I don’t know about you, but this last week, the first full week of July, has been one busy and event-filled Summer week. We spent the week with temperatures near, at, or over 100 degrees leaving no doubt at all that Summer is in full swing. I am so thankful for my morning running routine as 6 a.m. is about the only time of day that it doesn’t take an active imagination to feel “cool”. I don’t generally do “week in review” posts but because of one very exciting thing, hinted at in the image above, I felt the urge to share.
We started our week with a theater visit to check out Pixar’s latest, Brave, one of the films I’ve been looking most forward to this year. I love Celtic music and imagery and this film delivered aurally, aesthetically, and in the story department as well. Others have done more in depth reviews that are well worth checking out. My summary thoughts would include that a) it was brilliant to see a film in which neither parent was vilified beyond the normal ways that teens feel about their parents. There was no “wicked step-mother” or “murdered father to avenge”; b) I give Pixar HUGE props for creating a strong female character who did not need to be defined by a relationship with the opposite sex who in turn did not come off like the worst of feminist stereotypes; c) the animation was incredible–I couldn’t stop staring at the girl’s red hair and the waving blades of grass; d) the music and the animated scenery were gorgeous and lush and enhanced the story beautifully. See it, it is very good.
One of my favorite childhood memories is the many times my mom and dad would load us up in the car and drive us into town for ice cream. It was one of the ingredients of magical childhood summers. In my quest to embrace Summer 2012 fully I decided I wanted to do more of this than we normally do, so I loaded up my family (dog included) and we went out Monday evening to our local Custard’s Last Stand (pictured) to partake of a cool treat. I opted for All Shook Up–custard, sliced bananas, and chocolate and caramel flakes. Yummy!!!
Also on Monday (and Tuesday….and Wednesday…) we(I) made trips to one of the local fireworks tents here in town, this one hosted by Blue Springs Assembly of God Church. It has been many years since I’ve worked a fireworks tent, and things have gone hi-tech since then. Their products were bar-coded and prices could be changed instantly in the computers that they had at each register. Attendants walked around with iPads to show you filmed versions of any of the fireworks you were interested in, and if you paid with a card of any kind they used the swipe adapters plugged into their smart phones. It was wild. They ran one of the most polished displays I’ve seen and they were super pleasant. And the kid in me couldn’t help but go back time and again to add to the items to be shot off on the evening of the 4th.
And speaking of July 4th, mine started off with a bang of an unexpected kind when I received an email from the Fantasy Book Critic site informing me that I had won their Indy Kindy II drawing for a Kindle Touch and some free books to go along with it. Author M.R. Mathias and the folks at Fantasy Book Critic deserve a HUGE thanks for this. I’ve been very reluctant to join the e-reader crowd but when the opportunity to sign up to win a free one cropped up, I thought “what the heck, I’ll never win it anyway” (don’t we all think that?) and lo and behold I actually won!!! Needless to say I was pretty shocked, even more so when it arrived so quickly yesterday (Friday) afternoon. I promptly fired it up and started playing with it, downloading a few free books including some of what I won in the drawing. I imagine I’ll blog more in the future about my feelings on the ebook vs. “real” book from a personal experience perspective some time in the future.
On Wednesday night we had friends and family over for delicious summer fare, including grilled burgers and lots of fresh fruit and veg. My daughter and her fiance (pictured) were not with us, but I thought their picture was too cool not to share. Despite the sweltering heat my dad, Jeff and I went out after supper to play Bocce Ball, a game I had just learned a few weeks back. I was able to find an inexpensive set (hidden behind the more expensive sets at Target, thank you God for keen eyesight) and we broke it in. My dad, who was a newbie to the experience, beat us handily both games. Then darkness fell and we turned to the age-old tradition of blowing stuff up! I had mostly bought mines, with a few fountains thrown in, and in my humble opinion I thought we had a really nice show. It was enhanced at times by the display my neighbors were putting on which made it doubly fun for the crowd. Ooohs and Ahhhs from both sides of the street echoed after each firework. My wife recorded the names of the ones that made the biggest impression so we’ll know what to buy next year. It was a relaxed, warm, but wonderful 4th of July.
