Out in the World Again, With Homemade Granola, Cream Cheese Braid, and a Tomato Galette

It was a week of more venturing out into the world. I visited one of my favorite libraries, Freeman Library of the Harris County Library System, which just reopened. A man was singing, "I am so happy that my library is open again! I am so happy that my library is open again!" as he climbed the stairs to the library. Freeman Library has a lovely little used bookstore and I spent a few hours browsing the shelves there.

The Book Jumper by Methtilde Gläser ⭐⭐⭐

The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird & Wonderful Words by Peter Bowler ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Bird Way: A New Look at How Bird Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Book Jumper was a nice romp for those of us who like books-about-books. I couldn't help writing a blog post for The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird & Wonderful Words, and I also felt I had to buy and read the first book since the second book was so good. The Bird Way shattered every belief I had about bird behavior, and that was a good thing.

Bewilderment: A Novel by Richard Powers...7% 

The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré...27%

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (Nonfiction Challenge)...47%

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Chapter-a-Day Read)...35%

Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants (Naturalist Book Club)...10%

I am enjoying Bewilderment and The Girl With the Louding Voice so much that I don't want to get to the end of either novel. 

I've now accumulated 10 books for my 20 Books of Summer challenge. I'm hoping to read 20 books from my 1001 Children's Books list. It was delightful to hear others' thoughts on the 285 books I have left to read. FictionFan recommended The Mystery of the Yellow Room and the Jennings and Darbishire books. Reese at Typings said The Baron in the Trees is one of his favorite books, and that Baron Munchhausen is a "wild ride." (Happily, I have a copy of The Baron in the Trees.) Cath at Read-Warbler told me that her favorite book of childhood is on the list, The Minnow on the Say. (You can understand that I felt the need to order that one.) CLM at Staircase Wit said her sentimental favorite is The Little White Horse. Bron at This Reading Life wrote a whole post about her childhood favorites, and I spent the better half of a day trying to get my hands on some of these books, though I was sadly unsuccessful. Louise at A Strong Belief in Wicker offered to do a read-along with a French children's book during Paris in July this year, and I ordered a copy of A Hundred Million Francs in hopes that this will happen.

We took in two intriguing movies this week. 

One was the French sci-fi movie Fantastic Planet. It's the story of a planet where humans are the playthings of the dominant species, and it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. 

Some Kind of Heaven is a documentary made in 2020 about The Villages, a huge retirement community in Florida, a place one resident describes as "Disneyland for retirees," and it's considered by some to be one of the best documentaries of the year.

Being back in the world has inspired me to do some baking this week.

Good Thing #1

Homemade Granola

Good Thing #2

Cream Cheese Braid

Good Thing #3

Nadia Hussain's Tomato Galette

I'm 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. It's a great way to 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.                                                      

Wondrous Words: Contronyms

 

It started when I saw this on Jackie's Junk Boat Travels.

It eventually led me to explore 75 Contronyms at Daily Writing Tips.

Admit it. You know you want to see the whole list. Here it is.

I love these. 

I'm most taken, I think, with "fine" meaning both "excellent" and "good enough," 

and "mean" meaning both "average" or "excellent." 

Which one do you like best?

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.

Great Quotes from Books About Books...

My very favorite quotes-from-books-about-books are 

the last two.

Be sure to read the last two

even if you skip all the others.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

Yes, and...Daily Meditations; Favorite Folktales from Around the World; and 100 Poems to Break Your Heart

 

It was a week of re-emerging into the world. We went out to eat at a restaurant, I joined a swim class, I met with my book club in person, I went to a retirement party for a beloved former colleague...life almost felt like it was, if oddly, back to normal.

I finished three books. I'd been reading each of these for over a month. One was a book of meditations. One was a book of poetry. One was a book of folktales. I highly recommend all three. Click on the links for my reviews.

Yes, and...Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr (Daily Meditation Reading) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

100 Poems to Break Your Heart by Edward Hirsch (National Poetry Month) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Favorite Folktales from Around the World collected by Jane Yolen (Classics Club Spin) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (Nonfiction Challenge)...47%

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Chapter-a-Day Read)...35%

Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants (Naturalist Book Club)...10%

The Book Jumper by Methtilde Gläser...52%

Author/artist Austin Kleon has started a book club:

Read Like an Artist.

Attention, Crafters: Show Us What You've Made This Year

from the New York Times

Have any of you started a new craft during the pandemic? 

