July is winding down

I'll be so glad when this summer is over. It's been dreadfully hot, even by South Carolina standards. I seem to get less and less tolerant of the heat the older I get, and I just can't seem to enjoy anything this time of year. Even my friend's pool offers no relief; the water is as warm as a sauna. Forget doing much of anything outside, with heat values over 100 degrees day after day. I realized today that one of the reasons I don't mind working all summer is that I'd just be sitting inside my house hiding out in the a/c. I might as well be at work in the a/c earning money. I get paid for 30 more days of work each year than the teachers do, and I wouldn't be going on vacation during that time anyway. 

I've had a little bit of fun this summer, though. I've read two books recently: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (for my book club) and then the new book by Daniel Mason, Country People. The Midnight Library was a quick read and mildly entertaining, although nothing really special. It did lead to some interesting conversation at book club, though. Country People is wonderful. Daniel Mason wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, North Woods, so I ordered a copy as soon as it was released. I really enjoyed it. Reading is great fun when you're stuck in the house!

Then Marla came over last Saturday afternoon and spent several hours with me. I made strawberry daiquiris from some of the fresh local strawberries I'd put in the freezer back in April, along with some snacks: a hot Rotel dip in the crockpot, cold sour cream/ranch dip, potato and tortilla chips for dipping, King's Hawaiian Ham and Swiss sliders, and caramel turtle brownies. I also made a pitcher of iced tea for when the daiquiris got cloying (which never happened, haha). 

The dogs were absolutely thrilled to see her, as usual. She was actually with me the day I first met George at the Darlington County Humane Society back in 2013. She loves both the dogs like she loves her own pets, and they know it. As soon as I saw her car pull into the driveway I announced, "MARLA IS HERE!" and Poppy and George nearly tripped over themselves running for the door to greet her. 

Speaking of the dogs, we used to sometimes call Ginger "Gingerbread". This afternoon, Marco called Poppy "Gingerbread" and when I said, "That's not Gingerbread, silly. That's Poppy." he sat there for a second and then called her "Baby Bread" instead! How stinkin' cute is that? It makes me so happy that he hasn't forgotten Ginger even though she's been gone almost 6 years now. We still miss her so much.

Today was the first day back at work for the teachers and most of the staff. It was so good to see everyone again and to meet the new teachers coming on board! We started the day with a catered breakfast and some time to catch up, which was nice. After that my office was a popular place, because as the bookkeeper I had the teachers' supply checks to give out! (Every teacher gets a $400 check at the beginning of the year to spend on whatever they want for their classrooms.) 

Tomorrow most of the staff will be at professional development, including me. I'll be up at one of the administrative buildings all day for the annual bookkeepers' meeting/training. It was great the first year or two when I was still a newbie, but these days it's just a lot of the same old, same old and boring PowerPoint presentations. It will be good to see the other district bookkeepers and the accountants, but other than that I wish I didn't have to go. Still, I marvel every day at how lucky I am to have a job I love. I got my updated salary letter the other day and this year I have an annual increase of 8%...a really solid, nice raise! So I won't complain about boring meetings and training sessions. 

The students will return next Wednesday, so summer break is winding down for them, too. 

Checking in, and catching up

Hey friends, it's been a while, and I've missed you all! How are you?

I'm going to spend some time this afternoon catching up with everyone's blogs. I've been super busy but thankfully all the stuff consuming my time and attention is done and dusted. This week is Thanksgiving break, and last year the district started giving us the entire week off. How nice is that? 

The diaper cake was apparently a big hit at the baby shower. My friends said that several people asked if I make them to sell, and said that if I don't, I should. (Maybe I should consider a small side hustle in designing diaper cakes? Some extra cash would be nice). The most important thing, though, is that the parents really liked it and appreciated the effort. 

Last Wednesday night I hosted my book club. That was another thing I had on my plate, cleaning the house and planning food and drinks for that. Since I usually only have to host once a year, I like to make it extra nice, and it stresses me out more than it should. This year wasn't too bad, though. Since Gregg retired he does 75% of the housework anyway, and he went to a lot of extra trouble doing things like dusting blinds and ceiling fans, mopping hardwood floors, and generally making everything as easy for me as possible. I love that man!

