Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Getting the word out

I'm sure lots of folks will be sorry to see this latest development at our Circle@Crown Café, and not just Crown Center residents, either.  People from all over eat here.  When my daughters visited St. Louis in July, we met in the Café one day.  I guess not enough of us have been going down for breakfast or lunch lately, or maybe there are not enough people available to work part-time these days.

Idiom of the Day
If you "get the word out," you let people know about something.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Two more posts from the past

Yesterday, I shared a post from the past, after discovering how interesting it was to re-read things I had posted many years ago.  Here are two more discoveries from earlier posts, both from 2018.

Five books were in one "post from the past."  All five are still there on my Kindle (obviously), but it seems I never got around to reading them.  Oops!  I'll tell you more about each book as I'm ready for it.  But meanwhile . . .

Click HERE if you want to read about those five books right now.


Today, I was wearing this tee-shirt when Katie delivered meals to my door.  Later, I remembered something she said about this shirt several years ago.  Her comment at the time inspired me to write a blog post about it, which is probably the only reason I remember that encounter at all.

Click HERE to read that 2018 blog post.

Hey!  I just now found this in a comment dated October 01, 2010, so now I know how old this tee-shirt is:
My friend Donna ran across another tee-shirt and got it for me:  "Careful, or you'll end up in my novel."  I wore it just yesterday!

Monday, August 29, 2022

A post from the past

Yesterday, I was looking for something that I'd written in a long-ago post.  I didn't find it, but I did discover how interesting it was to re-read things I shared many years ago.  Here's what I posted on July 14, 2016:  Visiting my sister.

Yesterday, I drove 484 miles from St. Louis to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I am staying with one of my daughters.  Today, I drove another 45 miles from there to visit my sister Ann and her daughter Amy.  I had lots of traffic delays both days, but good visits with my family.  This photo shows my sister and me.  I'm holding their dog Ellie.

That's all I wrote.  You may wonder why I chose to share this post, in particular.  I had to borrow money to make that trip, which I considered very urgent.  My sister Ann had been placed on hospice care and died not many days after my visit.  This photo records the last time I ever saw her.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Today's post is all about reading

Book I plan to read next

Out of the Shoebox ~ by Yaron Reshef, 2014, memoir (Ukraine), 266 pages

Out of the Shoebox is a fascinating journal that reads like a detective story, comes across as an imaginative quest into the past, yet is the true personal story of the writer, Yaron Reshef.  An unexpected phone call hurls Reshef into an intensive two-year journey, during which he has to solve a mystery that took shape in the 1930s and gradually unfolded in the present.  A mysterious lot, a forgotten bank account, a people long gone (along with their memory) – obliterated during the Holocaust.  All of these rise to the surface, bearing with them memories and emotions previously hidden away in the shoebox.

The author says, "I had no intention of writing a book.  I had no need to write a story in general, nor a story about my family and the Holocaust in particular.  But life being what it is, sometimes things happen in mysterious, even surprising ways.  Stuff that used to take center stage moves to the background, and background stuff moves downstage and center.  That’s what happened in my case."

From an Amazon comment:  "Just one top tip for readers, whilst reading on kindle, there is a family friends list at the back of this book that helps you keep track and cross reference the family tree.  This is a great addition to the book where lots of characters are involved."

Book I'm reading now for the Big Book Summer Challenge

Last Train to Istanbul ~ by Ayse Kulin, 2002, historical fiction (France and Turkey), 417 pages

Turkish diplomats hatch a plan to spirit the Alfandaris and hundreds of innocents, many of whom are Jewish, to safety from the Nazis.

Quote:  "It was inevitable that Fazil Reşat Paşa would hear about it [hear about his daughter's love for a Jewish man], and when he did, he was furious.  The paşa confronted his daughter" (page 43).

