Sunday Salon: The Smell of Corn

 Today I'm joining you on a rainy morning in Indiana.  The kids and I flew up Tuesday...our annual pilgrimage...and will be here two weeks.  The second I stepped outside at the Indianapolis airport, I took a deep breath and appreciated that smell.  It's the smell of corn, and it is intoxicating to me.  You don't get smells like that in Florida.  (Down there you get the stench of plant decay and sweaty bodies!)  Ahhhh!

The weather has been absolutely heavenly all week.  I've been waking up to low 60's...that is winter temps in Florida!  It begs for long walks, which is exactly what I've been doing.

Just as soon as we got up here, my dad had to have a procedure to remove some blockage in his heart.  He came out of that feeling pretty good, and I'm thankful.  You never know, those things are scary.

This weekend was "girls weekend", something that I do with a couple of my high school friends each year.  Only one of them got sick and couldn't come, so it was just two of us.  But we were not going to be denied.  I look forward to this every year.  We get a hotel room in Lafayette and we eat and shop and act stupid.  This time around of course we hit the Barnes & Noble (like I need more books), hit our favorite restaurants, saw "22 Jump Street" which was hilarious, and got together with other high school friends on each night for dinner.  Fun stuff.

So I finished "Devil's Knot" in print, and WOW.  Incredible story, and really some of the best true crime I've ever read.  What makes it even more immersive is that HBO did three documentaries on this case called "Paradise Lost" that makes it all the more real, to the point where it is creeping into my dreams.  Seriously, even if you don't read the book, look up these documentaries if you have access to HBO on demand.  You won't be able to tear yourself away from them.

I'm now about halfway through "The Three" by Sara Lotz, which I'm reading for book club on the Kindle.  So far I'm really liking it, but am holding out on opinions until I can see how they wrap this up (but it's a trilogy isn't it?).  Just for grins I started reading it on my flight up here, to see if I could freak myself out with all the plane crash stuff.  Ironically, I also brought along "The Strain" in print for those minutes when you have to turn off your electronics.  This book is going to be a TV series on FX soon, and I've been wanting to get to it.  Anyway, it is apocalyptic as well and the story begins on an airplane.  Synchronicity!

On audio I just finished up "The Farm" by Tom Rob Smith (haven't written it up yet on Goodreads, but I will do that today).  It was...good.  Intriguing.  A little sad and twisted.  Way way different than anything else he has written.  Not mind-blowing but definitely worth reading I think, and the narration was solid.  I'm about to start "Sinful Folk" for a TLC tour on audio today.

Today back at my parents' house, we will be having a big party with a bunch of German food to celebrate the final World Cup game.  We have really had a good time with this World Cup.  Crazy good games, so much drama (Brazil - WTF?).

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.  Let me know if you have big plans, or if you are reading something that I need to know about!