What is the Sunday Salon?
The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.
Bailey and Lucy at the beach in Galveston
I went with friends to the San Antonio Book Festival last weekend. Our wonderful granddaughter, Bailey, and her daughter, Lucy, came to stay with us for several days after that. We volunteered at Quintana Beach Neotropical Bird Sanctuary for Spring Fling on Friday. Saturday we are headed to a big get-together with my husband's family. Whew! Busy!
What I Read Last Week:
The Mirror & the Light: A Novel by Hilary Mantel (Historical Fiction)
With this book, I finish the Wolf Hall trilogy.
Highly recommended.
What I'm Reading Now:
Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux (Writing)
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Reread)
What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:
The Sunday Salon: Off to the San Antonio Book Festival and Then Company's a-Comin'
National Poetry Month: Antilamentation by Dorianne Laux
I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:
Good Thing #1:
The San Antonio Book Festival.
We made a splash wearing shirts from our friend Rae.
We loved hearing author Sandra Cisneros speak.
Good Thing #2:
G-granddaughter Lucy makes me proud
as she carefully examines
a Little Wood Satyr butterfly
on a hike during her visit.
Good Thing #3:
Where do we find hope
amid this madness in America?
Robert Reich is one of the voices I listen to.
I find hope by being out in nature,
visiting with family,
and listening for people who are speaking up in truth.
Please share how you are finding hope in these difficult times.
The book festival looks great, and it's a cute photo of your g-granddaughter. I read Reich too, but he's not always all that upbeat. Thanks for hosting... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteGoing to a book festival is on my list! I re-read the Wolf Hall trilogy when the latest BBC series came out a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great week! Happy Easter, have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you’ve been busy! How lucky are you to have 4 generations! When my son was young we actually had five generations in my family. Have a wonderful Easter weekend Deb!
ReplyDeleteA book festival sounds so fun and I would enjoy attending one. Love that photo of your granddaughter looking carefully at nature. All good and hopeful images. Speaking of hope, I hope to finally get a post ready to join you on Sunday Salon.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the except of the poem - and the poem itself - you shared. I think what's givimg me hope is poetry and also this weekend, being off for two days with my wife.
ReplyDeleteI meant excerpt, of course.
ReplyDeleteOf course!
DeleteLoved the pictures! Glad you had a good time at the San Antonio Book Festival. And wish you and your family a great Easter weekend! I find hope through my faith and knowing that God is always with me. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a good time. Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter weekend. Thx for sharing about the San Antonio Book Festival. It sounded good! Like you, I think I try to find hope in loved ones, our dogs, nature, books, bicycling, and in finding like-minded folks who speak truth to power and who give pertinent information and resist. In addition to Robert Reich you might also like the insights of Anne Applebaum, Timothy Snyder, and Professor Katherine Franke. Keep fighting.
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy! And it’s all good stuff. Your great granddaughter is so cute! To up my hopefulness quotient, I have subscribed to Nice News.
ReplyDeleteWish I had been at the book festival and the bird sanctuary. It's so nice you spent so much time with family, too.
ReplyDeleteHeather Cox Richardson doesn't always give me hope, but her April 17th post revealed a shift she saw and her April 18th post was an absolute delight about the anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
ReplyDeleteThe author from the book festival looks like she's got the same style vibe as me :) And your granddaughter is adorable!
ReplyDeleteI find hope in a variety of places such as with my loved ones, in nature, and in the books I read. Have a wonderful weekend! :)
ReplyDeleteVolunteering at a beach bird sanctuary sounds like a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing your great granddaughter being so careful to look-not-touch.
When I think of hope, I think of the old hymn The Solid Rock:
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus blood and righteousness,
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Hope is found in doing what I'm called to do to bring the Kingdom of God to fruition here, and it includes being loving to everyone, joyful, engendering peace, being patient, kind, meek, self-controlled and faithful.
There's no way I can control what others are doing, but I can control what I am doing.
amen.
DeleteWhere do we find hope? In that adorable little Lucy!!! OMG how adorable is she?????