Through her job at the university, Mary has been getting First Friday tickets to the American Heartland Theatre very inexpensively and the first Friday of the last few months has been filled with delightful plays/musicals. Last night was Bingo! The Musical, a silly, entertaining show that had, among other things, three games of live bingo with the audience, with cash doled out to the winners of each game. It was a great deal of fun and we had a delicious meal of spinach salad (with glazed walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, red onions, strawberries) and margherita pizza and quattro formaggi pizza from Milano. It was a lovely restaurant with great food. I’ll eat there again.
In addition to a bunch of yard work/landscaping that I got done this week I managed to finish the XBox 360 version of Alice: Madness Returns. I’ve long been a fan of American McGee’s Alice, which I played (and played) years ago on the PC. Thankfully that version is included in this package and I look forward to revisiting it. The first Alice game had an aesthetic that was very pleasing to me and Madness Returns trumps that with a steampunk/clockpunk vibe that is a visual treat. In this iteration a teenaged Alice returns to a twisted, destroyed Wonderland to try to set things right. As most of the game takes place in Alice’s head/Wonderland, it makes for some really great game mechanics. Particularly fun is the “sprint” motion which allows you to escape enemies quickly. Rather than simply speeding away, the character dissolves rapidly into a swarm of butterflies and then coalesces further away. It is one of MANY great visual touches the game has. The story is interesting, if a bit mature in its subject matter, and the gameplay mechanics are really fairly simple. It is not a deep game by any means, but the many and varied landscapes and creatures encountered make it a lot of fun. I’ll definitely replay it in the future.
(I LOVE Farmers Market/grocery store days in the summer)
I started my Saturday with a walk down to the Farmers Market and game home with many delicious vegetables. The weekend will be filled with corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, and lots of fresh fruit that I picked up from Aldis. I saw this watermelon/bacon recipe on the Men’s Health site that I am dying to try, so hopefully that will happen sometime in the coming week. In addition to eating good food, I hope to catch up on my reading for The Well of Ascension Blog Tour. I’m waaaay behind, apologies to the rest of the gang. And tomorrow morning is the Psychopathic 5K Run! More on that sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Until then, have a wonderful weekend everyone, and please share with us what your week has been like.
Oh, my. This old midwestern girl is just nostalgic as can be after reading your post. A drive in the country and ice cream was a standard treat in our Iowa household, too, although we sometimes opted for pork tenderloin sandwiches and root beer floats at the A&W.
My aunt attended that Assembly of God church before she moved to Grain Valley – I’ll have to ask if she ever worked the fireworks tent! I’ve been to the Heartland Theatre many times, and every time I visited Mom, she always wanted me to take her to Aldis. I’m tempted to head up there right now! But I think I’ll wait until fall.
What fun that you won a Kindle! I’ll be interested in hearing your response. I’ve resisted so far, and probably will continue to do so until I’m convinced of a real advantage – for me.
It’s been magical here – our town has just completed a long process of deciding to save a historic old oak, and then doing it with the help of a SoCal tree-moving company that came in with the low bid. It was astonishing – there’s a video you can see here.
Other than that, I’m enjoying getting back into my blog-reading routine. It takes time, but it’s been a year now since Mom’s death, and I can feel things shifting and settling. All in all, I’m looking forward to a good summer.
Root beer floats! Yes! We had (still have) this wonderful small eatery in my hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska called Tasty Treat. A Tasty and a root beer float was always a wonderful treat, pardon the pun. I eat there every time I go back.
Wow, small world! My daughter’s fiance, Grant, has a cousin who goes there and so we decided to support them this year. All the fireworks sales in Blue Springs have to support a charity of some kind. The folks working there were SO nice. We live just a few miles from your aunt if she lives in Grain Valley. If you are ever up this way you’ll have to let me know!
Wonderful story about the oak, congrats! I’ll definitely check out the video.
I’m sure a year later there are still some really rough times. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have lost a parent, especially when any poignant moments bring back memories of times with them. It is wonderful to have those memories, of course, but it still has to be hard. I’m sorry for your loss. I do hope your summer is wonderful!
Wow and congrats on the Kindle!!!!!! Outstanding!
You sure have had a great start to July! I hope the rest of the month goes as well for you.
