Tag: reading

Saturday Afternoon Chat: Warm days, anniversary, and would you stab someone for telling you the end of a book?

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Saturday Afternoon Tea7 Comments

Hello, there! How is your summer?

Can I interest you in a slice of cake? A cookie? A cup of tea?

Honestly, I don’t have the cake or cookies so you will just have to have the tea, but I do have some fresh raspberries if you’d like some of those.

Let’s kick our Saturday afternoon chat off with a weird question:

Did you hear of the man who stabbed his colleague at a science lab in Antarctica in 2018 because the colleague kept telling him the end of the books he was reading?

Do you think you’d ever go that far?

I hope I wouldn’t but I would guess that there was a lot more to that man’s stress than simply being told the end of books. The man who was stabbed lived, by the way.

Anyhow, I somehow made it through this week without stabbing anyone despite all the running around and mental gymnastics my brain kept doing.

This summer has been very busy for us in some ways, but usually we’ve only had one thing to do a day. That one thing has often been in the middle or end of the day so it has thrown some things off but that’s okay. We’ve adjusted.

I am looking forward to autumn and winter this year simply for the fact that I will have an excuse to say I can’t attend something.

“Oh, so sorry but we’re supposed to get bad weather and … yeah. I’d love to, but you know. The roads could be dangerous.”

I have that excuse practiced pretty well but, alas, I can’t use that one in the summer. Unless we get flash flooding, and I’d prefer that didn’t happen.

So, Monday I volunteered to pull weeds in my dad’s garden. I forgot how uncomfortable a person’s muscles can get after pulling weeds so the next morning I was hurting quite a bit.

I couldn’t mope around too long, though, because Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing came out on Tuesday and I worked on marketing for that most of the morning. In the afternoon Little Miss and I went swimming at my parents’. She talked me into a couple of swimming competitions which were easier for her because she was in an inflated inner tube and I was using my actual muscles to swim. Using muscles I don’t use enough other times of the year two days in a row left me in a lot of pain later that night and into Wednesday.

Working those muscles, in other words, was both good and bad for me. I had a hard time walking and sleeping this week but I was glad I got out and did things and I was proud of myself for whining less than I normally do when I am in pain.

On Wednesday I drove Little Miss about 15 minutes away to a park for the county library’s Summer Reading program. That’s one thing I don’t think I have ever mentioned on here – our county is so small population wise, we only have one library. It isn’t our town library – it’s the county library and it’s where everyone in the county goes for books and activities, etc. Since it is the county library, they try to hold events in places other than the most populated town in the county, which is my town.

The children at Wednesday’s event painted rocks, played on the playground, and participated in a rock relay race where they had to race to place rocks in the shapes that they belonged to on a large piece of cardboard.

Little Miss had fun but was ready to go home fairly quickly because there were new episodes of Bluey on Disney Plus. These episodes have been withheld for some reason for the last year or so and they were much anticipated in our house. I was glad we didn’t have anywhere else to go the rest of that day.

On Thursday, The Husband took the day off so we could one, take his car 45 minutes north to be worked on and two, go out to dinner for our anniversary.

Our view while we drove.
My lunch.

After we dropped the car off, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant we enjoy near us. The Husband took Little Miss to gymnastics that evening and I stayed home and watched an episode of Miss Scarlet and the Duke while turning the air conditioning up full blast to make the house feel like fall. I made myself a cup of peppermint tea with honey and sipped that while I watched the show and designed journals. I know I should live in the present and not wish for it to be another season, but I do have to say, yet again, how much I miss the cooler months where I can snuggle under a blanket with a good book.

Yesterday a friend came to visit for a couple of hours, and then it was back up to pick up The Husband’s car and then he went grocery shopping, something he does because he is very nice, but also because I think he just doesn’t want to deal with whatever weird calamity befalls me if I go.

If you are new here, you may not know that almost every time I go grocery shopping something weird happens to me and I have some kind of emotional breakdown because I am a bit of a mental case at times (that’s the understatement of the year).

One time I locked the keys in the car and we didn’t have a spare. The last time I lost the key fob to the van and thought we didn’t have another one so I burst into tears. It wouldn’t be so bad except we have to drive 20 minutes away from home to get our groceries and I hate when I have to inconvenience someone to dig me out of whatever trouble I have gotten myself into.

I’m a bit high maintenance, which makes it a surprise to me at times that The Husband hasn’t run away screaming and that we’ve actually made it to 21 years.

He’s really very sweet to do the grocery shopping. It helps so much, especially because, even though I hate admitting it, my chronic health issues often leave me feeling drained and achy for a day after I do something like grocery shopping or anything that leaves me on my feet for quite a while.

