Beach Bums.

I love going to the Beach.

This week, it feels like my summer vacation finally got started.

I also think that it takes me about 10 days before I start to relax.

Of course, now that I have started to catch up on sleep, it is almost 1am and I am catching up on my blog instead of my sleep.  Seems fitting.

Monday, was Centennial Beach.  What a find.  I loved it.  The only real downside is that the sand goes out forever.  I am not kidding.  For EVER.  Almost too far. Next time we come, I will plan it for when the tide is coming in.

Tuesday was Lynden City Park and then to Birch Bay.  The boys were a bit perturbed at how fast the tide came in.  Noted.

Today was White Rock. I love this beach.  Who am I kidding? Perhaps we should have just come here every day, but variety is good and I am glad that we checked out a few new beaches.  Fingers crossed we make it back to Centennial Beach on Friday - I have a hankering for a picnic with the whole family and to watch the sun go down.

Tomorrow is likely a spray park and then CW's graduation potluck from preschool.  Wow.  It is hard to believe that here we are.

Friday, local park in the morning to walk the dog since we will have Duke visiting, and then in the afternoon to the beach.

Caught by the cover, a nice surprise

At the library the other night, the cover of this book caught me.  It was a 7 day express read, so I really hesitated whether or not I should grab it, since I had already started a different book, and well, I saw it was only 250 pages so I thought - what the hell.  Worst case scenario, I take it back - no foul.

It was a lovely book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I would categorize it under "chick lit". Or belonging to what I would widely label as such.  I have never heard of this author before, and this is one of the things that I am loving about my library card - new books, different authors. I will admit to more than one geeky moment because of my library card.  Only drawback is remembering when books need to go back and avoiding late fines.

It really feels like what I have been able to read lately has really taken off.  It does help having the card, and I enjoy being able to request books and have them magically appear on the hold shelf, it is a bit gratifying.  Much like how I really enjoy having my car insurance delivered rather than trying to figure out where to get it done and making sure it happens on the right day.  That it is my BFF's mom, makes it even sweeter.

Back to the book - maybe one of these days I need to come up with my own rating system rather than a few scribbled thoughts.  I really don't want to craft long winded reviews of books, but it is nice to track how I responded to the books that I am reading since I have discovered that I really do like being able to look back in to this window of "where my head was at" and what was I in to reading at the time.

Once again, back to the book at hand.  This is a partly a love story, and partly a feminine journey of rediscovery at age 60.  I like that the female lead was strong, and was likeable, and did make mistakes.  There are some very poetic passages, and I feel like Quindlen captured something in their story that left me with a nice, warm fuzzy.  Every now and then, books like this are lovely to pick up and enjoy without having to delve in and solve life's mysteries.  A satisfying read - quick, and perfect for summer.

No snappy title coming to mind. I blame the time.

Between this series, and the Hunger Games trilogy, the quality of the Twilight series really pales beyond comparison.

This is the beginning of another trilogy in a distopian, futuristic world in which society has broken down, and the solution is to divide people in to one of five factions based on your personality type.  This book focuses upon a 16 year old girl (Tris) that chooses a different faction than the one she is born in to when offered a choice.  By the end of the book, fractures are beginning to show, and war/a rebellion of sorts by one/two factions breaks out.

Books like this do raise the question of freedom, justice, and happiness and with it, they carry their own political warnings.  I do find it interesting the current young adult novels that are popular dealing with this theme - the aforementioned Hunger Games trilogy, the Giver, and now this series.  All three have also been made in to movies.  Hollywood cashing in perhaps to huge trends?

This was an entertaining book in the way that a summer blockbuster movie is - definitely science fiction adventure and I will read the next books in the series - it was a quick read.  I am happy that Tris connected with Four/Tobias, and their shared history adds an interesting twist to the book.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I can't say that I planned on reading a lot on my vacation, but it seems that this has been a goal that is definitely being accomplished.

I picked up the book based on a text from my BFF as we exchanged random notes about what we were reading one morning.  In her typical, dramatic fashion, I was pretty much told to "read this".  Which translates loosely to "this is an amazing book and you really need to read it".

Well, she was right.  I will never look at Bees the same again.  I even think I leaked out a tear at the very end! Who was that?? What a total surprise this book was.  I was caught a bit off guard, and it really wasn't a book I expected to enjoy as much as I did.  Yup.  Once again, a good call about this book.  It will stay with me  for a while, I am sure.  Today (okay, not really the posted date but today, the day I am working some date magic again to get caught up since the last time I did a bunch of posts) when I was mowing the lawn I watched for bees as I mowed through the clover.  I didn't want to send a forager bee to the jaws of doom!  It was a quick read, and as I said, once you read this book you will never look at bees the same again.

And how is the weather today?

Hay's writing and story telling sneak up on you.

I really enjoy her books.

I wish I would have been able to read more authors/stories like this when I was doing my undergrad.

Knock that one off of the list.. almost

It was almost a family affair… next year!  Connor and I got to go up in an air balloon!  I must admit I have always been a little bit curious, and didn't expect that today would be the day that I would get to go up in one!  For a free event, this was an awesome day.  I must admit, this is a far cooler community than the one I left 14 years ago.

  Too bad you can't see Connor in the basket, and that I am off to the side. Ah well.  It was cool - slightly reminiscent of going up in an elevator. I guess the tie downs will do that.  Here is my little man, beaming as he gets to go on a cool ride around the airport.

What - a book that wasn't about the pants?

Downside of library books.

Too many good books! Not enough time…

Well, I almost made it through this book before I had to return it.  Alas and alack. I didn't make it.  I got about halfway through when my turn was up.  Since I had to wait months to get it, and the list after me was pretty long… I decided a buck a day wasn't worth keeping this book until I finished the last page.

It was good though - and eye opening about how Pixar got started and what came together to create our current golden age of animation.

Well worth a read, hopefully I will think about this again in a few months and try again and finish it off.

Inspector Banks, how nice to see you again!

Damn. I think I am getting really close to having read all of these books.  Always a consistently well written, well plotted novel.  Even when I am not really in the mood for a police procedural, these books never let me down.

It is very cool we can all Robinson a Canadian.  I also think it is pretty cool I did get to meet him at a writer's festival a few years ago and he was a lovely man in person. I miss going to the Sechelt Writer's festival this year… next year, we will need to make a point of going again..