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.
Last week was a crazy week in some ways and I detailed that more in my Saturday Morning Chat. The long and short of it is that there were some health issues within our family, everyone is okay, and my brain is trying to recover from it all.
Yesterday I didn’t have tons of time for my brain to recover since our daughter had a friend over and they tend to be a little crazy when they get together. They had a lot of fun, though, and it was a good day. And they weren’t really that crazy. We went to the playground and then they had fun splashing in the bathtub in their bathing suits. Earlier in the day they went to two Easter egg hunts as well.
And I did have some downtime for reading and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, at least.
Today we are going to my parents for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Currently:
I’m reading Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor and Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright still thanks to the aforementioned crazy week. Both are very good. I’ll probably be finished with Murder in an Irish Village today and Night Falls… later in the week.
The Secret Garden is also being read but slowly.
Soon to be read:
The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold
The Mystery at the Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew)
What We watched/are Watching
This week I watched Little House on the Prairie and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
I also enjoyed relaxing to my favorite YouTube farmer, Farmer Pete:
There is something comforting about watching Pete and his wife work on the farm – feeding the cows and the chickens, fixing tractors, cooking beef brisket and just doing what they do every day.
I also watched this interview with two of the authors I am in a multi-author project with.
You can learn more about our project by watching this video or visiting our Facebook group.
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.
Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan, the fourth book in the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries, was hard for me to put down not only because I wanted to find out who committed the crime in this super cozy mystery, but because I became attached to the main character Angela “Angie” Braddock and those around her.
Angie owns a fabric and quilting shop in the small town of Millersburg, which has a very large Amish population. She owns two pets – a loveable French Bulldog named Oliver and an aloof cat named Dodger. She’s dating the town’s sheriff, James Mitchell, which creates some interesting situations when she’s trying to investigate things she shouldn’t really be investigating.
Angie’s friends work in the shop or are connected to the shop in some way and are Amish. There are two different types of Amish sects in this community – more strict and more liberal. Angie’s employees – Anna and Mattie – are a mix of both.
Anna cracked me up because she is Amish but also wants to get to the bottom of things and in this case those “things” are surrounding the murder of a very cranky bishop of the Old Order Amish named Bartholomew Belier. He’s found dead in the library bookmobile by Angie and Angie’s “prim and proper” mother. Standing over him is brash librarian Austina Shaker, who is quickly blamed for the murder.
Angie isn’t sure if Austina is guilty or not but when Austina begs her to help clear her name, Angie can’t seem to help trying to find out. Anna also pushes Angie to get involved, certain she can help get to the bottom of what really happened to Bartholomew.
Angie does have a history of trying to solve murders, after all since she’s investigated and solved three murders previously. I should add that I didn’t realize this was the fourth book in this series when I started it and I had no issues understanding what was happening despite not reading the previous three yet.
The loveable cast of characters in the book include Anna and Mattie, Angie’s friends Rachel and Jonah, who are also Amish, Mitchell and his son Zander, a mischievous goat named Petunia, and Angie’s parents.
Her father is extra loveable and fun as he tries to navigate life after retirement. Her mother is more on the irritating side of things as she tries to run the show a lot and seems a bit stuck up but she keeps the storyline even more interesting as the reader braces themselves for what she’s going to say or do next.
There is much more than a mystery going on in this book and I like that. I like the little side stories with the different characters. I also loved the undercurrent of romance between Mitchell and Angie and how Alan didn’t need to add anything explicit or detailed to get across the feelings between the two.
There were even a few swoon-worthy scenes that made me giggle with delight over the gentle affection shown between the couple – affection that didn’t involve anything blush-worthy.
It’s amazing to me how just Mitchell brushing his fingertips against the back of Angie’s arm was enough to hint at sexual tension. No spicey scenes or language were needed.
I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.
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.
If you want to know what has been going on in our world lately, you can hop on over to my post from yesterday.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Currently:
We had a nice week weather-wise so I didn’t read as much as I wanted to but I read more than I used to. I’m almost halfway through Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan and The Middle Moffat and I am enjoying them both.
I am also continuing All The Light We Can’t See and hope to finish it . . . eventually. That’s all I can say.
I am reading through Do The New You by Steven Furtick with my church e-group as well. I have three chapters to read before our online session this week.
Soon to be read:
Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. I’ve started this one and am enjoying it.
Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly. This is a Netgalley read.
The Secret Garden for Middle Grade March
Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright
What We watched/are Watching
Wednesday night I had two hours to myself which is a very rare thing. I decided that I was going to watch a movie that has been sitting in our DVD collection for years — The King’s Speech. I had planned to finish the last couple of chapters of the book I’m writing in between watching but I ended up being so enthralled with the movie, I ended up abandoning that plan.
