Category Archives: Byron

August Reading

The Reader, by Renoir…

Hello, dear friends. I’m checking in to give you an update on my August reading and some of the things going on in my life right now.

I am back to my reading, although my blogging isn’t back full time. I’m still taking things one step at a time these days, and that’s not a bad way to live. But I’m happy that my focus has improved to the point that I can fully enjoy my reading again. I love my afternoon reading times, but I’ve discovered an early morning time that has also become a favorite time for reading.

August was full of pretty miserable heat and drought here in Oregon, but we finally had some rain and cooler temperatures to end the month. Also at the end of the month, I mustered up the courage to visit some dear friends in Southern Utah and had an absolutely wonderful time. It was my first trip without Byron… but since these were friends that knew Byron right from the beginning of our relationship 54 years ago, it was a very healing trip and Byron was with us in our happy memories shared.

Along with my reading, I’ve been watching as many of the Studio Ghibli films as I can. Byron really enjoyed those films, and so I’ve set up a mini film festival for myself and have had so much fun watching them. I also watched a fascinating 4-part documentary called 10 Years With Hayao Miyazaki, the brilliant imagination behind Studio Ghibli, and learned a lot about his art and his life.

So, the books I read in August:

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt. Click here to read my review of this book.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. Beautifully written and I loved it!
Archer’s Quest, by Linda Sue Park. My interest in Korea continues, and Linda Sue Park writes such enjoyable books about Korean culture and history, and about Korean American life.
Tales From the Cafe, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. The second in the “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” series, and I liked the stories in this second book even more than I did in the first book (which I loved).
The Salaryman’s Wife, by Sujata Massey. I didn’t care for this very much, which was disappointing because I really like her series that took place in India in the 1920s (the first book was The Widows of Malabar Hill.)
Two Old Women, An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival, by Velma Wallis. This was a reread for me, a terrific story of two elderly women (who were always complaining) left behind by their tribe during a winter of severe hardship. I highly recommend this little book. It’s a treasure!

I hope your August was filled with good books, good films, and good friends, too!

: Rain at the End of August…

Happy Father’s Day, Atticus Finch

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Byron

My Dad

Atticus Finch

This will be the first Father’s Day without Byron, who was a wonderful loving father and grandpa. He is deeply missed. But, his humor and his sense of fun remain with us, so there will be laughter and many smiles as the family remembers and celebrates him.

It will also be the 29th Father’s Day without my own Dad. It’s hard to believe that he’s been gone that long. He’s still so present in my everyday life! His humor, too, remains with us, and his timeless wisdom still guides us each day.

In anticipation of this Father’s Day, I asked myself who is my favorite literary father. Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, immediately popped into my mind. I wrote about him in a post from June 2007, when I finished listening to the audiobook version of the book, narrated by Sissy Spacek (now my all-time favorite audiobook!).

” I was captured by his intelligence and integrity, his compassion and humanity, and his complete and unconditional love for his children. He reminded me of my own father in many ways, and he must have helped set a standard for the husband I would meet and marry years later…”

I wonder…who is your favorite literary father?

What I’ve Been Up To…

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Hello, my friends. I have been missing my blog, my blogging friends, and the act of telling stories and sharing my reading! So I thought I’d stop in on this lovely Sunday afternoon and say Hi, and let you know that I’m (mostly) okay and what I’ve been up to recently.

I’m still here, and reading a little more than I was in March, but I’m actually spending more of my time outdoors with the return of sunshine to the Pacific Northwest. The yard and garden were in a terrible state of neglect from the Covid/Cancer years, so trying to “tame” it all again is a daunting job. One step at a time is my mantra. When I had the tall dangerous oak tree removed from the back corner of the yard last November, it opened up sunshine to that previously shady corner. This spring I’ve created what I call my new “Sunshine Garden,” in that corner, and it has been a joyful project! I planted some tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots and beets which are all happy with that sunny spot.

