The Sunday Salon: Northern Cardinal Chicks, Butterflies and Bees, an Alligator, and Some Gulf Coast Toads

 

Welcome! We're glad you're here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is  a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. It's also a place to link up and share what we've been doing during the week.

Swimming. Reptile shows at the libraries. (Yes, that's an alligator, with his mouth taped during the show for safety). A Pollinator BioBlitz. I couldn't wait for Paris in July and I went ahead and read The Razor's Edge and Four Seasons in France, both of which have chapters that take place in Paris. A busy, happy week.

What I Read Last Week:

My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life by Janine Marsh (Memoir)

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (Fiction)

In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina (Book Club Nonfiction)

My Friends by Frederik Bachman (Book Club Fiction)

Paris in July begins next week, and, happily, Emma of Words and Peace is hosting again this year.

The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking, and eating all things French.

There are no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of this experience – just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas might include:

• reading a French-themed book – fiction or nonfiction;
  
• watching a French movie;
  
• listening to French music;
  
• cooking French food;
  
• experiencing French, art, architecture, and travel;
• tasting French wine, or testing French cocktails;
• celebrating le quatorze juillet or Bastille Day.

Whatever it is that you love about France---share it with us all. And pass the word...

I finished my fifth Classics Club list of fifty books, and I will be starting my sixth list today. I've now finished 250 classics since I first joined The Classics Club in January of 2018. There is nothing I have done, reading-wise, that felt more daunting, and there is nothing that has given me more satisfaction. 

I encourage you to join, too. Challenge yourself by making a list of fifty classics you would like to try to read in five years. What is a classic? There is no official definition. I've read classic novels, classic memoirs, classic nature books, classic poetry, classic plays, classic children's books, classic mysteries, classic travel books, classic science fiction. Most people tend to think of classics as books that have been around a while, but there is no set time frame. You decide on books you want to include on your list. And if you don't finish in five years, that's fine, too...extend the deadline...change out your list of books...whatever you need to do to keep going. 

Here's my list of books I've read over the last eight years. There are links to my reviews (such as they are---I'm not a professional reviewer) and I include my rating for each book in the list. You might get some ideas there, or there's The Big Book List at The Classics Club blog for other ideas. 

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Am I Just Imagining It? Or Do I Hear...French Music?

The Sunday Salon: 18 Years of Blogging

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:

We had a Northern Cardinal nest and 

a Carolina Wren nest in our yard this year. 

Here's the Northern Cardinal dad feeding his chicks.

Good Thing #2:

My favorite photo of butterflies 

from the Pollinator BioBlitz, 

a Long-tailed Skipper.

Good Thing #3:

We were also delighted to find several

Gulf Coast Toads living in our yard this week.

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.