Huge hugs...... Given your precautions Covid is sooooooooo unlikely. I really think you have an infection of some sort. Try to get some sleep.

Yes, I probably wouldn’t even need to have groceries deliver as I have been keeping a two week supply of shelf stable milk just in case. Our life is already pretty limited and our family is over 1000 miles away so we won’t be for Christmas get together’s.

Great links..........I need to give Dresden another chance. It’s a series that I listen to one every couple of years but never get hooked. So I need to mark the next in series so I can grab it when I need an audio book. Many of the recommended links are either series I love or series that I plan to read. I have heard great things about Monk and never have watched a single episode. I am almost done with my Chuck series.......yes, that series is all I have gotten through since Covid. I really don’t watch much tv.😂. I just found Monk is on Prime so might try it next or I might finish Grantchester.

@Liz CA I finished The Operator this morning and decided it probably deserves a 4*. It was quite the romp and parts of it were just plain nostalgic. Sort of a cozy mystery meets how the world has changed. I also read the next Timber Creek K-9 Mystery last night instead of TV. I’m hooked, as in I have the third one and it could end up being tonight’s entertainment! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28256230-stalking-ground

@Violet Crown Congratulations on 52 books! I just put a hold on Sea Wife!

It’s supposed to be released at the end of November. I reread a bit early because it was availiable and I have a feeling the first book might become really popular as the release date approaches.

I actually picked out my Antebellum bingo book a few weeks ago and am waiting for my hold to appear. I have been wanting to read (listen to 😉) The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevelier https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15705011-the-last-runaway?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=6dvMZ9hVb1&rank=4 for awhile and it seems to fit this square. The cover is pretty too! I finished both Ready Player One and my quilt! This time through I didn’t spend nearly as much time geeking out over the references to Pac Man etc and more time listening to the story of the world that was being described. One where all children learn online thanks to learning apps and virtual schools. Huge portions of the US have been abandoned in order to be near big cities............somehow it now feels more like a pandemic survival bool than before. Still looking forward to Ready Player Two........ I have started listening to the next Psy Changling and am enjoying it. I abandoned more books and am sticking with The Operator for now. It isn’t great but it is bringing back stories from my mom etc. The book is set in Wooster Ohio back in the 1950’s when telephone operators controlled who you actually got to talk to and listened to your conversations. The main character, an operator, listened to a conversation she never should have.............let’s just say she is a woman of action! No idea where this book is going but decided to stick with it......it’s probably either going to be a 2* or a 5*. 😂 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50808622-the-operator

This is one of those things I could debate either and all ways for hours. The mental health and suicide statistics are currently rising to epic proportions. The reality is some people need to be able to worship in the corporal setting. I truly believe that, the ability to worship must be availiable. That said my family has been extremely grateful for the online opportunities our church has provided. We are actually able to worship with some of our churches in England during which has been wonderful. I think this is an extremely tough time to be a pastor. Depending on the internal polity it may not even be the pastor’s decision yet he/she is the face of the decisions that are being made by elders, PCC’s, and other behind the scene decision makers. I know of at least two situations where the pastors have had mental breakdowns because of the extreme pressures placed on them during this time. As for explaining the decisions in some cases it is simply a desire to try and make worship availiable to all in the form they need while serving the needs of all parishoners........I am also among those staying home. Last Sunday Dh and I took the normal drive to our place of worship at the normal time just to see how many are attending in person at the dozen or so churches (including what most would consider a mega) we pass in our normal 15 minute drive to our church. Parking lots were sparse........maybe 30% of normal. Even though we have been using the online option we have been grateful to have the option of going in person. Last week my kids started meeting with their small groups. That option wasn’t there before.

Happy Birthday Amy! 🥳🎉🎊🧁

@stephanier.1765 I saw this Millefiori post today and thought of your quilt, not sure if you follow Wendy so thought I would share.. https://wendysquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2020/09/la-passacaglia-trip-down-memory-lane.html I went for the bright colors but her mum’s quilt is so pretty!