I wish I could say my beginning of July went even half as well…
First I had a skin biopsy being done and wound up with 9 stiches for my trouble (won’t know until tuesday the prognosis but I feel it will be ok) But the doc put me on an antibiotic and since I had Cdiff last year I was told any antibiotic might bring it back…can you say terrified?.. well 5 days into the antibiotic I was soooooooooo sick! naucious dizzy and potty potty potty.. groan. can we say scary? Then the night after that I get up to use the bathroom at night and step on a carpet staple..right into the foot by the second toe… can you say ouch?… so here i sit waiting for test results from the skin, wondering if the stitches will get infected since I had to go off the antibiotic and hobbling around on one good and one bad foot. Can you say, I wish July was over? lol lol… geez what a pita!!!!!
However.. I am heartly happy for your good fortune winning the kindle!! That made me smile and well worth the hobble over to the computer! lol..
I wish it was “cool enough” for me to walk at 6 am here… it’s already in the 80’s with humidity to match so my walks are over until “winter” again.. :o( …
I was so surprised! I had forgotten I had even signed up and for a while I thought it must be some kind of spam mail, except I knew the Fantasy Book Critic website well.
I can see why you want July to pass! Yikes! I didn’t share my one ‘bad’ thing this week, which is that I had some kind of viral infection that caused a really painful spot in my jaw, but thankfully got into a clinic Tues. night and got an antibiotic. My jaw was miserable Tuesday night and Wed. morning but by mid-afternoon on the 4th I was good. I hate taking pills, and these antibiotics are every 5 hours. My one bad moment pales in comparison. I hope the rest of your July goes much, much better. I think I grimaced in sympathy pain when reading about your toe!
I’ve ran in a few 80 degree temps in the early morning this past week, but thankfully with the sun not being high it didn’t feel nearly as hot. But my oh my, it doesn’t take long for the furnace feeling to arise.
Congratulations on the e-reader!
No body deserves it more than you do!
Julie plans on getting one for me on my birthday. I can’t wait!
I’ll be interested to get your thoughts on using one.
Thanks man! Don’t know about that, but I’ll take it with a grateful heart. I look forward to testing it out.
If I like this then at some point I’ll get one of the larger color versions.
If I got a fancier one I would end up doing everything BUT reading.
Ha, that is so true!
Congrats on the Kindle! I got one for Christmas and have been pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed it (interestingly enough, my “real” vs. digital book reading ratio has been about 2 to 1 — nothing can beat a paperback in my hands!).
I also loved Brave and actually went to see it twice — glad you and your family enjoyed it as well! The animation was incredible and the story was quite refreshing.
I hear you Ruth. I’m a die-hard lover of the “feel” and “smell” of a real book and that won’t change. I’m hoping I can find an interesting balance between using the e-reader and the real books that I want to read and own. I am certainly more likely to try out stuff when it is at a really cheap ($3 or less) price, I think. So we’ll see.
Glad you enjoyed Brave so much. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again on the big screen, and will for sure buy it on blu ray when it comes out. “Refreshing” is a good description, the story was just that.
Congrats on winning the Kindle Touch! That produce from the farmer’s market looks divine. Seems July is off to a very good start for you! 🙂
Yes, I of course had to taste test stuff as I was washing it off. LOL! And thank you! Yes, its been a fun summer so far and in large part all the running and exercise has helped to slightly change my attitude about the heat. I’m much more willing to be outside in really hot weather than I have been for several summers.
Awesome week for you, Carl! So much good stuff to comment on. Congrats on winning the Kindle! I found out week before last that I’d won a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. I already have a Nook Simple Touch, so it was nice to be able to pass it along to my mom as a gift. She likes the backlighting a lot.
Glad you enjoyed Alice: Madness Returns. I’ve had my eye on it. The visuals are just too good to pass up!
It has been! Thanks, and congrats to you on the Nook! That is awesome. I love that glowlight function. Makes me wonder why they didn’t think of stuff like that right away when they made these.
You should be able to find Alice cheap now since its been out for so long.
You masked the pain well on Wednesday. I knew you hadn’t been feeling well, so I appreciate you avoided snarling at me or any if the other guests.
I, too, am interested in hearing your impressions of the eReader experience. We’ve talked about it before so I know you had no plans to dive right in. I have found a number of fiction titles I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise and that were worth more than the dollar or so I paid for them.
