Thursday, June 1, 2017

May Wrap-Up


May Overview



1. Signs of Spring:

Robin




Sunbathing squirrel




Sean Spicer? Is that you?




Melting snow




Flowers ready for planting.




Dogs chillin'




Orchids blooming






2. Hoarding: Buried in Bank Statements. May started out with Spring cleaning. I decided to tackle the drawer that I’ve been cramming “important” stuff into for . . . a decade. I found so many bank statements! I switched to online banking years ago. Where did all these things come from? Why are there so many of them? Do I really need to remember that time in 2008 when I had $16 in my account? I don’t think so. 






3. Depressingly Relevant Discoveries. While cleaning, I also found this flyer that my best friend made for the 2004 US presidential election. Please note that my friend and I were not old enough to vote in the 2004 election, so if anyone ever tells you that teens don’t care about politics, that person is a dirty liar. We campaigned hard for Mustard. Unfortunately, he (she?) was narrowly defeated by every single other candidate in the race.








4. Couch to Running Girl. At the beginning of May, I finally succeeded in running 5k without stopping or walking. Then I switched from running on a treadmill to running outside. Who knew that running outside was so difficult? Who put all those hills, and wind gusts, and children out there? My first 5k outside run kicked my ass, especially because for part of it, a dozen kids ran ahead of me, screaming. I felt like the slowest cow at The Running of the Bulls. Motivation, I guess. Run faster! Gore those happy children!


I'm the brown one with the horns.






5. Fun with Rabies. I came into possession of a wrinkly apple, so I cut it up, stuck it on the fence, and photographed what came to claim it.











Books I Read


I was so distracted by squirrels in May that I forgot to read. I only finished six books.



The Library at Mount Char – Scott Hawkins
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (reread)
There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In: Three Novellas about Family – Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
The Lottery and Other Stories – Shirley Jackson
The Ghosts of Heaven – Marcus Sedgwick
Black Dove, White Raven – Elizabeth Wein

I also made progress on my reading challenges. Click here to see how I’m doing.






Best Books Of May



1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (reread)
2. The Ghosts of Heaven – Marcus Sedgwick
3. The Lottery and Other Stories – Shirley Jackson






Most-Viewed May Reviews









Most-Viewed May Non-Reviews








All The Things!


All The Things (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 30 books.

I’m currently reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.











What did you do in May?










35 comments:

  1. I love all the pictures!!! Can't wait to hear what you think about The Lottery. Have a great June :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love squirrels-they are so cute! We get them in our garden too. Love that bit about the slowest cow! Funny! I love watching the idiots at the Running of the Bulls every year...it's crazy stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, The Running of the Bulls is one of humanity’s more . . . unusual . . . activities. Crazy people.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  3. Love the squirrel pics and congrats on your 5k!
    And I hope you like Station Eleven. I enjoyed most of it :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always look forward to your wrap-ups. Between the pictures and the humorous stories, it's always such a fun read!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your little squirrel visitor. How cute. My mum and I were chatting about squirrels the other day, she said they were just rats with good press, hehe.

    I have one of those drawers too. It still has all my stuff in it from when I was unemployed six years ago. Somehow I don't think that'll be relevant for me now. I did clear my bookcase a few months ago and found two year old receipts and flyers which I'd held onto for some unknown reason.

    Cait @ Click's Clan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with your mum. Squirrels are rats with nice tails. They get into people’s attics, chew wiring, spread disease, eat _everything_. Good thing I like them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  6. The squirrels are fantastic. The city I just moved to is also filled with them. They are definitely fun to watch. I think I may have also forgotten to read a bit this month lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, reading was hard in May. I was too distracted by life. I’m hoping June will be better.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  7. Sean Spicer lol. Yay for melting snow (SNOW???) Yikes hope that's over with. :)

    "Gore those happy children". Oh my gosh this is cracking me up. The look on that kid's face... like oh $%^&! And what's that yellow thing she has in her hand? That pic is killing me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, snow. It snows here until late May. It might be bubbles in the girl’s hand? She’s from a meme called “Chubby Bubbles Girl.” Someone photoshopped her into The Running of the Bulls.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  8. I love all the pictures you've shared - spring is a beauty. Six books is pretty good for the month. The Lottery and Other Stories is the next Shirley Jackson book I have my eye on, so glad to hear you enjoyed it. Happy reading in June!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi AJ - I recovered from the April A-Z ... and other things like sorting life out! Well done on the run - that's good news ... and that photo is from a horror story! Cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also spent a lot of time in May recovering from A-Z. I didn’t write posts for about 2 weeks. I was exhausted.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  10. You have a beautiful dog, congratulations on your run, and only 6 books (I read only 2, both non-fiction--The Blood of Emmett Till and a biography of John Knox).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww, thanks. I love my dog, even though she’s very devious and gets in all kinds of trouble.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  11. We completely skipped spring and went straight to dog days of summer here (FL)

    I've done couch to 5K and I can't say I did much better lol I cna do it but it isn't pretty.

    And I've been wanting to read The Ghost of Heaven for a while now.

    For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Couch to 5k is hard, isn’t it? I’m the worst runner ever. It works, though. I can run 5k now.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  12. I love your wrap-up, showing us bits and pieces of your world, as well as your books.

    That reminds me! Even though I tackled old bank statements a while ago, something tells me I need to do it again. I do online banking, too, so why haven't I gone "paperless"?

    I like the look of There Once Was a Mother Who Loved Her Children....

    Sounds tempting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no idea why I had so many bank statements. There were probably a hundred of them in that drawer.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  13. Being distracted by squirrels that you forgot to read is probably the best thing I've heard in a while LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! That's a lot of squirrels in your garden!

    Here’s my Monthly Wrap Up!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love your pictures! Your dog is absolutely adorable :) I sometimes find weird things in my house and wonder why I kept it as long as I did. I am pretty sure that I don't have any old bank statments though. Have a great June!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I’m usually good at throwing things away, but I guess I like hoarding bank statements for some reason.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  16. Aww, your dog is so cute, and so's the squirrel :)
    And I can definitely relate to drowning in bank statements...I have drawers full of random paperwork, pay slips, and mostly old bank statements. I really should get rid of them all, but it just seems like such a facing going through them all (and that's if I can even get the drawer open!)!

    ReplyDelete
  17. OOOH! I love these signs of spring. It's been summer here in India for SO LONG now that we're all pretty much burning.

    I absolutely love how you do your wrap-ups and I'm go glad you loved three on the six books you read!

    Aditi @ http://athousandwordsamillionbooks.blogspot.in/

    ReplyDelete
  18. My family call squirrels 'squiggles' - because my mother is a lot of fun ;) (Unfortunately, my cat also thinks they're awesome... and they're nearly as big as her!)

    ReplyDelete
  19. May seems so long ago. I wish I had befriended squirrels, though I did spend two days chasing a bunny around my cul-de-sac along with all my neighbours before it's owners finally came to claim him. I may have managed 5k in that time. Hope you enjoyed Station Eleven, I really did when I read it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I think your monthly wrap-ups are so much fun every time. I do enjoy your photos and I call the squirrels around here tree rats. I laughed so hard yesterday that I cried when I spied two black birds chasing a squirrel around our yard. Apparently this rodent needed to be taught not to approach the nest. I too must organize now that school is over. So much paperwork to shred. I recently read and enjoyed a picture book series by Adam Rubin--the first books explains it all--Those Darn Squirrels! is the title.

    ReplyDelete