How to Spend a Hot Day

Hello. I am back today with another post for  the When It's Hot challenge at Art Journal Journey. So what is a good thing to do on a hot day?

Maybe not sitting on a mushroom, but certainly a good book helps to pass the time. And maybe even makes your eyes a bit heavy and helps  you to doze off for a nap too, even if it's a good story. 

My background is made with 3 colors watercolor crayons and 2 different stamps. The main image of the boy on the mushroom is an old LaBlanche stamp from my stash. The beauty of reorganizing is I have found some fun stamps that have been sitting unused in bins for awhile. A little coloring, some stickers and finally a tab that seemed just right for this page.

And it is time to do my monthly  reading update for anyone who is interested. This is how I am keeping track of my reading, and June was a pretty good reading month.

It started with this oldie from the early 1960's (I think 1962).  I was reading a list of the top books for each year, and this one was listed. It sounded pretty good and relatively light reading, a mystery with bit of romance set in Crete. I did enjoy it, and even though it was from the early 1960's I love the independent and strong minded female leading character.

And it is really nothing like the Disney film by the same title with Hayley Mills which I watched after finishing the book.

And then it was onto another older mystery, this one from the 1990's

This one's main character is Anna Pigeon, a US National Park Service ranger. I also enjoyed this series, which I can't believe I haven't ever read before. There's a whole collection of these set at different parks, so I think I need to read a few more.

This is book 2 is another series. The premise of this series is that there are Gods (like the ones from Greece, Rome, Norse and Celtic) still on earth fighting the daimons of New Orleans. I like that part of the story. And there is also the beautiful young girl one of them falls in love with, which is a bit too romance for me. But I have to say it is light fun reading, and this one (book 2) I liked this one much better than book 1. I guess you have to just be in the mood for an easy and light read, but I will probably read another some other time when I want a bit of  fantasy escape.

I listened to Jungles of Stone, which was a very good book. However, I think the title was deceiving, as the book was more about these 2 men and life in Central America than the Mayan discoveries. However, since I knew nothing about Central American history nor the discovery of the Mayan temples I did enjoy the listen. There is always so much to learn, isn't there?

So once I finished listening  to Jungles of Stone , I decided to listen to another Latin American book. Love in the Time of Cholera came out in the 1980's, and I read it then, and I loved it. I also enjoyed it this time around too. I have to say I remember some images from the book, and the gist of the story, but not all the details of the story. It is a wonderful piece of literature about first love and love later in life.

And then I went on to book 6 from the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, which enjoyable and so much better than book 5.  

And right now I am listening to book 2 of the the Mayfair witches trilogy by Anne Rice. I've read the first book 3 times, including last summer , but have never read any other book in the series. This one is 28 hours long, and I am not too far into it, so let's hope I enjoy it because it is a bit commitment.  (But the first book, The Witching Hour, was also long to read, and I looked it up and that book was a 50 hour listen. Only I read my paper copy.)

And finally, I am also back to rereading  some of the earlier Louise Penny books. This is book 4 and another excellent mystery set in Quebec, Canada. I wasn't going to reread this one because I thought I remembered it, but since it's been years, I realized I didn't remember that much of it, and I really enjoyed another read through it.

And if you stop by on a regular basis, you might know I've been playing with dyeing plant images on paper. Here's a few books I've read/reread recently to learn and refresh my skills.

This top book (Eco-dyed Art Journals) is very useful with instructions. Eco-color is a wonderful book of inspiration and nice glossy photos. 

And Wild Color is a super book with lots plant dyeing info also. 

If you read, I hope June was a good month for you. 

And I appreciate you stopping by to visit.