Postcards from Malta

758.  The Maltese Islands

Postcard sent from Italy

Hi Chris, I and my husband are spending our summer holidays in this beautiful and charming island.  We visited Victoria in Gizi, Comino, Mdina, and Vallitia in Malta!  Regards.  6 Giungno 2017 

Postcards Received from Estonia

2041.  Estonia

See you in Tartu.  

(Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia)

07.  Hiiumaa, Estonia

Hello!  Jere!  Greetings from Estonia.  I live on a beautiful island called Hiiumaa.  Siere 05 July 2015

Postcards Received That Are ... Interesting ... To Say the Least

 

2071.  Germany

Hallo Chris, here is a bit of pleasant humor.

(We don't know each other from Tinder?)

(Maybe, I often send out selfies)

I hope you like it.  

Coloring & Zentangled Cards

 

1295.  Fairy Garden

May 2018

Muddy Puddle - Carlisle, PA; Kraftylady777 - Tacoma, WA; MeghanMac - Bentley, LA

1251.  Turkey

Hi Chris!  I couldn't find a card just like in your profile, but I thought you can like this, a paintable card and a bit funny.  I wish you like it.  Greetings from Turkey...

Postcards of World Maps and Continent Maps

1029.  Alberta, Western Canada

Hi Chris, I'm Katie from Alberta in Western Canada.  By education I am an historian of early Medieval Europe...but these days I manage a medical clinic.  I loved grad school, especially TAing, but found my own work rather boring.  Better as a hobby!  all the best, Katie

1004.  Map of South America

sent from Canada

Here is my card for Map Postcard Swap.  Hope you like it and it is a new one for your collection.  Maxine  11/3/17

1002.  World Map

Swap a Postcard

This is a very cool postcard.  Today has been a good day for me.  I went to collect from my PO Box and had about 20 postcards including one from Laos and another from India, borth firsts for me.  Thank you for the Halloween card.  I do not celebrate it, but my brother loves it and has decorated his room.  It looks really awesome.  I hope that you have a good day.  Ryan.  30th October 2017

 

825.  Scheveningen, Netherlands

Hi Chris, I send you a postcard from Europe.  I live in Scheveningen, a small place near the beach/North Sea.  I love to read, tv, travel and sushi.  Have a nice day.  Chelsea.

637.  Jawa Timur,  Indonesia

Hello, Greetings to you.   Hope you'll be elated by this card.

636.  Hong Kong

Hello!  I am Yoghurt from Hong Kong.  Hope you enjoy this card.  It is as big as my iPad.  It is Autumn here.  The temperature starts to go down.  It's great to have a sleep in this weather!  But not for those students or workers who have to wake up early~

613.  Postcrossing the World - Shanghai, CHINA

Hi friend,

Greetings from Shanghai china.  Your profile shows that you like map cards so I choose this card for you.  Have a good time.  Zhang

595.  I LOVE My World - GERMANY

Hi Chris, Hellow from Europe where fall is coming now and the days of sandal-wearing seem to be over, unlike in southern Airzona, i guess.  Or have you already moved & get your mail sent on to your new address?  All the best to you in any case!  Dorothee

575.  Finland

Hello I'm Mila.  I have a lot of animals.  I'm 8 years old.  Do you have any animals?  Happy Postcrossing, Mila

474.  Europa MAP from Lithuania

Hello!  Greetings from Lithuania!  I'm Rilo and I live in Vilnees with my family & dog & rabbit.  I like many things but my passion is traveling and exploring new places/countries.  Maps always make the feeling of travelling, right?  I've been in many countries in Europe also visited Thailand and Egyupt.  I wish to go to America as well.!  Best wishes, Rilo

444.  Old World Map from the Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Gegroet Chris,  I'm Erwin and 46 of age.  Besides sending and receiving cards, I have many other hobbies, cooking for instance, especially Indian and Indonesian food.  I also love to make roadtrips once or twice each year.  This month I returned from Slovakia.  Vistited cities like Nurenberg, Linz, Vienna, Bratislava, Malachy, and Bzio.  Wish you all the best from our province of Friesland.  Erwin  30.6.2016

Postcards Received from Pennsylvania

 

1298.  Pennsylvania Amish Harvest Time

This family spearing tobacco is one of the many scenes to be found in Pennsylvania.