: The new Sunshine Garden way in the back there…

I’ve also been going through our many (thousands!) of old photos, scanning old slides, organizing photo files on my computer. It’s a massive project that I am enjoying very much. Sometimes, the tears flow freely while working on that project, and sometimes laughter and joy arrive, as well. The 54 years Byron and I spent together are well-documented with priceless photos. I just completed an eight-week bereavement class, called “Living After Loss,” run by our incredible hospice group that helped ease Byron’s end of life. We were all invited to participate in the class at about 6 months since our special person died. It was an amazing learning experience about grief, very emotional and very helpful in so many ways. The culminating project was to create a Memory Project for the final day of class. For my “Memory Project,” I created a slideshow of photos of Byron and me over those 54 years, all put together with the song, “Through the Eyes of Love.” That project, too, is a treasure now.

And as for my reading… Yes, I am able to finish some books now after a period of time when I couldn’t focus enough to read much. In April, I read What Happened to the Corbetts, by Nevil Shute, one of my favorite authors. And in May, I read Victoria Connelly’s new book, The Way to the Sea. I always enjoy her heartwarming books.

Once again, I want you to know how much I appreciate all of you and your kind support during this time of bereavement. I hope you are all well and happy and enjoying your summer reading!

Byron’s Books

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Byron at the bookstore…

My husband, Byron, was a constant reader, and for almost 54 years we shared and talked about books. Although we often read very different things, we always enjoyed talking about what we were reading and the ideas, or the beautiful writing, that impressed us. For those of you who are new to my blog, I lost Byron to cancer in September. It’s a difficult loss in so many ways, but to lose a precious reading partner is really hard. However, when I look at his shelves, at his collection of books, at his favorite book, at the last book he gave me, or at the last book he was reading…I find so many wonderful things to read now in his honor. I continue to be inspired by him and by his reading choices. My beloved reading partner lives on in my heart, and he continues to expand and enrich my reading world.

I’ve created a new category on my blog called “Byron’s Books” so that those posts are easier for me to find. To honor his memory and his love of reading, those posts will include reviews of his books as I read them, quotes he kept in his notebooks, lists he made, and other memories of his reading life over the years.

Byron’s corner … one of his bookshelves.

2023 Japanese Literature Challenge

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Japanese Literature Challenge

Meredith, at Dolce Bellezza, is once again hosting her Japanese Literature challenge. I have participated in this challenge many times and it’s always enjoyable. I have a special interest in Japan and it’s history and culture because my husband’s mother was Japanese. His grandmother was a picture bride from Japan to Hawaii in the early 1900s. It’s a fascinating family history, so over the years, we have collected a lot of books and DVDs about that culture. I lost my husband, Byron, to cancer in September, so this time my participation in this immersion into Japanese literature and culture is a part of my grieving process.

For the challenge this year, I decided to list only the books that I already own and would like to read. There are quite a few books already sitting on my shelves that fit this challenge, so I’ve put together a list of some of them to choose from. I also have quite a few DVDs of Japanese films because that was an interest my husband and I shared. So, while I will be enjoying the reading for this challenge, I’m also going to have my own Japanese Film Festival and re-visit some of those movies. That’s the plan!

Thank you, Meredith, for hosting this lovely challenge once again!

My Want-to-Read List:

How Do You Live?, by Genzaburo Yoshino
Snow Country, by Kawabata, Yasunari
The Guest Cat, by Takashi Hirade
A Bowl Full of Peace, by Caren Stelson
Novelist as a Vocation, by Haruki Murakami
The Strange Library, by Haruki Murakami
The Book of Tea, by Kazuko Okakura
Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki
SumoKitty, by David Biedrzycki
The Lady and The Monk, by Pico Iyer

My List of Japanese Films to Watch:

Woman in the Dunes
Picture Bride
Ikiru
My Neighbor Totoro
The Seven Samurai
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (Netflix)

My husband’s grandmother and aunt…

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

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To all my dear blogging friends…

I’d like you all to know that my dear husband, Byron, passed away Wednesday night, almost exactly two years after his cancer diagnosis. He was a courageous fighter, and accepted his continually changing condition with grace and acceptance. At the end, he was where he wanted to be — at home, lovingly surrounded by his family.

Your kindness and lovingly supportive comments on my various posts throughout this journey have been deeply appreciated. I haven’t been on my blog much during his decline, but I will now take some time to mourn and regroup, and redesign my life without him. I will return, before too long though, to my reading and to this blog.

