Books Read in 2026: June

 A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert.  I picked this one off the library shelf because the cover looked interesting.  The blurb sounded like it might be good.  And then I got it home, looked at the cover some more and thought "I think I've read this before".  But, rereading the blurb, I wasn't sure if I had or if the storyline was just similar to a few others I've read in recent years.  However, by Chapter Two I was predicting what would happen next, what 'new' character was about to come into the story--right down to their name, and I knew that yep, I have read this book.  Well, into the DNF pile it went (although, technically if I read it all the way through in the past [covid times???] is it truly a Did Not Finish?)  Like movies and TV shows, if I've read a book before it gets stored in some corner of my brain and then when I try to read/watch it again my brain goes "here, this is what's going to happen now and now and now, the end, let's think about something else shall we?"  In other words, my concentration and enjoyment go out the window.  Been there, done that, next!

The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall. I picked this one up at the spring book swap based on the blurb on the back of the book.  Sounded like it could be interesting, depending on how it was done.  It was alternately interesting, horrifying, somewhat frustrating (as in sometimes I felt the author was putting too many twists--character lifestyle wise--into the time period in question), a bit stale and trite, and I set it down, took a break, and picked it up again several times. I did finish it; about 2/3 the way through I thought I knew how it would end, what would be revealed in the final third, and so I did read it completely.  Yes, I had figured it out.  Overall, I think I did like the book and may possibly look up more from this author.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman.  Not sure where I first saw this book mentioned, but I ordered it from my local library. It sucked me in.  What's that trite movie review quote?  "I laughed.  I cried."  Very apt for this book.  Entertaining and thought provoking (at least for me) at the same time. Two thumbs up.

Murder Unshelved by Vannetta Chapman.  This is an author that I have read for years, mostly liking her murder mysteries more than her Amish fiction.  This is her latest mystery (maybe the beginning of a new series?)  If I may be blunt here, it was awful.  Started out good, got a little questionable (Was it written by AI?  By a high schooler? Was it editedn for content at all?) about a third of the way through and just past halfway I was so sick of the ever weakening writing that if it wasn't a short book I would have just set it down as a DNF.  Instead I forged on to the end.  But I don't think I will read another book by this author ever again.

How To Ride The Horse You Thought You Bought by Anne Buchanan.  Another book I saw somewhere online and decided to see if I could borrow it from the library.  While my local county library system didn't have it, I was able to get it via the statewide library interloan.  So far, I've only read the first few chapters, which are very basic.  Not to say they are lacking, but rather that after 40+ years with horses there wasn't anything in them I haven't known for a long long time.  Hoping that further into the book there will be clear to understand descriptions of much more technical and difficult stuff (ie. perhaps new or stated in a new way to me)  Everything so far has been written in an easy to understand format and with helpful illustrations.

Books Read in 2026: May

 The Name Game by Beth O'Leary.  This author is one I like to go to for a light read that isn't too cliche or annoying.  This particular novel was just published this spring, but I had heard of it last fall and had put my name on the hold list at the library as soon as they placed their order for copies.  After all those months of waiting, I devoured it in just four days and if this wasn't such a busy time of year at this little place here I totally could have read the entire thing in one afternoon.  Which, made me, when finished with it, look up what other books of hers I hadn't read yet and grab that one immediately from the library shelf when I found out it was sitting at my local library amongst all the other books waiting for someone to check them out.

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary.  If I had to pick a favorite between these two books by the same author, I think I would pick this one.  I liked them both, but this one, to me, just flowed better.  

A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality by Kate Khavari. A book I spied on the library shelf, read the blurb, and decided to give it a try.  Set in London in the 1920's, it was overall an interesting read.  Apparently it is the second book of a series, so now I'll have to request book 1 from the library interloan (my local branch doesn't appear to own a copy) so I can read (and understand) some of the references in the second book to characters and events prior. I liked this book and will definitely read more by this author.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke.  Overall, I liked this book although it was kind of weird, and sometimes rather dystopian and hard to follow. Did I like the main character?  Oh heck no, not one bit.  Could I sometimes relate to her?  Yeah, I could. 

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie.  I'm pretty sure I read this one, a long, long time ago (like high school in the late 1980s).  But I don't really remember it, and since I decided late last year that I would like to read every single Agatha Christie book in the coming years, even those I read once upon a time in another lifetime (pre-kids, pre-husband, pre-having to run a household), in chronological order and this is the second book she wrote, here we are.

Remember back in March, when I started reading Pillars of the Earth?  Guess what. . . this month I finished it!  So good.  So much history, so many characters that get addicting and you want to know what happens to them, so masterfully written! I will, undoubtedly, at some point read the rest of this series, but for at least the summer I need to take a break from giant books, so it might not be until 2027 that I pick up the next one.

