Fave pic 
The librarian at Gage’s school is retiring (and moving to Hawaii, lucky duck) so Gage had quite a few assignments that were aimed at her retirement. For his art assignment he made these to book covers. She always rewarded the kids with parties – but they had to earn them. She went all out and the kids will definitely miss her in the fall.
Highlights Gage finished all of his 3rd grade schoolwork today so I’m officially calling him a 4th grader. I can’t believe it. I have loved being his pseudo teacher these last few months.
We had a drive by birthday party for a classmate of Gage and we even got a little family time at Lake Erie. Even ordered takeout from Gage’s favorite restaurant, Aladdin’s Eatery. It almost felt like a normal Sunday.
Some have struggled with the pandemic lock down and I almost feel guilty for enjoying this extra time with my son and husband so much. Gage is nine and it’s such a wonderful age. He still loves his parents, listens most of the time, and still loves to cuddle. I am soaking in every moment. And Jason and I are still speaking, laughing and cuddling too. I’m a lucky woman.
On the downside Gage always had lots of time at summer camps. This year before everything shut down I had only signed him up for two weeks, one of them cancelled but will be doing online stuff with the kids. The other is still happening but Gage will not be going. It was chaos every year and there is no way that the Science Center will be able to keep the kids as separated from each other and the public as I would need to feel comfortable. So, I found some online places that do interactive camps and have signed him up for a few and hope to find more. We’ll be venturing out into nature this summer and having some outdoor play dates, but we’re keeping this summer low key. Hopefully, the fall will look better, but given the COVID numbers that have started to climb back up since everything started opening this month, I don’t have a lot of confidence.
Finished reading 
read this for book club (we had a fun Zoom meeting on Wednesday) and I’ll have my review posted Monday. I really liked it. 
Gage read this and wanted me to read it too. I loved Megabat! 
I posted my review of this cool chapbook here.
Currently reading 
Currently listening 
In the mail 
Movies 
This will mess with your mind.
Watching We’ve watched some of Bosch season 2 and a few episodes of Travelers season 2.
New recipe a day challenge I made my first coffee cake and my first pot roast!
Plans for the weekend Nothing special planned. Jason is playing tennis for the first time in many months so we’ll see how that goes.
What’s going on in your neck of the woods?
Stacy's Books 
It makes me so happy that you’ve embraced this strange time and come to love it. We’re staying low key here as well – we had our highest number for the month of May yesterday which makes me think we opened too soon.
It’s so much fun when your kid urges you to read a book!!
Yes, our numbers will continue to climb, just in time for Jason to go back to work 😦
Our numbers have risen from 2 active cases a week ago to 11 active cases today. It’s not surprising to me, given how many things have opened around here. We plan to continue to stay at home as much as possible. I am glad you have been able to find ways to enjoy this time with your husband and son.
And you liked Starless Sea. Wonderful. I am eager to see your review.
It’s tricky trying to figure out the summer for your son, I bet. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to try to keep kids apart. I just know I miss people so much.
Our ICU capacity is 70% full, the highest since this started. We’e not changing a lot right now, The Starless Sea generated great discussion and not everyone liked it. It’s going to be a hard one to write about so I’m letting it sit for a few days 🙂
It’s so great that Gage “still loves his parents.” LOL I wonder if/when it will change. I know for girls, adolescence sometimes makes a change. I’m glad that whatever happens in the future, you have this fun happy time for now!
Maybe I should have said still wants to spend time with his parents, haha.
Actually, I’ve been enjoying the peaceful quiet time at home. I’ve been reading, watching movies, blogging, working on my cookbook, etc. Being retired, it’s given me lots of time for me- I am doing more cooking out of necessity, but me and my husband are enjoying the variety of the meals I’m making. In my area the camps won’t be opening this summer, nor the community pool. I am going to do a camp at Grandmas 1 or 2 days a week for the Grand daughter ages 12 and 8- I’m already collecting projects to do!
Grandma Camp sounds perfect! My son just had 4 hours at Grandma’s house today. Jason and Gage have definitely loved my new recipe a day challenge, but I do miss eating out.
I’m glad you’ve had such a positive experience the past few months. Gage is growing up so quickly! I wonder if schools will attempt to open in the Fall. No definitive answers in my area yet. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to visit my mom at her memory care residence – other than the window visits that have become the norm. That’s the dark cloud for me. Well, more for her. People with dementia/Alzheimer’s need hugs, etc from people they know.
I love the book covers!!
Mary, I feel so badly for what this pandemic has done to the people in care homes and even to the single people living alone. And of course the people living in dangerous situations. The list goes on. That’s why evey day I feel extra grateful for my situation. I hope that you can hug your mother soon.
I don’t know what the schools are going to do and what we’ll choose to do. So much depends on what happens the next few months. Hopefully the sun will indeed kill the virus 😉
My kids all go back to school full time tomorrow, I’m not thrilled about it but to be fair our new case numbers are in the single digits so the risks are reasonable. Its going to be strange to have an empty house for the first time in over two months though!
Wishing you a great reading week.
An empty house will be strange for sure! I think single digits is a good place to be . We’re still so far from that here. Our local ICUs are at 70% and we haven’t opening everything back up yet.
I haven’t started thinking about summer camps for my daughter. I’d like to throw some extras in but she’s not big into online stuff so I’m not sure what I’ll find. We’ll see.
I’m not very happy about how much of the state has opened up. On the one hand, I’m glad they are not closed anymore but on the other hand, not enough precautions are being taken.
I think we did all the rights things early on and once May hit DeWine gave up 😦 If everyone would be responsible maybe we could all get back to some form of normal earlier, but there’s a large group ruining it for everyone else 😦
Every once in a while, the ending to Enemy pops into my head…
lol!! Unfortunately, that last scene will probably pop into my head for year to come 🙂
Congrats to Gage for being a 4th grader now! And to you, Stacy, who have embraced being his teacher. Hope you guys have a wonderful summer with lots of new adventures!
Lovely picture and congratulations to Gage and his promotion to a new grade. My daughter has loved being home with her 2 girls 6 & 8 as well and her 6 year old never wants to go back to school – mama’s a great teacher it seems in her eyes. The 8 year old misses her friends. We have no idea what the new school year will be like.
Take care Stacy.
I love that photo! I wish the best to the librarian. She sounds awesome. Congratulations to Gage on being a 4th grader now! Our last day of school was this past Friday–I am not sure who is more relieved, Mouse or me. I hope you have a great week and enjoy your reading and time with your family!
We’ve mostly been staying home. The lockdown really hasn’t been a hardship for us, but I’ll be happy if/when things get back to normal.
Have a great week!
Congrats to Gage for being a 4th grader now! Also I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on The Starless Sea … as I think people either loved or disliked it … it seems it got mixed reviews. But I’m still open to it. Enjoy your week.
Yay to Gage being a 4th grader! We’re keeping things low-key this year too. The one camp I signed Gabe up for canceled. Which I’m glad cuz I would not have felt comfortable sending him up since it was overnight for almost a week. So they are doing it virtually now and I’m waiting to see how it all goes. If he ends up enjoying the online camps, I will find more for him for the summer.
Enemy. I liked that one but it was different and mind-bending. I saw The Invisible Man this last weekend and it was really good. I hope we get more thrillers like that out this summer for on-demand consumption!
I hope you have a great weekend!