He does a lot for our family and we’d be lost without him.



Today I really want to stay home and do absolutely nothing other than catch up on blog posts by other bloggers, write some more in the second Gladwynn Grant Mysteries book, or read a book, but it is supposed to get up to 87 and it would be a good day for Little Miss and I to go swimming. We will see how well I get around. Tomorrow, however, I am drawing the line and staying home all day so I can do some housework and catch up on blog posts, etc., because next week promises to be another long week with a church program at a local church, Summer Reading, and probably visits to the pool again.

The pull off along the scenic bypass we travel down to go home.

How about you? How was your week last week? What have you been sipping while you work, travel, or read this week?

Sunday Bookends: Cozy mysteries, busy days, birthday parties, and flash flood watches

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings10 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.

Today I am joining The Caffeinated Reviewer for the Sunday Post.


What I/we’ve Been Reading

Since last posting, I finished the Nancy Drew book I was reading – The Secret of the Old Clock. I enjoyed it very much, even though it was very simple.

Friday night I finished a book I was ready by an indie author for an endorsement. It was Christian Fiction and I will share more about it when it releases officially.

I am also reading Secrets of the Amish Diary by Rebecca Phillips and hope to jump back into The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz later this week.

I really enjoy the Amish Inn Mystery books by Phillips. They are relaxed and easy-going, but also full of murder and mystery. The characters are so loveable and I don’t mind that the pace is a little slow at times. It isn’t too slow but a little slower than some mysteries. I’m fine with that since that’s what cozy mysteries are too me.  The clues for the mystery don’t come out slowly, but the story itself does and I actually enjoy that about cozy mysteries.

What’s Been Occurring

Yesterday we took Little Miss to a birthday party. We weren’t going to stay long because the little girl wasn’t feeling well, but the party was outside so we stayed a little longer. Little Miss and The Husband hiked to a small stream and swimming hole behind the family’s house and Little Miss took a swim with her friend.

This swimming hole and waterfall are actually part of their property. Isn’t that awesome?

After we visited there, the entire family headed to the grocery store for our weekly groceries.

Right before we walked inside, though, The Boy came running to us in a panic because he had looked at the schedule at work wrong and it turns out he was supposed to be at work at that time. We were 30 minutes away so after a quick call to his boss, during which she reassured him he was okay and just to get in as soon as he could, The Husband did a dash through the store and we headed back home. After we unloaded the groceries and took The Boy to work, Little Miss and I headed to my parents for a swim in their pool.


Today, with the area under a flash flood watch, we stayed home to relax and for me to catch up on some work for the book that releases this week instead of next now (you heard it here first). I also have some journals I want to design and upload to our journal store on Amazon. Unfortunately, The Husband could not stay home and relax part of the time because he had to go to a political rally to cover it for work.

At least he was able to enjoy this view while there.

This week we have a couple of summer reading events, gymnastics, and lunch for The Husband and I for our anniversary.

Oh and Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing releases on Tuesday now instead of next Tuesday.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week we were in and out of the house a lot or I was busy with finishing up things for the release of Gladwynn and designing graphics to promote it so I didn’t watch as much as I do some weeks.

I even forgot to watch the Marilyn Monroe movie I had planned to watch to write about on Thursday. I didn’t even remember until Friday that I had not watched the movie. I will be watching it this week instead.

The Husband and I did watch a few episodes of Newhart and I rented Into the West, an Irish movie I really enjoy, but never got back to finishing before the rental ran out.

This week I hope to watch a couple of Marilyn Monroe movies and some documentaries on Ireland. Why Ireland? I have no idea, but I’ve always loved Ireland. This past week I started one and it was being narrated by an American who sounded like he was on an American news show. I just didn’t trust him is all I’m saying. I need a show about Ireland to be narrated by an Irish person. (*wink*)

What I’m Writing

I am working on book two for the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries and have already put it up for pre-order on Amazon. I already mentioned how busy I was last week so I did not have a lot of time to write blog posts. I only posted one yesterday about how busy I was.

What I’m Listening To

While writing this week, I listened to this:


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.

Sunday Bookends: Horowitz, overly descriptive mysteries and swimming weather

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends2 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, and some weeks I share what I am listening to. This week I’ve also decided to join up with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.


What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen his week. Well, sort of. I more like skimmed the last half because I was exhausted with the tedious descriptions of the main character getting dressed as her dead half-brother. The plot was hanging by a thread as it was but then add in three-paragraph-long descriptions of the clothes she had to dress in to look like her brother and I was pretty much over it. I enjoyed the writing style but the further I got into the book the more it felt like the author was trying to show off the research she’d done about colonial clothing instead of getting to the point of the story.

