Reading on the Road - Book Reviews

I’ve managed to misplace the cord that transfers pictures from my camera to the computer, so I’m not able to post about all the fun things we’ve been doing! So frustrating - it’s a small space! What could I have possibly done with it? Infuriated - I ordered a replacement from Amazon and its set to arrive on Monday.

Until then, I was planning to post about all the good books I’ve read since beginning our RV adventure, so I figured now was as good a time as any. Neither of us has felt particularly stellar, so in between all the fun things you see me post about, there is a LOT of down time, during which I usually have my nose in a book.

With the help of the Dayton Metro Library (thanks Greg!) I have been able to download books to my Kindle, and since Noel and I both love to thrift shop, I have a stack of books always at the ready. As I read them, I just leave them at the campgrounds because almost all of them have had a “book exchange” area in their community rooms.

I’ve read 14 books in the 10 weeks we’ve been on the road! I love to read, but I probably only read 14 books all of last year, so it’s a record for me! I was originally going to give a full description of the book, but don’t want to spoil the read for you in case you want to read it too, so I will just list them and tell you whether I liked it enough to recommend it or not. So in case you are interested, here is what I’ve been reading -

Title: The Most Beautiful Thing
Author: Fiona Robyn
Notes: An interesting, heavy read about a young man with mental illness. Certainly not a “feel good” 
    story.
Recommend: Only if you like a more serious, heavy read.

Title: The Time Keeper
Author: Mitch Albom
Notes: By the same author as “Tuesdays with Maury”, it’s a well written fantasy story about how  
     “keeping time” began and about Father Time himself.
Recommend: Yes

Title: Casting Stones
Author: GM Barlean
Notes: Talk about depressing! Set in the 20s, a young man loses his wife to drowning and how
     horrible his life is after that….
Recommend: No

Title: Heartburn
Author: Nora Ephron
Notes: Written in 1^st person, conversational style, the book is about her cheating husband and the
     effects it has on their marriage.
Recommend: No

Title: Missing Sisters
Author: Gregory MaGuire
Notes: I love anything by Gregory MaGuire! The story of a child in the 60s being raised by nuns.
Recommend: Yes

Title: Moon Women
Author: Pamela Duncan
Notes: The story o9f 3 generations of women (last name “Moon”) and their interactions, memories
     and life lessons. Very well written.
Recommend: Resounding YES

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Author: Rebecca Scoot
Notes: The true story of a black woman with cervical cancer, and how her tissue sample of cells,
     taken without her permission, live on as “super cells” and have been used in research for decades. 
Recommend: Yes, for a serious, educational read - especially if you like biology/medical science

Title: All the Single Ladies
Author: Jane Costello
Notes: By the same author of the book/movie “Bridesmaids” - a fun, light read.
Recommend: Yes, especially if you are a fan of Sophie Kinsella, as their writing style is similar

Title: The Art of Racing in the Rain
Author: Garth Stein
Notes: I would never have thought I would like this book, since it is written from the family dog’s
     perspective, but it is very poignant and well written!
Recommend: Highly!

Title: The Returned
Author: Jason Mott
Notes: Stopping short of being a zombie story, people that have been long dead begin returning 
     to life and how people in a small town react to their return
Recommend: Not really - not particularly riveting or compelling

Title: Book of Someday
Author: Dianna Dixon
Notes: At first a bit hard to follow as each chapter jumps from a different person and time period.
    There are 3 main characters, and the author ties them all together eventually in a surprising twist.
    I really enjoyed this one!
Recommend: Highly! Well written!

Title: The Weight of Silence
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Notes: Excellent book! A real page turner! The story of 2 missing 7 year old girls.
Recommend: Yes

Title: The Life List
Author: Lori Nelson Spielman
Notes: A light read with the moral of the story being, moms know best!
Recommend: Yes, a fun light beach read

Title: Rainshadow Road
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Notes: A typical chick-lit love story, but I picked it up because it was about a glass-artist! A typical
     girl meets boy love story.
Recommend: Yes, another light beach read


So, there you have it.  I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these books, or your recommendations of what I should be reading!  Since leaving comments is rather arduous on this blog, feel free to email me at MetroAnnaM@msn.com

　

Island Life is the Life for Me!

I've been without easy internet access, so I haven't been able to keep up the blog, but that should be resolved this week.  We are settled in to our new home at the Groves RV Resort in Ft. Myers, and my friends Jean and Linda have left for home.  I had a wonderful two weeks with them on Sanibel Island, and miss them already.  I'm so thankful for good friends...

The three of us, Jean, me and Linda, having dinner at Doc Fords.

Most days were spent on the beach, relaxing and picking up all the beautiful sea shells that Sanibel beaches are so famous for.  We enjoyed the gorgeous sunsets and wildlife - but I was most excited to see a bald eagle.  I don't recall ever seeing one "in the wild", and at first thought it was just another Osprey. 

My first bald eagle sighting!

This is the biggest Blue Heron I've ever seen, and he flew by my head so close I could have reached out and touched him.





Every day is different on the beach, some days there are lots of seagulls, other days we found lots of shells, and one afternoon we saw hundreds of horseshoe crabs along the shore, mating.

Those are all horseshoe crabs!

I never got tired of these beautiful birds, the Snowy Egret with their yellow feet.  They stalked the fisherman and were quite funny to watch.

as were the other shorebirds - osprey, gulls, terns, pelicans, and more...

One afternoon I enjoyed watching a young family play on the beach.  It's funny, you can always tell the European tourists because they have no hesitation about stripping their kids down and letting them play naked, and they readily change their clothes right on the beach.  I'm 1st generation Hungarian so I'm not phased by it, but watching the disapproving reactions of others on the beach was amusing to me.

 

 

 

It's funny how easily we assimilated to "island life".  Back when we were in Ohio, I didn't even like to come out of the dressing room in a bathing suit - here it's all I wear.  At the beach, stopping to get gas, stopping at the grocery store on the way home from the beach, all done in a bathing suit!  If we stay much longer, I can easily see myself becoming one of those leather-y old ladies wearing a bikini well past the appropriate bikini-wearing age!

 

The bathing suit lifestyle "suits" me!

 

 

In the meantime, while I was hanging out with my friends, Noel stayed back in Miami an additional few days to go to the Bengals/Dolphins football game with Jason.  Bengals lost in overtime, but it was Noel's first professional football game and he thoroughly enjoyed himself!

 





Noel and Jason at the football game

 

 

Once Noel got the trailer settled in Ft Myers, he came over and joined us a few times in Sanibel - I even got him out on the beach at sunset!

 





 

One of my last days at the beach we were there close to low tide and saw thousands, if not millions, of live sand dollars!  They looked like little blobs where the sand was exposed -

 

but you could pick them out of the sand and see they were live sand dollars

 

 

 

Once I waded out into the water, I saw dark areas on the bottom and then realized those were all baby sand dollars!  I was stepping all over them!  Yikes - I made my way back to the shore saying "sorry, ooh, sorry, excuse me, sorry, pardon me, I'm sorry".... I felt so guilty stepping on them!  Two days later we went back to that section of the beach and they were all gone! 

 

This little guy was out in broad daylight,

 

as was this curious, endangered gopher tortoise.  He came right up to my camera lens and sniffed it and was ready to take a bite had I not moved it away!

 

 



 And this guy was in the retention pond just outside of Ross Dress for Less (my new favorite store) -

 

 

One day Linda and I walked out to the seawall on the Sanibel side near Blind Pass, twice since I didn't take the camera the first time.  I paid the price of all that walking in the soft sand the next day, but it was worth it!

 

 

I leave you with one last Sanibel sunset....

 

 

 

 



The Wild and Crazy Life on Sanibel Island

I'm still living it up with my girls on Sanibel Island - looking for sea shells and soaking up some vitamin D!  The shelling hasn't been all that good, but there have been plenty of birds and wildlife to enjoy and photograph, including nightly sunsets in glorious technicolor!  This is where Jean, Linda and I are staying:

 and this is the beach just yards from our condo:

One afternoon we were visited by dolphins, another day a turtle, one day a snake,and the birds are always entertaining.

Sometimes we watch the fisherman.

This guy spotted the fisherman

and immediately called in his friends:

This itchy pelican was comical to watch:

and of course there is the hunt for the shells....

Here's Linda, walking the shore line...

This is Jean, using her shell scooper seeing if she'll have better luck in the water...

We're hoping for some good strong winds from the west to blow some shells up onto the shore....

Noel's heading over here on Friday, after the Bengals/Dolphins game with Jason.  Stay safe friends and family in Ohio, I hear there are some dangerous storms heading your way!

More Fun in the Sun

We continue to soak up the sunshine and enjoy spending time with Jason when we can.  The good news is that Jason found himself a new job!  He will be leaving Tijuana Flats and will start a supervisory position with the James Royal Palm hotel on south beach in Miami!  He's very excited and there will be much more growth potential for him.  We are so proud of him!

It being the small world that it is, another friend of mine from 20+ years ago (thanks to Facebook we've reconnected) is now an attorney in Ft. Lauderdale.  They took us out for a lovely lunch at the Broward Country Club, and then we visited her office. 

She told us about a local Hungarian store, so after we left them, we headed over to DettCris Hungarian store.  There we found a bounty of Hungarian sausages, pastries, mixes and imports  Yum!!

My friends Jean and Linda came down to visit me, so I've been hanging out with them in Sanibel!!  Noel is staying in Miami until the end of the week so that he and Jason can go to a Bengals/Dolphins game on Thursday.  Then he will bring the trailer over here to the gulf side, (Ft. Myers), where we will stay through the end of December.  We will take some day trips back over to Miami to see Jason for the upcoming holidays, and hopefully he and Katie will be able to come see us.  In the meantime, though, I'm getting to stay with Jean and Linda in a condo.  You know what that means?  I can take a shower without my shoes on!!

Here are some of the pics I've taken of the beautiful sunsets here on the gulf coast of Florida....

Be well all - and keep in touch!!