What I Read in February

I continued in hibernation mode during February and was able to read twelve books.

1. A Cup of Comfort, Ed. Colleen Sell - I think this was the first of the series. I buy them at thrift stores and find them interesting and uplifting.

2. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - A re-read as I was watching the new series on PBS.

3. All Thinks Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot - second in the series (By the way, while the PBS series is entertaining, it is not really faithful to the books which are much richer in character and animal stories.)

4. Attitude is Everything by Keith Harrell - A fantastic book that opened my eyes to some news ideas.

5. Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella - latest stand alone book from Sophie, one of my favorite authors.

6. Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan - Report of a survey of over 10,000 millionaires, totally interesting.

7. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - I'm reading the whole series this year; wonderful book and I'd forgotten so much!

8. behind the beautiful forevers (sic) by Katherine Boo - fascinating and heart wrenching documentation of life in a Mumbai slum.

9. My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinella - another really good book.

10. Insights from a Prophet's Life by Sheri Dew - Wonderful book about Pres. Russell M. Nelson

11. The Little Cottage on the Hill by Emma Davies - I picked this up at a thrift store for some light reading, and yep, it was very light.

12. Veterans Way by Robin Lee Hatcher - Another thrift store book, enjoyable story about reuniting of high school sweethearts after fifty years.

 

What I Read in January

Entry from my journal last year - "Thursday 30 January 2020 Next year I'm just going to block out January and February with the label "Hibernation" and settle in with a stack of books and movies, stay in my jammies all day and not worry about trying to accomplish anything."

While I haven't actually stayed in my jammies, I have worn sweats a lot (to stay warm) and not gotten a whole lot done. Here's what I've read so far this year:

1. The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack -- A fantastic book that I couldn't put down!

2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan -- I know I'm late to the party, but very informative.

3. A Cup of Comfort for Inspiration, Ed. Colleen Sell -- Many good stories.

4. How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith -- The latest installment of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, always a delight.

5. Miracles Among the Rubble by Carol R. Gray -- Memoir of a British woman who took humanitarian aid to the former Yugoslavia region experiencing civil war.

6. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson -- Decluttering encouragement

7. Longbourne by Jo Baker -- Pride and Prejudice from the servants point of view; while the period details were the best I've ever read, I didn't care about the characters until the second half of the book, and found it to be a very put downable book (unlike The Memory Painter which I stayed up half the night reading!).

We're in the second week of a deep freeze here in southern Minnesota. We keep asking each other "Why did we move here?" Thankfully TopDad has only two more years until retirement; then we can leave during the winter and escape the bitter cold.

What have you been reading lately?

Last year I read 136 books; 30 were new-to-me fiction, 21 non-fiction, and 85 old friends (books I've already read). This year I set a goal to read a non-fiction book for every fiction. I have stacks of non-fiction that interest me but I don't seem to get to them. So far this year I'm doing better. And I plan to share what I read each month to keep me honest.

Summer Poetry Project

Noble asked me to participate with her in writing poetry this past summer as a practice exercise for her. We were to do one each week. I wrote for two weeks, she lasted only one. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

Here's my second poem, followed by photos to illustrate.

My Classification of Clouds

30 May 2020

First: flat, grey, endless opaque oppression

                                                   sun blocking, soul sucking, spirit squashing

                                                   cool, maybe warm, deceitful

                                                  Second: shimmering sylphs in diaphanous veils

                                                  wispy, lacy, rippling, translucent

                                                  ethereal shreds and strings

                                                  gauzy ghosts afloat

                                                Third: towering, billowing, bulging, blooming, blowing

                                                white, grey, black

                                                playing peek-a-boo with the sun

                                                dropping rain, flashing lightening, booming thunder

                                                piling up, blowing over, moving on

                                                enlivening, rejuvenating

                                                Fourth: fleecy, fluffy, fanciful bright puffs

                                                shapeful, shading, lazy

                                                drifting, driven, floating, fleeing

                                                benign, full of light

#GIVETHANKS

At the invitation of our church leader, who we revere as a prophet, I'm posting a few things I'm grateful for right now:

a husband who loves me; five wonderful children, all healthy and gainfully employed; one official in-law, and two un-official; two sweet grandchildren; health; prosperity; plenty to keep me busy; and much to look forward to.

What are you grateful for these days?

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

#givethanks

Moms' Cafe

When our children were very young we lived in a suburb of Washington DC in Northern Virginia. Often we would meet Daddy after work and stop at a fast food place for supper. Our children became VERY familiar with them. However, as our family grew to five children we decided that eating out was too expensive. The first time we chose to eat at home the children asked, "Where are we going to eat tonight?" And we answered, "At Mom's Cafe!" They were so excited to try a new place. Ha ha! We pulled into the driveway and they were totally puzzled. It only worked a few times before they caught on and didn't want to go to "Mom's Cafe". But we didn't care, we went anyway.

Hence, my kitchen became known as Mom's Cafe.

Fast forward many years and all the children are leaving home. They asked me to put together a cookbook with all the family favorites. I promised, worked on it a bit, procrastinated and promised some more. 

This summer I decided to get it done. 

Tah-Dah! (And yes, I'm inadvertently revealing my true identity, but hey, we're among friends here.)

Each child got a different colored book.

Each Section is labeled and on the other side (sorry no photo) is a list of recipes in the section.

On a few recipes I included photos.

The Housekeeping section is to remind them of what I taught them, plus a few things for grownups

such as defrosting a chest freezer and cleaning an oven.

That's a huge project completed and crossed off my list. Now on to some T-shirt quilts and photo albums. 

Oh my. I'm tired already!