New Year, new goals!

https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/11633?ref=rc_jan_23_sa

August musings

Summer is flying by. The weather has been hot and humid. We have gone through windy days with no rain, windy days with rain- crazy. Have been reading. I am enjoying the Book Girl guide challenges. I am doing the "Around the World" challenge suggested by a friend. Every month a different part of the world is selected and you receive a list of books to read. I try to read a book from an area that I am not familiar.

These are a few of the books I have read this summer. I highly recommend Island of a Thousand Mirrors set in Sri Lanka around the time of its civil war. I knew nothing about the island nation. I also recently finished, and highly recommend, Dust Child set in Viet Nam. The story centers around a veteran returning to Viet Nam to reconcile what he did during the war. The term Dust Child is what a child born of a Vietnamese woman and US soldier is called. I am about to finish The Storyteller's Secret, again another suggestion from the Book Girls, which takes place primarily in India. Also very good. My book group met (those who could) in July at a local winery for an evening to catch up. It wasn't too hot and we had a good variety of snacks. It was a pleasant evening. I am now trying to organize a movie night. Unfortunately it is hard to find a evening and time when most of us can go to the movies. Will try again. We may have to go to an earlier show, before 5:00 pm, to get seats. Guess what movie we are trying to see. I have been thinking about our book group planning weekend in September. I have some ideas for books to discuss. I believe we have been gathering in September almost 20 years! I also am attempting to get the group to select a fixed day and week for our meetings. The past several years we have moved the meeting each month to accommodate everyone. I think, and most seemed to agree, that having a fixed date would make our lives easier. I have a calendar with weekly conflicts for each person. So fingers crossed we can find one night that works.

Summer time

Well it's been awhile since I last posted. Time marches on. I have updated my book group's reading list. We plan our next reads in September for the 2023-24 year. This year I am trying to get the group to select a fixed day of the month to meet instead of trying to accomodate everyone's busy life. Hopefully this will make our meeting easier as the day of that week doesn't change. Fingers crossed. We had an excellent discussion in June - The Splendid and the Vile. I did not finish it (but will) with the annual potluck dinner. One member had the suggestion to set up a Google page so members

can add comments etc after each meeting. I have been keeping track of likes/dislikes, attendance, on my own but maybe this is worth a try. Now to get that member to set it up. I am not very familiar with all that Google has to offer but she is so she might take it on. We are going to try to get together in July at a locale vineyard. It is the rare occasion that I do not finish a book but Inland I gave up at about 150 pages. Ugh.

Described as a magical Western, I just could not keep track of the characters, the time period. Too many books to read and I just had no interest in the characters or the plot. Another book I struggled with was Harlem Shuffle. I really felt as if the first 2/3 of the book could have been shortened or even eliminated. A book that everyone seemed to really enjoy was Horse ( Brooks) which I have not read as I was away in February when it was discussed. Another book that the majority of the group enjoyed was Lessons in Chemistry. Good discussion and it was amazing how many of the group has similar experiences in the workplace and school as Elizabeth Zott. I have been reading the Veronica Speedwell series. Set in Victorian England, Veronica is unlike any other leading character. Very unique. Intriguing mysteries, well done. I had started in February the Book Girls Challenge- Reading Around the World. I am a bit behind but as there are many suggestions for each month and world place it is fun and interesting. My first book of the challenge was How The Penguins Saved Veronica.

Well I think I wll close with the photo I took on one of my morning walks in Rhode Island. Very peaceful.

Happy New Year 2023!

A new year and a new reading goal. I read 94 books last year. My goal was 80. I read a lot of rom- coms. My book group had a really good diverse selection of reads. https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2022/1756884 Not quite sure if the link will work but I took some screen shots of my accomplishments!

I think my favorites were the Thursday Murder Club series, Tender Land and the audiobook Finding Me read by the author Viola Davis. Here's to more reading in 2023!

Walking

Yesterday I had the opportunity to walk with a couple of friends. It was great. We walked about 3.5 miles along a river and saw deer, grey heron and had clear views of New Haven and Long Island Sound. The weather was perfect and the fall foliage has been really pretty. Then we went to a local brewery and met up with some others for happy hour. I selected a pumpkin spice hard cider- not much of a beer drinker- and it was delicious.

Fall

Have been busy with a bunch of weddings! Four in the fall. Wonderful celebrations. Been reading some. Our book group met to discuss Crying In H Mart, a memoir written by a Korean- American young woman who has musical ambitions. She takes a "leave" to care for her cancer ridden mother. It is a story of relationships, food, music and unerstanding. Everyone had read the book and seemed to like it despite its sadness. Our next book is The Night Watchman. The fall foliage this year is outstanding. I am so surprised as we had such a long period of drought during the summer. Glorious.

Currently I am reading Broken Horses by Brandi Carlisle. A bit of a struggle but it is interesting. Many reviews on Goodreads suggested listening to the audiobook because she sings many of the referenced songs. I need to finish and return to the library.

Summer time

It has been one hot and humid summer. Our plants and lawn are suffering as we are on a well and need to conserve water. It is even too hot to find relief at the beach! I have been playing some golf, some pickleball and reading. Trying to exercise each day but taking my Zoom class and or walking three to four miles. Have read some good books.

Almost summer!