I finished Chaos Reigning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45449470-chaos-reigning late last night and really enjoyed it. I have decided that the Consortium Rebellion is one of my favorite Space Opera’s. Not as good as The Linesman but still really good. @Kareni have you read these? I am still happily reading my books with service dogs and am reading a really good one currently called Killing Trail https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52844572-killing-trail. I am pretty sure @Pen recommended this one......thank you! My library has several more on Overdrive. I spent most of my day listening to Ready Player One and trying to finish another quilt off. It’s huge.....largish queen size and is taking a really long time. I have a couple more audiobooks ready to go if needed including River of Teeth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52844572-killing-trail which sounds potentially entertaining. Feral hippo’s in an alternative 1890’s Mississippi River western.......it will either be great or horrible. It was on a recent list btw.😉 which is how I found it.

Thank you! Such a generous offer......looking forward to reading the rest. Also I had no idea a new one was coming out this week! I read and enjoyed this series last year. They were all quite good. @Robin Mand @Kareni both of you will enjoy this one! I just “bought” it to add to my stack of enjoyable rereads. Yes.....woot!

La Passacaglia Quilts are incredible! I love EPP and have dreamed of making a proper one. You are going to have such a wonderful time and if you save the papers you can use them again. Make sure you post occasional pictures on the craft thread. I did make the easy one with the hexagons that are sewn together a couple of years ago. I haven’t managed to finish quilting it. Maybe later this fall it when the weather is a bit cooler..............finishing is was supposed to be my stay a home entertainment back when I thought we were in for a month or two! On of my fabric splurges was a pretty jelly roll to play with a Lucy Boston quilt....in pinks. It will make a beautiful baby quilt.....not quite sure how much it will make.

That’s how our love of flavored fizzy started.😉Then Dh ordered some lime La Croix at Publix as a treat because he couldn’t get the less expensive kind. Well, our shopper messed up and gave us Key Lime .......which actually smells like Key Lime Pie. I feel a bit like I have had a piece of my favorite pie with no calories! We were hooked...if we had been given plain lime we may never have developed this habit. We did order a couple new to us brands from Sam’s the other day to try. We like the Bubbly brand too.........when price is close La Croix simply smells better.

Dd has volunteered to finish any flavors that don’t appeal to me as long as they aren’t really bad. 😉. We haven’t had really bad yet....watermelon was more of a why bother when there are better flavors.

Dd and I just tried that one and we thought it smelled sort of like fruit punch.......I thought that was why the can has it Hi-biscus with the Hi separated. Sort of a Hi C reference, maybe. I wonder why we didn’t think it smelled like perfume......I was so expecting it to......we bought it in a variety pack from Sam’s. The coconut is one we haven’t tried because Dh hates the smell of coconut and I was worried that it would bother him. There are so many flavors to try before. I plan to order Tangerine next.

Key Lime is awesome......it’s our favorite! Grapefruit (Pamplemousse) is a close second. We haven’t tried peach-pear but we will now be hunting for it! My least favorite was the watermelon. Which one is your least favorite?

I promised myself that I would finish a quilting project (or two, hopefully) this week. One table quilt is now done....Dh wanted one in red, white, and blue, that could be used for both country’s holidays. It leans towards the Stars and Stripes but I did my best! 😂 So mainly audiobooks for me this week......I finished listening to the second to last book in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. The narrator for this series is so awesome I just gave up my place next up place on the hold’s list for the last book to listen to the audio in 3 months or so. Her name is Margerite Gavin and her voices are wonderful........my library has many pages of her narrations and I plan to try some different series of hers. She mainly does urban fantasy and cozy mysteries........... I also went ahead and listened to The Two Towers in an abridged BBC version. Very well done if you know the story but I suspect this one would be a disaster if you don’t. Tree beard the Ent was extremely well done........❤️. I also decided that I would listen to The Bromance Book Club because I kept running into positive reviews. It’s a story about a group of professional athletes use the knowledge they glean from reading romance novels (which they are somewhat addicted to) to improve their relationships with their wives. It’s a cute book, I would read the next but not wait anxiously for it! 😉 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44019067-the-bromance-book-club I started rereading/ listening to Ready Player One in order to be ready for Ready Player Two which I am looking forward to!

