Wednesday Whimsy

 "Hey, who's the new guy?"

Photo taken yesterday as I sat on the patio.  I did not even get up. Just looked up and the two doves seemed to be talking about our wacky bird sculpture. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone. 

Monday Moments - Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini

 The Great War. 1914. Slowly men left Britain's factories to enlist and arsenals hired women to replace them. The slogan: Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun. 

Canary Girls by Jennifer Chiaverini is well researched historical fiction that engages the reader with a slice of history one might not know.  Former cooks, maids, shop girls, and housewives sought better wages and more independence than they ever had.  The "munitionettes" worked grueling shifts, handled explosives (TNT), and endangered their health for the sake of their nation. (cover blurb)

Identified by their yellow skin and hacking cough, the Canary Girls prove resilient in their work, friendships, lives, and play in the arsenal ladies  football  club, the Thornshire Canaries. The bosses wife joins the administration and is a staunch advocate for the ladies. 

This book is interesting  and entertaining. I cared about the ladies and their situations - worries about children at home, husbands on the front, and managing to live in tough conditions. 

Finally Friday -The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

 Jennifer Weiner is a reliable author and when I pick up her books, I know I'll get a good tale, an interesting character, and be entertained. The Breakaway is another  winner.

Abby Stern is thirty three, comfortable in her  plus-size skin, does gig jobs, and has a childhood sweetheart. Good friends, her bike, and a Philadelphia cycling club keep her busy. 

cover blurb: Yet Abby can't escape the feeling that something isn't right...or the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously.  

Abby gets a last minute invite to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls - a chance to get away and think about her life.  cover  blurb - things get complicated fast. Sebastian is on the trip, and her mother Eileen (body shaming past inflictions) shows up. 

Over two weeks and seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl unites riders...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love. 

Hop aboard this bike trip and see what happens. 

Whatever Wednesday - The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery

I picked up The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery on a whim at the library. The blurb sounding in intriguing:  I read the words on my laptop screen, "Before you freak out, it's really me."

Robin Lindstrom is reading an email from her dead husband, Gabe, who signed her up for a dating app a year after he died. She's thirty three years old and has been hibernating at their old Minnesota farmhouse. 

She gives the dating  world a whirl, opens up her heart to some strangers, makes some weird friends, learns to trust the world, and still loves Gabe with all her soul. However, she knows she won't lose him.  She'll gain more in life too. 

This book is funny and poignant and Avery captures the horror of dating again, and also the opportunities to engage with others.  Can Robin emerge from her cocoon to rediscover all the messy, wonderful, horrible things in life?  

Take a chance and read this book to find out. 

Monday Moments - Trouble in Paradise by Robert B. Parker

Begin your Monday with Trouble in Paradise.  Robert B. Parker has written another Jesse Stone winner. This is the second with this police chief, but is a standalone book.  I don't usually go back to back in a series, but these are quick page turners.  

cover blurb: Parker's sentences flow with as much wit, grace, and assurance as ever. Stone is a complex and consistently interesting new protagonist.   I heartily agree. 

Stiles Island is an exclusive  wealthy enclave separated by a bridge from the small town of Paradise. What happens when that bridge is blown up? What happens when Stone finds that two women he's dated - local realtor, Marcy Campbell and also local attorney Abby Taylor have been kidnapped. 

How does Jesse Stone figure out that a fresh out of prison James Macklin, along with a very bad man nicknamed Crow, are in charge of this scheme? Casualties mount. The stakes run high. 

For a town called Paradise, there is a lot of trouble brewing and Jesse Stone must focus.  (But, ex-wife Jenn is back and tugging at his heartstrings)  Keep reading and have a "blast".  

Finally Friday - Fun Read - Night Passage by Robert B. Parker

Finally Friday and time for a fun no brainer book. Thanks Linda Hoffman for your thrift book purchases. 