Books Read in 2026: April

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  This book is HUGE.  Over 1000 pages.  So, while I started reading it at the beginning of the month, I had no illusions that I would actually finish it in April.  Truth was I had several books requested through the library that were all going to be a bit of a wait until my turn, so I figured I would read Pillars of the Earth until a library book come in, then set it down, pick it up again if the next library book requested wasn't ready, etc.  I knew setting it aside wouldn't mean never getting back to it, because I have yet to find a Ken Follett book I didn't like. They all draw me in.  Even through I have set it down for several other books this month as they became available through interlibrary loan, I managed to read more than 500 pages!  That's how much draw it has on my attention.

A Good Animal by Sara Maurer.  I saw a blurb for this new book online in either late February or early March.  It sounded right up my alley, so I looked to see if my local library could get it and then I put in a request for it.  It took about a month before my turn came, and I started reading it the same afternoon I picked it up from the library. Was it right up my alley?  Oh yes, yes it was.  With very few exceptions I connected with this book so hard. Everything in it I could relate to either personally or from observing the people around me through my decades of living in/near mostly rural little towns.  I will most definitely be looking for more novels from this new author.

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page.  I also saw this one online, thought the storyline sounded like a take-off on P.S. I Love You (only with books instead of letters), and really was curious enough to compare the two that I requested it from the library.  Although the premise is the same (as I suspected), the way the story is written around that common idea is different and I very much liked the book and discovering the monthly surprises for the main character as well as how the plot developed throughout.

Judy Blume a Life by Mark Oppenheimer.  As a Judy Blume fan from way back who has (I'm pretty sure) read all of her books, I was very interested in reading her biography.  I put in a request through my local library, and waited for it to be my turn.  At 80ish pages in, I'm slogging along.  I hate to sound negative about one of my long time favorite authors, but this biography is barely keeping my interest so far.  It has been interesting to see where some of the inspirations for her books have come from.  Other than that I'm finding this book to be dry and more like a report than an engaging story.  Will I keep reading?  Probably.  Unless I don't get through it before it's due back to the library.  In which case it will be a DNF forever.

Books Read in 2026: March

In March I read books that I had picked up at previous community book swaps.  Because there was another book swap coming up near the end of the month and I wanted to be able to take in books I'd finished in order to make room for those I would undoubtedly find at the next swap and bring home.  Gotta have priorities, right? 😉

Here is the list of what I read either fully or partially:

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.  You know, I just can't decide if I like this author.  I've read (I think) three books of hers over the last ten-ish years and each one I kind of like but don't like.  And yet, here I am having read another.  There were parts of this book I was sucked into, and parts I felt like I slogged through, but I did read it all the way to the end.  Which, yet again, left me with mixed feelings.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.  This book was weird.  Sorta supernatural, sorta old Western-y, very much about family ties, and some just Midwestern goodness (wholesomeness?).  Some parts were kind of predictable, and others had me saying "What?!?" I did read it all the way through, mainly because I wanted to know how it turned out, if (and how) the family would be reunited.

Fiction Can Be Murder by Becky Clark. This book was definitely more interesting than I'd expected it to be.  It has the look of a cozy mystery on the cover, and the blurb on the back had me thinking it is of that genre.  Yet when I read it, with the exception of a few parts, I did not find it annoying like I tend to find most cozy mysteries written in the most recent decade.  I liked it and will keep my eye out for other titles by this author.

Girl in the Mirror by Cecelia Ahern. I found this book weird. It was composed of two unrelated short stories.  The first was almost horror-ish and I will say I did not like it.  The second was more my style although it was kind of sad. Overall I did not enjoy this book as much as her full length novels but had the second story been developed into a full length novel I would definitely have read that one cover to cover, just not the first.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg.  I have had this book for several years, and tried reading it once years ago but didn't get past the second chapter.  I almost didn't pick it up this month, but then I decided now was a perfect time to try it again because if I couldn't get into the story, it definitely needed to go to the book swap at the end of the month.   Well, even with this second try and at a different point in my life than the last time I'd tried getting into this book, when I still wasn't interested at page 60ish, into the book swap bag it went.  Maybe it would have interested me more as it went along, but I didn't want to put that much effort into it.

Touch by Olaf Olafsson.  This I read it all the way through.  It wasn't quite the story I'd thought it would be by the blurb on the back.  Was it good?  Yes, overall it was well written and the story was interesting.  

A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist. This was my fluff reading after the previous very serious toned book.  I picked it up at the book swap on Saturday and finished it by Sunday night.  In a few spots it had the trite Christian romance novel things, but those were not annoying enough to take my interest from the story line and make me not finish reading it. I really had a hard time putting it down (and being extremely under the weather on Sunday gave me the chance to sit and read it for most of the day).  Historical, and yes, a romance, but not in the tripe category in my opinion.

Spring 2026 Book Swap Scores

 This past weekend was the semi annual book swap that my friend started back in the Spring of 2023. Other than that inaugural one (which happened to be the same day as K2's funeral), I have attended them all.  My daughters, until now, have been interested in going but not fit the swaps into their calendar.  This time, they both were able to go along with me.

