Negin, Great photo! ? I will do my half-yearly summary now since I have been working on it.......... Brit Tripping..........a very unofficial 3 counties that I have not visited at all! Alphabetical by Author........U and X to go Alphabetical by Title..........E,J,N,X,and Z are left Bingo.......still need Art MicroHistory....maybe a Simon Winchester Music.....I have Murder in Major by Alexis Gordon on hold. Book to Movie......I have been waiting for Murder on the Orient Express for months! I did see the newest movie and would like to compare. Philosophical.....planning on Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder Biography of Memoir........Wondering if I Was Anastasia would be OK. My hold just arrived and I am looking forward to it. Feminist Author.........Margaret The First by Danielle Dutton planned Nobel.......Kristen Lavransdatter read along 17th Century.....I suspect I may have already done this one! Need to pay attention........ Self Help............ Ancient Civilizations Mystery Square........need to read one Red Shoe.........Julia Quinn Set on an Island......And Then There Were None ETA....... Female Judge.......I need ideas! ?

If I remember correctly we were able to buy the largest size in the boys section at the Gap outlet at that stage. I can’t remember the size name for sure and it would have been British because 13xl sounds right. We generally did great at Gap until Ds started needing really long lengths.

Congratulations! ?

For Susan Wittig Albert fans https://www.mysterypartners.com/. In The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter section there are recipes if you click on the individual books.

Yes, it’s sort of a hamster/guinea pig. There have been many......I did not enjoy making the one! Lol. Two dogs......one has it’s picture (pre-printed fabric) in the frame. Did you see them or ds?

Thanks guys! I just hope the girl receiving it enjoys it! I just washed and dried it to make sure it can stand up to harder use then I normally give my quilts. Came through great! Btw, hedgehogs made it through the washing machine test too. I am back trying to finish my hand quilting project’s top. Some of you have seen it in various stages but this is where I am now, one corner to go. It’s sort of like a puzzle, all my pieces are cut out and read to go in ziplock bags. I want to try and get it done for the horticultural show in September but not sure if I am up for spending the summer under that quilt finishing it. Dh recently purchased some fun patterns for me to try by the same designer as the hedgehogs. They are distracting me horribly so I may get the top completed and go on to do some other projects.

Barchester Towers.....I found an audiobook on Overdrive. I Have several that I want to listen to first but am intrigued. Before I forget to post a picture, The bookcase quilt is done. This quilt is pretty personalized to the girl who will be receiving it.......pets, family jokes, color selections........

I have read great reviews for Barchester Towers. I am glad you are enjoying it! ? Guess who Robin Paige really is? She is a husband\wife team............Susan Wittig Albert is the wife! Lol, as I read I have actually been comparing these books to her China Bayles series which adore and now I know why. I will now be reading her Beatrix Potter series for the Lake Country......... I hope everyone enjoys Woman in White as much as I did! It's a really long audio book but I found it easy to remember the story when I couldn't listen for a few days. The duel book and audio generally work really well for me.

Congratulations!!!

Sounds like I need to give them a try. I seem to be in the mood for cozy mysteries that are a bit more gentle lately and I like craft mysteries.

How did you like the Amanda Lee embroidery shop cozy? I keep looking at them and can't decide. I haven't found a Summer book yet but I did find a Garden book I am really looking forward to. Life in the Garden https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35074095-life-in-the-garden?ac=1&from_search=true should make a good sip read. ? I finished my Carola Dunn cozy To Davy Jones Below https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293063.To_Davy_Jones_Below?ac=1&from_search=true. I think it was better than most in the series because the character assortment was limited because of the shipboard setting. I quite enjoyed It and discovered my Overdrive had the next in audio so I am listening to that......5 minutes in! Lol Davy Jones Below started in London and the boat departed from Liverpool for the Brit Trippers.....

