Tag: What I’m Reading

Little, used bookstores are the best and an anniversary outing

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon20 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 is my husband’s and my 23rd wedding anniversary, and we went to a used bookstore near us because we are both serious nerds.

Then we visited a small café across the street for lunch.

Dinner and a book. That’s us, although it wasn’t always me. I read some but not as much, or as much variety, as I do now.

My husband has always been a big reader — sometimes a book a day or 3 to 5 a week.

I’m a much slower reader.

At the bookstore, I found three new (to me) Nancy Drew books, three Murder She Wrote books, and a cozy mystery by an author I am not familiar with — Betty Rowlands.

The Nancy Drew books I brought home were Mystery of the Tolling Bell, Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk, and The Clue of the Broken Locket.

The Murder She Wrote books are Killer in the Kitchen, Murder in Red, and The Murder of Twelve. I have a feeling they might be awful and I’m here for it. I started Murder in Red to see what I thought, though, and the first few pages was good.

The other cozy mystery was A Melissa Craig Mystery: A Little Gentle Sleuthing by Betty Rowlands.

There are so many variety of books there. I could have stayed there an hour but The Husband, alas, was hungry so we had to head out for some food which was odd because I am usually the one who needs to leave places for food.

After the bookstore and the dinner we headed home and watched a Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly movie called Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Yesterday I shared a bit about our week last week on my Saturday Evening Chat post.

A couple of quick reminders:

I have a monthly book-related link party if you are interested. You can find the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea link party at the top of my page or here.

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

We will be holding another one Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m.

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

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

I finished The Imitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse this past week and really enjoyed it. It was so much fun and exactly what I needed right now.

I started The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and I don’t know if I am exactly enjoying it but it’s different. I’ll see what I think.

I also started Spill the Jackpot by Erle Stanley Gardner. It’s a Cool and Lamb Mystery. I am not enjoying this one much at all so I’ll see if I finish it. There were three pages of a guy describing how to use slot machines! Why??? Ugh! The first in the series was so much better. This is number four.

I started Memory Lane by Becky Wade to see what I thought because I have wanted to read a light romance but have not enjoyed the two I tried by Courtney Walsh. I just think she isn’t my cup of tea but I’ve read Becky’s before and have enjoyed her so I thought I’d try this one and … I liked the beginning so I am going to read that when I need a light read.

Before bed I am enjoying Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis.

I plan to read one of the Murder She Wrote I picked up soon.

Last week I watched The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), The Pirates of Penzance, and A Hole in the Head.

I don’t recommend A Hole in the Head. It’s a Frank Sinatra/Edward G. Robinson film and it has some cute and fun moments but fell apart hard toward the end and didn’t resolve well at all. It’s like they just ran out of time and said “welp, that’s it! We’re done!”

I also watched an episode of The Dick VanDyke Show and The Husband and I watched Take Me Out to the Ballgame and the Canary Murder Case, a Philo Vance Mystery from the 1930s.

Last week on the blog I shared:

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

The day Thriftbooks sent me a book I did not order, and it turned out to be a collectible

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon30 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. Sometimes, I share what I’ve been listening to.

Thursday I received a package from Thriftbooks and inside was supposed to be a copy of Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (check), a copy of The Nancy Drew Scrapbook by Karen Plunket-Powel (check), and a Murder She Wrote Mystery (no check). Instead of the Murder She Wrote mystery, I found a very old book with a crumbling dust jacket and more dust than this mild-asthmatic with allergies was comfortable with. I barely looked at the book but I thought the title looked French.

Later that night after sending off an annoyed email to Thriftbooks to tell them they sent me the wrong book, I decided to take a closer look at the book, to at least find out the name.

I had never heard of the book, but it was called Murder A La Stroganoff by Caryl Brahms and SJ Snow. Inside the cover, it had a stamp that said it was from the Newberry Library, had been retired from their shelves, and was part of the Barzel Dance Collection. I searched a little more online and these books are fairly rare because it is a first edition from 1938 and the book is no longer in print. They did issue a paperback copy in 1985, but there are not a ton of the hardcovers published by The Crime Club, Doubleday & Co, New York out there.