They were blown away by the magnitude of the swap, and by how well run it is.  We did have to wait in line a bit to get in, but, as I had told them, there were 'book swap fairies' who came with boxes and carts to relieve us of the books we were swapping so that our arms didn't get tired while we waited.  Really, the wait was very short, less than 10 minutes (we had arrived five minutes before the doors opened for the general admission--VIPS paid $10 and had access from 9-10 a.m., Early Birds paid $5 and had access at 10 a.m. and us cheap people got in free with a minimum of one book to donate starting at 11 a.m.).

I'm pretty sure both of them will prioritize the Fall Swap and be back again, most likely with friends.  It was entertaining to hear them exclaim "Oh!  I should have told so-and-so about this, she'd love it!" with numerous different names as the so-and-so each time we'd move to a table with yet another genre of books arrayed on it. Friends, co-workers, in-laws.

While all of our mission was to clear out books we had all ready read (or realized we would never get around to reading) in order to make space in our homes, each of us also found numerous books we wanted to read and thus took home with us.  DD1 had donated a bulging grocery sack of books, but insisted she did not want a bag to carry her finds in, rather having the mantra of 'if it doesn't fit in my arms I don't need it'.  She did keep to that mantra, although her arms got rather full.  DD2, who is moving again this summer when the lease is up on the house she's been sharing with friends, I think managed to only take home three books. I'm betting that if she goes to the Fall Swap, she will take home many more books as she'll be settled into her new space by then.

I took 22 books to swap, and managed to return home with 16 'new' ones.  Number-wise, I did good on the decrease possessions aspect.  Although I think I returned with more hard-backs than I donated, so they take up just as much shelf-space as I'd emptied, if not a little more.

One of the books will be gifted to either Lucky or Octavia later this year, so that one doesn't really count as taking up shelf-space, LOL.  Another isn't pictured above because I immediately started reading it once I got home and it was on the end table by the living room couch when I unloaded the rest of the books for photographing.

Books Read in 2026: February

 1. The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian.  This is another book I picked up at a book swap.  Elderly couple goes on a cross country road trip.  Did I like it?  Yes.  Some parts were funny, some were eerily relatable (as DH and I have been together 35 years now), some were not my moral value but even so I could empathize.

2. River of Life by Kathleen Y'Barbo. Yet another book swap book.  I tell you, if you hear of a swap in your area, go check it out!  Although I confess this was a Did Not Finish for me.  I gave it about 60 pages, wasn't getting into it at all (honestly was kind of turned off by how very similar the story line was to another book, by a different author, that I also Did Not Finish last year).  Maybe I don't like the modern cozy mystery genre?  Growing up, I was reading Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by 8th grade, so maybe that set my standard for mystery stories on a different plane?

3. Snowed In by Catherine Walsh.  A romance novel, and, except for a little explicit near the end, one that I liked. It's an engaging, quick, light read with some humor added in.  I will most likely look up more books from this author to read in the future.

4. The Maze by Lucy Rees. This is another book I picked up at last fall's book swap because the cover blurb looked like it might be interesting. I started this one while waiting for a requested library book that was in transit.  Honestly, I put it down once that awaited book was available to read and haven't picked it back up again.  Interesting?  A little bit, because it involves horses and Arizona. The characters I'm not so much connecting with, but the environment and mode of transportation (horseback) I am.  Will probably read it here and there between library books.

5. Heartwood by Amity Gaige.  Hmm.  What to say about this one?  It was weird.  Overall good and interesting.  It wove together, through one based-on-real-life event, the stories of three moms and daughters, with a touch of a couple other somewhat major characters.  Will I read more by this author?  I'm not sure.

6. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.  Very tiny print, at least in the edition I got from the library, and slow starting.  I kept slogging through because of the time period was of interest, and I wanted to see what made this a Classic.  It did get more interesting as it went on.  Now that I've wrapped it up, I think I'm in the mood for a light, modern (but not too explicit if romance-y) read.

Books Read in 2026: January Edition

 Awhile ago I realized that, since I don't do monthly knitting updates anymore (which were knitting & reading reports, really), I pretty much never mention the books I've read.  And since looking at other people's reading lists/book reviews on their blogs is how I have found many enjoyable books through the years, I feel the need to reinstate some sort of regular rundown of what's been read at this little place here.  My intent is to do this on a monthly basis for 2026.

Some months will be pretty sparse, as historically I do more reading in the winter months than the rest of the year.  But typically I read a minimum of one book a month.  Sometimes I start a book, give it 50-100 pages, don't like it and put it down without finishing.  Those have usually gone unmentioned here in past listings of books I've read.  I think, this time around, I will include those and say why I chose not to finish them.  That way, Dear Reader, you can decide if that's one you probably would like to read, or that you, too, would find it unappealing for the same reasons and therefore don't need to add it to your own To Be Read list.