It was fine when she explained what clothes she needed to put on to look like her half-brother in the beginning but to keep doing it, complete with all the terms for each piece of clothing, each time she got dressed really dragged the book down. The book was 40 chapters long and I think she could have written the book in half that many chapters and it would have been much better. I did like the characters and the mystery, though, so I’m not saying I’d never read anything by this author again.

To cleanse my pallet (though the book was not horrible. Truly!) I am reading a Nancy Drew book – the first in the original series – and I’m about to start a Anthony Horowitz book – The Word is Murder (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Book 1).

This series of books is unique because Horowitz has written himself into the books.

I’m starting his book because I picked up my husband’s library book — The Twist of A Knife — and got hooked. The only issue is that The Twist of A Knife was the latest book in the series and there are three others before it that The Husband feels I need to read first. So I am starting with The Word is Murder.

Little Miss is reading The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island. I haven’t been reading to her at night the last couple of nights because she’s been so tired she’s been passing out before we can get to the reading.

The Husband read at least four books on his vacation, including the Horowitz book and a Janet Evanovich book.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what we’ve been up to in my post yesterday and nothing worth nothing has happened since then. We have a fairly relaxed week upcoming with one event for summer reading at the local library and gymnastics, but not much else, thankfully.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week The Husband and I watched a Midsomer Murders, a Shakespeare and Hathaway (which was not very good but none of them from the Covid area were), and a lot of Newhart. We also watched the movie Niagara with Marilyn Monroe, which I wrote about on the blog.

I’ll be watching Some Like It Hot this week.

I watched a lot of Just A Few Acres on YouTube as well.


What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and finished up corrections on Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing so I can get that ready for release the week after next. I’m so close to the release date! I’m excited to release Gladwynn into the world. In August I will be sharing some of book two on my Substack for paid subscribers.

This week on the blog I shared:



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.

Sunday Bookends: library visits, blooming flowers, books that make me cringe, and music to write to

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends8 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, and some weeks I share what I am listening to.


What I/we’ve been Reading

I will be finishing The Regal Pink by Jenny Knipfer today and I have really enjoyed it. I am not just saying this because I consider Jenny an author friend. I went into this book concerned I wouldn’t like it because I am not a fan of “fantasy” type books but, yet again, I was wrong to be concerned. This is the third Christian fantasy book I have read that has captured my heart. Much like two books by author Max Sternberg, I fell in love with the characters of this book and also Jenny’s writing style. I honestly think that fantasy is the genre she’s meant to write in.

I’ll ramble about the book a little bit more in a review later this week.

I started a Nora Roberts book yesterday because Little Miss picked it out for me at the library. I have never read Nora Roberts but have been told by a friend that once I read this one, I have read all of her books.

This is actually a pair of Christmas novellas combined and it looked like it would be a quick read, but after reading up to chapter four last night I just know I am not going to be able to get through this without cringing anymore than I already have. It is so ridiculous. Seriously.

The guy is gone for ten years, comes back for town to see the woman who he left behind but asked to wait for him. She married while he was gone though, crushing his spirits. When he comes back, though, he finds out that day that she’s divorced and seconds after he finds that out they are making out. Like — what???

And of course, he meets the woman’s daughter and of course, I already know the daughter is his. Such a cliché trope. No thank you. That book is currently in my DNF (did not finish) pile.

Little Miss had no idea what she was picking out. She said she thought it was a cozy mystery. She also picks out small, 5.5 x 7.5 books because they are cute and if she likes the cover. It is a cute cover. I felt bad telling her it was a bad pick but oh my — it is not my cup of tea.

I’ll be trying my library pick once I finish a couple on my Kindle. That pick was:

I’m still reading All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese and enjoying it, but I wanted to finish Jenny’s book so I set it aside for now.

And as if I didn’t have enough to read, I have a cozy mystery from Libby that came in much earlier than I thought so I may start that this week and still put All That Really Matters aside.

The book is A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen. I really enjoyed the sample I read and looked at it after someone on Instagram suggested it.

For anyone who might be interested, here is the description:

1784 London.Miss Tiffany Woodall didn’t murder her half-brother, but she did bury him in the back garden so that she could keep her cottage. Now, the confirmed spinster has to pretend to be Uriah and fulfill his duties as the Duke of Beaufort’s librarian while searching Astwell Palace for Uriah’s missing diamond pin, the only thing of value they own. Her ruse is almost up when she is discovered by Mr. Samir Lathrop, the local bookseller, who tries to save her from drowning while she’s actually just washing up in a lake after burying her brother.

