Looking Back - Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson
Fiction
1993 A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press
Finished in January 1998
Rating: 5/5 (Excellent!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.

Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, originally published by Douglas & McIntyre, won Canada's prestigious Stephen Lecock Award for Humour in 1994, and was published in hardcover by A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press in 1996. Its sequel, Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book, is a Canadian bestseller, and was published in hardcover by A Wyatt Book in October 1997.

My Original Notes (1998):

Excellent! Very, very funny. Laugh out loud and soft chuckles. I kept forgetting it was fiction. I'd love to stay with Hector, Virgil, Waffle and Mrs. Rochester (the parrot). I can't wait to begin the sequel. A great gift idea for any book lover, cat lover, etc.

I laughed hysterically when I read the part about Hector organizing the refrigerator, looking at all the "best before" dates. I do the same!

I roared when I read how Waffle (the cat) chose her own name.

I loved Alice's poem about reading with cats.


My Current Thoughts:

This slim book (152 pages) has been lurking on my shelf for twenty years, waiting to be re-read. I think it's time! 

Wordless Wednesday

Depoe Bay, Oregon

August 2018

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Looking Back - I Was Amelia Earhart

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn
Fiction
1997 Vintage (first published in 1996)
Finished in January 1998
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

In this brilliantly imagined novel, Amelia Earhart tells us what happened after she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared off the coast of New Guinea one glorious, windy day in 1937. And she tells us about herself.

There is her love affair with flying ("The sky is flesh") . . . .

There are her memories of the past: her childhood desire to become a heroine ("Heroines did what they wanted") . . . her marriage to G.P. Putnam, who promoted her to fame, but was willing to gamble her life so that the book she was writing about her round-the-world flight would sell out before Christmas.

There is the flight itself -- day after magnificent or perilous or exhilarating or terrifying day ("Noonan once said any fool could have seen I was risking my life but not living it").

And there is, miraculously, an island ("We named it Heaven, as a kind of joke").

And, most important, there is Noonan . . .

My Original Notes (1998):

So-so. The first half was very good, but I got bored with the rest of the book. Maybe what would interest me more is a real biography. Fascinating woman but Mendelsohn tried too hard to turn Earhart's story into a romance novel. Blah.

My Current Thoughts:

I have no recollection of this book whatsoever.

Wordless Wednesday

Purple Haze Lavender Farm

Sequim, Washington

July 2018

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Looking Back - The Princess Bride

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Fiction - Fantasy
1994 Del Rey (first published in 1973)
Finished in January 1998
Rating: 5/5 (Excellent!)

Publisher's Blurb:

What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams?

As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears.

Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.

What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

In short, it's about everything.

My Original Notes (1998):

Excellent! So much better than the movie. I loved all the asides that Goldman makes. I laughed so hard. Wonderful book. Wonderful entertainment.

My Current Thoughts:

I've read this book a couple of times now and it really is a classic and highly entertaining. If you've only seen the movie, you really need to read the book. It's delightful.

Favorite Quotes:

Inconceivable!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

and

My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

and

As you wish...

and

The Impressive Clergyman: Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam… And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva… So tweasure your wuv.
Prince Humperdinck: Skip to the end.
The Impressive Clergyman: Have you the wing?

Wordless Wednesday

Purple Haze Lavender Farm

Sequim, Washington

July 2018

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Bandon - Day Six & Seven

Bandon, Oregon
October 27-28, 2017
Bullards Beach State Park

It was chilly when we woke-up! 44 degrees outside and only 52 inside of the trailer. Brrr! We do have a heater, but we don't like to run it all night since it's a little noisy. 

We enjoyed another lazy morning, which typically involves coffee, showers and breakfast at a very slow pace. It usually means we're ready to greet the day with whatever outings we have planned by 10:00 a.m. Such a difference from the days of waking up at 5:00 and rushing out the door by 7:00!

After breakfast, I left Rod to work on an editing job and went into town to explore the shops. It was so nice to wander around for a couple of hours, going at my own pace, finding some gifts and greeting cards. I discovered a couple of restaurants that I'd like to try next time we're in town. The first is a new brew pub called Bandon Brewing Company and Pizzeria. It has both indoor and outdoor seating and the menu looks great. There's also a place called Bread & Wine that has a nice little patio/garden that might be fun to try. 

I stopped in a cute bakery and wound up returning at the end of my shopping trip so I could buy a bag of freshly ground coffee to take back to the trailer. I had a sample cup of the blend and it was amazing! I wound up buying two bags, as well as an herb biscuit and a couple of cookies for our dessert. The shop is called The Rolling Pin Bake & Brew and the woman who owns it runs it with her daughter-in-law, Kayleigh. We chatted for quite a while and if I lived closer, I know I'd quickly become a regular customer! 

