August has been a full but very hot month. I'm looking forward to crisp autumn breezes.
The highlight of this month was my oldest son visiting for ten days. My husband was off and the other kids were here more often, so we had kind of a stay-cation. We celebrated my oldest son's birthday and mine in that time period. We visited the country's largest Buc-cee's, Seven Islands State Birding Park, and the Lost Sea Adventure, which contains the USA's largest underground lake. We played lots of games, took turns cooking or eating out, laughed, chatted, and had some quiet times in-between all the activities.
This last weekend, we went with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy to the Knoxville Asian Festival. I'll say more about that in tomorrow's Friday's Fave Five.
Timothy started fourth grade at home with an online program. He seems to be enjoying it so far.
With Jim being off most Fridays now, he, Timothy, and Jason sometimes hang out when Timothy gets done with school. Sometimes they go fishing, and they went kayaking once. Sometimes they meet for ice cream.
Jim has bought and sold microscopes online for years. Often someone will be cleaning out a father or grandfather's attic and find an old microscope and list it for sale. Jim will clean it up, replace parts, and recalibrate it and then sell it. He does it mainly as a hobby, but it also helped put our kids through Christian schools.
A few weeks ago, he found a listing for dozens, maybe scores of microscopes. Two van-loads of them. He got them for a good price and has already sold several. He's remade what he spent and says he may have overestimated the used microscope market. But he enjoys working on them in his spare time.
Jim's early career was in labs, but promotions had him managing other people in the labs. Then he was moved to sales because customers needed salespeople with the technical background who could tell them what the company would be able to do. I think he's been good at every phase, but I think he sometimes misses the hands-on work. So working on these microscopes is his happy place.
Creating
This card was for Jason and Mittu's fourteenth anniversary.
And this was for Jeremy's birthday.
This is the first time I've tried using an embossing folder on darker paper. I was glad the embossing showed up well. I searched for free clip art to find the fox in the party hat, then printed him out.
Watching
We saw a few interesting movies this month.
One was The Viceroy's House, starring Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey) as Lord Mountbatten, who was tasked with overseeing Britain's withdrawal from India and the setting up of a new government. Unfortunately, I think he was in a no-win situation. The Moslem and Hindu factions would be displeased no matter what was done. Some wanted to divide India and create Pakistan; some wanted to keep the country together. I knew very little about all this, so it was interesting to learn about.
Denial was another good movie based on a true story. David Irving has written and spoken extensively, saying the Holocaust never happened. Writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt disagreed with him in her book, and he sued her for libel. In Britain, the burden of proof is on the defendant. I don't want to spoil the story by sharing the lawyer's strategy, but it was fascinating.
Unfortunately, there was one occurrence of one of the worst bad words. I had thought this particular word was reserved for R-rated movies, and this is PG-13. My son said he thought the rule was PG-13 movies were allowed one use of it. So it's almost like they have to toss it in because they can. Frustrating.
Sadly, we ran into the same thing with an otherwise excellent movie called Woman in Gold, another true story about a woman whose family paintings, including a very famous one of her aunt, was stolen by Nazis. She embarks on a lawsuit to have them returned, using a very young and not very experienced lawyer.
Reading
Since last time I have completed:
- Be Worshipful (Psalms 1-89): Glorifying God for Who He Is by Warren W. Wiersbe
- Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson. I finished it in June but felt like I needed to go through it again.
- Dreams of Savannah by Roseanna M. White, audiobook. A Civil War-era book about two people coming to realize their assumptions about slavery and Black people are wrong--but then they have to decide what to do about it. Despite how that sounds, it's not at all preachy. It's wonderfully layered.
- The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese. Ingrid Erikson is an acquisition editor for a publishing company, but she's been under-performing due to grief over the death of her father, best friend, and romance. Her boss gives her an ultimatum: find the lost manuscript that her friend, a best-selling author, was reported to have been working on before she died. But that would require her to go back to the place and people she planned never to see again. Excellent.
- Yesterday's Tides by Roseanna M. White, audiobook. Two related story lines taking place in 1914 and 1942 on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Excellent.
- Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke, audiobook. Four friends in boarding school in the early 1900s vow to be friends forever. But trouble brews when two of the girls fall for the same young man. He comes from a German family, which alienates one of the girls whose brother died in the sinking of the Lusitania. Deceit and betrayal cause severe ramifications for years to come. Excellent.
- The Second Half by Lauraine Snelling. A couple just about to enter retirement are asked to keep their grandchildren while their son is deployed. Very good.
- Elderberry Croft and Elderberry Days by Becky Doughty. A series of short stories about individuals in a trailer park and the unusual young woman who comes to live among them. Very good.
- Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry, audiobook. A boy comes of age on a small Kentucky farm.
I'm currently reading:
- Be Exultant (Psalms 90-150): Praising God for His Mighty Works by Warren Wiersbe
- Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image by Hannah Anderson
- Elisabeth Elliot: A Life by Lucy S. R. Austen
- How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One by Stanley Fish
- The Phantom of the Organ by Susan Braun
- A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White, audiobook
- A Fool and His Monet by Sandra Orchard
Blogging
Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I've posted these since last time:
Writing
I haven't done much work on the book manuscript, but spent more time on a couple of smaller articles.
I loved much of August, but I am eagerly awaiting September. It probably won't feel and look like fall til near the end of the month, but every day is one day closer! We're looking forward to Labor Day burgers Monday, my youngest son's birthday later in the month, and the everyday joys and get-togethers in-between.
How was your August? Are you ready for fall?
No comments:
Post a Comment