Later that night I watched a Lark Rise to Candleford episode. On Friday and Saturday, I started a mini-binge of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
Little Miss and I had a Dr. Quinn binge yesterday afternoon as well and then I added an episode of Little House on the Prairie. I wanted to finish out the night with an episode of The Waltons to relive my childhood and teenage years but The Boy took over the TV to play a video game with a friend so that Waltons episode will have to wait for tonight.
Friday The Husband and I watched an episode of McDonald and Dodds. I hope to watch more of that show this week.
What I’m Writing
I am on the last chapter of Cassie, then I will work on the rewrites. I also am brainstorming ideas for the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries and will announce a title for it soon.
Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing is on a two-week book tour and you can enter to win a paperbook copy of it and a $50 Amazon gift card HERE.
What I’m Listening to
Little Miss and I am listening to Caddie Woodlawn on Audible and The Boy and I are listening to A Tale of Two Cities.
Photos from Last Week
And one I found from my dad in January right after his 80th birthday, riding an old sled down the snow-covered dirt road in front of his house.
I’m a little biased on this post since it is my brother’s weekly post where he shares three good things that have happened to him during that particular week.
I didn’t participate in this one because I didn’t think I could write about ten green things since I don’t like green but Marsha did a great job talking about the green things she liked.
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.
Winter can last a long time in Northern Pennsylvania, which is why choosing what I want to read for the rest of winter here means I am choosing books for the rest of January, all of February, and a good portion of March. It has even been known to snow in April and the first week of May here, but I still consider the end of March and all of April to be spring, so that will require a new list.
I always list a lot of books I plan to read, or want to read, knowing full well I will not get them all read and will probably become distracted in the middle by another read.
For example, this week I am reading Little Women and finished another book I’d been reading for a bit but I got distracted by a lighter read called Sisterchicks Do the Hula by Robin Jones Gunn. After finishing the one book, I needed something lighter. Little Women is lighter but I like to read that book before bed as my nightly routine. I’m a bit of a creature of habit sometimes. I would, however, like to finish Little Women since I’ve been reading it leisurely since the end of November, so I will probably start reading it at other times as well. Anytime I need a bit of downtime and breather from life, I think.
Anyhow, enough rambling. Here are the books on my winter to be read list (subject to change):
The Bungalow Mystery and The Mystery At Lilac Inn (Nancy Drew Mysteries)by Carolyn Keene.
These two came together in one volume from Thriftbooks. I enjoy disappearing into these light, sometimes silly mysteries as a way to escape my worries.
Can I tell you how stupid I felt this week when I read that these books were written by several authors, just like the Hardy Boys? Talk about a facepalm moment. I had heard that years ago and then completely forgot that Carolyn Keene was simply a pen name.
Well, it doesn’t really matter. These classics are still a nice escape.
The Cat Who Went Into The Closet by Lillian Jackson Braun.
Braun’s books are a comfort read for me. I’ve already started this one and will probably continue it this week or next since I did get distracted by the fun Sisterchicks book. It will be a perfect read for the darkness of February – the month that seems like it will never end even though it is shorter than other months of the year.
Blessed Is the Busybodyby Emilie Richards
This is a cozy mystery I picked up. It looked like it might have some faith elements but after reading part of Chapter 1 I see that the main character is a member of a Unitarian Universalist church and . . . well, I won’t comment here but that’s probably not the type of faith book I’m looking for. I don’t think? Still, most cozy mysteries I pick up have been clean and fun so I’m sure this one will be too.
I doubt it will be preachy because most cozy mysteries I’ve read aren’t, even if they are in the Christian fiction category. I only picked up one that went off about breast cancer and the importance of getting checked for a few pages, which totally threw me off since I read books to escape and this book read like a non-fiction book. I put that one aside and haven’t read anything by that author since, just as a way to protect myself from finding non-fiction subjects shoved at me in my fiction.
A Tale of Two Citiesby Charles Dickens
My son and I started this classic in the fall, became very bored and disenchanted and set it aside but now I am listening to it on Audible and it is making more sense. I am going to try to finish it and then he and I will “read it” (probably listen to it) again in March or April as part of his English course. This way I’ll have more of an idea of what is happening and can explain it to him instead of us both wandering around in the dark looking for a clue.
A Taste of Fameby Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson
This is a Christian fiction/cozy mystery and is part of a series of books. I’ve never read any books from these authors so I’m looking forward to seeing if the book is good or not.
Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie
I have been saying I would read this book for the last two years and I am determined to do it this year. This is a collection of stories from Agatha, I believe.
Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson
I didn’t read one Longmire Mystery book last year so I hope to remedy that this year. Johnson’s books are pretty dark but also have some humor in them. Still, the darkness is what often keeps me away from them in winter (when I deal with some seasonal depression but better than in the past) so I will probably read this one toward the end of the winter.
