I 💜 Our Public Library

I moan about the City of Portland quite a lot. The city has many problems, the primary one being way too many homeless people. There are too frequent thefts of anything we leave outside. A few weeks ago one of them stole the cushion off the wicker loveseat on our front porch. I guess (s)he decided it would be more comfortable to sleep on a cushion than on the ground. We had a cement elephant statue on our front porch that used to belong to my grandmother, that was stolen too.

But despite the problems, I will happily admit they have a stellar library system. My reading list right now:

My attempt to start seeds has been less than successful. I haven't had a problem getting the seeds to sprout, my problem is getting them to grow beyond that point. I am clearly missing something. So I hit the library website and ordered some books. I was able to go pick them up yesterday.

Pre-internet, I was a voracious reader but since wireless computers and streaming TV, I just never got around to reading anything, despite owning thousands of books.

Last fall, Jeff and I decided to try an experiment. We turned off all the streaming TV channels; no more Hulu, no more Netflix. If we needed a movie fix, we could watch one of our DVDs. It was the first time in a few years we were able to focus on reading and writing without feeling the pull of TV.  And even though we turned on Disney+ in November and immediately watched through the Star Wars and Avengers saga, we have already turned it off. It's been satisfying for us to focus on something else.

Combining our extensive task lists in Habitica and the ability to download audiobooks directly on to our iPhones, Jeff and I have been listening to a TON of audiobooks. We listen to them when we're cleaning, exercising, gardening, sewing, whenever we don't have something too complicated to focus on.

Since the beginning of January, I have finished reading or listening to 49 books! 49 books. I am really enjoying this amazing service the library provides and it has cost us nothing additional beyond what we're already paying in taxes. I would encourage all of you to explore your library's audiobook offerings.

Trying to Write

I am trying to not spend all my time sewing right now. I am splitting my time between reading/writing and sewing, so the Fire Dance quilt is taking a bit longer than usual. I have 17 blocks left to make.

We are really enjoying Habitica. It has been fantastic for getting us to do daily/weekly tasks that we should do but often didn't (things like change the bird cage, scrub the bathroom).

And we have turned more of our attention to reading and writing. I finally got my library access restored (my sign-in stopped working last year) and I have started downloading audiobooks/ebooks again.

I am currently trying to slog my way through Moby Dick. It's a book I've heard about so many times throughout my life, it seemed like I should have read it. I am trying, but it is written in 1850s English. We shall see if I make it.

At Loose Ends

We've lost our way. We had planned to prepare our house for sale and put it on the market this summer, but after a strong start in January our motivation eventually sputtered out. We've had a few spurts of energy where we worked on some difficult projects—like the day I managed to mostly finish sifting through the boxes in my closet—but invariably we crash back down to our comfy recliners.

It hasn't helped our motivation to read reports that house sales and prices are down in Portland and houses are taking longer to sell, especially given that our house will be near the top of the market price-wise. The thought that we could spend months dealing with real estate agents and potential buyers and still end up pulling the house off the market at the end of the season pretty much erased my motivation. And honestly, once the Prineville house was rented out, it took off quite a bit of financial pressure.

At this point, I think there's a good chance we'll end up staying in this house for another couple of years.

There are worse ways to spend a late-spring afternoon

On the bright side, Jeff has gotten really preoccupied with our diet. We'd gotten pretty bad about eating junk food and we'd both gained too much weight. In April, Jeff joined a nutrition website that has really helped keep him (and therefore us, because he does the cooking) on track. It's been over a month since I've had a soda and my weight is very slowly trending down. Exercise would speed my progress but I've been having some knee problems. Right now, I'm trying to do the best I can with just limiting my intake.

I've also been trying to get back into writing. I thought I'd try and write a cozy mystery, but after a couple of false starts, I decided I should first spend a month reading some mysteries (both cozies and other light mysteries) to get a feel for how they work. After only a week, where I started 14 mystery novels and finished only 9 (I ditched the worst of them) I realized I don't enjoy most of the stories with amateur sleuths. They require too much suspension of disbelief. The books I did manage to finish invariably had a detective or other investigator as the protagonist. So, now I'm exploring some other options. I'm still spending quite a lot of time reading. I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited in March and I'm trying to read as much as I can before I cancel it later this month.

