Mailbox Monday and from other sources 6/14/15

Mailbox Monday is hosted at it's very own blog.  I'm taking a bit of blogger liberty with this meme. It is supposed to be titles that showed up in my mailbox. But all of these did not come in the mail.

I haven't posted to Mailbox  Monday in a very long time. I don't receive any ARC copies and rarely purchase books. I have been using the library a lot lately and of course share with friends. Plus, I have a pretty full bookcase of books that I have not read and really want and need to.

That being said, these last couple of  weeks were a bit different. My F2F book club does not meet in the summer. I don't know why this was decided 12 years ago when the club was formed, but I think it was because most members were teachers, and teachers like their summers free. ( not that I blame them one bit). Nowadays, our membership is about 1/2 teachers and the rest of us. Retired teachers, wives of teachers, bookkeepers, retired bookkeepers, receptionists, make up the balance. We are reading a trilogy over the summer.

So these are the new books at my house this week!

Top to bottom:

The Summer Hideway: The Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs   Shared from a friend and the 7th in the series. I have not read any of them.

The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen     Shared from a friend and a book club read that I missed when we were traveling in March.

The Ticket by Karen Schutte  #1 in the trilogy that is our summer read
Seed of the Volga by Karen Schutte  #2
Flesh on the Bone  by Karen Schutte  #3
I purchased all three of these from Amazon, so these really did come in my mailbox (well in actuality on the porch because they came via FedEx. )

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant.  This one is from the library. It has been on my TBR list for a few months.

Did you have a full mailbox last week?  Have you read any of these titles?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Moyes, Kingsolver, Lavene, Edwards, Wiggs

A place to share what you are currently reading and to see what others are reading this week. Check in with Sheila at Book Journey and link up and see what others are reading.

I finally got brave and took this one down off the bookshelf. I bought it for myself for my birthday in 2013, so it has been almost 2 year. Sheila encouraged me to try it!  So far I am loving it. 

Me Before You
by Jojo Moyes (Goodreads Author)

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

This one is the November selected read of the Goodreads group Love of Reading. I have been wanting to read it for sometime so was glad to do it now. 

from Goodreads:

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

It was an unusual week in that I also brought 3 new books to my stacks. Two were titles that were passed on to me by friends:

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

And the 3rd one was ordered from Amazon when I ordered a couple of other non-bookish things. I have read the other 4 in this series so ,of course, I had to have it.

A Corpse for Yew ( A Peggy Lee Garden Mystery) by Joyce and Jim Lavene 

This one came from a marketplace seller on Amazon and she enclosed a gorgeous bookmark in the book . A really neat surprise.

Thanks, Kim. I love bookmarks!!!!

I found Mailbox Monday again. I had lost track of it and hadn't linked up there is a long time. I will today. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday A Final Chapter.

I guess I am going to have to give up participation in Mailbox Monday. I will still read all your blogs, because I really enjoy seeing what everyone else acquired.

I did download this new one to my Kindle on Thursday. I don't have the funds to purchase many. This one was free through Book Bub. And I refuse to purchase a book, just because it is free or only $.99.  But the cover appealed to me as did the title. 

My reading time seems to be minimal at best these days. So it is probably fine that I don't participate in the ARC promos that many of you do. I would really be depressed that I didn't get them read and give the reviews expected. 

I am woefully behind on my goal to read 80 books this year. Last year I read  61 books and my goal was 50. This year I thought, that was easy, I can do 80!. I have only read 47 so far!   :(.   

I am off to spend time in my sewing room today. Thursday I leave for a 4 day quilting retreat. I will read some there at night to unwind, but mostly I will be sewing, sewing , sewing. I don't know how the internet service will be there. Usually not so good, be we can hope for improvement!.  

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 9-9-13 This is Paradise

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. For the month of September the host is Yoland at @ Notorious Spinks Talks

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Lately I have had empty mailboxes.  But last week, while we were away camping a book arrived. Hurray. 

I won this copy in a giveaway from Wendy at Caribousmom.  Thanks Wendy. It is collection of six stories by Kristiana Kahakauwila.  I am looking forward to reading this collection.

This week will be busy with my quilt guild September meeting in the park. We gather to have a lunch exchange, reminiscent of an old fashioned box social. We will exchange a lunch and the container that it comes in. Some will be homemade, some will not. Then we sit in the park, and work on our own UFO(unfinished object)  handwork. Some will work on embroidery pieces, some will sew on binding, some will come just to share and visit. We ALWAYS have a great time.

I will be unpacking the camper, catching up on the laundry and getting ready to go again on Friday. We will drive to Fort Collins CO to meet our newest great grandson who was born on Sept 5th. I can hardly wait. If it OK with his parents I will share a picture or two when we get back.

