Book Reviews

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

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, Adult Fiction, 2012

The Snow Child is the best book I've read in a while. Instantly, the prose and story drew me in and held me until the end.  I wasn't alone in my enjoyment, as the book was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. There have been an opera and a play based on the book.

The book was inspired by the fairy tale of the Snow Maiden, in which an elderly, childless couple creates a snow girl who comes to life. In The Snow Child, we find Jack and Mable homesteading in Alaska in the 1920s. They left Pennsylvania after the stillbirth of their child to start over far away from everyone.

One evening, they build a snow girl, and soon thereafter, a mysterious girl shows up. She appears and disappears unpredictably, and others don't believe she is real. I was compelled to keep reading to understand the mystery and mystique surrounding the girl, and her effects on Jack and Mabel. So, I won't give away any more about what ensues, so you can discover it for yourself.

The Alaska frontier is a harsh place and acts as a character in the story. The book does a good job of exploring the subtleties of relationships, including the difficulties. Even when there were problems between Jack and Mabel, you know that they still have a deep love for each other. I liked that.

While reading the book, I could feel the cold and see the landscape that was being described. The author grew up and still lives in Alaska, and that is evident. I recommend this book, but be forewarned, there are many scenes of hunting and gutting animals. But these were very much the reality of the time. However, those are easy enough to skip over if you want.

From Cradle to Grave by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2025

I finally did it! I read all of the Royal Spyness* books when I finished #19, From Cradle to Grave. And I can say that until the next one comes out in November 2026. I don't think I've ever read all the books in a series this long before. I usually read a couple and then move on. I liked following the story arc of the main characters across books, so I may do it again. 

In this book, we find Georgie at home in Eynsleigh with her infant son, husband, and servants. Then her dreaded sister-in-law, Fig, hires a nanny for the baby. Both Fig and the Nanny show up, and no one is happy. In the meantime, Georgie hears about 4 recent deaths among young, rich men and thinks there is a connection, and she sets out to prove the hunch she is feeling. 

I thought this book was okay, but not as good as some of the other ones. But when you have 19 books in a series, there is bound to be some variability. I had a hard time believing that Georgie could see a connection among the victims, but once I accepted it, I was okay as she went about gathering clues.  And as always, in the end, all is well.

* 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 Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri, Children's historical fiction (elementary and middle grades), 2025

I found this book very interesting. It takes place during World War II in Iran when it was occupied by British and Soviet forces. They were trying to prevent Germany from accessing Iranian oil. I hadn't heard of Iran's role in World War II, so this was all new information for me. Even though Iran declared itself neutral, the occupation brought about many of the same effects as the countries that were actively involved. 

The story features the children, Babak and his little sister, Sana. Their mother died years ago, and their father died recently from the effects of a bomb. Babak makes a promise that they will stay together even as they are sent to live with different people.

 Babak's father was a teacher among the Nomads and carried a blackboard on his back as he traveled for his teachings. His son saves it and also carries it on his back as he and his sister travel about. After leaving their "homes", they try to hook up with the Nomads who are doing a seasonal move, and Babak is hoping to be the teacher his father was. Things don't go as planned, and the siblings meet many people and dangers as they try to survive. All along the way, the blackboard helps them communicate with others and eventually helps bring about a happy ending. 

I thought the story was a bit forced (though it is a kids' book), but the history, language, and customs that are major parts of the book are well done. The Teacher of Nomad Land has won several accolades, including the 2025 National Book Award and Amazon's #1 Children's Book of 2025.

The Lions' Run by Sara Pennypacker, Children's historical fiction (elementary and middle grades), 2026

I seem to have an accidental theme to my recent books. This is another story about a young boy and a girl during WWII.  The Lion's Run takes place in 1944 in a small French village that is occupied by the Nazis. Lucas, an orphan, is timid and small and is teased by others. One day, he rescues a litter of kittens from being drowned and takes them to an abandoned barn. Here, he meets Alice, who is hiding her racing horse from the Nazis and hopes to relocate him to America with a complicated plan. Gradually, Lucas gains confidence and becomes part of the resistance as he delivers messages along with his produce deliveries. He and Alice become friends and bond over time.

