Sunday Salon, May 3rd

Weather: Gorgeous. Sunny and bright. A perfect day to walk around the garden and marvel.

Wisteria: Our wisteria is blooming which is so lovely. It also accompanies other loveliness in the garden: blooming azaleas, lilacs, rhododendrons, and even early lavender. Spectacular scents and sights.

Hummingbirds: Our feeder has been very busy the past several weeks as the Rufous hummingbirds have returned and the Anna's hummingbirds are more active. Don saw three fight over the feeder one day this week. He thought all three were Anna's males. I saw both a Rufous male and a minute later an Anna's male feeding in the late afternoon. Carly has spotted at least one female so we must have a nest nearby. How can we tell the difference between these two tiny bird? Rufous males are browner with a deep orange/red throats, Anna's are greener with a burgundy color at their throats. I can even tell the difference between their songs and the sounds of their flight patterns.  Click the link. Half way down the page is a little, short audio file of the vocals and flight sounds of the Rufous and the Anna's hummingbirds. (I am driving my cat crazy listening to these.  She is looking around the house for the birds.)

Cavalcade of Authors West: Yesterday 16 YA/Middle-grade authors and 225 students converged at PLU for a day of book-nerd bliss. The students were assigned three seminars with different authors and one panel discussion. They also had an opportunity to buy books and get them signed. Take the kids who love reading/books the most from all the area high schools and middle schools, put them in one spot, and what do you get? Sheer unadulterated joy! It was a sight to behold. At one point I asked a group of girls who passed the information table where I sat, how things were going and one turned to me and said, "This is the best day of my life so far."

Disappointing news: Carly found out this past week that she wasn't accepted in to the graduate program she was hoping for. Time to regroup and rethink. Everyone was disappointed and sad.

"Come See" by Michael W. Smith---this song really spoke to me today in church, especially the line about taking the gift of grace:

Come see
Come see with spirit eyes
Come see
The door is open
Come near
Come weary and ashamed
Come near
His arms are open
His arms are open

Come live
Come live in freedom here
Come live
The chains are broken
Come rest
Come take his gift of grace
Come rest
The word is spoken
The word is spoken

Books read this week: (I had a good week with books)

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach---very different than the movie but also quite charming. (Audiobook)
• NFL Today: The Seattle Seahawks by Jim Whiting---written for teens this was a colorful and well-written (also short) book about our favorite football team. Whiting was one of the Cavalcade authors.
• Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi---a very popular graphic novel, the first in a series. Kibuishi was another Cavalcade author and he signed his books with a small illustration.
• And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard---a Printz Honor book dedicated to those who stay behind in the wake of suicides. I really enjoyed the poetry. (Audiobook)
• A Month in the Country by JL Carr--- a friend loaned me this book several years ago and it feels good to have finished it not only because I enjoyed it but also so that I can return it and remove my guilt of keeping it too long.

Currently reading:

• A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins---I'm over 3/4 of the way through the book and cannot believe this book is not more popular as a classic. I'm attempting to keep up with my goal of 20 pages per day but I didn't reach that goal yesterday.
• The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B Teresa Toten---a new YA book about a boy with OCD and his therapy group of misfits who are all taking on a new persona, that of a super hero. Audiobook.

DVD: We checked out from the library and viewed Babette's Feast. It is possibly the slowest movie I have ever seen. My daughter's comment: "Even though this movie has subtitles when I fell asleep for a few minutes and then woke up I don't think I missed a thing."

Prayers for a friend who had surgery on his neck a few weeks ago to relieve almost debilitating pain. May he find relief and healing.

From the kitchen: gingerbread cookies that we baked too long so they were more like gingersnaps. But hey, I like gingersnaps.

5 People One Guitar: I never get tired of this:



Have a lovely day!