censored saturday

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Mr. bookbabie came home Wednesday and asked me if I wanted to go with him to Tonawanda, New York, he needed to make a last minute visit to an account he has there. As you may have guessed by the photos, Tonawanda borders the Niagara River and Niagara Falls. I decided to go, mostly because I liked the idea of running away from home for a few days. We thought that we might stop in Toronto for one night too, driving from Detroit it’s about two hours shorter if you cut through Canada, so we grabbed our passports and took off…

*** I decided the remainder of this post sounded too whiny so I censored myself and just put up more pics instead:)

play ball

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I’ve been thinking about grief and stress and how people deal with life when things go very wrong and whether you can really “choose” your reaction to the curve balls that life throws you. And life will throw you curves, that’s a given for all of us eventually and one that I sometimes think we try too hard to shield our children from, especially here in 21st century America. Everybody has “stuff”, so I wonder, why do some people’s knees buckle under the weight of all that stuff, while other people seem to accept that weight, do a few push-ups, and use it to grow stronger?

It’s not the load that breaks you down – it’s the way you carry it. ~Lou Holtz

pool days

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We have had a wonderful weekend here in Michigan. It’s been sunny and dry for three straight days (imagine that!). We finally cranked up the pool heater and on Saturday had some family over to swim. My brother and his gang came up from Louisville, those are his twins Laural and Davis in the pic with their one-year-old second cousin Aryielle. Aryielle is our newly diagnosed diabetic. She is doing pretty well, she doesn’t cry when she gets poked (just when they change her diapers!) and my sister (her grandma the nurse) and niece almost have her blood sugars regulated. Diabetes is a tough disease to manage, especially in a baby and we are now part of that club that is hoping and praying for a cure someday. Little Aryielle went swimming for the first time yesterday and loved it 🙂

the winner is…

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The winner of my summer book giveaway contest is (insert drum roll)…Dennis at Pappy’s Balderdash! Now not to worry, the fix is not in, Pappy’s undignified begging did not help his chances one bit. Actually, not choosing a chick-lit book seemed to help everyone’s chances this time around, there were about half as many entrants than there were for the spring book giveaway. Oh well, Lief Enger is a wonderful writer and I’m sure Dennis will enjoy the read:)

book giveaway

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I’ve chosen Leif Enger’s new book, So Brave, Young, and Handsome, for my summer book giveaway. I adored his first novel, Peace Like a River, and I just finished his second book last week. While the two story’s are quite different, Peace Like a River explores family and faith while his new book is a western saga of adventure and redemption, they are both written with a leisurely, poetic prose that often had me re-reading sentences for the simple joy of it. If you’d like to get your hands on a new hardcover copy of So Brave, Young, and Handsome, leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a random winner next week. Good luck!