Fall Break Filler

I needed a filler post today because my reading has been quite unsatisfactory of late. I abandoned two books after reading/listening for far too long. I attempted Maria Semple's newest book, Today Will Be Different. I read over 150 pages before finally deciding it just wasn't worth the time and energy. It seemed to be going nowhere fast and I didn't exactly get the whole appeal of the insertions of the Flood Sisters manuscripts. The main character was unlikeable. The novel was not really funny, either. While I did mostly enjoy Where'd You Go, Bernadette, this one left me cold and eventually, I just gave up ... wasting a whole mess of reading time. Groan.

Then, in my treadmill time, I had been attempting the first novel in Lisa Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren series, Alone. I enjoyed the fifth in the series, Love You More, before realizing it was a series to begin with. Although this book had the same gripping intensity of Love You More, it was full to the brim with coarseness and filth. I understand that detectives probably curse a fair amount and to be realistic, the author felt a need to include the foul language. But, the sexual filth was wholly unnecessary and the gist of the story could have been communicated just as effectively without all the smut and details. Since the book involves a pedophile who abducted one of the main characters as a twelve-year-old child, there were details that just unnerved me and made me finally give up on finding out whether or not Detective Bobby Dodge would be charged with murder after shooting the woman's husband in a Swat team operation. Just not a thriller series I feel I can recommend in good conscience to readers who have any moral fiber.

So, instead of reviewing abandoned books, I will provide details of our semi-boring fall break. We were more aware of how boring it was because Sean's homework was to collect images and items for a collage about his fall break. One of his classmates went to Paris for break. I'm sure his collage was far more impressive than Sean's. Ah well. The boys enjoyed lots of time to sit and play Guitar Hero.

In addition to a quick weekend trip to visit their grandmother (I had to stay home to water several patches of new grass), and an hour at the local trampoline place, we also headed down to Brown County for a few days in the Nashville, Indiana area. We hiked a trail on Ogle Lake:

The next day we walked the streets of Nashville, taking in the sights and visiting our favorite shops (like The Candy Emporium, the Halloween shop, where the boys fell in love with and purchased two soft bamboo pillows, the knife shop, where the boys both bought pocket knives - oh joy - and I purchased a beautiful pair of earrings, and the Man Cave shop - ha). The day wouldn't be complete without lunch at The Ordinary and a mining experience for the boys:

The boys had a blast, even if our break was fairly uneventful:

And on the way home from Brown County, I even thought I saw a black bear perched in a tree (too bad we were speeding by too quickly to snap a photo).