Sunday Salon, July 9

4th of July climbing rose

Weather:  Beautiful. If you have never visited the Pacific NW, do it during the summer. It is so gorgeous here on a sunny day in July. The skies are truly the bluest in Seattle compared to anywhere I've been in the world.

The plan:  So my retirement has begun and now that I am home from vacation I thought I needed a plan as I begin this new phase. So far I have decided to do three things first before I embark on whatever plan I make for the day: a half hour each---walk, garden, read. Interestingly these three things have helped me stay grounded. I've noticed especially that working in the garden for a half hour each day has helped me not feel overwhelmed with what I see. As I pass a messy/weedy patch in the yard I say to myself, "I'll get to that tomorrow or the next day, but today I need to finish what I am working on." I know this doesn't sound life-changing, but it is a new way of thinking for me. Normally I get so overwhelmed when I have a lot to do that I get ten projects going all at once, which increases my feeling of being overwhelmed.

Our side yard with fresh gravel, the cat thinks it is his new latrine

Gravel and the cat:  Yesterday Don and I spread half a cubic yard of new gravel on the path in our side yard. As we finished up the task, we stood back to take a look at our handiwork and noticed the cat walking down the path before he stopped and used it as his new latrine. Wasn't that nice of us to spend an afternoon putting down gravel for him to use as his new potty? Ha!

4th of July:  I found some interesting facts about this American holiday and wrote about them in a post. Please click on the link HERE to read more.

Anne's Cookbook:  A new feature on this blog is Anne's Cookbook. Once a week I will add a new recipe from our family favorites. HERE is the link to the first post for Curry Chicken Summer Salad Wraps. Nothing fancy.

A new, new, new bed:  Tonight we will receive our third new mattress this year as the first two just weren't right and we returned them within the trial period. Here's hoping that three is a charm.

A plant dies, a plant lives:  This week I went to the local plant nursery to buy a replacement lobelia, because it had died in the planter and I wanted to replace it. Lobelia is a blue-flowered plant that does well in containers, Even though there is plenty of summer left, the nursery is trying to reduce their inventory of annuals and they had no blue lobelia left. When I got home, I noticed some lobelia growing in an impossible spot. Why wouldn't the plant grow in dirt, but does fine in concrete?

A lobelia grows in concrete

Books read this week:

• Reader, I Married Him short stories edited by Tracy Chevalier. Twenty-one short stories inspired by Jane Eyre. I am on the last story. Some I enjoyed a lot, others, not so much. Read my review HERE . Print.
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. This year's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Yes, it is about the Underground Railroad which helped move slaves to freedom, but it is not the form we know from history.  Audio.

Currently reading:

• Eliza and Her Monsters by Fancesca Zappia...A YA part-graphic novel. A webcomic creator meets a boy who is a fan and even writes fanfiction about her comics. As she falls for the boy she is not sure if she should reveal who she really is. Print. 56%.
• In Our Backyard: Human Trafficking in America and What We Can Do to Stop It by Nita Belles. A nonfiction book about modern day slavery. A call to action! Audio. 63%.
• The Gift by Hafiz... poetry book which I had set aside. I picked it back up this week and am enjoying it now. Print. 92%.
• The Book of Uncommon Americans by Christina Henriquez...a disturbing look at immigrants' lives in our country. How hard they work and how little "we" appreciate their efforts. Audio. 75%.

Love this. I hope you enjoy. CeLLOOPa.

Have a wonderful summer (or winter, depending on your hemisphere) week!