June '23 Book List

Only six books read in June because *reasons*. (Which I may or may not write about in a future blog post.)

The White Lady wherein Jacqueline Winspear introduces us to a new heroine, Elinor White. I can see this character being as successful as Maise Dobbs.

The Messenger  and The Secret Servant are the sixth and seventh in Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series.

Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig follows Betsy Hayes to Greece in 1896 as she pursues her dream of being allowed to participate in the male dominated world of archaeology. When conflict between Greece and Turkey escalates to war, she rushes to the front lines as a nurse.

Two years later, back in America Betsy joins Clara Barton and the Red Cross heading to Cuba to treat the sick and wounded during the Spanish-American War. This book is based on the heroism of real women. Willig does a fine job of entwining an interesting story with historical facts.

The Fourth Enemy is the sixth book in the Daniel Pitt series by Anne Perry.

Dark Horse is the first book of the Elena Estes series by Tami Hoag.

Adding To The April 21st Wedding Blog

It was 45 days ago when I posted about granddaughter Dominique and Ian's wedding. At that time there were pictures missing that I wanted to include but I had to wait until Dom got them from the photographer and then emailed them to me.

There were a couple I especially wanted -

- this one of me and my youngest great-grandson, Louis. 

We had just arrived at the venue. Bud was directed to the basement to be with the men and I was sent to the women's room where all the ones in the bridal party were getting their hair and make up done.

Louis was the only male there and I was so happy to see him.

Only male there that is until Ayden showed up. He came straight to me and gave me a big hug and then also sat on my lap for a photo.

He's almost too big to fit anymore. But as long as he's willing and I'm able, he can perch on my knee any time.

(I do believe I have a photo somewhere of me sitting on my Grandma Delphia's lap when I was in my 40's and she was in her 80's. You're never too old to welcome grandchildren for an embrace.)

In the only photo I had of us with the bride and groom we were so far back in the wedding party picture that you couldn't even see us. So I was glad to get this one.

Ki is my fifth grandchild and the daddy of Ayden. 

All of my grandchildren are precious to me, but Ki and I formed a special bond when he was born. He was in the NICU for three weeks. Every day on my lunch hour I walked up to the hospital, donned a gown and mask and sat next to his isolette talking to him and touching his little hand. I did a lot of praying and promising during those visits.

He may have been just as loving toward me as Ayden is without that bonding. Maybe it is just their nature. Whatever it is, I love it.

The photog tooks lots of candid shots. I usually don't like pictures of myself, but I do like this one with my daughter-in-law Shalea. (Ki's mom.)

The mothers of the bride and groom and all the women in the wedding party had on matching leisure wear in different colors until time to dress for the ceremony.

I thought that was a cute idea. I wouldn't have minded joining them. 

This is a photo I took that day - my first look at Dominique in her wedding gown.

Her soon-to-be mother-in-law was helping with the train.

A beautiful bride in a beautiful dress.

Everything about the wedding was beautiful, happy and joyous. There were hundreds of special moments. For me, though, the most touching and sentimental was when Dominique showed me her "something old". It was my grandmother Lynam's engagement ring that I had previously passed on to her - not for the intended purpose of the something old - just as a keepsake. It meant/means so much to me that she wore it that day.

No more weddings for us in the immediate future - unless there is one I'm not yet aware of. Still some possibilities though......💕

My Get Up and Go Got Up and Went ...

... is an old saying I first heard my Grandma Delphia use and then my mother Ruth and now me. If I have anything I want to get done I have to do it in the morning because by afternoon I'm out of energy. 

Yesterday was such a beautiful day - the kind James Russell Lowell had in mind when he wrote: "And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days."

It was the kind of day that said: "get outside and walk". So for the first time this year we headed out to Green Valley Lake/State Park. 

I wanted an area without too many hills so I parked at the beach and we headed down the trail toward the campgrounds.

As we passed this site I said, "If we were still tent camping this is where I would want to set up the tent.

Such a serene scene.

We walked along the lake near the campgrounds and saw one of the new universally accessible fishing piers. Bud walked over to check it out.

While I tracked this Downey Woodpecker until I could get a photo.

There was a lot of birdsong. I could hear the "teakettle, teakettle, teakettle" mnemonic of the Carolina Wren but by the time I spotted the tiny thing and started to sight in my camera, it flew. 

