Sunday Salon -- Feb. 2023

View of Mt. Rainier from the parking lot of my doctor's office taken this past week. Imagine how lucky I feel living in the shadow of this beauty!

Weather: light rain and overcast. No chance of us seeing the comet with these clouded skies.

Readathon: A week ago I found myself once again with a whole bunch of books which arrived at the same time from my holds at the library so I decided to conduct a personal readathon -- my goal was to read books and write blog reviews for 24-hours over the course of four days. I finished last Sunday and managed to almost make my goal by managing to scrunch in 23 1/2 hours reading/blogging in the time period. Since then I had kept up the pace of reading and writing reviews, finishing many of the books started during the readathon. Here is what I read/am reading now:

• The Beekeeper of Aleppo (audio) -- I finished listening to the book before the readathon but wrote the blog review during it.
  
• The Dictionary of Lost Words (audio) -- recently finished
  
• The Opposite of Loneliness (print) -- finished
  
• Also a Poet (print) -- a memoir -- recently finished
  
• 10 Little Tractors (print) --- finished and then reread several times with my grandson. Yes it is a board book.
  
• When My Brother was an Aztec (print, poetry) ---finished, only reviewed of Goodreads.
  
• The Road (audio) --- recently finished, no review written yet.
  
• I Hope This Finds You Well (audio, poetry) ---finished
• Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (e-book) -- a late addition to the project and recently finished (not reviewed yet.)
  
• The Count of Monte Cristo (print and audio) -- currently reading, progress is slow! 33% complete.
  
• The Book of Delights (print) -- currently reading. 10% complete.
  
• Citizen Vince (print) -- currently reading. 5% complete.
  
• The Marriage Portrait (audio) --- I haven't started yet.
  

Puzzles: I find that I can listen to audiobooks AND work puzzles at the same time so I have completed a lot of them these past few weeks. Here is my favorite:

A fun combination of easy and difficult.

Pussy willows: When I was young my mother would always* gather up a bunch of pussy willow stalks into a vase and place it on the mantle in February. (*I say always, but I bet she did it for two or three years and so I thought of it as always.) I loved them as a child and I still love them as an adult and will buy the stalks if I ever see them at the market, which is what I did this week.

Pussy willows in our art niche.

Last Sunday: Don and I drove up to Settle right after church last Sunday in time for the Broadway musical: Ain't Too Proud: the Life and Times of The Temptations. What a fun show. So much music!!!!

The dog: I took this cute photo of Bingley the other day. My husband asked me why. Because he is darling, of course.

Happy Sunday, happy week!

 

-Anne