Sunday Salon -- celebrating the last days of summer

Rainier National Park: Reflection Lake, View of the Cascades with Mt. Adams in the far background, Box Canyon, and Eastside Trail alongside Ohanapecosh River

Weather: (A few hours before game time in Eugene) Overcast. (Praying) It won't be booger hot during the game.

Summer season 2025 officially over: Here are some silly final updates:

• Yearly licence plate game -- We look for and record all 50 states' licence plates + Washington, DC between Memorial Day and Labor Day-- How'd we do? We saw 47 states. States not seen: Rhode Island, Delaware, Mississippi, and Washington, DC.
• Number of National Parks visited -- Two: Glacier and Mt. Rainier (See photo above of our day after the last day of summer trip to Mt. Rainier.)
• Book Challenges:
• 20 books of Summer Challenge: I read 47 books. (I was a reading monster this summer!)
• Big Book 2025 Summer Challenge: Nine of the above mentioned books were over 400 pages long.
• Goodreads Summer Challenge: Another nine books on the list qualified for the Goodread challenges, which I completed.
• Paris in July Challenge: I had a lot of fun doing French-related things all July which included reading two books set in Paris, making three french recipes, watching the Tour du France, and attempting to read a middle grade book in French.
• See my blog post summary of these challenges here.

Grand Adventure 2.0: Boys playing in surf and sand; a tailgate picnic; GPS thinks we are in the middle of the Pacific when we drive onto the beach (allowed in Washington State) and everyone thought this was hilarious; boys on the tsunami tower in Westport; the book I was reading while wrapped up in a coat and beach towel; the fog is so thick I can't see the ocean and the boys are just dark smudges; we did get one kite up but this one vexed us. 

Update on the Grand Adventure 2.0 (Grandparents + grandsons): We really had a lot of fun but the weather was a challenge. A weird phenomenon occurs at the coast sometimes when it is really hot inland. We experienced cold and foggy weather at the beach, especially in the morning. If you look at the grey photo in the collage it is a photo of my husband and the boys down at the surf. I am standing at the high tide line and can't even see the ocean from where I am standing. We listened to audiobook version of How to Train Your Dragon. It was a perfect choice for us. As my husband said, "It is a boy book."

"Puff the Magic Dragon": Wednesday was the last day babysitting a grandson during the school day. For the past seven years, since his older brother, Ian, was an infant, we've watched a grandson at least one day a week during the school year. Jamie starts Pre-K next week so this precious time with our grandsons has come to an end. As Don was driving Jamie home, "Puff the Magic Dragon" came up on the playlist of kid songs. One verse begins with the line: "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys." Don says he quietly choked up while he and Jamie were singing along to Peter, Paul & Mary. So sweet.

Don and his brother meet up for a quick chat before the game starts. The skies were overcast until the 3rd quarter and then it started to get hot but booger hot.

Football Season has begun: We are in Eugene for our first football game of the year this weekend. You'll get sick of hearing about this since we have season tickets and go to every home game. One bonus to all the driving we'll be doing is lots of extra audiobooks completed. I'm already creating a list in my head of all the books I want us to listen to together.

Books and blogging:

• Currently reading
• Tiny Habits: Small Changes that Change Everything by Fogg. I am practicing some of suggestions for making new habits. Print, 52% complete.
• How to Solve Your Own Murder by Perrin. A mystery. Audiobook, 11% complete.
• Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict. A book club selection about an actual person. Print. 5% complete.
• Isola by Goodman. A historical novel based on a real event from the 1500s. Audiobook. 73% complete.
• Completed since last update:
• Candide by Voltaire. Don and I listened to this together. Thank goodness, too. I needed him to explain its significance to me.
• How to Train Your Dragon by Cowell. Audiobook we listened to on our Grand Adventure with the boys. Good choice. 
• Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights edited by Perez. An excellent resource on the perils of book banning and censorship. Pint.
• The Final Solution by Chabon. An unfortunate choice for the audiobook selected for a car trip with our daughters. None of us liked it. Carly rated it highest at 2.75 and Rita with a 1 star rating was the lowest. Don and I rated between those numbers, which makes our average around 2 stars. Ugh.
• The Names by  Knapp. A book club selection for this month. Audiobook.
• Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of  Jonestown by Candace Fleming. A YA book about in the infamous Jonestown massacre. Print.
• Blog posts you might have missed:
• TTT: Favorite National Park Memories
• YA Review: Song of the Blackbird
• How I Did on My Summer Reading Challenges
• TTT: Book Titles Related to Occupations

