77. Gathering Dark by Candice Fox

listened on Chirp

2020
319 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 12/13/22
Goodreads rating: 3.92
My rating: 4.5/5
Setting: Contemporary LA

My comments: Two points of view:  a female cop who's having a rough time with the rest of the cops in LA and an ex-con, ex-doctor who was convicted as an innocent person.  This book is rift with bad cops, which really, REALLY pissed me off to the point that I had to stop listening once in awhile.  Lots of tarnished characters...which is a great thing.  The plot is complicated and there are points that were really difficult to fathom because of so much ... badness.  But there's also positivity, lots and lots of it, and even humor thrown in.  I loved all the flawed personalities. I loved being kept on my toes throughout the story, and as unbelievable as it seemed in places, I really liked the way it was put together and told.  

Goodreads synopsis:  A convicted killer. A gifted thief. A vicious ganglord. A disillusioned cop. Together they’re a missing girl’s only hope.

Dr. Blair Harbour, once a wealthy, respected pediatric surgeon, is now an ex-con down on her luck. She’s determined to keep her nose clean and win back custody of her son. But when her former cellmate begs for help to find her missing daughter, Blair is compelled to put her new-found freedom on the line.

Detective Jessica Sanchez has always had a difficult relationship with the LAPD. And her inheritance of a multi-million dollar mansion as a reward for catching a killer has just made her police enemy number one.

It’s been ten years since Jessica arrested Blair for cold-blooded murder. So when Jessica opens the door to the disgraced doctor late one night she expects abuse, maybe even violence. What comes next is a plea for help…

Brussel Sprouts Cole Slaw

 

For base (Mix and Match):

     Pre-purchased cole slaw

     Shave brussell sprouts

     Shredded carrots

     Sliced green onions

     1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted

     sunflower seeds

     1/2 c. dried cranberries (this was a really nice touch)

     1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese

For dressing:

     1/2 c. mayonnaise

     2 T. orange juice

     2 t. Dijon mustard

     2. t. sugar

     1/2 t. salt

     pepper to taste

Another recipe describes this dressing:

     1 c. mayonnaise

     1 T. apple cider vinegar

     1/2 t. celery seed

     1/2 t. salt

     1/4 t. pepper

 

2022 Charitable Contributions

3/12/22  Blanket for Military Vet Family  20.00

3/27/22  Donors Choose   21.00 (Tucson classroom)

5/22/22 St. Patrick School    25.00

10/26/22 Alzheimers   10.00

11/29/22 Brush Pen Art Markers for Christmas Tree/Giving at Carlisle Police Dept.  9.50

12/3/22  Ella's Fusion Hour-a-thon  25.00

12/10/22 SIX Afghans for the Homeless Blanket Project

     3-5 skeins for each, plus all sorts of assorted colors (have most receipts)  50 x 4.50 = 225.00 + tax

12/21  Charles Bruce Fdtn. (through Facebook) 25.00

74. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

listened on Audible

2019
320 pgs.
Adult Chicklit
Finished 12/3/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.02
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Rockport, MA

My comments: An almost too-good-to-be-true paramedic/firefighter moves to Rockport, Massachusetts to help her estranged terminally ill mother.  Too-good-to-be-true in that she is stronger, smarter, savvier than all the other (male) firefighters in her department.  At 26 years old she has sworn off love and has never even dated since two things happened on her 16th birthday - her mother abandoned her and she was raped.  But on her first day in her new job in Massachusetts she has partnered with a rookie firefighter who she instantly falls for.  Turned out to be a definite romance novel with a firefighting twist.

Goodreads synopsis:  Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the handsome rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because she doesn't fall in love. And because of the advice her old captain gave her: don't date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...but will she jeopardize her place in a career where she's worked so hard to be taken seriously?

Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt, affecting novel about life, love, and the true meaning of courage.

Homeless Afghan/Blanket #12 - The London

8 rounds

3-3-1-1

soft taupe

12/1 just started, have 5 finished, still working on the first skein of soft taupe

One skein of soft taupe = 7 squares plus first 1.5 rounds of an 8th 

73. Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran

listened on Audible

2019
408 pgs.
Adult (British) Romance
Finished 12/2/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.05
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary British small town

My comments: Not actually a Christmas story.  Filled with hilarious situations, but balanced out with some serious ones, too.  Set in a small, friendly British village, a very enjoyable read/listen.

