Sorry about the extremely late response.

The Marylandalorian is something I love about where I live. If he had a container of Old Bay in a holster, this picture would be perfect.

#majicmonday

My dear Littens: I have joined the club that no one wants to join. Last Friday morning I found my husband unresponsive on the floor. Paramedics could not revive him, and they estimated that he had passed away sometime in the night.

I‘m stunned and heartbroken, but I‘m learning that I have an awesome support team that is stepping up for me.

I‘ll be here a little less for a while but will check in.

Here we are with friends in happier times.

Scary movies!
1. Jurassic Park - the dinosaurs in the kitchen 😳
2. Pan‘s Labyrinth - the best movie I‘ll never watch again 😱
3. Vertigo - classic suspense with great scenery 🌉

Thanks @dabbe for another great poll!

@TEArificbooks Want to play?

#TLT #threelistthursday

We do not care that we have other things to do. We are planning our reading for the rest of the year … and beyond. #wdncw

Cute and clever amateur sleuth mystery. Some of the characters are A LOT but the story and setting are interesting. #cozymystery #bookclub

Autumn in the mid Atlantic isn‘t as spectacular as it is in, for example, New England or the Great Smoky Mountains, but there are still haiku-worthy moments.

I was eating breakfast in a little coffee shop before my haircut appointment and looking out the window …

Watching a leaf fall
From the very top of a
Tall sycamore tree

#haikuaday #haikuhive

Not my favorite so far, but still a pick. #serieslove2025

Any book involving a disappearance is spooky to me. #sundayfunday

Sad but not gloomy. Some lovely sentences. November book club selection out of the way and I think we will have a good discussion. #castthedie

It was a hard week for joy, but it‘s always there.
1. Reading one of my #castthedie picks. I love how pretty my butterfly bookmark looks against the cover.
2. My vet made a donation in Kili‘s memory.
3. After an unplanned clean out, my husband gave up two pairs of shoes for donation.
4. New Tana French book next year.
5. On game 162 of regular season, the Nationals honored their TV announcer Bob Carpenter who is retiring. #5joysfriday

I‘m not much of a scary book connoisseur, but here are a few that have stuck in my mind.
1. The Dead Zone 😱😱😱 Page turner!
2. Hard Truth 😱😱😱😱 Very unsettling murder mystery
3. Rebecca 😱😱😱 WTAF Mrs. Danvers?!?
#TLT #threelistthursday

More info here if you want to play: dabbe's post on Litsy https://litsy.com/p/TmtPdlh2VjVV

We do not care that Danica Patrick is upset about the Super Bowl halftime entertainment. We will watch it for her. #wdncw

The Real Simple pile has shrunk and now fits in an actual magazine holder on the top of my “encyclopedia” bookcase. As a bonus, when I was going through my paperbacks for what to take to New Jersey last month, I decided to offload Bonfire of the Vanities. #monthlymagazineblitz #readordonate

My favorite book of September was the one I read first. #wrapup

I have finally finished Emma! This brings the total to three books during the #turnthepage readathon. My goal was six, but I‘m pleased to have completed the Jane Austen novels. And there‘s still plenty of reading time today!

On Sunday I tweaked my bookshelves to reincorporate the books I took to New Jersey and didn‘t read (I blame Substack) and to corral the books from my shelf that I chose for the #castthedie challenge.

This is one of my favorites so far! #sundayfunday

I‘m home from two weeks of house sitting. Might read a bit later. But first, laundry! #chatterday2025

Book 2 for #turnthepage and book 56 for the year.

Interesting characters who work well together. The mystery was clever but not altogether satisfying. Can‘t really say more without spoiling.

And of course, the dog. He‘s not a magic dog with crime fighting superpowers, but he‘s a solid member of the team who makes his own contributions.

