Books I Read in August

 

Another month has come and gone and once again it is time to share the books I have read for the month. August was a great month of reading as I frantically tried to finish off the last of my huge haul of books I borrowed before my mom arrived for her visit. I DID it!! Then I promptly started a book I own (on the 21st) that I finished on the last day of the month. Let me jump right in to share my thoughts about these wonderful books.

In light of her passing, it seems fitting to start with the Dolly Parton book even though I read it at the very beginning of the month. She did get the large display space as a way to honour her. This biography, "Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton" by Martha Ackmann was an excellent read, but I do MUCH prefer reading books written by Dolly personally. I learned even more about her though and continue to believe that I sadly underappreciated her and underestimated her for my entire life. I intend to change that from now on. She is a true role model if ever there was one. Though I am sad that she left this world, it has been heart warming to see her break the internet, change the social media algorithms, and make the streaming companies unite in sharing her movies. If you have never looked into her life I encourage you to do so.

"Bury Your Dead" by Louise Penny was read as part of the 52 Book Challenge Mystery Genre challenge. I started reading this wonderful series after recommendations from four different family members and friends so it is extra special that I can use them to complete my many reading challenges as well. This series is absolutely amazing. Louise Penny's character development is fantastic and I particularly loved that this book continued a story line from the previous book that I wasn't completely satisfied with.

"A Week in Winter" by Maeve Binchy was my last read for the month and was a book I own that I grabbed off the shelf once I finished all my library books. I wanted something that I knew I could set aside if I couldn't read once mom arrived. One of the things I love about Maeve Binchy books, especially her smaller ones, is that you can step away from them for a period of time if need be. Her choice in this book of each chapter being the "mini story" of each character within the overall storyline of the book was wonderful.

This brings me to the last three books I read this month which were all Moriarty books. My best friend got me hooked on Liane Moriarty books years ago. Then, for the main 2026 challenge of the 52 Book Challenge Book Club, two of the prompts were to choose a book written by related authors. Having never yet read a Nicola Moriarty book I decided that was the obvious choice. So, I read "Apples Never Fall" by Liane Moriarty and "The Fifth Letter" by Nicola Moriarty to fulfill the prompts for the challenge. Then as an extra bonus (and because my bestie highly recommended it) I read "Three Wishes" by Liane which was also wonderful. I have yet to read a Liane Moriarty book I have thoroughly enjoyed and now I have one of her sisters to enjoy too. There is a third sister who is ALSO an author but I will save her for sometime later. It has been an AMAZING month of reading.

Just to remind my readers, I'm sharing a collage of all the books I read aloud to the boys this month as well. But, as these have featured in my Weekly Review blog posts I will not write details here.

Finally, here are my end of month stats graphics that Storygraph generates for me. I really love this aspect of the program.

Term Three: Week Six ~ Our International Visitor

 The second half of term three will be much different to normal. My mum/mom (Grandmama to the boys) has arrived (Sunday evening) for a month long visit. As the boys are older, more self directed, and capable of working independently, I have made the decision to "cancel" structured school for the remainder of the term. I want them to have some down time and special time with their grandmother. Meanwhile, I want extra "free time" to spend with my mum, AND we have additional responsibilities through the month as well. (See details further in the blog)

I'll start off this blog post with my own learning achievements for the month of August. Since I asked the boys to work hard completing as much work as possible, I did the same. I finished the August Challenge in Duolingo probably the fastest I've ever finished any monthly challenge before, and was pleased to hit my 1825 day streak during the month as well. As my regular readers would notice from my previous blog post, I also worked hard finishing off a stack of my own independent reading before my mum arrived as well.

No photos were taken Sunday night to celebrate her arrival (it was late and she was tired by the time we got her home) except for this cool shot of the ceiling light as we walked from the airport car park out to the express passenger pick-up where hubby was waiting for us.

Again, my regular readers will know about this adorable dog, Jack, who lives two doors down from us. His people walk him twice each day and MOST days, when he returns from his walk, he stops at our house and barks at the door until we come out to visit with him. His people were headed to Europe for almost the exact number of days my mum would be here. They graciously opened their home to her in exchange for us looking after Jack so he wouldn't have to spend a month in a kennel. We enthusiastically agreed and the day after mum arrived we moved her over to the neighbour's house. The above photos are of Jack getting used to our presence in his home, and Monkey and I taking Jack for a walk in the park so he could roll and play in his favourite grassy spots.

