The Memory Tree

 Every year when I decorate the tree, it's a trip down memory lane. When the boys lived at home, we would have a family tree-decorating party, and Ward and the boys would politely listen as I told the stories behind the various ornaments. But they weren't really interested. For the past few years, I have decorated the tree by myself. Ward puts up the outside lights, and I put up the tree. It's not a Hallmark moment, but that's okay.

Last weekend, Wally was visiting, and I was showing him some of the ornaments on the tree and having him find ones he remembered.  Then, we told our stories about them. During our conversation, I called our Christmas tree a memory tree.

And for whatever reason, that really struck a chord with Wally, and he was quite moved. He said that the tree represents your life, and it is beautiful. And I guess I knew that, but never thought of it in quite that way.

The tree does represent our life. There are ornaments that Ward and I remember seeing on our grandmother's trees. There are ornaments from our childhood. There are ornaments that decorated our car after our wedding. There are ornaments made by school friends. There are ornaments made by co-workers, friends, and neighbors. There are ornaments from every place we have lived. There are ornaments made by sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, and aunts. There are ornaments from around the world that family and friends have brought us from their travels. There are ornaments that we put on just for the cats. And of course, there are ornaments Wally and Theo made when they were little.

As I think about each and every decoration on the tree, I know that I have had a good life with many blessings, and I look forward to the new memories we will add to the tree this year and in the future.

Until next time...

Book Reviews

I'm taking a break from holiday things to share a few things I've been reading recently.

Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2013

This is #7 in the Royal Spyness Mystery series*. In this book, Georgie is asked to help an Australian heir learn the social graces of the English upper class. Everyone in his "new" family has a beef with the current heir, so guess who winds up dead? Georgie eventually makes a connection and solves the murder.

This was typical of the others in the series, and in the beginning, I was getting tired of it and thought it would be a while before I read another. However, once the real mystery began, I enjoyed the book as much as, or more than, the others I've read.

* The Royal Spyness books follow Georgie, 35th in line to the British Throne, in the 1930s, as she stumbles onto murder after murder. There are castles, rich people, royalty, and many class restrictions that surround the stories. Despite being royalty, Georgie has no money, which causes a set of problems all its own. The stories are in historically accurate settings, and humorous relief is provided by her inept maid, Queenie.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, Adult fiction, 2023

The Wishing Game is a predictable but nicely woven tale. The story revolves around a series of fictional children's books by Jack Masterson about Clock Island. (BTW, these are not real books, but I had to check to make sure because the author has a list of them in the back and quotes different ones.) Wishes are granted on Clock Island after the children learn to be brave. Lucy, when she was 13, went to Clock Island, where Masterson lives, hoping for a resolution to problems she was having at home. Years later, she and 3 other people are invited back to Clock Island as adults to compete for a million dollars. Lucy wants to adopt 7-year-old Christopher, but doesn't have enough money to qualify, so she jumps at the chance.

On the island, there are riddles to solve and challenges to win. And of course, there is the hunky artist who paints the covers for the books, who lives there. And you know where this is going...

Everyone in the book has a past tragedy they are trying to overcome, and the book ends happily, offering hope for all of them. And that's not giving anything away. Like I said, a predictable story, but an entertaining read all the same.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, Adult historical fiction, 2021

This book was a NYT best seller, NPR book of the year, and a Washington Post notable book of the year.

The book tells the story of Belle de Costa Greene, the personal librarian for J. P. Morgan. Belle helped grow his collection of rare books, manuscripts, and art to be one of the finest in the world. The book begins in 1905 when Belle is recommended for the librarian job by J. P. Morgan's nephew. She gets the job, but Belle has a secret. She is passing as white. She was born "colored" (the term used at the time), but her mother chose to have her children pass as white, as she saw hatred towards blacks increasing. Her father was the first black man to graduate from Harvard and an advocate for black rights. The family separated from him when they decided to live as whites.

Belle became one of the best-known women of her time with her knowledge and success in obtaining rare books and manuscripts. She was a lone female working in a male-dominated world. 

The book was interesting to me as I once again learned about a part of history that I knew nothing about. The only thing I knew about J. P. Morgan was that he was rich. I didn't know anything about his extensive collection that eventually became the public Pierpont Morgan Library, which Belle was director of. 

