October 2020 - Bucket Bucket Who's Got the Bucket

[Ayacchi]

Too lazy to gopher so I'll just pick The Diva Paints the Town for Old Town Alexandria. It's time to continue the series since the author released a new one this year and another next year!

[Cherie]

I checked a few items off of my bucket list on my road trip with my sister, Carol four years ago. ( I cannot believe it was four years ago already.)

1. Go on a Road trip with both my sisters. (We were going to do it this summer but COVID made us cancel.)
2. Visit Yellowstone National Park
3. Visit Death Valley and Hoover Dam
4. Loose weight to get back to running. I have been walking a mile a couple of times a week, but I need to push it up. Maybe get up to 5 miles, like Roz.
5. Finish reading all of the Disc World series books. (20 left of 42).

I have a book set in Montana that I could read, as well as one of the Disc World books, but I will see what else jumps into my gopher pile.

[[deleted user]]

I think I am going to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

[Janice, Moderator]

Katie wrote: "I think I am going to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz."

How does it fit one of your bucket list items?

[[deleted user]]

Janice wrote: "Katie wrote: "I think I am going to read The Tattooist of Auschwitz."

How does it fit one of your bucket list items?"

One of the items on my list is to get a tattoo and to do that I would have to go to a tattooist. I thought this connection would work but let me know if not and I can go for something else.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's a perfect connect, Katie!

[Renee]

I decided to read Evvie Drake Starts Over. It fits two things on my bucket list.

One is to become good at baseball or softball, We have family picnics. We play softball. I embarrass myself and husband horribly.

The second is to live on a body of water.

[Roz]

I've thought a lot about what to read for the Challenge.
My choices are:
The Joy Luck Club (immigrant women playing mahjongg and reminiscing about their lives in China). Fits "Learn to play mahjongg)
An Elegant Woman (multigenerational saga about 4 women using family artifacts to retrace part of their history). Fits "Complete my family tree with documents".
We Hope for Better Things (involves a camera and photos as well as a family history). Fits "Complete my family tree with documents" as well as "Learn to take really good photos".
Still Life with Bread Crumbs (main character is a photographer). Fits "Learn to take really good photos".

An Elegant Woman is currently available through my library so I'll start with that one. If it proves to be a dud to read, I can always switch to one of the others.

[Janice, Moderator]

Lots of choices there, Roz!

[[deleted user]]

Janice wrote: "That's a perfect connect, Katie!"

Phew! Thanks Janice!

[Peggy]

I think I'll go with Daughter of Fortune. The MC is from Chile and the book is set partly there, the author is from Chile, the book was originally written in Spanish, and it's historical fiction.

This ticks 3 items of my bucket list (no extra points for that I suppose? ;-)):
- Travel for an extended time, at least 2 months, in South/Central America
- Learn to speak Spanish fluently
- Write a fiction book (either historical fiction or epic fantasy) that gets published

[Jayme, Moderator]

I think I am going to read Migrations. It's a sci-fi/dystopian book where the MC goes to Greenland to follow the last migration of the Artic tern. This will check off my bucket item - go birdwatching on Sanibel Island, Florida.

[Jayme, Moderator]

Cherie wrote: "I checked a few items off of my bucket list on my road trip with my sister, Carol four years ago. ( I cannot believe it was four years ago already.)

1. Go on a Road trip with both my sisters. (We ..."

I might have passed you on the road. Four years ago I went on a road trip with my brother to knock off some items on his bucket list. We went cross country to see some of the odd things in the U.S. i.e. the birth place of Captain James Kirk etc. We had so much fun - one of my favorite trips.
Next September - fingers crossed - We are planning (with our partners) and my other brother a trip to Utah to visit their National Parks. That will help knock off one of my bucket list items.

[Roz]

Jayme wrote: "I think I am going to read Migrations. It's a sci-fi/dystopian book where the MC goes to Greenland to follow the last migration of the Artic tern. This will check of my bucket item ..."

Let me know how you like it. I have it down for the Trivia Challenge but there’s a 17 week wait so it’s going to take me a while to get to it.

[Pragya]

Janice wrote: "Here's mine:


1. Sing karaoke solo in a pub.
2. Drive a dog sled team.
3. Visit Scotland again.
4. Visit Iceland.
5. Explore all provinces and territories of Canada by a combination of train, plane."

