2013 Book List

1. An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorjan, translated by Anthea Bell
2. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (1/27/13)
3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2/16/13)
4. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (3/11/13)
5. Paris, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin (3/26/13)
6. A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (4/28/13)
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (5/28/13)
8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (6/21/13)
9. Grey is the Color of Hope by Irina Ratushinskaya (7/11/13)
10. Wild by Cheryl Strayed (7/22/13)
11. Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chödrön (7/28/13)
12. Codependent No More by Melody Beattie (8/22/13)
13. The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön (8/27/13
14. Finding Beauty in a Broken World by Terry Tempest Williams (9/9/13)
15. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (10/20/13)
16. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (12/9/13)
 

2012 Book List

1. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (1/11/12)
2. The Stone Diaries by Carol Sheilds (1/31/12)
3. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (2/19/12)
4. The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa (3/11/12)
5. How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons (3/27/12)
6. Small Wonder - Essays by Barbara Kingsolver (3/31/12)
7. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (5/27/12)
8. Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson (6/15/12)
9. The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin (6/28/12)
10. Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (7/19/12)
11. Accordian Crimes by E. Annie Proulx (9/11/12)
12. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson (9/16/12)
13. The Dance of Anger by Dr. Harriet Lerner, Ph.D (10/22/12) [re-read]
14. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (10/25/12)
15. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (11/28/12)
16. East, West by Salman Rushdie (12/22/12)
17. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey (12/30/12)

2011 Book List

1. Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona (1/9/11)
2. The God of Small Things by Arundhatu Roy (2/28/11)
3. Water by Bapsi Sidwha (3/12/11)
4. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (4/23/11)
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (5/8/11)
6. The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky (6/9/11)
7. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (6/30/11)
8. Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog (8/13/11)
9. Kinds of Love by May Sarton (8/30/11)
10. During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase (9/2/11)
11. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody (9/6/11)
12. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (9/8/11)
13. Love Warps the Mind a Little by John Dufresne (9/15/11)
14. Stick Out Your Tongue by Mia Jian (9/18/11)
15. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (9/29/11)
16. Wild Decembers by Edna O'Brien (10/10/11)
17. ¡Yo! by Julia Alvarez (10/13/11)
18. Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen (10/24/11)
19. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (11/15/11)
20. March by Geraldine Brooks (11/25/11)
21. Toxic Parents by Dr. Susan Forward (11/26/11)
22. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (11/27/11)
23. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (12/12/11)

2010 Book List

1. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (1/20/10)
2. Home by Marilynne Robinson (3/16/10)
3. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (4/3/10)
4. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (?)
5. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of Mary Dodd by Jim Fergus (6/16/10)
6. The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich (7/4/10)
7. Letter from Peking by Pearl Buck (8/6/10)
8. Pavilion of Women by Pearl Buck (8/23/10)
9. Mahatma Gandhi and His Disciples by Ved Mehta (9/14/10)
10. Little Children by Tom Perrotta (9/16/10)
11. Limbo and Other Places I Have Lived by Lily Tuck (9/26/10)
12. The World According to Garp by John Irving (10/27/10)
13. Food Matters by Mark Bittman (?)
14. Cracking India by Bapsi Sidwha (12/11/10)
15. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (12/26/10)

simple abundance

I woke up feeling pretty Zen about everything this morning.  I got some extra sleep, made myself some manual-drip Finger Lakes Roasters coffee and settled on the porch with my hero Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian to do some meal planning. 

What a gorgeous morning it was, and still is.  The sun is burning off the remainders of last night's thunderstorm.  People seem to be extra nice today.  There were no discourteous drivers on the way to the market this morning.  There was a pleasant din at the market itself - the crowd wasn't that bad and people weren't really all that cranky.  Also, I didn't even get pissed off about all the push carts, wagons and strollers which normally annoy me to no end.  I came home with a pretty good haul for the week: squash, eggplant, home-grown asparagus, parsley, cauliflower, and some more heirloom eggplant and tomato plants.  (I planted a bunch last weekend but a rambunctious squirrel destroyed my Cherokee Purple, so I had to get another one.)

Our gardens are looking so lush and vibrant - all I want to do is sit out and watch the plants grow.  There is almost nothing more satisfying to me than growing things; especially my own food.  This morning for breakfast I had a bowl of Puffins with strawberries from our strawberry patch.   So delicious!

We also have quite a lot of birds visiting the feeders.  Mostly we have sparrows, goldfinches, house finches, cardinals, chickadees, blue jays and mourning doves.  Occasionally a red belly woodpecker will make an appearance, like the other day.  Yesterday and this morning I also heard a hermit thrush calling from somewhere out behind the house.  That was pretty cool. No humming birds yet, but I think I got the feeder out early enough that we might get some later.  We have a honeysuckle bush that was a big hit last year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The hops continue to flourish.  Husband and I are very much looking forward to September when we'll be able to brew a wet hop something-or-other (I'm hoping for a pale ale).  We think this variety are Cascade, but we're not totally sure. 

I love days like this.  I would much prefer to put off my errands and other household tasks for another day, but I think if I do I'll be way behind.  I want to have next week free and open.  :)

for my mom

Dear Mom:

Thanks for being OK with it if I had wanted to marry a Jewish guy.  You are way ahead of your time and a pretty cool lady when Dad isn't around.

Love,
your daughter

thursday's thoughts

First, to RG&E:

You are stupid. Much like the time you told me I owed $9,00.00 for natural gas usage, you have f-ed up once again. You know how.

Second, to my co-workers:

Please do your own jobs.  I hate it when I have to pick up your slack.  Slackers.

That is all.