The weekend went pretty fast for me. I know it’s not over but with Al being out-of-town I hoped to get more house stuff done – but did make a nice dent in projects.
Yesterday morning Wendy and I rode bike to Nisswa and had breakfast before we biked back. We had a great time and yes, Wendy is a coffee drinker – see exhibit A:
Exhibit: A Wendy drinking coffee in Nisswa
We had a waitress named Donna and it was her first day. We asked if we could sit outside as the restaurant was full so they sat us up and Donna took our orders saying we were her first outside customers. She was extremely friendly and Wendy and I both ordered the egg beater veggie omelets without cheeses and dry wheat toast. (Game on Diet people…. I have to stay on game) 😛
When Donna brought out our food she said it down and casually said, “I will be right back to refill your coffee cups. Your eggs look really tasteless.” She then proceeded to turn a little red and say, “I meant tasty!”
Wendy and I really laughed at this and totally left Donna off the hook. I told her that I thought this was probably a bad time to ask for salt and pepper then. Anyway – the omelets were tasty and Donna received a nice tip from us, and hopefully she had a good story to share with her family last night. 😀
Anyway – today promises to be lovely. I need to get myself ready for church, my final weigh in for the week and I will update the Game On Journal when I get back home.
TASTY egg beater veggie omelet
Have a beautiful Sunday and please, feel free to share any of those fun restaurant moments here. 😀
Thank you again to Hachette for allowing me to have 3 copies of this audio set to give to my readers.
Four women-a mother, her sister, two grown daughters-head to Tuckernuck for a retreat, hoping to escape their troubles. Instead, they find only drama, secrets, and life-changing revelations.
How To Enter this Giveaway
I am not giving up on summer yet and I love books about beaches, vacations, friendships, and sun! To enter this giveaway please leave a comment here letting me know what book you recommend as a “must read” for me yet this summer. *If I can get the book in audio that is worth a bonus entry. (You much complete this task to be entered)
Want more chances to win?
For two extra chances to win, become a subscriber (or be a current subscriber) of this blog (do this in the upper right side bar) and let me know in a separate comment
Blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment and receive two more entries
Twitter about this giveaway or link tot his giveaway on Facebook and let me know here for another entry
This giveaway will end on September 1. USA and Canada entrants only please.
Oh, and prefer to have a book to an audio? Elizabeth over at Thoughts From An Evil Overlord has three copies of this available for giveaway in hard cover!
Years ago my book club dabbled in the words of Henry David Thoreau’s within the pages of Walden. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to experience him here in this book, Thumbing Through Thoreau.
Sheila
On July 4, 1835, when Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, he was probably unaware that his abode in the woods, and the impact and influence of that endeavor, would forever echo through time. Thoreau was an uncompromising idealist; “The mass of men,” he famously wrote,”lead lives of quite desperation.” Yet the scope of Thoreau’s message is much wider than social criticism. He speaks of spiritual transcendence in Nature and the unbound potential of the individual. Thoreau is a dreamer and he speaks to dreamers. In a word, shun dogmatism and demagoguery; see beyond the immediate conventional religious explanations to reap a higher understanding. In our commodified contemporary American Society, with the rise of religious intolerance and fundamentalism, materialism and mass consumerism, Thoreau’s message is needed more than ever. Author Kenny Luck has thumbed through Thoreau’s voluminous journals, correspondences and other publications to make this the most comprehensive collection of Thoreau aphorisms available.
If you enjoy quotations , poetic words for thought, this book is worth your time. Created from Thoreau’s journals and various writings, all placed into one book. We all know Thoreau’s work even if we did not know it was his. These quotes have stood the test of time and you will still find throughout modern literature today.
“What Nature is to the mind she is also to the body. As she feeds my imagination, she will feed my body…” page 166
Reading through this book was a refresher course in Thoreau. I enjoyed reviewing my memories of quotes from Walden and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this as I am not a big poetry style reader.
This is a lovely gift book, or a coffee table book. Its one that you will want to pull from the shelf again and again.
