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Life
Nothing much happened last week! We are continuing to prepare for our son's wedding (less than two weeks away now!), so I got my dress hemmed, got shoes, we finalized the arrangements for the rehearsal dinner, and I made a photo book (I love Snapfish!) for them as a wedding gift.
Unfortunately, my health continues to be a struggle. I didn't have any bad "crash" days last week (until Sunday), but my energy was low all week. It took me an hour to drive to the seamstress (due to a traffic accident and detour) mid-week, and I had a doctor's appointment Friday. Our oldest and dearest friends came over Saturday evening and brought take-out.
I felt much better Saturday--and didn't even overexert since I was working on the photo book--but I woke up feeling awful on Sunday. I was exhausted after a good night's sleep and had a sore throat that was very severe by evening. Sore throat is a sign that my immune system is over-reacting and is often the start of a bad crash or even a months-long relapse ... so I was pretty freaked out! My husband told me I was spiraling (he was right). I went to bed early, slept well and feel a bit better today, but the flu-like aches have set in, so I'm still terrified! My only goal is to feel OK for my son's wedding. I am typing this while lying on the couch, and I plan to stay horizontal as much as possible for the next two weeks. Fingers crossed that will do the trick.
So, I don't have many photos to share this week!
This is the plant my older son and his fiancee gave me for Mother's Day. It's a national park plant, and this one is Acadia (my favorite park). It came as a kit with teeny, tiny seeds that I worried I didn't even get into the soil, but it's doing great! I planted it in late July, and it's growing quickly now.
And this is my comfy spot on the couch. This is where I set up my home base when my symptoms flare up, so I plan to spend a lot of time here!
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Big Book Summer 2026 Wrap-Up - In this video, I summarize both the overall reading event, as well as what I read this year. We had more participants than ever before! I I set a personal record (though it isn't about quantity) of reading 15 big books this summer, 8 in print and 7 on audio. My apologies to my blogging friends--I started a wrap-up post for my blog but just didn't have the time/energy to finish it.
Weekly Reading Wrap-Up: The Start of Fall Reading - We're all enjoying darker stuff for fall, including thrillers, mysteries, fantasy, sci fi, and a disaster novel.
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My husband and I enjoyed watching The Madison this summer, a very different kind of TV series from the creator of Yellowstone (and all its spin-offs). It features a wealthy family that lives in a fancy Manhattan apartment. Michelle Pfeiffer plays mom Stacy, and Kurt Russell plays her beloved husband, Preston. As the show opens, Preston is visiting his brother, Paul, in Montana, where they both love fly fishing, living in rustic cabins, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. In the very first episode, Preston and Paul set out in a small, private plane (Paul is a pilot) for a remote fishing spot. They get caught in a storm, the plane crashes, and they both die. Stacy is wracked with grief but immediately gathers her family together to fly to Montana. Accompanying her are her older daughter, Abigail (played by Beau Garrett), Abigail's two daughters, her younger daughter, Paige (played by Elle Chapman), and Paige's husband, Russell (played by Patrick J. Adams of Suits fame). It's an all-star cast, and they deliver! Stacy finds comfort in this place that was so important to Preston, while the rest of the crew suffer from culture shock and struggle with the rustic accommodations (including an outhouse). It is a story about grief, but there is also plenty of warmth and humor, all set against the breathtaking backdrop of nature: mountains, rivers, meadows, and gorgeous light. My husband and I both loved this beautiful, well-made show and are looking forward to season 2!
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I dove into fall reading last week, with several fun reading events I always look forward to: RIP XXI (Readers Imbibing Peril - my 11th year!), Shorty September, and Series September. And I just added a new event to my reading plans: Sci Fi September.
