April in Review

Oh, wait, you mean it isn't over yet?  I think I will just go back to bed.  Let's see, the week before Holy Week son in law down with dreaded evil virus.  Holy Week had daughter and granddaughter down with same virus.  Easter Eve mother in law fell and broke foot - 8 miserable hours in a very slow emergency room.  Wednesday I fell ill with the dreaded evil virus.  Fever finally broke this a.m.

What -- it is only the 10th?  Is there any point in hoping that my husband doesn't come down with it?  Nah.

Define "Old"

 

Yesterday my daughter was telling us of some comments one of her students made to her.  The student told my daughter that she couldn't believe she was in her mid-thirties because she didn't act like it! My daughter took that to mean that the student thought she was immature.  The student assured her that wasn't what she meant but she didn't particularly elaborate.  We went on to discuss how I saw my daughter and I told her that it was probably her physical appearance that brought the student to that decision and not her behavior because my daughter doesn't look much older than she did in high school.

So, I couldn't leave it alone, could I?  I had to take it one step further, didn't I?  I had to ask -- "do I seem old to you"?  Her answer was -- "no -- well, yes, sometimes".  Hmmmm.......I think I need further clarification from her.  Is it my appearance?  Well, I am sure I look my age -- well, maybe not QUITE my age but not far from.  Is it my clothes?  Well, we do tend to differ in clothing styles.  Is it my attitude -- ok, every once in a while I open my mouth and my mother pops out -- I will agree but my mother had those attitudes when she was far younger than my age. 

I don't think I have "old" habits or mannerisms (and I absolutely loathe the color lavender).  I read a lot of the same books as my daughter and I still listen to rock and roll music -- current stuff as well as "oldies" (there is that word again), we watch the same movies and I am pretty current on pop culture -- I mean if those Kardashian girls were mine they would be so grounded!  I will admit to complaining about my joints hurting but then, they hurt when I was younger than my daughter is now. 

So, what makes us appear a certain way to other people?  Is it just because she knows my age or maybe if she feels older then I must be much older.  I don't know.  I look at people like Stevie Nicks, who is a couple of years older than me, and yes, she has aged very well in spite of herself.  In person I am not sure what she would look like but on television she looks pretty darn good.  I can't even comment on the recent media flurry of Christie Brinkley's appearance.  So, does this mean I should cut my hair so I don't look so much like a bag lady or maybe make it blond?  More makeup?  Yuck. 

I think I need to have more conversation with my daughter.  Or should I?  Hmmm...slippery slope, there, slippery slope.

The Persian Pickle Club -- Book Review

Recently I have been trying to read down my list of books on my Nook.  I was in the mood for something different and not too long.  So, I chose "The Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas.

The setting is Kansas, the time period is the 1930's.  The main character is Queenie Bean, wife to Grover Bean and a member of the Persian Pickle Club.  The Persian Pickle Club is comprised of the women in the tiny community of Harveyville.  On the surface their main purpose is quilting but their relationship goes way beyond that of a needle and thread.  They are there to support each other in good times and bad -- to celebrate and to mourn -- and to solve a mystery.  The characters are strong, sassy and not without humor.  It is a good account of the mores of the day -- even small towns in Kansas had their standards, after all.  As I read this book I could just picture many of the characters as people I have known myself.  However, if this were a movie, Rita would have to be played by Jen Lilley of "Days of Our Lives" fame.

I have never read any of Sandra Dallas's other works but I will in the future.  This was a fun read.  It was engaging, seemingly without typos and grammatical errors I am finding in so many e-books, and it ended well.  I would definitely recommend this book for a fast, light read.  I know, mystery doesn't sound light but this isn't really a mystery book it is.......well, you just have to read it for yourself.

Good Friday

It is Good Friday.  To me, Good Friday is the holiest day of the year, next to Easter.  The magnitude of the day is overwhelming to me and brings me to my knees.  Even though I know that the joy of Easter Sunday is just around the corner, the sadness of this day never fades. 

It will be a quiet day for me as Good Friday always is.  My day will progress as usual but I will be ever aware of the meaning of the day and it will permeate my thoughts as I go through my usual routine.  How do you feel about Good Friday?

I think I have all the sick people just about well.  I am hoping we can go into this Easter weekend with everyone back on their feet. To me, Easter Sunday is like the New Year -- a new beginning.  But, until then, it is a quiet time for me.

