Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

I checked back and I started these Wonderful Wordy Wednesday posts on Feb 2, 2022. That means three years worth of books I've shared. 

Yes, Ducky has three litter boxes. When I had two cats I had three boxes and never downsized! Part of it is that I have knees and ankles that make doing stairs less than fun, so I don't want to do that every day. Extra boxes means I don't have to do the stairs every day!

I looked at the sunrise and sunset times, our daylight length is now more than 10 hours. Also the sun has come far enough north that it shines in the back windows of my house. 

Weather is cold, so not outside time, so that means time to read!

Does This Taste Funny? is a collection of family, friends and traditional recipes from South Carolina. Or in Evie's family, they are called receipts. The two grew up near each other in Charleston, SC but didn't meet until they were adults. The recipes are "introduced" by them with stories of the food. Why they included it. I enjoy it when she is on The Late Show, fun banter between the two and you see some of that in print. 

Lots of pictures, both of the food and their family. 

I love my library, heck I love all libraries. I hope you have a good one in your area to patronize. I wouldn't be able to read the number of books that I do if I had to purchase them all. 

Be dangerous!

Happy Reading.

Mini-ManCat Monday

A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.- Hazel Nicholson 

 Mum catching me napping in the sun the other day. It has been cloudy since. The local rodent has been replaced by goats, but they didn't see their shadows. Neither did mum when she was outside. 

We got a little bit of snow on Caturday night.This is the back after mum pushed the snow off the back. Plus she filled the fevver feeders.

Mum got me a couple of new litter boxes. Not bad, high sides as mum says I push too much litter out of the box!

No feetsball this weekend, the Stouper Bowl is next weekend. Mum did watch a bit of a crashcar race, but not much. 

See you next week.

 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

While we came out of the deep freeze in terms of temperature, the winds the past few days have been wild. Gusts in the 40-50 mph range and steady winds 15-20 mph. Hopefully a little less windy today. 

Nearly at the end of January, no snow on the ground either. Strange looking at brown grass. Ground hog day is Sunday!

Did trivia night on Monday, added a forth friend. We do ok but it is just nice to get out with friends and have a good laugh or two. Plus we won for team name again, we change it up every time we play. That wins us gift cards to help pay for our refreshments the next visit.

Yes Megan, I sometimes sneak a peak towards the end of the book. As I mentioned last week I wanted to make sure the main character survived. Killing someone off is a way to end a series and I don't want this series to end, at least not yet. 

 

Notting Hill, a movie but one of my favorites that I hadn't seen in ages. It came to mind when it was an answer at one of our trivia nights. Category was 90s movie themes. This was the only one we knew and I immediately knew the answer. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant fall in love.

The Cold Light of Day Verity and Sydney are in Dublin in 1920. They are trying to find her former colleague Alec. Is he still searching for the phosgene gas or has he joined the Irish Republican Army?

Mrs Pargeter's Patio- I didn't think there was going to be another Mrs Pargeter book but here it is. Mrs P discovers a dead body under her patio. Who is it, who killed him and why and when?. All the usual characters help her figure it out.

A Beautiful Rival is the story of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, fierce competitors in the early days of the cosmetic and beauty business. The time period of the book covers from 1915 to the late 1940s. The spying, poaching of employees to try to stay one step ahead of each other. Both brands still exist, but the Rubinstein products, now owned by L'Oreal, are only available in Europe. The Arden brand has gone through several ownership and is currently a subsidiary of Revlon.

Grabbing books? Maybe cookbooks, good reference and there are lots of them to choose from.

Happy Reading.

Mini-ManCat Monday

 The little furry buggers are just deep, deep wells you throw all your emotions into. - Bruce Schimmel 

Woot, made it to the last Monday in January. The month that seems to go on forever! It is staying lighter a little bit later which is nice.  

The really nasty cold weather is gone. Mum actually went outside on Sunday to feed the fevvers and didn't have a hat on her ears or mitten on her fingers. When it is so cold we see lots and lots of fevvers coming to our feeders. Mum says she is gonna have to go buy more seeds!

Me hanging out with mum in her chair, reading or crow-shay. Here we are during the feetsball game.

Feetsball Report

The teams for the Stouper Bowl are set. The early game the Eagle birds won, mum says she didn't really care which team won. 

The later game mum sorta wanted both teams to win! MOL, that can't happen mum. The Bill guys have played well and mum though they deserved to go. Then again the Chief guys have a chance to win the Stouper Bowl three times in a row. It will be the Chief guys going for the three-peat. 