Oh, I would love to visit Scotland again. I do keep thinking about the Isle of Skye.

[Pragya]

Sandra wrote: "Ok, here is my list then:

- Visit at least one country in each continent (but as many as possible is better).
- Know more about 5 languages (excluding the 4 I can speak now) so I can at least read..."

4 languages already, wow. Which ones are they, Sandra?

[Pragya]

Sharon wrote: "My Bucket List:

See the Northern Lights
Take the TransCanada Train trip
Visit every National Park
Eat an authentic German meal in Bavaria
Attend the annual Gingerbread competition in Asheville, No..."

Northern lights, sigh

[Pragya]

Kay wrote: "These are all so great! I have a problem with wanting to do everything!"

I am with you on that, Kay

[Pragya]

Janice wrote: "Sounds fun, Christina. Better go to New Orleans to see orbs. We took the haunted tour. The guide had us all take pictures of a particular house. There were visible orbs in the pictures I took. When..."

This is new to me, sounds scary.

[Pragya]

Kay wrote: "One of my big bucket list items is to visit India and explore some of my partner's heritage. I think I'll read Erotic stories for punjabi widows, I have owned it for awhile now and this is the perf..."

Ooh, you are welcome, Kay! :D

[Pragya]

Almeta wrote: "Almeta's Bucket List choices:

Have a house keeper
Relax in a sauna once a week
Compete in a frog jumping contest
Learn  calligraphy to finish my genealogy project
Learn my best pose for photograph..."

Love your bucket list, Almeta! So creative. Go you!

[Pragya]

Loved going through everyone's bucket list. Great challenge.

Here's mine.
1. See the world (Every country except North Korea is on the list. 25 down for now). Very keenly waiting to visit Pakistan especially.
2. Learn Rumba dance.
3. Be fluent in Spanish (100+ days of Duolingo and finished the intermediate course on SkillShare).
4. Learn surfing.
5. Get an advanced diver certificate.
6. Learn to swim (I know, I know. It wasn't a thing while I was growing up, we didn't have many pools or learning lessons, it isn't that common in India if you aren't living near the ocean).
7. Get my belly button pierced (was the plan last year but I was trying to teach myself to swim then and now scared because of covid).
8. Write a book.
9. Have my own house.
10. Have an entire room as a library.

[Roz]

Pragya wrote: "Loved going through everyone's bucket list. Great challenge.

Here's mine.
1. See the world (Every country except North Korea is on the list. 25 down for now). Very keenly waiting to visit Pakistan..."

I learned how to scuba dive back in the 1970s and loved it. But isn’t knowing how to swim a prerequisite?
I like the “see the world” wish. That would definitely make it to my list.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Pragya wrote: "Sandra wrote: "4 languages already, wow. Which ones are they, Sandra?"

Spanish, Portuguese, English and French.
I'm studying Italian, and would like the next one to be very different from Spanish. Maybe German or Russian.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Pragya wrote: "6. Learn to swim (I know, I know. It wasn't a thing while I was growing up, we didn't have many pools or learning lessons, it isn't that common in India if you aren't living near the ocean)."

It is more common than you think, Pragya. I actually think I should "relearn" how to swim eventually. I took lessons during 2 summers when I was 9 and 10 years old and never swam again. Seriously. I know that if you push me into a pool I can swim and get out (I don't think you forget that) but not much more than that. The thing is, and here comes a confession, I hate to be in cold water. I don't know why, but it happens in pools, beaches, or wherever. Even if outside there are 40 degrees I get cold, shivering with goosebumps and with blue lips in 10 minutes. I've been told that when you swim the exercise makes you not feel cold but it doesn't work for me. I'm not joking. I hated when I was a kid (and kids are never cold). I would swim during the whole hour of class and go out of the pool frozen. I don't know what it is, but my sister is the same just a little less. My mom jokes that all the photos of my sister in the beach have her with blue lips.

[Cherie]

Jayme wrote: "I might have passed you on the road. Four years ago I went on a road trip with my brother to knock off some items on his bucket list. We went cross country to see some of the odd things in the U.S. i.e. the birth place of Captain James Kirk etc. We had so much fun - one of my favorite trips..."

