My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Last week was a pretty good week. Wyatt and I did some fun things, then Friday my mom came over and we socially distanced a picnic dinner. She brought her dinner with her and we had ours, just simple stuff so that we could spend our time talking and enjoying the weather. It was such a nice time. Then Saturday I got brave – I masked up and went to my favorite nursery to pick out some flowers. And it was a good experience. It is a giant nursery, all outdoors, it wasn’t crowded at all, and 99% of the people were masked. They had arrows on the floor to mark one way aisles, 6 feet distancing for the lines, and the cashiers had new plastic shields up. I was scared but soon sort of relaxed as I browsed, since there really wasn’t anyone around me. I went with a list but since I was going so late in the season knew I might have to make swaps. The only things I didn’t end up getting were snapdragons (my favorite!) and lettuce plants, but I bought pentas and swiss chard instead. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon planting everything. Today my brother is coming by to rototill my last little area that I need to work on and then I will be set for this year’s makeshift garden.
Read Last Week:
I read Summer at Lake Haven and it was just I had hoped, a light easy summer read. Perfect for my mood last week. Review coming very soon! I also started Honey and Venom, which I am also enjoying, but didn’t finish yet, so I will be reading it this week as well. I am learning some crazy things about bees – like the scent of bananas enrages them! So don’t eat bananas and then go around bees. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copies of both!
Reading This Week:
I have been waiting a long time to read this! I pre-ordered it a million years ago because I loved The Vine Witch so much, and yay, now it is here! I love witchy books and this world that Smith created is so fun.
Posted Last Week:
Picture Book Review: Under My Tree
Watching:
We are still watching Rosemary and Thyme, and we have one episode left of When Hope Calls. It’s not as good as When Calls the Heart, but I do like the relationship between the sisters. Both of the movies we watched this weekend left me unsettled. I enjoyed them both, but I felt sort of sad after watching both of them. We watched The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, which is apparently based on a true story, and then The Bookshop, starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy, whom I adore in everything. Both were excellent, but definitely left you with lots to think about. These movies are both on Amazon Video.
And that about sums it up for me! Stay safe everyone.
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
I have to look for the Bookshop. I think I ordered that from Amazon and it’s due to arrive today, although it might have been another book with Bookshop in the title. But hey, if Bill Nighy is in anything I’d watch it! I adore him!
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I am a sucker for anything with bookshop in the title…. lol. I love him too!
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I keep meaning to check out Rosemary and Thyme. I did enjoy The Bookshop. Today I plan to binge watch Marcella, Season 3.
Your outing sounds wonderful! My biggest outing is going to the socially distanced dining room on alternate days. LOL
Have a great and safe week. Here are WEEKLY UPDATES my
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Lol!! This was my very first time in public with strangers since March really – with the exception of Wyatt’s hospital visit, which we obviously needed to do. It was daunting but it was a good place for my first time out. Lol.
I think you would like Rosemary and Thyme! 🙂
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I love the idea of having a picnic outdoors. I bet you had a fantastic time. We saw my dad and my son and his family this week, at a distance. I haven’t gone into a store since March. Instead I’m keeping a list of things I will need to buy one of these days. The plant store sounds like a relatively safe place to visit.
I’d like to look for The Bookshop. We are watching old movies and Seinfeld, mostly.
I’m looking forward to reading the picture book Bees in the City. It’s set in Paris, so I’m waiting till July to read it.
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It was so so good to see my mom again, like that. It is heartbreaking though on some level, as my son doesn’t really understand why he can’t be on her lap, she can’t be next to us – but baby steps. I keep telling everyone we need to take the little steps so we can get to the big ones. And this is still better than how we were in March! But it’s hard.
It was my first outing, and it was a good first one, being outside and all that. I won’t be ready for a store inside a building for a long time, I don’t think. 🙂
Ooo that sounds like a good book! I am going to start my July plan this week, I am excited! I have been saving ideas, I just need to organize it all.
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I went to a greenhouse last week, and it was the same way. We had to wear masks and there were lines on the floor that showed where we could stand. I like that the greenhouse was taking safety precautions because a lot of other businesses don’t seem to care. I hope you have a great week!
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I felt like that was a good first place to go! It sounds like your greenhouse did a great job too! I was telling my husband the other day that I can’t imagine going in somewhere yet, and definitely not somewhere who wasn’t taking it seriously. 🙂
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I love Bill Nighy but couldn’t get into The Bookshop at all.
Did my first visit to a garden centre too – the choices were fairly limited but I still managed to buy a lot…none of the things I wanted of course. But garden centres are like bookshops – you go for one thing and end up with an armful
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It was very different from what I was expecting!! I chose it for the name and the cast, but I was expecting something a bit more upbeat. The ending made it so good though.