Goodreads synopsis:  When Jenny inherits her estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero self-respect. Things can only get better...

Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.

Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.

Warm, wise, funny and utterly uplifting, what one thing would you change in your life before Christmas comes around?

72. Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik

listened on Libby - borrowed from Library

2022
304pgs.
Contemporary Adult Mystery (scifi?)
Finished 11/29/2022 - took ages to finish
Goodreads rating: 3.70
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary cold, cold, cold Greenland

My comments: Set in Greenland at a tiny science research station in October as the days are getting very short and 24-hour darkness is almost upon them.  Although Val has crippling anxiety, she drowns herself in pills and booze to embark on the journey there when she is asked, as an expert in languages, to come to try to figure out what an 8-year old girl is trying to say. This girl has been thawed from the ice....and speaks a language that has never been heard before. Of course, there are a lot of mysterious, unacceptable things going on, and that will include, but the end of the story, many deaths.  It was interesting to listen to the story unfold, to consider the possibilities that were suggested, and to commiserate with the protagonist's anxiety issues.  Could there really be some sort of enzyme in an eanimal (eels in this case) that could actually prologn/reactivate/regenerate life?  I would have rated this a 4, but it was very draggy in places, which made me shave off half a point.

Goodreads synopsis:  From the author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle comes a harrowing new thriller set in the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, as a brilliant linguist struggling to understand the apparent suicide of her twin brother ventures hundreds of miles north to try to communicate with a young girl who has been thawed from the ice alive.

Valerie “Val” Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of disciplines: dead Nordic languages. Despite her successful career, she leads a sheltered life and languishes in the shadow of her twin brother, Andy, an accomplished climate scientist stationed on a remote island off Greenland’s barren coast. But Andy is gone: a victim of suicide, having willfully ventured unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather. Val is inconsolable—and disbelieving. She suspects foul play.

When Wyatt, Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers a scientific impossibility­—a young girl frozen in the ice who thaws out alive, speaking a language no one understands—Val is his first call. Will she travel to the frozen North to meet this girl, and try to comprehend what she is so passionately trying to communicate? Under the auspices of helping Wyatt interpret the girl’s speech, Val musters every ounce of her courage and journeys to the Artic to solve the mystery of her brother’s death.

The moment she steps off the plane, her fear threatens to overwhelm her. The landscape is fierce, and Wyatt, brilliant but difficult, is an enigma. But the girl is special, and Val’s connection with her is profound. Only something is terribly wrong; the child is sick, maybe dying, and the key to saving her lies in discovering the truth about Wyatt’s research. Can his data be trusted? And does it have anything to do with how and why Val’s brother died? With time running out, Val embarks on an incredible frozen odyssey—led by the unlikeliest of guides—to rescue the new family she has found in the most unexpected of places.

Homeless Remembrance Blanket Project

A - Auspicious - 2022

B - California - 2023

C - Carlisle - 2023

D - Dolores - 2022

E - Elizabeth - 2023

F - Frances - 2022

G - Georgina - 2022

H - Prince Harry - 2022

I - Isle of Deserted Mountains - Gifted to Nevaeh 2022

J - Joshee

K - Kandinsky

L - London

M - Madeline - 2023

N - Novato - 2023

O - Odds & Ends - 2023

P - Pragramatic - 2023

Q - Quatrain - 2-23

R - Razzle-Dazzle - 2023

S - Serendipity - 

T - Trenton - 2024

U - Ubiquitous - 2024

V - Vivian 

W - Wilhelm - 

X - Xander - 

Y - Yellowstone

Z - Zephyr - 2024

AA - Artsy Ann - 2024

BB - Bubbly Beatrice

CC - Cacophonic Christine

DD - Dazzling David - 2024

EE - Exuberant Ellsworth - 2024

FF - Finnicky Freddy

GG - Groovy Gert - 2024

*********************************************************** 

2023

Pennsylvania Capitol Building

Harrisburg, PA

My Donation for 2023

 

Countdown to 12/21/23 - Harrisburg Capitol Building, PA

What I finished and donated

California - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Carlisle - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Elizabeth - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Madeline - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Novato - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Odds & Ends - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Pragmatic - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Quatrain - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

Razzle-Dazzle - 2023 Blanket Project, Harrisburg

9 donated

2022

United States Capitol

Washington, D. C.

