Summer Island by Kristin Hannah

The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and her daughters--the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.

Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .

What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.

Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.

Okay, back to a Kristin Hannah book that grabbed me from the beginning and I couldn't put it down til I was cross eyed from reading too long. I've got to go back and see what order her books were written because I think she's gotten better (I started with her most recent). The feelings that she draws out of the reader are there for all of us because we've all been children of imperfect mothers as we live our imperfect lives. It all comes into focus too as we come to the realization that we never know everything about another person.... never! Great summer read. Enjoy!

Fertilize Friday 7/9/10

Tootsie Time is our hostess for this fabulous meme and you have to check out some of her unique planting ideas... I mean really... an upholstered chair made over into a planter!!! Check it out.

We've had a week of temps in the mid 90's and then just before the picture taking time we had about 2-3 hours of rain. Everything is a little water laden and heavy :) This first picture is part of tonight's dinner. A little chicken stir fry including this zucchini.


We have about 6 blossoms from the chicks and hens. Picture isn't too good, but it should be fully open next week.


I was real concerned about the holly hock blooming, but I think this is a bud. Again, maybe next week lol


This daisy bush is looking real full. The smaller one is mostly dead blooms.


Loving the coneflowers.


These begonias were planted beneath the clematis to give it a little something for the rest of the season.


I moved this plant with blue flowers into our yard a few weeks ago. The plant I moved is basically dying, but it had some of this beautiful yellow (maybe black eyed susan) clumped in with it.


The trumpet vine on the deck is full full full and has beautiful orange trumpets.


So far so good with the hostas out back. This is the first year that they all lived til blossoming.


This is the smallest of the five hostas in this bed. I enjoy the variety of colors in the different hostas.


A full picture of the hosta bed before the deer round it up lol. This is the first year that I've had nothing eaten to a nub and everything bloomed. After the rain I wanted to spray the liquid fence again, but it was raining again. Hope no deer come before I can get that done.


So, that's the extent of want's new in my yard. Still waiting for the hibiscus, neon sedum, and hollyhock. It's very cool though how so much is blooming at once and the color is beautiful.

Waiting For The Moon by Kristin Hannah

She doesn't remember who she is or how she came to the mansion on the isolated Maine coast. Lost in a strange world filled with even stranger faces, Selena (a name given to her since she didn't know her own) finds comfort in a man whose eyes reflect her own aloneness.

He is Ian Carrick, a brilliant physician turned recluse, hiding from life in the anonymity of this small sanctuary, haunted by a telepathic gift that has destroyed his desire to heal.

Selena comes to him, the only person he's ever met who is immune to his psychic powers. A mesmerizing innocent, she turns his life upside down, bringing light into the darkness and laughter into the silence. For her, he begins to believe in life again, to believe in himself. And then a mysterious figure from the past arrives, threatening to destroy their glorious love and the fantasy world they have created together.


I found this book a little difficult to get into in the beginning. It has a darker side to it (in my opinion) because it discusses the people that were hidden from society because of their life challenges. Ian travels around putting up signs and asking people if they know this stranger. Once he gets home he falls more in love and is sorry that he ever put up the flyers. The husband that shows up to get her is another shocker and the lifestyle they were living could have been expanded upon more. The plot comes down to 'love conquers all' when Ian makes a sacrifice for Selena, Selena makes a sacrifice for her husband and then the husband makes a sacrifice for Ian and Selena. Not one of her better books, but still worth the read.

Fertilize Friday 7/2/10

Linking in with Tootsie Time, again this week. Everything is looking so pretty and I'm in full battle with the bunnies!!

A beautiful day lily that I got from Tammy a few years ago. For some reason I thought they were orange, but here's what came up.


Yup, that's a soaker hose you see there in the wave petunias. We'll be in and out a lot and needed to make sure the plants got watered so we're on a timer.


The clematis looked a little lonely without any blooms so I put some begonia at the base to liven it up a little.


This pot had the Grandpa Ott Morning Glory, but it just wasn't doing anything so in went this pretty sunflower.


Love Love Love the coneflowers.


BeeBalm still going strong.


This daisy just opened up this week. It doesn't show right, but it's a pale yellow.


Still not showing the pale yellow, but they are beautiful.


Moonglow coreopsis is loving this spot in the garden.



So, the story of the bunnies. I've been blaming deer on some of the lost buds, but I've been seeing some very round bunnies lately. MM read that if you put a strong smelling soap out they will not come.... we've seen that something likes the soap though lol. Anyway, we now have lots of soap (Irish Spring to be exact) around and we're still spraying with the liquid fence. They just need to find a better diet choice out there. Maybe I should plant a bunch of stuff just for them and put out a sign!!