Her plan is going by the book, until the rector proposes marriage and she starts to develop feelings for Mr. Lathrop.  But when her childhood friend, Tess, comes to visit, Tiffany quickly realizes her secret isn’t the only one hidden within these walls.  The body of a servant is found, along with a collection of stolen items, and someone else grows mysteriously ill. Can Tiffany solve these mysteries without her own disguise  being discovered? If not, she’ll lose her cottage and possibly her life.

The Boy is not reading right now but this week I have to get him to finish Fellowship of the Ring so he can say he read it.

The Husband is reading —

Little Miss and I are reading Little House on Plum Creek and then I picked up a Boxcar Children book yesterday at the library so I hope we can start that this week.



What’s Been Occurring

I wrote a bit about last week in my Saturday Afternoon post yesterday. Mainly I wrote that our flowers are blooming and we visited my parents. Not a very exciting week overall.

I did take a few more photographs of the roses and peonies yesterday to share on here:

This week the local library’s Summer Reading program starts.

They are offering an open sidewalk chalk art event on Tuesday and on Wednesday they are doing a Lego-themed storytime.

On Saturday of next week, I am supposed to have a sleepover with Little Miss’s friends because they have been asking for one for forever. I am not really looking forward to it because there is no sleep had during a sleepover and the one who won’t sleep will most likely be me and I already don’t sleep so great.

Plus I snore and I am worried I will keep the kids awake, but we will see how it goes.

What I’m/We’re Watching

Last week I watched a lot of Forgotten Way Farms on YouTube.

The Husband and I didn’t have a lot of time to watch things together but did watch a Barnaby Jones episode, which I made a lot of fun of. We also watched some Newhart.

What I’m Writing

I have been working on book two of the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries.

On the blog this past week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

This week I listened to James Herriot’s Treasury for Children on Audible. We don’t have a membership to Audible but we did for a while, so we purchased several books on sale. This was one of them.

I loved the sweet stories with happy endings in this book. Each story is about a cat or dog that Alfred Wight took care of or met during his time as a vet.

When I write I also listen to a mix of music from the 1930s and 1940s, including this playlist on YouTube:

This week I also listened to Samantha Fish and Matthew West (yes. Two completely different artists.)

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week Or Recently

Mama’s Empty Nest: Birthday Joy

Scott Tirrell: Well, I’m Stumped (about his writing journey)

Katja: Notorious

Over the Teacups: Names of Jesus



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.

Sunday Bookends: A spring outing, reading mysteries, and new glasses for the youngest

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends9 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, and some weeks I share what I am listening to.



What’s Been Occurring

I did not share a Saturday After Chat post yesterday because I was out of the house both Friday and Saturday and did not have time to write one.

On Tuesday last week, we traveled to a town near us to pick glasses up for Little Miss and The Boy. Yes, Little Miss is now like the rest of us in the family and has glasses. I don’t really like that she’s had to get them at such a young age, but if she can see better, that’s great.

I wanted to blame too much device usage on her need at such a young age, but then I remembered that I was only a couple of years older when I got glasses, and I didn’t have devices back then. I did a lot of close work with sketching and reading but I did not have a phone or Kindle or anything else that might cause me to be near-sighted. I suppose it is simply bad genetics once again.

Luckily, she looks absolutely adorable in glasses.

The Boy looks absolutely adorable in glasses too, but he doesn’t pose for photos anymore.

The Husband would probably pose but his glasses are old so I didn’t take a photo of them.

After we picked up the glasses we went to the local library for a gathering with the local homeschool group. It was a lot of fun and nice to finally meet other homeschooling parents. I had met a few of them at the end of February but several of the children were sick that week. We missed the next couple of meet-ups because of Little Miss’s dental procedure, weather, and Little Miss getting sick one week.

During this meetup, they had a birthday theme and exchanged gifts between the children to help encourage them to get to know each other. This didn’t really work as much with the teenagers who simply looked at the floor while they handled each other gifts, but it was a good idea.

One of the members brought their pet pig and then there were birthday party type games (Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Musical Chairs, and a pinata). Little Miss had a blast but by the end she told me she was all socialized out and wanted to go home and not talk to people for the next five months.

Yes, she is very similar to me.

After interacting with other people I need a downtime of not talking to anyone or going anywhere for at least a day, if not more.

On Friday, Little Miss and I grocery shopped, which I hate doing but it went well, even though I had to have our van looked at by an exhaust specialist before we went because we have a hole in our exhaust and then grocery shop. I actually very much dread going to the grocery store. My weird health issues seem to kick in during those visits. My legs get weak, my head feels odd, and my lower back hurts by the time I get halfway around the store.