With love,
Robin

August Reflections and September Plans

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Hello, my friends. It’s time for some reflecting on life and reading in the month of August. It was another rather intense month, but flew by amazingly quickly. I’m proud to say that I actually finished reading two books during that month! Focusing on my reading has been a challenge with everything going on in our lives right now, but I decided to return to a much loved book, Persuasion, by Jane Austen, and just enjoy whatever reading time I could find. It was such a pleasure! The book and the simple act of reading! And then I ended up the month reading a book by another favorite author, Edith Nesbitt. The Story of the Treasure Seekers was a reminder of how childhood used to be a time of intense innocence and imagination.

The end of August also brings my favorite Fall reading challenge. Although I can hardly take on a bigger challenge than life itself right now, I’m going to join the Readers Imbibing Peril XVII challenge and read as much as time allows. I have a dear friend (a high school friend!) that loves the Fall and this kind of Fall reading, but he’s still a university professor and therefore doesn’t have the time to participate. But we both love Ray Bradbury, and he is inspiring me to read more of Bradbury’s stories and novels, so I’ve decided to make that my focus of my RIP reading this year!

My Readers Imbibing Peril XVII reading list!

On the home front, August brought another major change in our journey through cancer. Byron’s chemotherapy stopped working, just that quickly after 6 successful infusions. It was not unexpected but it was disappointing nonetheless. So he is now on hospice, and August was spent getting settled into that new reality, and focusing on finding the right combination of medications that would manage his pain more efficiently so that he can have some comfortable quality of life during this stage. We are so appreciative of our new hospice team! They work incredibly hard to manage his comfort care, and we feel very supported and cared for.

On our “Walk ‘n Roll.”

When I use the word “hospice,” I find that people assume that death is imminent. That’s what I always thought, too. But now we know that although hospice is “end of life care,” there’s a period of time before the final decline that can be much longer than anticipated. That’s where we are right now, this week — in the calm of pain management and improved quality of life. Byron is still able to care for himself and work on his home projects and his reading. Because he is quite disabled due to the cancer in his hip and pelvis, he requested a wheel chair from our hospice team, and so we are able to get out for early morning walks as often as we can now. Being outside and surrounded by beauty feeds our souls! Our daughter calls these cherished walks, our “Walk ‘n Roll” time.

I hope that you had a good August, my friends, and will have a book-filled and enjoyable September.

July Reflections

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I look at this old photo that I took at the Salt Flats near the Utah/Nevada border and marvel at the calmness of that morning a few years ago. July has been a tumultuous month, plain and simple, but we are here at a calm spot at the end of this month, taking some deep breaths before moving into August.

Once again, I did not get much reading done this month. Too much Life happening. But yesterday I actually sat down with a new graphic novel, called Dancing at the Pity Party, by Tyler Feder, and started reading again. It felt wonderful to just sit and read on a hot afternoon!

I was also able to finish my Classics Club Spin book, so I’ll try to post my review of The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle, in the next few days.

Stay cool in this summer heat, my friends!

My July in brief:

Heat! Although we haven’t reached the 113 degree temperatures of last summer, we’ve had too many 100+ days this month. No central air conditioning in our old home, so we spend much of our day and night managing the fans and window air conditioners so that we can keep the house as cool as possible. It’s been a challenge!
Our grandson and Scottie’s Drive-In. Our precious grandboy (I probably should call him our “grandman” now because he’s over 6 feet tall and very much a teenager) helps us on weekends. He mows the lawns for us and, afterwards, we provide his current favorite meal —a hamburger and fries from our local burger joint, Scottie’s Drive-In.
Watching TV. We love getting caught up in a good series on TV, and that happened this month with the Netflix series, Our Blues, a South Korean drama that takes place on Jeju Island. We were captured by the intertwining lives of the various characters, and loved our glimpse into another part of Korean culture. The cinematography was especially beautiful.
Remembering my Mom. July 18th marked four years since my Mom’s passing, and I shared photos on my instagram account of the gorgeous sunset we experienced as we left her apartment the night we said goodbye to her. I miss her every day, but I have so many special memories that make me smile.
Red Clover. You may remember my photos of Crimson Clover that fills the agricultural fields around here with brilliant red in early May. Well, the crops of “red clover” bloom in mid-July, and are gorgeous in their more subtle color. Up close, they look pink, not red. And when you look at a field of them, they look a pale lavender color! A crop that is so mis-named!
Studying Spanish. I just reached a milepost in my attempt to regain my fluency in Spanish. I’ve worked on it, using the program Duolingo, every single day for 200 days! I’m rather proud of my learning streak, but I’m even happier to be regaining so much of the language I lost due to not using it very much since my year in Argentina as an exchange student. “Use it or lose it” is so true!
Byron and his treatments. July was cruel to us. The most difficult thing about Byron’s battle with cancer is the metastases in the bones of his hip. In early July, he suffered a pain flare and after a trip to the ER and many tests over a two week period, it was discovered that he has a series of fractures in that hip joint. So being able to go upstairs to sleep has become too difficult. We now have a hospital bed situated in the bay window of our dining room area, and I’m happy to say that it’s a very workable arrangement for now!

