Summer Reading & Reading Challenge 2023

I do all my reading these days via audiobook, and usually while walking.

I can envision where I was walking when the new Mrs. DeWinter glided down the stairs for the fancy dress ball (Rebecca) or when Mattie Ross was bit by a rattlesnake (True Grit). Sophia introduced me to the poetry of Billy Collins, and I started with Aimless Love and Whale Day; they made me laugh out loud while planting and weeding the garden.

I inhaled the latest title in Joel C. Rosenberg’s Marcus Ryker series: The Libyan Diversion, and having conquered most of the Sherlock Holmes books, I have now finished eight Agatha Christie mysteries. It was refreshing to read the enchanted fairy-tale-twist Snow and Rose; I think I liked it as much as my youngest daughter did.

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

C.S. Lewis

I walked miles in circles around our property when I was reading Rebecca, because I couldn’t pull myself away. What beautiful descriptions of gardens and scenery and rooms and mansions, but also a journey into a mind of wrong assumptions and insecurities that seems all too familiar.

Watership Down…what can I say? One can only push a book on family and friends so much. How can a book about rabbits be so good that you’d read it two Augusts in a row? Well, it just is that good and I cannot explain why. Read the reviews and consider reading it for yourself; the audio version is distinctively wonderful.

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.

C.S. Lewis

But you cannot force someone to like a book. Mrs. Skibbe assigned True Grit to us in 7th grade American History class and I hardly glanced at it. I wish I could tell her now how much I enjoyed that book 40+ years later.

My cousin Tommy gave me the The Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher when I was a teenager and not particularly interested in science fiction — especially when the main character was a boy. However, these three books came to be some of my favorites. I forgot about them until recently, when I was searching for books for my youngest sons, aged 14 and 15. They gobbled up the series, and so did I again — absorbing different things as an adult reader. Books are magical that way.

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.

C.S. Lewis

I am in a delicious rut of fiction-reading. But, the Christian book Gentle and Lowly stopped me in my tracks — I loved it and cried through it, having my eyes opened in a fresh way to the mysterious, unexplainable, unearned, immeasurable love of God. It’s one to read over and over again.

We read to know we are not alone.

C.S. Lewis

White Pants, Watermelon, and Wedding Plans: A Tribute to Summer 2023

Shakespeare said, “…summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” Summer always seems like it will last forever, but it never does.

White Pants

My search bar is familiar with the phrase: “clothing for women over 50.” I’m always looking for new ideas and always ready to update my wardrobe on a budget.  I never seem to own anything between the extremes of “church dress” and “sloppy gardening clothes.” But this summer I discovered white pants. I purchased a pair of white Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, and another pair of white pants from GoodWill.

It was the summer of white pants. 

That meant that unless I was in the garden, or taking a walk, I was usually wearing my white pants. But you don’t wear white pants to the fair.

Valleyfair

My son came for a visit from California, and the family planned a trip to Valleyfair. FOMO set in, and I wanted to be there. It was fun to revisit the amusement park of my childhood, and point out all the attractions that were never there when I was a teenager. But the first ride on the Corkscrew rollercoaster convinced me that I had just paid to receive an instant headache with a side order of nausea. I rode three rides, and then was content to take photos and chronicle everyone else’s bravery on video.

The colorful Corkscrew.

This stable bench = my happy place at Valleyfair.

Minnesota State Fair

As mentioned on a previous blog post, it’s an annual tradition for my man and I to visit the State Fair on the very first day of the 12-day “Minnesota Get-Together.” We always park a mile away, we always watch the parade, and we always enjoy the amateur talent contest.

This year, six of our children also got tickets for the first day of the fair. At first, we wished they wouldn’t have chosen the first day. It was our day.  Then, we expected to see them, and even saved them seats at the talent show. They didn’t show up. We were slightly disappointed.

It was a thumbnail sketch of the ambivalence of parenthood:

A: Here, let’s help you grow up so you don’t need us!

B: You want to move out? Don’t you need us anymore?

We drowned our sorrows with a pickle lemonade and a maple cream cold brew coffee and shared the meatiest Reuben sandwich.

Watermelon

With all the hot stretches in July and August, watermelon was a refreshing staple in our house, and a suitable snack for someone who is trying to fit into a mother-of-the-bride dress. The Search for the Elusive and Perfect MOB Dress has been a challenge, but I think I am getting close to victory.

Wedding Plans

General wedding plans have been a constant source of conversation around the dinner table, and via sporadic texting when the bride-to-be has a sudden idea or question. Many people have given us help, like the smart organizing spreadsheet from dear Amy, and wedding miscellaneous offered by Lori, an exceptional manager at our local Walmart. When the wedding is over, I will truly miss the process (and the bride) but I’m trying not to think about it. 

More About Summer

This summer we watched:

• One of ours leave for a military academy
• One become a lifeguard
• One get their driver’s permit
• One run in a local race
• One start seasonal work at an apple orchard

We helped Grandma with her tame and mannerly garden, and watched our own zinnias tower triumphantly over the weeds. My children planned and executed a lovely picnic for my birthday, and we tackled many 6-mile trail walks, to the delight of some and the dismay of others. We also met friends three times at the local pool, where my youngest boys had a blast, and there were camping trips and overnights…

Although I occasionally heard distant whinings that there was nothing to do, I think we did okay.

Now that we are headed back to school, the 2023 summer memories seem sweeter than ever. 

On one of those trail walks.

—

Shakespeare quote from Sonnet #18