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.
Valentine's Day. Mardi Gras. Early voting. Beginning of Lent. The Great Backyard Bird Count. Naturalist club meeting. Two book club meetings. Putting in our spring garden.
A busy week at home.
Native Nations: A Millenium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (History)
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes (Poetry; Classics Club Spin; Black History Month)
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (Fiction)
Vigil by George Saunders (Fiction)
Profiles in Ignorance: How American's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz (Nonfiction)
What I'm Reading Now:
The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Classic)
Caraval by Stephanie Garber (Fantasy)
Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations by Frederick Buechner (Spirituality)
What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:
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:
I voted.
Good Thing #2:
I cooked for Valentine's Day.
Manicotti and Italian Wedding Soup.
Good Thing #3:
I spent hours watching birds
last week during the Great Backyard Bird Count.
I saw or heard 56 species in my backyard
over the four-day event, including
this Cooper's Hawk, who wildly flew at
some of the small birds around my feeders,
missing them all.
That’s a great total bird count for you back yard! Your reading totals are also impressive. Have another great week, and thank you for hosting Sunday Salon.
ReplyDeleteI reviewed another book and added my review post. Sorry about that.
DeleteYou are welcome to add as many links as you like!
DeleteNo backyard bird counts as yet. Trees and branches have been removed for house safety. There are roaming cats in good weather.
ReplyDeleteThat Cooper’s Hawk needs to up his/her game! A backyard bird feeder should be like a smorgasbord. Great to be catching up again. We returned from the Bahamas yesterday afternoon and had a harrowing drive from the airport in Ottawa to their place in Maberly. We’ll need to plough the lane this morning before we can get our car out to the road to drive home. Such is winter!
ReplyDeleteI've sent your review of Profiles in Ignorance to some friends. Our library doesn't yet have a copy.
ReplyDeleteGlad you voted!
I’m just finishing (and loving) This Book Made Me Think Of You and hope that you are too Deb. Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteI'm on the library list for This Book Made me Think of You, I also hope to win a copy from Goodreads.
ReplyDeleteSo cool about the hawk. I love seeing birds here and I was fortunate enough this week to see an enormous number of cedar waxwings in my birdbath. I don't think I have ever seen them before and had to look thgem up. I just happened to look out to see if rabbits were in the back yard and on the birdbath were at least twenty vying to get to the water. Never had seen anythign like this kind of crowd there.
Your bird count was amazing! So many varieties in your yard! Oh, I've voted too. :-)
ReplyDeleteManicotti and wedding soup? Your valentine lucked out. And wow -- that a boatload of birds!
ReplyDeleteAmazing 👏 on your bird 🐦 count, Deb. What a joy 😊
ReplyDeleteWow! A hawk! In your very own backyard!!! How cool is that???? Your Valentines meal looks amazing and I love the pink heart-shaped plate!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Cooper's Hawk is beautiful. Your Valentine's Day dinner looks delicious! It looks like you have a great collection of books going. I hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteHmm, interesting to see your thoughts on This Book Made Me Think of You. The misunderstandings thing might drive me nuts... but everyone seems pretty positive anyway, so I'm really tempted.
ReplyDeleteLove the hawk photo!
It sounds like a great week, and wow, 56 different birds, that's impressive! I enjoyed your thoughts on This Book Made Me Think of You, the miscommunications will likely get on my nerves as well. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThat was a big week. I enjoyed your photos illustrating some of the events.
ReplyDeleteWow, you had an extremely busy week, Deb, but it sounds like all great things. That's a lot of different kinds of birds in you backyard. Well Done.
ReplyDelete56 species! Wow! Your Valentine's Day dinner looks delicious and I love the plate, bowl, and glass. :) I have This Book Made Me Think of You on hold through Libby, but I think I'll save it for summer when I feel more ready. It seems like it might be somewhat emotional, although I read your review and I had to laugh. About the misunderstandings - that happens SO frequently in Hallmark movies. As much as I love Hallmark movies, the misunderstandings do drive me crazy when they could have just communicated with each other. Thankfully, it seems to be happening less frequently in Hallmark movies these days. Have a great weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to participate in the GBBC this year but I'm hoping to do my own weekend backyard count soon, before migration season is over. Congratulations on your count - 56 species is impressive.
ReplyDeleteWhat a packed week you had AND you voted! I am so afraid "they" will try to take elections away from us so I am glad you got out there and did it!