I agree. I know I am really looking forward to grandkids. For one of my brothers my kids are probably the closest thing he will ever have to grandkids. He does miss grandkids I think and it’s doubtful he will have any at this point. My other brother has stepchildren with kids so he does have little people who call him granddad. Those kids rarely visited my mom so it was really hard for her to consider them greats.....she did do presents for them. Some of those steps are actually older then my kids so I don’t think my mom really felt like she had missed out other than in numbers when her friends talked about their 30 grandkids and 15 greats and 2 great greats. I still have hopes that one of my nieces will have a baby soon. ? I actually have one of my favorite quilts set aside for the occasion.

When my mom died at 94 she still had no great grandchildren! She was a bit puzzled by that. All of her kids had waited to have children in their 30’s and none of our children have had kids for a variety of personal reasons. My dc’s are the youngest of the cousins so were not really expected to have great grand babies! I am the youngest, born when my mom was 40. I was 10 when my first niece was born. I spent tons of time with her and took her all sorts of places. Lol, we must have raised a lot of eyebrows!

I am going to echo everyone else and say your pictures are lovely and the make me want to go to Italy. We have never been there. Dd keeps reminding us that she would be happy to learn Italian and go as translator so you Duolingo comments made me laugh. Her first choice would be duo and you are right Duolingo may not be the most practical for quick getting around as a tourist language skills. It’s nice that people thought your Italian was great. I suspect it is! ? One of my favorite memories of a France trip was watching Dd flirt with cute French boy at a pizza restaurant . He was sent from the kitchen because he spoke some English when the staff heard our family talking between ourselves. Dd had planned to just take care of ordering in French when she knew what we wanted. They were both utterly determined to speak the language they had been learning......so he was happily using interesting English phases while she was using French. I feared for my food because I wasn’t sure if their duel language menu pursuit was working. Our pizzas were really good.......lol Since some here remember Eaglei.......I want to let you know that Eaglei has an update post on her son’s prayer thread. Sorry I can’t figure out how to link. I think of her and her husband frequently and was glad of the update. I can’t believe it’s been three years......

Eaglei, I have thought of you frequently and am glad of the update. It is beautiful, your son inspired so many. He was a wonderful young man and is remembered by many. I can't believe it's been three years.......Hugs and prayers.

I experienced similar problems earlier today and was also kicked out of WTM due to the level of users per error message when I started to reply. I just checked and my likes worked. I hope you enjoy your first St. Cyr! ? Tuesday, I did manage to finish Woman in White and loved it. Around the 8 hours left mark events happened and I was forced to listen to several hours that day so you have been warned! Oddly I was able to stop pretty easily at 2 plus hours.....lol. Great recording. I am currently listening to the BBC recording of I Capture the Castle for Suffolk. I am enjoying it but it is a dramatization so much shorter. Yesterday, I went on to read the next Robin Paige cozy, Death at Gallows Green which actually started at a house party in Suffolk where Kate befriends Beatrix Potter. Quite a bit of interesting biographical info mixed in with the fictional. I didn’t like this installment nearly as well as the first but I have already downloaded the next in the series but planning to read a Carola Dunn next because I am caught up to the bus currently and I want to read this series in order so need to proceed for later Brit Tripping. I also read a Kareni recommendation called The Last Wolf by Maria Vale. I enjoyed it, uhmmmmm, had a hard time putting it down actually. It’s a bit different, obviously werewolf/shifter paranormal but in the style I am used to. Adult content. Basically, if you enjoy paranormal books you might enjoy it.

Wow, I thought roughly $300 was outrageous! Smallish town......

Not sure how true in general this is but a good friend happens to be very involved with a suicide prevention charity. When my mom spotted a former boyfriend’ s obituary I let my friend know, in part because she lived within an hour of ex boyfriend and I thought she might know what had happened to him through mutual friends. I also sent a link to the obituary. Well, within minutes she returned my email, commiserated, and mentioned kindly that it was probably a suicide because the obituary was published after the funeral had taken place. That’s what is recommended by her charity at least, easier for the family because the funeral will be restricted to just those they wish to have attend. Fwiw, my mom later learned my friend was correct. I think cancer is so easier to mention in an obituary. It’s a one word or two reason that sort of summarizes. I wrote the obituaries for both my parents and didn’t list cause of death for either. When I wrote my father’s no one told me I was paying for each word and I still left it out. ? I was prettywordy in both....... How does one explain that my dad was a smoker and the heath complications were many? He finally died from a bladder infection...... per death certificate, but that wasn’t really why. My mom was 94, still living on her own when she fell. The fall was why, not what followed........Never thought of saying the technical reason why for either. I celebrated their lives.......

