I was in Target yesterday and couldn’t resist stopping at the book section. I think it’s exciting to look over the shelves and know how much enjoyment is just sitting there waiting for me to read the story.
Every time I have a minute I read comments and write down titles of books. At this moment I have filled 6-1/2 pages, single spaced, of recommended books! Holy Smokes! Connie and I talked about this – we have read many of those on the list but we’re anxious to explore these ” new to us “titles.
Today was the day I finished up the pepper jelly. After much experimenting I ended up getting 3 pints and 18 half pints of near perfect jelly, 6 half pints of jelly that is nearly liquid and 3 pints of jelly, the batch that I boiled into oblivion – jelly that is so hard I can’t get it out of the jar and will have to throw the jar away, too. Haha! So all in all it was a successful canning season and I intended to make enough relish and jelly for two years. Next year I wont have to plant pepper plants or cucumbers. I started canning on August 3 – I was glad to clean up the kitchen and put all the canning equipment away today.
Tonight on PBS at 8 pm is The Great American Read but since it is on at the same time as This Is Us, I’ll have to flip back and forth.
This is something else I did today – I planted a Hoya plant in this metal basket.
As it grows I will use twist ties to attach it to the handle. A philodendron would work good for this, too.
It’s still raining – we’ve had several more inches. It can quit any time.
After I finish cleaning my messy kitchen I’m going to work on my pinwheels. Did any of you start a pinwheel project?
Is anyone looking for a handsome gray and white tuxedo cat? Percy visits too often and causes problems for Colton and JB. He’s also the one who hurt Deano last spring. He needs to be neutered and needs all his shots and since he visits on his schedule, not mine, it’s impossible for me to make a vet appointment for him.
Here are some pictures of this big lover boy!
He deserves a good home which I just can’t give him because of Colton and JB- anybody local interested in this beautiful tuxedo fellow?
Love ro read here are a few I recommend Lilac Girls by M Kelly, Man from Moscow, Nightingale Ktistin Hannah, and one I truly loved from 2016 Henry’s Sisters by Cathy Lamb. nothing like a. Ook in your hand other then fabric!😄
Mary….Had snow this morning covering Aspen trees’ leaves, clumps on various pine trees n ground was covered. Think we never got up temperature wise above 36 degrees. It’s after 5 pm now and light snow mixed with some rain is starting. Getting more snow than rain now.
Rather than reading I finished hand quilting a small quilt project today. I keep saying I’m going to sew the finished Connie’s Star blocks n the alternates into rows, but as I look thru my quilt books I want to work on something new. It’s nice to order fabric online and mix with my stash.
What a treat to see the books in your Target picture. Living off the grid we’re probably an hour or two one way from big stores! Good luck with your Hoya plant and training it around the basket handle.
Launa – not snow! Say it ain’t so! I am so afraid our winter might follow our fall pattern and we’ve had inches and inches of rain! What if all that rain came as snow? Yikes – I just am not ready but when would anyone really be ready. Tonight I’m going to sew pinwheel blocks and have a couple beers – can’t wait to start a new project!
I wrote a list of some of the books I have read recently. I will mail the list to you I think it will be easier that way.
I like to read all kinds of books. This one, Stiff, by Mary Roach, really kept me going. It’s different, I’ll give you that. The subtitle is, “The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.” It answers such questions as, “When is a body really dead? The guillotine is terrible torture. The head can remain alive long enough to grind its teeth . Cutting off a chicken’s head is torture as well, you’d be surprised how long the chicken will live. Just in time for Halloween!
I love it people when write where they’re from so I can keep track of weather. A thought for your new plant–my Amercan Patchwork and Quilting magazine showed a plant tied up with small strips of fabric. I am anxious to see the HUGE list😃. Sorry about Percy; Squeak would quake in fear.
Love the thought of the books. Can’t wait to check out the list.
I have used cut off selvages to tie plants up. Works like a charm!! Something many of us have on hand!! 😉 👌🏻
Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, we are expecting some rain and wind from Michael. I went by the library to get the book, Educated….so I could read a good book in my arm chair during the storm.
I am now, #250 on the list!!!!!!!!!
Diane Muldoon – I think your library needs a few more copies! This is just another reason I buy the books I really want from Amazon.
Such a good book, you think it’s about one thing and it ends up being about something totally different.
You’ll love it. Anxious to see what she writes next
Your Hoya plant will look wonderful going around that handle. Perfect container for it.
Did you buy any books at Target today? Looks like a great selection. We don’t have a Target here so I get mine either through Amazon, our local Fred Meyers or from our fav used bookstore. When you return used books, they give you 1/2 the price you paid as a credit towards other books you buy. It’s a good deal. Well, that is, if he doesn’t have too many of the one you are returning. Then, you get to keep it.
