I Did a Thing

 

I actually made a quilt block yesterday--and did a bit of vacuuming and mopping as well. Today I'm doing laundry. Might get back to the sewing room. Might not.

The quilt block is from a pattern by Riley Blake called Decorating the Christmas Tree (photo below). My original thought when I purchased the pattern was that I'd make the entire full-size quilt. But after making that one block, I'm thinking it might turn into a wall hanging. It took a while. The instructions are not great. But one I get it all in my head, maybe it will get less confusing. 

It's feeling a little more like fall. The weatherman promises rain tomorrow and then cooler temperatures. Already the horrible heat and humidity of summer seem to be gone (I hope). 

Jesse and I ordered pizza and are watching the Bama/Mississippi State game. 

What I'm reading: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Hello October!

 

I'm not ready to review the books I read in September, but here is a photo of my book club at our August meeting. That's me on the far left, and in front of me is my sister Ramey.  In the center front, holding the book is Irene Latham, author of our August reading selection Some Starry Night. If you haven't read it, or any of Irene's books, you're missing a good story teller. 

In case you haven't noticed, October is here, the month I wait impatiently for all year. Our weather hasn't seemed to notice that it's autumn, but the weatherman promises cooler temperatures are just around the corner. 

I won't be doing as much autumn decorating as I have done in the past. My back and leg issues just won't do it. I did a little mopping this morning, and now I'm paying. I have to find another housekeeper before the house goes to complete wrack and ruin. I let my last housekeeper go close to two year ago, not because she wasn't good, but because of the price. Everything was already getting so expensive that I just didn't feel like I could justify it. I mistakenly thought I could do it myself, and things stayed tolerable for a while. But not anymore. 

Happy October, everyone. I'll try to get back soon to at least list the books I've read. Still no quilting to show.

At Least I'm Still Reading

I confess I haven't done much sewing or quilting since I last posted here last spring, but I have still been reading. My back (spinal) problem and the neuropathy have done nothing but get worse until all I really want to do these days is sit still. Every now and then a not good really, but a tolerable day (at least it starts that way) comes along. So I hurry to the sewing room to get some work done, but before I can hardly get things ready to sew, the pain, fatigue, stiffness, and clumsiness return; and I take their example and return to the sofa, or sometimes to the bed.

Below are the books I've read since last spring. I thought I'd start with Coat of Many Colors by our dear Dolly Parton. I'm sure you know by now that the world lost Dolly last week when she passed away. So this book, which daughter Andy gave me last Christmas, is even more dear to me.

Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton, Brooke Boynton-Hughes Illustrator - Country music legend Dolly Parton lends the lyrics of her classic song "Coat of Many Colors" to this heartfelt picture book that beautifully captures the love of her favorite winter coat and of the life of love and poverty in which she grew up.

💜💛💚

Although we had no money,
I was rich as I could be,
in my coat of many colors
my mama made for me.

💜💛💚

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden - Debbie Mullen has, for years, compiled all of her best advice into her column, "Dear Debbie," where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did. These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. It’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk - A real blast from the past. I read this book first when I was a teenager. Back then, in the 60s, reading novels, especially "adult novels," was a big thing. This one is about a young man from rural Kentucky who writes a book, moves to New York, writes another book, makes some money, makes bad investments, has an affair with an older woman, and puts more time into writing and having an affair than in sleep and caring for his health. It ends pretty much as you'd expect. Near the end is one of the most tear-jerking scenes I've ever read. It's a good long book, 800 pages, and entertaining. But I think I really was much more enthralled with it when I was a teen.

Welcome to the Family by A.J. Carter - When Anna arrives at her future mother-in-law's isolated estate, she finds a freezing cold house, a brother in the wheelchair who watches her intently, and a  teenage daughter who hasn't spoken in years. Eddie, the man she's about to marry, flinches every time his mother walks into the room. The longer Anna stays, the more she sees. And by the time she realizes what this family is hiding, the snow has sealed her in, and it's already too late to leave. A good page turner.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver - A charming tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a three-year-old Native American girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West.

The Car in White by Nikolas Pleiadi - A prequel. Pleiadi gives us the background for the situations and Long Island, NY mob-related characters to whom he introduced us in his first novel, In Powder Blue. I am even more impressed with this young man's writing than I was after finishing In Powder Blue. He puts the reader in the scene. You hear the noise, smell the booze and the pervasive marijuana smoke. You feel the danger. I predict there's good things in the future for Mr. Pleiadi. 

Displacement by Justin Pick - Eighteen-year-old 

Liam Donohue's harrowing journey begins on a cool summer night in 1998, when he walks into a record store with his friends Jason, Madelyn, and Ashley. As he browses for his collection, something unexpected stops him dead in his tracks: an album featuring a menacing photo of him as a child on its cover. Horrified and confused, Liam becomes compelled to uncover how this photo ended up there—and why the sight of it fills him with an unshakable sense of dread that he cannot explain. As Liam digs deeper, he unravels a web of disturbing truths in his pursuit to learn about his past that will not only shatter his own understanding of who he is, but also the public’s.

