A Month in Summary - June 2019

Quigg Lake

Montasano, Washington

June 2019

Good grief! Where did June go?? We did have house guests (my youngest brother and his family from Nebraska) for several days at the beginning of the month and took a week-long camping trip at the end of the month, so I guess between all of that and the usual activities of yoga, pickleball, book club and mahjong, the days zipped by. I also spent a couple of days visiting my eye doctor who has diagnosed me with "the garden variety" of glaucoma (open-angle, or wide-angle, glaucoma). I have to admit, I was a little stunned with this news, but am thankful that the treatment is as simple as applying one drop of Latanoprost (in each eye) every night before going to bed. I've already tested the drops in one eye for the past two weeks and the pressure in that eye has dropped considerably. As you might recall, I had a bout of vertigo for a few days last month. Between the vertigo and glaucoma, I feel like the universe is telling me I'm no longer in my thirties, even though my brain thinks otherwise! Thankfully, none of this has affected my reading.

Books Read in June (click on titles for my review):

Hunted on the Fens by Joy Ellis

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce


First Lines:

DS Joseph Easter's eyes snapped open. Instantly he was wide awake and experiencing a rush of automatic reactions left over from his years as a special ops soldier. (Hunted on the Fens)

Up the stairs they raced, taking them two at a time, trying to be as quiet as possible. Gamache struggled to keep his breathing steady, as though he was sitting at home, as though he had not a care in the world. (Bury Your Dead)

Oh, no, no, no, thought Clara Morrow as she walked toward the closed doors. (A Trick of the Light)

In the early nineteenth century the Catholic Church realized it had a problem. Perhaps, it must be admitted, more than one. But the problem that preoccupied it at that moment had to with the Divine Office. This consisted of eight times in the daily life of a Catholic community when chants were sung. Plainchant. Gregorian chant. Simple songs sung by humble monks. (The Beautiful Mystery)

When I first saw the advertisement in the newspaper I thought I might actually burst. Id' had rather a cheerful day so far despite the Luftwaffe annoying everyone by making us all late for work, and then I'd managed to get hold of an onion, which was very good news for stew. But when I saw the announcement, I could not have been more cock-a-hoop. (Dear Mrs. Bird)


Podcasts:

I listen to a lot of audio books, but for some reason have never gotten into podcasts. Until now. My friend Nan (Letters from a Hill Farm) wrote about the following podcast here and I was intrigued, so I download the Stitcher app to my phone and began listening. I couldn't stop. Now that I've finished that podcast, I've added many more to my "favorites" and will share more of these in my monthly summaries. Thanks so much, Nan! It was a compelling story, to say the least!

Bear Brook on New Hampshire Public Radio - Two barrels, four bodies, and an enigmatic killer. The cold case that changed the way murders will be investigated forever. 


Movies and TV Series:

House, MD - Season 8  - Finished! While I enjoyed watching this entire series for a second time, I am more than happy to be finished. Two episodes of House almost every night became less enjoyable as the weeks and months went by. We started watching in late 2018!

Game of Thrones - Season 3 - I need a cheat sheet to keep track of all the characters (dead and alive!). 

The Night Manager - We watched another episode while on our camping trip and I like it, but it's not a favorite.

Visitors:

My brother and his family came out for a visit from Lincoln, Nebraska! They're regular visitors to Depoe Bay, so we didn't do quite as much sightseeing as we would with new visitors. We hiked Cape Kiwanda (Pacific City), explored tide pools and the four of them went whale watching and got "fluked!" Maddie just turned 17 (!) and Emily will be 15 this fall. Time does fly!

Outings & Trips:

Cape Kiwanda

Pacific City, Oregon

Rod and I took a quick week-long road trip back to a newly discovered campground in Washington. We spent a few days at Friends Landing back in April when we were on a three-week road trip in Washington and enjoyed ourselves so much, we decided to go back. We don't usually like to camp during the summer months when the campgrounds are crowded and noisy, but we took a chance on this spot since it only has 18 sites. We weren't disappointed! There's a playground at the entrance of the park, so any noise from young children is far enough away that it's not an annoyance. There isn't much to do other than relax and fish so, unlike a lot of state campgrounds (especially those near the beach), this one is relatively quiet. It started to fill up on Thursday afternoon, but even at full capacity, it was peaceful. We loved being near the lake, watching the eagles soar above and listening to the loons calling to one another in the evening. We'll definitely return anytime we're headed back to the Olympic Peninsula!

 His happy place.

 No neighbors for a few days!

 Gorgeous wildflowers.

 My TBR shelf in the RV.

 Happy Hour!

It wasn't hot, but we put the awning out

to keep our chairs dry, as it did rain a couple of times.

 We love campfires!

A gorgeous afternoon.

Another happy hour!

Love the atmosphere as the fog begins to lift.

Once I've finished with all of my posts for our Texas road trip, I'll start writing about some of these other trips we've taken. I'm finally in a good spot with my book reviews, but travel posts are lagging far behind!