The Sunday Salon: I Reflect Upon How to Hug a Porcupine

     

Welcome! I'm happy 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 plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

How do you deal with difficult people? I spent this week reflecting on How to Hug a Porcupine and its 101 ideas for ways to deal with difficult people.

Do you have any strategies? I welcome all thoughts.

What I Read Last Week:

Wellness by Nathan Hill (Novel)

How to Hug a Porcupine: 101 Ways to Love the Most Difficult People in Your Life (Happiness)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (Kids' Book)

Frank Herbert's Dune: The Graphic Novel: Book 1 (Science Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle (Kids' Book)

Sapiens: The Book of Humankind: A Graphic Novel by Yuval Noah Harari (Nonfiction)

The Time Garden by Edward Eager (Kids' Book)

The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum (Ozathon)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: I Get a Late Start on Middle-Grade March

Books on my Spring 2024 TBR

Off to Go Antiquing in Warrenton, Texas

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. 

Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Two library book sales in one week!

Good Thing #2:

My husband ran across a piece of what he thought was amethyst

in his work as a faceter. 

He was surprised to find the piece is

amethyst mixed with smokey quartz mixed with clear quartz.

I am eager to see what he will make with this.

Good Thing #3:

When my grandparents moved from Pennsylvania to Texas in the 1940s,

the first thing they bought was this cowboy-themed couch and chairs

for their breezeway. 

It was a delight to see it again at the antique show.

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.

Off to Go Antiquing in Warrenton, Texas

It's antiquing time in Central Texas and we are off to visit the show at Warrenton...

Getting there can be a challenge...

But the antique show has so many beautiful things...

It took us ten years of visiting the antique shows in Warrenton to finally buy this table and two chairs...

Of course I'm always on the lookout for books...

And hopefully we can get another photo in the amazing wildflowers...

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 on my Spring 2024 TBR

Novels:

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi

The Great Unexpected by Dan Moore

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

Frank Herbert's Dune: A Graphic Novel

Classics:

Sanditon by Jane Austen

The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Creativity:

1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg

Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

The Great Book of Journaling

Ozathon:

The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Nonfiction:

What It's Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

Somehow by Anne Lamott

Sapiens: The Birth of Humankind: A Graphic Novel by Yuval Noah Harari

Mind Over Batter: 75 Recipes for Baking as Therapy

Kids' Books:

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

The Time Garden by Edward Eager

Strange Objects by Gary Crew (1001 Children's Books)

Quirky Tales by Paul Jennings (1001 Children's Books)

Crisis on Conshelf Ten by Monica Hughes (1001 Children's Books)

The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers (2024 Newbery)

Are any of these on your list?

What are you reading that I might like?

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: I Get a Late Start on Middle-Grade March

     

Welcome! I'm happy 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 plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

I finished three books last week. It's probably just because Garrison Keillor is old like me, but I really enjoyed his memoir, Cheerfulness. Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? told me everything I needed to know about how to make a zine. I am thinking about making one about butterflies for our naturalist group advanced training day. It was suggested that I might like to read Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by a blogging friend who saw I'd just finished training to rescue sea turtles. It was the ideal time to read this new book by Sy Montgomery.

What I Read Last Week:

Cheerfulness by Garrison Keillor 

Whatcha Mean What's a Zine? The Art of Making Zines and Mini-Comics 

by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson

Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell 

by Sy Montgomery

What I'm Reading Now:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (Children's Fantasy)

Wellness by Nathan Hill (Novel)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which I (Finally!) Complete the Sea Turtle Beach Patrol Training and I Become a Junior Ranger

Books I’m Worried I Might Not Love as Much the Second Time Around

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster:  Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I learned about Middle Grade March this week from Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. I realize it's the middle of the month, but that feels appropriate somehow, and since I seem to be reading a lot of middle grade books anyway lately, I decided to join in. 

This year's prompts:

Read a debut novel...The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
Read a book about an immigration or refugee story...The Other Side of the River by Alda P. Dobbs
Read a book with a one word title...Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
Read a book with an animal on the cover...A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Read a book that you feel like you missed out on...The Phantom Tollbooth

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. 

Here are 3 Good Things from last week.

Good Thing #1:

I'm taking a birding field trip every week

in March. So far, we have visited six different

excellent birding sites on Galveston Island.

Good Thing #2:

I saw my first White-tailed Kite.

Good Thing #3:

These Forster's Terns look concerned;

surely the sign does not apply to them? 

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.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

Today's Featured Book: 

The Phantom Tollbooth written by Connie Willis

and illustrated by Jules Feiffer

Genre: Children's Fantasy

Published: 1961

Page Count: 256 pages

Summary: 

For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason. 

Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams!

 

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.

There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always. When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he’d bothered. Nothing really interested him—least of all the things that should have.

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice, but Freda is currently taking a break and Anne of Head Full of Books is filling in. 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 Freda's Voice and visit others in the linky. 

“SILENCE!” thundered the policeman, pulling himself up to full height and glaring menacingly at the terrified bug. 

“And now,” he continued, speaking to Milo, “where were you on the night of July 27?” 

“What does that have to do with it?” asked Milo. 

“It’s my birthday, that’s what,” said the policeman as he entered “Forgot my birthday” in his little book. “Boys always forget other people’s birthdays.

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.    

March 15th-21st - On average, how long do you spend writing a review? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

I rarely spend more than five or ten minutes. I write my review as soon as I finish reading a book and I focus on getting down my first thoughts.

Books I’m Worried I Might Not Love as Much the Second Time Around

Once upon a time I never reread books. I never thought I'd love a book I reread as much the second time around.

But that was before I discovered how much I love rereading. 

I wouldn't be surprised if a quarter or a half of the books I read this year are rereads.

Still, I do worry that some of the books I hope to reread this year will not live up to that first time.

Here are some of the books I'm hoping to reread this year.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

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: A Week in Which I (Finally!) Complete the Sea Turtle Beach Patrol Training and I Become a Junior Ranger

    

Welcome! I'm happy 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 plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Okay, so I didn't get to do my sea turtle rescue training at Padre Island National Seashore last week. 😔 When we arrived, the tide was up and stayed up, and there was no beach on which to practice driving the UTVs. 

Instead we visited several spots along the Great Texas Wildlife Trails and did some volunteer work for Texas Parks and Wildlife. I wrote a post about it here.

We rescheduled our training for this week, and, happily we were able to go back down to Padre Island and complete the training. Now we are ready for sea turtle patrol duty.

What I Read Last Week:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 

What I'm Reading Now:

Cheerfulness by Garrison Keillor 

Whatcha Mean What's a Zine? The Art of Making Zines and Mini-Comics 

by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson

Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell 

by Sy Montgomery

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Learning to Rescue Sea Turtles

Books That Make Me Laugh Out Loud

Birding Along the Central Texas Coast on the Great Texas Wildlife Trails

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:

My friends and I became Junior Rangers

at Padre Island National Seashore.

Good Thing #2:

Here I am in my official Junior Ranger uniform.

Good Thing #3:

We had a blast practicing driving the UTVs on the beach.

We can't wait to get started on our sea turtle beach patrol duty in April.

Note: Just so you know, Junior Rangers are for the "young and the young at heart."

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.