After finishing my Big Book Summer reading last Monday, I read my first shorty of the month, Tilt by Emma Pattee. This brief disaster novel focuses on a woman in Portland, OR, who is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a huge earthquake hits. This is the one experts have been warning about. Annie manages to crawl out from under the rubble and leave the store, along with dozens of other stunned, injured people. Her purse and phone are irretrievable, and her only thought is to get to the cafe where her husband is working. The novel follows Annie as she walks--hugely pregnant with swollen feet in Birkenstocks and an injured arm--across the city to find her husband, Dom. Chapters in the present alternate with chapters of Annie thinking back over her life: to her brief stint in college, meeting Dom for the first time, through their early years together, the pregnancy, and up to the present day. While there is plenty of tension and suspense, as Annie encounters crushed buildings, other people both injured and dead, looting, and one challenge after another, this is also a novel with emotional depth. Annie's been ambivalent about the pregnancy, unsure if she is equipped to become a mother, and struggling in her relationship with Dom. All of that comes to the surface as she is literally struggling to survive. It's a very moving, thoughtful story, not just of survival, but also of marriage and parenthood.
Next up, I turned to the past ... my past! A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was my favorite book as a child, and I read (and still own) the entire series. I realized that although I've reread the first book several times as an adult, I hadn't done the same with the rest of the series, so I am rereading book 2, A Wind in the Door. In it, the main characters from the first book, Meg (the big sister), Charles Wallace (the genius little brother), and Calvin (Meg's friend) are faced with a new challenge: Charles Wallace seems to have some sort of mysterious illness, affecting his mitochondria. They once again meet some unusual non-human beings who help them in their new quest. I just started it this weekend and am loving being back in this world with these characters. I had completely forgotten about Charles Wallace getting sick in this novel and was stunned by the similarities between what's happening to him and my own illness (in which the mitochondria are heavily involved), so that adds an interesting twist as an adult. I just love this series!
On audio, I listened to Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones, a YA mystery/suspense novel. Two best friends, Cam and Blair, are taking a journalism class in high school. For their main project, they decide to make a podcast about a famous case in their small town in Washington: Clarissa, a girl their age who went missing 20 years earlier and whose case remains unsolved. They think it will be fun, but as they start to interview people and do research into the case, it becomes something much more important to them. There is plenty of suspense as the two girls dig into this renowned case, and it's clear that the more they learn, the more dangerous it becomes. In addition to the mystery aspects, the novel also looks at the ethical questions surrounding the true crime genre. It was well-written and excellent on audio; I enjoyed it very much.
My next pick on audio qualifies for all four reading events this month! A Warp in Time by Jude Watson is book 3 in the Horizon middle-grade series of sci fi thrillers. This is one of those kids' series where each book has a different author. Book 1, Horizon, was written by Scott Westerfeld, and book 2, Dead Zone, by Jennifer A. Nielsen. In book 1, a group of kids on their way to a robotics competition survive a plane crash and find themselves in an unusual place. Plants and animals are different than anything they've ever seen or heard of, and they encounter strange technology, like a device that can control gravity. The stars in the night sky look the same, so they assume they are still on Earth but nothing is familiar. The group of kids are walking through this bizarre terrain, trying to find a way to get home or be rescued. Here, in book 3, they encounter another group of kids for the first time, but something is different about these kids. As the title indicates, this novel plays with time, which is a favorite trope of mine, so I'm enjoying it very much.
My husband is reading 52 Pickup by Elmore Leonard. He enjoys Leonard's noir thrillers, and a friend on Booktube recommended this one, so I gave it to him for Father's Day.
Our son, 32, is still reading Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson, book 5 of his famed Stormlight Archive series. He said he loves the way that Sanderson weaves connections among all of his Cosmere books. I texted with him yesterday, and he said he'd enjoyed some reading time this weekend!
Our daughter-in-law-to-be is reading Dust, by Hugh Howey, book three in his Silo series that began with Wool, after finishing Shift, book two (my reviews at the links). I'm happy she's enjoying this series as much as we did, and she and our son are now on season 2 of the TV adaptation, Silo, and are loving it! My husband and I are currently watching season 3. After hearing all of us talk about it this weekend, our older son said he wanted to see the TV show ... but first wants to read the books! I love when books make their way through our whole family.
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