Sadly, the book isn’t necessarily worth a ton without the dust jacket, which crumbled in my hands when I opened the package, but I couldn’t find one online being sold for less than $20 so, hey, if I ever do decide to sell it, I could make at least $20 off something I was shipped for free. With the dust jacket it could be worth up to $150. Apparently there aren’t a ton of these first editions out there and it’s a bit of a cult classic among mystery readers.

Thriftbooks did get back to me, by the way, and didn’t get the point that they sent the wrong book. Instead, they said they were sorry the book didn’t show up the way I wanted it to and that they didn’t have any other books with that title (they still think it is the Murder She Wrote book I first ordered) so to just keep the book and do what it with I wanted. They then issued me a refund for the book.

The book is a mystery and crime book with some satire mixed in about the ballet industry and is the second book in a series. I can not find a description of the book line but I think I actually want to read it so I might get a copy of the paperback instead of trying to read this older book which might bother my allergies.

I will be writing a blog post in the future about the book and its authors, though, because I fell down a rabbit hole researching what the book might be worth. I suppose that in the end getting the wrong book wasn’t such a bad thing.

Last week I finished The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie and The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene (A Nancy Drew Mystery).

I’ll have reviews of both of them soon but I did enjoy them both. The Pale Horse was obviously more adult — I mean, not like “adult-adult” but more mature themes. But not like … mature-mature. *wink*

I’ve been enjoying some leisurely reading of P.G. Wodehouse’s The Imitable Jeeves.

The book is so funny and witty. It’s been a very nice escape. The Jeeves books are comedic books about Bertie Wooster, a British gentleman from London, who is always getting into somewhat weird situations where he has to be bailed out or helped by his valet Jeeves.

This book is exactly what I have needed this week.

I think I’m going to have to give up on The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh before I even really get too far in it. I pushed through the first chapter wondering why the author was giving me so much information at once and when she was going to get to an actual story. The first chapter is entirely Isadora standing in a supermarket, thinking about her life with very little interaction with anyone else or action. It looks to me like the whole book is mainly her thinking about things and dumping a lot of info on the reader all in one go. I just can’t get into it, in other words.

I might try again this week, but otherwise I am going to move on to Prince Caspian and then But First Murder by Bee Littlefield.

This week I watched Gaslight (1944) as part of my Summer of Angela movie watching event and really enjoyed it. It isn’t a movie I’d watch over and over because it is pretty dark in some ways, but I did enjoy it.   I also watched The Rains Came, a 1939 movie with Myrna Loy and Tyrone Powers and Abbott and Costello in The Jack and The Beanstalk.
This morning I watched church with Lisa Harper as the guest pastor and followed it up with a couple episodes of Just A Few Acres Farm.

I’m working on Gladwynn Grant Goes Back to School and wrote a little more this past week. I hope to have more time to write this week since Little Miss is going to VBS and I’ll probably wait at the church for her to save gas.

On the blog I shared:

Saturday Evening Chat: Fourth of July and prayers, not blaming, for Texas

Summer of Angela: Gaslight (1944)

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot July 4th!

A Good Book And A Cup of Tea Link Up for July

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Books I’ve Read

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookends: Hot weather and a pretty Little Women book plus what I’m reading

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon18 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.

The heat this past week was awful. Just awful. We couldn’t get out house to cool down part of the time. But we survived and are experiencing much nicer and cooler temperatures now.

I haven’t been adding a lot of books to my shelf lately, but I thought I’d share this lovely Little Women book I recently bought from an online used bookshop.

It is an illustrated copy from the 1970s and I absolutely love the feel of the book overall, the illustrations inside, and the beautiful outside of the book, under the outside cover.

I know I will be rereading Little Women this year and other years. I might not read it all the way through again, but there are favorite sections I will definitely read over and over after I finally read it for the first time last year.

When I posted about this edition on my Instagram, several people commented that they had the exact same copy. Do any of you have a copy like this too?

I am still reading The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie but will have it done later this week. I’m not sure what I think of this one, but will probably go for a Miss Marple book for my next Agatha read.

I am also reading The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene. It is a Nancy Drew mystery and it is the first book where she meets Ned Nickerson, who readers of Nancy Drew will know is her boyfriend throughout the series.

