Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Spend My Weekends

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Of course, there are often errands and appointments to take care of over the weekend like dental cleanings, getting this year’s flu and covid vaccines, grocery shopping, mailing off birthday cards to relatives, or buying a new shower curtain.  My assumption this week is that we’re focusing on fun things we do on weekends instead of the necessary grownup stuff.

I’ve already talked about a lot of my interests in previous Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge posts, so I’d imagine this isn’t going to be a particularly surprising post for anyone who has followed me for a while.

How I spent my weekends depends on the season. If it’s spring or autumn and rain is not in the forecast, I like to go outdoors and enjoy places like walking trails, parks, or beaches (which, aside from the general lack of waves and saltwater creatures, look and feel a lot like Pacific or Atlantic beaches because of how huge Lake Ontario is. You can gaze out upon it and see nothing but water shimmering from here to the horizon. It’s spectacular.)

Toronto Island is a particularly fun place to visit because of how much there is to do there. They have an amusement park, a maze made from large trimmed evergreen bushes, beaches, petting zoo, cycling trails, golf courses, haunted lighthouse, and so much more. It can be an expensive day if you want to ride all of the rides, but it can also be a free one other than the cost of your ferry ticket and whatever food you pack for a picnic. I love versatile options like this.

Nature is so soothing to me.

Late November is a tossup when it comes to enjoying the outdoors. It might be relatively warm and dry (about a high of 10 Celsius or 50 Fahrenheit) on the odd day, but it can also easily be snowing, sleeting, foggy, raining, and/or bitterly cold at this time of year.

A photo of a painting called “Woman With Bangs” by Pablo Picasso. The painting is of a sad-looking woman who does, indeed, have bangs in her dark brown hair. She is looking morosely to the side in this painting. There is a blue hue to the painting that only makes it look even sadder. On damp, chilly days, I do things like:

  • Go to the library for bookish events or to visit their free little museums of vintage books
  • Buy a tea or a vegan donut at a coffee shop
  • Do dance, kickboxing, yoga, or weightlifting workouts at home
  • Watch Spanish films (I’m understanding a lot more Spanish now!)
  • Take short walks out in the snow if it’s only moderately cold
  • Go out for coffee or dinner with a friend
  • Get all holiday shopping done ASAP so I can avoid the huge crowds next month
  • Take a nap
  • Play board or card games
  • Spend too much time on social media (If we’re being honest here 😄)
  • Find fun, free cultural events like food festivals, musical events, art shows, vegan Christmas markets, etc.  They’re not as numerous now, but they do still happen!
  • Visit museums that have cool new exhibits. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to see some of Picasso’s paintings, one of which I included in this post. It just depends on who they have in the gallery.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to Nicole@BookWyrm Knits for submitting this theme. You’re a lovely person who came up with a fun idea for this week.

A photo of three hardcover books bound together tightly by a thick piece of twine and placed on their spines. There is an orange leaf tucked into the twine just below the knot in it as well as some other orange and brown autumn leaves scattered on the burlap cloth these books are sitting on. Honestly, I do not think my answers are going to be very impressive this week. When I was a teenager, I read dozens of classic novels and enjoyed many of them. The classics I have still not yet read are, for the most part, books that do not appeal to me for a variety of reasons and that I will probably never read.

Almost everything I read these days has been published within the last five or so years unless someone who shares my taste in book recommends something older or I happen to find an older title some other way that sounds amazing.

Most of what I read these days are ebooks from my local library and they typically buy new or new-ish titles for our community instead of older ones.

So let’s see how old the oldest books on my library TBR list might be. There are a couple of Young Adult titles I may or may not ever get around to as I don’t read much from that genre anymore, but I’m keeping them on this list to prevent any 2024 titles from sneaking up on us.
I’ll start with the most recently published of the ten and move backwards from there.
1. When It All Syncs Up by Maya Ameyaw
Publication Date: June 6, 2023
Genre: Young Adult
2. The Spite House: A Novel by Johnny Compton
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
Genre: Paranormal Horror (the best sort of horror if you ask me 😉 )
Publication Date: February 3, 2023
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fairy Tales
Publication Date: January 21, 2023
Genre: Paranormal Horror (See also: #2 on this list. Hehe. )
5. All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie, Ulf Bjorklund
Publication Date: October 18, 2022
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publication Date: September 14, 2021
Genre: Young Adult (This one would be a reread. I adored the premise but was really not a fan of certain choices the author made in her characterization and plot development. Maybe I’d enjoy it better a second time around?)
7. My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay
Publication Date: August 29, 2019
Genre: Memoir
8. Pompeii by Robert Harris
Publication Date: November 20, 2014
Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction
Publication Date: October 19, 2011
Genre: History, Biography
Publication Date: January 1, 2007
Genre: Self-Help, Psychology
And, no, that last book has not been on my TBR list for (nearly) 18 years. It was only recently purchased by the library just like the rest of them. Ha!

