Weekly Update

Welcome to my weekly update for April 23, 2023! We went to The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA this week. I visited while my husband attended a work conference in 2018. It was so spectacular, I made him go back to experience it with me this year. It was even better than I remembered! These gardens include 55 acres of ranunculus flowers in every conceivable color. The fields are planted on a hillside, so when you climb to the top then turn and look behind you, you can see the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean beyond the flowers. It's truly a sight to behold. Slideshow: Ranunculus field There are lots of other fun displays when you enter the garden. My husband and I liked this grouping of flower pots shaped like heads with different flowers growing out of the top. A broader view of the flower fields with the Pacific on the horizon. Posted: Atlas of the Invisible: Maps and Graphics That Will Change How You See the World by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti 🌟🌟🌟½ 10 of My Favorite National Parks Once upon an Eskimo Time by Edna Wilder 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Read: Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend 🌟🌟🌟🌟 The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan, read by Robbie Daymond 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Guests by Kealan Patrick Burke 🌟🌟🌟 Currently Reading: Soulstar by C. L. Polk Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Up Next: I took a break from audiobooks this week to catch up on some of my favorite podcasts. I'll probably download a fairly short one soon. My sister arrives on Friday for a weeklong visit (Yay!) so I'll be getting our little space spruced up for her. I'm planning to skip my…

Welcome to my weekly update for April 16, 2023! We went up to Catalina Island and spent one night last weekend. It has a couple of tiny little towns but we only visited the bigger one, Avalon, named after King Arthur's Avalon in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, Idylls of the King. It's a beautiful island, especially after all the rain California has had this year. Everything was green and blooming. There was a lot of fog and mist while we were there so I kept thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley's book, The Mists of Avalon. On our first day, we joined a driving tour of the town area. Then we walked and explored on our own. You might notice the large, white circular building on the far side of the bay in the first picture below. It's the Catalina Casino but it's not a gambling hall. Casino used to mean "gathering place" and that's how the term is used here. It's a beautiful building and we wish we'd made time to tour the inside. The next morning we downloaded an audio tour and walked around a bit more before catching a shuttle up to the Airport in the Sky. It was a glorious, sunny day up there above the low clouds and it was legitimately hot! We were shocked! We connect elevation with cooler weather but I guess getting above the clouds and away from the cool air on the ocean makes things work differently on Catalina. We had lunch at the little airport restaurant then rode our rented bikes the ten miles back into town. Catalina has a small herd of bison, if you can believe it. They were brought over in the 1920s to film a movie--either The Vanishing American or The Thundering Herd (both based on books…

Welcome to my weekly update for April 9, 2023! Happy Easter, Happy Passover, or Ramadan Mubarak to those who celebrate! I've been an affiliate of Malaprop's Bookstore in my hometown of Asheville, NC for years now. I link to their website for books I haven't reviewed yet. I'm keeping that relationship because I love my bookstore but I don't think anyone has ever bought anything through one of my links. I'm not trying to make money here--I just want people to know about Malaprop's and support independent bookstores. So I hope that readers are shopping locally! But now I'm also adding in affiliate links for Bookshop.org. They support independent bookstores in a couple of different ways but they're a bigger company. I decided that if I can realistically influence even one person to buy books from Bookshop instead of Amazon, that would be a win for the little guys. So I'm starting to incorporate those links now. Last week we drove over to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It's California's largest state park. I saw on social media that the wildflowers were in bloom there. It was beautiful and smelled heavenly. I've also been dying to visit that area for a couple of years because they have some metal sculptures that I thought looked really cool. We did that too and they were amazing! Slideshow: Sea dragon sculpture. This thing was huge! It actually crossed the road. Purple sand verbena and yellow desert sunflower. There were lots of other smaller flowers blooming too but these were the most conspicuous. Beavertail cactus blooming beside sand verbena I believe this is an Anna's hummingbird. He sat there for quite a while and let my husband get relatively close before he flew away. Posted: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss:…

Welcome to my weekly update for April 2, 2023! We spent last weekend with my husband's cousin and his wife in San Diego, celebrating the cousin's birthday. We ate way too much and had a great time with them, as we always do. On Monday, we caught a break in the rain and drove back to down to San Diego to see the Japanese Friendship Garden at Balboa Park. We were at the end of cherry blossom season but there were still a few late blooms hanging on, in addition to some azaleas, wisteria, and a few other things I can't identify. It smelled heavenly! Later: Oh goodness! As I was saving this post on Friday evening, we had a minor 4.2 earthquake but it's by far the biggest I've ever felt! We have only felt a few very minor little blips in the past. My husband, who was at work, said his co-workers didn't even remark on it. Nothing shifted in our RV but I thought there were people outside shaking it for some reason. I actually went to the window to look out. That was exciting! And more than enough earthquake activity for me, thankyouverymuch. Slideshow: Cherry blossoms (I believe) Wisteria blooming on a pergola. The wisteria smelled amazing! Azaleas blooming around a koi pond Individual trees frequently grab my attention when we're out and about. I loved the root system on this Moreton Bay Ficus tree (I think that's what it is) Posted: All Systems Red by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R. Free: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Ten Books I Recommend if You Like L. M. Montgomery "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer: Short Story Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at…

