Sunday Bookends: Summer bug, cooler weather, and … oh. Still reading the same books.

/ Lisa R. Howeler

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.

Today is my mom’s 81st birthday. Sadly, we are probably not going there for dinner because my family is recovering from a summer virus/cold. We are almost all the way over it but we’re making sure we are still not contagious before we go. So, we will celebrate her birthday later this week.

The biggest issue with our illness this week was Little Miss’s cough at night and our being unable to stop it so she, and we, could sleep. We were happy to have some beautiful weather the second half of the week that allowed us to go outside and get some fresh air. During the first part of the week, it was simply too hot to enjoy anything outside.

Fans of Summer have been disappointed this week since we had fall-like temperatures for the last few days but I have been loving it. I would love it even more if Little Miss could kick her cough all the way. I have a feeling that will happen by tomorrow or Tuesday, however.

A couple of quick reminders:

I have a monthly book-related link party if you are interested. You can find the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea link party at the top of my page or here (https://lisahoweler.com/2025/08/02/a-good-book-a-cup-of-tea-monthly-link-party-for-august/) . It is for posts about books that you are reading, have read, book reviews — just anything book-related really. So even posts about book collections, authors etc. etc.

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are still holding Drop-In Crafternoons once or twice a month.

We will be holding another one in August, but I am not sure when yet.

The Crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on (usually from about 1 to 3 p.m. EST US time). No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early.

If you want to join in, email Erin at crackcrumblife@gmail.com and she will add you to the mailing list.

This wasn’t the worst cold/virus/whatever I’ve ever had so I was able to get some reading in, mainly from Dave Barry Isn’t Taking This Sitting Down while I sat up keeping an eye on Little Miss in the middle of the night. I also read quite a bit of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

I didn’t read any of the 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson this week but I do plan to continue it and finish it. I did read some from Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse and I love it.

Soon I hope to read The Clue of the Broken Blade, a Hardy Boys Mystery, and Password to Larkspur Lane, a Nancy Drew Mystery.

The Boy is listening to Red Tithe by Robbie MacNiven, a Warhammer book.

The Husband is reading something or other but he laid down for a nap because he might be getting the virus next so I will have to ask him later.

Little Miss and I have not started anything new lately but I hope to finish Magical Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink soon. That title was later changed just to Caddie Woodlawn’s Family. I think that’s a good thing because the first title was .. a little weird in modern times.

Last week I watched The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, a few episodes of Murder She Wrote, an episode of As Time Goes By, a documentary of David Suchet on the Orient Express, and an episode of a new-to-me show called Canal Boat Diaries. I also watched The Court Jester as part of my Summer of Angela series. Next week I will be watching The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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.

This post is linked up with The Sunday Post at  Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, The Sunday Salon with Deb at Readerbuzz, and Book Date: It’s Monday! What are you reading hosted by Kathyrn at The Book Date. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Reading Reality.

Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Discover more from Boondock Ramblings

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

14 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: Summer bug, cooler weather, and … oh. Still reading the same books.”

  3. I’m sorry that you and your family had to miss the celebration for your mom. Summer sicknesses are frustrating to me because…no one should be sick in all that sunshine, somehow.

    I look forward to the next Crafternoon. I am going to continue to try to crochet.

    Like

    Reply

    • It does seem very weird to get sick in the summer! Yes! that should be for cold weather. We don’t even know where we got it. No one around here seems to have the same illness. It just hit my son out of nowhere a couple of weeks ago and hasn’t let go of us since. I’m going to blame all the campers and out of towners that come through here during the summer on their way to the state parks *wink*. I’m sure they didn’t mean to drop off an illness on their way through..

      The only place we can think he went that week besides my parents was the local dollar store and I’m sure that place is full of germs! I mean, no offense to the employees, but it’s a germ factory..

      Like

      Reply

  4. I’m reading a book about running and identity which I found referenced in another book and hoped would have some good info about why running is not as diverse as it could be in terms of class and race, but is a bit old in its references so not as useful as I hoped, and on the Kindle one called Are You Mad At Me which is about the Fawn response (Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn) or people-pleasing. I’ve just finished Dear Miss Lake, having read books 2 and 3 in the series hurriedly in print, before reading this fourth one via NetGalley!

    I did some “crafting” on Saturday – re-laminating information cards for our marshals and run director at parkrun and poking an awl through the plastic to fix them to our lanyards – and my husband mentioned I was having my own crafternoon!

    Like

    Reply

    • That is so funny about your husband saying that about the crafternoon, but, yes, you were having your own little crafternoon.

      Good grief, I probably need that people pleasing book. I’ve been getting better over the years but boy did I used to be so bad at it. Okay. Okay.. I’m still bad at doing it!

      I wanted to tell you but keep forgetting to email you so I’ll leave it here for a good laugh for other people to read. When I was sick earlier this week I was having some weird fever dreams and in one of them it was just you talking on Zoom about all the places there are in Birmingham that honor Ozzy Osbourne. It was like you were a news broadcaster in some ways but also talking to me directly.

      I should explain that while the dream was creepy, you are not. lol

      Like

      Reply

  5. I love “When Time Goes By!” I could watch that over and over. Judi Dench at her finest as far as I’m concerned. I’m reading The Book Club for Troublesome Women. I was talking about it to my daughter and was shocked to discover she’d never heard of The Feminine Mystique! I doubt she’ll ever read it, but I hope she does so she’ll understand me a little bit better.

    I do hope Little Miss’ cough is soon gone, and I also hope your husband doesn’t come down with it (we all know there’s nothing worse than a man cold).

    Have a fantastic and, hopefully, cool week, Lisa!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I could watch it over and over too and have. I used to watch it after work when I worked at the newspaper and before I was married. I lived in my old house along a busy road and watched shows like that to help calm me down! Now it is among my comfort shows – along with Dick VanDyke.

      Like

      Reply

I love when people leave a comment so we can connect and I can meet new readers!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.