Once more I realized that I have not posted in quite awhile. Time flies.... My book group did meet in April and May. The books discussed were The Midnight Library and Transcendent Kingdom. Both generated really good discussion. In May it was nice enough to sit outside. Our next book is Kitchen Confidential. Should be an interesting read. So my daughter graduated from medical school in April. My husband, son and I drove to Chicago for the commencement activities. It was wonderful. Only wish we could have visited more often but .. thank you Covid. We did go on the architectual river cruise which was really great. My daughter made dinner reservations for both Friday and Saturday nights and each restaurant was quite nice (loud but nice). We ate at a popular breakfast place (Little Goat Diner) which was delicious. Mother's day was a relatively quiet affair which was nice. And this past week my mom celebrated her 100th birthday. Twenty - six family members gathered for her birthday luncheon. She loved every minute! The food was delicious, the cake was amazing. It was a lovely day.

So that's about it for me.

Spring

Been awhile (again) since I posted. This year we were able to go to Maui. Last year we skipped traveling due to Covid. It was nice to get away for four weeks. The weather was perfect, the water was warm and inviting and refreshing. We did a few hikes/walks. And read. Two books that both my husband and I enjoyed were Deacon King Kong and This Tender Land.

Another book that I enjoyed and was on my TBR list was The Flatshare. Very funny, light story.

The beach was beautiful as always and the sunsets were pretty spectacular.

I missed the discussion of the February book selection (H is for Hawk). Not a favorite of mine and I often wonder how some books get on the "must read" lists. I struggled to read this and was annoyed by the main character. I liked the hawk more. Our March book is Apeirogon- story of the Israeli: Palestinian conflict. Interesting, some gore, and an different set up. Can't wait to have our discussion this week. That's about it for now.

Change in format for blogger?

My most recent post is so weird. Will try to figure out if there is a word/picture limit. Very strange. Have not encountered this issue before. The picture of my temperature quilt didn't post so let's see if I can post it here.

Can I will have to be less wordy!

Winter Storm on the way

The weather people are predicting a BIG winter storm for this coming Friday. Supposed to start Friday night sometime into Saturday. I normally don't really worry about storms as we have a generator and food in the pantry and freezer. But. We are getting ready to leave for Maui next week and I have things that have to be done before we go. Newspapers suspended, plants moved to friends for care, etc. Sigh. We shall see if it hits us or moves south of us (another model). I read, very quickly The Forest of Vanishing Stars (Hamel). Very good. I never realized how many people lived in the forests during WWII to escape the Nazis' Well researched and somewhat personal for Hamel it was very interesting.

. Hamel has a podcast which I may try to listen to at some point. I started Everyone in This Room will Someday be Dead. I have seen it listed in various blogs and was curious. Not sure what to expect but it is not a long book.

. On another note I finally fed my sourdough starters (Selma and Arthur) and they were so active I made a loaf of bread with flax seeds which was so good.

I finished my temperature quilt (2021) and took it to the longarm quilter along with two other quilts. I can't believe that I stuck with it for 365 days! I have so many tops to be quilted and I don't have the space or expertise to quilt them so I am trying to get 1-3 done each year. I am working on a baby quilt for my niece who is expecting in July- figured I have enough time to get that done!

Friday, January 7, 2022

January snow!

Last night it snowed. There is 11 inches!

I did really well with the Goodreads 2021 challenge. My goal was 75 books and I read 89! Some were, honestly, pretty quick reads but overall I am please with my achievement.

I have set my goal for the 2022 challenge at 80. For some reason I cannot list the books my group has selected for 2022 as a list.... will continue to try to figure that out. I finished Klara and the Sun this afternoon. I felt that the ending didn't give me all the answers I needed to fully understand Klara and her final days. I hope there is an interesting discussion Tuesday night. Again my book club is Zoom meeting due to the recent Covid spike. We all hope that in the near future we can meet in person. December we met but didn't discuss Fun Home as planned. We gathered to make chocolate/candy (totally edible) houses and we were so focused on our project that we decided to discuss Fun Home in January.

It was a great evening and wonderful to gather together and enjoy each other's company.

Friday, December 3, 2021

December

Another month gone by. Thanksgiving was a nice quiet holiday having dinner with my son, mom, brother, sister in law and husband. And two dogs. We then drove to RI to spend the rest of the holiday weekend. It was a cold weekend but so pretty.

Had a couple of nice walks. Read quite a bit.Three of the books I finished in November.

. We had put out our bird feeder but in one night a bear destroyed it. So I guess I'll have to wait to feed the birds until it is so cold there isn't a bear threat. We did have two bucks, big boys in the backyard. Pretty impressive set of antlers.

Our book club is meeting to make chocolate candy houses for the holiday. We are supposed to discuss Fun Home (graphic novel) but I think we may push that discussion to January as we will more likely be focused on making the houses.

Saturday, November 6, 2021

Sunny skies

Beautiful day today- bright, sunny, clear, crisp. Last week I attempted a new bread recipe. After feeding my sourdough starter a couple of times (it had been neglected in the back of the refrigerator for weeks) I saw on the King Arthur site a recipe using the starter, rye flour and stout. I had several cans of Guiness stout from baking chocolate cupcakes for St Patrick's Day. (best chocolate cake ever!). I made the preferment, letting it rest overnight and then proceded to knead and rise the next day. This is a two day recipe and makes one HUGE loaf baked on a pizza stone. Next time I would make two smaller loaves. Very tasty.

Definitely worth making again. On the reading front I have read Have You Seen Luis Velez? our next book club selection. I really liked it. It was not the happiest story but on the other hand it was hopeful and showed the compassionate side of people. I hope it generates a good discussion. I finished Arsenic with Austen yesterday. This is a cozy mystery and I was taken with the premise of combining a classic with modern day. Sadly it was only okay. Predicable (I am okay with that as long as it is reasonable), unrealistic and I found the love story plot a bit silly.I don't ofter give a 2 star rating but this got it.I have the second book but am debating as to whether I will read it. My current read is November 9 by Colleen Hoover.

That's all for now!