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Weather: You name it we've probably seen it, or were threatened we'd see it, this week -- sun, RAIN, wind, lightning, fog, (hail and tornado didn't materialize). Lather, rinse, repeat.
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Mom is 96! Last week-end I gathered in Eugene with all my siblings, their spouses (minus one), and my kids and grandkids to celebrate mom and her big birthday. 96! Among the activities each of my siblings and mother read Jamie, my youngest grandson, a book from his 100 Books Before Kindergarten list. I captured a few of these readings on my phone. The video below is my youngest sister reading a Sandra Boynton book, Woo-Hoo! You're Doing Great! And in the upper right quadrant of the collage, shows Mom reading The Lorax to Jamie.
Books and blogging the past two weeks:
- Currently reading
- Three Wild Dogs (and the truth): a memoir by Markus Zusak -- from the author of The Book Thief, a memoir of his family life with three large, wild dogs. 42% complete. Print.
- Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad -- A twenty-something gal just graduated from college is diagnosed with leukemia. Her life changes instantly. After she is declared to be in remission she goes on a roadtrip across America to meet those people who wrote to her during her illness. 29% complete. Audio.
- The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Renewal and Hope edited by James Crews. I loved the first book in the series of poetry collections edited by Crews so I bought this one when I saw it on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. 31% complete. Print.
- Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green. I am a huge John Green fan and will read anything he writes, even books about diseases, I guess. I'm listening to this book with my husband. 32% complete. Audio.
- Completed
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This book will forever be my definition of a classic! Wow. Amazing. I listened to the whole thing. 42 hours and nine jigsaw puzzles later I finally finished. It took me almost a month to complete. Rating 5+ stars.
- Puzzles I completed as I listened -- the Veggie Stand; Golf Posters; Doughnuts; Decorative Chocolate; Quilts (x2); The Bookshelf; Cakes; and The Novel Avenue.
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. This book published in 2001, has long been on my reading list. When I saw it on the NYT Top 100 Books of the 21st Century list I knew I HAD to read it, for sure. That said, the book didn't knock my socks off. I'm still deciding how to review it, critically or emotionally. I listened to this with my husband and daughter. They both rated it with 3+ stars, I was kinder with a rating of 4 stars.
- Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen. A fictional account of the lives of the real people who invented Barbie. My feeling about the book are fairly complicated. Read my review (linked below). Print. 4 stars.
- The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Far-Flung Outposts of the USA by Doug Mack. A nonfiction travel/historical guide to all five+ US territories. Interesting and boring at the same time. Print. 4 stars.
- How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews. I bought this anthology in a bookstore in Maine on our trip last October. I savored it for months. Print. 5 stars.
- Blog posts you might have missed:
Prayers Needed this week for:
- R. who has been in the hospital for several weeks due to pneumonia. He just learned he needs a heart transplant now.
- C. boys whose mother died last week after a battle with cancer.
- A. who is recovering from brain surgery.
- Our country and the world. What a mess we are making for everyone.
- M. whose mother died this past week.
Incident: Yesterday evening Don and I drove to our daughter's home to babysit our grandsons so their parents could go on a date. By the time we were heading home it was midnight. As we drove the 25 miles to home on county roads we got hit by something that made a huge thunk. It was a two-lane road and no good place to pull over to see what happened until we were several miles down the road. What we discovered was disconcerting. We were egged. Egg yolk and shells were splattered all over the side of our vehicle. Yuck. Fortunately there was no permanent damage done but it was a first for us -- getting egged out of the blue! We also had another first -- going to a carwash at 1 AM. to wash the egg off the vehicle before it hardened on. (And imagine some kids using eggs for this purpose when eggs are like solid gold right now since they are so expensive!)
Everyone Welcome Here: The Controversy. Watch the video then post the poster on your social media in solidarity. The world has gone completely nuts if anyone thinks this poster is bad!
