A little photo of the living room as the sunlight poured in yesterday. Heaven.
I mowed the entire front yard yesterday. Today: the corral and the area near the shed. The back forty will have to wait. It’s been absolutely lovely around here and we have another day of it today. And it looks like tomorrow’s rain will hold off until the evening, which will be lovely for Don’s birthday. And little Z’s, as well. They share a birthday. But I’ll talk about them tomorrow.
Yesterday, we saw a bald eagle flying overhead, following the path of the river that is just across the street from us. Today, as we sat on the porch drinking coffee, we saw our lonesome dove sitting on the electrical wires. I said hello to him and invited him to drop by the birdbath. (I just cleaned it out yesterday.)
I’ll be finishing Green Grows the City by Beverley Nichols today. These two books will be my next reads. We’ve talked about 84, Charing Cross Road recently, so you know why it’s on my TBR list. I’ve read lots of raves about Shaun Bythell’s The Diary of a Bookseller lately on Instagram. One of the readers of this blog also mentioned she was reading it. I love books about books and bookshops. This one is supposed to be laugh-out-loud funny, so I can’t wait. He has another one – Confessions of a Bookseller – coming out in September.
And last night we watched Dog Day Afternoon. It was on TCM. For some reason, I’d never seen it. My heavens, Pacino is magnificent. I think it’s his best work. And the late, gone far too soon, John Cazale, is wonderful, as well as Chris Sarandon as Pacino’s lover. Unbelievably powerful. Directed by Sidney Lumet, who as far as I’m concerned, never made a false move in his long career as a director.
It’s still with me this morning as I write this.
Okay. Time to get a move on.
Happy Sunday.
That picture of your lovely sofa with the McCoy pottery in the background is just lovely!!!! You must be so happy with that purchase!
Glad to hear Don was able to do some picture-taking yesterday. Hopefully, today is a good day for him, as well. We were supposed to have 2 days of rain, but so far we had a 5 minute shower at supper time last night, and some clouds today, but no rain yet.
Have a wonderful Sunday, Claudia! Enjoy the sunshine.
We are thrilled with it, Chris. It’s transformed the living room.
And I’m happy to hear you haven’t had any of the predicted rain!
Glad to hear you’re having a weekend of nice weather. We were surprised with a mostly sunny day yesterday – it was supposed to rain – so we took advantage of it and headed out to a city we rarely go to for a vintage market. It was small and disappointing, so we had lunch, walked around the city a little, then along the river – and headed home. At least it was a beautiful drive.
I’ve read a couple of Helene Hanff’s books, including 84, Charing Cross Road. I have Q’s Legacy and Apple of My Eye on one of my bookshelves. I haven’t read those yet. I’ll have to look up Diary of a Bookseller. I love books about booksellers and bookshops, too.
It rained overnight and is still damp and mostly cloudy today. I feel lazy today and have only done some minimal housework and washed our bedding, but not much else. We need to go to Trader Joe’s, but I’m procrastinating.
Hope you have a good rest of your day.
Sometimes you just need a lazy day, Melanie. Enjoy!
You are going to love Diary of a Bookseller! Happy to know he has another in the wings. I hope to track down the Beverley Nichols books that you love. I’m so happy I found your blog a few years ago,as I feel as if I have found so many soul sisters who read and garden . xo
I’m so glad you’re here, Annette. There are kindred spirits here!
Claudia, my local library doesn’t have any of the books you mentioned recently, so it’s time to haunt the used book shops in my area! Enjoy the sunshine today!
Hope you find them, Wendy! Have a great day.
Claudia, just had to share this since I know you’ll appreciate it….I did have a great day! My daughter and I are going to the U.K. at the end of summer, and I wanted to treat us to a West End show. I managed to snag tickets to IAN McKELLAN’s one-man show in London! It was difficult to find a good day, since the theater is dark for two of the days we’ll be in London. Then I had to find two seats together, and there are slim pickings now. However, I managed to find a date that we could manage with two seats together and my daughter and I are beyond excited!!!!
Oh, how wonderful! I know it will a memory you will treasure always! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Those books sound interesting. I just started “Wives and Daughters” by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was printed in 1866. It is 600 plus pages. Last night we watched “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn”. I had recently purchased the DVD. I had seen the film years ago. I also have read the book. The entire cast was first rate.
Marilyn
Oh, that movie. It kills me! Don watched it years ago before I did and he told me that Francie reminded him of me as a young girl. He’s right. Anyway, I watched the movie and have watched it many times since. I cry like a baby! Her father breaks my heart.
glad you are having lovely days now … and that you enjoy the mowing that must be done on a regular basis.
hope the dry, sunny weather holds for don’s birthday, that he and little z have happy birthdays.
always appreciate your book and movie reviews. and that you started up a book-ish instagram account. thanks for taking time to do that, too!
am thinking there are lots of bookstore owners and librarians now being asked for 84 charing cross road (etc). :)
had a very strong electrical storm go through about 9 o’clock last night … incredible-to-almost-scary lightning and thunder. moved through quickly and too fast for me … even though it knocked the power out for three hours. all good now.
happy sunday!
kathy in iowa
I’m sorry you lost power, Kathy! Sudden and intense storms can be frightening.
the lightning and thunder can be scary (especially to animals and kids, i’d say), the farmers and gardeners sure didn’t need the rain and the power outage wasn’t fun … but i loved the rainstorm. :)
your new sofa looks great. pretty shot of your home.
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy!
Dog Day Afternoon is one of the best movies ever! And Al Pacino is so, so good. That actual bank robbery took place a few blocks from where I used to live in Brooklyn. I remember that day very well.
He is superb! Simply stunning work! Thanks Terri.
Dog Day Afternoon brings back many memories for me. It was actually filmed in my neighborhood and it was fascinating to watch how they altered the fronts of buildings and how they set up all of the lighting. Great movie. I hadn’t heard of Diary of a bookseller – but it is going on my list.
How neat that you got to see some of the film being made!
What a lovely room! Big smiles — I know it’s a happy one.
Bookseller sounds really good from what I’ve heard. My pile keeps getting bigger; my time avails smaller. A dilemma!
A dilemma, indeed! Thanks, Jeanie.