Mum says cuz it isn't our team there the next two weeks won't be crazy on sports here. 

Stay warm and happy this next week.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

 Hello and welcome to winter! Past three days have been the coldest in over a year, sub-zero and dangerous wind chills. I've had things to do that were arranged weeks ago, so have been out and about. Good news is that the car starts right up even after sitting outside in the cold. Bad news is that I need to check air in the tires, the sensor went off yesterday.

Our local baseball legend Bob Uecker passed away last week. He was the radio announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers for the past 54 seasons. His wit and wisdom will be missed by fans. He actually lived in the same town I do and probably less than 5 miles away. Although he was in the higher rent district!

The cold weather has meant lots of time to read, at least in between watching lots of football. Lots of football also means crochet time!

 

 

Nine Lives and Alibis it is Halloween in Daybreak Island. Complete with having a native islander who is a medium to do readings. People hope the medium can shed some light on two forty year old issues. One murder and one missing person. Unfortunately the medium is killed and the locals have to figure it out.

A Troubling Tail Minnie is on the move with the bookmobile. While on a run she finds out that the local candy shop owner has died in suspicious circumstances. Also one of her patrons faints when she hears the news. Are these events related? Can Minnie help figure out what the connections are? Will Minnie and Rafe get their wedding organized?

That Others May Live an installment of the FBI-K9 Series. A luxury condo building in Washington DC collapses. The building has some important tenants. The K9 teams is brought in to help search for survivors. Question is, did the building collapse due to design error, poor construction or did someone deliberately cause the collapse. Page turner and I had to sneak a peek at the last chapter to make sure about the main characters.

The Air Raid Book Club tells the story of Gertie and her London bookstore over the period of World War II. Characters are Gertie; Hedy, a teenage Jewish refugee plus many other assorted friends. The bookstore becomes an air raid shelter and while they are together they read and discuss books. 

Happy Reading

Mini-ManCat Monday

 Cats were put into the world to disprove the dogma that all things were created to serve man.- Paul Gray 

DOGMA! No way, I don't do DOG anything!

Me and mum discovered a cam from the frozen north that shows a kitty condo for some feral cats. If you want to watch, go here. Nice set up for these kits, they get foods, water and a warm place to hang. 

We got lots of cold here too, but mum has to go out for stuff she arranged afore she knew is was going to be so cold! Lunch with Aunty Kellie on Monday and then another friend on Tuesay. 

Sitting by mum yesterday, she was getting all settled in to crow-shay and watch feetsball. I am going to sit on you while you crow-shay, I deserve your lap!
 

Feetsball Report

Our team is out of the playoffs but mum is still watching. 

Caturday games, the KC gang did good and sent the Texas guys home for the season. Then later in the day the Lion kits played and it wasn't a good outcome for them. This was mum's hope for a win in the Stouper Bowl. 

Sunday the flying Eagles moved on after beating the LA team. This was a fun game as it played in the snow, like being in a snow globe. They will play the Commander guys. Later the Buffalo team won over the birds from Baltimore. They had a bit of snow too but not as much. 

More games next Sunday. 

Stay warm everyone and have a good week.

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

BRRRRR, cold out and lots of indoor things to do. The latest batch of books was a bust, will pick up a new batch today. The batch is not the books in this post.

Lots of TV watching with the football playoffs so that also means lots of crochet time. I think it took me a little over four days to do a lap robe, but I watched six football games too between Saturday to Monday!

Ministry of Truth title is based on the George Orwell book 1984 in which the hero Winston Smith works. That agency was responsible for the party propaganda. In this case this is a tell of the revisionist policies of the Republican Party under Donald Trump. If you tell it often enough and loud enough it must be true. Beating the truth into submission with a combination of bluster, bluff and lies.

Blood on Their Hands a memoir by a reporter who helped to expose the crimes of of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina. The family, part of the wealthy, white, good old boys network, who manipulated people and the law to their advantage. Author started as a reporter at small newspapers and ended up with a large podcast audience while she pursued this story. The main focus of the story, Alex Murdaugh, was convicted of murdering his wife and son in 2023. He was also found guilty of financial fraud and other crimes. Interesting, I remember following this story on the news.

