Saint Mazie

 I had a long list of books I wanted to read this summer and this book kept popping up on Must Read List of 2015. Saint Mazie is a roaring 20's good time girl with a heart of gold. This book is written as a diary of a common person who was known as the Queen of the Bowery. Mazie loves the bums, dirt and grim that make up New York City. She sits in her cage, the ticket booth at the Venice movie, watching life go by. I really liked the format of journal entries. I didn't want this book to end.

The Book of Speculation

I picked this novel merely for the cover. However the story had enough mystery to keep me reading to the last page. If you like carnival stories with tarot cards and curses you'll enjoy this book.  It reminds me of Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. 

Everest Vacation Bible School

 This year our church's VBS theme was Everest. It was fun to come up with snowy ideas during the summer heat. I did snacks again for VBS. The first day I kept it super simple with trail mix. Day 2 was a yogurt parfait. I used strawberry yogurt, crushed graham crackers and blueberries on top. It looked real messy in the cups but the kids loved it. It was also the messiest snack to clean up.

 This snack was very simple and a real crowd pleaser. 

We used cookie cutters to make quesadilla hearts and snowflakes. This was the most labor intense of all the snacks. 

This was our final snack of the week. The day before we made the cups because it is time consuming. It is a simple craft as long as you have sharpie pens and ribbon. We used an air popper to make the popcorn. It smelled so good! I put Teddy Grahams on top of the snowmen because a bear, Yeti, is the mascot for Friday. We served it with grapes on the side.

Maine a novel

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan is about 3 generations of women. It focuses most on Mother/Daughter relationships. The reviews on the back of the book leads you to believe this novel is a comedy but really it's a sad story of 4 lonely women trying to find their place in life. The one thing that kept me reading is each woman is a circumstance of their own time. Things that were taboo in 1951 you wouldn't blink an eye at in present day. J. Courtney Sullivan is a great at interwoven storytelling however I prefer her novel The Engagements.