Kindergarten Graduation and a Nature Walk Across the Prairie and Even a Little Bit of Reading

 

We are home, though we will head out again next week for the high school graduation party of our granddaughter, Bailey. It's a busy time of year.

Le gentil petit diable et autres contes de la Rue Broca by Pierre Gripari (1001 Children's Books)

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver (Romance)

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson (Romance)

Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Everyday by Clemency Burton Hill (Nonfiction)

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis (Narniathon)

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (Chapter-a-Day)

Around the World in 80 Books by David Damrosch (Book-About-Books)

Poetry Rx: How 50 Inspiring Poems Can Heal and Bring Joy to Your Life (Happiness; Poetry)

Write for Your Life by Anna Quindlen (Writing)

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:

Wondrous Words: Service

A Comprehensive List of the World's Best Memoirs of Bookish Lives of Readers

The Sunday Salon: Spring Fling and City Nature Challenge and Off to Big Sandy Again

Author/illustrator Austin Kleon suggests not only keeping a list of the books you read, but mapping them here. 

This is fun...The Periodic Table of Storytelling...

Our naturalist group took a walk through Nash Prairie Preserve, a never-plowed, never-grazed pristine tall-grass prairie in our county, with a marvelous guide one evening last week. We were encouraged to pick wildflowers and walk in the grass and look closely at the flora and fauna (I was delighted to find a walking stick, three butterflies, a Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on a Purple Passionflower, and a Dickcissel.) 

Good Thing #1

Annie's kindergarten graduation.

Annie and her little brother, Wyatt.

Good Thing #2

We can check out odd things from our library,

including this huge unicorn sprinkler,

so we took this along to Big Sandy and

had a fun day with it and the kids.

Good Thing #3

The kids and I had a fantastic time

drawing in my journal and the journal we gave Annie for graduation.

Annie is really good at drawing horses.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place 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. 

Service

Service. 

It's a word we don't seem to know much about here in the US.

AirFrance knows this word. AirFrance is all about service.

The flight attendant offered to take a photo of my sister and me on the plane to Paris.

A hanger was on my seat to hang up my coat during the flight.

We were brought a warm moist cloth towel for our hands before we ate. 

A cloth tablecloth was placed over the tray table.

Champagne! And French wine!

The first course. Real silverware. Real butter. Real bread.

The main course. With more champagne. 

Desserts.

Service: the action of helping or doing work for someone.

United Airlines...American Airlines...Delta Airlines...Southwest Airlines, are you listening?

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

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.

Weekend Cooking was created by Beth Fish Reads and is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker). It is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

A Comprehensive List of the World's Best Memoirs of Bookish Lives of Readers

What do readers love to read about, perhaps more than anything else? The reading lives of other readers, of course.

An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books by Alberto Manguel

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sara Clarkson

Morningstar: Growing Up with Books by Ann Hood

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders

The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller by Betsy Burton

Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan

So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson

Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore by Suzanne Strempek Shea

How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlan

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

The Shelf: From LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading by Phyllis Rose

The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life by Andy Miller

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Books by Cara Nicoletti

My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan

Have you read any of these?

What are your thoughts about those you have read?

Do you have any to add to the list?

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.  

Spring Fling and the City Nature Challenge and Off to Big Sandy Again

 

I know I just got home from a month in France, but I'm off this weekend to Big Sandy, Texas. It's the kindergarten graduation of my beautiful granddaughter, Annie, and we have a lovely celebration planned.

So, no, I haven't exactly gotten my reading mojo back after a month away in France, and I'm not likely to get a lot of reading done while I'm off with family in Big Sandy. But I did finish A Horse and His Boy, book #5 in the Narnia series, a little adventure with lots of (sigh) dated thoughts about women and girls and other cultures and going to war to solve problems. Probably my least favorite of the series so far...but, onward and upward, to book #6, The Magician's Nephew.

Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Everyday by Clemency Burton Hill (Nonfiction)

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis (Narniathon)

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (Chapter-a-Day)

Le gentil petit diable et autres contes de la Rue Broca by Pierre Gripari (1001 Children's Books)

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:

Sunday Salon: Au Revoir, Paris!

One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read

Out My Paris Apartment Window

It’s time once again for the 20 Books of Summer, hosted by 746 Books. This year the event will be kicking off on Wednesday 1 June and finishing on Thursday 1 September. If you want to join in, just take the Books of Summer image, and pick your own 10, 15, or 20 books you would like to read. Post the link to your choices in the post’s comments here.

I plan to read: 1. First Summer in the Sierras   2. The Wind in the Willows   3. The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis.  4. Cold Sassy Tree.  5. The Mill on the Floss.  6. When Pies Fly   7. Vanity Fair.  8. Wine Folly.  9. The Mystery of the Yellow Room.  10. Captain Fricasse   11. Nana by Zola.  12. Patient Zero.  12. Dubliners.  13. Lost Horizon.  14. Barefoot in Paris.  15. The Paris Connection.  16. Kisses and Croissants.  17. Nature Underfoot   18. River of the Gods   19. Remarkably Bright Creatures.  20. Lessons in Chemistry

My husband and I participated in the City Nature Challenge last weekend. At a nearby park, we came upon this Great Egret nest with two chicks.

We also volunteered at Quintana Beach Neotropical Bird Sanctuary for Spring Fling, a celebration of the spring migration there. My favorite bird was this Northern Parula who was crazy about the nectar from this Coral Bean plant and posed for us for many hours.

Good Thing #1

I was able to trade in my broken five-year-old Mac

for a $300 credit on a new Mac.

Good Thing #2

I love my new iPhone 

that I bought in Paris after my other iPhone was stolen.

It's light purple, and it's French...

Good Thing #3

My broken camera is at the repair shop.

There is hope it will be fixed.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place 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. 

Out My Paris Apartment Window

I've just returned from spending almost a month in Paris and in the Loire Valley in France.

While I was staying in the apartment in Paris, I got the idea to take a photo as often as I could out the window. Here are some of my favorites. The first day it snowed.

Paris seemed to know we were leaving that last night...it really put on a show.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read

Let me just save you a little time here...my one-word reviews of the last ten books I read are all the same word...Paris. Yes, Paris. Every book. Paris.

That was easy, wasn't it?

The links below will take you to the complete review I wrote, in case you might like to find out a little bit more.

Nobody's Boy by Hector Malot 

Murder on the Marais by Cara Black

Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton

Martha in Paris by Margery Sharp

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Dear Paris: The Paris Letters Collection by Janice MacLeod 

A Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake

Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King

Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes the French Chef by Alex Prud'Homme

Monet: Itinerant of Light by Salva Rubio

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.