Saturday, May 30, 2009

We do more before 6AM than most people do all day...

Saturday is a special day. It's also a work day, most generally. Today was a satisfying and productive day. We mowed two lawns, hauled a ton of detritus out of one yard (literally-- I have the transfer station receipts to prove it), killed a bunch of weeds, cleaned one house, cut 4 heads of hair (Catie's bangs needed a trim, anyway), and generally got ready for the Sabbath. I made ham and bean soup for tomorrow's dinner. 

We also resisted the temptation to buy a new TV today. We're in the market for one, given the fact that one of the kids let fly a wooden sword and "done in" our most recent model. We aren't quite there on the budget yet, though, so we'll wait a bit longer. It's "no-screen" month (middle of May to middle of June) for the boys in any case, so we'll manage all right I suspect. 

In other news, I'm having some fun wandering from book to book without a specific reading purpose at the moment. I do have some summer goals, and I'll get to those books soon enough, but I'm just kinda reading whatever strikes my fancy. So, I've read all or part of:

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (Stegner)
The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes (Watterston)
Children of the Mind (Card)
Remix (Lessig)
Traplines (Rember)
My Life in France (Child)
Half-Blood Prince (Rowling)
The Folk of the Fringe (Card)
The Gathering of Zion (Stegner)
The Professor's House (Cather)

What's on your summer reading list?


4 comments:

Patricia Murphy, a resident of said...

I'm looking at books too. And I listened to a book for the first time, having decided I was the only English major on earth who hadn't read To Kill a Mockingbird. I read a crappy true crime book, and now I'm thinking about starting Finding Caruso by Kim Barnes. I have it as an uncorrected proof from the days when my book publishing company sister got such things. Mostly I'm reading memoirs for class: Sedaris, Walls, Kaplan, and at some point Doty and Burroughs. I think I'll reread Housekeeping this summer. Maybe it'll remind me why I do this gig.
And btw, I need a haircut.

Unknown said...

You are not the only English prof who has not read To Kill a Mockingbird. I haven't either.

What's Finding Caruso about?

I've never done female hair. Does it button on the other side or what?

Patricia Murphy, a resident of said...

On the left -- that made me laugh! Thanks. Finding Caruso seems a little weird. It says it's the story of two brothers, 17 and ten, and a woman with whom one of them falls in love, with a kicker that the woman falls for th eyounger one. I swear that's what it said on the cover, but remember I'm reading an uncorrected proof. I highly recommend Sissy Spacek narrating To Kill a Mockingbird. Thanks again for making me laugh.

Clint Carter said...

I'm working on Harry Potter 5.