2020: The Year In Review

2020: The Year In Review

December 19, 2020 / 1 Comment

At the end of each year, I always take a moment to examine the ups and downs I experienced. What follows is my personal and professional review of 2020. I:

* Produced/edited hundreds of breaking news stories about the near-war with Iran, Trump’s impeachment trial, the massive wildfires in Australia and California, the coronavirus pandemic, the busy hurricane season, the racial injustice protests, the 2020 election and numerous celebrity deaths.

* Penned 16 journal entries.

* Passed the 60,000th tweet mark on my personal Twitter account (@jadewalker).

* Began a stay-at-home regimen due to the pandemic on Feb. 26. Took one COVID-19 test (negative) and purchased a dozen masks. Avoided getting sick.

* Maintained two Instagram accounts: @thejadewalker and @catsofjade.

* Read 64 books and numerous magazines.

* Watched 48 TV programs, 64 movies and listened to many podcasts.

* Participated in The Society of Professional Obituary Writers, the New Hampshire Writers Guild, the New York City Writers Group, the South Florida Freelancers Group, the Authors Guild, PEN America and the Silent Book Club, Manchester, NH chapter.

* Planted a container garden and launched a gardening journal.

* Spent months searching for our next home (alas, not in Scotland — damn pandemic). No luck yet.

* Tried to get more sleep. Failed miserably, due to stress.

* Fainted, landed face-first on hard tile, lost a few teeth, fractured my jaw and suffered through a lot of dental work. Now wearing braces.

* Decorated the front and inside of our house for Christmas and mailed 30 Christmas cards.

* Suffered from at least 33 migraines and lost 62 days of my life to pain. Average headache duration: 19 hours.

* Mourned the deaths of my dear Aunt Mona, several colleagues and our 14-year-old cat Brigid.

* Worked my 30th year as a professional journalist. Am once again facing possible layoffs since my news outlet has been sold.

* Celebrated my 20th anniversary as Jade Walker.

* Celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

* Turned 47.

Goals for 2021

* Change careers.

* Avoid any library fines.

* Organize the pantry.

* Plant more flowers and veg in the garden.

* Sleep at least 7 hours a night.

* Work on my fiction.

* Read at least 60 books.

* Practice hygge.

* Win the lottery.
My top 10 favs of 2020: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 6, 2020 / No Comments

Amidst the dumpster fire that was 2020, I consumed 64 books, 48 TV programs, 63 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION

1. If It Bleeds by Stephen King

2. “Fangs” by Sarah Andersen

3. “Book Love” by Debbie Tung

4. “The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern

5. “Dead Things” by Stephen Blackmoore

6. “Broken Souls” by Stephen Blackmoore

7. “The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)” by Terri-Lynne DeFino

8. “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

9. “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune

10. “One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days” by Giles Paley-Phillips

(Honorable mentions: “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg, “Happily Ever After & Everything In Between” by Debbie Tung, “Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley, “The Chain” by Adrian McKinty and “Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre” by Max Brooks.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION

1. “52 Loaves: One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning and a Perfect Crust” by William Alexander

2. “Spectacles” by Sue Perkins

3. “One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America” by Gene Weingarten

4. “At Home: A Short History of Private Life” by Bill Bryson

5. “Chase Darkness With Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders” by Billy Jensen

6. “The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden” by William Alexander

7. “Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me and Nearly Broke My Heart” by William Alexander

8. “Container Gardening Month by Month: A Monthly Listing of Tips and Ideas for Creating a Professional Container Garden” by Gloria Daniels

9. “My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir” by Jason B. Rosenthal

10. “The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir” by Ellie Mathews

(Honorable mentions: “Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving” by Mo Rocca, “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death” by Caitlin Doughty, “101 Organic Gardening Hacks” by Shawna Coronado, “If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie” by Christopher Ingraham and “The World According to Tom Hanks: The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America’s Most Decent Guy” by Gavin Edwards.)

