Puzzles and Books

This summer has been a real slow reading summer for me. Only 13 books June through today! I’m not going to make my Goodreads challenge of 52 this year. Next year I’m not signing on for any challenges. A no pressure year of reading what and when I want. I haven’t even bought many books recently. I picked up a few in thrift shops…

The Fields by Kevin Maher, Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner, Homestead by Rosina Lippi, The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis, In the Dark Places by Peter Robinson, Family and Friends by Anita Brookner, The Caribbean Mystery, Death on the Nile and The Under Dog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie, The Unknown Quantity  and Family Affair by Mignon Eberhart and lastly The Thief of Venice by Jane Langton.

I’m really excited to read The Fields, Intruder in the Dust and Homestead! Have you read any of these? I’m saving The Fields for next March though for Cathy @746 Books Read Ireland Month! I have quite a few Irish authors on the shelf and its so much fun setting aside a whole month for just them 🙂

We’ve done a LOT of jigsaw puzzles this summer though. I have to keep the Bossman busy 😉 All Charles Wysocki, but one. We did The Bizarre Bookshop II by Ravensburger. It was tough, but we got it done. Here’s a few we did…

I unpacked all the Wysocki puzzles (I never get rid of them, I put them away for when we get real old and we won’t remember having done them before 🙂 ). I took pictures of them all in groups of six so I would have them on my phone when we are out shopping and can check if we already one or not so I won’t buy duplicates! I joined a jigsaw puzzle group on Facebook. Cath @Read_Warbler is a member too! That’s how I found the group. They post puzzles for sale or swap too and a woman listed a ton of Wysocki puzzles for $2 each! I kinda went nuts, I bought 13 of them! And one by his brother Heronim. We now have 81 Charles Wysocki puzzles! These are some of the new ones we’ve picked up at thrift stores, eBay and the lady on Facebook…

This one is Olde Nantucket and I’ve been looking for this one for several years and never see it available. It’s an old one. I got it on eBay and the one above it is Rockland Breakwater Light, a lighthouse in Rockland Maine. We’ve been there several times. Never got to go out to the light though. It’s another one you don’t see available very often so I grabbed it up when I saw it. It’s a new unopened one too! eBay is dangerous for me with puzzles! We are stocked up for the winter anyway.

This is one I’ve been looking for a long time too, but the seller wants too much. I do have limits to my obsession! Checking In On Olde Martha’s Vineyard, isn’t it gorgeous?! He wanted $54.99 plus $9.85 shipping! It didn’t sell so he listed it again at $44.99. It is new unopened but thats still too steep. There is a make an offer option so  maybe…

I really need to sell some of mine to finance the new ones! It’s amazing how many people collect Wysocki and will pay big bucks for older ones! It never ceases to amaze me on eBay the prices some of his go for, some in the $100-$300 range! I see them listed for that, I just wonder if they actually sell.

 

Porch Talk

Hello, happy Sunday! I hope all is well in your neighborhood. It’s a bit cooler here but our skies are blue and cloudless today. We missed the snow they thought we were going to get over the weekend. It dipped further south and they got it in Chattanooga and north Georgia. Looks like another system, winter storm Stella, is coming in across the northeast on Monday and Tuesday though. It will miss us but hit both states where my sons live. The one in Maryland’s looking at 8-12 inches of very heavy wet snow! Guess he won’t be working for a couple of days as he works outside. The one in Pennsylvania will only get 4-6″.  Moving to Tennessee was a good move I think!

The new copy of The Sin Mark, I ordered for the dust jacket, came in! Lovely cover. I couldn’t wait to add it to Goodreads so a picture of it will be somewhere online! Tequila by Margaret Page Hood came in too. Now I have all her books. It’s a sweet little Dell paperback in excellent shape. Also Rising, the second book set in Coolidge Corners Vermont, by Alison Smith came in. It was a good week for mail! Nothing like finding a book in your mailbox. I’m adding a big picture of The Sin Mark cover back in the post with my review if you want to see it up close.