Having recently read The Vanderbilts, I had insights into many of the parties and people that Belle was intermingling with. I like it when things tie together like that. :) 

There was tension throughout the book over whether Belle's secret would be discovered. And that question was never answered, even in the author's notes about the actual history that the book was based on. A little Googling revealed that during her lifetime, Belle passed successfully as white. It wasn't until research for a 1999 biography on Belle was conducted that it was learned that she was listed as "Colored" on her birth certificate.

I think there are two reasons that this book found its way onto so many "Best of" lists. One is that it covers an important part of history that was not well known, and two, it is a well-written story of a very interesting person.

Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest by Chris Grabenstein, children's fiction (elementary-middle grades), 2025

Twelve-year-old Ben does nothing but annoy his older brother Ethan. However, Ethan is forced to take a cross-country trip with his brother in the summer before he goes away to college. His parents have promised him a truck if he does that. Ethan grudgingly agrees.

Ben loves to solve puzzles, and at the beginning of the trip, he earns a place to compete for a million-dollar prize by solving a puzzle on a restaurant placemat. 

The brothers are competing with five other couples in the race across the country, where they have to solve puzzles to learn the next destination. One family is eliminated at each stop. The race takes them across historic Route 66, and you learn interesting tidbits about this famous highway along the way. Also, the puzzles that they have to solve are shared, and both of these things make the story more interesting. Predictably, Ben and Ethan learn to cooperate and become closer as the race progresses.

I won't spoil the somewhat implausible ending, but I didn't see it coming. The book is humorous, and I think it would be a good match for an elementary school boy in particular.

Time Flies

It's happened again. It seems like I posted just a few days ago, but it's been a week and a half. So let's play catch-up again.

View out our kitchen window. I hope the neighbors don't mind that their houses show up on my blog. 

We woke up to snow this morning, about 5 inches at our house, but it's really hard to tell because the winds were blowing at 20 mph, creating drifts. That, with a dropping temperature, kept me inside all day. So instead of making a snowman outside, I just enjoyed my bouncy snowman inside.

A friend gave this to me, and I can't help but smile when I see it. 

But before the frigid weather set in, I harvested the last of the turnips, rutabagas, beets, and spinach. Luckily, the ground wasn't frozen hard yet, so I could pull them easily. After we had a good meal for supper, I have them in the garage for storage. I think I have them secured so mice won't be dining on them, but we shall see. 

Turnips and rutabagas. 

Otherwise, we've been working on Christmas prep. The tree is up, the lights are up, and presents are wrapped. At least, mine are. I think Ward is still making some things. We are finalizing the menu for next week when my family gathers for Christmas and my nephew's birthday. Today, I began making sweets to give away, starting with fudge. I love fudge, so I need to give it away sooner rather than later, before I make myself sick "sampling" it. 😋

Poinsettias from last year that are starting to show color.

Better get back to it and start on my next round of goodies.

Until next time...

This and That

 Whoa! How did that happen? It's been over a week since I've checked in here.

I won this Thanksgiving box from a raffle at my bowling group. A lot of nice stuff.

I guess I've been busy transitioning from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Thanksgiving with Ward's family was nice, but alas, we had no leftovers since we didn't host. Any food that was left from what we took, we left for Ward's father. 

The next day, I promptly changed the fall wreath on the front door to a Christmas one. And the next day after that, I realized that I still had two pumpkins on the porch. It was time to retire those, which I did by roasting and freezing them as puree. But, gosh, those things are messy from slimy seeds to stringy pulp. I found orange strings around the kitchen for a few days, and a few pieces in other rooms as well. Pumpkins are sticky!

Seeing pumpkin stuck to various things reminded me of when Wally and Theo were young and decided to play boomball in the dining room (which was really a toy storage room with no dining table). Boomball, for the uninformed, involved a cantaloupe and two excited boys in their own version of handball. Even though we made them clean up the mess, we were finding seeds and cantaloupe for months after that--on the walls, the chandelier, etc. Where were Ward and I while this was going on? Not sure, but I think we were upstairs doing something. Wally and Theo were definitely old enough to be left alone at that point. At least we thought so. :)

And pumpkin wasn't the only thing that has been loose in our kitchen recently. When I was cutting open a round, net bag of cranberries, they all spilled out and went everywhere. They were in the sink and rolling all over the floor. For the next couple of days, I was finding them under things, and one ended up in the knife drawer. Not sure how that happened.