For food, I made toasted King's Hawaiian ham and Swiss cheese sliders, hot spinach artichoke dip with assorted chips and crackers, deviled eggs, crockpot grape jelly meatballs (don't laugh, they're good!), and cranberry pineapple relish. To finish I bought three ready-made desserts from Sam's: apple pie, pumpkin cream cheese roll, and a big box of assorted baklava. There were three kinds of red wine and two white, as well as iced tea, bottled water, and sodas to drink. My guests inhaled the food and complimented everything, and I think they had a good time. We're not used to having much company, and a dozen women milling around and talking and laughing for two hours makes me feel like a hurricane has blown through when it's over. Even the dogs were exhausted. *

The next night, Thursday, I made up another huge batch of deviled eggs for a work potluck on Friday. For those and for book club I used already pre-boiled eggs from the grocery store deli. For family meals, I'd boil and peel my own, but for a crowd the pre-done ones work like a charm. There was a ton of food at the potluck and coming on the heels of book club I don't feel like I want much more rich, heavy food. I'm considering some simple alternatives to the big turkey dinner on Thursday.

This morning, I had a 9:00 appointment with the dentist, the final appointment for this new crown I've got. It's a relief to have that done, even if I am $900 poorer for it! I will say that my new young dentist did a really good job, and this has been the most discomfort-free crown I've ever had. I told him so, too. 

So now I have the week off, and no more pressing obligations. It's going to be a quiet week at home, with Gregg and the pups and Marco. I went to the bookstore and bought a new novel I'd been waiting for, and there are several tv shows and movies I'd like to watch. I'm looking forward to a really relaxed, hassle-free Thanksgiving.

Some random pictures from the last week or so:

I finally got around to making Gregg his belated birthday pineapple upside down cake last weekend!

I bought this pretty Christmas cactus at the grocery store and added fairy lights brighten up the dining room. 

This cat has been hanging around a lot lately, hoping for a handout. I might have been guilty of leaving some cooked salmon out there for him/her one night when the weather turned very cold. Oops.

We've ended up with three big bags of apples (don't ask) and I'm trying to get creative to use them up. Last night I made battered, fried apple rings dusted with cinnamon sugar. They were delicious warm, but soggy and oily and awful after getting cold. 

The boys!

The girl!

The other boy, my favorite. He has no idea I took this picture. Don't tell him! :)

*The book we discussed this month is a classic and one of my all-time favorites: My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Show your friends some love

This is the old ice cream bucket where we store peanuts for the squirrels that visit our back yard. We leave them on top of the compost bin and then enjoy watching them have their afternoon peanut feasts.

Whenever we go out to the back porch, after a few minutes two or three squirrels will present themselves for feeding along the back fence. As soon as one of us walks out there and leaves a handful of peanuts, they rush over and help themselves. It's cheap fun.

Speaking of fun...my book club met this past Wednesday night. The book wasn't very good, but it was great to see my friends. As we were getting ready to leave I saw Karen H. preparing to take a selfie and said, "Hey! Can I get in on that?" and she said, "Sure!" The next day she sent me this montage. 

Last but not least, I finally put up a little bit of autumn decoration on our front porch. While I was out there arranging the wreath just so, my sweet Georgie showed up and watched me. I sure love that old boy.

Book club, corn dollies, and a phone fail

On Sunday I hosted a book club party for my friends Marla and Martina. I'd been planning this little get together for months now, and it wasn't anything like I expected, but still fun. 

The book I chose was Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. It's an American folk horror novel from the early 70s that I stumbled across as a pre-teen in my small town's limited public library. It's appropriately creepy for this time of year. 

In addition to chicken corn chowder, I served a charcuterie board for my friends to enjoy.

I also attempted to bake an apple pie and pumpkin bars with brown sugar icing. Both ended in failure. I got the spices in the pie wrong, and it was all but inedible. As for the pumpkin bars...I meant to double the recipe because of the large can of pumpkin puree I wanted to use up, but I failed to double the amount of baking soda and sugar and what I ended up with was a flat, bland mess. I threw it in the garbage along with the pie and went to the grocery store at the last minute and bought desserts to share instead. Oh, well.

When Marla showed up, she was not happy with her husband. He was out of town helping a friend with something, and he didn't make it back in time to watch their daughter, so Carsen had to come along. Fortunately, I'd had the idea to do a craft related to the book, and Carsen really had a good time participating. We made traditional corn husk dolls! Carsen put googly eyes on hers, and I thought it turned out really cute!

Martina's doll turned out really pretty, with rosebuds and marigold flowers hot-glued on.

I didn't get a separate picture of the doll I made (and couldn't for reasons I'll explain in a minute) but here's the four dolls arranged all together out on the back porch. Mine is on the far right.

And here's mine and Martina's after Marla and Carsen had left.

