Full Deck Challenge #4 - Week 1

            There were 8 "prompts" that we could choose from today, I was able to include 7 of them.  

Green, Squares, Butterfly, Numbers, (Bird), Bright Pink, Hole Punch and Red.  I had lots of birds but couldn't find a place that one seemed to fit.  I do like it.  Took awhile hunting up all the "stuff."

3. Dead of Autumn by Sherry Knowlton

listened on Audible (purchased)

286 pgs.

2014 (first audio recorded 2020)
Adult mystery
Finished 1/14/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle/Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

My comments: Pretty cool that this book takes place in Carlisle, PA - where I live!  There's much mention of streets, locales, and public lands that I know of quite well, with a few that I don't....so that was really fun.  The story was okay, though incredibly predictable, the protagonist is feisty but somewhat dull-witted at times, and there were a few ways that the reader read that didn't appeal to me 100%.  But I enjoyed it for the locale.  There are others to follow, so I'm hoping some of my problems with the story will smooth out as the stories continue.

Goodreads synopsis:  The Alexa Williams novel that started it all.

An ethereal blonde sprawled by a mountain stream.

Three young girls on a blanket in the woods.

Decades separate the discovery of these dead bodies, but the lesson they offer is the same. Evil can lurk much closer than you'd ever imagine.

Alexa Williams is a successful lawyer, volunteers weekly at a women’s clinic, and has a sexy weekend boyfriend—not to mention an endearing best friend in her giant English mastiff, Scout. But one autumn day, when Scout takes off into the Pennsylvania woods, Alexa discovers a nightmare she’d never imagined. From that fateful day, Alexa becomes entangled in a murder mystery—one that she tries to unravel by linking it to experiences and symbols in her own life.

Dewilla Noakes, a child of the Depression, has recently lost her mother. Her father, packs up the girls—and their attractive cousin, Winnie—and hits the road to look for a job on the east coast. Along the way, money becomes tighter, food becomes scarcer, and relationships become strained. Dewilla’s father fears he’s failing his daughters. Running out of options, he begins to consider the unthinkable to end the misery he’s brought upon his family …

Alexa soon finds herself amidst violence aimed at the clinic where she volunteers, brought on by pro-life extremists. In a bizarre turn of events, she’s almost raped, ambushed by religious zealots who wish to convert her, then taken by surprise as another romance enters her life. Plus, she seems to be seeing quite a lot of the local law enforcement these days.

No matter what else happens in her life, Alexa can’t shake feeling some sort of connection to the mysterious murder victim. She thinks back to the stories she heard as a child, about the Babes in the Woods, who were murdered close to where the victim’s body was found, wondering if that might be why she draws the connection. But when the murderer strikes again, Alexa must rely on her knowledge of local history and terrain in order to save her own life.

DEAD of AUTUMN ties together the struggles faced by females, young and old, past and present, and the degrees of power they embrace to combat their situations.

2. The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller

listened on Libby

368 pgs.  (10:38)

2025
Adult fantasy/horror
Finished 1/12/26
Goodread*s rating:  4.16
My rating: 4
Setting: Current day Long Island, NY with many glimpses into the past

My comments: Modern-day witches, with interesting back and forths with four generations of mother/daughters, aunt/nieces.  I listened so I didn't have the family tree right in front of me, but it was pretty easy to remember each generation.  So much related to current political tensions, particularly patriarchal billionaires.  I was disappointed with the ending, though.

Goodreads synopsis:  A witty, spectacular, and timely tale of modern-day witches waging war on the patriarchy, from fan favorite Kirsten Miller, the author of The Change and Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books.

There are places on earth where nature’s powers gather. Girls raised there are bequeathed strange gifts. A few have powers so dark that they fear to use them. Such a place is Wild Hill, on the tip of Long Is land. For centuries, the ghost of a witch murdered by colonists claimed the beautiful and fertile Wild Hill…until a young Scottish woman with strange gifts arrived. Sadie Duncan was allowed to stay.

Five generations of Sadie’s descendants called Wild Hill home, each generation more powerful than the last. Then, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, the last of the Duncans, once prophesized to be the most powerful of their kind, abandoned their ancestral home.

