It's been a month since my last post!  no idea how that much time has passed.  too much focus on yucky stuff like taxes. 

have read all of the Lucy Stone series by Leslie Meier. 

http://www.amazon.com/Leslie-Meier/e/B000APW6ES/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

currently reading Agony of the Leaves by Laura Childs, another series I follow. 

Goldie is doing his Spring Shed -- why? I wonder -- he's an indoor cat; sitting at the screen door a few hours during a warm day is his closest to experiencing outdoors.

in the garden the white lilac is in bloom.

Memories Teased

I'm reading Victoria Houston's series set in Loon Lake, Wisconsin.

http://www.victoriahouston.com

A very enjoyable cozy (although it has neither quilts nor cats). it had me pleasantly drifting toward sleep when .....wham!  one simple word sparked so many warm memories of a grandmother with a German heritage.

dumhof!

It's German for "stupid" -- never used to describe another, but rather in the "I am/was a dumhof" when I did that.

oh, compensating for the lack of cats & quilts, one of the main characters is a female Chief of Police.

Current Cozy Setting

Shropshire Union Canal, England -- Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie.  I'm gorging on all the Kincaid & Gemma not-yet-reads. 

(photo source info lost)
I've seen these -- part of the canal system, on a London tour ages ago.

Winter, Winter go away!

Another dreary day with possible sleet and snow.  I'm going to follow Rea's example [Confessions of a Pioneer Woman] and chose " to preserve my (our) resources" by curling up with a good book - another of the Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie. A piece of wonderfully dedicant chocolate, from Wallmart of all places, may be just extra luxury such an afternoon demands.  

With fingers crossed

that the predicted storm fizzles long before reaching here, I'm enjoying a visit to Glastonbury Abbey in A Finer End.



and the wonder of internet, as I read, a website broadcasts some of the chants associated with the pre-reformation abbey.

Current Reads

photos from Amazon

In the British village of Nether Monkslip, Max Tudor, a former MI5 agent, is the vicar. A 5-star read -- Max, location, supporting cast, plot, tea and crumpets, all satisfy.

Also reading Maddy Hunter ,
 
Passport to Peril series, and Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series.

why does it feel as though spring will never come -- in spite of the mild snowless days we have had recently?

Reading can be both yummy and mysterious.

Even cozy mysteries  need a villain.  In the Cat Quilt, this block is the "villain" --  

Goldie and Tri feel he's a cozy villain and would even curl up with him -- If they were allowed to sleep on this quilt. 

Just finished reading The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murder.  This is the last of the 3 Eugenia Potter mysteries, The Cooking School Murders, The Baked Ben Supper Murders and The Nantucket Diet Murders.  Virginia Rich was working on this novel when she died; it was finished by Nancy Pickard.  I do wish there had been many many more in this series, especially since its heroine is a "mature" lady, and not in a nursing home. 

And the Chili sounds yummy -- my bosses are reminding me that it's their dinner time.

(Who needs an alarm clock when there's a cat or two in the house?)





Virus Alert

I've been told that the link in Feb 16, 2011 post has a virus attached to it.  I have no idea how it became attached and can not find out how to remove it, nor will the original post delete.  Therefore, if you do read old posts, please do not use that link to the fabric store in Jonesport, Maine.  If you do wish to locate the store, please use Google.  My appologies to all -- original plans were to upgrade my tower this summer and hopefully that can be fixed then.  I have run Norton AntiVirus which comes up with nothing.

Read-a-Thon

I've been enjoying a marithon of Mark Schweizer's cozies featuring Hayden Konig, an organist-police chief in a small North Carolina mountain town.  There are 9 in the series; all delightful, with a touch of humor. 

Fictional Shop Name

Although the heroine is owner of an embroidery shop, there's a neighboring quilt shop named: Batty About Quilts.  Isn't that a great name for a quilt shop!

You Got Mail

Turned on the TV to get the weather forecast and You Got Mail, my favorite movie, was on, so I've loafed here watching it - again.  Not a DVD buyer, but this is one of the few I do have on DVD. 

In it Meg Ryan says: When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.  

Growing up reading The Bobbsey Twins, guess it's only natural then that I'm a cozy mystery reader. 














Note the change over the years, from the small @3" square books I read to Kindle.  Happy to see they are still "in print".  Movie Watching Bonus -- there's a quilt on her bed. 

"The Wedding Shawl"

written by Sally Goldenbaum.  A very

Amazon.com

 enjoyable cozy series -- knitting not quilting but there is a cat, named Purl. 



