reading — Page 66

Living in a Dollhouse, Morning Glories, Reading

September 22, 2015 at 9:26 am by Claudia

The morning glories have been slow in coming. One flower will appear every few days. Only one. While I would love to have a profusion of morning glories, I sort of like this one-at-a-time business. It heightens the pleasure, the beauty.

I was surprised, therefore, to see three new flowers yesterday. That’s a first for this summer.

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Three new beauties and one from the day before.

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This one. Equally beautiful.

When our friend Adrian was here, he was very charmed by our cottage. When he said, “It’s like a dollhouse!” I smiled and thought, well there you go! I never thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. We live in a dollhouse. (A dollhouse that contains other, smaller dollhouses.) I have a feeling that if any of you were to stop by for some tea and scones, you’d say the same thing.

I like that. Oh lord, we get so frustrated by lack of storage space, by having no usable basement or attic or garage. We say, “This house is too small!!” And it is. But, then again, it’s gosh-darned charming. And after having thoroughly cleaned it in preparation for Adrian’s visit, we look on it with fresh eyes and fall in love with it once again.

We really concentrated on the guest room/office/studio which ends up being a catch-all room for everything that doesn’t have a ‘place’. Don took on that room, as he’s the one who uses it the most, especially in the winter months. He did a bang-up job. It looks great.

It’s autumn. The nesting instinct has one again hit me smack in the face.

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By the way, I’ve finished Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon (which is being released today) and am now happily immersed in the world of Three Pines via The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny.

There’s a review of Come Rain or Come Shine on Just Let Me Finish This Page today.

I’m hoping to get some work done on the Top Secret Project this week. Wish me luck!

Happy Tuesday.

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I Caved

September 19, 2015 at 8:36 am by Claudia

I have been such a good girl lately. I haven’t purchased a new book in quite a while. Between the library and the eGalleys and advanced reader copies that I get in the mail or on my Kindle, I have more than enough reading matter to last me quite a long time.

My queue at the library includes Louise Penny’s newest, The Nature of the Beast. And I’m not all that far down the list. I told myself that I didn’t need to own the book, even though I had all of the other Three Pines mysteries on my bookshelves. Surely I would be just fine if I read the library copy. No big deal.

Then I stopped by the bookstore on my way to Target yesterday.

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I caved.

I justified this purchase with the fact that I’ve been sick for the last week and I’ve been sticking to my budget and I haven’t bought any new books in a long, long time and I’m on a diet from sugar and salt and I’m losing weight (thank goodness) and surely I deserve some sort of treat?

A resounding “Yes!” was my answer to myself.

Along with The Nature of the Beast, I bought Fahrenheit 451 because I have never read it. It’s shocking that I’ve never read this book about books and burning books and the need for words on the page. I’m going to remedy that.

And then I threw in Nancy Martin’s latest Blackbird Sisters Mystery, A Little Night Murder. Have you read any of the books in this series? They’re delightful and very well written. They take place in and around the Philadelphia area. As I lived there for five years, it’s fun to rediscover it all via Martin’s series.

We won’t even mention how many TBR books I have here already – both on my bookshelves and on the Kindle. We just won’t.

One of the things I had wanted to do this week when I went into NYC was visit The Mysterious Bookshop. Being sick put paid to that idea, so I guess I’m comforting myself in a way. Really, the fact is if I was given a big chunk of cash, I’d probably spend it on books. Not furniture, not clothes, not little things for the house, not shoes, not even food. (Maybe some miniatures…) No, I’d trot off to The Mysterious Bookshop and the Strand and spend, spend, spend.

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I’m about 90 pages from the end of The Girl in the Spider’s Web and then I’ll either start the newest Jan Karon (which has been waiting for me on the Kindle) or the Penny. Hmmm.

What are you reading at the moment?

Happy Saturday.

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A Parrish Sky

September 18, 2015 at 8:46 am by Claudia

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That, my friends, is a Maxfield Parrish sky.

Don called me over to the door, where he had been checking on Scout while she was outside, because that sliver of moon was so beautiful in the evening sky.

Lovely, simply lovely.

Still coughing, still feeling under the weather, but every day I feel a little less so. So that’s good.

We have a friend coming on Sunday to spend the night, so I’ve been cleaning. A little here, a little there, nothing too taxing. There’s nothing like an impending visit to make you see all the dust and crumbs and dirty grout, is there?

I’m still reading The Girl in the Spider’s Nest. Normally, I would have finished it by now, but I haven’t always felt like reading or concentrating for any length of time. This morning, however, I read a nice big chunk. It’s really well written.

I had been planning on working on the Top Secret Project when Don was in the city this week for auditions. Those plans were scuttled when I got sick. Darn it! So there’s nothing new to report there. I plan to find some time this week to do some interior painting and flooring.

I forgot to pick a winner for the Coercion giveaway. So sorry! The winner is Karen. Congratulations, Karen! I’ve sent you an email.

Must include a flower photo, as it won’t be long until I have no more flowers to share with you.

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My surprise hollyhock is still blooming. What a gift this plant has been! Hollyhocks aren’t annuals here and this one was self-seeded, so I’m not counting on seeing it next year. But who knows? Some seeds may find their way into another garden bed. That’s the wonder of gardening, isn’t it?

Happy Friday.

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Living in a Dollhouse, Morning Glories, Reading

I Caved

A Parrish Sky

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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