My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon -- May 24th

"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, May 24, 2026

Sunday Salon -- May 24th

A pair of Dark-eyed Juncos laid eggs in their nest in a wreath on our porch. Everytime we go out the front door they flush, fly to a nearby bush and squawk at us.

Weather: Spring. One day warm, the next cool. One day sunny, the next overcast. Who knows what today will bring?

The nest: It's a mystery. The day after we took this photo of the Dark-eyed Junco nest, we found the nest destroyed on a chair on the porch and the eggs were gone. We have no idea what happened. Who or what destroyed it? We are so sad for those parent birds.

Roses this week -- top to bottom, left to right: Eyeconic; Abbaye de Clooney; Love; Voodoo; Gourmet Popcorn Miniature tree; Fourth of July Climber; Habitat for Humanity; Cecile Brunner Miniature climber; Midas Touch.

Roses: It is a very lovely time of year in Western Washington. Many of the azaleas are still blooming, all the rhododendrons are blooming in their variety of colors in everyone's yards, and this year the roses are blooming already. Almost all my bushes (and I have a lot) are putting on their first bloom or will in the next few days.

The garage clean-up project: is done! At least the garage part. See photo above. All three cars in the their own bays! Now we need to finish the photo project...to scan all the old photos from Don's parents and grandparents so we can tuck their tubs away. We're maybe 1/4th complete it, but have started.

Road-trip ahead: Next Saturday Don and I leave for a road-trip to see two more National Parks -- Yellowstone and Grand Teton -- and various sites along the way. I have so many audiobooks queued up so we have lots of options for listening for our many hours in the car: The Warmth of Other Suns by Wilkerson; This Land is Your Land by Gage; Dungeon Crawler Carl by Dinniman; The Stranger by Camus; Angel Down by Kraus; and The Astral Library by Quinn. Lots of options!

Reading and blogging the past three weeks:

Reviews published (hyperlinked):

Moby Dick by Melville. My One Big Book of 2026. It was a commitment but I finished it. I had a lot to say in my review. I hope you take a look.

This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. A novel in short stories about members of one family. I enjoyed my reading experience with this book.

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li. A memoir by a mother who lost two sons to suicide. Heartbreaking but also beautifully written.

The Book of Belonging: Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids by Mariko Clark. I love this collection of stories found in the Bible. The illustrations make the stories come alive. I purchased this for our church library.

Three short novellas: The Tomb Guardians, The English Know Wool, and This is How You Lose the Time War.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. A book club choice. A very spiritual and sweet story.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. A story told in two time periods. Very complex and rewarding.

Read but not reviewed or published yet:

How to Survive the End of the World: a Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction by Katie Doughty. I loved it.
Today We Go Home by Kelli Estes. A book club choice about women in the military (today) and women who fought in the Civil War disguised as men.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I loved this collection of short stories all by YA Indigenous authors. Afterwards Don and I went out and had our first ever Indian Tacos (made with frybread) for lunch.

Other blog posts:

My daughter is 38 today! Where have the years gone? We are hosting a birthday dinner after church in her honor: salmon, salad, bread, risotto, and, of course, spice cake and ice cream.