JR’s List Item #28 – (May report) Listen to at least three audio books a month until my 60th birthday.

May listening selections:

• Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer:  Great job, Mr. Archer!  Because this was a Jeffrey Archer novel, I purchased the audio.  Before the story even starts, Archer breaks your heart.  He then goes on to tell an compeling story of the short life and unexplained death of George Mallory, a mountaineer whose ultimate quest was to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.  This was a wonderful read made all the more enjoyable upon discovering (via the internet) the real George Herbert Leigh-Mallory.  I also want to give kudos to narrator, Roger Allam, who also narrated Prisoner of Birth.  Read it or listen to it, but don't pass it up.  Fantastic!
• The Collectors by David Baldacci:  I admire authors who can create characters that you come to love, wish you knew, and anguish every minute of a suspenseful story that something is going to happen to one of them.  David Baldacci is one of those authors and the Camel Club members are just such characters.  I loved his first book, The Camel Club.  As a second in the series, The Collectors did not disappoint.
• Divine Justice by David Baldacci:  I was a little worried at the end of Stone Cold about the fate of the Camel Club, so I immediately went in search of a fourth book.   Like the previous books in the Camel Club series, Divine Justice was a great story.  I am ready for the next one.

CEA's progress report #11

Item #35. Finish filling the "Secret Garden" bed with gravel.
Did it!  Youngest brother was here today with a tractor, and he scooped up several loads of gravel and dropped them in the bed.  The "Secret Garden" is a shaded triangular area, approximately 9 x 17 feet, on the northeast corner of the house where only a few scraggly weeds grow.  I cleaned out the area, bordered it with large rocks, lined it with a grey weed cloth, and started filling it in with gravel, but shoveling the gravel, carting it, and unloading the cart was quite labor intensive for me.  Thanks to brother, the job was finished in less than 10 minutes! The Secret Garden will be a good place to move my pots of ferns when the temperatures rise. 

CEA's progress report #10

Item #47. Order book boxes from Amazon (through the Golden Girls website) every other month with a mixture of topics (fiction, organizing, decorating, poetry, memoir): April-June-August-October.
I was a bit busy in April and forgot to order my book box, so my April box didn't arrive until mid-May.  I ordered Carolyne Roehm's book on gift wrapping, the new Ladies Number One Detective series entry, a book on caring for elderly parents, Organizing Your Home by Emily Wilska, and the Duchess of Devonshire's "walk" through the gardens of Chatsworth.

CEA's progress report #9

Item #16:  Get my windshield repaired.
Did it!  After I-don't-know-how-many months of watching the crack spread across my windshield, I was finally able to get to the city to have the windshield repaired just before the crack reached the right edge.   My mother stayed with one of my sisters for the day, and I met Janet at the repair shop.  While the work was being done, we went out to lunch and to a matinee of "Ironman 2."  An excellent outing!