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.