Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist


I just finished reading this title in the Agatha Raisin series and I have to say it wasn't my favorite.  Now, I didn't dislike it enough to give up on it  but I didn't like it as much as I have the others.  I don't know if it was the setting or what but it seemed like there wasn't as much plot and an awful lot of driving around North Cyprus. 

At any rate, I will still recommend the series and they are really fun to read and I hope that the next one is better.  Maybe I just need a break and should go back and read one of the Nancy Atherton Aunt Dimity series. 

Or, maybe I should read "Animal Farm" -- my daughter is reading it for her class right now and I have never read it so maybe I will give it a go.  I still need a couple of books to meet my 2014 Reading Challenge so I need some small books -- maybe children's books? I think I could just about manage two of those!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I like to do my decorating in small spurts.  I don't do a whole lot but I still like to spread it out.  Yesterday went like this:

I usually hang a large, real jingle bell from this door knob but this is quieter

Ok, it isn't up there correctly.  The bow should be at 11:00 and the gingerbread men at 4:00.  I gave up trying to explain and was just thankful it was up

I really liked this cheerful little guy

So, yeah, I am about done, I think.  Oh, wait....I still have to put up the Christmas tree.  Almost forgot.

Progressing --


As we progress through this season of Advent I am aware that one of the things I love about the season is the tradition -- the things we do over and over again year after year.  There is peace in that tradition again bringing calm to the chaos -- closing out the world for just a little while as we allow ourselves to be caught up in the familiar routines and customs of the season. 

Once Thanksgiving is over, we try to do most of the decorating and rearranging before December 1st because with the first Sunday in Advent we try to take a quiet approach to our days.  It doesn't always work, sometimes we are caught up in the excitement of the season but we try. 
We generally do our Advent lessons on Sunday.  Our granddaughter participates with us as we light the candles and have our devotion.  This year we have started doing something different.  I purchased a small nativity where everything is detached and able to be set out individually.  I also purchased a small stable.  So, prior to the first Sunday I set out the stable and on the first Sunday, after devotion, we set out Mary and Joseph.  Tonight we added the angel.  This little set is so cute and sweet and is just the right size for this sort of activity.

We also added the second candle to our Advent wreath.  When my children were little I had a children's wreath but the candles were an odd size and hard to find so I finally replaced it with the one I am using now.  Again, this is a tradition we have done for years now and I look forward to it every year. 

So, while we move on toward Christmas, progressing through the remainder of the year and looking forward to a new year I am struck by the sameness of the rituals -- looking forward to the new and yet loving the security of the old.

I hope you had a wonderful Second Sunday in Advent.

Nativities

Last year while browsing through a gift shop in North Richland Hills -- Apple Annie's -- I just caught this little nativity in the corner of my eye and knew I had to have it.  It is just the sweetest thing.

The same thing happened to me this morning at church.  Our church is in a historic neighborhood full of gorgeous old houses (stjohnsfortworth.com).  Each year in early December the neighborhood hosts a tour of homes and our church, being the gorgeous building that it is and being that it is in the middle of the neighborhood also hosts a tea room and a craft bazaar.  Today during coffee hour I had the opportunity to look at some of the offerings in the bazaar and  found the cutest little nativity.  It was only three pieces -- Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus -- and it appeared to be carved from rock.  There were actually two of these sets -- one large one and one small one and I would have bought one of them on the spot but the bazaar hadn't begun yet and there was nobody there to buy it from.  The booth it was in was sponsored by a children's book store, Monkey and Dog, that is owned by a fellow parishioner.  I am planning on visiting her store later this week and if the little nativities are there I will be bringing one home with me.  I wish I had a picture to show you but I will share if I actually buy one of them.

I really do enjoy collecting nativity sets -- I have several but they are all small or one piece and unique in some way.  I find that just looking at them brings peace to the chaos.   What do you collect to dress up the season?

This and That


I have been away for a few days because I have been busy avoiding all the things I need to do!  There is something in my personality that makes me just stop when things get hectic.  I have always been this way -- I tend to avoid chaos.  And that is what I have been busy doing.

Yesterday was my son's birthday -- he turned 39! How in the world did that happen?  Oh well, at least he is the only one aging!

I have been having fun waiting for the mailman these days.  I don't know about anybody else but shopping in actual brick-and-mortar stores is dismal -- they don't have a large variety of things and I guess a stockroom is a thing of the past.  So, I have done most of my shopping online.  I used to love Christmas shopping in stores, I loved the decoration and the displays but now I seem to get a kick out of the mailman coming around and leaving packages on my doorstep!  I am still waiting for one more thing to arrive and I will have received all my purchases and can set about wrapping things up and put them under the tree.

