2022*2: Lizzie Loves to Read

This is a continuation of the topic 2022*1: Lizzie Loves to Read.

This topic was continued by 2022*3: Lizzie Loves to Read.

Talk75 Books Challenge for 2022

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2022*2: Lizzie Loves to Read

1LizzieD
Edited: Aug 8, 2022, 11:50 am



I'm a bit sad that this spring is not so exuberant. We've been very dry this year, but the azaleas and other spring flowers are doing their best in their own time.



2LizzieD
Edited: Sep 5, 2022, 11:28 am

READ IN APRIL
13. The Wizard's Butler (re-reread)
14. Death's Half Acre (reread)

Into the House in April
30. Bruno, Chief of Police - PBS
31. The Lady of Sorrows - Kindle deal
32. The Battle of Evernight - Kindle deal
33. Pilgrimage 4 - Stasia
34. Safe House - Stasia
35. A Memoir of Jane Austen - Stasia
36. Small Things Like These - Stasia
37. The Fell - Stasia
38. The Critic - Kindle deal
39. The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox - Kindle gift
40. The Talent Sinistral - Kindle

READ IN MAY
15. Elysium Fire
16. The Quiet Gentleman
17. Sand Sharks (reread)
18. The Stranger Diaries
19. Star of the Morning

Into the House in May
41. A Psalm for the Wildbuilt - Tor.com freebie
42. Unlocked - Tor bundle
43. An Unnatural Life - Same batch
44. The Postscript Murders
45. Love and Saffron - Stasia gift!
46. A Crime in the Neighborhood - PBS

READ IN JUNE
20. When All the World Was Young (reread+)
21. The Woman in the Library
22. City of Incurable Women
23. Legends and Lattes

Into the House in June
47. The Widow Queen - Tor freebie
48. East West Street - Kindle deal through BookBub
49. Pancakes in Paris - pretty much a Kindle deal
50. The Woman in the Library βœ”
51. Legends and Lattes βœ” - Kindle
52. The Initial Fold - pretty much a Kindle deal

READ IN JULY
24. Outlander (reread+)
25. Pilgrim
26. Christmas Mourning (reread)
27. Quarter Share (re-reread)
28. Half Share (re-reread)
29. Full Share (re-reread)
30. Double Share (Again! So sue me.)
31. Captain's Share (This should be different? Not!)

Into the House in July
53. A Novel Bookstore - PBS
54. Voices in the Dead House - Bellevue Literary Press, Molly
55. Sister Queens
56. Bridge of Sighs - PBS
57. Wreckage of Eden - AMP
58. American Meteor - AMP
59. The Lost Tudor Princess
60. The Library of the Unwritten - Kindle through BookBub
61. Quicksilver - Kindle daily deal
62. A Brightness Long Ago
63. Checker and the Derailleurs - PBS
64. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free - PBS
65. Out of Istanbul - Kindle through BookBub
66. American Elsewhere - Kindle Daily Deal

READ IN AUGUST
32. The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci
In Love with George Eliot - DNF
33. Owner's Share (probably letting this series rest for awhile)

Into the House in August
67. Border Keeper - Tor Freebie
68. The Alloy of Law - Tor Freebie
69. Celebrity in Death - PBS

3LizzieD
Edited: Aug 8, 2022, 11:54 am

OPEN FOR AUGUST READING


(Just because they're open doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to get to them this month - *sigh* - nor will I show here the quick little things I'm actually spending time in.)

4alcottacre
Apr 2, 2022, 12:14 am

Happy new thread, Peggy!

I was dropping by to thank you for your recommendation of Spoon River Anthology. I finished it tonight and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thank you!

5LizzieD
Apr 2, 2022, 12:21 am

I'm delighted that you liked it, Stasia. I'm not sure when I discovered it, but I've loved it for a long, long time. I used it in some American Lit classes with good learning, I thought.

6alcottacre
Apr 2, 2022, 12:25 am

I did not realize when I started the book that it was all in free verse, so that made me hesitate since I am not a poetry fan. I am glad I read it despite my reservations.

7LizzieD
Apr 2, 2022, 12:37 am

YAY! By the time I taught (!) it, I had spent enough time with it that I could group students with overlapping stories. I think that they really enjoyed seeing events and the feelings about them from differing POVs. AND they got to read a little poetry.

DEFINITIONS

A man is an animal split half way up and walks on the split end.

A martyr is a pile of wood set on fire with a man on top.

Nausea is the name of an island in the Egean Sea.

An octopus is a person who hopes for the best.

A panacea is a temple dedicated to all the gods.

A parasite is the murder of an infant.

Pedantry means pride in the way you walk.

A plagiarist is a writer of plays.

Possession by spirits means feeling like the devil.

A proselyte is a woman of the streets. (From a Vassar senior.)

Quarantine is a four-masted ship.

Romantic is a Roman being loyal to Rome.

The Royal Mint is what the King grows in his Palace Gardens.

A ruminant is an animal that chaws its cub.

"Rural" is the opposite of "senile."

Sirens were in the middle of the ocean. Nobody could come near them they made so much noise.

8PaulCranswick
Apr 2, 2022, 1:07 am

Happy new thread, Peggy.

>7 LizzieD: Love them and they remind me of the Ventriloquist Playwright who tried putting the words in your mouth whilst having his hand up your ass.

9quondame
Apr 2, 2022, 1:09 am

Happy new thread!

>7 LizzieD: I'd best rusticate soon!

10FAMeulstee
Apr 2, 2022, 3:36 am

Happy new thread, Peggy!

I decided to postpone the next Wheel to May, already overcommitted this month. So the last Wheel probably will be read in July, if it is available at the library.

11msf59
Apr 2, 2022, 7:24 am

Happy April, Peggy. Happy New Thread. I like the topper. I am also impatiently waiting for warm sunshine and spring like color.

12karenmarie
Apr 2, 2022, 7:45 am

Happy new thread, Peggy! Your azaleas are gorgeous.

13LizzieD
Apr 2, 2022, 9:42 am

Happy Saturday Morning, dear friends!!! Thank you for warming my thread.
Karen, that is a picture from an earlier spring. They're not going to be so pretty this year.
Welcome, Mark! We are having a spring right now. Sometimes we go from winter to summer without one.
Anita, if you do get to the last *Wheel* in July, maybe we can read it together. I'm sort of putting it off.
Susan, and Paul, faithful laughers! I count on both of you for a grin first thing.

Wordle 287 2/6

⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 WOOO! HOOO! Readers unite!

14lauralkeet
Apr 2, 2022, 12:38 pm

>13 LizzieD: Congratulations on your Wordle score, Peggy! I have had a few 2s (including today -- wooo! hooo!) and they are always such a surprise.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

15drneutron
Apr 2, 2022, 7:37 pm

Happy new one!

16figsfromthistle
Apr 2, 2022, 8:52 pm

>1 LizzieD: What beautiful spring blooms!

Happy new thread :)

17LizzieD
Edited: Apr 3, 2022, 12:16 am

GOOD for us, Laura!!!!! I haven't had a few twos; this is the second. It's always a surprise and luck in one way or another for me.
Thank you, Jim.
Many thanks for the visit, Anita.

LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND THE ARTS

As well as real actors and actresses there are those who we go to see for charity. These are called immature.

The dome of St. Paul's is supported by eight peers, all of which are unfortunately cracked.

An interval in music is the distance from one piano to the next.

Mandolines are high officials in China.

Andrea del Sarto was not quarrelsome, while his wife was of the opposite sex.

