My parents were here this weekend for my nephew's wedding. They stayed with us, which was lovely. Especially for Sammy. He absolutely loved having the grandparents stay. He told EVERYONE he encountered, whether known or not, that his Grandma and Grandpa, "the ones from New Mexico, not the ones from Idaho" were coming to visit. He was so proud. And it was lovely for him to remember them a little more, instead of just through my words and the pictures we have.
There is so much I would love to say about this weekend, but can't, family dynamics being, well, family dynamics. I will say this, however. My parents seem older, but I chalk that up to me actually feeling older. And at one point during their stay, I turned to my brother and said, in full ear shot of my dad, "I sometimes wonder who's kid I really am". I think, at that point, the conversation was centering around guns and hunting and country music. I was only slightly kidding. If the familial resemblance wasn't so blatant, I would wonder more. I seem so different from them and my siblings most of the time, it's a little humorous. But, then, my mom and I got into a conversation about whole foods and eating locally and I felt the balance right itself a little. Whew. The wedding itself was beautiful. And the weather was actually gorgeous for it.
Last night we had our friends, Lora and Dave, over for dinner. Soup, salad and the best brownies I've ever had in my life. I knew a girl named Jane, once, when I lived in Provo, who gave me the recipe. As I was flipping through recipes last week, it was discovered that in the 12 years we'd been married, I'd never made them from Isaac. Which is a crying shame. So we rectified that yesterday. And 'made' Dave and Lora join us in the evil (butter, 4 eggs and 2 bags of chips - one chocolate and one butterscotch...eeep!). It was lovely to just sit and talk to Lora, though. I am blessed with the best of girlfriends.
Saturday, we picked up 100 strawberry starts from a neighbor of my sister. 100, people. And I had every intention of spreading them out, outside this morning to stay until we can get them planted on Friday, but it started raining yesterday and has yet to stop. Sigh. Hopefully they will hang on until we can get the first garden boxes up and the starts transferred in. And then? So many strawberries in the years to come. Yippee!
Today I need to straighten a little and start my new book club book (The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton). And start figuring out a rough timeline for our upcoming vacation. These are the to dos I'm happy to tackle.
(long way to go, liam finn)
I always feel like I don't fit in with my family either... well, except for my mother, we are practically carbon copies, just 37 years apart ;)
ReplyDeleteI am going to make those brownies for sure!
Isn't Lora wonderful? But then again, so are YOU.
We're reading "Forgotten Garden" in September. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about it. Our last two books were disliked by the majority and the next one is a biography so I'm feeling like our book club is off to a rough start and hoping it will get better soon.
ReplyDeleteLacy - those brownies will kill you. In the greatest way possible. And...hey - do you want to do a park morning this week? Thursday-ish?
ReplyDeleteChristin - do you pick your books a year at a time? And what were your last books?
We have picked through November with a few backups just in case. Some of the people wanted to buy them from Amazon or get on the waiting lists at the library so we needed to plan ahead. Plus, since it's a church book club I need the hostesses to read them in advance and make sure they're clean.
ReplyDeleteWe read "Life of Pi" for March and "Room" for April. "Life of Pi" was actually a backup book. We had to switch books because the one we had chosen was out of print and hard to find. We then chose another book which a guy in the ward said had "QUESTIONABLE MORALS" (in an email to the whole ward) so we had to switch again. "Life of Pi" seemed like a safe option. We're reading Monson's biography for May and "The Glass Castle" for June.
I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. Every month it seems like people want to switch books and I like the idea of only picking a month or two ahead so we can read fresh and current things, but after that experience I'm a little leery and think we need to stick with clean, safe and highly recommended.
We're only getting about 6 people each month and not everyone has read the book so discussions lag a little at times. It's just not turning out to be what I had hoped, at least not yet anyway.
I like the idea of meeting at a restaurant like you do, maybe I'll have to throw that idea out there at our next meeting. Do you guys pick ahead? Any other suggestions (besides have it be a non-ward book club, that's not an option right now since it's my calling)?
I think it's tough, just by the very nature of being a ward book club. I've never had a successful one. Either people flake (because it's a church activity) or become offended (because everyone's tastes are different) or, like you, the selections become stale and switching occurs and the switch is its own problem, etc. So I don't have any great suggestions!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I know our group likes the restaurant option. That means that we all get a night TRULY 'out' and no one has to feel like they have to clean or cook or entertain. What we do is assign everyone a month and they get to pick the book / restaurant for that month. So we never know what the next book is until book club (last Thursday is the night we found out this month's book) which DOES get a little tricky library / buying wise, but so far we've figured it out. If all else fails, I buy extra copies to circulate (since it's "my" club, I feel that should fall on me).
I'm so curious what the book with questionable morals was (and how un-classy to send that to the entire ward!). Our last ward book club had a lot of the same problems. I think some were solved by doing classics only, but then no one really came. It was frustrating.
ALL of that said, I think that clubs like this take time to find their groove. The book club in Sabre Springs was good that way BECAUSE it had been going forever and the dynamics were good. It's so trial and error...
The book was "These Granite Islands". It became the "down low" book for the month. A couple people read it and found nothing objectionable in it. There's an affair in it, but it's not the main part of the story nor is it viewed favorably. I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't figured out why he cared what the women were reading. His wife doesn't come. Fortunately neither I nor the person who suggested the book was offended.
I was worried the bishop was going to end the book club or make us read church books only, but he sent me an e-mail thanking me for all my efforts on running the book club.
I'm definitely going to ask the ladies at the next meeting if they're interested in the restaurant idea. I've been itching for a ladies night out. Maybe this is the solution.
Huh. I've never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if he just has a grudge of some sort against the group. Weird.
Good luck. Let me know what you decide. I hope you can find your groove, because there is NOTHING like a great club. It's quickly become my lifeline...
Thanks so much for putting up with us yesterday! Always willing to be "made" to help with brownies :) And David really enjoyed the evening too. And thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and David thoroughly enjoyed the Wii! Such a fun and needed day.
ReplyDeleteWe will happily put up with you guys anytime!
ReplyDelete