Oh, wait -- I haven't put the tree up yet......reference paragraph #1.

I have been playing with DIY dishwasher detergent.  I am forever on a quest to do things frugally with fewer chemicals in my house.  I will never buy commercial laundry soap again and I think I might have found an acceptable recipe for DIY dishwasher detergent.  It is 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1/2 c Kosher salt and 5 pkgs. of unsweetened Kool-aid lemonade mix (or you can use citric acid).  The first load I ran turned out really great except for a couple of things -- this stuff isn't ever going to get tea stains out of cups if it has sat for a while.  I didn't use a rinse agent.  With the second load I did use a rinse agent -- white vinegar.  I didn't put it in the rinse agent receptacle because it might corrode the rubber gaskets and things so I put it in a small glass in the top rack.  It worked really well but I have to say that to use this method, you really have to make sure that dishes are rinsed off before loading the dishwasher.  I know that sounds like a lot more work than it should be but the pay off is that you aren't overcome by chemical fumes when you open the door at the end of the cycle.  I will continue to use this until it is gone and then I will re-evaluate if I really like it.  I think I will but time will tell.

I have been trying to keep up with the Christmas movie marathon but I keep falling asleep.  My favorite Christmas movie of all isn't really a Christmas movie but traditionally I watch it at Christmas -- "The Bells of St. Mary's" with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.  I began it last night and about 45 minutes into it I was snoozing quite well in my chair.  I really don't like it when that happens.  So, to update, I have watched PART of "White Christmas" (again with Bing Crosby) and PART of "The Bells of St. Mary's".  I have watched several things on the Hallmark Christmas channel but honestly, I can't remember the names of any of them.  I have watched "You've Got Mail" which is sort of Christmas-y and "Love Actually" which is definitely Christmas-y.  I am planning to watch "Sleepless in Seattle" and, of course, "The Christmas Story".  Hopefully I will catch "Miracle on 34th Street" and no way will I watch "Home Alone" -- that is the most painful movie I have ever seen.

Unrelated to Christmas, I have really been enjoying "Doc Martin" and we are now beginning the final season and I am really going to miss it when I have completed the whole thing.  I have also started the series "Call the Midwife" which I am enjoying as well -- I really like Miranda Hart.  I cancelled my Hulu subscription and instead subscribed to Netflix streaming and I am really glad I did.  While I enjoyed "The Rev" and "Coronation Street" on Hulu I am finding a much bigger variety on Netflix.

I am also continuing with the Agatha Raisin series.  I have really enjoyed all the books so far but I am not enjoying this one -- "Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist" quite as much.  I don't know why but I am almost done so I can move on with the next one.  I really wish we were going to receive the new Agatha Raisin series here.

And last, but not least, I have been working on a baby quilt for the new baby in the family.  It involves rabbits and stripes and I will show a photo when I get done with it which should be soon.  It is going to be a gift for her christening. 

So, that is what has been keeping me busy as I try to avoid the chaos.  I can't believe it is already the 6th -- this month and this year will be gone before we know it.  I remember when my father was waiting for the countdown to the new millenium -- and that has already been 14 years ago. Time is just flying by and I don't think I like it -- so, I am avoiding the chaos and trying to slow the pace and enjoy my days rather than just rushing through them -- I want this beautiful season to last a while, I want to savor it and all it has to offer. 

Bye-bye Thanksgiving!

Today is December 1st! Advent has begun.  Thanksgiving 2014 is now a memory -- I would like to say distant but considering there is still leftover food in my refrigerator, not so much! I have to say that no matter how much pre-planning and paring down I do, Thanksgiving is the most exhausting of holidays -- more than Christmas.  I think it has to do with standing on my feet for hours cooking.  However, I am glad it is over and I am looking forward to the next month.

I am about done with my shopping -- really doing precious little of it this year.  Opting for a simpler approach.  We have reached the point in our lives where our adult children really don't need much and whatever they do need, they have the means to supply themselves.  The children are all growing and settling into their own interests so the days of mass toys are drawing to a halt.  E is still new so all she needs is a cuddle which I will be glad to give in excess -- can't have too many hugs.  So, Christmas this year will be more of a celebration of time together, time to reflect on blessings and just a time to kick back and chill-- an appropriate word considering the 45 degree drop in temperature over night.

As things wind down from a visit from my husband's sister and her husband on the occasion of my mother-in-law's  93rd birthday and, of course, the food frenzy known as Thanksgiving, I am enjoying some time to explore new DNA information on my Ancestry.com account.  When I did the DNA test I wasn't sure how that information would evolve and be used but it seems that it is an ongoing thing with new information being added all the time.  The DNA matches are becoming more specific which is fascinating.  When you have a DNA match the people at Ancestry have designed the results to compare your tree to the "cousin's" tree so you can see the relationship very clearly.  It is all very exciting and interesting, especially when most of my DNA matches are to the part of the family that was the most elusive.  I will be watching it quite closely to see more relatives.