I'm going to use Amazon links to all titles, if possible, as that is generally the easiest way for me to find the book on a website that others can go to in order to see a photo of the book, read the publisher's blurb, etc. I'm also using Amazon links so you can see what formats it's available in.  I only read 'real' paper books that I can hold in my hand, but I know lots of people use e-readers these days, and by linking to Amazon I feel that you can decide for yourself if you want a physical book, electronic copy, etc and then go from there to how you normally get your books (purchase, library, etc.)

Also I'm going to do as I've done in the past: give the title and author of the book and my short "I liked it because. . ." or "I didn't like this or that about it" rather than copying the blurb on the book cover.  And if I started a book but didn't finish it, I will note that and say why.

Make sense to you?  I hope so, because here's What I Read in January:

1. Sloan Krause Mystery Shorts: The First Pour by Ellie Alexander.  I actually started reading this in late December, finally getting my hands on a copy from the state interlibrary loan (versus the district library system) but didn't finish until the first week of January.  After waiting more than a year from first hearing about this book (actually a compilation of three short stories previously only available in e-book format) I found the stories disappointing.  They didn't have the polished feel of her full novels in the same series.  Some of the editing was lacking, and the plot lines/resolutions just felt cliche or too easily/quickly wrapped up. Like the tale was shallow and rushed. I did read the whole thing, but only because I've loved the series prior to this. 

2. Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason.  This is another Detective Erlendur novel, and like the previous ones, I could not put it down. I think I read through the entire book in three days!  This is not a cozy mystery, yet it is not a gory horror type mystery either.  I love how this author writes relatable characters, gritty real life scenarios, and weaves multiple tales through one book (some of which continue in the next book if it's a recurring character).  It is my intent to read every single book in the series, and I pace myself by only getting one or two a year from the library in order to not come to the end of the Detective Erlendur series too quickly.

3. An Uncrowded Place: The Delights and Dilemmas of Life Up North and a Young Man's Search For Home by Bob Butz.  Long title, short, short chapters.  I picked this book up at last Fall's book swap a friend of mine hosts twice a year (that now has hundreds of people participating!!) because it looked interesting and is full of stories about northern Michigan, an area I'm pretty familiar with.  This is a great book to pick up and put down again, reading here and there as you have time as each chapter is pretty much a stand alone story, kind of like an essay rather than a chapter in a longer novel.  Most of the chapters are 3-5 pages long.  I did enjoy reading it, although I do think if you are not an outdoorsy person and/or have never experienced life outside of a metropolitan area you might not like it as much as I did because the author's views and experiences will be pretty foreign and likely uninteresting to you.

4. Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy.  Another book swap find that I chose because it sounded like it might be interesting.  Oh my goodness!  READ IT!!  There are some very hard parts to read, emotionally, and maybe that is because I was reading it when all the ICE stuff from Minneapolis was starting, but I think it's such a thought provoking book and even though it's about race relations and the KKK in Florida in the 1950s, you can draw a parallel to some of the stuff happening in many areas of the US right now in 2026.

That is my rundown for January.  Every book I picked up, I read in it's entirety.  

Random Things on a Friday

 Happy Friday!  I hope where ever you are, the weather is great and life is not too overwhelming at the moment.

Here's a few things from my week I thought I would share for a Friday wrap up kind of post.

1. This is sort of a PSA.  If you use a paper towel roll holder that holds the roll vertical like I do, don't forget to check it and clean the base now and then.  Honestly, I'm not sure how long it's been since I did this; mainly because I'm not sure how many years ago I first bought and started using this roll holder (prior to that the roll just stood on the counter and would randomly get knocked over/blown over in a stiff breeze now and then).  So, let's say, for the sake of easy numbers, I've had this thing for five years.  It never occurred to me that over time, maybe some little paper towel debris (from tearing off those towels) would build up on/under the base of the holder and that I should probably regularly give it a wipe down.  Maybe when I change the roll (we don't go through paper towels very fast, like several months for one roll) would be a good time to do that.  Definitely don't go for five years, because then it will look like this which is kind of gross and unhygienic-looking.

Definitely wipe it off with a damp cloth now and then, so it will be nonfuzzy and look much better, like this

2.  Another PSA kinda thing.  If you're making banana cream pie and your recipe calls for you to put a layer of sliced bananas onto the crust before pouring in the filling but you forget to do that, you can put those banana slices right on top of the filling after it's poured in (and you cuss yourself out because you realize you forgot to do the bananas first).  Just know that you have to eat the whole pie pretty quick because those banana slices will brown after a day or two and start looking rather unappealing.  I wanted to share this info with you just in case you ever mess up your pie by forgetting to put the slices on top of the crust and then pour in the pudding filling.  All will not be lost, just toss the slices on top and eat pie with each meal for the next day or so.  😁

3.  The Northern Lights were out, sort of, a couple of nights this week.  No big light pillars, more like an opaque-ish pale green light that swirled horizontally a bit.