Feeling discouraged by the news? Don't get discouraged. Stay engaged. Do the work.

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Preparing for Grand-Adventure 2.0

Grand-Adventure 1.0, June 2022.

Weather: HOT! But we are heading to the Washington Coast where it should be quite a bit cooler. In fact sometimes when it is hot inland, the coast can be downright chilly and foggy. We'll see.

Grand-Adventure 2.0: Monday we head out with our grandsons for an overnight at the Washington Coast (Grayland, WA., to be specific.  I hope the name is not a prognostication of the weather to come.) Grandparents and grandsons having an adventure together = Grand-Adventure. We're calling it 2.0 since we did a similar adventure with the boys three years ago when they were nearly two and five. The weather didn't cooperate that weekend at all. It rained 2 inches in 24-hours. Digging in the sand and flying kites in that kind of weather is just not fun.  (See the photo above of the boys playing indoors on big stuffed toys and dismantled water pistols.) This time we plan on doing the same stuff, minus all the rain.

One of my favorite moments from Grand-Adventure 1.0

Shopping list: We made a list of fun foods and food we think the boys may eat then went shopping this morning. Of course we ran into friends we haven't seen in years and stood and visited for a while, self conscious of the marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers (for S'Mores), doughnuts, and veggie straws in our cart. Ha! 😅

Books for the adventure: We are helping Jamie read through a list of '100 books every kid should know before kindergarten.' I checked out a pile of 10 or so books from the list to take with us. Ian, who is a good reader for his age, will bring a book from home. I did check out a little "I Can Read" book about zombies in MineCraft for him. I proofread it and approve but won't push it if he isn't interested. I'm reading a YA collection called Banned Together -- YA authors and illustrators talking about their experiences with banned books. Don is reading Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I've checked out four audiobooks for consideration. As we get underway a choice will be made as to which book we want to listen to. Our choices: Peter Pan; How to Train a Dragon; The Wild Robot; or Henry and Ribsy. Don and I are listening to Candide when we are alone in the car and I hope we get a chance to finish it enroute to pick up and after dropping off the boys. Clearly I always make plans that involve books.

Blogging since my last post (hyperlinked):

• TTT: Help Getting Out of A Reading Slump
• Review: When the Moon Hits Your Eye
• Encouragement for My Daughter: Teaching with Fire
• Four Short Book Reviews: The Deep Dark; A River Runs Through It; Road Home; Now in November
• TTT: The Longest Books I've Read in 2025 So Far
• Classic Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
• Review: The Emperor of Gladness
• Review and quotes: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Books I've completed but not reviewed yet:

• The Vegetarian by Han
• The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Magnusson
• The Serviceberry by Kimmerer
• Song of the Blackbird by Lieshout

Nature's Bounty...the rule of none, none, none, too many!

Jealous? Can you believe our bounty?

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Busy Summer 2025

Sunset in Central Oregon. 

Weather: Hot and muggy. Earlier this past week it was quite comfortable in the 70s and we even experienced a smidge of rain.

Home: Don and I returned home last Sunday evening after our third long trip of summer 2025. This trip involved a birthday party for my sister Kathy, who turned 70; a family reunion to Central Oregon, where 20 of us would scrunch into one condo unit each evening for dinner together; a short vacation, just the two of us, at an AirBnB on the McKenzie River east of Eugene; and finally my 50th Class Reunion in Corvallis, with a weekend full of activities and fun seeing old friends. Our dog, Bingley, spent the week with his cousin dog, Caspian. All three of us were ready to be home after our ten days away. No matter how much fun I have when traveling I always am happy to return home.  

