1) People may not have been able to go to Washington, DC to see the cherry blossoms, but we had a tree in front of our apartment building that was in full bloom this week. It really stood out on the streets of New York.
2) Easter was this past Sunday, and although we couldn't have our family together, we did manage to eat dinner at the same time over Zoom. One family made steak, one had Mississippi pot roast, and I made our traditional lamb. The scalloped potatoes turned out very tasty, as did the ambrosia salad and broccoli salad. We didn't even have room for dessert. We had a wonderful time!
3) With bookstores closed, I have been trying to help by purchasing a book a week from a different local independent bookstore to send to people as a small way to help out. So far I have sent out Adrienne Martini's memoir Someone's Gotta Do It, her memoir about running for office in her small town in upstate New York in Otsego County from Astoria Bookshop, Andy Greene's The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, from Books Are Magic, and I preordered Curtis Sittenfeld's upcoming novel, Rodham, a fictionalized account of what if Hillary Clinton didn't marry Bill Clinton from Bookmarks Shoppe. Her book, American Wife, was a wonderful novel based on the life of Laura Bush.
4) Speaking of married women, this week my TV watching was all about the Mrs. I started season three of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, and it is so good to catch up with Miriam and her manager Susie, played by the fabulous Emmy winner Alex Borstein. The supporting cast is also so great, and I think I'm going to like the storyline about Joel opening up a club above an illegal gambling operation in Chinatown.
The other show I've been watching is Mrs. America on FX on Hulu, about the efforts of Phyllis Schlafly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. Cate Blanchett is riveting as Schlafly, and next week we will see the characters of Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), Betty Freidan (Tracey Ullman), Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale) and Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba). This one is must-see TV.
3) I read two books this week- Robyn Carr's novel, Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, about two sisters who have to face new lives after their mom dies and a marriage falls apart. My review is here.
The other book is Elizabeth Wetmore's Valentine, which is this month's Read With Jenna pick from the Today Show. Set in 1976 in hardscrabble Odessa, Texas, it reveals how the aftermath of a vicious assault of a 14 year-old Mexican girl affects the women in the town. The characters are so compelling, and the writing is brilliant. My review will follow next week.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stay home.
I've ordered from both of your local indie bookstores. I bought a book from one and a puzzle from the other. We've been trying to be even more mindful of where we spend our money right now.
ReplyDeleteValentine sounds like something I'd enjoy. I'll have to pick it up soon.