Greetings from Pennsylvania, the Keystone State!  Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods."  In our largest city, Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was written and signed and the city was capital of the US for 10 years.  George Washington led troops from Valley Forge to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War.  Ben Franklin demonstrated that lightning is electricity.  Chocolate is made in Hershey.  The greatest battle of the Civil War was fought in Gettysburg and President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address here.  The Aish are known for their horse and buggies and beautiful farms in Lancaster.  The state was home to early Quakers, Moravians, and Lutherans.  It is known for its state parks, forests, and wildlife.

1266.  "teatime with bird" from Getty Images

Received in a Swap from Pensylvania

Two good movies Postcard Swap:

Hello!  The two most recent ovies I saw were Coco & Black Panther.  I though both were amazing.  I cried hard in Coco - of course, Pixar always does that to me!  Black Panther is definitely one of the best Marvel movies, everybody was great in it.  Choneface

828. Greetings, Neighbor!

(card postmarked Philadelphia)

Your dream job sounds a lot like my dream job.  I spent my teenage years as a library aide and would love to return to the world of books.  Hope you enjoy this card from one of my favorites.  Curiouser and curiouser!  Terri G.  July 22, 2017

450.  Erie Shop & R. R. Yards, Susquehanna, PA

No message, but a hand-carved stamp:

Postcards with Trees & Lovely Landscapes

 

1262.  Servierville, Tennessee
28 March 2018

Hello Chris, Hoping that spring arrives to both of us soon!  I'm over winter!  Jennifer

762.  France

My name is Nicolas.  I live in LA Rochelle, on the French Atlantic coast with my wife Alexandra.  I work in a company manufacturing furniture for childrens room.  Hope you'll like the post card.  Have a nice day.  Nico

 

Postcards Received from Tennessee

1262.  Servierville, Tennessee
28 March 2018

Hello Chris, Hoping that spring arrives to both of us soon!  I'm over winter!  Jennifer

Book Spin Bingo

 February Litsy Book Spin Bingo

Didn't even come close.....

 

February, 2021

1.  No Vacancy - Tziporah Cohen - still reading

2.  Sadie - Courtney Summers - started, not sure I'll finish....

3.  The Kept Woman - Karin Slaughter

4.  That Darkness - Lisa Black (Kindle) finished

5.  Elatsoe - Darcie Little Badger ret'd to library

6.  Here in the Real World - Sara Pennypacker ret'd to library

7.  Never Have I Ever - Joshlyn Jackson

8.  Love Lettering - Kate Clayborn

9.  In the Dream House - Caarmen Maria Machado startedm couldn't get into

10.  Stranger in Town - Kelley Armstrong 

11.  The Lullaby Girl - Loreth Anne White

12.  Pretty Dead - Anne Frasier

13.  All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood 

14.  Sweet Little Lies - Caz Frear

15.  The Burning - Jane Casey

16.  Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin

17.  We are Water Protectors (2021 Caldecott winner) - new picture book with review on MudPud 

18.  a memoir

19.  a real book book

20.  a cozy mystery

21.  Thorn - Intisar Khanani - free whim

22.  Much Ado About You - Samantha Young - free whim

23.  Synnr's Hope - Kate Rudolph - free whim

24.  Map of Shadows - J F. Penn - free whim 

25.  A Stitch in Time -Kelley Armstrong - free whim

6. Black Rock Bay by Brianna Labuskes

listened on Audible - also have Kindle
narrated by Sarah Naughton
Unabridged audio (11:18)
2019
364 pgs.
Contemporary Mystery
Finished 1/30/21
Goodreads rating: 4.03 - 1736 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: St. Lucy's, Maine - an island off the coast of Rockland, winter

First line/s: "Then.  The whimper was a quiet thing, broken and almost lost to the wind battering the outside of the lighthouse."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Chose because of the Maine setting.  The mystery was okay.  Characterization only so-so.

