Shawn’s favorite cookie.
I’ve sadly neglected my blog the last few months but today I updated my Goodreads list and I added a new recipe to the cooking page. Take a look!!
Updates Today
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Category Archives: Books & Movies
Karen White Has Done it Again
![The Guests on South Battery (Tradd Street) by [White, Karen]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Da2%2B3P-ML._SY346_.jpg)
The Guests on South Battery , a novel by one of my favorite authors, has done it again! This is another novel of mystery, suspense, drama and some comedy mixed in! I read it in three days and had a really hard time putting it down, like most of her books. Karen White is truly a gifted writer and I’m so glad I found her to entertain myself!!
New Read
Fern Michael’s is at the top of my reading list at the moment and I have listened to several of her audiobooks in the last few months when traveling to see my brother and going to my cleaning jobs. She makes me laugh, keeps me enthralled with every word and spins quite wonderful tales of a “sisterhood of women” executing justice for those taken advantage of. The following are only three that I recommend and think any woman will enjoy! For more of her books that I have read and rated check out my GoodReads site at
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88057.Lethal_Justice
Future updates to come! Read a book and take yourself to a good place!
Book I’m Reading
Nineteen Minutes is the book that has my attention at the moment. When I found it on Amazon the story line said “Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult reminds me of all of the horrid school shootings of the last few years.
There are times when I’m reading the book that I feel more and more that our world has gone to “hell in a handbag”!! Kids with guns in a school setting, what’s that all about???? When did parents lose sight of what is going on in the life of their children? What and why bullying? Why are there jocks versus nerds, parent versus child, teacher versus student? Why is our world full of violent computer games, tv shows and movies? You might say it’s what the public wants, BUT WHY??? It reminds me of the Columbine shootings and yet different.
This is book is a look at both the victims’ world and that of the shooter (who is also a victim, in his own way), This book is a hard book to put down because the entire time you’re seeking answers. The writing is riveting and poignant. The reality of a typical American school environment for students who suffer to stand out in the crowd and to those people who feed in to gain their desires. I’ve come to sympathize with everyone in the book as a victim, each experiencing loss of different degrees. It is absolutely coercive and constraining buta a scintillating read. I’m anxious to finish and update it on my blog.
Visit with Carol
I had a wonderful visit from a girlfriend earlier this month and I haven’t seen her for several months. Carol and I worked together at Virginia Tech and I love her dearly.
Celebrating my birthday the year before I retired from VT.
We always have so much to talk about including our kids, grandkids, her work and my part-time work and home. We both love to read and we started a book club soon after we met at VT.
She bought me a new book and a wonderful tin of cookies for Christmas. I’m hoping we’ll have more visits like this in the near future. I fixed lunch for us and we talked and laughed for several hours. We talked about gardening, her work, my work, families, and of course, our cohort in crime that she still works with, Gwen. I miss you guys so much!
Christmas tin of goodies from Carol.
I’m pretty sure she told me there were no calories in this batch!! 😉
Carol, I hope we can get together for lunch really soon because we have a lot to catch up on! I’ll call you soon, I promise!
The new book that I guarantee she will finish before I do!
The Weaver’s Girl
The Weaver’s Girl by Gracie Ayers, based on life on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and a small village call Furnace Town.
I just finished this new book while sitting in my deer stand last week. The book is by Gracie Ayers and I was given the book by my best friend, Margaret Tongue, when I was visiting her a couple weeks ago.
Margaret took me to visit a museum in Maryland that she used to make costumes for. It was wonderful and the name of it is “Furnace Town”. The book is based around this museum and begins with a young woman taken back in time after an upset with her boyfriend. It’s a heartwarming adventure in this small village on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Gracie Ayers has written three other books about the area and I can’t wait to get my hands on them too!
I want to thank my best friend, Margaret, for a delightful visit to her home and we are both looking forward to getting together again real soon for more laughter, tears, good food and more adventures in her world!
Margaret and I heading into the Blacksmith Shop at Furnace Town.
I’ll post more about Furnace Town in a future blog post.
Love you, Margaret!!
Books, books, everywhere!
My library is so full! Next rainy day project is organizing all of my books. I do have a few because I collected them over the years for my retirement and now I’m retired.
Quilting magazines
Quilting, crafting and “other” books
Library in the upstairs foyer.
More in the upstairs foyer.
I do love to read, craft, quilt, crochet, garden, decorating, and so much more.