Contralto is a low sort of music that only ladies sing.

Mephistopheles was a Greek comic poet.

First to thine own self be true,
Thou can'st then be false to any man.

In what circumstances does the fourth act of Hamlet begin?
It commences immediately after the third act.

Many of Shakespeare's works have been dramatized.

Sir Francis Bacon founded the Atlantic Monthly.

King James I wrote the Bible.

Macaulay was quite unable to appreciate Dr. Johnson's experiences, because Johnson was very poor, while Macaulay lived amid all the extravagance and lust practicable in a private household.

Benjamin Franklin went to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm.

(I start to chuckle at the altos and am laughing out loud by the works of Shakespeare.)

18quondame
Apr 3, 2022, 1:22 am

Well they do say that you can get away with lying to anyone but yourself. Pockets could be quite capacious in the 18th century.

19karenmarie
Apr 3, 2022, 9:40 am

Hi Peggy!

HOW β€˜BOUT THEM HEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>19 karenmarie: An interval in music is the distance from one piano to the next. My fav.

Beautiful day, isn't it? We were lucky to have good weather both days of the book sale, too.

20LizzieD
Apr 3, 2022, 9:53 am

Good morning, Susan and Karen. The word of the day should be EUPHORIA!!!!!

Wordle 288 4/6

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21LizzieD
Apr 3, 2022, 11:07 pm

MISCELLANEOUS

The explorer realized finally that he was lost - yes, lost in the wiles of Africa.

Capital punishment should not be used too frequently in schools.

His notoriety was perpetuated by his martial relations with his actress wife.

The witness was warned not to purge himself.

Name a five-letter word meaning a heavenly body with a long, luminous tail.
Angel.

To make a tail-light red, you put red oil in the battery.

My brother was kicked because he was wicked in the seat of his pants.

A certain man drew his bow at a venture, but missed the venture and hit Ahab.

A deacon is a mass of inflammable material placed in a prominent position to warn the people.

Writ of Habeas Corpus means a man is not allowed to commit adultery without permission of the court.

Letters in sloping type are in hysterics.

The most interesting feature of the zoo was the largest ape in capacity.

22PaulCranswick
Apr 3, 2022, 11:13 pm

>17 LizzieD: So Ben Franklin looked up to Tom Thumb?!

>21 LizzieD: In Egypt in my early twenties, I had a gorgeous Somalian gf in the days before pirates and religious zealotry, so I can certainly associate with the wiles of Africa comment.

23quondame
Apr 4, 2022, 12:12 am

>21 LizzieD: Missed adventures, wily Africans, and capacious apes are certainly note worthy, but I'd sure like some of that red oil that only works on rear lights.

24LizzieD
Apr 4, 2022, 9:35 am

Good morning, Paul and Susan! Always happy to see you here!!!!!
One of these days I may have read something that lets you speak of books!

Wordle 289 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nice to get to use this word at last. I tried it first rather than the answer some weeks ago. If I had made my second guess first, would I have gotten it in two?

25karenmarie
Apr 4, 2022, 10:18 am

Hallo, Peggy, and happy NCAA Men's Championship Day to you!

We will, of course, be watching, and I might even make a bowl of popcorn with unsalted butter and a teensy bit of salt for the festivities. Wouldn't it be something if Davis could pull this off against Kansas???

Congrats on Wordle in 3.

26SandyAMcPherson
Apr 4, 2022, 10:29 am

Hmph, I posted a few observations from seeing your book list with Martin Walker's title, Bruno, Chief of Police. But it never appeared down here...
Anyway, it's a series I'm enjoying since I was given that title for Christmas. I hope you get to it soon. It's a lovely gentle read.

27LizzieD
Apr 4, 2022, 11:26 pm

Karen, I can't watch, and I can't keep from checking the score. I'm going to type my page and leave now. NERVES!!! (And I think that a bowl of popcorn is justified.)

Sandy!!!! I'm totally tickled to see you!!!! I can't remember where I heard about *Bruno* (here among the 75, of course), but I'm glad that you are liking the series.

SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND HEALTH

The big toe is sometimes called the pedagogue.

To cure a cold:
Take a Catholic, go to bed, and cover up well.

To stop blood from flowing from wound in leg, wrap the leg around the body above the heart.

Often when people are drowned you can revise them by punching in their sides but not too hard. This is called resurrection.

To relieve a fainting person lay them on their back until conscience returns.

To be strong and healthy you must eat several vermines every day.

When a person does not take an anesthetic before an operation they remain conscientious.

The way people contract consumption is as if a well man spits and the sick man sees the well man spit, well the sick man thinks he has a right to spit as the well man has to spit so he spits, so it is not well for any one to spit.

Hydrophobia has almost entirely destroyed smallpox. It is made from a rabit dried and ground into a powder.

Natural immunity is being able to catch a disease without the aid of a physician.

The Natural Sciences are: Byosophy, Histeria, Geomaphy, Cystonemy, Asstonemy, Cemetary and two others.

28quondame
Apr 5, 2022, 12:55 am

>27 LizzieD: No wonder there is so little health literacy! I prefer pagans for warmth, but tastes vary. My big toe is the painagogue.

29alcottacre
Apr 5, 2022, 12:57 am

Have a wonderful week, Peggy!

30LizzieD
Apr 5, 2022, 9:37 am

Sorry about the big toe, Susan.
Good morning, Stasia!!! Wonderful week to you too...... I'm doing my mother's taxes. It's not difficult, but I have about three seconds of patience before the language of the instructions drives me wild.

Wordle 290 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I like this trend a LOT! hoist, learn, natal

31karenmarie
Apr 5, 2022, 11:19 am

'Morning, Peggy!

:(

Congrats on your Wordle 3. I'm impressed by how you got there.

I'm off to work out on the treadmill, boo hiss, then will enjoy our first book club meeting in 2 years. We'll be choosing books and confirming day of week/time change. Fun stuff!

32LizzieD
Apr 5, 2022, 11:24 pm

Hey, Karen. One of my book club has been meeting this whole year. The other one is going to have its first meeting this month. I won't be at either of them.

Off to bed. I do nothing all day, and it wears me out!

MISCELLANEOUS

The sewing machine has helped to develop the United States because now we can have clothing all the year round.

The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up.

Monarchy is, of course, the best type of government. But tyranny, on the other hand, is the most corrupt and abdominal.

The judge was very kind. He asked the deceased if he had anything to say.

Horse racing is a very cruel sport. At the end of the race the horse drops dead from fatigue, and the rider is pitched into maternity.

After visiting relatives for a few weeks, a tornado destroyed several small towns in the neighborhood.

My father's early life was hard as he had a step father who owned a butcher shop. At five he was up and in the slaughter house killing some kind of meat-bearing animal. He was about fifteen when he sold meat from a wagon and a girl used to ask him for a piece of balony which later proves to be my mother.

A phlegmatic person is one who has chronic broncitis.

The first man who went to the Crusades was Robinson Crusoe.

33quondame
Apr 5, 2022, 11:28 pm

>32 LizzieD: I'd bet that judge was ever so tired of lawyers and client and needed a break. I guess the monsoons and the hurricanes had put on a great reunion for the tornado.

34LizzieD
Edited: Apr 6, 2022, 2:07 pm

Maybe the judge just wanted a word from the most intelligent person in the room. (I had a student who wanted to be a funeral director and wrote a paper on the job referring every time to "the decreased.")

Wordle 291 6/6

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🟨🟩🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Go, Grammar Girl!

