A Month in Summary - July 2019

Quigg Lake

Montesanto, Washington

I always think that summer lasts a full three months and I suppose it does, but several of my friends are already talking about their children heading back to school in less than two weeks. Growing up in California, school always started the day after Labor Day and ended in the middle of June. Schools in the Midwest begin and end a full month ahead of that schedule. This past week, we have had nothing but gorgeous summer-like weather here on the Oregon coast, so in my mind, autumn is several months away.

I continue to do a lot of reading in the evening, finishing six books this month (for a total of 37 for the year), but we also watched A LOT of movies in July. Most were just ok, but there were a couple that were very good. We still want to get back to Game of Thrones and I'm tempted to buy the remaining DVDs (Seasons 4-8) so we can binge on them while traveling to California next month.  

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

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

As We Are Now by May Sarton


First Lines:

I run into him at Mariano's, of all places. I'm poking around in the freezer case, searching for the strawberries I put in my morning smoothie, when a man's voice somewhere off to my right says, "Annika?" He sounds unsure. (The Girl He Used to Know)

Audrey Villeneuve knew what she imagined could not possibly be happening. She was a grown woman and could tell the difference between real and imagined. But each morning as she drove through the Ville-Marie Tunnel from her home in east-end Montreal to her office, she could see it. Hear it. Feel it happening. (How the Light Gets In)

Beware thoughts that come in the night. They aren't turned properly; they come in askew, free of sense and restriction, deriving from the most remote of sources. Take the idea of February 17, a day of canceled expectations, the day I learned my job teaching English was finished because of declining enrollment at the college, the day I called my wife from whom I'd been separated for nine months to give her the news, the day she let slip about her "friend" - Rick or Dick or Chick. Something like that. (Blue Highways: A Journey into America)

History has failed us, but no matter. (Pachinko)

After she has dried and put away her supper dishes, Lucille Howard sits at her kitchen table and contemplates what do do with another empty evening. A few years back, she might have sat out on the front porch with her former neighbor and then roommate, Arthur Moses, a man too good of heart for this world, in Lucille's opinion, though she and many others profited plenty from his continual kindness. (Night of Miracles)

I am not mad, only old. I make this statement to give me courage. To give you an idea what I mean by courage, suffice it to say that it has taken two weeks for me to obtain this notebook and a pen. I am in a concentration camp for the old, a place where people dump their parents or relatives exactly as though it were an ash can. (As We Are Now)

Movies & TV Series:

The Old Man & the Gun - Odd, yet endearing. I enjoyed this one! Sissy Spacek is wonderful.

The Night Manager - Finished! The two episodes were so intense and suspenseful, I almost couldn't watch a couple of scenes. Highly recommend.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Silly, silly movie.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story - I've never been a huge fan of Dylan's, but we thought this might be a good flick. I thought it was pretty good and probably would have enjoyed it even more so had I not been stung by two wasps earlier in the afternoon. I was pretty sleepy after taking a couple of benadryl and dozed off during part of the movie. I'm almost tempted to watch it again.

Aquaman - Wish I had slept through this one! Blah.

Mary Poppins Returns - This was a cute sequel and I enjoyed Lin-Manuel Miranda ("Jack") and Meryl Streep ("Cousin Topsy"), but none of the songs were remarkable enough to go down in music history like the ever-so-catchy "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

Bohemian Rhapsody - Outstanding! I was never a huge fan of Queen, but I knew many of their hits and enjoyed the soundtrack, as well as learning more about Freddie's life. The final scenes of the Live Aid concert tugged at my heartstrings. This is one to watch a second time.

The Wife - I haven't read the book and probably won't, but this was a good film. In a way, it felt like we were watching a play rather than a movie. Glenn Close is very good!

No visitors or trips this month, but the days were busy and full with pickleball, yoga, mahjong, yardwork and various doctor appointments. Now to get busy and finish our travel plans for our big road trip. I've got the outbound adventure to San Diego planned, but nothing reserved for the return trip. It's tempting to leave our options wide open, but we have a few places we need to be, so I'll get to work on RV Trip Wizard and at least get it mapped out.