I am in a bookish mood. Which… for me….can be dangerous. I want to read, which is a good thing, but I want to read about everything I see. I am very happy with my current read, Summer at Tiffany, but finishing up my review of Thumbing Through Thoreau last night left me hungry for words. I want to finish Stop Laughing At Me, and get started on The Red Queen, and I have yet to read Linger but I want to…. and finish up my thoughts on Her Fearful Symmetry, and why have I waited so long to read Fallen…..
and….
Well…. you are picking up what I am putting down. I am in a reading frenzy. Which actually is perfect as after my morning bike ride with Wendy at 8 am (goal: 32 miles and breakfast in between) and a brief stop at the bike shop, I am coming home to do some cleaning while listening to audio, and also some reading. I have the house to myself today so after my initial break out this morning – I do not plan on leaving again.
And since I am hungry for words I will shoot off a couple other random things here –
This morning I signed up for Audiobook Community. I haven’t really looked into it much yet but I do like audio. I am also waiting patiently for the promise from Swaptree that they will soon be swapping audio books. They originally said August 1, but it has yet to happen.
I also want to put in a little plug her for Kay Arthur’s book, Cinderella Society. I read it last fall and really enjoyed it. While emailing her last night I realized I never did really give a shout out to her book when it went live this spring. So, check out my review of Cinderella Society and see if it is a fit for you.
FINALLY – finally.... I received this interesting email about the books our current and past two Presidents have read their first year in the office. (Well, of course I was curious!) As much as I wanted to believe that maybe at least one of these Presidents curled up in the oval office with something to the likes of The Hunger Games, dabbled back in the day with a little Harry Potter, or indulged in a great mystery like Shutter Island… this was not the case. At least not in this document.
So that’s me for this morning. Looking at what I have written I guess the word would be scattered… hmmm…. much like yesterday. Perhaps a nice bike ride will cure me. 😀
Good morning! I am a little late in my post this morning mainly because I have been puttering around the house doing odds and end things, had some oatmeal, a couple of cups of COFFEE, updated my Game On chart and journal, and well, I guess I am just not really focused.
Yesterday Wendy and I biked from Brainerd to Nisswa, a 32 mile round trip jaunt. Next weekend she is doing her first bike ride with me at Itaska State Park and I wanted her to get in a little practice. It was a fun ride, the weather was perfect and in Nisswa we stopped and seen a friend of ours, Don, who was having pizza at Rafferty’s. This pit stop led to the following picture….
Me, Don, and Wendy
Yeah. Some things you just can’t pass up…. even when you should. 😛
Today it looks like the sun is going to come out which is wonderful since it stormed all night and was still raining up until about 30 minutes ago. I am off to help a co-worker learn a new program and then picking up some groceries for my hubby. He is going golfing with a friend up at our cabin this weekend and I am thrilled because the guy never takes a break when we are in season and he needs one.
This leaves my weekend plans to maybe get in another bike ride or two… definitely some reading and hanging our with our Kinship Partner Chance. I hope to shampoo my carpets too with having the house to myself. I need to enjoy this weekend as the next one will be crazy busy.
It is 1967 and Kate and Frankie are sisters from America, growing up in Hong Kong while their father is a war photographer for Time Magazine. The girl’s mother, often overwhelmed with the war, and reality itself, seeks comfort in painting. In her paintings she created an alternative “now” and she fully embraces it and wishes her daughters would too.
The girls are watched mainly by their amah (a woman employed as a servant) and find it quite easy to escape beyond her attention, and do exploring of this world they live in on their own. While swimming they find a floating body of a Chinese girl and at that point their innocence seems to take a turn. As the summer progresses, Frankie becomes more reckless and an incident causes someone to die and younger sister Kate becomes the keeper of secrets.
♦ ♦ ♦
Taking a deep breath, I have to honestly say it took me a couple of times to get going into this book. While written in almost a poetic manner (page one was beautifully written), I found it to almost drone on and I was lost within the words – and not within the story.
