Multiple books are included in many of my children’s book reviews. Maybe it is a need to share my love of books with all. Or maybe an effort to be fair with the trio of grandkids. But it is hard to just buy one book geared to the youngest generation. The holidays are upon us and these three children’s books are great for giving. And I am certain there will be yet another trio of children’s books reviewed in the future.
Going Rogue is Janet Evanovich’s latest Stephanie Plum novel. Loyal fans will be delighted. Because the book fleshes out old characters with more in-depth personalities. And Stephanie Plum is showing growth as well. As usual there are several laugh out loud moments from the delightful supporting cast.
As a quilter, I often travel with a small quilt in the final stage-the hand quilting. This is true of this trip. All that remains is the binding.
However, for this trip I also brought a Bucilla stocking. The extended stay in Central Florida allowed me time to start and complete the cute snowman for the newest member of the family. I think the stocking will be loved.
Keeping track of craft items while traveling can be tricky. For this November 2022 trip I kept the two projects in the same tote bag. Large enough to carry both items and small enough to carry into hotel rooms at night. Both the quilt and the stocking may have small monetary value, but each is priceless.
Love Marriage by Monica Ali is an intense book. Not because it is an action thriller or mystery because it is not. Instead, the novel takes a deep look at expected social mores and what really lies behind closed doors. Most importantly, Love Marriage is all about the title. What is love? What is marriage? And are they the same?
Bending the Rules goes against my nature. I grew up on the era when cheating-on anything or anyone- was not acceptable for anything or by anyone. The shame was incredible even without the tar and feathering of colonial days. So, I was definitely a child that colored INSIDE the lines.
But now I color without any lines at all. So, it is not surprising that I am bending the rules with my current craft project. A Bucilla stocking for the youngest grandchild is almost complete. The instructions for these stockings are complex and run multiple pages. Since this is my third stocking, I now make “adjustments” to the required steps.
I now use an added felt piece to back the front of the stocking before starting the craft work. My tendency is to make tight stitches which are not ideal for embroidery of any kind. And disastrous when working with felt. The additional piece provides needed sturdiness for my needlework.
A secondary use for this added piece is to hide the applique stitching. Few stitches carry all the way through to the second piece. I believe this will add to the longevity of the stocking. Christmas goodies will not snag or pull on the interior threads nor will chubby toddler hands. These stocking gifts are meant to last a lifetime-not just survive the childhood years. 
Finally, I diverged from the rules with respect to areas requiring a stuffing. The suggested polyester fiberfill is good for large pieces. But for the smaller pieces I have transitioned to using leftover quilt batting. The flat cotton layers still give the shape body but are so much easier to use. In this snowman stocking, the berries would be a nightmare to stuff any other way.
Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me is a thrilling, moving novel of love in the face of lies. The need for family and the sacrifices one makes for that family is the heart and soul of the book. The outcome will move you to tears.
Emotion aside, the story is a fascinating mystery without being a who-done-it. Murder is not the theme. Instead, protecting family is. And yet, the protection comes at a cost. Can the protagonist give up the love of her life to provide stability to a teenager? A sixteen-year-old angry at having a stepmom?
Two weeks of travel allows one to make notes on the weather from varying climates. The trip began in the Colorado mountains. A week of almost daily snow falling from the sky along with snow cannons is creating a base for the ski runs. A check of open resorts can be gleamed by clicking here.
Descending down the mountains, cold air gave way to warm. The High Plains were still dry, but if moisture came it would be in the form of rain. Instead, Halloween was a beautiful fall day as I crossed Kansas into Missouri. If better notes on the weather were taken, exact temperatures could be shared. But highs in the 70s (Fahrenheit) and lows in the 50s (F°) were the rule for the first few days of November.
A full week spent in the Bluegrass State proved weather can be variable. Kentucky showed signs of a lack of moisture. But not the drought conditions of more western states. (Missouri appeared to be the worst.) The temperature swings from the upper sixties to upper seventies in the afternoons with lows ranging from 42 F° to 60 F° at night.
Dry conditions were underscored by an extremely windy day on Saturday of Breeder’s Cup races followed by just a sprinkle of rain. Then, the fall weather returned full force. Hopefully the next big front to blow through will have less wind and more rain.
My arrival in Central Florida preceded Nicole’s by about eighteen hours. The winds became stronger as we both approached the area. Since, this was a Category 1 storm the wind gusts were on par to those I experience frequently living on the High Plains. I have always wondered why the Weather Channel does not send Jim Cantore and his co-hosts out to my part of the country on a more regular basis. Perhaps, it is the lack of storm surge. More likely blowing dust is not as easy to film as crashing waves.
