Another week of work is ahead - the last before vacation. Should be very quick and then peace and bliss for a few weeks of getaway time.
Life has been good this summer. I'm enjoying the beautiful summer fruit and veggies and finding new recipes to use them in. Trying to find just the right dishes to make that don't involve the oven or any heat. Mostly things that I can make that are on top of the stove or just assembled. No soups or stews - that's for fall.
Of course all my get-together groups are on summer break so there are very few social opportunities in these hot summer days. A few things going on but not too much. Everything will be starting again in the fall.
This is also the time that I am getting caught up on the television shows that have been hanging around since last February/March. My husband has been very patient with me as the capacity on our satellite box stays very high. The problem is he doesn't want to watch my shows so I have to see them when he is outside or gone for awhile. That is not very often as he is now retired and always at home (or so it seems). Saw a few episodes of my saved "Tudors." Could not bear to watch the one about the Pilgrimage of Grace (that's why its been on there for so long!)because I knew that it was going to be bloody. Kings did not tolerate too much (or any) dissent in those days. So I watched it and although horrendous, the depiction wasn't too bad. Some of the previous episodes have been very graphic and kind of hard to take for tender-hearted me. I love this period in history but it definitely was brutal. Seeing it depicted is alot different than reading about it in a book!
That reminds me - I have been listening to a particularly interesting podcast lately at work. The days are quiet and it is the time to listen to your Nano, which cannot be done during the year. I am hooked on Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History." I like it because he freely admits that he is not an historian. This gives him the freedom to say some pretty amazing things about historical events. For instance, he is convinced that lots of people suffered from post-traumatic stress after some of the horrendous battles of history. His hypothesis is that this was pre-gunpowder days, so battle was very close and pretty much hand-to-hand. So he is fitting a 21st century psychological concept into an ancient era. And he uses powerful and convincing examples to illustrate his points. Interesting and thought-provoking.
Or his idea that some of the great figures of history, such as Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, Stalin and Hitler were either raging alcoholics or drug addicted. Many know that Churchill liked to drink, but I did not know that he started drinking at breakfast (having a daily whiskey and soda with his first meal of the day) and continued drinking all day. Some of the notes made by his aides in the margins of his directives even mention the fact that he must have been "tight" when he wrote this or that. This idea of Carlin's really throws a different light on why certain events happened. He asks, "Would history have been different if this person hadn't been drunk during this time when he was making these decisions?" These are things I have never read or thought about and they are really fascinating. I really recommend his podcast to anyone who, like me enjoys a different slant on history. He is well-researched and very well written and presented. (Available free on ITunes.)
These are some of the things that I am enjoying this summer along with small trips, concerts, museum visits, arts and crafts classes, and other wonderful things that usually happen in the summer!