4. I'm taking part in an October walking club over at optimisticmusings.com so have been taking short walks for the last few days.  Just around this little place here, so far, and challenging myself to take at least one picture on every walk.  Here's Wednesday, Thursday, and today's pictures:

5. Last Saturday was the Fall Book Swap that my friend organizes and puts on.  I think I spent about an hour and a half browsing all the offerings, took in 14 books from home and came out with a bit more than that.

Most are authors I haven't read before and thought I would take a chance on, based on the blurb on the back (or inside cover) of the book.  What do I have to lose, other than a little reading time, if I don't like them?  Didn't cost me anything.  And if I find some new favorite authors in the process, all the better! 

Any Given Saturday

 Last Saturday, I was (again) home alone for the majority of the weekend.  While there were some 'must dos' on my list for the day, I decided to, for the most part, tackle whatever I felt like doing around those have to do items.  For funsies, I kept a list of everything I did that day.  (Well, not everything, as I obviously didn't record bathroom breaks or brushing my teeth and hair, getting dressed, etc).

Anyway, if you're bored interested, here's what my Saturday looked like on that given day:

I fed horses their breakfast.

I fed myself my breakfast: a couple pieces of ham (I'd put small baggies of 2-4 slices of ham into a gallon sized freezer bag and put them in the freezer last year for such purposes as this) and two chocolate chip pancakes (also from the freezer, leftover from last time the grandkids spent the night).

Then I boiled six eggs and when they were done in the hot water and ready for their cold soak, I 

-went out and turned out horses

-cleaned stalls

-replaced the grossly-full-after-less-than-a-month fly ribbons hanging above the horse stalls

Also before noon, I was able to 

-clean past-their-edible-phase fruits and veggies and non-meat leftovers from the fridge and put them in the compost bucket, which I dumped in the compost bin out by the garden

-clean out the still sorta edible (like not moldy or slimy or gross) but I wasn't going to eat it things like shriveled blueberries, leftover peas (I'd already had some of the peas twice that week), and overripe watermelon from the fridge and give it to the chickens, which I let out of their coop at that time.

-wash and hang two loads of laundry on the clothesline 

-ran down the road to look at some hay I'd been offered to buy off the wagon after it was baled later that day (same family that does my hay was cutting and baling a neighbor's field about two miles away)

-rinsed my cucumbers that had been doing a limewater soak the three times rinsing and resoak in clean water 1 hour each time called for by my go-to customized dill pickle recipe

-set up the canner to heat the water to a boil and also set up another pot with the vinegar, water, canning salt and turmeric brine to simmer.

Then I fed myself lunch, which was two more pieces of ham from that breakfast baggie and some thin-sliced smoked gouda cheese made into a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on homemade bread with about a dozen sweet cherries on the side.

Wow!  I was kind of amazed when I looked at my documented activities from the morning.  Not bad.  I actually had done a lot and wasn't feeling tired/overworked yet.  So I continued after lunch.

I made deviled eggs with three of those hard boiled eggs I'd cooked that morning; the other three eggs I left for eating on salad in the coming days.

I peeled and sliced some short but fat cukes from the garden and made them into refrigerator pickles for DH to enjoy after he returned home on Sunday.

I canned dill pickles made from those cucumbers I'd limed the night before and rinsed that morning.  Three quarts and one pint worth.

While waiting on the canner, I emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes, swept the mudroom and kitchen, and vacuumed the living and dining rooms plus DH's home office.

After that I tallied up how much it had cost to raise the broiler chickens this year.  DS2 and DD1 each had wanted me to raise a few for them with promises that they'd reimburse me the costs of each bird they took.  I was unhappy to find that it cost me $18 per bird--although each bird weighed between 5 & 6 pounds after processing--because my original guesstimate based on last year's costs was only $13-14 per bird.  That extra $3 per bird processing fee having to not use my planned on processor really was a hit.  All the other price increases--like on feed and the purchase price of the chicks themselves--were tiny compared to that.

Plus, I also

-moved a dresser we don't need/use from the upstairs down to the garage so I can get rid of it (will list on local free pages)

-emptied the water in the dehumidifier

-weeded the four rows of peppers in the garden and 4 of the 6 rows of cucumbers

-walked to the mailbox and got the mail

-fed myself dinner of a salad and a protein bar (too hot to feel hungry)

By then it was time to bring in the horses and feed them their dinner.  Once that was done, I

-picked beans, cucumbers and zucchini

-made a chocolate zucchini cake

-loaded the dishwasher

-shut in chickens and gathered eggs

-sat on the porch swing and read Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts while listening to cicadas singing in the nearby trees

--ate a big hunk of zucchini cake still warm from the oven (YUM!)

 And that was what I did with my Saturday.