Do The New You by Steven Furtick
I’ve already started this book and hope to continue reading it and I know I’ll be reading it with my online Bible study group through February.
Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe
I heard about this book when it first came out a couple of years ago and I’m finally deciding to tackle it now. This may end up getting pushed into the spring, though.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them if you did?
The fire is still burning away today in our woodstove, orange and yellow merging together in a cacophony of raging warmth to chase away the insanely bitter cold outside. All week the family has been stuck inside because of the fall in the thermometer and the additional lower temperature brought by the windchill.
The fun of playing in fallen snow by the youngest was stolen by the cold. She lasted about ten minutes outside before she announced she couldn’t feel her face, her fingers, or her toes, even with all her thick winter gear on.
Zooma the Wonder Dog was quite depressed that the ground was white with snow but she and her favorite playmate weren’t out, rolling in it, tossing it in the air, and catching snowballs.
Instead, we had to find inside activities to do. I tried to read and work on my book. Little Miss was able to talk to her friends on the phone and play online games with them. The cats slept almost all day every day, especially when the fire was roaring. The Boy played some video games, did some homework and helped bring in wood to keep the fire going.
He also walked to the neighbor’s house one day and helped clean the snow off her steps and car. He only had one day of school again this week. He attends the morning session of a vocational school and if the local school district calls for a two-hour delay then the morning session is canceled.
He has been enjoying his time off and is a bit disappointed that the weather looks better next week and he’ll have to go back. We encouraged him to take a building and construction course at the local trade school as part of his education but so far it is not his favorite thing to do. He might change his course next year or try something else, but at least he has some experience and knows more what he doesn’t want to do when he gets out of school.
I’ve been missing going to my parents but either our driveway was slippery or it was super cold outside. I mentioned in the Sunday Bookends last week that I had tried to go to my parents on Sunday afternoon but there were tree branches in the road and ice forming as the temperatures dropped as we tried to drive there so I turned around. It will still be cold this Saturday but it shouldn’t be slippery or windy so we will be heading there for lunch and maybe a movie and a game of cards.
A couple of days this week I forced myself to sit down in front of our woodstove with a book to feel the warmth and enjoy some quiet time. I don’t sit down and just read like I want to very often so I have to say to myself, “No. You’re not going to pick up the room. You’re not going to wash dishes. You’re not going to work on your book or scroll through Instagram. You’re going to sit on this floor and read this book and lose yourself in it.”
It’s like I feel like it is wrong to just be sitting and reading but really, there are times we need to do that. We need to sit and take even 15 minutes to ourselves to settle our brains and calm our souls. We can either read a book we like, read the Bible, read a verse, listen to an encouraging sermon, worship music, or journal but we need to take that time for ourselves more than most of us do.
I don’t know why we don’t take the time we should for ourselves but I say this year work to feel less guilt when you sit in some quiet for yourself. I know that’s a goal for me.
I had to laugh the one night because both of my kids kept talking to me as I tried to read, as if I wasn’t sitting there, on the floor, with a physical book opened, clearly reading.
“Oh. You’re trying to read, aren’t you?” asked my son.
“No. No. I’m just holding this book to make myself look smarter,” is what I could have said, but what I really said was, “Yes, but it is okay. I like to talk to you.”
And I do like to talk to him because soon he will be grown up and out of the house and I won’t have as many opportunities to talk to him. He and I are both night owls who open up at night. I am not as much of a night owl as I used to be because I am old and start to fade by 11. If I get a second wind, though, I’m often up until 1 a.m. reading. After 11 is the only quiet time I get to read unless I wake up early to do so instead.
The Boy might not talk to me all day but when midnight hits that’s when he wants to talk so that’s when we talk. I’m fine with it unless I’m fading and feel guilty because I am not really listening.
How was the weather where you were this week? I know most of the United States was thrown into an arctic freeze and I think most of us will be out of it next week.
Have you been trying any new teas?
This week I drank my regular tea and some hot cocoa. I have tried a new probiotic tea and that was okay. What I hope to get some more of soon is some elderberry tea.
Let me know how you’ve been in the comments and I’ll see you again tomorrow for Sunday Bookends.
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.
I wrote yesterday that I tested positive for Covid on Friday. I must have been at the tail end of it because yesterday morning I woke up with my nose clear and able to taste and smell again. I pretty much felt like I hadn’t had anything at all. I had written yesterday’s blog post on Friday evening when I was at my worst – congested and swollen in my nose, no smell or taste, and this horrible burning up my nose and through my sinuses that kept coming in waves and making my eyes water so bad I couldn’t see.
I literally cried when I could taste peanut butter and smell my essential oils in the morning. I know it seems dramatic and if you don’t know my back story with Covid-induced smell and taste loss then it does seem that way.
My previous smell and taste loss lasted a couple of weeks or more and when it returned my smell and taste were distorted for months afterward.