Right after I took these photos, I accidently dropped my phone into the container pond on the back porch. Arrrgggh!!!!!!!!!!! I also dropped a massive F-bomb in front of Carsen when I did it. 

I snatched the phone out of the water, and for a while everything seemed to work normally, which is how I got these photos saved, but by the next morning my phone was dead. No amount of rice is working, either. That's everyone's first suggestion, to cover it in rice to absorb the moisture, but it's been no good. I have to get a new phone. Luckily, I'm on fall break this week and I plan to take care of that tomorrow. It's really weird to be without a phone, though, even if it's just for a few days. On the bright side, my phone was really old and getting glitchy, so I guess this is a perfect excuse to upgrade. 

\

So that's how my fall break is going! 

A homely* kind of day

I'm off work this week thanks to Winter Break. Besides appointments with the dentist and doctor (both simple routine checkups) I didn't make any plans, other than just enjoying myself doing whatever I wanted. So far, it's been really nice. 

On Saturday morning I met up with two friends from book club for breakfast. The place we went has the most wonderful Eggs Benedict, a favorite of mine, so of course that's what I ordered. The next day, I made a big batch of homemade vegetable soup, which has been simmering on low in the crockpot more or less ever since (it's had one overnight in the refrigerator). Today the weather's turned frigid again with the possibility of freezing rain and snow flurries tonight, so we're looking forward to that soup. And as I type this, two loaves of homemade bread are just about done baking. Between the bread in the oven and the soup simmering in the crockpot, my house smells wonderful right now.

Added a little while later while finishing this post:

I added an egg wash and sesame seeds to the bread this time. I hope it tastes good!

In other news: I am a domestic goddess!! HAHA. :) No, but seriously, in between making the bread, I finished a knitting project! I've been wanting to start knitting again, but it had been a loooong time, and I wanted something quick and easy to start with. Gregg has been pestering me for a while now to make him a new hat, so that's what I did! Nothing's any quicker and simpler than a hat and I didn't even need a pattern. I'm happy with how it turned out, and he really likes it. It's thick and warm. Just in time for our winter weather over the next few days!

I only talked him into letting me take his picture by telling him I'd take a side photo. I don't know why he hates having his picture taken, but he does.

To finish off a good day, I have book club tonight. That's always a fun time and I'm looking forward to it. I'm only about halfway through the book, but I'm not that invested in it, so I'm not worried about finishing. Seeing my friends is the main thing, although the drive home might be a little bit icy. Depending on the weather I may need to leave a little early, but I hope not.

Have a good night, friends!

*Homely in the British sense.

September book club selection: North Woods

This month it was my turn to host book club, and since we've begun letting the hostess pick the book, I had to choose something. Lately we've read a lot of what I consider "fluff" fiction, light and mildly entertaining but not all that literary. I decided that this time, I wanted something with a little more meat to it. I did an internet search for the best books of the past couple of years and came up with three titles that I thought sounded promising. Last month I told the group a little about the three books I was considering and put it to a vote. North Woods by Daniel Mason was the winner. 

What a joy this book was to me! It's the best thing I've read in ages. I think it's going to join my list of all-time favorite books, and that's a short list. 

From Goodreads:

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. Written along with the seasons and divided into the twelve months of the year, it is an unforgettable novel about secrets and fates that asks the timeless how do we live on, even after we’re gone?

North Woods was so beautifully written that I found myself reading and rereading passages and wanting to take my time and savor them. Since I'd bought a copy and offered to let my friend Marian borrow it before book club, I had to read it much faster than I wanted to. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, when she brought it back to me the night of book club, I immediately started to re-read it. I'm taking my time and finding so many wonderful things I missed the first time.

Spanning centuries from the perspective of one small piece of land in northwestern Massachusetts, it's the history of a place, with the human characters coming and going across the years alongside the changing flora and fauna of the area. From NPR's review:

North Woods manages, impressively, to balance both the narrow and the long view, intimately focusing on the lives of each of the house's inhabitants, yet expansively encompassing American history, natural history, and the relentless march of time and the cycle of the seasons.

And from the Washington Post book review:

Indeed, to read “North Woods” is to suffer the sweet sorrow of falling in love with fresh residents only to see them swept away by the passing seasons. Persist. The silent spaces between these stories articulate what the residents can’t. Their errant lives begin locking together in a winding chain of unlikely history. And when the moonlight strikes just right, you may even see some past homeowner flit across the corner of a page once again.

As you may have guessed, North Woods made for a really nice discussion. I even printed out a "book club guide" from the publisher's website.

