It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I didn’t share a Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday because my week was fairly boring, but also because we were too busy yesterday for me to sit and write it. I like to start the post ahead of time but didn’t do it this week for some reason.

We didn’t do a ton during the week other than some cleaning at my parents, a bit of planning for  homeschool next week, writing for me, and the last week of work for The Boy who is getting ready to start a half day at a career center next week, in addition to homeschool.

Yesterday we had a wonderful family day out. We visited one of our favorite restaurants, located next to a covered bridge and a creek in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere in our county.

After lunch there we visited the local state park which is literally up the road from the restaurant. I had no idea the state park was that close, but really I should have known since I used to visit there with my family when I was younger.

I had not visited there in years. It seemed smaller than I remember but the trails and cabins are all throughout the 780-acre park so we didn’t see all of it, of course. The park, incidentally, is called World’s End State Park. I’ve always wondered where the name of the park came from so I searched online last night and according to Wikipedia: “The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain. Although it was founded as Worlds End State Forest Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot in 1932, the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943.” So, there you go.

I had hoped to take Little Miss to the swimming area there, which I went to a couple time as a kid, but it was closed because of high, rushing water, caused by heavy rains we had a couple of days ago. It was an insane storm that went on for two hours, with part of that time consisting of very heavy rain.

Not being able to visit the swimming area wasn’t a huge loss because it was not super hot yesterday. It was actually perfect fall weather – not too warm, not too cold. It was lovely and Little Miss was happy with being able to stick her feet in the edge of the creek. The rest of it was rushing water and wilder than I’ve seen a creek that close up in a long time. I am sure creeks have been that wild over the years, but I haven’t been that close to them before.

While we were by the water and put our feet in it, a young girl and her parents were making their way through the water and were making me very nervous. I was concerned the dad was going to get to close to the rapids and be swept away. Luckily, they were fairly close to the edge of the creek and being very careful not to get pulled down by the rapids. They were in swimsuits and swim shoes, so they were either camping there or had visited hoping to swim at the swimming area and were unable to.

The woman found a stick that looked like Moses’ staff in The Ten Commandments and she and I joked about parting the waters.

We were able to take Zooma the Wonder Dog with us to both places yesterday. Seating is outside for the restaurant and they welcome pets as long as they are on a leash. They even sell a “doggy meat bowl” for the dog’s that visit. Zooma, of course, received her own bowl. We were glad to be able to take her because many times we have to leave her home on our excursions.

She loved sniffing all over the parts of the state park we walked in as well but did not like when The Husband disappeared inside the visitor’s center without her.

We joke in our family about who Zooma loves more and the rest of the family says it is me, but I do notice she seems concerned when any member of the family disappears for too long. Yesterday she whimpered a couple of times when she couldn’t go where the rest of the family went or when one of them disappeared.

She was very happy when we were all together and she also passed out like a toddler who runs themselves into exhaustion when we arrived home.

Today Little Miss will have a couple of friends over for our last summer pool gathering before school begins on Monday. The pool is probably going to be way too cold to play in because the days and nights have been cooler, but we will see how it goes.

I can’t even believe summer is pretty much over. It went very fast and I feel like we didn’t do as much as we usually do as far as family outings and trips. It was a very hectic and stressful summer for many reasons and I am looking forward to a slower autumn. I laughed as I wrote the previous sentence because I said something similar in July about August and … well, it didn’t happen.

September will be a bit busy because my parents 60^th wedding anniversary is September 8 and we are holding an open house/anniversary party on September 9. I was all calm about it and figured we could handle it but as we get closer, I feel a bit anxious about pulling it off. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law are helping me since it was sort of their idea (and sort of mine too). We are renting a place down the road from my house and hopefully it all works out well.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished Ellie Alexander’s Meet the Baker Friday and two books I’ve been wanting to read came in from Libby this week: Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flowers and Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams. They are both cozy mysteries.

Crime and Poetry came first so I am going to start that first. This will be my third book by Amanda. I’ve heard great things about Paper Cuts and it will be my first by Ellery Adams.

I am also reading a few chapters a week of Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. This is my first time reading it and it’s already a comfort read for me. I’ve been taking these books slow, partly because of the old language, and partly because I love to savor them. My husband purchased the series for me two Christmases ago so I’ve been making my way through them since then.

I am making a list of books I want to read this fall and I’ll probably ramble about them next week.

The Husband finished Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and now he is reading Plan B by Lee and Richard Child.

Little Miss and I are reading a cute mystery she picked up at the library sale a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have it in front of me right now and I don’t want to go find it, so I don’t know the title.

I plan to start Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, which Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and her son Wyatt sent to us, with her tomorrow as part of our school lessons.

The Boy is not reading anything right now but he will start The Red Badge of Courage later this week for school.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

It has been a Newhart week this week. I’ve needed the escape for sure.

I started The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and will finish it this week. It’s depressing.

The Husband and I also watched an episode of Poirot.

Little Miss watched a ton of Bluey and Duck Tales and now she’s rewatching The Lion Guard.

What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and I shared the first chapter on Friday.

I hope to share additional chapters in the following weeks.

On the blog I shared:

• Fiction Friday: Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage Chapter 1
• Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
• Summer of Marilyn: Monkey Business and All About Eve

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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