It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
I finished Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals by Sharon Mondragon last week and really enjoyed it. I could see this one being a movie. I will write a longer review later but I loved the characters and the story overall.
In case you are curious about it, here is a description:
In a small town where gossip flows like sweet tea, bedridden Mary Ruth McCready reigns supreme, doling out wisdom and meddling in everyone’s business with a fervor that would make a matchmaker blush. When her best friend, Charlotte Harrington, has her world rocked by a scandalous revelation from her dying husband P. B., Mary Ruth kicks into high gear, commandeering the help of her favorite granddaughter, Sarah Elizabeth, in tracking down the truth. Finding clues in funeral condolence cards and decades-old gossip dredged up at the Blue Moon Beauty Emporium, the two stir up trouble faster than you can say “pecan pie.”
And just when things are starting to look up, in waltzes Camilla “Millie” Holtgrew, a blast from P. B.’s past, with a grown son and an outrageous claim to Charlotte’s inheritance. But as Grandma Ruth always says when things get tough, “God is too big.” With him, nothing is impossible–even bringing long-held secrets to light. Grandma Ruth and Sarah just might have to ruffle a whole mess of feathers to do it.
Next up I am continuing The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wight. So far it is very dry and dull so I may toss it aside but I’d love to get to the years where he worked as a vet and some of the behind the scenes stories first. We will see how it goes.
I also started The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, which will be my slow read for the next couple of months. I am loving it so far, even if we lost one of the team on the first page. *sniff*
I started The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis the other night for my Middle Grade March read. I also hope to read Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery for Middle Grade March. Little Miss and I are reading Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson for school, which is a re-read for me.
Once those are done, I hope to start Whose Body? By Dorothy L. Sayers. I’ve never read anything by her so we will see how I like her.
The Husband is on his 25th book of the year. Sigh. He reads fast but has also had some extra time to read this year so that’s cool for him. Or whatever. *wink*
He is reading Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned by Walter Mosley.
I have been watching more historical farming shows this past week and not a ton else. I actually read more than watched things.
This upcoming week I hope to watch more Murder She Wrote and a couple of old movies.
I started writing book four of the Gladwynn Grant series this past week.
What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Saturday, the family and I got out of the house for an outing for the first time in months.
We drove about an hour south to attend a gathering at a pottery studio with the local homeschooling group.
The group leader had set up a chance for our students to visit the studio and paint pottery. It was a gloomy day to travel on, but it was still nice to get out. We didn’t stay as long at the studio as I hoped, with Little Miss declaring she was done and over it all within a half hour of arriving.
I had gone to the car to get a drink of water and The Husband and she had stayed back to finish her project, which was very small and not terribly exciting to me, and when I looked back up after a few minutes of being in the car they were walking toward me.
They were done and ready to get lunch, The Husband said.
Little Miss chose a small paw print to paint. If that’s what she wanted, that was okay, of course, and it was one of the cheaper items available so it worked out well but I still thought she’d really want to paint a larger piece of pottery.
I thought she might choose something larger which would give us longer to interact with the other children there. Unfortunately only four families showed up and there were only about six kids there, including mine, and three of them were boys and Little Miss had no interest in talking to them.
I had these grand visions of introducing Little Miss to the fellow homeschooled children casually by asking the children what they were working on and then telling them what Little Miss was working on and how old she was, etc. etc. but Little Miss has a mind of her own and when she’s done with her art or project, she simply likes to leave.
(I am editing my original post here to make it clear that I love Little Miss has a mind of her own so this isn’t a complaint. As the comments came in I realized I hadn’t really clarified that.
It just cracks me up that I always have these plans to try to encourage her to step out of her comfort zone and she’s like, “nope. This is how it’s going to be..” and is not swayed one bit. I think it’s going to really pay off as she gets older to be that aware of what she wants and not compromise…. Though it would be nice if she stepped out just a bit so she can meet some new people but that will come organically over time.)
