Halloween over the years

Annabelle's not a huge fan of Halloween

I

Neither was Harley

 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Birthday Wish list

 

I have a birthday coming up fairly soon.

Donald always very sweetly asks what I might want, or where I might want to go.

Usually we will go out for dinner, occasionally we might take a trip.

It used to be that I would ask for jewelry, but I now feel as though I have a gracious plenty.  As much as I love pretty sparkly things, a gal can reach a limit.  That's not to say I'm not still tempted . . .

Pearls are always nice . . . 

Last year's birthday was a stay at home day.  Just like for most every one else.

Birthdays during COVID lack a little oomph, don't they?

And there's the fact that my birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving Day and the celebratory meal is going to be turkey. 

 Whoopie.

So.

Man, I am ready this year.  I'm busy making a list worthy of those old "Dear Santa" letters.

When asked "Honey, what would you like for your birthday?" I have a whole huge laundry load of wants.  😊 😉😉 (notice - that's a wink wink and all this is in pure fun.)

Flowers, of course -

Peonies by choice . . . 

Masses and masses (and masses) of peonies 

Candy -

Cake -

(with 73 candles, pretty please)

Ice cream -

Crab Cakes, pretty please - 

(No candles necessary)

Mimosas -

and Macarons -

What is a birthday without a new bottle of perfume?! -

And a Paris apartment -

This one looks cozy

Actually, and honestly, Donald Barley Honey,  if you're reading this - let's skip all these things and start saving our pennies for a return trip to Paris.  Maybe even next year.  Or the next . . .  

I look forward to having coffee in the mornings at The St. Regis.  

With my best guy.

But.

In the meantime, having coffee with you right here in Meat Camp suits me to a "T." 

Happy Birthday to me.

Poetry. Not the same as it once was

 

So.  

Today has been a day for me to read poetry.  Some days I do that.  And invariably I will run across some old favorites I've forgotten, or I will run across a poem or a poet I'm not familiar with.  Today this poem I was not familiar with popped up.  And it spoke to me.

Those who believe there aren't any modern poets; that the only poets are those guys whose work you read when you were a young kid in school being forced to memorize a poem to deliver in front of your class are missing out on what's being given to us these days.  

Enjoy this "not your typical old poem" and allow yourself to be surprised -  

French Chocolates

by Ellen Bass

If you have your health, you have everything

is something that's said to cheer you up

when you come home early and find your lover

arched over a stranger in a scarlet thong.

Or it could be you lose your job at Happy Nails

because you can't stop smudging the stars

on those ten teeny American flags.

I don't begrudge you your extravagant vitality.

May it blossom like a cherry tree. May the petals

of your cardiovascular excellence

and the accordion polka of your lungs

sweeten the mornings of your loneliness.

But for the ill, for you with nerves that fire

like a rusted-out burner on an old barbecue,

with bones brittle as spun sugar,

with a migraine hammering like a blacksmith

in the flaming forge of your skull,

may you be spared from friends who say,

God doesn't give you more than you can handle

and ask what gifts being sick has brought you.

May they just keep their mouths shut

and give you French chocolates and daffodils

and maybe a small, original Matisse,

say, Open Window, Collioure, so you can look out

at the boats floating on the dappled pink water.

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny

While I love reading and discussing books I tend to stay away from reviewing them because a decent review is just beyond me.  I get stuck at "I love this book." 😕

But here's my most recent effort . . .

The one book I read recently that I wasn’t too sure about ended up being a big surprise and will be on my list of favorites for 2021.

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny.

Political Thrillers are not in my “go to” zone. Not since those wonderful cold war spy novels back in the day; I still love those.

State of Terror may make a few heads explode. It is, of course, timely and leans exactly as you expect it to lean. It also reminds me of exactly why I fell in love with Louise Penny’s work in the first place. It’s all there. Heart. Soul. Her ability to see into the heart of what’s evil and deliver in perfect phrasing the terror. And, to ultimately find the decency that fights to keep the civilized separated from the monsters.