The story is complex and skillfully builds to an exciting resolution. It gives real insights into the cruel Nazi occupation and the quiet resistance. Also, featured was a new-to-me thing that happened with the Nazis at that time. They had baby factories. A Nazi soldier would get a local blond, blue-eyed girl pregnant. She would then be sent to a home where she would get excellent care, but no freedoms. At six weeks of age, the babies would be taken from the girls to be raised by a German family.

The Lions' Run was a compelling read, and I highly recommend it.

Until next time...

Better Late than Never

 Better late than never is a phrase I often use when I have been procrastinating, but I've been thinking about it recently and wondering if that's always true.

Hopefully, I didn't plant the broccoli too late.

This week, I finally planted broccoli. I was late on this task, as evidenced by the fact that it took me several stores before I could find any plants. I found myself saying, "Well, better late than never." Is that true? Will we get any broccoli before it gets too hot and the cabbage butterfly worms devour the plants? This is very much a wait-and-see exercise to see what the weather will be like over the next couple of months. Here's hoping for the best.

Then we were doing some much-needed cleanup in our garages, including a winter's worth of dust and debris. I should have been wearing a mask for this task, but I didn't think about it until I started coughing. By this point, I could have put on a mask, but I was done with the sweeping. Would a mask have helped at this point? Maybe, but I think in this case, maybe it wasn't better late than never. It was more of "shutting the door after the cow was already out of the barn."

Sarah, on one of the mornings I spent with her.

In another instance, I had finally arranged to meet with Sarah and her mother after not seeing them for a few years. Sarah is a special needs young adult whom I used to buddy with at church. COVID changed all of that. I think this is the perfect example of better late than never. However, I decided I should also invite another friend of Sarah and her mother. I've been meaning to call this friend and meet up for a couple of years, but I've been putting it off. Turns out she lives in Michigan now. Procrastination this time does not lead to a better late than never situation. Never say never, but I will probably not see this friend again. 

What did I conclude from this reflection on the idea of better late than never? I'm not sure, except that procrastination is usually not your friend. 😦

Mother's Day

   Happy Mother's Day! 

I come from a long line of mothers.

My mother, Betty, and I. I was about three, and she was pregnant with my sister, her fourth child. I didn't have a care in the world, but she looks very tired. I think she was. 

My mother with my grandmother, Donnie. My grandmother was very proud
since my mother was the first in her family to graduate from high school. 

My paternal grandmother, Yula, with 17 grandkids. There were 6 more to come.
(I'm next to the boy with the bowtie.)

My great-grandmother, Anna Estella, on my paternal grandmother's side.
In other words, this is the mother of the person above.

This is my paternal great-grandmother, Lavenia Jane
In other words, this is my paternal grandfather's mother.

This is my great, great-grandmother, Anna Elizabeth,
mother of Anna Estella.

There. Do you have all of that straight? Don't worry. I'm not sure if I got it all correct myself. What I do know is that each generation along the way has made me who I am, and for that, I am thankful.

So, as you remember those who came before you, Happy Mother's Day!

Until next time...

Catch Up with This and That

The irises are in bloom now.

 Well, I did it! I made it to the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge without hating the whole thing. I have done the A-Z challenge seven times over the last eleven years and have found it a struggle to post six days a week, as required. Actually, nothing is required. It's not like I won't eat or something if I miss a day, but I am stubborn and like to finish what I start. 

The next obvious question is: why do I keep doing the challenge if it stresses me out so much?  Because with the desperation of coming up with six posts a week comes some of my more creative postings. Much of the time, I don't feel like I have anything to talk about, and the A-Z forces me to think outside the box of my routine life. 

This year, I revisited posts from the past. That made the task much easier, and it also made things interesting for me as I read through past posts. Thanks to all of you who read along with me.

Now, it's back to the everyday, and I'm drawing blanks again. Also, it seems that I didn't take many pictures in April to jog my memory, but here are a few.

Last weekend, we went to West Virginia for a memorial service for my cousin. We also visited three different cemeteries where my parents and grandparents are buried. In one of the cemeteries, we were trying to locate the unmarked grave of my found-grandfather. (It's a long DNA story.)
Also, at this cemetery was this Lewis family marker. They were early settlers of the Northwest Territory, and it was interesting to see something tangible that I had only read about in history books. 