But all is well, and after my adventures in the kitchen, I moved on to Christmas cards. I write some form of a letter every year and usually just send it out on holiday stationery without a card. But this year, I decided I wanted to include the card. I had a few, but needed more. And what a surprise, Walmart only had a handful to choose from. I remember when they took up an entire aisle. I know the way we communicate has changed vastly in the last few years, and fewer people are sending out cards, but I was surprised all the same. Despite this, I am mostly done with that task. 

And Ward, bless his heart (meant in the nice way, not the mean way), has almost finished the outdoor lights. He braved the cold, so I didn't have to. Next up will be the tree, mantel, and other indoor decorations. I'm not sure when those will come out, probably in the next week or two. 

In the meantime, I have a friend visiting from out of town, and we've been having a lot of fun. A couple of nights ago, we went to an open mic night where her son sang. He was good! Very good. I wish we didn't live on opposite coasts.

It soon will be time for bed, so I'd better wrap this up. Hope everyone is staying safe in whatever kind of crazy weather is happening where you are. We're on a winter advisory for tonight and tomorrow.

Until next time...

Wednesday Afternoon

Anniversary flowers

I just made my cranberry relish for tomorrow. It's best if it sits overnight, so it's resting now. Ward is going to bake a ham in the morning before we head off to my brother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Most of Ward's family is gathering for a crowd of around 25-30. It's always a lively time. Theo is making a sausage, apple, and sauerkraut dish, and Wally is bringing a pecan pie. They will join us for the ride, which is about 1 1/2 hours away. 

This morning I went to the dentist. They have moved into a newer, bigger office, and everything was shiny and new, including the TV overhead of the chair. My cleaning passed by quickly as I watched an episode of Tiny Houses. Luckily, there were no further actions needed at this time.

Besides the new office, there were new rules for taking X-rays. No lead chest protection needed. Because the X-rays are done digitally now, they are using a much lower dose than before. They said that even in some hospitals, they aren't required to use shields anymore. 

Sunrise yesterday morning

And speaking of new technology, at least new to me, while I was waiting for Ward the other day, I was checking out my blog on my phone. I saw an option for listening to the blog, and I played it expecting a text-to-speech reading of a post. Nope. It was an AI chat about the posts between a "man" and a "woman". It was freaky! AI advancements are amazing and offer many useful possibilities, but, as with any new technology, finding the right balance of when to use it and when not to is difficult. But it's here to stay, and I hope sooner rather than later we figure out how to best utilize it. 

Back to the concrete world, our bow window is still leaking. While Ward's caulking may have helped, it didn't solve the problem. We have contractors who are supposed to call us back next week to set up an appointment to look at it. After the problem is solved, there's going to be a lot of work to repair the damage that has been done. But such are the joys of home ownership. :)

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. We're going out to a nice dinner to celebrate this evening. We got married as soon as we finished college, and both of us have changed a lot since then. I feel very blessed that over the years, we have grown closer together. I could easily understand how people could grow differently and no longer be compatible, but we were lucky that it didn't go that way for us. When I came home from the dentist, the flowers you see at the top were waiting for me. Yep. Ward's a keeper. :)

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, whether it is with a large family gathering or a quiet day watching the parades. 

Until next time...

Book Reviews

 As an aside, I find writing these book reviews hard as I try to strike the right balance of information. I'm not trying to sell the books, so I don't find the need to use a lot of superlatives and tantalizing setups. Also, I don't want to give too much away about the story because I often find that more formal reviews tell me more than I want to know- things that I would want to discover while reading it. Basically, I'm trying to give you enough information to look further into the book if it sounds interesting to you. I enjoy reading others' reviews, so I include some here.

Here are a few more things I've been reading recently.

Candle Island by Lauren Wolk, Children's fiction (middle grades), 2025

This book was recommended by Hannah at Squishy Tulips. I have read other books by Lauren Wolk that I liked, so I added this one to my list.

The story begins when Lucretia and her mother move to a small island off the coast of Maine, seeking solitude after Lucretia's father dies. They also have a secret that they are trying to keep in this remote location. 