Kathy is 21, I mean, 70!

Marimba fun!

The birthday party: My sister and her daughter planned and implemented a fun party where lots of our family and many of Kathy's friends came. The special event was a marimba band. Her daughter's husband was in a marimba band when they lived in Eugene, so he still had connections. Such a fun and unexpected way to celebrate. My grandson, Ian, told his aunt that the day was his best day ever. When asked why, he replied, "the music!." 

Cousins with photo-bombers

The family reunion: for over a decade Mom has been arranging reunions for as many family members as can attend the week together at a resort in Central Oregon. Mom, now 96, clearly doesn't have too many more of these reunions left, but we all try to make the most of our time together. Each family or groupings of various family members would spend the day -- golfing, swimming, hiking, shopping, playing games, flying kites -- then we would regroup each evening for a meal hosted by one family unit, usually followed by some silly game or activity. In the photo above the cousins/their partners were posing for a photo when our grandsons photo bombed the shot.

Death to butterflies: We happened upon a huge "bloom" of butterflies, known as an irruption, as we were moving from Central Oregon to the cabin on the McKenzie River. There were so many butterflies, as you can see from the short video I took, that it was impossible to not hit (and kill) them as we drove. With a little research we found out they are California Tortoiseshell butterflies and this type of swarm of butterflies happens only irregularly but is not uncommon. All of us who traveled the route had to go through the carwash afterwards.

McKenzie Bridge, Oregon: If you were driving by you'd think it was just a dot on the map, but quite a few people enjoy living or vacationing in the area. The photo above is the view of the river from the cabin where we stayed. So peaceful and lovely. The second evening we attended a musical event at the McKenzie General store: a rock cover band. They were really good, and so was the food -- salmon tacos and huckleberry cider!

My 50th Class Reunion: So many 68-year-olds together in one place. Funny thing, once we were all 18 years-old together. Where did the time go? 75 of us gathered the first night at Woodstock's Pizza. Time just melted away and we were "us" again, the CHS Class of 1975. The next day we toured the school, which is actually a completely new building since we were in school, and attended a special event to honor our drama teacher, Joe Malango. That evening 95 of us gathered for dinner and more conversations, making new connections, and reminiscing about our past times together. At the end of the program, a slide show memorial tribute was played of all the classmates we've lost since graduation...over 40 souls. The group photo hasn't been posted yet, so I will post a note from Peggy, the coordinator of the event below. She and the team did a fabulous job making a very memorable weekend. Thank you.

50 of my favorite books read since high school. When I returned home from the weekend gathering with my old classmates I kept thinking of all the things which have happened in my life since high school -- college, dating, marriage, children, moving, friends, and books! So many books. Here is a list I made this week of some of my favorites. 50 favorites.

Books! Books! Books! So many books: With so much time on the road and then down time sitting poolside or alongside a river, I got a lot of reading done, but very little blogging.

