I don't understand the no ketchup on hot dog thing. When I was a child, almost everyone I knew put ketchup on their hot dog. I thought it was standard practice.

I managed to live this long without knowing who Brittany Broski is, even though I've seen the meme. I thought it was some random anonymous person.

I can't tell you what to do, but I'm not going to tell other people what to do if they haven't explicitly asked for advice.

As many of you already know, Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, died recently. If you haven't read Persepolis, you should. It's incredible. And you will learn so much. She really made a difference in this world.

So, we bought an air fryer ...

I told my boyfriend I'm the only one standing between us and food poisoning. He's a master of cross-contamination.

I did the Medicare memory test yesterday and when the nurse gave me the three words to remember I said those are the same ones as last year and she said I think you'll pass.

#BannedBookSkyClub schedule: June 2026: Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf July 2026: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams August 2026: Kindred by Octavia Butler September 2026: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Link to feed in replies. #BookSky Please join us.

I don't want to jinx it, but I think I fixed the riding mower after the repair shop halfway fixed it. You can't just clean a carburetor. You need to flush the oil to get all the gas out if the engine's been flooding and gas is getting into the crankcase. And clean/replace the spark plug.

#BannedBookSkyClub announcement: The September 2026 book will be Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, discussion begin date TBA. Link to feed in replies. Please join us. See pinned post on my profile page for schedule. #BookSky

#BannedBookSkyClub schedule: June 2026: Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf July 2026: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams August 2026: Kindred by Octavia Butler September 2026: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Link to feed in replies. #BookSky Please join us.

The new neighbors who had small children now have a "Class of 2026" sign in their yard. Where did the time go?

A heartfelt THANK YOU to the readers who joined in the #BannedBookSkyClub #OneHundredYearsOfSolitude discussion. Next up in June 2026: #MrsDalloway by Virginia Woolf. I will start sharing talking points on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (or possibly the night before, depending on my schedule). #BookSky

I've bought books to support authors at book launches and signings but haven't read them. Maybe I will someday.

I read, you read, we all read books, sung to the tune of the Ice Cream song. #BookSky

Is it a bug or a piece of fuzz? The eternal question.

Teaching faculty are the front line for making academic libraries relevant to the university. Schedule library instruction classes. Encourage students to use the library. Require students to use library resources for assignments. (But, get feedback from librarians for scavenger hunts) #AcademicSky

It's fun not being a celebrity or influencer.

The June 2026 #BannedBookSkyClub book is #MrsDalloway by Virginia Woolf. I will start sharing talking points on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (or possibly the night before, depending on my schedule). Please join us! Link to feed in replies. #BookSky

I may be biased, but in academia, I believe the library is the heart of the university.

The June 2026 #BannedBookSkyClub book is #MrsDalloway by Virginia Woolf. I will start sharing talking points on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (or possibly the night before, depending on my schedule). Please join us! Link to feed in replies. #BookSky

My husband once noted that 100 Years was more often cited as Marquez's best work by his male friends while women tended to prefer Love in the Time of Cholera. I do prefer LitToC, and re-reading 100 Years reminded me that there is no strong female voice in this book. Both are amazing works

I grew broccoli from seed in my garden. It feels like quite the accomplishment. #VegetableGardening

Historical myth vs fact is a tricky thing. It seems like the only was to rigidly preserve history over time is with the written word. Memories fade and change, and the stories we tell one another change with the telling, the audience, and the agenda. Once we forget, fact and myth blend together.

"They were so close to each other that they preferred death to separation." I loved this quote because it reminded me of when I was younger and could still feel that level of desire. There was a time when I thought I could crack open the world with with my desire and passion for my loved ones.

The messiest of family trees. Maybe even multiple trees grafted together to form one big tree, with tangled branches, beautiful leaves, and places of rot and decay due to bugs, too much rain, and the impact of time.

We are, if we know our parents/ family. And how do we break the cycle? What do we learn from a novel like this to try to interrupt the pattern and forge a different path? But in the end, is it futile? I hope not.

My boyfriend puts his t-shirts on head first, collar fully on, and then puts his arms through the sleeves, and it just looks weird to me.

I had an additional thought about the plague. It was brought to Macondo by Rebeca, an indigenous person. Her village was suffering from it. What if Garcia Marquez is using the plague as a commentary on colonialism? The Europeans did their best to force native peoples to “forget” their culture. 1/2

It's quite the visual, at the end, disturbing and a full circle moment. It felt inevitable and that we had received a lot of information leading us to this ending, so not surprised.

I agree with the other readers. I'll add that it felt like the loss of the ability to remember was a commentary on rewriting history and allowed for them to not learn from the past. We have short memories and it feels as though we sleepwalk through life at times too.

I was intrigued my Melquiades and his influence on the men in the family. Was it a nod to a supernatural being guiding and predicting their life? Some seeing his ghost and others not? Bringing them things for innovation and their ultimate decline into solitude...

For what it's worth, people have been saying "nobody reads anymore" for decades, or as long as I can remember, but there will always be readers and nonreaders. I recommend being a reader.

You won't find the perfect social media site, but you might peel an orange in one piece or grow a perfectly ripe zucchini or tomato.

Agreed. The novel described performative patriarchy, with its rigid roles, machismo, and severely limited options for women. Under this system, there are only 3 options for women, marriage, a convent, or prostitution. Love isn’t an option for anyone. It’s all role conformity.

It felt like the focus was almost all on the men and from the men's perspective. We got glimpses into the women but I often wondered about them as the story continued. It felt like the women were the rocks in the stream the men flowed around.

That's it's circular, performative and unnecessary. It's a choice, often one thought to be inevitable by those who think force and violence is best. Then others are brought along, get pulled in, can't get out, go back time and again because of boredom or an inability to conceive of a different way.

Just like 1984, it's too easy for people to forget the truth, for the government and others to retell history in a way that feeds their narrative, and that our memories are short.

It seemed like a metaphor for creation and destruction. The town thrived in the beginning partially for the isolation. But it was infected with politics, religion, war and corporations. Unlike the Buendias, the more it accepted outside influences, the more it deteriorated.

This novel is one of the cornerstones of Latin American literature. It should be read by as many people as possible. Not only is it entertaining, but the theme is very important. It's also probably the funniest tragedy ever written. It's a warning and a wild ride.

"El mundo era tan reciente, que muchas cosas carecían de nombre, y para mencionarlas había que señalarlas con el dedo". /// "El secreto de una buena vejez no es otra cosa que un pacto honrado con la soledad".

"The world was so new that many things lacked names, and in order to mention them one had to point at them." /// "The secret of a good old age is nothing more than an honest pact with solitude."

Certainly. I know so little of the country's history, as an environmental science teacher I am excited by the current climate policy in Columbia and knowing more about the past is important.

I think of it as the ability to apply magical thinking to reality - escaping into a protective place that gets you through what's really happening, helping you accept or explain.

I didn't know what was coming so struggled at first, but then understood how the magical parts were being used and was able to suspend belief. I think if I re-read this I would have an even better experience the second time.

It did. And, it ended up disappointing me a bit as I continued to read. I felt it set me up for something it never fully delivered.

The building of a new city away from others, the doors shut within the home, the individual's focus on themselves, the ending of a family line because it all circles back.

I went to Costco earlier today. It was packed, and there were long lines at the gas station. But I got 2 dozen organic pastured raised eggs for $7.99.

Excuse me while I force myself to go to the gym.

I think it’s the turn in the novel where things are not right. As a whole, It’s a metaphor for collective amnesia. A whole community slowly losing its past, its identity, its shared story. Memory isn’t just personal, it holds a society together…