As usual, I made a lot of food! We had a crudité platter, deviled eggs, ham and Swiss cheese sliders (pictured here before going in the oven and toasted!) hot spinach and artichoke dip, tortilla chips and plain potato chips. 

I bought ready-made desserts from Sam's. Large, fancy cupcakes and apple pie.

I also had several bottles of wine, as well as a cooler filled with ice and hard apple cider, assorted sodas, and bottled water.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it, and I'm happy to say my hosting responsibilities are fulfilled for another year! 

Hostess

Wednesday night I hosted my book club's September meeting. There was a large turnout: eleven guests in all. I don't think we've ever had so many people in our house at one time! I was really nervous about it and worked really hard to prepare, giving the house a major cleaning over the course of a couple of weeks and then spending a lot of time planning and shopping. (I spent a fair amount of money, too). But in the end, it was all worth it. Everything went off without a hitch, I was proud of how the house looked, and most importantly, everyone seemed to have a good time. 

Preparing the food is my favorite part of any party, and I really had fun with it this time. I made my first ever charcuterie board! 

What I enjoyed most about this was how easy it was to make something that looks really fancy. The only cooking involved was toasting the pecans with butter and salt. I got lots of compliments on it.

Speaking of easy, I also served the classic grape jelly + Heinz chili sauce crockpot meatballs. All you have to do is throw frozen pre-cooked meatballs in a crock pot with a small jar of grape jelly and a couple of jars of chili sauce, then just stir them around a time or two as they heat up. It may sound weird, but they're delicious, and people always devour them. I also bought pre-boiled eggs at the grocery store and made a double batch of deviled eggs. Deviled eggs are another crowd-pleaser, and when you eliminate the step where you have to boil (and worse, peel) the eggs, they're quick and easy too.

I bought six bottles of wine for the party: three reds, two whites, and a rose. I wanted a good selection for people to choose from. Of course, I had plenty of bottled water and soda on hand, too. There's a lot of the wine left over. 

Karen (from The Internet's Best Karen) was the first to arrive. Since she works in the Chemistry department of our local university, she really enjoyed this month's book!

Check out George photobombing this next shot. He knew there was food nearby! :)

Once everyone arrived, Poppy was wide eyed and nervous and decidedly not having fun, so I gave her an early supper on the back porch and let her stay out there. George has been around long enough to know that company can be fun (and the source of treats) so he was a Very Good Boy. He went to each guest in turn to get petted and admired, then settled down on the rug in the middle of it all while we had our discussion. He was a perfect gentleman.

"What about Marco?" I hear you all wondering...well, he was THRILLED with all the noise and company. He stayed on my shoulder most of the time, to the delight of all the guests. He was a little clown, laughing and making little comments and generally hamming it up. Before leaving, a couple of people wanted to take pictures with him, and he was happy to oblige. 

I'm glad things went well, but I'm also glad that it's all over! The house is still pretty much spotless, which is a bonus. I plan to spend the weekend relaxing and enjoying some downtime after such a busy week!

Weekend preparations

Today I woke up to an absolutely beautiful early fall morning. The temperature got down into the 50s last night and the cool air from my open bedroom window felt fantastic. It was the first time in months we've been able to sleep with the windows up. I'm looking forward to lower power bills now that summer is really over.

This weekend will be spent doing lots of cleaning. Next Wednesday I'm hosting my book club, and I want everything to be as nice as possible. I'm expecting nine people for sure, and there's another two or three who haven't RSVP'd yet. Entertaining stresses me out for months ahead of time (it's silly but I can't help it) which is why I only volunteer to host about once a year. 

Between two dogs, a parrot, and my almost nonexistent housekeeping skills, there's always a lot to do to make the house company-worthy. Hell, one of the reasons we painted the bathroom last week was to cover up the area by one end of the shower curtain rod where Marco had chewed a patch of paint off! The hardwood floors in the dining room need a good cleaning, too. George regularly stands by the table when we're eating and drools and drools onto the wood. Even when you wipe it up, it leaves smudges and smears behind. And Poppy is the worst shedder we've ever had. The whole house needs to be vacuumed almost daily to keep up with the volume of fur coming off of her. 

But I can't blame it all on the animals. I'm not a great housekeeper, and I don't mind admitting it, and I tend to be lazy and would rather do other things, like read. Then when company's coming, I lose my mind for two or three days and go on an absolute tear, even cleaning things that my guests will most likely not even see. I'm going to try to do better this time. Today and tomorrow I'm going to slowly work my way through the living room, dining room, and kitchen, cleaning, dusting, and mopping as I go. I'm going wipe down Marco's cage and change the plastic sheeting underneath it, and also give both the dogs baths. At some point I'll gird my loins and go shopping for the food and wine I plan to serve (I dread the shopping trip more than the cleaning!) and that should be it. I'll wait until the night before to clean the bathroom, of course.

