Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
Good grief, Pennsylvania. What is with this super cold weather even before November hit? Wait. That’s pretty normal, I just don’t like to remember it because I’m not a fan of cold unless I can be inside wrapped up in a blanket? Oh. I see.
Well, anyhow, winter is upon us at the moment it seems as our temps dip into the low 30s and high 20s at night.
This gives us extra snuggle time with the pets who like to snuggle at the most inconvenient times these days. I’ll take it, though, because I always look forward to when they slow down a little and let me cuddle them a little bit. They had plenty of time to cuddle as I am writing this because it is pouring outside.
Now on to introducing our hosts.
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!
Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
Hi there! My name is Arpita Singh, and I believe myself to be a creative soul with an undying love for art and writing. I find myself constantly drawn to anything that allows me to express a matter creatively, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share my interest with you through this blogging website.
Nothing compares to starting the day with a fresh, warm cup of coffee, to get the energy and focus one needs to tackle the day ahead.
I have been fortunate enough to have lived two totally different lives in two distinct cities, providing me with an exceptional opportunity to learn from both. The experiences I have gained through these two vastly different worlds have taught me invaluable lessons that I am eager to share these with you.
Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!
And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are hosting Comfy, Cozy Cinema again this year and up this week was The Mummy!
The Mummy (1999) was a perfect watch for Halloween, though maybe not super comfy or cozy? I don’t know but we slip some creepier ones in for Halloweeeen too so it all evens out! This one isn’t super creepy all the way through, though, and oneee thing you should know is that The Mummy does not take itself too seriously.
Even though it isn’t really a horror film, it deals with the dead and ancient curses, gross bugs, the undead, and bringing people back from the dead and…., etc., etc.
And we also get to see when Brendan Frasier had a career. Ha! I kid. I kid. I know his career has been resurrected like some of the characters in this movie. I just thought it was a funny line.
This movie has become a cult classic after performing well in the theaters, but even better for video/DVD sales which raked in $1 billion for Universal in 2000. The movie’s success even led to a sequel, The Mummy Returns, which was must less successful and then yet another sequel, which was not a huge success either, if I remember right..
Even though I have seen this movie a couple of times, it’s been a long time since the last rewatch, so I rewatched it with my kids to remind myself of specific scenes, plot, etc.
Etc. is the word for today, by the way. I’m going to keep using it throughout this post just to be annoying, obnoxious, belligerent, etc. etc.
(I’m kidding about that too. I can’t keep that up for an entire post…..or can I?)
This movie starts with the affair between Imhotep and Anck-su-namun, the mistress of the Pharoah. No one was to touch Anck-su-namun other than the Pharaoh but I guess Imhotep missed that memo because he started an affair with her.
The two are caught by the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh is killed, the Pharaoh’s men come in, Imhotep escapes while Anck-su-namun reminds him that only he can resurrect her later so she kills herself before the Pharaoh’s men can.
Imhotep then steals Anck-su-namun body and tries to resurrect her but is interrupted by the pharaoh’s guard and is intombed with a bunch of creepy beetle things and buried alive “for all eternity.”
Ha. As if that line is going to stick. Of course, we know something is going to happen to disturb this dude’s resting place.
The Medjai, by the way, are sworn to prevent Imhotep’s return, as his resurrection would grant him immense power. They are guarding over him when Rick O’Connell (Brenden Frasier) is in the French Foreign Legion, fighting against an Arab Army, and finds the tomb, but runs away when the sand begins trying to attack him.
The Medjai decide not to kill him, but instead to “let the desert kill him instead.”
Bad idea because Rick lives and discovers an intricate box, which he takes home with him and has stolen by Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) who gives it to his sister, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) a librarian and very green Egyptologist.
Evelyn finds a map inside the box that will lead them to buried Egyptian treasure but it is in the city of the dead. She takes it to her boss at the ancient library but he — oops — sets in it on fire. Was that an accident? Hmm…not so sure there.
Now Evelyn wants to know where Jonathan got it so they set off to find the man who Jonathan stole the box from.
Rick is in jail and actually looks way too clean to have been in jail and he agrees to help Evelyn get to the lost city of death if she will get him out of jail. She figures out a way, but the jailer says he is going to come along to keep an eye on his prisoner.