: My new graphic novel

: Just too hot!

: Scottie’s Drive-In

: Mom’s special sunset

: Our Blues, tv series

: Daily Spanish practice

: Red Clover

: The new hospital bed

July Thoughts

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Hello, friends. It’s past due time for an update on life and reading. Well, there’s been a lot of life going on, but not a lot of reading for me this month.

July has been an intense month for us filled with too many medical appointments. My focus, and the focus of our family, has ended up being entirely on my husband and his illness. The cancer journey truly is a roller coaster, and the last three weeks have been filled with gigantic ups and downs.

That said, we are still living each precious day to the fullest. Despite physical challenges, we still do as much as Byron’s limited energy allows. We share time with friends and family near and far (mostly on Zoom calls), and we laugh a lot, watch good shows on TV, try out new recipes or take-out food that might taste good to Byron’s chemo-damaged sense of taste, and we cherish our time with our daughter, son, and our precious grandboy.

Byron is reading more than I am right now, and what a potpourri of genres! His current read is The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate, edited by Amy Brady and Tajja Isen. He recently finished the first volume of one of the graphic novels on my shelf called A Man and His Cat, by Umi Sakurai. Before that, he read The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa. And before that, it was a book he liked so much he bought copies for our kids — Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and The Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-Smith.

Early mornings finds me in the garden watering and weeding. I can’t keep up with either, it seems, but it’s nice to be out there. And I have also been working on my project of scanning old slides and photos from the last 53 years!

We are busy with life right now amid the ordered chaos of medical treatments and tests. And we are deeply grateful to our medical team, and to our extended family and friends team, and to our own little family unit team. All of whom bolster us up and help to give us the courage we need to face whatever life brings each day.

A Glimpse of our July in photos: (there are captions to the photos)

Our grandson mowing the lawns…

Phlox in the Butterfly Garden…

Summer 1969 with friends…

Porch cat…

We’re smiling, really!

May Check-in

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A hill nearby covered in Crimson Clover…

I will start with an apology for not checking in sooner and for leaving this blog sitting too quietly for the last while. It has been an up and down month, a very emotional month, since my last post. The update on my husband, Byron, is that he has continued with his chemotherapy treatments with infusions every three weeks, and we have played the waiting game now for 9 weeks to see if the chemo is actually working to [temporarily] halt the progression of his cancer. We had to wait until a certain period of time had passed to repeat his CT scan. The scan was done last Saturday, and we finally received the results yesterday. At this point in time, it is working. *Big sigh of relief here!*

So he will continue with his three-week cycle of infusions, and our lives are adjusting accordingly. The infusions are on Mondays. That first week is a challenge for him, with deep fatigue and other struggles. The second week, he feels better but not great. And the third week, he is almost back to “normal,” feeling well enough to work on projects (although his stamina is low), and have family come to visit. Then, the cycle is repeated …until it no longer works, or the side effects become too much to offset the benefits.

With this major change to our daily/weekly routines, plus the anxiety about whether or not this treatment is working, I simply couldn’t focus enough to read a book, and writing a post seemed too difficult. But, I am very thankful that we have a lovely grief counselor who is helping us through this roller coaster time, and she recommended a book that she thought I would enjoy. I downloaded it onto my Kindle directly after my appointment and read it in just a couple of days.

