The Narrowboat Summer, Anne Youngsen

I finished it before book group, by dint of rescheduling book group. LOL.

Great book! The meet cute setup is a bit contrived, but does a great job of setting you up with the three most important characters: Anastasia, who owns the Number One and who must live on land while being treated for cancer a while, Eve, who has been let go from her job, and Sally, whose kids are grown and who cannot stand living with her husband. Eve and Sally attempt to rescue Anastasia’s complaining dog and antics ensue.

As they learn to operate the Number One, and meet some of the folk along the canals, Eve and Sally also get to know each other and better understand themselves. They do not know quite what they want, and are grateful for this extended liminal time, as they are not forced to commit to anything right away. They gradually learn about the other people in Anastasia’s life, and Sally slowly hatches a plan that will let everyone carry on doing a lot of what they want to do, all the things they have to do, and continue to be present in each other’s lives.

This could have been sappy and annoying as fuck, and it absolutely was not. I loved everything about it.

Saturday: hair, CD and Pioneer Square, Plum

The four of us went over to the condo to pick up Priestess. We realized the Mercedes SUV we rented had a third row, so T. wedged himself into it and we drove over to Texture and dropped her off. We drove around a bit to see Welch Plaza and other things from when I was pregnant with T. and the first few months of his life. R. got out near Pioneer Square to walk around there. I drove the kids back to the hotel, because they were bored and we were annoying each other. I made A. a toasted cheese sandwich and then drove myself back to Texture. R. rejoined me, and when Priestess was done, we went over to Plum and had brunch. It was absolutely amazing, which is remarkable because I’d been waiting to do this for years. Totally worth it.

We had parked next to a Mighty O’s, so I bought a half dozen doughnuts. We returned Priestess to her home, and then went back to the hotel. All four of us drove over to Rosita’s on Green Lake to meet my martial arts instructor, his wife and their youngest daughter. They are all delightful, but I last saw A. when she was a baby, so this was pretty awesome. She’s fantastic, which is no surprise — she has the Best Parents Ever. They are up in Snohomish now; I almost did a pop in while we were up there, but I was short on time.

We had meant to do Snappy Dragon, however, they are closed this week. Rosita’s was nice, altho I only had a salad, because I was still stuff from brunch at Plum.