A fun cozy full of quirky characters.A friends invites Brenna to work in her decoupage shop.Brenna settles here,hoping to leave her past in Boston behind.She is renting a nearby lakeside cottage from an artist Nate Williams,who has secrets of his own.Brenna spies a trunk at the edge of the lake & pulls it out.To her horror, she discovers the mayor‘s body inside.Clues point to Nate as the murderer. Can she prove his innocence? #decoupagemystery #1

Lunch time reading. This author was mentioned in A Traitor in Whitehall. Evelyne Redfern,the protagonist,was an avid reader of English mysteries. #serieslove2025

#coffeeandbooks #serieslove2025
Before work coffee, Irish apple cake, & a book.

RIP Jesse Colin Young- listened to the Youngbloods in my HS friend‘s basement -his song Get Together so relevant today. 💔
A much older Jesse & Steve Miller singing together-quite poignant rendition of Get Together

https://youtu.be/95a3tw1xq_0

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/jesse-colin-young-dead-youngbl...

“Bear beauty for as long as you are able and if you spot a sunning warbler glowing like a prism, remind yourself— joy is not a trick.”
#poetry #joy

We celebrated St.Patrick‘s Day tonight with Irish Beef Stew made with Guinness Extra-Stout, & Irish apple cake. The cake was a hit- the stew was strong for my husband. He likes my Julia Child Beef Stew better. #FoodandLit #March #Ireland 💚☘️🇮🇪

My mood is sending me to Venice. Just went outside, the rain stopped, still overcast, but the temp rose to 63, so it feels like I am enveloped in balmy steam on my sidewalk. #serieslove2025

Lane & Ins.Darling are planning their wedding when an elderly Russian lady appears searching for her brother. Lane,who speaks Russian, invites her to stay in her home While Darling & new constable initiate a search for her brother, a hunter is found murdered. although LaneLaney desperately wants to escape her past,it rears its head again when she‘s contacted by a British agent to alert her that a Russian spy is headed to Canada. #serieslove2025 ⬇️

Slept in. Sunday late morning breakfast. Always coffee!

#BookReport Currently reading a few buddy reads for work & Litsy, library book & audiobook #ThematicCozies2025 #hobby. Finished the last row of books.
#sundaybuddyread #ChristieCapers #libraryfind #workbuddyreads #LaneWinslowMysteries #FoodandLit #Ireland #bookedintime #PatriHedstrom #Spies #audiobook #serieslove2025

Poe & me & Lady Georgianna this afternoon. Another library find. #serieslove2025

#4 Lt. Darling is called England to review when his flight crew was shot down behind enemy lines in occupied France during WWII.Two men were lost.Darling is charged with murder.Lane goes over to uncover the plot & save Darling from the noose.
#5 a mother‘s son goes missing.Lane finds a dying man drifting in a rowboat.A red swastika lapel pin is on the nearby beach.Is there a resurgence of the Nazi party in this idyllic village? #serieslove2025

#thematiccozies2025 #hobby #March #StoryGraph

Enjoying this audiobook while waiting on dinner. 🎧📕🍝🥗

My #5JoysFriday!
Magnolia buds on our tree!!!!
Getting ready for CT birds
Me in Madison Square Park NYC
NYC at the Museum of Book Art- incredible exhibit
Litsy for comfort & sanity
Rough week between work & my health so this was just what I needed this evening!

#foodandlit #March #IslandofIreland #bookedintime
Food:plan to make Irish beef stew with Guinness stout, apple cake.

1974 –an island off the coast of Sweden.An entire family with the exception of toddler daughter Ebba,vanishes. 5 teens,now adults, were somehow involved. Decades later,Ebba,& her husband Tobias, return to the island to rebuild their life after family tragedy.Erica,with a research writer nose is interested in this old case. Is this past case connected to the current case,Patrick her detective husband is investigating? Evil lurks….

Fun, sexy, frothy. Numbers make sense to Casey and bring order to her life. A fun romp through New York City with career minded twenty somethings. Deeper themes: the true meaning of home, friends, love, & family.#buddyread
Read this with a precocious 13 year old. Discussion on Tuesday .

#CoverStories #day9 #umbrella

#weeklyforecast
A mix of #buddyreads, other prompts, library books.

Scenes from NYC.
Madagascar Vanilla gelato; Rizzoli Bookstore; bookish art; Flatiron Building; me in Madison Square Park; me at Center for Book Arts; chefs books; mural nearby; bookish art the Bible books in miniature; Birds of an Feather Book art.
My son & I had an uplifting day, including train ride into the City. https://centerforbookarts.org/exhibitions/the-best-kept-secret-200-years-of-bloo...