You can read more about that on the blog by searching Covid in the search bar to the right, though I’d just skip it because it’s depressing. Ha! It’s depressing but also gets hopeful later and taught me about trusting God.
Today when I made myself some deli ham on lettuce with Italian dressing (I’m trying to cut bread all the way out for health reasons) and I could taste the Italian dressing I felt weepy. I really did.
Every time I can smell something or taste something I feel immediate gratitude.
While I didn’t like the fear that came with getting Covid again since my last bout sent me to the hospital for five days (hooked up to a very low dose of oxygen for a day and a half of those days), I do like the reminder God gave me with this that he got me through that first bout and he is going to get me through whatever struggles I am facing now.
Much like a rainbow is a reminder of God’s promise to never flood the earth again, being able to smell and taste is like a reminder to me that God hasn’t failed me and doesn’t intend to let me fall now.
This illness was like a short head cold but I was very concerned part of the time it would be longer, like Covid was for me and my family before. I remained calm most of the time with a few breakdowns of crying, but trying to remember the verses about Jesus giving us peace that passes all understanding.
Most of the time I felt very peaceful. I did not feel dragged out like I did when I’ve been sick in the past.
Still, I prayed to God on Friday and asked him to please give me a sign that I was going to be okay. I prayed again very, very early Saturday morning when I couldn’t breathe through my nose. I asked God to forgive me for me being annoyed because I had just been thankful for being able to smell and taste a few days before and now it was being taken away again. I asked God to forgive me for not being thankful that I was breathing okay.
At 6:45 a.m. I still couldn’t smell anything.
At 9:30 a.m. I could both smell and taste.
Little Miss and my fever were gone (mine had been gone even when I tested positive for Covid the day before) and we both felt almost like we’d never been sick in the first place.
Talk about an answer to prayer.
We are in quarantine another day and then I can finally see my parents in person for the first time in two weeks.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Because my eyes were watering a lot this week, I didn’t read as much as I wanted to. I did continue some of my Christmas Regency romance book, which is a collection of novellas in one book. I am in the second novella now.
I also read a little of Southern Snow by B.R. Goodwin. I hope to have at least Southern Snow finished this week, but I also hope to finish Christmas in Absaroka by Craig Johnson.
Since it is the week before Christmas, I will probably continue to read A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems, which is a collection of Christmas stories by a variety of authors, including L.M. Montgomery, Louise May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain as well.
Oh, and I will definitely be finishing up my audiobook ofShepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon which I have been listening to each night before bed. I mentioned before on here that I didn’t know if I liked the narrator but I absolutely love him as I continue to listen so I wanted to correct that. From what I understand he also narrates the other audiobooks of the Mitford series so I hope to collect them over time.
Since we couldn’t leave the house last week, I watched more than I do other weeks.
I watched We’re Not Angels as a buddy watch with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and blogged about it.
I also watched Going My Way, the prequel to The Bells of St. Mary’s. I’ll blog about it later this week but really enjoyed it. I might have liked The Bells of St. Mary’s better, though. I don’t know. They were both very good and watching them close together was a good idea.
I then watched the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and while I am about done with watching any more movies based on this book, I loved this one. This is probably my favorite version so far.
My aunt used to look for this version every year and I didn’t know why until I watched it this week. I wish I had taken the time to watch it with her when she was still alive.
I will blog about it later this week but for now, I will say I loved the acting in the movie. I also loved how I really feel this movie gave us more time with each character and gave us a more well-rounded impression of them. That well-rounded impression connected me to the characters more than any other movie I’ve seen and maybe even more than the book itself, which made the emotional impact of what unfolded even more powerful for me.
I highly recommend this version if you’re going to watch a movie adaptation of this story.
Last night I watched a Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small (the latest version).
This week I plan to load myself up on Christmas movies including The Man Who Invented Christmas, The Man Who Came To Dinner, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and maybe Arthur Christmas.
I will also be watching Christmas-themed YouTube videos and a couple of Christmas specials from the creators of The Chosen.
What I’m Writing
This past week I shared a lot of Christmas-themed blog posts including:
I am listening to audiobooks such as Shepherd’s Abiding and The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever and also Christmas music about the reason for the season (at least in my family) – Jesus’ birth.
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.
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.
It began to feel even more like Christmas this past week when we had our first, longer-lasting snowfall.
I thought we were only supposed to receive some sleet and freezing rain so I was surprised by the half inch on the ground the next morning.
My daughter was surprised as well and my son was thrilled because the two-hour delay meant he didn’t have to go to his trade school that day since he only goes for two and a half hours.
Little Miss was delighted to play in the snow with her best friend, Zooma the Wonder Dog, and I watched them some and then darted back inside to the warmth.