When It Rains.....

Morton Salt -- this is the brand of salt I grew up with and still use to this day.  Below the little girl with the umbrella reads the saying "when it rains, it pours" meaning that even if it is humid or damp the salt doesn't get clumpy.  All my life when the things of life began to pile up, overlap, hit hard we would always say "well, you know, when it rains it pours". 

That is especially true of this last week.  Last Thursday my son-in-law - the one who NEVER gets sick -- got sick.  I don't mean he felt under the weather I mean he contracted some sort of vicious stomach/intestinal virus that is apparently going around.  By Sunday he was stirring around but he looked like he had been through the wringer.  He returned to work yesterday, exhausted and not 100% and he came home to .....

my daughter not feeling up to par and when the phone rang at 11:15 last night I knew something was wrong.  Yep, she had it.  It was official.  All the symptoms including a fever.  She needed her mommy.

So, I expressed the concern that I didn't really want to get sick and even though I was at their house babysitting the Bean while the SIL was ill, I didn't go around him -- he was sequestered in another part of the house so I felt like I wasn't really exposed but I knew it wouldn't be that way with my daughter because I am the mommy she needed.  So, I took down the grocery list and we headed her way this morning knowing that we would not be staying -- SIL had taken off work to take care of his lovely wife.   Groceries procured I walked into the house only to find my SIL looking overwhelmed, daughter looking terrible, feeling terrible, running a fever and whining that I was her mommy and I was supposed to make her feel better (wish I could!), and the Bean tossing her cookies, pale as a ghost, sitting very still and not talking. 

All I wanted to do was spray them all down with Lysol.

But, I am afraid it is too late.

Maybe it is just my imagination.  Maybe I am just having sympathy pains.

Yuck.

It's Official!

I have crossed over that line between a little crazy and REALLY crazy.  I recently read a book entitled "A Single Thread" by Marie Bostwick.  It is the first book in the Cobbled Quilt Series and I read it, I really did. But....I can't find it.  I can't find it on the Nook or the physical bookshelves.  It has disappeared.  I even looked in the car but I am certain I read it digitally.  And in the process of looking for it I discovered that I have a digital copy of "The Persian Pickle Club" and a physical copy that I just purchased a couple of weeks ago.  I guess I am going to have to keep a list.  Bother.

Well, moving along, I recently read "A Single Thread" by Marie Bostwick, the first in the Cobbled Quilt Series.  It is the story of Evelyn Dixon, a middle aged woman looking for a new life after an abrupt divorce.  She decided to take a trip, on her own, to sort things out and she decided on New Bern, Connecticut as the place to spend some time to gather her thoughts.  Her friends were surprised she was going to take off on her own, especially for someplace so far -- it is quite a distance from Fort Worth, TX to Connecticut!

It took one day for Evelyn to realize that New Bern would be her new home.  It took one week for her to realize that it was exactly the right time and place for her to begin her dream of owning a quilt shop -- being her own employer -- being dependent on just herself.

She set about making the dream happen with the help of several new friends -- Abigail, Margot and the angry Lizzie. They were an unlikely lot but proved to be just what she needed both business wise and personally.  It wasn't smooth sailing -- personal problems, business problems, health problems....but it was fun.

I don't want to say too much because it was a really compelling story and I might get carried away and share too many spoilers.  Let me just say as a Fort Worthian that has always wanted to visit the Northeast, but probably never will, I had a strong visual of what the area looked like and what the quilt shop looked like.  I could even envision how I would decorate it if it were mine.  It was easy for form a mental image of all these women -- the book really came to life in my mind.

I have now gone on to purchase the rest of the books in the series and will review when I read them.  I recommend this first title without reservation.  It was a good, cozy read.

Now I am listening to Absolute Radio 60's from somewhere in the UK on my internet radio.  I love it! Had to stop writing to sing a little "White Rabbit".

Grace Slick

I do family history for my own family but I will admit that I have done some searching on my favorite celebrities and Slick is one that I have done some research on -- I was pleasantly surprised that she is a descendant of the Mayflower families but I can't remember which one.  Hm..I wonder if we are related -- we have the same nose only mine is a bit shorter.  Oh, and my people didn't come over on the Mayflower.  And I can't sing.  Oh well.

Ah, I digress but I am enjoying feeling like a kid again with my favorite songs in the background -- but it sounds better than the transistor radios we used to carry around -- pre-ipods!