So that's going to be my weekend. I'm actually looking forward to seeing my book club friends and having them over, it's just the preparations that I hate. The book we read this month was Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I'd heard good things about this book, and was looking forward to it, but it was (in my opinion) a piece of crap. I didn't like it at all. Next week, when I have more time, I'll do a brief review of it here. But not today. Today, I have a house to clean and a shopping list to complete.

Have a good one, friends!

Book sale and breakfast

This morning was our local library's annual book sale, an event eagerly anticipated by the bibliophiles in our community. I met up with three of my book club friends there at 9am, which was when the sale began. There was already a large crowd.

Before I left, you know what my husband said to me? "You realize you have stacks of unread books all over this house, right?" The nerve! :)

I did promise to try to rein myself in as much as possible, depending on what I found. We do have a problem with overflowing bookshelves and random piles of books in almost every room! Luckily, this year I didn't find all that much of interest. Two fiction novels in hardback, Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and a nonfiction directory of herbs with beautiful photographs. All three were only a dollar each! That's a great deal.

Afterwards I went to Venus Restaurant with my friends for breakfast. It was nice to sit and drink coffee and talk over a meal after book shopping. We discussed the death of the Queen, naturally, and politics. Everyone agreed that it was so sweet to see Steve Bannon in handcuffs yesterday! We even clicked coffee mugs in a toast over it! 

When we finished breakfast Marian and Karen decided to go back to the book sale. Volunteers were continuously putting out more books as the tables cleared off, and they were hoping to find some more goodies. I opted to go home instead, as did Paulette. I've been here ever since, relaxing with George, Poppy, and Marco. It's been a gray, rainy, cool day...perfect for reading!

Party recipes

The food I made for last night's book club was a success! Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but nevertheless I wondered why I went to so much trouble when everyone would have liked simple food/store bought stuff almost as much. Still, I host the group so rarely that I wanted to go to the extra trouble and make some good stuff to share.

I started the night before and grilled fresh corn. After it cooled, I cut it off the cob and added drained and rinsed black beans, diced red and green bell peppers, red onions, and halved cherry tomatoes. I made a salad dressing to stir in with lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, garlic, salt, and cumin. After refrigerating it overnight, I added soft crumbly Mexican cheese to the salad and it was ready to go.

Next, I made guacamole, which I'm known for in our group. It's very simple: mashed avocados*, finely diced red onion, minced jalapenos, lime juice, and sea salt. It's so simple to make, and there's never any left over. I like to serve it with both white and yellow corn tortilla chips. 

I also made a faux Boston Creme Pie. The recipe called for making a yellow cake from a boxed mix in a 13x9 pan, letting it cool, and poking large holes all over the surface. Then you mix up instant vanilla pudding, and before it sets you pour it over the cake so that the pudding seeps into the holes. The cake (it's called pie but of course it's really cake) sits in the refrigerator until cool, then you add the chocolatey topping. The topping is made by bringing heavy cream to a simmer, pouring it over chocolate chips and a tablespoon of corn syrup, and stirring it all until it's smooth and glossy. This gets poured over the custard-y top of the cake and then you pop the whole thing back in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. It was delicious, and probably the biggest hit of everything I made. It tastes just like a classic Boston Creme Pie.

Yesterday I made the other two things I planned to take. BLT pinwheel sandwiches made with crumbled bacon, romaine lettuce, diced heirloom tomatoes from my garden, and a spread made with cream cheese, mayonnaise, and chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil with herbs. All these ingredients were rolled into sundried tomato wraps. They were a lot of trouble, but scrumptious. 

The last thing I prepared was a medley of melons: cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon, cut into balls and using half of the watermelon rind for a bowl. It came out really nice and the cool melon was perfect for a hot day. 

*Anyone else having trouble finding good avocados these days? No matter where I shop in Florence it seems like they're slow to ripen, somewhat hard even after they turn dark, and just not good quality in general. 

Tuesday miscellany

It's the last week of my summer break. This hasn't been a very good summer, I'm sorry to say, with the exception of having Poppy this year. She's such a sweet girl!

This was her in the car on the way home after her spay surgery on Wednesday. She was groggy and out of it for the rest of the night from the anesthesia.

