Good Things List No.89: Glacier, Waterton, Plastic-Alternative Covers, New Cookbook, and 6 Books Reviewed

A monthly list of good things to see, buy, read and watch – a trip to Glacier and Waterton Lakes, good beeswax bowl covers, my new physical cookbook, plus book reviews and the one thing (besides football) watched in September.

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Well, there’s no doubt that autumn has arrived here in the Willamette Valley – we’ve had rain and clouds the last four days and the leaves are changing.

In the garden the tomatoes are hanging on to their green (I guess I will be using a lot of these green tomato recipes, won’t I?), and the beans, peppers, and basil are all done. I will be harvesting some small cabbages and the last of the beets soon and I’m hopeful the lettuce seedlings I transplanted will give us some harvests in a few weeks, so there is still some things coming in.

I haven’t really decorated for fall because sadly my Baby Boo pumpkins never produced. I do have some corn stalks I’ll add to the porch and try to find a few pumpkins that aren’t orange to add to them. How about you?

The highlight of this month’s list of good things includes our road trip to Glacier which we learned was worth it, even for road-trip adverse people like us, especially if you have a good book to listen to!

Good Things List

Glacier National Park

I planned our big summer trip to Glacier for after Labor Day to avoid the crowds I had read about. I guess we did? Since it was still crowded, I really can’t imagine what it’s like in August.

We had been warned about smoke from wildfires that time of year but thankfully only had a day that it hindered the view. Most days it was just a bit hazy and on our last day it cleared completely and I was able to get some great photos.

We hiked and saw waterfalls, streams, glaciers, and the glorious mountain views that went for miles. We didn’t see too much wild life, just lots of Big Horn Sheep – the first time in a parking lot, lol – and one sighting of a bear going up a hillside across the lake (close enough for us). We took a half-day Red Bus Tour which was fun and worth the price just to hear all about he park and construction of the Going To The Sun Road (I love that kind of stuff).

We stayed on the east side at small motels in St. Mary and Babb which were a lot less expensive than the park or the west side. I also chose that to avoid having to get a timed entry pass to the west entrance. After driving the west side one day, I’m so glad we stayed in the east, since the views were much more spectacular just driving around (the west is more forest which obscures the views until you’re much farther in the park).

Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada

We took one day to drive from Babb to Waterton Lakes just over the border in Canada (we planned it so had our passports) since I had read about the Prince of Wales Hotel and I really wanted to visit.

We decided to make it our anniversary celebration even though it was a week early, and have a meal there. I’m so glad we did – it was beautiful, as was the whole area and Waterton village. We have some of our best memories from our trip there.

High Tea? I originally thought I’d love to get high tea in their lobby with the soaring windows that overlook the lake. Until I saw the price was $64 per person for a few sandwich squares, tea and pastries. Yikes. We instead had a proper meal at the Windsor Lounge in one of the hotel wings. I ordered bangers and mash (which I had last tried in Ireland!) and Brian got a burger (his standard, lol). It was wonderful – delicious with the best service. Our waiter told us all about the hotel and what it was like working there. Just a great memory for our anniversary.

Beeswax Bowl Covers with Elastic

I’ve been using beeswax-elastic bowl covers (similar to these) for about a year now and they’re still going strong. I had wondered if the waxing would fade/melt after awhile and they may in the future but for now they are doing well to cover foods.

I mainly use them to cover bread rising, as well as refrigerated salads, soups and small leftovers. If there is food residue on them, I gently wash with barely warm water (lots of heat will remove the waxing), but most of the time they aren’t touching the food.

They completely took the place of my favorite plastic bowl covers I had used for many years, so I’m counting this as a plastic-free win!

New Physical Cookbook

If you get my newsletter, you saw that I now have a physical cookbook you can preorder! Many months in the making, this book on Easy Water Bath Canning contains all the recipes that are my go-tos for preserving lots of different foods as well as tips, tutorials, and more resources.

I’ve already sold out of the first small order and the next order is on the way, and I’ve had really good responses to the idea of a physical book. I have plans to convert my freezing produce cookbook into a matching format (from it’s current print-on-demand), because they are literally the two things I do, besides a few dehydrated items, to preserve all the food from my garden.