The book is told by younger sister Kate. Kate is 12. The sisters left under so little supervision get into a lot of trouble, especially Frankie who lacks the parental attention she needs, starts to find it in the male friends of her fathers. I found myself on one hand angry at their mother for being so absent, buried in her paintings while her daughters strayed into dangerous areas, and on the other hand taking pity on the woman who was obviously overwhelmed by all that had become of her dreams.
While I never found the book riveting, in the end I have to say I am glad I read it. My favorite part of this read was the incredible detailing. Author Alice Greenway writes of a Hong Kong that I could see with vivid colors and descriptive smells that made me feel as thought I was standing outside the bakery myself peering in at two sisters, Kate and Frankie.
A poetic type read that I am glad I picked up and finished. In reality, a wonderful first novel.
I think you can probably guess that Summer is my favorite time of year. I love the potential of what the day can hold. I can plant flowers to surround my home, enjoy a garden, bike, rollerblade, or sit on the deck with a wonderful read. I am a sun girl.
I like my summer books to usually be centered around summer topics – sun, beaches, travel, friendships – and my books average between 180 – 270 pages because my attention span is not long as I am usually running from one thing to the next, trying to breathe it all in.
SO…. Check out this monster that arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Seriously – it is almost bigger than Coffee Cup and my coffee cup is no little teacup.
I don’t recall requesting this read and am not even sure if it is a fit for me. I am reading the paperwork that came with it and I am scratching my head as to why I received this….
BUT – here is a sign of fall for me…. it is a chunkster – almost 600 pages and instead of being freaked out by its size, I am intrigued. Summer means short fun lighter reads…. but fall is like book nesting to me. I want a book that I can sink into for a week or more. Larger books start to look appealing. I want characters that I will enjoy so much that I don’t want to be done with them in 300 pages…. no I want them to carry me to 500+….
I don’t want summer to pass. I feel like I am just getting into it and have not had enough afternoons on my deck with iced tea, a book and my sunglasses…. I have not had enough evenings where I can still be wearing shorts and listen to the crickets, nor enough bike rides, hiking, roller blading, and I have not been to the beach even once this year…
Yet if it fall, I am happy to share cooler nights with a larger book, hot cocoa replacing iced tea and a blanket to keep out the chill as I read and read and read….
And for some reason….. fall makes me think if I were to require a pig, this would be the time.
Hah! Couldn’t resist that! 😛
Does your reading tend to change with the seasons? Do certain books speak to you at certain times?
*Oh one more thing… I am guest posting over at Trisha’s Eclectic/Eccentric blog today. Doing a little blog housekeeping while she is enjoying some family time. If you have a moment stop by and check out the post – but oh – do not judge me for the insane idea Trisha and I came up with to make this post fun. 😉
It is time for round four of “Choose The Next Book I Read!” For those who are new to this occasional post, I will explain what this is.
I LOVE book sales and our local library has a spring and a fall one that are wonderfully priced books that I can not resist. The books are beautiful and gently used. The opportunity lies in the fact that once I bring these treasures home they tend to stay in the box I placed them in when I purchased them for months to come. This is where you come in.
What I am posting here is the pictures of all the books I have picked up from the spring library sale as well as the new additions of the books I purchased last weekend at the Silver Bay Minnesota Library sale.
All you do is look over these titles and leave a comment here with the name of the book you would like to win. On Sunday morning, August 15, I will use random.org to choose a winner. Then that book will go with me this weekend to be read and once read I mail it on to the winner. It is a win – win! I actually read one of the treasures that I bought, and you get a book that you would like!
So here my little beauties are – have fun picking!
** Note: In the following pictures Between Friends is no longer available as that was last months win that is on its way to Elisha this week!
Note #2: I will read the winning book at my earliest possibility and then send it on.
There’s the choices. In your comment below please put which of these books you would like me to read and then pass on to you.
