Feeling Blue...in a Good Way

A large wild blueberry bush grows right beside the lake--the branches hang over the lake. Yesterday afternoon I picked a lot of ripe ones. It's a massive crop this year, and they tasted fab--I know, because I ate nearly as many as I picked, but you'd never know from the bowlful I brought into the house. I didn't even need to boost my takings with huckleberries, which are also ripe and prolific, but which I don't like quite as much.

I'm not a breakfast person...and rarely eat what normal people consider lunch. I'm not that keen on food until much later in the day, although I consume just enough fruit and veg and cheese to keep me going till dinnertime.

But today I indulged in brunch: Blueberry French Toast. I only ever make it when I'm here, in late July, with our home-grown berries.


From bush...



to table!




Last night I read this novel, Good Grief by Lolly Winston. It came out last year, and I rarely read things when they're hot off the press, no matter how much attention and acclaim they might garner. I had an approach-avoidance reaction to the book...from all the reviews, I knew the storyline--a 30-something woman coping with the loss of her husband. I knew it would be gut-wrenching. But from all that I'd heard, I was confident there was more to it.

And indeed there was. One minute I was weeping from the pathos of it all, and an instant later would laugh at a sharp and funny observation. Over and over it happened. This is one of those books that kept me up till the wee hours of the morning, and will stay with me forever. It was tragic, it was hilarious, it was all too believable and Sophie's world was so intricately observed and so recognisable.

There's a problem with this book that has nothing to do with craft or artistry. This is the nightmare scenario for any blissfully married person. Plus, it's damned hard to read when all alone. I kept wishing my husband was right there with me, so close I could reach out and touch him, to make sure he was still there. Of course, if he had been, I wouldn't have laughed and sobbed aloud the way I did.

It was an extremely memorable and satisfying read. Loved it, loved it, loved it.