books — Page 29

Simple Pleasures

December 10, 2022 at 9:20 am by Claudia

Saturday. It’s turned very cold, so our mild – for the season – temperatures are now gone. We are due for snow tomorrow; 1-3 inches during the day and 1-3 inches overnight. We have our snowblower again so that’s great. Very nice people repaired it and returned it to us, but Don is having trouble removing the gas cap. So he’s got to figure that out today.

As always with early snowfalls, I’m all in. That will change, of course. But I’d love to see some snow on the ground for Christmas.

I just finished Slough House this morning and that darned Mick Herron has ended it in a real cliffhanger! What am I going to do? The most recent book in the series, Bad Actors, is out in hardback, but a quick google search has told me that my worries about the status of one of the characters will not be resolved in that book. Oh well, patience is a virtue – so they say.

In the meantime, I have the newest Anthony Horowitz at the ready. And Louise Penny, of course, but you know I always delay that pleasure.

And a new puzzle has arrived, thank goodness.

And Don is going to make an apple pie.

Simple pleasures. That’s all I need.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Books and Puzzles

December 8, 2022 at 9:17 am by Claudia

Finished. The puzzle is from Lawrence King and the title is The World of the Harlem Renaissance. Loved every bit of time spent working on it. Of course, a couple of hours later, I realized I needed another puzzle, so I ordered one that was on sale and that could be delivered today. I am not kidding when I say that I HAVE to have a puzzle in the works. They keep me calm when my mind is full of worry or fear – and let’s face it, for most of us, that’s a lot of the time. Last year and the year before, it was a wintertime thing. Now, it’s an all-the-time thing.

I tried to take photos of the dollhouse interiors/Christmas trees yesterday but it was so dark outside and inside that the photos were depressing, which is not what we want at Christmas time, is it? I’ll try again today. It will be partly cloudy but it’s much lighter outside. If not today, tomorrow.

I’m almost finished with Slough House, part of Mick Herron’s brilliant series about British Spies – Slough House being the place where spies who have screwed up are sent. This is one of the best series I have ever read. Herron writes beautifully and the books are a wonderful combination of humor, irony, and can’t-put-it-down action. I’ve read, I believe, seven of them and there’s one more that was published this year. It’s still in hardcover. I am a big, big fan.

The library informed me that my copy of the new Anthony Horowitz, The Twist of a Knife, has come in, so I’ll head on over there today to pick it up.

So happy to hear that Brittney Griner has been released by Russia and is on her way home. Prayers that Paul Whelan is eventually allowed to come home, as well.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Officially That Age

November 22, 2022 at 9:15 am by Claudia

Thank you for all of the lovely birthday greetings yesterday. Between the blog, Instagram, and Facebook – goodness, I heard from everyone! I am blessed.

The day was low-key which was just the way I wanted it to be. Don, being Don, wanted a little celebration even though I’d said ‘no gifts.’ Bless his heart, he is such a sweetheart.

Of course, he made the dinner I requested – Crabbiless Crab cakes – and it was so delicious! We hadn’t had it in a few years, so we both really appreciated it. And then, we had a little celebration. Don managed to find a banner saying Happy 70th Birthday, and he bought crepe paper, so streamers were everywhere. I was so touched. He found sugar-free cupcakes in our health food store and we both had one. No apple pie, he said, because he makes them all the time, so he wanted something special. And I made a wish and blew out the candles.

He gave me a lovely card. And since he’s giving me the new Louise Penny, which won’t be published until a week from today, he gave me a little package and this was inside:

I love him.

Then, a little surprise that he found in an antique shop:

A little Limoges candy dish. The pink flowers are reminiscent of the Limoges I have from my great-grandmother, though I don’t think he realized that. He broke a favorite dish of mine last week and he felt very badly about it, so he searched for something he thought I would like. And I do, it’s lovely.

He’s the dearest man.

As far as the crab cake recipe goes, the last time I spoke about it here on the blog, I hesitated sharing it because it’s in a recipe book written by Deirdre Imus and the sales of that book went to her charity. As always, I suggest the book because there are lots of great vegetarian recipes there. It’s called The Imus Ranch: Cooking for Kids and Cowboys. But Shanna tells me that she found the recipe online, so you could probably Google the name of the author and ‘crabbiless crab cakes’ and you would find it. I’ll leave that up to you. The book might be hard to find at this point as it was published several years ago.

Thanks again, dear friends.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Simple Pleasures

Books and Puzzles

Officially That Age

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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