Sunday, May 23, 2021

Sunday Salon ~ deer and books, books, books

Deer in a yard
A couple of weeks ago, we had a wild bear in a yard a couple of miles from me.  Today we have these four deer in a yard in Bridgeton, about seven miles from my home.  We are encroaching on their habitat.
Word of the Day #1
en·croach / inˈkrōCH, enˈkrōCH / verb (encroaching is the gerund or present participle) = intrude on their territory.  Example:  "Humans have encroached on the territory of the wildlife."
Word of the Day #2
hab·i·tat / ˈhabəˌtat / noun = the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.  Example:  "We are shrinking the natural habitat of bears, deer, and other wildlife with our expanding neighborhoods."
Book just finished 

Grammar for a Full Life: How the Ways We Shape a Sentence Can Limit or Enlarge Us ~ by Lawrence Weinstein, 2020, English language, 8/10

Book up next ~ nonfiction 

The Last Children of Mill Creek ~ by Vivian Gibson, 2020, memoir (Missouri) ~ Vivian Gibson grew up in Mill Creek Valley, a segregated working-class neighborhood of St. Louis that was razed in 1959 to build a highway, an act of racism disguised under urban renewal as "progress."  A moving memoir of family life at a time very different from the present, this book chronicles the everyday lived experiences of Gibson’s large family ― her seven siblings, her crafty, college-educated mother, and her hard-working father ― and the friends, shop owners, church ladies, teachers, and others who made Mill Creek into a warm, tight-knit African-American community.  In Gibson’s words, "This memoir is about survival, as told from the viewpoint of a watchful young girl ― a collection of decidedly universal stories that chronicle the extraordinary lives of ordinary people."

Book up next ~ fiction 

A Summer of Surprises ~ by Judith Keim, 2020, fiction (Florida) ~ Jill Conroy is tricked by her sister into becoming the housekeeper and cook for the summer at Seashell Cottage where Greg Campbell and his nephew, Brody, have been hired to do maintenance projects on the house.  Annoyed at first, Jill soon realizes how wonderful it is to be away from her home in New York and the memories of her deceased, emotionally abusive husband.  The magic of the beach heals Jill enough for her to decide to move to Florida permanently to make a new life.  Her work at a summer camp and the promise of a job as a third-grade teacher in the fall make it seem as if her future is set, but a visit from her sister and her mother reveals secrets that surprise them all.


Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been doing during the week.

3 comments:

Helen's Book Blog said...

The Last Children of Mill Creek sounds like a really interesting read, but one that I'd get mad about as I read about the injustices. Have a great week!

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Grammar for a Full Life sounds like a book I'd like to read. This is from the blurb about it on Amazon: "You’ll discover how—paradoxically—cutting back on the “intensifiers” (exclamation marks and words like really, absolutely) heightens our awareness of the world." Very interesting. Let me rephrase that. Interesting. It sounds like focusing on the words we use is a mindfulness activity.

We had a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in our backyard yesterday. I don't know if that is because of the rains we had all week or because people have encroached upon its habitat or if it is some combination of those things.



shelleyrae @ book'd out said...

The poor deer :(

Wishing you a great reading week