From there, hijinks ensue, especially when the group runs into a rival team also looking for the city and treasure and Rick runs into an old “friend” who always abandoned him at the most inopportune moments. That friend is Benji and he provides a lot of humor throughout the film, including an iconic scene where he uses symbols from several different religions to keep the mummy from attacking him.
This movie is a fun ride. My husband and I had seen this years ago in the theater when we were first dating — we think anyhow. Our memories are so fuzzy because we are so old.
The Boy said during this movie, “This movie is so fun. I’m really liking this.”
I could have sworn he’d seen this movie before, but he had not, and wanted to, so the timing was perfect, great, impeccable, etc. etc.
The movie is full of eye-candy for all with Rachel Weisz being pretty and Brenden and Oded Fehr and even Arnold Vosloo for those who like bald men.
As I mentioned above, The Mummy is not necessarily a “horror” film but there is a lot of grotesque scenes and moments involving — a bit of a spoiler here — the mummy trying to piece himself back together, which involves pulling other pieces off living humans.
The film was shot in Morocco and The United Kingdom. I found it interesting when I read that Universal took out kidnapping insurance on the crew and cast but didn’t tell them until filming was over. Yikes.
This is the movie where we almost lost Brendan Fraser to by the way
According to an interview with Brendan on The Kelly Clarkson Show, in the scene where Brendan is being hung, the director told him it wasn’t looking believable. Brendan pushed up on his tiptoes while the man who was holding the rope lifted up and Brendan had nowhere to go but try to push down.
“So he was pulling up and I was going down. And then the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways and there was gravel in my teeth.”
He said the stunt coordinator was leaning over him clapping his hands and calling, “Brendan. Come on, Brendan.”
When he did, the coordinator told the actor, “‘Congratulations, you’re in the club — same thing happened to Mel Gibson on ‘Braveheart.’”
The Mummy became such a hit that there were two sequels and a spinoff. Yes, I saw the spinoff with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Scorpion King. No, I do not recommend it.
I never saw The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor but I probably wouldn’t recommend it either.
This movie did get positive reviews when it came out, with most calling it lot of fun.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review, writing, “There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased.”[
Trivia and facts:
*Disclaimer: always make sure to double check these as what I report is only as good as the sites I pull it from and they are not always accurate.
The library disaster in the beginning of the film was done in one take. It would have taken an entire day to re-shoot if a mistake had been made. (source IMdb)
The effects team was told “no gore” when designing the look of the Mummy. They actually did tests for “grossness threshold.” (source IMdb)
Erick Avari who portrayed Dr. Terence Bey now portrays Nicodemus on The Chosen. (source: me!)
With the exception of a loin cloth, a few pieces of jewelry, and pasties, Patricia Velasquez as Anck-su-namun, was nude except for body paint, which took four hours to apply. (source IMdb)
This movie is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name. (various sources, including my husband.)
The white nightgown Evelyn wore when the ship was attacked became transparent when it got wet and had to be digitally painted white during post production so the film could keep its PG-13 rating. (source IMdb)
The Medjai were originally supposed to be tattooed from head to toe, but Stephen Sommers vetoed it because he thought Oded Fehr was “too good-looking” to be covered up. (source IMdb)
The crew could not shoot in Egypt because of the unstable political conditions. (source IMdb)
To avoid dehydration in the scorching heat of the Sahara, the production’s medical team created a drink that the cast and crew had to consume every two hours. (source IMdb)
Sandstorms were daily inconveniences. Snakes, spiders and scorpions were a major problem, with many crew members having to be airlifted out after being bitten. (source IMdb)
When Evelyn reads the inscription “He who shall not be named” on Imhotep’s sarcophagus, the hieroglyphs used are accurate. The inscription actually translates literally as “the one without a name.” (source IMdb)
The film is called The Mummy everywhere except Japan where it is called Hamunaptra: The Capital City of the Lost Desert. (source, TVTrops.org)
“John Hannah claimed in interviews that he didn’t have the best time shooting the film because he felt the character of Jonathan was pretty redundant: he had been hired as a comedic actor but Beni was far more prevalent as the comedy relief and he didn’t work as a sidekick either since Evy fulfilled that role as well. Whenever Hannah tried bringing this up to Stephen Sommers, the latter would just tell him to make something up. Luckily, later films in the series would give Jonathan a more focused role as the comic relief and give him more stuff to do.” (source, TVTrops.org)
