My Two Blessings

I've managed to resist signing up for all challenges other than my own.  This one I can't resist.   Bev's Follow the Clue Mystery Challenge Your goal? Is still to follow a set of clues furnished by the mystery books you read to create a body of evidence to support a book court case. Each book clue should lead you to your next read. The connection can be anything at all from author names to motive for murder to type of mystery (police, procedural, espionage, romantic thriller, etc.) to an item on the cover, but you must be able to make your case to the jury on your detective logic. I would prefer that you not read eight books from the same author and use the author/series/character/ etc. as the clue link. An example: If the first book I read is by Agatha Christie, then the next book could be by Elizabeth Daly, who has often been referred to as the "American Christie." If the Daly book is Arrow Pointing Nowhere, then my next book could be The House of the Ar...

Where did your reading take you this year?   I went all over the place – USA, Italy, India, Russia, Iceland, Sweden, England, Scotland, Europe, Middle East, through the Arctic and up into outer space.  I time traveled back to the time of the dinosaurs, through Dystopian and Utopian worlds as well as into the future. What was your reading goal for the year and did you meet or beat your personal goal?  Did you end with a prime number of reads?    My primary goal was to complete Birthstone Bookology which I did and even did so with a prime number.  I also attempted to do A to Z by Author but didn’t get to Q, U, or X so calling that incomplete. I waited until later in the year to start, shouldn’t have left the more difficult letters  until last and ran out of time.  Oh well.   Overall I read 117 fiction books and 8 non fiction books. My top favorite reads:    My top read is The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, a histor...

2017 Completed Reads  Fiction 1.       Aimee & David Turlo -  Turquoise Girl - (Ella Clah series, mystery, e) 2.       Alexandra Ivy - Kill Without Mercy - (#1 Ares Security, TX, Romantic suspense, e) 3.       Alister McGrath - Aedyn Chronicles: Chosen One - (YA fantasy, 208) 4.       Anne Bishop - Etched in Bone - (#5 Others, Urban fantasy, 416) 5.       B N Toler -  Where One Goes - (paranormal, e) 6.       Ben Kane - Spartacus: The Gladiator -  (74bc Italy, historical, 480) 7.       Benedict Jacka-  Fated - (#1 Alex Verus, paranormal, e) 8.       Charlaine Harris -  Midnight Crossroad - (#1 Midnight series, Texas, paranormal, 384 pg) 9.       Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - The Mistress of Spices - (India, magical realism, e) 10....

Little did I realize when coming up with the Birthstone Bookology challenge, how many vowels there were.  Loads of fun picking out books. December beat me however with the q and u's and had to go with the whole word in the title versus spelling it all out.  Incidentally,  The total number of books turns out to be 73 which is a prime number.  Plus it is Sheldon's favorite number from Big Bang Theory.  *grin* Sheldon : "The best number is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror, 37, is the 12th and its mirror, 21, is the product of multiplying 7 and 3." Leonard : "We get it, 73 is the Chuck Norris of numbers!" Sheldon: "Chuck Norris wishes. In binary 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001. All Chuck Norris backwards gets you is Sirron Kcuhc!"' ************************************************** January  - Garnet  Spartacus: The Gladiator -  Ben Kane  Alexandria Link - Steve Berry   Russian W...

Hubby is carving the turkey and kitty is holding the wine. Dinner is almost ready to be served. Feeling blessed. Hugs and love to all. Christmas Bells By  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play,  And wild and sweet  The words repeat  Of peace on earth, good-will to men!  And thought how, as the day had come,  The belfries of all Christendom  Had rolled along  The unbroken song  Of peace on earth, good-will to men!  Till ringing, singing on its way,  The world revolved from night to day,  A voice, a chime,  A chant sublime  Of peace on earth, good-will to men!  Then from each black, accursed mouth  The cannon thundered in the South,  And with the sound  The carols drowned  Of peace on earth, good-will to men!  It was as if an earthquake rent  The hearth-stones of...

We  had a lovely time with John's family celebrating his dad's birthday and Christmas Saturday evening in a quaint Italian restaurant.  Always enjoy staying at Dinah's Garden Hotel in one of their rooms on the lagoon.  We were fortunate with traffic being light in our direction on the way there and home.

Have you ever been silenced?    They don't want to hear what you think.  They only want to express what they believe. What they feel. What they know.  They don't want to be questioned or have to explain.  They don't want to hear opposing views or even the truth. You try to speak and noise fills the air, wails of censorship zooms through the square. No, you cannot. No you should not. You should be ashamed.  They can't bear to hear and stick their fingers in their ears.  Let's not confuse the issue with facts.  They will not listen. They do not care. Emotion rules the day.  They slice and dice and tear you to pieces.   They interpret your words, change and mold them to their point of view and lead their sheep to think that what they think you said is true. You choose silence. You choose not to explain.  You think those who know the truth will remain.  Your words, your thoughts, your ideas shred and cease to exist. Assumpt...

I'm hosting another round of Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks .  This year's theme is mysteries and we'll be armchair traveling around the world again.  Lots of interesting places on our itinerary from the Silk Road to the old Roman Roads,  across glaciers and seas, climb the Alps, explore the Middle East as well as trek through the Sahara desert.  We'll be doing  another spelling challenge using flowers this time with Blossom Bookology.  Plus a special Mystery Road trip around England, cohosted by Sandy and Amy from Well Trained Mind.  Lots of fun in store.  Come join us. 

Misty eyed! Just received a most thoughtful gift in the mail from Sandy, a friend in my 52 books group. Beautiful handmade quilted wall hanging. It’ll look great above my desk in the kitchen!

