What nice weather we've been having! Even the Ohio family reports some nice days before a drop in the temps again. I have a happy porch pooch!

A trip across the pond for this Book Trail, I think. I'll start with The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. A Corgi is out, but not just any Corgi, it is a Royal Corgi and the Queen is in pursuit when the little dog jumps into a book mobile van parked near Buckingham Palace. Once she has caught the runaway beastie, the Queen feels it is only polite to check out a book and just return it the following week. Instead, she actually reads the book, and then wants more. Her new habit is most upsetting to the rest of the staff, and to the royal schedule. (She figures out how to wave from the car and continue reading!) This is a sweet, funny read, and one that won't take you very long. The next 'Brit' book I came across was The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart. Among many wonderful characters there is Balthazer Jones and his wife. He is a Beefeater, so they live in the Tower ... with all those stairs and pretty much on display to the public all the time. He is given the job of setting up a zoo for many of the animals the Queen has been given. Naturally, things go wrong! The penguins escape, the giraffes are stolen, and at the worst possible moment, his beloved wife leaves him. Quirky characters add to the plot. Lots of fun!

Still fun, but with a touch of sadness, was Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn. The Queen and her family have been in the news for decades and she is feeling a bit tired by it all. She heads out to the stables to see the horses and a stable hand, noticing that the Queen is without a jacket, and that it is now raining, gives the Queen a black hoodie. Realizing that she is rather well hidden she decides to go to a place that has happy memories ... the royal yacht, Britannia, recently dispensed with as costing too much, so she heads for the train station and Scotland. The panic that ensues when the staff realizes she is missing leads to the hysterical chase across the country to bring her home.

I once had a pen pal, then email pal .... she was actually a friend of my mom's, but after I visited England we became friends, too. She would visit here once, and then for decades we kept in touch until a fast acting cancer took her away a few years ago. We shared a love of dogs, reading, and a similar sense of humor (humour)! Sometimes we'd discuss the differences between our two homelands. Terry Eagleton has taken this theme and run with it, as the saying goes. Across the Pond: an Englishman's View of America is his humourous discussion of how Americans are seen by the English. At times I was laughing out loud, other times I felt rather bogged down, but mostly I enjoyed the book.

As I mentioned at the beginning, my dog is very happy to being out on the porch again. The hard thing is making her wait until the sun comes around the side of the house as I like to leave the door open enough so she can push her way back in when she wants. After all, I don't want to be 'heating the great outdoors'! (I do hope other parents said that, I know mine sure did). :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog