a BOOK MEME!

I don't think I've ever participated in the "Tuesday 4 meme" but today's questions were all about books and being a book nerd, I decided to do this post while waiting for my kitchen floor to dry. 

To play along, head to this blog. 

1.  Would you tell us about a book you particularly enjoyed?

I have enjoyed most books I've read.  How about one from 2025:  I thoroughly enjoyed Heartwood. You'll have to click on the title to read why I liked it.  

2.  Do you have a favorite book series?  How about a favorite series when you were a kid?

I have several fave series I read:  The Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell.  I've read all of them in order and am currently on her 27th one that came out in 2022.  Not sure how I missed it that year.  There are two more that have since been written and the next one is on my nightstand from the library. I borrow books from the library. 

I also like the Mike Bowditch Game Warden series (set in Maine) by Paul Doiron. I have read the first 12k I believe. 

I love the Alex Cross series and have read all of those in order except the last one published.  The author is James Patterson. 

And I've completed the entire Harry Potter series as well as The Hunger Games. 

As a child I collected all the Happy Hollister books, Trixie Beldon books (oldest daughter now owns them), several Nancy Drew books (youngest girl has those) and I loved the Meg Mystery series (Oldest girl has them) and the Heidi books which are in my basement. As a teen I adored the Chronicles of Narnia. 

3.  Is there a book that you just did not like or one in which you just could get interested?

I could NOT get into Wuthering Heights in high school and I tried reading Gone Girl and couldn't get into it so returned it to the library,  but then when the movie came out on Netflix, I enjoyed it. Go figure. 

4.   Is there an author whose books you don't want to miss or one whose books you avoid?

The authors I tend to avoid is Diane Chamberlain and Suzanne Collins.  Their books are all the same in my opinion. The authors I gravitate towards are Lisa Wingate, Paul Dorion, Margaret Atwood, Patricia Cornwell, Camilla Lackberg, James Patterson (just his Alex Cross books and  sometimes his Murder Club novels), Tracey Chevalier, Tatiana de Rosnay (such GOOD historical fiction!!) Joy Fielding...among others.....

That's it for the Tuesday meme!

Happy Reading!

 

2026 Book Review #1:Black Woods Blue Sky

 

Wow.

I had discovered this author in 2013  when I read the book The Snow Child. 

This book will linger with you long after after you read the final page.

STORY SUMMARY

Birdie, a very young, single mom to Emaleen, aged 6, is often drunk or hungover. She tries to keep it together and sometimes she has to bring Emaleen to work with her.  She is a waitress at an Alaskan roadside lodge called Wolverine Lodge on the edge of the Wolverine River. Sometimes she also works in the bar late at night and has left Emaleen alone in the little cabin they rent.   Birdie has a tough life in a little tough wilderness town.  But...she remembers what life was like with her sister Liz growing up in the wilderness with their Grandma Jo. Birdie and Liz's mom abandoned them for Florida when they were just little girls. Grandma Jo now sometimes babysits for Emmaleen. 

Arthur Nielson is a very quiet man.  He is soft-spoken and has a facial scar and just one ear. He's a recluse who lives further up in the mountains and only comes down to the Lodge and town during the changing of the seasons. But...one day, he sees that Emaleen is lost in the woods and he brings her back safely to her mom.  Most of the town people avoid him, but to Birdie, he stands for everything she has ever longed:  running wild in nature. She finds herself falling for Arthur...as well as the land that he loves so well. 

Everyone warns Birdie about going to live with him in his cabin up in the mountains where is no electricity or plumbing. But Birdie and Emaleen move into Arthur's cabin on the far side of the Wolverine River.  Even Arthur's father, Warren, warns Birdie not to go. 

It is just the three of them in that vast black woods....far from telephones, roads and all human contact. But Birdie has come to believe that she is prepared.  And at first, it is very idyllic. They catch salmon together, pick berries, teach Emaleen to swim, and climb mountains high enough that it seems they can touch the beautiful blue sky. 

But very soon, Birdie discovers that Arthur is much more mysterious and dangerous than she could have ever imagined. And...."that a fairy tale like the Alaskan wilderness, can be as dark as it is beautiful". (taken from the book jacket cover).  

What happens to Birdie, Arthur, and Emaleen? Will they survive together? or does Arthur's true identity drive them apart? 

MY THOUGHTS

Wowza. This is a wonderful, beautiful story. It's kind of like an adult fairy tale. It's so well written and the plot so well developed with rich characters that I didn't want it to end. 

It's got themes of life and death; friendship and love; mother-daughter love....and the allure of the wilderness and the wild life.  It's about things we gain. And things we lose. It's about the pull of nature...particularly those wild places...the deep wilderness and the longings in each of us. 

It's about forgiveness and mercy. 

I found absolutely no editing errors in this novel. 

I highly recommend this book.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10. 

RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR FAVES

 

Here we are, in January of a new year.  

And another Friday to share FIVE of our  FAVE blessings from the past week. It's been a low-key week here....that lull between Christmas and regular routines beginning again on January 5th. To link up, head over to Susanne's site. 

FIVE FAVES

mid-day walks
my neighborhood

• WINTER WALKS: I do love walking outside in the fresh, winter air. As you can see, our area here in eastern New York doesn't have a whole lot of snow for snowshoeing (vastly different from western NY/upstate and the southern tier/finger lakes).  I'm thankful I had some good walks this past week although most of the time I needed layers due to the cold temps in the teens! Yesterday was just too cold for me, though so I stayed in after only making it halfway around the block!   I'm also thankful we had some sunny days to chase  away the gloomy ones. 