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri-Another win
Proof is in the pudding or is that putting!! Anyway, UPS arrived at our house on Friday with a new book for me. I remember entering the contest but had not received notice of who the winner was until Friday. This letter was enclosed in the package from Penguin Publishing:
2016 Winner-InOtherWords_ReadItForward
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri. I won this book by entering a contest on Reading It Forward and the book was published by Penguin Publishing.
Reviews of the book.
I’ve never read a book like this before and it’s quite unusual. From the cover is this quick synopsis of the book:
It is at heart a love story–of a long and sometimes difficult courtship and a passion that verges on obsession: that of a writer for another language (Italian).
When I opened the book I found that on the left hand pages the story is in Italian and on the left in English. This could be quite interesting and I’ll review on GoodReads once I’ve read it.
I’ve won several books over the last three years and all books that I can’t wait to start and complete. First, find the time to read them and then find the time to review and let everyone that follows my blog, follows GoodReads and Facebook know what I think of the books.
I enter every contest on Read It Forward, GoodReads and from some publishing company’s. It’s free and it takes about 90 seconds to enter. Great way to grow your library with no cost!!
Another Win
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The week before Christmas I won another book through my Read It Forward site and their contests. The title is Angela’s Ashes and the book is based the author, Frank McCourt’s childhood and adult life. It is a New York Times bestseller and a Pulitzer Prize Winner. I’m really looking forward to reading it and suggesting it to my book club.
There’s nothing finer than curling up with a good book and float away into another life and time, don’t you think!!
You can find books that I have read on my Goodread’s site and my reviews. Here’s a few books that I read in 2015 and are on the site:
Home by Toni Morrison
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Some of the books are audio and I listen to them when I travel to and back to visit my brother since it takes a little better than an hour to get to him and some I read when I was traveling back and forth to work. Now most of my actual book reading occurs at night while hubby is watching TV. I tune out of the TV and into my Nextbook.
Book Contests-Reading it Forward & Goodreads
Being an avid reader, I have lots of books and belong to one book club with some friends at Virginia Tech. We are currently reading “The Color Purple” and “The Language of Flowers” and hopefully we’ll meet again very soon. I finished the latter night before last and started the first one last night. I love books and my collection is constantly growing with paperbacks, hardcover, audio and now my Kindle.
I also belong to two internet sites where I look for new books and review books that I read. One link is GoodReads which I have listed on my blog and anyone can see the books I’ve read, become friends on the site, compare reviews and much more. The other link is “Read It Forward” which has a weekly giveaway and all I have to do is enter which only takes about two minutes.
Craft room bookcase is full of how-to, gardening, decor, sustainability books and so much more.
The book shelf on the bottom is full of idea books I’ve put together for the last 15 years. I really need to go through them and clean out.
Upstairs foyer book shelves.
Guest bedroom book and audio shelves.
Second shelving unit in my craft room.
Bookcase in the guest room with Nora Roberts, Karen White, and more.
I get lots of free books from entering contests on the sites I mentioned. I usually receive at least once a week notices from these two sites about free book contest I can enter. So far over the last year I’ve won ten books and I can’t remember how many from the year before. These are new books and all have been hardcover books. Here’s a few I’ve won this year:
What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes.
Books by Pamela Clare. I can’t wait to get started on them!
John Grisham is always a hit!
A new author for me but one I will definitely look for in the future.
These books would have probably cost me around $200 – $250 if I had bought them new at a bookstore. That’s a lot of money at my house!!
I also have friends that bring me books by the bag full after they have read them. When I was working at Virginia Tech I listened to audiobooks to and from work and now I listen to them when I travel to and from Covington to visit my brother. I also read a lot while I’m in my deerstand waiting on that big buck and Eddie says it may be the reason I haven’t killed the “big one”!! 😉
Anyway, reading it great entertainment and it keeps the old brain busy! I have plenty of books to keep me busy and lots of books with pretty pictures and ideas.
Goodreads -What I’ve been reading
I’m retired now and miss the audiobooks that I listened too each morning going to work and traveling home each evening. Since I don’t go off the farm that much now about the only time I get to listen to them is when traveling to and from visiting my brother in Covington or going to my monthly trips grocery shopping or going to the feed store. The following are are a few I’ve listened to this past year and recommend to anyone that likes a good book.
Now, I MUST review them in my Goodreads account and recommend to some of my followers. Hope you enjoy these as much as I have.
I Won These Books
I love to read! I read at night while hubby watches TV. I read at my deerstand and Lord only knows what slips by me while I’m there! I belong to a bookclub formed when I was working at Virginia Tech and haven’t been able to attend a meeting since July but think I only missed one. We are a very busy group of ladies. Prior to my retirement, I won a whole arm load of books from Crown Publishing.
