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Things I like this week:
Two joys in my life right now are stitching and reading (beside my family of course), and I have done plenty of both this week. Stitch by day, read by night. Other things go on in the background, but they are just that - background. I have the feeling that I need to get as much done as I can before something puts a halt to it. That halt is usually hay and garden season and it's almost time to start planting and fertilizing. But for now, my time is my own and I love it!
Hubby is taking a ham radio weekend so I am taking another stay-at-home sewing weekend. This is the second one this month. I could really get used to these.
One little thing that has brought joy into my life this week is something that is so insignificant that no one else would ever notice. A cat has started visiting us at night. I don't know how long it has been coming; one morning after a heavy rain, there were little muddy footprints all over the porch. Since then, I've been putting out a little food in the evening and most of the time, the food is gone in the morning.
Books I've read (not just this week):
I don't think I've talked about books before. I used to be a prolific reader, but that was BEP (Before Eye Problems) and now I'm doing good to read a book in a week. So far this year, I've read:
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, a historical non-fiction. It is a story about the Osage Indian Nation of Oklahoma in the 1920's. They were among the richest people in the nation after oil was discovered under their land and then their people began dying. At first it seemed that the deaths were from natural causes, but as the number of deaths kept climbing, people began to wonder. Local police found nothing and finally federal agents were called in. These federal agents were to become the FBI.
This book blew me away. Living as close to Oklahoma as I do, having relatives in Oklahoma, and having a Chickasaw heritage, I was amazed that I had never heard this before. The author did extensive research, far more than the FBI did at that time, and what he uncovered is interesting, shocking, revealing, paranoiac, and horrifying. Through it all, I was impressed with the people, the Osage who lived through it and the federal agents who investigated despite the danger they faced from people who didn't want the truth uncovered.
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Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke, a cozy mystery. I have read other books in this series and with each one, I liked the author's writing style less and less. I reached my limit with this book. All of the books are written for adults, but written on a junior high (or younger) reading level. Her overly explanatory style may be fine for a ten year old, but she makes inferences to clues, makes a deduction, and then beats the reader over the head detailing how she reached the conclusion.
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A Thousand Spendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, historial fiction. This is first book I've read by this author and he is a gifted writer. It is the story of two women in Afghanistan who live through emotional and physical abuse, wars, political unrest, and suppression of women's freedom. And yet, they each found love and became stronger together. I hoped for, but didn't expect the ending for the younger woman, Laila. I read a review once of a Western Novel written by a woman and the reviewer said that a woman writer couldn't understand or describe a man's lack of emotion. This author however, totally understands the ebb and flow of women's emotions. His biography says that he came to America in 1980, well before the Afghan War, and yet, he writes about it as if he has personal experience. His descriptions made me feel like I was there, listening to the whistle of the bomb and waiting to see where it hit. As I neared the end of this book, I was torn whether to read faster and find out what happened to these women I had come to love, or slow down so the book didn't have to end so soon.
Things That Make Me Thankful:
My mother had surgery this week and got a pacemaker. She is already feeling better. She also has a friend who is struggling financially, and they worked out an arrangement so the friend will live with mom most of the time. And that makes me feel better.
My daughter is coming here today. She is only coming for one night and probably wants help moving from her apartment, but I am thankful she still wants to spend time with us.
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I know I am late to the party(s), but I am linking this post to:
Thankful Thursday at Knit by God's Hand
Thankful Thursday at Brian's Home
Little Things Thursday at Random-osity
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, a historical non-fiction. It is a story about the Osage Indian Nation of Oklahoma in the 1920's. They were among the richest people in the nation after oil was discovered under their land and then their people began dying. At first it seemed that the deaths were from natural causes, but as the number of deaths kept climbing, people began to wonder. Local police found nothing and finally federal agents were called in. These federal agents were to become the FBI.
This book blew me away. Living as close to Oklahoma as I do, having relatives in Oklahoma, and having a Chickasaw heritage, I was amazed that I had never heard this before. The author did extensive research, far more than the FBI did at that time, and what he uncovered is interesting, shocking, revealing, paranoiac, and horrifying. Through it all, I was impressed with the people, the Osage who lived through it and the federal agents who investigated despite the danger they faced from people who didn't want the truth uncovered.
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Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke, a cozy mystery. I have read other books in this series and with each one, I liked the author's writing style less and less. I reached my limit with this book. All of the books are written for adults, but written on a junior high (or younger) reading level. Her overly explanatory style may be fine for a ten year old, but she makes inferences to clues, makes a deduction, and then beats the reader over the head detailing how she reached the conclusion.