ReplyDeleteI wish we had a book festival around here. It sounds like so much fun. Your great granddaughter is adorable. Hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy! It all sounds like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteAs for the political chaos, I try to read Heather Cox Richardson every night before I go to bed and I love Political Girls videos. We are not in this alone and the rallies today show us that.
Have a great week! Happy Easter!
Lucy is adorable! Nice to see she's learning to appreciate nature, too!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing what you think of Finger Exercises, and Lucy looks so enthralled in that pic!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful time you have been having, Deb. That is awesome! Have a wonderful Easter 🐰🥕
ReplyDeleteYou have indeed Been very active! Time with the grandchildren is so special. I’m glad you all had a great time. I have Wolf Hall saved under TBR on my Libby account. It sounds like an interesting read. I discovered Sandra Cisneros while in college. I am so excited that you were able to hear her speak! Your great granddaughter Lucy sure enjoys nature like her great grandma. Yes! These are extremely difficult times and I appreciate you sharing how you find hope! Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter! It looks like the book festival was fun and spending time with family is always a good thing!
ReplyDeleteRobert Reich is wonderful but I haven't heard that one. I will listen today. Yes, we DO need hope and I'm looking for it too. so glad you had family and fun this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the Robert Reich video. I hadn't seen it yet and found it helpful! I hope your weekend rounded out wonderfully and you get some rest in the week ahead! I'd definitely need a nap :-)
ReplyDeleteLove your good things. I've been journaling 'what's good?' as I call it for a while too to remind myself that there are good things even in the most crap day.
ReplyDeleteThat was me; my fingers were too fast (lol)
DeleteThree Good Things has helped me so much.
DeleteThe book festival looks like it was a lot of fun!! Lucy is going to be a great observer of nature. Good for her! I stay hopeful by getting outside and walking in our old growth forest and along the ocean path overlooking the water. Being outside is pretty much all that's keeping me sane these days. That and my reading.
ReplyDeleteThe book festival sounds fun! I picked up the Amy Tan book on audio and am really looking forward to it. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a lovely time, Deb. I've never been to a book festival. Lucy is adorable. Hope you have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/04/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-mailbox_21.html
Ooh, the book festival sounds great!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderful week! Lucy is adorable looking at the butterfly, and I love to see little kids sparking an interest in nature and the creatures who share it with us! I'm interested to see what you think of Amy Tan's book. I tried it, but couldn't get into it. I'm wondering if it doesn't suit audio so much - maybe it would be better in print? Let me know! Oh, these crazy times. I am trying to be basically aware of sort of what's going on, but also not engaging too much with the details. I don't watch the news much, and I'm trying to avoid the really contentious dialogue online because it'll just make my blood boil, and I'm not going to change anyone's minds who are just there to fight. I also find comfort in nature. Getting my hands in the soil, planting seeds and seeing new life grow, watching the insects and birds going about their lives as they have always done.... it reminds me that these things will continue regardless of what idiots in politics try to do. And while that doesn't insulate us all from impacts of it, it is nice to remember there are some things they can't touch. I also enjoy escaping into books, and spending time playing with my kid who always brings joy into all the darkest corners of life. I am so incredibly lucky and have so many wonderful things to be grateful for, so I try to make sure I'm doing things like voting (we're having an election here) but then go back to focusing on the good things around me. I hope you have a great week this week!
ReplyDeleteI definitely recommend that the Amy Tan be read as a physical book---Tan did the illustrations in addition to writing the text.
DeleteYour g-grand daughter is gorgeous. Great family time. The book festival sounds great and those shirts - what fun. I must make note of Robert Reich. I need positive on what goes on in your country these days.
ReplyDeleteThe San Antonio Book Festival sounds fabulous!! We were just down there last month visiting our nephews and their families. Good for you for sharing a love of nature with your granddaughter - that will serve her well throughout her life. We did the same with our sons :) And thanks for sharing the Robert Reich video - that does provide a little hope, though I fear Trump will destroy the checks and balances in our government before he's done with his reign. I've been looking at ghat Amy Tan book - I love her posts on social media, including her beautiful drawings of birds. Have a good week and enjoy your books!
ReplyDeleteSue
Book By Book
I've just finished a book of essays by Hilary Mantel - such a good writer!
ReplyDeletesherry