I bought my husband The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. He really liked it and now I have started it. I will let you know when I finish it if we should add it to the list or not. Feels like a yes at this point.
Gotta feed my girls now. (4 hens) I lost one this summer.
PS…Having a nice day after several rainy ones.
Sue in Oregon – I listened to the President Is Missing on Connie’s recommendation. She loved it, I thought it was a snore. I’ll be anxious to hear what you think.
My husband didn’t even finish it…
Does your hoya bloom? It is pretty and different, but I think the smell is… unusual.
Sherry – different varieties smell different – yes, they all bloom even if they’re just in water.
I also love your basket, nice and sturdy for the heavier vines and pretty as well – it is perfect! You find the best stuff, and have great vision for using what you find. I watched This is Us this morning on nbc.com – I don’t think I have ever watched it without a few tears, what a good story! I wonder if it will ever stop raining? My yard still need a bit of attention, but oh the poor farmers trying get the crops out. We got another 3.5 inches over the past 3 days, there is just no place for it to go. Even walking across the yard is squishy. We ALMOST saw the sun this morning as there was a patch of blue sky for a few moments.
Sherry Whalen – too much rain here, too. All our neighbors and church friends are farmers – we are feeling their pain but there’s nothing they can do!
A great book read that sort of goes along with our love of fabric is The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie. It is historical fiction and covers the manufacturing of Singer sewing machines in Scotland in the early 1900s. I enjoyed it so much I read it TWICE! There is a bit of mystery involved so I felt I might have needed the second read to cement how things happened. It was free on Amazon as an e-book when I got it for my Kindle. It may not be free any longer, but don’t think it is very expensive.
Oh darn. You said “local”. It’d be a heck of a plane ride to get your boy to me! He is gorgeous tho….
Les – he is just beautiful – huge and just leans in for pets and big purrs! BUT – I’d hate to think he ran Reedo off last summer and I don’t want any more trouble between him and Colton!
Hi Mary and Ladies,
I work at a library and patrons are always recommending their favorite reads. My list of books is long, too! 🙂
Most recently I have read The Nightengale, The Great Alone, and I listened to The Secret Life of Bees.
And, I have a stack of books waiting to be read! Oh my!
I love reading all the posts and learning what everyone is doing!
Bonnie, in Oregon
Hi to another Oregonian.
I read The Secret Life of Bees and loved it. I am so terrible about retaining names of books I have read, but that one sticks out in my mind. I love bees, so it was a good fit.
I work in a library, too. The Secret Life of Bee by Due Monk Kids was one of our book club’s favorites. I love her historical fiction, The Invention of Wings.
Sue Monk Kidd
Too bad WA is so far away from IA. I would be there in a heart beat for that beautiful boy. I am just finishing up The Address by Fiona Davis. About the grand Dakota apt house in NYC. She also wrote The Dollhouse and The Masterpiece. I am enjoying The Address so much, I’m putting the other 2 on my list to read. Pepper jelly–be still my heart–love it !!!!
Dorothy – dang! Percy comes with pepper jelly! Ha!
Mary, the Mary Roach books are very good. In addition to Stiff, she has Grunt, what the body goes thru being a soldier. Gulp, the digestive system. Bonk, reproductive system. And a new one, Spook, life after life. She describes with a tremendous amount of humor. Nonfiction.
The joke here in Maryland is that if you don’t like the weather, just wait 24 hours. We have had a very unusually warm fall so far, most days in the 80s and near 90s and humid like July. Well, Thursday we are to have 40-60’s!
A book that I’m currently reading is in front there in the Target photo – “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”. On the NY Times Bestseller list. It started out seeming like “chic lit” but now that I have reached the magic fifty pages has changed to a very interesting read.
My purse is so heavy because I always have a book or two with me – even if I only have 10 minutes I dive in. Here are some of my latest favorites: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (really anything by him) and Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. I love Ann Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars is my absolute favorite), Marisa de los Santos, and Laurie Colwin. Thanks for compiling the list, Mary!
The Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig. A story of hardship, adventure and perseverance told with love. It highlights the triumph of the human spirit. The story is happily imprinted on my mind.
I inherited a Hoya plant from my mom who died August 26 of this year. It is over 50 years old!! I will have to take a picture of it and email it to you. I joked with mom that I hope I didn’t kill the Hoya within the first year of her passing! The blooms are beautiful but my dad & I think they stink to high heaven. I have moms sitting on antique table which was my great grandmother’s.
