Lazy Afternoon...

(Those words always make me think of Babs.)

Over the weekend I crossed off something that has been on my 101 List for a while now: reading in the park all afternoon.

I packed a blanket, a water bottle, and some snacks; put on sunscreen and found a floppy hat; stopped at the library first to pick up new holds. And then I found a nice spot within earshot of live music and let the hours roll by while I read two books in their entirety. The first was one I'd been meaning to read since my first semester in library school: This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. It ended with a description of narrative that really resonated with me: "A chute built by a writer and waxed until the reader fell into it and skittered right to the end without stopping."

And so I picked my second selection: The Elite, by Keira Cass. It matches that description perfectly. It's pure YA brainfluff -- and I enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to the third of the trilogy, which has yet to be published. (I'm waiting on several new releases, actually, including the latest from my favorite Diana Gabaldon's Outlander collection and Tamora Pierce's addition to the Winding Circle series.)

The next day was less lazy at the beginning; my wife and I joined a small group at a fancy tea bar in celebration of a tea maven's birthday, which was followed by cupcakes from the Cupkates truck, and then by a small shopping spree for just the two of us (using store credit and her employee discount on already reduced prices). We swung by the grocery store on our way home to pick up some boxed brownie mix on sale, and then there was naptime! With the sun setting and providing some relief, we watered plants and washed dishes and watched Netflix while munching watermelon. It was a good weekend.