June Reading Recap

The last day of June is a good time to look back and review the month.  I read four more books in June and am now at twenty-seven books for the year.  June was a month of good reading and I gave all of the books I read either four or five star ratings. 

I am still going through the minor prophets in the Old Testament for my daily Bible reading.  In June, I read the books of Micah, Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah, then backtracked and read Obadiah, and I am now smack dab in the middle of the book of Amos.  Thanks to my awesome blog friend Faith, over at Gold in the Clouds for the inspiration to read and study these minor prophets in an intentional way.

How could I have been a high school English teacher for twenty years and NOT have read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou?  Well, I have read it now.  This book is considered an "American classic" and I do agree with that, although it was not a fun or happy book to read.  The book is also about the very, very hard things in Maya Angelou's life, including child sexual assault and A LOT of racial prejudice.  This woman was a great example of persistence and resilience.  I borrowed this book from the library of the high school where I teach.  I gave this book 4/5 stars **** .

I forgive you, but... by Karen Jensen Salisbury, was my second June read.  I read this on my Kindle and phone, using my Kindle app.   This Christian nonfiction is about just what the name says - overcoming the roadblocks to forgiving others AND ourselves.  The book was Bible based and an easy read, with lots of examples from the author's ministry.   My favorite chapter was the one on forgiving ourselves.  That's something I struggle with, so this book gave me much to think about in that regard.  I also gave this book 4/5 stars ****. 

This contemporary fiction, Such a Fun Age, was quite a literary ride.  The book begins with a young black woman who is the babysitter for an affluent white couple, being accused of kidnapping the two-year-old girl who is her charge.  The plot twists and turns from there, and it is not at all boring.  The book deals with race,  stereotyping, white privilege, deceit and relationships. The characters are well-developed, smart and believable.  The dialogue is sharp and interesting. There is some humor and I found myself laughing out loud at parts of the story (the Thanksgiving Dinner scene is a hoot). The story-line is realistic and engaging, but what the book says about our society, culture and how we treat and relate to each other is more important.  The one caveat I have on this book is the language and sexual references. This is one reason I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction. I got this book at a local thrift store, although it is a recent selection in The Book of the Month Club (of which I am not a member). I gave Such a Fun Age another 4/5 **** stars. 

I have had this book, Amazed by Grace, on my to-read shelf for a while.  I heard several talks the author of this book, Sheri Dew, and she is one of my all time favorite speakers. (My oldest daughter and I even met her in person after listening to her speak at a BYU Women's Conference a few years back). In this little book, Ms. Dew gives readers  a simple and succinct explanation of the grace of God.  I found this book readable, interesting, on-point and spiritually moving.  A book like this about the grace of God will always gets 5/5 *****stars from me. 

Those are the books I read in June.  I have more good stuff on tap for July.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are reading something you love!

😊Deb💙

"Books are mirrors:  you see in them what is already inside of you."

~Carlos Ruiz Zafn

 

The Weekend at the End of June

How was your weekend?  Here's a little bit about our last weekend of June, 2021.

Friday, we went to Charly's aunt's funeral.  It was well attended. We saw many of Charly's cousins, and his two remaining uncles.  The funeral was upbeat and more of a celebration of his aunt's life, than a sad and mournful church service.  His aunt's four children were the speakers and they told stories about their lives growing up with their mom.  It was interesting and uplifting.  

There was a table set up in the church with things that represented Charly's aunt life and interests.  She was quite a gardner who shared her produce with others. She was also an outdoors woman who enjoyed fishing and camping.   Overall, it was a nice tribute and remembrance of her life. 

I spend a little time in my courtyard garden every day, and I took these pictures on Friday. I will be honest that some of my plants, sady,  have not done well in the extreme heat of the first part of June.  Fortunately, we do still have things that are doing really well.  We have some beautiful flowers, and a lot of little green tomatoes but the thing I am most excited about this year, is that we have grapes!

Saturday, Charly and I took our walk early in the day, and then we were home most of the day until after dinner.  We put up these solar yard lights that we bought at Costco a couple of months ago.   They make our backyard look so festive!