Ward continues to work on puzzles. This one, called Literary Dogs and was quite interesting with its whimsy pieces. (Enlarge the picture if you want to see the details.) As it turns out, the puzzle was based on a 40-foot mural in a library that was only about an hour from us.

So we had to go visit it. It was hard to get a picture because it was so long, but it was a really fun mural.

And speaking of Ward, he had a birthday yesterday.
 Note: He is not quite 100 years old yet. 😀

This bluebird has been flying into our living room window many times a day. He then goes to the gutter to keep watch. Apparently, he is trying to defend his territory from his reflection. Some sources this could go on for weeks. 

We recently visited the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. We try to go each spring when the 22,000 azaleas are in bloom. However, we kept up our trend of being about a week late for peak blooms, but it was still pretty. It is a popular place for photo shoots, and we saw several. If you look closely, you can see one here.

And true to form, Ward was just as interested in the structure of the dam as he was in the flowers.

That's all I've got for now.

Until next time...

Book Reviews

 Blogger, in all of its wisdom, republished this post. This is old news. :)

A few things I've been reading lately.

The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2023

The Proof of the Pudding is #17 in the Royal Spyness series.* I have decided to read this series through to the end. That is atypical for me. I usually read one or two books in a series and then move on to something else. I actually see the benefits now of reading all of the series, and in order as you get to watch the characters and their stories develop.

In this adventure, Georgie attends a neighbor's dinner party after which several people get sick, and someone actually dies. Who got sick and who didn't seems very random. Per usual, real people appear in the stories as minor characters. This time, Agatha Christie is one of the guests at the party and helps solve the mystery. I found that a lot of fun. At the end of the book, a pregnant Georgie gives birth to her first child. 

This was a predictable, but enjoyable installment to this series.

We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen, Adult mystery, 2024

This is #18 in the Royal Spyness mystery series.*

In this story, we find Georgie and her husband, Darcy, with their baby, James Albert, at home in the Ensleigh Estate. They end up with her brother and family, the King's secret lover staying with them, along with a Hollywood film crew using the mansion for filming. There are disappearances and eventually a murder. 

This was an okay, typical installment to the series. I felt there was too much time spent on the missing child star (it was very obvious what happened) and not much build-up to support the ending. However, I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's always fun to catch up with Georgie and her crew.

* 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.

These books are as much about the characters and settings as the mysteries, and I reach for one of them while I am waiting on a hold or looking for a familiar comfort read.

Seabird by Michelle Kadarusman, Children's historical fiction-middle grades, 2025

This is a fictionalized account of Raden Adjeng Kartini, who was an activist for the education of girls and women in Indonesia.  There is a national holiday in her honor.

Kartini's family was one of wealth and status. Her father was the local Regent. We meet her in 1892 when she is 12 years old. Following old traditions, she has been banished to her home until a marriage is arranged. For the first year, she is locked in her room. After that, she is allowed to move around the family compound, but not beyond its walls. 

Unlike her older sister, she was allowed to go to school until she was 12. Here she makes a best friend, Lesty, a Dutch girl whose father is on assignment in Java. When Lesty moves back to Amsterdam, they become pen pals, and each learns about the other's world and shares their different perspectives. Through this, they both come to understand the plight of women and the poor, as well as the difficulties of colonization.

Kartini wants the same privileges as her brothers and eventually convinces her father to give her a chance. From an empowered speech she gives, a movement is started for better opportunities for women. 

I wanted to know more about her adult life, but sadly, Kartini died at age 25. Much has been written about her, and a book of her letters has been published. The author tried to be as true to the known facts about Kartini in this book.

I have woefully condensed this fascinating story. I recommend you check it out on your own. 

Your Actual Life May Vary by Linda Lenhoff, Adult fiction, 2025

The premise of this book caught my attention right away. Patty, a 31-year-old graduate teaching assistant, is dissatisfied with her job and must be out of her apartment in a week. She attends a sales seminar about a new planned community in Northern California and decides that this is the place for her to start over. (She lives in Southern California. 

Also, she thinks she has seen a little boy tied to a doghouse in her neighborhood. After multiple failed attempts of getting any action from authorities, she grabs the little boy, along with her belongings, and heads north.