Writing

Jeff has wanted to write science fiction for many years. I guess because it was so hot in Portland a couple weeks ago and because we were feeling totally unmotivated to do real work, we got started. We're still at it.

Our story is based in the alpha centauri system on a spaceship. We've found submarines to be a good comparison for the spaceship setting in our story. It's been fun to research them.

I think I've been a little embarrassed to admit this project because I don't know if we'll come up with a story that is any good, but we have been enjoying working on this project together.

On the off chance we actually come up with a publishable book, we'll let you know. I suppose stranger things have happened.

Period Book: Home Handicraft (1908)

As we start settling in for the winter, I figured now was a good time to take a look at a book that shows some good indoor activities. This week's book (okay, this month's book): The Good housekeeping manual of home handicraft, published in 1908 by the Good Housekeeping magazine.

This book extensively covers stenciling: how to make them, how to apply them, what paints to use, how to decorate with them, and more. If you're a fan of stencils like I am, go download this book and check it out.

They also have chapters on making handmade toys, applique, printing with wood blocks, making lamp shades, and decorating clocks. Some really interesting stuff.

But, of course, I'm most interested in the parts about stenciling. They had a chapter on curtains with some interesting designs.

Our First Fire!

Today was cold and wet and dreary, so we decided to take a much-needed respite from house-related tasks—we needed some guilt-free recharge time.

Jeff built our first-ever-fire in our fireplace and we enjoyed an afternoon of lounging around reading.

It's nice to finally get a chance to enjoy our nicely refinished living room. Though, maybe I should have straightened up more before I took pictures . . .

Research Junky

For anybody who has followed the blog for a while, you'll know I'm a research junky. I love combing through old records and books to find interesting information. My quest to figure out our house's builder led me to find a long-neglected Laurelhurst neighborhood wiki, started several years ago. Since it was neglected, it was full of spam posts and users, but Jeff and I spent many evenings cleaning it up, so it's much better now.

In the last few days, I've been adding Oregonian articles dating back to the time the Laurelhurst neighborhood was established (1909). It's slow going though, because I have to use a reader to convert the pdf articles into text and then I have to spend quite a lot of time cleaning up the many mistakes.

But it's been fascinating to learn so much about this neighborhood we live in.

This couch potato project has, unfortunately, not been good for our productivity when it comes to working on real house projects. I had a good day yesterday sanding in the entryway and I think I'm about ready to declare it done. I just need to clean up the wood and get it prepped for staining.

We're off to a Halloween party tonight, so we're trying to throw together some not-entirely-lame costumes today. Most of our clothing and halloween gear is still buried in storage. Someday we'll be entirely moved him. I hope next year.

Early 1900s Research Resources

Sharon is a research junky and has found lots of FREE early-1900s books online (this list just keeps growing and growing). Most of these date from 1900-1925, as it is the period we're most interested in emulating, but there are three kitchen manuals from earlier. Anyway, in case others are interested, Sharon thought it would be nice to share the links:

Advanced Projects in Woodwork (from Google books), Ira Samuel Griffith (1912). Contains many excellent craftsman-style furniture projects, though really for advanced woodworking. Just provides drawing with dimensions; the rest is up to you. Sharon would really like to figure out how to make this wastebasket.

Amateur Gardencraft: A Book for the Homemaker and Garden Lover (from Google books), Eben Eugene Rexford (1912).

Amateur Joinery in the Home: A Practical Manual for the Amateur Joiner on the Construction of Articles of Domestic Furniture (from Google books), George Ashdown Audsley, Berthold Audsley (1916).

Beautiful Home Surroundings (from Google books), George Wyman (1922).

Cabinetwork and Joinery, Comprising Designs and Details of Construction with 2,021 Working Drawings and 12 Colored Plates (from Google books), Paul Nooncree Hasluck, ed. (1908). Mostly Victorian-style projects, but there are some simple craftsman style projects in this book. Fairly advanced skills required.

California Gardens: How to Plan and Beautify (from Internet Archive), Eugene Otto Murmann (1914). This book has some really beautiful landscapes, but the pictures are geared toward "Estates," not tiny city lots. Have a few suggested yard layouts for small lots.

