Wondrous Words Wednesday 2/17/16

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative!   If you want to play along, write a post then go to Kathy's blog and add your link to Mr. Linky.  Don't forget to grab the button while you are there. 

I have been a bit absent in this meme.  I haven't found many words in my reading lately. Last Wednesday I spent the day serving on a jury for our county circuit court. It only took one very long day, but now I am free from having to serve again, at least for this court and this term. It's not that I really mind, it is just that I have a hard time judging another's actions and trying to decide what turn their life will take dependent on the usually sketchy facts that the lawyers present in the courtroom.This is my third time serving in recent years. That being said, I did hear a word that I have heard every time I have served and never understood. I had  not seen it written so was unclear as to what the judge or the attorneys  were saying. The bailiff, in this case, was nice enough to help me understand.  It is from French - to speak the truth. 

voir dire

/vwɑː ˈdɪə/

noun, Law.

1.

an oath administered to a proposed witness or juror by which he or she is

 sworn to speak the truth in an examination to ascertain his or her competence.

2.

the examination itself.

Have you ever served on a jury? I have friends who have not served in the 30+ years they have been in our community. Mr Busy has only been called once. Yet my name keeps coming up in the rotation. My daughter says I am the right demographic: mature, women, unemployed! Ha!



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First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intro - The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where she shares the first paragraph sometimes two from a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Share a book you are interested in reading and link up at Diane's blog, Bibliophile by the Sea. 

The Liar's Club

Mary Karr

Viking Press 1995

Chapter 1

My sharpest memory is of a single instant surrounded by dark. I was seven and our family doctor knelt before me where I sat on a mattress on the bare floor. He wore a yellow golf shirt unbuttoned so that sprouts of hair showed in a V shape on his chest. I had never seen him in anything but a white starched shirt and a gray tie.  The changed unnerved me. He was pulling at the hem of my favorite nightgown-a pattern of Texas bluebonnets bunched into nosegays tied with ribbon against a field of nappy white cotton. I had tucked my knees under it to make a tent. He could easily have yanked the thing over my head with one motion, but something made him gentle. "Show me the marks," he said. "Come on now. I won't hurt you." He had watery blue eyes behind thick glasses, and a mustache that looked like a caterpillar. " Please? Just pull this up and show me where it hurts," he said. He held a piece of hem between thumb and forefinger. I wasn't crying and I don't remember any pain, but he talked to me in that begging voice he used when he had a long needle hidden behind his back. I liked him but didn't much trust him. The room I shared with my sister was dark, but I didn't fancy hiking  my gown up with strangers milling around in the living room.

What do you think? Would you read on?  Have you already read this one?   It is the next read for my face to face book club.


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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Book Club Selections Feb & March

I am linking up with Kathryn at Book Date for It's Monday!  What Are You Reading?  




On My Kindle:  Still but almost finished

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Fee
Hector Tobar

This week on Tuesday, my face to face book club meets to discuss this book. I am really enjoying it. It is from the title a basically feel good story. They do get rescued.  The author is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, so the writing is good.


Print Book:
Our next read is The Liar's Club by  Mary Karr.

 I am looking forward to reading this one too. One of the members of our book club told me she found the book in the YA section at our library. I purchased mine at Amazon and haven't really researched it. Have you read it?  My friend says it is a dark book.


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First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Of Moths and Butterflies

Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where she shares the first paragraph sometimes two from a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Share a book you are interested in reading and link up at Diane's blog, Bibliophile by the Sea.

Of Moths and Butterflies

V.R. Christensen

Captive Press Publishing 2011

Part One
People have very little idea how great are the injuries which imprudence draws on them, or they would not despise this homely virtue. Especially for young women is prudence required in the conduct of love affairs. There is no end to the tale of misery we could tell resulting from its want. Marriage would not be the lottery it is, if girls would exercise a little prudence. They should never engage themselves to a man of whom they know nothing - the past of their future husband ought to be clear to them.  

