Wednesday....and the days roll on

Finally got my act together and made some phone calls, balanced the checkbook, sent off some returns. Yet still so many things left on my to-do list. Sigh. Not motivated today, more like a day to putter.

An assortment of returns...

Fabulous patterns & colors!

If I were only a different shape!

Keepers

School with M. He went with H to return the tamper. $80!!! to rent it from after 5pm til the following morning. Highway robbery! Later H stopped in the hardware store and bought $100 of material (rebar, wood) for the raised bed project. Found out the store hasn't carried cement in years. Will have to figure some other way to do it!

Planted the hedge starts. They look healthy. Can't remember the name of the plant. H dug the holes and put up the fence while I planted.

The gravel project has stalled,  partly because T worked today, but also because H has a painful hip/leg/foot. He claims he has sciatica, a pulled groin muscle and plantar fasciitis. In other words, he is sore and creaky. 

Guess we'll just drive over the gravel until it smooths itself out.

The hole has been filled.

Awaiting the rest of the project.

Hopefully it won't be like this too long!

Started on my second scarf. 

Day 42

Two walks today with C, once in the morning and then again after dinner. It's warmish out with a cold wind. H and M went up to the Lake for a few hours about 3pm. They took both dogs, so I had the house to myself. It was really quiet! I puttered. Hung laundry. Watered plants outside. (Everything in pots seems to be languishing in the cool temps. Supposed to warm up and be sunny for a few days, maybe they'll perk up.)

Finished the Book Club selection for the meeting tomorrow. It was supposed to be discussed at a meeting in March, but that was cancelled, so I never bothered reading the book. Started on Monday. My Life in France by Julia Child. It was okay. Actually, I was surprised to find how much I didn't like her. What a snob! Or at least that's the way she comes across in the book. Her "voice" is really condescending to anyone who doesn't agree with her. It wasn't until the last quarter of the book (she was quite a bit older, living in Cambridge and filming her tv show) that she seemed more...palatable. Wonder if that part was written by her ghostwriter! 

The way she describes her father in the book is particularly repugnant. She disagrees with him vehemently (and mocks him)...yet still takes his money, and she's 36+ and her husband's 10 years older. Grow up! Then when he dies, she's like, "Oh well."

I saw her tv shows as a kid. Never really watched them but sort of looked at them and knew who she was, but that was over 40 years ago and I haven't seen any since. The original book she wrote sounds magnificent, but I don't know if I'd bother to cook that seriously.

Her devotion to all things French (I'm Frencher than the French!) brought me back to Ireland. I get that feeling, wanting to be entirely encompassed in a place you've fallen in love with. She was very fortunate to have a friend (her husband) to share that with her. And I loved how she discovered her passion in her late 30s. Just wish she wasn't such an elitist. 

I'd rate the book about 3 stars. It'd be better if I read it more slowly. And could read French. (Annoying that the French wasn't translated.) I didn't like her constant name-dropping. She'd describe people she met or had dinner with in great detail. It made the book boring and more like a journal (not in a good way). And the description of meals, yeah, I can see why she'd include them, but it was cumulatively boring. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the others enjoyed the book!