Patty is always looking over her shoulder since she has kidnapped the boy. In addition, she has no parenting experience and has many self-doubts about what she is doing with the boy. The child is non-verbal, so he provides no information about his previous life, including his name. She picks the name Troy for him. He also has a self-soothing practice of biting his hand until it bleeds.

She slowly establishes herself in the community and forms friendships with the owners of the hardware store where she works, her daycare provider, a waitress, and a children's librarian. Some of these people and their children have their own set of issues that they are working through.

The bad guys of the story are the company that is promoting the new town. They have built an amusement park and a new library with hazardous materials that eventually cause serious problems. 

I found the book interesting and kept reading to figure out how Patty and Troy were going to find their way. However, I grew tired of all the imagined conversations Patty had in her head. They served the purpose of exploring Patty's self-doubts well, but I think they were overdone. Eventually, I started to just skim them instead of reading them.

While the story wraps up with some happy endings, I was dissatisfied because other parts of the story were left unsolved. Maybe the author is hoping for a sequel?

Tyger by SF Said, Children's fiction (middle grades), 2022

Tyger won the British Book Award for Children's Fiction, along with several other awards. It was a bestseller, has been lauded by many, and has study guides available. If you want to know more than the brief summary I give here, just Google the book. There has been much written about it.

Tyger, a fantasy, takes place in a dystopian London with slavery and evil lords, who are especially cruel to any darker-skinned people.  A young Muslim boy, Adam, discovers a wounded mythical tiger in an abandoned warehouse and realizes it needs help getting back to infinity, or it will die on earth. Adam joins a girl named Sadie, and they work together to help Tyger.  

The Tyger guides them through different doors, heightening their senses to perceive things others can't. Eventually, there is a satisfactory conclusion to the story. (BTW, I'm often vague here because I don't want to give too much away, because when I read, I don't want to know much about the story.)

The story has a lot of cruelty as well as a tender relationship between the Tyger and the children. And there are plenty of heart-pumping action scenes. While this is not usually the type of book I enjoy, I did like this one, and I understand why it has gotten all the accolades that it has. 

Until next time...

Z is for

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

Over the past year or so, I have been writing book reviews here. They usually feature brief summaries and opinions of four books at a time. Before that, I would occasionally review just one book during a post. This book review post originally appeared in May 2013.

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Zero--a book review

This month's selection for my book club was Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. This is a nonfiction book that discusses the history of numbers and their place in society, focusing on the ever-important concept of zero and its partner infinity. Now, if you're not a math person, don't stop reading yet. Seife has a master's degree in math and journalism and takes a seemingly dry subject and makes it a very interesting read. He starts in the beginning with the use of numbers to count things and goes to the present day with string theory and such. 

First, let me tell you what background knowledge I brought to the book, so you can put my perceptions in context. I had the basic science and math courses in college, including physics, chemistry, and calculus. I didn't have any advanced courses in these areas. However, I am married to someone who reads math and physics books for fun, so if you can learn anything by osmosis, I should know a lot. I found the book an interesting read for several reasons.

I had never thought about the evolution of numbers and their use. I guess I just assumed that all of them had always been there, including zero. However, that was naive. They have evolved over time just as our scientific ideas have often hand in hand--which makes perfect sense if I'd ever taken time to think about it. Also, I had never thought about the beautiful or sinister (depending on your point of view) concepts of zero and infinity in a religious sense. There have been a lot of differing ideas of whether God created things from something or from nothing, and whether there is a beginning and an ending to the universe. Many men and societies survived or didn't, depending on their views on this subject and what was politically correct at the time. Also, the book reads like a who's who of the big players throughout time in the science and math world. However, Seife does more than discuss their math contributions. He tells about the life they were living and how their work affected their life. It is very much a history book in all of these ways.

Zero is also a math book. As Seife describes each new concept as it was discovered, he gives very understandable examples of that concept in everyday terms. He seems to have a real gift for this, and I think his examples could be used in the classroom to make things clear and relevant to students.

Now, after all of that praise, let me tell you the rest of the story. The book can be a quick and easy read. At least that was how it was for the math professor in our group. However, I found it a fast read if I didn't try to completely understand the examples or a tedious read when I was trying to understand them--especially toward the end when they were getting more complex.

