Sunday Catch-up

 

Mark and I went out for dinner and while we were eating, we received a text with this picture. Turns out our friends, Chuck and Dayla, were at the other end of the bar. 

On Father's Day, we headed to the golf course in Dinuba, where they have a nice Sunday brunch. It had been closed down for the last couple of years (like everything else), and it was nice to sit on the patio and enjoy the view of the golf course.

Later in the afternoon, Aaron, Christa and the grandkids stopped by to wish Mark a Happy Father's Day. 

We have a magnolia tree that we actually greatly dislike, as it drops things on the yard all.year.long. It has been blooming and a couple of the flowers were low enough that Aaron could lift Ella up and she picked a beautiful bloom. 

Later I took that flower, located some books around the house and tried to recreate something I had painted years ago, no date but probably some time in the 1970s.

Books I read in June:

I always enjoy a book by Clare Mackintosh--she always has an unexpected twist, sometimes in the middle, sometimes right at the end, sometimes both. I enjoy books by Elin Hilderbrand as well. Winter in Paradise is the first in a series that I'm anxious to continue. Stranger Diaries is another great book by a favorite author, Elly Griffiths. I'm all caught up on her Ruth Galloway series, so I was happy to find the beginning of what I hope will be another long-running series. I did not enjoy The Guilt Trip. It was one of those books where I did not like a single character, but felt compelled to finish reading to see how it ended. 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (sorry his last name got cut off) was another so-so book for me, but again, I wanted to see how it ended. The Quiet Game was a longer than usual audiobook, 20 hours, and for the first time I upped the speed to 1.25 so it would go a little faster but not sound too weird. I recommend this book if you like a good mystery and people with secrets. Lessons in Chemistry was definitely my favorite read of the month and I highly recommend this book about a woman who always wanted to be a scientist and the roadblocks she encountered as a woman in the field of science. The Glass Hotel was okay, but seemed to jump around a little too much for me. 

The Paris Apartment was another mystery about people with a lot of secrets, moody and interesting. 

The first of our dahlias bloomed, right before we left on our road trip. We have no confidence that we will have many more blooms so of course we needed photographic documentation.

Something I haven't done for awhile--turn a photograph into a watercolor via the Waterlogue app. Pretty. I might print it out on watercolor paper and make some postcards.

This popped up in Mark's feed one day. I'm sure we can all agree that ketchup-flavored popsicles is not a good idea, no matter how hot the day.

Next up, our road trip to Oregon.