I grew up in 60s/70s.
Doing this brought find memories of my mom who was a fresh foods,bake from scratch cook. Frozen TV dinners,& fish sticks were real, infrequent treats.So were sugary cereals.Charles Chips potato chips were delivered to our house by the Charles Chips man.”My parents drank canned Maxwell House coffee.My great Aunt used to bring a big jello mold every Sunday for dinner.This was such fun!!!! #TTT #TakeThreeThursfay

My mystery mug!
~The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
~A Great Deliverance-Elizabeth George
~Still Life-Louise Penny
~A Grave Talent-Laurie r. King
~The Man with a Load of mischief-Martha Grimes
~The Crime at Black Dudley-Margery Allingham
~Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop-Otto Penzler
~The Late Scholar-Jill Parton Walsh (based on Dorothy Sayers novel).
~The Case of the Missing Servant-Tarquin Hall

Starting this tonight. #WinterCampLitsy

Year, year, fledge me a Jay.

These illustrations bring to mind a sense of soaring towards heaven. Stunning.

#naturalitsy
#midwintersolace
#beautybreak

I will fledge you a Jay that will plant
you a thousand acorns that will each
grow a thousand oaks that will each
live a thousand years that will each
fledge a bright-backed, blue-winged,
forest-making Jay.

#naturalitsy #midwintersolace

My #JBS #JanuaryBluesSwap #2026 went out today! Thanks for hosting, @TheBookHippie @Avanders @Chrissyreadit

We do not care about all the outrageous lies on “lies social” that little orange man yapped about regarding the woman in Minneapolis ICE shot. We know the TRUTH!
We do not care that today after reading my daily NYT newsletter I felt like hiding under my desk, covering my eyes & ears & singing “la la la la la” when reading about our insane orange guy‘s determination to invade Greenland…😱🤬🫣 #WDNCW #ranttime

My book for #January #USPresidents #Washington came today. I am excited to read this; I have always been intrigued by Arnold‘s about face. #NF

#12Booksof2025 #Day11 #memoir #Day12 #NF
#Naturalitsy
Thank you so much @TheEllieMo for hosting this! I enjoyed seeing others‘ book choices- oh, no! #blameitonlitsy

#weeklyforecast #sundaybuddyread #camplitsy #wintercamplitsy #12daysofChristmas #SherlockHolmes #LitsyIrregulars #foeversherlocked #libraryfind #RexStout #serieslove2026 #NF #memoir

There is an ethereal, misty, dream-like quality to these poems, of the sublime and the ordinary. #Day10 #poetry #12Booksof2025

OMG I have not woken up this early since 12/10/25! This will be a HUGE challenge & quite the sight!

Off to bed

The author returns to her childhood home on the Orkney Islands to recover from her insidious London years of self destructive alcoholism.Here in a last desperate act, she hopes to finally heal. #NF #memoir #nonfiction2026

This first in a series is set during the early 1100s at a Benedictine monastery that borders Wales.The Welsh Br.Cadfael,came to his vows late in life after fighting in the Crusades,mastering a ship,& travels around the world.Now he‘s content to tend his vegetable & medicinal herb garden.But he‘s required by the Abbey to go on a mission with other monks to retrieve the bones of Saint Winifred from a Welsh town where she is buried.Mayhem & Murder…

Mid afternoon cappuccino & a book. I go back to work tomorrow so this is my last hurrah!

For whatever reason I slept in late. Have to finish ch 6-8 then will join in the discussion. Using my gold spoon to stir my coffee & state my days intention.

Loss is the tune of our age,hard to miss and hard to bear.Creatures,places and words disappear,day after day, year on year.But there has always been singing in dark times –and wonder is needed now more than ever.‘To enchant‘ means both to make magic and to sing out.So let these spells ring far and wide;speak their words, and seek their art, let the wild world into your eyes, your voice, your heart. #naturalitsy #wintersolace
Loving this book,⬇️

#12Booksof2025 #Day9

This is a book of spells to be spoken aloud.It tells its stories and sings it songs in paint and word.Here you will find incantations and summoning charms,spells that protect and spells the protest,tongue-twisters, blessings,lullabies,and psalms.Here you might swoop with a swallow, follow a seal through the sea or sky-race with swifts.Here you can listen owl ears and watch with the eyes of an oak.#naturalitsy #beautybreak #wintersolace #endpapers

Afternoon cappuccino , cake & this gorgeously illustrated book. #naturalitsy #wintersolace

Went to pick up my pre-order (tagged) at my local indie bookstore, Riverbend Bookshop. Of course I just had to support them so Suleika Japuad‘s book & journal somehow slipped into my bag as well!

1) sunset this evening
2) New Year‘s Day dinner cooked by my husband with ham, mac & cheese,& collard greens & hoppin‘ John for a year of good luck
3) January hopefuls 😂😂
4) Trip to NYC via train to Morgan Library & Museum for Renoir exhibit
5) special golden spoon for stirring that first coffee of the day 3x clockwise while stating my positive intentions for the day

#fridayhappyreadinghour #serieslove2026

Winding up a busy day with this book & fizzy water.