1. While I can‘t be at Gladstone‘s Library this year, I was able to visit Gladstone NJ a few days ago. Yes, it is named for the same person.
2. Meanwhile, my friends were driving through Colorado.
3. I took another little trip to [words] in Maplewood.
4. The orange cats keeping me company.
5. Bonney looking cute in the window. I‘ve seen her sister several times since then but haven‘t been able to get a picture!
#5joysfriday

What an odd story. Now I have read Vonnegut. Book 55. #authoramonth #turnthepage

I have participated in 46 of these activities. Here are a few worth noting.
1. Hayride - no murder, but I think they‘re overrated
2. S‘mores - definitely not overrated
3. Tailgating at a football game - my husband‘s cousins all went to Penn State and have tailgating down to a science
#threelistthursday #TLT

Link: https://www.listchallenges.com/litsy-autumn-experiences

These “new” boy cats are full of personality! I have to tell them at every meal: what is not yours is not yours. They will eat from any food dish even while their sister is trying to eat. Steve has also broken into the treats stash.

But before the new boy cats there was Corey. I miss him. #haikuaday #haikuhive

Corey was my buddy
With a crooked smile and a
Grumpy/sweet meow

I want to read six books in six days to get to sixty books by 1 October. Will I do it? It‘s possible! #turnthepage

We do not care that you do not like to be called fascists. We say: if the shoe fits…

We do not care that you laugh and scoff when we say: not my President. Oh yes he is, you say. What leader of any country actively hates a segment of the population simply for criticizing him? Didn‘t you say he‘s our President too? As in, President of the WHOLE country? Why isn‘t he acting like it?

No we are not shielding you by using a tag you can mute.

#wdncw

My friends adopted these guys in March from a rescue near me. 😻

Brothers will sometimes
Fight and sometimes they will sit
Calmly together

#haikuaday #haikuhive

Meanwhile … Happy Hobbit Day!

My friends have four cats, and you‘re going to get a #haikuaday about all of them!

They‘ve had the two sisters with black and white markings for a few years now. The girls aren‘t as bold as their younger “brothers,” but they‘re used to my presence now. Until you‘re close to them, it can be hard to tell them apart. All the cats love this window.

Bonney has a cute
Mustache and pretty green eyes
Nellie is her sis

#haikuhive

For #hyggehourreadathon tonight I‘m starting one of next month‘s book club selections. This way I can return it to the library when I get home and make room for all the other stuff I want to do and read in October.

I haven‘t read any books about Grace O‘Malley, but she sounds like a fascinating person! #sundayfunday

My #castthedie picks plus lucky book (tagged).

These are all either from my own shelves or readily available from Libby. I did put one book on hold just in case, since it said there was a two-week wait. So of course it was available the next day, which meant I got to try out their updated suspend-hold feature.

This is a charming follow-up to Impossible Creatures that can also stand alone. While it‘s a middle-grade book, there are themes of family, power, friendship, and nature that can resonate for all ages. I don‘t know if there will be a third book (the door seems open for it), but if there is one I will read it!
#serieslove2025

1. Strong Sense of Place did a baseball episode! I may or may not have recommended the tagged book/series, but I‘m taking credit for its inclusion anyway. 😎In any case, I can definitely take credit for the series being added to cozymystery.com.
2. My friends are enjoying their vacation in Utah.
3. I took a walk by the mighty Raritan River and saw a heron.
4. The cats are warming to my presence. Here‘s Steve in the cat tree.⬇️
#5joysfriday

Some of these sound yummy! Some of them … not so much. My score is 28/55. Here are some top favorites.
1. Sticky toffee pudding
2. Mulled wine
3. S‘mores
I also want to try salted caramel latte.
Link: https://www.listchallenges.com/autumn-food

#TLT #threelistthursday

I keep seeing ads for a sculpture garden that‘s about an hour away from where I‘m house sitting, so I decided to look into it. Tickets are $25! Nope. Maybe next year when I‘m a senior.

A sculpture garden
Looks like a cool place to go
But too expensive!

