Saturday, September 5, 2020

Wild Girl, Harlem Grown, Blue Ticket, Breath, and Zippy Chippy

 



It was a very slow week. 

My husband and I are trying to figure out a new time to walk each day when (1) the temperature is still below 80 degrees, and (2) traffic is not heavy, and (3) the sun is up but not in our eyes. We may go back to walking in the park instead of trying to walk around town. 

It's hot, yes, but that's just August and September in Texas. It's hot, but it really never gets above 95 degrees, and it's much cooler than that in the shade under our live oak trees. And next week we are expecting our first cool front. It will get down at night into the 60s. Bring out the sweaters...at least for a couple of days.

We are getting ready to paint our computer room next week. We had to wait until cooler weather so we could open the windows and avoid the fumes from the primer. This room has a built-in bookshelf, and I also hope to reorganize (meaning cull books from the shelves for my Little Library) the bookshelf, too.

I went to an online baby shower for my niece last week, and that was fun. It was nice to see the faces of family and friends. So far this year, I've attended an online baby shower, an online graduation ceremony, an online birthday party, an online wedding, and an online funeral. Strange times.








Have you read any of these? 
Any good book selections for me? 




I made a little progress on my ongoing reads. I may drag all of these out for the entire year, it seems.


War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy...73% read
Devotions by Mary Oliver...49% read
How to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life...42% read
The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You...12% read






My posts from last week:

Small Delights: A Walk at Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge





The deadline to apply to be a Cybils Awards judge is September 7, 2020. Apply to be a first or second round judge for Fiction Picture Books, Easy Reader / Early Chapter Books, Graphic Novels, Elementary / Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, Middle Grade Fiction, Nonfiction, or YA Fiction. Apply here







1. I reached 1,000,000 page views on Readerbuzz last week. Happy.

2. I got yeast from my bi-weekly grocery pickup today for the first time since March. 
This baker is very happy.

3. Hurricanes that appeared in the Gulf last week = 0. So happy.




I'm very happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. I hope you will visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

  • What was your week like?
  • Read any good books? Tell us about them.
  • What other bookish things did you do? 
  • What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.


My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.

68 comments:

  1. That is very hot, it’s getting colder here, probably in the fifties, the way this year is going it wouldn’t surprise me if I woke up to six feet of snow one day!

    We are painting too, well when I say we I mean my husband is painting and today I get to hold the ladder as he is painting the eaves of the house, rather him than me!

    That’s a great number of views and great about the yeast too, it was like gold dust for a while here!

    Have a lovely week!

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    1. I have seen snow about a half dozen times, so snow is not in the forecast. But, hey, it's 2020, so who knows?!

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  2. I completely understand about trying to find a good time to walk. For me, the sun rising later and later is pushing my start time out a bit. I don't like to walk outside in the dark - snakes, you know. And we do have them. However, I like to get my exercise done early because early is the coolest time of the day, although it's usually also the most humid. As to temps, we do get above 100 and August had most days above 100, but it was 72 this morning. I'm looking forward to that cool front and I'm going to be 'mad' if it doesn't dip this far south. Ha! Have a good weekend! And, yes, no hurricanes this week!

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    1. One of the consolations of living along the gulf is that it keeps the temps cooler here. And there's always a nice breeze off the water.

      We don't like to walk in the dark either. No snakes, but still it's hard to be sure you have good footing on the sidewalk.

      Let's wish together for that cool front, Kay.

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  3. I was just looking at the temps here this weekend, and now I want to go back to bed. Haha. It's going to be a scorcher. It's already 85 and it's only 8:30 in the morning. It's supposed to reach 113F. This is not unusual for us this time of year though. I always like to joke that Summer always puts up a good fight before she lets Autumn take over. And right now Summer is just showing off.

    Good luck with the painting! I hope the project goes well. I have a running list of projects we need to do, but finding the time (and money) has been a bear. It's always something.

    I am glad you enjoyed the baby shower! My daughter has a couple of friends with birthday parties coming up. One of the friends will be dropping off a party package the night before the party with crafts and a birthday cupcake for the actual party.

    Wild Girl: How to Have Incredible Outdoor Adventures sounds like a great book! Blue Ticket is one I have on my to read list. I've read the author before and enjoyed her work.

    This is our last quiet weekend for the month, and so I hope to take advantage of it and rest! We are going to enjoy the new Mulan movie which just came out and maybe some freshly popped popcorn. I want to finish the book I am reading and maybe do a little blog hopping. I promised my daughter a round or ten of Uno. I hope you have a great weekend and week ahead, Deb.

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    1. Whew. I'm not sure I could do 113. I certainly couldn't walk in it. I hope Autumn wrestles Summer down soon.

      Just getting the supplies for the painting job was crazy. A paintbrush arrived. Then, days later, the dropcloth. Still later, the can of paint...sigh.