Website:  https://memorialblanket.org/

Big DC Display will be December 21, 2022 - The shortest night of the year!

Sizes requested:  45 x 80 - or - 60 x 80

Well, I certainly jumped in with both feet!

             My donation for 2022.

Countdown to 12/21/22 - What I Finished and donated

Auspicious - 2022 Homeless Blanket Project, DC

Dolores - 2022 Homeless Blanket Project, DC

Frances - 2022 Homeless Blanket Project, DC

Georgina - 2022 Homeless Blanket Project, DC

Prince Harry - 2022 Homeless Blanket Project, DC

Isle of Deserted Mountains - Neveah, Xmas 2022

       5 donated, 1 gifted

           My Dolores Afghan is right there! Second one in the bottom row...

A - Auspicious

Finished

     8 rounds

     5 x 9 (quite long)

     golden beige

B - California

FINISHED 2023

     8 rounds

     putty

5 x 6 already sewn

17 waiting

could be 5 x 8 or 5 x 9

(A is 5 x 8) have enough for either

C - Carlisle

Finished 2023 for PA Capitol

     8 rounds

     soft taupe

D - Dolores

Finished

     7 rounds

     6 x 8

     aran

E - Elizabeth

FINISHED 2023

     5 rounds

     aran

8 x 8 already sewn (46" wide - one more?)

I ended up leavng this at 8 x 10 which made it pretty short.

They changed the yarn color (aran)considerably between this year and last and it looked really awful, although the few that are scattered throughout the afghan don't look very good, actually.  Oh well, c'est la vie!

F - Francis

Finished (the fifth one, on 11/28/22)

     6 rounds

     7 x 10

     classic gray

G - Georgina

Finished

     7 rounds

     6 x 9

     aran

H - Prince Harry

Finished

     7 rounds

     6 x 9

     aran

I - Isle of Deserted Mountains

for Nevaeh Christmas 2022

FINISHED

     8 rounds

     putty

6 x 9 = 54  

should end up 48 x 72ish

J - Joshee

     7 rounds

     dark charcoal

49 completed

5 x 3 sewn together

probably need 6 x 8?  6 x 9?

K - Kandinsky

     8 rounds

     putty(2-round center, 2-row outer)

One skein of putty finished 11 two-round 

    outer rows.

L - London

     8 rounds

     soft taupe

have 5 completed squares (12/2)

M - Madeline

FINISHED 8/26/23

10 rounds

4 x 6

Started at the Carlisle Expo Center at the start of the summer.

Pretty boring, but used up yarn I had.

N -  Novato

Crocheted at Dede's July 2023

Finished at home December 2023

11 rounds with border (Loops & Threads 7 oz skein of mustard) took 2 skeins

O - Odds & Ends

FINISHED 2023

Crocheted in October 2023 when I wanted to use up the few colors I had left before buying more yarn....

Finished November 2023

4 x 6 blocks

11 rows including white border

P - Pragmatic

FINISHED 2023

For this one I used 3-4 oz. skeins of variegated or striping yarn.  Never knew how they'd come out!   It actually looks pretty cool "in real life!"

Q - Quatrain

FINISHED 12/1/23

Love the darker colors of this one.

Border is Impeccable Soft Taupe

10 rounds plus border

4 x 6

R - Razzle Dazzle

FINISHED 2023

4 x 7 blocks

10 rows, no border

S - Serendipity

Last one finished for 2023 

4 x 7 blocks (28 total)

10 rows plus light gray border)

T - Trenton

Finished 2024

Using leftover scrappy yarns and dark brown

(2 shorter colored, 1 longer brown) tied together with firm double knots.

Size I hook.  Rows of double crochet.

