Today was a mighty big day …

After almost 6 months of being on the inside looking out, as Easter-cat and Carlito ‘took the air’ in our backyard garden, two important milestones for Pikachu arrived today: she’s grown big enough that we are (semi) confident there is no way she can find her way out of the garden, and it finally hit 20 degrees (I wasn’t supervising in cold weather).

So it was that on a spectacular blue-sky, pre-spring day, Pikachu got her first taste of the great outdoors:

Of course everything was new, exciting and demanded minute examinations.

Eventually, after a respectable first-foray, it was time to wallow in the freedom.

MT and I were both a little anxious about whether or not she’d completely blow us off – with her colouring a mere shadow renders her invisible – but she was as good as gold. She mostly stayed within site, and frequently raced past our legs as if to say “here I am!”. And when she wore herself out with exploring, she raced over, jumped into my lap, and started purring for Australia.

Rarely have I seen such unbridled kitten joy. Now, how to explain the cold-front coming through tomorrow…

By request: Quilt pictures

In a previous post, Pikachu was posing her adorable self on one of the quilts my sister made me a few months ago, and Christine from All the Vintage Ladies commented on it, asking for pictures of my other quilt of the book covers, so here they are. Since today is our first sunny day with hints of spring to come, I tried for better shots of all of them.

Front and back of book quilt. This picture came out well enough that you can see the different book-related patterns she quilted into the covers. The titles are stitched in, but some of them are filled with fabric paint because she felt they got lost against the fabrics. This is a full-sized quilt, and perfect for curling up in on the couch or in bed.

(MT’s feet say “hi!”)

The quilt below is a queen-sized and it just lights up our bedroom, a room that suffers from a lack of abundant natural light. I wanted a traditional patterned quilt in blues and greens and that’s exactly what I got, although she jazzed up the back a little bit, and it makes me love this quilt even more.

I’m not quite sure why, but WP darkens the photos – I just compared the image I uploaded from my desktop to this one and this one is darker and bluer, which pissed me off – thank you WP for giving me another reason to be irritated.

Here’s the back, which is NOT darker… UGH!, but anyway, the background is a faded map of the world, and she used a few leftover pieces for those hip and happening stripes, which gives it a mid-century modern vibe (I think).

And finally, with the scraps from both those quilts, lest the cats feel left out (they don’t because they think those two quilts above were really made for them), my sister, quilter extraordinaire, made this for the cats, which Pikachu has staked her claim to:

My sister has made these for quite a few cats of her acquaintance and usually puts catnip in them, but with border controls here re-defining paranoia, I told her not to risk it. The cats don’t miss it and love it just as it is.

Reading Progress Update: I’ve read 84 of 337 pages

The Truth About Animals
by Lucy Cooke
isbn: 9780465094646
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
Pages: 337
Genre: Natural Science, Non-fiction
Publisher: Basic Books

I can often judge how much I’m enjoying a non-fiction book by how much of it I torture MT with by reading aloud passages. Based on that metric, this is looking to be a 5 star read so far. Each chapter is dedicated to a different misunderstood animal, and the chapter on beavers was read to MT almost in its entirety. Hyenas got a fair amount of coverage too, although it much harder to read aloud for this modestly inclined narrator. Hyenas be freaky.

The writing style is very laid back and the humour is thick on the page, but then it’s hard to keep a serious tone when your discussing the centuries long prevailing myth that beavers being pursued by hunters will gnaw off their own testicles and throw them at the hunters in a bid to escape.

Lowcountry Boughs of Holly (Liz Talbot Mystery, #10)

Lowcountry Boughs of Holly
by Susan M. Boyer
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781635116311
Series: Liz Talbot Mystery #10
Publication Date: November 17, 2020
Pages: 242
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Henery Press

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but PI Liz Talbot is struggling to feel festive. She hasn’t seen her best friend in weeks and fears she may never see her again in this life. Meanwhile Nate, Liz’s husband and partner, is spending money like he prints it in the attic on a mysterious family Christmas celebration.

Liz’s nerves are shot, and she hasn’t even decked a single hall. But there’s no time to fret. On a beach run, Liz spots a rowboat run aground with Santa inside. Did Old Saint Nick have too much eggnog at the boat parade? No indeedy—Santa’s been shot. And he’s none other than C.C. Bounetheau, patriarch of one of Charleston’s wealthiest families.

