First Ladies Cokie Roberts

Check out this post First Ladies On my new site

Robin Roberts

I love Robin Roberts.  I loved Good Morning America when she and Diane Sawyer were the anchors. Josh Elliot being on her right didn’t hurt anything either, great sense of humor.  The Chemistry between the team was great.  I still watch Good Morning America but not as religiously. It is still a good team just not the same.  But nothing stays the same and change is good.

Before the world new Robin was sick, ABC had Katie Couric guest host on GMA.  I was outraged thinking that Robin was going to be replaced and I was one of I am sure many people who wrote ABC to give them a piece of my mind.  Then came the announcement that she was sick and it saddened me. It wasn’t that she was being replaced, it was that she was sick.  She had become so much of my morning routine I felt like my friend received the diagnosis.

This book is about her battle and “recovery” thankfully from MDS.  The title of the book Everybody’s Got Something was something her Mom would say.  It is so true don’t you think.  Everybody does have something going on in their life.

My Mom had her special saying to me.  I remember complaining about this or that and saying how unfair things were.  She would say to me Life is not Fair, you just have to deal with it.  Maybe I should write a book Life Isn’t Fair.

And one of my all time favorites that I use over and over again is from Roseanna Roseanna Dana “It’s always something”  Another very good title.

I chose to listen to this book rather than reading it mostly because Robin read the book herself and it made it so much more meaningfull. The book was actually very relevant to me right now.  Several of my friends are facing health struggles and I think she put things in perspective.  It is very hard to see people you care about in pain.  You want to do things for them but don’t know what to do.  She gave some great suggestions and I hope my friends tell me when they need me to step in.

Read the book or listen to the audio version.

Don't Try To Find Me

Every parent’s worst nightmare is to come home and find their child missing. The child might have been kidnapped or just left on their own.  Either way they are gone.  In today’s world there are so many ways this can happen but the Internet and social media have added a whole different dimension to this dilemma.  Teens are very susceptible.  Middle school and High school can be very hard for teens. Many are subjected to bullying but for some it is losing friends they grew up with who have decided they have nothing in common any more.  They may say “it is going to be different in our new school and I don’t think we will be friends any more”.  How confusing, how mean.

Social media like Facebook allows predators to hide behind a false identity or create an identity to lure susceptible individuals into doing something they would not ordinarily do.  Once they are drawn in they get trapped. On the other hand Facebook, twitter and instagram can reach a large number of people in a large geographical area very quickly. The net can allow you to create liaisons shrouded in secrecy, on the other hand if you have secrets these may be revealed much to your dismay.  Privacy in today’s world is a double edged sword.

This book has two interesting stories.  One is about this fourteen year old teen Marley.  It is obvious that she has emotional issues and has been in therapy.  The other story is about Rachel her Mom. There are secrets that will come out.  I found the relationships between all the characters extremely fascinating.

The author does a great job of slowly weaving the stories.  I admit I had a problem starting the book, only because of the disappearing teen but I got drawn into the story and really wanted to find out what happens to all the characters.  For more info click on this link Don't Try to Find Me

It is every parent’s nightmare to have a child go missing Don't Try to Find Me

The Last Time I Saw You

High School Reunions gotta love them or not.  It is great to see people who you hung out with in your youth.  Then again it is sometimes  not so great to see people who possibly made your life miserable. But that is High School.

In this book by Elizabeth Berg the main focus is on a 40^th High School reunion, the last one that will be held for this graduating class.  She takes you through the lives of several people who are contemplating attending the reunion, what they are doing and what they are thinking about.  Trying to decide what will happen when they see people they knew forty years ago has them feeling very conflicted.  It focuses on choices that were made by the characters, missed opportunities and some regrets. This is a good beach read.

Find out more  by following this link .The Last Time I Saw You

Sunday Notes on Monday

It has been a long time since I have played my little book game.  I will catch you up if you are not familiar with how I play. On Sunday the first section that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section, it contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. This week I scored 4 out of 10. Not too bad. In case you haven't read David Baldacci's new book The Escape it is a good beach read or airplane read.  It is one of the John Puller books and John is one of my favorite characters.  You can check my blog post for more info.  Also on the list is Nora Robert's Whiskey Beach. 

I thought I might give up Nora Robert's but I just can't seem to let go.  I was doing a lot of driving this past week and I picked up the audio book Shadow Spells which is the second book in the O'Dwyer series.  Again a very light summer reading choice.

It seems like I will have a long list of summer reading to share with you.  I am finishing up the book A Memory of Violets which I will post about this month and I had the opportunity to preview a book for Penguin Random House entitled A Wedding n Provence.  Look for that post this week.  I have also been asked to preview a book called Don't Try to Find ME, a story about a 14 year old who disappears.  Isn't that every parent's nightmare.

One more book of interest on the bestseller list is To Kill a Mockingbird.  Many of you I am sure have already read this book in High School, but I just read it again and I am amazed at how great a read it is.  The author has been getting a lot of press lately since there is talk about publishing her original manuscript.  I am very curious about how that will read.

In addition to these I have a very long, long, long list of books that I hope to share with you so stay tuned and check back often.

 

Warm Weather and the Farmer's Markets start to open

It is May which means the weather is warming up nicely.  Actually it has been downright hot here in the District which I am sure many people love. Warmer weather signals the start of the Farmer’s Markets.  There are many in this area so I have a lot to pick from.  If you are visiting DC you may want to check some of these markets out. This list was in this weeks Washington Post and highlights some of the markets in the area.  Farmer's Markets.

I found a more comprehensive list Comprehensive list of Farmer's Markets in the DC area .

I just Finished reading the French Market Cookbook and I am armed with great recipes containing fresh produce (check out my blog post from 5/7).  The best part of the book is it is divided by season so I have a good idea what to look for when I go to the market.  I can tell you that strawberries and blueberries are at the top of the fresh fruit list. 

French Market Cookbook

Often with French cuisine the meal is centered on some type of beef, chicken or fish.  This author has chosen to focus on entrees featuring fresh produce.  What I like about this book is that it is organized by season which really helps when you are planning your meals and you want to use readily available ingredients.

One of the chapters I really enjoyed was the one on shopping for produce. You would think that going to a supermarket or produce market to pick out fruits and vegetables would be fairly straight forward, but really it is not. There is a method.  One of my favorite quotes from the book is “avoid going with a list that you follow rigidly.  Instead go with your eyes and mind wide open and let yourself be surprises and seduced by the ingredients.”  It is almost like being a jedi knight.  You need to open yourself up to possibilities and let the force be with you and in this case the force is your creativity.

The key to buying produce, according to the author is to buy a combination of produce that is sturdy and some that is fragile.  Those that are fragile would need to be used first and those that are sturdy can be used for a longer period. 

I learned a lot reading this book and found some good vegetable recipes such as Swiss Chard Turnovers and Vegetable Couscous

Don't take my word, check it out The French Market cookbook.

Here is another link as well that talks about produce and when they are in season Produce Seasonality