We battened down the hatches and stayed inside as the storm rolled through. “Minimal” rain of just 2.3 inches accompanied the strong winds. Some small branches came down, including one that pierced the pool screen. A few neighbors lost bigger branches, but no trees toppled in this neighborhood.
The rain amounts varied. Since both of my Central Florida family members take notes on the weather, I can report 5 miles to the Northeast the rainfall was 4 inches. Such a difference is normal in this part of the world.
Both a romance and a love story, Thank You for Listening is an enchanting story with depth. Julia Whelan’s experience as a screenwriter and audiobook narrator provides the necessary background to pen this delightful book. My only question as someone who has never heard an audiobook, do the books end with the phrase thank you for listening?
Holsinger is masterful at utilizing fiction to bring attention to major societal problems. In The Displacements, the author gives hope that change can come about. But it may occur one person at a time.
The growth of Daphne Larson-Hall is particularly uplifting. Many women in America fit her description. Unaware of personal or family finances. And too trusting. Yet, in the face of adversity she re-groups and finds herself. Not a perfect mom, but she has the strength of love for her family. The interactions with her stepson towards the end of the story are powerful. Strength comes from within-as does happiness.
If you have not read any of Holsinger’s work, I encourage you to add him to your list of authors to look for. His stand-alone books make you think. They truly are a reflection of society.
The youngest tyke is just now realizing there is a world around him. Fortunately, he has parents that both read and read to him. Snowman At Halloween is a board book that he can put his chubby little hands around…next year. But I am sure he will listen to more than one reading of the cute tale this year.
The story is written by Caralyn Buehner and illustrated by Mark Buehner. I picked it up because snow often fell before Halloween when my kids were little. Not so much anymore. The sentences have rhyme and rhythm, and the story is sure to please readers young and old. A perfect start to a collection of Halloween books.
This adaptation of the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler is sure to please my middle grandchild. She loves to open flaps and pull tabs. Since I have not read the original, I cannot attest to the changes. But this board book is delightfully humorous on its’ own. And the perfect length for pre-toddlers still building their attention spans. Interactive Halloween books are hard to find, and Room on the Broom is sure to be a hit.
The last of the trio of Halloween books is part of a picture book series. Ann Whitford Paul writes, and David Walker illustrates the If Animals… series. And If Animals Trick-or-Treated is sure to be a winner with the eldest grandchild who understands just what occurs on Halloween night.
If Animals Trick-or-Treated has a 2022 release date, so it may not be in many libraries yet. But the book portrays the various young animals in a variety of Halloween activities from visiting the pumpkin patch to reading scary stories and sharing delightful animal favorite treats.
While not a fan of snakes in general, I understand the importance of snakes such as bull snakes in the ecosystem. So, identification is important. Bull snakes closely resemble rattlesnakes. As long as rattlers stay away from my yard, they are free to be. But venomous snakes are too dangerous to co-exist in close proximity.
As a young child I was taught to stay clear of certain snakes. The first I learned to identify was the coral snake followed by Eastern Diamondback and Timber rattlesnakes. On the High Plains of North America, I mostly encounter prairie rattlers although massasauga rattlesnakes can also be found. The latter snakes tend to be smaller. Both are venomous.
Markings of bull snakes and rattlesnakes are similar. The heads are both triangular although the rattlesnake is more so and narrows at the neck. As a defense mechanism, the bull snake can flatten its’ head making this factor unreliable. The eyes differ as well, but I wouldn’t want to get that close. So, the default is the tail. Beware of rattles.
Sophie the cat is quite the hunter. From time to time, she has competition from the bull snakes. She stays clear of the larger ones but sometimes challenges and even conquers the smaller ones. She was challenging the latest bull snake this week.
When bull snakes are confronted, they take on the characteristics of a rattlesnake. They coil as if they will strike, puff up and hiss. Sometimes they will mimic a rattle with their tails by shaking it against dry leaves. In the case of our latest visitor, only green grass was nearby.
However, we wanted to make sure. In the photo above, the eye is rounded as for a bull. But I did not get close enough to see in real life. It was the striped tail without a rattle that saved this particular reptile.
Upgrade by Blake Crouch is a 2022 release that is part futuristic, part action, part dystopian and totally page turning. But the most compelling part of the story is the humanity demonstrated by the hero, Logan Ramsey. A man no longer a “normal” human. But one genetically altered.
My fall clean-up will extend outside as well as in the basement. Beds will be prepared for winter. To guard against erosion, plants will not be pulled from the ground. Instead, I will clip the stalks at or just above ground level. Hopefully, this will prevent the strong winter winds from blowing away the soil. I lost my entire garlic crop last year due to winds over 100 m.p.h. (That is equal to Category 2 Hurricane winds.)
