the execution was not. 2.5/5 stars
6/20: Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City by Robin Nagle (university library, 2013) - I love shit like this. The more niche an anthologist embeds themself, the more I love it. 5/5 stars
6/24: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (library ebook, 2015) - Look, thrillers are not for me. I was annoyed that so many pagers were the main character just going through possible scenarios. I KNOW THE SCENARIOS. I want action to happen. Also, I sort of knew what was going on from the beginning - like the bad person was clear? Ugh. Not my jam. I know this about myself, but I still can't help but want to read thrillers like the other cool kids. 2.5/5 stars
6/27: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (library, 2025) - In 2026, I am not a fan of anthropomorphizing AI. This book was batshit insane (werewolves, aliens, vampires, mummies!), but I just felt sort of dirty reading it. 3/5 stars
Average star rating: 3.45/5 stars
Did not finish:
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - I listened to 2.5 hours of this book before giving it up as a bad job. It's 31 hours long, so I was at about 8% when I gave up. Maybe I need to read it with my eyes.
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl - This was far too cozy for me. Maybe a winter read? DNF at 15%.
The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther - I am not a lady who can read instalove YA romance. There. I said it. I dropped this book like a hot potato as soon as another book became available on my Libby app for me to borrow. DNF at 36%.
*******************
I read three non-fiction books this month and a poetry collection. Who am I? What sort of middle-aged person have I become?
Have you read any of these books? Which one would you like to read?
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
The Chew, Part III
Monday, June 29, 2026
What I Wore to Work Last Week
FRIENDS! REGISTRATION SEASON IS OVER!! Yes, that does deserve all caps. July is a slow month at work, so I'm getting pumped up for that. Meanwhile, I enlisted my co-worker's help to take photos of me last week. Here's what went down.
Monday - The day between events. I was mostly just in my office all day inputting appointment summaries from an event on Friday and preparing for Tuesday. I'm wearing a tank I bought at Macy's approximately fifteen years ago and some linen pants.
Tuesday - Registration event. I need to be prepared to walk across campus, complete my presentation, kneel on the ground, and move furniture. I'm wearing a Happy Earth dress from several seasons ago (love this dress) and a bolero from Ann Taylor about ten years ago. It can range from boiling to frigid on building across campus, so I have to be prepared.
Wednesday - You guys. It was cold and rainy. I hate that. On the plus side, the rain does fabulous things for my hair. I have on a Passion Lillie dress and I spent most of the day wearing a duster from Rowan Grey Clothing.
Thursday - Last registration event of June. Woot woot! Another Happy Earth dress. The white tank is from H&M like a billion years ago. It has held up quite well considering its origin.
Friday - We had another event on campus for prospective students. *sigh* This was less intensive work, but I still had to be prepared to move tables and cart half our office across campus. It was also quite cool. The shirt is from LL Bean and was a FANTASTIC purchase at the beginning of the summer. The pants are more of the Athleta linen pants. The H&M tank is in play again.
Accessories: I wore Mephisto Helen sandals all week (on the rainy day I had Vionic flip flops in my bag), a silver bracelet from Twisted Silver that I got from Dr. BB as a present before we were married, and my two little purple bracelets from Tobias. I'm still rocking my permanent bracelet that I got in Seattle and my permanent anklet I got with my niece. I have a pair of sapphire earrings and Hey June hoops. LOOK, I like my jewelry.
Outtakes: Sometimes I think I sound like I am NOT FUN on this blog. But here is proof that I am an utter goof.
Full credit to my co-worker LB who took each and every one of these photos when I would barge into her office with my phone outstretched.




.png)


.png)



.jpg)


.png)