My comments: Always drawn to novels that take place in Maine, this enticed me because it was also a murder mystery.  I think it could've been a good one, but there were so many different scenarios offered by the two cops that it bacame confusing.  And repetitive, which seems to be something that really bugs me.  I never felt I knew any of the characters at all so I wasn't even sure of motivations.  I did get a sense of Asher, but not of Cash, definitely not of Mia's mother, an what I did get was mostly told and not show.  Great concept for a book but didn't ssem to fulfill its vas opportunities.

Goodreads synopsis:  A detective returns to her haunted past, with deadly consequences, in an icy novel of psychological suspense by the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of Girls of Glass.      
      Detective Mia Hart never planned to return home. One terrifying summer night, Mia lost two of her closest friends to suicide. Scarred and broken, she fled St. Lucy’s, a small island off the coast of Maine.
Now fifteen years later, when the body of a journalist is fished out of the bay near St. Lucy’s cliffs, Mia is forced to help with the case—and face all she’s been running from. As she approaches the island, the wintery winds of Black Rock Bay usher Mia home again.
          When Mia digs into the reporter’s death, she finds he left behind a written clue: It wasn't suicide. Mia soon discovers it’s her own tragic past he was referring to. Now, as she tries to untangle a web of lies, Mia realizes that solving this case means becoming the next pawn in someone’s blood-chilling game of truth or die.

2021 ALA Awards

Newbery:

**When You Trap a Tiger (Tae Keller) 4.21 - 1177 

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team - Soontornvat 4.69 - 356

Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom - Weatherford (picture book) 4.07 - 153

Fighting Words - Bradley 4.74 - 2473

We Dream of Space - Kelly 4.21 - 1950

A Wish in the Dark - Soontornvat 4.43 - 1064

Caldecott:

**We Are Water Protectors - Lindstrom/MICHAELA GOADE

A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart - Elliott/ NOA DENMON

The Cat Man of Aleppo - Latham & Shasi-Basha/YUKO SHIMIZU

Me & Mama - COZBI A. CABRERA

Outside In - Underwood/CINDY DERBY

Coretta Scott King:

**Before the Ever After - Woodson  4.25 - 4549 ratings

Printz

** Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story) - Nayer 4.37 - 975 ratings (flees Iran)

Apple (Skin to the Core) - Gansworth 4.00 * 349 ratings (memoir in verse)

Dragon Hoops - Lang 4.47 - 2930 ratings (graphic novel)

Every Body Looking - Iloh 3.96 - 760 ratings (verse)

We Are Not Free - Chee 4.45 - 1299 ratings

Sydney Taylor (Jewish)

Middle Grades:

**Turtle Boy  - Wolkenstein 4.39 - 317 ratings

No Vacancy - Cohen 4.05 - 80 ratings

Anya and the Nightingale - Pasternack

The Blackbird Girls - Blankman 4.42 - 1130 ratings (Chernobyl)

YA:

**Dancing at the Pity Party - Feder 4.59 - 3114 ratings (cancer/death of mother)

They Went Left - Hesse 4.29 - 3915 ratings (searching for brother after Auschwitz

5. Some Like It Charming by Megan Bryce

listened on Chirp
narrated by Tess Irondale, who was great
Unabridged audio (6:03)
2013
222 pgs.
Adult Romance
Finished 1/24/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.79 - 3215 ratings
My rating: 4, surprisingly enough...
Setting: contemporary LA and NYC

First line/s: "Mackenzie Wyatt looked up from her desk as two women went running by as fast as their fashionable heels could take them and sighed."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Definitely not a literary coup de grace, but entertaining and believable (in almost every way) and just the light-hearted read I needed in this time of chaos!  My rating is for the pure enjoyment factor.

My comments: I actually liked this book quite a bit.  It was completely entertaining and I loved the strong female protagonist.  It didn't drag on and on.  I'm not sure how much I would've cared for the rich guy if I'd read it instead of listened to it but Tess Irondale read him to perfection and as unbelievable as he was, I adored him.  There's no way a book like this would ever get rated a five be me, but I've got to rate it a four because for some reason it just tickled me.
     The cover is a bit disconcerting, because the hunky male protagonist is supposed to be quite BLONDE!