**USA and Canada only please unless the winner can give me an address to send it to in one of these areas. Sorry but the cost to ship beyond that is frightening.
Good morning. I still have a bit of sleep in my eyes and Coffee Cup is sadly lacking content, but before I go for that second cup I wanted to meander….
LONG day yesterday but on the bright side, my craziness is over for the week. Well, standard craziness for me is still in place, which means there is always room for some last-minute thing to pop up. In my life this week:
I may go for a 30 mile bike ride with Wendy to prep her for the 75 mile we are doing on the 21st….
I may take Chance to a movie because we are due for some hang out time…
I may wind up at the cabin this weekend if Al is able to go because that would be awesome
I can tell you quite honestly I have not read a thing for the past 4 days now which sucks, really, but things will turn around. I still have blogs to visit on the Monday meme too, and review to write but they will get done – no worries there.
My book club met without me last night as I was just leaving the cities as it started so I missed it. They reviewed Her Fearful Symmetry and I am just dying to know what they thought of it and what we will be reading next!
Today is a dreary looking Minnesota day and that’s ok with me. I am in the office until mid afternoon, have my group power class at 4:15, and after that either the movie with Chance or back here to chill for the evening. I think I will sit on this for a bit before I decide.
I do however – have a post going up today so tiny “yay” for that. AND I want to end this with thanking everyone for your kind words on yesterdays morning meandering. I really appreciate that as the cause is an important one, and Connie is so incredible.
Enjoy your day – hopefully it brings sunshine and a good book! 😀
Good morning. This will be my only post today as yesterday I discovered…. I am not super woman.
I thought I could be gone for my third weekend in a row and still manage all aspects of my life, the house, the job, the books, the workouts, the blog…
well. I am clearly behind on stopping in and chatting with all of you my readers and bloggy buddies. I didn’t even make it through all the Monday memes yesterday as I did not even get started until after 5 pm. Anyway – I will catch up.
And anyway – this post is not about that. This morning before I leave for my training in the cities, I wanted to share with you about the bike ride I did this weekend and why I am supportive of this particular camp.
This is Connie. I met Connie last year through my cousin and his wife. Connie has had AIDS for 29 years. She became positive for aids after she had an emergency hysterectomy in 1981. When she went to the doctor she was floored with this diagnosis. When they figured out the cause they had to go back through the blood donor batch. While they could not narrow it down to a specific donor, they could narrow it down to the batch and the batch was destroyed, however 5 other people had received transfusions with this batch. All became AIDS positive. All 5 of the others have died through the years.
Me and Connie (right) at the Dairy Queen - last pit stop of the ride
She was asked to leave her job. She lost friends. And the community that embraced her was the AIDS community. They were the ones who understood. Connie nearly died three times. Yet she is still fighting the fight and for 16 years now has run a camp in central Minnesota for families living with HIV/AIDS. Her camp is one week a year and during that time she offers a week of AIDS education to those who come, and she offers this for free so the cost is not a burden on anyone.
a two-day ride - 150 miles total
Connie fights her battle every day. Taking 54 pills a day she tells me this past weekend that she thanks God for every morning she wakes up and is able to see the sun shine and walk across a room. When Connie talks, she makes my heart light up, her passion for others is always present in everything she does.
The bike ride raises money so Connie can continue to offer the camp for free. This year she said the camp will have 87 participants, anywhere from children with AIDS, adults with AIDS, to a grandmother whose grandson has AIDS and she wants to be more aware and knowledgeable on this subject.
"The Sheila's "- I rode most of the two-day ride with my friend Sheila
Connie calls her biking team The Rhino’s “Born tough” is her motto and she really is an incredibly strong woman who has helped so many by her hope and her never give up spirit. Connie has been through it all having AIDS for so long. She has experienced what it was like to be a married woman, with children with AIDS in the early 80’s. She has had a tough walk, but she keeps on going.
Meeting Connie has been such a blessing to me. Spending time talking with the other riders fills my heart to overflowing. What an amazing group of people!
Book Journey 