After that first night she was mostly back to normal. I was supposed to keep her still and quiet for the several few days, but that's been a joke. She's a really active girl and it's hard to get her to settle down when she's feeling playful. George was so sweet when Poppy went to the vet that day; he whined and moped when I came back without her, and when she got home that evening he stayed by her side until bedtime. It makes me happy that they love each other.

Yesterday Gregg and I removed the last aquarium from the school. He'd been maintaining at least one of them for over 10 years! It's disappointing that it ended the way it did. Moving them out was a lot of work, and he didn't get so much as a "thank you" for doing it. If not for the fact that I have to work there and I don't want any trouble, he'd send them a big bill for all the hours of work it took.  Plus, we're stuck with all the fish from both aquariums at our house, in temporary tanks set up for them, until we can figure out a good place for them to go. There's also one of the tanks sitting empty in our hallway. It's all been a really big hassle and a lot of inconvenience. It stings that there hasn't been one word of thanks for any of it.

Tonight, I'll start making food for our book club meeting tomorrow. I'm the host this month, but Sara offered to have the meeting at her house so we could all use her pool. We decided that I'll make the food and take it over, and she'll supply the beverages and the pool.  I'm so behind on housework that it would take me the whole day tomorrow to clean enough for company. I don't mind cooking, but cleaning is another story! And I've been so, so tired lately.

 I don't know if it's the heat, the stress, or simply hormones (or some combination of all three) but despite sleeping a lot I'm having a hard time dragging myself out of bed in the morning. All I want to do is lie around and read a book. (I bought a lot of good reading material at the used bookstore in Raleigh). Also, did I mention that I've done something to my back? I've had lower back pain for almost two weeks now. It's been too painful (not to mention too hot) to walk very much, and that's probably part of the reason for my energy slump. 

That's all for today. I hope you all are well and keeping cool if you're in the grip of a heatwave. That includes most of my blogger friends, I think.

July plans

I'm feeling rather flat today. I can't seem to muster motivation to do much besides sitting around around watching tv or taking naps. I did download a couple of new e-books to read yesterday: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory and My Real Children by Jo Walton. I love both these authors, so I expect the books to be good. Maybe something entertaining to read will help me shake off the despondency I'm feeling. I only have three weeks of summer vacation left and then it's back to work (which I'm suddenly much less excited about).

Next weekend should be good, though. Marla, Martina and I will finally be taking our trip out of town. We settled on Raleigh, NC because of the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Marla's husband booked us two nights in a really nice, modern hotel that looks wonderful. We're also making plans to have a couple of nice meals, since the area is known for lots of great restaurants. Gregg's sister Karen is going to join us for the Van Gogh thing, since she lives in Raleigh. We've agreed not to mention to Lou (my step father-in-law) that I'll be in town. I would love to see him, but since we're only there for a couple of days I'd feel rude leaving my friends during our girls' trip to visit family. I can always drive up to Raleigh another time for that. 

The week after we get back, we've set an appointment to get Poppy spayed. I've tried to put it off as long as possible, since too-early spaying or neutering can have negative health consequences for a young dog. Now that she's around 8 months old, though, she could go into her first heat at any time. The vet assures us that it's safe and a good time to go ahead. Plus, if I do it before I go back to work, I can be home all day with her while she recovers. 

The last week before I head back to work will see me hosting my book club for July. I'm actually providing all the food and drink, but the actual meeting will be at Sara's house. She has a pool, and we like to meet at pool owning member's homes during the summer. I was thrilled when she suggested her house because I won't have to go into a frenzy of house cleaning ahead of time! It's always so stressful to me to have lots of people over, even if they are my friends. Since we'll be at Sara's, I can concentrate on the part of hosting I love: preparing the food! I have lots of ideas about good stuff to make, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Saturday morning odds and ends

 ***Pupdate***

The little puppy has found a good home--not with us! He was at the pet store for less than 24 hours when a nice family adopted him. We'll have a new puppy one day, when the time is right and the right one comes along. For now, this was the best outcome for everyone!

Good Saturday morning, blog friends. It's bitterly cold outside today. When we woke up it was 28F (2.22C) with a wind chill of 21F (-6C). We put a little red sweater on George when we went out for our morning walk. A pair of hawks were flying low over the creek, hunting for their breakfast. They're always a pleasure to see early in the morning; we sometimes see a pair of owls at night. It's a good neighborhood for raptors, and all birds, really. The Northern Flickers were also back this morning, congregating on our front lawn. We only ever see those in the winter.

I've finished the two books Martina gave me for Christmas: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Do any of you remember the movie Fright Night with Chris Sarandon back in the 1980's? The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires sort of reminded me of that--the alluring new neighbor who turns out to be a vampire, some gore, some campy humor. It was a lot of fun!