One of them, Brigid Laguerre moved to California and turned her dark gift into fame and fortune. Her sister, Phoebe, settled on a ranch in Texas, where women visit in secret for her tonics and cures. Phoebe’s daughter, Sybil, has become a famous chef. Seemingly powerless, Sibyl has never been told of the Duncan bloodline.

Now Brigid, Phoebe, and Sibyl have been brought to Wild Hill to discover their family legacy. The Old One, furious at the path mankind has taken, has chosen three powerful witches to turn the tide. The Duncans will fulfill their destinies—but only if they can set aside their grievances and come together as a family.

1. Nash Falls by David Baldacci

#1 of 2, follow-up to come out 4/9/2026

listened on Libby

448 pgs. (12:54)

2025
Adult Mystery/Thriller
Finished 1/3/2026  First book of the New Year!
Goodreads rating: 4.33
My rating:  4/5 (down 1/2 because of the to-be-continued ending!)
Setting: Contemporary unknown east coast city, not NYC or DC

My comments: We are left on a MAJOR cliff-hanger, which was cruelly disappointing (not knowing ahead of time), but other than that I couldn't put this book down.  I love Walter Nash....brilliant, level-headed, personable (and wealthy) family man.  But then his estranged father dies, and from the funeral on the shit hits the fan for him.  Narrators were wonderful, especially the one who read Walter Nash.  Loved, loved, loved the story and can't wait to see how it ends...in April!

Goodreads synopsis:  Walter Nash is a sensitive, intelligent and kindhearted man. He has a wife and a daughter and a very high-level position at Sybaritic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career. Despite never going on grand adventures, and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice. But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. And that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge: He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been.

And even that may not be enough.

2026 Charitable Contributions

 

of Steven Ted Graves

1952 - 2001

25 years

1/1/26   Kamala Harris PAC pd through Act Blue      24.00

2026 Reading

Published in the Current Year - 2026

1.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 (3.5)

YA

1.  

Middle Grade

1.  

Historical Fiction

1.

Fantasy/SciFi/Magical Realism

1.  The Women of Wild Hill (Miller)

Shorts

1.

eBooks

1.

Series

1. Nash Falls (#1 of 2) - David Baldacci, 2025 (4.5)

2.  Dead of Autumn (#1 Alexa Williams, Carlisle, PA) 2014 (3.5)

3.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 (3.5)

4.5 and 5 Stars

1.  Nash Falls (#1 of 2)- David Baldacci, 2025 (4.5)

Novels Read in 2026

January

1.  Nash Falls (#1 of 2) - David Baldacci, 2025 Libby (4.5) 

       #2 will be out 4/9/2026

2.  The Women of Wild Hill - Kirsten Miller, 2025 Libby (4)

3.  Dead of Autumn (#1 Alexa Williams, Carlisle, PA) 2021 on Audio, pub prev to then, Aud (3.5)

4.  No One Knew (#2 Noelle Marshall) 2026 Audible (3.5)

5.  Birding with Benefits - Sarah T. Dubb, 2024 Libby (3)

55. The Answer is No: A Short Story by Frederik Bachman

listened on Audible, only on Audible

68 pgs. (Short story) (1:49)

2024
Adult Short Story HUMOROUS
Finished 12/31/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.91
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary anywhere (translated)

My comments: This story is a riot that tries to answer the question: what is it to be happy?  It is ridiculously silly in its satire and really cracked me up.

Audible synopsis:  In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

• Goodreads synopsis:  Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

  
  Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.
  
  Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.

54. The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani

listened on Libby

416 pgs. (12:17)

2025
Adult CRF
Finished 112/30/2025
Goodreads rating: 3.86
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Lake Como, NJ AND Italy - Tuscany

My comments: I loved listening to this, Mira Sorvino does a wonderful job and kept me listening even when I thought it was getting a little too long.  Jess tells her entire story, and in doing so keeps going back in her memories to conversations and moments in time with her family.  This technique worked really well for me, and I feel I got to know Jess - and her tight, eccentric Italian-American New Jersey shore family very well.  The second half of the story is set in Tuscany, Italy, which I didn't really like as well as the first part, though both told the story of an Italian family with strong, firm roots in Italy.

Goodreads synopsis:  From the beloved New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, a “dazzling” storyteller (Washington Post), and a “comedy writer with a heart of gold” (NYT), comes a novel about one woman’s quest to build her own life before it’s too late. 