My sister and I left her home in southern Oregon, drove north to I84 and went east. We drove to Helena, Montana to see my grandson. We drove east, the length of Montana and up and over the Continental Divide. We went to Mount Rushmore and kept going east and then south to Memphis, Tennessee. We spent a week and a half visiting my sister and her family. My mother was there and we all celebrated her 73rd birthday. When we left, we went west, all of the way to the Grand Canyon. We also saw the Petrified Forrest. We drove through Holbrook, Arizona, turned north and went back to Grants Pass. We had the best time! My sister, in Tennessee was going to fly out this summer and we were going to all drive south, along the California coast to see the Redwoods and Yosemmity, stop in Paramonte, Calif to visit our mother, and then on Death Valley. Beyond that, we were going to wing it.

[Cherie]

Roz wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Loved going through everyone's bucket list. Great challenge.

Here's mine.
1. See the world (Every country except North Korea is on the list. 25 down for now). Very keenly waiting to..."

[Jayme, Moderator]

Cherie wrote: "Jayme wrote: "I might have passed you on the road. Four years ago I went on a road trip with my brother to knock off some items on his bucket list. We went cross country to see some of the odd thin..."

What a great trip!!

[Pragya]

Roz wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Loved going through everyone's bucket list. Great challenge.

Here's mine.
1. See the world (Every country except North Korea is on the list. 25 down for now). Very keenly waiting to..."

For the first level, it wasn't required. I have done it. I can manage to float and that was enough. For the advanced level, it's a pre-requisite, yes.

[Pragya]

Sandra wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Sandra wrote: "4 languages already, wow. Which ones are they, Sandra?"

Spanish, Portuguese, English and French.
I'm studying Italian, and would like the next one to be very differen..."

That's amazing!

[Pragya]

Sandra wrote: "Pragya wrote: "6. Learn to swim (I know, I know. It wasn't a thing while I was growing up, we didn't have many pools or learning lessons, it isn't that common in India if you aren't living near the..."

Uh oh, that doesn't sound comfortable.
I didn't knew it was common. It seemed like every child in the Western world gets that mandatory lesson. Every time, I tell someone I can't swim, they gape at me like, 'where did you come from?'

[Sandra, Moderator]

After taking a closer look at The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World and reading a few reviews I decided that my first guess was right and it would fit this challenge. The author visits many countries in 4 different continents in order to find the happiest place in the world. This would connect with my first bullet in my bucket list: Visit at least one country in each continent (but as many as possible is better).

[Sarah]

@Pragya - I had adult swimming lessons a few years back. I could only do breast stroke but had to keep my head above the water so it gave me a neck ache every time I went. I was also not very strong at it. The swimming lessons were amazing. I am a much stronger swimmer now and I can do breast stroke (with head going under water), front crawl and back stroke. Pretty handy really what with living on a boat.

[Sarah]

Loving reading through everyone's lists. Lots of travelling, lots of languages to learn and some family history stuff in there too.

I'm not sure if I'll get a book read for the challenge but I want to do a bucket list. So here's mine:

1. See the Northern Lights
2. Play Dungeons and Dragons (I've never had any friends interested in playing it so I've missed out on what I think will be a wonderful game)
3. Break down the wall I've reached with finding out who an ancestor's parents are in my family history (how dare they not be christined where I expect them to be)
4. Go whale watching
5. Go on the Trans-Siberian Express

[Camilla]

Ooh, this is interesting! I've never actually written a bucket list, but it's not difficult to come up with one:

1. Walk the pilgrimage route from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela (I had all planned for this summer, plane tickets bought etc., but, you know, not much travelling taking place atm)
2. Get a tattoo related to the pilgrimage (have designed it already)
3. Visit Maldives before they are under water and stay in a water villa in one of those luxurious AI resorts
4. Learn how to knit a wool sock (course starts next week)
5. Live in Paris for a month

I'll probably choose the first one on my list and read Walk It Off. I've of course read several Camino-related books, but not this one yet.

[Jayme, Moderator]

Camilla wrote: "Ooh, this is interesting! I've never actually written a bucket list, but it's not difficult to come up with one:

1. Walk the pilgrimage route from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela..."

Camilla - walking the Camino de Santiago is something I want to do too. I have a friend who did it a few years back. I hope you get to do it soon.