I prayed all the way to the store, though, calling on Jesus’ many names – Elohim, Adonai, and Jehovah Jireh, my provider. I rebuked anything coming against me and by the time I left the mechanic to head to Aldi, I felt so much better. I was able to get all of our shopping done and when I went home I even carried in all of the groceries, something I’m usually too tired to do.

In full disclosure, I did take a l’theanine before I left. It is a natural supplement to help with relaxation but there is no way it had time to kick in and not only that, it does not give me energy or take away the vertigo I experience in stores or in fluorescent lights. Only God can do that. Don’t be afraid to ask him for help in even the smallest situations in your life.

Yesterday we visited a comic shop as a family for Free Comic Book Day.

We traveled about an hour to get to the comic shop, visiting a town near us that we had not visited before. It was full of old houses that dated back to the early to mid 1800s. I honestly felt like I was in an old neighborhood in Philadelphia or something.

The kids and The Husband went into the comic book store and I wandered down the street, admiring the old buildings and beautiful churches.

There was a Little Free Library at one of the churches in the town with the comic book store and I found what I think is a cozy mystery. I replaced it with a book that was in the van.

After our visit there we stopped at a GameStop store for The Boy and visited a park/playground  afterward.

It was a nice day, especially since we finally had a sunny, warm day for the first time all week and also because the views were so nice.

I am trying to talk my dad and son in building me a little library that I can install across the street from our house. I think it would be fun for people who are walking or driving by to see and know that they can find good books in.

What I/we’ve been Reading

While I was not a huge fan of M.C. Beaton’s writing style, I couldn’t help reading through Death of a Poisoned Pen, which is a Hamish Macbeth Mystery. I gave up at one point and said I couldn’t put up with her choppy writing any longer, but I needed to know what happened so I went back to the book and finished it Friday night. This was a later book in the series so maybe it wasn’t even written by M.C. Beaton by then. Maybe ghost writers wrote it like they do James Patterson’s books.

Now that I have finished that book I am free to focus on Fellowship of the Ring, which I have a goal to finish before the end of May but will probably finish earlier. I need The Boy to finish it before the end of May as well because I would like him to write a review of it and Huckleberry Finn before our meeting with our homeschool evaluator.

I am also reading a cozy mystery by Amanda Flower, a new-to-me author. The book is called Flowers and Foul Play. It is a Magic Garden Mystery so there is a bit of magic mixed in.

Little Miss has been reading a collection of Charlie books to me. Charlie was Ree Drummond’s (The Pioneer Woman’s) dog and there was a series of I Can Read books written about him. I found the collection at a library sale, and she’s been reading a chapter or two of the books to me before bed. Then I read from The Miss Piggle-Wiggle Treasury to her but I am telling you, I am ready for that book to be over. The stories really do drag a bit and I find the solutions this woman has to common childhood quirks a little irritating. It was written in the 1950s when children weren’t supposed to be imaginative, I suppose because the latest story had a mother trying to figure out how to get her son to stop daydreaming and dragging his feet and instead hurry up and do what he is told.

Little Miss likes the stories though, so I push through for her sake. I can’t wait until we can move on to something else, though. The book is due back this week, but, sadly, I can renew it again.

On our trip yesterday, Little Miss read an entire Imagination Station book by herself – they are about 80-100 pages long and around 12 chapters. They are books produced by Focus on the Family through the Adventures in Odyssey series.

The Husband is reading Peril at End House by Agatha Christie.

What We watched/are Watching

We watched a lot of Newhart this past week and I watched Holiday with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, which I loved.

Little Miss and I watched some Mary Berry.

I actually did not watch a lot this past week because I was either revising my book or reading a book.


What I’m Writing

I am in the revision process for Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing so I worked on that a lot this week.

On the blog I shared:

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Rose Fairbanks: Living In the Overflow

https://rosefairbanks.com/2023/05/01/music-monday-living-in-the-overflow/comment-page-1/#comment-19638

Mama’s Empty Nest: Words for Wednesday, Just Like Mom

https://mamasemptynest.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/words-for-wednesday-just-like-mom/


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.

Sunday Bookends: Who is M.C. Beaton? Crazy days with young children and old movies are what I’m watching

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday BookendsLeave a comment

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, and some weeks I share what I am listening to.


What I/we’ve Been Reading

I didn’t read a ton last week because I was working on finishing Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing. I hope to have it done in a couple of days and then I can return back to some of the books I’ve been reading.

I took a break from Fellowship of the Ring but am anxious to get back into it this week.

I have been reading Death of a Poison Pen by M.C. Beaton. It’s a Hamish MacBeth Mystery.