Overall reading ratio: I read 18,979 pages — 57% fiction, 43% nonfiction; 48% male authors, 52% female authors.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS

1. Escape to the Country
2. Gardener’s World
3. Love Your Garden
4. The Great British Baking Show
5. Somebody Feed Phil
6. Travelers
7. Evil
8. Chef’s Table: BBQ
9. Why Women Kill
10. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

(Honorable mentions: 9-1-1, Supernatural, Diagnosis, The Mandalorian, Lenox Hill, America’s Test Kitchen, Nadiya’s Time to Eat, Grand Designs, Flashpoint, The Resident, 9-1-1 Lonestar and Barry.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. The Booksellers
2. If Anything Happens I Love You
3. Dear Santa
4. The Report
5. 1917
6. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
7. Bushwick
8. Betty White: First Lady of Television
9. The Quiet Place
10. Kedi

(Honorable mentions: The Old Guard, Enola Holmes, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Marriage Story, Toy Story 4, Christopher Robin, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story and Onward.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi
2. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
3. Small Town Dicks
4. Against the Rules
5. Mobituaries
6. Christmas Past
7. 99% Invisible
8. Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda
9. The Anthropocene Reviewed
10. David Tennant Does A Podcast With…
and
Sue Perkins: An Hour or So With… (tie)

(Honorable mentions: Radiolab, Criminal, Death Sex & Money, Sidedoor, Fresh Air, Dear Hank & John, Nocturne, Awards Chatter, The Christmas Stocking and The Daily.)
2019: The Year In Review

December 26, 2019 / No Comments

At the end of each year, I always take a moment to examine the ups and downs I experienced. What follows is my personal and professional review of 2019. I:

* Produced/edited hundreds of breaking news stories about the presidency — and impeachment — of Donald Trump, the investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election, another government shutdown, numerous mass shootings (including 3 in one week), Brexit, the wildfires in California, Australia and Brazil, Hurricane Dorian, the protests in Hong Kong, immigration and the continued forced separation/detention of children at the border, the college admissions scam, the run-up to the 2020 election, dozens of celebrity deaths and the birth of a royal baby.

* Penned 21 journal entries.

* Passed the 58,000th tweet mark on my personal Twitter account (@jadewalker).

* Updated The Written Word and The 10th Muse mailing lists.

* Maintained two Instagram accounts: @thejadewalker and @catsofjade. Finally became verified.

* Wrote 3 short stories.

* Submitted a photograph into the Manchester Art Contest and saw it framed and displayed at a local hotel.

* Entered a contest to win a writer’s retreat in the UK.

* Read 60 books and numerous magazines.

* Watched 46 films and dozens of TV programs.

* Went leafing in the White Mountains.

* Traveled to Quebec City for the first time.

* Spent a weekend in New York City.

* Participated in The Society of Professional Obituary Writers, the New Hampshire Writers Guild, the New York City Writers Group, the South Florida Freelancers Group, the Authors Guild, PEN America and the Silent Book Club, Manchester, NH chapter.

* Helped coordinate ObitCon 2019 and the Grimmys contest.

* Created my second sourdough starter.

* Hosted three friends, six cats and a puppy dog in our home.

* Bought new glasses.

* Suffered through A LOT of dental work.

* Tried to get more sleep. Failed miserably, due to stress.

* Finally had a gas line installed in the kitchen and purchased a beautiful new stove. Also replaced our furnace.

* Planted a container garden and continued to decorate the back yard/deck with a dining table and chairs, a badminton net and a hammock.

* Started composting.

* Donated my hair to Locks of Love.

* Decorated the front and inside of our house for Christmas and mailed 40 Christmas cards.

* Suffered from at least 45 migraines and lost 67 days of my life to pain. Average headache duration: 34 hours, 56 minutes.

* Raised a litter of kittens into adulthood and cared for our two older feline beauties.

* Mourned the deaths of our 9-year-old dog Duncan and our 17-year-old cat Dany.

* Celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.

* Turned 46.

Goals for 2020

* Change careers.

* Avoid library fines.

* Organize the pantry.

* Plant more flowers and veg in the garden.

* Sleep at least 7 hours a night.

* Work on my fiction.

* Read at least 60 books.

* Practice hygge.

* Win the lottery.
In Memoriam: A Look Back At Many Of The People We Lost in 2019

December 21, 2019 / 1 Comment

Some people view obituaries as morbid stories, but in truth only one line of an obit deals with death. The rest of the story focuses on the amazing lives people led.