I am reading The Imitable Mr. Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse off and on.

I just started The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh. It is too soon for me to decide if I will like it or not.

Up next I hope to read Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis.

Little Miss and I are listening to Prince Caspian at night but she can hear it better because the phone is closer to her and I am closer to the air conditioner, which means I really can’t follow the story at all. That’s why I am glad I am going to be reading it soon.

The Husband is reading Glitz by Elmore Leonard.

The Boy is listening to Perturabo by Guy Haley. It’s a Warhammer book.

Little Miss just started the fourth book in The Harry Potter series, Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.

I rewatched The Manchurian Candidate with The Boy last night. I picked up even more than I did when I watched it. Earlier in the week I watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks and an episode of Ludwig. This week I hope to watch Agatha and Me With David Suchet, more Ludwig, and Gaslight with Angela Lansbury for my Summer of Angela.

This week on the blog I shared:

Newsletter for June: Gladwynn books on sale and a update on book four

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot June 27 (In memory of Patrick Weseman)

Hodge Podge: What is adventure?

Episode Recap: The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Mystery of the Fallen Angel

I’ve been listening to old Jack Benny radio programs before bed.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookends: Link parties, finished two books, & watching Angela movies

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon15 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.

I shared what I did last week in my Saturday Afternoon Chat yesterday. It was actually my Saturday Evening Chat because I got it up so late.

After I posted that, The Husband took Little Miss and her friend swimming at the local YMCA, which we had never visited before. Now that we know the pool exists we will probably visit it more this summer.

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

We will be holding another one Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m.

The crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. There is one woman who creates with beads, another who colors, I sometimes draw or color, and Erin does a variety of art, including embroidery. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on. No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early.

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

If you are looking for a link party to participate in, I co-host one with three lovely blogger ladies that goes live on Thursday nights. The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot goes live about 9:30 p.m. each Thursday and if you scroll on my right-hand sidebar you should find the link to the latest one.

I also have added a link to parties I participate in at the top of my page.

I am going to leave up my monthly link-up for all things book-related. You can find a link to the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea link party at the top of my page or click here https://lisahoweler.com/2025/06/08/a-good-book-a-cup-of-tea-june-2025-party/

What I am reading – I finally finished All Things Wise and Wonderful the week before last and really loved it – especially a story at the end of the book involving Tristan, the date he tossed into the rose bushes, and a missing dog.

I also finished A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano. I would give it about a 3.5. I didn’t like how the mystery part wrapped up or how the main character had this huge secret she dropped at the very end but never really resolved. Politano’s writing is very good, though, and I am sure I will read another one by her at some point in the future.

Right now I am reading The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie and switching off with The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Woodhouse.

I plan to start The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh sometime this week.

I hope to start Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis soon as well.

The Husband is reading A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Little Miss is finishing up the third Harry Potter book after a long break, and she and I are reading Magical Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink together and listening to The Moffats at night.

I didn’t add any new books to my shelves recently, other than a couple I found on Project Gutenberg and will be sending to my Kindle to read.

Last week I watched National Velvet for my Summer of Angela. I also rewatched The Sound of Music for a comfort watch and a few episodes of Travels with Agatha Christie & Sir David Suchet.

Last week on the blog:

Summer of Angela: National Velvet (1944)

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot June 20

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books I want to read this summerSummer of Angela: The Manchurian Candidate

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookends: Giving up on Mansfield Park and James Herriot is in my dreams

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends22 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.

Happy early birthday to my brother from Transmissions From The Northern Outpost who will be 65 tomorrow. Okay, I’m kidding. He won’t be 65, but his birthday is tomorrow. If you know him, wish him a happy one.

I talked about our week yesterday in my Saturday Afternoon Chat, if you would like to check it out.

I talked mainly about VBS with Little Miss and our final homeschool evaluation for The Boy.

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

We will be holding another one Saturday, June 21 at 1 p.m.

The crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. There is one woman who creates with beads, another who colors, I sometimes draw or color, and Erin has been embroidering lately. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on. No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early.