Carpentry for Beginners: Things to Make (from Google books), John Duncan Adams (1917). This chair-ladder project is quite neat—though it seems to be more of an intermediate level project based on their description that construction should be obvious; the author does spend a bit of effort to explain the construction order. Book also includes several craftsman-style projects. Hopefully someday Sharon will be skilled enough to make some of the chair projects!

Drying Clay Wares (from Google books), Ellis Lovejoy (1916).

Essentials of Woodworking: A Textbook for Schools (from Internet Archive), Ira Samuel Griffith (1915).

Furniture for Small Houses; A Book of Designs for Inexpensive Furniture, with New Methods of Construction and Decoration (from Internet Archive), Percy Wells (1920). Some nice diagrams for simple mission-style furniture, like the chair diagram to the left.

Furniture for the Craftsman (from Internet Archive), Paul D. Otter (1914). The "Craftsman" they're referring to is the skilled furniture maker, not the Craftsman-style home. This book is mostly drawings of furniture in a variety of styles from the period.

Garages, Country and Suburban (from Google books) , various authors (1911).

Great Western Pottery Company, Permanent Catalog Illustrating & Describing Vitreous China Sanitary Ware (from Internet Archive) , (1911). Shows only one complete bathroom setup, but shows a lot of options for china fixtures for bathrooms and kitchens.

Handbook in Woodwork and Carpentry (from Google books), American Book Company (1911).

Illustrations of the House Beautiful, Designed to Help All Persons Interested in the Beauty of Their Homes (from Internet Archive), Herbert S. Stone & Co. (1902).

Inside the House Beautiful; A Collection of Interior Views Showing Furnishings and Their Arrangement (from Internet Archive), Henrietta C. Peabody (1921). This book has photos of actual period interiors, not drawings, though, they are mostly white-painted interiors. Some good furniture arrangement and curtain ideas.

Inside the House of Good Taste (from Google books), Richardson Little Wright, ed. (1915). This book also includes photos of actual interiors and they give more examples of rooms with unpainted woodwork. Some nice examples of furnished rooms and how not all pieces have to be mission style. Also interesting as there appear to be no coffee tables and the couches seem to be placed quite close to the fireplace.

Lamps and Shades in Metal and Art Glass (from Google books), John Duncan Adams (1911).

Making a Garden of Perennials (from Google books), William Egan (1912). This book includes a good list of dependable perennials along with lists of soil and sun requirements. Might help with bungalow garden plant selection.

Making Built-In Furniture (from Google books), Abbot McClure (1914).

Making Floors (from Google books), Abbot McClure (1915).

Making Paths and Driveways (from Google books), C.H. Miller (1912).

Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper: Containing 500 Recipes for Economical and Healthful Cooking; Also, Many Directions for Securing Health and Happiness (from Internet Archive), Catherine E. Beecher (1873).

Mission Furniture: How to Make It, Volume 1 (from Google books), Popular Mechanics (1909). This is probably the best furniture making how-to of the bunch. They include drawings of the finished pieces, material lists, diagrams, and some directions for construction.

Mott's Plumbing Fixtures catalog (from Internet Archive), J.L. Mott Iron Works (1907). OMG, this is the best bathroom catalog! Tons of complete bathrooms, decent resolution on pictures. It's quite a score! Sharon even found a bathroom with just a shower in the corner (no bathtub!!).

Principles of Domestic Science: As Applied to the Duties and Pleasures of Home (from Internet Archive), Catherine E. Beecher (1870).

Projects for Beginning Woodwork and Mechanical Drawing (from Internet Archive), Ira S. Griffith (1919).

Stained Glass Work: A Textbook for Students and Workers in Glass (from Google books), Christopher Whall (1905). A basic how-to but not many diagrams/drawings. Also included information on painting medieval-style stained glass pieces.

Standard Ideal Bath Catalog: Baths, Lavatories, Sinks, Laundry Trays (from Internet Archive), (1910). This is an awesome period bath catalog with images of bathrooms and available fixtures. Unfortunately, it's a poor scan, so the pictures are not real clear.

Suburban Gardens (from Google books), Grace Tabor (1913). Offers suggestions for overall landscape layout for a variety of shapes and sizes of yards. Also includes some suggested plant lists. Wish there were more pictures.