“The original script’s opening had a number of edits. Imhotep was originally supposed to narrate, and following Seti’s murder Imhotep was supposed to lead the ritual to curse Anak-su-namun’s mummified body for her crime of regicide, only for Imhotep and his priests to dug up the body as soon as all the other witnesses were either dead or had left; in a scene mirroring Imhotep’s origin story in the original film, the diggers were to be killed by the soldiers after burying Anak-su-namun, and for the Med-jai to kill the soldiers afterwards in order to keep her grave a secret. During the ritual at Hamunaptra, Imhotep explains the ritual didn’t require a human sacrifice since Anak-su-namun’s organs were still fresh. When the Med-jai arrive to stop Imhotep, one of them smashes the jar containing Anak-su-namun’s heart, explaining why it it’s intact in one shot, and broken in the shot where her soul flees back to the underworld. Lastly, Imhotep explains how part of the Hom Dai works: the sacred scarabs would be able to enter his now tongue-free mouth and he’d be forced to consume them, cursing him, while the scarabs would become cursed as well upon consuming his flesh, creating a perversion of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Yes, the scarab swarms that plague our heroes later are all undead insects.” (source, TVTrops.org)
If you want to read Erin’s impressions of the movie, you can find it here
So, have you ever seen this one? What did you think of it?
Up next in our Comfy, Cozy Cinema will be The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down a Mountain.
If you’re new here, you might not know that I am a homeschool mom.
I am homeschooling a fifth grader (my daughter) this year since my oldest (my son) graduated last year. We have homeschooled since 2018.
For the sake of the blog, I refer to my daughter as Little Miss.
Little Miss and I started some lessons in early and mid-August this year and then jumped into lessons more earnestly in September. In Pennsylvania, school can begin any time after July 1. Some parents homeschool all-year-round and then take breaks in the middle of the year around the holiday seasons. As long as students are taught for 180 days or 900 hours throughout the year, then homeschool parents are meeting the requirements under the law.
I started lessons early to allow for a longer break around Christmas and in case our school days were thrown off at all by my parents health, which has been steadly getting worse lately.
Part way through September I rediscovered Outschool and signed Little Miss up for a painting class, which she absolutely loves. I say rediscovered because I did purchase one class on there for my son years ago. I’m not sure why we never tried it again.
Little Miss loves her painting class so much I added a drawing class last week with the same teacher.
First, though, what it is Outschool? Second, I am not being sponsored in any way by Outschool to mention it in this post. I’m simply sharing what we are doing for homeschool this year.
Outschool is a site that offers online, live or pre-recorded classes, for students of all ages.
Classes are held through Zoom and there are a variety of topics and subjects offered.
The teachers are independent contractors of sorts so it’s important to really study what the teacher is offering and if it is a good fit for your student.
Each teacher requires they be able to see the student at least once at the beginning of a live class to be sure that they are really talking to a student. There are other security measures in place to keep the learning environment safe. Little Miss likes that the classes are live and she can interact with the teacher and other students during the classes.
We do have to pay for the classes. With my son I took one class and paid for the class I wanted to take. Now the site offers a monthly credit program and then you can purchase extra credits as you go along and each class is worth a certain amount of credits.
The credit program works okay but sometimes some of the classes are quite a few credits and that can get a bit expensive.
In addition to the art classes, I also signed Little Miss up for an animal club that meets Thursday nights. She liked that class so much we went with a Zoology club that is held earlier in the same day, with the same instructor.
I also added a hands-on science class which features a very enthusiastic teacher and a lot of information. Little Miss enjoys the projects but not listening to why the experiment works.
So, altogether Little Miss is taking five Outschool classes, mixed in with the subjects I am teaching her — three science classes and two art classes.
I am also teaching her math (well, actually CTCMath out of Australia teaches her math), English (reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting), and history.
For history we are using the Beautiful Feet curriculum, which focuses on teaching history through literature. I’ve gone a little rogue for the Civil War section of the curriculum because the book they recommended seemed very, very depressing. But, in their defense, the curriculum is aimed at children a couple years older than Little Miss. She’s a bit advanced in her literature, though, so I decided I could use the curriculum as a jumping off point and make it our own. I remove books or supplement with additional books where needed.