So until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 8-19

Mailbox Monday  is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blogger each month. The host for August is Kathy at BermudaOnion's Weblog. Kathy is filling in this month for a blogger who for whatever reason did not post the first and second Monday's in August. You can check the link above to see who is scheduled to host in September. 

Last week was a strange on for me. I had been selected to be in a jury pool for our district court system. So I was called to come to the courthouse on Monday. I was selected to sit on the jury for a criminal case involving stalking, kidnapping and aggravated assault and battery. It was a very intense case and we the jury struggled with a unanimous verdict. So little reading was done. We finished by noon on Wednesday and Thursday I had a date with my regular stitching group. Friday I was still in a "funk", so off to the bookstore I went. I found the following 3 titles on sale. HOORAY!

 I probably should have backed away a bit, but then you would see the dust on my buffet!.  

1. Distant_Heart Tracey Bateman for $.99
2. A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury for $4.99
3. On Hummingbird Wings by Lauraine Snelling for $3.99

I have read Lauraine Snelling's Dakotah Treasurers series, Daughters of Blessing series and Red River of the North series and loved them all.. I have not read the other authors but know that Karen Kingsbury writes Christian Literature and I always enjoy that. When I looked up a link to Distant Heart, I discovered that Tracey Bateman writes Christian  Fiction too, and is a Goodreads Author. Distant Heart is #2 in a series, so being the OCD person I am I will look for the 1st in the series before I read the second. A Time to Dance is #1 in the Timeless Love series. On Huimmingbird Wings looks like a stand alone story. 

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 7-29-13

Nothing in my mailbox this past week except the usual "junk mail".  I did not check anything new out of the library except Season 3 of Downton Abbey. We own Season 1 & 2, but have not been able to find Season 3 for what I consider a reasonable price, so I got on the waiting list at the library. We have watched the first 8 episodes and will finish the last of them this week. It is due back at the library on the 31st. I really like that show. I hope to be able to keep up with Season 4 on our PBS channel starting in January. We do not have a DVR or TiVo, so we need to be diligent with keeping up.

This week I will spend one day with my sister in SD. We haven't had a good sister visit in quite some time, so I am looking forward to  that. It has just been 1 year since our mom passed away and we will probably laugh a lot and cry a little.

So until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Week Filled

The past week has been a bit of a blur. Last weekend we took our new-to-us camper to Medora ND to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and to attend the musical

 with our GWRRA friends. Normally we ride our motorcycle. This year, in our camper we included DH's mother and her dog, Emma. It was an experience, one that we are glad we took, but will not do again. We will try to get to Medora again, because we love it there and the camaraderie of all our friends is part of the fun.  But taking an 89 year old, though she is alert and fairly mobile was an adventure we will not repeat. Too many obstacles. Steps up to the camper, steps to the small bathroom in our camper, long walks to the Pitchfork Fondue and the amphitheater. Although the Medora Foundation does an awesome job supporting the visitation of older folks it was just too much for her and for us.

Monday I did laundry, unpacked the camper, and worked on finishing the two nursing covers I was sewing for my granddaughter.

I looked online and after checking out several blogs and pinterest sites, I settled on the tutorial from Sew Much Ado. Her instructions seemed the easiest to follow. I probably could have "winged it" on my own, but I always do better with a "plan". I am please how they turned out and hope my DGD will use them. She is a bit of a shy young lady so hopefully these will help her feel more secure as she nurses her son in public. She doesn't like anything floral, so one is a geometric pattern in gray, cream and beige and the other is a blue,red, brown and green stripe that has dog prints and dog bones on it. She and her dh have 3 dogs, 2 cats and soon a new baby boy. I am so excited.

The rest of the week was spent finishing the laundry, shopping, and nodding as my DH took the camper to have the step re-welded and told me the brakes on the pickup needed to be replaced  - $$$YIKES $$$.

Then Saturday I participated in a fundraiser sew day. A bit over a month ago, the owner of our local quilt shop collapsed and after several days in a coma, died. She was 53 years old. I live in a town of 29,000+ and if you are a sewer or quilter, you knew Bonnie. We all miss her very much, her husband and daughter are going to try to keep the shop going and of course we want them to succeed. Being self employed, the family had NO health insurance. So a group of us has filled some raffle baskets and yesterday had a Sew-In.

 We gathered to sew on any thing we wanted, but pledged money to sew, donated money for bottles of water, donated change if we used our seam ripper,

donated change if we used a "bad"word, donated change to take a cookie or candy kiss off the Treat Table.
 

We had a grand time. Many participants stitched blocks to go in a memory quilt for Bonnie's children and grandchildren.