Inside the house, the Christmas tree is up, the fire is burning in the wood stove, and a cup of hot cocoa awaits.
I’ve never been a fan of extreme temperatures – either too cold or too hot.
The snow was gone by the next morning, which Little Miss was sad about. We thought we might have the chance for more snow Sunday into Monday but, alas, it is now going to be rain only and so much rain it might cause flooding.
We will have to see what happens.
Yesterday Little Miss had two friends over and I took them downtown to our small town’s Christmas event. There wasn’t a ton going on but there was a scavenger hunt that took them to several businesses in town to find photos of an elf and see what the elf was doing in each photo. They then had to write on the slip of paper what the elf was doing and return it to where they started for a prize. The prize was a York Peppermint Patty which I didn’t think was a very exciting prize for all that running around. The kids weren’t that impressed either but were okay with it. Little Miss doesn’t like peppermint but luckily I had some chocolate at home for her.
The town also had mini-fire pits set up throughout the town with s’mores kits for people to use, which I thought was a super cute idea.
Earlier in the day they had an ice carver, a cookie walk, and several vendors available in the one main building.
They also offered a semi-alive nativity display, which cracked me up when I read the title of it in the paper. Turns out that Mary and Joseph and Jesus and the wise men were cardboard cutouts but the animals were real. Little Miss was very disappointed she couldn’t pet the animals and grumbled about it the rest of the day.
We ended our jaunt downtown with some playtime at the tiny playground.
The library also had a used book sale during the event and unlike other times when I’ve come out of there with way too many books, I only came out with three and a DVD about World War II. One, they didn’t have a very exciting selection, and two I got way too many last time, and many of them I didn’t enjoy.
The books I picked up were another Nancy Drew:
This one by Brock Thoene (I’ve enjoyed books by him and his wife, Brodie, in the past):
And this middle-school-aged book that looked interesting to me and hopefully will be a good one for Little Miss later:
Our neighbors have added some extra lights to their Christmas display this year. For several years in a row they have won the town’s Christmas light contest, but last year they were unseated. My mom thinks they are trying to win it back this year since the husband has added another set of lights.
My dad gave us their old nativity set so all we have in our yard is a very subtle display and I’m okay with that. We can simply enjoy the neighbors and wait for the day the husband becomes Clark Griswold.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Last week I finished The Spectacular by Fiona Davis. I did not think it was spectacular, but it was okay.
I liked the story itself but I did not like the style of writing.
This week I am diving into Christmas books.
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs told me about these Regency Romance books she would read every Christmas so I ordered one from Thriftbooks and it came this week so I started it yesterday.
It’s called Regency Christmas Wishes with novellas by five different authors.
Keeping with the Christmas theme, I’m also re-reading A Walt Longmire Christmas: Christmas in Absaroka by Craig Johnson.
Next I’ll be reading Southern Snow: A Sugartree Winter Romance by B.R. Goodwin.
I’m also still reading a chapter or two of Little Women but I left it at my parents so I won’t be able to read that until I get it back from them.
The Boy and I are putting The Tale of Two Cities aside for this month as we are both not focusing well on it. We will either restart it in January or put it off altogether until his senior year. I remember struggling through this book my sophomore year but really liking it once I got into it so I am sure once we can focus better (and buy cliff notes to figure out what he is talking about) we will be able to get through it.
This week we will be reading from books about World War II and I will be looking for books or material about World War I as I feel it is a war that isn’t as focused on as much.
Little Miss and are listening to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson at night. I am also reading Christmas stories by Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery to her.
The Husband is reading In the Blood by Jack Carr.
What We watched/are Watching
This past week I watched Holiday Affair (1949), a couple episodes of Still Standing (a Canadian show) with The Husband, Signed, Sealed, And Delivered Christmas, and a couple episodes of Evening Shade.
What I’m Writing
I’m still working on Cassie and wrote maybe 4,000 words this week.
On Tuesday when I went outside to photograph the freshly fallen snow and listened to Michael Buble’s Christmas album but otherwise I haven’t listened to much this past week.
Photos from Last Week
I shared a couple of photos above but here are a few more from last week.
A quick reminder that Erin and I still have a linky open for anyone who wants to join in our Comfy, Christmas Link Up. The link up will be open until January 2.
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.
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.
I don’t read as many books in a year as other people and this year I decided that was okay and I don’t care.
I sometimes do not finish books either and I decided this year I was also okay with that.
Every week or so my husband announces how many books he’s read so far in the year and I like hearing it. I like that he keeps track of it and that he reads over 80 books each year.
He was also a more avid reader than I was. I only started reading more books again in the last few years. I used to read all the time as a teenager, took a break in college and while working for newspapers and even while raising my son. Now I’m loving how reading has become an escape from the real world for me again.
For a while, I wanted to be like my husband and count all my books read and be able to announce the totals to him and the world.