Now, in some ways, I’m not sure what I think about the book because there is a lot of head hopping between characters – like how old books were written (you know, where the author tells you what everyone in the room is thinking all in the same scene) and I don’t know that I love Beaton’s writing but I’m caught up in the mystery and I can’t put the book down when I start reading. I need to know who killed the postmistress and the school’s head teacher!

I have a feeling Beaton’s writing will grow on me and I’ll read more by her. I won’t read the most recent Agatha Raisin books that they put out with her name on them, though. I picked one up and it was awful. I don’t think she wrote it at all since I think she was in her 80s when it came out and put out right before she died, actually.

She is the author of two very popular mystery series in the U.K., including Hamish Macbeth (my friend Erin says the show on BBC is nothing like the books, just a warning) and Agatha Raisin, but under her real name Marion Chesney she also wrote a ton of historical romance novels. She has also written under the names Ann Fairfax, Helen Crampton, Jennie Tremaine, and Sarah Chester.

There are 34 books in the Macbeth series and 30 in the Agatha Raisin series. There are also books related to the series and a couple were written with the help of someone named R.W. Green after she died.

Yes, I have been reading Wikipedia. Why do you ask?

The Husband is reading Victory City by Salman Rushdie.


Little Miss and I are reading The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury before bed. She loves it and I don’t really but I’m reading it for her sake. They are cute little stories about parents trying to get their children to do the right thing with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s help, but they are a bit bizarre and silly too.

The Boy is reading his history textbook, and his science textbook and listening to Fellowship of the Ring.

What’s Been Occurring

Last week was a pretty relaxed week but I rambled a bit about what has been going on in my post yesterday.

Today we are recovering from a visit with Little Miss’ friends. I say recovering because they played full force yesterday – spending most of their time on the trampoline – not because it was a bad visit.

We probably won’t visit my parents because my dad is having hip pain after being adjusted by his chiropractor. He’ll have to call the chiropractor tomorrow and tell him that something was not adjusted right at all.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week I watched An Affair to Remember for the Spring of Cary challenge Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are doing.

The Husband and I also watched a Poirot and a couple of Brokenwood Mysteries and a few Newhart episodes.

This week Erin and I are watching Holiday with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.



What I’m Writing

I am writing the last chapter of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing either today or tomorrow and then I will begin self-editing the book and rewriting, etc.

This past week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

The Husband turned me on to Nate Smith this week and then I also listened to Warren Zeiders. Both are country artists but not the garbage we hear on the radio today, thankfully.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I hope to be back next week with blog posts I enjoyed this week. I didn’t take note of the ones I read this week and I am also behind on my blog reading because of homeschool and working on the book. I hope to get back on track this week. We will see how it goes.



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.

Sunday Bookends: My husband is a speed reader, finally enjoying Fellowship of the Ring, a DNF for Anne, and working on Gladwynn’s book

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends1 Comment

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, and some weeks I share what I am listening to.


What I/we’ve been Reading

It took until around Chapter 9, but I finally got into Fellowship of the Ring. Or it finally picked up, whichever. I mean, I guess I liked it before then but a character I remember from the movies showed up around Chapter 9 and that’s when things started to really pick up. Now I’m moving through it much faster and would love to be able to finish it by the end of the week, but I’m not sure I will. I have enjoyed listening to it some of the time on Audible and reading it part of the time. Friday night I sat on the back porch and read a couple of chapters of it, which took quite a while since the chapters are so long.

I also started reading Death of a Poison Pen by M.C. Beaton. It’s a Hamish Macbeth Mystery and takes place in Scotland. It’s a much lighter read than Fellowship of the Ring so I’m using it to break up the old style of Tolkien’s writing but I will probably focus on FOTR this week because I do want to know what happens. Yes, I did watch the movie but I sort of glazed over after hour two and got a bit lost. I’d rather read it.

I finally gave up on Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. It was terribly depressing and I once heard a reader say life was too short to read a book you don’t enjoy so I finally put it back on the shelf. I’ll try some of the other books in the series at another time.

Little Miss and I are reading On The Other Side of the Hill by Roger Lea MacBride. Some nights we are reading The Miss Piggle Wiggle Treasury.

The Boy is reading Fellowship of the Ring.

The Husband was on vacation this week and even with taking kids to appointments, washing dishes, mowing the lawn, and helping to take care of a sick dog he managed to read six books and start a seventh.