• Recently completed books:
• Briar Club by Kate Quinn. I finished this book club selection one day before the meeting, which was one day before we left on our latest trip. Quinn is such a good writer and this one featured a mystery set during the McCarthy era in Washington, D.C. Print and Audio. 4 stars.
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. What a depressing classic. It was almost torture to read, it made me so angry/sad. Print. 3.5 stars.
• Say Nothing: Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. Another book club choice. This narrative nonfiction book is about the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the after effects. Don and I listened to the audiobook together and both rated it with 5 stars.
• Poems for Tortured Souls edited by Liz Ison. Categories of poems, many by very famous people I don't think of as poets, like Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott. 4 stars.
• Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson. The Pulitzer Prize winner in 1934 about the Great Depression and the beginning of the Dust Bowl. A classic. 4 stars.
• The Road Home by Rex Ogle. A 2025 Printz Honor book. Rex is a gay man who became homeless when he came out to his father. His story is so heartbreaking but ends up being redemptive. This is the third book I've read about Rex's unhappy childhood. I hope he is done with the unhappy parts of his story. 4 stars, audiobook.
• Currently reading:
• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. A book club selection. I have both the audiobook and the print edition so I should begin to make faster progress. 27% complete.
• Grimms' Fairy Tales. My current 12-pages-day classic book. 31% complete. 
• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi. I got a late start on this book so I'm worried I won't be able to finish it before the library calls it home. So far quite funny. 26% complete.
• Project reading. I read these books to help me fulfill a StoryGraph Challenge to read at least one book per their 58 subjects/genres. I'm making progress, hitting 48 down this week after these additions:
• North American Maps for Curious Minds by Matthew Bucklin. Reference. Technology.
• Bring the Magic Home: An Exploration of Designs Inspired by Disney by Sunny Chanel. Design.
• Teaching with Fire: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Teach by Sam Intrator. Education.
• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. True Crime.
• The Changeling. Vol 1. by Tina Lugo. Manga
• The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded by Jim Ottaviani. Math. Computers.
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson. Religion.
• Today I placed holds at the library for a few books which should help me check off the middle grade and video games categories with one book. I also checked out a Shirley Jackson classic novella so I can check off the horror category.

Queen Anne's Lace. For some reason, hmm, I've always liked this weedy flower.

Blogging: I tried to stay current with the blog events I usually participate in, the Paris in July Challenge, and I did squeeze in several reviews between trips. Here are those posts you may have missed. Click the links to read more:

• TTT: Books with Honorifics in the Title
• Paris in July: Food, music, reviews, and more
• Review: How to Read a Book
• Paris in July, Part Two
• Classic Review: Catch-22 -- Where I Examine Why This Book is Considered so Influential
• TTT: The Last Ten Books I've Read Set During a War
• Review: The Briar Club
• TTT: A Twist on Beach Reads
• Review: The Hearing Test
• TTT: Historical fiction
• Nonfiction Review: Say Nothing: Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.
• Classic Review: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
• Whew! That's a lot. I haven't posted a Sunday Salon since July 12th, almost a month.

Some woodpecker has been very busy on this tree beside the McKenzie River!

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Mid summer and a few more highlights from Montana

View of new growth after a wildfire, with Lake McDonald and mountains beyond. Near Camus Road Gate, Glacier NP. 

Weather: Summer has arrived and the temperatures are hot (90 degrees). We are staying inside whenever we can.

Past updates about our trip to Montana:

• Sunday Salon, June 22, 2025 --- MONTANA
• Sunday Salon, July 6, 2025 --- Glacier National Park

Things we saw in Montana we've never seen before:

• Business:  A Dog and Car Wash ("Auto-Mutt" in Kalispell)
• Business: Saddle Exchange
• Story about place name/legend: Hungry Horse
• Beautiful native place-names in Glacier NP:
• Sacred Dancing Cascade
• Going to the Sun Road
• Trail of Cedars (with Haiku Poetry)
• Bird Woman waterfall
• Heaven's Peak
• Roadside attraction: Ten Commandment Park and Welcome Center (Tacky with 25 billboards!)
• This: a far off rain storm and rainbow over Hungry Horse reservoir.

• Sign: Bear Crossing (Unfortunately, no bears crossed in front of us so we couldn't snap a real photo of them!)

Thank you Diane and John! We had dinner with Don's cousin and her husband last night. Right before we left for our three-week Montana + 50th Year High School Reunion trips, Diane's father, Bill, died from cancer. It was good to be with family to love up on each other during this tender time.

Dom Calata Way: This week we attended a service in Edgewood (a neighboring town) which renamed the road in front of their City Hall to honor our friend/relative who killed in the line of duty three years ago. We had the grandsons with us and Ian was profoundly touched by the service and cried big tears, remembering Dom. Dom's wife, Erin, is my cousin's daughter. In her remarks she challenged us to live the Dom Calata Way -- kind to everyone, always embracing life with enthusiasm and love, being a person of our word. 

