I've been using her recipes (and Olive Tomatoes! She's Greek and makes a nice complement) for the past year plus. I'm now growing twice as much parsley, dill, cilantro, and basil in the garden...... 🙂 JUST YESTERDAY, I made for reals, from-scratch, falafels using Suzy's recipe-absolutely delish! It was far easier than I thought, so I encourage you to go for it. What made it doable, IMO, is that I can spread the work out--always a plus for me. So last Saturday I soaked the beans. I then put them in the frig . Monday, the day before cooking, I made the falafel "mash". I then stuck that in the frig til needed. Yesterday, I shaped and pan-fried (we like small patties) the falafels. Oh, so good--crispy, tasty, moist inside. And we have leftovers! O happy day! Note: I did have one helper to shape the patties....

My 88-year old Mother-in-law lives with us; she routinely speaks in two languages (English and Serbian (her native language)--all in the same sentence. However, lately, the hardest part is that we have often have to repeat a sentence 2, 3, 4 times for her to make sense of it. When Covid is less a threat we will take her in to get her hearing checked--that might be it--but if so, her loss happened virtually overnight..... so confusing.

We just enjoyed a homemade Pizza Pie and will have Mixed Berry Pie for dessert later tonight (with homemade ice cream!) Yay for Pi Day!

A favorite here is 99% Invisible which delves into the design of things all around us--started out (years ago) highlighting architecture but now goes far, far beyond: real money, movie money, acoustics, why car seats can slide forward and back, credit card beginnings, and so much more....

Shout of thanks to @Shawneinfl for recommending Miss Benson's Beetle. It finally came available on library load (ereader) and I devoured it in a couple of days. I rated it 4-stars on Goodreads (short review here) which begins: I'll be seeking out other literary works by the author Rachel Joyce. If any of you have particular recommendations, please post!

I was going to suggest looking into Chirp as well.... I've used BookBub which is a way to get deals on ebooks and Chirp seems to be the sister service for audio book deals. Here is what they wrote: If you are not familiar with BookBub, it is a platform where you can say which genres you enjoy (can choose multiple) and then a somewhat curated list is sent daily highlighting good deals. Most are not free but priced between $1-$3 dollars. The ones that cost money are often (not always) from actual big name publishers as opposed to indies. I probably find 3-5 books a month that I consider worth buying, meaning great deals for books I want to read. When I get set up for audiobook listening (not there yet due to a number of circumstances), I'm certainly planning on giving Chirp a try..... HTH!

You definitely should dip your toes into Wodehouse. Do note that while a prolific author, Wodehouse is best known for three different sets of humorous characters: Bertie and Jeeves, Psmith, and the inhabitants of Blandings Castle. If you don't care for one (B&J is definitely not to everyone's tastes), you might enjoy a book or two featuring the others.

I didn't know this had a name! I definitely notice this phenomenon all the time. Like, when my son (years and years ago) got the tip of his finger chopped off as a toddler in a door swung shut (and sewed on again), that suddenly I noticed/heard all the stories of others with "fingers slammed in the door" incidents. And so many other occurrences....

I've been steadily reading this year (7!) so am tracking just fine for 52BinY. I recently finished Grann's well-written Killers of the Flower Moon. I'm glad I read it but it is heartbreaking. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3802472503 After two heavy books (I read Caste before this), I've taken a breather from hard-hitting books in order to process it all and have been enjoying Wodehouse's Carry On, Jeeves which was a kindle freebie a couple of weeks ago. This is actually a reread for me; I probably last read Wodehouse 10+ years ago, so it has been a delight to immerse myself in the preposterous lives of Bertie and Jeeves once more.

Thanks for letting us know! May you have a full and speedy recovery with true pain relief.