The Civil War-themed book we are reading is about two young girl friends — one from the South and the other from the North — who exchange letters during the war. It’s called Secrets of Civil War Spies by Nancy LeSourd.
We also will have classes with our local 4-H once a month, but they haven’t started yet. I tried to get her into more classes or programs in other 4-H programs, but the 4-H program from the county next to us won’t pick up the phone or return my calls. I looked at 4-H because I liked the idea of “clubs” that would meet once a week or even a couple of times a month. Instead, the 4-H in our county holds clubs that teach one thing only for a couple of months. In the winter certain classes (which they refer to as a club) meets maybe once a month. It doesn’t really make it possible to form friendships, but I am sure it will still be nice to attend them anyhow.
Little Miss also attends a church program once a week at our former church.
Writing all of this out helps me to feel a little less concerned about our homeschooling line-up this year. I sometimes worry we are not doing enough for school but when I really look at what we have planned, I realize we are.
What I like about how we homeschool is that we participate in a variety of different styles of education while also having the flexibility to spend more time with Little Miss’s grandparents and for her to spend time exploring the subjects she enjoys. Right now, that subject is art and animals.
I’m excited to see what other subjects she will like to expand on as the school year continues.
This week’s prompt was Halloween Freebie, but since I don’t really read Halloween books, I chose to list my last ten most recent reads.
My last ten reads have been fairly simple reading with four Nancy Drew books and two Murder, She Wrote books mixed in. I’m going to go from my last read down to the tenth last read.
The Nancy Drew Files: Win, Lose, or Die by Carolyn Keene
2. Murder, She Wrote: Trick or Treachery by Donald Bain
3. Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowen
4. A Fatal Harvest by Rachael O. Phillips
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
6. Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene
7. Murder, She Wrote: Gin and Daggers by Donald Bain
8. The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
9. But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield
10. Nancy Drew: Password to Larkspur Lane by Carolyn Keene
What have you been reading lately?
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
This past week I received book-related stickers in the mail and was thrilled because I love stickers and putting them in books. I don’t have a lot of places to stick these stickers but it is still fun to have them. I have a reading journal, so I stuck some there and Little Miss took some for her phone.
Do you keep a reading journal? I was all excited to get one (which is just a journal with blank pages that I fill in) but then I ended up not taking the notes about the books I was reading, or doing much of anything I planned to do with it. I do keep a list of the books I’ve read throughout the year (which is much lower this year than last year) in it. I also keep a list of books recommended to me, books I want to read, my favorite books read, movies I’ve watched, and movies I want to watch.
I have a list going of Nancy Drew books I’ve read so far in it and that list actually isn’t that big. I think next year I will start a list of The Hardy Boys books I’ve read. So far, it’s exactly one.
I also ordered a set of magnetic bookmarks with cats on them last week. That was also exciting for me, but I will lose them quickly because I always seem to. I don’t know how. I lay them down next to me, get up, and they’ve fallen into some sort of portal! For example, I stood up tonight while reading to go pick up my kids after they were trick-or-treating and I dropped the bookmark and it was gone. Just gone. It’s possibly buried in my all-black purse, but even the purse seemed like some sort of portal because when I looked inside, it was gone.
Luckily, I have about 20 other bookmarks I can choose from to replace it. And then lose them as well.
In addition to the stickers and bookmarks, I also received an order of five books from Thriftbooks.
One of them is for Little Miss for school. It’s called Secrets of Civil War Spies by Nancy LeSourd.
The other four were:
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Bombs on Aunt Dainty by Judith Kerr
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
Murder, She Wrote: Aloha Betrayed by Donald Bain
The week before I received three new Nancy Drew books via the True Drew Podcast shop.
Those books were two from the 80s and 90s: The Nancy Drew Files Win, Lose or Die and The Nancy Drew Files Pure Poison. I also ordered an original book, The Mystery of the Fire Dragon.
This week I finished Trick or Treachery by Donald Bain, a Murder, She Wrote book. I finished it in three days after Little Miss told me I couldn’t finish it by the weekend. I showed her. I finished it three days early. She may have had an ulterior motive because with me reading she could get away doing what she wanted during the day. Hmmm…wait a minute!