      Wild Girl was great fun. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. Everything she did in the book was used to raise money for charity, but, wow, doing three marathons in a row across the desert? Riding a bicycle through Antarctica? Crazy.

      I do hope you enjoy the new Mulan movie and popcorn. Uno sounds great, too.

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  4. We've come rather suddenly into cooler times here and I realised I had to buy MORE running kit now I'm running more frequently! I'm glad the sunrises are a little later so I get to see them, and I hope you work out a good time to walk. Some lovely books there!

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    1. I do hope my walking shoes hold up until I can go in person to buy a new pair. The sunrises are magnificent, I think.

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  5. I had a busy week of reading. I finished Dawn by Octavia Butler and Summer by Ali Smith, which I'll be reviewing soon. Now I'm reading Helen Macdonald's wonderful book of essays, Vesper Flights.

    We finally got some rain yesterday and that is a VERY good thing. That cool front can't arrive soon enough for me!

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    1. Gosh, Dorothy, I'm reading Vesper Flights, too. I wonder if you got a chance to hear Helen Macdonald speak at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I think it's archived.

      Join us in our wishing, will you? Maybe if you and I and Kay all try very, very hard?

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  6. How do you manage to read so much in just one week? I simply can't do that (and I work in a library), and I read a lot. However, I haven't found anything to read that really "got" me, and I miss that.

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    1. I'm a ridiculously fast reader, Carola. I wish I could slow down a bit.

      And I really, really hate it when I have a week with no books that "got" me.

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  7. It's 111F today and I am looking forward to it cooling down around here.

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    1. Gosh that is hot. We do get hurricanes here, but the gulf also keeps things cool.

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  8. It's very hot and humid in Florida, too. It's our first year living here so I'm not 100% used to it yet. I haven't figured out a good time to walk. It always seems to be humid. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. It's always hot and humid here in Texas, too. There's no escaping the humidity. But my mom, who was from up north, always loved the humidity here. Said it cooled her off.

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  9. I mostly love September but I do feel like the sun is in my eyes all month long. That makes me a little cranky. We arrived in Austin about this time a year and, coming fresh from Maine, we were not prepared for the heat! Oh boy! And I'm sure your coastal towns are even more humid! At least the end is in sight. Enjoy your week!

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    1. Gracious, no, I'm sure that coming from Maine the heat is a bit of a shocker. It goes on and on, too. It's actually much cooler here along the coast, but you have gotta love humidity if you do. Austin is such a wonderful city. We had always planned to move to Austin, but life got in the way and it never happened.

      (I hate to tell you, Jen, but the end is not in sight. It will stay pretty warm through this month and much of October in Austin. But we will have periodic cool fronts. That's really all that saves us.)

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  10. I mostly love September but I do feel like the sun is in my eyes all month long. That makes me a little cranky. We arrived in Austin about this time a year and, coming fresh from Maine, we were not prepared for the heat! Oh boy! And I'm sure your coastal towns are even more humid! At least the end is in sight. Enjoy your week!

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  11. wow, congrats on the million views. we had heat advisories out today. hope you have a good week

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  12. One Million page views! Wow!! Congrats Deb!! That is wonderful. I am sure every visit was worth while.

    I am glad that the no storms hit. I haven't read any of your books no, but as always, I do check a few out.

    Weather was nice and warm here until yesterday afternoon when it started raining again. But it's okay, time to get snuggled in with a good book.

    Hope you will have a wonderful week!

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    1. Your world is just now turning warm. Wish it was as easy to swap out weather as it is to swap books. Enjoy your time with a good book.

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  13. I started War and Peace years ago but didn't get very far. I am currently reading a book which is connected to Tolstoy. That's as close as I am going to get for a while I think!

    Have a good week.

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    1. I tried to read War and Peace one summer by myself, but nope, no go. This year I think I'm going to finish it. One chapter a day. Anybody can do that, I think.

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  14. speaking of paint, i recently saw an area of a city where residents were painting murals on on the garage.Creativity is awesome. Hope you get creative even if it is one color.

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  15. Online baby shower; that's a new one - COVID sure has changed so much. Congrats on 1,000,000 page views! Impressive and, yes, aren't we grateful for little things now - yeast -- who would have thought?

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  16. Yay for yeast!! I managed to grab some from the King Arthur store website, and I am hoarding it I feel like. Lol.

    And yay for cooler temps and painting!

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    1. I will carefully use mine. Who knows when I will get any more?!

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  17. Love it all but especially the three good things! Congratulations!

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  18. Wow, that does sound hot. I hope you'll find the perfect place and time to walk, I have trouble with that as well. Your three positive things are amazing each week. Congratulations on getting so many pageviews!