Dom Calata Way Dedication service

Books and blogging:

• Completed this week:
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood -- This was last month's book club selection. Since I knew I would be in Montana at the time, I slowed way down on my listening. I enjoyed this story about friendship, forgiveness, and making one's way. I liked Wood's The One-in-a-Million Boy better. Audio. 4 stars.
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley -- My first book by Foley, an exciting, over-the-top, murder mystery set in Paris. My first book for 2025 Paris in July. E-Book. 4 stars.
• Currently reading:
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy -- What a heartbreaking story. I', slowly making my way through this one. 64% complete. Print.
• The Hearing Test by Eliza Berry Callahan -- A novella written in stream-of-consciousness style. The woman experiences sudden and permanent hearing loss. 83% complete. Print.
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson -- I am getting so much out of this classic devotional/study guide. 87% complete. Print.
• The Briar Club by Kate Quinn -- A book club selection. I've liked this author in the past so I have high hopes for this one. 15% complete. Audio.
• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe -- Another book club choice. A nonfiction book about the "troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. 15% complete. Audio.
• Blogging (Note there are lots of reviews which I batched together):
• Sunday Salon, June 22, 2025 --- MONTANA
• Sunday Salon, July 6, 2025 --- Glacier National Park
• TTT: Books I'd Like to Reread
• Tanka-poetry reviews: What the Chicken Knows; Lunar New Year Love Story; The In-Between Bookstore; plus two others (5)
• Three Short Reviews: The Safekeep; The Dream Hotel; The Fifth Season (3)
• Review: Raising Hare: a Memoir (1)
• Review: The Antidote (1) If you read just one review, this is the one I hope you read.

Wildflowers of Glacier National Park

Thinking about my upcoming 50-year class reunion, my younger sister, Grace, sent me this. Ha! Where has the time gone?

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Glacier National Park and Montana Vacation

Panoramic view looking east from Logan Pass in Glacier National Park (Photo credit: A. Bennett)

We are home after a fabulous two-week family vacation to Montana and Glacier National Park

Weather: While in Montana we experienced all kinds of weather. Our first day in Glacier NP was cold, raining, and windy. We attempted an outdoor picnic but had to abandon our plans after several bites of our sandwiches -- aside from the stubborn manly men -- as the women and children all crammed into our pickup to laugh and eat inside the cab. The next day it was beautiful and warm, followed by an overcast day with a huge afternoon rain storm. I guess when mountains are involved one doesn't know what to expect. Now that we are home we are experiencing delightful summer weather with temperatures in the high 70s. Nothing like the scorcher/boiling temperatures the rest of the country is experiencing.

Highlights from our trip:

Welcome to Glacier National Park. Don and Carly at one of many entrances to the park.

Rita and her family at the St. Mary entrance to Glacier NP.

Don and our grandsons on our first hike inside Glacier NP along McDonald Creek.
It was a cold and rainy day.

The weather was glorious for our ride on the Glacier Red Bus the next day on 'Going to the Sun Road' toward Logan Pass. 

The view of St. Mary Lake (East Glacier) right before a huge rain storm.

We saw lots of wildlife. This great shot was taken of a ground squirrel with grass in his mouth on Logan Pass. This is one of my favorite photos of the week. (Photo credit: R. Adams)

 

A Mountain Goat mama with her kid peeking out from behind. We caught her resting on the rocks while other goats romped around at Goat Lick Overlook. (Photo credit: D. Bennett)

Carly and I hung out with these guys (a group of about seven bachelor Bighorn Sheep) while the rest of the family hiked to an overlook beyond the visitor center at Logan Pass. In addition to goats and sheep. we saw deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, a moose, a marmot, and a few chipmunks over the course of the week. We were bear adjacent a few times but never actually sighted any of them. (Photo credit: D. Bennett)

Don and Jamie on the aforementioned hike. (Photo credit: R. Adams)