The Boy Craftsman: Practical and Profitable Ideas for a Boy's Leisure Hours (from Google books), Albert Neely Hall (1905).

The Efficient Kitchen: Definite Directions for the Planning, Arranging and Equipping of the Modern Labor-Saving Kitchen—A Practical Book for the Homemaker (from Google books), Georgie Boynton Child (1914).

The Furnishing of a Modest Home (from Internet Archive), Fred Hamilton Daniels (1908). Lots of photographs from actual period interiors, primarily interiors with unpainted woodwork!

The Home Painting Manual: A Complete Handbook on Home Painting and Decorating, Full Information about Paints and Varnishes and Their Application (from Open Library), Sherwin-Williams Co. (1922).

The New Housekeeper's Manual: Embracing a New Revised Edition of the American Woman's Home; or, Principles of Domestic Science. Being a Guide to Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian homes (from Internet Archive), Catherine E. Beecher (1873).

What Makes the House Beautiful; A Collection of Building Details with Measured Drawings (from Internet Archive), Henrietta C. Peabody (1920). Includes hard-to-find information on closet and wardrobe finishing.
Woodworking for Beginners: A Manual for Amateurs (from Google books), Charles Gardner Wheeler (1907).

Our Anniversary!!

Today is our 23rd Wedding Anniversary! We've now been married more years than we weren't.

We had a lovely visit with a friend for brunch and Jeff made a wonderful butternut squash risotto, chicken and vegetables. So good.

Then we took it pretty easy the rest of the day. Jeff took a nap while I worked my way through Bungalow Bathrooms by Jane Powell. Tonight we're watching a documentary about human emotions which is quite good: This Emotional Life.

Gorgeous Green Soapstone

Tonight I found some gorgeous green soapstone available from a company in the Sacramento, California area. Geez, I love the stuff; it looks so much like our old Empress Green marble counters in Forest Grove which we both loved! I'm on the hunt now to see if we can get some nice slabs up here in Portland.

Though I should have spent the evening studying, I was feeling really burnt out on school. So, instead I read one of my favorite Bungalow books: Bungalow Kitchens by Jane Powell. I figure all these books are going to do us more good for the remodel if I actually take the time to read the words—not just look at the pictures.

I took almost four pages of notes about how it was done "in period." I'm hoping this is going to help me make some of these hard decisions, as the choices were so vast it was hard to pick. At least my options are being narrowed now.

Inundated with Library Books

Jeff and I finally got around to signing up for library cards and I have gotten a little carried away with checking out books. Libraries are awesome—so many FREE books to choose from! I've borrowed generously in the bungalow subject areas and Multnomah County has an awesome collection. I've also borrowed a few books that are on my wishlist to "preview" them before buying them. It saved me a few bucks as I only plan to buy one of them now.

I gotta buy me this book: The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns: 4050 Pieced Blocks for Quilters. It's a beautiful book and gives dates for when blocks appear in historic quilt pattern books. I'd like to make a quilt with some historically appropriate blocks out of some really beautiful William Morris reproduction fabrics I bought a couple months ago.

This fabric is wonderful. Unfortunately it was released a couple years ago and is pretty much gone by now. I bought everything I could find.



This project is of course a long-term "wouldn't it be nice" project. I really can't be making another quilt for my bed until after we finish the remodel. I have so many other projects in my queue right now.

Ran Out of Steam

School has started and I seem to have run out of steam on my recreational reading binge. It was a good run. I think I read a total of 11 full books in about two weeks and also about 50% of two additional books I decided not to finish simply because I wasn't enjoying them. I was reading Birdsong this week, but I just couldn't get into it, despite trying. The beginning of the book starts out much like those cheap romances and then abruptly drops you six years later into trench warfare in World War I. I just wasn't up to finishing, especially with the pile of textbooks staring at me. =) I do plan to continue to work through my reading list, just more slowly. I hope to read an average of one book a week through the end of the year.

My PE class has been going well. I'm feeling sore all over, which means it's working! And I'm also making an effort to eat healthier food, which is difficult for me. I'm starting with salads and fruit and trying to lay off the soda and junk food. This morning Shasta and I went for a two-mile walk through the neighborhood and we'll take another walk tonight. As a minimum, I'm trying to get at least 6,000 steps every single day.