Happy New Year everyone! Since the country we live in celebrates Orthodox Easter on Jan. 7, followed by several other holidays, I always consider Feb. my reset month. I am so very, very pleased with meeting last year's 52BinaY challenge. My "reading plan" pretty much consists of which books I can actually get (free through the online library) or cheaply (via Amazon). I admire you all with well-thought out curated lists! However, considering my limitations, when I look over my range, I definitely branched out beyond mysteries and classics--I have you all to thank for that as you mention the books you are reading and I busily take notes. I most recently finished Caste. I loved The Warmth of Other Suns and told everyone I know they ought to read it; this one surprisingly fell flat for me. My Goodreads review begins: If you want to read a few of those reasons, my review can be found here: Short review of Caste I'm currently reading Killers of the Flower Moon, chosen because several of you mentioned it in short order; it was available via our online library; and I recognized the author who wrote The Lost City of Z which I read and enjoyed last year. This book is eye-opening, fascinating, and altogether tragic, too. I'm holding my breath hoping for a good outcome but since this is rooted in fact, not fiction, my hopes aren't high..... Happy Reading everyone!

Praying for a very successful outcome @Lady Florida.

Thank you for this info! I will look around accordingly--Staedtler items are available here (MNE=Montenegro) in general. On the other hand, I just had a friend return from the UK and am expecting some more English folks to come by in spring. I might see if they could carry over a set of the Winsor ones--the dual tips look so handy!

@Kareni This is so kind of you. But, I really am in MNE (Montenegro). I don't know how well a postcard would fare getting all the way over here (nor the cost or time frame for delivery). So, if you want to rethink your offer, not knowing what would be involved, I understand.

@Dicentra Your colored pictures are lovely! I have some of those Mandala coloring books, but have been using our "leftover from Homeschooling Days" colored pencils. They are quality pencils, but now, having seen your pictures, I'm thinking markers are the way to go. Which markers do you use?

My son, a PA in upper state NY, had his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine Dec. 23. Reaction: a very sore arm Day 1, much better arm by Day 2, and totally better by Day 3. He just recently received the second dose and wrote me the following: ****** He goes to bed and wakes up the next day: And went off to a full day at work. So, for him: Second dose was a doozy for 24 hours with no lingering effects.

It is always so surprising to see what the favorites are. Vertex is my least favorite 😉 but I'm really, truly glad to know it is not "wasted space". 🙂 I love all the Word games: Mini, Regular, Letter Box, Spelling Bee, the monthly Themed Crossword and of course the specialty ones like Anagrams&Puns, and Cryptograms. Before Vertex, there was the logic game KenKen which was another fave of mine. I miss it, but not enough to go to other sites to play.... I had the game subscription for a couple of years but not last year. I've discovered that it makes a great gift suggestion (my birthday and Xmas coincide). I'm SO happy to be back at it in 2021!

I do this! It is one of my favorites (along with the regular crossword puzzles and the special Crypto, Acrostic, and Anagram puzzles). Since you asked, the mini Xword is available to all and the other "speciality" games like Tiles, Spelling Bee are sometimes free for non-subscribers for a short while. The goal, of course, is to get people to play them and feel they add enough pleasure to their day to be worth a subscription. With a NYTXGames subscription, you get all those puzzles PLUS all previous ones (in the archives). It can be pretty fun to go back to a NYTXword puzzle from a decade or two ago--a bit like time traveling! 🙂

I'm amazed at where I've found some of my mine..... 🙂

I bought my wool ones at Trader Joe's. Very reasonably priced.

This was my first thought, the handle end of a skeleton key.

Popping in to say Happy New Year and Good Reading! Over here in Montenegro, we are still in holiday mode as Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 7th..... Waiting til all the holiday activities are over to post my own list of the Best of 2020 🙂 even as I am furiously scribbling down new titles to explore from your posts for the coming year..... This near-freebie kindle book just popped into my email for those who might be interested: Don't Overthink It written by the Anne Bogel of the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog.....

My son, a PA, had a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine the Wednesday before Christmas. That day, his arm HURT. The next day, he noticed it aching on and off. By Friday (Christmas), everything felt completely normal. He's expecting the second dose to be rougher, but this first one was pretty mild.

Last year I didn't have the book and used the daily posts as inspiration to do what I could. This year I have the book and will follow along somewhat. People make it their own. There are some other MedDiet FB groups as well which can provide some inspiration and encouragement. I suppose it depends on if you want a info on the Med Diet, a strict plan to follow, or inspiration to adapt what you are already doing to be more Med Diet compliant. I can point you to different blogs/groups depending on your goals.

The folks at Oldways have tons of information on the Med Diet and will be starting a January "We are in this together" group/help. Details available on the website.