Sunday Post: Ten Years of Blogging & My Usual Update

The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and gives us all a chance to recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. 

Well, it's official. Musings of a Bookish Kitty is ten years old. It doesn't seem possible. Where has the time gone?! My blog has been through several different looks since I first began. Those who have been around a while, may remember some of these headers my husband put together:

I feel so lucky to be a part of such a great community of other book bloggers. Those of you who visit and read my blog mean so much to me. I still feel the same excitement when I receive a comment as I did when I received my first comment. Musings of  a Bookish Kitty has turned into not only a journal of the books I read, but also a record of my life's journey in these past ten years. This has blog has seen me through so many ups and downs and life changes. Thank you to all of you for reading my posts, your comments and friendship, whether old or new.

I hope you will take time out to tell me what you are up to this weekend! What are you reading? Are you watching anything you would recommend?

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you always put a book cover in your posts when you are mentioning books or just text? (submitted by Elizabeth) 

It depends. When I am reviewing a book, I like to include a picture of a book cover. If I'm just mentioning a book in passing, I may not include a cover. If I am making a list of several different books, I may include every cover or I may include just a few to keep the length of the post down. I think including pictures of covers adds color to a post. Too much of nothing but text can be boring after awhile. Besides, sometimes it's the cover that grabs someone's attention because it tends to stand out in a post and spurs his or her interest. I know it can have that affect on me anyway.


New to my Shelves: 

 Love Anthony by Lisa Genova, from my Postal Mail Group

The Whiskey Sea by Ann Howard Creel, 

from the publisher for an upcoming book tour 

 Used Bookstore purchases (and Gracie, my cat):

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour

The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour

What I Am Reading: My reading has been close to non-existent for the past couple of weeks, with my mom in town and other things going on. I did manage to finish Joe Hill's The Fireman this weekend though. Now I can devote all my attention to Amanda Quick's 'Til Death Do Us Part, my July TBR winner.

What I Am Watching: Surprisingly, I have watched very little as of late. Maybe a You-Tube video here and there.

What's Going On Off the Blog:  I have not been able to get around the blogiverse much over the last two weeks. With my wedding anniversary and my mom's visit on top of work and everything else going on, it's been hard to fit in even reading. Hopefully now things will settle into a more normal routine.

This past weekend my husband and I got away, leaving my mother and daughter to their sleep over. The two had a fun time making rice crispy cookies, preparing for and putting on a play, dressing up and playing games. Mouse kept her grandmother busy, and they had a lot of fun. Meanwhile, my husband and I had a nice time just the two of us. We took in a musical (The Man of La Mancha), had a romantic dinner, and stayed in a very nice historic hotel. Evidently there was a big PokemonGo get-together downtown that evening. We felt a little out of place, not walking with our phones out in front of us, among the throngs of people, some in costume. It was actually quite amusing. We stumbled on a used bookstore on our evening walk and came away with three books. It's a cozy little store. I could have probably spent hours browsing the shelves.

 The California Theatre of Performing Arts

Lobby of the Mission Inn

During my mom's visit, she brought along old photo albums of my grandmother as a girl and a scrapbook my grandmother kept of my grandfather's time in the military during World War II. It is quite a treasure of family history. There was even a letter my grandfather had written to my grandmother right at the moment Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese (he was in Tacoma, Washington at the time). My mother also shared with me notes my grandfather had kept of his childhood on Iowa.

 My grandfather in boot camp.

 My Great-Grandmother with the family Cat.

 A father/daughter dance upon our return

This past Friday was Mouse's last day at the daycare and school she has attended since she was three and a half months old. Mouse's bestfriend was able to come back (her last day had been back in June) for the day. The goodbyes were hard. Mouse's teacher and I hugged each other I don't know how many times, tears in our eyes. She and her family are like family to us. We've, in essence, raised Mouse together these past five years. Mouse said goodbye to her friends, giving them hugs, lingering a bit at the door as we headed out. She held back her silent tears until we got in the car. I reassured her we would see them again, maybe even as soon as next Friday for a drop in visit.

We still had time after swim class Friday afternoon to drive by the summer program Mouse will be starting this coming week, and I asked her if she wanted to stop in and see it again (we'd last been in May). I half hoped she would say no--it was 108 outside and the car air conditioner hand finally kicked in--but we were both hot. I am glad we did stop though. There weren't many kids there during their last hour of being open, but it was enough. Mouse and I walked around, the other children introduced themselves to her, and the staff person was very friendly and told us about the fun activities Mouse would be able to do there, including upcoming fieldtrips. I also got the reassurance I needed as the anxious mother, my last minute questions answered, and was comforted as I watched Mouse take in the new surroundings with a smile on her face. As we walked back to the car, Mouse asked me how many days until she started there. "I can't wait, Mommy! I wish it was tomorrow." 

This Past Week In Reading Mews:

• Sunday Post: July's TBR Poll Winner, New to My TBR Pile & Favorite Fictional Couples
• Bookish Thoughts: The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan
• Bookish Thoughts: Under an Adirondack Sky by Karen Rock
• Mouse's Corner: Thank You Cards

Upcoming on the Blog:
Monday - From the Archives: A Blogging Retrospective - July 2006
Tuesday - Where Is Your Bookmark?
Wednesday - Shelf Control
Thursday - Bookish Thoughts: Redshirts by John Scalzi


I hope you all have a great week! Happy Reading!

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© 2016, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.