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Cold Comfort FarmCold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Need a laugh? Here’s a fun book. I didn’t get it at first. When I realized it was supposed to be funny, I grinned for most of the book. It is British humor, my favorite.

I had been reading the Maisie Dobbs series, so I expected a serious mystery or something.

This review isn’t working. Here’s the blurb from GoodReads:
When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex.

At the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years.

But Flora loves nothing better than to organize other people. Armed with common sense and a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in hand. A hilarious and merciless parody of rural melodramas, Cold Comfort Farm (1932) is one of the best-loved comic novels of all time.

I hear there’s a movie. I’ll have to look that up. I picked this edition up from Libby. I think it might have been even better as an audiobook.

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One-Liner Wednesday


*”Instead of having such faith that things will turn out badly, why don’t you try to believe that they will turn out just fine–no matter what we do or don’t do? Do you really think that whoever is up there in heaven cares if we dance and sing and drink crémant?”

“What you are doing is believing, not thinking. It’s a choice. The problem is that you do not believe in something that makes you happy, What’s the point of that?”

Okay, it’s a two-fer! Shoot, let me count again. A six-fer? I found that last quote by Laura Bradbury in *The Grape Series #6, My Grape Escape. Laura and her husband may actually be putting a bid on a house in France. She’s afraid she will jinx it by drinking to it.

I’m going to stick to Laura’s husband, Franck, and state the thing I’ve been afraid to jinx. The good news that my son gave me is that his girlfriend will bring us a dog and cat soon. The previous owners have to move and can’t take the animals. She asked if we wanted them, and without a beat, I said YES! <–That loud, too! And that, the day after, I colored these cuties (a coloring app on my Fire) and put the picture on my front door as a sort of vision board.

So, that’s my secret. I will be happy.


Revelations: A Novella (Jaguar Sun, #2.5)Revelations: A Novella by Martha Bourke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don’t know if it is because it has been years since I read books one and two of Jaguar Sun or what. I couldn’t understand or care about the characters in the book—so many loose ties and not enough to hold on to. If I have time, I may re-read these later. But for now, I’m glad it was just a novella as it was over before I had the chance to complain about how the young woman who promised her sister she’d write didn’t for a year or so. I just didn’t understand this book at all.

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Monday Moment


Do I think it’s pretty, yes. Am I sick of it? Well, yes and no. Ten minutes after Spring/Summer begins it’s hot, dusty or smokey. So I’ve decided to enjoy the moment. I took these yesterday and last night.  But it was still snowing this morning. But it is n toearly melted away this evening.

So let’s embrace the moment. It’s still pretty.


Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs, #2)Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun series so far. Each book is a quick read and not too deep, so great as a bedtime book. Orlagh Cassidy (Narrator) gave a bit of authenticity to the writing that simple text-to-speech could not. The British text-to-speech voice reads these stories well, but a human voice is better when it comes to different dialects. Granted, I don’t know one dialect from another, but Ms. Cassidy’s switching from formal to cockney or other voices helped keep the characters separated.

This mystery had me going. I couldn’t figure out who did it or why. But the author, Jacqueline Winspear, told the tale with intrigue. She builds the world to help readers feel they are in post-war English towns. The feathers were a curious touch. Why? Was it important? Eventually, it will all be solved by our Maisie Dobbs, who is graceful and respectful of her fellow humans and their psychological intricacies.

I was happy to find this audiobook on Libby. I think the series is quite enjoyable. I think you’ll like it, too.

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Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “crackle.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

So, yeah. That snap, crackle, and pop and trio of groans are from my son, my brother, and I after rearranging Dar’s Dabbling Den. It was a LOT of work. But worth it.

Part of this is for the exciting thing I don’t want to jinx by speaking it.

Also, I wanted my keyboard to work on improv and composition for this year’s goal.

Nothing much changed with the piano. Except in all the music I found one of my favorite songs, Ash Grove. I can play it on my soprano recorder. But this is the one I learned in voice class. It was worming through my head as my family and I gathered when my grandmother was passing. I felt badly when my cousin asked me to sing. I couldn’t remember the words, nor could I come up with another song at the moment.
Oops! I forgot to move the wig stand and vases. Of course, they’ll need a new home. The silver thing at the fold of the keyboard stand is a music stand. His name is Fernand.
This is the diamond painting area, or other art attempts. The little shelf behind stands on our old dining table. It’s still strong but we never use it due to surface damage. For now, it holds bottled water and now my ‘arts’ shelves.
Stepping back, you see my room dividers a bookshelf and an old screen. Sorry, I accidentally left the box of cleaning supplies. Oh, well. You get the idea.

I’m going to be happy with this new room. My body is going to hate me. I’m so blessed to have David and Dana here to help out.

Can you hear the crackle of my bones?


Dude! Crush is nearly finished just stray gems to be placed.
Nearly finished with my hubby’s slipper socks. Toes done, ribbed arch next.
Still just in the toes on the purple Knit Picks
About the same for my watermelon shorties.

The poor basket weave hat hasn’t progressed at all so, no pics. When it can show off on its own, it’ll share the limelight.

I want to start walking, but we woke up to this this morning. Still too cold.
Sammie finally discovered his fun-house.

While Sammie is happy, we got a phone call from my son with good news for us. And I hope for Sammie. I’d tell but I don’t want to jinx it

Today I went back to Phantom of the Opera. I used to play and sing these.  Thirty years ago. Not for an audience, just for fun. My friends and I gathered at the grand piano on stage after voice class and sang our hearts out with these. I was surprised at how much my fingers remember, though there was a lot of sight reading. I can’t sing at the same time, yet. Soon. I am doing daily vocal warmups now.

Anyone out there go through this? I find a saturation level on pieces and put them aside for other songs. Those seem to draw my passions and energy.


Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs, #1)Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My friend Kay recommended this series. She’s right. These are fun and engaging.

This first installment came from Libby and was in Kindle form. That meant that I could listen to it with text-to-speech. Since I have my Fire set to a British female voice (think Mary Poppins), it fits quite nicely with this story.

War is a horrid thing. This particular war in England and Europe was one of the worst. Yet, for women, it became a way to escape the housewife, childbearer, whore classification most women were forced into. With the men fighting, the jobs were open for women to learn and show their abilities. Sadly, when the men came home, most of the women lost that step up to being wholly human.

Some women did find careers to move on. Maisie Dobbs is one of the ones it worked for.

This first book lays the groundwork for Maisie’s history and sets up the world she’s in. She’s a woman of spirit that can solve mysteries and make friends with all classes of people.

I have already started book two. I am in for the ride!

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One-Liner Wednesday


Thank you, Linda, for One-Liner Wednesday!

“A happy heart is better than a full purse.” An Italian proverb found by my friend, dragonscrivener on Dragon Scrawls in a Farmers Almanac planner.


Elven Doom (Death Before Dragons, #4)Elven Doom by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun addition to the Death Before Dragons series.

Who doesn’t love a dragon that can transform into a handsome man who is out to save your life while you try to save his?

But in this book, our monster-slayer moves on to another mission even though her dragon-man isn’t around to help.

This book might be the most exciting and scary of this series.

I want to listen to these books on audiobooks because I got lost with the text-to-speech. And I often felt such irritation about how the word ‘finger’ is pronounced ‘fin jer’ or how one of the support characters, whose name is Nin, was repeatedly called Nine Inch Nails. That takes me right out of the story. So before I find the next books in the series, I will try to see if I can find the audiobooks.

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