Surprise, surprise!!!

 I got a surprise in the mail!  I won a drawing over at Betsy's 
and she had to email me to let me know....I swear, I've been in "la-la land" lately.  Too many things going on for my poor old brain to keep track of! lol!  Thank goodness she contacted me as everything is so awesome!  Starting with the cute little pack of Kleenex with the Easter message.
 Then a sweet card with a handwritten note inside that warmed my heart!

 and what about this too cute little owl on the front of a journal?  He's so darling or she.

 But wait!  That's not all....I saved the best for last...........a hand knitted wash cloth and an absolutely gorgeous hand crocheted bookmark that I will cherish! 

Betsy, thank you SO MUCH for your thoughtfulness.  I know it was a drawing but the time and effort that went into these gifts along with your personal touch made it very meaningful to me.  You are a very special lady!

Happy Trails!

Monday books!

 I finished Deep Down True and it was a real surprise.  I loved it! It was a young female author and I thought maybe I wouldn't connect with her and it would be all about some romantic drivel where a guy shows up and solves all the problems that the last one left her with.  Not so!  It was extremely well written and heartfelt and to be honest...I couldn't put it down!  I will be reading her other 2 books for sure!  I highly recommend this book!

My non-fiction that I'm reading is still Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.  There are really insightful parts but then she goes off on these strange tangents like she's getting inebriated or "smokin' somethin'"..lol!  But there are moments of brilliance throughout the book about nature and I've learned things I never knew.  It is a Pulitzer Prize Winner and truth be told I usually stay away from them and Oprah's picks which are such "downers".  I'll finish it but I doubt I will keep it around or pass it on either. 

I finished this audio book of Agatha Chrsitie short stories called The Harlequin Tea Set and it was excellent par the queen of mystery writers.  I ran into a streak of luck one day at the thrift store and there were all kinds of audio books really cheap and I might have bought them out! LOL!  I think they were actually $1.00 each as I don't think I would have bought so many at $2.99 each....I am pretty cheap but even at $2.99 they would be a bargain as they are so expensive new.  I had never heard of these stories or read any of them so it was a real treat!

My audio book for this week is The Secret Garden and it is absolutely fantastic!  I knew the gist of the story or so I thought as my children read it and watched the movie many times but I was always running around not actually watching it.  This recording is on 2 cds and although there is no mention of the voices and who they are I recognize them as very well known British actresses.  It is more theater with sound affects and top notch performing.  I would love to get this for my grandchildren as it keeps you fascinated throughout.  Very well done.  I've just started the second cd.

 

I went to the library to take back my books and of course I always find others to read........I found this interesting book, Cold Comfort Farm, which was written in 1932 and has been re-issued.  Supposedly it was a spoof on the dramatic and overwrought English rural novels of the time.  It's a bit different but it has kept my interest because it is so odd and the characters are just that...REAL characters.  I'm only about 1/3 into it so I will let you know when I finish what I really think. It's about a single woman who doesn't want to get a job and in those days relatives were obligated to take in their female relatives who couldn't really be expected to "fend for themselves".  Flora, the single woman looks through her family and decides she'd like to go live with the Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm and they are truly a strange lot.  Flora thinks she can change them and has taken them and their farm under her wings to "tidy things up a bit".  She's a force to be reckoned with but then so are the Starkadders! LOL!

 The other interesting titles I picked up at the library were....this next audio......

The Hurricane Sisters is about 3 generations of women buried in secrets living in the South Carolina Lowcountry.  It is "a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness".  Sounds like life to me and an interesting book!

 If you want to read a lighthearted book sure to make you laugh out loud then you need to read Karen Gillespie's Bottom Dollar Girl's books.  I read her first one and didn't realize there were more so I was thrilled to pick this one up at the library!

 The other one I read was Bet Your Bottom Dollar .  The Bottom Dollar is an "emporium" in a small town and the women ("bottom dollar girls") that work there.  "Funny, fast-paced, and full of quirky but lovable characters,  Karen Gillespie's A Dollar Short leaves you wishing you had your own Bottom Dollar Emporium to visit every day."