[Camilla]

Jayme wrote: "Camilla - walking the Camino de Santiago is something I want to do too. I have a friend who did it a few years back. I hope you get to do it soon."

Thanks, I hope so too. Next summer is probably unrealistic, but maybe 2022. Due to my work I can only take the needed amount of time off in the summer.

[Vicki]

I decided to use my -Visit the Orkney Islands of Scotland for the challenge. Some of my ancestors are from there but I never knew them as my grandpa died when my dad was very young. I don't think we have any Scottish culture left, just the family name.

And after saying all that I am going with a historical fantasy Viking saga Wolfskin.

I also found two interesting retellings that might bump the other book if I run out of time or they fit the toppler. The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

[Grainne]

Wow!! These are amazing bucket lists. @ Katie I want to host a murder mystery party too!! That sounds like fun. @Margo I have never visited the Giant's Causeway either and it was on my doorstep for years lol I hope you can make a trip there soon. @Janine I love Scotland too. I lived there for 3 years and I have not been back. I saw the Northern lights while living there.

My bucket list:
1 fly in a hot-air balloon in Turkey, at Cappadocia
2 stretch 10 minutes every day
3 sing a song at the peak of a mountain (I will go hiking Seroksan in 3 weeks)
4 visit Egypt and see the pyramids, take a trip on the Nile, eat Egyptian food
5 learn a dance moves/styles and perform it

[Sarah]

@Grianne - hot air balloon is one of the things i'd love to do too.

[[deleted user]]

Grainne wrote: "Wow!! These are amazing bucket lists. @ Katie I want to host a murder mystery party too!! That sounds like fun. @Margo I have never visited the Giant's Causeway either and it was on my doorstep for..."

Years ago, I went to Egypt and saw the pyramids. Amazing to think they were built by man power only. I was also offered 20 camels for my best friend but would only accept 25 so the deal fell through!

[Janice, Moderator]

What song will you sing, Grianne? My friend and her husband hiked up a mountain on Canada Day a couple of years ago. When they got to the top, there were about 50 other hikers there. They all sang our national anthem.

[Pragya]

Sandra wrote: "After taking a closer look at The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World and reading a few reviews I decided that my first guess was right and it..."

Oh it's a pretty enjoyable laugh out loud read.

[Pragya]

Sarah wrote: "@Pragya - I had adult swimming lessons a few years back. I could only do breast stroke but had to keep my head above the water so it gave me a neck ache every time I went. I was also not very stron..."

Sounds great. I really need to take some. Yeah, keeping the mouth out doesn't look very comfortable really.

[Pragya]

Katie wrote: "Grainne wrote: "Wow!! These are amazing bucket lists. @ Katie I want to host a murder mystery party too!! That sounds like fun. @Margo I have never visited the Giant's Causeway either and it was on..."

hahahaha tough deal!

[Pragya]

Pragya wrote: "Loved going through everyone's bucket list. Great challenge.

Here's mine.
1. See the world (Every country except North Korea is on the list. 25 down for now). Very keenly waiting to visit Pakistan..."

Picked up a book set in Pakistan from my library Karachi Raj

[☆]

This is really beautiful and interesting.

1.Go to Greece visit Santorini and Naxos
2. Visit Italy
3.Learning a new language(maybe Greek or Swedish)
4. Write a book
5. Improving my drawing
6. Reading 200 books before I turn 20

[Peggy]

I like the last one Selma, even just participating in this challenge will bring you one step closer!

Second time today I'm laughing out loud because of you Katie ;-)

[Jenn]

Well, my bucket list is travel, but that really means having the means and time to travel . . . so, is my bucket list the places I want to see, or money?

1 - Scotland
2 - Ireland
3 - Australia
4 - Finland
5 - Canada (I've been almost everywhere, but to see it all with him . . . )

or,
1 - Money
2 - Time
3 - Repeat

I'll probably take the easy route, I've been thinking about a reread of Outlander, and this might be as good a reason as any

[Cherie]

Jenn - Are you going to reread #1? Have you read them all?

I’m listening to #6. Jamie was recently reminding Claire about something that happened in the first book (I am pretty sure it was in the first one anyway). I was amazed at how vividly I remembered the event.