Share it in the comments.

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Chance to Start Over:

It's Time to Prepare for a New and Better Normal Than Your Pre-Pandemic Life

from the Atlantic

My friends and I at book club, meeting together in person this week

Good Thing #1

My husband and I ate at a restaurant. 

It's our favorite local Mexican food restaurant.

We ate outdoors.

I had enchiladas and a margarita.

Good Thing #2

I joined a swim class.

My Y has not reopened, 

but our town offers lots of classes, too.

I went to the first class Thursday.

Lots of my other friends from the Y have joined.

It was fabulous.

Good Thing #3

Our book club met together in person 

for the first time in over a year.

We were so happy to see each other

that we didn't even talk about the book.

I'm 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. It's a great way to 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. 

20 Books of Summer: How Many of the 1001 Children's Book List Can I Read This Summer?

 

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting her 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Cathy writes:

One summer.

Three months.

93 Days.

20 books.

Are you in?

When I was working, summer was my big reading time. I used that (much-needed) time to catch up on my kid reading. 

Now I'm retired. I am always able to easily read 3-7 books a week. 

So let me up the challenge a bit. 

As some of you know, I've been trying to read all 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. As of today, I am at 715 books read.  That leaves me with 286 books to go.

I propose to try to read 20+ books from my list this summer. 

It sounds like an easy task, reading children's books. But the truth is that I've read almost all of the easy books---the picture books, the short chapter books, the books widely available here in the US. What I'm left with are the big books (12+), the books I can't find at the library or even Amazon, books I can't find in English, books that (honestly) don't really appeal to me. 

I will not let these problems stop me from my quest. Here is the list of books that will guide my reading this summer. 