Dd and I have gotten hooked on “fancy” fizzy water. We are working our way through all the La Croix flavors that we can source right now. Currently drinking mango flavored fizzy......love it! I have always enjoyed buying fabric for my quilting but normally like a bargain. I have been ordering fabric just because it’s pretty lately ........it cheers me up for days. Not a ton of fabric but something special every month or so. I have also been buying more kindle books than normal.......I am a library kind of gal but have decided my kindle needs to have more of my favorites availiable without a wait. So I have been buying books I have enjoyed greatly that happen to be on sale along with the normal purchase of books that my library doesn’t carry.

I have never had a Hot Pocket........I wonder if we are completely missing out. 😉Obviously she must really love them. We ordered a lunch from Publix Deli the other day and clearly marked if they didn’t have all the deli items we didn’t want any of them but we did want our other groceries. We are still trying to eat all the onion rings we got from Whole Foods back in April instead of potato products.....I ordered several different bags of French frie types and they all turned into onion rings. I was desperate enough to accept because I was worried about food shortages. We aren’t fond of onion rings and have a big freezer...so once a month we have onion rings as our side. I think I have one more meal to go! Btw, Sam’s Club does curbside now and it seems to be working well for us.

Congratulations!

Until Robin’s post today I completely forgot my spelling challenge from last month and had my few days where I ruthlessly abandoned many books in the stack.......after looking at my Goodreads I am happy to report I faired far better than expected and just need to read a Kate Daniel’s urban fantasy that I still have in the stack to finish spelling Nalini Singh. One of my 10 x 10’s for this year was originally titled “Henry and His Kin” and was expected to be several books set in Tudor times. I have several books that I have picked up sitting in England and I was planning to tackle that stack this summer.......silly, unsuspecting me. Plans are in flux due to Covid.😂. One of my most anticipated was a book on Bess of Hardwick, a legendary Tudor if you live in my area. She built Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall. She was the Queen Elizabeth ‘s bestie and entrusted with her husband to be Mary’s jailer. She started life as a bankrupt farmer’s daughter and managed to claw her way up through society(and several marriages) to the position of Duchess to the richest Duke(actually person) in England. She fascinates me.......I couldn’t find my book which was purchased at Hardwick but stumbled into a book by Virginia Henley (yep, the bodice ripper specialist) and decided to give it a try since Overdrive was happy to deliver it. Woman of Passion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/834249.A_Woman_of_Passion was actually a good solid retelling of the basic outline of the first part of her life with some adult scenes thrown in. The modern language bothered me but it achieved an amazing amount of accuracy......Virginia Henley lives in the general area and probably loves Bess as much as I do! I decided to use her for my Femme Fatale Bingo square because she obviously was........btw this was a page turner that kept me reading until 4 am! I can’t believe I couldn’t put it down because it really was just telling a story I already knew.

The past couple of days have been hard on my Overdrive stack as nothing seemed to please me. I ended up buying myself the next book for me in the Acton and Doyle series (Murder in Shadow) and am finally able to settle down and read again! Yes, Kareni I have finally started that series up again. 😉 Libraries........my library had one week “hot” books pre Covid but did not charge a rental fee. The late fee on the “hot” books was expensive, think $1 a day. You were only allowed 2 hot books at a time. My library still is not busy from passing the parking lot, no appointments after the first couple of weeks. They are still doing curbside. My UK library still has not reopened in the village. Apparently some sort of curbside can be arranged with the Central Branch but no one is entering the smaller branches so the choice is going to be extremely limited as the collection is spread rather randomly system wide. For those who weren’t here a few years age this is a huge system with about 20 libraries left staffed almost entirely by volunteers.......I think there are still around a dozen paid staff system wide. I served on our local board during the forced transition.......none of us could have ever guessed what having an elderly “staff” would do to the system.

I love The Eyre Affair ❤️.............during my lengthy perusal of the GR new release lists yesterday I discovered he has a new book coming out called The Constant Rabbit https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51801337-the-constant-rabbit. I am rather looking forward to it.......I really like rabbits fortunately! 😉

I am currently reading the second book in the Lane Winslow cozy series that I recently recommended to @aggieamy. I am learning so much about Canadian history and spending a great deal of time with Google..........Doukhobor communities in NW Canada are fascinating. Death in a Darkening Mist. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32202653-death-in-a-darkening-mist