Thursday Things

At the library my grandkids
received spy disquises as one of the summer reading program prizes ... mustaches and sunglasses.  Taylor loves the mustache and has worn hers off and on for days. 
     My granddaughter is talking more and more.  Today I was washing her dishes, sippy cups and little forks, etc and she brought me her tea set dishes and said "wash this."  Well, okey dokey.  This week her favorite word is "mine."  She loves to share food, wants to feed us bites all the time.  Today she tried to feed my daughter a potato chip and when my daughter said "no thank you" Taylor said "pleeeease?"  We had never heard her say please before. 
    The wind has been blowing fiercely.  My grandson, in the red shirt, is almost twelve.  We were having pizza for supper and I have to have a fountain coke with pizza so we went to the closest convenience store for a coke.  My grandson sat his 32 oz drink (obviously WE don't live in New York City) ... anyway, het sat his drink down on the counter right in front of me and it sat there a second before it just tumbled off the counter.   The convenience store people were super nice, my grandson was super embarrassed and I was super sticky.  He fixed another drink and we came home.  I just have regular "trailer house" steps ... not the best situation but it is what I have.  The wind was blowing like crazy and actually blew the screen door back, hitting my grandson and between the door and the wind he went flying off the top step.  I mean really, blew him off, right on his bottom about 4 feet away from the steps. Last year the wind caught the door and ripped the chain and the door return thingy off the door and I haven't replaced it because it would just get ripped off again.  The wind catches that door daily.  At 11 yrs old getting blown off the porch is embarrassing (to him). Oh. And he was holding his 32 oz drink which hit the ground, the styrofoam cup burst and he was again super embarrassed, super sticky and his pride bruised.  He and I drove back to the convenience store.  Right before we headed out for the cokes & pizza he had taken my dogs' crate outside to wash for me.  The bottom tray is pretty hefty metal.  It WAS totally flat when he washed it but the strong wind hit it while it was drying and now it looks like this ....  

When the wind was not blowing my daughter and I took my granddaughter to a park ... she loves to swing.

         For lunch I made my favorite sandwich ....  a lot of crispy Oscar Meyer already cooked bacon that you zap in the microwave for 30 seconds crumbled into a bowl with grated cheddar cheese and mixed with Miracle Whip until you make a spread and put on really fresh, soft white bread.  Yum! I finished a book, Cast On, Kill Off by Maggie Sefton that I really enjoyed, even though I figured out "who did it" right off the bat and I hate that.  We had a wonderfully cool day today -- in the 80's so I got outside and pulled some weeds but the entire weekend is going to be 98 to 100.  Ugh ...
            I have a friend I met 50 years ago. I went to an elementary school that was mostly hispanic. I was always the only white girl in my class until Debbie came to my school. We became best friends. She had a stroke last week. I went to the hospital to see her today. Not a happy time.

Totally Delightful Books

I want to suggest a series of books for all grandmas to read. (Or adults, being a grandma is not a requirement.)  This month I checked out a book for my grandsons to read and I read it as well.  It is just delightful.  How many books have you read recently that you could say are just delightful?  The 3 titles I especially enjoy re-reading are written by Richard Peck. The Washington Post described him as the best living American author for young adults. I would say Amen - well, at least one of the best.  He is the first children's author to have been awarded a National Humanities Medal.  The delightful books I want to recommend to you to read even if you are an adult are these three: A Long Way From Chicago (Newbery Honor winner), it's sequel A Year Down Yonder (Newbery Medal winner),  and a companion book (the one I read this week) A Season of Gifts.  Just delightful (I can't say that enough). You will find in it the youth chapter book section at your library but I think you really have to be my age (50's) to thoroughly love these books.  The main characters are a grandma and a 15 year old girl in the first two.  In the companion book the same grandma is the neighbor of the new preacher and his family. If you like heartwarming, down home, humorous, insightful, coming of age, reminds me of The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever story, make-you-smile-for-days books then read these --- even if they do come from the youth section.  And of course, if you have not ever read The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever then get it while you are at the library too!

Reading, and Helping to Create Readers, Is Important To Me

For this grandma summer begins by taking the kids to enroll in the library's summer reading program.  I participated in my first summer reading program 52 years ago when I was 6.  When my children came along I always enrolled them and then when I was 36 I received one of the biggest blessings of my life ~ a position in the children's department of a wonderful library where I was involved in every aspect of the summer reading program for 18 years. To be able to be one of the people responsible for developing the game pieces, special events, prizes, story times and virtually everything else with our library's summer reading program was just some of the most rewarding times of my life! I enjoyed it immensely. I am so grateful for libraries, and the years I was allowed to work in one, and for grandchildren to whom I gladly pass on the love of reading.