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  19. We had a hot summer but then it cooled so quickly here in Montreal that I wish it was still hot. I've attended several online funerals but not a baby shower. Yes, strange times.
    Congrats on a million page views! I read Zippy Chippy (love the author) and will be posting my review this week.
    Enjoy the yeast and your baking.

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  20. We have had a great summer although I didn't get out enough. Still summer weather although it is getting cooler overnight, this morning at 10 it is 16C or 61F.
    We have a funeral coming up in Montreal, but we won't be driving up there for it.
    I couldn't get yeast for a while, but scooped some packets up in July when I saw them. Then I filled a jar from the Bulk Barn last week. Not going to get caught when we have our next lockdown which I'm sure is coming. Health officials are trying to warn people no parties this long weekend.
    Just heard of outbreaks following some weddings two weeks ago.
    We are just keeping to ourselves.

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    1. We are so dependent on others during this time. I wish others realized that.

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  21. Glad that your weather is a bit cooler - it's now plain chilly at night here now. I hope the painting project goes well. And congratulations on one million page views - that is a huge achievement! I hope you resolve your time and place to take your daily walk - I just need to get into that routine:)). Have a good week, Deb.

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    1. The walk does us good. It's a great way to start the day.

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  22. I am curious about The Novel Cure.

    Your walking times and spaces are familiar, although our walking places (back courtyard) are not very challenging.

    Enjoy your week and your books. I am fascinated by all your online events!

    Stay safe and enjoy the weekend.

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  23. Such good things, Deb!
    In contrast To you, the weather is warming up a little here, I’m not even wearing socks today!

    Wishing you a great reading week

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    1. We are always happy to see cooler weather. Less likelihood of hurricanes.

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  24. It's funny what we can find and not find at the grocery store, isn't it! I'm glad you can bake again. 1,000,000 views on your blog is astonishing and impressive, congratulations! Now I am curious about how many I've had (I am sure it is WAY fewer).

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    1. I have been blogging for twelve years. And who knows how many of those view are my own? Or my family's?!

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  25. I, too, found a few packets of yeast. I read somewhere why they can't make it faster or make more. But I can't remember what it said. Ha!

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  26. I enjoyed your three Happy Things. I may have to do that as well. Thank you. Happy Sunday

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    1. I think it's a little habit that is working well for me.

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  27. My husband and I are back to walking together now that his broken arm isn't nearly as painful to move. I walk with him and then I go back out for a more brisk walk by myself. Our temps have been very mild, so our walks are enjoyable, but it won't be long before the rainy season sets in and we'll have to either walk in rain gear or plan around the showers. So funny how you are in for a cold front and we will finally get hot weather next week. We may even hit the low 80s! I can't wait!

    We still don't have regular yeast in our stores. Just the rapid kind, which I've never used. We also can't find any spray PAM. Go figure! Strange times indeed.

    Take care and enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend. I can't believe summer is over. :(

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    1. I always look forward to summer because it's a chance to swim at the Y. Not this summer. Yes, funny that you are just now getting the weather we've had since early July.

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  28. Forgot to congratulate you on your blogging success! A million views is astonishing, but you have a great blog with a lot of followers. Well done!

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    1. Thank you, Les. We've been blogging buddies for a long time now.

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  29. I've read Zippy Chippy, an unknown story! And I noted some of the books you shared, like Wild Girl & Blue Ticket! We've had nineties for a long time, now snow is headed our way (Colorado), thus your cooler days coming. Congratulations for your blogging news & happy reading!

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  30. My friend is right outside of Houston and her cool days are 90s! Congrats on your blogging milestone. That's amazing. Good luck with the painting of your computer room! We are in the process of cleaning out the basement a bit and getting some decorations up this week. We're also getting a cool front in tomorrow. 50s and 60s. A bit chilly but looking forward to it. Yeast is an amazing find! Have fun baking.

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  31. Congrats on the page views! That is amazing. I turned on our furnace this past week. I don't think our temperature hit 70 a couple of days. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  32. Thank goodness for shade, right? It's already started to cool down here, at least at night. The mornings are nice... I like to walk when it's cooler too, it's much more relaxing.

    Congrat on the page views! that's awesome!!! And yay for no hurricanes... :)

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    1. I heard today that the cool front is probably not coming. Sigh.

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    2. Oh no. Well I hope you do get some cooling off soon...

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  33. I had a take a few days off walking because it was too hot but I'm hoping with the cooler temps I can get back to it regularly. Check out what I reads.

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  34. Okay, love your books but... HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU GET YEAST!! I've been looking and looking. Luckily, I grabbed a full jar back in March. But I've had to use it sparingly and I'll be running out in a couple weeks. Ugh! Anyway, hope you have a wonderful reading week!

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  35. It was good to see you Tuesday, and to meet your dad...I've heard so much about him. Rae

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