Jess Capodimonte Baratta is not living the life of her dreams. Not even close.
 
In blue-collar Lake Como, New Jersey, family comes first. Recently divorced from Bobby Bilancia, “the perfect husband," Jess moves into her parents’ basement to hide and heal. Jess is the overlooked daughter, who dutifully takes care of her parents, cooks Sunday dinner, and puts herself last. Despite her role as the family handmaiden, Jess is also a talented draftswoman in the marble business run by her confidant, her dapper uncle Louie, who believes she can do anything (once she invests in a better wardrobe).  
 
When the Capodimonte and Baratta families endure an unexpected loss, the shock unearths long-buried secrets that will force Jess to question her loyalty to those she trusted. Fueled by her lost dreams, Jess takes fate into her own hands and escapes to her ancestral home, Carrara, Italy.
 
From the shadows of the majestic marble-capped mountains of Tuscany, to the glittering streets of Milan, and on the shores of enchanting Lake Como (the other one), Jess begins to carve a place in this new/old world. When she meets Angelo Strazza, a passionate artist who works in gold, she discovers her own skills are priceless. But as Jess uncovers the truth about her family history, it will change the course of her life and those she loves the most forever.  In love and work, in art and soul, Jess will need every tool she has mastered to reinvent her life.

Fed by the author’s cherished Italian roots comes a bighearted, hilarious novel of the the story of one woman’s determination to live a creative life that matters, with enough room left over for love. With a one-way ticket to Italy, Jess is determined to write a new story on her own terms--this time, in stone.

Dex Appeal - Rolodex Cards

    

Christmas 2025 Dex Appeal #1 Collaged

Christmas 2025 Dex Appeal #2 Stamped and Colored

Christmas 2025 Dex Appeal - How they were packaged and sent

Tags and Journal Cards

2.5 inch circle tags (except for two, lol)

Punched To and From Christmas tags

Christmas Tree tags

ATCs

Full Deck Challenge ATCs

APC Colorful Collage

26.1 Created January 2025

     26.1.1 (2SpY) Mary G

     26.1.2 (3SpO)  Sheila I

     26.1.3 (4SpBr)

     26.1.4 (5SpW)FD

     26.1.5 (6SpGO)

Gretchen Blooms ATCs

25.6 Created December 2025

     26.6.1  cag

     26.6.2  Sheila I

     26.6.3 (blue) Mary G

Renata Celebrates ATCs

25.5 Created December 2025

     25.5.1  cag

     25.5.2  (No Sugar skull or Dia De Los Muertos)

                   Stacey

     25.5.3

    

Fiona Sings ATCs

25.4 Created December 2025

     25.4.1   cag

     25.4.2  Jackie H

     25.4.3  Jill A

     25.4.4  Melissa S

     25.4.5  Holly C

Beatrice Reads ATCs (MudPud page)

25.3  Created November 2025

     25.3.1  Katie

     25.3.2  Stacey

         25.3.3  Sheila I

         25.3.4  Lyndsay P

         25.3.5  Mary G

            25.3.6  cag

            25,3,7  Angela C

     

Colors of Fall ATCs 

25.2.(1-9) Created September 2025

     25.2.1  P. J. J

     25.2.2  Staci S

     25.2.3  Susan C

     25.2.4  Yvonne B

        25.2.5

        25.2.6

        25.2.7

        25.2.8

        25.2.9

8/2025 ATCs  

25.1.(1-9) Created August 2025

     25.1.1  Mary G (8/25)

     25.1.2  Debra A (8/25)

     25.1.3   Heidi M (8/25)

     25.1.4   Alyssa T (8/25)

        25.1.5

Any doubt that I'm a junk journaler?

Christmas Bookmarks and Pockets for My Brunch Friends

Christmas Ephemera

 I've had a blast making miscellaneous ephemera this week, some to go out in swaps and some to insert into Christmas cards.

Double pockets with tags

More double pockets with tags

Christmas Hidden Paper clips with tabs

Christmas Tree Tags

"Beatrice Reads" - A New ATC Series

 I love my AALL stamps, and I've decided to make a series of ATCs using the three I already have.  I finished the first two and gave them to Stacey and Katie, and now I've sent these three out to Sheila I, Lyndsay P, and Mary G in JJCV.