I looked up "paşa" (which is Turkish for "pasha") and found that it's the title of a man of high rank or office in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa.  It was the highest official title of honor in the Ottoman Empire and was always used with a proper name, which it followed.
UPDATE:  Yay!!!  I finished all 417 pages on the last day of August 2022, so I feel great about my reading (even though I rated the book only 4 of 10, which I define as "Struggled to finish, but not worth it").  Too bad, since it had such great potential.  I was an editor of two in-house publications once upon a time, and I could see how it could have been tightened up and made to feel less plodding ... through day by day ... and hour by hour ... and thought by thought.  But I did accomplish my goal.  So hurray for me!!!
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Friday, August 26, 2022

Beginning ~ with a walk home from school

Beginning
It was a nothing day.  Nothing exciting had happened at school, and nothing good was going to happen tonight with all the homework weighing down her backpack as she plodded along Wildwood Lane, heading home.
And Then She Was Gone ~ by Rosalind Noonan, 2014, legal thriller (Oregon), 384 pages
Eleven-year-old Lauren O’Neil vanished one sunny afternoon as she walked home from school.  Six years later, her parents — Rachel and Dan — still tirelessly scour their Oregon hometown and beyond, always believing Lauren will be found.  Then one day, the call comes.

Lauren has been rescued from a secluded farm mere miles away, and her abductor has confessed.  Yet her return is nothing like Rachel imagined.  Though the revelations about what Lauren endured are shocking, most heartbreaking of all is to see the bright-eyed, assertive daughter she knew transformed into a wary, polite stranger.

Lauren’s first instinct is to flee.  For years she’s been told her parents forgot her; now she doubts the pieces of her life can ever fit together again.  But Rachel refuses to lose her a second time.  Little by little they must relearn what it means to be family, trusting that their bond is strong enough to guide them back to each other.
Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Thursday, August 25, 2022

The book I'm finally reading

Last Train to Istanbul
~ by Ayse Kulin, 2002, historical fiction (France and Turkey), 417 pages
As the daughter of one of Turkey’s last Ottoman pashas, Selva could win the heart of any man in Ankara.  Yet the spirited young beauty only has eyes for Rafael Alfandari, the handsome Jewish son of an esteemed court physician.  In defiance of their families, they marry, fleeing to Paris to build a new life.  But when the Nazis invade France and begin rounding up Jews, the exiled lovers will learn that nothing — not war, not politics, not even religion — can break the bonds of family.  For after they learn that Selva is but one of their fellow citizens trapped in France, some brave Turkish diplomats hatch a plan to spirit the Alfandaris and hundreds of innocents, many of whom are Jewish, to safety.  Together, they must traverse a war-torn continent, crossing enemy lines and risking everything in a desperate bid for freedom, from Ankara to Paris, Cairo, and Berlin.

From an online comment about this book:

The action takes place from 1933 to 1941, and the main characters are sisters Sabiha and Selva, who grew up in Istanbul as happy, well-educated, and beautiful blondes who want for nothing.  Older sister Sabiha marries Macit, who works directly under President Inönü's Foreign Minister; they and their beautiful child live a charmed life enjoying all the advantages of their wealth and prominent standing.  Yet Sabiha is too depressed to care, because she's ravaged by guilt at having had a hand in her younger sister Selva's decision to marry the Jewish man Rafael Alfandari.  That is what led to the couple's complete ostracization and subsequent flight to southern France, where they found themselves hiding from Nazis.

I've decided to read this for the 2022 Big Book Summer Challenge
(to read a book over 400 pages long), hosted by Sue Jackson at Book by Book.
I have only this week to read the book before Labor Day weekend (which I can do).
I've already read 16 books in August, and I've started this book now, anyway.

I purchased this on April 18, 2018 (Amazon says), so it also applies to my
TBR 22 in '22 Challenge to read 22 books I already own.
================================================================
UPDATE:  Yay!!!  I finished all 417 pages on the last day of August 2022, so I feel great about my reading (even though I rated the book only 4 of 10, which I define as "Struggled to finish, but not worth it").  Too bad, since it had such great potential.  I was an editor of two in-house publications once upon a time, and I could see how it could have been tightened up and made to feel less plodding ... through day by day ... and hour by hour ... and thought by thought.  But I did accomplish my goal.  So hurray for me!!!
================================================================

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Jonesing for? What's that mean?

What does jonesing mean?  It means "a strong desire or craving for" something.  I came across the word in a comment about Mark Reutlinger's cozy mystery Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death.  I don't remember hearing this word before, so I looked it up even though I could tell in context what she meant by her comment:  "And now I'm Jonesing for Motzah Ball Soup."  (Yes, she misspelled "matzoh," and "jonesing" doesn't need a capital letter.)

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Backspacing ~ think again

Imagine we are all characters in a book.  Can you do it?  Are you the main character?  Or am I?  Maybe neither of us, but then who is the main character here?