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

I gave up on Mansfield Park. At least for now. I just can’t get into it – don’t really care about these people and their visits to each others houses where they sit and talk about each other and don’t do much else. Plus, I know the direction the romance is going, and it makes me queasy. Just – yeah – no.  The British and their weird ideas back then about who was okay to marry and who wasn’t … and yet they have the gall to make comments about our rednecks. (This is all said in jest so I hope I don’t offend my British or redneck readers. *wink*).

***SPOILER ALERT***

I sent this to my friend Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs this morning:

I can’t invest myself in a book where she hooks up with her first cousin. (I know where this is going.)

Plus – it’s sooooo boring

These people literally had no lives — they just kept going to each others houses and talked down to each other and connived and that’s like their whole lives.

I think I may just have to admit that I am not a Jane Austen fan, other than the movies. I have, of course, heard that Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are easier to read so I will probably try them later this summer. Like I think I might swap out Mansfield Park for Sense and Sensibility on my 15 Books for Summer challenge.

I am still reading All Things Wise and Wonderful.

I cannot believe how long this James Herriot book is. I feel like I might never finish it! The book is made up of individual stories in each chapter, with the underlying theme being James’s time in the RAF. I am really enjoying the stories, but I feel like I’ve been reading this book forever. I’ve taken a lot of breaks to read other books in between so I have actually been reading it a long time. Maybe I’ll have it done this week, maybe not.

I know one thing — I need to finish it soon because I am literally having dreams about James Herriot now. Of course, he looks like Nicholas Ralph from the new series in my dreams. And no..it was not a romantic dream. Just a weird one. Ha!

I’m also reading A Midnight Dance by Julia Davidson Politano. This is my first by her and I am enjoying it but it is quite a serious book so I will have to read something less serious when I am done with it. The writing is great so don’t take the words “serious book” as any kind of complaint.

I just started The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie to cleanse my pallet from the dullness of Mansfield Park and the drama of A Midnight Dance, but then I got so swept up in A Midnight Dance, I put The Pale Horse aside for now.

Up next to read after I finish A Midnight Dance will be Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh. That will be my happy read, from what I understand about Courtney’s books. It should be a lighter read anyhow.

I added a couple of new books to my TBR over the last couple of weeks, including a Nancy Drew Mystery called The Clue of The Velvet Mask and a Louis L’Amour short story collection With These Hands. A few weeks ago I added a number of Mildred Wirt books from Project Gutenberg. She was the first “Carolyn Keene” and wrote around 28 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. These are “juvenile” fiction but the plots and dialogue is better than some adult fiction.

I just started Travels with Agatha Christie & Sir David Suchet on Britbox. David traveled to South Africa for the first episode. The show made me love David even more. Oh gosh..he’s such a sweet man. I wanted to reach into the screen and give him a big hug at one point.

This past week I watched a couple Murder She Wrote episodes, a Brokenwood Mysteries episode, a couple episodes of the Father Dowling Mysteries, and Just A Few Acres Farm (Youtube Channel).

On the blog this week I shared:

Some fun from the gram this week:

From YouTube this week:

Random Saturday: It’s a Small World by Cat’s Wire.

I always have fun with Cat’s blog posts. She has so much interesting stuff.

The Building Our Hive blog chose my book to recommend for their summer reading list!!!!! I found this by accident and I was so giddy and almost cried!!

New Booklist by Building Our Hive

When People Say Thoughtless Things from Stray Thoughts had me thinking about how we sometimes upset people when we mean well, but also how I can give people grace when they say things that upset me.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookend: Our pain-in-the-butt cat uses up another life and enjoying a variety of books

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends32 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.

Our cat Scout was missing yesterday so I was not in a very perky the entire day.

We hadn’t seen her since Friday morning. We do let our cats outside but they usually come  back several times throughout the day, and in the case of our oldest cat at least, don’t go very far.

I hadn’t been able to mentally function much since Friday night when it was pouring rain and she still hadn’t come back. I was sure she’d been hit or kidnapped. She could have been locked in one of the neighbor’s sheds too. They were all mowing their lawns before the rain came. I held out hope that she’d be home Saturday morning when one of them opened a shed or barn door.

Saturday morning came and still no sign of her.