This is the first time I've attended a college on the semester system, so the 18 weeks is probably going to feel like it's taking forever! Quarters finish up in 12 weeks, so I'm used to a rather speedier pace. We're now starting week 2 and none of my classes have really even gotten past the intro. Many of the books aren't even in the bookstore yet (I have mine because I ordered them from Amazon a week before classes). It's tempting to skip class tonight since I know the teacher is just going to talk about interesting stuff that has nothing to do with the class...but I will no doubt go. I just can't bring myself to miss class, except for emergencies.

Now that my leg is feeling better, I think it's time to cut out quilt pieces for my next project. I need to decide which one to work on first, probably the quilt for the living room which coordinates with the rug in there.

Back in School

Well, I am back in school. I have classes three nights a week: Wednesday is Legal Research and Writing, Thursday is Civil Litigation and Trial Preparation and Monday is Torts. I have the same teacher for both Civil Lit & Torts and he's quite a character.

I've also got an adaptive PE class three mornings a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I went the first time yesterday and it went pretty well. The teacher spends about half-an-hour going through a warm-up routine and then we spend the remaining hour or so working out on the exercise equipment. I'm a bit sore today.

This past weekend our high school, Cupertino High School, held its 25th Reunion for our Class of 1984. Jeff went to the actual reunion, but I did not; none of my non-local high school friends planned to go, so I couldn't see spending $115 to attend. We did both go to the informal class picnic on Sunday.

We haven't decided whether we're going to buy my mother's house in Cupertino. We're still negotiating with her about the details. We need to have a clear understanding about what she expects from us before we'll consider agreeing to the deal. We are going to do dinner with her on Friday night and talk about it further.

We have mused a bit about IF we buy the house, how we would remodel it. The house was built in 1959 and doesn't seem to have any particularly striking style; both the bathrooms and kitchen have been remodeled (in around 1980) and don't retain any mid-century look (if it ever had any). Currently, it's just a bland, fixer rancher house with an attached garage and a big lot.

Since I've been researching the 1920s Bungalows for a couple years now, and it would be easy to slip into this style with its hardwoods and tile. But we may choose something a bit more modern for the interior, because the 2 car attached garage just won't look right on a craftsman. IF we buy this house, we'll have so many decisions ahead of us.

I've been continuing to read, though my pace has slowed down considerably. Since my last list, I have read:

1. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. An enjoyable book. I wasn't aware that geishas were, basically, slaves. They were typically the girl children that were sold by their parents for this type of work. Most of them didn't voluntarily choose this type of career. Though, it sounded like even when they are older and have the chance to get out, many choose to stay.
2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. While I mostly enjoyed this book, it was just too slow. And the author kept jumping around to different times, places and people and it could be hard to follow. And I was really disapproving when the 70-year-old guy had an affair with his teenage ward; yuck. The novel would have been improved by this entire storyline being dropped from the book.

I am still working on the Jane Austen Shorter Works; I read it on and off. I have also today started Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks which seems to be a romance set in the time of World War 1.

Interesting Week

It's been an interesting week for us. Jeff and I had dental appointments down in Cupertino on Wednesday so I asked my Mom to watch Shasta for us while we were there for our appointments.

Anyway, when I went back to pick up the dog, she made us a *very good* offer to buy her house and we're definitely thinking about it. The deal includes finishing the detached garage into a granny cottage and letting her stay there until she has to move out (because she can no longer take care of herself).

So, now we have to decide a number of things:

1. Do we want to stay in California, probably permanently? (We love Oregon, and have been planning for a while now to move back up there as soon as the economy improved and we thought we could successfully find jobs.)
2. Do we have the resources to buy her out, remodel the house, and responsibly protect our financial future?
3. Can we live with my mother? =)

Anyway, today we had a contractor out to get a ballpark for the remodel and granny cottage and it was quite a bit lower than I expected it to be. It is actually doable with our savings, as long as we sacrifice a number of our earlier plans. For many people, this might be a no brainer, but it's a pretty hard decision. We're still struggling with what we want the plan for our future to be.