My son‘s cousin gifted this book to him for Jolabokaflod ( we match names with all those sibs & cousins who want to participate). This will be one of my NF books- my goal for 2026 is to try & read one per month -or at least 6 for the year.

#BookstoSavor #BeautyBreak

#choosejoy

Sometimes the simplest actions can become a ritual for inviting positivity and uplifted energy into our lives. Use this teaspoon for your morning coffee or tea, stirring it three times in a clockwise motion and stating your intention for the day.
Blessed Be.
the Bell and Raven

New Year‘s resolution: choose joy.
#choosejoy #Celebrate #Titlebasedonasong #OdetoJoy

https://youtube.com/watch?v=V_XbLKg0Bsg&feature=shared

https://youtu.be/zGi2skojQEc

#12Booksof2025 #Day8 #literarycrew

#beautybreak

Hoppin' John black eyed peas after an overnight soak. Yes, there is beauty in those black eyes looking up at me! Hoppin‘ John & collard greens accompany our New Year‘s Day dinner, a sign of luck in the coming year. A tradition passed down from my husband‘s New Orleans born & bred mother.

A cinnamon bun, coffee, & a book. The perfect beginning to a new year! #SeriesLove2026

#weeklyfavorites #December2025

#2025Stats
My goal was 200 books which I surpassed with 249 books read. I am aiming to read at least 6 non-fiction books.

#December2025WrapUp #DecemberStats

Happy 2026! Here‘s to a better year, A better world. Cheers!

Daily Christmas Days (Winterson) readings.Today‘s was “The Second Best Bed, another ghostly tale with time travel to the 1800s to the Williamson‘s farm.The tale includes the farm‘s icehouse. #walledup #skeletons
Last line felt like it came out of nowhere!
“My grandmother was a Williamson.” #shivers #chinesedumplings
Holmes: #3, “The Tree Henchman,”It‘s1885 & Holmes is dead.Mycroft hears the”Colonel” is out to kill Watson & his wife.#kidnapping ⬇️

A celebration for New Year‘s Eve, welcoming the turn to a New Year.
From:
The Book Lover‘s Almanac
Year of Wonder
A Tree a Day

https://youtu.be/jE0KWxqG5yg

“Your kind never sees us whole.You miss the half of
it and more. There‘s always as much belowground
as above…If you mind were only a slightly greener
thing, we‘d drown you in meaning”(362).
——- from The Overstory, Richard Powers
#naturalitsy #wintersolace

#ATreeaDay

#12Booksof2025

#top25of25

These books are in no particular order- This was fun to reflect back on such good reads!

Read 26 pages, 26 hours & enjoy! #26for26 #NewYearsReadathon

#Welcome2026Readathon

My Book of the Year, 2025: Things in Nature Merely Grow
-The Frozen River- Historical Fiction
-Sandwich - F
- Memorial Days - memoir
- Witness-NF
- North Woods -F
- Wild Dark Shore-F
- The Ravine -NF
- Whale Fall -F
- I Seek a Kind Person -NF
- Occasional Grace - poetry
- Things in Nature Merely Grow - memoir
#ReadingBracket2025 #MyBookoftheYear

January hopefuls…most probably some will go into February, especially as I will be back at work nect Monday.
#JamesBaldwinsAmerica #libraryfind #JoeSwallowSeries #4 #AmericasMostFamousLibarian #BelleGreene #Proust #literaryCrew #BoicesfromOldForfarshireScotland #ANovelofSuspense #Camplitsy #ThreePines #Gamache #SundayBuddyRead #USPresidents #Washington #Camplitsy

“Sometimes the simplest actions can become a ritual for inviting positivity and uplifted energy into our lives. Use this teaspoon for your morning, coffee or tea, stirring it three times in a clockwise motion, and stating your intention for the day ahead,
Blessed be.”

#bookmail #libraryholds #theBellandRaven

#firstfrost #winter #HowGardensGrowUs

#ChristmasDays12Storiesand12Feastsfor12Days
Day 6 O‘Brien‘s First Christmas #fairy #stars #change
Dad‘s Sherry Trifle #forgiveness

#12Booksof2025
Day 6 : June: Wild Dark Shore
#CampLitsy

Morning coffee & cranberry orange Irish soda bread.

#AmericaMysteryClassics #BizzareMurdersPlaguesOldChicago #1930s #SherlockHolmes #SherlockHolmesMethods

Next up.

I hated to end of this novel!Assistant curator of Egyptology,Dr. Lauren Westlake,is in the process of creating an exhibit on Egyptian artifacts including the mummified Hetsumina.So much of the interior settings in the MET are familiar to me which enhanced my reading experience.”Egyptomania”was at the apex in the City after King Tut‘s tomb was discovered.Enter DI Joe Caravello who joins forces with Lauren to uncover a plethora of forgeries.Deceit⬇️