Our House in the Middle of Our Street

not my built-in bookshelves...I wish! This month was back-to-school and not terribly hard to fit in reading, surprisingly, just hard to get into the flow of reading. I was very distracted this month, and although felt I had a decent amount of margin, once your brain is worked up with go, go, go , it's hard to get into the quiet mindset of sitting down for an hour to immerse yourself without falling asleep! That happened to me on more than one occasion.  This month I read a few quick little books, and the new Brene Brown title (!) I'd been waiting months for. Here's the list: * Firstborn by Tosca Lee - Tosca Lee is an author from my hometown of Lincoln, NE, and I've loved her past biblical/historical fiction books that focus on a specific person in the bible. This is the second part of a purely historical fictional series set in present day Europe. It's fast-paced with high drama, but it's a fun little read. It's about the legacy of Elizabet

a lavender cart using the honor system  My friend Susie and I tooled around a new-to-us place, Vashon Island in Puget Sound, this past weekend for a very quick (but very full!) girls' trip. Susie comes stateside once a year and I'm lucky to live close to her husband's family, so I often get a visit, too, though she's usually with her family in Nebraska. We had both heard about Vashon Island but had never been, and found really cheap accommodations through airbnb.com. I read this article and this one in preparation and rented a car, while she communicated with our hostess. It worked out brilliantly. We headed down to the Faunterloy ferry in West Seattle and got there around noon, and although we had a bit of a wait going out, the price was so cheap! Something like $20 for the two of us and our car roundtrip . We had reservations at The Hardware Store for dinner that night and very little expectations for the rest of the time. Lighthouse on Point Robinson