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What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Answers in the Ashes (The Inn at Holiday Bay) by Kathi Daley, Once Upon a Mystery (The Bookstore at Holiday Bay) by Kathi Daley, Halloween Moon & Thanksgiving Past (The Cottage on Goosberry Bay) by Kathi Daley, Opera and Old Lace (The Bistro at Holiday Bay) by Kathi Daley, and some fanfic.

What I am Currently Reading: Still working on The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney. I also started An Archer's Awakening (Of Crowns & Quills) by Casey Morales as my ‘light’ reading to go with the heavier reading of Hatshepsut.

(Funny thing, I didn’t remember the book when I read the blurb, but apparently I’ve already read it. o_O Some of it came back to me when I started reading it, but not enough for me to feel comfortable going on to the second book. So I’m actually re-reading this one. So many books, too little brain.)

What I Plan to Read Next: I have some library books out, so one of those. Probably the next Amelia Peabody.

spikedluv

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park.

I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded, though I had to make myself complete the task), hand-washed dishes and did a load in the dishwasher, took Grant for a short walk, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter.

I also hit the bank on my way home from mom's and browned ground beef to put together chili for tomorrow’s supper. Tonight, at Pip’s suggestion, was sausage and eggs.

I visited mom, read fanfic, and typed in ~1,200 more words on my fic! Finally! It’s been a while since I’ve typed in anything.

Temps started out at 48.9(F) and reached 75.4. Today was not nearly as nice as yesterday because it was very cloudy all day. There was some spots of blue sky and hints of sun, but overall, clouds. We’re supposed to get rain starting at midnight and lasting all day tomorrow through to 8am Thursday morning. We’ll see.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )

stonepicnicking_okapi

1. The boys and their father enjoyed the ceremony in Winnipeg. But their flight Sunday was cancelled, and the next available flight was Thursday so the boys' father found a rental car which could cross the border and drove 13+ hours to Chicago and they got on a flight which was delayed then re-routed due to fire. AND, on the way home in a taxi, the boys' father decided to stop by Carmax and test drive and buy the new-to-us car (on less than a few hours of sleep in 3 days). Nuts! So now we have a car payment for the first time in many years and it's a Toyota Rav4 if you know about cars (which I don't). I will have to take an hour and get to know it sometime soon.

2. I enjoyed my weekend alone. I worked on a jigsaw puzzle and re-watched Rear Window and read and went to a Mediterranean restaurant I wanted to try and had a really nice time. I updated my soap opera twice.

3.

booknook I have selected 22 Oct for my review. Now I need to find a book to read for it. I will take suggestions, preferably in the mystery/detective genre.

4. Monday is the first day of school.

aurumcalendula

The Beauty's Blade's preview is up on Kobo! imho the translation flows well and I adore the art.

Here's a bunch of order links I was able to find: https://books2read.com/u/br8NQZ

(Barnes & Noble seems to be taking their time with their ebook and the link for the Crunchyroll exclusive cover is here)

tozka

🎬 Who Done It: The Clue Documentary: Directed by Jeff C. Smith. With Colleen Camp, Tim Curry, Syd Dutton, Jane Jenkins. Clue (1985) has become a cult classic film and is loved by multiple generations. Yet there has never been a documentary created to tell the behind the scenes stories…until now. 🔗

A cute fan documentary about the making of Clue (1985), with interviews from some cast and crew members, including the writer/director, and otherwise clips from conventions, TV interviews, and so on.

Audio levels are a bit off on the older recorded bits (the director started in 2017) but overall still watchable. Very interesting learning about the history of the movie’s development, and how they got the cast together.

I thought it was funny that Clue is so popular on social media (especially Tumblr) but the director of the documentary didn’t know any other fans IRL and even the cast/crew didn’t know people loved it. Hopefully they do now, of course!

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spikedluv

Bidding at

sunflower_auction, to benefit Ukraine, is open!

My offer is HERE.

(There are only 10 offers, so it's very easy to scroll down to see them. Some are offering fic, and some art. Please go check them out!)

spikedluv

I hit Walmart and the Dollar Tree while I was downtown. (I also stopped in at the Shoe Department to see if sneaker companies had magically started making women’s 10 1/2 or non-ugly men’s sneakers. They had not.) (Later on I stopped at Sunnycrest to see if they had the beef sticks Pip likes; they did not.)

I did two loads of laundry (including bed sheets, so also stripped and re-made the bed; both loads got washed, dried AND folded), hand-washed dishes and emptied the dishwasher, took the dogs for a couple walks, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

I read more Hapshetsut and watched some HGTV programs.

