Photo Wednesday

Sunset over the lake

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And my beautiful granddaughter

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Visit image-in-ing and Wordless Wednesday for more great photos.

Random Tuesday

Random Tuesday starts now.

Link up with Stacy

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 A couple of weeks ago, the news reported about a fugitive that had hidden in one of his neighbor's doghouse to evade arrest.  It caught my eye because it was only two neighborhoods away. They were operating a theft ring, apparently.  He was already on parole and was driving a stolen truck.  The police officers were nice enough to go back to the house later and repair the fence they had damaged during the arrest.  Let this be a lesson to our children... this is what it looks like to get caught hiding from the police in your neighbor's doghouse.

Link to story

Yesterday was busy for me!  I spent a long time in the kitchen.  I wanted to make a recipe called American gyros (using beef instead of lamb, which my husband isn't keen on).  Little did I know that it had to be formed, cooked, chilled, and grilled.  The whole process took over two hours!  But it was worth it.  I also made my own tzatziki sauce.

Link to recipe

I also made my first strudel cake.  We had a ton of blueberries, so I found a recipe for blueberry strudel.  It turned out pretty good.  I don't consider myself much of a baker.  That usually falls to one of two of our daughters, but it was good.

Link to recipe

I've also been trying to exercise some.  My former co-workers from school set up a Facebook group to give us some accountability.  Besides our miles we are supposed to get in through walking or biking, they have added some videos and other workouts to do.  The first one was called Tabata, and I'm going to link it here.  It was pretty tough.  And we have some really difficult ab work coming up.  I'll just do the best I can.  It's too hot to go outside and walk anymore, so I have to do something.

I still haven't gone to the salon, or anywhere really, but I truly need a haircut.  I'm not much of a do-it-your-selfer when it comes to my hair.  I've also been watching TV and coloring with my favorite companion.

And now...

I really hope you "get" this

Truth!

That's about right!

Another truth!

And then, there's this, my parenting style!

Have a great week!

Sunday Synopsis

The Widow by Fiona Barton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was recommended to me by a friend. While I liked it, it didn't blow me away.

The "widow" is Jean. Jean is married to a man named Glenn who has lost his bank job and become a delivery driver, a big step down in status. Jean is a hair stylist. A little girl goes missing from her garden (meaning yard, if you are American instead of British). It's all over the news. Jean blamed the mother, saying she would never have let that happen if she were the mother. The one thing she desperately wants is a child. Alas, Glenn is unable to father a child.

Glenn is one of three men under suspicion for the crime. They all were driving vans in the area the day Bella went missing. He gets arrested for the crime and goes to trial. Throughout this time, from the original suspicion until he is tried in court, and even after, the couple is hounded relentlessly by the press. Jean stands by her man, proclaiming his innocence and protecting his secrets, until...

The story is told in chapters based on different points of view. Glenn, Jean, the reporter, the mother, and the detective. The book also jumps around in time, for example, there is a chapter about the events of the trial, then a chapter about the days leading up to the crime. I don't mind the chapters being told from different points of view, but the hopping around in time can be confusing. I would have preferred chronological order.

I was not fond of the anticlimactic ending. Yet, there were parts of the book where I found myself riveted; others moved slowly. The author almost made it seem like the main character had multiple personalities, Jean and Jeannie, but I don't think that was intended. And since the book was set in England, you will need to get used to different terms they use such as tin, lift, biscuits, post, and so on.

Overall, I give it 3 of 5 stars.

View all my reviews

Random Tuesday

I'm linking up with Stacy for some random fun.

Another week of record high coronavirus cases in my state!  And a member of the family now has Covid-19, but she is home resting and isn't doing too badly, thank goodness.  She is a nurse at the rehabilitation hospital where my father-in-law spent a few weeks after breaking both his arm and his leg (at the same time).  Her husband is a nurse in an ER.  Another daughter is a nurse at a dialysis clinic.  They have all had patients with Covid, but so far, only one has it.  I still don't know if the health officials know why some patients have mild symptoms, if any, and others need hospitalization.

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My twins celebrated their 24th birthday over the weekend.  I could have sworn it was only 23, but I missed a year somewhere I guess! We weren't able to do much because of Covid, but we managed to have a little (safe) fun. 

I guess we are still going ahead with wedding planning for November.  If things don't change in the next 2 or 3 months, we will have to consider resetting the date.  I pray that doesn't happen!

And in case you didn't know, June 30 is "Meteor Watch Day,"  a day to look up at the skies and behold the wonder of nature's celestial fireworks, meteors.

Funnies anyone?

Ain't that the truth!

Channeling my inner English teacher

This actually caused some lively debate on Facebook!

This cracked me up!

I love a good pun!

And in honor of Meteor Watch Day...

Have a great week!

Thursday Thirteen

There's nothing like new technology to make you feel older than you are!  But we can turn that back on the young kids and say, "Do you know what basic is?"

1.  Basic - A very confusing computer language, or code, that I had to learn in my last year of college.  I never actually learned it.  I had help!  According to techterms.com Basic stands for "Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code." BASIC is a computer programming language that was developed in the mid-1960s to provide a way for students to write simple computer programs. Since then, the language has evolved into a more robust and powerful language and can be used to create advanced programs for today's computer systems.

2.  Dial-up.  Remember when you had to use your phone to connect your computer through a dial-up modem?  And that awful screeching noise?  If a page loaded in less than two minutes, we were happy!  According to royal.pingdom.com, the average website of today would take two minutes and thirty seconds to load on dial-up.

3.  5.25 floppy disk.  It could store 1.2 MB of information.
4.  3.5 disk.  It could store 1.44 MB of information.

5.  Dot matrix printers.  Some people who have specialized needs still use these, but most people use inkjet or laser printers now.

6.  America Online.  Young folks might ask, "what's that?"  It's still around, but probably not for long.  They are looking at merging with Yahoo.

7.  Netizen.  A citizen of the world wide web.  This is mainly known as digital citizenship now.

8.  Qwerty keyboard.  It's still a qwerty keyboard, but many young people are unfamiliar with this term.

9.  CPU. Central Processing Unit.  Not a common term anymore.

10. Typewriter.  Computers have taken the place of typewriters although you can accomplish typing on your computer.  It's just one of many things a computer can do.

11. Continuous stationery.  You know, the kind with the holes on each side?  Wikipedia says "Most continuous form paper is punched longitudinally along both edges with regularly spaced engagement holes that engage with sprocket wheels or toothed belts on the "tractor" which move the paper through the printer. It is usually perforated transversely with a line of closely spaced holes or slits which form a tear edge that allows it to be torn neatly into separate pages after printing; when fed through the printer the paper is simply a continuous sheet."

12. MP3 players.  This was a great little device that could hold lots of music and it was so small, you could take it anywhere.  But now, with smartphones and apps, an MP3 player is obsolete.

13. ICQ.  ICQ was an instant messaging service.  (I seek you). I heard it is making a comeback with newer and more sophisticated bells and whistles.

For more fun lists, go to Thursday Thirteen.