35karenmarie
Apr 6, 2022, 10:03 am

Hi Peggy!

>32 LizzieD: Ah, I’m sorry you won’t be at your book club meeting, but understand why. I was a bit leery of going maskless, took a mask, but when our immunocompromised Diane (lupus) wasn’t wearing a mask, I didn’t put it on. Another member, Judy, was wearing a mask; she’s also immunocompromised but with a whole host of other things going on, too, and her grandchildren to think of – she spends every afternoon with them.

Yay for clothing all the year round. It would be cruel and unusual punishment for folks to have to look at most of us sans clothing.

I got Wordle in 5. Brain rot contributed.

36quondame
Apr 6, 2022, 8:00 pm

>34 LizzieD: Could it have been a cut and paste artifact or was that before computers were household items?

37LizzieD
Apr 7, 2022, 12:37 am

Hi, Susan. Computers were maybe household items for more affluent kids. This was her own spelling. I need to look for other bits from that paper. It was memorable, but I've forgotten!

Karen, I'm really glad that your book club met again and that you felt comfortable without the mask. We haven't had a COVID death here in two weeks - first time in two years! We are also green on the NYTimes map: AMAZING!

DEFINITIONS

The Salic Law is that you must take everything with a grain of salt.

A sinister is an old maid.

A taxidermist is a kind of thick fog.

An unbridled orgy is a wild horse.

Acrimony, sometimes called holy, is another name for marriage.

The Acropolis was the she-wolf that nursed Romeo and Juliet.

Ali Baba means being away when the crime was committed.

Ambiguity means having two wives living at the same time.

Ambiguity means telling the truth when you don't mean to.

An antidote is a funny story that you have heard before.

Explain the word "asset."
When you are making out an acount and you subtract the smaller from the larger amount. That is called assetaining the difference.

A buzzard is the inside of a fowl.

38quondame
Apr 7, 2022, 2:04 am

There seems to have been a good bit of assetaining going on. I always bring bridles to orgies, though not always spurs.

39LizzieD
Apr 7, 2022, 9:34 am

Morning, Susan. Hmmm.

Wordle 292 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 If I had tried my second word first, would I have gotten it in two???

40karenmarie
Edited: Apr 8, 2022, 9:46 am

Hi Peggy!

>37 LizzieD: I’m so glad there haven’t been any deaths in 2 weeks in your town? county? So far we’re dodging the newest variant as compared to Europe. Your county is also low on the CDC’s county map, as is are mine and Jenna’s. I just posted their map for the US on my thread, and at least for right now, it’s mostly green.

>39 LizzieD: Congrats. It took me 5.

41LizzieD
Edited: Apr 8, 2022, 9:46 am

Morning, Karen. Yes, it's wonderful to see so much green!!!!! What a gorgeous day to be green in!!!!!!!

Sorry about last night's Boners. I went straight to bed when I got home and slept for about nine hours.

Wordle 293 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I won't complain.

42karenmarie
Apr 8, 2022, 9:50 am

'Morning, Peggy! I got it in 4 today, too. No complaints at my end, either.

It's a beautiful day. I need to get going instead of playing around on LT. My cleaning guy is coming in an hour. Brekkie, a bit of straightening, and a bit of thinking about what I want him to work on today have moved up the list.

43richardderus
Apr 8, 2022, 9:57 am

...only a week late...well, here now, dropping off a weekend-celebrating *smooch*

44LizzieD
Apr 9, 2022, 1:11 am

Dear Richard, you are always more than welcome here, and I'm not keeping score! *smooch* right back for the weekend!

Good night, Karen! I'll be checking to see whether your day lived up to your expectations for it. Mine did. I was lazy, but I did get Mama's federal taxes done, and it wasn't so fearsome after all.

This is the best group in the world! I just got a wonderful box of books from Stasia, who bought them, read them, and didn't want to keep them. I'm thrilled!

PERSONALITIES

Grace Abounding was one of the mistresses of Charles the Second.

Achilles was invulnerable except in hell.

I would like to have known Mark Anthony because he must have had a very weak will and must have been a lovemaking man.

Arnold Bennett was a traitor during the American revolution.

Samuel Butler was the President of Columbia College. He wrote The Way of All Fish.

Oliver Goldsmith thought America was a wild country where he might run across a snake in the jungle or be detained by a tiger.

Robert Browning married a sick person named Peaches, but after a while she got well enough to go on the stage and have a baby.

Al Capone is the senator from California.

~ AND ~

MISCELLANEOUS

Napoleon presented Josephine with a jewel case which had her entrails engraved upon the lid.

The four principle occupations of people are, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, all the morons moved to Utah.

He played the part of the Englishman fine, but he would have looked more natural with a molecule.

Mrs. Smith has given $10,000 to build a home for the indignant women.

Large deposits of guano are found in Anatole, France.

An alien becomes a citizen by the process of fertilization.

Newspapers are useful for the reporting of calamities such as deaths, marriages, and the like.

As she is going to be married next month, she is very busy getting her torso ready.

Heredity is a bad thing and it ought to be prevented.

45quondame
Apr 9, 2022, 2:04 am

>44 LizzieD: $10,000 will barely fix the paint after the indignant women express themselves. The torso must be in good repair and complete to get the most from the wedding.

46LizzieD
Apr 9, 2022, 10:03 am

Good morning, Susan. I'm always amused by what strikes your fancy. I had to google RB & EBB to learn that he called her his little Portuguese. Ah. Peaches.

Wordle 294 3/6

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yippeeee!

47karenmarie
Apr 9, 2022, 10:22 am

Hi Peggy!

>44 LizzieD: Yay for getting your mama’s taxes done. And yay for books from Stasia.

Samuel Butler was the President of Columbia College. He wrote The Way of All Fish. Hmmm. I have his The Way of all Flesh on my shelves, must acquire the livelier-sounding one.

48quondame
Apr 9, 2022, 7:28 pm

>46 LizzieD: Well, most nights it's one of the last comments I read and I summon whats left of my mind, never knowing what will reply. Last night was later than most, the award dinner keeping me out until past my usual sign off time.

49richardderus
Apr 9, 2022, 7:36 pm

Oh my god!!
Napoleon presented Josephine with a jewel case which had her entrails engraved upon the lid.
I can't decide whether to laugh or drink kaopectate to soothe my stomach....

50LizzieD
Apr 10, 2022, 12:40 am

Good night to Karen, Susan, and Richard. Your comments and presence are most welcome here!!!
Richard, please laugh. Susan, keep your comments coming! Karen, I think "Fish" may be more entertaining than "Flesh."

As for reading, I confess to having reread The Wizard's Butler just because I needed something soothing. I sink right into the early chapters and enjoy Mulligan's preparation of the first breakfast tray for Mr. Shackleford and all the help of The Butler's Bible. I'm not so enamored of the cursed amulet, but I read it anyway - and I'm done again. I read a little of Remote Sympathy today and hope to like it. I read a bit of Star of the Morning and am liking Lady Hester Stanhope a lot! (Stasia, Lucy, Roni and I will be reading it, but I need as much head start as I can get. They'll all pass me in a day.)

MISCELLANEOUS

When we got there our trunk hadn't arrived, so we had to sleep in something else.

Queen Elizabeth was a vurgin queen, and she never married. She was so fond of dresses that she was never seen without one on. She was beautefull and clever with a red hed and freckles.

The jockey lost two of his teeth when his horse fell, and had to be destroyed.

Our forefathers are not living as long as they did.

"John Drinkwater" is the name given to the people of the United States by the English people since Prohibition. It used to be Uncle Sam.

Ploughmen wear guitars round their legs while at work.

At Roman banquets the guests wore garlics on their heads.

It is estimated that at least 3000,000 suffer from some form of abnormal psychology.

It was a very cold day. The feet of the arm of the law were frozen.

The army sat down on one hand and stood up on the other.

Annual flowers are used at wedding and birthdays. Perennial flowers are used for funerals.

t was raining cats and dogs and there were poodles in the road.

(I've often admired the spelling and other mechanics of these students of the 30s and 40s. The spelling in the entry about QE1 is much closer to the level I was accustomed to.)

51alcottacre
Apr 10, 2022, 1:59 am

>50 LizzieD: Stasia, Lucy, Roni and I will be reading it, but I need as much head start as I can get. They'll all pass me in a day.)

It might take me two :)

52LizzieD
Apr 10, 2022, 9:50 am

Stasia, you're too modest!

Wordle 295 4/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Fine with me!

53karenmarie
Apr 10, 2022, 9:53 am

Hi Peggy and happy Sunday to you.

Took me 4 today, too. It's a gorgeous day, breezy, clear Carolina blue skies. Will I go out in it except to put suet in the feeder and grocery shop? Probably not, but this is the type of spring day I like. Except the pollen, of course.

54quondame
Apr 10, 2022, 8:21 pm

>50 LizzieD: Those are some army maneuvers! It's good to know the language of flowers to avoid misspeaking.

55LizzieD
Apr 10, 2022, 11:37 pm

Good night to you both, Karen and Susan.

SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND HEALTH

A grasshopper has three pair of wings - anterior, posterior and bacteria.

A grasshopper passes through all the life stages from infancy to adultery.

The law of gravity was enacted by the British Parliament.

The dog came bounding down the path emitting whelps at every bound.

Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, veins and caterpillars.

General Smuts are what all the different black races are called in the north-western quarter of Africa.

A focus is a thing like a mushroom, but if you eat it you will feel differently from a mushroom, for focusses is poison.

Rhubarb is a kind of celery gone bloodshot.

If anyone should faint in church put her head between the knees of the nearest medical man.

The principal parts of the eye are the pupil, the moat, and the beam.

A cat is a quadruped, the legs, as usual, being at the four corners.

To keep milk from turning sour you should keep it in the cow.

(I apologize for the Africa one: 1931)

56quondame
Apr 11, 2022, 12:59 am

>55 LizzieD: Well that will wake up the medical man! Poor cows not being able to express themselves just because the master insisted on fresh milk!

57drneutron
Apr 11, 2022, 9:11 am

>55 LizzieD: I guess I still have the adultery stage to look forward to... πŸ˜‚

58karenmarie
Apr 11, 2022, 9:22 am

'Morning, Peggy, and happy Monday to you!

>55 LizzieD: All are marvelous, but I did laugh out loud at The dog came bounding down the path emitting whelps at every bound.

I got Wordle in 3 today. I am proud.

59LizzieD
Apr 11, 2022, 10:08 am

Morning, Karen, Jim, and Susan!
Poor dog! I don't think I'm ever going to get to the adultery stage, Jim.
Poor cows indeed! Being a medical man is a fraught existence for your!

adieu was certainly the best first word this morning. I didn't use it.....

Wordle 296 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

60karenmarie
Apr 11, 2022, 10:12 am

I'm a creature of habit, Peggy, and always use adieu. Sometimes it serves me well, sometimes it lets me down.

61LizzieD
Apr 11, 2022, 11:52 pm

I like the fun of thinking of words I haven't tried yet, but I'm about at the end of my vocabulary.

So tired and sleepy. I love you, but I'm going to bed... well, maybe one or two..

A chiropodist is a man who trains birds to sing.

LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND THE ARTS

Allegory is a form of literature in which virtues are made vices.

A lyric is something written to be sung by a liar.

A mask is a kind of literature that starts in the middle of a story and ends with someone dying.

The three types of the sonnet are the Spenserian, Shakespearean and Pedestrian.

The two Shakespearean plays I read were Romeo and Juliet.

Tell all that you know about Keats.
I don't know anything. I don't even know what they are.

Shelley's most famous poem is "Adenoids."

The moral of the Ancient Mariner is "Obey the Fish and Game Laws."

(In a paper on sentimental characteristics of the age of Cowper)
The line from Cowper, "children not thine have trod my nursery floor" shows the prevalence of bastardy in the age.

(((Keats is my favorite in the whole book.)))

62quondame
Apr 12, 2022, 12:32 am

>61 LizzieD: As opposed to being played on a lyre. OK.

63LizzieD
Apr 12, 2022, 9:45 am

Morning, Susan! ---- or played by a liar.

Wordle 297 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Better than 5 or 6 ---- My second word would have been a much better first choice: tired, arson, roach, royal.

64richardderus
Apr 12, 2022, 10:11 am

>55 LizzieD: Rhubarb is a kind of celery gone bloodshot.

...now that you mention it...

Happy week's reads, Peggy! *smooch*

65LizzieD
Edited: Apr 13, 2022, 9:41 am

Good morning, Richard, and happy rest-of-the-week reading to you too! *smooch*

Apologies for the missing boners. I went straight to bed when I got home last night. Maybe tonight will be better!

Wordle 298 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I surprised myself.

66karenmarie
Apr 13, 2022, 9:46 am

'Morning, Peggy! I hope you have a good day.

>61 LizzieD: The Keats one is refreshingly honest.

>65 LizzieD: Congrats on your Wordle result, it took me all 6.

Looks like 85F for you and 83F for me today. It's ridiculous.

67richardderus
Apr 13, 2022, 10:16 am

>65 LizzieD: Me in three, too! It was another "it's one of two..." and it was the second one.

I was infuriated and appalled to discover that my nemesis, who must not be named, hit my review of a favorite book of mine with a copyright strike (claiming to my blog-host that the review I posted was not mine to post, but theirs)...in the context of finding out that my library system didn't renew the ebook license on any of Kimmery Martin's titles!!

It's been an irritating day. I can't fix the library thing but I did fix my blog and FINALLY posted my review of The Antidote for Everything here, too. What a good read that was...I forgot to notice the w-bombs she dropped all over me, I was so absorbed!

68LizzieD
Edited: Apr 14, 2022, 12:24 am

Thank you, Karen. If history is any indicator tomorrow or Friday, I'll have a 6 and you'll have the 3.
Richard, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. I wish for both your sakes that she could just let you go, and the fact that she can't points to more brokenness than I can contemplate. Peace to you. Let her go. *BIG SMOOCH*

DEATH'S HALF ACRE by Margaret Maron

This is one of my least favorites. The key to the mystery, a missing flash drive, is embarrassingly obvious although who-dunnit isn't. (Or it wasn't to me. It's been a long time since I read this one.) As usual, Maron is spot on in her reading of the South and the real estate market and local politics. I read these for Deborah and her family, however, and somehow that focus was lacking for me. On to the next!

Oh! I was about to forget!!!

MISCELLANEOUS

The tides are caused by little animals in the sea.

A mountain pass is a pass given by railroads to their employees so that they can spend their vacation in the mountains.

When a ship passes the 180th degree of longitude, Saturday becomes Sunday.

The Chinese wear shoes that are bent up, which makes the shoes go chatter.

Mount Everest is in Europe, although it has only lately been contained in the Alps.

The chief wild animals of North America are jaggers and lepers.

Holland is a place noted for building wooden ships, because there are often floods which come very quickly and the people have not time to build iron ones.