Candle Island has a few hundred people in the winter, and that number triples in the summer with city tourists. There is tension between wealthy tourists and islanders, and Lucrietia is a victim of it on both sides, being new and an islander. She finds a friend in an island boy, but his cousin, Murdock, is Lucretia's worst enemy. But, as is often the case, Murdock has serious problems of her own that explain her antagonistic behavior. Three other privileged rich kids cause continual problems (culminating in a very serious one) while they are just "having fun". It seems as if Lucretia and her mother aren't the only ones with secrets, and in the end, everyone gets to be themselves and let their talents shine.

Immediately upon starting the book, I felt moved by the writing. Descriptions of the island, its way of life, animals, and wildlife were rich in detail, and within them a moving story was woven. I recommend this book for both kids and adults.

Vanderbilt, The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe, Adult non-fiction (Dewey 973.5), 2021

Before reading this book, I didn't know much about the Vanderbilts. I had visited the Biltmore in North Carolina and knew Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson Cooper's mother, had a line of jeans. This book gave me insights into what a powerful and troubled family the Vanderbilts were.

The Vanderbilt fortune was built by Cornelius (Commodore) Vanderbilt in the early 1800s. Commodore was born on Staten Island, NY, and left school at age 11 to run a ferry for his father. By the age of 16, he had started his own business. He was ambitious and hardworking, and eventually branched out into the railroad industry. He had control over most of what was coming in and out of New York City, which made him one of the wealthiest men in American history. He was said to be obsessed with making money and ruthless.

Commodore had 13 children, and only one of his heirs after him added any money to the fortune. That was his son, Billy. After that, there was a long line of heirs lavishly spending, especially during the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, as they tried to establish their status among the society's wealthy. The book features individual stories of some of the more notable heirs, ending with Anderson Cooper, the author. He considers himself a Cooper and his mother as the last of the Vanderbilts. She had a very tumultuous childhood when her father died early, and there were battles over her custody and the trust fund that came with it. It was played out in court during the "trial of the century" when she was 10 years old. 

I found the book interesting as I learned about the rich society 100 years ago. Times were different, as each person tried to outdo the others with their houses and parties. One person actually wore a costume made of cat tails to a costume ball, complete with a stuffed cat on her head. As I said, times were different. 

I also found the book tedious at times, particularly when reading about the details of various houses or parties. They also made me feel sad that most of the money was not used in a charitable way. In some chapters that describe a lavish event, the authors include a serious event happening at the same time to put things into perspective.

The book clearly demonstrates that money does not buy happiness, as the Vanderbilts' live were often fraught with tragedy. Their money was more of a curse than a blessing in the long run. 

The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2012

You may have noticed that I throw in a Royal Spyness mystery every few books because I find them familiar and comfortable reads.

 The Royal Spyness books follow Georgie, 35th in line to the British Throne, in the 1930s, as she stumbles onto murder after murder. There are castles, rich people, royalty, and many class restrictions that surround the stories. Despite being royalty, Georgie has no money, which causes a set of problems all its own. The stories are in historically accurate settings, and humorous relief is provided by her inept maid, Queenie. 

The Twelve Clues of Christmas is the 6th in the series and takes place in a small village in Devon. Georgie, not wanting to spend Christmas in her brother's cold Scottish castle with his difficult wife and family, takes a job as a hostess for a 12-day Christmas party at another estate. Several locals are found dead, seemingly all of them are accidents, but Georgie is not so sure. Despite being told repeatedly to leave it to the police, Georgie figures out a connection and solves the crimes.

Among the murders are all of the traditions of an old English Christmas. Those are fun to read about, and the back of the book has recipes and explanations for some of them. I found this book a little harder to read than some of the other Royal Spyness books because there were multiple victims and some gruesome parts, but I thought it had a very clever ending. (Can you tell that I'm not a gritty mystery reader?)

Raising Hare by Chole Dalton, Adult non-fiction (Dewey 599.32), 2025

This is another book recommended by Hannah at Squishy Tulips, and I'm glad she did. The book is a New York Times bestseller and is on several Best of the Year lists.

Chole Dalton is a foreign policy specialist and lives a fast-paced life, including frequent travel. During the COVID shutdown, she moved to her country home outside of London, where she found an abandoned newborn hare. Unsure of what to do, she ultimately chose to pick up the hare because she thought it would give it the best chance of survival. Even though hares are almost impossible to raise in captivity, it survived. Dalton walked a fine line between saving the hare and keeping it wild so it could return to its natural habitat in the fields around her.

