June 10th marks our 14th wedding anniversary, I’m not much for anniversary and birthday celebrations, but this one is sacred to me. Friday morning, we are leaving for a two-day trek to our favorite Inn in Vermont. We honeymooned there and have gone back every June since.

We’ve even kind a room with a reading suite attached. Friday morning, we’re going on a drive along the Connecticut River, and by afternoon, we’ll be at the Inn. We’re coming home  Sunday morning; a wonderful farm-watcher is coming to stay with the animals and watch the farm.

There will be no blogging and no devices or pictures for two days.

As always, I have two books ready to come. The first is by S.A. Cosby, known as the new master of Southern Noir. I’ve come to love his mysteries. They are a little violent for me but never grotesque, and nobody captures the dark side of the South better. Our hero Titus Crown finds himself a lawman in a small rural Virginia town.

I’ve gotten to love his work and his characters. His plots are pretty wild. He captures the rural South in a brilliant way. His main character is African-American, and race hovers in the background.

The second is by Abraham Verghese, the title is The Covenant Of Water, and it’s a daunting 722 pages long. He is the author of the very wonderful The Cutting of Stone, which I have  albo bought and just might read first, now that I think of it.

I’d never put a dent in this new Verghese novel in two days unless I never got up in the morning. I’ve taken a peak. It looks fabulous.

He’s a wonderful writer, teacher, and practicing physician at Stanford University.

Our trips to Vermont are a cherished ritual. We can’t afford long vacations or leave the farm for too long. A farm is more confining than a little kid; we are very happy here.

Our marriage is a miracle to me, and I am happy to celebrate it with this wonderful person in this very comfortable, modest and peaceful way. We need to rest our brains.

I admit with are exhausted after our Spring Of Surgeries. How great it will be to sit on the patio and read. And sleep and sleep.