An absolutely gorgeous sunrise greeted us early Tuesday morning.

Part of our "job" whilst looking after Jack was walking him twice per day. This was a great opportunity for me (us) to see parts of our neighbourhood that we had never seen before. Jack is a rather spoiled dog and is allowed to choose the route of his walks. On the two occasions I had to dictate our route he got upset and insisted on walking behind me rather than out in front. The next several photos are of various plants and flowers from several walks. Some are located in our local park and others are in the surrounding neighbourhood. Below each photo I will try to give the name of the specific flower or plant - via help from Google which I am going to assume (for ease and time sake) is telling me the truth.

A Lilly Pilly tree...

A Crucifix Orchid (though Google did say "appears to be")

I'm unsure what this particular tree is, but those are "suckers" growing up out of the ground around it and the trunk. I see these in many places and they are super cool.

Matchstick Plant or Matchstick Bromeliad

Ruby Belle Wonga Wonga Vine

Flapjack Succulent - also known as a Paddle Plant

Freesia

Banksia Tree

I was not able to find the name of this tree but was able to confirm what I already suspected which is that the beautiful red portions are simply new spring growth. The tree looks absolutely beautiful.

Finally, a beautiful collection of the various tropical Hibiscus that grow in yards all around us. One day I will successfully propagate one or more of these plants and will be able to enjoy their beauty in my own yard.

Our weekly blog posts don't seem complete without at least ONE lonely lime bike helmet photo. Even with the "distraction" of an international visitor, Munchkin and I were always on the lookout and we managed to spot two. It always amuses us how creative these lazy people get with their choices. It also demonstrates how many people feel that helmets are "optional" attire when riding.

One of the many reasons Munchkin was looking forward to Grandmama's visit was so that they could craft together. He was ecstatic with his "gifts" of many Woobles crochet kits. He chose one (a super cute fox) to try first and got straight to work. All three of us spent some time Tuesday afternoon working on our chosen craft - socks for Grandmama, the Wooble for Munchkin, and charity squares for me.

After only ONE short walk each day Monday and Tuesday due to moving Grandmama in and settling in, we knew Wednesday afternoon that Jack needed a good long walk. Monkey, Munchkin and I headed off and Jack led us a round about way in the neighbourhood before ending up at our local park.

We enjoyed checking for animals. We found Water Dragons (but no turtles) and Cockatoos in the trees. 

Jack posing for a photo.

The boys and Jack having fun posing with the Sir Joseph Banks statue.

I had a serious case of D.O.L.

"dog on lap"

Friday mum and I headed out alone for my library visit. Monkey and Munchkin opted to stay home and spent their afternoon "baby-sitting" Jack. They tried (unsuccessfully) to teach him how to fetch. She enjoyed seeing my "back up" library for the first time and they graciously opened a temporary visitor's account for her. Mum also enjoyed meeting two new librarians who have joined the "family" at our regular library since her previous visit seven years ago. We hauled home a SERIOUS number of books. The left photo was the stack waiting at our regular library. The right photo is the stack once I got home. It included additional books from our back up library. I got a bunch of young adult and middle grade books so I could partake in a special readathon event with one of my online book clubs. I also borrowed our favourite Pamela Allen books for mum to look at in preparation for our trip to the State Library. A last minute addition were some beautiful Dolly Parton books as we learned of her death early in the week.

A fun photo for all my readers (US and Australian both) to show the difference between Kraft macaroni and cheese. The pot on the left is Australian and the pot on the right is American.

Saturday night was the ONLY time all six of us were able to hang out as a family in the neighbour's house. We quickly discovered what the neighbours had warned us about - Jack is FIERCELY protective of the women in his house. Although this family dinner was a wonderful time together we decided it was best not to stress the dog out and spent our whole family time together in our house after this point.

Walking a dog twice a day and ping-ponging between two houses meant my daily step count was MUCH higher than normal. These were just the walks (outside of home) that I track on my pedometer app on my phone. My total steps at the end of each day as recorded on my smart watch were hovering between 15,000 and 20,000 each day - WAY higher than normal for an average day.

I bombed out of Wordle this week. But my goal during my mum's visit was simply to keep doing Wordle every day. If I bomb I bomb, but I'm trying to keep as many habits and routines the same as I can.

It was a wonderful first week with her. We are looking forward to lots of time together chatting, visiting, seeing a few sites, and of course... reading! Stay tuned for more in the weeks to come.