It’s leafy and green, the sound of lawn mowers fills the neighbourhood, school is almost out! Here are my May favourites.
Read
For my Books of Centuries reading challenge I listened to The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe (1592). I am working through a few other books for the challenge and I think I’ll be able to finish it this year.
My Classical Inklings book club finished A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, which we started the month before. It includes the text of seven short stories by Tolstoy, Chekov, Turgenev, and Golgol with commentary by writing professor George Saunders. Now that I’ve dipped my toes into Russian literature (previously I had only read some Chekov and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich), I might tackle The Brothers Karamazov next year. (I hear there’s an excellent audio version and I’m also intrigued by this retelling.)
Other reading I did in May: But Come Ye Back (a novel in short stories set in contemporary Ireland), The Patron Saint of Liars (I love Ann Patchett’s writing and have only one novel left that I haven’t read; I hope she publishes another book soon), and Talking to Strangers (excellent for discussion; I’m surprised I was able to handle the content — every topic I thought I wouldn’t want to read about).
I read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry aloud to the kids. I know I really liked it when I was growing up, but wow it was scarier and sadder than I remembered. We also read The House at Pooh Corner.
This is not new, but once again we are in a Sandra Boynton phase. Her board books are spot on.
Eat
Some new recipes that were a hit in May:
- lamb curry
- honey garlic glazed pork loin
- chicken cutlets from this book
Drink
I’ve been into drinking chai tea with milk almost every day lately. I finished the Tim Horton’s tea bags I found in the cupboard and then bought a large box of Twinings chai… the black tea flavour is more pronounced and somehow it tastes more nostalgic too.
Do
- I went to Sweet Emilie’s Coffee & Ice Cream again to work on school planning. (I probably shouldn’t make a habit of this! But if Emily comes to visit I’m taking her there.)
- The kids enjoyed the last children’s program of the year at the Ogdensburg History Museum.
- (The kids were sick again over Phoebe’s birthday and had to miss the church bonfire.)
- The Ogdensburg Youth Garden Club started up again!
- I took the girls to an organ concert and was suitably impressed.
- For the church work day we helped weed, edge, mulch, and wipe down pews.
- The Catholic thrift store in Ogdensburg is closing for the summer on the 14th and we got a large bag of clothes, plus sandals, books, a picture frame, and a necklace all for $6!
Grow
We finished making all our self-watering containers out of discarded buckets and we planted beans, cucumber, summer squash, beets, turnips, and potatoes. We had to hold off on putting the basil, tomatoes, and peppers outside permanently because of how cold the nights got.
We have three surviving rosemary plants under our indoor grow light and they seem to be thriving.
Listen
I’m still listening to the Just Grow Something episode; I’m glad she did an episode on the cost of growing your own food.
Even though I got the Book of Centuries challenge from The Literary Life podcast, until recently I never listened to it. I decided to look for episodes on books I’d already read recently and listening to their take on both The Enchanted April and The Wind in the Willows added interest to my household chores.
Here’s the YouTube channel for Dr. Michał Szostak, the Polish organist we heard, in case you want to check him out.
Ponder
This poem about motherhood — “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins — totally chokes me up.
Meditate
“Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!” – Psalm 43:3