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Urban Magic: A Review of Bodega Botanica Tales

Book cover for Bodega Botanical Tales by Marianne Rodriguez Bross. Image on cover shows a preteen Hispanic boy who is wearing jeans, white sneakers, and a puffy black jacket standing in the doorway to a greenhouse. What’s interesting about this scene is that the door appears to be outdoors in an alley or urban street as you can see a brick wall surrounding it and some trash on the sidewalk nearby. The greenhouse is lush and filled with flowers and other healthy plants. Title: Bodega Botanica Tales

Author: Maria Rodriguez Bross

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 5, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 46 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Eleven-year-old Jose has always felt invisible, surrounded by problems no one seems to notice—an empty belly, neighborhood bullies, and a mysterious green-and-yellow bracelet given to him by the Bodega man. One fateful day, as Jose’s struggles reach a breaking point, he is rescued by a supernatural being who transports him to a magical bodega that transports him to a breathtaking, enchanted rainforest filled with magic and mystery. In this extraordinary world, Jose meets another supernatural being, named Don Wicho, who grants him a single wish that will change his life forever. Without hesitation, he makes his wish, desperate to escape his troubles. But once he returns to reality, the boundaries between fantasy and his own world begin to blur. As Jose grows older, he wrestles with the consequences of his wish. Was it all just a dream born of childhood anxiety or did it truly happen? When a chance meeting with someone from his past brings up traumatic memories back to the surface, Jose realizes he is not ready to confront the past. But every wish has a cost, and the consequences of that wish are confirmed. Bodega Botanica Tales- Jose’s Story is the first tale in a series of a magical, coming-of-age stories about courage, resilience, and the price of wishes. Perfect for readers who love fantasy, adventure, and magical bodegas.

Content Warning: Bullying, theft, mental illness, and a developmentally-delayed child.

Review:

Cities are full of secrets.

So much of the fantasy I’ve read was set either out in the woods or in tiny little towns near vast stretches of nature that it was refreshing to read something from an urban environment. Being surrounded by thousands of other people doesn’t mean someone can’t still feel alone or in need to guidance from paranormal sources, and I enjoyed the ways Ms. Rodriguez Bross explored how the unseen world might operate in such a setting.

The world building was strong and memorable. I loved the way the neighbourhood bodega was also a character of sorts in this short story. It influenced the lives of the people who visited it in all sorts of intriguing ways, both magical and realistic. Readers who have been lucky enough to live near a bodega will have a few extra treats to enjoy as they read this, but one doesn’t have to have that particular life experience in order to get something fabulous out of this.

Jose was a relatable protagonist who didn’t always know which decision was the right one to make but who did have good intentions in life. Yes, he was a preteen, but this didn’t feel like a middle grade story and that was part of the charm of it and of this character as well. The storyline was a little more serious and gritty than most middle grade fiction even though I’d agree that some kids may relate to those aspects and enjoy them just as much as adults can. In the end, I think the author was right in marketing this to adults, but I appreciated how easily Jose’s concerns about his family could cross over to younger audiences, too, as he decided how to handle everything from his sister’s physical health problems to his mother’s mental health problems and the bullying he was experiencing from other kids. Writing to more than one audience like this isn’t easy, so I appreciated the chance to view Jose from multiple perspectives as he grew older.

Bodega Botanica Tales made me yearn for a sequel. Bravo!

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Thoughts on the Mystery Genre

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Photo of a magnifying class that is enlarging a cryptographic message printed on a white piece of paper. The message includes a few letters but is mostly comprised of symbols and pictograms. Mysteries are a great form of escapism.

I love the way that books in this genre virtually always end with justice being served and criminals being held accountable for their actions, especially since neither of those things are at all guaranteed to happen in real life.

Figuring out how clues fit together amuses me, too. I’ve previously mentioned not being a big fan of red herrings, but I do like when a clue can be interpreted in more than one way. This leaves plenty of space for readers – and protagonists – to change our mind about who the culprit is depending on which explanation of what is going on we decide to accept as the most accurate one. It can also be a nice way to practice skills like critical thinking, observation, and developing a stronger memory.