At lunch at a local restaurant we found online, Little Miss also said she thought my plan sounded creepy.
“Hey, little girl,” she said in a creepy voice, I guess pretending to be me. “How old are you?”
The Husband and The Boy thought her impression was pretty funny, but that is not how I was going to ask. I was going to attempt to engage them in conversation so Little Miss could also engage them in conversation. These attempts of mine pretty much fail every time. We will have other opportunities with events going on with the local 4-H and homeschool groups this spring as well.
The hamburger I ordered was the largest I have ever seen circumference-wise!
Yesterday Little Miss and The Husband went to see Paddington 3 and The Boy and I stayed at home and did our own thing. He played a video game (Skyrim) and I doodled in my reading journal, colored in some Nancy Drew illustrations, worked on blog posts (including this one), snuck a couple spoonfuls of some ice cream we’d picked up the day before, and watched some YouTubers.
This week we don’t much planned, other than me going to my parents at least once or twice to help clean.
I finished Every Living Thing by James Herriot and Nancy Drew: The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene this past week.
Now I’m reading Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals by Sarah Mondragon and really enjoying it. I found it for free on Hoopla and I can only read it on my phone, which is terribly annoying. Hoopla doesn’t allow it to be sent to a Kindle and I don’t have a notebook to read it on. It can be read on my laptop but that isn’t very comfortable for me. I don’t want to pay full price for it until I am sure I like it and it released in February so..this is my only option at the moment.
Little Miss and I are reading Miracles on Maple Hill for school after finishing The Sign of the Beaver last week. I’ve read Miracles on Maple Hill before but wanted to read it with Little Miss this time of year (maple season in Pennsylvania) and it will fit with Middle Grade March.
I’ll also be reading The Moffats by Eleanor Estes and Violet Jenkins Saves The Day by Stacey Faubion for Middle Grade March. I may try to squeeze in Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry but that might have to wait until March.
The Husband is reading The Maltese Iguana by Tim Dorsey.
The Boy is reading Frankenstein.
This past week I watched All Creatures Great and Small’s season finale and cried through it. I also watched Edwardian Farm, which was more of a rewatch because I watched it before but missed a ton of it because I kept wandering out of the room or family members talked through it. Ha. Family. I tell ya.
I also watched The Rise of Catherine the Great as part of my Winter of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., which finishes up this week.
In April and May, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching movies that take place in Paris. We will update you more on that and our choices when it gets closer to the start date.
I am working on making all of my ebooks of my fiction books available for purchase through my site so you can “own” the ebook (or the license to read it) and read it where you want to.
I started brainstorming more of book four of the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series as well.
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.
Today’s prompt was: Books Set in Another Time (These can be historical, futuristic, alternate universes, or even in a world where you’re not sure when it takes place you just know it’s not right now.)
This prompt wasn’t difficult this week because most of the books I read take place in the past. Very few take place in another world, like a fantasy, but a couple I’ve read have.
The entirety of living civilization stands on the very brink of death. Undead hordes have rampaged across the world. Determined to do his part, Leon Rhise left his wealthy father’s estate and chose to defend the last living kingdom by joining the military. It had seemed to be a good idea at the time.
After his career in the airship navy came to an abrupt end Leon arrived home, hoping for a warm reception. Instead, he was abruptly tossed out. Disowned, unemployed, and friendless. All hope seems lost. Then Leon discovers a mysterious relic, which opens up the possibility of him becoming a Judge: a hero of legend. One that has not been seen for centuries.
As Leon travels the road less taken his destiny converges with newfound companions, each one surrounded by mystery. Advised by strange beings in dreams and visions, Leon learns that the undead onslaught the world has suffered is part of a much larger problem. A solution can be found by learning about the forgotten being known as Adonai. But the world is ending, and time is running out.
Delve into a world that brings a unique twist and interpretation to faith-based high fantasy. With emotional highs and lows, certain peril, dysfunction, and humor; tough questions are asked, and answers will come to light.
