READING: Abby's book group was reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, she thought I would enjoy the history bits in it and mentioned it to me, so I read through that, excellent, and then started on another book, March, by the same author, again, excellent, and now the group is reading The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka, also excellent and I read that quickly in two days. (Click on book titles to see descriptions.) Abby's book group is widening my reading horizons with novels.
SWIMMING NEWS: IU swimmers are busy training for various USA summer meets and quite frankly I have lost all track of who is swimming where when as they are all over the country and some out of the country swimming in meets. Matt's roommate, Steve, did quite well at the Olympic Trials, as a freshman he finished 11th in the 400 IM, and Cody made the top heat of the 200 IM (finishing 7th overall), swimming with the top guns for a spot in the Olympics (only the top 2 in each swim go to the Olympics with the exception of freestyle relay positions, top 6). Cody managed to make additional national news with this little wardrobe malfunction, click here. (From the insider's take on that little story, Cody needed a suit and James wasn't swimming in that event, so James did a quick deck change as well and handed over his suit for Cody to wear...of course the IU guys were all saying that it was James' new job at the meet to "cover Cody's a _ _, literally.") Nick is swimming in the Olympics for the Dominican Republic, Margaux is swimming in the Olympics for France, Dorina is swimming in the Olympics for Hungary, and Kate is swimming in the Olympics for the Ukraine, all having dual citizenship from their parents. You can read about it here. Lots of other swimmers did lots of other impressive swims, for further information check the News button here.
I love this photo of Matt's roommate, Steve (far right with the white cap) swimming at the Olympic Time Trials. He did such a great job...11th as a freshman...wow, wow, wow. Congrats to Steve.
COOKING BYTES: Well, well, well...it remains to be seen if I am going to keep posting to my food blogs as I keep thinking I will fire up but summer is busy and we are grilling and eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables so I'm not looking in the recipe books coming up with things new and different. I am also cooking quite a bit from Pinterest as I'm using my boards there as recipe storage. We shall see what transpires. Hopefully my blog groups haven't given up on me completely.
FAV NEW FIND: I'm finding that I am enjoying reading novels again after a long bout of not. When the boys were growing up I found I had limited time for reading so my first choices were history books...still my first choices...but now that I have a bit more time for reading, I am adding novels back in again and enjoying reading new authors. Send me your recommendations!
FAV THIS PAST WEEK: This week we celebrated some major milestone birthdays...Mark's dad turned 90 July 16th, Mark turns 60 on July 19th, and Matt will turn 20 the last day of the month. Rolling over the "0"s this year. Celebrating three great guys always a favorite thing.
MONTH IN REVIEW: The summer has been speeding by with lots of swimming, a trip to Boston, Symphony on the Prairie is in full swing, lots of swimming here at the house, friends/family/fun. Here are a few photos to catch up...Clarice crashed and I had to get a new hard drive for her, so I am busy hunting to see which photos I have lost and which ones I haven't in that whole process.
Hightlight of Boston Trip for Mark was a trip to Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox.
Matt and fellow IU swimmer Nick S, at Taste of Bloomington trying to decide on what to eat at the food festival...swimmers/food/choices, what's not to love on a summer night.
Alex and Matt at Fourth of July Symphony on the Prairie (no fireworks with the 1812 Overture this year due to dry conditions here in Indiana, but oh, well, music was great anyway). 17 years of tradition and they are still loving it.
Matt, Mark, Alex...badly in need of haircuts but enjoying a hot summer day nonetheless.
Matt loading up Clarice after the big crash. It's good to have someone around who is happy to fix all computer related incidents. I'm happy to cook for him, he's happy to computer for me, a great trade in my mind.
LOOKING FORWARD TO: At the IMA, Snapshot: Painters and Photography: Bonnard to Vuillard, read about it here. At the ISO: The Best of Broadway, click here.