Here's another thought:  "We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts, we make the world." ~ Buddha

Monday, August 22, 2022

As the song says, we've got personality

Colleen posted this on her blog:  "INTJs are analytical.  Like  INTPs, they are most comfortable working alone and tend to be less sociable than other types.  Nevertheless, INTJs are prepared to lead if no one else seems up to the task, or if they see a major weakness in the current leadership.  They tend to be pragmatic, logical, and creative.  They have a low tolerance for spin or rampant emotionalism.  They are not generally susceptible to catchphrases and do not recognize authority based on tradition, rank, or title. — Meyers Briggs"

In a comment, she added:  "I already knew I was a INTJ from other tests."

I left her this comment:  "Ha!  I am also INTJ, according to an official Myers-Briggs test I took with a work group decades ago.  I definitely fit the profile.  I was told, though, that I was right on the cusp for one category:  the I or the E.  When I asked, the person who administered the test said it's all about how I would go about refreshing my energy.  I realized I definitely want to be alone to recharge (like an Introvert) because a party with lots of people tires me out (unlike an Extrovert).  We are kindred spirits, Colleen!"

The Myers-Briggs personality test was developed in the 1940s  — to classify the various ways people perceive their environment and behave accordingly.  The test has four categories: introversion or extroversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. Each individual is assigned one of the two traits in each category, which produces the 16 different MBTI personality types that we know today –– such as INTJ or ESFP.  Here are the people shown on the illustration:
  • INFP = A. A. Milne
  • INFJ = Mahatma Gandhi
  • INTJ = Ayn Rand
  • INTP = Albert Einstein
  • ISTP = Frank Zappa
  • ISTJ = George Washington
  • ISFJ = Mother Teresa
  • ISFP = Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
  • ESFP = Peter the Great
  • ESFJ = Henry Ford
  • ESTP = Winston Churchill
  • ENTP = Benjamin Franklin
  • ENTJ = Napoleon Bonaparte
  • ENFJ = Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • ENFP = Oscar Wilde
I've written about Myers-Bringgs before, so go ahead and explore what I said in 2013 and in 2021.  It's a fascinating subject.  Click HERE if you want to learn more.

Sunday, August 21, 2022

A book, a video, and construction

Homesick: A Memoir ~ by Sela Ward, 2002, memoir, 272 pages
Millions of TV and film viewers know Sela Ward as the Emmy-winning star of the series Sisters and Once & Again.  But before she became a successful actress, Sela was first and foremost a small-town girl, the daughter of a family that lived for generations in a Mississippi homestead they called "Homeward."  It was there, within a tightly knit community of neighbors and kin, that Sela learned ways that would remain with her through life — humble virtues, like generosity, selflessness, and respect, that are "forged in the hearth of a loving home."  Now she has woven together nostalgic reminiscences, stories from throughout her life and career, and lessons on drawing strength and wisdom from a simpler place and time, to give us a very special book on the challenge of raising a family, maintaining perspective, and carving away time for happiness amid the challenges of modern life.
Did you also love the "Sound of Music" movie?  Here's a YouTube video of the cast returning to Salzburg for a 50th Anniversary Celebration.  (And here I am, wondering how it could possibly be 50 years since this movie came out!  It seems like yesterday.  Well, a year or two ago?  Some things just don't seem "long, long ago," you know.)

On Monday, I shared a time lapse video of the construction of our new building here at the Crown Center.  Here's a couple of drone photos, which were taken this past Tuesday.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Saturday, August 20, 2022

What I'm reading now



The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man ~ by James Weldon Johnson, 1912 (my edition, 2011), fiction with biographical introduction, 118 pages

First published anonymously in 1912, this is James Weldon Johnson's fictional account of a young biracial man living in America during the second half of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century.  The so-called "ex-colored" man makes his living as a jazz pianist playing ragtime music at a popular New York club.  It is here that he catches the attention of a wealthy white gentleman who takes a curious interest in him and employs him to play at his parties.  Although he becomes friends with the man, a feeling of subservience reminiscent of slavery prompts him to part ways.  He travels to the South, where he intends to work on his music in an attempt to glorify the artistry of his race.  However, after witnessing a terribly horrific lynching, he abandons his desire to embrace his black heritage, opting instead to "pass" as a white man.  This book explores the complexity of race relations between whites and blacks in America and the search for racial identity by a man of mixed ethnicity.  Through the experiences of its unnamed protagonist, the issues of class, race, and discrimination are discussed with an openness that was unusual in the literature of the time.