Welcome to my weekly update for March 26, 2023! Another quiet week here with more rain. But this weekend is supposed to be nice so we do have some plans to get out a bit. Posted: In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race by Amy Cherrix: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Ten Book Covers that Make Me Think of Spring The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟½ Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.  As I write this on Friday evening, I haven't finished reading anything. Currently Reading: Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Reading Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Up Next: Lore Olympus: Volume Three by Rachel Smythe came in for me at the library so it's next on my list. I don't have too much left in Complete Fairy Tales so I'll probably finish both of them soon. What did your week look like? Hosts: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to my weekly update for March 19, 2023! We had another quiet week here, just watching the rain pour down. I'm going to share pictures from a portion of our February drive from Las Cruces, New Mexico here to Escondido, California. We know that Las Cruces can be downright cold in the winter but we were shocked to wake up and find snow on the ground! Slideshow: Snowy mountains and desert, somewhere along Interstate 10, near the New Mexico-Arizona border More snowy mountains and desert in the same area Texas Canyon, which is in Arizona Imperial Sand Dunes National Recreation Area in southeastern California, as seen from Interstate 8. The juxtaposition of the sand dunes and the manmade canal intrigued me. Posted: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟 Ten Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.  Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic #1) by Patricia C. Wrede 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Lore Olympus: Volume Two by Rachel Smythe 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker, read by George Guidall 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Currently Reading: Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Reading Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Up Next: My husband is on call at the hospital where he works all weekend so we will be lying low again. I should be able to make some good progress on these books. I haven't even started the first two as I'm writing this on…

Welcome to my weekly update for March 12, 2023! I saw a Facebook post several weeks ago asking for volunteers to be virtual moderators for a kids' program at the North Carolina Arboretum, which is in my hometown. I'm not working while my husband and I travel with his job but I have a surprisingly hard time volunteering at places that interest me, i.e., libraries. Since they're government entities and there are always lots of kids around, volunteers usually have to go through a background check. That's fine--I promise I don't have any skeletons in my closet--but I've been told that the library's cost in paying for the background check isn't justified by the amount of time that I'll be in any one place. It's a bummer but I understand. Everyone has to weigh costs and benefits. I was able to volunteer for the Friends of the Library in Old Orchard Beach, Maine our first summer traveling though, and I loved it! Anyway, back to this virtual volunteer thing. The object of the program at the arboretum is to get kids outside, exploring, and participating in citizen science. They take pictures of whatever they come across in their explorations, identify it to the best of their abilities, and upload it to a website. That's where the virtual volunteers come in. They verify the identification or gently steer the child in the correct direction, post some encouraging words, send the picture over to iNaturalist, and award points to the child for each submission. The kids earn badges and points they can redeem for prizes. I love to be outside and I'm constantly using apps to identify what I find. And it's all virtual so I can volunteer from anywhere and for as long as I want! It's like a volunteer position…

Welcome to my weekly update for March 5, 2023! Thank you to everyone who took the time to let me know you were having trouble commenting last week. I believe I've addressed the issue and you should be able to comment now, including those of you using Firefox. If I'm mistaken and there's still a problem, please contact me. Thanks so much for your patience and help! We didn't do much this week other than get a little more firmly settled into a baseline routine. We did go for a walk around the Oceanside Pier and stumbled on this beautiful mural by @SkyeWalker_Art on our way back to the car. In case it's hard to see, her hair has words reading, "The beauty of the sea will always be with me." Posted: Nothing. I promise I am trying to find my rhythm again. Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.  Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke, read by J. D. Jackson 🌟🌟🌟 ½ Currently Reading: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker, read by George Guidall Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Up Next: I am not making quick progress on any of these and expect to continue reading them for a while. What did your week look like? Hosts: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to my weekly update for February 26, 2023! I've had to work on some background security stuff on the blog, so if you have trouble commenting or notice anything amiss, please contact me. I took another long unintentional blogging break but hopefully I can get back into a groove for the next few months. Hopefully. My husband, Luis, wrapped up his contract as a healthcare traveler in Lodi, CA on December 23 and we flew home to NC for a couple of weeks at Christmas. Yay! Because we live in our RV while he's working, we head south for the winter, along with seemingly all the other RVers and retirees in the country. So long story short, between having difficulty finding a long-term campground to stay in and his job market going a bit wonky, Luis was between jobs for two months. Ugh. We didn't do much exploring because we needed good cell service for the job search. Almost every job he applied for was in Texas or further east so we drove that direction. We visited my brother-in-law and his family while we were in San Antonio. We haven't seen them since Christmas 2019 so that was fun. Luis finally got a job sorted out and realized that we had extra time. So we booked flights to visit my husband's parents in Naples, FL. It was heavenly to soak up all that south Florida sun. We flew back to our camper in San Antonio and drove to my husband's next job assignment... back in California! Life rarely works out the way you plan, does it? We're in Escondido. We've been in southern California two other times with Luis's job, both times in 2020. Because of all the pandemic closures during those stays, there are still a lot of…

Welcome to my weekly update for December 25, 2022! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I hope you have some bookish gifts under your tree! I'm going to keep this post fairly short and to the point. Most of you probably have family and friends to visit, new gifts to enjoy, or naps to take. I'm posting a bit early since I have some holiday plans of my own. Posted: Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.  Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Currently Reading: Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis, read by multiple narrators Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie–I’ve taken a very long break from this book but I’m going to pick it up again after the new year. Up Next: I really don't know. Probably something a bit meaty and perfect for reading in the wintertime but I don't know yet what that might be. What did your week look like? Hosts: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?