My Reading Blog

Hubby and I were talking yesterday about 1) that he would be reaching a milestone birthday in another month 2) how old our kids and grandkids are 3) how quickly time passes Where did the time go?  Weren't we only in our 30's, 40's, 50's?  How did our kids get from teenagers to in their 40's?  How quickly our almost 7 year old granddaughter grew from infants! It seems that each day, week, month, year just meld into each other.  But, when we look back, there have been so many milestones, so much joy and happiness scattered with some difficult and rough moments. We are at a time in our lives where we can truly sit back and enjoy each moment of every day.  We are content and happy.  We are healthy and active.  How quickly time passes is irrelevant.  We will take each day as it comes and thank God for granting us one more day to enjoy life.

Goodreads summary: " After a showdown with the notorious Yemeni terrorist known as The Panther, John Corey has left the Anti-Terrorist Task Force and returned home to New York City, taking a job with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Although Corey's new assignment with the DSG - surveilling Russian diplomats working at the U.N. Mission - is thought to be "a quiet end," he is more than happy to be out from under the thumb of the FBI and free from the bureaucracy of office life. But Corey realizes something the U.S. government doesn't: The all-too-real threat of a newly resurgent Russia. When Vasily Petrov, a colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service posing as a diplomat with the Russian U.N. Mission, mysteriously disappears from a Russian oligarch's party in Southampton, it's up to Corey to track him down. What are the Russians up to and why? Is there a possible nuclear threat, a so-called radiant angel? Will Corey find Petrov and put a stop t...

Max has written for me a number of times over the past six years and it is with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart that I write this tribute to Max.  He left us last Wednesday and there is a great void in our lives.  Over the past few days, Hubby and I have been reminiscing about the joy and fun that Max brought to us each day for the past 15-1/2 years. We brought him home in June, 2002. He was met by the King of the House at that time, Fuzzy our cat.  They stared at each other.  As Max got closer to Fuzzy, there was a very loud hiss and then a slap on the nose.  Max jumped back and tried to decide what this creature was.  But, it became a fast and true friendship. In his early years, Max loved to run and play and of course, chase squirrels up the trees.  At first he couldn't figure out where they had gone, but when they started chattering at him, he looked up and just stared.  He became our "Arkansas purebred squirrel dog" (really part...

Goodreads Summary:  " The stakes in the novel's plot are high: corporate crime on the largest scale. The duo of lawyers at the centre of the narrative are Mary and Wes Grace, who succeed in a multimillion dollar case against a chemical company, who have polluted a town with dumped toxic waste. A slew of agonising deaths have followed this, but lawyers for the chemical company appeal, and a variety of legal shenanigans are employed -- and it is certainly not clear which way the scales of justice will be finally balanced. As ever with Grisham, the mechanics of plotting are key, and the characterization is functional rather than detailed. But it is (as always) more than capable of keeping the reader totally engaged. Given John Grisham's much-publicized conversion to born-again Christianity, it's intriguing to note here the implicit criticism of the moral majority's religious values, but that is hardly central to the enterprise. What counts is the storytelling, and w...

If my parents were still alive, they would have celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary on the 10th. It was a story of many in the year 1943.  Men in the military wanting to marry before being sent off to war, possibly overseas, possibly not to return, but there were many that did and spent many happy years together. Mom & Dad were among those in the military.  Dad came home on furlough and they were married against the wishes of my Aunt who was 14 at the time.  Mom had raised her and taken care of the house and family.  My Aunt was angry because now she would be expected to step into Mom's role. But they did marry and travel to California where Dad was stationed in San Luis Obispo.  Because he had lost sight in one eye due to an accident in his teens, he was considered 4F and wouldn't be sent overseas.  After the war, they moved back to Illinois and settled on the farm.  My brother was born in California and four years later, I was born....

Goodreads Summary: " In Paradise, nothing is what it seems... Army Special Agent John Puller is the best there is. A combat veteran, Puller is the man the U.S. Army relies on to investigate the toughest crimes facing the nation. Now he has a new case-but this time, the crime is personal: His aunt has been found dead in Paradise, Florida. A picture-perfect town on Florida's Gulf Coast, Paradise thrives on the wealthy tourists and retirees drawn to its gorgeous weather and beaches. The local police have ruled his aunt's death an unfortunate, tragic accident. But just before she died, she mailed a letter to Puller's father, telling him that beneath its beautiful veneer, Paradise is not all it seems to be. What Puller finds convinces him that his aunt's death was no accident . . . and that the palm trees and sandy beaches of Paradise may hide a conspiracy so shocking that some will go to unthinkable lengths to make sure the truth is never revealed." Anot...

Saturday came along  I felt that I should be doing something.   Something missing from my daily routine.   I felt lost It felt like having withdrawals from caffeine I felt that I need to do something! I've been working on a scrapbook of our Boston & Beyond Trip from last September.  I finished arranging all the pictures and memorabilia on the paper.  All I had left was to write the journaling. So to fill all that extra time that had been taken up by slicing and commenting, I started working on telling the story of the trip along with the pictures.  Late Sunday afternoon, I finished.  The album is complete.   It helped to ease my withdrawal for the daily writing. On to the next project.