Laura, Valentine, The Young Woman's Book

Does this introduction to Part One intrigue you or are you turned off by the language?  I'll admit I really knew nothing about this book except it was by a Goodreads author, it was historical fiction set in the 1800's and the cover took my breath away.



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Here Today, Gone Tamale Rebecca Adler

Here Today, Gone Tamale
Rebecca Adler
Berkley Prime Crime 2015


This is the first in a new Taste of Texas Mystery.  Josie Callahan grew up in Broken Boot, Texas. She moved to Austin for a newspaper job and was engaged. However, her life changes after she loses her job at the Gazette and her fiance unfriends her on Facebook, leaving her with fuschia pew bows and matching thank you notes. She packs up her Chihuahua, Lenny, and high tails it back home.  She'll help her Aunt Linda and Uncle Eddie in their Tex-Mex Restaurant.

After a night of tamale making with the  Wild Wild West Festival committee, a local jewelry designer is found dead next to the dumpster outside the restaurant. Josie falls back into reporter mode and immediately begins to look for clues to whom the murderer might be.

After the newest waiter, Anthony is arrested for the murder,  Josie enlists the help of her high school friend Patti Parez to track down clues she thinks will help exonerate Anthony and put the real killer behind bars. The local sheriff and his handsome deputy are none too pleased to have their help! She's a bit of a buttinski! 


I really wanted to like this story. I did like the protagonist, Josie Callahan. She is witty and loyal and a bit of a flake! I don't think the story was very believable in the description of the murder. I feel like the details that helped Josie solve the murder were left out  and other unnecessary details were rehashed. We did get to know a few of the other lesser characters who will probably resurface in the next installments. I will give this series another try. I think there is great potential.

I am adding this to my Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Challenge, hosted by Yvonne at Socrates' Book Reviews. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshots 2/6/16

Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads hosts Saturday Snapshots. Share some pictures taken by you or a friend or family member, not something found on the internet and then check in to see posts of other fellow bloggers. The only other small rule is content should be appropriate for all eyes. 

This week I haven't read much. It has been cold and we received more snow. I didn't even take pictures of that, I am tired of snow.  But I did try a new pattern that a friend showed me for a table topper or wreath. The pattern is called Fold'n Stitch Wreath by Poorhouse Quilt Designs. I picked up some fabric at JoAnn's and set about reading the directions. On Wednesday, my Loose Threads quilting group met and my friend Marva Jo and I worked on this project. 

Here are two views of the "candle ring" sitting on the coffee table in our living room. On the second one you can just barely see the dog sleeping on the couch! What a spoiled little Shih Tzu she is!

This project uses 3 fabrics and a stiff interfacing. I used Valentine fabric for all three. But my friend used a general red fabric for the edges of the squares and the same black fabric for the backs of the squares. Her inside white fabric was pink and red hearts on a white background. The white fabric has words. It says You're My Type followed by a red or pink hearts. Just one word of caution if you buy this pattern and want to make it. A directional fabric for the inside of the square is not a good idea!.  I made it work, but not without some "unstitching" and some head scratching!

I found a red candle in my stash of decoration, but I think it really needs a large red pillar candle or a red candle in a taller vase or jar. What do you think?  It was a fun project, Mr. Busy's first response was, "that's pretty" and then "how are you going to store it".  That is a dilemma. I think it will have to have its very own box.


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First Chapter First Paragraph Intros - The Nightingale

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. It's a place to share the first paragraph or two from a book you are currently reading or hope to start soon. Share a book you are reading, then link up to Diane's blog.

The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

St Martin's Press

ONE

April 9, 1995
The Oregon Coast

If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today's young people what to know everything about everyone.They think talking about a problem with solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention. 



I have had this on my Kindle for awhile now. I love reading Kristin Hannah. I've read lots of historical fiction set in WW II. I have been reluctant to read another. But my friends have been praising this one lately, so I will get to it soon. Tomorrow it has been out for one year. Maybe I will get to start it tomorrow.

What do you think? Have you read The Nightingale?


Stay Busy and Stay Happy