Smells like freshly brewed coffee!
I had it on the stove but moved it to the family room

reading and relaxing

• COZY AFTERNOONS:  Sunday was a total Sabbath for Dave and I.  We did go to church for the 11 AM service and had a wonderful conversation with our choir director who is like my third daughter (Hannah).  I had invited her to sit with us as she was alone.Her husband is in charge of Production so has to sit at the soundboard.  After church, we had leftovers from Christmas dinner and we spent the day reading (me), chatting, and drinking hot tea. Just about every afternoon this week, we have had a candle burning, books to read and just conversation. On the days Dave has had to work, I've enjoyed slowly taking down some Xmas decor and  chatting with friends on the phone.  I'm thankful our obligations have died down heading into the new year.  

Eagle View trail
in the midst of Peebles Island State Park 

• WINTER HIKE:  I really didn't expect to pop over to the state park and hike on Wednesday afternoon.  I had been at my hair stylist's to get a trim and my winter hikers and microspikes were in the trunk, along with my snowshoes. I always keep my trekking poles in the trunk and for some reason the other day I added the spikes and snowshoes. Well, I  drive through the state park to get home and decided spontaneously to try to hike. I put the spikes on the boots, grabbed both poles and off I went. SO thankful I had the microspikes because there was a LOT of thick ice on the trails. I ended up doing the short one, Eagle View, which is only a mile and that includes the out and back.  I  could have then taken a right and gone on the perimeter trail back to car but it was COLD. (24) so I called it a day.  The fresh air, quiet woods and pretty snow was nice though. I only saw 3 humans far ahead of me veer off to a  different trail and then I had  the one I was on all to myself. When I got to the end of it, I saw a woman walking two dogs on the perimeter trail.  Even though it was only 1 mile of exercise, I'm thankful I had the chance to do it. At least it was partly sunny! 

• MOVIE NIGHT:  Dave and I had an in-house date night last weekend and were thrilled to discover that the 2nd Downton Abbey movie was finally on Netflix. We watched the entire series on PBS back when we had cable and both girls were at home, and saw movie one at the movie theater with them. We don't like going out to the movie theater much due to the cost so we hadn't seen movie 2 which came out in 2022.  It was SO good. Now we will wait for the final movie to arrive to Netflix. I'm thankful for streaming services that have some good movies. 

• NEW YEAR'S EVE:  Dave and I had a very quiet New Year's Eve. Originally, I was planning on having some friends over for a party but they got the flu so it was just the two of us. Claire had to work until 7 and went home as she said she was tired. She's been fighting a head cold all week. Courtney and Tyler had their own plans. Dave bought some nice bubbly and I had one glass to welcome in the New Year.  He watched a movie on Paramount I wasn't interested in so I watched another episode of The Abandons on Netflix via my laptop. We spent a quiet evening and then by midnight we were both in bed. We chose to not watch the "ball drop" as in years past because in our opinion, it has gotten very trashy and just isn't all that great.  I'm thankful for a quiet evening at home. It must be the age as other friends texted me that they were doing the same thing! 

I hope you all have had a lovely, restful week.  We will be spending a few days in Plymouth Co MA and it will be nice to get away and have restaurants do the cooking. 

2026 GOALS

 

Definition of the word "resolution": a firm decision to do or not to do something. 

Definition of the word "Goal": the result or achievement towards which effort is directed. 

I've never been one to make resolutions for the new calendar year because they're so easily broken.  Because I've been trained in grad school to write IEPs (Individual Education Plans for special needs children or adults), I've tended to set goals with objectives for my self. As I've become older, now I just have generalized goals.  Here are mine for the new year, 2026. I actually met most of last year's goals minus two: I wanted to read 60 books this past year, but instead the number is 58.5 HA! and I wanted to host one couples game night and that also did not happen.  Oh well....here's to another year!

 PERSONAL PHYSICAL GOALS

• HIKE ON NEW-to-ME TRAILS: one in the Adirondacks, one in the Catskills, and one in Vermont. 

• WALK 2.5 MILES either Nordic style (new to me!) or brisk pace 4X WEEKLY

• COLLAGEN DAILY:  use 2 scoops of collagen daily in my morning coffee            

RELATIONAL GOALS

• CONTINUE TO HAVE DATE NIGHTS WITH DAVE  once a month

• MOM-DAUGHTER COFFEE/LUNCH/DINNER DATES:  Spring, Summer, Autumn

• MEET FRIENDS FOR COFFEE/LUNCH more often 

• PLAN AND HOST A GAME NIGHT this winter or spring

• PLAN a BEACH BASH BBQ for friends/family 

SPIRITUAL/MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH GOALS

• CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLE READING  (this is a daily devotional Bible)

• GO iPHONE FREE for one full day a month (decided on the first Sunday of each month) 

• LEAD at least 2 women's small groups for 2026 (Sweeter than Honey plus one more)

• MEDITATION/PRAYER/YOGA STRETCHES every morning

Hopefully I will meet at least most of these, if not all!

AND for those of you who missed it: my 2026 word of the year is Confidence based on Proverbs 14:26 (ESV)