Night Passage by Robert B. Parker is first in a series with a new character, Jesse Stone.  (Parker is known for his Spenser novels).  Anyway, Jesse Stone is thirty five, newly divorced,  borderline alcoholic, and dumped from his LAPD detective job. He gets a call from a Massachusetts town called Paradise and is hired as the new police chief. Is this a new start?

cover blurb  For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption - replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen, and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. 

Jesse Stone must use his unnerving quiet power and skills to uncover all the dirt and emerge a hero.  Or does one false move lead to  death?  Keep turning  the pages and find out.  This is a quick read with underlying humor and some "oh wow" moments.  Good brain candy. 
 

Whatever Wednesday - Dame Agatha Christie

 1926!   The Murder of Roger Ackroyd      Dame Agatha Christie

I almost don't need  to say more.   I picked this book for our PA book club.  Let's go old school.  It was listed as THE  BEST Crime Thriller  Novel EVER on a few lists. 

What  the heck! Let's give it a go.  I was not disappointed. 

I went through an Agatha Christie phase back in junior high and high school.  Hercule  Poirot, Jane Marple - oh the best detectives.  The clever plots.  The small town settings.  The subtle clues I never got. 

This book is amazing  considering 1926      Seriously.   How  did she come up with this?
 

I'm not  going  to give away plot or characters or possibilities.  You MUST read this book and just  bow. 

Kudos Dame  Agatha.  I guessed everyone in  the damn village, and then said, "WTF?"

Oh yeah!        Enjoy, my friends.   Re-visit the BEST. 

Monday Moments - Earth Day

Our earthly ball a peopled garden - Goethe 

In this broad earth of ours, Amid the measureless grossness and the slag

Enclosed and safe within its central heart, Nestles the seed of perfection - Walt Whitman

I look to the sea

Frozen earth

Blooms of spring

Happy Earth Day!

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?  Henry David Thoreau

 

Finally Friday - Spring in San Saba

Spring Saturday in San Saba, TX.   Hill Country.  Ray and I visited Aunt Pat on solar eclipse weekend.  One chore was a new flag for James' grave and trim up the area.   

Nifty decoration as you look over the land

Ray in hog heaven - using the tractor

Gorgeous sunset

Ray and me with a heart cactus

That's a round-up of spring in San Saba   (look out for snakes - rattlers on the move.  None slithered out on this trip)
 

Whatever Wednesday - Let's Go Fly a Kite

Butterfly hair band, yellow dress, pink shoes, and a kite string in hand - Dakota is ready to soar

 Set sail in the sky, a new kite swirls

ribbons trail, wordless signals of joy

crane our necks to watch to the show

memories of past kites - wispy wishes in the wind

Monday Moments - Random spring and Easter pics

Levi (5 months) was wide awake early. By the time the Easter egg hunt began, he was snoring. 

Silly basket head girls

Kevin's crew

Silly Ray - a wascally wabbit. 
 

Finally Friday - new home, new season, new friends

Chris and Krystal just signed on to their first new home - very exciting for them.  The place is lovely and they have years to enjoy, decorate, and create memories. 

Opening Day tailgate - Ray style.  We actually bought sandwiches from Jersey Mike's and enjoyed our lunch in this parking  lot.  Arrived at the ballpark at 2 pm, didn't leave until victory in the 10th inning at 10 pm.  Whew!  Long  day

NO we did not eat this Triple Play Boomstick - that's a lot of calories right there and it's expensive too.

Extra fun being the World Series Champions 2023

And these mermaids are out of the water and eating at Ole Enchiladas.  Yes, this is my water aerobics crew - Debbie, Elayne, and Claudia.  I'm on the front right.  Fun times and we could talk without treading water. 

Happy Weekend everyone!
 

Whatever Wednesday - Eclipse

Solar Eclipse 2024 in San Saba Texas.   Ray and I went to visit Aunt Pat on Saturday. Did chores and prepped.  Kevin, Maria, and the girls arrived Sunday afternoon.  Fish fry (yummy).  Excitement build-up.  And weather worries.   Monday - 12:15 pm  we all had our glasses, chairs, and chatter

Got cooler.   Clouds flitted by, but weren't completely blocking the moving eclipse.  Wind kicked up. 

