The Lily CafeThe Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – June 19, 2026
At Home
This past week has been a little insane. Summer break is in full swing, and I swear time has been evaporating like water here in Southern California. It’s always a little challenging to transition between the academic year and summer break, and the kittens have only made things more chaotic. It’s also been hot, so that hasn’t helped any.
On the bright side, this summer proves to be a little gentler than previous summers. My son has aged out of a lot of worksheets, so he’s doing an hour of reading every day and has decided to work on improving his penmanship. He had one teacher who insisted on neat writing this past year, so that’s prompted him to want to improve his writing. My daughter is practicing her cursive and multiplication tables and will be starting summer school next week. She’s so excited her 3rd grade teacher will be her summer school teacher, and I love that there will be some continuity for her. She’s also an amazing teacher. A few nights ago, my daughter told me she could just time travel back to 3rd grade whenever she missed her teacher. Oh, if only that were possible…
The kittens are getting heavier, but not necessarily bigger. They love playing with each other after they had a rough introduction, and it’s so cute to catch them cleaning each other and playing with the other’s tail. They also like to get into mischief together, and don’t always seem to know what to do when they can’t find the other one.
What I’ve Read
Tsubaki Stationary Store moves slowly, but that’s what I’ve come to expect from a lot of novels translated from Japanese. But I really enjoyed this one. It follows Hatoko through the seasons over the course of one year, as she takes over her late grandmother’s stationary store and comes to terms with her grief and lot in life. The friends she makes along the way and the people she helps as a scribe is lovely, and I adored watching her growth.
In progress: The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick
I loved the Rook & Rose trilogy, so I’m hoping I’ll love this one, too. This is an intriguing one as it’s a fantastical alternate reality where faeries are real. I’m not too sure about all the religion material in this one, but I like the way it’s woven in so far. Unfortunately, with the kids home it’s been harder to fit in reading so I haven’t gotten far yet.
Kids’ Reading Corner
The 6th Grader: He’s a solid reader, so I’m letting him do audiobooks this year along with print books. So far he’s listened to a Timmy Failure book and he’s onto another.
The 3rd Grader: I’m less certain about letting her do audiobooks, but she enjoyed a Nancy Drew Clue Crew book and we found a bunch of Humphrey books. And I’ll be having her read print books as well. She’s still growing as a reader, so I think it’s important she exercises her reading muscles.
The Kitchen
My daughter got an expander in to help make space for all of her upper teeth, and she got a couple of teeth pulled, so I made some chocolate pudding for her. I also made some Grand Marnier souffle to celebrate the end of a successful academic year and start of summer break. And now I’m mostly out of eggs. Which is a shame because my son decided he wants to learn how to make sugar cookies this summer and I wanted to get him started this past week.
The Writing Lounge
This did not go well this past week. A bunch of medical things and then kids being home and kittens being chaos. It’s been a fun week, and largely unproductive. Outside of 2 written pages and 2 queries sent.
Featured Posts From the Cafe
Very little got posted this week, but I also didn’t have any reviews planned. I just posted my thoughts on bookish merch.
Blog Stats and Other Interesting Things
As much fun as this section has been, I’ve decided to retire it for the time being because 1) it’s kind of a pain to do and 2) I’m currently in my “I don’t really care about stats” phase (I cycle back and forth, so this section might return one day).
Featured Blog Post
Each week I aim to share my favorite post of the week. But, as my brain is increasingly cluttered with manuscript-related things and I’m getting increasingly sidetracked by my backyard as it’s gone from dead to wildflowery to I’m worried it’s overgrowing, I’ll be taking a break from this section.
If you would be so kind, one of my best friends is an artist and recently opened her online store. If you like LGBTQ art, take a look: Sunlight & Sky.
See you next week, and thanks for reading!
#Artist #baking #books #food #kids #life #motherhood #writing
MumBlog | Parenting Motherhood
Econopass
BabyYumYum
Heather Congrove
Fakultät SoPo