I won! I was so excited!! Can you tell?
Books by Pamela Clare. I can’t wait to get started on them!
I’m also a member of Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/) and the Reading Room which send me an email when authors and publishers have a new contest to enter. This was the third time in the last two years that I’ve received new and sometimes used books.
Pamela Clare is a new author to me but the books I won are Extreme Exposure, Hard Evidence, Unlawful Contact, Naked Edge, Breaking Point and Striking Distance.
I have an Android that my husband got for me last year for my birthday and I can read lots of free books on it but there’s just something about holding that paper book in your hand that draws me into the storyline that the Android can’t.
I won another book back in June of this year by Samantha Hayes called
What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes.
If you are an avid reader like me you should become a member of Goodreads and enter some of their contests. It’s also a great tool to get background and storyline on books other readers can’t put down.
There’s absolutely nothing to compare on a cold winter day to curling up with a good book and a hot cup of tea in front of a warm fire!!
Must read!!
I am a John Grisham fan and just finished his audiobook “Gray Mountain”.
Gray Mountain by John Grisham
It’s a mystery and fictional piece of literature that will grab you from the first chapter and keep you guessing. It’s set in the mountains of West Virginia and the heroine is a young female lawyer working with a group of women at a legal aid clinic. Samantha learns quickly about small mountain towns, WV coal mining, tragic lives of coal people, murder and what it’s like to go up against lawless big enterprise. That’s all I will tell you about the story but it’s a great book that keeps you guessing the ending to the very end!!
More literary posts to come!!
The Gift That Guilts Me
Do you ever get caught up in something that you just can’t seem to stay away from and then it seems to take up all your “free” moments???
My hubby got me an Android tablet in 2013 for my birthday and I’m absolutely addicted to it.
Android Nextbook 2013
So much so that I’ve neglected my blog and my quilting and my HUSBAND. We watch TV together at night but now I read while he watches TV. Android is the name of my “kindle” and I add new books to it every week while my “paper” books are gathering dust on the shelves upstairs.
Easy to charge and quick.
There’s over two hundred books on it currently.
Thanks hubby for my wonderful gift and I’ll try very hard not to neglect and ignore you from this moment on. I’ll also devote more time to my blog and my quilting before I forget how!!!
Audiobooks I’ve Read in 2014
My drive to work each day is 40 – 45 minutes depending on the weather, traffic and my lead foot!!! To make the ride a little more tolerable I listen to audiobooks. I love books and love read but that’s not allowed while driving. 🙂 An average CD will last about 7 – 10 days depending on the book. I’m a huge Nora Roberts fan and have a lot of her books and a bunch of her audiobooks and have listened to all of them. The hardcover books are piling up at home because about the only time I have to read is at night when I go to bed but I fall asleep before I’m through one page. I also like to books with me to my hunting stand but hunting season alas is over for now.
Here’s a few of my audiobooks with MY rating:
East of Eden by John Steinbeck – currently listening to and read when I was in high school, great but a little too much “commentary” . I give it 4 stars.
Accused by Lisa Scottaline – different from what I normally read but really good storyline and a great author. 4 stars.
Three Sisters Trilogy by Nora Roberts – I never found a Nora Roberts book I didn’t like. 5 stars.
In the Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts – I never found a Nora Roberts book I didn’t like. 5 stars.
Birthright, Northern Lights and Blue Smoke Trilogy by Nora Roberts – Great series. 5 stars.
Bride Collection by Nora Roberts – 5 stars.
Born In Trilogy by Nora Roberts – Another great series. 5 stars.
Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy by Nora Roberts – My favorite of all the Nora Roberts series. 5+ stars.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd – Different but probably wouldn’t read it again, love this author. 3 stars.
The Tradd Street Collection by Karen White – Next to Nora Roberts, Karen White runs a very close second. 5+ stars.
The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy by Nora Roberts – Great series. 5 stars.
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks – Nicholas Sparks keeps me entrenched in his stories. 5 sars.
Wolves in Chic Cloth by Carrie Karasyov – Never see what’s coming! 4 stars.
Sweet Magnolias Series by Sherryl Woods – 5 stars.
Invitation Only by Kate Brian – 3 stars.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – Good mystery. 3.5 stars
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold – Great story/mystery, hard to stop listening to once it got started.
A Chesapeake Shores Series by Sherryl Woods – Sherryl Woods rates right up there with Nora and Karen!!. 5 stars.
