I love the light from the skylight at the top of the stairs.
I often forget to look for it, but thankfully, I saw it this morning. So lovely!
I did a bit more work outside yesterday. Today, I plan to take it easy and rest my back. Don is gone for the day and I’m feeling the nesting instinct. I always know when fall is on the way because I suddenly have a strong instinct to clean, rearrange, and feather my nest. I think that’s what I’m going to do today. That, and read and listen to music.
It’s another beautiful day here! Goodness, I feel like we were starved for sunny, non-humid, non-rainy, non-triple digit weather. It’s like manna from heaven.
The limelights are fuller than ever. So gorgeous. Even Don commented on them!
On books:
In addition to all the mysteries I read – some of which are written beautifully, almost like poetry – I think the three books I have read in the past few years that have had the strongest impact on me are A Gentleman In Moscow, All The Light We Cannot See, and the book I’m currently reading, The Overstory.
I cannot stress strongly enough how brilliant The Overstory is, and how timely. Richard Powers is a lyrical writer. Yet he’s dealing with one of the issues that impacts our planet and our future on this planet: trees. Somehow he manages to write a novel that is complex, with interwoven stories/fables and compelling characters who eventually connect, all the while quietly educating us on an issue that couldn’t be more crucial. I recommend it highly. Even Don, who is Mr. Nonfiction, wants to read it.
It’s stunning. There’s a reason it won The Pulitzer Prize for 2019.
Okay, my friends. Time to do some work around here.
Happy Sunday.
I’ve been ignoring my garden! My daughters and the irrigation system take care of the watering but there’s a bit of clean up that needs to be done. I’m too busy with planning my trip! I’ve finally finished planning out Edinburgh and now it’s on to Oxford and London. My Cornish friends will take care of the daily touring while we’re in Cornwall. I’ve been there four times and there are still places in that tiny county is like to see. Have a quiet and relaxing nesting day, Claudia!
You’ll have a great time, Wendy!
Hi Claudia,
I love your blog and look forward to see what you have posted for the day. Your cottage looks so inviting and cozy. And the flowers!!! Beautiful! I am going to check out your book recommendations.
Happy nesting,
Marion
Thank you so much for your kind words, Marion!
Hi,Claudia! Stunning limelights and lovely gallery wall . I will definitely read the Richard Powers that you recommend,as All the Light We Cannot See and Gentleman in Moscow are among my all-time favorites. I want to re-read them both soon. I have read The Salt Path and Where the Crawdads Sing and now waiting for the new Louse Penney.Isn’t grand that we never run out of good books? Happy Sunday to you andDon.xo
I haven’t read Where the Crawdads Sing yet, but it’s on my list, Annette. It is indeed grand, my friend!
sounds like a lovely day; hope you enjoy every minute!
that book sounds interesting. love finding a book so good i want to read it over and over!
if not with my family, i am glad and grateful to be home… especially on a sunday afternoon. i did stop at a fabric store after church+ today, hoping to find home decor/upholstery fabrics for a seat cushion and a pillow or two. no luck. not even close. because we only have a joann fabric store and a couple sewing shops that sell just “quilting cottons” around here, will search when up in minneapolis with my sister next saturday to hear some music.
happy sunday!
kathy in iowa
We don’t have much in the way of fabric stores around here either. I have to go into NYC for more variety. Thanks, Kathy.
Always glad to get your book recommendations.
Glad you’re having another good-weather day. I have no hint of fall where I live in SoCalif; only that of course the light is changing (seems like yesterday it was ‘light out’ at 5:30am; now dark at that hour).
Good that you’re resting the back; sounds like a good day for it.
I try to always have Sunday be a day of rest and I’ve told my husband he needs to start honoring it because his ‘usual’, which is a carryover from so many years of working outside the home for jobs of the weekday, is to leave all his home ‘chores’ til late Sunday afternoon, even mowing the lawn as the sun drops and I don’t like all that hubbub of activity when gearing up and getting in the mindset for a whole new week. I want calm Sundays! And he doesn’t have all those jobs now in semi-retirement; he can change his old habits! (It’s how I was raised, leaving Sunday as a day apart from the rest. I have fond Sunday memories from growing up in my parents’ household. My parents never reconnected with a church when they moved to another town [when I was a baby] but I think, for my mother particularly, it was essential to her ‘being’ and religious upbringing to declare Sunday a day of rest & family togetherness [and a good Sunday dinner/supper!]; and I’m glad for that because I think it was really soulful-healthy [my mom got a lot of things right!].)
Yes, it should be, at the very least, a peaceful day. Although I’ve certainly done some lawn mowing on Sundays!
I was doing some random ‘book shopping’ and noticed this title, wondering if you’d ever read it (don’t know if it’s really ‘summer read’/lightweight reading…or not):
The Chelsea Girls (a novel). Looks like a recent publish date. Amazon description: “The bright lights of the theater district, the glamour and danger of 1950s New York, and the wild scene at the iconic Chelsea Hotel come together in a dazzling new novel about a twenty-year friendship that will irrevocably change two women’s lives—from the national bestselling author of The Dollhouse and The Address.”