Description: A young man who can grant wishes. A fairy hoping for her wings. A king and queen seeking an heir.
Far, far away, in the fairy tale kingdom of Evermoor, young, gifted Daniel dreams of escaping his life in captivity and his dastardly Uncle Aldrich. Diana, a flower fairy charged with guiding Daniel, helps him channel his ability to grant wishes, but his uncle exploits Daniel’s gift, stealing the wishes for himself.
Warned not to fall prey to mortal love, Diana keeps a friendly distance from Daniel, but she cannot deny her growing feelings for him. Will she shield her heart or risk losing the chance to ever go back home to the Green Glade and gain her fairy wings?
In the same kingdom, childless King Roderick and Queen Rosalind have become divided by a great sorrow. Battling the wounds of the past, the monarchs make a valiant effort to move forward, but can they learn to trust each other again? What future can the kingdom have without an heir?
Readers of fantasy, Christian fantasy, clean romance, and YA fantasy will be enraptured with this gripping tale of overcoming the past and embracing hope, layered with romance for both the young and the young at heart.
3. In My Father’s Houseby Brock and Bodie Thoene (I read this one and the series in high school)
Description: They just fought the War to End All Wars in France. Now they return home to a different kind of battle . . . one more fierce than they could imagine.
From every conceivable culture, men joined together in foxholes to fight World War I—the Great War that all hoped would bring the world together in peace, for all time. Jews and Irish, blacks and whites became brothers, tied by the common bonds of life, heroism, and death.
When the Armistice is declared, the soldiers make their way back to America. But it is no longer the place of their dreams. Undercurrents of racial, religious, and cultural intolerance threaten the very foundations of the nation.
In My Father’s House follows the lives of four young soldiers: Max Meyer, an orphan from the poor Orchard Street neighborhood of New York; Ellis Warne, an Irish doctor’s son from Ohio; Birch Tucker, an Arkansas farm boy; and Jefferson Canfield, the son of a black sharecropper.
Will these four men—and those who love them—be able to find any freedom, any peace, on the warring home front?
4. Moriartyby Anthony Horowitz — a Sherlock Holmes story written with the permission of the Arthur Conan Doyle trust. It takes place sometime in the 1890s.
Description:
The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, that explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.
Horowitz’s nail-biting novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.
Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.
Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.
A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world.
5. Christy by Catherine Marshall
I finished this one in the beginning of February. It takes place in 1912
Description:
50th Anniversary Edition of the New York Times Bestselling Novel
The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions. But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her — and her one-room school — as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove. Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?
6. Little Women by Louise Mae Alcott
Most people know that this one takes place around the time of the Civil War and a bit beyond.
Description:
One of the best loved books of all time. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg’s joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo’s struggle to become a writer, Beth’s tragedy, and Amy’s artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth- century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.
7. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.
This one takes place sometime in the early 1900s.
Description:
Step into the enchanting world of The Blue Castle, one of L.M. Montgomery’s most beloved and timeless novels. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of a picturesque lakeside, this heartwarming story follows the transformation of Valancy Stirling, a young woman who has lived her life in the shadow of family expectations and societal norms. Everything changes when a life-altering diagnosis forces Valancy to break free from her repressed existence and pursue the life she has always secretly longed for.
As Valancy begins to embrace her newfound courage, she embarks on a journey to the idyllic Blue Castle by the lake—a place of dreams, secrets, and unanticipated love. Montgomery masterfully captures the essence of self-discovery, freedom, and the complexities of love in this delightful novel. Through the beautifully crafted characters and emotionally resonant storylines, readers will be drawn into a world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the impossible suddenly seems possible.
8. Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
This middle-grade book, a sequel to Gone Away Lake, takes place in the 1960s.
Description:
“Return to Gone-Away” by Elizabeth Enright follows the adventures of a group exploring an old house filled with history and mystery. Portia, Julian, Foster, and Davey uncover secrets and hidden treasures, leading to their decision to make the house their permanent home. As they restore the house and discover a hidden safe with family heirlooms, the family finds joy and contentment in their new life at Amberside.
9. Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
I am not definite on the timeline of this one but I believe it is the 1800s.
Description:
Hopalong Cassidy has received a message from the dead. Answering an urgent appeal for help from fellow cowpuncher Pete Melford, he rides in only to discover that his old friend has been murdered and the ranch Pete left to his niece, Cindy Blair, has vanished without a trace. Hopalong may have arrived too late to save Pete, but his sense of loyalty and honor demands that he find that cold-blooded killers and return to Cindy what is rightfully hers.
Colonel Justin Tredway, criminal kingpin of the town of Kachina, is the owner of the sprawling Box T ranch, and he has built his empire with a shrewd and ruthless determination. In search of Pete’s killers and Cindy’s ranch, Hopalong signs on at the Box T, promising to help get Tredway’s wild cattle out of the rattler-infested brush. But in the land of mesquite and black chaparral, Cassidy confronts a mystery as hellish as it is haunting—a bloody trail that leads to the strange and forbidding Babylon plateau, to $60,000 in stolen gold, and to a showdown with an outlaw who has already cheated death once . . . and is determined to do it again.
10. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
This one takes place around 1775 and is about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.
Description:
Johnny Tremain, winner of the 1944 Newbery Medal, is one of the finest historical novels ever written for children. As compelling today as it was fifty years ago, to read this riveting novel is to live through the defining events leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Fourteen-year old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work.
In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper, the Boston Observer, and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington. Powerful illustrations by American artist Michael McCurdy, bring to life Esther Forbes’ quintessential novel of the American Revolution.
Do you read a lot of books that take place in a different time or place than “now?”
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Throughout my childhood and teenage years my family and I would visit my mom’s side of the family in Jacksonville, N.C. for Christmas at my grandmother and aunt’s house.
One day when I was about 18 or so, my parents told me we were going to drive a couple hours west to see my mom’s aunt and uncle and cousins in a little town called Farmville.
I had never met this part of the family before so I didn’t know what to think of them. The house was full of chatter as soon as we arrived. Chatter and offers of food.
“Y’all come on in here and get yourself some food,” Cousin Joyce said from the kitchen.
Conversations began to take the path they usually do in Mom’s family — several of them being held at once all at the same time, back and forth between each other. I did my best to keep track. The conversations were mainly between my grandmother, mom, aunt Dianne, Cousin Joyce, Cousin Janet and Aunt Mattie.
Uncle Ray — full name Ashley Ray Waignwright (isn’t the quentissintial Southern name?!), a short man with very little hair, wearing a pair of small, wire-rimmed glasses, and looking a bit somber, was sitting in a little rocking chair. He was participating in some of the conversations but not much. Mainly he was observing.
At some point I developed the hiccups. They were painful and wouldn’t stop.
Mom suggested I drink some water. Aunt Dianne said a spoonful of sugar. Someone else suggested holding my breath.
Uncle Ray narrowed his eyes.
“Heard what you been saying about me, girl.”
I was startled. Was he looking at me? I looked behind me. There was no one there. It had to be me he was talking to.
“I—I’m sorry?”
He frowned. “You. I heard what you been saying about me.”
“I-I – know I haven’t said anything.”
Mom hadn’t mentioned her uncle Ray was going senile but this conversation was getting weirder by the moment.
“You sure did,” he said. “You know it and I know it so you just need to apologize.”
“I—I .. but…”
His grim expression didn’t crack. “Where those hiccups gone?”
“What? What do you mean?”
A small smile tipped the corner of his mouth upward. “Your hiccups. They’re gone, aren’t they?”
I dragged in a ragged breath and let it out again.
The rest of the conversations had stopped during this exchange and I heard my mom laugh.
It was beginning to hit me now.
“He got you, didn’t he?” Mom asked.