George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle a biography of one quarter of the Beatles. I found that the author used most of the book on his early years and his Beatle years which really was only half of his life. I had wished for more information on the later portion of his life. It was interesting to read about the dynamics of George and his fellow band mates, fellow other musicians and the women in his life too.

Happy Reading.

Mini-ManCat Monday

 Every life should have nine cats. - Anonymous 

Hmmm, mum has a way to go to get to nine cats. Even if she counts the ones when she was a little kid. Maybe about 6 more cats she needs?

Hey, there is a new Ducky in the Cat Blogosphere. You remember Max the PsychoKitty? Well his humans went out and got a new kitten and named him Ducky! He isn't orinch like me, but still, he is cute. He is a house panther with one little patch of white on his chest. Way to got Thumper and Spouse Thingy!

Me, I am just hanging out. Mum is going some extra cleaning this past week. Plus our regular cleaning crew comes today. Mum is working on making the carpet look better. Getting rid of places stuff got spilled but didn't come up with the regular carpet cleaner!
 

Me helping mum with her blankie crow-shay. With all of the sports on the moving picture box she is getting lots done. The book pile has been ignored, or in some cases started and not finished! 

Mum's closet full, well almost full, of yarns. This is about a years worth of blankies!

Below is the work in progress. I wanted to be warm so I burrowed under the blankie, then came out when I was warm enuf.

 

 

Feetsball Report

The Pack - took off for Philly and landed with a thud! Heck, they fumbled the first kickoff. So sadly their season is over. Plus they got more players hurt, so that wouldn't have been good either. 

Mum will watch the games, she isn't sure who she wants to win yet. Right now probably Detroit, KC or Buffalo. One more game tonight, moved cuz of all the fires. 

Sending lots of purrs to SoCal, we feel super sad for you.

Have a good week everyone. 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Welcome to 2025! I have read the first few of my books for this new year. Trying out some new authors, not sure if I like them or not just yet. 

Final count of books read during 2024 was 142 with a value of $4,477.61 of library materials checked out. Less than other years, but then I have been busy doing other things. My peak reading years coincided with the pandemic. 

Christmas stuff has been stored away for another year. Thinking about getting some different lights for outside, newer, brighter. Will have to see what I can find. I want brighter blue which I don't have now. 

Cold outside but no snow, sort of nice not having to clear snow. Can stay inside, work on my books or crochet. Do have to venture out to keep the bird feeders full. Poor things need food too.

Library started up a trivia night again but it wasn't as fun as the previous version. Different librarian putting it together and it seemed more like a test. Match book to author, match book to which award. Our best topic group was sports! Will see if they have another, otherwise we will head to a local establishment for our trivia fix.

Becoming Madame Mao is written in a stream of consciousness manner which to me made it hard to read. The story centers on Jiang Ching who marries Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong) who becomes the communist chairman of China for many years. Jiang was an actress and continued to act even while married and serving as "first lady of China". Since I don't have a good grasp of Chinese history this story didn't always make sense. 

Unscripted is the accounting of Sumner Redstone who was the head of CBS, Viacom, Paramount and who was going to control this media giant. His daughter or someone else? It includes sleazy stores of women and men who used power, sex, money to get what they wanted. Part of this story includes the downfall of CBS head Les Moonves. 

If you don't have a TBR (To Be Read) list, this is a way to suggest books to be read. Sometimes it is hard to pick a topic or book so this gives you some suggestions. Not that I need this, my TBR is over 100 books. While I read some, I'm always adding more. 

 

Happy Reading.

Mini-ManCat Monday

 A cat is there when you call her - if she doesn't have something better to do.- Bill Adler 

Yeah, I rarely answer mum. Why? I know I can bug her when I need stuff. I don't have to cater to her every whim. 

The new year has started out cold here. BRRRRR. No snow, just cold. Mum put away all of the Christ-mouse stuff. She even braved the cold to take down the outside lights.  I know lots of places got lots of snow that usually don't get much snow. We have no snow. 

The above is mum's crow-shay that she finished on Caturday and below is the one she was working on Sunday. She got lots done with all the feetsball she was watching. I even have a ball of yarn to play with!

Feetsball Report

The Pack - ::sigh:: man they didn't look good, mum was saying all sorts of words from the bad word list. They losted to Da Bears at Lambeau. That is terrible. QB1 JLove banged up his hand/elbow so didn't play the entire game. Good news is that they knew they were in the playoffs and will play on Sunday afternoon against the Eagles. 

Everyone have a good week.