I also started Home to Harmony by Phillip Gulley and The Nancy Drew Files Win, Place, or Die by Carolyn Keene. The Nancy Drew book is one of the books from the 1990s series. I’m about 50 pages from the end, which isn’t saying much since these books are only 150 pages total. I’ll finish it today. I have to say, I know these books are for kids or preteens, but the plot of this one really isn’t that bad. This is the first one I’ve read as an adult from this particular series. I am certain I read one in high school.
The Husband ordered me a copy of the latest Mitford book by Jan Karon (My Beloved) as a surprise, and it came yesterday. I’d had a bit of a rough few days with a sore tooth and feeling overwhelmed in life, so it was a wonderful surprise that brought me to tears.
I am going to start it sometime in November or maybe even December because it has a Christmas theme. I will not lie, I opened the book after I took a photo of it and inhaled deeply. It was so comforting.
Little Miss and I finished The Good Master this week, and we have been listening to — I kid you not — a Murder, She Wrote book before bed at night.
She said she’s actually enjoying it, so she requests it.
We are also reading the Civil War themed book for school and finishing the second Caddie Woodlawn book, which we forgot to finish when we got distracted by The Good Master.
The Husband is reading….? Oops … forgot to ask but it was Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurty.
The kids and I watched Mrs. Doubtfire last night. It has been years since The Boy has seen it and Little Miss has never seen it.
Earlier in the week I watched Petticoat Junction and yesterday I watched part of The Big Trail with John Wayne from 1930. That movie — wow. That was a crazy journey with very realistic scenes of the wagon trains traveling into the West.
I think I will write a post about it once I finish it. I would love to know more about the making of that movie.
I also watched another two-part Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mystery. Yes, I’ll definitely recap this one because it was a crazy ride with more romance between Nancy and Frank.
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 was supposed to publish this afternoon, but I forgot to hit…yes…publish. Hahaha!
Winter is coming early to Pennsylvania, it seems.
Temps have dropped into the mid-to-high 30’s at night and aren’t reaching much above 55 most days.
We have been inside a lot, bundled up under blankets and sweaters, with The Husband determined not to turn the main heat on until November 1.
I, however, have been turning our electric heat on in the hallway upstairs at night to try to chase away some of the chill. Shhhh.. we will keep that our little secret.
I am a fan of curling up under blankets and tossing a warmed-up rice pack at my feet so I don’t mind keeping it cozy in the house but having it just a touch warmer on some nights would be nice.
This past week was fairly non-eventful. The Boy visited his grandparents most days, helping them with various household chores and projects.
On Thursday, Little Miss and I visited them and helped around the house.
Yesterday we stayed home and did some school and housework of our own. Tonight, I will be taking the kids downtown for a trunk-or-treat and then trick-or-treating around town if they want to do that.
I don’t usually walk around, but instead sit in the car, sipping hot cocoa and reading a book. I am hoping The Boy will go with us and walk around with his little sister and her friend so I don’t have to. I am not a huge fan of trick-or-treating or walking around a small town in the dark with a knee that sometimes gives out.
I think we will probably have lunch at my parents tomorrow and Monday night The Husband and I have to drive . . . can you guess how long of a drive to pick our car up from the mechanic?
If you guessed 45-minutes, you were right.
I swear everything is 45-minutes away from us now.
This is a mechanic we used when we lived up that way and was able to fix something on our poor, war-torn car that mechanics in our area couldn’t. The Husband hit a deer — again — with this car two weeks ago. We have now hit a deer with it every fall for the last three years. The last time, Little Miss and I were with him. Each time the deer has smashed in the hood and kept going. I’m not sure if they made it any of those times, but they weren’t along the road afterward. Those creatures are a lot more solid than they look out in our yard or fields. They are all muscle and that makes even more of an impact when you are going along at 40 miles per hour, which is about how fast he was going the last two times. Not sure about that first time.
On Tuesday, The Husband and I might go to a theater to see Pyscho on the big screen. Guess again how far away the theater is….
This past week I received some used books in the mail from Thriftbooks which I will talk about more tomorrow in my Sunday Bookends post, but I also received some book and reading related stickers.
I am such a nerd — I couldn’t wait to open them up and look through them and then decide where to put them. I placed them in my reading journal which is much messier than I intended for it to be. I always think I’m going to keep my journals neat but instead they become a bit of a free for all of all my notes about books and movies and blog post ideas.
I was also excited to receive some magnetic bookmarks earlier in the week.
