Book shelf

Just got a notice from the Seward Memorial Library that I have a book due this week. The name of the book is Four Blondes by Candace Bushnell. I checked it out because she is the author of Sex and the City. Now, I have not read Sex and the City, but I enjoyed the television series that ran for six seasons several years ago, so I thought I would enjoy this book, which was a bestseller, but I should have left it on the libray bookshelf instead of bringing it home. The locale is New York City, and the characters are a minor celebrity, aB-list movie star,a high powered magazine columinist and writer. All are at a crisis or cross roads in their lives and/or relationships. If they weren't so slutty I might have cared about them. But they were, and I didn't.

The other book I am returning is Dog On It a detective novel narrated by Chet (the Jet) a large dog whose owner is Bernie Little, of the Little Dectective Agency. Chet considers himself a detective and Bernie's partner in solving cases. The author is Spencer Quinn and he is writing a sequel, so the Bernie and Chet can solve another mystery. Bertie is the typical down and out detective, former police officer, divorced dad that I think populates a few other series. Having the dog narrate is funny and cute and did keep me reading. The story takes place in the southwest and involves a missing teenage girl, who may or may not have been kidnapped. There is no ransom note, but things just don't add up for Bernie as he investigates. He knows the girl is in trouble even though she seems to have contacted her mom to tell she will be home soon. Both Chet and Bernie are in danger at various points in the book, but there is nothing really gruesome in the novel, and it is pretty light reading. Also a bestseller. I may look for the sequel when it comes out.

Flowers blooming this week

Iris and Columbine are blooming this week in my flower garden.

Memorial Day Weekend

Our traditional way to spend Memorial Day weekend is to work on projects around the house. Dave is staining the east side of our house. We hope to also get the south side and the deck finished sometime this summer. It is a good day to get some work done--some cloud cover, no wind (!) reasonable temperature.

Mine is an ongoing project: Make this flower border bigger. I can't remember why I wanted to do this now. It is a lot of work, and it probably will look bad all summer since I have gotten such a late start on it. I guess I could look at it and say that I am early for next season, and I will have a spot to move some of the plants I want to divide and transplant.

Dance Recital

Here is Maggie after her dance recital last Saturday. She was a flower in the octopuss's garden under the sea along with about 11 other little girls. Maggie attends Mary Lorraine's Dance Center and the recital was at Millard South High School. Maggie had a good crowd there supporting her: both sets of grandparents, her aunt Julie, her mom and dad and her two sisters. It was fun to watch Shelby, age 3, and Natalie, 6 months as they watched the dancers. They were enthralled with the whole production. Shelby would clap and clap after each group finished, but when Grampy Dave asked her if she wanted to take dance lessons, she declined. Maggie's future in dance is not certain, since she put up a fight every week when it was time to go to her dance lesson, but on Saturday night she was every inch a dancer!

Flowers in my yard

Most of my flower gardens don't look so great because I have not spent more than 15 minutes clearning out last year's debris, but there are a few bright spots. The flower at the top is called Fremont's Clematis. It is kind of a rare plant and I got it at a plant sale in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska East Campus.
Here is another variety of clematis, purchase a few years ago at Merle's Garden Center here in Seward. Wish I could remember the name, but I cannot. The first year I planted it I think it had one sad flower, and the next year it may have had three. But once it got established it has done really well. It is an early bloomer, and if the weather conditions are right, it will bloom again later in the summer.

I remember that there was a beautful dark purple clematis in the yard where I grew up. Florence (my step-grandma) enjoyed her flower garden and had a lot of old fashioned favorites.
And last of all, this is the first year our lilac bushes have done really well. They have almost finished blooming and I feel guilty about not taking any blooms to my aunt Marge. I think I will wait for the Lilly of the Valley to bloom and take a bouquet of those and maybe some iris.

Book notes

I just returned a couple of books to the library, both pretty enjoyable. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin was recommended by our friend, Tom Raabe. It is a grown-up account (there are a few childrens books on the topic) of the Blizzard of 1888 which affected most of the Dakota Territory, Nebraska, and parts of Iowa and Minnesota. Many children died in the blizzard as they became lost trying to find their way home from school. There is an explanation of the science behind the blizzard, as well as the back story on many of the people who were affected by the blizzard. Seward County is mentioned, which made it more intereting for me, and my neighbor, Jane Graff, is listed as a resource at the end of the book.

The other book I just finished was The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfiled. I would rate this book a "6" on a scale of 1-10. It was a bit too dark and moody for my taste, but I was pulled into the story about a famous English author who is dying and asks a little-published essayist to write her biography. Many people over the years have attempted to write her biography, but since she never tells the truth, the biographies are all different. At the end of her life she is ready to reveal her secrets, but it takes Margaret Lea some digging to really get to the bottom of the story. There are ghosts, hauntings, twins, and a surprise twist at the end.

Sunday

Mother's Day is just about over. It was a good one. Dave, the awesome grill man, made pork adobo (a recipe from the grilling cookbook). It was very good. I received some wonderful gifts: a gazing ball for my flower garden and a gift certificate to the Green Gateau.

Right now I am going to make a Happy Mother's Day card for my aunt Marge. I am hoping the Hallmark Card Studio will not let me down on this one because I will have to have something that features god mothers. I will take her some lilacs from my yard and hope that will do. Maybe she would like a new lipstick--I can "shop" in my Mary Kay inventory.

A day with Sam and Austin

We spent Friday with grandsons Sam and Austin and I managed to get a few pictures taken at the Children's Zoo and later at home.

Fun at the Children's Zoo

Since I didn't have to work today and the weather was great, we took Sam and Austin to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Everyone else within a 50 mile radius also had the same idea this morning, but it was still fun even though we sometimes had to wait for a while to get a good view. We have a membership so we can go often, and that helps on mornings like this one. We don't feel like we have to stay and "get our money's worth" -- we stay as long as everyone is having a good time because we know we can come back again any time we want to.

We decided to purchase the combination pass, so we also visit the Lincoln Children's museum pretty often. I think the kids like the museum better, but the zoo was fun today. I am hoping that our granddaughters will be able to join us this summer. Of course they are used to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, so the Lincoln Children's Zoo may not be as much fun for them.