* Click on the book's title to read what I posted about this book in February.

** Footnote added after reading the book:  The author used the word "mulatto," now considered outdated and offensive, three times in this book (my Kindle search shows).

Friday, August 19, 2022

Beginning ~ with bread and jam

Beginning
September 1952 ~ Isaac Moore sat on the porch steps, stuffing the last bit of bread and jam into his mouth.  Most days he walked home with his little sister, but today he was hungry, and he had run ahead.  Ada should have been home by now.
The Obituary Society ~ by Jessica L. Randall, 2014, cozy mystery, 196 pages

When Lila Moore inherits her grandfather's house, she finds herself in a small Midwestern town where margarine is never an acceptable substitution for butter, a coveted family recipe can serve as currency, and the friend who will take your darkest secrets to the grave will still never give you the secret to her prize-winning begonias.  Lila is charmed by the people of Auburn, from the blue-eyed lawyer with the southern drawl to the little old lady who unceasingly tries to set Lila up with her grandson.  But when spooky things begin to happen, Lila realizes some of her new friends are guarding a secret like it's a precious family heirloom.  It's a dangerous secret, and it has come back to haunt them.  Lila is caught in the middle, and her life may depend on uncovering it.  But even if she can, can she stay in Auburn when not everyone is what they seem, and even the house wants her gone?

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Let's create a kinder world

I received those words in the title ("Let's create a kinder world") on my smart phone from the Action for Happiness folks, and then I found this illustration on another site that asserts that "practicing kindness and compassion can bring real meaning and true happiness to yourself and others."  Today, let's all try to make our world kinder by taking at least a step or two in the right direction.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

A book about words

Words: The Way Feelings Control Our Mind ~ by Gyozo Margoczi, 2015 and 2019, sociology, 268 pages

Words form the basis of human thinking.  During its history, humankind has been using words without being aware of what words are, what the process of thinking in words looks like, and what its pitfalls are.  As a result, sometimes we use meaningless words to make meaningless sentences which build up meaningless theories (in a good case), but which (in a bad case) can also build up theories that ruin the lives of millions of people.

This is not without consequences:  the history of humankind is a sequence of unending plots, genocides, bloody wars, and economic crises.  While the development of sciences soars uninterruptedly, human studies are struggling in the dust like a bird without wings.  Why?  Because of words.  Or more precisely, because there is an undiscovered, mysterious world where words are rooted and through and in which they live.  Is there a way out?

Monday, August 15, 2022

Under construction

Here's a link to a time lapse video of the construction of our new building.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations: A New Translation ~ by Marcus Aurelius, translated by Gregory Hays, philosophy, 90 pages

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (a.d. 121–180) succeeded his adoptive father as emperor of Rome in a.d. 161 — and Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written.  With a profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus provides insights, wisdom, and practical guidance on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity to interacting with others.  Consequently, the Meditations have become required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.


Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius
~ by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, 2020, philosophy, 330 pages

Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that attracts those who seek to embrace self-mastery, virtue. and indifference to that which we cannot control.  Who were the Stoics?  This book offers a fresh approach to understanding Stoicism through the lives of the people who practiced it — from Cicero to Zeno, Cato to Seneca, Diogenes to Marcus Aurelius.  Through short biographies of all the famous and lesser-known Stoics, this book will show what it means to live stoically, and reveal the lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes.

I plan to read about Marcus Aurelius in this second book before reading his meditations and reflections about life.  I have both books on my Kindle.

Sunday, August 14, 2022

This looks like a timely book for right now

The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar ~ by Michael Judge, 2004 and 2011, history, 206 pages

Did you know that the ancient Romans left sixty days of winter out of their calendar, considering these two months a dead time of lurking terror and therefore better left unnamed?  That they had a horror of even numbers, hence the tendency for months with an odd number of days?  That robed and bearded druids from the Celts stand behind our New Year’s figure of Father Time?  That if Thursday is Thor’s day, then Friday belongs to his faithful wife, Freya, queen of the Norse gods?  That the name Easter may derive from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre, whose consort was a hare, our Easter Bunny?

