This is a great meme to take part in every week and I thank Kimba for hosting it!
I like this meme because it gives me an opportunity to take a look back at last week and forward to next week in both my personal life and my blog and book life! I also like to see what other people are doing and what books everyone is reading.
Last week–home and blog
We arrived home from our family reunion Tuesday night so I feel like I’ve been playing catch-up all week.
Family Reunion
The family reunion was wonderful. About 100 people there (even relatives from Ireland) and it was a weekend of catching-up with people, water activities–including the annual “Swim the Lake,” partying, eating and celebrations.
The Annual “Swim the Lake” is very popular especially with the children and we even had a golden retriever in a life jacket. Everyone wears a life jacket and boats go alongside. It’s something to look forward to each year.
Since we celebrated our oldest living relative’s birthday (he’s 90 years old) we had a big party Saturday evening. There was even dancing and a dance instructor to teach dances like the Charleston. Lots of music from the 40’s, too. A very fun time. And even though Bill is 90 he’s very spry and has a great attitude about life.
On Sunday we had a baptism for one of the youngest family members! A beautiful, happy child!
Television
When we watched TV this week we watched the Olympics. I’m always amazed each Olympics to watch sports I seldom see–badminton or ping pong–or some I’ve never seen before (trampoline gymnastics or slalom canoeing). I love the swimming and track and field events, but I wish they would show more equestrienne events.
The blog
My daughter and I listened to an audiobook–Malice in the Palace–on the way to and from Wisconsin. That was a perfect book to listen to. I love the narrator. I managed to read a couple other books, too.
No commenting on other blogs. I need to find out what everyone else has been up to as summer winds down. I hope visiting other blogs will happen soon!
Blog posts
My books
What I’m reading
- Kingdom Come by Jane Jensen
- The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
What I read last week
- Lying Dead by Aline Templeton
- Malice in the Palace by Rhys Bowen
- The Last Death of Jack Harbin by Terry Shames
New–Books, E-books, NetGalley, Audiobooks–purchased or free or from library
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan
Black Run by Antonio Manzini
Lamb to the Slaughter by Aline Templeton
Interesting on the internet
Free Sync Audio books
Sync is back again for the summer (May 5 – Aug 17). Sync is a program which provides two free young adult audiobook downloads each week. Each set of books are only available for one week.
Only 1 more week of Sync books!
The Sync books available this week (August 11 – 18):
- Bone Gap by Laura Ruby; read by Dan Bittner
- Classic American Short Stories by O. Henry, Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Kate Chopin, James Fenimore Cooper; read by William Roberts, Garrick Hagon, Liza Ross
To listen to these books you must download Overdrive Media Console. It is available free to download at the Sync site.
Note: Some of the books have international restrictions, but some are available even if you live outside the U.S.
Next Week–home & blog
A week to catch-up, I hope. Still lots to do around our house–everyday cleaning as well as reorganizing and sorting the things to go to charity since they don’t work in our new house. Still a few boxes of stuff to find a place for!
Lots of reviews to write and schedule and lots of good books to read!
Blog posts
- Top Ten Tuesday
- Waiting on Wednesday
- Review
- Sunday Post
What did you do last week? What books did you collect? What are you planning?
Notes from a Readerholic 
What an amazing family gathering! We had a family party last Sunday, but it was a paltry affair in comparison – what a lot of work and planning must have gone into that one. I’m also hooked on the Olympics at present – looking forward to watching the tennis final tonight and still buzzing after watching Mo fall over and STILL win a gold medal in the wee small hours… Have a great reading week:).
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We have several family gatherings each year so we have great organizers in the family. It’s the younger generation who have taken over now and are intent on keeping everything going.
I’m going to have Olympics withdrawal now that they’re about over. There’ve been so many great events and people.
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Your family reunion sounds fantastic! And how lovely that so many people could be there, and that you could celebrate both a 90th birthday and a reunion. One of these years, I hope to do a reunion of my dad’s side of the family again. And we’ve never actually had one on my mom’s side. That would be fun, too.
I’ve been away from home for several weeks, so I haven’t been around the blogosphere much. I’ll get home early next week and hope to start catching up with everyone then. 🙂
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Oops – forgot to subscribe to comments!
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The reunion was wonderful. Always good to see so many of the family. I hope you are able to do reunions for your family. It’s good to keep in touch with people.
I hope you’ve had a good time on your trip, Lark. I look forward to reading more about it. I’ve been away from the blogosphere a lot of this month, too. So I’m playing catch-up with comments and blogs.
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Your reunion looks awesome!!! Glad you had a nice time! Enjoy your new books!
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Thanks, Samantha!
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Such a wonderful family reunion! What fun for all!
Glad you had a nice road trip with your daughter too. I should check out Rhys Bowen’s series. I liked the two Louise Penny books that I’ve read so far, book 1 & 2, and hope to get further in that series eventually. Have a good week ahead.
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Thanks, Rita. I think the audio versions of the Rhys Bowen books are especially fun. I’m listening to the audio version of the Louise Penny book and haven’t found much time lately to listen so it’s taking me awhile to finish. The book is good though and I enjoy the series.
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Your reunion sounds like it was a lot of fun. You got some interesting books too. I love mysteries!
Happy reading,
Stormi
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I’m loving mysteries right now, Stormi. I go through periods when I don’t read them, but right now that’s practically all I want!
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