Lucky Days

 In March, Surprise called and asked if I might be able to babysit Lucky for her one or two days a week this Spring and maybe Summer so that she could resume taking  college classes (she had gone back to school to finish her bachelor's just prior to finding out she and DS2 were expecting Lucky).  Knowing how busy that time of year is with working horses and with gardening among all the normal day to day home stuff, I told her we could try one afternoon a week if Lucky came to me rather than me driving to their home.

We settled on Tuesdays from 1-5 p.m., and started on the third week of March, when Surprise was going to register for Summer classes.  With the exception of two Tuesdays that I all ready had other things on my calendar (a farrier appointment and Spring Break trip with K3 and Toad), Lucky and I have been hanging out together for over two months now.

What was originally supposed to give Surprise time to either do school work or catch up on housework while I watched Lucky never really happened that way.  Turned out that Surprise only signed up for one class for Summer semester, and that it was a expedited course (only 6 weeks? if I remember right) and that it didn't have a rigid schedule on when she had to be online working on it.  Plus, she decided that rather than drop Lucky off to me and leave, she would just hop on our wifi at this little place here and work from my dining room table.  Which actually ended up about 30-60 minutes of working and the rest wanting to talk to me. For four hours every Tuesday during a time that just gets busier and busier for me.

Now, I'm really glad for these days of spending time with Lucky as he went from newborn into a little human who tries to initiate contact with people and interact with them.  But, I have a ton of work to do in this season, mostly outdoor and therefore dependent on weather (use all the good weather days we get!) and not things I can do in the house or with a still very small person in tow/in my arms.  So, this week was the last Tuesday for a while that Lucky and I hung out together.  I had to make the decision to tell Surprise that now that her class has finished, I need to not babysit for at least the next month, possibly the rest of the summer.

Lucky is now four months old, over 27" long, 13 pounds heavy, rolls, drools everywhere, cutting teeth all ready, has great head control and core strength, and loves looking at things, including books.

He also appears to have the widow's peak hairline that is prevalent on my side of the family.

His newest book I found just last weekend at a garage sale.  For only 50 cents, I couldn't resist!  This book is part of a series of science based board books.  Being that our whole family are kind of science geeks, and both DH and DS2 are engineers, and therefore everybody kind of expects Lucky to have scientific leanings, how could I not buy this book for him?

Gotta Love Free Books!

 Two years ago, a friend of mine organized a community book swap.  It was held in the resource room at her local library.  The premise was that people brought books to swap--minimum of one book required for admission, attendees could take home as many books as they wanted, and at the end of the swap all 'homeless' books were donated to the library for their annual used book sale.

I ended up being unable to make it to the swap, because K2's funeral ended up being scheduled for the same day.  My dear, dear friend, when she heard of this conflict, told me that she'd had numerous people give her boxes of books they no longer wanted and wished to donate to the swap without attending, and invited me to her house to check out the donations.  I found about a dozen books in those pre-swap boxes and being able to take them home even though I wouldn't be able to be at the swap itself helped brighten up a really dark time.

Her book swap was such an overwhelming success, and she had so many requests for another book swap in the not too distant future, that she did!  It needed a larger venue, so that had to be obtained before setting a firm event date.  Ended up being in the Fall of that year.

That one I did attend.  It was another, even larger, impressive turnout of people and books.  Such a big turnout that there wasn't enough table space for all the books brought to be swapped.  And thus was born a semi annual event: the community book swap.

Last year, there was a Spring swap (which I attended and stood in line for almost an hour to get into as there was so many people wanting to swap that the room was at maximum human capacity and people had to be let in only as other people left) and a Fall swap.  The Fall swap had some changes made, such as you could buy an early admittance for $5 and get in an hour early for 'private shopping' before the masses were let in.  That helped a bit with shortening the line, but the turnout was still bigger than the event venue.

This year, the Spring swap was at another new, even larger, location.  The 'early bird special $5 admission' was again offered.  Frugal me, I went for the (free) general admission time and had no trouble getting right in.  I went with only six books to donate (apparently I didn't read much at all between October and March), but came home with sixteen.

Some are for the grandkids to read, some are in brand new condition that I will probably give as gifts, but mostly they are for me!  I was especially excited to spot this book:

Back in 2013 & 2014, when I was learning to knit, I learn to how to knit socks on double pointed needles, and also the Magic Loop method using a circular needle.  At that time, I found that I prefer double points.  2015 or so,  I first heard about the Two at a Time (TAAT) method, and it intrigued me but not enough to seek out more information and give it a try.  I even heard of this exact book, but there was so much stuff going on in my life at that point that I was far from trying anything new that I suspected might require my complete attention to learn.

But now, it's 2025 and I'd actually recently been thinking about maybe adding this book to my list of things I wanted to request from the library. To see it sitting there, in front of me, on the "Crafting" table at the book swap surely was a sign from above!  So I grabbed it and stuffed it into my bag.

Imagine my complete and utter delight when I got it home, was showing off my prizes (new books) to DH, opened the book and there, tucked inside by the previous (now unknown) owner were two sizes of needles needed for some of the patterns in the book!  Woo hoo!  A book teaching the method, 17 patterns and two sets of needles for knitting with!  WINNER WINNER!!