Knotted Roots - Courtesy of Reannadale Knots We tie ourselves in knots from the silly to the fraught. How dare he! How dare she! Is it all for naught? He said, she said, they said. Does it really matter when blood is shed? They divide and sway and are blind to the truth. We sing, they yell, we cry, they take up the call, Then use it as an excuse to get rid of the uncouth. Frayed nerves and shattered limbs, gray hairs and lights are dimmed. Scattered among are those with just causes. Fearful of those who don't obey laws and tangled up believers whose thinking has flaws. We are raw, they are to blame. We are free, they have no shame. His story, her story, which one is right? There is so much wrong when they think with might. They mash, they wail, they flee out of sight. They distract, they dissemble They argue semantics and fail to assemble. They break apart words and leads people to tremble. and causes nothing except b...

The stained glass windows of the little red brick church glistened in the morning sun.  Rain clouds started to gather in the sky and cast shadows across the fields surrounding the building.  I was hidden in the church hall, dressed in my wedding gown, surrounded by my sisters.  The photographer put us through our poses and disappeared back into the church.   Everyone had arrived, except for John’s grandmother and his great aunts.  Evidently his uncle had gotten lost with the matriarch of the family.  We had to wait, didn’t we?  I paced, as more clouds bloomed.  Five minutes turned to fifteen, then twenty. This was before we all carried cellphones. John’s older brother finally came out and said I didn’t have to wait anymore as his poor brother was getting more nervous by the minute.  Let’s get the show on the road.  Just as I exited the hall, it started to sprinkle.  My sisters gathered up my train and we dashe...

Abby glanced at the sleek, burgundy Spider Ferrari and tried not to drool.  “Honey, why don’t you ever buy me anything like that?” “Come on Abby. Seriously?”   “Don’t you love me?” Jacob took her hand and pressed it to his heart. “Every day, babe and then some.  For what it’s worth, if I could afford it, I’d buy you a dozen.  But you know, it’s a good thing I don’t have to show how much I love you by buying expensive things.” “How about little things?” Abby kissed him softly on the lips. “That goes without saying. Why just this morning I bought you this.” Jacob pulled a small box out of his pocket. “Last night at Parker’s, I came across this small trinket I thought you’d like.” “Maniac. No doubt it’s something for you to enjoy as well.  Only a guy would buy his woman a trinket from the hardware store.” “Parker’s happens to have some very fine items.  Stop your complaining and open it.” On the verge of whining for no good reason, she shut up, opened the lid ...

Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed?  Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects and our hearts?  Can the writer renew our hope for literary forms?  Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power?  What do we ever know that is higher than that power which, from time to time, seizes our lives, and reveals us startlingly to ourselves as creatures set down here bewildered?  Why does death so catch us by surprise, and why love?  We still and always want waking. We should amass half dressed in long lines like tribesman and shake gourds at each other, to wake up; instead we watch television and miss the show.  (pg ...

A friend mentioned Ursula LeGuin's essay, Being Taken for Granite , which is included in her book - The Wave in the Mind . It struck a chord as we've been having minimal success lately with our building project.  I'm not quite granite, but don't think I'm quite mud either. Thinking about what that means. Being Taken for Granite  by  Ursula Le Guin Sometimes I am taken for granite. Everybody is taken for granite sometimes but I am not in a mood for being fair to everybody. I am in a mood for being fair to me. I am taken for granite quite often, and this troubles and distresses me, because I am not granite. I am not sure what I am but I know it isn't granite. I have known some granite types, we all do: characters of stone, upright, immovable, unchangeable, opinions the general size shape and pliability of the Rocky Mountains, you have to quarry five years to chip out one little stony smile. That's fine, that's admirable, but it has nothing to do with me. U...

Gratitude Whatever be the depth of woe Along the path that I must go, I'll sing my song— My song of joy for all the love That's lavished on us from above, And count no loss of treasure-trove When things go wrong. I'll sing the sunlight, and the bright Soft smiling stars that gem the night; For gifts of good That God hath spread along my way, The lilt of birds in tuneful play, The harvests full and flowers gay, The whole day long I'll sing my song Of gratitude! ~John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922), "My Song" (October Twenty-sixth),   The Cheery Way: A Bit of Verse For Every Day , 1920

Yikes! There are only two week and a half weeks left to our summer break and we haven't accomplished 1/4 of our to do list, nor did we manage to take off somewhere and explore.  I need one of those - stop the world, I want to get time off buttons. A Tardis would actually do quite nicely.   Yes, I've been watching way too much Doctor Who. Another sleepless night since my body has now decided it doesn't like Bel Air's Chipotle Panini's. Maybe it's the Chipotle sauce?   I've been dragging all day and managed to get out to the grocery store. Otherwise, have lazed around, reading.  I'm almost finished spelling out Sardonyx and have X left. I ordered Jeff Vandemeer's Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy which will arrive in a couple days.  Meanwhile I'm reading Seanan McGuire's first book - Discount Armageddon  in her InCryptid series.  Delightful light paranormal read which is just what I needed right now. It's book week 33 in our 52 Bo...

I'm back to playing with Oulipo's. The constraint:  Book must have a J in the title.  Not very original, but let's see how it works out.  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side A Jerk, A Jihad and a Virus Just One Damned Thing After Another  Just So Happen Just Listen Journey from the Land of No Just a Little Lie Jealousy A Kind of Justice Just Between Us Just One Golden Kiss Just Say Yes Is it Just me.  Just Friends Just a Cowboy Just my Type Just Like That  Juliet Immortal  Jumping Through Fire  Journey to the Center of the Earth  Jump the Cracks Jeweled Fire  Joy of Life Jewels of the Sun Just One Look Just Like  A Man Just Me in the Tube Just Take My Heart