It was so nice to get out and shop for flowers! I had missed them and I feel so much better having them in the ground. I keep peeking out the windows at them. And yeah, I agree, you leave with more than you went in for, for sure!
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I’m so glad you had a good experience at the nursery! I still haven’t expanded much beyond the grocery store and pharmacy, but an outdoor shopping adventure like that sounds perfect! Great idea for a social distant picnic, too. Love the cover of Summer at Lake Haven… reminds me of home. Glad you enjoyed it.
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It was a good first foray into the world! I am not ready for anywhere else, especially one with four walls, but it was good to be out for a minute. And we had such a nice time with my mom! 🙂
I love that cover too. 🙂
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I’m going to check out The Bookshop. We seem to be watching more than usual. I cautious about where I shop and appreciate when the store takes good precautions to help the shoppers keep a distance. The fun is picking out what you want at the nursery and then the reality of having to plant everything. Hope you enjoy all your plants
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We are definitely watching more over here, but I chalk it up to being home pretty much all the time still. 🙂 LOL yes the planting is a lot less fun than the shopping, at least for me. I am not a sun person so I usually wait until the evening shade or afternoon shade hits the area I want to work in. 🙂
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It feels good to get out for a little bit even wearing masks, huh? We need to visit the hardware store for light bulbs today. that will be our little outing. My Sunday Salon post
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Yes! It really did feel so good honestly. I found myself browsing and poking about more than I had thought I would. I hope you enjoyed your outing!
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Looks like some good reads. I love swiss chard.
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I love it too! And I love being able to just step outside and grab some for dinner, so I hope it grows well. Lol.
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I started The Bookshop but don’t think I finished it, though I can’t remember why. The books look good — not usually a fan of books about witches but who knows! I might become one!
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It was kind of … somber. It was not what I expected at all, but I ended up liking it anyway.
The bee book is pretty fascinating, but not a book I want to just read cover to cover in one sitting. I love all the nature elements in the Smith books – although if you are not a witch book fan I might not start with this one. 🙂
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I never know … sometimes I say “I don’t like this type of book..” then I try it and like it and I’m surprised
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I surprise myself all the time like that!
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I understand your concern about venturing out. I am still staying close to home but for a few trips to the grocery store. Nice looking books this week too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
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It was my first trip out other than pick ups, and it was both scary and freeing. I was really nervous but I also started to feel more relaxed and normal while shopping. I think the masks, social distancing, etc made me feel a little more comfortable, although I won’t be doing it too often.
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Honey and Venom sounds like the kind of thing I didn’t know I want to know about. I will keep the banana thing in mind if I’m ever on a sports sideline again (among people eating bananas for the potassium). I’ve been stung four times in my life and two of them was in such a situation.
Glad your trip to the nursery was a good one. I was hoping I might get to do some discretionary shopping in the near future, but my fellow Arizonans are making that difficult.
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Lol! I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought honestly. We were studying bees this week so I thought I might as well read more about them too – and it is pretty fascinating! And wow! That is crazy!!
It is so hard to know what to do! Things are calm (for the moment, fingers crossed it stays this way) here in Michigan, so I felt a little better about being out, and it was outdoors and all that. But I was still sort of terrified – and I reviewed my method before I did it. Mask on, hand sanitizer in pocket. I left my phone in the car, and once out of the car, my hands didn’t go near my face or mask. Then back at the car, my husband opened the back and put disinfectant wipes in the back for me – I sanitized my hands, took off my mask, sanitized my card, then my hands again. All these steps to buy a few flowers! 😦
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Glad you were able to get to the nursery, and have some nice socially distanced visits too. It’s so hard now but it is nice when we can still get together and see loved ones. I’m still not crazy about going out to stores but I just try to be as careful as I can, and of course wear mask.
Hope you guys have an awesome week!
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I am thinking that will be it for me for a while. Lol. I liked that it was outdoors, etc. I am so not ready for a store store!
It was really good though still to get out and do something normal, even though it wasn’t quite normal. 🙂
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I understand your apprehension. I’m slowly getting used to going out and having to use a mask and watching what I touch. I really liked how our Starbucks had circles for customers to stand on and how our Target was constantly sanitizing.
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It is so scary – I wish it were just over, completely over. 😦 I am sure everyone does though. I haven’t gone anywhere else yet but according to what I hear, most places are doing that sort of thing, the places to stand, etc. My friend’s husband got a haircut at her salon and it was a process – temp check, questionnaire, masks, and plastic dividers between each station. But you gotta do what you gotta do!
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