Things just got away from us in May so we have decided to use June as a month to wrap things up by finishing U V W X Y and Z all in one month, after which we will come up with some new rules for our next round of A-Z and the ABC Life.

Reading Challenges

We did U and V reading challenges and, in addition, forgot to post our completed T reading challenge so we will list the three of them now.

T: Watch a book made into a film or television series.

We were able to do this with books written by Harlan Coben. Actually, there are at least 6 Netflix series based on his books and we loved them because each episode ended with an OMG moment that made us want to go to the next one. We think there are still a couple of series we haven’t seen and we will be sad when they’re gone.

V: Visit a new-to-you library. Wander the stacks. Attend one of their programs. 

We had never explored the Allen Library so this was the time to do it. This library is actually quite big, and aside from literary programs, they also have an auditorium in which they hold performances and lectures. The one we attended was OnStage @ APL: Brasuka. This was described as “Let Brazilian Fusion group Brasuka take you on a musically diverse journey! From samba to reggae, jazz fusion to funk, fiery frevo to tender ballads, this world music ensemble explores multiple Brazilian rhythms and stories.” Having been to Brazil (one of our all-time favorite trips together) this performance hit the mark. It reminded us of our experience at a Samba school in Rio de Janeiro. How nice to find something like this at a library! We will definitely search Allen’s schedule each month. Thank you, ABC Life!

U: Undertake reading a sequel to a book you enjoyed.

Barbara: I had the book Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee on my bookshelf for several years and figured this was the perfect opportunity to pick it up and read it. Having loved To Kill a Mockingbird  I was highly anticipating a great read but unfortunately “you can’t go home again.” There was something lacking in this book and it almost felt like Ms. Lee had not written it. I hate to admit this but I had to put it down before the end.

New restaurant: Jeff’s Vegan

As hard as it would be for us to be vegetarians, eating Vegan style is a step harder. Laura had experience with that when her daughter was younger and went through a period of eating vegan. So, we were skeptical about going to a vegan restaurant. What a surprise! The food at Jeff’s Vegan was wonderful. We tried the Passion Balls which were crispy protein balls with a sweet and sour sauce. They were quite good, and one portion is definitely enough for two. But the star of our lunch was the Health Burger, one of the best non-meat burgers we’ve ever had. If that was what we had to live on we might just be able to live a vegan life. (Of course, we’re writing this as we have lunch at Liberty Burger so what does that say about our will power!)

New Movie: My Father’s Violin

Barbara: I’ve got season tickets to a chamber music group and had planned to go to the last performance of the season, featuring the violin. How upset was I that I had written the date down incorrectly and we were a week late for the concert. So home we went and to make up for it slightly we put on “My Father’s Violin.” This Turkish film did have some nice violin woven through the film but the film itself was, in my opinion, trite with very amateur acting so the evening as a whole was quite disappointing. I’ll have to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on my Spotify all week to make up for it. Not a bad punishment at all.