Porch Decor From The Dollar Store

This is porch week over on the Holiday Grand Plan.  I'm not quite ready to add mums..  but after all of that cleaning, I wanted to spruce the decor up a bit.  I found these fake flowers at the Dollar Tree, and made a quick swag out of them - 

A few more for in the crock, with some added peacock feathers (donated by our peacock)

and I added a fresh coat of black paint to the stand.  I got the stand for $1 at the amish sale a year or so ago.

(the flag is my daughters color guard practice flag)

The porch still needs a lot of work, but this is a start.

Peabody's Tail

All that we have collected.  He's lot his entire tail now, so we missed a LOT of his feathers.  That's ok.Below is one entire tail - I collected every feather he lost one year, when he was caged, and made a swag out of it.  (He is free to roam the farm now)

13 Books I have Loved This Summer -

Not in any particular order - 

1. Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson - thriller
2. Love You More by Lisa Gardner - mystery from a series, but I haven't read the series, just this book - the series characters are pretty much background in this story
3. Now You See Her by James Patterson - mystery - & a really good one
4. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares - beach read/friendship/romance.. but not just fluff.  It was surprisingly good!
5. Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer - nonfiction, about the American Memory Competition.  Fun read!  It was nice to have this background before reading the fictional Before I Go To Sleep.
6. Smokin 17 by Janet Evanovich - I love the Stephanie Plum series!
7. 10th Anniversary by James Patterson - a lot of Patterson's books are way too graphic for me, but I love this series.  This one and his Michael Bennet series are on my all time favorites list.
8. Night Road by Kristen Hannah - I'm not a fan of Jodi Picoult, so it's kind of odd for me to compare this to a Jodi Picoult style book and say I loved it, but that's the best way I know to sum it up.  There must be a name for this genre - but I don't know what it is?  
9. Learning to Swim by Sara J Henry - this book is a mystery, but almost as a sideline to the drama?  I'm really looking forward to more by this author.
10. These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf - another chick lit/drama/mystery.  This genre really needs it's own name.  :-)  While I did NOT like the other book I read by this author, I loved this one.
11. Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah  I need to learn my book categories.  I think of this as historical fiction, but if that conjurs up images of bodice rippers for you too..  then that's not what this is. LOL!  It's fiction, but with some history woven in.  Informative, and a good story.  One of my absolute favorite kinds of reads.  
12. The Flower Shop Mysteries by Kate Collins - cozy mysteries.  Light, fun summer reads, no deep thought required, but not so ridiculous that you have to completely shut your brain off.  It might be a stretch to say I "loved" these - but I liked them enough to keep reading the next in the series.
13. One Summer by David Balducci - not a mystery.  I've never read Balducci before, my husband likes his books though..  this is apparently NOT his normal style, but it was really good! A drama of sorts.  Engaging, a good story.

Owl Banding Today

At our neighbors (also cousins) farm today, the game commission banded the owls that are about to leave the box/nest.

Making necklaces

With the boys away at scout camp, I'm attempting to  work on one craft a day.  Today was jewelry making.  :-)

Citronella Lanterns - Before & After

$3 lanterns from Family Dollar. I love them because I can fill hem with citranella oil and burn them on my deck to keep the bugs away..  but I really am not a fan of the bright colors our store had in stock.

I had some "hammered brown" spray paint leftover from painting my bike.  Much better!  :-)

Book - The Invisible Bridge

Wow, was this ever a long book. The story covers about a decade of time? Enough that at the end if you think back to how the book began, it's rather unbelievable that it was all one story.

I love books with some historical background. The chapters on the war can be overwhelming - there's so much sadness, but the book is so rich in detail and feeling.. it's worth reading. 

There's enough sex that I wouldn't put this on my 14 year olds reading list, but not so much that it ruined the book. 

There have been so many books written about the 2nd world war, but this one is based on the view of a jew, in Hungary, and is different than any other perspective I have read. Granted it's fiction, I wouldn't use this as a text book, but it's thought provoking enough to make me want to learn more, which is a sure sign of a great book in my mind.