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier came highly recommended to me several years ago so when I saw it I picked it up.  "Cold Mountain is an extraordinary novel about a soldier's perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War.  It is a magnificent love story and a harrowing account of one man's long walk home."

These ought to keep me off the streets and out of trouble!   And tonight is DWTS's and Castle....good Monday night fare!  Happy Trails!

 

Happy Easter and/or Happy Passover!

I've probably got pollen on my nose from sticking it in this lily all day.  It smells heavenly which is so appropriate for today.  I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter or Passover or both for those combined families.  To me the important lesson is forgiveness, tolerance and love for all God's creatures.
Happy Trails!

Spring has sprung in the Ozarks!

 The girls and I went for a really long hike today to see what the woods were up to.........these buds looked like someone had gone through the woods and hung neon green ornaments on the trees

In some parts it felt like I was in a fairy woods..........so ethereal......
(it was an overcast day btw)..........

trees and bushes were beginning to blossom all around..............

the red buds were popping out their pretty pink flowers..........

I got here just in time!

you would never guess that those dead looking branches could come back to life with such glorious color...even on the ground there were teeny tiny little flowers that were so sweet and beautiful.........all that prettiness packed into a flower no bigger than a thumbtack

gorgeous forsythia as we got closer to civilization again..........

and then my own yard where I am reminded there is work to be done but still.....there is nothing like Spring in the Ozarks............
I even found grape hyacinth growing in amongst the grass...(not in this picture)...this is ajuga (sp?)...the purple flowering plant/weed

the sugar maple is "coming out" and the trees are beginning to flower............

I never really liked Spring that much until I moved here.....Spring in the Ozarks is one big beautiful celebration!

We got home just in time as it poured buckets right as we got in the door....someone was looking out for us.  It is starting to storm again now with severe thunderstorm warnings.....another sign that it is "Spring in the Ozarks".
Happy Trails!

YOP Week #39

I have skipped several weeks here on YOP but that's because my priorities have shifted.  Blogging and a few other things have taken a back seat to several things this Spring.  I am prepping for a city wide garage sale, selling items on various venues and going through my belongings with a fine tooth comb.  This is way more than "Spring Cleaning"...more like "Lifetime Cleaning".  So, while I will continue to blog and try and stay in touch it will not be as often.  I discovered that there was much time spent blogging, reading others blogs, replying to others blogs and just plain spending too much time in front of the computer.   I want to move back North and live closer to my grandchildren and I had better get going as I am not getting any younger and my energy reserves are depleting much faster each day! LOL!  Also, my workload has doubled again with outside chores and landscaping.
But I have gotten some handwork time in when my legs are too tired to carry me anymore or when I need a break.
I am happy to report that "the blanket" is almost done....block #52 of 55 so next week you might see a finish not counting the lining which I need to order fabric for.  I'm sure you're tired of seeing it so I will not include a picture this week.
Easter is on the way and since I only sent cards for Valentines Day and St. Patrick's Day I thought it was about time to send a surprise box to the grands so...........I'm planning on some of these....

 with my favorite Noro Kureyon wool yarn.  It's all about the colors and I used this yarn to make my leaves last fall and loved how they turned out so when I was thinking of eggs I immediately thought of the Noro.  The colors I have though were chosen for leaves not eggs but the yarn unwinds to reveal more colors than you bargained for so I think it will be good in the end.  I think I will be ordering more of this yarn as it is a definite "go to" yarn for me making small decorative items and more.  I'm not sure I would want to wear it as it is wool and the scratchy kind but I sure love it for everything else!

 I also would like to "whip up" a few of these which are compliments of Revoluzzza's .........aren't they just darling?

 and I have been really wanting to make some of those Japanese knot bags that Kim made.  Such a pretty way to organize all my WIP's and Kim said they fast and easy!

 
  I have been working later and not watching as much t.v. so there hasn't been as much crochet time but I've made a few more preemie hats.