Birds quieted

Darker sky 

Eerie.  Pat's solar night lights even turned on.  The kids hushed.  We all stared in awe (with our solar glasses on)

Maria captured this moment.    Magic.  Awestruck.  Astounding. 

Wow!

And then the light switch slowly turned on, clouds cleared, kids started playing again, adults just kept saying "Holy cow, that was so cool."

Aunt Pat gave us notice last year for this "party", and she threw a doozie. 

Won't be around in three hundred years for the next total eclipse.  Very glad to be here for this one. 

Science rules!  
 

Monday Moments - Solar Eclipse

2017 - Enjoyed the Solar Eclipse with my PA crew at Spring Lake NJ

We had so much fun

 Oh yeah!

Now today April 8th 2024,  Ray and I will be in San Saba TX.  If the weather cooperates, it should be a total eclipse viewing.  Fingers crossed.  I am writing this in March.  Sure hope it works. 

 And I am going  to write this - I hope the former President looks  directly at the sun like he did in  2017 and some how implodes.  That is an evil thing to write, but I do wish it upon this man who does not respect science.  Seriously, let's look at solar eclipses through  the years - do not stare at the freakin' sun, you fool. 

cheers all.  Enjoy.  Use your glasses and it should be way cool. 

 And Happy Birthday to my brother David.  Today is his day too - 61.  Dang!   That's getting  old, dude.   Love ya!

Finally Friday - spring filler

A Ranger game in  2009

huge flag is always awesome

Striking tree shot

Afire pit night in San Saba

 Weird shadows

I'm busy and yet not

I have stuff in my brain and yet can't verbalize

Bear with me as I do a reset of some sort. 

I read and yet don't comprehend.  I see and  yet I don't .   What  is going on?  I'm tired and  nap  and yet I'm awake.  Sorta going through the motions of life, but in slow mo....

Possibly depressed.  Well yeah- my childhood phone number is gone!!!

We're clearing out the family house.   So many memories

Sigh

Bear with me and have a good weekend.  I will but will I know it........???

Wonderful Wednesday Book Review - A Place For Us

 A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza is a wonderful writing treat.  We open with an Indian wedding in California and family gathers. Proud parents, Rafiq and Layla. Hadia, eldest daughter, is marrying out of love not tradition and she is training  to be a medical doctor. Huda, the middle daughter, is a determined independent minded teacher. Amar, brother of the bride, has returned after three years. 

cover blurb What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who love and know him best?

The author quietly winds her way through past and present, treads between two cultures, and gives an excellent portrait of identity and belonging.  cover blurb - It's a resonant portrait of what it means to be an  American family today.

I really enjoyed this book and immersed myself in the family. The author's descriptions, conversations, and thoughts were deep and moving. When I finished,  I had to sit and compose myself and contemplate the full book experience.  That's a gem!  

Monday Madness and Foolery

 Happy April Fool's Day - then again, considering it's election year - Happy April Fool's Year

Here's an assortment of past blog photos - all out of context, but what the heck - fun to look at and contemplate. 

Monday filler and foolery

Always do right. This will surprise some people and astonish the rest - Mark Twain

Finally Good Friday - Happy Easter Weekend

Greetings and Happy Easter.  Hope it's a grand weekend with family,  friends, or just you - eat bunny ears with no regrets.    This is a past  arboretum picture - tulip festival

More arboretum

An ancient pic of me and dad at the Morris arboretum.  This very vital man is now 92 and I don't know that he knows it's Easter.  Oh Dad!

And one of my Easter displays.

We'll be going  to Kevin's. The girls shall have an Easter egg hunt. We'll eat a nice feast.  And plenty of chocolate overload. 

Cheers to you and blessings.  And yes, while not religious, I appreciate and honor the lovely aspects of the religious season.  Peace.    Peace.  That's all I ask.  No judgements.    Just  peace for all. 

Love

J