Needless to say, I did not get a lot of reading done this week. I received no books in the mail, I did not start a new read, I did not discover any wondrous words. My participation in Blog land was at  a minimum. Next week should be better. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday July 13th

Mailbox Monday  is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blogger each month. The July host is Tasha @ Book Obsessed

This was a rather slow week:

Only one I picked up from the library. 

This is a reading selection of the Ladies and Literature group on Goodreads. And it meets a challenge of reading books that spell out my name for the Mega Mix Challenge on Love of Reading, another group on Goodreads.  Books with titles that begin with 'Y' are harder to find than 'T' or 'S'. And I have 'J' and 'U' also!.

I have read 2 others by Geraldine Brooks and they have both been really good. So I am looking forward to this one also. 


This week I will be busy getting our new-to-us camper ready to go for a long weekend. We are headed to Medora ND to the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and the Medora Musical. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to western ND or eastern Montana and get close, you really should take the time to visit this awesome little town. The musical is in an amazing outdoor amphitheater and plays every night. The young people that perform are very talented. 

Until next time, 
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 7-8

E BOOKS ONLY THIS WEEK!!!!

 Mailbox Monday  is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week or weeks and to explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is hosted in July by Tasha at Book Obsessed

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week only 2 titles came to live at my house. Both were downloaded from Amazon via Book Bub. They are:

The titles and the covers drew me in. They may be "fluff" but sometimes I need a little fluffy read.  Do you ever feel like you just need to read to be somewhere else fun, no pressure to get into any analysis or critiquing? 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 7-1-13

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at Hooked by A Book (formerly The Printed Page) and is on tour for the month of July, and hosted by Tasha at Book Obsessed

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week the only new book that came into my house, was a battered copy of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. My library finally found the missing copy and emailed me that it was available. I want to start reading it today. 

I am still listening to The Devil in the White City, which I hope to continue while I clean out closets today. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 6-18

Isn't this the prettiest mailbox. I am in love. It's not mine, but I wish I had one like it.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week or weeks and to explore great book blogs. It doesn't matter is they came in the mailbox, or were borrowed from the library or purchased by you, or even loaned to you by a friend. It's a place to share. Mailbox Monday was originally created by Marcia and you can click on the link above to read the story. It has been on tour for the last year or so, and in June is hosted by Dolce Bellezza.  WARNING: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Last week I described my futile trip to the library  in search of The Grapes of Wrath. That title still has not surfaced, but I put a few other titles on HOLD . One was the Audio CD of The Devil in the White City.




 I went to the library to pick it up and decided to peruse the shelves for some other titles. I picked up Roses by Lelia Meacham and How I Came to Sparkle Again by Kaya McLaren.






As I checked out the librarian brought the audiobook and a copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette,which I had also had placed on hold, but had not received the e mail notification.

 So I left there with 4 books. Now, I may have bitten off more than I can chew, because I am in the middle of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers and I had a quilt to finish and games to get ready for a baby shower for my granddaughter in another city, this coming weekend. Whew!!! I am busy.

Well, I got the graduation quilt done for Granddaughter #3, the gifts almost ready for Granddaughter #1's baby shower, and the fabric ready for 2 nursing covers that I promised to make too. I started listening to The Devil in the White City while I sewed the binding on the grad quilt and will continue to listen while I sew nursing covers today and tomorrow.

I'm sure I won't get any of them completely read, but I will try. As soon as Granddaughter #3 opens her gift, I will post pictures here.

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy  ( I am)

Mailbox Monday for June 10th

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday  is on tour for the month of June  and hosted by Dolce Bellezza

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous 

No arrivals in my "real" mailbox or my "email" box. But I did checkout one from our library. I went to get a copy of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It's the Classic Selection for the 3 months of June-August on Ladies & Literature on Goodreads. The card catalog said they had 1 copy  of the print book. They also said they had several audio books, an ebook, and  more that one reading guide. But I could not find the shelf copy, nor could the librarian. Long story, but they will look for it and if they find it, they will email me. In the meantime, I looked for Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. No luck there either. Maybe someone in my hometown is also a Goodreads member and in the same groups. So I found a copy of:

I have been wanting to read this one for awhile. It is a title I had heard of before and it was published the year I was born. (1946)  That for a couple of challenges that I am involved in. I had not really done any research and just assumed that Carson McCullers was a man. So I was really surprised when I read the bio of Carson McCullers and discovered she was a woman, who lived during my lifetime and died at the early age of 50, in 1967. This is a small book only 162 pages, so I should finish it pretty quickly.  I want to read  The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter too.

I am currently still reading

but will finish soon. I'll review it this week I hope. 

Until next time,

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Just a PS !!!!