I just finished Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh a nd have to say after I actually got to the Murder I thought it was a thumping good read. @tuesdayschild the spinsters cracked me up in the sense that they struck me as very stereotypically British . I think I could cast those parts pretty easily with women I know.😉 I will confess I haven’t read a book by Ngaio Marsh since Dd was a tween in need of books.....I ploughed through a couple and released her because I didn’t love them but they did seem basically appropriate and the library had a good sized stack. I believe Tuesday recommended this one and I may just try another one later in the series to learn if Henry becomes a policeman......if you know please tell me.😉 . https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/279718.Overture_to_Death @Pen fwiw I have read many Mar Daheim’s over the years and they are fun cozies.....from the PNW list. Running with Sherman is almost done.......it needs to be in the sense that you guys must be sick of it! I have learned a lot about Donkey’s and Goat’s behavior and care. Did I mention DS once walked a baby donkey down the center aisle of our English church when he was Joseph in the Christmas Eve play.......they didn’t even make him do the clean up.😂 The owner insisted on being on the other side of the donkey even though Ds had visited before the night, now I understand why. @Æthelthryth the Texan I suspect someone in your family would like this one! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43834684-running-with-sherman Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte was an entertaining listen but not sure I would have ever made it through the book (I have tried a couple of times). I listened to this one for the sake of my bookchain challenge and will finally be able to read Shades of EarlGrey by Laura Child’s. I started this series many years ago and did not have access for years. Pretty sure this is my next so a great way to move the chain along.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426547.Shades_of_Earl_Grey i am now quickly listening to Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44057135-poppy-redfern-and-the-midnight-murders?from_search=true&qid=tb60P1rGaK&rank=1 which I just discovered does not match with a book in the library stack which is now mine far longer than intended. The Kill Fee is the other.....ummmmmmtwo books with the name Poppy🤔😎 Well I like the Midnight Murders. Hope the series continues. I will let you know about the Kill Fee when I get around to reading it!😂 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30897440-the-kill-fee?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ZAX1eoGeO4&rank=1

Just wanted to say I am sorry for increasing anxiety regarding tallness.

Lost my Quote from @Pen regarding why the wives of political figures are being diagnosed and not the Dh........perhaps being taller meant they avoided the germs from being coughed on. So I mentioned this to Dh who is a pension actuary and he commented that the tall will be far more likely to die if the catch it. Because that is how it always is........I don’t think he has calculated that because no data points. This is a side interesting comment not political. My tall son has been informed of this apparently. Thanks dear, My anxiety for my ds was already high because he is our familiy’s normal patient zero with lungs developed on steroids........... We do know that many political figures on both sides of the USpolitical aisle use hand sanitizer to try and stay healthy normally. Aides have it ready for them after shaking hands. I suspect the wives don’t receive the same care.

I am probably 70% reading on ebook now because of my hands. Ebooks save them for sewing. 😉 I sort of ration my paper book reading to what I can’t get online........the automatic library date extension means a few books that I put in the returns can be read if I want to try them again. There are couple books Dd did not get around to that I enjoyed so being left with a bag full is a positive thing. My Dd much prefers real books so is a bit sad........she may find herself with more free time although her Uni has switched to online...she was already in the online composite because of conflicts.

Just got back on the thread and haven’t looked at the news yet. That said I heard about it several days ago now.........believe it was even in the Campbell update on the official policy as one of sort of the side points that will happen. They want to hold if off a bit like school closures and it probably needs to go first imo to be effective.