We had a new feathered friend visit last week, a yellow-bellied sapsucker! First time I’ve seen one. It’s a little on the larger size and he’s been here most everyday this last week. Haven’t seen him at the feeders just pecking at the tree trunk. Son in Maryland said he is just drinking the sap, it doesn’t mean my tree is dying or anything. He is an arborist, when I said I wish the Pileated woodpecker would visit my trees he said ‘no you don’t, when a woodpecker is busy in your trees its not a good sign of the health of the tree!’ So I was a little worried about my pecan tree, it is the feeding station for all my feeders after all! The mockingbird is still around but not quite as vigilant as he’s been. He’s letting the other birds eat at the feeders but guards the suet cakes. The woodpeckers loved them and I miss seeing them everyday.

I’ve been busy volunteering at our local library book sale. We are sorting books now. The sale is May 4-6. I go up 3 days a week and sort for 3 hours. It’s fun and I like the gals I work with. We get to put books we want aside in a box with our name on it for the sale. My box is full already and I’ll have to start another one soon! I found six Elizabeth Cadell books! I’ve read her first book, My Dear Aunt Flora and liked it, but have only ever come across one other, which I grabbed up!  Nan over at Letters From a  Hill Farm turned me on to her. Her books are lighthearted, humorous, romances. I see there is one mystery she wrote in the 50’s but never published and her daughter has published it along with a biography but it’s $39.95 and I’m cheap! Have you read any Elizabeth Cadell?

Still watching that giraffe, April, in NY. She hasn’t had that baby yet! The staff and vet are getting excited at some of the changes in her body and think it should be soon. I hope so! I’m hooked now! Her nipples have waxed which is a good sign I guess. They cover with wax when she is starting to produce milk to protect the colostrum from leaking out. Hmm… The baby is VERY active and you can see it moving in the video! There is a lot of tail lifting and pushing on the ‘out door’ too now! I found her laying down today with her neck curved and
her head laying down on her thigh! She very rarely lies down let alone lay her head down. They only sleep about 2 hrs. a day and then in 10 minute or so catnaps. Don’t you wish you could get by on so little sleep? If you want to check on her click the link above.

I’m working on a jigsaw puzzle Katrina sent home with me my first trip to Scotland. It’s an old railroad travel poster for the Trossachs. I have to admit I haven’t really enjoyed this one.  It takes much more concentration than the Wysocki puzzles do. sometimes I sit down and can’t find a piece to fit for 20 minutes or more. I’ve tried to give it up a couple times but Bossman says you have it half done! So I trudge on. I’m getting close now… I finished Wysocki’s ‘Rally at Dandelion Mill’ before I started this one and I have a new one I’m dying to start if I ever finish the Trossachs! Although looking at it in the photo its rather nice. I might just LOVE it when its done 🙂

I’ve had the temporary crown on my tooth for two weeks this Tuesday and suppose to get the permanent on then. I’ve had quite a bit of aching and discomfort from it. My dentist’s receptionist scared me to death and said I shouldn’t have any pain it must be cracked! Go back to the man that did the root canal! I felt like my dentist who did the temporary should have me come in and look at it first before I did that! I finally called the endodondist and asked them what they thought and they were so professional and kind. There are lots of little things it could be that are not a worry at all. Air gets inside the crown and causes discomfort, food particles get in, sometimes they leave a little tiny rod in there that is suppose to come out, the temp is thicker and causes gum discomfort that some people are more sensitive too. As  long as there is no darkening of color, swelling, drainage etc. I should be fine. Why couldn’t my dentist tell me these things? I think I’ll be looking for a new dentist. I spent 4 days worrying sick that $2,000 later I’d have to have the tooth pulled after all.

We’ve been bowling a couple times in the last week. Its been so long since we bowled. I forgot how much I enjoy it. Our bowling alley is in a terrible state of repair, but it’s all we have. Yesterday I beat Bossman all three games! I rarely beat him, let alone three times in a row! Do you like to bowl?

I tried a new pie recipe today. Coconut-Pecan German Chocolate Pie. DELICIOUS! I love German chocolate cake. If you do too you’d love this pie. We also had that Mississippi roast recipe that is everywhere online. It was so good! Leftovers will be used in burritos later this week. What’s your favorite pie? I love pie! Have you made anything new and exciting for dinner lately?

What are you reading now? I’m reading The Silver Darlings by Neil M. Gunn. A wonderful Scottish book set on the northeast coast after the clearances. The fishing industry is just getting started and herring is the big catch, those silver darlings are going to make men rich! It’s a really good book with beautiful language. We’re doing a read-a-long on Goodreads with it.

Well, thanks for coming by and visitin’. See you later!

Peggy Ann