Speaking of relatives and roots and all that -- it is no surprise to anyone that I am of extreme British extraction -- I have hardly any other ancestry except some Dutch and a tiny bit of German.  I have always identified with my British self -- in spite of the fact that Ancestry DNA seems to concentrate on my Dutch ancestry.  I was quite close to my grandfather who was the son of Welsh immigrants and many of the things I still do hark back to his habits which were, of course, from his parents. 

However -- there is the question of tea.  I have always been a tea drinker.  I remember having tea and toast with the aforementioned grandfather -- more Pet milk than tea but tea and toast was sort of a ritual of ours.  That and the Welsh rarebit but that is another story.  You would think that I would have tea making down pat, wouldn't you.  Well, with a tea bag, yes, but my daughter brought me some lovely loose tea from Fortnum and Mason on her last time to England.  It is loose tea and really good.  However, I don't seem to have the knack of tea infusers -- they all seem to shed the leaves a little too much.  So, here is my solution today -- yes, a coffee filter in a ceramic infuser.  It worked quite well, actually!  

ceramic infuser

I think I should look for some smaller filters

water added

Maddening infusers!

This nice warm tea was very welcome this morning as the temperature had dropped 45 degrees overnight.  I went to bed in the tropics and woke up in the arctic!  I did brave the cold wind to take a couple of snaps of the yard after a couple of freezes and a lot of wind.  It is lovely, actually but I didn't want to stay out there too long!

Pear tree in lovely fall colors

Another pear tree

and yet the OTHER pear tree

the crab apple tree today!

and the mint just keeps on keeping on

I know that north Texas isn't really known for it's fall color but I think we have done a pretty good job in our yard, don't you?

And now, totally unrelated, I thought I would share with Mary, Bonnie and Jane some pics of the Bean on her trip to England this last summer.  I sharing these with permission from her mother, of course.

Bean and the Pig

Such a grown up little bridesmaid!

Bean and her mother at the church in Bramley

I wasn't at the wedding but the photos are lovely and I think it was a wonderful day for all.

Ok, now I need to go deal with those leftovers! It is lunch time, after all.

Cleaning the House New/Old School -- aka -- I Am Really Lazy


Saturday was a banner day for me.  I got up with loads of energy and I had great plans.  I was going to clean house.  Now, you must understand -- this sort of thing doesn't happen to me often.  I am not domestic.  Not even remotely.  I grew up with a mother that would be known today as a "clean freak".  She cleaned -- a lot.  I don't know that she LOVED it -- I don't remember her saying but she detested clutter and there was precious little around of that.  Of course, we lived in a 950 sq. ft. house which was typical of the time so there wasn't a lot of room for too much clutter.  In any event, I always lived in a very clean -- I mean Clorox clean -- house. 

My children lived in a clean house but I really couldn't stand the smell of Clorox so I used other things.  I used to clean the bathroom tile with a toothbrush and dust didn't land anywhere.  We lived in a small house but we had more room to store things so more things were collected.

The kids grew.  The collections grew.  I learned that one would not die from clutter.  One might go crazy but not die.  So what did I do, little Mrs. Non-Domestic?  I decided to ignore the whole thing and take up hobbies.  Lots of hobbies with lots and lots of things.  More clutter, more mess, yuck.

So, the kids are grown, most of their stuff has gone and I have reached a point in my life that I want my toothbrush and tile floors back.  I don't want the hobby stuff, I don't want the clutter, I can live without the magazines -- I just want it clean.

Well, that's great but over the years I have learned to really, really dislike housework.  So, back to Saturday.  I decided to start cleaning in my bedroom.  I have a large window seat that seems to attract "stuff" like a magnet.  I worked on that for quite sometime.  Then I dusted, vacuumed, tacked the bathroom...you know, cleaned the room.  It. Took. All, Day.  I decided to do everything with the vacuum cleaner -- I dusted the furniture, I dusted the shutters, I dusted the exercise equipment (which needs a new home, BTW) and at the end of the day you couldn't tell I had done a thing.  I was too tired to even put the vacuum cleaner away.

Fast forward to today.  I got up with great plans -- going to finish cleaning the house.  BUT.....I was going old school -- with sort of new techniques.  I dusted with microfiber cloths, cleaned the bathrooms with microfiber cloths, dust mopped the hard floors with my Big Woolly wool dust mop, use my little carpet sweeper on the throw rugs, mopped with my Rubbermaid microfiber spray mop and threw away all the seasonal holiday catalogs that have invaded my mailbox.