I have debated posting but going for it. Little bit of context to go with the U.K. decisions. Not sure I really agree with any of them but sort of get how they were made. My family’s village is in the north and the area known nationally for having the worst services and management, possibly in the entire country. Lots of coal mine poverty. I am speaking from what I know from living there for many years......other places may be different but for most pretty close. First, our village has a fairly high percentage of elderly. Many live in homes they bought in the 1970’s . Sort of congregated together. Generations do not leave the basic area........Grandparents and great grandparents are the afterschool and holiday care for most. A school closure will mean that many of those people will take those kids for the duration. It’s one of the things I love about the culture but can see how it. Is going to stress the hospitals because theelderly are all going to be exposed. ........I actually think they have a point about putting it off as long as possible. The elderly, on a humorous note I keep thinking of all the free bus passes not in use. They keep moving the age but around 70 you get a free bus pass anywhere in the country and they are used. The busses from 10 to 3 are sort of old people party buses with people chatting all over, a social gathering. Kids on busses too if schools close so the mix would not be great even for those not watching grand kids. It’s sad to think of them shutting themselves in and probably somewhat voluntary.........neighbors are still going to have a good chat pegging their clothing out on nice mornings....if it isn’t raining it qualifies as nice. Grocery delivery etc with a volunteer force I think will work assuming they have enough volunteers. These people are all of a WWII mindset and many are going to burn up the phone lines and “do their part”. Personally this one brings me comfort in the fact I am not going to have to worry about some elderly friends quite as much!

I love that series! I have been thinking of you as I read Marsh’s Overture to Death. The death finally happened so it should start getting more interesting! Our library closed rather suddenly this afternoon. I had been planning run in and drop off a bag of returns, many that would no longer renew without being seen. The good news, I guess is when I checked my account everything is renewed until April 16th . .

Quill, just not sure. Honestly my kids hung out in the church longe with friends Thursday night and I made them strip and shower when they got home. These aren’t particularly rational times at my house😉.......I so do not want to catch this and am praying to get to have a vaccine whenever it is developed. To be real honest I just don’t want to be sick and people living with me need to respect that! At the same time my brain says we must support our small businesses. 😂 Rant over...... I think most of our formal activities have now canceled so that may not be a road we have to keep going down. Dh is over repairing our neighbor’s sprinkler system as I type. My kids are bike riding on local trails right now. I picked up a large order for my freezer from Papa Murphy’s pizza this afternoon......they are slammed with big orders right now apparently. I live an hour from the nearest so didn’t manage this part of my planned prep before today.

UK and Ireland just added to the travel ban........so no US flights. I am sort of having a panic myself. Friends in England are all pretty calm btw.......other than toilet paper. Since I know several on here have involvement with church leadership this is the article that I know some at my church were using to decide on our closure. Good to read, sort of all we have......https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march-web-only/seattle-churches-stop-meeting-to-slow-covid-19-coronavirus.html For those with Publix stores they are closing at 8pm from now on to do a deep store cleaning.

Our church just canceled services.........after announcing several different plans throughout the week. All online now.

@Robin M We are all fine here. Like the rest of the world we are in shock and rethinking our supplies a bit. We now have enough dental floss to last til August. 😉 My kids are on spring break right now and it really hasn’t gone according to plan. They seem to be rather entertained by the parents planning.....All classes after spring break will be online, sporting events etc cancelled . I finished reading A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. It was not my favorite in the series by any means but after it finally started centering on Gemma and Duncan it improved greatly. The story centered around Glastonbury Abbey so Somerset for anyone Brit Tripping. I do like the characters and plan to read the next book sometime soon.

Sending prayers

I just finished my reread of Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter ..........this is the first in her Soulwood series, cross over with Jane Yellowrock is actually quite minimal if anyone decides the want to read it without reading all her books. I have to admit I had forgotten where Nell started and loved the slow build of her character from almost hiding off the grid to strong and independent ......spoiler although obvious......supernatural too but she didn’t know it at the start of the book! Really enjoying listening to Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey. I never got around to reading this one when Dd was devouring the Bronte’s because she told me not to bother. I think the narrator is why I like it......Emilia Fox. Plan to look for more audio’s with her.

My kids have taken several finals using Proctor U https://www.proctoru.com/. Webcams, showing ID, etc They have also had open book finals online where it is possible to do a search for part of the answer but they still have to be able to use that knowledge to answer the question. The way the question is written is what tests them. Papers are frequently the final........

in England our village council has ran a sports program over the summer holidays just to feed children for years......people donate time, money, and local businesses pick up the extra to make the program happen every summer. It’s ran to feed but advertised as football fun with rounders etc. . I admit I have wondered about that happening this summer.

