Memorial Day Weekend

Almost every Memorial Day weekend we head to our home in Rhode Island. When the kids were in school we had to stay around until Saturday afternoon, after they had marched (in band) in the parade. But now we can go up whenever. This usually means Friday or when the weather looks good. This weekend Friday and Saturday were supposed to be cold and rainy. So we didn't drive up until Saturday. Saturday actually turned out to be drier than predicted. Sunday I walked with my RI walking buddies (our kids sailed and taught sailing together for years). We had lots to catch up on. Both kids were there and we had two delicious dinners- steak kabobs Saturday night and grilled salmon Sunday night. We also streamed the playoff hockey games. Sunday while my husband was mowing and trimming around the rocks he uncovered a Jack-in-the-pulpit. Can't remember the last time we saw one. I did some reading- trying to finish Perks of A Wallflower. Interesting book but it really didn't grab me. I was reading it because I had heard a lot about it and now there is the movie. Thankfully it wasn't a long book. I had 3 coupons to Barnes and Noble so I stalked my reading buddies on Goodreads to see what they were recommending. I also checked my library catalog so I could see which books were available through any of the public libraries in the consortium. This is the view from our porch- Sunday afternoon and Monday were beautiful days.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, moms to be, step-moms and wanna be moms! We celebrated with a small cook out with my mom and her good friend who was visiting from Florida. We also celebrated her 91st birthday! Three generations pictured.I had a chance to do a little reading and finished Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store. I enjoyed it- a little slow to start but I kept with it and liked it. Maybe a 3.5 rating....starting The Supremes' at Earl's All You Can Eat. Last week I looked online for several books at my library. All four books had holds on them between 35- 50! I figured it would take maybe 2-3 weeks for any to come in. So I found 4 books on the shelf to take home. Well within 3 days all my requests had been filled so I have a lot of reading to do!

Celebratory dinner

Tuesday night my book group celebrated 15 years of reading together. We figured we had read at least 109 books as a group beginning with Memoirs of a Geisha. Over the years we have added and lost other members but have had a total of 21 people involved.We don't have too many rules but originally we did have one- you had to read the book before recommending it to the group. Later we added a couple of more rules- books should be available in paperback (clearly we formed before kindles), the host should not be the same person who selected the book- too much to guide the discussion and make sure everyone is well fed and glasses are filled, books that were over 400 pages should be suggested summer reads, and the person who selects the book is encouraged to provide some information about the author and have questions to generate discussion. A few years ago we instituted a time at the beginning of our meeting for catching up ( limited to about 30-40 minutes). We learned a little bit more about each other. Many of us had kids in the same school(s) and played the same sports (soccer, tennis). We have a holiday party with a Yankee Swap (usually no book discussion), a June potluck dinner with summer reading suggestions, and recently we have been meeting at my home in September, in Rhode Island, for a weekend gathering to kick off another year and select books for the year with the understanding that there might be a change or two but at least we have an idea of what we will be reading and can plan accordingly. We had a beautiful delicious catered dinner (Small Kitchen Big Taste- check out Karen's blog!) Our dinner started with and this then we had a yummy salad. We selected two main entrees- one of roasted pork and the other lemon salmon. Of course there were a few of us who wanted both so some plates had both with the roasted vegetables and polenta.. We were having so much fun I forgot to take a picture of dessert which was a brown butter roasted plum tart with brown sugar whipped cream. Delicious! It was a wonderful evening.

Update on reading challenge

My husband and I recently spent two weeks in Maui- after tax season. The weather was perfect- hot and sunny. The water was warm also. We saw turtles, dolphins and whales. Very relaxing. This is a picture of Makena Big Beach which is a state park. I really love seeing the orchids in the wild. I brought back two orchid plants- one that was a gift and the other for my mom who will be celebrating her 91st birthday next Sunday. Three books that I really enjoyed and could not put down were The Orphan Train The Language of Flowers and Blue Monday. Tuesday night my book group is having a celebratory dinner - 15 years of being together and reading together. Lots of ups and downs- mostly ups. Our dinner will be catered by a food blogger that I follow. Should be great!