Monday This and That

Good Monday morning.  Another week begins.  Had an awesome dinner last night.  Hubby and I went to Olive Garden.  Been trying to get there for awhile now.  First he was sick, then I was, so rain or not, we headed out last night.  Had whole wheat linguini with marinara sauce, topped with grilled chicken.  Yummy.

Had a full day on Friday. I'd gotten up so early so I decided rather than just sit around and watching The Golden Girls until it was time to go that I would leave early. So I left home before 9 and got there when the 9 am exercise class was starting so I sat in on it and then sat in on the  the next one, too.  Not a good move on my part. My back has been doing so well that I haven't needed to wear my brace, but I still carried it with me just in case....and Friday was one of those 'just in case' days. Already have it on this morning. Had lunch at the center and then stayed on for the two jewelry classes. Well, they aren't really classes because there is no teacher, and we all basically do our own thing.  Once in awhile like on Friday a total newbie will sit in and we'll all reach out to help.

Made this on Friday. It's actually must shinier than this picture. The dark beads are sort of a blue gray crystal.

The woman who signs us in at WW attends on Fridays since she has that day off.  She came up to me and asked what had happened to me on Thursday.  I looked at her and said, "I'm not gonna like to you.  I was here eating filet mignon."  She started to laugh.

Saturday I went and did some food shopping.  No cooking this time. Just shopped for the food.  Will cook a few things on Tuesday.  Last time I tried to cook and shop on the same day I realized how tiring it was. 

This is a great book.  I cannot put it down.  That summer was one that cannot be forgotten.  From the Moon landing, to the Stonewall riots in NYC, to the Woodstock festival, they were tumultuous times indeed.  I was 22 years old at the time, and I remember standing in my front yard as a huge caravan of cars slowly drove by.  Found out they were heading to Woodstock so I was invited to go along with them. A time I will never forget.  Still brings goose bumps to my arms when I realize that I was a part of it.

From the book cover.

"Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of a summer when everything changed, in New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's first historical novel

Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country.

In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel."

I got it from the BOMC.  It will be available on Amazon on 6/18.

On a sad note, the white cat I saw was not my Scout.  I thought he looked slimmer and trimmer and didn't quite remember Scout as having a black circle around one eye, and I REALLY did think she was a female and pregnant, but I guess wishful thinking made me hope that this was her.   Well, I ran into my neighbors the other day, the ones who feed the kitties along with me.  Scout has indeed passed away.  They found her in our courtyard and got the super to let them in to bury her.  We don't know if she died giving birth or if there was something else wrong.  May my beautiful girl RIP.