Ok, I am just being silly now.  Time for laundry.

Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: How old were you when you realized that you are an AVID reader?




I haven't done a Musing Monday for a while so I thought I would join in this morning.  If you want to participate it can be found at adailyrhythm.com.

I am not currently reading anything as I just finished the Lush Trilogy, much to my surprise.  It has been reviewed on my blog.  Up next I will probably continue one with "My Antonia" by Willa Cather which I started but abandoned to finish the first in the Cobbled Quilt series or I will begin "The Persian Pickle Club".

In the last week I bought the second and third books in the "Lush" trilogy -- Hush and Crush.  I purchased them for my Nook.

I am really looking forward to Jan Karon's new book coming out soon.  That one I will buy in hardback as I have collected the entire series and will continue as long as she continues to write them.  They have such a great, homey feel to them -- I love reading them in the fall -- it just seems appropriate.

Random Question response --

I always loved books and loved being read to as a child.  I remember, sometime before the age of five, watching my mother read the newspaper and asking her what it felt like to be able to read.  It was fascinating to me and somehow I just knew it would open up a whole world to me.  When I went to kindergarten at age five there were no curriculum guidelines deeming it illegal to teach us to read so off we went with the Dick and Jane books which I now understand were terrible learning aids.  Anyway, I remember sitting in a chair watching my teacher, Mrs. Pearce, with that great big Dick and Jane flip chart asking us to read the sentences.  I was thrilled.  When I was eight and just getting out of third grade we went on our end of the year picnic at San Pedro Park in San Antonio.  At the end of the day we were told that if we were eight and had a parent with us we could go to the library which was situated in the park and get a library card.  So, I was and I did so we went and I got my first library card.  I remember the children's section so well and the shelves that housed my favorite books by authors like Lois Lenski, Kate Seredy and Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I remember bringing home my new finds -- probably just one or two at a time -- and sitting curled up on the couch completely losing myself in those books.  My favorite time to read was when it was raining.  Most of the time it wasn't a cold rain as we were in San Antonio and my mother would leave the front door open and the windows open as long as it wasn't raining IN and I would read for hours to the rhythm of that slow rain.  I guess that is why I have always associated reading with rainy days -- there were many in San Antonio.  So I guess the answer to the question is that I have never known a time when I wasn't an avid reader or an avid listener -- either way I have never known a time when books weren't an integral part of my life.

Lush, Hush, Crush -- S. L. Baum

Way back when I first obtained an e-reader I went a little mad.  I was downloading books left and right -- many were free, many hugely discounted, many full price and much more costly than I could have gotten elsewhere but I was having fun! The ultimate cost of that "fun" was that I have an e-reader full of books that, after further review, I am probably not so interested in.  However, with my inability to throw books away -- even digital ones-- I decided that it would be a great idea to just start reading through the list and then alternate with reading a physical book off the shelf because that is quite a list to go through as well. 

So, I was in the car one day looking for something to read and since I wasn't anywhere near a wi-fi connection I had to settle on the one and only book that I hadn't archived.  It was entitled Lush by S. L. Baum.

 I remember buying this book on the strength of a review but thinking at the time that it was an extreme diversion from my usual fare.  However, since I was desperate for something to read and this was the only title I could access I decided to give it a go.

It is a young adult (YA) title, dystopian in genre and not something I would ordinarily seek out.  The story centers around a 17 year old girl named Bluebell living in a futuristic country called Concord.  Bluebell, as she finishes her time at Training Tech and is moving toward being assigned her career is shocked and somewhat dismayed when she is branded "lush".  It is a special brand and she is the only person who has received that brand in twenty years.  "They" don't remember the last person to receive that brand, "they" just remember there was one but don't remember what happened to her.  There are a lot of things "they" don't remember.  This, however, is the story of Bluebell and I won't say more because anything I say would be considered a spoiler.

I didn't expect to get hooked by the book.  I figured I would get a few pages in and get bored or just put off by it but I didn't.  It didn't help that it ended in a cliff hanger.  I had to read the next book in the series.

That book is titled Hush.  The story continues with enlightenment and awakening and a general feeling of unrest.  There is a movement afoot that is going to come to some sort of climax.

 In this book, the younger citizens of Concord are beginning to realize that the control over their lives, by The Council, isn't in their best interest after all.  They realize they have been lied to and that life in Concord isn't what they thought it was.