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig - Wilbur has lived a full life, to the age of 81. When he passes, the Midnight Train arrives to take him to re-live the moments that meant the most in his life. Along the way he is joined by the version of himself as a young married man, experiencing a dream on his honeymoon many years before. Both the dead Wilbur and the dreaming Wilbur experience scenes from Wilbur's life. and then must return to the train to travel to the next scene. Wilbur's guide on his (their) journey is Agnes, the owner of the bookshop where Wilbur had his first job. She tells Wilbur that he must always return to the train when the whistle blows. If he doesn't, he risks losing eternity, and he must not try to communicate with his other self. Would the risk be worth it, he wonders. A delightful and thought provoking book.

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins - St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: deadly hurricanes, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984. When the current owner of the Rosalie Inn hears a writer is coming to town to research the decades-old crime, she is hopeful that a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn. But to her surprise, the writer doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name. Or, some wonder, is she there to settle old score? 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett - I have declared this the best book I've read, so far, in 2026. I can't imagine one good enough to take its place.

It's an historical fiction novel set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression, focusing on the intertwined lives of three women: an orphan named Meg, an unmarried bookkeeper named Birdie, and a resourceful woman named Charlie. The story explores themes of economic hardship, gender struggles, and the quest for stability amid societal constraints.

With a Vengeance by Riley Sager - In 1954, Anna Matheson boards a luxury overnight train bound for Chicago that she’s commissioned, along with a list of names and a heart hardened by loss. Twelve years earlier, during the height of World War II, six people shattered her family’s life. Now, under a false guise, Anna has orchestrated a chilling reunion—trapping each of them aboard. Reminiscent of an Agatha Christy mystery.

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven - When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother, Ellis, went missing the summer he graduated from high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture of the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later. From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig - Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates - Protagonist Christa joins a tour group heading into the snowy Rocky Mountains, traveling with her boyfriend, Kiernan. A brutal blizzard traps the group, forcing them to take shelter in a remote, abandoned hunting cabin. Their tour guide goes missing and is found dead with his severed head impaled on a tree. The keys to their transport vanish, and the group is completely isolated. As the temperature plummets, the stranded strangers are picked off one by one, forcing Christa to figure out who she can trust in a claustrophobic fight for survival.

That's it for now. September is here, the beginning of the Ber Months, my favorite time of year. I hope the cooler temperatures are not far behind. I'll try to post more when I read a few more books or get a little sewing done--or something happens in my that that is worthy of writing about.

More Photos from the Brick Wall

This must have been a different day because everyone except Grandma and Ramey has on different clothes and Jesse has appeared in these shots found by Andy. Also Jed and Jenny have disappeared. I think my hair is a little longer. And so is India's, and maybe Ramey's. We still didn't get Vann in a shot because he was the photographer. This is like one of those "What's Different in these Pictures" puzzles.

Thanks, Jed

 

Nephew Jed (back row, left, in blue shirt) comes through again! He saw my post from yesterday and sent me this picture taken on the same day and including me (middle, left, in white shirt)  and my sister Joanne (back, right, in pink shirt). Neighborhood dog Darby seems to have split.

Joanne is Jed and Jenny's mom. She's also Jack's mom, but he was absent that day. Ramey is India's mom, and also mom to Buffy, who was also absent. I am Andy's mom, and also mom to Cait, also absent. Andy is mom to my grandson Jesse; absent.

Rest in Peace Joanne, Jenny, Jack, and Mama. We miss you guys.

Mother's Day

A late 90s Mother's Day with the matriarch. Back row, her grandson Jed Cage. Middle row from left, her youngest daughter Ramey Channell and granddaughter Jenny Cage. Front row, from left: neighborhood dog Darby, Mary's granddaughter Angela Wright Osborn (Andy), Mary Ramey herself, granddaughter India Dyer. (This was at my house, so I don't know why I wasn't in the photo. Maybe I was taking the phone. Also missing are three grandchildren, one great grandson (Jesse), and one more daughter Joanne Cage. Apparently I don't have a photo with everyone together.)

I had a fabulous Mother's Day last Sunday. I went to church to hear a great sermon, and brought home a pretty pink rose. When I got home, daughter Andy was there with goodies. After enjoying a great lunch, thanks to Andy, we settled in on the sofa and streamed movies. When the festivities were over and Andy had gone home, I snuggled into bed and finished reading a great book by Ken Follett, The Third Twin (more about that in later).

I hope your Mother's Day was as enjoyable as mine.