#haikuaday #haikuhive

We do not care who you are. Why do you sue everyone in sight for saying (true) things about you that you don‘t like? For a book that was published a YEAR AGO and obviously (unfortunately) did not harm your last “quest,” or we wouldn‘t be in the mess we are today. And for $15 billion? #getoveryourself #ranttime #wdncw

Like many of our book club selections, this is something I probably wouldn‘t have chosen for myself to read, but I appreciated it. Eleanor is an interesting character, and her story gave us a lot to discuss.

RIP Robert Redford 1936-2025 😢

In the spirit of #ranttime and #longtimefed journalistic integrity, here‘s an update on the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) situation I mentioned last week.

The campaign will take place this year after all, though there‘s still uncertainty about the future.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2025/09/charitable-donation-campaign-f...

The narrator for the audiobook had a lovely voice that wasn‘t quite dynamic enough to keep my attention while driving, so I switched over to podcasts for the trip and Libby/Kindle for the book when I got here. It‘s for a book club meeting Tuesday, so I‘ll have more to say in a couple days.

The cats are slowly warming up to me, everyone has had dinner, and I‘m listening to Celtic Woman as I read. #hyggehourreadathon

When I was very young, I loved Dr. Seuss. Later I discovered the Little House books. In the middle I loved Stuart Little. #sundayfunday

It‘s a lazy Saturday, and my friends left this morning for their vacation.

On the agenda: set up my laptop, try to befriend the cats, and READ. After all, did bring a lot of reading material!

But first breakfast! When in New Jersey, you have to go to a diner at least once, right?

#chatterday2025

1. I stopped at the Biden Welcome Center in Delaware on my way to house sitting in NJ.
2. The bookstore visit was successful. I checked on my order and added another book.
3. Croque monsieur from a new food vendor at the farmers market.
4. I saw Snoop (now Allen) for a brief moment. We‘ll have two weeks to get acquainted.
5. The flowers I sent my friend for her birthday were still hanging in there several days later.
#5joysfriday

Today was a real cluster cuss! But I did take the survey and scored 17/45. Here are three favorites based on the circumstances of watching or other associations.
1. Fantastic Mr. Fox - saw it during a meetup with a group of friends
2. ET - saw it with my mom the summer a new theater opened in her town
3. Remember the Titans - my niece attended TC Williams High School (which has since been renamed)

Link: https://tinyurl.com/4afhu83r

#TLT

Today is not only the anniversary of a horrible day in US history, it‘s also my mother‘s birthday. We lost her several years ago, and Litsy was wonderfully supportive at the time. @Chrissyreadit suggested that I share something special about her, so here goes.

I still think of her often and the influence she had on my life. When I was in high school, she thought it was important that I have some “culture” in my life, so she bought us ⬇️

The flag at my workplace on 9/11/25.

On a bright clear day
Two planes in New York, then smoke
Seen from my window

#haikuhive #haikuaday

I‘m not going to Mars. Just New Jersey! Final tally of reading material that I‘m taking with me:
-7 magazines
-6 books from my shelves
-3 library books
-2 Libby books
-1 book borrowed from my brother-in-law
-1 audiobook for the drive

No, I‘m not going to run the vacuum cleaner or do laundry before I go.

I‘m heading to the farmers market here one last time before I leave town, so I decided to write a little something for the #haikuhive

The farmers market:
Fresh produce, food trucks - maybe
I‘ll see a neighbor

We do not care that we are only house sitting for two weeks. We will take as much reading material as we want. We might go to a bookstore too. #wdncw

I finished! This book was okay. Creepy situation with an explanation that felt a little flat. Dual timeline structure that mostly worked but sometimes didn‘t.

The MC made some boneheaded decisions but was also not well served by her support system/safety net.

Though I wasn‘t crazy about this book, I‘d consider reading more by this author. I think we‘ll have a good book club discussion.

As a #longtimefed I contributed to the CFC every year. I appreciated the opportunity to distribute payments throughout the year and reach small organizations I might not have been able to reach otherwise. Now it‘s apparently one more casualty of the regime. An indefinite “pause” with no explanation. Just in time for the holidays!

WTF is wrong with these people? #ranttime

See links in comments.