Yes, my life is very, very exciting. You should be jealous.
This upcoming week promises to be just as “exciting”
The Husband ordered a special book for me that came today too. I was so excited to see a hardcover copy of My Beloved by Jan Karon. It will probably be the last Mitford book so I am excited to have it in my hands. I don’t even care if it is awful, though I doubt it will be. To read more of Tim and Cynthia’s story is just so exciting for me. And an update on Dooley and Lace too? Squeal! I can’t wait.
So how was your week last week? Do anything exciting? Let me know in the comments!
I’ve recently started reading the Murder, She Wrote books, based on the TV show, of course.
There are currently a couple of authors writing the books, but I believe the original person to write them was Donald Bain. I like the books of his in this series that I have read so far which is exactly two. Ha! I am currently reading my third by him.
My husband bought me a copy of the first book in the series — Gin and Daggers — after I read Killer in the Kitchen and it was better than I expected.
This one doesn’t take place in Cabot Cove but takes us straight to England where Jessica has traveled to visit with good friend of hers – a famous mystery writer. Think Agatha Christie level.
The woman — Marjorie Ainsworth — isn’t in great health, though, and some are speculating she could pass away. That’s not all they’re speculating. She’s just released a new book and some staying at the mansion for the celebration don’t believe she even wrote it because of her declining health. Marjorie Ainsworth
It isn’t her declining health that leads to her death, though. It’s murder. Now Jessica must figure out who among the guests at her mansion killed her while avoiding being blamed herself.
One thing I’ve noticed about these Murder, She Wrote books is they take their time getting to the mystery. This gives the reader time to get to know the characters and really feel like they are invested in the story before the crime occurs. A lot of more modern mysteries rush right into the crime without letting the reader create an attachment to the potential victim and the possible suspects. Some readers like this and some find it boring and tedious. Whether I like it or not depends on what mood I am in. For this book, and the other Murder, She Wrote books I have read, I have not minded.
I like how these books make Jessica even more real than the show – in this one she cries over her friend passing away and when she remembers her late husband. She seems more vulnerable in the books than on the show.
The world of Jessica Fletcher is more in depth and real in the books, in other words, unlike the surface level portrayal from the show. Jessica’s close connection to Dr. Seth Hazlitt is also more pronounced in the books. Though a romance isn’t suggested, it is clear that she and Seth are very close.
This is very clear in this book where Jessica is accused of Marjorie’s murder and Seth hears about it back in Cabot Cove and hops a plane with Sheriff Mort Metzger to bring a bit of Cabot Cove to London.
There are a number of suspects in this one and while the story does drag at times and it gets a bit convoluted at the end, it held my interest and was a solid mystery. I wouldn’t say I would read this one again and again but I enjoyed it as fun, and well-written (prose wise) book.
One thing I find interesting about these books is how well Bain writes a female character. He isn’t perfect at it, but he does write Jessica as someone who is strong and bold, but also connected with her feelings more.
The bottom line on books based on shows is that they are never amazing literature but they are a good escape and some (usually clean) fun. What these books with Donald Bain have going for them is an extra cozy feel and solid writing.
Have you read any of the Murder, She Wrote books? If so, which one? If not, would you ever try one?
Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
This week, we have a little announcement because we are saying goodbye to Sue from Women Living Well After 50.
We are all sad to see her go, but Sue has some other things she wants to pursue and may take a break from blogging altogether for a bit.
I know Marsha, Melynda, and I certainly appreciate her being part of this link party and hope to see her in the blogsphere in the future. If you are interested in being a co-host please leave a comment and I will put you in contact with Marsha, our fearless leader.
Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!
Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are hosting Comfy, Cozy Cinema again this year and up this week was Coraline, based on the book by Neil Gaiman, and released in 2009. It was directed by Henry Selick.
Regular blog readers might have figured out that spooky or creepy movies are not really my thing, but, on occasion, I watch them with friends or family.
Up front, I want to say that while this movie isn’t one I would watch again and again because it was creepy to me (and because I’m not a huge fan of Neil Gaiman’s stories…they always creep me out!) I do understand why those who like a bit of a spookier movie like it. Also, I do want to make clear that I do NOT hate this movie. It simply creeps me out and makes me uncomfortable, so once is enough for me.
