"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Sunday Salon, June 21

My dad. Photo from Anne Parr, taken in 2010.
Happy Father's Day!

Weather: at this moment it is overcast but I expect this to burn off and the skies to be clear by later morning or early afternoon.

Father's Day: My dad, pictured above, will turn 87 this year. I have really been blessed with a wonderful father who has led us on many adventures through life and has always been as solid as a rock. I love this photo because it really captures dad's personality. He is a wonderful listener and often very contemplative. I'm sure he is listening to someone here. The photo was taken at my cousin's daughter's wedding in 2010.

US Open Golf Tournament at Chambers Bay: Don just left for Chambers Bay and the last day of the tournament. This will be the fourth day he has volunteered and his shift will end with enough time for him to see the last pairings finish the course. He hopes to see the ending ceremony, too. There has been a lot of hype and chatter about the event. So many people I know have attended one or more days as either volunteers or spectators. Don ran into a friend who recently moved to California who flew up to watch the tournament with his dad. Who knew that folks would travel so far to watch golf? The photo is complements of a friend who is also volunteering at the tournament. The course, as you see in the photo, is not the typical green thing with lots of trees. It was created out of an old rock quarry situated right on the Puget Sound. The course, being so different than typical golf courses, has given some of the golfers fits. But these guys are the best of the best so shouldn't they be golfing on a hard course. If not them, then who? Isn't it a spectacular view?
US Open at Chambers Bay. Photo by Ed Petersen
School's out: The last day of school for the year was last Monday. I had to go back for two days of inservice and I spent two additional days in the library finishing up end-of-the-year stuff. Now for summer activities which will largely revolve around family. Next week we head to Oregon for a memorial service for Don's uncle. Two weeks later back to Oregon for a family reunion with my Dad's side of the family, of six children only he and one sister are still surviving. She is coming to Oregon for a visit so the rest of us will gather around. Later in the summer Carly and I will help my sister celebrate her 60th birthday by attending Shakespeare plays in Ashland and going on a rafting trip together. Last of all, in August we will vacation with my family in Central Oregon for a few days of fun and sun. Then back to school in September. Sigh.

Reading: I am in the middle of five books right now. What kind of crazy person does that? I really do have an impressive reading list for the summer which will largely revolve around YA novels that are good candidates to add to the Mock Printz reading list which will be rolled out for participating students in the Fall.  I met with Sandy, another librarian in my district, to discuss the books we will focus on this summer. Both of us are determined to only add books to the list which we've actually read. This means, of course, we have to do a lot of reading before we make our list.
     Carly is helping us read through our lengthy list. Yesterday she started an ARC book Everything Everything which won't be published until September. In it are "Life is Short ---Spoiler Reviews by Madeline" for famous books. Example-
LORD OF THE FLIES BY WILLIAM GOLDING
Spoiler alert: Boys are savages.
     Ha-ha, Come to think of it, that is about all we need to know. Ha!

I did finish one book this week:
  • The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner...the main character, Aaron, starts working as an assistant to a funeral director. There are lots of descriptions of dead bodies and what happens to these bodies as they are being prepared for the funerals. For obvious reasons, this book is not for everyone. I liked it but kept wondering why I did.
So what are you plans for summer? What books do you have on your reading list? Please leave a comment below.  Thanks.



5 comments:

  1. Hi Anne: great photo of the US Open. I'm envious you are in driving distance to go. Don must be loving it. How far a drive is it? I plan to watch the ending of the golf later today. It's raining here today, blah. Nice shot of your dad, too. I must call my dad in Calif. Enjoy your week.

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    1. Chambers Bay Golf Club is located in University Place, Washington, just west of Tacoma. We live in Puyallup, east of Tacoma. They say it is a 30 minute drive from here to there, but I'd say with traffic being what it is, it is a longer drive than that. Parking for the event is in several locations around the area, one of the biggest lots is here in Puyallup with shuttles running constantly round trip.

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  2. 5 books at once, whew! I'm a monogamous reader...mostly because my brain couldn't handle all of those narratives at once ;) Right now I'm between reads. I *think* I'm going to read another Judy Blume book as part of the Summer of Blume.

    Have a great week!

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    1. Actually five is TOO many books for me, too. I can't seem to settle on one book and focus because I keep jumping from one to the other. Tow of the five are audiobooks, which is another complication all together. I usually have one audiobook and one print book going at a time since I only listen to the audiobooks in the car that eliminates confusion. I actually haven't read a Judy Blume since childhood. I really hope to read her newest.

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  3. Welcome to your official start of summer! My husband and father-in-law watched the whole golf tournament all day yesterday, until 10 pm. We were very surprised by the look of the course - I thought the Pacific NW was all green & trees!

    I've already heard some rave review of Everything Everything - hope your daughter enjoys it!

    I could never manage 5 books at once! lol Though I did have 3 going this week - one regular book, one audio, and one graphic novel to read in 5-minute bits :)

    Check your reading list - if any of your summer books are 400 pages or more, you can join my Big Book Summer Challenge!

    Enjoy your summer and your books -

    Sue

    2015 Big Book Summer Challenge

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