Good Stuff, Vol. 2

reading, eating, watching + a little story for you

Hi friends!

We’re settling into a new rhythm around here… it might be fall the Starbucks menu, but we’re in the midst of a heat wave that makes it very much still feel like summer and beach weather.

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🏡. At Home with the Bennetts…

📖. What We’re Reading

• Gigi (17)— All the Light We Cannot See

• Brody (14)— still making his way through Eldest (reread), with a couple new reads on the horizon

• Hallee (13)— The Call of the Wild (reluctantly, for school), just started Olivetti

• David— Arnie and Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry (which he picked up after our son read it)

• Me!— See all my current reads here on StoryGraph (though a couple of these are on hold while I wait for library holds to return— still waiting for a StoryGraph feature to be able to pause reads when this happens; I’ve been told it’s coming eventually!)

🥰. What We’re Eating/Loving/Watching/Doing

• I had book club last night for the book Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano— not my usual cup of tea but I liked it more than I expected to, especially after a great discussion

• Pulled out an old favorite for dinner last week: egg roll in a bowl, and this week made an easy Instant Pot crowd-pleaser (Crack Chicken Pasta) that I need to remember to keep in regular rotation:

• Tonight we’re off to the local Greek festival which means delicious food and feeling reconnected to my late Yaya for a couple of hours ❤️

• We recently enjoyed family movie nights watching the classics, The Karate Kid 1 & 2… do you checkout movies from the library? I love still having a Blu-ray player and being able to source movies that aren’t streaming on platforms we have… for free!

• David and I watched The Instigators on Apple TV+ which was a fun and funny romp. (I’ve always loved Matt Damon.)

📚. In the Library

We’re officially in the swing of things with class visits and book checkout. This week I read Mr. S to 1st and 2nd graders, and The First Week of School to the one 3rd grade class I read to (both are delightful and weird). I also met with my new 5th grade book clubs for the first time and we discussed genres and book tracking. They are enthusiastic readers and I’m so excited to get to know them and read with them.

👩‍💻. On Substack

A couple of saved posts from my inbox recently:

America's Best Home Cook

What Did I Do on My Summer Vacation? I Read a Pile of Books

🤓. At My Writing Desk

After a very long hiatus, I decided to dip back into writing some flash fiction. My friend

Emily Barnett

has a challenge called Flash Fiction Magic that I participated in a bit long ago, and I’ve decided to try again. This week’s prompt was Denim & Dragons. Here’s my little story!

“Read us a story about dragons! Please!” said the little boy in the dark blue jeans and unscuffed checkered shoes, as he tried to hide a stuffy in his lap.

Even if she had recognized his face, the librarian would have been able to tell by his request that the adorable well-dressed child had never been to this story time hour before. If he had, he definitely wouldn’t be asking for dragons on a day that was already supposed to bring record heat.

She smiled serenely at the boy before casting a knowing glance to the parents in the back of the room who came faithfully to her Saturday morning story hour. Through the open windows she could feel the day warming up, and she knew she needed to start reading soon.

“We usually save the dragon stories for winter,” she explained, easily noting which mom the new boy belonged to, thanks to her confused, unfamiliar face and her chic style. The librarian rolled on forward despite the presence of newcomers. They’d figure things out soon enough. “We wouldn’t want to read about fire-breathing creatures in this library, on a day this hot, now would we, children?”

The other kids laughed at the obvious answer. “No way,” said a savvy second-grade regular, “there’s already a high fire hazard warning in town.”

“That’s right,” the librarian said. “We always try to do our part in this particular library.”

The mayor, who brought his granddaughter to story time every Saturday nodded sagely.

“Today, I picked out a book to read which should help you feel a little more comfortable in your snazzy denim pants, young man.”

She pulled out the worn book and showed the cover, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and as she did, they all felt a crisp, cool breeze that ruffled the curtains on its way inside the library.

The mayor breathed a sigh of relief, the new mom’s eyebrows shot up, and as the librarian started reading, the boy in the jeans shivered a bit. Smiling contentedly, he listened to the story with rapt attention while snuggling a small stuffed dragon.

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Thanks for reading. I’d love to know what you’re reading/watching/eating/enjoying!

xo,

Nicole

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