Peacefield

Hey guys! Thought I better pop in to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking I'm up at the cabin now, with my sister and nephew in town. I'm off all this week and then again the 1st-9th of August. It's the best place to relax and I'm already 2/3rds of the way through 'Under the Dome,' which is not a small novel! Lovely photos, Muggle, as always. It looks like you live in the perfect place for all of those flowers and butterflies. The roses are blooming nicely around the cabin, and we have loads of black-eyed susans which are crawling everywhere. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we had a bear in our yard last night! I heard a heavy crashing in the woods (we're surrounded on 3 sides) with leaves and twigs being crunched, and I'm almost positive I saw a dark shape moving across the grass. Might have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but it was still freaky! Congrats to you Kell and Bobbly, and Chesil, what exactly is a 'gromit?' I hope you all have a lovely week!

I watched one of my all-time favorite films over the weekend, The Secret of Roan Inish. I'm not sure why, but this is the only John Sayles film I've seen. I need to make a point to watch others! I also watched Circle of Friends. An inferior version of the book, but I still think Minnie Driver played a perfect Benny.

Happy Summer, you guys! Good luck with your migraine method testing, Chalie! I hope it goes well. I had a really nice weekend up at the cabin, and the weather was perfection. We cleaned everything in anticipation of my family coming for vacation, and yesterday morning had breakfast with our neighbors who filled us in on their recent river cruise through Germany. This week will be a short one, since we are off work for Independence Day (aka the 4th of July). We're headed downtown again to watch the fireworks over the Mississippi River, so here's hoping for decent weather! Have a wonderful week, Everyone

I'm sorry to hear about your car accident, Pontalba, but am glad you guys are okay! Hopefully the person who rear-ended you had insurance? I remember when a guy hit me once and I showed him the crack and paint on my back bumper that he caused, he told me that those marks were probably already there! There's nothing you can do but laugh at some people I've been super busy lately, and working a lot of overtime to save up for my major car repairs I hope to have in August. Good news is that I only have 1 bill left to pay on my emergency surgery I had last April - yes! We had very bad storms here in the midwest this past weekend and we are still under a flood warning. Friday night was so scary because the wind got up to about 70 miles an hour and our neighboorhood lost so many trees A beautiful flowering crab tree we had just snapped off at the base and we lost a good chunk of a weeping will behind the house. I hate seeing those big trees go down!

Great photos, Muggle! I've never been to Florida but if/when I go I would love to stay where you stayed! Congrats on your almost-finished thesis, Athena! Typical work week for me going on. Our annual canoe races are happening here at work today and luckily I'm not one of the contestants since I would surely lose! I'm taking the day off on Friday so the weather holds up we'll be going up to the cabin for the weekend. Oh, I booked my left wrist carpal tunnel surgery for September, so that's exciting

Welcome to BCF, Andrew! I'm your neighbor just to the north .

Hello and welcome, Stocko! Glad to have you as part of BCF .

Yes, photos are a must, Chalie! It's been a long and rainy week here in the midwest. Hopefully it'll brighten up enough on the weekend so I can fire up the grill! I don't have many plans other than going to a classic car show tomorrow night with a couple friends of mine. I also registered for the 'Monster Dash' in October, so I'm excited about that. It's a 5k run/walk and figure it'll be good motivation for me to get off my you-know-what and start walking and running more! I hope everyone has a great weekend .

Niether have I, although I think I've only had to do it maybe twice in my life. Never have I ever broken a record album.

Hey there and welcome, Verna! Glad you've joined us . I think lilacs have the best smell ever. They're out all around here and I love them!

How cool, Chesil! Hopefully it'll make it's way to BBC America sometime soon after so I can see it. I didn't know about her new upcoming book, either, so thanks for that. Looking forward to it!

Mr. Olson was definitely the only wise one of the bunch! It was clear that Mrs. Olson passed on her 'loveliness' to Nellie and Willie Kidsmum, the inside of the cabin was very cute. It had a large fireplace on the one end by the front door, and in the middle of the room was a big table with benches on either side. On the end of the cabin opposite the fireplace was an enclosed kitchen area and Ma and Pa's bedroom. There was a loft above those two rooms which is where I presume Laura and Mary slept . I like the idea of doing things on certain days too, Kell. It must have been the only way they could get things done without killing themselves! Life must have felt very empowering to them, knowing they and other families in the area were the first residents and everything they did they did to sustain themselves and survive. Of course there were a lot of people who didn't make it and had to go back east or worst, didn't live through the winter.

