books — Page 131

We Need a Whole Lot of Comfort Food

March 19, 2017 at 9:52 am by Claudia

Our reward for a snow-laden week:

Grandma’s Cloud Biscuits. Ummm! We haven’t had them in a long, long time. And frankly, we were too tired to deal with them earlier in the week. We’ll have some leftover for tonight’s dinner and maybe a couple for Don to take on the road.

We need a whole lot of comfort food.

Plan change: they’re running behind on Anastasia, so they won’t be having a run-through on Monday evening. I won’t be going in until Tuesday. Since they’re paying a lot for my hotel room, they’ll save a little money this way. At first, I was disappointed as we’ve worked this whole thing out so that both of us are leaving at the same time. After thinking about it a bit, I’m fine. It gives me a little time to organize after Don leaves. And, let’s face it, 6 nights in a hotel can get old quickly, so trimming it to 5 is okay by me.

And I can concentrate on helping Don get ready on this, our last day together for a while.

I can’t go there.

Fourteen Nancy Drews. Since I’m collecting volumes 1-26, I’m more than halfway there.

What did we do before we installed these shelves in the den? We’ve been here 11 years and most of that time we were shelf-less. Now, I can’t imagine life without them. When I’m sitting in my chair in the den, I constantly find my eyes drifting toward them. To yours truly, books are the best decoration. They say so much about a person, don’t you think?

If I had room, I’d build even more.

I’ve just started Jane Casey’s newest, Let the Dead Speak. I’ve reviewed some of her books and I am a big fan. We’re twitter friends and when I saw her tweeting about her book being published in Britain, I asked her when it was coming out in the States. Not until July. But then I visited Amazon and clicked on the British title and found I could get it through the Book Depository’s US branch. Whoo hoo! It arrived on Thursday and I started it last night. I’m taking it and Mo Hayder’s Birdman along with me to NYC.

And my Kindle. Because I live in fear of not having enough to read, so I always take more than I need.

By the way, The Dry by Jane Harper was excellent! It takes place in Australia and is beautifully written. It’s fairly new and I got it from my local library.

Have to go. There’s a lot to be done today, not the least of which is spending time with my husband.

Happy Sunday.

Review & Giveaway: Big Ideas for Small Spaces

March 16, 2017 at 9:31 am by Claudia

Recently, I was approached by the generous folks at Firefly Books. They asked if they might send me three different books on the subject of gardening that I would review and share with you. Being an avid gardener, I immediately said yes! In the next couple of weeks, I am going to highlight and review each of the books and give you the chance to win a copy.

First up: Big Ideas for Small Spaces: Creative Ideas and 30 Projects for Balconies, Roof Gardens, Windowsills andTerraces – written by Kay Maguire and Tony Woods.

This book is so inventive and, at the same time, so practical. It’s set up in five sections: Garden Anywhere which gives information about microclimates, wind, shade, community; Where Does Your Garden Grow? where raised beds, container gardening, windowsills, and more are explored; Think Outside the Box, covering color and lighting and focal points; The Projects – 30 projects you can make on your own; and Get Growing, all about supplies and plants and problems and solutions. There’s also a Glossary and list of Resources at the end.

I so enjoy seeing all the creative ideas for gardening in a small space. I’ve lived in my share of small spaces over my lifetime – some minuscule, some on the larger end of small. When I was an apartment dweller, I had many houseplants and I loved them, but this book shows me I could have done even more to bring plants into my apartment-dwelling life.

What if you are limited to a small balcony or terrace? Maybe only a windowsill (been there)? You’ll find lots of ideas here.

Gutter planters – such a great idea! As with every project, there is a list of materials needed, the steps are clearly outlined, there’s always a tip and the photography is beautiful and highlights the project steps perfectly.

I love this idea – a hanging screen! If my porch wasn’t subject to so much wind, I’d do this in a second! But think about defining a space, whether it’s a balcony or a terrace, with this ‘screen’ of thriving plants. Isn’t that a neat idea?

There’s so much more: a succulent picture frame, pocket planters, balcony rail planters, pond in a pot, green roof, paving-slab garden and lots more – 30 in total.

I’m living vicariously through this book as there is 22 inches of snow on the ground outside my little cottage. It’s inspiring. It will inspire you. It comes to you via the authors and The Royal Horticultural Society – and Firefly Books, of course.

I recommend it highly – anytime, of course – but especially as we wait for Spring to arrive!

One of you will win a copy of this book! Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw the winner’s name on Saturday evening. Good luck!

Thank you to Firefly Books for generously donating these books!

Happy Thursday.

Bracing for the Storm

March 13, 2017 at 9:22 am by Claudia

I’ll be very happy when I can take pictures of my garden again. As it is, with this relentless winter, I run around the house at the last minute and snap a picture for the blog, hoping that it will do. You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow’s picture will be of snow and blizzard-like conditions.

Over a foot of snow expected and…wait for it…high winds.

Don is out getting salt and last minute stuff. I’m running to the store after finishing this post. We just discovered we have less heating oil than we thought, so we called our supplier in a panic. He has hundreds of deliveries today, so we’re praying he makes it here. In the meantime, Don is buying a space heater. Of course, there’s always the possibility that we could lose power. Fingers crossed that we stay plugged in here at the cottage.

Don has so much to do before he leaves at the end of the week and the combination of feeling under the weather and this storm is not helping. Poor guy. He’d like to get on the road by Friday, but I’m wondering if that will be possible.

I wrote about this on Instagram and I’ll write about it here – I went to my tiny local library yesterday afternoon to check out a couple of books. You know that I donate books to the library a couple of times a year, right? Since I have so many books and many of them are new review copies, I like to pass them on to the library because they have an annual book sale. We all know that libraries are just keeping it together financially, so anything we can do to help them is a good thing.

So I walked over to the ‘new fiction and nonfiction’ table and realized that three of the books were donated by me. They were new books, just out this year. I opened each book to make sure I was right and, sure enough, each had the word ‘donated’ inside the cover. That made me so happy – happy that I can contribute to their collection, happy that others can check out these books and enjoy them. Maybe this has happened before, but this is the first time I’ve seen books that I’ve donated become part of the library’s collection.

Well, friends, I have to get going. Time for a quick shower and then errands.

Wish us luck. Everyone who is in the path of this storm, please stay safe.

Happy Monday.

We Need a Whole Lot of Comfort Food

Review & Giveaway: Big Ideas for Small Spaces

Bracing for the Storm

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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