I’m turning to true comfort reads. Though I wish I had all my Mary Stewarts, I lost most of them long ago. I do have this one and This Rough Magic. I read all of her romantic suspense novels when I was a young teen; gobbled them up. They remain some of my favorite books with heroines who have a certain level of sophistication, witty repartee, great plots, exotic locales. So I pulled this one off the shelf last night and I’m going to read it today. Note the price: $1.25.

It’s still rather damp and we’re supposed to have showers off and on this morning and then that may be the end of rain for a while. All forecasts say ‘partly cloudy’ but I’m hoping some sunshine sneaks in there.

Gosh, there’s not much else to say. These days get rather monotonous, don’t they? We’re fine and we’re keeping ourselves occupied, but, since it looks like we’ll have at least another month of this, it can get overwhelming and oppressive.

Stay safe my friends.

Happy Tuesday.

Another rainy day with gray skies and, though I know we need the rain, this current state  of being housebound requires some occasional sun. And we’re not getting that, nor will get that for the rest of the week.

Sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh.

But, we have these little gems on the kitchen island:

And that helps.

I read a lot yesterday, washed the sheets, cleaned a bit, that sort of thing. Don read a lot, as well. We thawed some frozen soup and had a nice lunch together at the kitchen table, where we chatted about all sorts of things. It’s a good thing we like being together so much – I imagine it’s a bit harder for those who are used to spending great chunks of the day apart. Suddenly being together 24 hours a day must take some getting used to.

I finished Derek Jarman’s Garden  and am now reading We Made a Garden  by Margery Fish. It’s less than 100 pages, so I should finish it today. Saturday ended up being book mail day; Don’s copy of Eric Larson’s newest book, The Splendid and the Vile (all about Churchill during the Blitz) came from Oblong Books, my order from the Book Depository also arrived. In that order – all three books were shipped on separate days but arrived at the same time – two more by Nancy Mitford, Love in a Cold Climate and Don’t Tell Alfred, and The Lost Pianos of Siberia  by Sophy Roberts. I have another order on the way from John Sandoe Books – my small contribution to independent bookshops, though Book Depository is not that. Goodness knows my TBR pile will grow, but at least I will have contributed to the coffers of shops that are struggling during this crisis. And since I’m hearing this may go on, at the very least, until the end of April, every little bit helps. But that’s all I can afford and now I have to stop.

Every day I wake up and remember what is happening and it seems unreal. Or surreal. Then I hear – as I did last night – of Don’s absolute favorite singer-composer, John Prine, being in critical condition with symptoms of COVID-19 and the enormity of all of this hits me once again.

Trying to be upbeat today and failing miserably. Some sun and a chance to work in the garden would help. Instead, I’ll give myself chores; vacuuming, dusting, cleaning, maybe some work on the dollhouse (which I have been ignoring for the past 5 days.)

The winner of a copy of Everywhere Holy  is Deanna. I will send an email your way, Deanna, but if you read this first, drop me an email at the address (the envelope icon) at the top of the sidebar with your mailing address. Congratulations!

Happy Monday.