The government of Siam is an absolute monarchy, which is a good thing for the king of Siam.

Gibraltar is a strait on the west coast of France. It is famous for beautiful rock. It is about one mile wide and five miles long. The English people took Gibraltar and they placed a great many guns there. There are a great many people at Gibraltar called apes. And the other people are very proud of them because they are the only apes in Gibraltar. It is said they came from America.

69alcottacre
Apr 14, 2022, 1:02 am

>68 LizzieD: Sorry to hear that your last read was not better for you. I hope the next one is!

70quondame
Apr 14, 2022, 1:32 am

>68 LizzieD: The big marine animals are such slackers! Oh, I guess Napoleon did take over Spain even though he didn't get rid of those pesky English entrenched at Gibraltar.

71LizzieD
Apr 14, 2022, 9:44 am

Good morning, Stasia and Susan!!!
*D'sHA* isn't really bad, but I expected so much more from Maron. Usually she delivered.
Well, Susan, they're almost all apes anyway......

Wordle 299 4/6

⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh well. The old "choice of two, pick the wrong one" trap.

72karenmarie
Apr 14, 2022, 9:51 am

'Morning, Peggy!

You had a 4 and I completely blew it. Oh well. As I wrote on my thread, not enough coffee, not enough brain.

I'm sorry that this Maron wasn't up to her normal standard for you. Series do seem to go like that, though, don't they?

How nice of the railroads.

73LizzieD
Apr 14, 2022, 11:51 pm

Good night, Karen. I'm sorry you lost it and am grateful for my 4. It's such a crap shoot, really.

Series do have ups and downs. Other people may like this one a lot. I'll be on to the next pretty quickly.

Boners --- Some of these seem very familiar to me but some don't, so I'll copy this page and go to bed!

PERSONALITIES

Robinson Caruso was a great singer who lived on an island.

Chiaroscuro was a painter of the realistic school. Very little is known of his works.

Chopin was the King of Japan.

Catherine the Great's husband was hung by her supporters.

Cromwell was thrown from his horse, suffered a fracture of the Feudal System and died of it.

If it were not for Madame Curie and her husband there would be no radio today.

Jefferson Davis was put into government bonds for awhile but was afterward redeemed.

What disease did Oliver Goldsmith die of?
The book said that he died of pecuniary embarrassment.

Marquette and Joliet were two lovers in one of Shakespeare's prominent plays.

Methusalah was the snake in the Garden of Eden.

Florence Nightingale was a French opera singer, who sang to the soldiers during the French and Indian War.

Thomas Paine was a rare individual obsessed by common sense.

Polonius was a mythical sausage.

74quondame
Apr 15, 2022, 1:07 am

Now they're calling Henry XIII a horse!

75LizzieD
Apr 15, 2022, 9:53 am

I confess that you've lost me with this one, Susan. Thomas, not Oliver Cromwell????

Wordle 300 6/6

🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
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🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 My poor brain saw an I as a good letter, and the second attempt was the devil's own time trying to make some sense of it. I like my 4th try though. I had made a list of the words that could be made by changing the 4th letter and was able to eliminate 3 possibles, which let me at least complete the thing in 6. Whew. aisle, totally unnecessary guessinane, phase, drive, shake, shame

76richardderus
Apr 15, 2022, 10:07 am

>75 LizzieD: Me too, with the 6! I had the combination of right-place letters S_A_E that meant I had darn near infinite possible combinations. I was so relieved to see "Phew" this time, I can't tell you. It's my 76th game played, as well as the 300th overall.

What disease did Oliver Goldsmith die of?
The book said that he died of pecuniary embarrassment.

...in a curious way, this is exactly right...

*smooch*

77LizzieD
Edited: Apr 15, 2022, 1:55 pm

>76 richardderus: Getting by is getting by, right? I'll look for glory somewhere else - or not. (My game 74, I think.)

Wonder how the teacher graded that OG question?

*smooch*

78alcottacre
Apr 15, 2022, 3:08 pm

Happy Friday, Peggy!

79quondame
Apr 15, 2022, 6:19 pm

>75 LizzieD: Yes, Thomas.

80LizzieD
Apr 16, 2022, 12:07 am

Hi, Susan and Stasia!!! I wish you both a happy weekend. We had another lovely day, and my DH and I celebrated it in two walks. He has discovered *Now Hear This* that shows up on PBS in *Great Performances*. What a fun show! I watched *Beethoven's Ghost* today and was completely absorbed.

I learned how to get a DVD out of the case tonight after killing a new one. Costly lesson!

HISTORY

When the British got up in the morning and saw the Americans on the opposite hill they threw up their breakfasts (breastworks).

The Constitution of the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility.

The Articles of Confederation, although on its last legs, managed to stand on the question with statesmanlike dignity.

Blockheads were the part cause of the War of 1812.

How many wars were waged against Spain? Enumerate them.
Six. One, two, three, four five, six.

What part did the U.S. Navy play in the war?
It played the Star Spangled Banner.

The courts of the United States are Superior, Nuptial and high courts.

There are two methods of becoming an American - to be born one and to be neutralized.

In the middle Ages the Pope had very great sexual powers.

Medieval commerce was carried on chiefly in Venice. She sent her sailors all over the world.

81quondame
Apr 16, 2022, 12:54 am

>80 LizzieD: Well domestic hostility is still the vogue, so I guess that can be counted as a success. Aren't blockheads always the casus belli? No brainer.

82LizzieD
Apr 16, 2022, 9:59 am

Morning, Susan. Agreed!

Wordle 301 6/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
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🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 If you forget the double letter possibility, you deserve 6.

83karenmarie
Apr 16, 2022, 10:22 am

β€˜Morning, my dear Peggy, and happy Saturday to you.

>73 LizzieD: So many good ones! My favorite, simply because it’s of the South, is Jefferson Davis was put into government bonds for awhile but was afterward redeemed. Not redeemed to this Westerner, I’m afraid.

>80 LizzieD: Ooh, ooh! I’ve just found Now Hear This on YouTube. Thanks.

What part did the U.S. Navy play in the war?
It played the Star Spangled Banner.

*smile*

>82 LizzieD: Glad you didn’t get skunked. I got it in my typical four, although I don’t forget getting skunked earlier this week.

84LizzieD
Apr 17, 2022, 12:49 am

Hi, Karen. I'd like to get back to three or four, but I'm glad to have pulled yet another one out.

I get to/choose to read a very, very little these days: some Elysium Fire and some Star of the Morning. I'm not likely to conflate those two!!!!!

DEFINITIONS

William Tell shot an arrow through an apple while standing on his son's head.

A buttress is a woman who makes butter.

Celibacy is the crime a priest commits when he marries.

Celibacy was a unit of land in the Mohammedan system.

A compliment is when you say something to another which he and we know is not true.

A connoisseur is a person who stands outside a picture palace.

A deacon is the lowest kind of a Christian.

Double dealing is when you buy something wholesale and sell retail.

"Dour" means a sort of help, as in the hymn, "O God dour help in ages past."

A epistle is the wife of an apostle.

Faith is the quality which enables us to believe what we know to be untrue.

The Feudal system was that if one man killed another, the an in the family of the murdered could kill the murderers.

(Hmmm. Faith and Compliment are more closely related that I thought.)

85quondame
Apr 17, 2022, 1:14 am

And a flying buttress is a food fight! Those apostles sure sent their wives all over the place.

86LizzieD
Apr 17, 2022, 10:01 am

Morning, Susan. Heh heh heh.

Wordle 302 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 At least it wasn't 6.

87richardderus
Apr 17, 2022, 5:28 pm

>86 LizzieD: Mine was. *grump*

Faith is the quality which enables us to believe what we know to be untrue.

...explaining neatly why I have none. Thank you, long-dead student!

88LizzieD
Apr 17, 2022, 11:35 pm

Good evening, Richard, and a *smooch*. Sorry about the six. I used to have a pretty good assemblage of 3s and 4s, but no more. Oh well.

MISCELLANEOUS

Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they always look like umbrellas.

The pineapple is the fruit of the pine tree.

The cow gives us milk. A young cow is called a calf and gives us jelly.

The left lung is smaller than the right one because the soul is located near there.

The spinal column is a bunch of bones down your back to show feeling.

An axis is an imaginary line on which the earth is supposed to take a daily routine.

The international date line runs through the middle of the Pacific Ocean and causes day and night.

Lack of vegetation on the desert is caused by Heredity.

Hindus are natives of India. They wear turbines around their heads.

Alaska is an advantage to the United States because there is a dollar's worth of precious metal there.

Most of the houses in France are made of Plaster of Paris.

Gibralter is a rock near Spain. Nobody claims it and so it doesn't belong to them. England owns it. It is important because people stand on top of it and watch ships.

89quondame
Apr 17, 2022, 11:41 pm

>88 LizzieD: Gibraltar again, and not even claimed by the apes! Yep, vegetation is heredically opposed to being parched, unless it isn't.

90LizzieD
Apr 18, 2022, 9:48 am

Morning, Susan. My friends had somebody to work on their damaged storm windows. He said, "The humility has gotten between the panes." You have to watch that too.

Wordle 303 3/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟩🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Whew! I'm back once. I just wish I had used my second word trail first, but 3 is a relief!

91richardderus
Apr 18, 2022, 11:21 am

>90 LizzieD: Clearly you had more FLAIR than old 6-but-still-streakin' here does.

Happy week-ahead's reads, Peggy!

92LizzieD
Apr 18, 2022, 12:06 pm

Streak away, Richard. This begins to look like a fluke for me.

93alcottacre
Apr 18, 2022, 2:29 pm

Have a wonderful week, Peggy!

94LizzieD
Apr 18, 2022, 11:42 pm

You too, Stasia!!! I'm going to trot over to Lucy's thread to see where everybody is with LHS. If her life were in a novel, I'd suggest that the author try to be a little more realistic. Honestly!!!!!

GEOGRAPHY (Some of these feel like ones I've copied before, but others seem fresh.)

Oceanica is that continent which contains no land.

There is a great deal of nothing in the center of Australia.

Asked to name six animals peculiar to the Arctic regions, a boy replied: "Three bears and three seals."

Latitude tells you how hot you are, and longitude how cold you are.

The Menai Straits are crossed by a tubercular bridge.

Sienna is famous for being burnt.

The climate of Bombay is such that its inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

The sun never sets on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West.

The trade of Spain is small, owing to the insolence of the people.

The Esquimaux are God's frozen people.

The sun sets in the west and hurries round to the east to be in time to rise the next morning.

Name three animals peculiar to the frigid region.
The lion, the giraffe and the elephant would be peculiarto the frigid region, but the polar bear, the seal, and the walrus live there.

95quondame
Apr 18, 2022, 11:55 pm

>94 LizzieD: I'd hate to be on a tubercular bridge when it coughed!

96karenmarie
Apr 19, 2022, 8:20 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy. Happy Tuesday. Carolina blue skies and only getting up to about 60F suits me much better than the hot weather we had last week. We got about 2" of rain yesterday, much needed, but it prevented me from going grocery shopping. Maybe today.

>84 LizzieD: A epistle is the wife of an apostle. I’d forgotten that, silly me.

>88 LizzieD: And the award for best imagery goes to Hindus are natives of India. They wear turbines around their heads.

>90 LizzieD: Yay for your 3.

>94 LizzieD: One of my favorite crayon colors ever! Sienna is famous for being burnt.

97LizzieD
Apr 19, 2022, 9:51 am

Good morning, Karen and Susan! So many funnies! I like that residents of Bombay don't live there.

Wordle 304 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Back to 5. I knew I couldn't do another 3, and I had to think of a consonant-heavy word for 4 to avoid trying 3 wrong ones from my list of 8. I half-suspected the right one would be the word as soon as it entered my mind, but I let it hang around there a bit anyway.

98Whisper1
Apr 19, 2022, 10:55 am

Happy Spring Peggy! While it is cool, and the branches of the tall trees are swaying, it is so good to see white clouds in the sky, and the green of the leaves of my cone flowers working their way up, up from the groung.

Happy da to you my dear, sweet friend!

99LovingLit
Apr 19, 2022, 5:45 pm

I love all the Wordle images this thread boasts! I definitely look forward to my morning Wordle then Quordle :) I missed BOTH yesterday, and it irked me. (Don't worry, I soon got over it.)

>75 LizzieD: I love the use of 'aisle' as the first guess, genius. I favour 'reach' or 'choir' these days.

100richardderus
Apr 19, 2022, 6:40 pm

>97 LizzieD: Oh, well. It marked death to my streak. I'm MOST vexed. I am even waxing wroth.

>94 LizzieD: Latitude tells you how hot you are, and longitude how cold you are.

...!!!...

101LizzieD
Apr 19, 2022, 11:15 pm

Richard, I'm sorry that you are waxing wroth. I know how much Wroth hates to be waxed.

Hi, Megan!!!! No way am I going to try Quordle!!!! Wordle takes up way too much of my attention and morning as it is. I also spend a lot of time through the day trying to think of better first and second words. 'reach' and 'choir' are on my list. I like to try different ones every day, but I don't think it makes much difference.

DEFINITIONS

An incinerator is a person who hints bad things instead of coming right out and telling you.

Maneuver is what they put on grass. We have maneuver on our lawn.

A mosquito is the child of black and white parents.

A wugwump is a bird that sits on the fence with its mug on one side, and its wump on the other.

An octoroon is an eight-legged, pink spider, same as octopus.

Oracle: a volcano giving amphibious answers.

Ostracized is when an ostrich sticks his head in the sand when he thinks someone is coming.

An Oxonian is a man who drives a pair of oxes.

Parallelpipeds are animals with parallel feet.

A pedagogue is a place where Jews worship.

A Philanderer is a person who gives money freely to charitable and needy institutions.

Sanhedrin was a Jewish virgin who went up to Jerusalem every year to be circumcised.

A seminary is a place where they bury the dead.

102quondame
Apr 20, 2022, 12:13 am

>102 quondame: The octoroon oracle ostracized an Oxonian, while the parallelpiped pedagogues were philandering in Sanhedrin's seminary.

103LizzieD
Apr 20, 2022, 9:39 am

Oh.My.WORD! Good morning, Susan! Try saying that three times in a row.

Wordle 305 6/6

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I never, ever miss sorting the 4 common vowels in the first two tries. I experimented this time. Yikes. At least I still have my streak.

104karenmarie
Apr 20, 2022, 10:24 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy! Another beautiful Carolina day, isn’t it?

>101 LizzieD: Too many to single out – lots of laughing out loud up here.

>103 LizzieD: Whew! Glad you didn’t lose your streak. I got it in 5, but it was pretty painful, and I used a yellow letter in the same place.

105richardderus
Apr 20, 2022, 10:27 am

>103 LizzieD: Well, experimenting is always a risk. Streak being alive = good. I was a 5er today, and very pleased indeed not to get another X.