Three streams of history created the Western calendar — first from the Sumerians, then from the Celtic and Germanic peoples in the North, and finally from Palestine with the rise of Christianity.  Michael Judge teases out the contributions of each stream to the shape of the calendar, to the days and holidays, and to associated lore.  In them, he finds glimpses of a way of seeing before the mechanical time of clocks, when the rhythms of man and woman matched those of earth and sky, and the sacred was born.

This is my tenth book this month, and my Kindle says I've read 49% of it at some point in the past.  Amazon says I "purchased this item on April 13, 2021," but I don't remember reading any of it.  So should I start over or start on page 107, where I apparently stopped reading?  What would you do?

Sunday Salon
is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Friday, August 12, 2022

Beginning ~ with a bridge game

Beginning

Our Mrs. Kaplan is not what you would call competitive.  Now her late husband, Sam (of blessed memory), he was competitive.  As a young man he was a terrific tennis player, and he never tired of telling us about how he once beat a world champion, even if at the time Sam was sixteen and the champion was only twelve and had not yet hit his stride.  He also told us how he won Mrs. K's hand by outmaneuvering two shlemiels who were trying to win her first.  But Mrs. K?  Even at bridge she plays only for fun, never to win, and don't think that doesn't drive her partners crazy.  Sometimes I tell her, "Rose," I say, "even if you don't care whether you win or not, would it kill you to try a little harder for your partner's sake, at least when I'm your partner?" 

Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death ~ by Mark Reutlinger, 2014, cozy mystery, 244 pages

Everyone knows that Rose Kaplan makes the best matzoh ball soup around — she’s a regular matzoh ball maven — so it’s no surprise at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors when, once again, Mrs. K wins the honor of preparing the beloved dish for the Home’s seder on the first night of Passover.  But when Bertha Finkelstein is discovered face down in her bowl of soup, her death puts a bit of a pall on the rest of the seder.  And things go really meshugge when it comes out that Bertha choked on a diamond earring earlier stolen from resident Daisy Goldfarb.  Suddenly Mrs. K is the prime suspect in the police investigation of both theft and murder.  Oy vey — it’s a recipe for disaster, unless Rose and her dear friend Ida can summon up the chutzpah to face down the police and solve the mystery themselves.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

It's a mystery to me


Let Us Prey ~ by Jamie Lee Scott, 2011, mystery (California), 281 pages

A former secret service agent turned private detective, Mimi Capurro.  A disgraced NFL player turned homicide detective, Nick Christianson.  A snarky (who knows what his background really is) computer forensics specialist, Charles Parks, trying to keep them from killing each other.  And now they must find the killer of a New York Times best-selling author's assistant.  Gotcha Detective Agency was hired to protect the author, when it was the assistant who really needed protection.  Now it's a race to see who can find the killer.  Mimi is determined to make up for puking all over Nick's crime scene by solving the murder before he does.  Who will solve this case first?

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

National Book Lovers Day!

August 9th is a day to celebrate books.  It's National Book Lovers Day.  This holiday encourages bibliophiles to celebrate reading and literature, so book lovers should pick up a book and read!

"Wherever I am, if I have a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy," says J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels.  I (Bonnie) have found that owning a Kindle means I can have hundreds of books with me, and thus have the option of reading fiction or nonfiction — whatever I'm in the mood for.

Monday, August 8, 2022

It will make me laugh, I'm told

The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumpkin Allan ~ by Suzie Twine, 2014, fiction (UK), 246 pages
An uplifting and moving story of Lois and Tom’s relocation from London to a surprisingly quirky, rural hamlet.  Tom falls off his mountain bike just days before they take ownership of Honeysuckle Cottage, leaving a pregnant Lois and her close friend to collect the keys to their new home.  Finding her dream house fraught with unexpected problems, Lois becomes sick with worry that she should never have persuaded Tom to leave the city.  But, as they settle, glitches with the cottage are resolved, and a wonderfully eclectic mix of friends, enemies, crooks, and eccentrics is revealed within this extraordinary community.  Lois and Tom’s  wedding and the birth of the baby happen in very quick succession, with a melodramatic twist as uninvited guests arrive at the home delivery.
"I highly recommend this to anyone needing a laugh and a little sunshine in their day!"  I ran across this recommendation as I was trying to decide which of the books on my friend Donna's Kindle I should read next.  I could use a few laughs, so this is what I'm reading today.