I spent all day Saturday crying, but I knew it wasn’t just over the cat – it was over all the stuff that’s been going on with my parents and my health all combined. It was mainly the cat because I pictured her dead over the banks, I suppose, but the built-up tension from trying to figure out some weird symptoms I’ve been having and the challenge to get into a doctor and the challenge to fake it to everyone around me has been overwhelming me lately.

I just kept shoving it all inside and trying to pretend everything was fine and it just came to a head yesterday because I thought the cat was dead.

Saturday night I headed to bed around 11:30, resolved to the fact our cat — the biggest pain in the butt cat I’ve ever had in my life — was gone. I don’t know why I even did it, but I walked to our blanket closet in the hallway, as if giving it one last look, even though I was sure my husband and son had already thought to do so over the  last couple of days, and I opened it.

There was a soft trill, and then a cat jumped out at me.

I was in total shock. I just started yelling, “Oh my gosh! She’s alive!”

The kids came running while the cat, probably startled as much as I was, took off for the food downstairs.

During the day I had been thinking about how much I would miss her. I would miss her touching her nose to mine when she came into my room at 5 or 6 a.m. for cuddles (I don’t actually enjoy being woke up that early, but I would now miss it, I had decided). I would miss her touching her nose to mine when she jumped up on the counter and waited for me to give her a snack of turkey deli meat when she came in from exploring outside at the end of the day.

Touching her nose to mine is something Scout has done since she was a tiny kitten, and she’d sleep on my chest.

After she grabbed some food and water, she ran back up the stairs, overwhelmed by everyone screaming over her and the dog excitedly sniffing and chasing her (I’m sure our older cat Pixel was simply glaring at her as she’d probably hoped she’d died somewhere so she could have all the attention again). I went up to finish getting ready for bed and she was standing on the window sill at the top of the stairs. She trilled at me and then she stretched her neck out toward me. When we were face-to-face she touched her nose to mine and I cried again and did something I almost never do to a cat — I kissed her forehead.

Then I wiped the fur away. Yuck. That’s why I don’t do that.

This cat definitely has nine lives. She’s the same cat that climbed and then fell out of a tree when we first got her. She lay on her side at the bottom of the tree panting and we thought she’d broken her spine and was dying. Thirty-seconds later she jumped up and took off running..

A few months later she climbed a larger tree in front of our house and was trapped there a day and a night and finally the town’s lovely fire department came and rescued her in dramatic fashion with their ladder truck. Just like in the movies.

In addition to having nine lives, the cat is also notorious for embarrassing me. That time it was the fire company rescuing her and yesterday our son went up and down the street asking all the neighbors to watch for her. Now we have to tell all of them she was in our linen closet the entire time and that we are sort of morons for not checking it and she’s sort of a moron for going into in the first place.

Last night I finished The Wishing Well by Mildred Wirt. It is a Penny Parker Mystery. I actually enjoyed it more than some of the Nancy Drew Mysteries because Mildred’s wit and humor comes through so clearly and Harriet Adams took a lot of that out when she wrote the Nancy Drew books that Mildred had written.

I might have to agree with Mildren when she once said that Penny was more Nancy Drew than Nancy was.

She is a lot more mouthy and pushy, but in a well-meaning way, than Nancy was even.

I am still reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, one chapter a day, but I didn’t read it much this week because I lost my paperback of it and then found it late last night. I did download an ebook copy to my Kindle too in case this happens again (which it will. I’m always laying my books down somewhere and losing them).

I am also continuing All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriott and will most likely finish that this week.

I plan to start The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Woodhouse this week and soon I will start Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh (a fun summer romance) and ‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara.

This week I watched a couple of older movies with two of the original Dames.

I watched The Assassination Bureau with a young Diana Riggs. That was — um, interesting. Quite goofy with a lot of sexual tension between her and Oliver Reed.

Then I watched The Honey Pot with a young Maggie Smith and Rex Harrison. This was another interesting one with an odd plot. A rich man pretends to be dying and invites his three former mistresses to his home to see which one of them is worthy of his inheritance.

Maggie portrays a nurse of one of the mistresses.

Rex is in his usual, witty form in this one.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the film when I started it and when it got serious, Maggie really stepped up her acting game. That was enjoyable.