Bookstores

Sometimes a memory just pops up & that happened to me today -- back in the pre-Kindle days, when DH & I got down to NYC, we would try to fit in a visit to Murder Ink, which opened in 1972 on West 87th Street.  As the name indicates, it focused on crime fiction. Unfortunately, it closed in 2006.

In You've Got Mail, my favorite movie -- books & romance, what more do you want? -- Meg Ryan's store focused on children's books.  

Sorry, a firm paw reminded me that it's Dinner Time and that both Meg Ryan and Murder Ink lacked a kitty.  Kitties with books and romance are best.

Currently Reading



Amazon.com

This is the second one about Charlie, a librarian, and his cat Diesel which I have read.  Looking forward to a third one.  Diesel wears a harness & goes to the library with Charlie, actually a retired librarian who is now a volunteer.  Can't imagine either Goldie or Tri wearing a harness.












The Measby Murder is the other book I've also recently finished.  It's set in an assisted living facility that's in a traditional English village.  As a birthday gift, the heroine is given a kitten.

Currently reading Murder Under Cover.  The heroine of this one is a

 rare book appraiser & restorer.  She also has a cat but he hasn't played a major role yet in this book.  He does have a cat quilt in his cat bed.

.

An Ordinary Day

Yesterday and today's simple routine of meals, house tasks, favorite TV shows and quiet reading is a good counterpoint to a string of eventful days.  Friday's Royal Wedding was followed by a special family visit on Sunday. 

Tomorrow The View has Dick Van Dyke as a guest promoting his new book, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business.



Amazon.com





For me the show's a personal classic -- along with Arthur Godfrey and I Love Lucy.

It's been added to my "Must Read" list -- a nice change from the cozy murder mystery.

Goldie feels he's just as graceful and light on his toes -- unless he wants breakfast and I'm sleeping in-- then he lands with tonnage.  At least he's not dragging the quilt with him. 

While They nap

I read.  Just finished Time Enough to Die by Lillian Stewart Carl and have begun Arsnic and Old Paint by Halley Lind.  It's the 4th in this series, one I follow.
There's this "quote" at the beginning of Chapter 1: 
Craquelure: A web of fine lines indicating age, that results in greater beauty. 
In the book it refers to paintings, but I think it works just fine for humans. 

Quilt Room Views & Another Basket

My "ironing board" for blocks as they are constructed.   Scrapbook pages to-do are in the plastic "project" bags on the shelf below.   This ironing station was designed specifically for me so it fits my height.  

Behind it is my "project board" -- a 61"x36" bulletin board.  

  

On the opposite wall is the closet, which holds my fabric stash, a window and my quilt and scrapbooking books. 

The short chair is one my children had; it's basket holds CDs.  The taller chair, my Grandfather's highchair (he was a very small baby),  holds a basket of plastic templates.   



Winter from Hell Becomes Spring

from Hell as This

becomes this:

and this 

becomes this:

Do you really need 3 guesses about how I spent last night?  Gave up about 1:30am, had a comfort food snack of cocoa and crackers, tucked in with the kitties and read until I dozed off. 

Rain, Rain Go Away! is today's song -- And don't bother to come back.  There's still banks of snow from having the roof shoveled -- Aggggggggggggg...........



Lazy Rainy Sunday

Have shelved the "shoulds" for another day -- as in should be doing IRS returns -- and spending this rainy Sunday curled up with Kindle and cats.  Just finished a very enjoyable cozy mystery -- Dead as a Scone. 


Amazon.com

and plan to start reading another in this series after lunch.

Yesterday one of my granddaughters spent the morning quilting with me.  We finished putting together the top of her doll-size quilt (29x29; 3 rows of 6" blocks with 2" sashing).  Found some fabric good for a backing in the stash, but she needs to get batting and fabric for binding before our next session. 

New England Cozies

Not quilts, but a type of murder mystery, basically no gore.  I seem to be reading cozies not just set in New England, but in locations I know well.  First it was  Drowning in Christmas, Hartford's  Wadsworth Atheneum's Festival of Trees -- a museum I have visited often and  have been to that Festival.  Now just finished Town in A Lobster Stew, set in a "cozy coastal village in Downeast Maine".  With its reference to "up in Machias" as well as the physical description of the town, it could easily stand in for Jonesport, where many a summer vacation was spent.   Both were quite enjoyable reads.


                                                            Amazon pictures

Lobster Stew is the second in that series; the first is Town in A Blueberry Jam.

Looking forward to more in both these series.  Wouldn't it be great if either or both  incorporated a quilt or quilting into one of the stories?!

Also looking forward to seeing daffodils poking through spotty remains of old snow.  Need that reassurance that Spring Will Come & That  *** Snow will Melt (hopefully not into my basement).