Sunday Salon: A Bounty of Friends (and a plea for a rabbit)

A bright and hot (if you are living in the 80% of the US that is under the "heat dome") Sunday morning to you all.  Whatever the hell you want to call it, you have to call it miserable.  Our plans for this week in Indiana, particularly our two-day trip to an amusement park, were totally altered because you basically cannot be outside.  I did take the kids to the local county fair.  It wasn't pretty on my end of the deal, but they had a good time riding the rides, and lamenting their unfulfilled lives without this thing called 4H.  In the country, where I grew up, you were able to do projects and raise animals, then show them at the fair, and my kids desperately wish they could participate.  They loved walking through the animal barns, and particularly were sidetracked when we got to the rabbits.  My kids now think they need one, an Angora if they had their druthers (so they could make cash off harvesting the fur), and have launched a full-scale offensive.  They've done research, made decisions over names, and a rescue shelter has been located within a 2 hour drive of Orlando.  I can't stand it.  I'll let their father argue with them.   

But other than that which could drive me to drink, we stayed indoors.  The exciting event for me was that on Friday I packed up my Garmin, a few clothes and some wine, and headed to Indianapolis.  To be kid-free for a couple of days made me want to go screaming through the streets like my hair was on fire.  My first stop was meeting blogger Melissa from The Avid Reader's Musings.  We met up at a local dive that served Mexican, and I got to know the face behind a blog I've been following for some time.  As we all know, there is almost always an instant connection with people we know virtually, but it went beyond that in this case.  Melissa was born and raised in Indiana like me, she has a friend who taught at my high school, is a world traveler, is addicted to audio, and EVEN WENT TO THE SAME COLLEGE as I did!  It was so much fun, and we agreed to meet up next time I'm in the Hoosier state.       

  

Next I headed downtown, and checked into a hotel in the city center, to spend the weekend with my high school friends with whom I became reacquainted on Facebook.  (Remember the cruise a couple years ago?)  Unfortunately the Colorado friend wasn't able to come, but the three of us, coming from northern Indiana and Tennessee, made up for her in a weekend full of eating and drinking and laughing.  
 

On the reading front, I finished Gayle Forman's "Where She Went", which was addictively, compulsively readable.  Then I started "Iron House" by John Hart.  (Yes I know I was going to read a Nesbo next, but this book came in the mail and my husband brought it up to me when he visited last weekend.  I got distracted.)  I am enjoying this gritty crime thriller - he is definitely above the fray.  But compared to the books I've been reading, it is going a little slower.  I should have it wrapped up sometime this week.  THEN I'll read Nesbo. 

On audio, I finished "Faith" by Jennifer Haigh, and it was incredible.  Well- narrated, and one that really messes with your mind and gives you lots to think about.  I've got so many emotions swirling around in my head, I don't know where to begin.  Now I'm listening to Tina Fey's "Bossypants".  What can you say about Tina Fey, except that she is whip-smart and funny as hell.  I've been laughing out loud since I started it.

I will be coming home next Wednesday, back to the start of football, getting school supplies and new uniforms (ugh), and cooking every meal.  The fun is almost over!  But once school starts, life will become more settled, and that is a good thing.  
Hope you all have a relaxing, air-conditioned Sunday!