I also watched Ludwig, a mystery with David Mitchell, on Britbox. I really enjoyed the first episode.

Of course, I watched Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube and will watch it again because I was interrupted during it. He was restoring a Farmall tractor. Who knew one day I’d be fascinated with watching a man restore an old farm tractor…

I’ve decided that I am going to have a Summer of Angela and watch Angela Lansbury movies. I’m going to sort of do it on my own but if anyone wants to join me, they/you are welcome.

Last week on the blog I shared

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

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

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Sunday Bookends: Dancing in the rain and Vera Wong (not Wang)

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends25 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.

I never got sick after everyone else in the family did the week before last, but this past week I did get some major sinus issues that have left me with blocked nose, a cough, and a full ear that clicks when I talk.

I never had a fever and didn’t feel so great on Friday, but I was better by later in the day when Little Miss and I had an impromptu dance party on the back porch during a rainstorm. Okay, we didn’t so much dance as jump up and down in puddles on the porch and splash each other with the water in the puddles. We also dumped water on each other from the water bottles we’d had at supper, and I convinced The Husband to pretend we were in a Hallmark movie and kiss me in the rain.

It wasn’t as romantic as I hoped since he kept laughing and looking at me like I was crazy, but at least we tried.

Little Miss thought she was funny by filling her water bottle with very cold water and mine with very warm water, so she was doused with warm water, and I was doused with freezing cold water. It backfired the second time she tried it because I poured the warm water over me instead.

Yesterday Little Miss and I headed 30 minutes away for a grocery pick up. We were about two miles outside of town when a little spider decided to do a little crawl in front of me at the top of the windshield and I did my best to stay calm as I pulled the car over to the side of the road. I really thought in this type of situation — with a small spider trotting across the windshield, right in front of my face, that I would drive the car into a field or body of water and I had that opportunity since we were right next to a pond.

Instead, I tried to squish the spider with a chocolate wrapper but then he dropped in front of me and all bets were off. I swatted at his web with a wrapped slim jim (don’t wask), yelled, and then jumped out of the car and swatted some more.

I really wanted to burn the car and call The Husband to pick us up, but I needed to be an adult (something I have to whisper to myself several times a day, “I’m an adult, I can do this.”) so I took a deep breath and continued on, feeling like there was a spider in my shirt the rest of the way.

 I’m really praying it is not a dangerous spider because I have to get in the car again today and I don’t want to be friends with a spider. At least we don’t live in Australia where the spiders are bigger than a human head. I really would have driven the car into the pond if I had seen one of those.

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

We will be holding another one this Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m.

The crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. There is one woman who creates with beads, another who colors, I sometimes draw or color, and Erin has been embroidering lately. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on. No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early.

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

I was so excited that the new library I’ve been borrowing books from actually responded to a request I had for a book and uploaded Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on A Deadman by Jesse Q. Sutanto to Libby this past week. It’s the sequel to Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers.

The previous library we went to never responded to requests to add books and told me they had no control over it and didn’t know who to ask to add books. I didn’t worry too much about it but was totally shocked when this library added this book. It could have been a coincidence, of course, but either way it was great timing.

I didn’t have as much time to read as I wanted to this past week, but I’ll have the book finished this week. It’s hilarious and engaging. For those who read cleaner books, this one does have bad language, but not as bad so far as the previous book. There is no sex or violence in the books, though.

I am also  continuing All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot as a leisurely read though. I read a chapter or two here or there.

Little Miss and  I are still reading Magical Melons or Caddie Woodlawn’s Family by Carol Ryrie Brink. We didn’t read it a lot last week since we were at my parents a few days helping there but we will be reading it this week and next as we finish out our school year.

The Husband is reading The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson to avoid reading a book I suggested he read (Vera Wong’s first book).

I have no idea what The Boy is reading because he is a teenager and hasn’t shared with me lately what he is reading. He is simply trying to get to graduation this week.

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis, The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene, The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham, and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Johassen.

The entire family watched Paddington in Peru last night together and I have to be honest that I was so thrown off by them replacing Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Brown that I couldn’t get into the movie. *joking around alert after this point: If you can’t get the actors back, don’t make the movie! That’s what I say. My husband said he didn’t even notice the actress was different and I guess movie goers didn’t care either because it has a very high rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

I’m a creature of habit. I don’t like changes. Even in my movies, if they are a series.

