Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Hello and happy to be home after my hospital stay. I took one book with me thinking it would amuse me if I had to sit in the waiting room. If you are a cardiac issue, no waiting! Plus when did try to start it it didn't grab me. I had a friend bring me one of my other books and I will see if I can get into it now that I am home.

From Saturday Night to Sunday Night, author is Dick Ebersol who worked for both ABC and NBC as a TV executive. Heavily involved with the Olympics, NFL football and many other sports. Along with Lorne Michaels he had a hand in developing Saturday Night Live.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars is a fictionalized account of the Jews who during World War II escaped from the ghettos and lived in the forests of eastern Europe. The main character Yona was stolen as a two year old from a Nazi and grows up to be a leader of those in hiding. She meets her father again during her life with deadly consequences.

Elizabeth: Queen and Crown a short bio of the late Queen. Lots of pictures but nothing new. I suppose it will be a few years before a definitive biography comes out on her life, once scholars are allowed to look at private papers that wouldn't have been released during her life. 

Happy Reading.

Mini-ManCat Monday on Tuesday

Yes, something went wrong on my post yesterday. Mum was not home to take care of the technical part. 

She abandoned me! She was working in the yard on Friday afternoon after being at furiends for Turkey Day. Then she threw a couple of things into  her carry bag and jumped in someone's car. 

She is back home but I found she wasn't far from home. She was in the human stabby place for four days. Seems her heart wanted to beat way too fast and wouldn't slow down!

So yesterday (Monday) they zapped her heart to make it work all good again and they let her come home to me. So I can work my purr therapy!

I was well cared for, Aunty Kellie was over to make sure I got my foods and loves every day. Plus she brought mum back home to me. 

Gotta to purr on mum. Later!

Mini-ManCat Monday

 If you are worthy of its affection, a cat will be your friend, but never your slave.- Theophile Gautier

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 Happy Turkey Day Eve!

The weather is finally turning cooler and cloudy. I just need to do one final mowing of the grass before the outside fall chores are done. Then we wait for snow to shovel. 

If you are in the US, have a pleasant Thanksgiving. Count your blessings, not calories, carbs, sugar, fat etc. Have nice civil conversations, not fights. I will be spending the day and overnight with long time friends. Ducky gets to hang out by himself.

The Librarian Spy a story set in World War II. Ava is working at the Library of Congress when she is recruited to go to Lisbon, Portugal to help cull news from unofficial newspapers published by the French Resistance. Helene / Elaine is part of the Resistance who is putting out the news. Risking their lives to keep the real news out their and communicating in code about sensitive matters.

The Manhattan Girls is a historical novel with Dorothy Parker, Peggy Leech, Winifred Lenihan and Jane Grant. Set in the 1920s they are writers and an actress and has their careers, romances flourish and fade they remain friends. Not being aware of who these women were made this a harder book to get into, but entertaining nonetheless.

The Secrets She Keeps characters Agatha and Meghan are both pregnant and Agatha is wishing she had Meghan's life. Both have secrets and their paths cross in dramatic fashion. The secrets continue even after the book ends.

Killers of a Certain  - Age four women are recruited in their 20s to be part of a clandestine assassination crew. Now that they hit 60 they are being retired, but it just might be a matter of them being taken out themselves. Will they just take this sitting down? No and what they do keep themselves safe is a wonderful read.

The Murder Book is the latest of the Alex Delaware series. I hadn't read any of the previous books. Alex is a detective / psychologist with the LA PD. I normally like thrillers but I just couldn't get into this one, the writing style wasn't such that I felt the story really moved along. Seemed ponderous to me. Didn't finish. 

For all those in the United States have a Happy Thanksgiving and weekend. Everyone else have a good weekend too.

Happy Reading

Mini-ManCat Monday

 Way down deep, we're all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them. - Jim Davis 

Yeah and when I want my urges satisfied I want it NOW. I know Skeezix used to blog about his urges. Mine are not X rated! MOL. 

We have been having super nice weather. Sunny and warmer than usual. Mum has been a good person and got her outside work done. Well, almost done. She says she still needs to mow the lawn one last time. Our last tree gave up its last leaves so mum got them all pushed to the street for pickup. You can see mum's pile and this is the third pile, they picked up stuff two times already.

Mum got a nice video of me sitting in the front window soaking up the sunshine. Mum has said that November is usually colder and cloudy so happy things have been better. It is even supposed to be nice on Turkey Day, but mum says she will be eating duck at her furiends. I am not expecting leftovers. 