Piranesi, on the other hand, wasn't a particularly "fun" book. It was so odd and unfathomable at first that I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to read it after all. The writing and the protagonist's observations were so beautiful, though, that I continued until I finally started to get an inkling of what was going on. One review I read said something along the lines of "this book is permeated with a gentle melancholy", but the word "melancholy" doesn't do justice to how sad it made me feel. It's brilliantly done, relatively short (especially compared to the absolute tome that was Clarke's first book, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) and I'm glad I read it, but it made me want to cry throughout. Even so, it's really good and I see why it won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021. 

Martina did a great job picking books for me! I hope the two I got for her will be as enjoyable when she finally gets time to read them. The veterinarians' office she works for has gotten hit hard by Covid and 2/3 of the staff are out. She's one of the few left who tested negative and she's working long days right now. 

Speaking of books, I'm headed over to my friend Paulette's house in a few minutes to borrow our book club selection for January. I hope it's a good one (I can't remember the title) because now that I've finished my Christmas books I'm ready to start something new. These cold January days are perfect for reading by the fireplace, and that's just what I'll be doing this afternoon and tonight! 

Have a great weekend, friends.

Friends and (work) foes

My book club resumed our monthly meetings Wednesday night. Covid infection rates are way down in this area, and once again it seems safe to do so. Olenka was the hostess this time, and while she always puts on a really nice spread, this time she really outdid herself. 

We read The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni. I didn't bother to link to it because I thought it was a piece of crap. Everyone else loved it, or said they did, with the possible exception of my friend Marian, whose only comment was "Well, it's certainly no World According to Garp". I thought that a very apt observation, because the author really did seem to be trying to write a sort of John Irving-esc novel. Well, we can't all like everything. I borrowed the book from someone else so at least I didn't pay for it! 

Good book or not, I was grateful for the chance to get away for a couple of hours and spend time laughing with friends. We called Kathleen, our former group leader who moved away last month, and put the phone on speaker so everyone could say hi. We certainly miss her, and it was obvious she misses us too and is lonely. She's in rural New York state helping her (very) elderly mother at the moment. The only other member who didn't come was Sara, whose younger son has asthma and is still a year too young to get the Covid vaccine. We missed seeing her, too.

I'm feeling a little punky today. Yesterday I got a flu shot at work so I'm blaming that for the achy, tired, dragging feeling I woke up with this morning. I've also been under some stress at work which isn't helping. Two women who work with me in the office have suddenly turned into adult versions of middle-school mean girls towards me. I have no idea why.

 I've tried to think how I might have inadvertently offended them, but there really isn't anything. It would be easier if I had (offended them) because then we could talk about it and work it out. No, this is mostly a difference in personalities, but also something deeper. It's me. I attract bullies and always have. That's a hard thing to admit to, a shameful thing. Every day when these women ice me out, pretend I'm invisible, refuse to speak to me or make eye contact unless it's absolutely necessary (but then retreat to one or the other's office to whisper and laugh and gossip together for literally hours) I sit there feeling small on the inside. 

 This might have already been resolved if I were the type of person who could just walk up to them and have it out. That's really hard for me to do, though. I'm not very assertive, and to be honest, I'm afraid I'd cry, which would be humiliating. Of course, they save the worst of their behavior for when no one is around to observe it (particularly the administration) and I'm afraid to complain because of how popular they are with the rest of the staff. The principal is really nice, but he's a typical man in that he doesn't notice these kinds of subtle, catty behaviors. I can't help but wonder if he'll think I'm being overly sensitive or even paranoid if I say anything. 

I'm thankful they're not really creating any problems for me beyond hurting my feelings. The entire rest of the staff at my job is wonderful and I have plenty of good relationships. I might be overworked and doing the job of two or even three people, but I get a lot of respect from everyone except these two. I shouldn't let it bother me as much as it does, honestly. Most days I try to adopt a veneer of cool, distant professionalism and a blank face when they're around. You want to pretend I'm invisible? Ok, I'll ignore you right back. Since they only speak to me these days when it's absolutely necessary, I've starting doing the same in return. It's uncomfortable, but I'm not sure that there's a better solution at the moment.

With everyone else, the students and parents and the rest of the staff, I'm warm and friendly and welcoming. Helpful. Cheerful. I do still like my job, and I'm still very grateful for it. I just wish these two women would move past their (apparent) arrested development and start acting like they work in a middle school, not attend one!