#bookreport #March2toMarch8 #2025
Top row: buddy reads
Mid row: 2 books for HS; #foodandlit #PatrikHedstrom
Botton row: first 3 books finished. #audiobooks

Left out Star of the Sea buddyread for #FoodandLit #bookedintime
Also It Begins in Betrayal

I had absolutely no knowledge of this WWII & Hitler‘s vision & tie to Swedish stone.

https://safronovawahlstrom.com/Fragment-of-a-Memorial-Unbuilt

On train to NYC. Visiting the Center for Book Arts in Flatiron district, lunch, & a bookstore! 🏙️🚊🥗📚☕️ #coffeeandbooks

Tonight‘s read & vanilla soda. #librarybook #serieslove2025

A Venetian librarian calls Brunetti with news of a terrible theft and defacing of priceless ancient books. A horrific murder occurs of “Tertullian”, an ex-priest,who is often reading at the same table as a thief. A multitude of suspects means an exhaustive methodical investigation. As always, many ancient are mentioned and discovered in the investigative process. #serieslove2025

#coverstories
#clouds #stairs #trees

Lawyer Shardlake is tasked by Thomas Cromwell, Chief Secretary to Henry VIII, with a dangerous & secret mission to find “dark fire”, a method of mass destruction. An atmosphere of evil & violence colors this #2 in the series.Shardlake also has a sensationalized case involving a young girl charged with murder.What he unearths is a tale of nefarious,depraved evil.His friend & healer Guy returns & a new character,the loyal,abrasive, protector Barak.

1) sunrise Wednesday
2) English tea with my friend
3) yesterday I woke to a chorus of bird song-afirst this spring
4) Books!
5) made dal bhat-delicious & healthy for
#foodandlit #Nepal #February

Reading the Alchemist with 9th grade. Meanwhile I am reading Dark Fire at home. Both books linked by alchemy. #heroesjourney #alchemist #liquidgold

I finally cooked Dal bhat this week- rice & red lentils. Delicious! I have not finished the book- still reading along with Marche‘s pick.

A must see. #resistance
My family met some friends at a local art center to watch this Academy Award winning documentary film. No words to describe the resilience & ongoing protests of the Palestinian people living for centuries in the West Bank.

https://youtu.be/3gzo7PiFiaM

We are starting Night today in the 10th grade.One of the students‘ tasks is to explain what they think the quotes on this Preface Work paper, as well as chose their own quote.
My choice to explain: “‘The opposite of love is not hate, it‘s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it‘s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it‘s indifference. And the opposite of life, is not death, it‘s indifference.”‘ Timely read. #resistance

Books, books, books! 8 books mentioned so far in the text & I am only on p. 115. I love the book talk between Brunetti & his wife, Paola.
#serieslove2025

1983, North Iceland.Two murders occur in a former TB sanatorium.
2012 Helgi Reykdal, a student of criminology,decides to write his thesis on this 1983 murder.He interviews the original people involved,which has a cascading effect & the case is reopened.There are surprising plot twists, anxiety inducing suspense,& a shocking ending with a possible cliffhanger.

This journal was such a delight. First published in 1972 there are some dated ideas, but then the author was living the times. Her Christianity was not a problem for me as I was raised in the Catholic tradition (non practicing now). Her musings about the writing process & craft, about literature, culture & politics made for thoughtful & reflective reading. I quoted some of her thoughts here.I do want to read the 2nd( of 4) journal.

Afternoon tea and a book. 🫖📙

New books at our HS library! #change #pocketchangecollective #NF

#MondayMood #resistance

My mood board:
~It‘s cold outside!!!!!
~Spring in tagged book- wisteria blooming in Venice -wistful me
~Always, coffee!
~Tomorrow going to see the movie No Other Land at a local arts center
~Saturday heading to NYC for an exhibit at the Center for Book Arts

Oh for spring to bloom here! #serieslove2025

I went back in time to the first Ins.Banks novel. The author evokes the landscape with language such as:”Dry-stone wall crisscrosses the lower valley sides like ancient runes until, in some places, the grassy slopes rise steeply into long sheer cliffs known as as “‘scars‘”(34). There are several storylines: a peeping tom, robberies,murder- are they connected? If so, how? #serieslove2025

Went to my local Indie bookstore, RiverBend Bookshop to pick up my Feb. holds & of course I left with 3 more books. What a thrill! #joy #indiebookstores #books

#resistance #community #stories #love #light

#coverstories #eveninggown

#coverstories #similarcovers

“ Lulled by the Syren-song that my heart sung to me, with eyes shut to all sight, and ears closed to all sound of danger, I drifted nearer and nearer to the fatal rocks “(66).
#hashtagbrigade

#bookreport #Feb23toMarch2 #2025
Top row: finished
Other 2 rows: books in process at various stages

Celebrated my January birthday with this incredible gift from my hubby.He sent me & my friend & neighbor to an English tea.
Pictured:the building with Brit flag
Me with sparkling juice & table setting
2 tiers: tea sandwiches- herbed egg salad,quince paste & gouda, Irish butter & cucumber, ham, cheddar, & Brandon pickle
Cherry scone, coconut scone
Me taking a breather
lemon fool & lemon/lavender shortbread
Tea: Scottish Morn,Chai Harney & Sons

My 4 choices this month. I fiction, 1 non-fiction, 2 historical fiction mysteries

#hastagbrigade #mycopy

As an avid mystery reader how could i not join in this buddy read?!

As spring slowly emerging in rural King‘s Cove,a skeleton is found in Lane‘s neighbors‘ root cellar. What follows is yet another imaginative storyline that utilizes the bucolic setting to inform both the plot & sustain the readers engagement. There is the usual cast of quirky characters,who with each novel reveal increasingly more depth. The author also utilizes dialogue to reveal the psychological soul of these characters,enriching the novel.