Reading: This week, I finished Waiting for White Horses by Nathan Jorgenson for the Saturday morning bookclub, which I ended up liking better than I thought I would. For a book about a couple of dentists who live for fishing and duck hunting, it had some interesting things to say about life, death and love. I have decided that I don't have the guts, interest, or whatever it takes to be a duck hunter. Getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to sit out in the butt-ass cold to maybe get 4 ducks, at the most, when I don't even really care much to eat even one duck. Sounds like an activity I will skip. Some people may say similar things about scrapping, knitting or gardening, too. Too tedious, too messy, too much money and time to invest. I guess that is why there are so many different hobbies and interests to choose from, so that everyone can do something she enjoys.

Also this week, I started and finished the next Sunday night bookclub selection, a little before the July 1st meeting. It was a book that has been on my list for a long time and it was so gripping, I couldn't put it down until I was done. My friend who finished her breast cancer treatment just about a year ago chose as her selection It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong. I read with equal interest the descriptions of the 1999 Tour de France and of Lance's treatment for testicular cancer. The book was very easy to read - it felt like Lance was speaking directly to me. Even though I knew how the race ended (my hubby is a big follower of the Tour and loves to give me the daily play-by-play every July for the last 8 years or so), I read every word as excited as I would have been seeing the race for the first time. Even though I knew Lance survived the cancer and the chemo, I sat rivetted to the book until I knew he was back on the bike. The psychology of survivorship is very intriguing to me - To know that you have survived in many cases against the odds, to know that many both before you and after you will not, to know that you have been given another chance at life, but also to be more acutely aware than others that this chance could be taken away from you again at any time. Can any of us who have not faced this really know how it feels? I have now started Lance's second book, Every Second Counts.

I am still listening to The DaVinci Code in the car. I like the cryptology parts, anything to do with math formulas, series, or sequences. The art and history parts are also somewhat interesting to me. Not so much into the secret societies and the Catholic church parts, but still a pretty good book so far. The guy who reads the book does a good job with the French accents and pronounciations, which I appreciate.

Eating: Not too much interesting on the eating front lately, though I finally had some pizza this week. I have been thinking about pizza fairly steadily for about 2 weeks so we ordered Papa John's on Thursday. I had leftovers for Friday so I am sated for awhile now.

I went to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market this weekend and picked up some delicious asparagus (I think this asparagus seller is the best, though I can't remember his name or the name of his farm) which I washed, chopped and froze (except about a cup I kept for immediate consumption). Yum! Also picked up some sugar snap peas (also froze most of those) and some lettuce. The lettuce is dirt-cheap and very fresh. I should just grow some myself but never quite get around to it. I was looking for cherries, as it is the beginning of cherry season, but did not find any good-looking ones so I picked up a couple big bags at the grocery store on sale. I washed and froze one bagful on a cookie sheet so I could just grab a few out of the freezer at a time. They are like tasty little popsicles - just pop them in and spit out the pit! Hoping to pick some strawberries, maybe next weekend.

Gardening: I haven't done any more planting this week, just maintaining. I have 9 small green tomatoes on my tomato plant. No peppers yet. The herbs are growing big and bushy. I should go out and harvest some soon. All the flowers are coming up well, blooming and growing. I worked this weekend on clearing out some grass around and under my lilac so that Eric doesn't have to try to mow or trim under there. I eventually would like to pull out all the grass along the front of the sidewalk and put in another bed there but will hold off until we get the sidewalk replaced, hopefully in the next month or so.

Happy reading, eating and gardening to you, until I blog again!