	Title (288/1001)	Author
0-3	3/37
18	Little Spook's Baby Sister	Inger Sandberg
29	Bunny Bath	Lena Anderson
37	Julian the Rabbit	Nicoletta Costa
3+	6/124
41	Jolly Aunt, The	Lothar Meggendorfer
78	What Does the Mouse Think on Thursday	Josef Guggenmos
81	Wonderful Tree, The	Ulf Lofgren
93	Uppo the Bear	Elina Karjalainen
126	Fire-Engine Lil	Janet McLean
157	Tatu and Patu in Helsinki	Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen
5+	32/220
162	Traditional Chinese Folktales (Classic of Mountains and Seas)	Unknown
163	Tales of Otogizoshi	Unknown
183	Adventures of Maya the Bee, The	Waldemar Bonsels
184	Josephine and Her Dolls	H.C. Cradock
188	Rupert the Bear	Mary Tourtel
204	Little Red Engine Gets a Name, The	Diana Ross
205	Tweet Tweet	Ludmila Podjavorinska
206	Tales and Legends	Javier Villafane
212	Apoutsiak	Paul-Emile Victor
221	Marlaguette	Marie Colmont
224	Detectives in Togas	Henry Winterfeld
227	Toad Who Wanted to Be A Star, A	Oscar Alfaro
236	Orange Cow, The	Nathan Hale
238	Old Master Q	Wong Chak
239	Robber Hotzenplotz, The	Otfried Preubler
245	Dreams of the Toad, The	Javier Villafane
249	Dailan Kifki	Maria Elena Walsh
252	Cion Cion Blue	Pinin Carpi
255	Kangaroo for All	Gloria Fuertes
265	Hodja From Pjort	Ole Lund Kirkegaard
273	Companions, The	Lygia Bojunga Nunes
291	Cat that Lived a Million Times	Yoko Sano
320	Hound of the Mound and the Frog of the Bog	Ana Maria Machado
338	Little Bird, The	Paro Anand
345	Moka the Cow	Agostino Traini
347	Sea at the End of the Forest, The	Pinin Carpi
348	My Kingdom for a Horse	Ana Maria Machado
359	Love Book, The	Pernilla Stalfelt
364	Biggest Kiss in the World, The	R. Chavez Castaneda
367	Constable Sniffler	Asko Sirkia
368	Girl and the Jackdaw Tree, The	Riitta Jalonen
380	In Mr. Thunder's House	Guido Quarzo
8+	122/349
385	Robinson the Younger	Johann Heinrich Campe
392	Morality Tales	Rafael Pombo
402	Nobody's Boy	Hector Malot
403	Simple National Slovak Tales	Pavol Dobsinsky
404	Uncle Remus Stories	Joel Chandler Harris
406	Bevis*	Richard Jefferies
414	Moonfleet*	J. Meade Faulkner
415	Black Corsair, The	Emilio Salgari
418	Queen of the Caribbean	Emilio Salgari
419	Sussi and Biribissi	Collodi Nipote
424	Captain Storm	Emilio Salgari
425	Becassine	Jacqueline Riviere
426	Paul Street Boys	Ferenc Molnar
430	Wonderful Adventures of Nils, The	Selma Lagerlof
433	Extraordinary Adventures of Massagran	Josep Maria Folch i Torres
435	Adventures of Gian Burrasca, The	Vamba
447	What Celia Says	Elena Fortun
450	Kubula and Kuba Kubikula	Vladislav Vancura
451	Red U: A Story for Lads, The	Wilhelm Matthiessen
455	Night in the Galactic Railroad	Kenji Miyazawa
460	Pony for Jean, A	Joanna Cannan
463	Pigeon Post	Arthur Ransome
464	Adventures of the Wishing Chair, The	Enid Blyton
465	Far-Distant Oxus, The	K. Hull and P. Whitlock
470	Circus is Coming, The	Noel Streatfeild
474	Traveller in Time, A	Allison Uttley
478	Swish of the Curtain, The	Pamela Brown
483	Brendon Chase	B.B.
485	Wind on the Moon	Eric Linklater
488	Lucky Luke - Arizona 1880	Morris
489	Little White Horse, The	Elizabeth Goudge
490	Mistress Masham's Repose	T.H. White
494	Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School	Frank Richards
496	Hurrah for St. Trinian's	Ronald Searle
497	Fantastic Antonita, The	Borita Casas
498	Autumn Term*	Antonia Forest
504	Princess Who Had Magic Fingers, The	Maria Luisa Gefaell
505	Adventurous Tales of Machu Picchu	Ciro Alegria
506	Tales of Uncle Rabbit	Euclides Jaramillo
507	Kimba	Osamu Tezuka
509	Little Onion	Gianni Rodari
512	Astro Boy (Mighty Atom)	Osamu Tezuka
513	Marcelino, Bread and Wine	Jose Maria Sanchez Silva
514	Jennings and Darbishire	Anthony Buckeridge
515	Down with Skool!	Geoffrey Willams
523	Minnow on the Say	Philippa Pearce
524	Hundred Million Francs, A	Paul Berna
527	Warden's Niece, The	Gilliam Avery
528	Thorn Castle	Istvan Fekete
529	Gaston	Andre Franquin et. al.
531	Warrior Scarlet	Rosemary Sutcliff
532	Mort and Phil	Francisco Ibanez
