Birthday on the porch...

April has gotten away from me. My 66th birthday is happening in five days and I have not raved about days gone by or how time flies yet this month.

I painted all my kitchen cupboards this week and glazed them. Removed 25 year old wallpaper. Thrown out a gallon of paint. Too blue. Bought another gallon of forty dollar paint...Scrubbed woodwork and floors. Still have to paper one wall. Paint the dinette. I guess it was time. Twenty years of cherries is enough.

I am listening to Louise Erdrich read her book LaRose. Her writing is extraordinary. She conveys her characters feelings (pain, regret, love,) with  heart wrenching accuracy. She makes me want to be a better person. Make sure I feel all the feels. Love the people you are close to. Pay attention to your people. Hold them close...

I watched Those Fabulous Baker Boys with the Bridges brothers and Michelle Pfieffer. It was good. William Finnegan's dad produced it. Grew up on S. 9th Street...Tootsie with a very young Dustin Hoffman. Very good.  Rickie and the Flash with Meryl Streep and Rick Springfield. Second time I saw this movie I still loved it. Half of a Yellow Sun. So tragic. Not as good as the book by  Adiche.
Adventureland on Netflix with Kristen Stuart. Just so-so. Beauty and the Beast with Dani and Joanie for the second time. Wonderful.

Oh, and yes, I will be 66 in 5 days. OMG. WTF. THIW. (made that on up myself). I do look better than S.E. Hinton but she wrote The Outsiders.

                                                                 Me. Sixty-Six...

Home again, home again, jiggety, jig...

Back in the Upper Peninsula. Brought a huge geranium back from Texas. Ivan cared for it in the back of the truck for 1500 miles. Left it on the porch last night...29 degrees. It is a little chilly here. Weather in Florida and Texas was 75-90 degrees the whole trip. Sunny, too. That is all I have to say about that.

Phyllis and Hannah, did you watch Clarkston H.S play in the state finals? Did you know they were playing? A U.P. team won state class D. We live streamed it all and used up most of our data for the next month.

I learned a lot over the last two months. I need to make a list:

1. I am a pacifist. I read a genre I had never heard of for my book challenge, space opera/fantasy. Yes, this is a genre. Violence, accompanied by an inter-species love story. Horns vs. wings. Lots of limb loss. Blood. Saga by Brian K. Vaughn illustrated by Fiona Staples. 1-42. I watched one episode of GOT and read the first George R.R. Martin book. I am still having nightmares.

2. Phyllis, this is for you. A personal journal. You are the only person who actually comments. Thank you!

3. Hard to believe but I loved living in my 21 foot camper for two months. I know, right? The upkeep is so minimal. I can clean the whole space in about an hour. More time to read. My own kitchen for travel. My dog terrorizes no one. My beautiful geranium, well, it WAS beautiful. All the hot water, good closet space, lots of books.

4. I just called my accountant. Apparently I still have to do 2016 taxes even though I have been camping. Hum?

5. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Life and Other Near Death Experiences by Camille Pagan, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, All I Love and Know by Judith Frank *, Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce*, Simon vs. the Homo-Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard, My Sunshine Away bu M.O. Walsh, Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan*, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (I want to see the movie), Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Saga by Brian K. Vaughn Illustrated by Fiona Staples (comic), All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.

6. There is more to write but the tax man awaits...