Uncle Ray was smiling more now. Yes, he’d got me, and the panic I’d felt at thinking he thought I’d said something awful about him had been enough to stop the hiccups
I am juggling a few books right now – I know that sounds weird, but I do that because I read one during the day and one at night sometimes.
I prefer to read my mysteries during the day and more relaxing or light books before bed. I’ve found if I read mysteries before bed, I dream about people dying or chasing me. Even with cozier mysteries. Not always, but sometimes. If the mystery is too good, I still read it at night and just put up with the weird dreams.
Anyhow, I just finished The Tuesday Night Club (Miss Marple short stories) by Agatha Christie and ended up liking it more as I continued it. It is a series of short stories involving several familiar characters from Miss Marple books all gathered together discussing mysterious cases they’d heard of or investigated and asking if everyone listening could figure out what really happened.
There was a lot of subtle humor in the book that ended up making the repetitiveness of how almost each story ended with Miss Marple solving the case presented by each person and then that person, who previously said they didn’t know the solution, or someone else in the room, saying that they suddenly had remembered she was right and they had heard what had really happened. It was a bit tedious but not every story ended that way, luckily. I mean, Miss Marple did solve it every time, but there wasn’t always a sudden realization from someone else in the room knew what really happened.
I will finish Every Living Thing by James Herriot this week, as far as I know anyhow.
I’ve already started The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and I’m not sure what I think so far. POV’s keep changing and there is a lot more detail about a lot of characters than I think is needed so….we will see if I can make it through or not. I’ve heard good things about it, so I’m sure I will end up liking it.
I will need a slightly lighter read for nights later this week so I will be picking up Little Men again or finishing up Nancy Drew: The Sign of the Twisted Candles.
Little Miss and I have almost finished Sign of the Beaver for history.
The Boy and I are still pushing through Frankenstein. I don’t want to talk about it. I just can’t wait to graduate him this year. We are starting Romeo and Juliet in March. Lord, be with us.
He’s also listening to No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Husband is reading Hot Property by Mike Lupica.
This week I watched Murder She Wrote, Victorian Farm, All Creatures Great and Small, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with the kids (let’s be honest. I didn’t pay much attention to it.), my farmer on YouTube (Just a Few Acres), and Sinbad the Sailor.
Upcoming in April: Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and I are planning on a Paris themed movie marathon. We will keep you updated.
I’ll be starting book four in the Gladwynn Grant series soon and have decided I’ll probably only write six books in this series and, yes, I will wrap up that “love triangle” in book four or five. Probably book four. It’s boring even for me at this point.
I am listening to Frankenstein on Audible and hope to continue it this week
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.
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It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
The weather is so cold in our area that we are doing our best to conserve heating oil by dressing in layers, wrapping ourselves in blankets, and using microwavable rice packs to warm our feet and laps. This might sound dystopian to some, but I have actually been having fun with it and enjoying my little blanket nests and my warm rice packs. Check back after our planned arctic cold snap this week and see if I still see this all as an adventure. Of course, my attitude will also plan on whether or not I need to go out in the cold on any of the days that the weather is supposed to be so cold.
I talked a little about what else has been going on in our world in my Saturday Afternoon Chat yesterday.
I’ve been switching between The Tuesday Night Club (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie and Every Living Thing by James Herriot.
I read Miss Marple during the day, usually, and James Herriot right before bed.
I am enjoying them both, but Herriot’s a bit better. Both are a collection of short stories with some connections, such as characters. I am not a huge fan of Christie’s writing style at times and this format, which involves people sitting around and telling each other stories, is a bit dry to me. The stories are good but it does get repetitive for every story to feature someone telling a story they supposedly don’t have an ending to, Miss Marple to solve the case, and then the person telling the story to go, “Actually, I do know what really happened. Let me tell you.”
It’s all a bit tedious but there are some humorous moments and quotes from Miss Marple so I am pushing through.
I also just started Nancy Drew: The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene.
I am itching for a good novel after these two, which I will finish this week, so I am planning to start A Fatal Footnote by Margaret Loudon, which is a cozy mystery.
