August Wrap-up

FINALLY. Summer is almost over. (Yes, I had fun during the summer. But I'm SO ready for cool weather again! And Fall, and all the books I will feel like reading again! (That I might not be able to because I'm doing World Literature this year! Which entails lots of Tolstoy and Hugo! But we're not going to talk about that!)) Anywho: here's what my August was like:

Blog

My posts:
Review: "One Bad Apple" by Rachel Kovaciny
Good, Better, Best: Summer Books
Review: "The Silence Between Us" by Alison Gervais
Jem Jones Linkup: Quirk #3
Review: "Ships, Secrets, and Survivors" by Sarah Rodecker and Helena George
In Defense of Rereading
Review: "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Tag: The Original Outstanding Blogger Award (times four)

Fun Things Around the Blogosphere:
Lia and Catherine had a photoshoot and took lovely author photos!
Lia published her poetry collegection!
And Sarah and Helena published their book! 
Hamlette announced the 8th annual Tolkien Blog Party! 
Megan had an excellent post on Shakespeare's 5-act structure!

Books

(Of course, an asterisk is a reread, and feel free to ask my opinions on anything!)

Not Fade Away by Rebecca Alexander
*The Hidden Boy by Jon Berkeley
The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub
*When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Birth, Uninterrupted by Savanna Thatcher
Hoax For Hire by Laura Martin
*Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier
Beyond the Bear by Dan Bigley
Fang Girl by Helen Keeble
Freeze Tag by Caroline B. Cooney
Road Map to Holland by Jennifer Graf Groneberg
A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood
Nature's Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This Heart of Mine by C. C. Hunter
*The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones & Ursula Jones
A Dash of Magic by Kathryn Littlewood
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Again, But Better by Christine Riccio
Raising a Rare Girl by Heather Lanier (DNF)
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Song of Roland
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Annette Dumbach
For the Broken Heart, For the Broken Girl by Lia Marie
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
*Most of The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
The Book of Secrets by M. L. Little
Your Blue Flame by Jennifer Fulwiler
Dust by Kara Swanson
Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali
City Spies by James Ponti 
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
The Odyssey by Homer
*The Thinking Beekeeper by Christy Hemenway
Advanced Top Bar Beekeeping by Christy Hemenway
Spindle by W. R. Gingell

Yes, you're seeing it correctly: I had never read The Silmarillion, Orthodoxy, or To Kill a Mockingbird before this month. I enjoyed all of them immensely (and TKaM gave me the WORST book hangover). 

Life

August was a slower month, but a bunch of stuff still happened...

(Yes, there were beautiful views the day before, but it was cloudy in the morning of my birthday, so here's a valley full of cloud)

I turned 17! We were camping day-of, but we had a beautiful hike near Mt. St. Helens, a swim in the river, and outdoor Mass! Fr. DD drove up, and Mom also loaded him up with cupcakes, cake, and a present for me. And I got to stay up until my birth minute, which is quite late at night, so I don't usual stay up that late. It was cool, though!

(Yes, it's a wee bit blurry. But, chocolate. Mocha. Cake.)

Then I also had a birthday party with Pippin's family, Fr. JJ, and Frodo, which was lovely. Embarrassing stories, the whole kit and caboodle. 

(Isn't it gorgeous?)

I found a $30, 1914 copy of Orthodoxy at my favorite bookstore! So worth it. It smells amazing. And of course, it's a great book! 

(Trying to respect privacy, so...no faces. Rest assured, we were all making crazy ones.)

Pippin left for college in Texas. We had a fun going-away dinner (with Indian food!) and played frisbee. I miss him a lot, but there is, of course, the "phone" function of a smart-phone. I also found out that I'm not the only one who refers to her friends/cousins by aliases...he has me in his phone as "Dwayne Johnson". XD 

(Isn't it gorgeous? It's made of rock from the river)

Here's the big thing-I-didn't-tell-you-last-month: my family bought a house! It's in the mountains, an hour from where we life, there's five acres, and it fronts the river! It's a second house for us, but also a hospitality house--we'll let our priests use it for retreats, and we've only had it for two weeks, but we already have friends of ours going up there for their anniversary soon! We're calling it Rivendell; last homely house west of the mountains, for real!

                                 

                                                                     (Fr. DD, Galadriel, and Arwen)

Fr. DD came up and blessed Rivendell for us! We're on a well, so he blessed that, too, which was really cool. He also ate lunch and dinner with us, took a nap in the hammock, swam in the river with us, said Mass for us outside, and debated theology with us. Lots of fun! 

                                 

                                                           (Feast of St. Bartholomew, hence the red vestments)

Another priest friend of ours, Fr. JJ is staying up where we live for six weeks, so we've gotten to hang out with him a lot--he's said Mass at both our houses now! This picture is from Mass at Rivendell, the day he came up, hung out with us, and taught me to conduct thoroughly satisfactory splashing wars (from six feet away). 

September Plans

• Starting homeschool classes
• Starting Running Start classes (Drawing, Project Management, Animal Biology) 
• Finishing applying to college (those darn essays)
• Fun things related to the December-event-I-won't-tell-you-about
• Starting choir again (virtually)
• Tolkien Blog Week!
• Celebrating Eomer's birthday
• Seeing Legolas getting confirmed!
• Reading "Surprised by Joy", which I've never read before
• Draw goat blood for disease tests (about as fun as it sounds)

How was y'all's August? Have you ever drawn blood on a farm animal? What about had Mass at your house? Had to say good-bye to a relative leaving for college?