Sunday Bookends: Bookstore finds, cat number three gets the virus, and happy Mother’s Day

On May 10, 2026May 10, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon8 Comments

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.

Even though our vet wasn’t initially sure, we now know that what has been making our cats sick is some sort of virus. We know this because a couple of days ago, our oldest cat started exhibiting the same symptoms as the other two — mainly being lethargic and refusing to eat or drink.

All of our cats have been vaccinated for distemper, so we aren’t sure what virus this is and neither does the vet.

The vet actually wanted us to bring our middle cat, Scout, to them Thursday to be observed all day but Wednesday night she perked up and not only started eating, but using the litter box.

I felt weird constantly observing her to see if she was going to use the litter box and was grateful when Little Miss saw her. I texted a friend and my husband when she finally went to the bathroom. This is where my life is — telling people when my cat has peed.

As was the case when the youngest started all of this, Scout started to feel better about the time our oldest cat, Pixel, started not to feel good.

Pixel is my buddy, similar to Scout, but more mouthy and sassy. If she chooses to lay on my chest or on my side (at night) then she pushes her way there whether I want her there or not. She often pushes her way into a cuddle when I am trying to work on my laptop or read a book or go to sleep. She sometimes doesn’t appreciate being moved in those moments, either. She will hiss and bite at me if I try to push her off, but luckily not every time.

She’s also the cat we call “fat cat” and she’s gotten fatter since I started feeding her wet food. One day she was sitting in our living room, a bit above me, and when I looked up at her I couldn’t see her chin.

I asked what had happened to her chin, she was so fat I couldn’t see it anymore, and she slowly turned my head and gave me this look :

A look that said, “Excuse me?”

Because, honestly, I’m having a similar issue with my chin and I knew she was thinking, “You don’t have anything to say, lady.”

Unlike Scout, Pixel has moved a little bit more in less time. Yesterday morning, about three days since her symptoms started, she jumped onto the bathroom sink counter, which she does when she is well, to get a drink of water. We have dishes of water down for the animals but I guess she wants it from the source. I was encouraged to see her looking for water that way.

She is still refusing to eat, however, which is what Scout did as well. And Pixel can be a lot more stubborn, so I really hope she pulls through.

I’m guessing by the way she was able to rip herself from the towel we had her wrapped up in to give her her antibiotic yesterday morning, though, that she must be feeling a little bit better. We have an antibiotic, but since it is a virus, I don’t really think she needs it. This will have to run its course like a virus does for a human, I think.

Yesterday The Husband, the kids, and I visited a college town about an hour from us and stopped in to a small, used bookstore there.

Most of the books were political or historical from one standpoint, but there were a few treasures in the children’s section, including a stack of Hardy Boys books, which I only chose two from. One of them I grabbed by accident because I already have a copy of it, but the later, revised version. This one was published in 1939

I also found an Applewood Books version of a Hardy Boys book, which is a reproduction of the original manuscript.

I rounded out my purchases with The Giver by Lois Lowery and a collection of short stories and essays by Mark Twain.

The Husband also purchased a book of “booklover stickers” for me at the Barnes and Noble in town that I can’t wait to add to my reading journal.

I didn’t visit the Barnes and Noble because that one doesn’t usually have any books I am interested in. It’s a college town so there are a lot of romances and textbooks. I’m sure we will go another time and if we do I’ll check it out and see what’s there that I might like.

What I/We’ve Been Reading

Just Finished

Aloha Betrayal by Donald Bain. This was a Murder, She Wrote mystery, and it was very good, but I wanted a more definitive ending in some ways. It was a little open-ended but that made it more interesting than some of these assembly-line style book series that are out there.

In Progress

I am slow reading Stillmeadow Daybrook by Gladys Taber. Since each chapter is a month, I plan to read a chapter a month. I am also reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

I am also currently reading The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie for the 2026 Christie Reading Challenge and Thrush Green by Miss Read.

Up Soon

On tap soon is Stolen Past – An Amish Inn Mystery and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis.

What The Family is Reading

The Husband just finished, The Big Gold Dream by Chester Himes. Little Miss and I are reading Heidi and she is reading The Dragon Rider by Ted and Rachel Dekker.

What I/We’ve Been Watching

I am watching Blandings and Ladies of Letters.

This past week I watched the movies Enchanted April and A Month In The Country.

I’ll be watching the Bette Davis movie Dangerous this week.