Gotta love free books!

Knitting Update, October 24

 

I worked on Sixlet's Christmas stocking until I was about halfway to the heel portion, then I put it on hold. I needed something much more portable (that didn't require seven skeins of yarn for all the colorwork) to take on vacation with me in September.

Since Faline had recently found that her beloved purple sweater I knit for her when she turned two (finished product can be seen in this post) has gotten rather short in the arms and body now that she's about to turn four, I decided to raid my stash of yarn and see what yardages I might have that would be enough to knit a sweater for a much taller girl and use that as my take-on-vacation knitting project.

What I found was some lovely light blue/turquoise yarn that I'd purchased about five years ago intending to make a sweater for K3 but never ending up having the chance to actually use.  Now that K3 is way way too big for that to be enough yarn for a sweater for her, I decided to use it for a new sweater for Faline. And only I --and now you-- know that K3 was supposed to get a sweater and hasn't.  So it's all good.

I am using the Sunday Sweater pattern again (same pattern as the purple one), only making it in the size 4/5 using the longer body and arm lengths included in the pattern.  I have roughly 3" of body left to knit, at which point I will probably set it aside for a week or so and go back to working on Sixlet's stocking.

As far as reading goes, I finished two books in September:

• My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg is, I think, his first novel.  It's quite satirical and comedic.  I'd say it's sort of a murder mystery, but not nearly the same as his Eve Ronin series.  I could definitely see the progression in his writing from his early works to his novels of the 2020s.
• The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett.  It's been over four years since I read anything from this author and now I can't imagine why it took me so long to pick up another book of his.  I love, love, love his writing.  History, intrigue, well developed characters. . . need I say more?

Currently, I have just started reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.  I've heard this book mentioned a few times around internet-land in the past six to eight years, so I decided finally to give it a try. I'll say that the foreword is rather long and didn't keep my attention very well; if I had skipped that part I'd probably be further than Chapter One by now (five days after getting the book from the library).

Knitting Update, September

 I finished my Churfirsten socks!  They were finished before the end of August, and I remembered to take photos for posterity!  The first photo shows the pattern really well, but isn't very true to color.  The second photo has the color pretty much spot on.

Right after grafting the toe on the second sock, I went to my yarn stash and dug out the tote with the instructions and yarn for making Sixlet's Christmas stocking.  It's so nice that I've made this pattern four times all ready; all I need to do is to chart out the stitches for Sixlet's name and just follow my notes from making his parents' and siblings' matching stockings and it will come together easily.

Hoping that I can get this all knit up before Thanksgiving.  Barring any unforeseen time-consuming things happening between now and then, it shouldn't take more than two months of evenings to make.  I've all ready cast on and worked through the cuff portion and the first six rows of colorwork.  I forgot how much I like doing colorwork (although I'm out of practice keeping all the yarns from twisting together just in the course of knitting one row).  Perhaps next year I'll finally knit the sock pattern with tons of colorwork that I've been meaning to knit for about 10 years now. . . 

I don't feel like I've done much reading since the last yarn along, but I guess I've done enough to get through three books:

You Only Die Once by Jodi Wellman, is kind of an inspirational read, I guess.  It's meant to get you thinking about the things you want to do/see/be in the however many years of life you have left no matter what your age.  Judging from the number of notebook pages I filled while doing the exercises in this book, I definitely did some thinking as I read (mostly confirming thoughts I'd all ready had swirling in my mind for years).

The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason is another great Inspector Erlendur mystery.  I found it completely engrossing and had a hard time putting it down.  In addition to the great story-telling and keep-you-guessing mystery portion, there's a quite interesting bit of Cold War era socialist/communist theory and practice in the storyline that I think Americans could take heed (warning) of today.

The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini is the latest installment of her Elm Creek Quilts series.  Long time readers of her quilt series books will recognize several parts of the story.  While they are woven together in an interesting way, I did find reading some of it a little redundant.  If you can't remember storylines of books you read years ago, this probably won't be an issue for you.  I just tend to have the kind of mind that hangs on to stuff and dredges it up from the far recesses if I try to read the same book, or watch the same tv show or movie more than once. (That tends to drive my husband up the wall as he'll be channel surfing on tv and land on a show for about a minute and a half before I'll say "seen it" and request a change of station.)

Knitting Update, August

 Churfirsten Sock 1: DONE!  YAY!

Sock 2: cuff complete, and about 1/3 of the way through the (very short) leg.  I honestly have done very little knitting in the last several weeks.  Apparently I've spent all my couch time reading, as evidenced by the list below.

