The Sunday Salon: Enjoying the Holiday Weekend

It's been a fairly quiet Fourth of July weekend but I actually like it that way. Yesterday I was at my mom's and we feasted on pulled BBQ pork sandwiches that she made along with potato salad, coleslaw and, at the last minute, deviled eggs, because it's just not a holiday meal in our family without them. For dessert I surprised my mom with a coconut cake. My mom is the most selfless person I know and she's always going out of her way to please others and since not many of us like coconut, she rarely enjoys her favorite cake so I made one for her. Before dinner, we drank a couple wine coolers and munched on spinach dip and crackers while we played a game of Hawaiian Rummy. We started playing this card game this Spring and now we're addicted to it. It's a lot of fun, especially when you want to get away from the TV for awhile and when it's just too hot to be outside. We actually try to play a couple times a week.

Today I get the benefit of one of my favorite parts of a holiday: the leftovers! I even had a deviled egg as part of my breakfast this morning and there'll be BBQ sandwiches for later! No cooking today! Yesterday on BBC America they ran a marathon of Star Trek: The Next Generation so, being the geek I am, I recorded them while I was gone. I started watching them last night and continued on this morning. I'll be watching on and off today. When I'm not watching TNG, I've decided to pick up THE GOLDFINCH and read it today. I began this book about a year ago but it's a chunkster and I only got about 100 pages in before stopping. I hate to leave books unfinished and I really do want to read it so while I'm in between audios and books, I'm going to put a big dent into it. I just finished Rachel Abbot's SLEEP TIGHT on Friday and I am about to start Tim Johnston's DESCENT on audio this week, after finished MR. MERCEDES last week. (Review here).

Along with THE GOLDFINCH I'll probably start another book this week. Either Rachel Abbott's STRANGER CHILD or something else....I haven't really made up my mind yet. I'm trying to read books I already have on my Kindle before buying anymore.

On a personal note, it's been a rough few weeks for me for a couple of reasons. My shoulder, though it is still bothering me, has gotten slightly better. At least I am able to lie down to sleep now. The really hard thing is that a few weeks ago my best friend of more than 25 years moved to Ohio to be near the rest of her family who'd moved up there about 7 years ago. Brenda is a big part of my life and was always very helpful with my vision issues (she was often my chauffeur and my personal shopper). We've been through a lot together and it was so difficult to say good-bye to her. Thankfully, with all the technology today, she doesn't seem that far away but it's taken getting used to not having her right around the corner. The upside is that she's living in my home state and I have a lot of relatives that don't live far from her. It goes without saying I'm really looking forward to going up for a visit!

For now, I'm off to watch one more episode of TNG then I'm sinking my nose into THE GOLDFINCH for at least a few hours before stopping for lunch and more space exploration! Tonight is the NASCAR race over in Daytona but we're supposed to get more severe storms this evening so I don't know if the race will be affected or not. Fingers crossed that it doesn't get rained out.

Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weekend! Happy Birthday, America!!!

I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful holiday