There were several problems with this, though. One, I’m a slower reader. It isn’t that I read slow. It’s that I get interrupted a lot while reading a book so it takes me a while to finish one. People or pets aren’t always what interrupt me. Sometimes it is housework or homeschooling or my own writing or simply because I can’t seem to stay as focused as I used to.
I like that The Husband tells me his book count. It used to irritate me because I felt less than but now (okay in the last week) I let it go.
I don’t have to read a bunch of books in a year to be a reader. I don’t have to finish a book I started to be a reader because life it is too short to worry about competition in something like reading which is supposed to be relaxing and it is too short to keep reading a book you’re not enjoying.
There are also too many good books in the world to waste our time on a book that might be good but isn’t working for us personally.
I often think things like, “But this is a popular book. It’s on the NYT bestseller list. It must be good, right?”
Well, it may be that it is good for some and not for me and that’s okay.
I read a lot more than books during the year, as well – textbooks with the kids and blogs, articles, etc. So I do read a lot just not always full books. Again. That’s okay. If it is okay for me, it is okay for you.
If you’ve been holding on to all these imaginary ideas of what it means to be a reader and a book blogger or whatever – let them go.
We all have our own journey and path and just because we don’t inhale books like Galactus eats planets, we are still readers.
Anyhow…on to what I’ve been reading this week.
This week I have mainly been reading The Spectacular. Every other day I was reading a chapter from either Little Women or The Cat Who Talked Turkey (a cozy mystery). I dropped The Cat Who book last night because there was no mystery. It was driving me crazy. I was on chapter 4 and still nothing had happened other than Qwill looking for someone to narrate some presentation he was giving.
This book was one of the ones written later when people suspected Lilian Jackson Braun had gotten a bit too old to write and had a ghostwriter. It showed. I have a soft spot for the Cat Who books but I had to set aside for now because I have so many other books I want to tackle. Not every book in a series can be a winner.
I love reading Little Women a chapter at a time. I don’t mind dragging out the enjoyment of reading it because it gives me something to look forward to every night.
The Spectacular is fairly slow moving so far and I’m on Chapter 12. My husband insists that something is going to happen soon and I hope so because I’m a bit bored. I read a lot of boring books this year so in 2024 I am going back to Longmire and Anthony Horowitz to give myself some excitement. Those and some more Christian fiction because I know there are some good ones out there I haven’t read yet by authors like Nicole Deese.
I still haven’t finalized what I will read this winter but The Boy and I are reading The Tale of Two Cities for his English so I do know I’ll be reading that.
I also just ordered a Christmas regency-era book recommended to me by Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.
Little Miss and I just finished The Black Stallion. Talk about boring and wordy.
She just wanted to watch the movie but I insisted we finish the book. Then I ended up skimming two chapters and getting us to the end because good grief there was way too much explanation and rambling in that book. I mean how many times could the dude describe what it was like for Alec to ride the horse? And for three to four pages every time. Plus the dialogue which was repetitive.
We are listening to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson at night now. I read this book to her last year and I wouldn’t mind reading it again but one night I was too tired to read so we put the audiobook on and now she enjoys the narrator more than me (I think. She didn’t actually say it), so we are listening instead of me reading it.
The Husband is reading In The Blood by Jack Carr.
What’s Been Occurring
Last night The Husband, Little Miss, and I went to a Christmas parade about half an hour from us. We saw some of our friends and visited for a bit, The Husband took some photos for the newspaper and we headed home. On the way to the event and back we saw a ton of deer and had to put our brakes on more than once. About ten minutes after an eight-point buck that was blending in with the center line, turned and crossed in front of us, another deer came out of nowhere from the right and there was no missing it when it turned to go back in front of us. We slammed into it but I have no idea what happened to it, though I vaguely remember it darting off to the left.
It did some extensive damage to the front of our car, smashing in our left headlight and the body of the car in that same area, but allowing us to get home without any damage to us.
We were really very lucky considering I’ve heard stories of deer being hit that way and rolling up onto the hood and through the windshield.
We aren’t sure if our insurance will cover the accident since we adjusted our deductible to make our premiums less. We will find out more later this week but for now the car is parked in the garage. The deer left part of its fur under the edge of the hood.
All three of us were fairly shaken up and a bit in shock from it all so at first we didn’t think about how much the damage would cost us. I think we were all simply happy it wasn’t worse. There have been a lot of accidents in our area caused by deer lately and I’ve never seen as many as I have this year.
It is hunting season in our area right now so I don’t know if the deer are running wild because of that or not but driving is certainly nerve-wracking for now whatever the reason.
The Boy was at a friend’s house spending the night so I called to let him know about the incident. I also sent him some photos to which he replied, “She’ll be fine with some Flex Tape.”
