The Week in Pages: June 19, 2023

Jaclyn

Jun 19

Good morning, all - first things first, I wish you a peaceful and contemplative Juneteenth, and I hope the dads had a wonderful weekend being celebrated! We were busy - more about that below - and as a result, my week's reading was a bit scattered, and heavily audio (nothing wrong with that!). First off, I finished up The Widening Stain on Thursday; it definitely took me longer to read than it otherwise would have because of my lack of time and attention this week - pre-move projects, plus business travel upcoming, plus Father's Day planning - but I enjoyed it. I did figure out whodunit, but not why or how, so there were still surprises. Then over the weekend I wrapped up The Wind in the Willows, which was a re-read for me but the first time I listened to it on audio. It was mostly a companion for my commutes last week, but I was working on a kitchen project and listened to the last few hours of audio while I primed and painted cabinets in my new house. (New appliances are arriving on Friday and while I will not get around to having the cabinet doors and drawers painted before the appliances are installed, I really wanted the base cabinets themselves done - I just have one more coat to go, this afternoon. Progress!)

After wrapping up The Widening Stain, I turned back to The Small House at Allington, which has been rather slow going. I adore Trollope, but have had a hard time getting into this one largely because of the aforementioned lack of time and attention. I do have a couple of long plane flights ahead of me, so perhaps then. And with more painting to do, I immediately started another audiobook: Penguins and Golden Calves: Icons and Idols in Antarctica and Other Unexpected Places, by Madeleine L'Engle. It's been a long time since I read any of her works of theology/philosophy and I admit I'm struggling with it a little bit. I was really looking for more Antarctica and less philosophy, but L'Engle's trip to Antarctica - while the catalyst for writing this book that she'd evidently been thinking of for some time even before traveling to her seventh continent - is pretty deep background. I'm still listening though.

No real plans for what's next, I'm afraid - I'm not far enough into either The Small House at Allington or Penguins and Golden Calves to have occasion to consider what's to follow. I do have a small stack of books that take place in June, and I'd like to get to those between now and the end of the month (they'll be moved separately so as not to be buried in a box when I want them next week) but with all of the activity and long task lists between now and the beginning of July, I don't really know how realistic that is. One day at a time, though.

I think Steve had a nice Father's Day! He spent Saturday getting moving-related tasks (like duct-taping the kids' climbing dome...) done around the house, while I was over at the new house preparing and then painting kitchen cabinets. But we made time for a very baseball-centric Father's Day celebration: Nugget was chosen to play in the Little League all-star game for our town! It was quite the professional outfit; they even had custom jerseys for the boys with their names on the backs. We had fun cheering on Nugget and his other teammates who were playing in the game and chatting with his coach about the upcoming travel baseball season (Nugget's AA coach will also be coaching 9U this season - we are so happy, because he's a wonderful coach and a lovely guy). All discipline went out the window, but Nugget played a great game - he made a clutch double play from second base, then took the mound and allowed no runs in the final inning, and then took part in a massive and wild comeback rally in which his team scored five runs and ended up winning the game 10-9. What a whirlwind! Steve loved his Father's Day at the ballpark.

What did you read last week?

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