534	Boy, the Swallow and the Cat, The	Miguel Bunuel
537	Bonny Pit Laddie, The	Frederick Grice
538	Knight's Fee	Rosemary Sutcliff
539	Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver	Michael Ende
543	Fantomette	Georges Chaulet
544	Six Companions	Paul-Jacques Bonzon
550	Garden, The	Jiri Trnka
552	Little Pot Boiler, The	Spike Milligan
553	How the Whale Became	Ted Hughes
558	White Stone, The	Gunnel Linde
560	Adventures of Rupert the Toad, The	Roy Berocay
562	Shy Violet	Giana Anguissola
566	Little Fox, The (Vuk the Fox Cub)	Istvan Fekete
568	Telephone Tales	Gianni Rodari
569	King of Copper Mountains, The	Paul Biegel
573	Hedgehog Tree, The	Antonio Gramsci
576	Goalkeeper's Revenge, The	Bill Naughton
578	Tales of the Rue Broca	Pierre Gripari
582	Doraemon: Gadget Cat from the Future	Fujiko Fujio
585	Little Captain, The	Paul Biegel
594	Efrem the Knight	Mino Milani
596	Stradbroke Dreamtime	Noonuccal Oodgeroo
598	Chlorophyll from the Blue Sky	Bianca Pitzorno
600	Crusade in Jeans	Thea Beckman
602	Fib, The	George Layton
603	Conrad: The Factory-Made Boy	Christine Nostlinger
604	Granny	Peter Hartling
608	Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, The	Gene Kep
611	Little Man Dressed in Gray, The	Fernando Alonso
612	Kaziranga Trail, The	Arup Kumar Dutta
614	Fray Perico and His Donkey	Juan Munoz
620	Nothing to be Afraid Of	Jan Mark
621	Jules's Rat	Peter Hacks
629	Schoolboy Jia Li	Qin Wenjun
631	Max and Sally	Milos Macourek
636	Mouth Open, Story Jump Out	Grace Hallworth
638	Tomb Raiders	Odile Weulersse
639	Pirate's Heart	Benno Pludra
640	Storm	Kevin Crossley-Holland
643	Valley of the Fireflies, The	Gloria Cecilia Diaz
645	Gargling With Jelly	Brian Patten
646	Hounds of the Morrigan, The	Pat O'Shea
651	Quirky Tails	Paul Jennings
653	Thief in the Village, A	James Berry
656	Pit Pony	Joyce Barkhouse
658	Hayflower and Quiltshoe	Sinikka and Tiina Nopola
659	Merryll of the Stones	Brian Caswell
663	Painted House, The	Montserrat del Amo
668	Last Giants, The	Francois Place
669	Almost Everyone Could Topple	Toon Tellegen
672	Mole Always Turns up on its Own, A	Hanna Johansen
673	Bed and Breakfast Star, The	Jacqueline Wilson
674	Way Home	Libby Hathorn
675	Stories to Fernando	Ema Wolf
676	Halinka	Mirjam Pressler
677	Watch Out for the Cat	Silvana Gandolfi
678	Poordog the Starved	Graciela Montes
681	Clockwork	Philip Pullman
687	Matthias and Grandpa	Roberto Piumini
688	Toby	Graciela Beatriz Cabal
692	My Girragundji	Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor
693	Sterkarm Handshake, The	Susan Price
694	Dog with the Yellow Heart, The	Jutta Richter
702	Day I Learned to Tame Spiders, The	Jutta Richter
705	Father Grew Wings in Spring	Tomi Kontio
707	Papunya School Book, The	Nadia Wheatley
709	Rupert the Rapper and Aunt Deep Freeze	Sinikka and Tiina Nopola
714	Barrumbi Kids	Leonie Norrington
720	Three Fairy Tales	Gustavo Martin Garza
725	Rabbit and Coyote	Beatriz Donnet
12+	123/270
731	Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno	Giulio Cesare Croce and A. Banchieri
734	Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, The	Raspe, Rudolf Erich
741	Eric, or Little by Little	Frederic W. Farrar
742	Captain Fracesse	Theophile Gautier
744	Good Little Devil, The	Comtesse de Segur
750	Fifth Form at St. Dominic's, The	Talbot Baines Reed
751	With Clive in India	George Alfred Henty
753	Heart: An Italian Schoolboy's Journal	Edmondo De Amicis
756	Treasure in Silver Lake, The	Karl May
757	Eclipse of the Crescent Moon	Geza Gardonyi
758	Tigers of Mompracem, The	Emilio Salgari
761	Jolanda, Daughter of the Black Corsair	Emilio Salgari
765	Jock of the Bushveld	Percy Fitzpatrick
766	Mystery of the Yellow Room, The	Gaston Leroux
768	War of the Buttons, The	Louis Pergaud
770	Cave Children, The	Alois Theodor Sonnleitner
772	In Medeleni	Ionel Teodoreanu
775	Ede and Unku	Alex Wedding
777	Children from Number 67, The	Lista Teszner and Kurt Held
778	Missing From Saint-Agil	Pierre Very
