I have never cooked what I believe is a dry cured ham properly in England because I didn’t know about the huge salt content that these hams have. Totally messed it up and just gave up. I have learned they soak them overnight in water to get the salt content reduced then bake. It’s supposed to be easy.😂

I finally finished the Newfoundland dog quilt I have been working on since before Christmas. Will be putting in the mail for her birthday!

@JennW in SoCal Have you read any of the Anne Hillerman’s? Your musical’s sound like fun! @Robin M Right now my kids are in the middle of a Stargate marathon so no Dr. Who. I finished my spelling challenge for January-Banana Yoshimoto B.........Dragon Bone by Patricia Briggs A.........Too Lucky to Live by Annie Hogset N.........No Man’s Land by David Baldacci A.........Beating About the Bush by MC Beaton N.........Applied Electromagnetism by Susannah Nix A..........Dragon Actually by GA Aiken Y..........Moshi, Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto O..........One Second After by William Forstchen S..........Face Down Accross the Western Sea by Kathy Lynn Emerson H..........A Highend Finish by Kate Carlisle I............Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis M..........The Tamerack Murders by Patrick McManus O...........One in a Million by Susan Mallery T............Turning Angel by Greg Iles O...........Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler Olsen

A Dream of Death by Connie Berry was a book I checked out of Overdrive that if I am honest I expected to abandon. Cozies set in Scotland seem to be cozy mysteries that irritate me with inaccuracies if I am honest, great police procedurals are set there , Alexander McCall Smith is fabulous but my Scotland 10 x10 did not go as expected last year. Many abandoned cozy mysteries. All that aside A Dream of Death is really well done. The characters are on the whole believable. There are some red herrings were thrown so “The Who Done It” is not immediately obvious, and a bit of a romance which is a plus. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43208609-a-dream-of-death I am looking forward to the next book in the series. To my new Goodreads friends, if you haven’t already noticed I tend to give my stars rather generously compared to some. I gave this five stars because it was a very good cozy set in Scotland which I really enjoyed. I tend to judge based on the books genre and authors intentions thus a fluffy romance that was highly entertaining has the same 5 potential as any other book. So please don’t think my giving something a five means any thing other than it’s a good book if you like the genre.

For the Julia Spencer Fleming fans among us, her new book appears to be releasing thIs April! Woot! The last book which I read years ago ended with a huge cliff hanger so this is very exciting for fans, as in I am so excited I just checked out the first book for a reread or should I say relisten. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113002.In_the_Bleak_Midwinter?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IyBd4yP5Tq&rank=1 For those who have never heard of this series they are rather like Louise Penny......not really gentile because there is violence but infused with a community one can’t help but become involved in. I can’t remember if I ever got @aggieamy to read these. Good audiobooks btw. @aggieamy we need a status report at my house. My kids have unfortunately had the flu and hold out their arms for the flu jab every fall rather enthusiastically. We all hope Chews feels better soon and that your Dd never learns how bad it is. Of course we hope it skips their parents too. I finished Moshi, Moshi last night which was by this month’s Ladies of Lit author Banana Yoshimoto. It was not at all what I expected it to be. More of a daughter’s quest to learn why her father committed suicide and her emotional recovery. Oddly in the afterword Banana’s dad was apparently one of her Beta readers.

I read Melmoth last year and was disappointed. I am not sure if it failed for me in terms of in comparison to The Essex Serpent as expectations were high or on it’s own. I believe the scenic descriptions were wonderful, cobble stone streets etc but I didn’t really become involved beyond reading it.

One of my favorite covers ever.....I knew the second I saw this book that I had to read it. Yes, it was pretty good.

Please make sure to update us on how Wurthering Heights is going. I loved it as a teen and reread several times in my 20’s......my go to plane book as it could normally be purchased in English cheaply and easily if my book supply ran out. In my parenting life I have found it fascinating how different mom’s and kids react to this particular book. Some love it with all the enthusiasm I felt, others detest it.......my own daughter didn’t care for it. One of the only books we really disagreed on........I do get why the people who dislike it do btw. I have read it two or three times in the last decade and seem to react differently each time.