The kids classes will continue as online as usual until we hit the end of the semester, grateful they were already all online because of activity conflicts. In their spare time we have good hiking/biking trails nearby and they will be using them (so will Dh and I). They already ride many miles most days. Ds is jokingly threatening to ride to the beach........probably 60 miles round trip. Trails do exist. The beaches are in the plan. We have a good collection of dvds, puzzles, and games.........personally I plan to quilt and read. We have been joking with our neighbors that we will take chairs to the foot of our driveways and shout back and forth.

I just read 3 pages of this thread to catch up..........someone was questioning why planes are still flying in Europe and the answer is they have to if they want the route (gate) to be theirs when this is over https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51809318 so airlines sort of have to fly the nearly empty planes.

I finished listening to Golden in Death last night. The story was great but the voices for the characters drive me nuts because they sound nothing remotely like how the characters should sound in my opinion. But the story was solid and the characters entertaining, Quite an accomplishment for number 50 in a series that I don’t think ever really slumped with a few less than stellar books as most long running series do. No longer sure what is up on audio next........I seem to have a stack to plow through. Still reading Running with Sherman which is wonderful. A reporter and his wife give up big city living to move an isolated farm deep in the Amish area of Pennsylvania. While living there they adopt quite a menagerie including the star of this book Sherman. The book is full of interesting stories but the ones featuring Sherman are my favorites.........Sherman seems to feature every other chapter which makes it easy to read a section and put it down which has been great for an extra book. I am reading my Deborah Crombie A Finer End which i can’t say I am loving........it has too much of spooky ghostly Glastonbury going on to make me like it and at 14% Duncan and Gemma are not at the scene yet. I am going to keep reading because I know it will eventually be good. Because I needed something that would catch my attention I started my reread of Faith Hunter’s Blood of the Earth last night. It’s the first in the Soulwood series and if we didn’t have plans for today I could easily of spent the entire night reading it!

I will post later as we are on the way out the door to celebrate the last day my baby boy is a teenager! Going for a meal at his favorite seafood restaurant and a drive along the coast........

I think that it’s very true.......when we first moved to England we were sick a lot even though we were not mixing closely with anyone but church friends......we hadn’t found “our” home Ed groups yet. A church friend was a teacher (probably why we were sick) who had moved in from another area (common there.....teachers can actually leave their school districts) and was constantly sick with everything.....she said that is what happens to all of her teacher friends after they move. The germs are just slightly different. Brief UK update with no quotes because hubby and I are reading all sorts of news sources plus our friend’s news, so my summary........ Good news overall...... it is very likely people 70 or so and older will be asked to stay home starting sometime this week, they have been told to prepare. Very logical as NHS will (is already) be overwhelmed. A volunteer force is being created to manage some of this....assuming food and prescription deliveries. if you are sick stay home......paid sick leave from day one. They have revised their numbers down significantly thanks to better data. Most hopeful is the 500,000 dead has been changed to 100,000 dead. They expect half of all cases to occur in a three week window centering on Easter Sunday. Data is early but U.K. fatality rate is now in line with annual flu so far. By summer they expect to have a quick Covid19 test priced at £1 widely available. Royal news😉. The Queen is probably going to start canceling her Garden Parties. They start in May.

I just want to say Congratulations! Fwiw, If she is certain she needs to end the interview process.

We are home but home because we didn’t adjust our clocks last night.

I just finished Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6611038-spider-s-bite. It’s the first book in the Elemental Assassin series. I enjoyed it, particularly liked the ending which actually was a bit predictable but sometimes predictable is great! Wondering who else has read these......... @Robin M @melmichigan @Kareni For my reread I was able to use mainly audiobooks thanks to Goodreads and this series is done really well. The voices were great and the books draw on myths/history really well. Very entertaining. Btw, I now officially have False Value on hold.

Not sure if this has been posted but ran into a pattern for a clothmask that someone has been refining for years, so fit etc should be good. Comes in three sizes Obviously not great for anything beyond hands off face but thought I would post here. https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/2/

Congratulations!