Temps started out at 48.6(F) and reached 73.2. It was sunny with a light breeze, which was perfect. Needless to say, I did not wear the shorts and tank top I had laid out last night. This morning definitely called for capris and a t-shirt. And a sweatshirt, natch.

Since the high for today was only supposed to be 70, I turned off the AC (we only have one in the bedroom) and opened windows to get some of that cooler air inside the house in the morning. Hopefully we won’t have to turn the AC back on for a while. That would be nice. While I appreciate the cold temps the AC provides when it’s 90+ out, I really do prefer a nice fresh breeze if I can get one.

Mom Update:

Mom was not doing great. ( more back here )

stonepicnicking_okapi

Watch on YouTube

tozka

Happy Monday! I forgot I had this drafted for a week or so…whoops…

Crafts & Hobbies

Marshall Dry Goods was recommended as a potential replacement to JOANN for a fabric source.

I don’t know how this got into my tabs but it’s an English transcription (with screenshots) of a German documentary about traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/1979.

Axxuy shared some typewriter resources for people interested in getting one and/or joining the typewriter-user community.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spikedluv

Another Photo Flashback post. I posted a couple lilac photos back in May, but didn't continue, even though I took several photos every day or every couple of days. I decided to choose one photo from each day to show the progression.

Seeing them here I'm remembering how wonderful they smelled and the times I'd go outside and bury my face in them (after checking for bees first o_O).

( 9 more back here )

tozka

🎬 Some Like It Hot: Directed by Billy Wilder. With Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft. After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in. 🔗

Queer af! And I did enjoy it, especially Marilyn who was a hoot, but if I think about it too much I start getting the heebies.

I HATE when womanizer characters trick their love interest into liking them and the love interest doesn’t get angry at him when the trick is revealed, because they’re in love. Ugh.

Anyway, now I want to see if I can find recordings of all-girl jazz bands to listen to…

📺 2025 Watched List

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spikedluv

I went down to mom’s earlier today than usual because Pip needed to use my car in the middle of the day (he took his dad to a local annual “antique power days”, basically an antique tractor show). I only stayed for about an hour and a half, with plans to return later in the afternoon to check on her again. (More about my visit below.)

I did a load of laundry (Pip’s uniforms, so washed, dried and hung up), hand-washed dishes and ran a load in the dishwasher, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, changed kitty litter, and showered.

Pip brought home chicken dinners that we had for supper, lol!!

I read fanfic and more in Hatshepsut.

Thank you to

cornerofmadenss and

tinny for the birthday wishes!

Temps started out at 61.5(F) and reached 92.3. So much for low 80s. Again, no rain, unless it eventually came in after we went to bed.

Mom Update:

Mom was about the same today. ( more back here )

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

aurumcalendula

Joe Baby is now on Amazon. It's not a particularly good movie imho, but I liked Dichen Lachman in it and would love to see a followup of some sort with her in the same role.

Joe Baby kinda reminds me of Dex Parios and I'm kinda delighted that, going by the Goodreads blurb of the title in question, someone took a book with a male main character and decided to adapt so said character's a queer woman (going by the preview of the first four chapters, Heather Stanton in the movie is Cornell Stanton in the book, so it's possible the main character's also queer in the book but I don't feel like buying the ebook to find out).

stonepicnicking_okapi

Chapter 12 is called "Death on the Moor," which I like. We get the reunion of Holmes and Watson.

Last month, I wrote a poem about Holmes' apology for deceiving Watson. I still think it's a raw point, especially when we get it again (and more cruelly, in my opinion) in "The Dying Detective."

Title: Apology
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Prompt: sad
Rating: Gen
Length: 184
Summary: a poem about Holmes apologizing to Watson for manipulating him during the Baskerville case

( Read more... )

And we get the death of Selden the fugitive. Good riddance!

selden

tozka

Life Updates

I’ve been so enjoying my time in Ann Arbor– or at least in this part of A² in particular.

Every morning I wake up around 6, make a cup of coffee and go out to sit in the garden for an hour or two. Then, after feeding the cats, I go walk around the neighborhood for as long as I want, usually 40 minutes, come back and shower and then get to work! I sit at a high desk and watch the garden out the window, and I see all sorts of animals: groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels (three kinds), chipmunks, stray cats, and once even a deer!