While I don’t read a lot of romances, paranormal romantic mysteries can be appealing to me. This is especially true if they’re set in the past, involve ghosts, and/or are about a cold case. It makes me smile to think of a ghost helping to solve his or her own murder case before finally being able to rest for good.

My favourite niche in this genre are cozy mysteries. Not only do they often have delightful puns in their titles, many of them seem to be set in or near cozy places like bakeries, libraries, or coffee shops. This softens the edges of the murders in them and makes it more likely that I’ll keep reading.

Historical mysteries can be interesting, too, as they generally feature characters who lived many years before the development of modern investigation protocols like dusting for fingerprints or testing blood or hair left at the scene that might have belonged to the culprit. This can leave a lot of room for other types of evidence like eyewitness testimony, letters or diary entries that talk about the crime, or, if the investigator is lucky, maybe even a straightforward confession!

In short, I think this genre is cool  to visit on occasion and am open to any suggestions you all may have from the cozy, paranormal,  historical, and/or romantic mystery subgenres.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Destination Titles


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to Rachel@Sunnyside for submitting this topic!

My goal for this week is to make all of my answers relate to Canada as I think my country deserves more attention in the literary world. Let’s see if I can do it and come up with answers other than the Anne of Green Gables series.

I’m going to guess that most Top Ten Tuesday bloggers are from the United States. If you’re comfortable sharing which country you live in, I’d like to find out if I’m right about that!

A photo taken of an empty country road in late autumn. All of the trees on both sides of the road have revealed their fall colours, and some of the trees are beginning to look sparse as their yellow, red, orange, or brown leaves fall off. 1.Montreal : a poem by John Glassco

2.Paris in April by Allan Dare Pearce

3.  The Moons of Jupiter by Alice Munro

4. Canada by Richard Ford

5. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

6. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry

7. Wychman Road by Ben Berman Ghan

8. Fire on the Hill by Frank Rockland

9. The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson

10. The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy

11. Random Passage (Random Passage, #1) by Bernice Morgan

 

 

12. Beyond the Shining Mountains by Doris Shannon

 

 

 

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A Review of Veterans of Love and War: A First World War Ghost Story

Book cover for Veterans of Love and War: A First World War Ghost Story by Steven Glick. Image on cover is a black and white photo of a young, white, male soldier who is wearing an old uniform and, oddly enough for this era, smiling a little. Title: Veterans of Love and War: A First World War Ghost Story

Author: Steven Glick

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: February 13, 2024

Genres: Mystery, Paranormal, LGBTQ, Historical

Length: 15 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Dreams and reality merge in this fateful story of a World War One soldier’s homecoming.

Content Warning: Grief, war, and death. Nothing is graphically described,  but World War I was not exactly a cheerful era.

Review:

The destructive forces of war should never be underestimated.

Social conventions can change rapidly over the generations, so I appreciated how clearly Mr. Glick explained exactly what and wasn’t expected from men, women, spouses, and children in the late 1910s as far as how they behaved and what interests they were supposed to have. For example, men were expected to suppress certain emotions no matter what was going on in their lives. These details were important for understanding part of the reason why David, the young soldier who was coming home for a short leave, felt so out of place in the world.

In some other genres, the foreshadowing here would have been too strong, but for this particular tale it was perfect. Claire, David’s mother, had access to so little information about how the war was going or how her son was doing that readers needed these hints in order for her walk home from Christmas shopping to make sense. (It was roughly 1918, after all, and decades away from anything like the Internet to keep families connected during tough times). Figuring out the plot twists in advance wasn’t the point here in my opinion. Instead, I gently followed along as Claire bought some very last minute gifts and worried about her child.

The ending fit the themes of this story nicely. Interestingly enough, it also provided the most mysterious elements of this piece!, so keep reading if the beginning and middle don’t feel like a typical mystery to you. I enjoyed the way the author played around with the expectations of this genre and thought it blended in well with the paranormal and LGBTQ+ themes, too. Sometimes things need to be rearranged a little in order to successfully mix genres together, and it worked quite well here, indeed.

Veterans of Love and War: A First World War Ghost Story was poignant and beautiful.

 

(If you liked this review or want more paranormal World War I stories in your life, go check out my reviews of An English Heaven and The Last Photograph of John Buckley.)

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things I’ve Learned from Another WWBC Blogger

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A photo of a white neon sign that says “think about things differently.” The word differently is spelled backwards. This sign has been placed against a black background so it really stands out!Here are my answers for this week’s prompt.