Liz and Nate already unwrapped quite a few family secrets while searching for the Bounetheau’s missing granddaughter last year—enough to make them swear to steer forever clear of the entire clan. But as Liz and Nate are the police chief’s on-call detectives, they’re on the case. With no shortage of suspects, they dash to find a killer who may be working his or her way down a naughty list.

Calling this series ‘dependable’ sounds like I’m talking about old shoes, but dependable really is the best word; each of the 10 entries so far have offered up solid writing, great characters (with eccentric family members) and creative and sometimes heartbreaking plots, with just a dash of the supernatural in the form of a ghost to keep things interesting.

Lowcountry Boughs of Holly was no different, though I have to say the storyline was too convenient in a forced kind of way. The entire murder plot, while good, was all too relevant to the solution of a multi-book mini mystery that’s been brewing. Liz has been worried for the past several books about where her husband Nate has been finding the money he’s been spending. It’s been nothing more than a passing curiosity but this is the book where it all comes out. And the coincidental parallels between the two plots beggars belief.

Putting that aside though, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and as it is yet another Christmas themed mystery, the ending is a charming and happy one all the way around.

Garland of Bones (Sarah Booth Delaney, #22)

Garland of Bones
by Carolyn Haines
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781250257925
Series: Sarah Booth Delaney #22
Publication Date: October 13, 2020
Pages: 336
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

I have always loved this series for many reasons: the mysteries are always pretty good, the characters are wonderful, and the writing always felt naturally lyrical, with wit that just seemed to flow off Haines’ pen.

Not so much in this one. The wit and sparkle felt forced, the sentiment feigned and even the characters were reluctant to involve themselves in the mystery, which felt lacklustre in spite of it being well plotted.

As I write this I find myself wondering if this book isn’t a reflection of the author’s state of mind when she wrote it.

View Spoiler »

This book definitely feels like a jaded mind at work. Hopefully not a sign of books to come.

It’s coming up to that time of year again…

‘Tis the season … for 2021 Halloween Bingo. The game begins on 1 September but August is the time to request and receive one’s bingo card, and mine arrived this week, and MT brought home the printed card yesterday:

This is Pickachu’s first Halloween Bingo and she was wildly enthusiastic (she tried to steal my card!). I, however, am still struggling to find my bookish joie de vivre, so this year, I’m aiming for a lower key approach. No planning, no fancy graphics, no markers; as much as I wish I could tackle these things with the excitement of bingos past, I don’t want to set myself up for failure. So this year it’ll just be me and my bingo card. Maybe a modest html table to track my reads. Maybe. Reviews will be done here, as I can’t stand being on Goodreads, even though I miss my friends.

A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram, #2)

A Good Day for Chardonnay
by Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781250233110
Series: Sunshine Vicram #2
Publication Date: July 27, 2021
Pages: 416
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Running a small-town police force in the mountains of New Mexico should be a smooth, carefree kind of job. Sadly, full-time Sheriff—and even fuller-time coffee guzzler—Sunshine Vicram, didn’t get that memo.

All Sunshine really wants is one easy-going day. You know, the kind that starts with coffee and a donut (or three) and ends with take-out pizza and a glass of chardonnay (or seven). Turns out, that’s about as easy as switching to decaf. (What kind of people do that? And who hurt them?)

Before she can say iced mocha latte, Sunny’s got a bar fight gone bad, a teenage daughter hunting a serial killer and, oh yes, the still unresolved mystery of her own abduction years prior. All evidence points to a local distiller, a dangerous bad boy named Levi Ravinder, but Sun knows he’s not the villain of her story. Still, perhaps beneath it all, he possesses the keys to her disappearance. At the very least, beneath it all, he possesses a serious set of abs. She’s seen it. Once. Accidentally.

Between policing a town her hunky chief deputy calls four cents short of a nickel, that pesky crush she has on Levi which seems to grow exponentially every day, and an irascible raccoon that just doesn’t know when to quit, Sunny’s life is about to rocket to a whole new level of crazy.

Yep, definitely a good day for chardonnay.

I really vacillated between 4.5 and 5 stars with this one. Overall, I loved the book from start to finish, and that last .5 of a star is really nit-picky personal tastes.