And Sally Hawkins reason for not coming back was definitely a nice way of saying she feels she’s way too talented for a movie that probably should have gone straight to video.

In all seriousness, the movie was a good children’s movie but nowhere near Paddington 2, which was very well done.

This movie had a different director as well so that might be one reason it wasn’t as good.

It was okay, but just not as good as the first two, in my humble opinion. The special effects were very good in this installment. So there was that at least.

I also watched Miss Austen last week and am looking forward to the third installment tonight.

 I watched Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube this morning like I do every Sunday after church.

Last week on the blog I shared (not much):

I did make progress on the fourth book in the Gladwynn series, however. I hope to be able to release it in the fall, but we will see how that goes.

Also, Cassie, the book I wrote as part of a set of novellas by several different authors, is on sale this week for 99 cents and you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1VW9TVK

Some videos from the YouTube channel this week:

I hope to start sharing longform videos on the channel soon, but I haven’t yet decided how I want to do that so I’ll keep you posted.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

Sunday Bookends: The family gets a cold…except me?! And a fun cozy mystery series.

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends17 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.

This week was way more relaxed than I thought it was going to be but only because the whole house, except me somehow, came down with some kind of cold virus. I’m usually the one who gets sick when no one else does so that was very unusual. Maybe I had a minor version of it since I had a slight sore throat and headache on Monday.

I could, of course, still develop it, I suppose, but so far only Little Miss and The Boy and maybe The Husband have had it. It was fairly minor but a total nuisance.

The Boy was hit the worst with running nose and leaking/burning eyes and a major headache and sore throat. Little Miss had a sore throat but then the dreaded postnasal drip set in and Little Miss refuses all help for that particular symptom, so she slept very little the one night due to a dry, repeated cough.

Not being able to go anywhere was tough on me because I wanted to be at my parents helping them but none of us wanted my mom to get sick since she is still dealing with some health issues.

I didn’t develop symptoms by yesterday so I went to their house and took Mom some fresh fruit and visited for a while.

It was chilly and raining almost all week and I am not going to lie, I really enjoyed that. I am not a fan of warm weather so curling up under a blanket and being able to sleep comfortably at night (other than the nights Little Miss hacked all over me all night) was very welcome this week.

I spent most days with a blanket around me while I worked on blog posts, my book, and read. Okay, so the real bitter cold wasn’t as welcome this past week, but I can warm up easier than I can cool down. Humidity makes me very sick and cold makes me achy …. I’m a mess. I need it to be just right. I’d take about 67 to 72 all year around if I could.

This week I should be able to help my parents again and next week The Boy is graduating. Two weeks after that we will be meeting with our homeschool evaluator and official school for the 2024-2025 year will be complete. We still do a lot of educational stuff over the summer and after July 1 that can all be counted toward our hours for the next school year. So any field trips, 4-H groups, museum visits, books we read, or art projects we undertake for July and August counts as “school”. I love that about homeschooling.

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

We will be holding another one on May 24 at 1 p.m.

The crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. There is one woman who creates with beads, another who colors, I sometimes draw or color, and Erin has been embroidering lately. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on. No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early.

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

The Hardy Boys: A Twisted Claw by Franklin W. Dixon.

This week I started Peg and Rose Solve A Murder by Laurien Berenson and finished it last night.

It is a cozy mystery and it took until chapter 11 (!!!) for a mystery to unfold but I still enjoyed the book and learning about the two women, who are sister-in-law’s who haven’t gotten along for years.

I guessed the guilty party before the end of the book but I was entertained enough with the characters and backstory that I didn’t mind. I hope to read more in the series, but they aren’t free on Libby and I can’t bring myself to spend $10 for a kindle book so it might be a bit before I get to the rest.

