The Flower in the Gun

Have you seen this video or heard this song? The flower in the gun is such a beautiful concept for a very serious issue.




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Currently Crocheting Dishcloths

The last time I visited my son's home I was told they were out of dishcloths. I decided to do something about that and give myself something to do with my hands during TV watching time. I chose this colorway because 1) it was cheaper than others and 2) he likes blue, she likes green and the purple and white add sparkle.

I do worry about how much or how long these will be useful. The have a sneaky but very cute dog in their home that likes to take things to the backyard and chew them up. That is one of the reasons why these are so simply made. 

I have created my second ever Ravelry project page for these dishcloths simple though they are. I have been on Ravelry for years, lurking and learning in the forums. One of the things I want to do this year is start making more digital records of things I make and do. It is a shame that over 50 years if making there are very few records. These memories are important to me whether they mean anything to anyone else doesn't really matter.

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More from my Reader's Digest Collection

 This time I am sharing an old book but one I thought was definitely worth my time. If it might be something you would like to read to I have links to this book found on Amazon. My own copy will be passed on to a thrift store in town for someone else to enjoy.

All four stories found in Volume 2 from 1987 kept me turning pages and ignoring the television and that's a good thing. 

• A Place to Hide by Evelyn Anthony first published in 1987 and takes place mostly Ireland. It is a story of a brother and sister caught up in the struggles between Catholic, Protestant and the governments of England and Ireland.
• Nightshade by Gloria Murphy was published in 1986. This tale is a thriller with lots of great plot twists. It includes characters like a good cop, a single mom, an unknown brother who stalks a family. It does end with happily ever after for the single mom but that is all you're getting from me.
• East and West by Gerald Green was in bookstores first in 1986. Set in the years of WWII it puts two people in love and their families in the middle of the the fears and dangers of being at war and living in countries that were both attacked.
• Will Bryant wrote A Time For Heroes that was also available in 1987. Set in 1923 frontier Arizona this book was just so fun to read. Serious thing happened here but the characters were all a bit over the top. There was a flying ace that gets the girl. I loved the grumpy old grandpa who was a prospector and hopeful inventor. Add in assorted crooks and thieves and a newpaper man who wants a story and you get a story full of life and unexpected heroes. 

Reader's Digest Condensed Books

Volume 2 1987

The links to this book on Amazon are Affiliate links. Clicking and then purchasing from Amazon might earn me a small commission with no cost to you but you get my thanks and I might buy more yarn. We will both be happy, right?

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Winter Solstice

I don't know about you but I am so happy to see this day arrive. These short daylight hours and I don't get along. I don't really mind the early darkness in the evenings but long dark mornings mess up my whole day and attitude. I like to start my day's activities as the sun comes up and I just can't do that in the winter and accomplish what I want.

Does winter bother you the same way or even worse, are you afflicted by SAD? If so more daylight hours are coming and hopefully we both enjoy life better soon.

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#Yule comes as a festivity during the winter solstice with traditions much like Christmas. Come and decide for yourself which are similar to the other... https://t.co/w4V5Qpz1KO pic.twitter.com/B6kHjZ78rW

— NationalDayCalendar (@NationalDayCal) December 21, 2018

Just another day....

Yes just another day here in Jackson. Cold, cloudy but no new snow.

I sent off the baby afghan I finished knitting to the hospital in town for the first baby of the year. I started my first recorded Ravelry project when I bought the yarn. After Jim took the package to work I realized that I never took any pictures. So no pics of a very nice blanket for here on the blog or for my Ravelry project pages. Typical of me really, if something simple can get messed up I will find a way to do just that. Oh well...

Currently I am watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix. I am enjoying the story much more that I thought I ever would. I started watching the show because it was next on my list on Instant Watcher. That website has lists for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO and podcasts. You, whoever may be reading, may find InstantWatcher.com useful for you.

Still reading my way through all the Reader's Digest condensed books that were given to me. The current volume is a classics collection and I am reading Jane Eyre.

I wish I could say I am excited for Christmas but I am not. My gift giving has been taken care of and safely delivered and I am glad of that. I used emailed gift codes from Amazon this year. There has been too much talk of packages being taken from porches so I decided not to send physical gifts.

No pictures today, just talk and now I'm done. Hope all my readers are happy and well.

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A Quiet Sunday

It was a lovely Sunday here. Here is currently Arizona. The temperatures are down in the 70's and I had all the windows open to enjoy it. We selfishly have a patch of grass in the backyard and looking out at the bright green was so easy on the eyes.

The last two Sundays I haven't turned on the laptop. Email goes unchecked. Books are read throughout the day and something on Netflix is watched in the evening. So here I am rested, refreshed and recharged and in front of a screen again on a beautiful Monday morning, well more like afternoon now that I look at the time, to share this post with you. After this I will use Tweetdeck to see who has retweeted any of my posts and get busy returning the favor with retweets from their timelines.

What I finished reading was Reader Digest, Volume 4, 2002, Today's Best Nonfiction. This volume contained 5 books and I could not find this particular volume on Amazon so at the end I will give you affiliate links to all the titles separately. These links don't cost you anything however if you click and then make a purchase a tiny bit is paid to me and after all a girl always needs a bit of pocket money right? If you choose to click and then shop, many thanks!

The books in this volume are

1. Last Man Down by Daniel Paisner
2. Find Me by Rosie O'Donnell
3. The Count and the Confession by John Taylor
4. American Pie (slices of life and pie from America's back roads) by Pascale Le Draoulec
5. Zoya's Story by Zoya with John Follain and Rita Cristofari

All of these books were great reads!

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The Art Forger

I recently finished reading The Art Forger by B. A.  Shapiro. This was a book I was able to read free through Amazon Prime books. You can have up to 10 titles at a time downloaded and I always do, stored on your Kindle app or I suppose on a Kindle device which I don't have. Now I can return this book and get another just like using a library. Prime reading has about 1500 titles so I will be sure to find something new.

From the book's page on Amazon.

Almost twenty-five years after the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—still the largest unsolved art theft in history—one of the stolen Degas paintings is delivered to the Boston studio of a young artist. Claire Roth has entered into a Faustian bargain with a powerful gallery owner by agreeing to forge the Degas in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But as she begins her work, she starts to suspect that this long-missing masterpiece—the very one that had been hanging at the Gardner for one hundred years—may itself be a forgery. The Art Forger is a thrilling novel about seeing—and not seeing—the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.

I enjoyed reading about the technical details of painting, forgery and determining authenticity of art works. The plot was interesting, paced well and kept the digital pages turning. The character of Claire Roth was a mystery to me. How and why she made some of her choices were beyond my way of thinking but I like to read books with characters very different from me. After all reading about someone just like me would be boring, been there, done that, kind of boring.


Amazon has several versions of The Art Forger to fit your reading preferences, Audible, Kindle, paperback, hardcover and and audio CD.

Affiliate links for shopping below and in the text above if you would like to read this book yourself.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!