An obvious recommendation is The Word is Murder. It’s not Magpie Murders but I think all of us who loved Magpie Murders also loved The Word is Murder......... Another series the I love is C.S. Harris and the St. Cyr mysteries. These are just good.....a couple of gentle readers haven’t liked them for language or violence but these are addictive. I have the biggest crush on St, Cyr! I have read them twice and was just thinking about when the next will be out. I am guessing April. What Angels Fear is the first......https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39149.What_Angels_Fear Lastly, my rather out there recommendation, Rivers of London series, which is my current reread. Ben Aaronovitch is the author. The first book has a British and a US title so https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9317452-rivers-of-london. I think it is Midnight Riot in theUK and Rivers of London US. Agatha Christie.......my favorite. I think the earlier ones are best and the later ones are dreadful (well not up to standard). Robin has a list on 52 books that puts them in order which is helpful. I recently reread Miss Marple’s first outing, Murder at the Vicarage and enjoyed it. Have you tried Dorothy Sayers? I hesitate to recommend one, just do not buy The Five Red Herrings. I think Gaudy Night remains my favorite but it is totally out of order and Peter isn’t in it so it is a dreadful recommendation!

How fun! Glad you had a chance to meet another BaWer in real life! City of Stairs recently arrived in my Overdrive and I hope to read it before it disappears. When I went to verify that I got the name right (in terms of what I actually had) I discovered the audio for Leviathan Wakes by James S.A Corey is now in my account. That is also a Jenn recommendation........I think? I need to get listening, I finally have headphones again! Mine broke I knew we had another pair but it took a couple of weeks to find them. A Natural History of Dragons on audio also arrived today. Isn’t it weird how you can be next in line for a hold for weeks then they all show up at once? For the last day of spooky month I discovered that my library now has the rest of the Drew Hayes series titled Fred, the Vampire Account so I am listening to one of those. These are silly and make me smile! Just eek! Sending hugs, is the water fixed?

Sending hugs! My mom was able to set it up so I received her doctor’s notes from each visit via email. They just came automatically. That was because I was so far away but interested. Lab reports etc came too.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Tuesday, So glad to see your post. Sending hugs and prayers for a full recovery! I was just thinking about trying to check on you yesterday. I am too lazy to quote but I have gotten quite a laugh out of Bess and Ian leaving Simon behind!!! I finished Anna and Her Daughters by DE Stevenson and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very briefly I thought that she was returning to a Scottish village used in another book, maybe Amberwell, but decided I was wrong. Just similar characters. Her books are always such a peaceful getaway...... Kareni, I have read and enjoyed Disrupted Magic and am hoping she does another series with Scarlett soon!

Hugs! I have been talking about getting the vaccine and DH keeps urging me to wait for the new one to be available . A dear friend, who is an incredibly shy older bachelor had shingles two years ago. He doesn’t have internet so I did all his research for him and learned more then I wanted to know. Until his prescription was delivered I gave him a tube of the high concentration zinc oxide that is sold at Walgreens which had helped with the kids chicken pox ( I always carry a couple back to the UK). He found that it bought more relief then the prescribed cream when it finally arrived with the pills. FWIW Three weeks was pretty much the duration......

Sending hugs and prayers...........

Do you know anyone who sews for weddings? I am not particularly good at dresses but I made a dress with the same upper portion when I first started sewing that turned out well enough to wear in public. ?. So I know a pattern existed. I think it would be an easy dress for someone who does formal wear sewing to create, plus she could have the shade of purple she wants easily. 30 years ago I had my bridesmaid dresses made by a friend of my sil, no pattern needed just a good photo.

The detergent makes a huge difference, I also dislike Finish after using it for years. When I changed the difference was immediately noticeable. I think the tabs with the gel are the best, but name brand in the platinum. It’s worth it. I also wipe around the door and under the paddles gently, every couple of weeks with a wipe like Lysol brand) and get quite a bit of gunk. My dishwasher is a cheap one and small, the only one that fit the space. No complaints, I normally run a quick cycle and my dishes are really clean!

Kathy, Happy Birthday! I finished Rose Cottage and absolutely loved it! Mary Stewart’s books are so very good. For Brit Tripper’s Rose Cottage is a great book for some hard counties........Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Surrey (only hard because it needs to be separated from London, she worked in Richmond so Surrey). I didn’t even mind that ir was a paper book. ? I am almost done with a plain old themed cozy mystery with RED SHOES on the cover. Another bingo square done! The bonus is I kind of really like Diane Vallere’s With Vic’s you get Eggroll. The main character’s obsession with everything Doris Day is done well. I have always liked Doris Day and feel a huge urge to rewatch a movie or two, plan to check Prime for them. I also will probably try another in the series. Mindless entertainment...... Voting is open for the best book of 2018 over on Goodreads. I have a few on hold but haven’t read a single one except in the Fantasy category where I have read about half of them. How in the world did I manage that? I am a mystery fan, really.....

You are in my thoughts and prayers today! I hope all goes well.

So cute! The yarn makes me laugh......