Dan (Son-in-law) and Ian. The only members of the family to make it to the end of the Logan Pass Outlook trail. Spectacular view! (Photo credit: D. Adams)

An Osprey nest in an old snag at Hungry Horse Reservoir. We saw lots of osprey on the trip, even a pair fishing on Swan Lake and a single bird soaring over Holland Lake. We also saw several bald eagles and a large gang of wild turkeys. We heard many other birds on our Merlin Bird App but didn't see them: Red-eyed Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Western Tanager, and a Townsend's Warbler. When we were at the top of Logan Pass it said we heard a Spotted Sandpiper, which is a water bird, so we are sure that was a misidentification by the App. 😏

Glacier was experiencing a super bloom of bear grass while we were there. So pretty.

Don and I with Running Eagle Falls (aka Trick Falls) in the background in the Two Medicine area of the park.

Grandsons throwing rocks in Lake McDonald. (Photo credit: R. Adams)

A glorious evening in a beautiful setting on Logan Pass. We had a low-key but joyous celebration of our 43rd anniversary spending time with the people we love most. (Photo credit: D. Bennett)

The "cabin" where we lived together for the week near Essex, MT halfway between West and East Glacier along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

After leaving Glacier the family split up and went our separate ways for the second week: 

• Carly flew home from Kalispell to go back to work. 
• Rita and her family headed south to more adventures at two additional National Parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Wyoming. 
• Don and I drove a few miles south to vacation alone at Bigfork on Flathead Lake, where we spent two delightful evenings. Sunday night we ate salmon burgers while drinking Mile High Mules and listening to live music in the park. The duo, Bad Larrys, was very good and we enjoyed the scene and experience very much. The next night we had tickets to a musical, "All Shook Up", at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse after a dinner of amazing brisket tacos at Oro y Plata. We stayed in a beautiful condo overlooking Bigfork Harbor which was great for reading on the sunny deck. The following day we drove down the Swan River valley to join friends for a few days in Seeley Lake. Don and Matt took a beautiful hike to a waterfall above Holland Lake while I visited with his wife, Eileen, and his mother, Loretta, sitting in camp chairs down at the lake. Later that evening we were treated to join the family for a delicious meal at Loretta's home.

Longtime friends and JAG colleagues, Don and Matt at the falls.

A beautiful view of Holland Lake with the Mission Mountains in the background from their vantage point on the trail. (Photo credit: D. Bennett)

Books and reading on vacation:

• Audiobooks -- Don and I spent 44 hours in his truck together during the trip/from Montana and while we drove around during the weeks there. That gave us a lot of time to listen to books. 
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison -- Our daughter was with us for the first leg of our trip. She and I agreed on this book which was so popular a few years ago and was listed on the NYT Best books of the 21st Century. It is Sci-fi/Fantasy/Dystopia, a really complicated story not told in chronological order. I think we all agreed it wasn't the best choice for a long car ride, too many details to keep track of. I haven't written a review yet, but hope to have it up in side the next week. 15 hours and 27 min.
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -- The classic anti-war satire published after WWII but before Vietnam. Often funny or silly. Very little about battles, but a lot of insanity about fighting wars in general. Don and I listened to this one without Carly, since she was flying home and we still had a lot of car time left. 19 hours and 58 min.
• A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. I had not read this famous novella before but kept thinking of it as we drove around Montana's many beautiful rivers and lakes. I am so glad we were able to squeeze this in at the end of trip. 3 hours and 45 min.
• Print books --
• Tess of the D'Urberville by Thomas Hardy -- My CC Spin book for summer. I started it during the trip, attempting to read on a schedule of 12-pages a day but I got off schedule due to busy days and tired nights.  32% complete.
• Raising Hare: a Memoir by Chloe Dalton -- This was a perfect choice to read about nature and conservation while I was out in nature! Complete. 
• Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins -- I love this poet and I love this collection. Complete.
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson -- A Christian devotional and study book. I am working through it a chapter at a time. 51% complete.
• 
  

  

  Grandma Anne (me) reading Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler before bed time. It is a new favorite children's book for everyone.