I did find a washable and dryable soft wool mixture yarn that I want to get for these hats...I think it was Lion Brand and sounds better than the acrylic but being it is for a hospital I knew it would have to be washable and dryable.  I'll have to try it.  Has anyone used it?  I think its called Baby Wool.

I'd feel much better using natural fibers on babies or anyone for that matter!
Spring has arrived for sure but yesterday was a whole different ballgame.....the reason the daffodils below look "blurry"

is because it was snowing like crazy!  Here's a better shot of the snow coming down.
  It snowed all morning but none of it stuck as the temperature was 36.....obviously up in the sky where it was coming from was 32 or lower. LOL!  Today is supposed to be in the 60's...crazy Spring!

There are some new neighbors that have arrived but I don't know their names yet.........not sure if they're staying for the summer or just passing through.

I couldn't get this red bird to turn around but it was not a cardinal female or male...that much I know.
I have not seen a robin yet.  I think they just did a "fly by" from the deep South and went straight North as people up North are seeing them back . I usually have them in the summer but none so far.

I hope you are enjoying your Spring!
Happy Trails!

Monday - Books

 This is a busy Spring here and if you aren't busy yet you will be!  The songbirds are back, the sun is shining and all is right with my world!  And my daughter is on Spring Break this week so there will be more "phone time" than usual which is a good thing as we tend to motivate each other.  So, if Spring hasn't arrived yet in a neighborhood near you...just be patient.....it is coming!
Meanwhile, the reading continues......not as many as last week though.  I only finished one but it was a great one!  I'm going to be making a list of my TOP 10 Books of 2015 and I'll put it on my blog sidebar and this one will definitely be going on it!  I will probably do one for last year too since I kept track of my 2015 reads.

Ms.  Trigiani did not disappoint with this one.  She's such a flawless writer and storyteller that I would probably love anything she writes but I do have my favorites and this is one of them.
I think she wrote a lot of it from family history as she divulges some correlations in the epilogue and what a great family history to have.  I related to much of it and that generation which would have been my parents generation and their parents.  The hard work ethic, the feeling of responsibility to your family and showing love through caring for them.
"This heartfelt story of the limits and power of love chronicles the remarkable lives of the Castellucas, an Italian American family over the course of three generations."  I think you will enjoy it very much.
This is a book I bought years ago and it is a non-fiction about nature but anytime people praise a book as highly as this by "those in the know" I find it disappointing.  So far it seems to me her writing sounds like she's smoking something!  Some of it makes sense and then some sounds like she's in a dream state.  I've only just begun reading it so maybe it will become more understandable as I get further but right now it's a struggle.  Definitely not a "relaxing read" more like one of those required in school. I read Shakespeare and all the Greek tragedies etc. and in my mind if I have to sit and figure out what the writer is trying to tell me then the writer is at fault....not me! LOL!  I'm a realist and I don't deal well with "skipping around the bush" or symbolism...spit it out!

I just chose my next fiction book this morning and this is it......

I got this at a library book sale but I can't remember when.  I buy many books based on the cover and the blurb on the back.  It looks to be one of those book club books which are usually pretty good.
 "A funny and poignant novel about having your heart in the right place even when everything else isn't."
"Newly divorced Dana Stellgarten has always been unfailingly nice --- even to telemarketers---but now her temper is wearing thin.  Money is tight, her kids are reeling from their Dad's departure, and her Goth teenage niece has just landed on her doorstep.  As she enters the slipstream of post-divorce romance and befriended by the town queen bee, Dana finds that the tension between being true to yourself and being liked doesn't end in middle school....and that sometimes it takes a real friend to help you embrace adulthood in all its flawed complexity."
I'm still listening to the audio of Agatha Christie short stories thus I haven't started The Secret Garden audio.  That's it for this week!  What are YOU reading?
Happy Trails!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Do you have plans for today?  This is one of my favorite days of the year and I made my corned beef and cabbage yesterday..........