Dh just had a let’s call it concerning experience at our Florida Home Depot where he was looking at face masks.......more for a plaster repair project than because I had suggested we might want a few just in case we need them. The poster on some thread with the sick neighbor made me think my own small supply might be good. He had a box in his hands and was reading the details when a Chinese woman cleared the shelf of all face masks. All the face masks....she then called someone and appeared to be counting how many she had. Yes, he did buy his box of 20 after that.

Fun links, thank you! I have to say I was pretty disappointed when there were no examples of books for some of her categories......like I need longer “want to read” lists. I love books with gargoyles, and can’t remember any canopy beds with snakes in British cozies where they died by snake!

Good afternoon everyone! Still reading The Hobbit and 1Q84 in rather tiny sips. Once again I managed to check out way too many books in a fit of new reading challenge enthusiasm and have been busy reading/abandoning my way through my stack. One huge surprise was Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40385273-dragon-bound. I will admit @Kareni told me I would probably like this series but I wasn’t expecting to seriously want to continue reading the next book instantly....it wasn’t available fortunately. 😉 I would probably place this one in the paranormal romance section but have to say it has a unique type of paranormal character which was a fun surprise. As soon as the next one appears on my overdrive I will be reading it. I also finished Ilona Andrews Magic Binds more because I plan to finish that series this year and it was checked out........urban fantasy.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28550026-magic-binds I am almost done spelling Banana Yoshimoto so am concentrating on the spelling challenge this week. Currently Moshi, Moshi https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33021339-moshi-moshi, A Conspiracy of Faith, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16180614-a-conspiracy-of-faith and One in a Million https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27796577-one-in-a-million are all in various stages of completion for for their letters!

It looks like you can still request one! https://www.rainbowresource.com/catalogRequest.jhtm?pid=11679 The sad thing is I glanced at the photo and recognize the page without being able to read it.....Saxon math. 😂

My husband put my old copy in the family van each year so I would always have a “favorite book”(for me) available on trips! I believe the catalog was over 1200 pages the last time I saw one.

@tuesdayschild May I wish your Dd a Happy Graduation! Also Congratulations to both you and your husband for a job well done. Like Kareni I would have to give the Well Trained Mind my vote for having the greatest impact on my homeschool journey. That said my childhood neighbor was already homeschooling and gave me a Rainbow Resource Catalog. Knowing there was 700 pages of stuff to chose from was pretty confidence boosting too.🙃

I have started reading my Banana Yoshimoto for this month’s Ladies of Lit. I picked Moshi, Moshi and am finding it a bit of a surprise in how much it reminds me of a Murakami. The suicide theme is definitely there but somewhat unique.......at this point the daughter is questioning her father’s odd(tp her) suicide with an previously unknown woman. I don’t think I have read any other Japanese literature beyond some mysteries No cats.....lol.

So beautiful! Congratulations!

I read more than one Sheriff Dan Rhodes many years ago........marked them to try again! There is even a third book in that series. Done for now....I like where that book ended and don’t care for the book descriptions for the remaining.

I just finished a post apocalyptic thriller called One Second After https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40192873-one-second-after and have to say this one sort of upset me......maybe too realistic. Over the past three years or so I have grown rather attached to books like The Passage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6690798-the-passage?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=7RzoPTu0U1&rank=1 which gives us the apocalypse with zombies etc. I have definitely decided I only like obviously fictional apocalypse stories. In this book the US is hit by an EMP and literally the world as we know it is over. All the things we take for granted cease to be. Sobering, scary, and frankly not sure how many of us could prepare for such an event even if we wanted to. I will so not be reading the rest in this series! On a more positive note I selected it for it’s O for the Ladies of Lit challenge but think I will also be using it for the Off the Grid Bingo space......can’t get more off the grid than nothing with electrical components working!