Books read:

• Bake, Borrow and Steal by Ellie Alexander.  Another Bakeshop Mystery, a good light read.
• Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Saw this one on Ginny's blog (Ginny the originator of the Yarn Along idea) and requested it from the library.  If you only like a more modern writing style involving female characters, this book most likely isn't for you. I did enjoy it, the style of writing reminded me of a lot of books read in my youth.
• The Riding Instructor's Manual by Gordon Wright & Samuel Kelley.  I've had this in my personal library for a long, long time and got it out when I first had K3 start working the Little Black Mare with me. This book is mostly themed for the English/jumping rider, and was written many decades ago.  Some info was still relevant to my project with K3.  (Side note: went on Amazon to find a link to add for this book and WHOA!! Check out the price!! I knew it had been out of print for while but didn't know my copy was worth so much!)
• 500 Miles From You by Jenny Colgan.  She has become one of my favorite writers when I want a feel-good read that isn't fluffy.  Another story based in Kirrinfief Scotland and there are cameos of familiar characters from her previous two books that I read.  Pretty sure I literally read this book in two days.
• The Burning by Linda Castillo.  This is her latest Kate Burkholder novel and is as gripping as all the others.  
• The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center. Her latest novel, was engaging, funny and hard to put down.  Another that I devoured in 2-3 days.

Currently reading You Only Die Once by Jodi Wellman. I've barely started it, but so far I like her writing style.  Not sure if the perkiness and the in-your-face will wear on me after a while.  Will have to report on that next month. 

Knitting Update, July

(Apparently I didn't have this scheduled to post on Wednesday like I thought I had.  Better late than never!)

Well, I didn't get sock #1 of my Churfirsten socks finished.  Lots of things happened in June, including a death in the extended family that required lots of changes for DH and I for about two weeks, both helping Mother-in-Law while her long time friend was in the hospital/hospice care and traveling up north to attend the funeral.  

I did, afterwards, get the foot knit on the sock, though, so only have to do the toe decreases.  Need to pick up the pace so I can (maybe) get the second sock knit before the middle of August.  That's the timeline I have set in place for beginning Sixlet's Christmas stocking so that it's finished by Thanksgiving.  

So far, Sixlet has auburn hair that wants to curl in the humidity.

There wasn't a whole lot of reading going on in June, although I did finish The 8:55 to Baghdad by Andrew Eames.  It was interesting in a history of the Middle East kind of way, although it wasn't quite so much about Agatha Christie as I had originally thought it would be.

I also read Begin Again by Helly Acton.  I really liked this book and found it hard to put down.  In a way, it reminded me of Cecilia Ahern's fantastical novels.  

This week I began reading Bake, Borrow and Steal by Ellie Alexander.

Knitting Update, June

 As expected for this time of year, there has not been much knitting happening.

I am, however, through the heel portion of my first Churfirsten sock.  Perhaps I'll actually finish it this month.

Currently I am reading The 8:55 to Baghdad by Andrew Eames.  As a long time Agatha Christie fan (I started reading her in middle school), I thought this book sounded interesting.  So far, about 60 pages into it, I am not disappointed.  The author accompanies history and biography with modern day descriptions of the locations traveled.

Since last month's knitting update, I read two other books:

The Island, by Elin Hilderbrand, which was typical of the author's subject and style, yet still enjoyable. 

 Second Chances by Jane Savoie, which I found disappointingly trite.  Having long been a fan of this author's horse training and sports psychology related books, I had expected way more of this book than it turned out to be.  That said, however, the riding-related sections of the book were great. The characters and plot were just rather shallow and undeveloped (and sometimes a little unbelievable too).

Knitting Update, May

 

I haven't done much knitting lately in the past month.  The reality is that I have done some lately, as in the past week.  I've gotten the leg part of my Churfirsten sock done, all couple inches of it since this is destined to be an ankle sock, and am about 10 of 30 rows into the heel portion.  

This is the season of long daylight and much to do outside, so it will probably take me until Fall to get two short socks knit.  And that's okay.  No deadline.  If they're not ready to wear with shorts during the hot weather part of the year, they are great to wear to bed on a chilly winter's night.

I have managed to read several books since April's knitting/reading update.  I finished The Tattered Quilt, which was okay (not spectacular but finish-able).  Then I cruised right through Julia Monroe Begins Again by Rebekah Millet (chic lit, and pretty good) as well as An Evil Heart  by Linda Castillo (another Kate Burkholder mystery, can't possibly go wrong with this one).  After that I read Growing Season by Melanie Lagerschulte which I was so-so on; it had potential but was kind of trite and never quite got to what I felt it could be.  Most recently read was The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman which was a good book.  

One I've been trying to read and am not really getting into--I started it 10 days ago, spent 5 days trying to get through about 50 pages but it was so just not capturing me, then I put it down and read a different book start to finish and just picked it up again for another try is The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell.  I'm not sure if it's the characters or the author's writing style, but I just can't quite fall into it and I'm kind of thinking it's one I'm just going to decide not to finish.

For the month of May, I'm going to try to just read books that I have at this little place here (rather than books borrowed from the library).  I want to get through some of my stack and have several books read so I can take them to the local book swap this Fall.