ReplyDeleteSounds like another busy week for you. I hope you like the Libby Page book as much as I did. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteWow! That was a busy week. I have Andy Borowitz’s book on my wish list. I hope you have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteSome very interesting titles you're reading. A lot of variety. Have a good week
ReplyDeleteYour week sounds lovely! I've never read Caraval, but I've thought about it many times.
ReplyDeleteSounds like that hawk has bad aim! Wishing you another great week!
ReplyDeletewow, busy for sure! Cooper's Hawks often come in our yard, they are gorgeous. Blessed Lent to you!
ReplyDeleteThat’s an impressive amount of bird visitors to your yard!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on voting, I guess it was a local election? I hope democracy wins.
Wishing you a great reading week
This was early voting for the primaries. We often have few to no Democratic Party candidates here in my state, so I end up voting in the Republican Party primary.
DeleteThat's amazing that you heard/saw so many birds! I should do a count sometime. We've been having a lot of birds in our feeders and everywhere else because of the snow. They've provided much entertainment for our cats since they were mainly stuck inside. I have indoor seedlings going but it'll be a while before they go outside in the ground. Have a wonderful week, Deb!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great bird count! I missed doing it this year, but I usually love to see all the different kinds of birds visiting the feeder! And this week I just picked up Caraval! But I don't think I'll get to read it this week because I'm finishing up a handful already. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I visit your blog, I feel lazy. Great bird count. I have pulled out the stuff for the hummingbirds, which should be coming through any time. I love those dishes...and manicotti.
ReplyDeleteAww your Valentines Dinner looks so good! I love the heart shaped plate and bowl. And yay for voting!!
ReplyDeleteI love Italian Wedding Soup! I've never had it homemade. I always get it out of a can. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteIt was also the Lunar New Year and the start of Ramadan, a busy week for all and what I like to call a "calendar collision." Anyway, you were very, very busy and I'm so glad you saw and heard that many birds!
ReplyDeleteYou get a lot of bird species in your backyard. I am envious of that ... we might get like 15 or 20 kinds of birds. The Cooper's Hawk looks really cool. I need to check if I'm still on the library wait list for Saunders' novel Vigil -- it's been so long since I've been on the list. I hope you liked it.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have been doing the count each year.. we get a few birds in my backyard and neighborhood - while i did not count them, i am guessing about 10 different species for sure that I saw (though there are many more if I go on a hike nearby)..
ReplyDeletei am a bird watcher from way back and i do regular counts on my daily walks. I also do the big counts for Bird observers' week each year. Love the bird photo!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great week, Deb. This Book Made Me Think of You and Listening to Your Life seem fascinating. Thanks for sharing photos of your food. Looks yummy!
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2026/02/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-mailbox_018629545.html
I love the sound of wedding soup - I'm fond of homemade soups so I need to look up the recipe. We ended up having our young granddaughter and the weather was atrocious so we postponed our plans to visit the Wildlife and Wetland Trust... Glad you had a happier time of it! Hope the coming week is a good one, Deb:).
ReplyDeleteThat is a huge number of birds! All I'm seeing are snowflakes. Nice assortment of books too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a busy month. Yay on early voting. It is so important right now.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool about the birds!
ReplyDeleteThe hawk is very cool looking.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Debbie. I enjoyed every part of it!
ReplyDeleteThe start of Lent always feels a little hectic to me! My routine changes so much and it takes me about a week or so to adjust.
ReplyDeleteTook a peek at your Libbry Page thoughts on the book. I hope to read or listen to it at some point. I'd have to agree thought with your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great week! I listened to The Brothers Karamazov on audio for Big Book Summer last year - took me 2 months to finish it! I'm not a big poetry reader, but I enjoyed what I've read from Langston Hughes. I always mean to participate in the Backyard Bird Count (we have a very busy feeder on our back deck!), but I never get around to it. Gorgeous photo of the Cooper's Hawk!
ReplyDeleteHope you have another good week and enjoy your books -
Sue
Book By Book
How cool to spot a Cooper's Hawk! You have such a variety of birds in your area.
ReplyDeleteI've been absent from blogging for several days (weeks?) now. My poor mom fell and broke her femur. She had to have a partial hip replacement, which was quite worrisome for us since she's almost 93. She came through that surgery like a champ and has since been moved to a rehab center. She's eager to get home and get back to her normal routine (and my cooking!), so fingers crossed that won't be much longer.