Sunday Post – 7/01/2018

July 1, 2018 Sunday Post 15

The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week, take a look ahead, and showcase our new treasures—I mean books!

 The Last Two Weeks

Photo of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, late evening, from the water.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior; aboard Pictured Rocks Cruises. Photo © K. Pekar 2018

 

I had a busy week leading up our vacation, trying to get my index done before we left for an annual get-together with my husband’s siblings and their families. This year we returned to the same place in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that we stayed in  last year, which was probably a good thing. I ended up taking the index with me and worked on it through the week while the others went on walks and hikes, but when I wasn’t working, I had a good time. I was able to enjoy being with the extended family in the mornings and late afternoons and evenings. I even managed to squeeze in a couple of outings with them, including a repeat shoreline cruise to see the cliffs of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The weather was cool and lovely — and positively frigid out on the water! — but the mosquitoes were fierce. (So were the black flies, but fortunately there weren’t too many of them near the lodge we were renting.)

Photo of cliffs at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, late evening, from the water.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior; aboard Pictured Rocks Cruises. Photo © K. Pekar 2018

 

photo of fake "pirate ship" in Munising Harbor at dusk.

“Pirate ship” in Munising Harbor at dusk. Photo © K. Pekar 2018

 

We got home Thursday and took Friday off to recover from the two-day drive. On Saturday, we went up to DC to explore two museums we hadn’t been to before: the National Postal Museum, which was fascinating, and the Folger Shakespeare Library Museum.  The latter had an excellent exhibit on books as physical objects: how they are constructed (by hand) as well as how old books are conserved and repaired today. I was the only one of the three of us who had previously visited the Folger Library, and that was back in high school, on a field trip, so I enjoyed seeing it again. Sadly, they didn’t have a genuine First Folio on display (they own several), but they did have a facsimile that we could touch and read. I will try to put together a post about the Folger’s book display in the next week or two.

All in all, Saturday was a good day, despite being beastly hot — especially after the cool temperatures we had in the UP the previous week.

photo of exhibit hall at the National Postal Museum in Washington DC, showing 2 planes used for early airmail, and a modern delivery truck.

National Postal Museum, Washington, DC. Photo © K. Pekar 2018

 

Robin is home with us for the remainder of the week. Yay! We’re soaking up the time together. Because of that, I don’t know how many posts I’ll get written this week, but come the following weeks, I hope to catch up and start scheduling posts ahead.

 

Last Two Weeks on the Blog

 

Upcoming on the Blog

 

What I’m Reading/Watching

What I’m Reading: I went on a Nora Roberts fantasy romance rereading binge, starting with the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy: Dark Witch (review), Shadow Spell (review), and Blood Magick (review); followed by the Guardians trilogy: Star of Fortune (review), Bay of Sighs, and Island of Glass (reviews to come.) I’m also working my way day-by-day through Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day (ARC; due out in the US next November; it was released in the UK last October.)

Listening to: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley.  Plus a whole lot of podcasts on the long drive to and from the UP: The Allusionist, Twenty Thousand Hertz, 99% Invisible, Radiolab, and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. And I’ve been listening on Spotify to the Year of Wonder playlists that go with Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day, though given the slow and spotty internet and total lack of cellphone reception at the lodge, I didn’t listen to the playlists during the vacation week.

Watching: The Princess and the Frog (Disney), which somehow we had never managed to see. It’s delightful and engaging. I love classic 2-D animation. And we rewatched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them while we were in Michigan, with most of the extended family. Some of them hadn’t seen it before, so we had the fun of introducing them to it.

Playing: Settlers of Cataan, which we’ve owned for about 6 years and haven’t played until now. We’re still in the learning stages, so I’m not sure if we’re going to like it, love it, or hate it.

 

New Additions to the Hoard

Cover links take you to Goodreads.

For Review or Review Consideration

Thank you to Alibi!

Purchased for Kindle

Not too many for two weeks, so that’s good.

 

Have a good week, and happy reading!

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15 Responses to “Sunday Post – 7/01/2018”

  1. Angela

    Lovely pictures! Glad you had a great time on your vacation, even if you had to work a bit. Stay cool, this weather is brutal!

  4. Kathy @ My Nook Books and More

    Those are great pictures from your trip. We were also on vacation and I had to call in for a meeting. It sucks when work gets in the way of our vacation but it sounds like you were able to enjoy it. I went to DC when I was a kid and would love to take my family there one day. I hope you have a great week!
    Kathy @ My Nook Books and More recently posted…Nook Book Wrap-Up #6My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I wish I hadn’t had to work during the vacation, but at least I was still able to be there and spend time with people.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      The water looks wonderful, doesn’t it? But it’s Lake Superior, which means it’s cold at the best of times, and this summer it’s dangerously cold — most of the lake waters were still in the 30s and 40s when we were there, and even the southern shore was only in the 50s. Dangerous for swimming (or falling in); it can give you hypothermia in a very short time. But it makes the air up there cooler than down in Virginia, that’s for sure!

  6. Rita @ View From the Books

    What a lovely (and full) vacation you had! Just wonderful photos and description of your down-time. And you have a nice selection of Nora Roberts there (I think of her books as comfort reads). I read the first book of each trilogy; I don’t remember why I didn’t continue since I enjoyed them.

    And The Winter Sea– I read it a couple of years ago, such a good read!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m loving The Winter Sea, especially given the narrator’s facility with accents. In fact, I like the narrator so much, I’m looking for other books she has narrated. As for Susanna Kearsley, I’ve yet to read one of her books and not love it. And Nora Roberts are often comfort reads for me, except the ones I find too dark to read at all.

  7. Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library

    I’m rereading a Nora Roberts right now (one of the Inn Boonsboro books) and really enjoying it. I’m excited to read Island of Glass. I really loved the first two in this trilogy so I’m excited to see how it ends. I need to read the last in the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy too. I didn’t really like the first one but I suspect that was more mood than book and I remember almost nothing about the 2nd other than I enjoyed it. Sounds like a fantastic vacation and I love the pictures. I always forget how much water Michigan has but your pictures and Greg’s pictures make me want to plan a vacation. Hope you’re having a great week!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I really enjoy the Inn Boonsboro books, too. But I must admit that the Cousins O’Dwyer are my favorites; they’ve become something of a comfort read for me. And yes, the UP is beautiful, and blessedly cool in comparison to Virginia! Still, we’re looking at other venues for next year.