Again....cliff hanger.

Again...I purchase the third book -- Crush.

Crush is the final book and from the title you would expect some huge conflict -- a battle so to speak.  This is where it all fell flat.  There was a rather big build up to the end and the reader would expect some sort of an event -- I mean, when you think of a group overthrowing a government you think in terms of a bigger conflict and I kept waiting but it never came.  There was just not the bravado that  I was expecting.  It all just ended in a rather uncomplicated way which didn't gel with the rest of the story which was filled with complicated descriptions and situations and relationships.

While the books were compelling enough to obviously keep me coming back for more -- I mean, I had to see what was going to happen next, like on "Days of Our Lives" -- I was disappointed in the ending.  I was expecting something a little bit more like "The Lottery" or "Anthem" -- a little more drama.  I almost felt like the author was tired of writing and just tied things up quickly to get it done. I didn't enjoy the ending.

However, when I sat back and thought about the intended audience I suppose the author was trying to keep an age group in mind but, with that said, I just thought there could have been more. 

Would I recommend?  Well, if you like this genre and are a young adult of about 13 years old, then yes.  There wasn't anything particularly frightening about it like the above mentioned titles.  There was no violence or sex.  For the most part it was pretty sugar coated and I think, for the intended audience it was fine.  For me, not so much.

Yet, I still kept on reading so what do I know?  I know I will be moving away from the YA group for my next read!

It's Gone!

Ugh! I was messing around with the blog and somehow deleted by blogroll. Bother!!  I go through that Blogroll everyday and read all the blogs -- now I have to reconstruct it.  Guess that will be after dinner!

Reading a YA Distopia novel -- "Lush".  This is the 3rd dystopian novel I have read and I am here to tell you I am not a fan of the genre.  It is creepy and the three I have read are all glaringly similar.  I think Ayn Rand was not as terrifying as Shirley Jackson but this new read isn't really frightening but I just don't like it.  So, I will finish and I will review but I probably won't seek out another.

I am continuing to read down my Nook list and this book was on the Nook - I think this one was also a free offering.  I am having a great conflict with the Nook concept -- again.  I originally obtained an e-reader so I could cut down on printed material in the house as I was running out of bookshelves and the books were cheaper.  I am noticing that they aren't so cheap anymore so now I am finding myself researching the cheapest way to obtain the book I want to read.  As a result I am sitting here staring at a list of books recently acquired from our local used book store.

I don't think there is a right answer.

Great Aunt Again!

I am a great aunt -- again.  I have two great nieces and five great nephews!  Why in the world does the term "great (or grand) aunt" sound so much older and more decrepit than grandmother?  You say great aunt to me and I see lavender.  Anyway, the newly arrived is Blake and belongs to my nephew.  From the pics on my phone he is robust and lively.  So glad to welcome him to the ever growing throng of young ones to the family.

A Texan's Promise

No, not me making rash promises but rather a Christian novel by Shelley Gray.  I believe this is one that I got free off the Barnes and Noble "Free Friday" offering or maybe BookBub.  Wherever I got it I am sure it was free. 

"A Texan's Promise" is the story of Clayton Proffitt, a ranch hand who had come to the Circle Z Ranch after the Civil War to work for the Grant family.  He was a traumatized man, straight from the war but his faith was in tact.  It was here that he met the 13 year old Vanessa.  No, there was no improper behavior, he just became her confident for the next six years.  During that six years, Vanessa's father passed away and her mother married again, not for love but for support and she made a very bad choice in the form of Price Venture.  He was a poor excuse for a man and when the story actually begins, he is found beating and attacking Vanessa.  Clayton takes her away and their story begins. 

This is a Christian-based book.  I am a Christian so I had no problem with that, in fact, it was refreshing.  The book didn't white wash things and gloss over the negative.  It dealt with beatings, rape, suicide, gun fights, chases, hard travel, etc.  It was a good read with one exception.  It was draggy in places.  I noticed that during the characters travel from Texas to Colorado every few miles they would look at each other and their relationship would change.  I found that to seem like a device to just drag out the story because nothing was happening to make their relationship change. 

The book is the first in a series and, while I enjoyed it, I don't think I will rush to read the next one.  It was enjoyable, definitely Christian fiction so it won't be for everyone, and I am glad I read it but I recommend with reservation.