The week has fairly raced by! I did make it into town once this week, to check out the farmer’s market and a few shops. I stopped at a used bookstore called Digger’s, where you literally dig around for media (books, DVDs, games, CDs), and managed to find four books for $0.75/each. Now I’m REALLY in trouble, between those and the ones I got from the Little Free Libraries earlier– and did I mention I found an UNLICENSED LFL on a walk the other day? Of course I got a book from there, so now I’m up to (I think) 10 books still waiting to be read.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

tozka

Looking upwards from the ground into the branches of a very large tree. The branches spread across the screen in a curve and are filled with leaves. The sun is shining through the leaves and highlighting those while the rest are a darker green in shadow.

This is (I think) a burr oak tree! Which is the “arbor” part of Ann Arbor (the other being the names of the two founders’ wives, who were both called Ann).

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spikedluv

Posting this now for two reasons. A) so the book meme isn't overflowing with books and B) because I'm hoping to read something by an author who is not Kathi Daley next as my light reads along side Hatshepsut.

Book 89 of 2025: Answers in the Ashes (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I mostly enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

This book was pretty good; I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

(There are two more books in this series listed on Amazon, but they aren’t due to come out until September and October.)

Book 90 of 2025: Once Upon a Mystery (The Bookstore at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

This book is the first in a series that spins off from the above series. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like reading about another main character. It was alright. ( spoilers )

The thing that interested me about this series is that they eventually form a group that solves murders/cold cases, and that sounded good. Also, the bookstore showcases some cats from a cat rescue, how cute is that?!! But I didn't enjoy this book enough to continue with this spin-off series. I’m giving this one three hearts.

♥♥♥

Book 91 of 2025: Halloween Moon (The Cottage on Gooseberry Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this book. I had forgotten that we met the main character in the Inn at Holiday Bay series, so this is also a spin-off. ( spoilers )

This book was pretty good; I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 92 of 2025: Thanksgiving Past (The Cottage on Gooseberry Bay) (Kathi Daley)

I enjoyed this. ( spoilers )

This book was good; I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

Book 93 of 2025: Opera and Old Lace (The Bistro at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

This is another spin-off from the original Inn at Holiday Bay series I read. It was pretty good. ( spoilers )

This book was okay, but I’m starting to wonder how many murders (aka, spin-off series) a small town like Holiday Bay really needs? I’m giving it four hearts, but I don’t expect I’ll read more in this series.

♥♥♥♥

spikedluv

I hit the Bakery and Agway while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I stopped at the bank on the way home and at the library on the way to mom’s. (I also stopped at the garage on the way home because someone brought in eggs. Even though the price has dropped substantially (and I just bought an 18-pack this week), you don’t turn down free eggs these days!)

I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, took the dogs for a short walk (where I got more pumpkin photos!), cut up chicken for the dogs’ meals, and scooped kitty litter.

ETA: I forgot to mention that I grilled burgers last night to have with the macaroni salad I made. Yum!

I visited mom and read more (some in Hapshetsup and some in two different Kindle cozies).

Temps started out at 62.7(F) and reached 90.5. So much for cooler temps. It was overcast on the way downtown, so I checked the weather app. Forecast now called for a chance of rain today and tomorrow. Whether we actually get it or not is a different story. Check back later. *g* Later: In shocking news, we did not get any rain today.

Mom Update:

Mom was still feeling weak today. ( more back here )

spikedluv

Here are the garage cats (who have moved to the deck for the summer, almost like snowbirds heading to Florida) making themselves comfy on the deck. They're very brave, but the dogs mostly leave them alone now that they're getting used to them.

( 10 more back here )

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Page Summary

spikedluv - Wednesday Reading Meme
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, Aug 19)
stonepicnicking_okapi - Views & News
aurumcalendula - The Beauty's Blade links
tozka - 📺 watched: who done it: the clue documentary (2022)
spikedluv - Sunflower Auction
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, Aug 18)
stonepicnicking_okapi - Music Monday: So What by Miles Davis
tozka - traditional linen weaving, permacomputing, sloppers
spikedluv - Photos: Lilacs (5/7 - 5/27/2025)
tozka - 📺watched: some like it hot (1959)
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Sunday, Aug 17)
celli - night before the first day of "school"
aurumcalendula - (no subject)
stonepicnicking_okapi - Sherlock Sunday: The Hound of the Baskervilles: Chapter 12
tozka - weeknotes (august 10-16, 2025)
tozka - 📸 photo: oak tree
spikedluv - Books 89 - 93 of 2025: All Kindle Cozies by Kathi Daley
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Saturday, Aug 16)
spikedluv - Photos: Smokey & Sorry Face (Garage, now Deck, Cats) (with Bonus Buck!)

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