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| Hosted by The Book Date |
Life
Has it really only been a week since last Monday? It seems like longer--it's a new month, and we did a lot!
After two nights' of good sleep last week, I not only recovered from my son's wedding but seemed to have recovered from my relapse. Usually, once it starts in fall, it hangs on through winter. I don't know if it was the extra meds I took on Sunday for the wedding, the giant dose of joy I experienced that day (my husband says maybe all the tears), or perhaps the tirzepatide microdosing helped me recover sooner from a relapse that would normally go on for months. I can't explain it, but I'm not complaining! By Tuesday, I actually felt pretty good.
We packed up our camper Tuesday and Wednesday (took it slow), and drove to the beach Wednesday afternoon. We stayed in Fenwick Island, Delaware's most-southern beach town. We've lived in this state for 36 years, but it was our first visit to Fenwick Island or Bethany, the town just north of there. We enjoyed a relaxing few days camping and exploring the local beaches, towns, and wildlife. The weather was perfect the first two days, in the 70's and sunny.
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| Happy to be back in our cozy camper! |
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| I love sleeping in the camper with the windows open |
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| Our site was on a beautiful pond & we had no neighbors nearby! |
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| Ahhh ... love our relaxing camping afternoons |
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| Several groups of geese gathered on the pond each evening. |
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| Fenwick Island State Park Beach |
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| Celebrating our 37th anniversary! |
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| Sunset over the marshes after dinner |
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| Crab omelet for breakfast - almost sitting IN the marsh! |
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| One of our breakfast companions, a Great Blue Heron! |
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| Access to Bethany beach closed - Nor'easter last week washed away the stairs! |
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| View from Bethany beach - massive erosion and no stairs (see the pile of wood?) |
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We loved the town of Bethany Beach & its bookstore! |
After those two lovely days of sunshine, warmth, and beaches, the rain started Saturday morning ... and continued until after we got home Sunday night! We made the best of things and visited the Assawoman Bay State Wildlife Refuge Saturday morning. One of the things I love about living in Delaware is all the beautiful natural areas. In the midst of the typical beach over-development, the state set aside this huge nature area to preserve the marshes and wildlife.
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| First glimpse of fall color! |
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| Assawoman State Wildlife Refuge |
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| Beautiful views across the bay & marshes |
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| White egret in the marshes |
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| Katie Jacoby, our friend's daughter, on violin |
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| Roger Daltry is 82 but still very talented & energetic! |
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| Great seats! |
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| Ready for the concert (or so we thought! we still got soaked) |
Finally, just a glimpse of what it was like the last two days of our trip, as we cross a bridge on the way home - nonstop rain and fog! We still had a great time (and now I know, I need a better raincoat!).
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Back to School Book Tag - Which fictional schools would you want to (or not!) attend? This was a fun one!
Chronic Illness Vlog: A Month in My Life with ME/CFS - During this month, I stopped taking sirolimus/rapamycin (for now), began a relapse (as I often do in fall), rested a LOT, and somehow managed to make it to - and enjoy! - my son's wedding. It was a rollercoaster month!
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I'm enjoying fall reading, with several fun reading events I always look forward to: RIP XXI (Readers Imbibing Peril - my 11th year!), Shorty September, Series September, and Sci Fi September.
I had fun returning to an old favorite, Nancy Drew! I read The Ringmaster's Secret by Carolyn Keene last week. It's #31 in the series, and I'm sure I read it when I was a kid. The circus comes to River Heights, and Nancy and her friends attend ... and find a mystery! Nancy's been taking horseback riding lessons and learning trick riding from an ex-circus trainer, which will of course come in handy. I needed something light and fun for the wedding weekend, and this was perfect.
Now, I'm reading another mystery ('tis the season!), The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger, one of his stand-alone historical mysteries. Set in 1958 in a small rural town in Minnesota, a local man named Jimmy Quinn is found dead in the river, catfish having chewed his face and body. Sheriff Brody has quite a challenge here, since Jimmy was a mean, violent man who lots of people wanted dead. It's excellent so far, as are all of Kent's novels, with an intriguing mystery, in-depth character development, interesting historical details, and gorgeous nature writing.
On audio, the mystery bonanza continues! I'm listening to The Rivals by Jane Pek, the sequel to The Verifiers (my review at the link). Claudia returns as a mystery-novel-loving employee at Veracity, a small company people hire to look into their online dating match, to find out if they are telling the truth about themselves. Here, Claudia and her two coworkers continue to investigate "the synths," AI bots that the big dating app companies use, pretending to be real people. A new client, Pradeep, comes in and claims that an ex-boyfriend has created a "clone" dating profile for Pradeep, and other various clients also keep the small team busy. Meanwhile, Claudia continues to juggle her dysfunctional family relationships with her siblings (one of whom might be unwittingly mixed up in the synth business) and her demanding and never-satisfied mother. I met Jane at Booktopia in 2022, and love her writing style, combining mystery and thriller with a hefty dose of humor and here, a touch of romance.
My husband, Ken, is reading Hi Five by Joe Ide, book 4 in his IQ series of thrillers set in L.A., a Father's Day gift from me. He loves this series!
Our son, 32, finished reading Sorcerer’s Edge by David Hair, book 3 of the Tethered Citadel trilogy, which we gave him for Christmas. Next, he read The Bladed Faith by David Dalglish (book 1 of the Vagrant Gods series), a birthday gift from us this summer. He previously enjoyed The Keepers series by this author, and he said this new novel was great, and he's definitely going to continue with the series.
And our daughter-in-law just returned from her honeymoon!
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