George taught me that food can be a sensitive topic for some people. I appreciate his candor about his eating disorder and am proud of how far he’s come so far. (I hope I’m not embarrassing him by bringing this up as it’s truly not my intention. He is a gem.).

On a lighter note, Michael introduced me to Festivus Geekiatum, a holiday he invented to help deal with the doldrums of winter at the end of February when it feels like spring may never arrive. What a fantastic holiday to look forward to at that time of year!

I celebrated it last year and intend to again this year. If anyone else wants to join in, I’ll happily promote your post on my blog, too.  Just leave a comment with a link to your post or let me know through some other way if we’re friends elsewhere on line.

Thank you both for widening my perspective of our world. I appreciate it.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Covers with Fog on the Cover


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Photo of a pine forest that is covered in fog. The forest is covering a large hill - or possibly a small mountain - so the trees further away from the fog are much clearer than the ones in the thick of it. This looks to be a hazy and overcast day even before the fog rolled in. Here’s a fun fact about me: I love foggy days so long as I don’t have to travel anywhere during them. (Driving in fog is too dangerous for me to ever look forward to it!)

There’s something poetic about seeing how this sort of weather blurs the edges of the buildings, trees, and other places I know so well when I can view it from the safety and comfort of home, though.

Here are ten books with foggy, misty, or otherwise hazy covers.

 

Book cover for The Mist by Stephen King. Image on cover shows the title spelled out in a thick white mist above a drawing of four people wearing protective gear walking through thick fog as they shine their lights to dimly illuminate the path before them. Above them there is a superimposed image of a white man covering his face with his hands and peeking out between his fingers in fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Mist by Stephen King

 

Book cover for House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. Image on cover is a black and white sketch of an old farmhouse at dusk. Fog is enveloping the land and blurring the house as well as the dry grasses growing tall beside it. This appears to be set in late autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

 

Book cover for The Prince of Mist (Niebla, #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Image on cover shows mist that has formed into the rough shape of a person. It is thick, white, and a little frightening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Prince of Mist (Niebla, #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

 

Book cover for Fog Magic by Julia L. Sauer. Image on cover is a black and white sketch of a young girl standing outdoors on a very foggy day as she looks toward the small house her family has in the middle of a pine forest. She has long blond hair that is loosely braided, is wearing a flannel shirt, and is cuddling a baby raccoon strangely enough. She has a pensive expression on her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Fog Magic by Julia L. Sauer

 

Book cover for The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury. Image on cover shows an impressionist style painting of a lighthouse surrounded by very thick layers of fog. You can’t see the ocean or anything other than fog everywhere, a dim outline of the lighthouse, and a weak beam of light shining from the top of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury

 

Book cover for Mean Streak by Sandra Brown. Image on cover shows a photo of someone wearing a long black winter jacket and walking outside in the snow on a foggy day. Superimposed on this image is the side view of a white woman’s face as she stares off thoughtfully into the distance, although we cannot see what she sees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

 

Book cover for The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill. Image on cover shows a painting of several people walking down a town street on a very foggy day. You can’t see any identifying features for anyone, just their long, dark coats and the outlines of their heads. You can also see a horse pulling a carriage down the street but they, too, are distorted and blurred out by the thick and unyielding fog that makes everything look grey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill

 

Book cover for Fog Island by Tomi Ungerer. Image on cover is a drawing of two children rowing in a boat next to a barren, tall rock island. It’s a very foggy day, so the sky is dark grey and everything in this scene is muted by how much fog is everywhere. You can only see basic outlines of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Fog Island by Tomi Ungerer

 

Book cover for The Fog by Kyo Maclear. Image the cover of this picture book is a drawing of a little Asian kid who is wearing a red rain jacket and peering at a yellow bird through binoculars outside on a foggy day. Adorably enough, the bird also has a pair of binoculars and is peering right back at her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. The Fog by Kyo Maclear

 

Book cover for Sleepwalker in a Fog by Tatyana Tolstaya. Image on cover is a blurry photo of someone standing outside in a forest. It looks like they are surrounded by a layer of thick fog, although it could have also been created by overexposing the film. You can just barely make out the forest behind the person and the person themself who appears to be wearing a thick sweater and jeans as they wander around aimlessly and slightly hunched over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Sleepwalker in a Fog by Tatyana Tolstaya

 

 

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A Review of Old Forests and Older Things Within

Book cover for Old Forests and Older Things Within by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover is a photo taken of a mountain range on a very foggy day. It’s so foggy, in fact, that this looks like a black and white photo! You can see pine forests growing on the smaller mountains (or maybe large hills) in the foreground, but the fog grows thicker as you look up. It’s an overcast day and only thin ribbons of sunlight make it through the clouds overhead. Title: Old Forests and Older Things Within

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 9, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 25 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:

Victor Martinez-Silva thought he was going to enjoy a leisurely vacation in Peru with his wife.