I’ve also asked readers for suggestions for a other cookbooks and there seems to be a consensus for a book full of pantry staple recipes (including some of these) you can make easily at home and stop buying at the store. Would you agree?

Interested? You can preorder the canning cookbook here.

September Books Read

It’s a Love Story, Annabel Monaghan. I thought this closed-door romance by the author of a few others I have enjoyed was really cute. I actually enjoyed the big family of the hero the most – you could feel how such a loving, large group would be a draw to our heroine who didn’t have family. The progression of the romance felt real and I enjoyed the funny moments. The only thing that hit a sour note was the heroine’s odd behavior when she was overwhelmed – hiding under her desk or in a closet, eating candy (they are both in their 30s). But not enough to ruin the overall story.

Dreams, The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac, Mark Blake. This is a newer book about FM written in 2024 and the author shares the beginning most don’t know about all the way to the end, but in a format that follows the songs and people more than a timeline. It’s actually hard to believe the FM most of us know started out as a British Blues band in the early 60s. Honestly that early part didn’t really interest me much, it was learning about how they came up with the songs I know and love that I found fascinating (rather than all the soap opera drama of the group).

The Institute, Stephen King. Brian and I listened to this 2019 novel all the way to Montana and back and it was a perfect road trip story. It’s gripping, thrilling and has twists and turns so that you didn’t care if you were caught in traffic or stopped by construction. This isn’t horror, though terrible things happen to kids who have been kidnapped for their unusual abilities. But the children are lovingly drawn and there is redemtion in the end. I’ve read this is a mini series now, but I haven’t watched it yet.

The Love Haters, Katherine Center. This is classic Katherine Center – an emotionally resonant love story full of quirky characters and funny moments. The heroine’s thoughts on her body all.the.time. got old for me, though I do get that the author was trying to get a point across (hit over the head?) about women and scrutiny of their bodies. The other thing I didn’t quite believe was the lying trope which was the center of the love story’s struggles. It’s like she had no backbone and just went along with the loser brother because…? That didn’t work for me, but you know, we do suspend belief a lot in these types of books, lol.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John le Carré. This is considered by many as the best spy book of all time. Written in 1963, it’s focus is on Germany and the Berlin wall and the spies who are working out of England to get behind the curtain for information. Full of twisty turns that kept Brian and I guessing the whole time, it was a great listen for us. The focus is on one intelligence officer who “retires” from his work in Berlin and embarks on a clandestine job to try and eliminate the East German doing the most to undermine the British spy network. Honestly we could never tell how this would end! (This is considered book 3 in the George Smiley series, but we didn’t know that going in and it’s very much a stand alone with George Smiley only a background character mentioned a couple of times).

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë. I read this in a college literature class and remember staying up into the wee hours reading because I couldn’t put it down, which was not what I thought would happen. All these years later I see they are doing a new movie on the book and after seeing the trailer, which seemed to me to have scenes I didn’t remember, I decided to listen to it. Time has made me a little less sympathetic to Healthcliff’s character and his revenge plans, and a little more critical of Catherine who is quite a selfish little thing. Really other than the guest tenant who relates the story and the housekeeper who tells it, there aren’t many nice people. But one thing hasn’t changed – the story, the pacing, the atmosphere, the can’t-look-away aspect of it still grabbed me. Heathcliff’s words on his love for Catherine and how he can’t get away from her, seeing her in everyone and everything still hit my heart the same. It is a STORY. (And no, the overly sexual scenes and tone of the trailer are NOT in the book…it is not about sex, but about how a love bordering on obsession affects everything).

Watching

Big, Bold Beautiful Journey, theaters. An odd movie with magic overtones that drags at times but is nevertheless is heartfelt and rather chaste (though lots of f-bombs).

That’s it for another addition of the Good Things List!

If you’d like to see more of what I’m enjoying, you can check out all the Good Things Lists here. I’d love to know what you think – if you’ve tried any of these or what you’d recommend. Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

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