Saturday evening, Josh and I hiked another 5.5 miles (out and back) on the Jordan River Trail,  through a Native American archeological preserve in Riverton, Draper and Bluffdale. It was the most beautiful part of this trail so far. We encountered a snake and a buck (a deer not a dollar). We had a nice time. 

Saturday night before bed, finished this book, which was interesting.  I will do a bit more of a review when I do my monthly reading roundup for June. 

I got up at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. I ate a quick breakfast, then Charly and I went on a morning walk.  When we got back, I read my scriptures, fixed Josh his usual Sunday bacon and hashbrown breakfast, then got ready for church. 

We went to church, as usual.   Our closing hymn was my favorite patriotic hymn - The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I love singing it.  Josh helped with the Sacrament (communion) which is something he frequently does.  After our main services we separated into our separate men's and women's group meetings.    After church, I indexed more census records from Liberia, as well as very old tax records from Massachusetts. I met my indexing  goal for the month. 

Sunday dinner was Carne Asada, which is basically flank steak marinated in Carne Asada sauce and grilled on the barbecue.  It was delicious.  I used the recipe and instructions I found here.

We made the Carne Asada into tacos with black beans, guacamole and pico de gallo.  It was excellent. Josh said it  tasted like the Carne Asada he ate a lot of during his two-year mission in Mexico. 

After dinner, Josh wanted to go back to the river to finish a section of the trial we didn't have time to finish Saturday night.  It was a little warm, but an otherwise beautiful evening.  Josh and I enjoy this mom ~ son hikes.  I also enjoyed hiking with Josh's older brother Alex, when he was in college about 10 - 12 years ago.   Great conversations, great exercise and great memories. 

That's all for this weekend.  Hope yours was good and that the week ahead is a good one for everyone!

😊Deb💖

"In every walk with nature, 

one receives far more than he seeks."

~John Muir

 

First Week of Summer - Friday Favorites

It's the end of the first week of summer.  As always, there is much to be grateful for, so I am joining, again today with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five. 

Rain! - after 31 days of unseasonably hot and dry weather, Thursday was much cooler and we got a good amount of rain. Many have been praying for rain, and this storm, with the cooler temperatures, are truly a blessing.  

Hiking at the Jordan River Trail - I mentioned this in my weekend post, but I have am really enjoying these weekly walk/hikes with Josh.  We plan to keep going on these river hikes as time and weather permit. 

Cleaning up and clearing out - I have been trying to clean and organize around the house.  I reorganized my bookshelves, and cleaned and reorganized some things in the office.  We listed some things on KSL.com, which is like Craigslist - a free listing service sponsored by a local TV station here in Utah.  Last weekend, I posted this old antique chair that a neighbor gave us about a year ago, a small fridge that I used in my classroom in Arizona, and some stackable plastic drawers that Charly had is his classroom in Arizona.  We had sold all three items for our asking prices by the end of the weekend.  

Reading nook - I have been wanting to create a little reading nook in our bedroom, for a while.  Our bedroom is not huge, so I needed to find a small and comfy chair that I could put in a corner next to my nightstand.  I found this nice little chair at a thrift store.  The chair fits me just perfectly, and is so comfortable.   I love my  new little reading nook. 

New cabinet - after we found the new chair for my reading nook, we found this nice little cabinet in another thrift store, and got it for less than $8! It is just perfect for a little extra storage space for office supplies and is now next to Charly's bookshelf in our office.  The cabinet replaced the ugly stackable plastic drawers, that we cleaned out and sold on KSL.com (see above). 

Empty nester dinner - Monday night was our monthly empty nester dinner.  Charly and I really enjoy being part of this group. We are among the younger members of the group, and everyone in the group is so nice and friendly. 

After dinner, the group gathered in the game room at our HOA clubhouse and played Bingo.  It was really fun. 

Yard clean up - we finally got our yard care company over to our rental house to weed and clean-up the yard for the new tenants.  The house and yard look super nice now.  We are hoping that the new tenants keep it that way. 

Lunch with a friend - Thursday I met up with my good friend Sandy and we did a little shopping and had a delicious Mexican lunch. I hadn't seen Sandy for well over a year and this was the first time, since before Covid, that I have dined in a restaurant.   

