Summer is still in full force but...

By Elizabeth Prata

...it's winding down. I've got about 10 days left. Have I used it well? Yes and no, I think.

It took me a while to recover from pneumonia I'd had at the start of the summer, and to mourn the death of my 12 year old cat.

Meanwhile, I set myself the task of reading a bunch of books on my Annual Summer Reading Schedule. I've done OK reading them, though there's a few I haven't finished yet with one week to go. I think I could have done better. I did stall out for a week or so in July for an unknown reason. I just did. Notably, I finished the smaller books but I'm still going through the thicker ones. I'm only halfway through Paton's Letters, Story of Autism, and Selina Countess of Huntingdon. I'd begun reading Nathanial Philbrick's book to the mix (Mayflower), which was also a very long book, so that slowed me down a bit.

I bought the above books in hard copy as well as this one: a Kindle version of Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson. It's just 55 pages. Review here.

The two Rome books were an answer to a frustrating trend I've experienced. I like reading about then writing on my blog about daily life of first century believers. It's hard to learn the context of what their lives were like with the books I have on hand here. My JI Packer Public Life In Bible Times is good but entries are short and scant. So I found these two and they were reviewed highly.

The Spurgeon Ploughman books were a gem to find. They are like a Christian Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin. They are full of Christian truths, especially wisdom about daily life, written for the man on the street in his language.

The 12 Rules book was a mistake. I accidentally bought the summary and not the actual book. I'm sending it back to Amazon (which in order to do for free I'll have to drive half an hour in the heat, deal with the UPS Store, and drive half an hour back. Not so free...) I don't believe I'll buy the hard copy after all, because...

I reorganized my book shelves to refresh to my memory what I have and also to fold into the mix my new books. Things are getting tight here at Casa Prata in the bookshelf department. I'm running out of room. Time to give away some or lend some. Hence the decision not to buy the 12 Rules after all.

All that said, I thought, hmmm, why not read some books I already have on hand? I plucked Lightman's Einstein's Dreams from the shelf where it's been languishing for 15 years or more, a little book about time I always meant to read. The time is now, lol, see what I did there. I am halfway through.

I had also bought these recently too:

I enjoy re-organizing the book shelves. I put the Puritan Paperback with my others, now I have 3 from the PP series. I put Moses with my other Moses book. Bunyan with Bunyan, etc. If I only have one author I shelve it by subject, Theology, Commentary, Christian Life, or Puritans.

As for streaming entertainment, this summer I got involved watching The Royal, a UK medical drama set in the 1960s. (Amazon Prime). It's a good show. Also Blown Away, a competitive show about glass blowing. (Netflix). Also good. The Waltons, Harrow: A Very British School, (Amazon Prime) Educating Yorkshire, (Youtube), and Monk (Amazon Prime).

Live entertainment or trips? None. No restaurant outings with friends, no concerts, lunches, road trips, or parties. Just church, Kroger, and home. Heaven!!

My friend Kelly managed to snap this real quick of a dragonfly that had briefly landed on a stalk, which she and the tow kids were at the Botanical Garden. Nice job Kelly, snapping a lightning quick insect while managing two lightning quick toddlers! Note the wing pattern, so delicate. God made all the insects in one day, so amazing. Creation beauty!

Photo by Kelly M