As I write this, I feel like I’m totally in the depth of fall. The trees are all changing color and we’re having some wild (for the Pacific Northwest, where pretty much a breeze is wild) autumnal weather. We even had HAIL today! The kids were incredibly excited by that and Lillie believes it is a harbinger or snow later this winter (I told her not to put too much stock into that….).

This past Wednesday was Chris’s 11th birthday! Being that it was in the middle of the week and we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, we kept it pretty low-key. He chose Red Robin takeout for dinner and I made him a red velvet cake for dessert. Unsurprisingly, he got a lot of books, which he both complained about and then proclaimed one of the books his favorite gift….so, go figure!

Next week, our lives kind of kick into high gear. Chris is continuing with swimming and Lillie is continuing with the play (she has rehearsal/set work four days a week after school), as well as starting volleyball. We’ve also re-started the process to get Lillie into the TAG program. Normally this starts in 3rd grade (I think), but she was at private school then. We began the process when she started in the public school in 5th grade, but then the pandemic happened. We didn’t even try last year, so we’re starting again this year. The coordinator said it takes about 6 weeks, but she said that Lillie is an excellent candidate, so hopefully that all works out.

On my end, I’m on the search committee for a new rector at our church, which is interesting. Pat has been on a search committee before, but this is my first time. I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but I think we have a great group working on it.

We also booked our spring break flight to Arizona! Now, we just need the pandemic to calm down (or, better yet, end). With the news that the 5-11 year old kids should soon be able to get a COVID Vaccine, I feel much better about traveling in March. Lillie was invited to go on a theater trip to New York City over Spring Break (which, twist my arm, I guess I would chaperone…), but she opted to go see her Gramps instead!

I think I’ve settled into a good reading schedule again, which is good because I have a lot of books to read! This month, I have 4 book club books as well as some new releases I’ve been looking forward to…and the series I’ve been working through. Of my 4 book clubs, 2 “meet” (one is a postal group) every other month and 2 every month. I think, for my own sanity, I may have to consider backing off on one of my monthly book clubs on the months that my bi-monthly clubs have books.

Anyway, that’s a perfect segue into what I’m reading this week! As usual, I’m linking up with Kathryn at Book Date and her It’s Monday…What Are You Reading? blog hop.

I have 2 new (to me) books currently going or will soon start.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore
This is a book that I’ve been meaning to read for so long, but the fact that I’m only reading now is not because it kept getting pushed down farther on my TBR. For quite some time, the holds list for this book was quite long–I was on it, but it was moving slowly. Then, towards the end of 2020, my friend told me that she was planning to suggest this for one of our book clubs. When that happened, it fell on October, so I took my name off the holds list and waited until now to pick it up. It’s long, but I’m flying through it. I suspected I would like it, and so far it has not disappointed me.

The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) by Ann Cleeves
I’m starting this one tonight and I’ll be honest, I know nothing about it. So, why am I reading it? Because Louise Penny told me to.

A month or so ago, Louise Penny posted on her social media that she was reading the second book in this series and loving it. Of course, I absolutely can’t NOT start at the beginning, so I requested this first book. If you’ve been around here for even a little while, you know I’m a huge Louise Penny fan so her recommendation was almost a command for me to pick this one up. I have to say, I really like when authors share books and authors that they enjoy. It doesn’t seem to happen very often, but they almost always turn out to be excellent recommendations.

So, that’s what is new right now. Just a reminder that I share all the books I finish in my monthly wrap up, which posts the first Sunday of the following month (so the next one will be out on November 6).