Beau Ideal

How I spent my weekend... For some reason Saturday chores were pretty much done before Saturday arrived. I suggested a hike at a local state park, but was voted down due to the the heat. We could have watched a video movie, but we have decided to not watch movies (we don't watch regular TV at all) for a few weeks-so that was out. What to do?

We went to the library in Camden. [We are on a county library system. The branch in Bethune has limited hours and is about as big as our living room-limited selection. The good thing is, no matter what branch we borrow from, we can always return it to the Bethune branch.]

But we went with a purpose. Everyone had to get a book out for a project they will complete within the next few weeks. It could be science, craft, etc. I believe I will be seeing some medieval costumes being put together, some shadow box theater, some and backwoods crafts among other things.

I had another special mission. I had to find a play for the family to perform. We decided to find a short play that we could put on together. Everyone wanted to know: who will be the audience? We replied "No one. We are doing this just to do something together." We may actually have to pick two plays as we couldn't find one which met all the criteria (short, proper number of characters, decent story, etc.) The first will be "The Play of St. George", which is a 13th century traditional folk play. This has six players and is really in fact a Christmas play-but we'll do it anyway. Maybe I can add a couple parts to give everyone a line. It will particularly appeal to the boys as there is some sword play in it. If we do a second play, it will come from a book entitled: "Round the Year Plays for Children" and is yet to be determined.

And now to the title of the post...Some readers may be familiar with the book (and several movies) Beau Geste by PC Wren. Beau Geste is one of my all-time favorite adventure stories since I was a kid. I have read it numerous times and love the Gary Cooper movie version. A few years ago I discovered that Beau Geste was the first of a trilogy, the others being Beau Sabreur and Beau Ideal. I read Beau Sabreur a few years ago at the time of my discovery. It was pretty good, not as good as the first, but pretty good. But I never located the last book. Recently however Mrs. Curley ordered it for me through interlibrary-loan. I picked it up on Saturday and finished it last night. (Taking a short vacation from "Diary of a Country Priest".) It was pretty good also. I'm not sure how it stacks up to the original-I am a few years older now and my desire to join the French Foreign Legion for adventure has waned a bit. Supposedly all in the trilogy can stand alone-and this is certainly true for the first two, but after reading the last, I would say that it certainly makes more sense if the first book and possibly the second have been read. These books are books of great adventure, friendship, sacrifice, and brotherly love. (Off-hand I would guess that the proper age is upper teen years.)

Finally, to Mrs. Curley's consternation, my last selection at the library was a book entitled, "How to Live in the Woods on Pennies a Day" by Bradford Angier.