  
  
• E-Book -- I had to start an e-book that I checked out remotely from my library after I finished the two physical books I brought along, Raising Hare and Water, Water.
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley -- Thought I'd try to knock off a few challenges with this book --- 1. Paris in July Challenge and 2. A Goodreads summer challenge. 27% complete.
• Blogging the past two to three weeks. I prepared a few reviews and blogging memes before I left and scheduled their publication:
• Sunday Salon -- Montana (June 22nd) Here I highlighted the house we rented for our family during our time visiting Glacier NP.
• TTT: New or anticipated releases which have caught my eye (June 23)
• Review: Be Ready When the Luck Comes
• TTT: Favorite short books or novellas read the past year
• Review: The Book of Lost Names
• Review: Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins
• I have a lot of reviews to catch up on. Watch my blog all week. I hope to publish one a day until I get up-to-date.

(Montana farm, Canola flowers. Photo credit: A. Bennett)

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Montana

Weather: Rainy and overcast. Temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s.

Glacier National Park: We arrived in Montana yesterday for our family vacation to Glacier National Park. We are staying at a cabin we've rented nearby. Because of the clouds and the winter/summer storm we haven't actually seen the mountains yet. We understand good weather is on its way.

The cabin: We've rented a big house to accommodate us all in beds. See photo collage.

"Our Cabin" for the week in Montana

Books:

• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin -- We're listening to this high fantasy/Sci-Fi adventure. 85% complete.
• The Anecdote by Karen Russell -- Don and I listened to this book last weekend coming home from his 50th Reunion. EXCELLENT. WOW! Rating -- 5 stars.
• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami -- Super depressing because it could really happen, or is happening.
• Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins -- Such a funny poet, such funny poems. I'm really enjoying this new collection. 67% complete.
• The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill.  My Pride Month selection. Rating -- 3 stars.

Don's 50th High School Reunion: Don and I had so much fun this past weekend as he gathered with about half the living members of his high school class. He grew up in a small town where many of the people in his class went to school together K-12. It was fun for them to talk about memories of life in their town, not just high school ones.

Don and his Grant Union HS classmates at the Canyon City Old Schoolhouse. Don is the seventh person up the stairs, behind the gal with the poofy hair. So fun!

Tomorrow: We enter the national park and hope for mountain-ish adventures.

-Anne

Sunday Salon --- June

Gourmet Popcorn Rose. First bloom in 2025.

Weather: HOT. Our first above 90-degree-day is predicted for Sunday.

Scheduling our summer events: We don't have a BIG, overseas trip planned for the summer, but we do have a lot of little/medium trips planned all summer long: two 50-year high school reunions; a trip with our family to Glacier National Park in Montana; a 70th birthday party and family reunion in July. Lots to look forward to. Our first trip of the summer is next weekend where we travel to Don's hometown for his reclass reunion.

A new reading project: Storygraph offers a breakdown of genres for all the books I've read so far this year. (See graph above.) The other day I marveled at how varied my list was. Then a little light bulb went off in my head: How many genres can I manage to read in one year? There is an idea for a personal challenge. So far I've managed 37. Is 50 possible? More? Books are usually assigned more than one genre, so it is easier to imagine being successful than it seems. For example, Go Tell It On the Mountain by Baldwin is assigned four genres: literary, classic, historical, LGBTQIA.  But I am having a hard time thinking up fifteen more categories. Here are a few genres missing from my current graph: Horror, Western, Fairy tales, Sports, Race, Middle Grade books, Sociology, Religious/Spirituality, Satire, a Translation, and Humor. I'm not sure if these are even genres according to Storygraph. Can you think of any? Please help!

Books:

• Recently finished:
• Passing by Nella Larsen -- Classic book published in the 1920s about the realities of a Black person passing as white. 
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: a Memoir by Ina Garten -- The famous cook on reality TV known as the Barefoot Contessa.
• Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook -- the first book I read for my genre project. I thought why not read a cookbook written by an author whose memoir I just finished.
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler -- My seventh book by Tyler and my favorite. Very short, novella length.
• Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin -- Surprisingly religious. Very religious. A Classic.
• Watchmen by Alan Moore -- the genre-bending superhero classic story told in comic book style. It took me forever to read, but I finished it!
• Currently reading/listening:
• The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Hammel -- A first fo me -- I had to switch off the audiobook and resort to reading the print novel. The audiobook narration drove me nutty and it is a book club selection so I have to finish it. Set in France during WWII, a Holocaust story. 51% complete.
• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami -- a sort of modern "Minority Report", a woman is arrested for a dream she had about murdering her husband. 13% complete.
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society by Eugene Peterson -- Just getting started on this classic book on Christian discipleship.
• Next up:
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller will be our road trip audiobook this coming weekend.
• The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill. A Trans man enters a bookstore which sends him back in time to meet his teen self.
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. The June selection for my other club.

Blog posts:

• Sunday Salon: Memorial Day
• TTT: Nonfiction Animal Books
• Review: The Motherless Land
• Classic Review: Passing
• TTT: The Most Summerish Books on my Summer Reading List
• Review: Oh, William!
• Review: Watchmen

My Roses: First Blooms of 2025:
Right to left, top to bottom:
Mustard and Ketchup; Cécile Brunner Climber; Midas Touch;
Fourth of July Climber; Abbaye du Clooney; Voodoo;
Pink Drift; Gourmet Popcorn (closeup); Scentimental.

-Anne

Sunday Salon ---Memorial Day and the beginning of the summer season 2025

Don and Jamie and a woodpecker tree in the fairy forest near our home

Weather: Lovely! Sunny but not hot. We've spent quite a bit of time outside just puttering. I stepped outside Saturday morning as the coffee was brewing and caught ten bird songs on the Merlin Bird App:

Spotted Towhee; House Sparrow; Song Sparrow; American Robin; Cedar Waxwing; European Starling; Violet-green Swallow; Bewick's Wren; House Finch; Dark-eyed Junco. What a cacophony!

The project: Lately I've had a bee in my bonnet to add all the past book club selections we've read to my Goodreads account. This is no easy task since one of my clubs (RHS Gals) has met for over twenty years and no one kept track of all the books we read each year. The other club (SOTH Ladies) has met continually since mid-1994, 31 years, but we have kept track of our past books, making my job easier but still daunting. (See that list here). I started using Goodreads in 2010, so that is over 180 books to add, figuring out dates, and making some small review or comment about the book. on a funny but related note, I am the #7 top reviewer in the USA this week, #10 in the world. If they looked at the quality of those reviews, they wouldn't want to reward me with this determination. Ha!

My eldest is 37: Yesterday was my daughter's 37th birthday and today we celebrated it together --Sunday Brunch and board games. How can she be so old? It just seems like yesterday when she was born. Happy Birthday, darling!

Books:

• Finished this week:
• Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang. A YA graphic novel by a favorite illustrator. My rating: 4 stars.
• Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout. The third book in the Amgash series. I love the way Strout wrote this book, so conversational! Oddly I've read the 1st, 4th, 5th books in the series, and now the 3rd. Guess I'd better look around for the 2nd book, Anything Is Possible. It is odd reading books out of sequence, but I liked revisiting characters I've met before or later or something. My rating: 4.5 stars.
• Currently reading:
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: a Memoir by Ina Garten. I am enjoying this alot. I even found her cookbook in my cupboard and made one of the entrees. It was delicious! 67% complete.
• Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. My next 12-pages-a-day classics. 32% complete.

Blogging this past week:

• TTT: Books That Involve Travel
• Sunday Salon -- May
• Classic Review: The Magnificent Ambersons
• Review: The Frozen River
• My Summer Reading Challenges

-Anne