That last stanza… 🩷 picture of my son on one of many of our walks in the woods. #beautybreak

From my porch & garden. The Echinacea is confused- bloomed today! The Milkweed never stopped blooming. The leaves have turned & are floating to the ground.Mashup of seasons.. Poetry is a perfect read for this scene. #beautybreak

Starting my morning with coffee, raisin toast, & an easy peasy book. I have let go of the why & just accepted that non demanding reading is what I can cope with at the moment.

Epigraph in the tagged book, part of a series that is set in Wales. #beautybreak

My #weekendreads An easy mystery, an historical audio mystery, poetry.

I am enjoying the pointed editing by a previous reader. I don‘t condone writing in library books, but I admit I am enjoying seeing an other reader catch some editing mistakes!

Here are my #10BeforeTheEnd choices
Thanks for hosting this @ChaoticMissAdventures !

Joining in this readathon, hoping joining in with other Littens will get me out of my slump this week. Thanks @TheAromaofBooks Please join in whoever wants to! 📚📚📚

Went to the library & checked out a few mysteries hoping to get me reading. Now I am relaxing in my “ reading” loveseat & enjoying wine & cheese. Happy Friday!!!#FridayHappyReadingHour

Feeling very blue this morning when I woke up today-not my usual self-change of seasons? Busy week at work-parent conferences Wed & Thursday-Thursday until 7:00 pm. Low energy. Not sure why. Barely read this week-nothing felt quite right. So, this look back for #5JoysFriday helped my perspective & mood tremendously. Thanks Deb! 1)NYC/MOMA 2)my son‘s birthday-cake!!! 3)a rose to support breast cancer 4) my friend Deb Nash Ott 2nd book of poetry⬇️

So much candy from my youth: dum dum, bazooka bubble gum, lifesavers, M&Ms, milk duds. Andres mints: nostalgia, my mom was an elegant entertainer. Andres mints were always available in a fancy dish. She shared one each with us.❤️
#TLT

#beautybreak

#MoodMonday

Many shifts in mood. Relief that our storm was manageable, rather an unevent. Elation that Hostages are released;glad but so sad for the Palestinians who are returning to their devastated, war torn country;tacos for dinner! Oh & so happy to have the day off to finish up some projects, read, cook!

#weeklyforecast
Behind all my buddy reads, so my hope is to catch up with them this week.I have been letting myself get distracted with Britbox shows, other books.
More rain, wind predicted for tonight. So far our electricity has only gone out for a few seconds at a time.

Some treats from my visit to MOMA. Two magnets, magnetic book clips/markers, MOMA pin.
“ Art Is A Guarantee of Sanity”

“Benedict is very aware of his own faults…he knows among them is an unhealthy fascination with murder…”
Me too?!

Another in this remarkable series featuring Comissario Guido Brunetti.This tagged book is all in the minuscule details of Brunetti‘s home/family life,& police work life.It‘s in home cooked meals,the love between he & lhis wife, & children,the book discussions,the coffee shops,the cafes, the walks through Venice‘s streets,over its bridges, & rides in its canal boats.It‘s in each of his unique work relationships.His decisions are by guided by his ⬇️

Top two books are read alones; the rest are buddy reads.
#CommissarioBrunettiNovel #fictionaltraveler2025 #tree #wildwoman #familybuddyread #europacollective #sundaybuddyread

A leisurely read while on the train from Grand Central to New Haven, CT.- The delicate dance that he & his counterpart,Comissisario Claudia Griffoni step to when interrogating suspects,the coffee breaks, the descriptions of meals prepared by his wife, Paola, the conversations at the dinner table with their two children, the books they are both reading & discussions he has with his wife- all comforting & familiar to me.#CommissaroBrunettiNovel

From Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, MOMA. I had no idea there was a particular refugee flag. I learned so much today in such a fun & amazing way.

Designed by Margaret E. Knight in 1870s-1880s. “One of the first women to obtain a US patent. Who knew?!
From Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, MOMA.

From the exhibit Pirouette: Turning Points in Design , at the MOM, Rainbow Flag. 🏳️‍🌈

From Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, at the MOMA Such an intriguing exhibit. We had such fun! This is for you Christine!

Love this series- always relevant; always topical.

#5JoysFriday

Too busy dining & dancing last night at a fundraiser for a local University to post!
1) river walk
2) Marcella Hazan‘s beef bolognes
3) Poe & I reading
4)Cut flowers still blooming ever after a freeze
5) my sister & I at last night‘s dinner dance!

Off to NYC today to view 2 exhibits at MOMA: Pirouette:Turning Points in Design:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5756

Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5794

Songs from Life Playlist for listening

https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1194

Listening to this while cooking tonight. An enjoyable “cozy” set in post WWI countryside. A nice break from the intensity of the last two Joyce Ellis audio novels.