Feetsball Report

The Pack - they won! They played the Bolts from LaLa Land and had a pretty good game. JLove and company seem like they are getting the hang of playing together. Only problem, injuries, on both sides. Short time they get to play a game on Turkey Day with the Lions. 

Happy week and Turkey Day to my Meriky furiends.
 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 Hello and welcome. I am late getting a few notes in here. It has been a busy week but with sunshine and warmer than average temperatures. The outside Christmas lights are out, but not yet lit up. Still working on leaves as my one tree is being stubborn about letting go! So outside and not inside as much reading.

Death at the Chateau Bremont, new author and series to me. Set in Aix-in-Provance France. The two main characters are Antoine Verlaque, an examining magistrate for the police and Marine Bonnet a law professor. The two are also ex-lovers. A childhood friend of Marine has died and Antoine thinks it wasn't an accident. When a second death occurs, he is sure both were murders. Involving the Russian mafia and a few other unsavory characters the two manage to work out the killer.

A Taste for Poison is written by a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, he goes through eleven deadly compounds, relates how they work and provides real live cases where they were used. Real life criminals, not just fictional characters and crimes.

Drawn in Blood, former FBI agent Sloan Burbank is called to help solve an attack against her father and his partners in the art world. Aspects involve possible forgery, Asian gangs and love interest for Sloan.

Rock Paper Scissors a couple, Mr and Mrs Wright, are on a winter weekend trip to Scotland to celebrate their anniversary. Both are keeping secrets from each other and this weekend will make or break their relationship. This one didn't end like I expected!

I got nine of the fifteen. I don't buy books much anymore but I have checked out the same book that I have read before. I'm always happy when I know I am the first person to get the new book at the library (after being on a wait list for months). I will check a book out without reading the description if it is the next book in a series.

Yeah, books stores and librarians have the same issue. It had a blue or red cover etc. My library does a display in the main lobby and one time they did it will books that all had a green cover!

And I keep laughing until the next yarn sale. Although now I am into prime crochet season so at least I am using up the yarn I have already purchased. Although I probably have a 2 year supply on hand!

Happy Reading. 

Mini-ManCat Monday

Most cats, when they are Out want to be In, and vice versa, and often simultaneously. - Louis F. Camuti, DVM 

So did I get to play in any of those boxes from last week? NO! Once mum got them empty she smooshed them down and took them out to the recycling bin. The bin went out for pickup on Thursday. 

She did save one, but then she promptly put something in it, cuz she has to send it to the nephew. ::Sigh:: Although I am not a huge box kittie, she didn't even give me a chance. 

Mum has been out playing in the leaves a lot lately. Plus she keeps looking at one tree and telling it to just drop your leaves already. The guy comes this week to clean out the gutters and roof and mum was hoping all the leaves would be down by then. Maybe not.

Mum also plans to put out the Christ-mouse lights this week. It is supposed to be warmish so mum won't freeze her hands while she does it. She won't like them up until after turkey day. 

Feetsball Report

The Pack - did better this week in terms of scoring early in the game but they still didn't win, but they tried. They played the Steel guys in the Steel City. The sporty guys said The Pack hasn't won there since 1970, Mum said she was still in high school back then. 

Everyone have a wondeful week.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 I survived the time change. I usually do OK, was nice to wake up early on Sunday, get the laundry done early and then spend some time at the Y before coming home to watch the Packer game.

My updated yarn stash after getting my two orders of yarn. The shelves are full and I had a one color I couldn't fit it. That one will be my next blanket. 

Here is the latest blanket, stripey yarn can be a pain to work with to make sure the color rotation stays like it should. I had one skein that had a break and it went from the lime yellow to the maroon. Had to switch things out but I have enough yarn to do that and still make a decent size blanket. 

On to the books!
 

Reading Up a Storm is an installment of the Lighthouse Mysteries. Lucy and Butch find a dead body on the beach. Who done it. The illegitimate child, the son or the younger girl friend or ???. Plus sparks start to fly between Lucy and her beau.

Slow Horses and the rest of the series tells the tales of MI5 agents who have been demoted from field work because of screw ups. This was made into a series that has aired on Apple TV for two seasons. I couldn't get into the book, so didn't read and won't read the rest of the books.

The Turn of the Key another Ruth Ware thriller. I liked the approach to this book, she writes it as the main character sending a letter to an attorney hoping they will take her case. Our main characters has taken the job of a nanny for a Scottish couple with four kids. She has taken the job under false pretenses and is then accused of murder.

