The heat wave is over.

WHAT'S HAPPENING -  My hubby was home for the weekend. We spent half a day in Ithaca. One of the things we like to do is walking around the marina, this time I took my camera. We also went to Home Depot to get a new mailbox. Our old one was destroyed by the NYS Transportation Dept., Yes  I reported it, they took my name, address, phone number, and I never heard form them again. We walked around Cass park for a while. It has changed so much in the past 10 yrs. We went to Not My Dad's in T-burg for ice cream. Then stopped to pick up a few groceries.
We have been having a major heat wave this past week. Here at my house the highest temp was 99.6. In PA were my husband was it got up to 105! I also  heard reports of it being 101 in Ithaca. This wasn't just one day, it was the whole week. Finally the temps have gone back down in the high 80's, which is normal for us. It is much more bearable.
My daughter's new job is going great and she loves her new Apt. as well! So life is good for her.

TV - UGH! On Design star - Dan Faires went home! I liked him! He was cute and nice, and I liked his ideas :-(
SYTYCD - This was a very sad show. Alex, who is an excellent dancer and very nice guy, Was injured last week. He needs surgery and 3 months of recovery. So he is off the show. But they did say he could return next season, so that is good. I think he had a very chance of winning.
On HGTV - All this week House Hunters International will be in Australia! Should be good, I think I will record all the shows just in case I miss one.

KNITTING - Knitting is slow. You know it is summer! I did go to the customer appreciation sale at Fingerlakes Fibers. I bought 3 small skeins of yarn for socks. And I am sti8ll working on that tank! I will try to finish it up this week and post pictures next week.

BOOKS -

First They Killed my Father, A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, by Loung Ung
Written in the present tense, First They Killed My Father will put you right in the midst of the action--action you'll wish had never happened. It's a tough read, but definitely a worthwhile one, and the author's personality and strength shine through on every page. Covering the years from 1975 to 1979 during the Cambodian Civil War and the take over by Pol Pot, the story moves from the deaths of multiple family members to the forced separation of the survivors, leading ultimately to the reuniting of much of the family, followed by marriages and immigrations. The brutality seems unending--beatings, starvation, attempted rape, mental cruelty--and yet the narrator (a young girl) never stops fighting for escape and survival. Sad and courageous, her life and the lives of her young siblings provide quite a powerful example of how war can so deeply affect children--especially a war in which they are trained to be an integral part of the armed forces.

I had no idea how deeply this book would affect me. The is one of the saddest, most horrific books I have ever read! I would stop reading it and go about my business only to find myself thinking about it and crying several hrs. later. I can't say this is a great book, how can you describe a book like this as being great. It was absolutely horrifying what these people went through, innocent people, children! Whole families died of starvation or were killed, young girls were raped, children were beaten and trained as child soldiers. When the USA goes off to war,  I was always the one who said, Why do we always need to be the ones to help, Do we always need to be sticking our noses in other countries' business? After reading this book, my first thought was - Where were we? Why didn't we help them? Where was I when this was going on? Why didn't I know about this? I figured I was from 13-17 yrs old, I was old enough to know, old enough to care. And yet I didn't. I had no clue any of this was going on! You have no idea how deeply that hurts me. Was I that selfish that I didn't even know that girls my age were being tortured across the world. Yes I was! I was more concerned where the next party was, who I would hang out with that night, or where I would get my next cigarette. This book will stay with me for along time, I don't think I will easily forget these events. It will be a very long before I can think about this book without tears in my eyes. Loung Ung has written a second book called "Lucky Child" which I am looking for now. It is about reconnecting with her sister.

On a lighter note -
*** This Thurs. I will be reviewing - "Hook, Line, and Sink Him" by Jackie Pilossoph. I will also be giving away a copy of the book and interviewing the Author. It was fun to get to know Jackie. She will be monitoring my blog for the day so - Please come back and send her some comments and questions.

Also on Thur. at the end of the post I will announce the winner of "Backseat Saints" by Joshilyn Jackson.

CONTESTS - "Peeking Between the Pages" is having quite a few giveaways so just go HERE and scroll down to find them all!
"Nikola"s Book Blog" is having a cool giveaway! - HERE he is giviing away a bookmark and a notepad and pen set from "larkscountryheart".

TOP 5 - Tom's - you don't have to come up with more, this is just food for thought!
1. Tom Cruise
2. Tom Hanks
3. Tom Selleck
4. Tom Sawyer
5. Tom and Jerry!