Happy Halloween, now with Malcolm

I am not really much of a Halloween person - the best part for me was always the candy, and now that I am an adult I can just buy it for myself - and we don't have any parties to go to, so Malcolm does not have a costume this year. He will just have to be a cute baby instead. That said, babies in costumes are generally adorable. One year, Benjamin and I were at a minor league hockey game around Halloween, and there was a costume contest, where the best costume was judged by the applause of the fans. There were several adults with perfectly serviceable costumes, and a small baby in a Tigger costume. It was no contest - the baby in the Tigger costume won hands down. The applause for the adults was polite; the applause for the baby in the Tigger costume (I keep repeating the whole phrase because that is how it is seared into my memory) was thunderous. You kind of had to feel a little sorry for the adults, because they never had a chance.

And here is Malcolm with Oliver. Oliver is sort of curled up here, so you can't get a great measurement, but you can tell that Malcolm has gained on him quite a bit since the last time they were pictured together.

Book Review: No Quest for the Wicked

Guess what! I have had some time to read lately. Here is a review of the most recent book I read. It is book 6 of a series that I really enjoy - sort of Harry Potter meets Sex in the City, sort of. The first four books were published the traditional way, but the publishers didn't want book 5 (although fans like me certainly did), so the author recently decided to e-publish it and any further books herself. Yay!

No Quest For The Wicked by Shanna Swendson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On her blog, Swendson mentioned that she thought of the previous book as being like a season finale of a TV show, while this one is the start of season two. That seems like a pretty apt comparison. The bad guys from the first 5 books are gone and the main characters have to deal with the fall-out from the magical battle that ended book 5 as well as start on new adventures with new opponents.

After the major revelations and changes at the end of book 5, the excitement has died down at MSI, and Katie is bored - now that the competition is gone, there is very little need for a marketing department. Her boredom quickly disappears when Owen discovers that a dangerous magical object has just turned up in New York, and they may be the only ones who can find it before it causes major magical chaos.

They set off on a quest to find and neutralize the object, along with Sam the gargoyle, their friend Rod, a gnome, a rogue elf, and Katie's magical and somewhat crazy grandmother, who has suddenly arrived in New York from Texas. It is a whirlwind day of chases, near-misses and danger as they have to evade the other magical groups hunting for the object as well.




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Grandpa Comes to Visit

My dad came to visit Malcolm for a week. It was great having him here, and we got to do a lot of different things together.

Like fencing. That's me up there, still nice and rusty after almost 8 months off. But I did get at least one touch.

Pretty soon we will have a foil in his hands too!

Grandpa and Mal, taking it all in.

I also got to play in a tennis tournament - only the third time I've been on a court since the end of April, when I stopped playing because of the heat. The heat was not a problem on Saturday. It was 47 and windy for our 9 AM match.

You will notice I am the only one not all bundled up, and that is only because too many clothes distract me. I'd rather be cold than bundled while playing... Sort of.

The second match was inside and much warmer.

We also went on quite a few walks. Here, Malcolm is in the Snuggli my parents used for me 33 years ago!

Another walk, this time at a local park.

Benjamin thinks he's smiling too much, but I think it is a pretty good family picture.