Listening to this because it was free until 10/7. Hoping to finish it, but…on 22/33 #audiobook

#weeklyforecast
Catch up with Mona‘s Eyes, #EuropiaCollective, continue with Twain,#familyread, read Women who Run with Wolves #wildwoman, Death Climbs a Tree #fictionaltraveler #tree,read next section of #sundaybuddyread, listen to Hunted on the Fens, #audiomystery; Trace Elements, #CommissarioGuidoBrunnettiMystery

Sunday afternoon coffee & a book. It‘s beautiful on the porch-quite the juxtaposition of summer & autumn. Blue cloudless sky, 81 degrees but no humidity, the leaves on the trees turning.Loving this peaceful time. #beautybreak #75Soft

My bedtime reading companion. Back in Venice with Commissario Guido Brunnetti.

#serenesaturdays #beautybreak
View from my side yard.

Beatrice Steele has ventured into London society with a task set by her mother:to find a wealthy suitor. Accompanying her is her fashionista & playwright chaperone Miss Bolton.Steeped in the world of Regency London this is a wild romp is a witty page turner. Beatrice & her PI partner, the one eye patched the inspector Drake sleuth in dance halls,theaters, underground tunnels,urbane gardens with flying squirrels while rooting out the murderer.

Picked up my pre-order book (tagged) for September from Riverbend Bookshop. Could not resist John Boyne‘s new book. #preorderbookclub #blameitonlitsy #porchlife

#bookreport #September28toOctober4
Still reading the first 4 books from the top. Finished the last 5 books. #sundaybuddyread #wildwoman #MarkTwain #familyread #ABeatriceSteeleNovel #audiomystery #ElectraMcDonnell #5 #GabrielAllonThriller #readyourkindle #NF #ColdCaseUnitMystery #TimeTravel #librayfinds

1920. Wanna be reporter Poppy Denby comes to London to assist her physically ailing Aunt Dot,a former suffragette & actress.When Poppy gets a job at the Daily globe as the editor‘s assistant,she does not envision that investigating a murder will be on her to-do-list. Definitely a page turner! #thePoppyDenbyInvestigatesSeries #1 #audiobook

Art historian & spy Gabriel Allons & a master international thief work together to find an invaluable missing painting. Their mission becomes a race to stop a deadly conflict between the US and Russia. #readyourkindle #September

A police procedural set on Nantucket, this book is a must read for mystery buffs. Character driven, the ending‘s revelations shocked me. Triggers: child sexual & physical abuse. #readyourkindle #September

Ali Dawson & her cold case team investigates a murder that involves Ali traveling back in time to 1850. I admit, whimp that I am, that while reading about her adventures in 1850 at night, I had to wait until morning to continue. Too scary for me! A deviation into new territory for author Elly Griffiths, this novel is absolutely gripping. I hope there‘s another book to come!

The intrepid,Most Private Investigator Puri,works under the raider as always,to solve a most unusual case.The Hindu goddess Kali appears in a New Delhi park & plunges a sword into an Indian scientist,who dies in a fit of laughter.Along with Puri‘s undercover sidekicks,Facecream,Tubelight & Flush,this master of disguise unravels the case. #AVishPuriNovel
Emm approves.#catsoflitsy

Cold this morning so Em & Poe did not wake me up till 7:00 -a luxury! My Saturday morning treat: a maple donut. And of course, coffee! Errands this morning, including my local Indie bookstore that has a book I ordered- 🤞🏻I do not buy another book….
#coffeeandbooks

#FridayHappyReadingHour #HappyFridayDrinks. Started this #sundaybuddyread before dinner. We have read so many of her books & I have enjoyed them all.

My joys:
1) our local library
2) the 20th Anniversary edition of Louise Penny‘s Still Life.
3) the Art Gallery at Yale University
4) Em & Poe
5) spaghetti & Texas Toast

#5JoysFriday

I started reading the tagged book ages ago- after viewing Martin Johnson Hearde‘s hummingbird paintings in the early American Art Gallery at Yale‘s Art museum yesterday,I pulled it out of a stack to begin to read again.

Starting this tonight. #ElectraMcDonnellNovel —2nd out of 4 “ new” library books I need to read.

The top: beauty in the streets near Yale University‘s Art Gallery: a painted utility box & street side flower pot. Bottom: magnificent windows in the Mediterranean Gallery. #BeautyBreak #75Soft

Today my son & I drove to New Haven CT to see a George Rommey exhibit at Yale University Art Gallery.Gazing at his artwork/use of color was an experience.We also spent time viewing the early American Art.This was followed by lunch,a brief stop at the Book Trader Cafe for coffee,a walk through the area.Gorgeous day-blue skies,soft breeze,sun on our faces. https://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/romney-brilliant-contrasts-ge...

Saturday morning coffee and a book with Em & Poe. #coffeeandbooks #catsoflitsy

This beautiful 20th Anniversary edition of Still Life by Louise Penny arrived from Barnes & Noble tonight. I think I need an easel to display it so the edges can be seen. 💙🩵💙