U - Ubiquitous

Finished 2024

6 x 9

5 rounds of color

    1 round of navy

        1 round of green

7 rounds total

V - Vivian

10 rounds of purples/greens/grays

1 round of Greige (Herschnerrs)

W - Wilhelm

8 rounds, mostly solids and verigateds

9th round + 

began with donated yarn from Brianna

X - Xander

12 rounds (+1 = 13 rounds)

will probably add one more round for a unifying color

Y - Yellowstone

Standard granny pattern (every row a different color) for 7 rows

8th row = soft taupe

Z - Zephyr 

Finished 4/2/24 Just needed to sew in all the ends!

(connoted with a sense of calm, and gentle movement like a west wind

AA - Artsy Ann

FINISHED 4/2/24

One of my lost & found afghans

Found 4/1/24, finished 4/2/24

BB - Bubbly Beatrice

8 round base

9th round "Sumac" Dk. Charcol - Lionsbrand

10th round, not sure yet!

CC - Cacophonic Christine

10 rounds with no unifying border

DD - Dazzling David

A Lost and Found Afghan

Finished 4/23/24

EE - Exuberant Ellsworth

Magic Loop and Dark Charcoal (sumac) yarn

Repeating Triple crochet row, then single crochet row.

Finished:  124 sts in each row

54 sets on tc/sc long

Finished 9/29/24

FF - Finnicky Freddy

Quite wide afghan

Repeating Triple crochet row, then single crochet row, with a pre-wound (by me) roll of  2 short bursts of color then a longer segment of medium sage.

GG - Groovy Gert

Repeating Triple crochet row, then single crochet row, switching rows back and forth from variegated to sold.

53 stripes (a 2-row set, one sc, one tc)

129 sts. per row.

Finished 10/8/24

Corn Casserole

One can regular corn
One can cream corn
1 cup sour cream
One jiffy corn muffin mix
One stick melted margarine
   (Another recipe calls for 1/2 cup sour cream and two eggs)

Creased 11x7 or 8x8 pan

350 for 45 -50 minutes

69. The Bookstore Sisters - a short story by Alice Hoffman,

read & listened on Kindle Unlimited/Audible

2022
36 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished  11/23/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.18
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary small island off the Maine coast

My comments: A sweet story that takes place on a small island on the Maine coast.  Two sisters who haven't spoken in over a decade reconcile...slowly....  When their mother died, the youngest, Isabel, totally retreated into herself and left eh older sister, Sophie, to deal with everything on her own.  This included the tiny bookstore that their dad ran after their mom's death.  When Isabel does finally return to the island, she faces her past history and wakes up for the first time since she was 12.

Goodreads synopsis:  From New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman comes a heartfelt short story about family, independence, and finding your place in the world.
Isabel Gibson has all but perfected the art of forgetting. She’s a New Yorker now, with nothing left to tie her to Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Her parents are gone, the family bookstore is all but bankrupt, and her sister, Sophie, will probably never speak to her again.

But when a mysterious letter arrives in her mailbox, Isabel feels herself drawn to the past. After years of fighting for her independence, she dreads the thought of going back to the island. What she finds there may forever alter her path—and change everything she thought she knew about her family, her home, and herself.

68. The Chalk Pit (#9 Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

listened on Audible

2017
374 pgs.
Adult mystery series
Finished 11/22/22
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Contemporary King's Lynn, England

My comments: So many characters it was hard to keep them straight, but an interesting story about the possibility of (homeless) people living underground.  Somehow, though, much that happened was at least one step away from believability....and it ended with a huge question mark.  Michelle is pregnant.  Ruth and Nelson just happened to fall into bed together once again.  Very little build up for that.  I think too much was left for the imagination in this one, but my fullest attention wasn't on the story.  I kept listening when I got into bed and falling asleep....over and over again.  So this may have impacted some of my enjoyment.

Goodreads synopsis:  Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of underground tunnels. When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they are recent - the boiling not the medieval curiosity she thought - DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands.

Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the rumours both Ruth and the police have heard of a vast network of old chalk-mining tunnels under King's Lynn, home to a vast community of rough sleepers, the clues point in only one direction. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and their history - but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing possibly be true?

As the weather gets hotter, tensions rise. A local woman goes missing and the police are under attack. Ruth and Nelson must unravel the dark secrets of The Underground and discover just what gruesome secrets lurk at its heart - before it claims another victim.