I am listening to Frankenstein while doing my dishes.
Little Miss and I are also reading Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.
She is reading (here and there) Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban.
The Husband is reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi.
This past week The Husband and I watched the first part of Going Postal on Peacock. I watched a lot of Victorian Farm and more All Creatures Great And Small (even going back to the beginning for fun).
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.
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Welcome to my Sunday Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading, watching, listening to, andwhat I’ve been writing.
Last week our weather started to warm up after two weeks or more of nasty cold. That meant going outside didn’t feel so daunting. We still didn’t go too many places because we are currently down to one car and because – well, it is still winter and we don’t have a ton of motivation to go anywhere.
We all have some cabin fever, though, so we will need to leave the house soon.
Hopefully, we can get to the library or somewhere else for fun next week.
It still doesn’t want to warm up, though, as proven by the horribly cold temps from last night and how our back porch, once again, couldn’t handle it and popped like a gunshot. This has been happening a lot this winter. When the temps drop below —say 15 — the wood on our porch contracts and it sounds like a gunshot, making us jump inside the house.
This time, though, I was walking on the porch, last night, heading to the driveway to move our car. If I hadn’t heard this exact thing happen from inside the house all winter long I might have thought I had been shot. I took another step and it fired off again and it was crazy how loud it was. I actually messaged our next door neighbor to let her know what had happened so she didn’t think we were next door shooting each other.
I am determined to finish Christy by Catherine Marshall this weekend, possibly today. The book is very good, but so long. I think it could have been split into two books, really. There is so much information in it and so many more stories about the people in this rural area of the Smokie Mountains of Tennessee that could have been told. This is not a complaint, by the way. I love the book, and I would have loved if there had been more stories from it.
I am still reading the oral biography of Anthony Bourdain and while it was a little uninteresting at first, it is picking up and capturing my attention, especially as we move toward when Kitchen Confidential came out and he began to become more famous. I am absolutely dreading the end of the book, of course.
This week I hope to listen to Frankenstein on audio. I keep saying I am going to start it and I truly am this week. As I mentioned before, it is being read by Dan Stevens.
I haven’t done great with the books I planned to read for this winter. I have read five of the 17 books I had initially listed as books I would choose from December through March . I substituted some of the books on the list with other reads that caught my eye instead. For example, I was going to read World Travel by Anthony Bourdain but instead chose the oral biography of Anthony Bourdain because my husband read it and said it was good.
I would still love to finish Little Men and The Thursday Murder Club …we will see how that goes.
Little Miss is reading Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban. We are also reading The Sign of the Beaver together for school.
The Husband is reading the latest book by Bob Woodward. He just finished Up Country by Nelson Demille.
Last week I watched The Young In Heart with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and loved it.
I also watched a new episode of All Creatures Great and Small and several episodes of Edwardian Farm.
As I was preparing Douglas Fairbanks Jr. gifs to use to make memes for Instagram this week, I found it funny that a Paul Newman gif popped up without me even looking for it. See, I love Paul Newman and have always called him my old-time actor crush, but lately Douglas has been replacing him. I guess Paul didn’t want me to forget him, so he popped a gif of himself in there. (Disclaimer: This is a joke. I do not actually believe Paul Newman is speaking to me from the grave.)
Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Treewill be out soon and I hope to start writing the fourth book in the series later this month. I’m so excited for both!
I am going to be listening to Frankenstein this week. I swear. I totally am.
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.
Today is a day of relaxing and taking part in the Crafternoon zoom event with some other ladies and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. We are going to do crafts and chat on Zoom. It should be fun.
I am still reading the same books but have added Frankenstein which I will start this week to read with The Boy for school. I had planned to start reading it last week but got caught up in Christy and Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever. I won’t lie — I am probably going to listen to Frankenstein on Audible with Dan Stevens narrating it. I’ve already listened to about five minutes and after seeing him in The Man Who Invented Christmas, I know he can pull off the voices and intonation needed for the story.