Brenda in Iowa – I also have my first Hoya plant which is over 50 – I have started so many more plants from that original one and have given away dozens! Hoyas do have a very distinct odor but I don’t always think it’s offensive.
I love browsing for books in the stores. I use my phone to take pictures of the ones I want to read…otherwise I would forget before I leave the store.
Julie Burkhardt – I do this, too! Otherwise I know I’d forget – saw Jodi Picoult’s newest called A Spark of Light on the shelves.
Oh that tom cat is so darn good looking, too bad he can’t just get along. In my small town we have coyotes and raccoons and opossum and deer and rabbits and rats and mice. We also have “open space” which is land on a hillside that is not suitable to build on, and since we are in California the land of sunshine and wild fires we hire goats to clear the open space. Here it is best for cat owners to keep their cats indoors or use a catio (a patio that allows them out but protected) or keep them in at night. As we live too closely with the wild life for house cats to be safe out at night..
I hope that cat finds a home somewhere else quickly. I have no idea how much you have paid your vets over the years to care for other people’s animals just to keep them well and yours safe.
We did have a feral cat that needed vet care and she was (as your visiting cat is) available on her schedule, I did explain to the vet office about her schedule (and mine to not pay for a missed appointment) they told me the most likely days they could fit her in and told me to call when I had the cat so if there was time I could bring her. So the out come was I was able to get her taken care of …..fixed after 3 litters of kittens and she became a permanent member of our family.
Colleen in California – all the vets are so busy around here but I’ll try your method of getting an appointment. He needs to be fixed! Then maybe he could get along with Colton. Percy hurt Deano’s leg so bad last winter that he limped for months! He is a handsome fellow however and I’m going to try to help him. Our 7 acres of fencing helps with avoiding the dangerous wildlife but last Sunday two dogs who wandered away from home traveled the neighborhood killing cats in their wake. I was so thankful they could not get into my yard but I worried about Darla all day thinking maybe they killed her when she crossed the road but she turned up at chore time! PTL!
I love the show This is Us. My kids all watch it too and we talk about episodes after everyone watches it. And then my nieces have to send emails so we can chat about it. I am now interested in seeing Mandy Moore’s clothes back in the 70’s remembering what I wore then too!! Ha!
Percy is quite a handsome fella so he deserves someone who will pet him and talk to him. I visit the home my MIL is in here in Rochester NY and love how they allow the kitty’s to live with their owners and it’s so cute seeing them sit on the chairs being petted while people watch tv together.
It’s so strangely warm here again today but I will take it over all the preparation and whatever else is in store for the Florida panhandle residents. I am too old to work that hard picking up my yard.
Kathy – This Is Us is a great show and covers lots of delicate subjects. Yes, I recognize those clothes, too, and my niece wishes I had saved them! Haha!
I recently read “Letters to my Daughters” which was fascinating. Author is Emma Hannigan, new to me. Other recents: Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline; Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickendon.
We went to the apple orchards in Gays Mills, Wisconsin last weekend and brought home 3 large boxes of apples. Saturday, Sunday and Monday I made apple butter. I bought a new apple peeler and hated to throw away those perfectly good apple peels, so tied to make apple jelly. First batch was so runny, I had to reboil with more pectin. I don’t think it has set up either, but I put it in the basement. out of sight, out of mind, haha! will have to check it before I make more apple butter this weekend.
Happy canning! I love to can!
How do I get a list of all of the books people wrote in about??
Laurie Stitzel – if you’re subscribed to the blog, you’ll get the list on Friday of this week.
I really like reading your blog and seeing what you are up to! I’m an avid reader and usually have a book with me wherever I go. I am definitely looking forward to the list of books. Here are some that I have read and enjoyed.
Jodi Picoult – Sing You Home and The Storyteller
Elizabeth Berg – The Art of Mending, Say When, Open House, Never Change, Durable Goods,
We Are All Welcome Here
Ann Patchet – Commonwealth
Ernest Cline – Ready Player One
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl, Dark Places, Sharp Objects
Liane Moriarty – Big Little Lies
Billie Letts – Shoot the Moon
Lisa Scottoline – Look Again
Ann River Siddons – Nora, Nora
Anna Quindlen – Blessings, One True Thing
Congratulations on making the perfect Pepper Jelly! I love your attitude on your various batches!!
Paula in Texas – each batch of that pepper jelly had an “attitude”! Glad I’m done with it all!
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah. GREAT BOOK! I cried at the end – and it’s been ages since I cried over a book. I read it in 3 days.
Elaine – The Great Alone is one of our favorite books – didn’t you just want to scream at those characters? So many blog readers listed that book so I know it was well loved by many!