books — Page 143

Reading, Routine & Blogging

October 6, 2016 at 10:06 am by Claudia

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Early morning cottage.

I’m sitting at my desk, listening to some Diana Krall via my bluetooth speaker. Very nice, indeed.

Gosh, my friends, there’s not much to share with you. Sometimes, I wake up and think “Well, yesterday was routine, nothing really new, what the heck am I going to blog about??” Of course, there’s a comfort in routine. Nothing out of order, nothing earth-shattering. But, it doesn’t always make for an exciting blog post.

I’ve been reading a lot. I finished Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter this morning. When you look up ‘page-turner’ in the dictionary, there should be a picture of this book. Slaughter is an incredible writer and I’ve read everything she’s written. Somehow, I missed this one, but I ordered it from the library and oh my heavens! Dark, disturbing, unbelievably well-plotted, with Slaughter ratcheting up the suspense until it almost became unbearable. Actually, I need to correct that. It did become unbearable and I would have to put the book down for a few moment to collect myself. Get more coffee. Open the blinds. Anything to slow down my heartbeat. Excellent, excellent read. But not, my friends, for those of you who have a weak stomach for this sort of thing.

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Early morning yard.

Yesterday, I drove to the bookstore (B & N) because I wanted to browse a little. My new trick? I walk around and pull the books I’m interested in from the shelves, sit down and browse through them. This doesn’t work for novels, of course, but I had a copy of In the Company of Women by Grace Bonney (of Design Sponge), in my hands. It’s just come out. It’s priced at $35, which I was quite hesitant about spending. So I browsed through the whole book, treating it very, very gently, and got an idea of the look of the book and the photography. It’s lovely and Grace has done a beautiful job, but I found that just doing that was enough for me. I put it back on the shelf, saved $35, and all was well.

I was quite proud of myself because I am a bookaholic, you know.

I’m also reserving several books from my local library system that I want to read but don’t want to buy. I just picked up two more. Huzzah! I’m in a stretch where I don’t have any review books that I absolutely have to read at the moment, so I am treating myself to reading for the sheer pleasure of it.

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See? I’ve somehow written a blog post, when I thought I had nothing to say!

My first grade teacher would laugh at that. On a note home to my mother, she said, “Claudia is the only student I have had in all my years of teaching who, when I look at her and tell her to stop talking, simply looks the other way and keeps on talking.” Miss Brown was a formidable and strict teacher used to her students towing the line, so I imagine I threw her for a loop. I must take a moment to thank her for being relentless about learning to read and spell. She certainly contributed to my love of reading and to my 6th grade spelling bee win.

The winner of a copy of Echoes of Family is Nancy. Nancy, I’ve sent you an email. Send me your mailing address. Congratulations!

Happy Thursday.

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Leaves, Nancy Drew & Henry

October 4, 2016 at 8:50 am by Claudia

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Gosh, it was a beautiful day yesterday. The sun came out, it was warm, but not too warm, and we found ourselves outdoors for a big chunk of the day. I’m feeling much better, so we did some raking. We also took a nice long trail walk.

As to the raking, we have far too many trees that are close to the house, which means we have to rake. We leave the back forty as is. I don’t rake the garden beds because the leaves serve as mulch during the winter, protecting the plants. But the area around the house? Has to be raked. There are large and very old trees surrounding the house that drop tons of leaves. If I don’t rake them, many of them will not decompose, and I’ll just have to rake them in the Spring. We’re not anal about it, but we do keep up with it as best we can.

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The view out my office/studio window.

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I found two more Nancy Drews with covers illustrated by Russell Tandy on eBay. They arrived yesterday. I can’t get enough of these period illustrations – the colors are so vivid, the hairstyles fabulous, the fonts swoon-worthy. I now have five in my collection and I’m going to keep looking for them. They make me happy!

Someone appeared on the shed ramp the other day:

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I happened to see him from the living room window, so I ran for my camera.

Dear, sweet Henry looks rather elegant, doesn’t he?

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He deserves a closeup. I’d love nothing more than to walk up to him and pet him, but he’s far too shy. It will never happen. I just keep telling him that I love him. And if I’m about to go outside and I see him, I’ll stay inside until he’s gone. Same with the birds in the birdbath. I don’t like to disturb them, and I want them to get a drink of water, or a bath, or some food, in peace.

Don can tell you how many times I have given him the ‘Halt’ hand gesture when we’ve been just about to go out the door. After years of living with me, he calmly accepts it and waits.

On a sad note: I’ve recently learned of the death of a fellow blogger, Pat Freymuth of Back Porch Musings. I’ve known Pat since the very beginning of my blogging days. She was gracious and talented. She had a gift for making a house a home and was an excellent photographer. Always kind and simply lovely, she had been battling illness. My sympathies to all who knew her, especially to her dearly loved family. She will be missed. Rest in Peace, Pat.

Happy Tuesday.

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Sunday Morning Thoughts

October 2, 2016 at 9:25 am by Claudia

I’m still not feeling all that well, but I do feel a slight improvement this morning. Fingers crossed! It’s gray and rainy with a constant drizzle. I’d much prefer lots of rain as we truly need it, but no, it’s just damp, damp, damp.

I hung around the house yesterday, feeling out of sorts and whiny (lucky Don). I read and spent too much time reading about His Orangeness and tweeting in response to his insane tweets. It accomplishes nothing, I know, but it did make me feel better. I scrolled through Instagram and generally killed time. Later in the day, I watched the Red Sox for a bit and watched the second of two episodes of Luther on Netflix. This series, starring Idris Elba, is excellent. I’ve seen the previous seasons and have urged Don to watch them, but he hasn’t so far. So when I heard that the latest season, which is really only two episodes, had come to Netflix, I used a couple of evenings when Don wasn’t here to watch them. So, so good! (I have a crush on Idris Elba. Don’t tell Don.)

Another moonflower opened yesterday:

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The buds emerge from the purple, what would you call it? Covering? Casing? I’m not sure what the correct word is, but the combination of purple and green is gorgeous.

There are so many buds on the vines that I fear an early frost. So far, I don’t see one predicted for the next week or two. Come on out, flowers!

I planted this bed rather late in the spring. Next year, I’ll plant on time and hopefully the flowers will emerge in late August/early September.

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I don’t want to ignore the morning glories! They’re still blooming and I love them.

I’ve been reading a book I got from the library. It was recommended in the New York Times Book Review. It’s called Under the Harrow, by Flynn Berry. It’s a murder mystery that takes place in England, though Ms. Berry is American. She’s a young writer and a good writer – she writes lovely and evocative prose. However, this book suffers from what I call the Gone Girl Syndrome, which seems to be the flavor of the moment for young writers. The Gone Girl Syndrome occurs when a writer skillfully spins a complicated plot, with lots of twists and turns – all good – but creates characters the reader (me) doesn’t really like, making it very difficult to care about any of them. So I find myself reading the book from a distance; admiring the author’s skill, but with a clinical detachment that surely isn’t what I should feel when reading a mystery.

It’s a fairly quick read, so I’m going to finish it. I’m engaged enough to want to know who the murderer is, but the characters are thoroughly unlikeable.

Ah, well. Maybe this fad will end soon?

Happy Sunday.

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Reading, Routine & Blogging

Leaves, Nancy Drew & Henry

Sunday Morning Thoughts

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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