It is well done and fun for those who like their movie a bit on the creepy side. I’m just not one of those people! The story is also interesting, as Gaiman’s usually are. If you’ve read any news about him lately, you know he’s pretty good at making up stories. Ahem. Anyhow…moving on.
The movie is a stop-action animation movie geared toward “kids”, but I find it a bit too creepy for many kids and me. Of course, others may not feel the same way and may think it is totally fine for kids.
Before I get too far into this post, let me give you a little description of the movie from online:
While exploring her new home, a girl named Coraline (Dakota Fanning) discovers a secret door, behind which lies an alternate world that closely mirrors her own but, in many ways, is better. She rejoices in her discovery, until Other Mother (Teri Hatcher) and the rest of her parallel family try to keep her there forever. Coraline must use all her resources and bravery to make it back to her own family and life.
Now a bit more of the plot.
Coraline Jones has moved into a new house in a new state (Oregon, I think) and on her first day she sets off to explore. She is originally from Michigan which is one reason Erin suggested this one for this year’s Comfy, Cozy Cinema.
Coraline is followed on her walk by a creepy cat and sort of creepy boy. The boy’s name is Wybie, short for Wyborn, and he says the name wasn’t his idea.
His grandmother owns the house Coraline is living in and Wybie says he’s surprised she rented it since she doesn’t normally rent to families with children.
Like a lot of movies like this, Coraline’s parents are distracted and annoyed by her presence.
Wybie sends a doll wrapped in newspaper to Coraline’s house the next day and the doll looks exactly like her. Um…ew. I am not a fan of a lot of dolls, especially creepy ones.
While unpacking, Coraline finds a snow globe of the Detroit Zoo and that, I think, is the Easter egg Erin wanted me to look for since she’s been to that zoo many times.
Later that night Coraline explores the house and finds a small door with a tunnel that leads into a world just like hers except everyone has doll eyes and her “parents” are paying attention to her. At first Coraline really likes this world and likes to go back and forth between the worlds.
Things get weird when new neighbors in the real world warn her about the dangers of the Other World and then the parents in the Other World try to convince her to stay with them and tell her she can’t go back to her real life. They tell her if she wants to stay she’ll have to sew buttons on as her eyes.
Everything about this movie is weird but things just keep getting weird. At one point she learns about Wybie’s great-aunt who once disappeared into the Other World and never came home.
If you want to know what happened to the original Wybie, you will have to watch the movie but not read the book because he isn’t in there.
The animation of this movie is very interesting, but I always think stop motion animation is.
While looking up some trivia about this movie, I read that there were 24 different puppets of Coraline used to make the movie. Each one took ten people and 3-4 months to construct.
(If you want to know more about how it was made, you can watch this video about it here:
If you would like to read a little more trivia/facts I have them for you here:
The character Wybie Lovat is not in Gaiman’s 2002 novel. Writers said he was added so Coraline would not have to talk to herself and so she would have a friend her age.
The band They Might Be Giants wrote several songs for the movie but they were all scrapped when the tone of the movie changed. I’m guessing from a lighter tone to a darker one. I listened to They Might Be Giants in the 90s and think their songs probably would have added to the movie
The plan was initially to have the movie be live action. Dakota Fanning was asked to portray Coraline , but when it was decided instead to make a stop-motion animated film, Fanning was asked if she would still be interested in providing Coraline’s voice. She agreed, especially after seeing Coraline’s design.
One crew member was hired specifically to knit miniature sweaters and other clothing for the puppet characters, using knitting needles almost as thin as human hair.
Neil Gaiman was typing the name “Caroline,” but he made a mistake, and it came out “Coraline.” Gaiman says, “I looked at the word Coraline, and knew it was someone’s name. I wanted to know what happened to her,” which inspired him to write the novel.
The film was shot over the course of 18 months, following two years of pre-production.
In the initial recording session, Dawn French played the role of Miss Spink, and Jennifer Saunders played Miss Forcible. The director wasn’t satisfied with the result, though, so he had French and Saunders switch roles and re-recorded their parts. These second recordings were used in the film and some viewers says this might explain why the characters resemble the actress who did NOT provide the voice.
Have you ever seen this one? What did you think of it?
You can read Erin’s impressions of the movie on her blog.
Next week we will be watching an intense one with some creepy scenes — The Mummy.
The rest our list for the remainder of our Comfy, Cozy Cinema is included below.
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