Hey there and welcome to BCF, Joey!

So far so good, Chalie! I'll keep you posted. I was looking through a summer book list in the local paper this morning, and a review caught my eye of Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson. It's an historical mystery (my favorite kind), and I think I might pick it up. Has anyone else read it?

1. Who was your favourite character and why? I'm not sure I had one favorite character - really the whole family I loved reading about. The story of the midwest pioneers is just so fascinating to me that I just ate it all up 2. Was there a particular part you enjoyed/disliked more than the rest? Any time the family or Pa had to do something from 'scratch' I loved. I mean, they had to do everything. Dig for water, build a house, sew clothing, you name it. There wasn't anything that I disliked about the book. 'Whipping' was very much something that happened back at that time so it didn't seem to bother me when it happened. I'll admit I was spanked on more than one occasion as a child in the 70's but that's because I could be a pretty obnoxious kid if I wanted to be! 3. Was this the first book you've read in this genre/by this author, has it encouraged you to read more? I've read all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books before - once in high school and again last year. I'm sure I'll re-read some of them again in the future. 4. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? No, I enjoyed everything 5. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Very enjoyable, and if it were up to me I'd make it part of our school's curriculum! I think that it's important for kids to read about the founding of one's country and that 'pioneer spirit' that our ancestors had, especially here in the US. I hope this is okay, but I visited the site of the 'Little House in the Big Woods' last summer and I wanted to post a picture of it. Obviously most of the trees on the site have been cleared away to make room for crops and this is not the original cabin the Ingalls' family lived in, but it's a replica of what Pa built

I saw Star Trek: Into Darkness last weekend and last night I watched The Sessions. Both excellent!

I finished Before the Poison just before it was time for June! While I enjoyed it, in later parts of the book I was looking for a little more 'suspense' that it seemed to start out with. It was very interesting, though, going back to the 40's and reading the diary of the accused murderess who was a Queen Alexandra's Royal Army nurse, then reading about a man in 2010 trying to clear her name. I started Generation Dead by Daniel Waters yesterday, which will be my June read. Although at the rate I'm going I'll probably be finished before the month is out. Watch, I just jinxed myself...

I volunteered at the Humane Society for Animals for a couple years in high school, Frankie. I loved walking the dogs and playing with the cats. In college I helped out at a local food shelf and here at work we rake leaves for the elderly every autumn . I always thought that volunteering with the elderly would be really rewarding. There is a group here who goes out and reads to people at the assisted living homes or they even bring dogs in to interact with of the residents.

RisingDawn, I'm sure it was 20 tornadoes in one day. Those states in the midwest experience that pretty regularly during the summer months. Usually they aren't so massively destructive though! I was watching some videos last night and all you can see is debris. It's like someone took a giantic mixer and just churned up everything in it's path, which was over a mile wide I heard. Luckily though, they reduced the number of casualties since yesterday, which is amazing. Good luck on your interview, btw!

Last weekend at the cabin was so nice and relaxing. We drove past the spot of the 'ice tsunami' and it looked like nothing had ever happened. You're staying overnight in DC I hope, Muggle! Do you at least get to do anything fun while you're there? A museum, perhaps? My heart is hurting for those affected in the past few days by the horrible tornadoes. We had bad weather being on the tip of the storm system but it's a drop in the bucket compared to all the destruction happening down in Kansas and especially Oklahoma . Last count I heard this morning is that 51 people have died and almost half of those are children. The tornado destroyed two schools and a hospital in addition to all the other homes and businesses. All my thoughts and prayers are going out to them and if I could hop in my car and drive down to help them recover I would.

It's usually about 10 degrees cooler up there (about 150 miles) than it is down here in the Twin Cities, Muggle. So, 60s and some 70s mostly. Apparently the last of the ice just left our lake only 1 week ago! What a crazy spring. This past weekend was the fishing opener and it was quite the chilly one!

Yep, Pontalba, that's MN for you! I'm driving past the very same place in this video when I go to the cabin later this week. I'm kind of a little freaked out! (null)

Welcome, Many8! Glad you found us

I miss Spaced too, Kat! If we could at least get a reunion episode to catch up on everyone that would be great!

Lubee Bi Laham over rice. I'll let you guys Google it .