Battle for the American Mind the authors take on the modern education system in saying it indoctrinates pupils into the left or progressive way of thinking. Since I don't have kids I can't respond to this. I know I was taught, reading, writing, math, history, social studies and religion. I went to a parochial school for grades 1-8, followed by public high school. Most importantly I was taught to think for myself. Although in terms of education, I was probably brought up in the dark ages compared to now.

Mini-ManCat Monday

One reason we admire cats is for their proficiency in one-upmanship. They always seem to come out on top, no matter what they are doing, or pretend they do. - Barbara Webster 

Yeah, we are the bestest at whatever! 

Over the weekend me and mum quietly celly-brated our blog-a-versary! Mum didn't even have to use fingers and toes to figure out we been doing this for 18 years! Wow. Yeah, Derby started it and I joined and continued. Plus I let mum show off her books and blankies. 

Speaking of which, I thinks I need an intervention for mum. First these two boxes showed up from JoAnn, whomever she is.

Then two more boxes and one of them was really big! Sheesh mum, even I can't play in four boxes at one time.

Should have known, mum got carried away cuz she saw not all of her shelves were filled with yarns. So she went crazy!

Now the shelves are all full and she even had one bit left over that wouldn't fit on the shelves. Plus it was a duplicate of a color she already had just got! Mum, you need to control yourself!

Yeah, this is good, just the two of us chilling and watching the outside. Mum also trying to read her book.
 

She is doing good on getting all the outside stuff done. Plants cut back, hauled off. Even the flowers that she planted were all deaded, so they went away too. 

Mum found the hour in all the clocks this weekend. She changed them early on Caturday morning and went to bed so she did get her extra hour of sleeps. She needed it after doing all of her chores.

Feetsball Report

 The Pack won on Sunday, WooHoo. Breaking their losing streak. They played another young team with a QB who hasn't played much either. Lots of penalties, mum said it was like anytime they did something good they had a penalty. Oh well. A W is a W. 

CrashCar is over for the season too. Mum's fav driver wasn't up to be the champion so she didn't care who won. 

Have a good week everyone.

 

Dona Nobis Pacem - Blog Blast for Peace

 

Blog for Peace today and every day.

 

Dona Nobis Pacem

 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 Happy November! 

Trick or treat here yesterday was cold and a bit snowy. The usual amount of kids is 20-25 but I think I had at best 18. Also a late arriving start, about 20 minutes after the official start at 5:30. Probably because the weather was bad and parents didn't get home from work as early. I didn't sit outside to distribute candy, I stayed inside and just answered the door. No need to get cold, although the heavy snow showers had stopped. 

I had lots of salt water taffy and got rid of 80% of it. One kid even said "cool taffy" when they saw what I was handing out. Something other than chocolate or candy bars. Most kids had full bags, except for the ones who were using pillow cases!

A Chateau Under Siege is the latest Bruno, Chief of Police book. During a historical re-enactment the main character is injured but then seems to disappear. His family doesn't seem to be too worried, but there are some underlying threats. Can Bruno figure them out before anything further happens? Book was just released, so another 12-18 months before the next installment!

The London Seance Society in Victorian London this secret men only society seems to not be totally on the up and up. Conducting seances to contact the dead, but then two female spiritualist are seeking out the truth, sometimes at their own peril.

 

 

 

I reorganized my yarn stash and then promptly ordered more! I have empty shelf space! Plus the first two new blankets of the season.

 

Happy Reading and crafting too!

Mini-ManCat Monday

Cats can be cooperative when something feels good, which, to a cat, is the way everything is supposed to feel as much of the time as possible. - Roger Caras

The Devil made me do it! Happy Hollow Weenie Eve everyone! I will try not to be evil over the next few days. 

Mum got out the black majic kitties last week after the cleaning peoples came. That way they didn't have to move the stuff to clean or mess with them.

 

Mum has been good working on the outside stuff too. On Caturday she cleaned up leaves and used the grass eater too. Even the naybor guy came around and did some with his big riding grass eater. It saved mum some time, BUT, he scalped the grass in a few places. 

Mum and the latest blankie with baby colors. Hmm, mum is a baby coming here? Mum says no, but one will be added to the extended family next year. This blankie isn't for them, they picked their color and they didn't want this color. So mum is using it up and will give it away. 

Plus she did more to organize all of her yarns. She will show you that on her book post. 

Feetsball Report

The ViQueens came to Lambeau to play The Pack and they won. The Pack did their usual slow start. Mum was yelling HBO words at the moving picture box. Not so much at the team but the announcers and stuff. Too much chat, not enough game. Heck one play The Pack blocked a kick and then all they showed was the ViQueens sideline, not the run back. 

Then mum watched the end of the CrashCar race. Last race is next weekend. Her fav driver can't be the champion but she was happy that one guy didn't make the final four. 

Everyone have a safe Hallow Weenie. It will be cold here and mum will have to bundle up to be outside handing out treats. 

See you next week!

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

It has been so nice outside I haven't been reading much. Doing some outside yard work and just enjoying the fall warmth. Had a record high temperature of 82F on Tuesday. By the weekend it will be below freezing overnight. 

Have worked on crocheting but that is done while I have been watching the baseball playoffs. When I open the closet it looks strange that there are no blankets piled up. At least not yet it won't take long to get a few done.

The tree guys came last Friday too, so that is another fall thing done. I can see out the back to the walking trail again. The whole yard just feels less messy with all of the excess trees gone. 

On to the books!

Turkey Day Murder part of the ongoing series by Leslie Meier of which I got tired of after the first six of over thirty books. I didn't even read the book cover, it went directly to the return to library pile. I also decided to skip most of the books in the series and only have the four most recent books now on my TBR and spread out so I don't read one or more a month.

The Science of Murder is written by a British pathology technician and in the book uses what are now called forensics based upon Agatha Christie's books. Using examples from her many novels on how items like fingerprints, ballistics, impressions, blood spatter, autopsy and toxicology. While she refers often to various books, she doesn't give any spoilers. Fun read since I have been a Christie fan for ages.

His & Hers, OMG this was a real page turner and one with changes in the plot about every 10 pages. Anna, a BBC reporter is assigned to cover a murder in her old hometown. Jack, the detective assigned to the case knows Anna, but also knew the victim. There are two sides to every story, which means someone is lying. I had read a few other of this author's books and added the two I hadn't read to my list!

The Last Republicans, I would call this a joint political biography of the two Bush Presidents. Their relationship as father and son as well as President to President. Informative read. 

Mini-ManCat Monday

 I'm aloof, I like to run around outside, but I also like to curl up in warm spots. I eat fish. - Megan Coughlin on why she'd make a good cat 

Hmm, mum might make a good cat too. She likes to curl up and be warms too. Fishy eating, yeah, but ham and all sorts of other good human foods.

I saw lots of beauty-ful tock shots over the weekend. I didn't leave a comment on all of the blogs, but I sure appreciated all of you helping me and mum to amember Angel Derby. 

Mum did get the blankie closet all cleared out of the done blankies, but don't worry, she is working on a new one already. Pretty much has one going all winter long. Plus she is going to have to make a special one for a future new member of the family. Coming early next year!

About the future, coming really, really soon is the 2023 Blog Blast for Peace on November 4 and 5. We have been doing this for years and like all years we all need peace in our lives. Miss Mimi heads this up and you can go HERE for more information.

Mum and I have worked hard and we have come up with a really nice peace blog pic for this year. You can make your own or base it off of one of Miss Mimi's backgrounds. We have done both over the years. 

Me keeping watch outside. Mum had some guys come over on Friday and they worked on the trees. Took some dead stuff out, got rid of a lot of junky trees too. We can actually see the trail again from our birdy watching chair. Mum still has some cleanup to do, but this tree stuff would have been too much for her alone.

Feetsball Report

The Pack - they went out to play in the mile high mountains against the Broncos. They didn't get totally stampeded, Jlove and company were winning at one point but at the end Jlove tossed it to the wrong guy. Just like last game. Oh well. 

Have a good week everyone!

 

Tock Day!

 Hello, Ducky here. Twenty years ago today a momma cat somewhere had a litter of kittens. One of those kits was my late, grate bro Derby. Yeah, if he was alive he would be a very old mancat! Sadly we lost him seven years ago to that nasty kidney stuff. 

Now years ago one of his NOMSS special furiends got him into showing his tocks and yes everyone else too. 

Some pumpkin tocks! Good thing since we are getting so much closer to Hollow-weenie.  .

Plus a few of my tiny tocks!

 Happy Purrthday at The Bridge dearest Angel Derby. I am sure you are having one fantastic party.