A pedagogue is a place where Jews worship.

A Philanderer is a person who gives money freely to charitable and needy institutions.

Sanhedrin was a Jewish virgin who went up to Jerusalem every year to be circumcised.

A seminary is a place where they bury the dead.


I hurt. It hurts. Ow...but so, so funny!

106LizzieD
Apr 21, 2022, 12:57 am

Loving greetings to you, Karen and Richard! I fear that I'm about to finish the book of Boners, but I have other funny things in mind - but not as consistently funny as this has been.

MISCELLANEOUS

Before the Australian ballot the candidates were all different sizes, shapes and colors.

What is being done to conserve the forests of the U.S.?
The government is making the trees waterproof and fireproof.

The most important political parties are the Democrat, Republican, Socialist and Polygamist.

In a limited monarchy only one man can be king at a time.

A U.S. Senator must not be an inhabitant of the state in which he lives.

The United States Government has built jails and penitentiaries for the wild life of America.

It is the duty of the Governor to beg all pardons and fill the empty seats in the House.

The salary of the president is 17 million dollars and the cabinet officers 10 million.

As the forty-niners traveled west they were beset by famine and disease; many left their bones bleaching on the plains behind them.

The Pilgrims were opposed to the weather and many of them died.

107quondame
Apr 21, 2022, 1:01 am

Doesn't surprise me, as the pilgrims were well known for their opposition to many inevitable things. It's best to put limits on the number of kings as they get even more troublesome in multiples.

108richardderus
Apr 21, 2022, 9:31 pm

>106 LizzieD: The United States Government has built jails and penitentiaries for the wild life of America.

...don't know if I should laugh, or wince, or...

109LizzieD
Apr 21, 2022, 11:30 pm

What???? Where is my morning post with my Wordle? Bother. I think I got it in 4.

Hi, Susan and Richard. I'm too tired to do anything more than the page tonight. Thanks for visiting.

MISCELLANEOUS

One reason for the discovery of America was to see if they could cross the equator without melting.

Lloyd George is now king of England. He is known in history as George V. The premier of England was Borah, but he resigned because too many troubles had arisen.

The English did not like Napoleon because he said they were just a nation of shopkeepers and at a place called Waterloo they charged him over and over again until he had lost everything.

The Boer War was a pig fight put on for the pleasure of Louis XIV.

England's entrance into the war in 1914 was justified in every way. There had long been a feeling of hostility between England and Germany. Great Britain's entrance partially at least settled that feeling successfully.

Henry VIII had ten wives almost, but he didn't live with them all at the same time or in the same place.

The regular clergy lived in apiaries.

It is important to study History in order that we may learn all about our descendants.

After Caesar's conquests he settled down and became Emperor of Rome, but he did not tell the people.

All of Gaul is divided into three parts and the Belgians inhabit the fourth part.

110quondame
Edited: Apr 22, 2022, 6:22 pm

>109 LizzieD: I guess the irregular clergy isn't buzzed enough. The Belgians do insist on their individuality.

111LizzieD
Apr 22, 2022, 9:52 am

Ha, Susan. HA! Regular clergy have enough to make them need to stay buzzed.

Wordle 307 4/6

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨
🟨⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I'll take it. Just for your info.: my 4 guesses are now equal to my 3 guesses. sitar, talon, leant (!), plant

112karenmarie
Apr 22, 2022, 10:44 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy! I hope you have a good day. Please give your mama a gentle hug from me, and give your DH my kindest regards. Lots of hugs for you, of course!

>106 LizzieD: As the forty-niners traveled west they were beset by famine and disease; many left their bones bleaching on the plains behind them. One of my g-g-grandfathers was a 49’er although he was back in Illinois by 1854, marrying my g-g-grandmother. No family fortune was made, alas, as he was in the 1855 Nebraska census as a carpenter.

>109 LizzieD: It is important to study History in order that we may learn all about our descendants. It always amazes me how many people use ancestors for descendants and descendants for ancestors, not just people who get quoted in a Boners book.

>111 LizzieD: What an interesting first word to use. I’ll stick with adieu.

113LizzieD
Apr 22, 2022, 2:11 pm

Good afternoon, Karen. Hugs returned to you and Bill. Hope both of you are feeling better today.
Agreed about the misuse of ancestor/descendant. How did that happen? I don't recall seeing it until 5 or 10 years ago. I think I remember about your g-gf's try at prospecting. What an interesting man!

We've had our Earth Day experience on our mid-day walk. I didn't step on a little green snake in the street, still miraculously alive. My DH picked him up and carried him to the river side of the street, put him in a vine, and we watched him shimmer off into the trees, headed for the water. Yay!

114karenmarie
Apr 22, 2022, 2:42 pm

Hi Peggy! Bill and I are both doing well today, thank you. I wish I'd met g-g-grandfather Robert Hopps.

Yay for rescuing the little green snake. I have to laugh, because when Alex my house cleaner came in today, he moved the mat just inside the Sunroom door, and jumped about a foot when he saw what he described as a "huge lizard". Well, not so huge, and it was a skink, no doubt brought in by the kitties and hiding. I used the mat to nudge it outside, so we've both rescued critters today.

115LizzieD
Apr 23, 2022, 12:31 am

Glad that you and Bill both had a better day, Karen. HUGE LIZARD made me laugh too. One summer when I worked at the new, local pool, a poor black snake got into the "office." Although the manly coach and his jock minions were there, I was the one who had to get him out, which I managed with a broom handle.

HISTORY

The king has power to decompose the Pope.

Elizabeth used to throw her spinsterhood into the sea of European politics.

Queen Elizabeth was a very wise, good queen, and so she never married.

In 1470 Elizabeth had an indisposition from the Pope.

Scottish kings always used to live at Hollywood.

The young Pretender fled to the He-Brides, and one of them, named Flora MacDonald, lent him her clothes.

Cromwell's real failure was that he thought Englishmen better than they really were, but before he died he found out his mistake.

William the Third came to the throne by the Act of Circumcison.

The Duke of Marlborough was a great general who always commenced every battle with a fixed determination in his mind to win or lose.

In the reign of George the Third people were beginning to think more about farming. A plain farmer named Bakewell taught the people how to improve the breeds of sheep so that many more legs of mutton could be got off a sheep than ever before. As there was more meat there were more people to eat it, and the population became a great deal larger.

116quondame
Apr 23, 2022, 2:24 am

Bakewell was one talented farmer. I wonder if the larger population was grateful for their girth.

117karenmarie
Apr 23, 2022, 8:27 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy!

Ah, poor macho men and snakes. None of the three of us have Ophidiophobia, and as long as it’s not venomous, we’re all quite capable of getting them out of wherever we don’t want them. We have copperheads in the back pasture – I once tried to run one down while on the riding lawnmower but it hydroplaned over the grass away from me, darn it.

I got Wordle in 3 today – a rarity. I was pleased.

118LizzieD
Apr 23, 2022, 9:37 am

Wordle 308 2/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I'll float around all day! orate, olive

Congrats on your 3, Karen. I used to get them in 3 every now and then, but they've been rare on the ground. This is only my third 2. I love it!

I may get zero at the bone when I first see a snake, but I'm strictly live and let live. I remember very clearly being in the backyard when I was 3 or 4 and starting to kick at a rope on the ground. It sat up and rattled at me. I turned around, walked calmly away, and told my mom, "There's a big old snake in the backyard." Brave Mama killed it with a hoe. Yikes!