Next, I will add some compost and a covering of straw. This will enrich the soil and keep the temperature just a bit warmer. Cool spring soil temperature can delay transplanting into the garden.
Additional tasks will include trimming of branches, disconnecting hoses and of course raking of leaves…once they start falling. The trees are late to turn color this year. So, it is quite possible we will not have our first frost until November. Quite a change from 2020 when we experienced a Labor Day Freeze.
On impulse I purchased Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly from the bookstore at 
Mackinac Island. Fortunately, the impulse proved worthy. This novel of historical fiction focuses on three main characters. Two real-life individuals and a third protagonist who is more of a composite. The story begins as Hitler invades Poland. But the lives of the three are followed long after the end of the second World War.
Thanks to the use of two books, I previously have reviewed; Cleaning Sucks and Lose The Clutter Lose The Weight, fall cleaning inside the house has been much easier. But there is one major exception, the basement. So this fall I am concentrating on the area below the ground.
My basement is partial and mostly finished. The unfinished room is storage and really not that big of an area. At 8 x 10 the room does have tall cabinet doors painted to reflect the seasons. The original intent was to store decorations. Intentions and needs change through the years.
My goal this fall is to clean out the clutter and repurpose some of the shelves in order to store paint and repair supplies as well as some of my gardening supplies. Alas, inflation has kept me from my dream garden/greenhouse. So, seed starting equipment will remain inside.
Additionally, my canning equipment is all over the place. Organization is clearly needed. But this is tough in the heart of canning season. Empty jars are rapidly filling with produce. The filled jars need their own space as well.
A quick trip to Austin, Texas created a desire to return. The stay in the downtown area contrasted greatly with many other cities. In addition to friendliness, the streets were clean, and many families were out and about. Furthermore, bike and running paths and various self-propelled watercraft provided opportunity for healthy living. High tech is also evident as we ran into a REV-1 robot in test mode. Certainly, eye-opening for a small-town resident like me.
Food is incredible in Austin! Our first experience-lunch at True Food Kitchen. This hip location on the Capitol side of the Colorado River provided great meals for both meat-eaters and vegetarians. Their kale salads were phenomenal. Enough for me to want to plant a winter crop. Paninis and burgers were also enjoyed. The service was good,
and the restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating. I highly recommend.
My favorite evening meal took place at Perla’s Seafood and Oyster Bar. This popular eatery may require reservations and/or patience to be seated. We were fortunate and were able to get a table promptly, but the line was long upon exiting. Again, both indoor and outdoor seating is available.
Oyster lovers have a varied choice-yes oysters are not all the same. The group I was with had a tasting of four varieties. Additionally, the summer melon & Buratta appetizer was delicious and large enough to share. Various seafood comprised the main courses. I found the brioche-crusted halibut much to my liking. For non-seafood eaters, steaks can be ordered. A caveat, the restaurant is a bit pricy, but worth every penny for a special night out.
August 2022 was a busy month with multiple trips including a short weekend in Upstate New York. The airplanes were packed and delayed. Although with the new guidelines, even a minute behind scheduled takeoff is now considered a delay.
I did manage to squeeze in a few hours in New York to visit a church where one of my ancestors had preached. Full of intention to write a post sharing the experience, alas the pictures remain in the computer and the words in my head. Much like the bats of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin.
Last Christmas Day I learned a new grandchild was due at the end of August 2022. Well, the little guy arrived quite early and quite small back in Mid-July. Preemies are a bit scary, so I chose not to share the news in the July 2022 Wrap-Up. However, now weighing six pounds two ounces, he has doubled his birth weight. Tube feeding helped with the weight gain. 
He remains on supplemental oxygen but everything else is as if he was born at the “normal” forty weeks. Much time has been spent with this tiny lad, and he seems determined to catch up quickly. I treasure my family and am thankful for this newest member. Even though the curse of interesting times is upon us, life can bring joy. Embrace the blessings!
Schachner has created a series devoted to the imagination of the young child. The rhymes and puns incorporated into the dialogue add backbone to the outrageous storyline. Who ever heard of a Siamese Cat thinking he was a Chihuahua? And a superhero to boot? This early introduction of a suspension of disbelief is essential for the enjoyment of fiction through the years.
The antics of Skippyjon Jones and his counterpart El Skippito Friskito came on the scene in the early years of the 21st Century. And Skippyjon Jones in the Dog-House was published in 2005. One excuse for missing these entertaining books was a pre-occupation with keeping teenagers busy and out of trouble. Thankfully, having grandkids gives one a second chance.