The books he read:

The Infernals by John Connelly

Out of Range by CJ Box

The Scared Stiff by Donald Westlake

Bye-Bye, Baby by Ace Atkins

Number One is Walking by Steve Martin

Standing by the Wall by Mick Herron

The one he is reading now: Don’t Ask by Donald Westlake


What’s Been Occurring

I wrote yesterday about our drama last week with Zooma the Wonder Dog. You can read about it in this post.

You can also see some of our photos from the week there but I will share a few here too.

What We watched/are Watching

Little Miss and I found two other Mary Berry series on Tubi on the Roku this week so we watched those episodes throughout the week.

I watched My Favorite Wife for my Spring of Cary feature with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and decided it was not my favorite Cary movie.

An Affair to Remember is up for this week.

The Husband and I watched Oceans 11 this week. The original with the Rat Pack etc. That was some ending. Whew.

We also watched a super creepy episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Dick York from Bewitched. Yikes. He was a very good actor and very underrated.

We also started Carefree with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but both had to head to bed for some sleep so we will finish it later.

I also watched a few art videos and a couple of YouTubers this week but had to take a break from the YouTubers as some of them grate on me because after a bit they all start to sound the same. They talk about the same books and wear the same clothes and skip in the same fields and it is starting to get a bit weird. I’m sure I’ll still watch a few of them, including Forgotten Way Farms, which is different from all the other “Young Woman Reading Cottage Core Style Books and Filming Herself Wearing Old Clothes and Skipping through A Field of Flowers.”



What I’m Writing

I worked on finishing Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing every day this last week and hope to have it finished this upcoming week. You can pre-order it here:

It is coming out July 18th now instead of June 20th.

On the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I am listening to an audiobook of Fellowship of the Ring and other times I am reading the book.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Big Sky Buckeye, God’s quiet place:

https://bigskybuckeye.com/2023/04/19/gods-quiet-place/

Breath of Hallelujah: Pascha At Holy Trinity Cathedral Chicago

https://breathofhallelujah.com/2023/04/19/pascha-at-holy-trinity-cathedral-chicago/



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.




Saturday Afternoon Tea: Book sales, good food, and impatiently waiting for spring

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea7 Comments

Good afternoon!

I’ve pulled out the mugs and the electric kettle and the new jar of honey for you! I also have a couple different teas to choose from – peppermint, cinnamon, elderberry, peach, and a lemon chamomile mix. I also have a sleepy-time tea but it’s the afternoon so I would hold off on that until this evening.

Which tea can I get you?

And can I offer you one of the cupcakes Little Miss made with her grandparents yesterday? They’re unicorn colored so lots of pink and light blue and some purple inside.

What kind of snacks do you like on a Saturday afternoon while you are reading or relaxing (if you’re able to do that)?

I like to munch on dried cherries from Aldi and sometimes I pour milk over frozen blueberries. The milk crystalizes around the blueberries making a cold, sweet treat. This snack isn’t the best thing to have when it is cold out, but I still eat it when it is cold.

So, how was your week? Ours wasn’t super busy until Friday, thankfully. Part of that was because Little Miss was recovering from her sinuses trying to adjust to the weather change. We thought it was a cold last Saturday but based on the fact none of us got it (and I get everything she gets) and she has this reaction to the weather change at least once every year, if not twice (since Pennsylvania likes to toy with us and have it be warm for a couple days, then cold, then warm, then cold and … you get the idea), we are now pretty certain it was because of the weather.

On Friday, The Husband and I had a date afternoon. We visited a library near us that was having a huge book sale, attended a groundbreaking The Husband had to take a photo for his job as a small town newspaper reporter, and then had lunch at a cute little restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

I didn’t find as many books as I hoped I would at the sale, but I did find a few classics I had been wanting to read.

I was most excited to find Little Women because I have been determined to actually read it this year. I also picked up A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park by Jane, and A Red Badge of Courage. For the non-classics, I picked up the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers and a Hamish Macbeth Mystery.

The restaurant was very small and cozy featuring rustic décor.

I kept taking photographs of the walls and set up. The food was delicious and delivered on simple paper plates, which I’m sure saves them a lot of money.

After we left there The Husband showed me the outside of the little village’s tiny library but didn’t let me go in. I think he figured we have enough books right now. Next to the library are the cutest little houses that were built for seniors. I don’t know what has happened to me but when I saw the library I said, “Oh! It’s so cute!” And then when I saw the little houses I said “Oh! They are so cute!”

I looked at The Husband and said, “Good grief! What has happened to me? Why do I keep saying things are so cute?”

But, well, they were cute. So there.

No April Fool’s jokes here. Spring is indeed taking its time to get to Pennsylvania and I am a bit impatient. We haven’t had much more snow but the other night we had snow squalls and freezing temps, it rained all day yesterday, and today it is supposed to get up to 68 and then drop fast to 27 after thunderstorms! It’s nuts but this is Pennsylvania weather, I guess.