Having the car out of commission is a bit sad for me as I finally had a car to drive that had heated seats and a stereo system I could patch my music into.
My husband gave me the car after he bought his truck, which we call Bambi Killer. Sadly, it has horrible gas mileage so we took the car to save on gas. Had we had the truck, there would have been very little damage to the vehicle but a lot to the deer.
What We watched/are Watching
This past week I watched Beyond Tomorrow, a fairly obscure Christmas movie from 1940. I wrote about it on the blog Thursday.
I also watched – or well, watched most of The Bells of St. Mary’s, which I hope to finish later today.
Little Miss and I watched A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, which has become an annual tradition for us now.
We also watched Elfat Little Miss’s request.
I’m sure there will be other Christmas movies and specials on our list this upcoming week.
I also plan to continue watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman this week. I am rewatching it after last seeing it some 20 years ago when I was in high school.
I started Men In Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham this past week as well. I enjoyed the first episode.
What I’m Writing
Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage comes out Tuesday in ebook on Amazon. Amazon messed something out with the paperback so it is out now.
I am working on Cassie and made a bit of progress on it this week.
Erin and I are also hosting a Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature where other bloggers can link up their Christmas/holiday-themed blog posts. You can find the link up here:
I listened to a lot of Needtobreathe’s The Cave this week.
Photos from Last Week
I didn’t take a ton of photos last week. I hope to remedy that this week and get my camera out more.
Here are a couple from the parade we went to a display in the town.
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.
I was roaming the bookshelves in the children’s section of our local library a few months ago when a book title caught my attention: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
I felt like this was an odd book for the children’s section, even if it was middle grade, at least based on the title. I took it home and started to read it and was pulled in quickly. The only issue was that the book was old and the mildew smell triggered my allergies and gave me a weird headache. I really wanted to finish the book, though, so I found a cheap copy on Thriftbooks and prayed it wouldn’t have that “way too old” book smell.
It did have a bit of an old book smell but it wasn’t enough to keep me from reading and finishing it last week. While the topic of this book is heavy, there are some humorous and sweet moments that balance out the dark subject matter.
The book is written by children’s book author Judith Kerr and is semi-autobiographical. It is the first book in a four-book series called Out of The Hitler Time. Kerr wrote 48 children’s books besides this series. A German movie based on When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and directed by Oscar-nominated director Caroline Link was released in 2019, the same year Kerr died at the age of 95.
I plan to watch it and write about it in a future blog post.
Kerr changed the name of the characters and fictionalized parts of the story of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, but the story is very close to the real-life story of her and her family and their escape from Germany in 1933.
In the book, Anna is the main character’s name. She has a brother Max and her parents who are just called Mama and Papa. Anna’s family is Jewish and her papa is a newspaper columnist who has been very critical of the Nazi party.
In the beginning of the book, as it begins to appear it will become a reality that the Nazi party will be elected, Anna and her friends begin to discuss Adolf Hitler and what his election might mean for the country. They aren’t sure what to make of him or the Nazi party but Anna’s non-Jewish friend, Elsbeth, announces to Anna that after Hitler gets elected he’s going to “take care of the Jews.”
“It’s another picture of that man,’ said Elsbeth. ‘My little sister saw one yesterday and thought it was Charlie Chaplin.’
Anna looked at the staring eyes, the grim expression. She said, ‘It’s not a bit like Charlie Chaplin except for the moustache.’
They spelled out the name under the photograph. Adolf Hitler.”
Anna wakes up one morning after this discussion and finds out Papa has disappeared. Mama tells her that her father has gone to Switzerland and they are all going to meet him to live there, though she isn’t sure for how long.
Since the family can only take enough to fit inside a few suitcases, Anna has to decide which toys to take with her.
“Deciding which toys to take was the hardest part. They naturally wanted to take the games compendium but it was too big. In the end there was only room for some books and one of Anna’s stuffed toys. Should she choose Pink Rabbit or a newly acquired wooly dog? It seemed a pity to leave the dog when she had hardly had time to play with it, and Heimpi packed it for her. Max took his football. They could always have more things sent on to them in Switzerland, said Mama.”
Heimpi is the family’s nanny. She’s supposed to move with them, but in the end, she can’t get across the border and finds a new family to work for.
The family leaves on a train and while traveling Anna begins to feel sick. Her Papa left with a cold and it’s clear she now has it. By the time they arrive in Lake Zurich, Switzerland, Anna is extremely sick and falls in and out of sleep for days as she tries to recover. At one point the doctor that comes to check on her says he’s concerned she might not make it.
When she wakes up recovered, she learns the details about her father’s escape and her surroundings. Her brother, Max, explains to her what has happened in Germany. Hitler has been elected and their house was raided by the Nazis.