What did the others think about Zero? Some commented that there may have been other sides to the story, especially in the religious context, than were presented by Seife. However, most of the other comments were favorable. They thought it was well written and the subject matter interesting. Out in the rest of the world, it has won awards and has gotten favorable reviews from most of the major newspapers.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, but I wouldn't call it a beach-read type book for the average person. I plan to read it again and savor all of the fascinating information it has to offer. (Especially when I have trouble sleeping.)

But wait, there's more:

In the latter parts of the book, it talks about many things that I have heard referenced on The Big Bang Theory. I now understand better what Sheldon and Leonard are often talking about.

But wait, there's even more:

If you want to know more details about the book, read here.

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Until next time...

Y is for You All

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

Below is a post describing the summer when I learned a little about the way I talk that I hadn't realized. This was an A-Z post in 2015.

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Y is for You All

I grew up in West Virginia, where there seemed to be a dividing line between the way people talked. To the north, people spoke more with a Midwestern/northern accent, and to the south, there was more of a southern accent. I actually saw a map once that showed this dividing line. From my experience, it made a lot of sense.

If you went one county north of me, you would hear a more Midwestern sound. Go one county south of me, and you would hear more of a country, southern sound. These variations also happened between towns to the more rural areas. I was a town kid living more to the north, so I didn't have much of an accent. Well, we all have an accent one way or another, but I sounded more like a news anchor than Ellie Mae Clampett. People have often been surprised when I tell them that I'm from WV. They think I should have much more of a southern drawl.

That was until I spent one summer in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I had just graduated from college, and before heading off to grad school, I was doing a summer of field work for the USGS (United States Geological Survey) there. After spending the day in swampy muck with almost unbearable numbers of mosquitoes, we spent the evening at the bar in the local fishing "resort" where we were staying. We made fast friends with the owners and several of the locals who hung out there.

One evening, Gary, one of the owner's sons, said that I had a very southern accent. He said, "You talk like this," with very drawn-out, twangy words. Very southern. He also said that I said, "You all." Well, I guess I did sound kind of southern to someone who lived much further north than I did. But I had never noticed that I said you all. I learned in English class that you could be both singular and plural, and that's the way I wrote it. I thought I talked that way also. I knew I didn't say the southern contraction Y'all, but I hadn't realized that I said a form of it.

That summer, I tried to stop saying you all and use you for both singular and plural, like I thought I was already doing. And I couldn't do it. If a group of people were standing around and I said, "Do you want to go to the movies?" I would wait for a minute and then had to add all so my meaning was clear, "Do you all want to go to the movies?" Without the all, I was afraid that they wouldn't understand that I was inviting all of them. That's when I figured out that in my world you is singular and you all is plural.

And that's how it's been ever since. Just like it was before. You is singular, and you all is plural.

What do you say? You, you all, y'all, youins, ...

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Until next time...

X is for Xeriscape

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

I didn't have much to choose from for the letter X from previous years. Here's one on xeriscaping that I did for the letter X during the A-Z Challenge in April 2021. Just in case you're not familiar with the term, xeriscaping is a gardening method that conserves water.

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X is for Xeriscape Vegetable Gardening

Fig trees like dry feet, so they would be good for xericaping.
(I know. Figs are a fruit, not a vegetable.)

 If someone had asked me if xeriscaping was compatible with vegetable gardening, I would have said no, at least not for the vegetables I'm familiar with. I would have been wrong. There are some vegetables that will do okay without lots of water. With a bit of poking around, I found information that will be useful to me while gardening here, even though, on paper, we have adequate rainfall. The problem is it's all an average, and we usually have a long dry spell at some point in the summer. Here are a few tips I learned about growing vegetables without much water.

Miss Lander's oregano

--There are many herbs that do well in dry conditions. Oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and lavender are some of them. Currently, I am not growing any herbs, but I have had good luck with oregano, rosemary, and lavender in the past. They thrived in the "plant and forget" environment I provided for them.

--Plant vegetables that mature quickly, so they will be ready before the long dry part of summer arrives. Good ones for this are radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, and beets. I have all of these growing now. I got them in earlier than last year, so maybe I will have a better yield before the warmer, drier weather sets in.

Miss Lander's sweet potatoes

--Okra, sweet potatoes, and muskmelon do well in drought. I won't be growing any of these since they're not my favorite.

