Oh hello there! I’m so glad to share a cuppa with you! How the heck are you?
Can I offer you some hot, black tea? The kettle is hot if you’d prefer coffee, too, or maybe herbal or iced tea is more your style, especially considering the continuous heatwave we’re experiencing?
We have it all so no need to be shy, just let me know and we’ll settle in on the front porch where we can watch all the butterflies and bees flit about the herb garden.
Living
Goodness this summer is flying by, isn’t it?
Between the heat and the weeds and the balancing of life in general, I can hardly believe that August is upon us already!
More days than not I can be found on the farm, tending the crops, keeping the animals fed and watered, and doing my best to keep cool in the ever-staggering heat, but I get off the block once or twice a week to run errands, do all the shopping, and maybe squeeze in a coffee or lunch with a dear one. I’m quite the introvert so the isolation is lovely, but I do enjoy getting out and about to do something a little different from time to time 😉
One such time was a couple of weekends ago when I attended a friend-raiser event with my wife for the non-profit she is the CEO of while our daughter hung out with her Grandpa. It was a picnic party with a band and a DJ and a whole gaggle of awesome humans who were there for the fun and to learn about the org in a gorgeous house.
And! Today is our Anniversary so we’re celebrating 17 years with a lovely lunch at Izanami (it’s too hot for the tubs) and some puttering about town while our daughter enjoys her last day of Summer Camp.
Sweet, mellow perfection.
Reading
I’ve buried my nose and immersed my ears in a handful of books over the last month and am enjoying bouncing around genres a bit. While I thoroughly enjoy a fantasy storyline (like the recently read of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom), sometimes I need something a little more light hearted or based in drama, mystery, or simple realism. My most recent reads have fulfilled these needs perfectly:
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The Guest List by Lucy Foley
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
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Ruin by Dervla McTiernan
I’ve also taken to visiting Book Mountain, an old used bookstore in Santa Fe, nearly weekly where I’ve had to restrain myself from adding too heavily to my TBR pile but have picked up Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman and The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova as well as a childhood favorite, la Llorona as told by Joe Hayes (yes, the stuff of childhood nightmares but still and forever a true favorite).
The used bookstore I mentioned above has been around for over 40 years and was my mom and Grandma’s favorite place to go so I visited it almost weekly as a kid. However, after my mom passed, as life got busy and my well worn tracks switched in my 30s, I stopped visiting and only recently became aware of it again. The funny thing about Santa Fe being a small town is that the woman who runs the place remembers my family well and had many questions and stories to tell when I first visited again. So wild and truly fun to reminisce with acquaintances about all the times gone by.
What have you been reading (or adding to your TBR pile) recently? Anything thoroughly enjoyable or happily distracting you’ve been burying your nose into?
Blogging
As I get back into the swing of writing in this space on a regular basis, I have been happily brainstorming a handful of topics and enjoying the process of getting it all down onto paper.
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How to Document the Undocumented where I discuss some of the challenges faced in the documentation of family members where legal/official documentation doesn’t exist, specifically in marriages and deaths.
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1256 Lexington Ave, New York City where I reflect on my mom’s childhood growing up in New York City and my best friend’s adventures in finding my mom’s old apartment a couple of weeks ago.
As an extension of reading and writing more often I’ve also focused on spending less time on social media and more of my copious free time exploring new-to-me blogs. I have to admit to coming to the whole blogging game, officially, a little late in 2011 with the farm blog, and have been amazed at quickly it’s all changed! While I love a bright and colorful website filled with all.of.the.information, I find myself most drawn to an old school personal blog and am happily and actively looking for diverse, authentic voices across a variety of niches (from homesteading to crafting, from writing to genealogy *obviously* , from photography to life in general).
So, do tell! What are your current favorite blogs to read and why?
Researching and Organizing
I have to admit to bouncing around a bit in my research lately. Instead of focusing on a single ancestor or branch, I’ve spent a lot of my research time cleaning up my tree a bit and reflecting a lot on my personal documentation methods while brainstorming ways to simplify my practices.
Family history is a wildly broad umbrella under which so many components come together and, while wildly exciting, can rather quickly become a tad overwhelming when thinking about how to make it all make sense in the long run.
And so, without an answer quite yet, I know I need to refine my approach to how I can best organize and manage all of the information and documentation I’m gathering.
That’s it!
For now 😉
Thanks for popping by for a cuppa! I always enjoy hearing what you’re up to and how life is treating you! If you’ve popped over from Natalie’s weekend link share, thank you so much! If I haven’t visited your blog yet, I’ll make my way back to you in the coming days and am so happy to catch up! If you’ve found this post from another direction, WooHoo!!! I’m just so glad you’re here! The comments are open but occasionally a little wonky, so please do your best to say HELLO and I’ll do the same!
