Number 62
Watched "All Quiet on the Western Front" with A this week. I'm not generally very keen on war movies, but it was refreshing to see a war movie that didn't make soldiers out to be heroes. Not that it vilifies soldiers, but it makes the point that soldiers are grunts, out doing things that will likely damage them for the rest of their lives because someone in power decided that they should be done. Really interesting. Of course, the film is set in WWI, so the omnipresent media that we have today didn't exist, but I thought it very effectively made the point that the propaganda that is presented to people when a war is going on is often a crock. Really a poignant, touching movie. I'm glad to have seen it. Oh, and one of the most violent movies I've ever seen, but no/very little blood.

Numbers 1 & 63
Read Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" again, and it's still heartbreaking. In ways that I can't really even describe because there are so very many bits of heartbreak in it. It is a beautiful book, though.

Also read "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, which is instead sweet and light and airy and funny. Highly recommended fluffy stuff for warm days.

Number 33
Andy and I went to the Bahamas (an all-inclusive resort outside of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island). He needed a passport, so the letter of the goal is filled, and there were a great many Europeans there so there were lots of cultural differences to be amused by, but I still think it may not be quite the same. I'm calling this one complete, though. And it was a fantastic little getaway.

Numbers 90 & 91
Why yes, this is a new hat.