We began a new “joint” book tonight. That’s a book that we read together, meaning Mike reads aloud while I stitch. We are way-yonder slower getting through joint books these days (unlike during the caretaking years when we read for many hours a day, usually with two books going simultaneously), and we often abandon the activity entirely in summer months, but we’re going about it boldly with a whopper. We’re reading The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear, by Walter Moers. We gave it to our nephew for Christmas and he loved it. It’s 704 pages. Any bets on when we finish it? Will I be sipping chai nog and roasting chestnuts over an open fire as I listen to the last chapter?