File this under: at least some one appreciates me!  (Just kidding) :) The other day a really nice parent brought me a little Halloween treat as a "thank you" for always being kind and helpful to her and her daughter. It's a tiny s'more kit with a custom Halloween marshmallow on top! Isn't it adorable?

Quickie

 It's been a week since I last posted (holy cow, the days do fly) and I wanted to pop in and say hello to everyone. We've had a week of excellent spring weather. Over the weekend my husband, for the first time in his life, started taking an interest in gardening. I'd picked up a few more plants to put in, including some cantaloupe seedlings, and he helped me dig the grass and weeds out of a new bed so I'll have somewhere to put them. That's hard work and I was so grateful!  A couple of weeks ago we tore down a crumbling wooden picket fence on our property and salvaged as many pickets and boards from it as we could, and now he's planning to help me build a trestle with some of them for the melons to grow on. The tomatoes, peppers, and herbs I planted are doing great....knock on wood. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to 38 degrees and while that's still well above freezing, it's awfully cold. I hope I don't lose anything because of it. I suppose it's still early in the season, though, and small plants can be replaced if need be. 

That's a basket of flowers I got for my mom, since her birthday was last week, but now it looks like I'll be keeping them for myself. After not seeing her for almost a year (between the huge fight we had last fall and Covid I haven't been in any hurry to resume a relationship) I was trying do the right thing and spend the day with her and my dad for her birthday. We had plans to go out and eat on Saturday but she messaged me on Facebook at the last minute and made a weak excuse to get out of it. It made me a little sad, but more than anything I was just relieved. I'm not comfortable....at all...around my parents anymore, particularly my mother, and so I was actually dreading the reunion and its almost inevitable awkwardness. Maybe she was too. Ah, well.

On a happier note, I'm really looking forward to tonight. My book club is finally meeting again after 14 months! We're all vaccinated now so we can. It's going to be wonderful to see these friends again, and I've missed our club more than almost anything else this past year. I'm about to get off the computer and go make some guacamole to take along. My friends love my homemade guac and since this is our reunion meeting I wanted to bring something. We read and will be discussing This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. Here's a brief synopsis from Goodreads:

In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.

After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole. 

I don't have time to write up a proper review here, but I can tell you that this book was wonderful. One of the best things I've read in the last couple of years. I highly recommend it!

Well, off to mash some avocados....back soon. 

Wednesday odds and ends

Last week a surprise package arrived at our house with goodies for me and the dogs--all the way from Arizona! Thank you Parsnip for the lovely gifts and for your thoughtfulness!

A pretty windchime for the porch!

The dogs playing with one of the two toys sent for them. There were also yummy chicken treats included in the box that they love!

So it's officially summer break. I still can't believe that in a few weeks I'll be starting my fourth year at the school. I feel so fortunate to have such a great schedule these days, with summers off. I don't have any big plans for the summer. If we can resume most normal activities (with precautions like face masks, social distancing, etc) I'll be satisfied with that. 

My book club will be meeting later this month for the first time since February. I've really missed those women! The book for this month is The Gown by Jennifer Robson. It was a fictional story of two women who worked as embroiderers for Queen Elizabeth's wedding gown. This book was.....okay. The writing was kind of thin and the ending was predictable. It was a quick easy read, though. I also went ahead and read the book we'll be discussing in November, The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine. It was trashy fun, like a soap opera, and a good mindless summer read. It would be perfect for the beach. I also downloaded a copy of The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England the other day, thinking I might enjoy it after my Phillipa Gregory kick last year. I'm halfway through and to be honest, I doubt I finish it. It's really kind of boring, and all the names start to run together after a while (particularly Henrys and Richards) and are difficult to keep straight. Oh, well. It was only $1.99 to download it onto my Nook app so at least I wasn't out much money.

We're still seeing lots of birds at the feeder, including the pair of Painted Buntings. We've also been spotting small rabbits by our back fence! We see them almost every day lately. I've taken to putting out leftover (wilting) salad greens and chunks of cucumber whenever I have them for the rabbits to enjoy. The other night we saw a deer run through our neighbor's yard, and this was dead on the road near our house:

A harmless corn snake. We're not sure what happened to it.

So that's about it for today. We're still spending lots of time on our porch, enjoying the (still relatively cool) summer weather and all the birds and wildlife. Speaking of which, let me show you how spoiled my dogs are. We were out there the other day, and tried to get the dogs to come out with us. But it was a little bit on the warm side, and they preferred to stay inside where there was a/c....except they wanted the door open so they could look out which also let out the cold air:

Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!