Wyoming Men Series by Diana Palmer – Romance at it’s best. 4 stars.
Just Kate by Linda Lael Miller – Linda Lael Miller books are intriguing in every way. 5 stars.
Stone Creek Series by Linda Lael Miller – Good romance series. My daughter got me hooked on this series.
I think I’ll start doing a monthly or bi-monthly book review of the what I listen to or read. I would appreciate any recommendations and you can also see what else I’ve read or plan to read on my Goodreads link. Sign up and lets be reading friends.
Recipe box and cookbooks
2nd recipe box made from barn wood
My handmade (by hubby) recipe box is filling up. I’ve been doing lots of purging in my home for the last year and one of the things that’s going is cookbooks!! I love cookbooks but they take up so much room. I’m going through all of my cookbooks and putting my favorite recipes and recipes that I think will be good on 4×6 index cards. I’ve already gone through about 20-25 cookbooks but have about three times that to go through. I also inherited from my mother-in-law boxes full of Taste of Home and All-Recipe magazines which I’m currently going through. As I go through the magazines, I tab what I want to save and after I have 5-10 magazines tabbed I write down the recipe and pass the magazine on to my daughter, who passes it on to a friend and it goes and goes and goes. I’m doing the same thing with the cookbooks. We all enjoy the peaceful time going through them and getting new ideas for family meals. I’m keeping a couple of the cookbooks given to me by my mother and special friends but now my kitchen shelves will have space for the “old treasures” I’ve collected for so many years.
This cookbook was my Mom’s and bought when I was very young. I still use lots of the recipes.
This cookbook I purchased while working with the Craig County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee. It’s out of print the last I checked but love giving it as a gift. Wonderful cooks in Virginia.
A girlfriend that used to live in Georgia presented this to me many years ago and it’s my “go to book” when looking for something new and different. It has NEVER_FAIL recipes.
These two cookbooks I use for canning and for “old-time” recipes.
Recipes from early 1900’s.
For those canning instructions that aren’t used every year.
Now I’m trying to decide is I need a larger recipe box from hubby or another one the same size. I love the barnwood construction and works great in my very country kitchen.
A very comfortable and easy to use room in the house.
Handmade table by Uncle Holl.
Wood cook stove used mainly in the winter months.
White and bright
I have a 18″ high stack of Taste of Home and All-Recipe magazines beside my chair in the living room awaiting my transfer of recipes to cards. I have 9 cookbooks with tabbed pages to do the same thing with. I’ll have plenty to keep me busy at night while watching TV with hubby.
DARK WITCH
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/788353766
Nora Roberts does it again. It’s a wonderfully romantic, thrilling and grab you by the seat of your pants book. I’ve read the entire trilogy and couldn’t put them down!! Love, romance, witches, fantasy, it’s all in this book!!
Check out my GoodReads list to see more of my favorites and lots that I want to read.
The Perfect Hope: Book Three of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy Nora Roberts
I’ve just recently finished this series of Nora Roberts books and as always loved them all. Love, mystery and lots of humor in all three make them a treasure!
I’ve also in the last few months read and love Karen Whites, “The Girl on Legare Street”, “House on Tradd Street”, and “The Strangers on Montague Street”. Just recently a fourth book in the series has come out called “Return to Tradd Street” but I haven’t started it yet because I’m two-thirds into “The Atlantis Gene” and three-quarters into another Nora Roberts goody called “The Dark Witch”.
Our bookclub is reading “The Mermaid Chair” and I’ve got to get started on it as well. The Atlantis Gene and Dark Witch are the last two the bookclub read. As usual, I’m so behind that eventually I’ll catch up to myself 😉 ! All of these books are good reads but my problem is finding time to read and if I read at night I get through a few pages and fall asleep!
It seems the only time I really get to read a lot is when I go to my deer stand and take the books with me. I can read a whole book in a couple days in that quiet, serene setting and not fall asleep and get to watch wildlife at the same time.
New trilogy finished and followup book on the way!!
I have recently become a big fan of author, Karen White and have read the Legare Street Trilogy. I’m patiently waiting for what will be a fourth book in the series and at which point it won’t be a trilogy anymore, I guess. Karen White keeps her readers enthralled in a story of love, mystery, supernatural and lots of humor mixed in. I would give them a rating of 10 out of 10. The first book is “The Girl on Legare Street”, second is “House on Tradd Street” and the third is “The Strangers on Montague Street”.
Karen White Legare St Trilogy-1st two books.
The Strangers on Montague Street
The fourth book “Return to Tradd Street” came out on January 7th and I pre-ordered it but it hasn’t arrived as of yet.
