Books Read - May, 1999

Dover Clip Art

As I promised (threatened), here is yet another list of books I read in 1999, this particular list being for the month of May of that year, and except for one (I'll let you guess), all 'light' reading.

Lethal Practice - Peter Clement

The Prophetess -  Barbara Wood

Murder on the Silk Road - Stephanie Matteson

Murder at the Falls - Stephanie Matteson

Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch -  Patricia Guiver

Blind Descent- Nevada Barr

The Club Dumas -  Arturo Perez-Reverte

Days of Drums - Philip Shelby

The Monkey's Raincoat -  Robert Crais

No Use Dying over Spilled Milk - Tamar Myers

Just Plain Pickled to Death -  Tamar Myers

All links are to Amazon.com, a company with which I have no association whatsoever beyond an occasional purchase for my personal library.

Tomorrow is also a day.

By the Sea - South Padre Island

click to enlarge

A few photographic glimpses of our recent trip to South Padre Island, Texas.  Granddaughter (and Grandma) really likes the water.  I know that seagulls are pests, for the most part, but I enjoyed watching them.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Mother's Day - 2011

My 'local' children, Elder Daughter, Fantastic Son, Gardening Daughter and their respective spouses/families gathered today in Elder Daughter's home to treat me to a Mother's Day lunch. Delicious! All the good, home-made sorts of stuff that I really like, including strawberry shortcake.

Youngest Daughter, who lives in Nebraska, sent flowers yesterday (photo above -- I wish there were smell-a-vision, they have a wonderful, house-filling fragrance) and I had a good, long telephone conversation with her.

Having missed church on Easter Sunday and the following Sunday due to illness, it was good to be back in church this morning.  Spending the afternoon with most of my children was also a blessing.

I hope you had a wonderful day, also.

Tomorrow is also a day.

I'm Back

Image - Internet

The bloodhounds have been sent to track me down, so I'd better crawl out from under my rock and report for duty.  Where have I been?   I'll try to keep it brief.
 
In mid-April, I traveled with Gardening Daughter and my six year old granddaughter, Sweetie, to visit Gardening Daughter's son, currently stationed with the U.S. Coast Guard on South Padre Island, Texas. April 18 was grandson's birthday and, except for one year since the day he was born in 1991, I have been with him on each of his birthdays.
 
Although we didn't get to spend as much time with him as we would have liked because of his work schedule, we had a grand time.  His apartment is only two blocks from the Gulf side of the island, and we girls visited the sea-side several times a day.
 
So... why the long absence from this blog?  A major bronchial infection reared its ugly head the day after our return, laid me out flat for over a week and robbed me of any semblance of energy.  The medications I was prescribed played funny games with my brain and not only was I gasping for air and coughing my head off, I couldn't find two brain cells to rub together, much less construct an understandable sentence.  You should thank me that I didn't try to compose any posts.
 
The torrential rain and tornados came and went while I was semi-comatose. The general area in which I live was damaged by both (even the air force base 3 miles away had extensive damage) but not anywhere near that of our neighbors to the east of us. We are very fortunate.
 
I'm happy to say that I'm greatly improved. I still get winded upon any physical exertion, but I'm feeling better every day and hope to be back to normal soon.
 
Tomorrow is also a day.

Dainty Bess Rose

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Rosa

Cultivar: Dainty Bess

Hybridized by Archer; Year of Registration or Introduction: 1925

Almost every year, the first rose to bloom in my garden is a Dainty Bess rose that is 20 years old.  I planted it in a bed along the south wall of my home in the spring of 1991, and it has been a reliable bloomer every year.  If it holds true to its performance in years past, it will bloom three or four times before frost.

I like it for its single layer of petals and its sweet true pink color.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Tomorrow is also a day.

A Messy Nest

For several minutes on a day last week, I watched a Robin in the process of gathering material for a potential nesting site.  I first spotted her (I assume it was a female, but I could be mistaken)  at the edge of one of my overgrown day lily beds.  She was pulling dried grasses from between the newly emerged plants.  Some of the grasses, evidently, were still slightly rooted, because she would try to take off with a beak full only to be pulled back into the bed. It took her four attempts to finally pull that particular load free of the ground.

I watched in some amusement, and a great deal of sympathy, as she flew the 15 feet or so from the lily bed to the top of the large electrical breaker-box on the outside of my house, a flat site she had selected for the nest.  Plant material more than twice the length of her body trailed behind her.  From the looks of it (above) she was a first-time nest builder. I watched her as she nipped and tucked, but most of the grass was still trailing off the edge, and a considerable amount had already fallen onto the day lilies planted directly below the box.

I've not seen any activity there for the last couple of days and suspect that she has abandoned this particular location as being not particularly well suited to her needs.  I'll leave the area alone for a week or so then remove it, but leave the stuff somewhere in the yard that will be visible to a bird interested in acquiring secondhand building material.  I'll even include, at no additional cost, the green rubber band she seems to have incorporated. Do you see it?

I expect if I looked closely in the bushes and trees in my yard, I could find a few more nesting sites..

Tomorrow is also a day.

Yet Again, 1999 Books Read

(Dover clip art)

Books I read in April, 1999:

Goose in the Pond - Earline Fowler
Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross
Eater of Souls - Lynda S. Robinson
Twenty Blue Devils - Aaron Elkins
Blood Line - (audio book) - Sidney Sheldon
The Water is Wide - Pat Conroy
Flower Net - Lisa See
Numbered Account -  Christopher Reich
Blood Work - Michael Connelly

Cozy; historical "fiction?"; ancient Egypt;  forensic anthropology; intrigue; non-fiction; mystery; intrigue; thriller. I do enjoy a wide variety of subject matter.  The links under the books' names will take you to Amazon.com (with which company I am associated in no way whatsoever.)

My books in progress are listed on the side bar of my blog page. I'm finding the Edgar Allan Poe a bit daunting. His work is 'spookier' than I remember, or perhaps I've just become more tender as I've aged.

I'd welcome the opportunity to learn what you are  reading right now.  Why don't you tell me about it in the comments section?

Tomorrow is also a day.