Ms. Penny and Secretary Clinton give us characters to love, to cheer for.

Woe be to the fools who underestimate smart, strong women.

There ‘s the signature/classic subtle Penny humor that might surprise you into a snicker, a giggle, or a guffaw spraying coffee into your book. There are scenes to make you cry. And there are visits to Three Pines to restore our souls.

Instead of being put off by the hype, I suggest giving it a try.

And don’t be surprised if we see a State of Terror #2.

What I've read and what's next

Simply put, I think M.j. Rose rocks.

Receiving an advance copy of her newest novel, The Fashion Orphans, (co-written with Randy Susan Meyers), made me a happy girl.  

From NetGalley:

"Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom.

Half-sisters Gabrielle (55) and Lulu (48) have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward, their controlling recently deceased mother.

The sisters arrive for the reading of their mother’s will and instead of a sizable inheritance discover all they have been left is their mother’s secret closet jammed with high-end designer clothes and accessories—most from Chanel.

Contemplating their mother’s self-indulgence, the sisters can’t help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they explore the collection, meet and fall in love with her warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures—it seems their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond—helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other. "Are

I loved it.

Another book (thanks to NetGalley), I read recently and loved is Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan.

From NetGalley:

"The ultimate escapist adventure in Paris, told with wit, style, and a touch of intrigue, by the popular and dynamic author of The Sweeney Sisters.

Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan—an art historian by training—has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her—and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman.

Furious but secretly pleased to have a reason to blow up her life, Joan impulsively decides to get out of town, booking a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. Sipping her champagne in business-class, she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a good-looking tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. He doesn’t know she’s carrying drawings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt.

With Nate as a sidekick, Joan will follow the clues all over Paris—from its grand cathedrals to the romantic bistros to the twisty side streets of Monmarte—hoping to recover the lost art, and her own sense of adventure. What she finds is even better than she’d expected. "

And now i'm excited that some books I have been waiting for have arrived.

A new novel by a literary hero -

A novel co-written by another literary hero and a personal hero -

.

A new book written by another personal hero -

(Are my liberal leanings showing?)

And finally a new Paris book it was impossible for me to resist (big surprise, huh?! 😊) -

Happy Reading, everyone!

What we did on our summer vacation . . .

TOO long since we have been to Topsail Island!

It was good to be back, and this is the little house we rented for our week in Surf City  -  Welcome to SunnyDayz.

Mostly, we sat on the deck and watched the waves, the birds, and the dolphins.

And the kites!

Lots of kites.

And a guy blowing some pretty amazing bubbles

Lookit the size of those bubbles!  😮

We did take a short ride to check on my tree.

I have loved this tree and the sweet quiet cove it lives in for a lot of years, but because developers have discovered this little outlet and are now building the hell out of it with ugly (but very expensive) cookie-cutter condos I'm always afraid my tree's going to be gone when we go to check on it. 

And we stopped so I could peek at the clearance rack in front of my favorite Surf City boutique - Sandy Toes.

Didn't go in and didn't buy anything.  

My mom would not have understood leaving there without a bag with a new dress.

The only cooking I did the entire week  -  cheesy egg breakfast strata  😀

We just did what we think you're supposed to do while at the beach.

Not much of nuthin'.

Sat on the deck and watched our very small little beach world go about its daily business.

Drank coffee (or an adult beverage of choice).

Read.

Napped.

Talked about what we wanted to eat and where we would go to get it.

We only did take-out 'cause we're still practicing COVID precautions, so we missed eating out at some of our favorite restaurants.

But JM's on the Water gets First Prize for the best steamed shrimp.

We spotted this pretty little flower in our yard, but the very next day the yard guy showed up and damned if he didn't just cut it down.  😕

Waking up

I don't know who this woman is, but I admired her from afar.

This is a woman after my own heart.

A woman who hears the call of the ocean.

And refuses to ignore it.

She came down to sit at the edge of the waves after making her way down with her walker.

Every day.

I hope I can follow in her example.

Bye, Topsail.

Hope we see you again soon.