As they were hiking up to the ruins of Choquequirao, something happened to his wife, Amy–something Victor couldn’t explain, much less stop.

However, a stranger found them in the nick of time, and he seemed to know exactly what to do.

Enjoy this short story introducing Lawrence G. Samson, hunter of otherworldly monstrosities hiding on our planet, waiting for the opportunity to wreak havoc on humanity!

Content Warning: parasitic infection

Review:

Hikes are supposed to be relaxing, right?

Nature can be a little intimidating at times for some of us, so I appreciated the fact that Mr. Kohn leaned into this fear in order to set the scene. There’s nothing like a character being many miles away from help in an emergency to highlight just how quickly things can go wrong and how much courage it takes to race to safety when the unthinkable happens. If any outdoors readers check this tale out, I’d love to read your takes on the themes here as I’m sure they can be a read differently by experienced hikers and campers.

I would have liked to see a little more time showing the characters’ personalities. Obviously, the fast pacing and short length can’t leave a lot of room for exposition, but I’d struggle to describe the characters if someone asked me what it would be like to meet them other than to say that Lawrence didn’t always give the clearest instructions and Victor didn’t always comprehend what he was asked to do because of how panicked he was about his wife’s condition. This could have easily been expanded upon in a few more paragraphs, and I would have happily gone with a five-star rating if the author had made that choice. Everything else about it was well written.

One of my challenges as a book blogger involves figuring out how to talk about twist endings without giving them away in my reviews. The twist is this tale was something I suspected might be coming, but I’m not the sort of reader who has to be surprised in order to enjoy something. It was still fun to see how it played out once Victor had more information about what was happening. I suspect that he would have figured it out sooner under calmer circumstances as my first impression of him was of someone who is generally capable and smart.

Old Forests and Older Things Within was an atmospheric autumn read.

 

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Superstitions I Secretly Believe In

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

 

Photo of two teardrop shaped mirrors in wooden frames that have been hung on a black wall. Reflected in the mirror you can see the white covers and white pillows on a bed that’s been made but is still a little rumpled. (I received my annual covid and flu vaccines yesterday, so I may be a little late responding to other people’s posts depending on how I’m feeling today.)

I am not a very superstitious person, but these are the superstitions I do follow. Yes, I know most of them are nonsensical, but somehow they still feel important to me.

Crossing fingers for good luck.

When someone I care about is waiting to hear if they’re being offered a job, or what their test results are from the doctor’s office, or any other number of things that could change their lives for the better or worse but that I have no way to influence in a positive direction, I cross my fingers for them and hope for the best.

 

Don’t walk underneath ladders.

I mean, honestly, this is common sense. A collapsing or unsteady ladder could really hurt you or someone nearby.

 

Saying gesundheit or bless you after someone sneezes.

Can I assume that the majority of you know about gesundheit? It’s the German word for health and a pretty common blessing after a sneeze here in North America. I cannot hear someone sneeze without saying either that word or bless you even though logically I know they’re not actually a cure for anyone. It simply feels wrong to ignore sneezes or not wish other people good health.

 

Four leaf clovers bring good luck.

I have never found one, but I have searched for them now and again since childhood. Maybe someday I’ll find one and reap the good luck of not plucking it as I’d rather let it grow in peace!

 

Knocking on wood for good luck and/or to avoid tempting fate.

I didn’t know about the history of this practice. It’s simply something I saw happening occasionally when I was growing up that was presented as a good idea.

 

Don’t place mirrors so that they face each other in a room

My spouse taught me this one. It’s apparently bad luck, and I’ve seen too many spooky tv shows about spirits coming out of mirrors to test fate on this one even though I logically know that nothing would happen.

 

Don’t kiss babies

This is a superstition in a few different cultures. In the southern United States, they would warn not to do it because it will make babies drool, but this is also good medical advice in general. Babies, especially very young ones, have underdeveloped immune systems. What presents as a cold in healthy adults or older children could make a newborn dangerously ill if, for example, you happen to be infected with a cold sore, RSV, or the flu but don’t yet know it.

I did not realize kissing babies was so dangerous when I was younger, but I would not do it now! My apologies to the little ones I kissed before I knew better, but so far as I know I didn’t get any of them sick.

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