 

I noticed a lot of splashing in the shallows of this cove and waited until I could get something of a picture.

While Bud waited patiently for me in the massively oversized Iowa State Parks chair.

He was watching the splashing too and said it was most likely a carp.

Our local library and the park are again teaming up to post story boards along the trails. This is just one of the ones along this section. 

It says: "Hey Wait For Meeee!" And in the lower right corner: "In the beginning we ran like maniacs."

I didn't run, but I did try to set off at a good pace. At this point on the way back I was feeling as though "my get up and go" had "got up and went".

There were several young boys riding their bikes from the campgrounds over to the beach and back again and again. I could not help but remember how I felt when I first learned to ride a bike. Oh the freedom! 

And I had to imagine they felt the same way - free to ride their bikes and, though they might not realize it, the freedom to ride by themselves without fear.

Perhaps the biggest surprise and the best by far was seeing my first Indigo Bunting of the year. It was calmly sitting right on the road in front of us. I had plenty of time to stop after checking there was no one coming from either direction. This was the best of several snaps I got before it flew. I would have preferred the one of the bird after it flew up into a tree, but that picture was not as clear as this one. 

It was a short hike, but pleasurable. Home to discover these two fungii had popped up after a nice 80/100's of an inch of rain.

   

Next on the agenda - get those "just a few more" containers of flowers planted.

... and look forward to more of these rare June days. 💛💙

Today's FB Memories and Word of the Day

I always enjoy reading the Memories section on my Facebook page each day. Often they remind me of things I had forgotten about. Like this photo posted to me a year ago today by my stepson Mark. It's message: "I thought of you this morning when I flew into Dublin for my connecting flight back to New York! 

And this one posted to me the same day by his partner Juliet - "What a beautiful building you have!" I would never have known about this gorgeous apartment building in Brooklyn, NY named Ramona if she hadn't sent me the photo. I'm really looking forward to seeing Mark & Juliet when they visit us this fall.

Now on to Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 3, 2023:

"Meet-cute is a term that refers to a cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners. A meet-cute can be such an encounter as shown in a movie or television show or one that happens in real life."

I was certain that this term was one introduced in the 21st century. It sounds like one of the new idioms that pop up regularly in modern usage. Surprise! It dates back to 1952 when a New York Times Book Review used it in reference to an unexpected rendezvous: "This may well be, in magazine parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week -- the story of a ghost writer who falls in love with a ghost."

Not only was I certain the term was comparatively new, I was also certain that I had blogged about my own meet-cute with Bud, but I can't locate it in my posts.

The short version of a story I have shared many times is this: On a frigid January afternoon in 1981, I saw a good-looking guy running along the highway. I registered two other impressions in the quick glimpse of him as I passed: ice in his beard and a fine physique. I was as impressed by his commitment to exercise as I was by his physicality.

It took until April to find out who he was, if he was single and how I could meet him. Once I realized the guy working at one of the service stations in town was the same one I had seen out running, the rest was easy - well, sort of. My cousin worked at the same Texaco station so the next time I stopped for gas I asked him who the cute guy with the beard was. He passed my question and interest on to the fellow in question and the next time I pulled across the station drive, Bud came out to wait on me. He told me later that he had to inform another employee that started out to pump my gas, "this one's mine".

It took a few flirtatious episodes before a first date, but I would say his walk across the drive from the station to my vehicle was our own meet-cute. 💘

(The photo of Bud at a vintage Phillips 66 was one I took years later on a weekend trip to Missouri.)

Content to Live in the Mystery

 I have a theory that the moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. I have tried this experiment a thousand times and I have never been disappointed. The more I look at a thing, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I want to see. It is like peeling an onion. There is always another layer, and another, and another. And each layer is more beautiful than the last.

This is the way I look at the world. I don't see it as a collection of objects, but as a vast and mysterious organism. I see the beauty in the smallest things, and I find wonder in the most ordinary events. I am always looking for the hidden meaning, the secret message. I am always trying to understand the mystery of life.

I know that I will never understand everything, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I am content to live in the mystery, to be surrounded by the unknown. I am content to be a seeker, a pilgrim, a traveler on the road to nowhere. ~Henry Miller from his book Black Spring