I found it fun last night that I was able to get Andre Norton’s Time Trader for free. It is one of her books that I keep looking for in used bookstores. I tried downloading an audio book from the library but it wouldn’t upload as it said it wasn’t supported by Kindle. I’ll have to try to search for just Audible.com books I guess.
And I snarled at all of you behind your back, so no worries. 🙂
Congrats on winning the kindle Carl. I wasn’t too sure about ebooks at first, but to be honest they are just so handy! The great thing about them is that you can instantly get a book to read. Okay, on occasion you can’t find a book in e-format, but still, when it is available its so great.
I still prefer a “real” book, and if I really love the book I will buy it in hard copy even if I own the ebook.
Plus it is nice to have bookshelves full of books to look at.
Thanks Fence! I suspect I’ll feel the same way when it comes to me using it. And I’m glad my wife will get to use it as well to check books out of the library.
It is WONDERFUL to have full bookshelves to look at, you are so right!
What a great week you had! Congratulations on the Kindle! You’re not going to believe how many free ebooks are available. I’m hoping to be leaving REHAB next week.
I was glancing at your website today (will comment soon). Wow! You’ve had an eventful time. Hoping all is going well with you.
Wow!! Really does sound like one hell of a week 😀 Congrats first of all on that Kindle!! What a gift! I was so on the fence about ereaders for the longest time thinking if I had one it had to be one or the other…ebooks or REAL books, but I’ve learned that’s silly. I have a nook color and I’ve come to absolutely love it while still of course loving my real books. And yes, I’ll aways call them “real books” :p
Everything else sounds wonderful too Carl!! I’m so happy to see you enjoyed the new Alice game!! I loved it too. I thought the imagery of the game was just astounding and I loved the graphics so much. It’s one I enjoyed just as much for the story as I did the game play!
I will too Chris, I will too. I had pretty much decided that one day I would get an ereader with the hopes of keeping up better with the SF magazines that are out there, and now I can try it out and see how it works. It was a great surprise and I’m very thankful.
I’m thrilled you loved Madness Returns. It is astounding imagery. I found myself doing the jump/float thing a lot too as I loved the graphics that happened every time she did that. I also got to be really fond of the teapot cannon. 🙂
I am exhausted just reading that! 😉 Lol! It really does sound like you are embracing this Summer fully and it sounds wonderful!! Congrats on winning the Kindle, how awesome!!
It was a full week, that is for sure. And I left some things out too!
Congratulations on winning the Kindle Carl. I’ve really enjoyed reading on both my Sony and now my Kindle.
I think for ‘everyday’ books, I’m happy to read either it or a ‘real’ one. For ‘special’ books, those by favourite authors, or ones I’ve been craving, I think I’ll aways want the feel and experience of holding the book in my hand.
Thanks Darren. Its been fun playing around with it. Haven’t started reading anything yet, but that will come soon!
And I feel the same way that you describe. I’m going to be reluctant to read John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman and a host of others any other way besides “real” books.
I am hoping to get some use out of the audio books function of this thing as well.
I agree with your rave review of Brave. I actually expected her to get together with the bad bear in the end. Silly me!
My daughter has friends who work in film animation, and they told her that Pixar actually had to create two new software programs just for the hair. Incredible.
I’m glad, Brave was lovely and sweet! That is very interesting about the hair. And I believe it. I’ve never seen any animation like that. Amazing.
That was an eventful week indeed! Congratulations on your exciting win.
You’ve made me want ice cream now. My parents and I used to drop by this fantastic roadside ice cream stand/cafe whenever we went out into the country, and I remember it fondly though it’s been around fifteen years since I was last there. They did the best homemade ice cream drumsticks. They were GIGANTIC, with gallons (or at least half a cup) of chocolate in the middle.
Thanks! Wow, those cones sound yummy! We saw huge ice cream cones in this movie The Way (with Martin Sheen) that we watched last night and I think we all could have easily dropped everything right there and headed out for ice cream!
Whew, busy week! You packed in a lot of great things. 🙂
Thanks for linking to my Brave review. Fun to hear what you thought of the movie, and I so agree on your point about neither parent being villified (or deified, for that matter). I was just thrilled that a heroine actually had TWO living parents, and it was fun to see what felt like a realistic family dynamic.