 I prepped all my vegetables so they would be ready to put in with the corned beef once it had simmered for several hours.
The cabbage goes in last as it doesn't take long to cook.  I usually cook cabbage, potatoes, carrots, turnips and rutabaga but I couldn't find rutabaga this year but I love it.

I got an Irish care package in the mail too from my daughter and her family........2 packages of my favorite Girl Scout cookies, some Kiss My Face lip balm in Peach and these little canisters that are magnetic on the bottom and will stick on the side of my frig or anything metal.  I think I'm going to put spices in them.   I had one already so now I have 5!

 Plus, this beautiful book............published out of Anamosa, Iowa in the style of the old fashioned almanacs but filled with current articles many relating to the history of the region and filled with original artwork.  I know I will enjoy this book.

and last but not least an original piece of art..........which is now proudly displayed on my refrigerator!

I hope you celebrate this fun day in some small way.  I'm having my great dinner and I'm watching QVC all day as they have all things Irish with history, song and dance and a gay Irish atmosphere plus Waterford Crystal, artwork, hand carved walking sticks, beautiful sweaters and wovens, Connemara marble and more!  I usually get something for myself each year in honor of my Irish heritage.  Have a wonderfully happy St. Patrick' Day!  Happy Trails!

Monday

 I got a lot of reading in this week........

 This was a good book and I could barely put it down once I go into it but was it good or did it just peak my curiosity?  The main character was a bit sad but the mystery plot was very good.  My only problem is that so many of these books revolve around violence to women.   I purposely don't read books by male authors because I don't know what I might run into within the book.  I don't expect that from female authors but then it seems to be a "trend".  This book could have been a lot worse.  It was not graphic to the extent where I would have bad dreams or not be able to get it out of my head but there are some books that have had that effect on me.  I am beginning to think that books need to be rated like movies.  If it's a true story one cannot run from the truth but to make up horrible things makes me wonder about the author.  I know, I may be a bit odd compared to society but I don't like to have anything negative around me.....people, books, television, movies....real life is so much more tragic that I cannot fathom thinking up more tragic circumstances within the covers of a book.  So, I am sure most people would rate this book highly and as for the plot...it was a great one but I think I'm ready to read something a bit lighter now.

 Actually I finished The Storyteller before The Girl on the Train and it was great....again, sad and tragic but about a real time in history (the holocaust) and the way she told it you understood there was a lot of truth in it.  In fact, you get the feeling that she is weaving someone's personal history into a story.  I liked this book  much better than The Book Thief and Ms. Picoult is a great writer in my estimation.  When you can tell a tragic story in such a gentle manner by your choice of words that is a great "storyteller". 

This was a "sleeper".  Although I believe in an afterlife I wasn't sure this was the one.  I was skeptical and when I started listening to it I found myself analyzing Ms. Eadie and judging her by her lack of education and mispronunciation of several words such as "assept" instead of "accept" and there were others.  By the time I finished listening to it I was ashamed for those thoughts and judgements.  Ms. Eadie was one of the first people to write about her experience so she wasn't really jumping on any "bandwagon" and her sincerity comes through her voice as she does the reading.  At first I wondered why they didn't get someone else to do the reading but by the time I finished I realized no one could have done it better.  I figured this tape would go in my garage sale coming up but no.....it is a keeper if only to remind me that we are all God's children and love is the answer to everything.

This was not very enjoyable but I'm not sure if it was the "radio broadcast" atmosphere or my particular cd player.  It was loud and brash and several different accents being used and I had to back up several times as I didn't understand what they were saying.  Like I said, it could be my cheap cd player. 

 This week I am listening to a collection of stories by Agatha Christie and I am a devout fan and have been since I was in my 20's so what more can I say?

 My non-fiction book is on my tablet.........

The Afterlife of Billy Fingers  

No, I'm not reading all about afterlife.....it just so happened I am going through old audio tapes and this one has been on my tablet for awhile....coincidence.....I don't think so! LOL!

This is my fiction for this week..love this author!

And once I finish Agatha Christie, I'll be listening to this audio...........a classic.....

That's all for this week......Dancing With The Stars is on tonight!  Happy Trails!