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My road trip with a van full yesterday and was pretty useful and the meeting itself went well. I had to laugh when one of my colleagues looked out the window and said, "Oh, look! There's so much brown on the ground-don't you love it?" Only here do we get excited to see ugly brown dead grass and muck peaking from beyond the melted snow. We really won't see green until late April or even May. Of course, we are bound to have at least two more big snows, but this time of year it melts fast. The meeting was at a school and education center. The hosts served a nostalgic lunch, the same the kids were having. of the rectangle school pizza, fruit, and brussels sprouts. It was very kind that they provided a lunch and we all shared our memories of school lunches of old.
Both my girls are on the road this weekend. The older on route to see grad school friends in the US for a film screening, but a 500 mile drive away. The youngest will be home sometime tomorrow for a spring break week. I'm taking quite a bit of time off this week, but need to work some half days here and there. We don't have any steadfast plans, but plan to maybe see a play and go to a concert and maybe visit a museum or two. We both need to dress shop for my nieces wedding. I've a host of errands with her as well like getting a follow-up back x-ray and neurologist appointment. Hopefully DD1 can hang with us a bit as well as her schedule allows. Unfortunately, none of her high school friends are on break, and those still I high school are still in the show choir wind down. She'll no doubt make plans with college friends that are in the Twin Cities as hanging with mom is not her only plans. I haven't talked other than a few texts with my son for a while, but sound like his work is keeping him in LA and not on the road right now. I'd like to do a road trip. DH was so intent on getting home, we barely stopped long enough for a bathroom break on Sunday. The girls went camping last summer, working their way up and down the Minnesota border to Canada. Maybe I can talk them into doing that with me. I'll have an air mattress or cot though-no ground.
I still haven't read the book club book I hope it is in our library, but I have it cued to download if I need to. I tend to read the weekend before our book club meet-up, so while I am reading more, it feels sort of rushed and not for leisure. I have a collection of out of print books by Elizabeth Ogilvie, my go to reads. They feel like old friends when I pick up one of them, and I've been gravitating towards wanting to read a few while I take a little downtime from work. Do any of you have a favorite author or a few books that you reread again and again?
I'm debating grocery shopping on my way home, or making a trip tomorrow. I don't really know when DD2 is going to be home. I've got a combination of leftovers and a last large piece of fish to make for DH, plus there's enough odds and ends for his lunch tomorrow. DH went to the lake and stopped at Aldi and brought home a chicken pizza for last night. Yep, twice in a day, plus we just had last Friday, and I think DH took a slice or two from the college dining hall on Sunday. Depending on her plans, we may take her out for supper Saturday night. DH got a gift card at Christmas from his boss we haven't used yet. All I know is no more pizza this weekend, school version, take and bake, or otherwise. I must get going. It's supposed to be my day off, but too much to do if I want more time next week. Drop a note, share a link, and tell me what you're thinking about this last Friday in February.
We had 2 days of light snow this week and now it's back to bright sunshine. It's really weird. I don't mind the snow but I would hate it to last as long as yours does. And I looked up Elizabeth Ogilvie as I'm always adding new reads to my book list but oddly enough, although there are a couple of copies available, there are NO evaluations on her books at all. Weird huh. Enjoy your time with your daughters (but no pizza!!!)
ReplyDeleteShe wrote a lot between the 50's and early 70's,most books set in Maine. She had a whole series of books surrounding the Bennett Family, a lobster fishing family and the island community they lived, Bennett's Island. I read a book in high school, and was hooked on her style, and then learned about the history of why she set books so often on the Maine cost or Islands. Sadly she is no longer with us, but I guess she would be nearing 100 by now if still alive. I've picked up used copies through on-line sources and have a tidy collection that I would never part with. Her first book in the series starts during the depression is mostly a look back, and is so good-funny, sad, heart warming, sad again, then a powerful ending of spirit:High Tide at Noon, though it is not the first book or books I read. Once I found it and read, it filled in so many gaps in the later books. It was like finding an old family matriarchs diary.
DeleteHere's someone else review from Good Reads "What a gem!
DeleteJoanna Bennett was born and raised on an island in Maine, settled by her grandfather and bearing his name, Bennett’s Island. She is the only daughter, in a family with six sons. In the first chapter, we are told that the island is now deserted, but we are not told why, then Ogilvie begins to tell us Joanna’s story, and the story of what happened to an island that was vibrant and alive with a thriving lobster industry.
High Tide at Noon’s finest character is Bennett’s Island. Elisabeth Ogilvie makes it come alive: the flora, the fauna, the sea, and the people, that hardy brand of sea-going families that were once the backbone of our country. She builds characters that have depth and breath.
I have traveled several times to Tangier Island off the coast of Virginia. It is a small island with a population that has roots going back many generations; fishing is its mainstay. I could recognize the same kind of hardiness and entrenchment in Ogilvie’s people. They seemed real, because Elisabeth Ogilvie was one of them. She was familiar with the men and women who populated Maine’s islands and she puts her love and understanding of them down on paper with skill, finesse and love.
When I selected this book for my Women Writers Challenge, I did not know it was the beginning of a trilogy. I usually try to steer clear of series books, but after reading this one, I put the other two on order immediately. I certainly will not leave Joanna where she is sitting at the end of this book, I have to know how her future unfolds and what becomes of Bennett’s Island. I can’t help thinking, despite how hard life can be in this kind of environment, that we are all missing a lot who live inland and cannot sleep with the beat of the surf in our ears."
Thanks for that. I've added her to my book list (which is ever-growing!!!)
DeleteI hadn't heard of Olgiive either and I'm a pretty prolific reader. I prefer contemporary fiction- especially with quirky characters. Favorite authors are Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Jhumpa Lahiri and too many more to name. I have 3 or 4 books I do re-read every year- The Hours, Stone Diaries and the Namesake. Right now I'm re-reading Harry Potter. Daughter just got a new puppy- her beloved Cavalier died in January- so I'll be going to see new granddog and GS should hear if he is accepted to first college choice tonight at 6! He has a couple of other schools he'd love to attend, but unless the $$ is there, he will be going instate. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteOhh, a new puppy! There is something comforting in favorite books. I'll check out those authors. We will have library days this week.
DeleteI need to go run the vacuum and clean this weekend but I don't want to do it so I'll sit on here and dawdle a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI did get to Weis and R-A this morning though so yay! lolz
I'm on my 4th book read for the month...it's crazy as I usually only get 2 read in a month.
It's amazing how quickly a good book can be read. Right now, I'm reading one a month and that is due to book club. I just need to make reading a higher hobby and turn off YouTube.
DeleteI go through stages of re-reading authors. Currently, I keep going back to the "Harry Potter" series. One son gave me the illustrated version of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" which I have been savoring.
ReplyDeleteI am quite familiar with Elizabeth Ogilvie. When I was about 12, I came across a copy of "Blueberry Summer" in my sister's bookcase, and was hooked. (I need to read the sequel to that.) My most recent author fixations have been Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope. I love a good Aga Saga!
Enjoy your weekend.
Blueberry summer is from her children's young adults books, and completely special! There actually is a publisher, I think Down east books, that still tries to get some of her most popular books in print, but sadly, not nearly her whole collection. I will keep buying second hand as I can. My younger will get the Harry Potter bug again this summer as th dorm she is living in next year is the oldest on campus, and while not quite Hogwarts, has some of the old feel with wood beams in the common area (but without the comfy old couches), and dormers and nooks, and real wood closets.
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