Goodreads synopsis:  Mackenzie Wyatt believes in two things: herself and her plan. And her plan is to keep her head down and to work hard until she can retire. Never mind that she doesn't know what she'll do once she retires– at least she won't be working for the man anymore. Because even though he's a gorgeous man, he's still her boss and he likes to push her buttons.
           Ethan Howell O'Connor's charmed life comes to a screeching halt after his latest ex-girlfriend starts a fashionable trend in talking to the tabloids. Now all of Ethan's old girlfriends are talking to the press, ruining his reputation, and wiping that charming smile right off his face. The only person that can brighten his black mood is the same person who can annoy him to kingdom come. He and Mackenzie have feuded since the day she was hired, but now Ethan's starting to realize: maybe those sparks were hiding a blazing fire.
          Mackenzie's about to find out that sometimes a gorgeous man can come up with a plan all his own, and it's a given that it'll mess hers up.

2021 UFO & Ongoing Projects List

I've got to push past my sight problems and my sewing room plug problems and decide what to do about the following projects.  This is my list from a year ago with only a bit of a change, so sad!  

Let's go!!!!!

Cotton Household Items MADE in 2021

    cag - multi leftovers dishcloth beige-orange-gray

QUILTING to finish in 2021

1.  Kaffe Fassett quilt for Ashley

2.  Cacophony quilt

3.  Dede's picnic quilt

4.  Pink rag quilt for Charley

5.  Josh & Julie's wedding quilt

6.  My yellow rag quilt

7.  Cowboy book wall hanging

8.  Prairie point pillow

9.  Rainbow wrap stole

10.  Kokopelli bag

11.  Blue Mystery quilt

12.  Suzy's window-style wall hanging

13.  Houses Mosaic

14.  Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

    I finished the top just before my eye surgery (August).  I must either decide how to finish it, or whether I want to add another row to the top and bottom (she's growing like a weed, 5' 11"ish inches!)

15.  Jelly Roll rug

16.  Do something with crumb blocks

KNITTING to finish in 2021

1.  Pink entrelac scarf (tore out, frogged...)

2.  Lt. grn/blue neckwarmer

3.  Bright mustard scarf

4.  Linen-stitch scarf

5.  Beige sweater

6.  4-color (yellow/orange/red) shawl

7.  Fingerless mitts - 2018 started

8.  Knitter's Day Out diamond scarf

9.  Fingerless Mitts - 2019 Knitters' Day Out class

10.  Soft, ribbed Catarina scarf

11.  Ella white throw pillow

STITCHING to Finish in 2021

1.  Crazy Quilt wall hanging

2.  White Mittens centerpiece

3.  Halloween woolie piece

4.  Santa (half Moon Handwerks) woolie piece

5.  Molly Pitcher cross stitch

6.  My first Sashiko project

ONGOING HEXIES

Status on 1/1/20

Ella's Grandmother's Flower Garden

    8/2020 top pieced

Christmas Hexie Quilt

    6/2020 finished black one for Laura

    6/2020 finished white one for Dede

Third Row Hexie Quilt

B & W Hexie Quilt

Orphan Gray Hexie Quilt

Big Hexie Scrap Quilt

Simplifying Life

 From Bazaar:  "The word Hygge (pronounced "hoo-gah") is usually translated as "cosiness", but it's not just about warm lighting and candles. Hygge is also a mindset – it's about relaxing and being kind to yourself, rather than going without a certain food type or drink, or embarking on any sort of activity that could be emotionally overwhelming. Hygge food is comforting and soothing, rather than healthy – think pastries, cakes and pies. If Hygge was a brand it would be The White Company."

2021 Charitable Donations

I'm going to try to continue to give monthly contributions to worthy causes in Steve's memory.  It'll be 20 years in March since he's been gone.  Want to keep his awesome memory floating out there in the universe.

1/15/21   Charles Bruce Fdtn., Carlisle, PA  20.00

                   A local charity that supports writers, artists, and musicians

                   This Go Fund Me Project is to get a good printer so that they can continue to print and distribute books.  They published five in the past year.

6/14/21  The Nature Conservancy   20.00

8/12/21  Hope for Eli (Go Fund Me)  20.00

9/12/21  Carlisle Volunteer Firefighters Association   20.00

9/12/21   Friends of Bosler Memorial Library    10.00

12/15/2021  BSHS Cancer Mini-Thon   25.00