Onward,
Melis
Happy anniversary! I really enjoyed both The Guest List and 7 Husbands but haven’t read either of the two others. We’re having a big heatwave (for us here in CT anyway!) these past few days and I’ve been happy to stay indoors in the air conditioning whenever possible.
Thank you, Joanne! Hope you’re staying nice and cool indoors! Thank goodness for air conditioning 🙂 Fingers crossed for a break from the heat soon tho! This is just not sustainable! Hope you’re weekend is shaping up wonderfully!
Happy anniversary! I enjoyed both The Guest List and Practical Magic. I’m way behind in my summer reading. It’s been hot in Toronto so I try to stay hydrated and go out either earlier in the morning or after sunset when it’s cooler. Thank you for your weekend coffee/ tea share.
Thank you, Natalie! My summer reading has just picked up again after many very slow months 😉 The ebb and flow this year has been interesting but I’m happy to be reading again! Hope the week ahead is a great one for you!
Happy anniversary!
Thank you!
Happy anniversary to you both. I have 7 husbands on my reading list and loved The Ruin. At the moment I’m diving into the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley and loving them. I was interested to read about what you’re up to with your family history, as I also have a family history blog. At the moment, like you, I am tidying files and also checking that all my sources are recorded. I’m also trying to get ahead with a few completed posts for those weeks to make life easier in the extra busy weeks. I enjoyed the catch up.
Ooohhh…I’ll have to look into the Seven Sisters series! Sounds fun!
I’m glad I’m not alone in the tidying of files and such! It’s such a process, but such an *important process. I was reflecting yesterday on my Grandma’s worry about not having all her family documents organized before she passed and knowing I will surely feel the same no matter how much work I do now 😉
Best of luck getting ahead on your blog posts!!!
Happy Anniversary!
I enjoy reading a variety of blogs. I follow some blogs for their excellent photography, some for their inspiring gardening, and some because I like the writing (the author makes me laugh, think, etc.) and some because it takes place in a physical place I love/have visited/want to visit, and then there’s some blogs that has it all 🙂
Hi Maria! This is exactly why I still love a long-form blog so much…they’re all so diverse and entertaining 🙂 Thanks for being one of my faves! Hope your weekend is rounding out nicely!
Happy anniversary!
Used book stores can be magical. Cool that your family has such a history in this one that the woman who runs it had memories of them. I’m sure that was a lot of fun. And the fund raiser sounds like fun.
Hope you are having a good weekend and have a wonderful week ahead!
Thanks, Trent!
The reminiscing was wild! Funny how people hold on to certain details of one’s life and can just pull them back to the surface after 20 years 🙂
Hope you’ve gotten some time outside this weekend and have a chill work week ahead!
Hi Melissa – happy 17 year anniversary and I’m glad you had the opportunity for a little getaway and celebration. It sounds like your month has been an enjoyable one. Nice that you’ve rediscovered your secondhand bookstore again. I finally converted to a Kindle over covid when the libraries were harder to access and am enjoying how little space it takes up and how portable it is. I’ve just downloaded an FBI series by Julie Garwood – light and fun to read.
Leanne! Goodness, apologies for the delay in this response…August simply escaped me!
Thank you for the well wishes! We had a wonderful time, indeed!
I completely understand about saving space and the convenience with a Kindle. I’m not there yet, but who knows what the future will hold 😉
I did a quick search for the Garwood books, they look interesting! She’s quite a prolific writer, ha!? I hope you’re enjoying them!
I’ve heard of those first two books, but not the others. I love finding used bookstores.
Happy anniversary!! I’ve read "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" — what did you think? Honestly, I preferred "Daisy Jones…"
I prefer blogging to social media. There is work applied to both of them but for some reason social media gets people crazy. I recalled when Instagram became no longer chronological, some people were trying the hack the system to get their content seen on more feeds. I’m not too sure of the formula, but it does change. But now Instagram prioritizes reels over static photos so content creators are churning multiple reels per day to get seen. It’s quite messed up. Content creators want eyeballs at the cost of creativity. Blogging on the other hand hasn’t changed. I feel I always go back to blogging because it’s no pressure, no competiton. I just do blogging.
Hi Julie! Apologies for the delay…August has been a bit wild in my neck of the woods!
I haven’t read Daisy Jones yet but it’s on my TBR list so I’ll have to circle back once I’ve checked it off!
You’re so right about social media getting people crazy, especially Instagram. It’s all so complicated now, they always want to have us on our toes, catering to whatever they deem to be the next hot thing. It’s all so silly. Just give me the photos, please 😉 Like you, I ebb and flow with social media but always find my way back to blogging. Thank goodness the community is largely solid and can be counted on to show up 🙂
Hope your August is sliding to a smooth finish!