 --Raised beds and/or well-tilled soil allow roots to grow deeper, so the plant will be less affected by no rain. We put in raised beds last year and tilled the soil below them before we filled them. The soil in them is a big improvement over the native rocky soil.

 --Mulching is a good way to retain moisture. We mostly use straw for this, and we have some leftover from last year.

 --Legumes do not need as much water as many vegetables. We're growing peas now, but not sure we will have room for any of the warmer weather ones. 

--Install a rain barrel to collect water to use later. Ward installed a rain barrel last year for my birthday. It has been very handy this spring for watering the new plants.

So how about that? I am already doing some of the things recommended for xeriscape gardening. I was just doing them to make things easier.

How much rainfall do you have where you live? What do you do about watering plants?

Sources:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/xeriscape/integrating-vegetables-and-herbs-into-the-xeriscape-garden.htm

https://www.rainharvest.com/blog/?p=474

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeriscaping#:~:text=Xeriscaping%20is%20the%20process%20of,eliminates%20the%20need%20for%20irrigation.&text=In%20some%20areas%2C%20terms%20such,smart%20scaping%20are%20used%20instead.

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Until next time...

W is for Wally Makes Soup

  April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,000 I have written.

I'm not into cooking, so recipes or food discussions are not a common feature on my blog. However, I do publish a recipe from time to time. Here is a post about a potato and ham soup that Wally made. This was originally published in March 2012.

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Wally Makes Soup

Wally likes to eat. No, let me correct that. Wally loves to eat. However, he doesn't like to cook. But today, he did just that. I asked him to help me with some potato soup by peeling the potatoes. One thing led to another, and in less than an hour, he had created a delicious potato ham soup.

True to the family tradition, he didn't follow a recipe. He looked at a couple of recipes, took inventory of ingredients on hand, and started cooking. For better nutrition, he added carrots and used low-fat cream cheese. He didn't use onions as a favor to Ward, and he added his own special optional ingredient at the end--Stubb's Spicy BBQ Sauce. The result was a very delicious soup that reminded me of scalloped potatoes with ham. I hope this successful cooking adventure is the beginning of a new trend.

Below are basic instructions for making the soup. Detailed recipe at the end.

Chop potatoes, celery, carrots, and ham.

Sauté celery, carrots, and garlic, then add potatoes and water. Cook until veggies are tender. Add cream cheese and ham.                                     

Garnish with cheddar cheese and/or Stubb's Spicy BBQ sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Wally's Potato Ham Soup

Ingredients:

Oil, 1 T

Celery, 2 stalks chopped

Carrots, 3 large chopped

Garlic, 3 cloves minced

Potatoes, 7 medium--5-6 cups chopped

Water, 4 ½ cups

Chicken bouillon cubes, 2

Low-fat cream cheese, 8 oz, softened and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

Ham, 2 cups chopped (¾ lb)

For garnish:

Shredded cheddar cheese

Stubb's BBQ Sauce, 1 teaspoon/bowl

Sauté celery, carrots, and garlic in oil until celery starts to soften.

Add potatoes, water, and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and boil until vegetables are tender. Approximately 10- 15 minutes.

Lower heat or turn off heat on electric range and add cream cheese. Stir until melted.

Stir in ham.

Note: I added a little of Stubb's spicy BBQ sauce into my bowl. It gave the soup just a hint of spicy hotness without overwhelming the other flavors.

My mom and dad just put a little shredded cheese on theirs.

Everyone was happy. I hope you like it too.

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Until next time...

V is for Velleity

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

Here is another repost from an A-Z Challenge in 2015. I could add a lot more to the list if I were writing this today. 😀

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V is for Velleity

You know how they say if you are really going to learn a new word, you need to use it. Well, a couple of years ago, I learned velleity, a new-to-me word that I thought was great. I could see using it on a daily basis. However, that never seemed to happen after the first week, and I forgot it until recently. So I'm going to take a stab at it again.
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Velleity 

Velleity---a noun that means to have a wish or desire to do something, but you are not interested in it enough to act on it.

--My desire to revamp the look of my blog was more of a velleity than a real plan.

--Velleity is what keeps me from cleaning up the pile on the bed in the guest room.

Can you think of a way you could use velleity in a sentence?

But wait, there's more.

Here's how you say velleity.
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Until next time...