Week-in-Review: We Got Outside!

I don't know what I was thinking but I tried to get my family and I out on a trail to hike on the 4th of July. It was pandemonium! No parking anywhere, people everywhere and no one was wearing a mask! Needlesstosay, we headed home; but we took the long road home to see the beautiful mountains.

We enjoyed a very low-key 4th just eating chicken kebabs and drinking mojitos and playing in the field with the kiddie pool and staying cool. In the evening we enjoyed watching fireworks with some neighbors. Though, we did see a fire start on the mountain right by us but the fire department put it out quickly. I could tell people spent a lot on fireworks because I have never seen so many go off for so long with hardly any breaks in between. It was a consistent show for about two hours all around us. Thankfully, our area was in a no fireworks zone so we could just relax and watch everyone else's.

But I still wanted to get out for a hike with the family so we picked a time mid-week and headed back up into the mountains! It was a lot better. Hardly anyone was there so we just enjoyed Nature. My son only complained on the way back because he got his shoes and socks wet at the waterfall...I knew it would be miserable to hike back with wet feet and socks.

A beautiful morning up Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon!

Three Good Things:

I'm trying to be better with this... Some days it's tough right now.

1. I made zucchini bread and it was amazing!

2. Getting out for a hike was just what I needed last week. I'm grateful we live relatively close to some gorgeous mountains for some gorgeous hikes when we can.

3. I'm grateful we were able to make time for family this weekend. We played Rock Band on the Xbox and watched some great movies. We needed it!

Reading:

I have finished 3 books since my last update: Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams, Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke, and Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. I'll get these reviews up soon. All were really fantastic!

I'm still reading What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be by John McWhorter, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi,  Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, The Mothers by Brit Bennett, and with Gabe I'm reading the third book in the His Dark Materials series The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

I'm still hoping to finish off the Xenogenesis series this month by Octavia Butler and start the End of Policing by Alex S Vitale. But I have a couple others on my radar too that just got into my hands. Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Watching: 

The Vote on PBS was fantastic. It's a two-part series on the STRUGGLE for women's rights to vote. I loved the way they brought in diverse voices. It didn't just tell the perspective of White women. We learned about Black suffragists and their struggle to be heard by the movement. It took over 70 years to get the vote and even that was by a vote or two or it would've been even longer...

Movies:

My favorite has been Hamilton on Disney+. Such fantastic music. We watched Wonder Park on Hulu with Gabe last week. It was cute. Me and the hubsters watchedon Palm Springs (Hulu) and The Old Guard (Netflix) over the weekend. And for my horror fix I watched a surprisingly fun gem Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (Netflix). It's a Basque film and it was a fun one. Just what I needed last week.

TV:

Netflix has a Japanese series called Ju-on: Origins. It only has six episodes about 30 minutes each so I was able to get it done relatively quickly. It was silly with a few jump scares. If you're a fan of Japanese horror and specifically The Grudge or Ju-on, I'd definitely recommend this one. And I finally finished up season 4 of Insecure on HBO, which was fantastic as always. I just started Stateless on Netflix. It's a short season so I'll be finishing it up this week.

This week: This week we'll be picking up our second farm CSA fruits and veggie basket. I think we're getting corn, potatoes, beets/carrots, and some peaches, and zucchini. We picked up our first basket two weeks ago and it was fantastic. We got cherries, which Gabe and the DH devoured quickly. We got beets, lettuce, radishes, and zucchini. I've never had beets before or much in the way of radishes! We've eaten a lot of salads and I learned how to roast beets and radishes and make up interesting cucumber salads. I love getting new things; it forces me to try new recipes and get more veggies into our diet. Roasting corn is happening later this week! Zucchini bread was also made this weekend. Yum.

Our local second-hand store is taking donations again so we're getting stuff together and cleaning out items, books, and clothes and giving them a new home, finally.

Looking forward getting a haircut on Tuesday, picking up our fresh veggies from the farm, and picking up more books from my library later this week. And Saturday I'm social distancing with a friend at the park with coffee. That's always a plus!

Joining in with Readerbuzz's Sunday Salon