A Month in Summary - March 2025

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

March 2025

I love this time of year! The days are longer, trees and shrubs are budding out, daffodils are dancing in the breeze, the rainy season is almost over (which means more dry days to get outside and walk!), and the daytime temps are creeping up into the 60s. We have several book events coming up in April (click here for dates and locations), so we're busy prepping to get back on the road in the RV. 

I had a decent month of reading, but only one book stood out from the others, and it was very good. My current book isn't holding my attention, but I'm sticking with it since I am determined to read all of Maggie O'Farrell's novels. I'm hoping it's just one of those books that requires time and patience.

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger (2/5)

More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova (3.5/5)

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash (4.5/5)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (4/5) - reread

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (3.5/5)

Movies & TV Series:

Zero Day - Entertaining, but not great. The acting wasn't impressive, and I felt the cyber attacks hit a little too close to home during these turbulent times.

Black Doves - Very, very good! I'm not a huge fan of Keira Knightley, but Ben Whishaw is fantastic (and very easy on the eyes). I could watch the show a second time, especially now that I know what the heck happened!

Runaway Juror - After the death of Gene Hackman, this movie popped up in our Netflix listings. I can't remember if I saw the movie when it first came out, but I know I read the book many years ago. We enjoyed the movie quite well.

Paradise (Season One) - Excellent! The story unfolds layer by layer with the weaving of past & present timelines. I was spellbound. Sterling K. Brown (from This Is Us) is outstanding.

Severance (Season One) - I finally jumped on the bandwagon and after a few episodes, was hooked. This is an entertaining, albeit WEIRD psychological thriller. Great acting. On to season two!

Reacher (Season Three) - Entertaining, but pretty silly at times. At the beginning of each episode, we tried to guess how long it would take before Reacher took his shirt off.

Visitors:

Amy came out from Tennessee for a long weekend visit. (Will had to stay home and work and take care of the dogs.) We had such a great time catching up, and she taught me and my girlfriends how to play the American version of Mah Jong. Great fun! Hope it isn't too long before she and Will can both come out for another visit.

A Month in Summary - September 2024

Yellowstone National Park

September 2024

Well, I guess it's officially fall, although where we're currently camping, it feels more like summer. I think we hit 80 yesterday, and I was in shorts & flip flops again today, but I'll take it! We've seen a lot of beautiful fall colors on our road trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Park, but I don't mind the warmer temps. I'm sure when we get home to the Oregon Coast, it will be chilly and damp.

As is my normal routine, I probably won't blog about this trip until later in the year. As it is, I'm currently posting about our 2023 summer trip to Canada; that's how far behind I am with travel posts! But I will include a few favorite photos down below. If you want to see more (a lot more!), check out my Instagram or Facebook feeds. I've been updating daily, although I'm about a week behind our actual trip.

You won't be surprised to see that I only read two books in September, since I rarely get much read while on a road trip. However, both books are over 500 pages! September was a re-read and very enjoyable, but it was Billy Summers that stole my heart. I wanted to read it every chance I had, and when I wasn't reading, I was talking about it to Rod (who is now re-reading it). What a great novel!

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

September by Rosamunde Pilcher (4.5/5) - reread

Billy Summers by Stephen King (5/5)

In case you missed it, I wrapped up my summer reading challenge here. 

In other news, my daughter's company (MAYSON the label) was mentioned in Oprah Daily, which was quite thrilling. You can read about her fashion brand in that article here.

Amy (aka Fashion Jackson)

In addition, our family suffered two losses in the span of four days. We got news that my cousin's wife passed away on the 25th. This past Sunday I received word that another cousin had died. Kris Kristofferson was my first cousin, once removed (his mom and my grandmother were sisters). What's so heartbreaking is that my cousin's wife (who died on the 25th) was married to Kris' brother. It was (and will continue to be) a rough time for the family. I've been reading all the beautiful tributes about Kris, and Rod & I have been singing a lot of his songs as we grieve.

Rod, Kris and me

Family Reunion 2016

Depoe Bay, Oregon

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite photos from our five-week road trip. Enjoy.

Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful

The Tetons & Jackson Lake, Wyoming

The beautiful aspens, willows

 and cottonwoods of Wyoming

Schwabacher Landing, Wyoming

Schwabacher Landing

T.A. Moulton Barn, Moose, Wyoming

Our view at Gros Ventre Campground, Wyoming

A Month in Summary - September 2023

Strait of Georgia

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

September 2023

We are currently on the road, or should I say we're on "Van Isle" as the locals call Vancouver Island. We began our trip two weeks ago and are currently in Nanaimo for the next few days. We've been to Victoria, Saanichton, Campbell River, Telegraph Cove, Black Creek, as well as a few spots in Oregon and Washington. We have two more weeks of fun as we head over to the western side of the island, then down to Port Townsend and the Seattle area before we head home. This trip has checked several items from my bucket list, most notably: three black bear sightings (across a small river from us!), more humpback whales than you could count, and two orcas! I also saw four eagles and several kingfishers, but those weren't new-to-me sightings; just fun. I also conquered my fear of driving our 26' motorhome onto the Black Ball Ferry, which took us from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia. Thank goodness for the awesome parking crew who helped guide me into our space on the ferry!

I haven't done much reading while we're exploring the island, but I am enjoying another big novel and should finish in the next week or so. I had another wonderful month of reading before we left Oregon, wrapping up a very long audiobook that turned out to be a great listening experience. I also read two new novels that I can recommend highly. 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton (5/5)

Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur (4.5/5)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (4/5)

Good Harbor by Anita Diamant (3/5)

DNFs:

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Movies & TV Series:

The Fall - Starts out very dark and disturbing, but I'm glad we stuck with it through the end of the third (and final) season. The conclusion was somewhat anticlimactic, but overall a very good show.

Visitors:

Pippa, Nathan, Mom and Meghan

Ana and Mark

Proud Moment:

Our daughter, who is a fashion influencer (Fashion Jackson), launched her clothing line on September 7th! We couldn't be more proud of all she's achieved in the past decade. You can read more about the launch here and check out the latest arrivals on the website (MAYSON the label ).

Travels:

As mentioned, we are currently on another road trip through Canada. I'll blog about in the coming months, but for now, here are some highlights from our trip.

Victoria, B.C.

Telegraph Cove, B.C.

Prince of Whales excursion

Sunrise over the Strait of Georgia

My favorite travel companion

For more photos of our journey, follow me on Instagram.

Tennessee

Last month we flew to Nashville to visit our daughter and son-in-law, who live in Franklin, Tennessee. We hadn't been on an airplane since 2016, but everything went smoothly; no delayed or cancelled flights and the mask mandate was still in effect, and everyone behaved themselves. We flew nonstop from Seattle to Nashville and while it was nice to skip the additional landing and take-off, the four-plus hour flight felt long. Thankfully, I had good reading material. 

We had the best time catching up with Amy & Will, seeing their beautiful home, and playing tourists. We stayed at the Harpeth in downtown Franklin, a charming historical town south of Nashville. There is so much to see in Franklin and Nashville and we're already talking about a return visit.

A view from our room at the Harpeth.

Franklin Public Square

Beautiful day for a drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Our daily stop for coffee & breakfast

 at McGavock's (in the Harpeth).

 Leiper's Fork Distillery

Can't visit Tennessee and not tour a distillery!

No souvenir bottle to bring home. 

Sadly, they were sold out of their bourbon and we didn't love the whiskey. 

Ann Patachett's bookstore

Found a couple of books that I couldn't live without.

Finished The Absolutist, so I had to get another by Boyne.

Patchett's is signed; need I say more? 

Another must on our list.

Country Music Hall of Fame

Kris' "Help Me Make It Through the Night"

John Prine's "Sam Stone"

It was fun to see all the exhibits, 

especially those featuring

 Kris, Johnny, and John Prine.

We had some wonderful meals, but I didn't take very many photos. We ate most of our morning meals at McGavock's, but I spotted Ruby Sunshine while I was exploring and decided we would go the following morning. It was so good, we went back one more time before we flew home. We also enjoyed meals at Franklin Bakehouse, 1799 (in the Harpeth), and Culaccino. 

Ruby Sunshine

Fried Green Tomato Eggs Benedict on a Biscuit

Our lovely room at the Harpeth.

We loved exploring Franklin and Tennessee, but the best part of the trip was finally seeing these two! It had been far too long.