sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

March 1, 2024


hanging out, spring blooms, and better with time
posted by soe 1:02 am

Flowering

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Chris, Julie, and I went out for tea after our volleyball game on Sunday.

2. I had told them that D.C. was a bit behind London in our spring weather, but I was expecting us to catch up this week. I was excited when the flowering trees near me didn’t make me a liar.

3. I hadn’t loved the first two-thirds of the novel my book club chose for its first 2024 offering, Amanda Peters’ The Berry Pickers, but it got better toward the end.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

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February 23, 2024


youngsters, tour, and elegant airport eats
posted by soe 1:09 am

Elevenses at Heathrow

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I got to see two of my cousins, Caroline and Élissa, this week and meet two of our family’s next generation, Izzy and Alfie.

David, Izzy, Caroline, Me, and Rudi

Steve, Rudi, Elissa, Me, Alfie, and Sam

2. The London Bookshop Crawl was so much fun and I had such a good time. I’ll put up a separate post on it later this week, but in the meantime, I’m sharing this photo of Bex and me. (Bex is the organizer of the Crawl and someone I’ve known online for ages.)

Bex and Me

3. Fortnum and Mason, one of the U.K.’s preeminent department stores, has a shop and a “bar” at Heathrow. We’ve cleared security long before our gate has been announced, so we have elevenses in style. (Mine is tea and crumpets.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

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February 16, 2024


grass in winter, early spring, and daunt
posted by soe 5:45 am

Daunt Books

Three beautiful things from my 50th-birthday week:

1. The weather in D.C. is lovely for February, so my pal Mario invites a small group out to play volleyball all afternoon.

2. Spring flowers are in full bloom in London, where I’m spending this week.

Crocuses in London

3. Friends of a friend of Rudi’s recommend we visit the Marylebone location of Daunt Books. I’d like to move in.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?


February 13, 2024


top ten books with ‘love’ in the title
posted by soe 1:12 am

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share our favorite reads that contain “love” in the title. Here are mine:

  1. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
  2. Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Shefffield
  3. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  4. The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough
  5. My True Love Gave to Me, edited by Stephanie Perkins
  6. Book Love by Debbie Tung
  7. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
  8. Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
  9. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
  10. Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love by Jared Reck

The History of Love was a five-star read, and the others all earned four. I recommend them all.

How about you? What “Love”-entitled books do you love?

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February 9, 2024


ready for their closeup, our treat, and afternoon out
posted by soe 1:47 am

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The weather in D.C. has been very temperate, which means between Sunday and today, the neighborhood daffodils went from dressing gowns:

Daffs Getting Dressed

to ballgowns:

First Daffodils of 2024

2. Chris and Julie treated me to supper as an early birthday celebration, since they’re out of town this week and I’m away next.

3. Susan and I had lunch this afternoon, and then because I was feeling all sorts of over-achieving, I returned some books to the library and wandered over to Georgetown in search of sun and shoes. (I found one, but not t’other.)

Sunset from the Georgetown Waterfront

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

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February 6, 2024


top ten books to read in an afternoon
posted by soe 1:25 am

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time Is Short. Here are ten four+-star books that can be read in an afternoon (all of them well under 200 pages):

  1. The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
  2. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
  3. A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
  4. If God Invented Baseball: Poems by E. Ethelbert Miller
  5. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
  6. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
  7. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  8. March: Book One by John Lewis
  9. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
  10. For Every One by Jason Reynolds

How about you? Are there books you’d recommend grabbing if time is short and you just want to while away a few hours?

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