In 2019, these 20 obituaries featured people whose lives most affected and intrigued me:

* Barbara Brown, staffer and donor at the Field Museum

* Walter Chandoha, cat photographer

* Walter H. Munk, oceanographer

* Bill Caprio, animal-rescue hero

* Lenny Gilleo, barber

* Jim Nicholson, obit writer

* Carmine J. Persico, Mafia boss

* Mike Greco, the Salami King and Mayor of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx

* Jim DeHorn, Mister Tree

* Georgia Sheehan, candy dipper

* Stephen Mullins, founder of Toby jugs museum

* Molly O’Neill, food writer

* Hal Prince, Broadway producer and director

* Richard Booth, bookshop owner and King of Hay-on-Wye

* Dr. Seymour Diamond, founder of U.S.’s first private headache clinic

* Werner G. Doehner, the last survivor of the Hindenburg disaster

* Susan and Carl Chase, artist and musician (respectively)

* Minnie Mae Freeman Penney, teacher

* Caroll Spinney, puppeteer behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch

* Johanna Lindsey, romance novelist
My top 10 favs of 2019: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 12, 2019 / No Comments

Amidst the madness of the world, I consumed 59 books, 46 movies, dozens of TV programs and many podcasts this year. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

1. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede

2. “The Institute” by Stephen King

3. “The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars” by America’s Test Kitchen

4. “The Complete Slow Cooker: From Appetizers to Desserts – 400 Must-Have Recipes That Cook While You Play (or Work)” by America’s Test Kitchen

5. “Cook It in Cast Iron: Kitchen-Tested Recipes for the One Pan That Does It All” by Cook’s Country

6. “Britain by the Book” by Oliver Tearle

7. “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean

8. “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett

9. “Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier” by Vincent Wyckoff

10. “Something Warm From the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories” by Eileen Goudge

(Honorable mentions: “Christmas Teatime: Celebrating the Holiday with Afternoon Tea” by Lorna Ables Reeves, “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen, “The Story of The Great British Bake Off” by Anita Singh, “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” by Neil Gaiman, “Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir” by Ruth Reichl, “The Hit” by David Baldacci, “Sleeping Beauties” by Stephen and Owen King, “Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast” by Bill Richardson, “Have a Nice Day” by Billy Crystal and Quinton Peeple, “The Innocent” by David Baldacci, “Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig, “The Dreamers” by Karen Thompson Walker, “Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs” by Monty Don, “Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey” by A.J. Jacobs and “Lights on the Sea” by Miquel Reinaand.)

Overall reading ratio: I read 17,501 pages — 53% fiction, 47% nonfiction; 61% male authors, 30% female authors, 9% other.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. The Great British Baking Show
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. Escape to the Country
4. Gardeners’ World
5. Love Your Garden
6. Downton Abbey
7. The Kominsky Method
8. One Day at a Time
9. Broadchurch
10. Big Dreams Small Spaces

(Honorable mentions: Escape to the Continent, Shetland, A Million Little Things, 9-1-1, Santa Clarita Diet, A Discovery of Witches, Stranger Things, Modern Love, Elementary, Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father, Jack Whitehall: At Large, Jessica Jones, Stephen Fry in America, Good Omens, Grace and Frankie, Supernatural, The Bodyguard, Comedians in Cars Having Coffee and Grimm.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. Yesterday
2. If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
3. Avengers: Endgame
4. Never Surrender
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
6. Finding Hygge
7. Judy
8. Downton Abbey
9. Doctor Sleep
10. Brene Brown: The Call to Courage

(Honorable mentions: Klaus, Blackkklansman, Green Book, Shazam, Captain Marvel, Jumanji: The Next Level, Knives Out and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
2. Small Town Dicks
3. Mobituaries
4. Christmas Past
5. 10 Minute Writers Workshop
6. 99% Invisible
7. Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda
8. The Anthropocene Reviewed
9. Radiolab
10. Criminal

(Honorable mentions: David Tennant Does A Podcast With…, Death, Sex & Money, Sidedoor, Fresh Air, Dear Hank & John, Nocturne, Let Me Google That, The Bookshelf, Reply All, Rumble Strip and The Christmas Stocking.)