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II, by Madeline Martin, brought me back to my reading.

Inspired by the true World War II history of the few bookshops to survive the Blitz, The Last Bookshop in London is a timeless story of wartime loss, love and the enduring power of literature.

“The Last Bookshop in London is an irresistible tale which showcases the transformative power of literacy, reminding us of the hope and sanctuary our neighborhood bookstores offer during the perilous trials of war and unrest.”
–Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

My counselor was right! I enjoyed it very much, and all of a sudden, my world seemed to right itself again! She added one other recommendation for me: she suggested I get myself over to Powell’s Bookstore for an hour of wandering. Do you see why I love this counselor?

Back to my apology for leaving you without an update on our situation for so many weeks… I will try to check in with you here, dear blogging friends, at least once a month as we continue on our current health journey. And thank you so much for your care and concern.

Byron heading into Kaiser for his CT scan…

April Activities

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Is it only April 7th today? It seems like April has already been a month long! How much Life can be packed into seven days, anyway? Well, I have to answer my own question with: A LOT!

April Activities thus far:

I have finished two books already in April. I read Round the Bend, by Nevil Shute, for my Classics Club Spin book. I will be reviewing it soon. Then, I listened to the audiobook version of When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi. It’s a beautifully written memoir of a young neurosurgeon’s battle with lung cancer. It made the waiting room time go much faster.

Our daughter came to spend time with us, which is always a delightful time for us. Once again, she helped out with our yard work and gardening, something she loves to do and which we appreciate so deeply.

Our daughter starting the spring clean-up the butterfly garden…

Byron underwent his second chemotherapy infusion, and in these first few days of April, has completely lost his hair. He is tolerating these chemo treatments every three weeks pretty well, with fatigue (and hair loss!) being the main side effects so far. During the times that he is feeling deep fatigue, we have been watching (and really enjoying) a YouTube channel called 4kSeoul. A very talented young man films his walks through the beautiful city of Seoul, South Korea. There is no narration, just sounds of the city surrounding you (especially if you put on your headphones to listen). Byron loves to see the architecture of the city as we walk through different neighborhoods. I am fascinated by the people we see, the energy of that city, and the historical structures we come across on these walks. It’s a fun way to experience a different place and a different culture.

On a walk in Namsan Park, in Seoul, South Korea…

So, hello to April! Life is full and busy for us right now, albeit in some ways we didn’t anticipate, and we are enjoying and appreciating the beauty of early Spring. I hope you are enjoying your April, too!

March Busy-ness

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Early morning walk in late March…

March is turning out to be a very busy month for us. The calendar filled up quickly with both happy and some not-so-happy events for this month. We had a lovely visit from our daughter. She is trying to visit us about every three weeks now, which is so nice for us during this time. I am continuing with my Spanish language learning through the program, Duolingo. I have included my Spanish practice as part of my early morning routine, and I just love it! Another part of my morning routine is my outside walk. It’s been cold in the mornings, but just beautiful outside, so I am enjoying the outdoor time after what feels like a long, gray, too-much-time indoors kinda winter.

We are facing some serious changes in Byron’s cancer treatment. At the end of February, we learned that the treatment he’s been on since his diagnosis is no longer working. That leaves just one treatment possibility left, and that is chemotherapy. So this afternoon, he begins his first cycle of chemo. My word of the year, Courage, is in play for both of us as we face this new unknown territory. Our doctors and support teams have prepared us well, so now we’ll wait and see how well Byron tolerates the treatment and whether or not it will make a positive difference for his condition. This is “palliative chemo,” not “curative chemo,” but our goal, our hope, is that it will allow a better quality of life for now.

So with all this happening, the reading I have been doing is of the kind and gentle type. I am reading another of Miss Read’s Fairacre series, Changes at Fairacre, and it is like balm for my soul. I’m also enjoy reading children’s books, some in Spanish for helping with my language goals. And I read The Garden by the Sea, by Amanda James, which was a sweet romance book that takes place in Cornwall and includes a rather magical garden.

And, of course, with all of this packed into busy weeks, March is just flying by! So, dear friends, I hope you are having a lovely, healthy, book-filled month!