Thrift store finds - In additions to lunch, Sandy and I went "treasure hunting" in some thrift stores.  At this thrift store,  I found several good things.

My favorite was these brand new, still-in-the-box, boots. I love wearing cute boots in the winter, so I was excited to find these  boots marked way down. 

A clerk at the thrift store told me that the department store Macy's made a donation of merchandise to this thrift store, that helps those who are in addiction recovery programs get back on their feet.  You can see that these brand-new boots originally sold for $99 at Macy's and I got them for $7. I love a good thrift store find. 

Hummingbirds - I have mentioned before how much I love watching the hummingbirds at the feeders in  my backyard.  Usually, there is only one bird at one feeder, but the other night two hummingbirds were eating at the same time, one at each feeder. 

Not a favorite - Monday morning while we were out for our walk, I got a message from one of Charly's cousin, that his Aunt Mary Joyce passed. She was Charly's mother's younger sister. She was 86 and had an aggressive form of cancer that was only discovered in May. Aunt Mary Joyce's funeral will be Friday, and we will be attending.  She was a very nice person and always treated Charly and I very well.   I am sure she is now in heaven having a very happy reunion with her husband who passed about two years ago. 

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. 

😊Deb💙

"Let us be grateful to people to make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

~Marcel Proust

Birthday and Father's Day Weekend

It's time to look back at the birthday and Father's Day weekend that was. 

Friday, June 18, was another hot day.  Charly and I took our walk in the morning.  It was a little cloudy, but still hot all day. 

Josh had to work on his birthday, but when we got home, we got a take-out dinner from Sizzler, which was his choice for his birthday dinner.  Josh got steak and shrimp and Charly and I both had fish and chips - all very good. 

After dinner, Josh wanted to go to this ice cream place he had heard good things about.  

Josh got a whole quart of oreo - cookie dough.  I got just one scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and Charly got salted caramel praline.  The ice cream was good, but I am a bit lactose intolerant, so one scoop of ice cream is enough for me for a long time.  Josh is still enjoying ice cream from his birthday quart.  

Saturday was another hot day.  Charly and I walked in the morning again. Saturday was also our nation's first official national holiday of Juneteenth, so we put out our flag. 

Josh's birthday presents this year, were things he needed - like new shoes.  He needed both work and casual shoes, so Saturday morning, I took him to the shoe store to pick out what he needed.  When I got home,  I mentioned to Charly and the place Josh and I went also had the kind of shoes Charly likes, so Charly and I went back to that store and one other store. At the end of that trip, both Charly and I had two new pair of shoes as well.  I guess you could say it was shoe-shopping Saturday!

Later in the afternoon, Charly took Josh to get the second part of his birthday present - a new laptop computer.  Josh's old laptop was one he had for several years and it just did not have what he needed for the classes he is taking in college, so when he told us he needed a new laptop, but the expense of a new computer was prohibitive, we told him that we would get him one for his birthday.   This is our current computer store of choice, and Josh's new computer is the second machine we have bought from them.  They offer a lifetime warranty on all their machines, a 24-hour tech support line, and a trade-in on the old computer.  

Saturday night, we had a special Father's Day dinner for Charly.  His choice was Chinese food from this new place we hadn't tried before. 

The food was excellent and much enjoyed. 

Sunday morning, Charly and I walked early to beat the heat.   After church, we ate lunch, I did some indexing (more census records from Liberia), and Charly opened his Father's Day gifts which were...

...Books and gift cards for more books!

Later, we broke in our new grill with burgers and steaks.

I am not much of a steak person, so I had a burger, with homemade potato salad and not homemade baked beans and macaroni salad.   It was a good Father's Day dinner. 

After dinner, Josh wanted to go back to the Jordan River Trail, so we left Charly home binge watching a series on Netflix and went to the river. We hiked from the Fish Ponds Trailhead to South County Park in Riverton - another five miles - out and back. According to my calculations, we have now hiked almost 30 miles along this trail.

That was our weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you all had a nice weekend honoring the men in your lives on Father's Day!

😊Deb💖

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."