In February I hope to read more of Little Men by Louisa Mae Alcott, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, and The Sign of the Twisted Candles by Carolyn Keene.
The Husband is reading a book by Nelson Demille that I forgot the name of.
Little Miss is reading Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Last week I watched Gunga Din. Yeah…so that was interesting … and I blogged about it. I also watched a lot of Edwardian Farm and an episode of All Creatures Great and Small (the newer ones).
I am getting ready to release Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree, the third book in my cozy mystery series February 19 (or maybe sooner). If you want to know more about it or pre-order an ebook copy, you can click HERE.
This Friday I will also start sharing a serial version of the first book in the series Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing. Blog readers can follow along each week or choose to purchase the book instead on Amazon.
Due to the illness of children or the cold of the northeast I have not left my house in two weeks and though I am a homebody, I must admit it is becoming a little depressing.
And based on the fact I feel like I am starting to get sick and dangerously cold temps are set to hit the area Monday through Wednesday this week, I have a feeling I will be in my house at least another week. At this point I’ve told my parents, who only live seven minutes from us, that I might not see them until after the spring thaw.
Our house is located on a hill, has a steep driveway, and we are down to one car, so that also makes winter travel difficult.
Yesterday I was alone for much of the day because Little Miss was at a friend’s house and The Boy was sick upstairs, while The Husband was at work. This was a strange situation for me because I’m rarely alone. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I eventually decided to work on a blog post (the second part to my Civil War letters posts), start watching Gunga Din, and read a chapter in my Agatha Christie book. I also was very brave and went out into the cold darkness of our backyard to retrieve a couple pieces of wood for our woodstove.
Then it was back inside where I realized I should cook some dinner for me and The Boy.
He’s had a horrible headache and watery eyes and no appetite, but he was finally able to eat a little bit around the time the mom of Little Miss’s friend brought her back home.
Today we are seeing how the weather is since we were supposed to get a snow storm but now it looks like it’s moved further east (I see you Poconos and NJ…good luck!) and I might visit my parents or … again…tell them I’ll see them in the spring thaw.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are bringing temps where we are expected only to reach about 11 as a high. Lows will be below zero due to windchill and other factors. I asked The Husband to bring some wood from our pile behind the garage into our laundry room so we don’t have to go out into the bitter cold to replenish the supply we have in our living room by the stove.
We do have some heating oil but do our best to use as little of that as we can because of how expensive it has been the last couple of years.
A quick reminder that we are having another Crafternoon Zoom Call next Sunday (the 26th) at 1 p.m. If you are interested in being a part of it, you can email me at lisahoweler@gmail.com or Erin (from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) at crackercrumbs@gmail.com.
If you don’t know what that is – it is where we all get together and chat together while doing crafts or other projects. We’d love to have you join us and stave off the gloom that can come with winter sometimes.
With all this cold and being trapped inside a lot you would think I would have plenty of time for reading and I do, but I also have other projects I am working on, so alas, this will not be an exciting section, because I am still reading the same books.
Christy by Catherine Marshall is a super long book and so I am taking breaks and reading A Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (do I really need to type her last name?) for something “lighter”.
I also hope to get back to Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever this week.
If you are not aware of what Christy is here is a description:
The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions. But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her — and her one-room school — as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove. Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?
After these books I have a couple of books I want to get to including Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (for English with The Boy) and Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skieslen Charles, but I also want to read a Nancy Drew. Oh my gosh! Why does there have to be so many good books out there to read?!
Little Miss and I are reading The Sign of The Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare for school and listening to Peter Pan by J.M. Barie at night.
The Boy will be starting Frankenstein this week.
The Husband is reading The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson.
(For anyone new, The Husband is just a joke nickname for my husband since he jokingly calls our son “The Boy”.)
This week I’ve watched three old movies I had never seen before — The Prisoner of Zenda, which I wrote about on the blog, The Stranger, and Gunga Din. I’ll be writing blog posts The Stranger and Gunga Din soon.