Sunday, August 7, 2022

Some Snoopy stuff ~ and a book, of course!

This is for my favorite daughter-in-law, who happens also to be my ONLY daughter-in-law.  I tried to put a hug on Facebook where we were chatting, but it didn't work.  So I had to put it here, on my blog, then share the link on FB.  It gets complicated, doesn't it?

And now I've found another Snoopy hug, this one where I hugged you in my thoughts!

I've learned that people enjoy doing nice things for each other.  Sometimes, it's harder to allow others to feel good about doing things for me, but I'm still learning.

How is it August already?  Yes, it's HOT enough, but the days seem to fly by.  A friend gave me a ride over to the grocery store to get Meow Mix Hairball Control food for my cat, even though I have it on order.  Why?  Because I was completely OUT and delivery wouldn't be for another two days.  Oh, the things we do for the pets we love!

Why am I showing you this right now?  Because I did NOT stop at Meow Mix, of course not!  I also picked up a few other things as I hurried through the store.  Yes, I admit it.

BOOK UP NEXT

Seeds of Revenge: A Greenhouse Mystery Book ~ by Wendy Tyson, 2017, cozy mystery, 280 pages
Megan Sawyer is determined to farm year-round.  So much so that she braves a December snowstorm to pitch her fresh greenhouse greens to Philadelphia chefs.  And then she sees a stranger stranded on the side of the road.  But this woman is no stranger; it’s Becca Fox, a love chemist (you read that right).  She’s headed to her aunt’s house to sell her love potions at holiday events.  Or so Becca thinks.  Her sneaky aunt only invited Becca home to reunite her with her estranged father.  It sounds noble and kind-hearted, until the man ends up dead. 
Megan soon finds herself in the middle.  She realizes Becca’s not the only one getting iced over.  Megan’s own aunt, the famous mystery author, is dragged into the drama.  Her novels implicate her, and she’s in trouble.  Now it’s personal.  Our Megan must follow a cryptic trail of literary clues, all while sifting through the victim’s sordid past.  She gets closer to the truth as the murderer gets closer to her.
Sunday Salon
is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Friday, August 5, 2022

Beginning ~ twice

Beginning
Here's an amazing weight-loss tip for all the women in America:  an out-of-body experience makes you look thinner.  Forget about vertical versus horizontal stripes.  I'm telling you, an out-of-body occurrence does the trick.
Retirement Can Be Murder: Every Wife Has A Story (A Baby Boomer Mystery Book 1) ~ by Susan Santangelo, 2009, cozy mystery, 214 pages
This is the story of Carol Andrews and her beloved husband, Jim, who are members of the fastest growing demographic in history, the Baby Boomer generation.  Carol dreads Jim's upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain.  She can't imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it except interfering in the day-to-day activities of their household and driving her crazy until her plans to stall Jim's retirement result in Jim's being suspected of murdering his retirement coach.
Beginning the night before the reunion
"I don't know how I let you talk me into this," I said, huffing as I pulled my overnight bag up the marble stairs toward our third floor bedroom.

"Well, Carol," said my very best friend Nancy, "if you weren't such a nutcase about taking the elevator, we'd be in our room by now.  I bet Claire and Mary Alice are already unpacked, lounging in their pajamas, and sipping a glass of cold chardonnay.  While we're pulling suitcases up these damn stairs.  And probably overstressing our hearts.  Which could lead to a stroke.  And death.  Not the way I pictured spending our fortieth high school reunion."

Class Reunions Can Be Murder: Every Wife Has A Story (A Baby Boomer Mystery Book 4) ~ by Susan Santangelo, 2013, cozy mystery, 240 pages
Carol Andrews and her beloved husband, Jim, navigate their way along life's rocky highway toward their twilight years.  Carol has no interest in her upcoming fortieth high school reunion.  Her memories of days at Mount Saint Francis Academy are mixed, to put it mildly.  But BFF Nancy convinces her to join the reunion planning committee, so she'll have some say in how the event is organized.  All is going smoothly until the dead body of one of their classmates is found the night before the reunion — in Carol and Nancy's room!
The author says:  "Be sure to study each cover carefully to see if you can identify the murder weapon!"

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Today's intention

Altruistic August 2022 is from the Action for Happiness folks.  Click to enlarge it and read each day's suggestion for being happier.  However, I think I'll just try to find JOY today.