My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon -- Central Oregon edition

"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, September 4, 2022

Sunday Salon -- Central Oregon edition

Sports car weather and end of the season roses.

Weather in Central Oregon: Beautiful, blue skies. The temperatures yesterday were much cooler than earlier in the week. It is warm enough that we floated in the resort swimming pool as late as 6 pm last evening.

Juniper berries are very abundant this year on the most common tree on the resort.

Resort living: for five days we have golfed, read, talked, ate, swam, and played together with my mom, sister, and brother-in-law here in Central Oregon. Ahh. Rest!

A praying mantis on Mom's hand. This is the first time in her 93 years that Mom has seen one.

Resort reading:

Don and I: Deacon King Kong by James McBride. Recommended to us by niece Rachel. We are enjoying this audiobook very much.
Me: Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gwande and Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I enjoyed Gwande's book Being Mortal so much. Complications was his first book. It is a bit dated but very insightful. Firefly Lane is a book club selection.
Husband: They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency by Malcolm Nance. Don likes listening to Nance talk about terrorism and counter-terrorism when he is an expert on MSNBC. He's regaled us with dramatic readings from it this weekend.
Mom: When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. This was a book club selection for my sister. She wanted Mom to read it to explain how difficult some children are to raise. Mom was entranced and kept excusing herself from activities so she could get back "to her book."
Sister Kathy: Cambodia's Curse: A Modern History of a Troubled Land by Joel Brinkley. Kathy is traveling to an orphanage in Cambodia to help a friend who supports it. She is learning a lot about it's corrupt government.
Brother-in-law Tom: Wheel of Time series, book seven-- A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan. Tom is a Sci-Fi reader. He told me he wishes there'd be more killings in the series. Then chuckled at the thought.

Brothers-in-law enjoying resort life.

September: I can't believe it is September already. Where did the summer go? We have a busy month ahead with both grandsons having birthdays, football games to attend, a friend's daughter's wedding, and several opportunities to gather with family and friends.

A group selfie of the five vacationers before one car load returns to the Willamette Valley. Don and I will head home tomorrow.

Summer reading challenges completed:

Big Book Summer Challenge (over 400 pages). Goal: 4; Read: 5!
20 Book Summer Challenge ( Read 20 books June 1- Sept. 1) Goal: 20; read 25!
One Big Book (a personal challenge to read one big book per year): The Grapes of Wrath is the 2022 Big Book. Complete!

Have a wonderful Autumn!

-Anne