**********
A Thousand Spendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, historial fiction. This is first book I've read by this author and he is a gifted writer. It is the story of two women in Afghanistan who live through emotional and physical abuse, wars, political unrest, and suppression of women's freedom. And yet, they each found love and became stronger together. I hoped for, but didn't expect the ending for the younger woman, Laila. I read a review once of a Western Novel written by a woman and the reviewer said that a woman writer couldn't understand or describe a man's lack of emotion. This author however, totally understands the ebb and flow of women's emotions. His biography says that he came to America in 1980, well before the Afghan War, and yet, he writes about it as if he has personal experience. His descriptions made me feel like I was there, listening to the whistle of the bomb and waiting to see where it hit. As I neared the end of this book, I was torn whether to read faster and find out what happened to these women I had come to love, or slow down so the book didn't have to end so soon.
Things That Make Me Thankful:
My mother had surgery this week and got a pacemaker. She is already feeling better. She also has a friend who is struggling financially, and they worked out an arrangement so the friend will live with mom most of the time. And that makes me feel better.
My daughter is coming here today. She is only coming for one night and probably wants help moving from her apartment, but I am thankful she still wants to spend time with us.
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I know I am late to the party(s), but I am linking this post to:
Thankful Thursday at Knit by God's Hand
Thankful Thursday at Brian's Home
Little Things Thursday at Random-osity
Our Human loves Joanne Fluke books! And we often see little kitty prints in the snow heading on to our front porch. These are the next door neighbor cats and they like to come and visit withus at the window.
ReplyDeletePurrs & Head Bonks,
Alberto
Sounds like a pretty good weekend coming up and thanks for feeding the roaming kitty. Those books all sound pretty darn good. Thanks for joining our Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
ReplyDeleteGreat book selections. I read on a Kindle and though I miss using books, the Kindle allows me to enlarge the print which helps me so much. Thank you for linking up and have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteBrian's Home is in charge of Thankful Thursday, not me. Here's his link: https://brianshomeblog.com/
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see folks helping folks that need help and I'm happy your mother is doing better. A wonderful thing.
Have a fabulous Thankful Thursday, Marti. ♥
So glad your mother is doing OK & that pacemaker is making her feel better.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have new cat that found its new home :)
Marti - winter has many joys - freedom from the rigors of the garden is one of them! I am glad your mother came through the surgery successfully - a blessing! Thanks for the book recommendations - I like histories such as Killers of the Flower Moon. I didn't know that Khaled Hosseini had written a second book - I highly recommend his first book - The Kite Runner! And by the way, I sympathize with the difficulty in removing Play-doh from carpet - turns out there are all kinds of solutions on the Web!!! Enjoy your weekend.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! We love your thankfuls! Have a marvellously Happy Day!
ReplyDeleteHopefully you'll catch a glimpse of your paw print visitor at some point. The book on the Osage sounds really interesting, I may have to check that one out. I've heard bits and pieces of the story since we live so close to Osage county.
ReplyDeleteMarti: Nice book selections, I must mention the Killers Of The Flower Moon to our book club, sounds like a must read.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your Mother has a lovely friend and your Mother is able to help her out.
I hope your daughter can stay longer then a day.
I am loving your header photo.
Catherine
Sounds so loveley. I am so glad that your eyes are better to the point of being able to do the things you love, that is a blessing. I wish I had more time to read but lately I would just fall asleep!! I will be writing the names of these books down for future reference!! Isn't it awesome how both you mom and her friend will be helping each other out. That is so special.
ReplyDeleteJ have been away from your blog for months because on my other laptop (that has fallen apart) your blog showed up with a warning of a trojan. SO I tried with this new one and wow - no problem. I am anxious to catch up with you and it sounds like your eyes are doing so well! I have certainly missed you.
ReplyDeleteSometimes my laptop won't let me into a website or blog too, and I change to a different browser or computer and it goes to it with no problem. I don't understand technology. Since it is Google who owns the server this blog is on, I don't think my computer could affect it, but I don't know. I run a virus scan every day and have never found a problem.
DeleteNice that your mom and her friend can be helpful for each other in that way! Yes to stitching and reading! Although I do all my reading by audio books while stitching.
ReplyDeleteSo glad your mother is doing OK & that pacemaker is making her feel better.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have new cat that found its new home :)
Marti - glad to see you posting! If you enjoyed A Thousand Splendid Suns, you will also like Kite Runner. What a blessing that your Mom is feeling better! Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteI have that book but haven't got to it.
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