Gardens
Q1 / 2022 Reading Recap
Well, as it turned out 2022 began as 2021 had ended — all work and no play, albeit with the addition of a hospital detour to boot. (Nothing serious, just way more painful and, all told, protracted, than it had any right to be.) So I’m back to posting one summary post for the first […]
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Vita Sackville-West, Knole and Sissinghurst
Coming to the end of the first quarter of the year, one of the (M)DWS authors in residence was Vita Sackville-West — I’m sorry I didn’t manage to squeeze in more books by James Baldwin too, but I have every intention of making up for that during the rest of the year. Anyway, I’m glad […]
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April 2021 Reading Recap
First things first: The persistent bug preventing followers / readers to comment on my posts straight off the post (i.e., other than by using the WP Reader) has finally been weeded out, thanks to my hosting service’s IT team … so you can, at last, comment even if you’re not using the WP Reader. (I […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “R”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. I took a hiatus from this project in February in order to finish some blog cleanup operations, but yesterday’s post by BookStooge reminded […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “G”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “F”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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Snow
I know friends elsewhere in the world are suffering with Arctic temperatures (and climate) at the moment, but snow is rare enough hereabouts (we only get it a few times, if that, for a day at a time each winter), and I’ve blessedly had time to take a stroll yesterday and enjoy the beauty that […]
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Books Featuring Children Rescued from Peril
24 Festive Tasks: Door 15 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 4: List your 3 favorite books involving children being rescued from serious peril. I suppose Harry Potter and just about every children’s / YA fantasy (or mystery) series would fill this bill, but big HP and Three Investigators fan though I am, […]
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Umm. Happy St. Patrick’s Day … I suppose?
(In our street earlier today — and yes, it’s still snowing. I hope the poor daffs are going to make it … and there we were, only a few days ago, basking in the early springtime sun and hoping winter was finally over!) Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1650846/umm-happy-st-patrick-s-day-i-suppose
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Final Tally
The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed Joker cards used: The Squares, Books and Other Tasks: Square 1: November 1st: All Saints Day / Día de los Muertos & Calan Gaeaf Book themes for Día de Muertos and All Saint’s Day: A book that […]
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I realize that one snowflake does not yet make a White Christmas
… and we’re still 2 weeks away, and for all I know this may be all we’re do this winter, but I can’t help tacitly getting my hopes up. This is what our garden and our neighborhood looked like this afternoon: (The last two photos are the view from my living room window towards […]
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White Fairy Dust
Our garden, earlier today. Just a teeny tiny bit of white dust, and it won’t last — in fact, it’s raining again already, and the white coating of the fir trees is already gone again. But for it to snow at all here all the way at the bottom of the Rhine valley is not […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Updates / Blackout
I’ve yet to read at least one book for some of the squares, but I’ve completed a minimum of either one book or one task for all of the squares, and in several cases, more. The Markers: Stack of Books: Books read Red Bows and Ribbons: Other Tasks completed […]
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16 Tasks of the Festive Season: Square 6 – Bodhi Day
Tasks for Bodhi Day: Post a picture of your pet, your garden, or your favourite, most peaceful place in the world. Hello Mom — why are you sitting at your desk? Can’t we please go play? There are all those treats that are calling for me to hunt them … And: Our garden … an […]
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Abbey Weekend
I spent yesterday and this morning near Maria Laach abbey, a gorgeously-maintained, fairly important (Romanic) Benedictine abbey (founded in 1093) on the shores of a volcanic lake a little less than an hour south of Bonn, celebrating my mom’s birthday and reading my “haunted houses” bingo book — which just happens to be set […]
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Stratford-upon-Avon — Oxford — London: Shakespeare, Hogwarts and Shopping
Stratford A Scene at the RSC Book and Gift Shop The date: June 17, 2017. The time: Approximately 10:00AM. TA and friend enter; TA asks for a shopping basket and makes straight for the shelves and display cases. An indeterminate amount of time is then spent browsing. Whenever her friend points out something and asks […]
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