Cruel is the Night kept me guessing until nearly the last page! ? I decided to abandon the Deborah Harkness until I can do a reread of the series. I have a feeling I should know about these characters and I don’t. I plan to finally start Rose Cottage today!

I have several books returning this week so am rather ambitious attempt to read or at least try all of them. KL has recently been renewed and has been set aside.... Cruel is the Night by Karo Hamalainen is an award winning Finnish Translation of a murder mystery set primarily in London so far. It is a book that I have decided to abandon a couple of times but I keep getting drawn back into it with one more page. Basically two childhood best friends have a weekend a one’s incredibly luxury apartment in London’s Shard building with their wives. Total rabbit trail for me because I had no idea one could live in the Shard......it’s the building that looks like a big green pickle on London’s Skyline. At the beginning of the book three of these people are dead and another is escaping.........almost 70% through with no idea who lives. One of the characters is reading Murder on the Orient Express. ?. I think I am going to end up really liking it at the end but who knows! Obviously translated and perhaps a bit choppy occasionally. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31258311-cruel-is-the-night One of Kareni’s articles mentions Deborah Harkness, her latest book is the next one I will be trying.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38395454-time-s-convert @Negin I have read the first two Nesbo’s and preferred the first. Neither has been in Denmark (I think that is right) which I found really disappointing. I think I have quit reading Dan Brown as I enjoy each one less. @texasmom33 Glad you are enjoying Dracul. I hope everyone including the pup is now feeling better. Congratulations to your DH!

Happy Birthday!!!

We made several passes through most math topics in an effort to slow my kids down so I understand what you are saying but I would want them doing math for an hour or so a day. It is easy to get out of the habit. My kids were not fans of AOPS either so used it as prep for math competitions but otherwise ignored it. We always did the LoF book first for topics after we discovered them because my kids really loved Fred and I know there is now at least one book beyond Linear Algebra, that might be a fun option. Dd always enjoyed applications books like Lial’s Applications in Calculus because she enjoyed seeing how Calculus is applied in many fields. Yes, it is treading water but in a way a bit extra is learned. I know we several applications books.

Sometimes you need to do it in order to have exactly what your family likes, for instance granola w/out m&m’s. Something like that I just hope for same amount of money with a higher quality. I am not sure that this would be considered homemade but I frequently buy huge cuts of meat on sale and package/freeze it in meal sized portions myself for our family. The huge advantage is I remove any fat during my initial work and cooking is really quick after that.

I am so sorry. Hugs and prayers.

This happened to us with my son’s name because we weren’t clued into US trends enough. We were using traditional Scottish names for both children and actually picked names that had been on the top ten birth names in Scotland the year before each child was born intentionally. With my son we knew no one in the US who had used the name for a girl. We knew lots of Brit and Canadian men with his name but no Americans of either gender so felt it was a good name choice. Within 6 months my son’s traditional male name seemed to be all over attached to baby girls........spelled oddly occasionally. One thing that seems common is people tweak the spelling of the traditional male name when attaching it to females. My son’s gripe is the traditional meaning, in other words he is fine with his girly first name. ? Going to be honest and say it gives him a bit of a conversation starter in the US which I think he actually likes, but he doesn’t have to deal with it constantly. In the UK it is still seen as a predominantly male name, at least in our circles. We know lots of little boys with his first name and I can’t think of any girls there. A good friend’s daughter received an androgynous first name at birth with a very traditionally female middle name. She hated her first name and was using her middle name by the time she was 3. Totally tired of being identified as a boy by others, and frankly a bit angry about it. At seven they had to pay to have her birth certificate changed because she wanted the name gone and they decided to do it for her before it was attached to more permanent records.

Sending hugs...........I have no real knowledge other than maybe the defendant is changing is plea.

I am going to link this more as an FYI than a suggestion because it is music theory exams with smaller steps. We aren’t a musical family but all of the kids friends have been intensely involved with these exams. The grade eight is super hard. https://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/

So sweet!

My mom’s fruit cake was incredibley good..... We all (well except Dh) loved it! She lost the recipe, I found something close a couple of years ago but it seems to be a bit dry. I haven’t made it since because it’s really fattening and I can’t leave it alone. Also it wasn’t the foodie hit that I expected it to be so I decided the proportions weren’t right. It might have been cultural because Brits want their fruitcake to be brown, filled with dried fruit and loaded with alcohol! It isn’t normal brown fruitcake, it was close to this recipe except ? it used a I know it used a can of crushed pineapple and a jar of marasciano cherries as opposed to candied. Also lots of white raisins. https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/the-worlds-best-fruitcake-124172

I missed this, both puppies are adorable ! Thanks for sharing the cuteness!

It is probably the rose flavor that makes us not like it. We have never tried Aplets &Cotlets but am positive dd and I would happily indulge. Not sure about the guys! ?.I actually do know hubby would hate it because of apples and apricots. Seriously, how did a girl who grew up on a fruit farm marry someone who dislikes fruit! My mom used to make an incredible fruit cake that was really candy, coconut, dried fruit, nuts, and condensed milk. The kid’s and I were expecting something like that to be Turkish Delight and it really missed the mark.