Muffin With Dolls

We had a real nice visit with our son and dil this weekend and couldn't believe how much Muffin had changed. It's been a while and between my sinus infection and her little illness we just couldn't get a time together. Until this weekend! They've gotten a lot of little things to get her used to having a new baby around, crib, highchair and lots of babies. Very good idea in my opinion!! Punkin is coming in about a month and there will be some big changes for little Muffin. From the way that she plays with her little dolls I think she's going to be a GREAT BIG SISTER!!



I love when she gives the little doll a kiss before putting her in the highchair.... oh yeah, that's the same doll that she then grabs by the hair and yanks out of the chair lol.

I've found that I have a lot of videos that I just don't get around to posting about, but some day when time slows down a little (like that's ever going to happen) I'll go back and post about those. Isn't Muffin just adorable?

Fertilize Friday 6/25/10

I've been checking in on our hostess for this meme, Tootsie Time, a lot lately, and she is doing amazing things over at her place. Be sure to check it out and see all the other, much more talented, gardeners.

My view as I leave for work every morning.... I love the array of color and flowers. This picture really doesn't do it justice.


The front porch pots are doing well. They get little sun til late in the afternoon then it's really hot.


The bee balm and cone flowers are tall and stately.


I've had this day lily for as long as we've lived in this house (close to 30 years) and never knew it had this beautiful color flower. They were growing in the front (very shady) yard around the well head and provide a great cover, but never bloomed. MM took a few shovels full and planted them out back to fill up our hillside and surprise, surprise. Love the color.


Never get tired of looking at this sink :) I'm learning that different flowers need to be photographed at different times of the day. If I try to snap this picture in the early hours it's just not open enough. On the other hand the pumpkin and zucchini are best in the early morning hours.


A couple of daisies lost in the buttercup (weed!), I didn't know really.


My soil and growing conditions are perfect for coreopsis and I'm growing lots of them now.


As single blooms the coneflower is beautiful.


We planted this bee balm in late 2007 or early 2008 and this is the first year I've been around to see the blossom. Very dainty.


The marigolds that I have as a filler this year are doing pretty good. A few have what my brother called 'blight', but I just haven't had the time to go out and treat them. (actually I didn't fertilize this week either shhh)


And finally we have a family of robins nesting in our trumpet vine wall. This is the second nest of them. The first nest got destroyed by something. Anyway, I think I can see three little beaks, but there could be more. It's hard to get a picture and they were really squawking when MM took this picture.


So, what's growing in your garden? This meme is a great way to document the progress and then check back on to see what was blooming, when, last year. Lots of fun seeing a lot of great ideas from other gardeners too.

UPDATE: Okay, so I felt guilty about not fertilizing and got out there real early this morning. And of course, being early I could photograph the pumpkin and zucchini.

Zucchini


Pumpkin


Okay, I'm really done now :) Just trying to keep it real.

Quilt for Punkin

Ever since I found out I was having another granddaughter I've been working on a quilt just for her. Not that she will need another blanket (they have about one for every day of the year!!), but I wanted to do one just for her. It's basically the same pattern that I've made about 30 of, but the backing is different and it's just for her.

I try to do different texture fabrics for different things. The duck is a soft fleece and has satin bill and feet, the lion's mane is a loopy kind of texture, you get the picture.


I really liked the backing, it has puffy animals and the words that name them.


And look what MM managed to get a picture of. It looks like three little beaks to me, but there could be more hiding down in there. They are robins and mama was not happy that we were even on the deck. We do try to stay away, but just wanted to see who our new residents were.

Fertilize Friday 6/18/10

Things are really starting to pop. Lots blooming and lots more budding up. Be sure to link in with Tootsie Time who is hosting Fertilize Friday today.


The wave petunias are still going strong in the bathroom sink. (edited note) I came home for lunch and this really comes to life mid day. Didn't have time to snap another shot.


Who knew that the deer would attack the neon sedum? Got all the buds from the back of the plant.


I love the color of the sunset coneflowers.


BeeBalm is looking good. Will the deer get the buds off of this before they get a chance to bloom? Hope not. My MM heard that strong smelling soap keeps deer away lol. After the woodchuck or whatever carried off the last soap I'm wondering how successful that will be.


The first few blooms on the moonbeam coreopsis. You can see that it is loaded with buds.


This little beauty is at the side of the house, and avoided detection when I moved everything. Good thing too, because all of the ones that I did move got eaten by the critters.



I love this view that I see every day as I back out of the garage looking back on the side garden.


In the front the Crazy Daisies are opening.


I have to laugh because I'm always saying 'look at all those buds' then a few weeks later it's 'yeah, the deer ate all of the ...'. Anyway, that's my offering for this week's Fertilize Friday. I truly enjoy all the beauty of my yard and working in it is pure pleasure for me.