She learned a lot along the way from extensive research she did on hares, as well as from keen observations of the hare. The first thing she learned (and me, too) was the difference between rabbits and hares. While rabbits are group animals that live in burrows and hide for protection, hares are solitary animals that use stillness and speed to escape their predators. As a result of her time with Hare (she chose not to call it anything but Hare, since she didn't want to think of it as a pet), Dalton became more in touch with nature and found a quieter side of herself.

The book is interesting as we learn about hares and the natural world around them, but it's mostly a treat for its calming, deep prose. 

Until next time...

This and That

 I think it's time for some speed blogging. The timer today is set at 14 minutes.  

We won't be putting up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.

Anne at Cooking and All That Jazz has been doing a countdown 'til Christmas for weeks (months?) now.  Reading her posts about what she has done toward the holidays makes me anxious every time I read them. But it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, I tell myself. However, I have several gifts ordered and am working on ideas for others. We don't have elaborate decorations, so I don't need to start too far ahead of time. The weekend after Thanksgiving, the fall wreath will come down, and the holiday one will go up. The outdoor lights go up then, too, if the weather cooperates. A weekend or two after that, the tree will go up. 

Recently, we had a tree taken down, but before that happened, we had to remove the rock pile we had around it. We have very rocky soil, so when we dig up rocks in our various flower beds, we add them to the pile. We have accumulated quite a few since we started doing this. As we were moving the rocks, I felt like I was working on a prison chain gang. But I like rocks, and I like my pile. Just because.

As we moved the rocks, we sorted them into small, medium, and large sizes. This helps when we go to the pile for a rock for a particular use.

And speaking of maintenance projects, we figured out this week that we have a leak around the bow window in our living room. The window is only a few years old and didn't appear to be compromised, so we surmised the likely culprit was cracked caulking in several places around the outside of the window. After some major bush trimming to be able to get ladders in place, Ward did the tedious job of recaulking. While he did that, I cleared the debris that had been cut. I hope this fixes things because leaks are so hard to figure out sometimes. At least we know it hasn't been going on for long, so there shouldn't be much damage to the wood around the window. Fingers crossed. 

Installing the bow window a few years ago. Ward recaulked the outside of it.

While I enjoy the company of others, I am an introvert, and new social situations are not easy for me. However, when I was asked to join a bowling league, I said, "Sure." Not because I was dying to go bowling, but because I thought it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone. I have only bowled occasionally throughout my life, with years and years between games. I'm usually happy if fewer than half of my balls end up in the gutter. But this is a fun league, not competitive, so it was a good fit in that way. 

Last week, I went for my first time. Our local bowling alley does duckpin bowling, which uses smaller balls and pins, and you get three balls/frame. On the surface, that sounds easier than 10-pin bowling, but it has a set of challenges of its own. So, what did I think? The people were friendly and not too serious, but I'm not sure I like bowling. However, I'm going again this week. We'll see how I do.

My 14-minute timer is going off, so that's it for today. I'll set it again one more time to find some pictures to insert.

Until next ... 

Turnips and Rutabagas

 Several years ago, Miss Landers and I did a comparison between turnips and rutabagas, and I thought about that when I was harvesting some today. I wondered if I thought the same about them now as I did then. I'd say, "Yep." So, I'm going to rerun the original post I did about the two.

Rutabagas

I've always been curious about rutabagas. Well, actually, I've never been curious about rutabagas and have never given them much thought until recently, when Miss Landers brought some over from her garden for us to try. This was her first time growing them, and she was curious about how they compared with turnips, so she also brought turnips that she had grown.

A bit of research revealed that rutabagas are a natural cross between turnips and wild cabbage. They are a relatively new plant, in that the first time they are mentioned in literature is in the early 1600s. They go by many names, including yellow turnips and swedes, because Sweden is a top producer. (Can you guess they like to grow in colder weather?) The name “rutabaga” is derived from an old Swedish word meaning “root bag.”

Notice the multiple roots and yellow tint of the rutabaga.

How about our turnip vs. rutabaga comparison? This is what we observed. Miss Landers said that as she was pulling them (both root vegetables), the rutabagas seemed to have more roots and root hairs. Both were pungent when raw and smelled like a cross between cabbage and radishes. The rutabaga had a yellow tint to it that intensified when cooked, while the turnip remained white.

