Sunday Salon --- Lots of junk!

Even though we've had such cool weather the roses have still decided to put on a show this week with their first blooms: Abbaye de Cluny is looking especially lovely and abundant this year; 4th of July is climbing up its trellis; Scentimental is struggling to keep up with its former glory as its spot in the sun is shrinking due to mature trees nearby; Gourmet Popcorn looks exactly like its name this year, popping out all over.

Weather: Cool and overcast but no rain. Summer weather has not arrived in the Pacific NW yet. Our daily temperatures are hovering in the mid 60s. The weather report for this coming week says we may get a high temperature in the low 70s this coming week.

New corn hole game, caught mid-throw

Father's day: Carly joined us for a day with her dad and me. We attended church, a Grad party, cleaned out her old bedroom (while Don watched the US Open Golf tournament), cooked and ate steak for dinner, and the day culminated with a few games of corn hole, Don's gift. Family love.

Junk: We have a lot of it and we are trying to do something about it. In a few weeks we are getting new carpet upstairs which means we have to get all our stuff ready for the installers. They will help us move furniture but they will not move our stuff stowed under beds, or junk laying around. So we have a lot of de-junking ahead of us the next few weeks. We've decided to undo the bonus/office room and make it into a playroom for the grandsons, as it was when our daughters were young. So we are cleaning out the desk, and other large heavy pieces of furniture where we have stored decades worth of items we don't use or need, like old video tapes and musical CDs. The funniest line of the day was when Don exclaimed, "I've found Derek Jeter's head, but where is his body?" He was referring to a now broken bobble-head doll. We probably tossed the body years ago. The photo shows the boxes of items we hope to sort into new homes, another pile out of the frame is the ever- growing pile to take to the Goodwill store. We have a lot of junk and a big job in front of us 😏 

Reading list for our upcoming trip: We leave for another California trip in a few days and as per usual I plan the books I hope to read before I worry about what I will wear or eat while traveling. Clearly I won't be able to read/listen to all of these but here are the options (I have the books in hand and the audiobooks queued up on my phone):

• Audiobooks:
• Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• The Known World by Edward P. Jones
• The State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton (we'll probably start with this one)
• Work Song by Ivan Doig
• The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
   
• Print books:
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (My current Classics Club Spin book)
• Beach Read by Emily Henry
• The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
• The House of Broken Angels by Louis Alberto Urrea
   
• Finishing up:
• Maid by Stephanie Land. Book Club is tomorrow and I have about 40 pages to go. I should be able to finish in time for our discussion. The book provides an indictment on how we treat poor people, especially single moms.

Politics: If you aren't watching the Jan. 6th Committee hearings, you should. Next hearings are upcoming:

• Tuesday, June 21: 10 a.m. Pacific
• Thursday, June 23: noon Pacific
• This article in the LA Times has a nice summary of the past hearings.
  

And a few funnies to lighten the mood and/or food for thought:

 

Over and out: Gotta go back to work de-junking a room.

-Anne