I am still reading, slowly, All Creatures Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot. I hope to continue Grave Pursuits by Elle E. Kay this upcoming week. I had taken a break from it because it dealt with the topic of a serial killer, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that with all the stress we had going on in our family. Still, I would like to know what happened so I am going to pick it back up again

I am still reading, slowly, All Creatures Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot. I hope to continue Grave Pursuits by Elle E. Kay this upcoming week. I had taken a break from it because it dealt with the topic of a serial killer, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that with all the stress we had going on in our family. Still, I would like to know what happened so I am going to pick it back up again

Last night I started Miss Austen on Amazon, which is about Cassandra Austen, Jane’s sister, and her decision to burn all of her letters between her and Jane to keep their lives private. She also burned letters between Jane and other family members.   I was really getting into it and looking forward to part two and then discovered part two doesn’t drop until tonight. Siiigh.

For some reason I’ve always been fascinated with Jane and Cassandra and how fiercely Cassandra protected Jane’s privacy. We would have known a lot more about Jane and how she thought and spoke in her real life if it wasn’t for Cassandra, but, at the same time, I can totally understand her protecting her sister from being scrutinized after her untimely death.

This week we also watched Everybody Loves Raymond, Blue Bloods, Murder She Wrote, Charade, and my “farmer guy” on Just A Few Acres on YouTube.

This past week I worked more on the fourth Gladwynn Grant book (by the way, the first book is free on Kindle right now) but I am still quite behind on finishing it.

On the blog I shared:

Recent Posts

I also updated what has become the most popular (view-wise) post on my blog:

You Are My Sunshine is a happy song? Isn’t it? And who actually wrote it anyhow?

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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

Sunday Bookends: Cool bookstores and I finally finished The Two Towers

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends32 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.

This past week was a long, rough week with some medical challenges for my elderly parents. I’m pretty wiped out but not as wiped out as my mom who is facing an exhausting situation. If you are a person who prays, we could all use some prayers, but especially her.

Yesterday, The Husband, the kids, and I headed an hour south to picturesque Lewisburg, Pa. for a small break and to visit a comic store for free comic book day. We also visited a couple of bookstores, one independent and another a Barnes and Noble built inside of a three-story former hardware store.

The Barnes and Noble is three stories and features an escalator to reach the second level. It is also a merchandise store for Bucknell University, which is a university that is considered Ivy League, but which I learned yesterday is not officially “Ivy League.”

According to various sites, including College Advisor, Bucknell is considered a “hidden ivy” because of its strong academic reputation and its high rankings in various educational programs.

Regardless, it is a well-known college and, from what we’ve witnessed a few times, quite the party college. There was a noisy frat party going on as we visited a playground after visiting the bookstores and having some lunch. Plenty of young women in sun dresses. There were more girls than boys around, so maybe it was a sorority party instead. Hmmm….

Well, anyhow…we enjoyed our visits to the comic book shop and bookstore. The bookstore, called Mondragon, featured a variety of used books and records.

I didn’t find anything I really wanted but I enjoyed looking at the wide variety. I did find one book of recipes by artist Georgia O’Keefe, and Little Miss found a fiction book about horses.

We didn’t buy any books at Barnes & Noble because I wasn’t super impressed with their selection and rarely buy new. It is, however, a very pretty store.

I finally did it this past week! I finally finished The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. It took me forever, thanks to life events, and reading a couple of other books.

I enjoyed it despite the wordiness, but I will be taking a bit of a break before I start in on The Return of the King, the final installment of the trilogy.

I’ve been reading Grave Pursuits by Elle E. Kay but it deals with a serial killer and that’s been a bit of a heavy topic with all that’s been going on in my life so I’m setting it aside temporarily. I am really enjoying it, and the writing style, though.

Instead, I am continuing All Things Wise And Wonderful by James Herriot, reading a chapter or two at night before bed.

I also started Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns. I like it so far.

And I plan to finish The Hardy Boys: The Twisted Claw by Franklin W. Dixon this week.

The Husband is reading Snow by John Banville.

Little Miss and I are reading Magical Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink.

The Boy is listening to a Warhammer book. I don’t remember which one.

This week I have been watching Murder She Wrote and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Comfort watches.

This week on the blog I shared:

Nancy Drew is 95! History, creation, lasting influence, controversy, and more.

This past week I enjoyed a episode on the True Drew podcast about the 95th anniversary of Nancy Drew.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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