We were able to convince Ward and Theodore to participate in a taste test after the vegetables were cooked--which was pretty remarkable considering neither one of them likes turnips. They weren't too sure that they wanted to sample anything called yellow turnips. However, they did sample them right along with Miss Landers and me.

We all agreed that the rutabaga had a definite potato taste. Theodore said that the rutabaga tasted as if it were a cross between potatoes and Brussels sprouts. A fairly apt description. Theodore and I liked the turnips better with their more peppery taste, while Ward and Miss Landers liked the rutabagas better with their milder taste and creamier texture.

In conclusion, will I start adding rutabagas to my grocery list on a regular basis? No. But will I now have something new to talk about when there is a lull in the conversation? Yes. :)

Note: I haven't been buying rutabagas, but I did grow some along with turnips this fall with extra seeds Miss Landers had.

Notice the white color of the cooked turnips and the yellow color of the rutabaga.

 More sources:

• Rutabaga overview--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga
• Rutabaga recipes--http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/seasonal/winter/rutabaga/top.aspx
• Rutabaga nutrition--http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Vegetables/Rutabaga.html
• How to grow rutabagas  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-26.html
• A serious and not so serious blog about rutabagas--http://rutablogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/breakthrough-photosnynthesis-stimulate.html

Timber!

Unfortunately, we recently had to take down a large fir* tree. Birds had been drilling into it to the point that the whole middle of the tree was dead. I wonder if it was the same birds that liked to roost in the top of the tree? I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, the tree guy, Sonny, was amazing. The fir was close to Ward's shop, our new fence, and the neighbor's new garage. A tricky business for a 40' tree, but he didn't even brush a branch on any of those things. Tree felling is a very dangerous and skilled job. While the job was expensive, I think he earned every penny of it. Here are some pictures from the day.

This is the back corner of our lot where 3 lots come together. You can see that Sonny and his helper have to work in close quarters.

After throwing a rope (with a weight) over a tall branch, Sonny suited up with his safety and cutting gear and started climbing.

He cut the branches off one by one as he climbed.

Sonny looped the rope around the branch he was cutting, while his helper on the ground held the rope taut and helped control where the branch fell.

They continued with this until the top of the tree was small enough to be cut with its branches.

Sonny then went back down the trunk, cutting ~3' sections at a time until he reached the base.

The trunk was about 30" across at its base, so they had to cut it into pieces before they could carry it back to their truck.

They chipped what they could and hauled the rest away for a bigger chipper. Later that day, he came back and ground the stump.

I was sad to see the tree go, but with the new sunlight, I'm already thinking about what things we might be able to grow in this spot. However, it's going to take some cleanup of wood chips and roots before it will be ready for planting. But I will be dreaming about it until then. 😀

Until next time...

*Ward and I aren't very good at identifying the different kinds of evergreens. I thought the tree was a spruce, and he thought it was a pine. Its pine cones suggest it was a fir, according to Google. 

Note: Thanks to Ward for taking these pictures. He was very fascinated by the process and also took several videos. However, I couldn't figure out how to embed them. I thought I was following instructions, but had no luck.

Book Reviews

 A few things I've been reading recently.

God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2021

This is #15 in the Royal Spyness Mystery Series. The Royal Spyness Series stars Georgie, who is 35th in line to the British throne. The Queen has a fondness for Georgie and often asks her to keep an eye on her son, who is dating the "horrible American" Mrs. Wallis. This leads to situations where there is a murder to solve, often in posh locations. While the books are fiction, the settings are historically accurate.

This book takes place at Christmas in 1935, when Georgie and her husband, Darcy, spend their first Christmas together as a married couple with his aunt and a host of other houseguests. Someone has shot at the Prince, and another suspicious death occurs. Count on Georgie to eventually figure out "who dun it". 

These books are fun and easy reads. I find it interesting to read about how royalty and the class system work, which are often important parts of the story. This book references book #6, The Twelve Clues of Christmas, several times. I haven't read that one yet, so that's next up for me with this series. Ward enjoys these books also and has started at the beginning and is reading them in order. I'm not quite so orderly. 😀

In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen, Adult historical fiction, 2017

This is a stand-alone novel by Rhys Bowen, who writes the Royal Spyness books along with several other mystery series. 

