The Sunday Salon: A Volunteering Weekend at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary and San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

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. 

Last week was a blur of activity, and I spent the first part of this week resting up from last week. 

Tomorrow we return to Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary to host there, and Saturday and Sunday we will be volunteering at Migration Celebration at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. On Monday, we are planning to get together with my book friend, Mae, and her husband, who are in town to do some birding of their own. 

What I Read Last Week:

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Reread)

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur

What I'm Reading Now:

Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux (Writing)

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Classic; Buddy Read)

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (Fiction)

I completed ten independent bookstore visits this month and turned in my Houston Bookstore Crawl bingo card. I wrote up short posts on every bookstore I visited which I will publish starting in May.

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

National Poetry Month: The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

Books I Never Expected to Like...But Which I Nevertheless Read Anyway and Now I Highly Recommend

The Sunday Salon: Looking for Hope

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:

Baltimore Oriole in the backyard pecan tree. 

Good Thing #2:

Beautiful purple flowers 

popping up 

in the front yard.

Good Thing #3:

A green tree frog 

on my plumaria.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

   

Today's Featured Book: 

A Tale of Two Cities

by Charles Dickens

Genre: Classic

Published: 1859

Page Count: 544 pages

Summary: 

Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities portrays a world on fire, split between Paris and London during the brutal and bloody events of the French Revolution. After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There, two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

“It is very high; it is a little difficult. Better to begin slowly.” Thus, Monsieur Defarge, in a stern voice, to Mr. Lorry, as they began ascending the stairs. 

“Is he alone?” the latter whispered. 

“Alone! God help him, who should be with him!” said the other, in the same low voice. 

“Is he always alone, then?” 

“Yes.” 

“Of his own desire?” 

“Of his own necessity. As he was, when I first saw him after they found me and demanded to know if I would take him, and, at my peril be discreet—as he was then, so he is now.” 

“He is greatly changed?” 

“Changed!”

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities (pp. 56). Kindle Edition. 

I cannot tell you how many times I've started and stopped reading this book.

This time I'm doing it as a buddy read with two friends, and I requested a couple of books from the library and bought a couple of books to assist me---I can only hope that these things will help me get through this book this time.

If you have read it and loved it, please share. I need all the help I can get.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

Old photo, before I gave away eight bookshelves and the books on them.

April 25-May 1: Do you have enough shelves for all your books?

No. 

Let's just leave it at that.

National Poetry Month: The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

 It's National Poetry Month.

To celebrate poetry this month, I'm sharing a few lines from a poem I love along with a photo I took. I'll include a link to the entire poem below.

The Peace of Wild Things

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be...

The full poem, "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry, is here.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Books I Never Expected to Like...But Which I Nevertheless Read Anyway and Now I Highly Recommend

It's true: I never expected to like any of these books.

All of them are now on my list of books I loved and highly recommend.

Moral: Don't judge a book by your first impressions. Or loathing remarks from a book friend. Or a brutal and unhappy venture into the book during high school. 

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

War. Brutal war. The experience of soldiers during the Vietnam War.

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Catholicism vs. traditional healing...or can there be a way to have both?

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

What is the role of art and creativity for a fundamentalist?

Civility by Stephen L. Carter

The necessity of civility in a healthy democracy.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Philosophy. 

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

A good man amid the wicked.

The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams by Darcy Frey

A chance at riches and fame for four boys in poverty.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Action. Adventure. And I'm a person who isn't big on that. Or so I thought.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Murder. True crime. Compelling writing.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I anticipated a scary book, and 

I am not a fan of scary books. 

This is not a scary book.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

I have no interest in sailing or whales. 

Nevertheless, Moby Dick is at the top of my favorite reads ever.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I am not interested in war. Or peace. 

Until I read War and Peace.

What books have surprised you?

Have you read any of these?

What did you think about these?

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.    

The Sunday Salon: Looking for Hope

 

 

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

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.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.