A Good Day for Chardonnay picks up where A Bad Day for Sunshine leaves off with a multi-story arc surrounding the mystery of Sunshine Vicram’s abduction when she was a teen-ager. It also introduced too new parallel plots: Sunshine’s investigation of an apparent bar fight gone bad involving her romantic interest, Levi, and a cold case discovered by her daughter in the attic (in the form of newspaper clippings) surrounding the unsolved disappearances of several transients that took place decades previously. There’s also a racoon wreaking havoc, a blind date gone bad, and another multi-story arc concerning Levi’s family.

There’s a lot going on, but this is Jones’ forte. She excels at writing fast-paced, multi-plot stories told with a lot of humour and only slightly less heart. After reading almost 20 of her titles, I can say while I didn’t love all of them, I was never, ever bored by any of them.

This particular book though, was amongst the best. Good mysteries, yes. Humor, yes. But this book was also an emotional roller coaster at the end; between the events of Sunshine’s daughter Auri and her friends coming to a rather explosive climax, and Sunshine’s life-long mystery coming to a satisfying conclusion, a tissue (or three) were required during the reading of this book.

Why didn’t I end up going the full 5? I was aggravated with the last page; the story ended WAY too abruptly. And Auri’s storyline. I really like Auri, and Cruz and love Auri and Cruz together as a team, but her story line was, perhaps, a tiny bit too precocious. It was handled realistically, in the sense that, IF teenagers in real life were to decide to take it upon themselves to investigate a cold case involving a serial killer, it’s easy to imagine they’d go about the same way Auri did. But as much as I like Auri, Jones walks a razor fine edge between Auri being likeable and Auri being cloyingly sweet and earnest. Her selflessness is not entirely realistic, and I can’t say I wouldn’t skim her story where I to re-read this.

And re-read it I shall, because it’s going to be a long year, or however long it takes, before the next book. And I already can’t wait.

Terns of Endearment (Meg Langslow, #26)

Terns of Endearment
by Donna Andrews
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250192974
Series: Meg Langslow #25
Publication Date: June 30, 2020
Pages: 304
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

I read this book last year, but 2020 was a year full of cracks, and this book’s reading record and thoughts slipped through one of them. I re-read it last night to brush up my memories.

I think the thing I love the most about Meg Langslow, after 26 books is her sheer competence. Her family is quirky, and the mysteries are always good, but there just doesn’t seem to be any crisis that Meg, and the members of Caerphilly can’t handle with astonishing efficiency.

Terns of Endearment takes place on an educational wildlife cruise. Her grandfather has been lured into a series of on-board lectures, but soon after the ship sets sail, a series of events leaves the ship stranded in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Dead bodies, sabotage, and on-board illnesses slow down the Langslow family not a bit and soon enough they’re sorting out the crew, the passengers and the mysteries. It should be over-the-top, but it isn’t. It’s inspiring. I want to be Meg when I grow up.

Heroes by Stephen Fry: I’ve listened to 24%

Heroes
by Stephen Fry
ISBN: 9781405940573
Published by Penguin Books on 2019
Format: Audiobook

Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes.Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta - who was raised by bears - outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera.Heroes is the story of what we mortals are truly capable of - at our worst and our very best.

I’m loving this so far. Stephen Fry states right up front that there are many names and lineages and begats and that the listener shouldn’t pay any attention to trying to keep track of it all – just enjoy the stories. He also adds that there are many ways to pronounce the Greek names, and he’s choosing the pronunciations that are most comfortable for his speech patters, most of which would probably make any self-respecting Greek cringe.

What he doesn’t make as clear, but is my favourite part, is that he’s telling these stories of the Greek heroes in very much his own way, his own style, with funny or witty asides. He’s chosen his source materials and sticks to the ‘facts’ of them, but the tales are liberally sprinkled with his own ad-libs, and when he does character voices, he makes no attempt to mimic anything resembling a Greek accent – there are shades of Monty Python in his character voices. I know he was never in Monty Python, but I stand by this assertion. Perhaps it’s his work with Hugh Laurie that’s showing through. I only know there’s one character I kept expecting to break out in “he’s a very naughty boy!” And I’m almost entirely certain none of the Greek heroes had Scottish accents.

This is Fry telling stories and oh, he’s so brilliant at it, I’m thoroughly loving listening to him regale me with these tales.

Lady Julia Grey Novellas 6-9

These have been sitting in my TBR on my iPad for … years? And after my recent re-read binge of all the novels, I thought I’d knock these out too.

They’re all about what you’d expect from a novella; too short to get into any character development or conflict, just short, happy little mysteries with tidy endings, but they’re fun to read and one or two loose ends from the main body of the series are wrapped up.