Trying to make light of the situation, Anna and Max joke about the toys that Hitler is probably playing with at their house, including Pink Rabbit. The joking is their way of dealing with the sadness and fear, of course.
“When she was safely back in bed, she said, ‘Max, this . . . confiscation of property, whatever it’s called – did the Nazis take everything – even our things?”
Max nodded.
Anna tried to imagine it. The piano was gone . . the dining room curtains with the flowers. . . her bed . . .all her toys, which included her stuffed Pink Rabbit. For a moment she felt terribly sad about Pink Rabbit. It had had embroidered black eyes – the original glass ones had fallen out years before – and an endearing habit of collapsing on its paws. Its fur, though no longer very pink had been soft and familiar. How could she have ever chosen to pack that characterless wooly dog in its stead? It had been a terrible mistake, and now she would never be able to put it right.
‘I always knew we should have brought the games compendium,” said Max. “Hitler’s probably playing Snakes and Ladders with it this very minute.”
‘And snuggling my Pink Rabbit!’ said Anna and laughed.
But some tears had come into her eyes and were running down her cheeks all at the same time.”
The family stays in a small tavern (or a Gasthof) in Lake Zurich for the next six months. Papa looks for work but it’s hard to find a paying job in newspapers in that area.
The family is mainly welcomed into the community. Adjusting to their new life is a challenge but eventually, they make friends. During one playdate with their new friends, a new set of children come to play. Their family is visiting the lake but they don’t want to play with Anna and Max because they are Jewish.
At one point their uncle Julius, who isn’t actually their uncle but a family friend who they call uncle, visits and tells their parents about how bad things are getting in Germany. He decides not to leave and laments about missing going to the zoo with the children. The letters he sends to the family in the future are coded and get sadder and sadder each time.
Anna had once imagined what it would be like to have a tough life after reading a story about someone who had a rough life but became famous. She thinks about this on her tenth birthday, which she celebrates in Switzerland instead of Germany where she wanted to be instead.
“Am I ten yet?” asked Anna. Papa looked at his watch.
“Ten years old exactly.” He hugged her. “Happy, happy birthday, and very many happy returns.”
And just as he said it the boat’s lights came on. There was only a sprinkling of white bulbs around the rails which left the dock almost as dark as before, but the cabin suddenly glowed yellow and at the back of the boat the ship’s lantern shone a brilliant purply-blue.
“Isn’t it lovely!” cried Anna and somehow, suddenly, she no longer minded about her birthday and her presents. It seemed rather fine and adventurous to be a refugee, to have no home and to not know where one was going to live. Perhaps a a pinch it might even count as a difficult childhood like the one in Gunther’s book and she would end up being famous.
As the boat steamed back to Zurich she snuggled up to Papa and they watched the blue light from the ship’s lantern trailing through the dark water behind them.
“I think I might quite like being a refugee,” said Anna.
Eventually, Papa needs to find work and travels to Paris to look for a newspaper job. He returns and takes Mama with him so they can look for a place to live. They leave the children but they are checked on by the tavern owner.
The family moves to Paris and they all have to learn French, which is a struggle for Anna until one day it clicks for her and she begins to speak it fluently.
By then, though, Papa has decided they will move to England in hopes he can find even more work as a columnist and writer. A movie company has even offered to make a movie from a screenplay he’s written. From what I understand the second book in this series continues the family’s story while in England.
There are so many moving and heartbreaking quotes in this book.
When Anna tells her father she doesn’t want to leave Paris, he assures her they will return again one day.
″‘We’ll come back,’ said Papa. ‘I know,’ said Anna. She remembered how she had felt when they had gone back to the Gasthof Zwirn for the holidays and added, ‘But it won’t be the same- we won’t belong. Do you think we’ll ever really belong anywhere?’ ‘I suppose not,’ said Papa.” ‘Not the way people belong who have lived in one place all their lives. But we’ll belong a little in lots of places, and I think that may be just as good.‘”
Link, the director of the film based on the book, said about the story that “it is not shocking but still deep.”
That is exactly the takeaway I had after reading it. I hope to read the rest of the books of the series soon and when Little Miss is a little older I will either read the books to her or have her read them herself.
I started this book in July or August and finished it about two weeks after the massacre occurred in Israel on Oct. 7.
I’ve read many stories about the horrible treatment of the Jews during and prior to World War II either fictional based on real events or non-fictional.
I won’t get too much into the specifics of the conflict currently going on right now, but I will say that I’ll never get used to the complete idiocy of hating a group of people simply because they are of a different faith or ethnicity than you. I’ll also never get used to the barbarism and sick actions against the Jewish people since pretty much the beginning of time. On October 7 we saw it happening again.
I found myself crying as I read the book because, after the Holocaust, the world said, “Never again,” but here we are again, letting it happen and, once again, turning a blind eye to the fact that antisemitism is very real and still very much alive.
