It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

Today my dad suggested we go into the pool since it is hot and humid out still – in the middle of September. Yuck.

I had decided we’d already had our last swim in the beginning of September, though, and I’m actually dreading it because the last time we went in the pool there were some 100 mosquitoes I had to clean out before we could swim. This has been a very bad mosquito year apparently.

Plus there is drying off but not getting all dry so when you try to get your pants on you can’t because your skin is still just damp enough to not let the pants slide on easily. That is so annoying to me.

Yes, I know, I am being dramatic about nothing. Ha! But it’s just a little whine and I do actually have fun once we get in the pool. I have a feeling it will not be a warm trip, though, because our nights have been very cool.

I do miss the pool and being able to hop in on a hot day so maybe one last dip will be good for me. I just sort of had packed that part of the year away already and am ready for sweaters, hot cocoa, and falling leaves.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I am still reading An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey and have also started A Simple Deduction by Kristi Holl.

I am not bowled over by either of them but they are an okay escape. I was liking An Assassination on the Agenda better than a Simple Deduction where I couldn’t connect with the characters at all, but as I started to get into the book I liked it more. I still can’t connect with the main character at all, though. There is no personality written into her in this book, which was written by a different author than the other books (actually each of the books in the series seems to be written by a different author, but with the same main character and setting). In this one she’s just very flat. We don’t learn anything about her personality or her likes or dislikes until halfway through the book. It’s just a straight mystery – which is okay too since that’s how Agatha wrote all her books. We never really got to the know the characters too well – just the mystery, ma’am. I mean we did learn about their quirks and personalities as the series went on – especially Poirot.

I finished Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour this past week. It wasn’t my regular read and I wasn’t totally in love with it, but I would try another one of his books. It was a good story and a really crazy ending.

This was a Hopalong Cassidy novel that he apparently wrote in the style of the original author but was re-released in the 1990s under L’Amour’s name. I’d like to read a book by him that’s about one of his own characters.

The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene (A Nancy Drew Mystery)

Murder Handcrafted by Isabella Alan (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery)

The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun

What We watched/are Watching

This past week I watched Lovejoy and the movie Out of The Blue that I watched last week again but with my husband. I also watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as part of the Comfy Cozy Feature I am doing with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumb.

Yesterday I watched an old movie called A Woman of Distinction with Rosalind Russell and Ray Milland.  There was a cameo with Lucille Ball in the beginning and it was so funny. She was only on screen five minutes and still cracked me up. The entire movie was full of hilarious moments and the ending wasn’t as bad and cliché as I thought it was going to be.

The movie was about the female dean of a college who has sworn off love, instead choosing her career. When a lecturer from Great Britain comes to the states to present some lectures, the public relations woman promoting his lectures decides she needs an angle to drum up some interest and makes up a story that he has come to the states looking for the dean. Craziness ensued after that and I realized that there are a lot of movies from the 1940s and 1950s that really hold up today.

I also started a movie called Merrily We Live and that one also cracked  me up within the first ten minutes. I can’t wait to finish it later today.

I’ve been watching these old movies for free via our Roku and the Tubi app.

What I’m Writing

Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree is what I’ve been writing. I hope to finish it by the end of September. I’ll be announcing a release date later on my newsletter Substack, which is where I share most of my writing news (https://lisarhoweler.substack.com/)

Last week on the blog I shared:

• Saturday Afternoon Chat — so…..not much is going on.
• A book list for me to choose from this autumn
• Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot: Come Link Up With Us!
• Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Provided a Much Needed Escape

What I’m Listening To

I have been alternating between reading An Assassination on the Agenda and listening to it while I do dishes or other chores during the week because I really like the narrator.

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.