I also watched the first episode of season five of All Creatures Great and Small and am so excited that it is back for another season. I can’t wait to see Tristan again.
I watched a few episodes of my favorite YouTuber farmer, Just A Few Acres Farm, while I waited for him to release a new episode.
The Advanced Readers Copies of Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree have been sent out to my advanced readers. I pushed back the release date to give them some time to read the book and me some time to tie up some loose ends.
It is available for pre-order here:
I am working on a monthly writing update and some movie impression posts for my Substack, which people can subscribe to for free or pay about $3 a month to receive exclusive posts I plan to offer in 2025.
It was so cold this past week that our animals had no interest in going outside, which is unusual for the cats who like to go out even if it is snowing or raining.
I’m very glad they stayed inside because I worry about them when they are outside. Yes, we have outside cats. We live in a rural area and allow them to wander during the day and they come in whenever they want or they come in at night because I do not want them out at night with the various critters we have out here. I’ve had people on social media be very rude to me in the past and tell me I’m a horrible pet owner for letting my pets outside so I just thought I’d add a little context. I’m not flinging my animals out the back door into the wilderness.
They absolutely thrive when they can go outside and they stay close to our house and then return, often with a dead mouse to present to us. I sometimes forget that those who don’t live in a more rural area don’t let their pets outside for safety reasons so they misunderstand and think I’m pushing the cats out into danger.
That all being said, they have not wanted to go outside because of the cold lately, so it has been nice to have them want to cuddle and to watch them sleep curled up on the coffee table or sprawled out in front of the lit woodstove.
The oldest cat, Pixel, has been making me a little nervous lately. I don’t know if she feels well, and I’ve found a couple of bumps on her head. She’s been a lot more desperate to sit on me and be petted. Ever since I read that cats purr when they are happy or in pain, I’ve wondered/worried why my cats are purring and hope they aren’t in pain. Hopefully she’s okay. She’s pulled this on me before and bounced right back, so we will see.
I am reading three books at the moment. Christy by Catherine Marshall (with some heavy stuff amidst the inspirational, so I need breaks), Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever (with some heavy stuff amidst the inspirational, so I need a break), and A Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (because a nice old fashioned murder always breaks up the heavy stuff. Hee. Hee.).
Little Miss and I are starting The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare for school this week. At night we are listening to a collection of Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary and read by Neil Patrick Harris and William Roberts.
The Husband just finished The Quiet American by Graham Greene.
The Boy is getting ready to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
I finished the first season of Only Murders in the Building last night and really liked it. I’m looking forward to the other seasons.
My brother said he got bored with the show after season two, but he gets bored easily so I’m going to keep going. (*wink*)
As evidenced by the fact I am only just watching Only Murders in the Building, I often watch popular shows years after they ended. That’s why I have also started Castle, with Captain Mal — oh, I mean Nathan Fillion.
If you don’t understand that niche joke, I can’t help you — well, I can, but I’m going to make you search it up on your own instead.
Actually, The Husband started it for me last week (he’s watched it before) and now I’m continuing to watch it on my own.
I’m also watching Tudor Monastery Farm and this has me wondering a lot about this show and its spinoffs (Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm) and how they work. Do these historians really do all these things they record, and do they really stay at these old buildings and houses? Or do they just film a little bit for educational purposes and move on. I guess I will have to step into the rabbit hole and figure this out this week.
I also watched Morning Glory with Katharine Hepburn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., a couple episodes of Monarch of the Glen, and an episode of No Reservations (with Anthony Bourdain) last week.
I’ve started a Substack for cozy mystery, vintage movies, and book enthusiasts, as well as readers of my books.
For $3 a month you can join in and geek out with me about vintage Nancy Drew, classic movies, classic books, Gladwynn Grant and so much more.
You will be added to my book club Discord, A Good Book, and A Cup of Tea, and receive sneak peeks, exclusive discounts, access to various products, and whatever else comes to mind as I grow my space.