~Billy Graham

 

Hot Blessings and other Good Things

It's been a super hot week, but even with all that heat, there has been many good things to be grateful for.  I am linking with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story to remember all the blessings I have experienced this week.  Please join us and tell us all what you are thankful for this week. 

Josh - my first favorite from this week is Josh, who celebrates his quarter-century birthday Friday, June 18. He is the youngest of the four in our little family.  We are grateful for him.  We are proud of him.  We love him to the moon and back, and wish him many, many more years of happiness and good things!  Happy Birthday, Josh!

Shade - As I mentioned in the opening, it has been super hot this week.  We broke records as we got up to 107 on Tuesday.  We rarely get that hot here in northern Utah. With all that heat, I am grateful that we have a lot of big trees round our home (like these in our side yard) to provide us with shade. 

Air conditioning - I am also grateful for central air conditioning.  I can't imagine trying to get through temperatures like this with only a fan or swamp cooler.   I am also glad we don't live in the Phoenix area any  more where it has been between 115 and 118 all week.   

A cool place to exercise - Even though we have been taking our walks in the morning to avoid the heat, on Thursday, we went grocery shopping early instead of going for a walk, so I did a workout in the basement.  I am thankful for a cool place and some exercise equipment downstairs, so I can get a workout in even when it's hot.  

Tile ordered - We found out that one of the tile selections we chose on Saturday would not work for our project, so Monday we went back to the tile store to choose something else and finalize the order.  We ended up liking the new tile we chose on Monday even better than the piece that would not work for our project.  The tile is ordered and our bathroom remodel project has been scheduled to start right after the Independence Day holiday.  

Morning walks - With the very hot temperatures this week, Charly and I went on our walks in the morning before the sun was high in the sky and the temperatures were in triple digits.  Walking is always a great way to begin the day.

My garden - My summer garden is a source of peace and joy to me no matter what the temperature. Thankfully, most of my plants have survived and even thrived this hot week.  I have new Zinnias out in bloom and multiple little green tomatoes on my vines. My plum and fig trees as well as the snap peas are flourishing. I am probably most surprised and excited about the grapes!   As always, I love to watch the hummingbirds at the feeders in our little yard every day.  My favorite time of day is early morning (when school is out that is between 6:30 and 7 a.m.).  I open the French doors out on the courtyard and enjoy the birds chirping to welcome the new day.

Another online class - I started and made progress on another online class which will give me credit toward a raise in salary.  This class is free and offered through Hillsdale College.  It is about the history and philosophy of education and it is quite interesting. 

Stress relievers - Charly and I went to Ross one day last week because he was looking for some new pants. While Charly was trying on clothes, I browsed the store and found these two adult coloring books.  I have lately be using coloring as a stress and anxiety reliever during nights when I have a hard time sleeping.  It's good to have something positive and uplifting to help me become calm ready to sleep.

A new grill - We sold our old grill when we moved to Utah from Arizona, but decided it was time to get a new one so we could grill out this summer. We bought one of the last two grills like this the store had in stock, and Charly finished assembling it Thursday, (with a little help from yours truly). We got some steaks, burgers and carne asada when we went grocery shopping, so we will be breaking in the new grill soon - probably on Father's Day. 

Organized dresser - This week, I spent some time straightening and reorganizing all of my dresser drawers. I don't think I had gone through my dresser since we moved up here from Arizona!  I threw some things away, and put some other items in a bag to donate.  It feels so good to open an organized drawer where I can actually find what I am looking for. 

Good books - Finally, I am grateful for good books.  I am so thankful for the ability, time and propensity to read.  This week, I finished my 25th book for 2021 - I Forgive You, But... by Karen Jensen Salisbury. It was a good, Christian nonfiction that gave me much to think about and put into practice.  Now, I am reading Such a Fun Age, a contemporary fiction by Kiley Reid.   So far, I have only read the first chapter, but I am intrigued and I am looking forward to reading more.  

This week has been filled with good things here!  Hope your week has also been a good one.  Thanks for stopping by! 

😊Deb💖

"If you concentrate on finding the good...you will find that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul."

~ Rabbi Harold Kushner