I am writing this with our windows open to soak up the warmth and sun before it all goes to Hades in a handbasket around the time my son goes downtown for his job, which is only a couple of days a week for three hours a day right now. He was so excited to get the job, though. He went around town a few months ago putting in applications but not receiving any calls back.

He received a call last week from the owner of a local deli/diner/restaurant, asking if he would like to work part-time as a dishwasher.

Our town is super, super small if I haven’t told you before. The census says there are 600 people in our town, but I question if it is even that many. I guess there could be since we have a large apartment building in town. That small size means there are only about nine businesses in town and part of them do not hire anyone under the age of 18.  

The Boy doesn’t have his license yet, but he is studying for his permit.

The Husband took Little Miss to an Easter egg hunt today. It was funny because the weather forecast said it would be very rainy and windy today as storms move into the area. About two hours before the egg hunt was supposed to start, though, the sky opened up and it became a beautiful sunny day with hardly any clouds at all. It looks like the sun is going to stay out until after the hunt is all over, which is good for the little community that holds it because The Husband says they go all out and put a huge effort into the hunt, even offering other activities afterward.

Little Miss’s friends live near the little town it is being held in so she will be able to see them. (As I write this I have received a text from The Husband and apparently one of the friends is coming home with her. I’m guessing The Husband caved into that request because he had a bad night of sleep last night and is delirious.)

 As we look ahead to spring maybe, someday, possibly coming to Pennsylvania, Little Miss and I have already decided we want to try our hand at a garden again this year. Wish us luck because she and I both often get excited about such things in the beginning and then lose interest as the months go on.

As I wind down here, I thought I’d mention how I’ve been feeling a little guilty lately about that rant I had on here about dentists a few weeks back. I know dentists can be good people – but then why aren’t they? *cymbal clang* I’m kidding, of course. That last part just popped into my head, and I had to write it down even though I really know there are good dentists. I’ve just had some bad experiences and that’s tainted my view more than a bit.

Tomorrow in my Sunday Bookends I will share what I’ve been reading and about some ideas I have for my newsletter (there will be a new feature I’m going to offer, but am a bit afraid to do so), and also about some Youtube channels I am watching and what else I watched during the week.

Let me know what snacks you are enjoying this fine Saturday and what tea you are drinking – or whatever other beverage. I’m sure we will all be drinking cooler beverages as the weather warms up soon. I mean, if that little rodent in Punxsy ever stops holding spring hostage!

Little Miss’s Reading Corner

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn little miss reading corner4 Comments

Little Miss and I have been reading a variety of books lately. Most of them are chapter books that I read to her but recently she’s started reading chapter books to me, which has been fun. I love how she’s starting to put inflection in her voice for the dialogue and I also love how she starts to fall asleep while she’s reading so she’s doing my work for me.

I don’t know if I’ve ever explained that the Paddington books that Little Miss and I read at night are chapter books, not picture books. I didn’t even realize there were picture books of Paddington until I found one at the library last week and realized that what we have is actually a collection of all the picture books of Paddington’s story that are out there.

The Paddington Treasury is one of the books we read earlier in the month and enjoyed, incidentally. I bought it a few years ago and we finally cracked it open. Little Miss read part of it to me.

Other books Little Miss and I read over the last few months and enjoyed included The Imagination Station books, which are produced by Focus on the Family.

So far we’ve read The Imagination Station: Secrets of the Princes’ Tomb and are in the middle of The Imagination Station: Problems in Plymouth and The Imagination Station: Voyage with the Vikings.

I am reading Problems in Plymouth to Little Miss and she is reading Voyage with the Vikings to me.

Last month we read Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan.

We enjoyed these sweet stories about a woman who answers a mail-order bride ad and goes to live with a family in the Midwest and falls in love with the children but also their father.

We hope to read the remaining three soon.

We also enjoyed Blizzard by John Rocco, which I think Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, mentioned on her blog.

This book was so cute, and the photographs were so creative, especially the middle pages which are two pullout pages that showcase the main character’s journey through the blizzard to get food for his family. The book is based on a true story about the author and a blizzard he experienced as a child in 1978.

Books we picked up at the library or the library book sale to read and will update you on later include:

Boundless Grace by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

Sachiko Means Happiness by Kimiko Sakai

Match Wits with Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of Black Peter and The Gloria Scott by Murray Shaw

Spirit of the West by Jahnna N. Malcom

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See by Eric Carle

Eat Like A Bear by April Pulley Sayre

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

Little Town in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride