Seattle Trip

Who says Seattle is always rainy?

What a great day. This photo was taken from the Bainbridge ferry 

heading back to Seattle.

New read

I am joining the popular rush and am well into Jonathan Frazen's Freedom.
I am also very happy to be visiting in Seattle. BEAUTIFUL WEATHER today and I will take some photos to post. Just jotting down a few words now because it has been too long between posts.

Book Blogs

If you  check out my Blog Roll - which has all of two on it - click on So Many Books. This busy blogger has a list of about 100 book blogs.   She has covered the territory and it is fun to see what some other bloggers are doing. I have only checked out the tip of this iceberg.

Constant Reader

I have not mentioned that I bought an Ipad in July and while I have always been an avid reader I now can call up books on a whim and download them Poof! I have used this blog to post some of my nearby travel photos but since I spent much of torpid July reading I want to include a mention of some of the books I liked. Of course everyone is reading the Steig Larson books - I was actually so engrossed in the series I ordered the latest hardcover  from Amazon when it first came out. That would be The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  There are so many book blogs out there - I do look at a few now and then to find a new read. If I mention books I want to post a cover photo. I am now adept at posting my photos and so let's see if I can add a Larson cover here.




Ta Da!
 A mystery series set in India is one of my new found favorites. Tarquin Hall is the author and one of the titles is The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing. Sub title - From the Files of Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator. 

July torpor over!

While driving to Brandywine PA

Wow! Did the whole blazing heat seeking month of July finally end?  Yes, and I posted nada. Must have been zoned out in front of the AC with a non functioning creative spirit.  Well, now it is August and just as it has cooled off a little in NJ - I am headed into the southern hot zone of Alabama for a wedding. Going to see my best friend's son marry a lovely girl.

Do I have Depression?

Ahh! I look at the spring photos posted here and long for those cool days. I am sequestered in my air conditioned bedroom refusing to venture out in the 94 degree heat and miserable humidity. Also my car is in the shop - taken there for a hopefully minor repair only to find that I will be out $700 when they finish some  "necessary" replacement of some timing thing.

Not sure if it is the heat or the isolation but I must cheer up. Hope I am needed soon for some Rory care.

Bartram's Garden

There is a lovely and surprising garden located behind "the projects" of West Philadelphia. Bartram's Garden is an oasis of gardens, woodland walks, and buildings dating to the early 1700's. We didn't go to Longwood Gardens but with a one year old in tow my son suggested the much closer Bartram's Garden.

It was my first visit and a delightful place. It is the oldest living botanic garden in America. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington all visited.

Longwood Gardens

Am I longing for the gardens? I google mapped them and it is an hour's drive from here. It is on my to do list. Last week I made a nostalgic trip to Villa Joseph Marie, my high school. My first time back in over 40 years. Yikes!

Quote for the day!

What a great rainy day to stay in and read. I'm halfway finished a charming book How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Flower. It is very rural and Florida in mood and tempo. Just right to appreciate being able to stay in on a cool New Jersey spring day.

Fearful that when I finished it I would not have another book in hand I made a quick trip to the public library and checked out The Saints' Guide to Happiness by Robert Ellsberg.  I saw it mentioned somewhere on the web. Just  to make sure rainy days and Tuesdays don't get me down I skimmed through the chapter, Listening  to Sit Still.

This I like: "Quiet places are becoming ever more scarce. But it is not enough to escape the noise of the world. There is still the matter of our own inner noise. Even when it is quiet outdoors, we are filled with the internal voices and alarms, reminding us what needs to be done, what we have done poorly, what has been done to us in the past. These voices incessantly distract us from the time and place--here and now-- where we actually exist.   ....... Yet if we  are constantly living in the past or preparing to live in the future, how can we be sure that we are ever truly alive?"

The chapter notes that finding  this contentment with the present  has been sought and worked at  by saints, philosophers (Pascal) and Eastern religions like Zen Buddhists.

WOW Mother's Day Flowers

A floral bouquet that was over the top. These came from my former husband  - we are friends now - with a lovely note about the blessings of our children.  The bouquet  is massive and best of all the white lilies are so fragrant that my kitchen smells like spring in bloom.