My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon, July 17

"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, July 17, 2016

Sunday Salon, July 17

Space Needle as seen through the conservatory of the Chihuly Glass Garden. Photo by Anne B. Rights reserved.

Weather: Partly sunny. Temperature very comfortable, mid 70s.

Visit by friends from Australia: Our friends Claire and Rob from Melbourne visited our area this week. The weather wasn't fantastic but we were able to show off Washington State a bit: Ruston Way, Pt. Defiance Park, and the glass bridge in Tacoma; a ride on a Washington State ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, Pike Place Market, Seattle Center, Space Needle, Chihuly Glass Garden, Pacific Science Center, and a ride on the monorail. We also visited the REI flagship store in Seattle, the men played a round of golf at High Cedars, and high tea for the gals. We crammed a lot of fun into a few days! Thanks for the visit, Claire and Rob!

The rugged Rugosa rose: Don and I spent hours yesterday digging up and cutting down our prolific/invasive rose which was taking over the back corner of our lot. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT plant one of these roses in your yard unless you are the wicked queen in Sleeping Beauty and you want to build a barrier so princes can't make their way into the castle where she sleeps! I am not kidding. The thorns on this rose are completely wicked.

Amazing golf: I admit it. I watched the British Open on TV with Don. If you missed it, It was amazing. Stenson won the thing with a -20 strokes, a record.

Books read this week:

The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen---based on a real person, a freed slave who spied for the Union in the Gray House, home of the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis. This is for book club this week. It should be fodder for a good discussion.

Currently reading:

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen---I suspect it will takes me months to finish this classic. But I want to read it as I am still engulfed in my Kenya phase. No progress this week.
The Splendid Outcast: Eight Africa Stories by Beryl Markham---I found this gem at a used book shop. Also part of my Kenya phase, or should I say, craze? Progress: one story, 10%.
Places Like No Other by Brenna Yovanoff---a YA selection. Not far enough into it to make much of a report. Progress: 26%.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson---an audiobook read by the author. This is for an upcoming book club session. Don and I have been laughing our way through it. Progress: 15%.

Summer Reading Goal, mid-way point: Every summer I attempt to read 30+ books. It is the mid-way point (between Memorial Day and Labor Day) and I've read 14 books. I'm nearly at my mid-goal. Yay!