The Blackhouse - Peter May (Book Review)

This series is set in Scotland, so the vernacular is a little different. The detective is complex and interesting. I feel badly about giving this three stars in Goodreads. It's well written and I think the story is really interesting, but somehow the pace killed me. I'm willing to give the author another try.

Book Review - Winter of Discontent

It's going to take me a while to remember to do these reviews. Sigh.

Next to last (to date) in this series of cozies by Jeanne M. Dams. One of the things I've liked about this series is that the murders are not your typical murders. The root of this one was historical, not all that easy to figure out, at least not for me. I really like one of the secondary characters, the neighbor Jane, very much. This story let the reader get closer to her, which I enjoyed.

These are true cozies - no real blood and guts, no real scary suspense. Very much like Agatha Christie.

Zoo Day

I haven't had a full weekend off in more weeks than I care to remember, so when I found myself free this weekend, we decided to go on a family outing. Off to the zoo we went.

We chose Los Angeles - it's much more reasonably priced than the San Diego Zoo. It's not as large, but that didn't end up mattering much. We couldn't cover it all anyway. The kids were reasonabl excited about going, although they complained about the drive. Their primary interests seemed to be snacks and souvenirs, but we got past all that and saw some interesting stuff. James wanted to see a snow leopard, which we found. I wanted to see gorillas. Christian wanted to see the monkeys with the red butts, which we didn't find, but was satisfied with the orangutans. Mackenzie mostly wanted to shop. They all loved LAIR (the Living Amphibian, Invertebrate and Reptile exhibit), which I skipped. The weather was gorgeous and it wasn't too crowded.

A good day to remember.

2013 Reading Challenge

I've reset my book count sidebar and made my first entry. I thought some about upping my reading challenge, but have decided not to do it. For this year, I'm going to keep the challenge at 100 with the proviso that I'll try to write short reviews for each of the books. I don't really feel I'm very good at that. When I read Goodreads reviews, it seems that everyone just summarizes the story. Once someone has done that, what's the point? And I guess that I don't think my personal opinion really is very important. However, maybe I'll gain a little insight for myself on what it is I really like in books. That could be helpful when that inevitable question comes from a patron, "What would you suggest?"

So my first book of the year is A Dark and Stormy Night by Jeanne M. Dams. This series definitely falls in the "cozy" category - an older American woman who lives in England and seems to be plagued by dead bodies falling into her path. I like the character and have enjoyed following the relationships in the stories. I've read this one out of turn - it's the last in the series and although I have the one before it here to read, I accidentally skipped it. (It's the last on my list and I've started it.) This final book is my least favorite. There were a lot of characters and they didn't seem as thoroughly drawn as those in the earlier books. It alsoseemed the action was slow. If any of you are tempted to read the series, be sure to start with the earlier ones.

Gratitude

With Christmas over and the new year looming, we've reached a quiet time in the year. The "busyness" of the the holidays is over, and yet it doesn't feel right to start something new before January. My heart is full - dealing with the problems of the past year and feeling hopeful about the year to come. It's a time for self-assessment; how can you move ahead if you don't recognize where you're coming from?

From where I sit at this moment, I am grateful for the blessings that fill my life:

• Family - those under our roof and those in my heart. Those who live far away and reach out when they can. Those who are "family" through affection and care. Those who do more than their share to make sure we're okay.
• Friends - Our circle of friends might not be large, but it's full of loving, thoughtful people. Each person has a special place. Each person I count as friend has a core of goodness, kindness and integrity that I treasure.
• Pets - too many of them and all of them (even Rocky the fish) dear to our hearts.
• Work - too much, too little, all necessary. Work gives my life structure and also good friends. I'm lucky to have found something to do that really makes me happy.
• Home and neighbors - Not many people I know are blessed with a neighborhood like ours. We're lucky to have found them. Our house might be a collection of unfinished projects, but it suits us perfectly.
• Winter rain - I'm loving this winter season. No torrents yet, just steady rain every couple of days. I'm sure it will clear for the Rose Parade, but I hope it doesn't go away for long.
• Books - They're more restful than tv and there are so many of them. I love handling them, cleaning them, repairing them and even reading them. I seldom talk about books, and that may be something I'll try to change in the next year. Book club, anyone?
• Knitting - It may sound silly, but it's been giving me a lot of pleasure. Knitting calms my mind and makes me feel like I'm doing something useful. I feel creative and I feel part of a larger community without ever leaving my house.

This outline is the shape of my life. I'm happy with it. I hope the year ahead is full of improvements, but what I have right now is a pretty good starting point. Happy New Year, all!

Christmas Wrapup

Unbelievably, Christmas is over. Well, almost over. The living room is still crowded with boxes and gifts that haven't quite been put away. But the sweets are gone and things are slowly getting back to normal. The kids didn't really start bouncing off the ceiling until Monday, and then it was mostly Christian. He's having a tough time calming down. We're hoping a few days at the Y and a few nights of real sleep will help. Everyone was happy with their gifts. Jim overhead James say at Mom's house, "This is the best Christmas ever." I guess you can't ask for more than that.

Personally, I'm just ready to move on to the new year, but that's how I feel every year. Somehow I think I'm going to do next year better, and maybe someday that will be true. So I hope the new year is good for all of you. We're blessed to have this family and we need to stay in touch more often. One of my hopes is that I can get on this blog a little more often next year. It's become a place to record family events, which is fine, but I think it could be more.

All of you be well and happy through the rest of the holidays.

Kid Chaos

Chaos reigned as I left the house for work this morning. The boys at our house received Nerf-like shotguns as gifts a couple of days ago. The good news is that they're bound to be broken soon, so we know that the noise and commotion won't last forever.

In the meantime, our band of wild Indians seems to grow closer and closer to one another. I love seeing them play together, even if I do have to yell, "Take it outside!" once in a while. Hopefully, these will fill the need for guns for a while.

Last night Mackenzie wrapped herself up as a present. Pretty cute!