I enjoyed my little shopping expedition and found some Christmas gifts, as well as a new travel journal. I wandered over to the fishing docks and popped into the Farmer's Market (indoors, rather than on the docks), which was nice, but not as good as the one in Newport.

The sun was shining and it was getting warm. What a lovely morning!

After lunch, Rod and I headed over to Rocky Point so he could do a little fishing. 

A pipe, a cup of coffee and an Ace Hardware bucket. What more does a guy need?

While Rod was fishing, I made a return visit to Bandon Dunes in order to hike the Woodland Trail, which includes a labyrinth.

I wasn't quick enough to get a photo, but as I passed this pond a beautiful egret flew out of the tall grasses and right past me. It was stunning!

I headed out toward the labyrinth and once again, I was completely alone. It was a little unnerving since I was in the woods. Alone. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any weirdos or bears. It was actually very peaceful.

The labyrinth is comprised of a series of 11 circles (modeled after the one in Chartres, France), with only one way in and one way out. Again, I was completely alone and walked to the inner section very slowly and calmly, trying not to think of anything but my steps and my breathing. I'm not very good at meditation and once I got to the center, I was too impatient to walk back through each circle and wound up just stepping over the lines and back to the trail. It would be easy to blame my impatience on wanting to get back to Rod, but the truth of the matter is that I didn't really feel what I thought I might experience by walking a labyrinth. Maybe it's like meditation and it takes practice. 

Back to the trail and through the woods...

I returned to Rocky Point and while he didn't have any luck, Rod said he did enjoy fishing from the dock. 

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I spotted an eagle perched high in a tree! I took a few pictures with my phone, but they weren't very sharp. I'm learning that I really need to carry our 35mm digital camera (which has a nice zoom lens) with me at all times!

We returned to our campsite and listened to another game of the World Series, while eating our dinner by the fire. It's a lot of fun listening to the play-by-play, rather than watching a game on TV. 

The Astros won again.

October 28, 2018
Bandon to Depoe Bay
132 miles 
3.25 hours

Saturday morning and time to hitch up and head home. It was drizzly and 54 when we left our campsite. 

We decided to stop for lunch at our favorite restaurant in Florence. Nice end to another great road trip!

Bandon - Day Five

Bandon, Oregon
October 26, 2017
Bullards Beach State Park

After reading about all the great hiking trails at Bandon Dunes Golf Course, I decided to head over after breakfast and try a few. The Dunes is only a few minutes from the campground and it's gorgeous, reminding me of Torrey Pines with all the pine trees and sweeping ocean views.

I picked up a trail map at the main club house and set out on the Jamie McEwan Trail. The sun was shining and I was glad to be wearing shorts. It got pretty warm!

This trail leads from the Lodge along the top of the main resort dune ridge. The views of the golf course, with the ocean in the distance, were amazing!

Looking east (Highway 101 is just beyond the trees).

This invasive plant (Gorse) is still a problem in Oregon and I saw quite a bit on the trails. It may be invasive, but I still think it's very pretty.

Almost makes me wish I knew how to golf!

Finally some shade, although the sandy trail was still a workout!

Lovely view of the ocean.

I was surprised that there were very few golfers out on the links. Or on the trails! The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Ugh! This was harder than it looks.

Madrone Lake

You can only see their silhouettes, but there are two deer just to the left of the building.

Grabbed a bottle of water at the club house and headed out to hike the beach trail.

The beach was completely deserted (for that matter, the golf course wasn't terribly busy, either!) and I wasn't able to locate the shipwrecked schooner Acme, which ran aground on Halloween night in 1924. I enjoyed my walk, but was worn out and ready to get back to the campground. Walking through the dunes was a lot more difficult than I imagined!

This is a moderate hike, but the sand dunes make it even more challenging.

After lunch, we drove around in search of some fishing sites. We went out Hwy. 42S, which was very pretty. The trees and bushes were just beginning to show some fall colors and looked gorgeous in the late afternoon light. 

We came upon a herd of elk in a large field. They were pretty curious, watching us as we stopped to snap a couple of pictures.

We found this nice spot (Rocky Point Country Park) just a few minutes away from our campground and the evening glow on the river was so very lovely. I spied a huge blue heron, but he was too quick for a photo.

There is nothing quite like being near water, whether it's the ocean, lake or river.