We aren’t gluten free but I have carried corn tortillas to England many times for a friend who is.........Not sure if they work for you but throwing the idea out there. My kids have always been pleased with tortillas as the base of a lunch instead of bread. I have never done peanut butter on corn tortillas but my kids probably would eat them. 😂 Definitely cheaper when thinking of $7 bread. Quesadilla’s with just cheese, chicken added, retried beans, etc. are easy and good. Salsa on the side is a bonus. Tortillas with pizza toppings super popular at my house, the favorite is pesto pizza. A friend uses them as hot dog buns.......

@Lori D.The Hobbit is one of the books I loved sharing as a read aloud with my kids. As I remember school took a bit of a backseat and we read for a couple hours each day. They loved the songs and they made up tunes and sang them for me as we moved through the book which was how we read books always. My kids did not enjoy The Fellowship of the Ring as much.....we left the story with Bilbo and Rivendell. Dd read on and I was so disappointed that my read aloud failed. I have started making a Hobbit quilt, or pillow, or mug rug.........now idea how far I will get but I am happily highlighting descriptions as I read. The free patterns can be found here http://www.fandominstitches.com/2011/05/hobbitlotr.html. I started with the road and am not finished. @loesje22000 My family calls your kind of cow an Oreo cow, they make the best chocolate and ice cream............😉

I have been keeping a secret........and just convinced my friend to let me share it. Over the weekend I had the privilege of being a Beta reader for a duel timeline mystery called Where Rivers Meet. Now for the secret .......The author is Amy, yes @Aggieamy finished her book! I hate to write a description because I am confident Amy probably has one all ready to share. Being a Beta Reader is a new experience for me and I am afraid I enjoyed the book so much that I read it faster than I probably should have. Dh wanted to know if I was reading Amy’s book still......”yes dear, it’s good, leave me alone!” She managed to do a great job intertwining the midwestern US at the close of WWII with a British boys school in 1956. So yes, one might say she Brit Tripped!😉

Not sure which of my 10’s you want to use.....I think it’s the Cozy Corner Cafe which for me means trying new series or revisiting ones I read years ago. Now for my Hamish advice, a few books in the series that were not as good and I didn’t rate Death of a Liar, I must have read it and it sounds familiar. I know I didn’t like the previous one, Death of a Policeman. If it sounds good to you read it.....these books are pretty consistent character wise. Priscilla and her dad will appear, some of the villagers, his assistant changes but all are similar. If someone plans to read several order might be better but otherwise enjoy!

Last summer my friend used a stroller so her elderly Jack Russell could keep going on walks with her other two dogs after having his leg amputated. He was so happy to get to go with us. He would walk for a bit before asking to be put into it. Her other dogs seemed really happy with the set up too. Pro stroller here because it means your pup will get to enjoy being with you.

I now know how Disappearing Earth found its way onto my library wish list! My library does have it.....it just didn’t fit with last years plans but I knew it fit (I think it fits at least) with this years........hopefully a Russian detective? I will think of you as I read it! @tuesdayschild Your photos are wonderful! I love your cows names and like Amy I find those very green hills very beautiful! One of my good friends named her dogs after characters in LotR....Pippin and Gimli are all I remember. @Pen I finished a book in another cozy series today. I read Rock a Bye Bones which is number 16 but the first is Them Bones https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/905887.Them_Bones?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=SlqFHSIswC&rank=2. I have never listened to an audio so no idea on the skill of the narrators. This is a series that I actually remembered enjoying reading many years ago and hunted for it on some lists....the fact I cared is the recommendation!😉 I added them to my reread and finish the series pile a couple of years ago. I also managed to finish my audiobook while sewing today. Patricia Brigg’s Dragon Blood was good but sort of rushed in the end. I think it may have been planned as the middle book in a trilogy that turned into just two books. There were a couple of shall we say story starters that didn’t happen in that book that I would have liked to see happen.

I wouldn’t say undesirable is exactly the right description as the canal boat holidays there are super popular with many of my friends. There are also many places with holiday house rentals along the coastal areas. Many love it but honestly not me. I guess that came through in my pp!