Here are some of the projects I’ve been working on this week.
I’m nearly finished with Smiling Turtle, my friend named him Crush.
Oops. The needle is pointing to some weird stitches, so I frogged these toes and started again.
I’m caught back up to where I left off.
I had enough watermelon yarn to make another pair. This yarn is easier to work with than those above.
There was leftover yarn from my brother’s socks to try another pair.
Here are a few of the songs I’m enjoying lately.
They are Beau Soir, God Bless The Child, Going Home, Over the Rainbow, Ave Maria, and Just the Way You Are.
Beau Soir is a leftover from my voice lessons with Alis Clausen in the 1990s. And because it showed up now while I’m playing with the Duolingo French language, I decided to start doing my vocal warmups and challenge myself to learn to play and sing the song. A few others I’m playing are fun to sing, too.
Check out how Beau Soir is supposed to sound. You can see why I love it.
I love this autobiographical series! I read them on Kindle on my old phone. These are the only books I actually read with my eyes: no text-to-speech or audiobook. My tracking issues take a long time. But I love the French phrases scattered throughout. With the little bit of French, I do on Duolingo, these are easy enough, and I mostly don’t need help. But Kindle has the feature to show translation if needed or a dictionary lookup for words I might not get, such as food or other things that are foreign to me.
I feel I am traveling as I read these, and I love Laura Bradbury’s family, friends, and her sweet husband.
Look, I know it is a book about a wedding, and the series seems to surround the romance of Laura and Franck, but these are more the growing process and educational adventures of Ms. Bradbury. As I mentioned, it seems more travel and food than the yucky, sweet, snuggling stuff that can get annoying in other books.
I look forward to reading more of this series. Sorry, it takes so long.
This was at the bottom of my forever-held ‘currently reading’ shelf. I decided to get to the first books and try to catch up.
I have to admit to being lost. I don’t like short stories. If you read my reviews, they are usually centered around some long, never-ending series. So, bits and pieces of different lives were tough for me.
Don’t get me wrong, the writing was great. E.J. Runyon is great at telling a story. But I felt I was dropped into a moment and then jerked out.
So, here’s the deal: Try for yourself. You may love this kind of collection of stories. It’s just not for me right now.
Don’t you just love a back story about how the bad guy started out as a human? That’s what you get here—the back story to a few of the main characters of the Thalassic series. As book zero, this prequel shows you everyone’s start.
I found this one quite interesting. And now I feel I hold the whole story. So, it all started with a pandemic. And it all leads to the apocalypse and post-apocalypse. And as with all sci-fi disasters, you hope, like heck, the stories are not prophetic.
As far as I can tell, this is the last book of the series, though it could be read as book one, I suppose. I’ve already put Liz Shipton’s next book on pre-order. I think it comes in April.
I think most of these are on Kindle Unlimited. I loved all of them. I miss the world and the characters who became as close as friends in my mind. Try them out.
“I’d rather be a savage with you…than be civilized on my own.”
Jameson Briggs grew up in a savage world.
A survivor of the pandemic. An orphan at twelve. A brilliant poet, bullied for his words. A cutthroat pirate, ruthlessly hunted.
But when a disastrous shipwreck leaves him stranded in a foreign city, Jameson finds himself starting over in a world that is savage in a whole new way. Political maneuvering. Deception. Wealth. Beautiful women.
Beautiful dangerous women.
Like Zahara and Petra – daughters of the city’s most powerful CEO and heirs to a tech fortune. As Jameson grows closer to their family, his world spirals and he is drawn into a tangled web of lies and corruption. Jameson must will he rise above it?
Or will he become a savage?
This is a standalone origin story for the villain in the Thalassic Series. You DO NOT need to have read the series before you read it! In fact, this makes a nice entry point to the series. It is a spicy, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-love romance between a morally-gray pirate and rich man’s daughter. In it, you’ll find the following
– Touch her and die
– Villain gets the girl
– Fish-out-of-water
– Found family
– Badass women
– Love triangle
– Pirates
– Dystopian world
– Plot twists
– Fast-paced, high-stakes adventure
– More snarky banter than you ever thought possible.
TRIGGER This book contains cheating. This guy is a villain. He is morally gray (and it is a pretty dark shade of gray.)
~~~
That is the blurb, as I found it hard to come up with something to say about this prequel. I was happy to read it, but how to describe it? I lost my words. I’m still a big fan of the Thalassic series and hope you find it fun, too. Now, on to the last written in the series.
Yeah, not ten. We are down to six mice. Sammie loves his mice. He uses them for human enrichment.
‘Where’s your mouse Sammie?’ He leads us to the place he wants to watch us search.
He likes to push a mouse under my brother’s bedroom door. Once it’s under he flips it across the room. David is forced to look everywhere in his room. But only Sammie knows where the mouse is hiding. When David brings the miniature tiger into his room, the ginger points straight to the missing mouse.
Then when we are all watching TV in the living room, Sammie plays fetch with the mouse, bringing it to David to throw again and again. Clever kitty!
Just for review: these were Turkish cast-on. Chiaogoo needles Two at a Time socks. Then arch ribbing. Fleegle Heel, my favorite.
I thought I was finished at a 2″ cuff, but my brother needed a longer one for his boots. Otherwise, I would have been finished on his birthday.
Towards the end I had to rely on Advil and Aspercreme. But now my hands can rest a bit.
I found a bunch of unfinished WIPs. Here are a couple calling me:
Maybe I make me watermelon socks?
Or, should I make another pair from these?
Now I can finish the larger size basket weave hat.
I’m nearly finished with Smiling Turtle!
Just got the top little bit. I like this so much it may go on my bathroom wall. I think the blues will blend or compliment the vague color palette. Besides, that smile will make me happy.
I think next week I’ll record my favorite songs. I’m loving Going Home, God Bless The Child, Just the Way You Are, and a few more. With my new enthusiasm for improv or composition I now have a keyboard within reach of my every perch. (Recliner, bed, Dabbling Den)
I didn’t get ‘Dar’s Dabbling Den’ rearranged yet. I want to make more room for my Yamaha keyboard near my piano. Maybe this weekend?
I’d like to make it easier to switch gears, bring in violin, ukulele, recorders, art challenges, podcast or book narrations.
Since COVID months ago, I’ve not been able to get faster than 5 miles in 35. But I’m still trying. And now that spring may have arrived I need to find walking time. Still a work in progress!
Oh, and I am three book reviews behind.
Duolingo still plugs along. I seem more focused on Italian. It’s easier. I still visit the other languages when the spirit moves me.😉
I have read/listened to other books by David Richo and felt this would be up my alley. Sadly, it is twenty-five years too late. I am in a good relationship now. We already follow a lot of the concepts Richo presents.
Still, I think there is a lot for everyone in this book. Having the author lead the listener through meditations as an audiobook is nice.
So many truths from scriptures, history, and other sources take more than one listen. It might be great to have the book and the audio, as I would have loved to go through and highlight those I felt were appropriate for me.
I was fortunate to pick this copy up on Libby, the library app.
I took the socks off the two-at-a-time needle thinking I was ready to cast off. THEN I asked my brother how long he needed the cuff. Darn! He needs a long cuff so his boots don’t rub his legs. Hopefully, they will be finished by Friday.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
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