Hugs......

Marbel, I see I only gave Station Eleven a three on GR but I do remember having a huge internal debate because the settings were all ones I know irl, might be off about 10 years in familiarity but most of the places I have been to. At the time I seriously doubted that I would have liked the book if it had been set elsewhere but I was probably wrong. ? It was my first apocalyptic fiction book. Now I am I bit more generous because I like the genre. My favorite is the hugely chunky series starting with The Passage. Long and involved but I could easily separate out the characters throughout because they were done well with plenty of info when they came back into the story. These were mainly audiobooks for me but I did try to check out a “hard copy” ? also to read if I disliked the current narrator Nora Roberts Year One was another really similar book. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6690798-the-passage reviews vary, I liked it. Accidental Coach, Going way out on a limb and recommending something like Anne Bishops The Others series since you seem to have a good library. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red. These are a very different type of paranormal storyline. I have recommended them successfully several times. For an Audiobook, which you seem to like, I am loving Woman in White. I ended up staying up late last night because of a plot twist.....still have 2 hours to go.

I just finished Death at Bishop’s Keep https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/538396.Death_at_Bishop_s_Keep as requested! I have even checked the next one, Death at Gallows Green, out of overdrive and plan to start it today. Yes, things ended on a romantic cliffhanger at Bishop’s Keep. ?. This series appears to be great if you like Flufferton cozy mysteries......I liked the main characters and for a bonus star found them fun and interesting. Sir Charles is a peer who wants to be a detective and Kate, an Irish American orphan and mystery author (shhh, she hasn’t told anyone yet) meet over a dead body in an archeological dig. This was a great Victorian Cozy for Flufferton lovers. Pretty sure Amy will like these......I also have the next in the Kurland St. Mary’s series on hold.

I just wanted to let you know I followed the link in Evelina over to your wonderful blog. The book part was lovely and the home ed part brought back memories. We used Sonlight for several years also and your lists of books that have been discontinued are really helpful! I have to admit that I haven’t kept up with SL and many of the best books seem to be on your lists. ? Dh has carefully archived my home ed notes from the early years with my book lists so we won’t lose them which means I am frequently searching for the names of books that we read and used for others. I think your blog lists just became my first stop!

Loesje, Hugs, My screen is different. If it’s any consolation I really love the Lady Darby mystery series. Which one are you reading?

Loesje, I have never used Kobo so I have no idea how it works. This may not be the problem but this is how I download with my kindle app.......... For my library kindle books when I borrow them I have two choices after they move to my “loans” section at the library which are “read with kindle” or “read in browser”. The “read in browser” requires WiFi and the “read with Kindle” choice does not after I download. To download I pick the “read with Kindle” which takes me to my Amazon account where I select the device I wish to read on......that selection means it downloads automatically on the one device I select but I can still read on other devices.....I always send to my Kindle reader because that is the hardest to download on. This leaves me with my iPad with the Kindle app. I go to the section in the kindle app with the book covers and the new book cover should be there. I think there may be a little x in the lower right corner signifying that it is available to download but not sure but I touch my cover and a horizontal line should appear that fills as the book downloads, when it is downloaded a check mark ✅ will appear in the bottom right corner and you can read anytime without WiFi. Good luck!

Ds lives in T-shirt’s and has a big collection. We always buy him a couple of fun ones while traveling. Honestly they are the only clothing he enjoys receiving so we really enjoy buying them and seeing him wear them. They make us happy. I have never thought of them as bragging.