This is probably a good thing because I haven’t finished reading our book club selection and our meeting is sometime next week. I highly recommend Karen White and all of her books and here are a few more of her titles that are on my list to read.
More titles authored by Karen White.
Read, it soothes the soul and ignites the imagination!
The Cove
I just finished this book by Catherine Coulter and it’s fabulous!! Check it out. It’s mystery, intrigue, and an unbelievable ending and I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5!
<img alt=”The Cove (FBI Thriller, #1)” border=”0″ src=”http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309202140m/342240.jpg” />The Cove by Catherine Coulter
My rating: <a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/727602876″>5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I love it and can’t wait to get my hands on more of her books. Very suspenseful and never knew from page to page who did it!!
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<a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8164106-rita-caldwell”>View all my reviews</a>
Excerpt from OFWC journal
I’m sharing some more of our family journal as written by OFWC Caldwell in May of 1888. I think you can click on the journal page and it will enlarge to read clearly. I thought this appropriate on this Memorial Day weekend. Hope you enjoy as much as I have reading it.
Wonderful book finished
This evening I finished reading a wonderful novel by Jennifer Chiaverini which is part of the Elm Creek Quilts series. This one is titled “The Giving Quilt” and focuses on the lives of five very different ladies that love to quilt or want to learn. It’s also inspired by the “Project Linus” program which is a charitable organization dedicated to providing handmade blankets and quilts to children in need. I give this novel a five star rating but would first recommend you start with the first novel of the Elm Creek Series, The Quilter’s Apprentice”. Wonderful reading material and especially so if you love to read and quilt.
The Giving Quilt novel
New Book Club
Eight ladies that I work with have become members of a newly organized book club about a two months ago and we will have our second meeting the second week of May. I’ll be expanding friendship with some of the girls, getting to know some ladies that I’ve met but don’t know well, and meeting ladies I don’t know but hope to add to my friends group.
When we first met we each were to bring a list of books that we would like to read. Those books were put on slips of paper, folded and put in a hat to draw the name of the first book to read. The first book in my opinion was fantastic and the name of it is “Love Lies Bleeding” by Jess McConkey. I highly recommend it for all women!! It has a great story line, not too many characters and a strong woman as the main character.
I’ll blog each month about the books we read and hope it’ll give you some choices for your reading enjoyment. My list of books to read is constantly growing as you can tell if you hook up to the “GoodReads” link on my blog page. I love to read and have a very hard time finding the time to do it.
PINTEREST – My New Organizer & Memory
I mentioned in a previous post that I am a big fan of Pinterest and here’s my link if you want to visit: http://pinterest.com/ritascrafting/ . I love finding new gardening secrets/ideas, crafts, DIY ideas, sewing, good books and music from the other Pinterest boards. Most of all I love the fact that I can find gift ideas for my family and find the list easily. I can pin the recipes for cleaning and cooking in one spot and find it easily. I can look at what my friends are using/doing and try it myself. I can find some gorgeous decorating ideas, gardening ideas, and so much more.
To view the sites you have to join Pinterest but it’s really easy and you can add your own boards or just browse boards of others. It’s free!!!! By boards I mean groupings of favorites. I have seventeen boards which include DIY, Helpful Hints, Gardening, Wishlist, Family/Friends Wishlist, Music I Love, Books I’ve Read/Want to Read, Crocheting, Quilting, Favorite Blogs, Spring Cleaning & Decorating, Hunting & Outdoors, New Recipes, Beauty & More and a couple more. I’ll probably add some throughout the year and I add new pins to the boards a couple times a week. I would like to do it everyday but this time of year I spend a lot of time outdoors when I’m not at work and by the time I come in the house in the evenings I don’t care much for getting on the computer. I would rather shower and go to bed :)! Anyway, I just want to tell everyone about this site and hope you’ll check it out and maybe start your own Pinterest boards. I want to follow what you are doing!!
Hooked On a Book
I am so enthralled with the new book I’m reading that I wish the evening to fly by so I can have an excuse to go to bed and read myself to sleep. It would be hard to convince most of my friends that a quilting book could have love, mystery, suspense, history and comedy all rolled up in one book. The Quilter’s Legacy is a combination of present day and early 1800’s and the time of the slaves. Old quilts and a journal tell the story of slavery and quilting. The story revolves around a family that comes to America to find a new life and . . .
Oh well, I don’t want to spoil the mystery so I’ll stop there but Jennifer Chiaverina is a wonderful author and the quilts described in the book are gorgeous!
