currently

I am...

Reading: Midnight on the Potomac by Scott Ellsworth

Listening to:  the buzzing in my ears

Thinking:  about a snack

Feeling:  upbeat

Celebrating: nothing, but I'm in a good mood

Grateful for:  libraries that allow out-of-state memberships

Enjoying:  ahh, I just cleaned my glasses

Weather:  12° and clear

A quote I want to share: 

sunday stealing

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When I Was Young

1. Tell us about a time when your family got a newfangled invention (your first air conditioner, color TV, VCR, microwave, computer, etc.). we were the first family in our neighborhood to get a microwave, and I remember the boys trying to get my sisters and me to put all kinds of things in it (bugs, caterpillars, rocks, etc).  It was big and clunky.

2. Is there a particular song that sparks a childhood memory? my mum sang "My Beautiful Balloon" often, I think of her when I hear it

3. What is something an older family member taught you to do? hmmm... drawing a blank

4. Back in the day, what name brands would we have found in your family's kitchen? Chef Boyardee, a variety of Kellogg's cereal, and Kool-Aid

5. As a child, did you collect anything (rocks, shells, stickers, etc.)? people always gave me Smurf figures but what I really wanted were Troll dolls

finished reading

This is a delightful debut novel and first in a series; I will read more!  I'm not sure how to classify it--it's a blend of cozy paranormal mystery with found family.  And amusing, I even chuckled a couple of times. I hope future installments touch on main character Kathy Valence's backstory, but this introduction was plenty fun.  Kathy's depicted as down-on-her-luck at forty-two, in the process of divorce, yet surprisingly pregnant with her soon-to-be ex-husband's baby.  The secondary characters are charming and quirky.  The audio is very well done.

From the publisher:

Sometimes it takes working with the dead to start living.

Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client's soul goes missing.

When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why.

Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

postsecret

 

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

saturday 9

Volare

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) The word "volare" is Italian for "to fly." Say something else in Italian. ciao bella

2) This week, Bobby Rydell invites us to take off with him up in the clouds and promises we'll find a rainbow. Countless lyricists have included rainbows in their songs. Can you name another song that mentions rainbows? The Rainbow Connection

 

3) His happy heart is singing. What is making you happy this morning? I'm answering this Friday evening--and I'm happy that I will be starting my day (Saturday) with my Breakfast Club

4) Bobby Rydell, like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, was a 1950s teen idol who hailed from Philadelphia. Home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Philly is Pennsylvania's most populous city. Have you ever been there? it was the destination of my very first flight

 

5) Bobby was such a perfect example of a clean-cut American boy that when Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey sat down to write the play Grease, they named their fictional high school Rydell High after him. Do you have a favorite song from Grease? today I'll go with "Beauty School Drop Out"

 

6) In addition to singing, Bobby also acted. His most famous film role was opposite Ann-Margret in Bye, Bye, Birdie (1963). Have you seen it? yes

7) In 1960, when this record was popular, so were hand-loomed, 100% virgin wool sweaters from Italy. You could order one from the Sears catalog for $12.60 (approx. $135 in today's dollars). That sweater was labeled "dry clean only." Do you have any garments waiting to be picked up from the cleaners? no, but I am planning to go to the laundromat after breakfast

 
8) Also in 1960, Princess Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. They met when he was commissioned to take her official portrait. Who took the most recent photo of you? it was a selfie

 

9) Random question: Is your oldest friend also your best friend? yes

three on thursday

Thing one:  I actually cooked after school this evening.  I had a telehealth session with my peer coach and felt motivated enough to then cook and clean up.  

Thing two: the library book group was so much fun last night.  Everyone seemed to love the book (Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid), and the discussion was lively--albeit sometimes way off topic.

Thing three: tonight I get to start a new book!  

finished reading

A classic noir mystery that didn't age well: disparaging descriptions of every single woman and minority were tedious after a while.  However, the grit and lone wolf aspect of Private Detective Philip Marlowe were classic.  

The plot was hard to follow because of the narrative thread, with lots of minute details about things that weren't relevant to the story--I got bogged down. I've seen the 1980s television series with Powers Boothe and adored Marlowe and the genre.  But reading it just wasn't the same.

From the publisher:

When old man Sternwood, a dying millionaire, hires Philip Marlowe to expose the blackmailer of one of his troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than simple extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, and seduction are just a few of the complications standing in the way of completing the task at hand. And just as Marlowe feels he’s getting ahold of the situation, he discovers the first body.

currently

I am...

Reading: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler for my school book group

Listening to:  the refrigerator hum

Thinking:  we're supposed to get slammed with a winter storm this week and I have meetings galore to try to reschedule.

Feeling:  satisfied.  It was a very good day back at school.

Celebrating: so glad everything was prepared for this morning--no scurrying around trying to get organized

Grateful for: a long, relaxing vacation

Enjoying:  working on goal setting for this new year--well, I'm not actually setting new goals but I am continuing to work on goals I have been setting; I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment by getting hyped up for some major goal only to lose momentum.

Weather:  -2° and cloudy

A quote I want to share: 

finished reading

This is a buddy read with my niece.  She chose it.  I went into it blindly, not realizing it's a mystery horror thriller. Winter is a character in this story.  The isolation, frigid winds, abundant snow, white-outs, all of what makes winter winter are a character.  As the characters are thrown together due to a storm, they slowly get to know each other.  The slow reveal of personalities and budding camaraderie set the pace for the first half of the story.  After the major plot reveal, which I will not spoil, the tension builds!  It was well-crafted and paced second half of the story.

This book heightened my dislike of winter. 

From the publisher:

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.

sunday stealing

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Questions to Answer When You Need a Break:

1. What would you rather be doing right now? nothing--I've frittered the day away

2. What is always on your grocery list? yogurt

3. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose? no

4. How many times did you text yesterday? too many to count!

5. Would you prefer a slow-paced, relaxing vacation or one filled with new sights and experiences? if I am planning a vacation it will be slow-paced with new sights and experiences 😉

postsecret

 

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

finished reading

This book is not my usual fare.  I don't recall where the recommendation originated.  Historical horror, medieval quests, dark fantasy, I'm trying to think what other genres I would use.  The description was compelling, the writing is amazingly good, the story is gruesomely detailed, and I could not put it down!  But what the hell?  Or what the heaven?  (If you read it, you'll understand.)

Set during the Black Death in 14th-century France, where disgraced, excommunicated knight, Thomas, lives as a brigand, escorts a mysterious young girl, Delphine, across a plague-ridden landscape to Avignon as fallen angels wage a second war against Heaven. Along their journey, they are joined by Father Matthieu, a guilt-ridden, alcoholic priest who finds a renewed sense of purpose in protecting the girl.  The story blends medieval fiction with supernatural horror, following the travelers as they encounter demons, the undead, and other horrors, with the girl claiming divine guidance and the knight and priest seeking redemption. 

I may have a new favorite narrator: Steve West is amazing!

From the publisher:

The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.

Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.

As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.