Congrats on winning an e-reader! I’ve been resisting that trend (it’s a SCREEN, I don’t want to read on a screen…) so I’ll be curious to hear what you think of it!
My week has not been nearly as eventful, though I did play an epic board game Monday night, shot off fireworks Wednesday, had a brilliant time at my writing group Thursday, finished the second draft of my novel Friday, and went to a Summer Kick-off barbecue Saturday. Oh…that has been kind of eventful, when I look at it that way…
You are so welcome, I really enjoyed reading your Brave review. I was going to do one but couldn’t work in the time and finally I just decided it was better to link to some reviews that I liked and trusted.
I’ve been resisting the trend too but I’m excited to give it a try. I doubt much of my normal reading will be on a ‘screen’ either, but it will be fun for traveling, going back and forth to work, etc.
What board game did you play on Monday? You can’t leave me hanging like that. And by the way, are you watching Table Top? That show is so much fun.
Oh rats, I can’t remember the name of the board game…it was one of those Arkham Horror-type ones, where you wander through a house and zombies attack you. We were at a pizza place, we stayed until closing, and still didn’t finish the game! And I’m not watching Table Top but I probably should, I keep hearing good things about it…
You should, it is a treat. The downside is that you’ll want to spend a fortune on board games. 🙂
Wow, you did have an eventful week! I’ve been wanting to go see Brave, but haven’t made it out yet. Maybe next weekend. I’m glad to hear that it’s good.
Your farmer’s market finds look yummy. I can’t wait until corn shows up locally!
They were yummy, especially the little yellow tomatoes. I’ve been trying to control myself and make them last. Only being mildly successful.
I love posts like this that are just full of happiness and fun! 🙂
Thanks, it was a really fun week, culminating in yesterday’s big run. I feel very fortunate and grateful for the week I just had.
Ice cream is delicious!
Congrats on the Kindle. I’ve found that they’re particularly nice when you read the first book in a series and feel the need to start the next book immediately.
Yes it is, we almost went out again and had some last night. I’d like to do this once a week. I rarely if ever have ‘desserts’ and so a once a week treat sounds like something that would be really doable.
Sounds like you’ve had a wonderful week! The weather here in the UK is terrible so no bbqs for me. Congratulations on winning the Kindle Touch hope you enjoy it, I got a Kindle for Christmas and am loving all the free Classics I can read on it.
Thanks! I’m hoping your weather straightens up by the time the Olympics roll into town. I’m more psyched about watching this year than I ever have been before, possibly because of my own fitness efforts. I plan to be inspired.
The unexpected win is always the best!
I’ve been reading books on my iPad for 3 years or more. I like it a lot. I especially like the immediate lookup of words I don’t know or half know. For instance during the Neverwhere challenge there were many great words that had more texture knowing what Neil was thinking (I probably passed over them in the past). Almost no break in the narrative when I do this in the ebook reader. I assume the Kindle has something similar.
I still read real books. Usually I have one in my car for those times I am out for coffee or lunch and want to do some reading. A used book in the back seat doesn’t mind 90+ temperatures.. a ebook would melt.
As far a ebooks, I have talked to a lot of people who say using the iPad tires their eyes, I have never had that problem (maybe because I adjust the brightness in iBooks). I’d be interested in your experiences with your Kindle.
They are Ian, and this was so out of the blue that it really did throw me for a moment.
I assume the Kindle does too though I haven’t checked. It is really cool to be able to conveniently look up words you either don’t recognize or those that you are pretty sure you know but want a clearer understanding. I like doing that. I think the bookmark feature will be cool too.
I’ll be curious about the Kindle too because of its slightly darker screen. I assume it is set up to be easier on the eyes as well.
Congrats on winning the Kindle. I had a few hesitations about switching to ebooks, though since then I can’t imagine why. I still read plenty of things the old fashioned way, but I also do a lot of digital books, too. I also like that I can check out digital titles through my library, which is pretty sweet.
I’ll be interested to see your thoughts on the Kindle. Enjoy it! And be sure to keep an eye out for all the freebies…
I’ve definitely been keeping my eye out for the freebies. And I like the idea that Darren floated about looking to use the ereader for books that I don’t necessarily need or want to keep and sticking with my preferred “real” books for those authors I love, books that just look cool and “have” to be owned in their paper form, etc. And it looks like a lot of old SF classics are on Amazon for free, so that should be fun.