What I’ve Been Writing

Last week on the blog I shared:

Book and movie recommendation: The Enchanted April/Enchanted April

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot May 8

Spring of Bette (Davis): Jezebel (1938). Otherwise known as the movie that made me say, “Well, that escalated fast.”

Top Ten – Er – Eight Authors I wish were Still Writing Today

A Good Book and A Cup of Tea May Link Up

When technology determines if your creativity is worthy or not, we have a problem

Photos From Last Week

Some Housekeeping

Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.

Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night, but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link party.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing?

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

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.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten – Er – Eight Authors I wish were Still Writing Today

On May 5, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading, top-ten-tuesday20 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt is: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

I only came up with eight authors I wished were still writing, all of them long dead, but I think it’s a good list.

Agatha Christie

The fun she’d have with modern times and modern toys to mix in her plots. The only drawback is that some of her plot points might not work since we now have so many conveniences and cameras and things that could make getting away with murder even more difficult. That might be a challenge Agatha would love to take on, though.

Margery Allingham

Margery would also love to use some of the more modern elements to knock off a few victims, I think. But she would write it in a much more poetic way than Agatha. This woman’s way with words….wow.

Erle Stanley Gardner

Perry Mason on his cellphone telling Burger to stuff it where the sun don’t shine. Also, just more great stories with other characters — Bertha Cool on a podcast, telling everyone stories about her greatest cases.

L.M. Montgomery

I would love to read more sweet, touching stories by her. Whatever she wants to write. Clean, no swearing, just writing about every day life in a beautiful rural setting in Canada.

Donald Bain

Donald was a prolific ghost writer, but I just need him to write more Murder, She Wrote books that feel like authentic Jessica. I love how he makes her so real and fleshed out. He writes it from a first-person point of view and adds in her thoughts about her late husband Frank. She’s always so caring about her friends too. I mean, I really forget it is a man writing it. I feel like he’s truly seeing Jessica’s world through the eyes of a woman. I also love when he adds in history and facts about Maine or whatever city or country Jessica is visiting. He completely immerses you in the story.

Mildred Wirt Benson

I love Mildred’s children’s mystery books. If you don’t know, she was the author who helped create the Nancy Drew books and was the first Carolyn Keene. She later went on to write other children’s books with girl detectives, such as the Penny Parker series

I loved the plots she came up with and always find her plots in the Nancy Drew books so much better than ones written by other authors using the pseudonym.

Mildred wrote 130 books for juveniles and a few for adults. I hope to look up those adult ones soon.

J.R.R. Tolkien

I would love if Tolkien was still writing and would infuse some of his wisdom and purity into fantasy books of today. He would, however, probably find some of his work edited so we don’t have to read so many descriptions of trees.

C.S. Lewis

I would love to particularly read Clive’s theological thoughts in relationship to the unique challenges of our modern world, which really aren’t that unique, but feel like they are. I would love to know what he thinks of the modern church, our crazy leaders, Christians who are so obsessed with politics that they’ve lost sight of Jesus…and so much more. I have a feeling he would anger so many people.

Are there any authors that you wish were still writing today?

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.

On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.

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.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookends: Cat update, more Bette Davis movies

On May 3, 2026May 3, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon12 Comments

A little update on my cats – one of which I wore more extensively about in my post yesterday.

The youngest is acting a lot better but is still not 100 percent, though I’m not sure what 100 percent is for him since he’s always looked a bit rough and bedraggled since someone dropped him off at our house in October. Something is up, or down really, with his tail but he’s eating normally again and being a general nuisance.

The really sick, Scout, one ate a lot more food today and was actually cleaning herself which I haven’t seen her do in several days. She also made it downstairs for a few hours of snoozing on the couch before we rudely had to move her when we put some cat food near her and it spilled on her and the couch. She and the couch had to be cleaned and she growled at us why we did it and once put back down she disappeared upstairs onto our daughter’s bed.

What is funny about her picking our daughter’s room as her sick room, so to speak, is that she doesn’t like our daughter that much. She’s always concerned our daughter is going to scoop her up and carry her around like she did when we first adopted her as a kitten so she growls at her a lot.

At night, though, she waits until Little Miss is asleep and curls up against her butt and then hisses and smacks Little Miss’s feet if she moves.

She’s doing it this morning which shows me she is perking up some but also baffles me. I keep telling her if she doesn’t want to get kicked by Little Miss stretching then she needs to stop picking that spot to lay. She’s being a typical cat and giving me dirty looks and ignoring me.

I’m encouraged that just before I finished this post, she wanted to go outside and lay in the sun on the back porch. So far, cat number three, our oldest cat is doing okay.