June '25 Books

 Only six books read this month.

Tell Me by Lisa Jackson is a book I picked up at a garage sale. It was an okay murder mystery, but not great.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler is a warm, witty, and wise story about second chances. Tyler's books are always great. 

The World's Fair Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini is the latest novel in her Elm Creek Quilts series. The story alternates between present day and the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Sisters Sylvia and Claudia Bergstrom decide to enter a quilt in the Sears National Quilt Contest which is part of the Worlds' Fair.

I have only read some of the Elm Creek Quilts series preferring Chiaverini's historical novels, but I did enjoy this book. I totally understood the rivalry between the two sisters. It reminded me of my own with my sister.

Thick As Thieves and ricochet are two more of the Sandra Brown mysteries I've been working my way through. 

Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of  the birth of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry which prompted me to reread The Little Prince - this one the 50th anniversary edition gifted me by my daughter on my 50th birthday. It has been years since my last reading - I had forgotten a lot. 

Summer is definitely upon us. I hope you are enjoying your summer days. 😊

The Ceremonies Of Our Passage

 "The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince)

Today is the quasquicentennial (125th) anniversary of the birth of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince - a book high on the list of my favorites but the only one of his books I've read. I had not realized he also wrote poetry - until today....

Generation To Generation

In a house which becomes a home,

one hands down and another takes up

the heritage of mind and heart,

laughter and tears, musings and deeds.

Love, like a carefully loaded ship,

crosses the gulf between the generations.

Therefore, we do not neglect the ceremonies

of our passage: when we wed, when we die,

and when we are blessed with a child;

When we depart and when we return;

When we plant and when we harvest.

Let us bring up our children. It is not

the place of some official to hand to them

their heritage.

If others impart to our children our knowledge

and ideals, they will lose all of us that is

wordless and full of wonder.

Let us build memories in our children,

lest they drag out joyless lives,

lest they allow treasures to be lost because

they have not been given the keys.

We live, not by things, but by the meanings

of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords

from generation to generation.

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My first copy of The Little Prince looked like this:

I got it in the 1970's and hope I still have it somewhere though I can't put my hands on it right now. It is, I hope, in one of my boxes of books around here.

In 1993 this 50th anniversary edition of The Little Prince was released and I received a copy of it from my daughter because .....

....it was also the 50th anniversary of my birth.

And now, more than 80 years later, his warning rings truer, and louder, than ever. If you've never read The Little Prince, read it.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Why I Always Keep Ginger Ale on Hand

I'm posting this in case there are others who have the same problem I have, which is swallowing food - mostly meat, bread and raw carrots. It may or may not run in families, but my Mother had it and so does one of my great-grandsons, so it is not just an age related problem, though it seems mine didn't get really bad until I was older.

About a year ago I was eating a carrot and it got stuck on the way down. I tried to drink water, but could not even swallow that. I tried doing the finger down the throat to bring it back up and that didn't work. I wasn't choking, I just could not swallow. 

This went on for several hours. All I could do as the saliva built up was spit it out. I had just about decided I had to go to the ER and hope they could help me when Bud thought about seeing what the internet might suggest. Whether it said soda, carbonation or Ginger Ale, he suggested I try the Ginger Ale I had to see if I could swallow that. It worked! What was stuck went down. I was so relieved. 😌

How it works or why it works, I don't know and don't care - it just does! A sandwich is still what gives me the most problem, but all I have to do is drink some Ginger Ale and I'm fine.

This may seem like a strange thing to blog about, but if it helps even one other person, it is worth it. 😌

Everly Jane Is Growing Up

Our youngest great-grandchild was a month old the last time we saw her. So when grandson Devin said they would like to come down to see us this weekend, I was happily surprised.

I had seen photos and videos of her online, but that's not the same as seeing her in person. 

What a cute, happy little girl she is.

So much personality.

Me, grandson Devin, his wife Jessica and Everly.

The little ones grow and change so fast. I can't play with them as I did with my grandchildren, but I do love being around the great-grands.

This picture was going to be the "meeting of the minds" -  Everly and great-grandpa Bud with the two of them looking at each other and touching foreheads, but I didn't take the photo fast enough. 

While we were eating lunch, Everly crawled under the table.

It was something of a full circle moment for me. I remember playing under Grandpa & Grandma Lynam's table when I was about five or six. 

More than three-quarters of a century later, there was another little girl doing the same thing under the same table.

Youngest grandchild and youngest great-grandchild.  It was so nice to spend time with them. 

The Last of the Peasant Skirts

I missed out on the hippie peasant skirts during the 1960's (though I did wear bell-bottomed jeans) - instead I went all in on mini skirts.

I had a 3 pc. suit like this one - only mine was sunshine yellow. The first time I wore it to work Mom saw me walking toward the post office. She was appalled by the shortness of the skirt - then doubly dismayed when she realized it was her daughter wearing it. 

But I loved that suit as well as all my other mini skirts. Twenty some years later and the skirt lengths had moved to below the knee - more mid-calf and longer. I liked those lengths, too. Perhaps because I was older, but the long skirts really were my all time favorites. So much so that you can still find several of them hanging in my closet - though I seldom wear them. 

Denim was my favored fabric. I had a denim dress and several denim skirts. Yep, they're still in my closet too. The nostalgia for those times keep me from donating them.

Then there were my peasant skirts. I had so many of them - all prints except for two single color - one black and one bottle green. I liked their softness and the swishy feel of them. They were casual and laid back. Those I have donated, except for this one.  Other than to a wedding or two, I only wear slacks or jeans now, keeping a few skirts just in case.

The last time I wore my peasant skirt was to Xmas in July in 2018. Almost all my children, spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there. We had a great time.

Here I am pictured with my step-son's partner, Juliet, and my daughter Kari.

There was one final family Christmas in July the following year - a pool party at Grandaughter Katrina's. 

Then Covid changed everything.