I got all that done in the length of time it took me to argue with myself about dragging out the vacuum cleaner. 

So, I guess it is official. I am living in the 50's.  I am just a little lazy.  I am not keeping up with the times but I got done quickly enough today to have time to play with my Nook tablet -- the one I have had for two years and not messed with -- and I figured out how to check out library books on it and how to listen to audio books on it!

So, yes, a day well spent!

Emily

The new baby, Emily, has arrived on the first snowy night of the season.  She arrived at 1:09 a.m. and weighed in at 7lb. 5 oz. and is 20.75 inches long.  Rumor has it there may be a trace of red hair.  I haven't seen her yet so I have no photos.  That will happen later this afternoon.  I can't wait to meet her.

The Mistress's Daughter

A few days ago I finished reading "Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good" and was looking for a short read before I was scheduled to receive a book order from Ebay.  I went to my bookshelf -- the one that is completely organized with a good number of unread books and I searched for something that looked like a quick yet interesting read.

My eyes fell on "The Mistress's Daughter" by A.M. Homes.  It is not a long book and I figured that I could knock it out pretty quickly which I did.  I figured it was a novel about, well, a mistress's daughter.  I was wrong.  At the first page I realized that I was reading an autobiography.  A really sad autobiography.  I will admit it was pretty depressing in the beginning and then we hear about Ms. Homes learning that her biological mother was looking for her.  We are introduced to the biological mother only to realize that she isn't a stable person.  We meet the father and learn that he isn't a great guy and never was.  During all of this we don't hear a whole lot about the adoptive parents -- it is a story of her struggle to deal with her past.  As the book progresses, however, and Ms. Homes learns more and more of her heritage we learn of her desire to join the DAR and her struggled with that.  As I read along the book that started out a personal and painful journey turned into a genealogical study which fascinated me.  Toward the end we learn about her adoptive family and the grandmother that Ms. Homes adores -- and the table.  The table is fascinating. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book.  It was different than I imagined, it was sad, it was emotional but, in the end, it was joyful.  For a quick read to sandwich between more important books, it was a great choice but  it was too good to be a "sandwich" so if you want to read it, give it the time it deserves.  As I looked at the picture of that beautiful child on the cover I felt that I had even let her down, sandwiching her story between other stories and that was not right.  It is well worth reading and it deserves the time and attention of any other work that might be in your queue.

I definitely recommend to anybody who does genealogy, anybody adopted who doesn't know their whole story or anybody who is just interested in a completely different, compelling read.

Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good -- Jan Karon



I have just finished reading Jan Karon's latest instalment in the Mitford series  -- Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good.  Prior to this book, Karon had more or less ended this series and then  proceeded with the Father Tim books which dealt with Father Tim's youth and with a monumental trip to Ireland.  Both of those books were a little deeper and darker than the Mitford series, they showed a different side of the beloved Father Tim.

This latest work, however, brings us back to Mitford after Father Tim and Cynthia's visit to Ireland.  They don't have long to get settled back into their usual routine before the life in the little North Carolina town draws them in.  There is the family with the good news -- Dooley -- and the bad news -- Sammy.  There are the long time friends, neighbors and parishioners -- some we watch go from deep despair to great joy - Hope -- and the possible romance -- Helene and Harley maybe? Or perhaps the spray tan queen and the fly boy.  Father Tim is involved in all their lives to some extent and it is so interesting to watch him juggle these relationships with grace and the knowledge of when to get involved and when not to.  His wisdom would be a good lesson for anybody.


For anybody who thinks small town life would be boring they should read the Mitford books.  Are small towns really like this?  I wouldn't know but I like to think they are.  In any event, I enjoyed once more, being able to "live" in Mitford for a while.  I hope there is another in the series so that we aren't left hanging wanting to know what happens to Hope, Scott and Grace and Dooley and Lace and all the rest of the quirky yet loveable characters.  I don't think Karon would do that, however, as there is so much more story to tell.

I, for one, will be waiting.

Time to Bring Out the Turkey Planter


Isn't she cute?  She was a gift to me from my Aunt V many years ago.  She came with a real plant but anybody who knows me knows that wouldn't last long.  So, each year, I deck her out in some lovely silk foliage and display her near our table.  I think she is so cute and should have a name --Thomasina, perhaps - the female to the traditional Tom?

I feel the Thanksgiving season coming on! I love it!

I am turning my thoughts to my Christmas decoration and I feel I am in need of a large Nativity set up.  I have several others that I put around but I need a larger one for use with my Advent activities.  I think a trip out is necessary.

So, have  a wonderful day! I will let you know if I come home with anything.