Lord Westerman, his wife, and 5 daughters live on the Farleigh Estate in rural England. The war is on, and Hitler has been bombing London. The estate is housing soldiers, and children from the city are being sent to live in the country to keep them safe from bombing.  

Then one day, the youngest daughter finds a dead soldier in the woods. It looks like he jumped out of a plane, and his parachute didn't open. An investigation begins, and numerous theories emerge regarding his mission. Meanwhile, one daughter is stuck in Paris, where she was studying fashion, and another daughter is secretly decoding German messages. Another childhood friend is an ace pilot, and another is a spy. In this world, no one is above suspicion, and you are kept guessing who is working for which side of the war.

The story is complicated with many characters and several locations, enough so that there is a list of characters and locations at the beginning of the book. Despite the complications, it was not hard to follow the narrative. Even though this is a WWII novel, it reads like a mystery. I enjoyed this book and will read other Rhys Bowen standalone novels. This was my second one.

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman, Adult mystery, 2025

I picked up this book from the new bookshelf at the library because, you know, it had the word Library in the title.  😀

I was also drawn to the book's premise. Tory is a book conservator and works below and lives above a library that specializes in mystery books. One of the library rooms is set up like Agatha Christie's actual home was, including the books on the shelves. One day, an older woman appears in the room, claiming to be Agatha Christie from the beyond. She was bored in eternity, so they let her come to earth to solve a murder. Tory thinks she is a disturbed woman and is unsure what to do about her.

In the meantime, Tory's cousin, Nic, becomes involved with her manager's death. And thus a purpose for Mrs. Christie's appearance. Various people (an 11-year-old girl, a librarian, a detective, Nic, Tory, and Mrs. Christie) end up meeting every Monday evening to discuss the case. 

Mrs. Christie manages to appear and disappear without anyone seeing her come and go, and they never know when she will show up. However, she does come regularly to the Monday meetings. During the meetings, she is quiet and occasionally interjects with something that makes the others think. Most of her comments are quotes from one of her books. She gently guides the others to solving the crimes.

This was an entertaining read. At first, I was bogged down by the author trying to establish the backstory for everything. However, when Mrs. Christie appeared, the book began to pick up, and soon I was totally into the story. Tory has her own introvert issues, and among other things, she has a crush on the hunky detective, but is too shy to act. Her cousin Nic, an actress, is outgoing and naive. The little girl is clever beyond her years.

The story takes place in New York City with many place names. They didn't mean a lot to me, but they could to someone who knew the city. However, I did find it interesting to learn about the various aspects of conserving old books through Tory's work. 

The best part of the book was the numerous references to Agatha Christie's books. While I've read a few Agatha Christie mysteries, I've barely made a dent in the 66 detective novels she wrote. But I found the references to the books interesting and well done. I also found that there was more discussion about who committed the murders and why than in some other mysteries. The Monday meetings, with the diverse attendees, had them discussing all of the possibilities. I enjoyed that, and it didn't leave me with any confusion about what happened. Sometimes, I finish a book and feel like I have to have it explained to me.

This was Chapman's first book, and it just came out in August. If it sells well, I'm sure there will be more to follow.

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper, Adult non-fiction (Dewey 818.602), 2021

When I saw the title of this book in the library, I actually laughed out loud because so many mysteries take place in a "quaint English village". The book is a fun and quick read, with only 128 pages of text and illustrations. This would make a good gift book for a reader of cozy mysteries or one who likes to watch the many adaptations of them on PBS. BTW, it's on sale on Amazon right now for $10.

That's it for now.

Until next time...

Ward Goes to Poland, Churches

Ward recently took a trip to Poland and occasionally does a guest post here about his trip.

St. Mary's Basilica, Krakow. 

I don't pretend to understand the religious history of Poland, but I did learn a few things on my trip.  We saw a number of churches and cathedrals that had changed throughout history, to and from different religions as the ruling countries changed. At the end of the post, I tried to do a brief summary, if you're interested in a little more detail.*

The Polish constitution allows for religious freedom, but over 70% of the population identifies as Roman Catholic (7% say they do not identify as having a religion, the 0.4% are various Protestant religions). And because Christianity is considered an important part of Poland's history and culture, it is taught in schools. 

Currently, religious education is 2 hours/week, but a proposal is to cut it back to 1 hour/week and not count the grade in the GPA. Not everyone is happy about that, and we saw protests against the change. I found all of this very interesting because it is so different than our treatment of religion that we are familiar with in the US. 

