Pooling

May 5, 2011 at 5:22 AM (Honey, Muggins Q. Mouse, Trips)

There were 2 pools to choose from at the condo where we stayed.The main pool, where they had a library with internet service, and a smaller one that we could walk to. It was also much less crowded. We probably visited both equally.

It was in the 90s every day. Some days, there were pretty fluffy clouds, and some days the sun beat down mercilessly. We ended up in the pool. A lot. It was probably where we had our most fun conversations.

Mousey did this last year too. She wanted a tan tattoo.  Last summer she had a dragonfly on her tummy, this year she wanted one that others would see. We used a foam sticker from Michael’s, but it lost it’s stickiness after one dunk in the pool. She went to the dollar store and bought some eyelash glue and that stayed on real good. REAL good. She probably still has some eyelash glue on her shoulder somewhere.

This was the little, quiet, pool.

We spent the other half of the time at the bigger, more populated pool. Where it seemed like too many people smoked. You would think in all of that fresh air, the smoke would disperse quickly. We are evidently smoke magnets.

One of our many conversations centered around the numbers on suntan lotion bottles. SPF, UVA and UVB protection. Our Coppertone lotion and our Banana Boat spray oil were both level 8. We thought they should change the formula so that when you used it and sat out in the sun, that’s how many POUNDS you lost! If that had been the case, I would have went STRAIGHT for the 30!!!!!

I read many books this trip.

First up was Safely Home by Randy Alcorn, loaned to me by Jip the Farm Dog. OH.MY.WORD. This book was about a subject that I knew nothing about. The persecuted church in China. It was so good and it helped me to know how to better pray for these men and women who sometimes give their lives to spread the gospel. A very convicting book. Especially in our comfortable, free, country.

Next up was The Good Nearby by Nancy Moser. I liked most of her characters, and she had a good story line, but I think I have read her before and was left a little unsatisfied at the end then too. I’m not quite sure why. Mostly good though.

Third was June Bug by Chris Fabry. I liked a lot about this book, but once again, it seemed to lose it’s luster at the end. There were some unbelievably mean people here and some really good hearts.

Fourth was Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay. I always like to read about WW2 stories and Jewish Holocaust survival stories. This was a hard survival story. It also intertwined with present time by getting into the life of the journalist who was researching the anniversary of the 1942 roundup of Jews at the Vél’ d’Hiv’ by the French police. I like history, and have heard many stories, but I had never heard anything about this. I guess because it is such a dark spot in France’s history, they tried to sweep it under the rug. Of the two stories, I liked Sarah’s the best, even though it was heartbreaking. The journalist, Julia, seemed to be very dumb with what she put up with in her personal life so I never really sympathized with her situation. I was just more relieved when she did the right thing. I would recommend this book.

Next was Happily Ever After by Susan May Warren. It was fine. A little pedestrian, but fine.

I finished reading Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser last night. Since I like history, I thought I would really like this fictionalized account of the true events in George and Martha Washington’s life. I did like it some, but it dragged on in the end, and I was ever so glad to be finished with it. She went into minute detail of some things and then breezed over things, things like 1776!

All told, I guess 3 out of 6 isn’t a terrible ratio.

Mousey read one book that I kind of made her read. She said she didn’t want to read a book, but I told her that she might need something on the plane, or at night when she went to bed. She read Hidden Places by Lynn Austin, whose writing I like a great deal. This book was one of my favorites by her. Don’t watch the Hallmark movie about it though, it was HORRID! At one point, while at the pool, she came to me crying and asked what was going to happen. I told her that things get bad, but don’t worry, it ends well!!! She finished it on the plane home and she agreed, it ended well!

Back to the pooling. After the long, cold, snowy winter we had, it was delicious to be warm in the sun, relaxing under palm trees, and swimming in a wonderful pool!!

Tomorrow, we go back to the beach! Because I hardly took any other pictures!