What We Are Reading

We have been reading quite a bit lately and some of the books are old friends that we are reading for the second or third time. I don’t mind reading a book several times and the kids can listen to a favorite book over and over and even ask to read them a second or third time.

We read Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan which is a Chinese children’s novel about a young girl adopted by a poor family after her father dies. We all enjoyed this book though we were not crazy about the ending. We also read Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. I had never read this book and it was the first time for the kids, too. It is the story of Paul and Marueen who have to sell their horse, Misty, to help send their uncle to college. It was a sad time for them, but finding an orphaned colt that needs them helps them move on. We enjoyed this book and have even talked about visiting Chincoteague. Then we read Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. We love Elizabeth Enright books. They are just so warm and magical. We have read this book so many times and can still read it again and enjoy every minute of it. Portia and her brother Foster visit thir cousin Julian for the summer and stumble upon an amazing wreck of large old houses with balconies, turrets and widows’ walks from an era gone by. It was like a ghost town except two old people – a brother and a sister – live there. So, begins a summer of adventure and friendship they never expected to have. We absolutely love this book. It is amazing. Then we read Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright which is another book we have read several times. This book is the continuing story of Gone-Away and we love it, too. Actually, it was pretty much split down the middle – half of us loved Gone -Away Lake best and the other half loved Return to Gone-Away best. Great books.

We started a new book a couple of days ago and it is The Children of Willow Farm by Enid Blyton. We like most of Enid Blyton’s books and this one is no exception. This book is about Rory, Sheila, Benjy and Penny and their move from London to a farm in the country. We are enjoying this book very much and it has motivated us to do a little planting at our house. We planted some blackberry plants and plan on planting a small vegetable garden. Hopefully our plans will come to fruition.

We baked some bread this week and had plans to make some fruit popsicles, but didn’t get those done. The bread turned out nice. We ground our wheat berries with a grinder I have had for years and years. The kids like to watch me grind the wheat berries into flour, but lately it has taken longer and longer to grind just 5 or 6 cups of berries. I think our wheat mill is soon to die.

It was a nice week with the kids spending lots of time outside since it was so warm. I am loving the warm weather and hope it stays this way. Soon I will be making iced coffee to drink on the porch in the mornings.