I have continued to read from my booklist, though my pace has certainly slowed down. Since I last wrote, I have read:

1. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. It was a perhaps well written, but IMHO a shockingly bad story. I have a hard time understanding why this book is #15, unless the survey was heavily weighted toward rebellious teenagers!
2. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed this book fairly well, though I don't think Gatsby was very great... It was a tragedy, and it's nice to read those once in a while.
3. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I really enjoyed this story about a widowed father who returns, with his aunt, to the family's old homestead in his native land.

I'm currently working on a book of Jane Austen's Shorter Works. It's pretty good so far.

I started school last night. I now have classes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

New Reading Goal

I was inspired by the survey on Facebook to try and find the original BBC list. I don't know if I found the correct list, but I was able to find the BBC Big Read Top 200 they published a number of years ago.

I've decided I would like to be better acquainted with the "classics" of literature. I used to be an avid reader (by avid reader, I mean I used to read several hours nearly everyday) but reading has kind of fallen by the wayside as I grew into an adult and we got involved in other hobbies. I do still do a fair amount of reading, but usually I'm reading news articles and blogs on the internet, not books.

So, now I've put together a list of books I'd like to read, pulling primarily from the BBC list. I went through the complete 200 books and I added a few and checked off all the books that I remembered reading. Then I went to Wikipedia and looked up books I didn't recognize to see what kind of book they were. I mostly deleted children's books from the list; I'm not going to read another lame Harry Potter-type series (what a waste of time that was). As of today my list includes 111 books, but I'm steadily chipping away at it. (I'm very thankful for the Redwood City Library in this venture.) My long term goal is to read a book a week, but at the moment I'm getting through the list at a much faster pace.

Since last Friday I have read:

1. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen. A lot like the movie I've watched over and over. There were some additional characters and some extra scenes not in the movie.
2. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. This one was a bit of a weird story, obviously not her best. And the ending was very rushed. But I did enjoy the book.
3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. This book seemed like a dud about half-way through, but it pulled out a good finish.
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen. I really liked this book.
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. OK, I have to admit I didn't actually finish this book; I tried. Yuck. I got about halfway through and the main characters were just mean and unpleasant. I am at a loss for why this book is in the Top 20. Obviously lots of people have a liking for tragic love stories resulting in bitter, unkind people.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Another excellent book. I realized while reading it that I had read it before, but hadn't remembered when filling out the original survey.

I'm trying to select my next book to read. My choices are Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I was hoping to read a more upbeat story next, but it doesn't look like either of these will fill the bill. (In fact, having now looked up the plot synopsis for Catcher in the Rye in Wikipedia, I'm not actually sure I'll read it; it sounds like a lame story. Some college drop-out has wayward adventures with alcohol and a prostitute as well as others. But since I've already checked it out, I will give it a start and see how it goes.) I might have to go to the library again and trade my finished books with some new ones from my list.

My leg is still really messed up. This is proving to be an excellent time to do some reading... =)

Lots of Reading

I've gotten into a bit of a reading binge. After I checked out the book for my paralegal class, I picked it up yesterday and didn't put it down until I had finished. It was actually a good book and very readable, I would recommend it. It's titled Not a Genuine Black Man Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs by Brian Copeland. There are parts where you want to cry for what he went through.

Anyway, someone was passing around a survey of 100 Well Known mostly-Classical books you've read on Facebook and I was only able to mark about 30 of the listed books and none of the Jane Austen and I decided it was time to change that. So, I've gotten it into my head that I want to read more classical books, especially Jane Austen. I have never read any Jane Austen but I've watched the movies over and over.

I've just finished Sense & Sensibility and I enjoyed it. It was nice to get all the scenes and characters omitted from the movie. And I found it a lot more readable than I expected; there weren't many words that I didn't recognize.

I also checked out Northanger Abbey and I'm about to start that one this afternoon. I also checked out Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, because I happened to see it on the shelf and recognized it from the list. If I enjoy it, I'll read that one too.

My leg is messed up this week so this reading binge is well timed. I've got a big sore, maybe an insect bite, on my leg and it makes it painful to walk, so I won't be making my 6,000 steps a day this week. Oh well. I can always hope for better next week.