Readings

In not particular order, here are here are the books I've read in the last few weeks.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - One of the best books I've read in a while. Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island between Australia and Antarctica. Their mission: to care for and protect the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with climate change speeding up, sea levels rising, and the island sinking beneath the sea, the Salts are now its only inhabitants, preparing the seeds for a safe relocation. During the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore, and the plot thickens.

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths - Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Nobody knows that her team has a secret: they can travel back in time to look for evidence.The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before, to 1850s London to clear the name of Cain Templeton, an eccentric patron of the arts who is accused of murder. For some reason she doesn't understand, Elly gets stuck in the past. But while she trusts her team to sort things out and get her home, she continues to investigate the case for which she was sent to find evidence.

The Lost Apolthecary by Sarah Penner - Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst - In this true story, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey long for a different life, a life of travel and adventure. So in June 1972, the couple quits their jobs, sells their house, buys a boat, and sets sail.  For nearly a year all goes well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocks a hole in their boat and it sinks beneath the waves. What follows is a fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. If I ever had a desire to set sail in a small yacht in the open sea, which I don't remember ever having, this book cured that longing.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho -This story, filled with mysticism, wisdom, and wonder, tells of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels on a spiritual journey from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly treasure turns into a discovery of his Personal Legend and the truth that the most valuable treasures are those found within. Perhaps you have read this classic. I never had until my book club picked it for our April selection. I recommend it for anyone who likes a good and adventurous parable.

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman - Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage at gunpoint. Each of the captives carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. And I challenge you to think of a more irritating and whiney bunch of people held captive by a person with a gun in their faces. 

     This is an absolutely delightful book, which might be hard to believe based on the subject matter. But I promise it produces just as much, if not more, laughter as it does gasps. And not a bad ending, considering. 

Strangers by Belle Burden - I opened this book and started reading, thinking that it would be somewhat of a domestic thriller. I misunderstood. Instead it's a memoir written by the granddaughter of Babe Paley, the iconic New York City socialite and Vogue editor. It's about a bunch of rich people with too much money and too little good sense, in my opinion. But let's stick with Ms. Burden's story detailing her marriage. 

     Belle and James have been married for 20 years when the pandemic hits. As Belle is just getting used to lockdown with James and their three children in their house on Martha's Vineyard (they also have a luxury apartment in Manhattan), the phone rings. When Belle answers, a stranger states that Belle's husband James is having and affair with his wife. Belle immediately confronts James, who cries, apologizes, swears it meant nothing and that it's over, and that he loves her deeply. Shortly thereafter James tells his wife that he isn't happy and that he's leaving, which he does. The rest if the book tells of the heartaches and intricacies of dissolving a long-time marriage of two very wealthy folks. Very well written and heart rending, but really not my kind of story.

Raising Hare by Cloe Dalton - True story. In February 2021, political adviser and speechwriter Chloe Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how difficult it is to rear a wild hare. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret intending to return it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods of the English countryside at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, weasels, feral cats, raptors, or even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death. I worried constantly about the hare while reading this book, which was the only thing that kept me from enjoying the read fully.

Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra - Another one based on a true story. This book, and the subsequent movie, available on Amazon Prime, tore my heart out. It's about four young boys, Michael, John, Tommy, and Shakes (the book's author), growing up in New York's Hell's Kitchen. They're good, though spirited, boys. To escape their troubling home lives, the four spend their days with each other, unsupervised on the streets of the Kitchen, looking for new ways to entertain themselves. One stupid stunt is all it takes to alter their lives for the worst and cause them to be locked away for years in the nightmare of the Wilkinson Home for Boys. There they suffer beating, torture, starvation, sexual abuse, and loneliness. Actually just about every horror that could be bestowed upon them was.

     The last half of the book deals with what happens to them years later after they are released from the home. Two of them, Tommy and John, join a gang and get into even more severe trouble. When they are arrested for murder, The other two, one a lawyer and one a newspaper worker, join forces to help their friends, assisted by a local priest, Father Bobby, who has been friends of the four since their boyhood. 

     If you're one of those people I've encountered lately who don't believe people who mistreat and abuse children should pay for their deeds, read this book or watch the excellent movie. You might change your mind. You might not agree with the events in the last part of the story. Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about it, but I do recognize a certainly kind of long withheld justice at work.

Brother by Ania Alborn - Deep in the West Virginia wilderness stands a crooked old farmhouse miles from any road or town. The strange members of the family within keep to themselves. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t even visit them. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael craves a normal life. He  and his domineering brother Rebel meet two girls in the town 20 miles from their home and begin to visit them regularly. Here the story gets more and more horrible. I can't recommend this book; it's just too disturbing. Although I have always loved scary books and movies, the violence and depravity are too much for even me. I did finish it, however. I had to keep reading to find out what happened to this monstrous family.

And that's all, folks.