“From the dramatic redbrick facade to the sweeping staircase dripping with art, the Chelsea Hotel has long been New York City’s creative oasis for the many artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, and poets who have called it home—a scene playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead are determined to use to their advantage. Yet they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to putting up a show on Broadway has nothing to do with their art, and everything to do with politics. A Red scare is sweeping across America, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has started a witch hunt for Communists, with those in the entertainment industry in the crosshairs. As the pressure builds to name names, it is more than Hazel and Maxine’s Broadway dreams that may suffer as they grapple with the terrible consequences, but also their livelihood, their friendship, and even their freedom. Spanning from the 1940s to the 1960s, The Chelsea Girls deftly pulls back the curtain on the desperate political pressures of McCarthyism, the complicated bonds of female friendship, and the siren call of the uninhibited Chelsea Hotel.”
Kinda sounded like something you might like?!
Also by happenstance stumbled upon this little indy movie that actually got some good numbers above budget and I guess had accolades at the Sundance Film Festival but I just jumped on it because it was said to be a ‘feel-good’ film (which I was desperately needing for escape this weekend – – can’t read one more horrible news headline right now).
Quite a few well-known stars: Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo (who’s just wonderful in it), Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt (I’ve always liked him; didn’t realize til recently that he’s Canadian), Robert Downey Jr. and this really engaging kid actor named Emjay Anthony who I’d thought was adorable in the film with Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep called, “It’s Complicated”.
This particular movie is called “Chef” and as a result of the movie, Favreau subsequently had/has a cooking show on Netflix called The Chef Show which is often hilarious. (Warning, Claudia, they cook a lot of meat, both in the movie AND on the Netflix show. You’ll want to look away [in an early scene in the movie] when they bring in a [deceased] pig to the restaurant, but that’s just one scene of so many others which are really good and not {as} objectionable.)
I just wondered if Don would get a kick out of this movie “Chef” because it’s a lot about cooking – – at home, in a restaurant, on a food truck. (If you haven’t already seen it; it’s been out a few years I think [the film, not the Netflix show].) It’s a lot to watch about food prep, not uninteresting! Favreau studied with a real chef and went to work as a line cook for authenticity. The movie’s got a sort of running Cuban theme and I liked the accompanying music and vibe. (And I’m sure I was drooling over the food depictions – – incredible grilled-cheese sandwich; pasta with fresh herbs.) So, sure, there were implausible elements but who cares, it was just a fun little movie. Had some pathos. In the end, I actually think I loved it. Filmed in New Orleans (ah, the beignets), Miami, Austin TX; L.A. (The food truck goes on a road trip.)
The food truck business is HUGE in my part of SoCalif. (L.A. & environs). We were in a nearby town a couple of weeks ago that had a whole roundup of food trucks for a festival and I’d recently read about a few well-known chefs getting into it – – who comes to mind are the Too Hot Tamales of long-ago food-TV fame, famed owners of Border Grill in Santa Monica (I was someplace once where they catered the food…mid-1990s from there…and it was out-of-this-world DELICIOUS Mexican cuisine), Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. In my own small town, one truck we’ve recently seen, larger than a lot of them, parks on Friday night and within minutes there’s a long line of people. Point being, this sweet little movie “Chef” is about some of that ‘trendy industry’ but a lot more.
Here’s the problem with getting Don to watch it. He does not like John Favreau as an actor. Does. Not. Like.
So, I don’t think it will be on the docket here!
I might, though I read her earlier book, The Dollhouse, and wasn’t all that thrilled with it. Maybe I’ll like this one more!
I’ve ordered Overstory based solely on your recommendation!
Oh, good! It’s worth it, Eve. Stay with it, it takes a while to see where the author is going.
The weather here in northern IL has been gorgeous, too. The types of days where you wish summer would never end. However, we did get some rain overnight and it’s been overcast and on the verge of rain all day. We keep waiting for the heavens to open up. I think the weather is supposed to be the same for tomorrow. It’s OK though – we actually need the rain for once.
I can’t wait to read The Overstory. It’s been on my to-read list for too long now. A friend of mine recommended it to me last year. I will pick it up from the library once I’m done with the current stack I have sitting on my coffee table.
I have a stack, as well. And I keep adding to it!
You’re so lucky to have the stairway skylight. Actually, your house looks like it has good natural light. I read both A Gentleman In Moscow and All The Light We Cannot See, loved them both. Lovely flowers on your porch pic yesterday.
Our house has very good light because there are a LOT of windows! Thanks, Lynda.
Eve reminded me that I read “The Overstory” solely based on Barbara Kinsolver’s review in the Sunday Book Section of the NYTimes . She has written so many varied and well-researched, intelligent novels, l knew that if she was over the moon with it, I would be too. It’s good to have a reading mentor. There are SO many books to choose from.
I never read that review – I should look it up online. Thanks, Leslie!
Hi Claudia, I just wanted to say “Glad your back is healing” and even so, still take it easy!
I will, and thank you!
It’s gorgeous here too. I’ve been making use of the weather by getting some heavy lifting done in the garden. I picked up The Overstory at our local bookstore (by local I mean 30 minutes away but better than the barns and noble I could get to in half the time) on your recommendation. I’m really looking forward to it.
I love the pic of that light on the stairs. So pretty.
Any bookstore around here is at least 30 minutes away! Thanks, Deb!