"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, February 27, 2022

Sunday Salon -- End of February

Pictures from my week: Bingley at my sister's house where he stayed while we were in California; George helping Carly pack her books; view from the window of Carly's apartment on our last night; bottle brush tree flowers in SF; Russian Orthodox Church in SF; Heated hummingbird feeder, a birthday gift from my sister; Fred making himself at home in our house; Jamie snacking on yogurt with doo-dads; Ian and I preparing to blow out my birthday candles.

Birthday week: This week we celebrated my birthday, first in San Francisco between packing boxes and then again here at home with my family. I feel the love.

Jamie messing around with my swim cap after the birthday party.

Weather: It has been an odd month weather-wise: We had glorious, warm days great for long dog-walks and attacking the roses which needed to be pruned down ASAP. Then the temperatures plummeted and we were back to freezing temperatures at night and barely above freezing during the day. One morning we woke to one inch of snow covering the yard and flower beds. It still hasn't melted on the shady side of the house. Fortunately the heated hummingbird feeder arrived in time to save the birds from chilling morning food.

California: Last weekend Don and I drove down to San Francisco to help facilitate our daughter's move back to our hometown. We drove the whole way down in one go, thirteen hours, helped her pack for two days, then headed home with her cats in tow, fourteen hours. Carly and her cats are living with us now until her furniture arrives in the next few weeks. We are so happy that she is home and will be close by.

Empire State Building in NYC lit up in colors in support of Ukraine. Getty Images, Gary Hershorn.

Ukraine: Of course our hearts are broken about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Everything I've read, which I hope isn't just wishful thinking, is that this unprovoked attack on a sovereign country will probably be the undoing of Putin. Let's hope so. I highly recommend that you watch this video by Sen. Chris Murphy. It is only 3 minutes long and it really helped me feel a bit better about the whole sordid situation:

Supreme Court pick: President Biden on Friday announced his historic pick of federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court, following through on a campaign pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court in its 223-year history. Yay!

 Books read since my last Sunday Salon on Feb. 6th.:
  • The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. The 2022 Printz Award winner for best YA novel of the year.  Print.
  • Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman. The poet who spoke at Biden's Inauguration. This is her first collection of poetry. Most of the poems are about the pandemic racism, and other historic points. Print.
  • Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert. Another nonfiction book about climate change and our life on earth. Audio.  
  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. We listened to this mystery on our trip down to California, finishing it just miles out of SF. This is a book club selection. I imagine the gals will like it. Audio.
  • Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. This is the book we listened to on the homeward bound trip. It is unbelievable even to me but I've never read it before, nor have I seen any of the movies from it. So I fun with the mystery. Audio.
  • Superman Smashed the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiri. A graphic novel that captures a moment when Superman was making his introduction to the world and coming into his own power battling the Ku Klux Klan. This won the 2021 Cybils HS Graphic Novel award. Print.
  • A Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow. A modern retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. It makes me smile to think of it. Print.

Currently reading:

  • Measuring Up by Lilly LaMotte. The 2022 Cybils winner for MG Graphic Novels, about a young Taiwanese girl whose family has moved to the US. She wants to help raise money to bring her grandma over for a visit. She does it by entering a cooking contest. Print. 24%.
  • The City of Mists: Stories by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A short story collection published after the author's death in 2020. Print.  46 %
  • A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. A novella about a future time when robots and humans do not co-habitat and yet... Print. 63%
  • The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. An odd book partially narrated by a book itself. A long book at 548 pages. Audio. 47%

On the lighter side or food for thought: 









-Anne

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