Monthly Review: August 2025

This is the last of the summer days, though the calendar says otherwise. It seems to come earlier and earlier each year, this feeling that it is all ending, and ending too soon. I feel it with the cool mornings and creeping dusks, the withering flowers and the leaves blushing like schoolgirls.

But here, today, it is all summer: seventy-five degrees, sunshine filtering hazily through clouds, butterflies sipping hibiscus nectar as we stroll through the botanical gardens. A cardinal flashes from treetop to treetop, and we can still hear his song after he disappears. We wander the gravel paths and boardwalks, pausing for you to photograph this plant or that creature. The photos will languish on a memory card for weeks before you look at them; it’s the taking of them you like, anyway.

We rest on a bench beside the golden pavilion at the garden’s edge. The water lilies in their pools have a kind of vivid unreality to them--purple, blue, pink, yellow, a shock against each green lily pad. A week from right now I will be sitting in my office, probably in some dry in-service meeting, while my mind drifts like a leaf in a stream. It will carry me back here.

Though it is too late for lunch and too early for dinner, it is always the right time for ice cream, so that’s our next stop. Something with chocolate and peanut butter in a waffle cone for you, blackberry lemon bar in a sugar cone for me. It tastes as fresh and bright as summer. With careful licks I smooth the craggy scoops into even rounds, savoring each ripple of blackberry and chunk of pound cake. When I reach the cone (too soon), I snap off pieces with my teeth, spiraling down to its pointed end. Since this cannot last forever, I have determined to enjoy every bite before it all melts away.

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of August.

What I Read

• Ask Again, Yes, Mary Beth Keane (★★★★)

• Forgiving What you Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That's Beautiful Again, Lysa TerKeurst (★★★★)

• The Betrothed, Kiera Cass (★★★★)

• The Betrayed, Kiera Cass (★★★★)

• Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler (★★★)

• Chosen Ones, Veronica Roth (★★)

• Just for the Summer, Abby Jimenez (★★)

• The Forest of Vanishing Stars, Kristin Harmel (★★)

• When the Stars Lead to You, Ronni Davis (★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Summer Squash Pizza

Difficulty: ★★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I overbaked this a bit, but it was still delicious.

• Cuban Sliders

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: These do get soggy left over, but they are great fresh.

• Croque Monsieur Dutch Baby

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: Easily my favorite Dutch baby recipe I've tried. I do prefer the savory ones to the sweet, and the bechamel really took this over the top for me.

• Mango Chia Pudding

Difficulty: ★

Flavor: ★★★

Keeper: Maybe

Comments: I always think I'm going to like chia pudding more than I do. It was fine.

What I Created

• Some progress in my project

• Some more of the recipe compilation

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May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

Monthly Review: July 2025

A Waltz for Goodly Farm

Chandeliers of fireflies,

Light the purpling dusk.

Let your little lamps so shine

on this goodly night.

Banjo brash and fiddle fine,

Make your harmonies

Honeyed, sweetest of their kind

with each goodly note.

Dancers, feet and faces bare,

Waltz this song away.

Find someone beside you there;

Hold their goodly hand.

Ending to this blessed time,

Linger yet a while

as we fix now in our minds

goodly melodies.

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of July.

What I Read

• People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry (★★★★★)

• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, David Grann (★★★★)

• The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon (★★★★)

• Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, David W. Blight (★★★★)

• A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles (★★★★)

• The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman (★★★★)

• The Little Liar, Mitch Albom (★★★★)

• Jackie, Dawn Tripp (★★★★)

• The Gifted School, Bruce Holsinger (★★★)

• Naomi and Her Daughters, Walter Wangerin Jr. (★★)

• The Ladies of the Secret Circus, Constance Sayers (★★)

• Wild Awake, Hilary T. Smith (★★)–reread

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Baked Honey Mustard Boneless Wings

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: This recipe uses the same base honey mustard as the salmon bowls from last month and the sandwiches from the spring, and while it's not as good as her garlic parmesan wings, which use a similar method, I still enjoyed these.

• Sheet Pan Stir-Fry

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: Could not be easier.

• Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I don't think the sauce proportion quite matches the noodles and broccoli, but it is a great-tasting sauce for an easy and classic dish.

What I Created

• Some progress in my project

• Parts of a couple articles

• Most of a compilation eBook of recipes for beginner cooks

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May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

Monthly Review: June 2025

Yet another night of

Open eyes and mind

Unraveling what I cannot undertake—too many cares to

Rest. I rise,

Come to this place

Of quiet, as though

My clamorous soul can

Find stillness in reclining chairs and circling records, and here

Open the little book of my thoughts, all

Rough drafts never

To be read by human eyes.

Skim through them with me here,

Dear Lord, who knows them altogether,

Even when I in my shame

Leave my fears

In shadow. But with you there is no darkness, for you are the

God who sees, and

Here with me you sit,

Turning the pages,

Making me lie down,

Yes, on such sleepless nights.

Stay with me now, and let my heart be staid.

Ordain what works you will, and let me trust them best.

Uplift me when I fall, and righteous I will stand.

Lighten my heavy eyes, and bring me into rest.

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of June.

What I Read

• Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross (★★★★★)

• Ruthless Vows, Rebecca Ross (★★★★★)

• A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara (★★★★★)

• True Life in Uncanny Valley, Deb Caletti (★★★)

• Run, Ann Patchett (★★★)

• The Summer of Broken Things, Margaret Peterson Haddix (★★)

• Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan (★★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Spicy Honey Mustard Salmon Bowls

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: My husband commented that he'd eat this any day. Throw some Persian cucumbers in with the lettuce and thank me later.

• Havarti Avocado Sandwich

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I'm really into a good sandwich right now, and this was a good sandwich.

• Cowboy Caviar

Difficulty: ★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I used canned Rotel in place of the Roma tomatoes, subbed scallions for the red onion, and omitted the avocado. This salad kept in the fridge for about a week and was still decent, but it makes a lot, so keep that in mind if you choose to make it.

• Queso Blanco

Difficulty: ★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I don't love queso dips that use Velveeta, so even though American cheese is essentially the same thing, I was excited to try this one with some chipotle pulled pork nachos. It was good enough that I'd make it again!

What I Created

• A draft for Frontline magazine

• A draft for Commonplace magazine

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May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.