Tutu's Newest Hobby

As many of you know, the title "Tutu" is actually the Hawaiian word for grandmother.

But living in Maine, Tutu doesn't get to see her grandchildren as often as some.

This past month we have been visiting our children and grandchildren here in the mid-Atlantic. The two darlings shown here have occupied a large chunk of our time, since the youngest darling Cameron Douglas just arrived two weeks ago. He weighed in at a whopping 9 lb, 6 oz, and yesterday at his 2 week checkup tipped the scales at 10 lbs. Big brother Adrian 4 1/2 (seen above) is taking good are of him and also keeping the 2 year old Australian blue heeler/Shibu Ino blend puppy occupied.  Our son and daughter-in-law  live in the Blue Ridge with very limited internet (and no TV!!) so my blogging opportunities have been severely limited.

We began our journey with a huge family reunion/90th birthday celebration for my mother in Baltimore two weeks ago. Over 65 family and friends came from as far away as Louisiana, Oregon and Texas to help her celebrate. It was a wonderful afternoon for all of us to get reacquainted with relatives we rarely see except for weddings and funerals.  Then we also attended Homecomig at the Naval Academy, visited several former neighbors and work associates before heading up here to the top of the mountain.

Of course while we've been gone, our little town in Maine was one of the hardest hit by the early snow storm this week. According to our fantastic neighbors who were looking after our cat, the house is safe, the cat is fine, but we did go almost three days without power, so I'm not sure about the state of our winter ice-cream stash we'd just put up.

Anyway, where this is leading is that while I've been doing some reading, I haven't been able to keep my eyes open to concentrate for any long period of time. Even my audio book listening has been severely limited. As soon as I plug my ears in, my brain seems to unplug and go to sleep. For the time being, I'm doing only Maine Readers Choice books, and a couple of LibraryThing Early Review books that I'm way overdue on for reviews.  I'm not sure I'll ever catch up....playing grandma is as much fun as reading!

DON"T FORGET THE GIVEAWAY FOR THIS DARK ROAD TO MERCY. Entries are due by November 9th.

Stay tuned though and I'll try to give you some thoughts on some of the excellent reading I have been able to finish. Enjoy your reading, your families, your friends, and whatever blessings you have received. We're all fortunate to have them in our lives and should never forget to be grateful.