Darn. I read this post and it was full of “I cant”s. I can’t have the frozen yogurt, ice cream, etc. I can’t have all that fruit. I can’t – and don’t want to – have the fireworks (illegal here). Which is okay, because the cats are totally freaked out by the stuff the neighbors do (illegally),
I can’t run at all, anywhere. I could go to the movies, but at $8 a pop, the budget won’t allow. So my summer is iced tea, gardening, reading, a LITTLE walking. It got pretty warm here, too, over 90 the last two days, which is exceptionally hot for Portland, and will be in the 80s all this week. Thank goodness for air conditioning.
Yes, my dog spent the week being terrified. I feel so bad for him but there is no comforting him. It is the same way when a storm is coming or is happening.
We do our best to hit the movies on the $5, which is mostly Saturday morning. But I prefer that because the crowd is usually lighter and we can get the seats we want. Plus in the morning there is no temptation at all to get snacks so that saves both on money and on our bodies that don’t need all that junk.
We’ve had a few days now where at least at night and in the morning it is cool, am loving that.
Congrats on the Kindle! That’s awesome!
It sounds like you’re having a great summer so far. 🙂
Thanks Amanda, it was such a surprise. And it has been a great summer so far. Happy that you have been, and are going to be, a part of it.
You are doing really, really great. You should be plenty proud of your hard work and results. Good for you!!
Thanks Richard. Not sure I’m necessarily proud of myself, but I am pleased that on this journey I haven’t had any major battles with motivation. It has been nice to have developed a “passion” for this rather than having to “make” myself do it day after day.
an eventful week indeed! sounds like it was really wonderful! congrats on the e-reader and I hope you come to enjoy it. needless to say living in Colorado meant a fire and fireworks ban over the fourth, which is too bad because blowing things up is fun and it really felt weird not having some fireworks display erupting down the street. but we did get in a few dozen rounds of bocce out back (with our non-expensive set), too. loading up family and heading out for a cool treat sounds lovely, and perfect with all this heat. at the last house we would walk or bike into downtown for gelato or a small shoppe’s offerings. we’ve gotten lazy of late, which is too bad because there is a DQ right by this pretty little park. going to have to remedy this, because that picture you posted is taunting me.
Hope you have a summer filled with eventful weeks (the good kind, that is!) !
~L
I can’t believe the didn’t ban it here because of the drought we’ve been in. Heck, we had to put out a few small fires on the lawn when the kids were doing sparklers. There is precious little “green” in our grass of late.
Ah, isn’t bocce great?!?! I’m hoping when things cool down a bit my wife and daughter will want to bike to get a treat once a week or so. There are places close enough that we could get a good 4-5 mile round trip ride in and have a yogurt/custard snack in between.
Hope your summer is the same, L.
I guess now that you have on o’ them e-lectronic reader thingies, you’ll be tossing out all those old-fashioned paper books that take up all that space. Who needs them things when you’re so 21st Century now? Mebbee some thrift store might take them, or a they make good fire lightin’ material come winter.
Not gonna happen Richard. I doubt this will affect my gathering of books at all. In fact I was offered a book yesterday in e-book or paper form and I chose the paper option, lol, even though it would have been the perfect book (an essay/memoir) to try out on the Kindle.
Congrats on the Kindle! I’ve had a Sony Reader for almost 2 years now and switch back and forth between it and books. I think having an ereader just makes you hoard even more books. There are times I find myself downloading all kinds of stuff from Project Gutenberg.
And onto another favorite subject…. Brave! That movie was just wonderful. I took my daughter the weekend it opened and we loved it. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again before Summer is over.
Thanks Sarah! I need to get to using it, its just been sitting idle since I got it.
Brave is wonderful, isn’t it? Easily one of my favorite movies of the year.
What a great week you had! I haven’t seen Brave yet, but I really want to. And I’m with you – I LOVE the Farmer’s Market in the summer! This morning there were peaches at every other stall and I just wanted to stand there and gaze at them 🙂
It is great, Emily. Shouldn’t be missed. Such a sweet movie.