The protest we saw for Solidarity in Warsaw. Our guide said that it was about the issue of cutting back on religious education in the schools, among other things.

Most everywhere we went, we saw beautiful churches and cathedrals. I had to Google the difference between them:

A church is a general term for any Christian place of worship, while a cathedral is a church that serves as the seat of a bishop and is the main church of a diocese. A basilica is a church designated by the pope for its historical and architectural significance, and a chapel is a smaller place of worship that typically does not have a permanent congregation or priest.

Here are a few of the churches and cathedrals we visited.

This is St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Wroclaw. It is a Cathedral because it is the Bishop's church, and is the seat of the Archdiocese of Wrocław. 

St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Wroclaw

Brass model of the cathedral. We saw a lot of these brass models outside many of the churches.

Inside St. John's Cathedral. Every time, I was impressed with the grand, tall, open space.

Next, we saw St. Elizabeth's Church in Wroclaw.

The tower was originally 130 meters (425 feet) tall, but was destroyed by fire. When rebuilt, it is now only 91 meters (300 feet) tall.

St. Elizabeth's Church official name is the Garrison Church Military and Civil Parish of St. Elizabeth. I think it got that name as part of the de-germanification of Poland at the end of WWII. This church was originally built in the 14th century. The old stone plaque is in German because this had been a Lutheran church since 1525. It was Lutheran until the end of WWII, then became a Catholic Church. The more recent sign (in Polish) has mass schedules. 

Inside St. Elizabeth's

Next, we visited Kraków. Kraków was the capital of Poland for many years before Warsaw became the capital. This was because the King had made an alliance with Lithuania, and Warsaw was more central in the new kingdom.

Very pretty St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow's town square.

St. Mary's Basilica at night on the town square, which is active both in the daytime and at night. 

In Warsaw, we visited Holy Cross Church, which is famous because

Frederick Chopin's heart is buried in a crypt here. He died in Paris, but told his family he wanted to be buried in Poland. It was too hard to bring his whole body back, so his sister cut out his heart and brought it back to this church in Warsaw in a jar filled with cognac, approximately 1850. 

The church is also really pretty (but they are all pretty) and supposedly has a splinter of the original cross. 

The Holy Cross Church, with a painting by Canaletto in the mid-1700s of the same church, and a photo below of the church after the devastation of WWII.

You can't tell from the photo, but the interior of the church burned to the ground, so the church is just a shell at this point. 

We went off the beaten path to visit the town of Lomza, where there were church records of my ancestors. It was very interesting to see descriptions of marriages and births.

The Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel at Łomża. We met with a records specialist here who helped us find and decipher family records. Some were written in Russian and some were written in Latin.

The next day, we went to Miastkowo, which is a small town with the parish church nearest to the village of Czartoria, where my family was from.

Here we found more records, but there was no one to translate them for us, so we took pictures, hoping to find someone to translate them later. We also saw several family names in the church cemetery.

One afternoon, we toured Krakow's Jewish District. This district was named Kasimierz after King Kasimir III, who, in 1335, formally declared the area, then a suburb of Krakow, a town where Jews and ethnic Poles could peacefully coexist. That happened until WWII.

Notice the white wall on the right-hand side of the picture. The top of the wall is street level. The white building with the green roofs is a synagogue that was built below street level because Jewish synagogues were not allowed to be taller than any Catholic church.

We saw more beautiful churches, both inside and out. And they made me wonder about the money and labor that went into creating them.

*I tried to boil down the very complex religious history in a few words below. I think I got the general points right.

Roman Catholicism formally began in Poland in 966 AD and has been the predominant religion in Poland since then. Other Catholic religions (Greek and Russian Orthodox) have a part in the history of the country and have current populations.

While the borders changed (frequently) with Germany, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Czech, and Hungary all exerting dominion over Polish territory at some time over the last several centuries, the dominant religions of those countries extended into Poland. 

Also, the Protestant Reformation affected Poland, with Lutherans (mostly from Germany) and Calvinists (from Switzerland) coming to and staying in Poland.

In the Middle Ages and into the Enlightenment period, Poland was relatively more tolerant of religious diversity than most of the rest of Europe, so there was an influx of people of different religions (Baptists, Moravians, Jews, etc.) looking to settle there to practice their religions in peace.