780	Happy Return, The	C.S. Forester
782	Cue for Treason	Geoffrey Trease
783	Red Zora	Kurt Held
784	We Couldn't Leave Dinah	Mary Treadgold
787	Woods of Windri	Violet Needham
788	Otterbury Incident, The	Cecil Day-Lewis
790	Metropolis	Osamu Tezuka
791	Path, The	Miguel Delibes
792	Big Tiger and Christian	Fritz Mühlenweg
794	Wool-Pack: A Tale of Adventure, The	Cynthia Harnett
795	Sons of the Great Bear, The	Liselotte Welskopf-Heinrich
796	Adventures of the Ingenious Alfanhui	Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio
805	Captain Thunder	Victor Mora
806	Neitah: A Girl in the Far North	Edith Klatt
808	Cherry Kids, The	Constantin Chirita
810	Baron in the Trees, The	Italo Calvino
813	Marianne Dreams	Catherine Storr
822	Tangara	Nan Chauncy
823	Friedrich	Hans Peter Richter
826	Twelve and the Genii, The	Pauline Clarke
827	Time of Trial	Hester Burton
829	Pastures of the Blue Crane	H.F. Brinsmead
830	Stowaway of the Ulysses, The	Ana Maria Matute
832	Min-Min, The	Mavis Thorpe Clark
845	Edge of the Cloud	K.M. Peyton
846	Oscar at the South Pole	Carmen Kurtz
848	Lark and the Laurel, The	Barbara Willard
849	Grover	Vera and Bill Cleaver
850	I'm the King of the Castle	Susan Hill
852	Winter in Wartime	Jan Terlouw
853	No Way of Telling	Emma Smith
854	Across the Barricades	Joan Lingard
857	Stories from the Year One Thousand	Tonino Guerra
858	Spirit Wind, The	Max Fatchen
862	Friends, The	Rosa Guy
866	Nobody's Family is Going to Change	Louise Fitzhugh
867	Trouble with Donovan Croft, The	Bernard Ashley
868	Who Does This Kid Take After?	Eva Janikovsky
870	Twopence a Tub	Susan Price
872	Machine Gunners, The	Robert Westall
874	Crisis on Conshelf Ten	Monica Hughes
875	October Child, The	Eleanor Spence
879	Thunder and Lightnings	Jan Mark
880	First of Midnight	Majorie Darke
881	Underground to Canada	Barbara Smucker
885	Tulku	Peter Dickinson
887	My One-Legged Friend and Me	Anna-Liisa Haakana
889	Sentinels, The	Peter Carter
891	Scarecrows, The	Robert Westall
892	Agnes Cecilia	Maria Gripe
896	Nausicaa	Hayao Miyazaki
897	Handles	Jan Mark
898	Parcel of Patterns, A	Jill Paton Walsh
899	Talking in Whispers	James Watson
901	Brother in the Land	Robert Swindells
905	Johnny, My Friend	Peter Pohl
908	Ghost Drum, The	Susan Price
910	Strollers	Lesley Beake
911	Cloud, The	Gudrun Pausewang
912	Alex	Tessa Duder
913	Devil's Arithmetic, The	Jane Yolen
914	Pack of Lies, A	Geraldine McCaughrean
915	Caperucita in Manhattan	Carmen Martin Gaite
918	Strange Objects	Gary Crew
919	Redwork	Michael Bedard
920	Rocco	Sherryl Jordan
921	Visits, The	Silvia Schujer
922	Dear Nobody	Berlie Doherty
923	Listen to my Heart	Bianca Pitzorno
924	Memoirs of a Basque Cow	Bernardo Atxaga
926	There Will Be Wolves	Karleen Bradford
929	Titeuf	Zep
931	Heart's Delight	Per Nilsson
933	Some of the Kinder Planets	Tim Wynne-Jones
934	Rowan of Rin	Emily Rodda
935	Gathering, The	Isobelle Carmody
936	Gold Dust	Geraldine McCaughrean
937	Dougy	James Moloney
938	Stone Cold	Robert Swindells
939	Foxspell	Gillian Rubenstein
941	Switchers	Kate Thompson
942	Whispers in the Graveyard	Theresa Breslin
944	Jump into the Other World, A	Bruno Tognolini
945	When the World Was Still Young	Jurg Schubiger
949	Gifting, The	Sophie Masson
951	Deadly, Unna?	Phillip Gwynne
952	River Boy	Tim Bowler
953	Pig-Heart Boy	Malorie Blackman
958	Stony Heart Country	David Metzenthen
960	Not Chicago, Not Here	Kirsten Boie
961	Postcards From No Man's Land	Aidan Chambers
963	Wind Singer, The	William Nicholson
965	Witch Child	Celia Rees
966	Oh, Boy!	Marie-Aude Murail
968	Coram Boy	Jamila Gavin
969	Refugee Boy	Benjamin Zephaniah
971	I Am Polleke	Guus Kuijer
979	Four Sisters	Malika Ferdjoukh
980	Slaves of Quentaris	Paul Collins
989	Boat in the Forest, A	Paola Mastrocola
991	Memories of Indhun: The Resistance	Laura Gallego Garcia
998	Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling	David Cornish
1000	Silver Jaguar, The	Herman Scholz

Add your link to sign up here to join the 20 Books of Summer.