Morning, Susan. I'm a descendant of the He-Brides who settled this little piece of NC. Flora MacDonald's son is buried in the county.

119karenmarie
Apr 23, 2022, 10:10 am

Wow, two! Brava.

Cool hand Peggy, calmly walking away from a rattlesnake. I love that your mama killed it with a hoe.

120LizzieD
Apr 24, 2022, 12:52 am

Good night, Karen! I'm sort of appalled that Mama killed it with a hoe. In my memory it was not a small snake. We were in the country at that time without a phone. If she had been bitten, I don't know what we would have done.

I continue to read Star of the Morning and Elysium Fire. I can hardly imagine two more dissimilar books. I should be reading City of Incurable Women for ER, and when I pick it up, I'm intrigued. So little time these days!!!!!

DEFINITIONS

God's Own Country is Heaven.

Gorilla warfare means when the sides get up to monkey tricks.

Gravitation is that if there were none, we should fly away.

A Home is where you live with your loved ones and a House is a big mansion on a hill with plenty of trouble.

An ibex is where you look at the back of the book to find out anything you want.

Ibid was a famous Latin poet.

Icons are what you fatten pigs on under oak trees.

Inertia is the ability to rest.

The Inquisition was a play presented at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella.

An Irish bull is a male cow.

A juvenile is what King Saul threw at David when he was playing the harp to him.

The Kodak is the Bible of the Mohammedans.

The "last supper" is the sacrament administered to a dying Catholic.

121quondame
Apr 24, 2022, 1:28 am

>120 LizzieD: My inertia is unrivaled.

122richardderus
Apr 24, 2022, 8:42 am

>120 LizzieD: Icons are what you fatten pigs on under oak trees.

Sadly not, though that would be a better use for them.

I Wordled in 4 today!

123karenmarie
Apr 24, 2022, 8:47 am

'Morning, Peggy!

>120 LizzieD: An ibex is where you look at the back of the book to find out anything you want. *smile*

124KaitlynDowie
Apr 24, 2022, 9:12 am

This user has been removed as spam.

125LizzieD
Apr 24, 2022, 9:45 am

Good morning, Susan, Richard, and Karen.
Susan, I've had more practice with inertia than you, so I expect that I excel.
That deep ends, Richard. I did 4 too.
Heh. I think I would have been a good indexer; it's been a secret ambition for the last 15 years or so - rather too late to try for a career!

Wordle 309 4/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟨🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

126Oregonreader
Apr 24, 2022, 3:21 pm

Hi, Peggy, I'm back after a slow start this year. But I've got time and energy now and so happy to be here. I also do Wordle every morning and, while I've had a couple of 6's and even a 2, I typically get it in 4 or 5.
I'm also enjoying your definitions. I need a good laugh every day!

127quondame
Apr 24, 2022, 5:32 pm

>125 LizzieD: While I don't want to make it a competition, my involuntary retirement just over 21 years ago did give me a head start in becoming sessile. I have left California a few times on family related matters in those years, so I can't claim to have gone nowhere, peripatetic I'm not.

128LizzieD
Apr 24, 2022, 11:57 pm

JAN!!!! It's more than lovely to see you back here. I'm glad that you're Wordling too. It gets my brain started. I'll look forward to seeing what you're reading these days.
Susan, I've never, ever traveled anywhere. When we married 50+ years ago, my DH said, "I have everything in the world I want right here. Why would I go somewhere else?" I'd love to travel, but I love more being here with him. Now, of course, I can't.
I 'm about to be at the end of the Boners book. I do have in mind a sort of replacement. We'll see.

BIBLE, RELIGION, AND MYTH

What was the first sin that came into the world?
Eve.

A graven image is one maid with hands.

"Our Father, which are in Heaven, Harold be Thy Name."

The Pharisees were a sex of the Jews.

The names of the three wise men are Winken, Blinken and Nod.

When the servants arrived at the house where Peter was staying, he was on the roof braying.

Blessed are the weak in heart for they shall see God.

Write what you know of the Last Supper.
I was away for that. I had the measles.

In ancient times people must be the same religion as the king. If not they were killed. This was called Religious Toleration, but now it is not.

The prevailing religion of England is Hypocrisy.

Northumberland encouraged extreme protestantism i.e. window breaking.

Another result of Methodism was that Peace was raging throughout the country.

129quondame
Edited: Apr 25, 2022, 1:25 am

>128 LizzieD: Oh dear, I remember being horrified by the young man I worked with in the very early 70s who sort of bragged about never having left the San Fernando valley - not even to go to the beach which was, as traffic sometimes permitted in those days, 30 minutes away. Not that I'm much of a traveler, but I have been to a few part of Europe over the years.

Well, since we're so often punished for being women I suppose it must be a sin. Isn't hypocrisy a universal religion? Can't have the English hogging it, that would surely spark some window breaking.

130LizzieD
Apr 25, 2022, 9:51 am

Good morning, Susan. I was only now thinking about hearing my comment, barely acknowledged at the time, coming back to me from the same man as though it were his long-held insight.

Wordle 310 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟩🟨
🟨⬜🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Really? No great insight here.

131karenmarie
Apr 25, 2022, 10:00 am

Hi Peggy! Happy Monday to you. Wordle gets my mind going first thing, too.

>128 LizzieD: Raging peace is not a bad thing at all.

132alcottacre
Apr 25, 2022, 11:28 am

Have a wonderful week, Peggy!

133LizzieD
Apr 25, 2022, 11:24 pm

Hi, Karen and Stasia! We could use some raging peace, I think. It might make a more wonderful week for all of us!

DEFINITIONS

Mastication is what the Italians do with their hands when they talk English.

A millennium is something like a centennial, only it has more legs.

Mistletoe is a man who hates all mankind.

Monasteries were places where monsters were kept.

The Moratorium is a big ocean liner.

An octogenarian is an animal which has eight young at a birth.

Prophylactic means to bear young in large numbers - a rabbit is said to be prophylactic.

The Psalms and psaltry are words the minister uses for spasms and plaster.

Pseudonym is the state or condition a poet gets into just before writing.

Puerility is a state of being pure, like virginity, although puerility does not necessarily indicate virginity.

Purgatory - a place where those go who are too good to go to heaven and too bad to go to hell.

A requiem is a mass meeting of the dead in a Catholic church.

134quondame
Apr 25, 2022, 11:42 pm

Some one is in danger of committing octo-puerity if they don't straighten up their notions of prophylactics.

135LizzieD
Apr 26, 2022, 9:55 am

Yikes! What a thing to read first thing in the morning, Susan!!

Wordle 311 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh well. 5 is better than 6 or none. I'm not sure what I could have eliminated after my first word. adore, tiles, stein, exist, heist

136quondame
Apr 26, 2022, 4:29 pm

>135 LizzieD: Sometimes I just catch your list before signing off for the night - and almost missed one because I only checked back after remembering some library hold checking I needed to do. Now if you posted earlier in the day you could face the responses to absurdity before trying to get some sleep - though I'm not sure that would help. This way you have all day to erase the impact!

137LizzieD
Apr 26, 2022, 11:25 pm

Hi, Susan. I do these when I can, but we're about to run out. Here's a short one because I'm tired again.

SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND HEALTH

A cow has two teats, one for cream and one for skim milk.

The order of mammals that monkeys and man belong to is the pirates.

A cow is an animal having 4 legs, 2 horns and a tail. It has skin all over the outside which is covered with hair. It has skin all over the inside which is called tripe.

Centipedes are insects that are found by the hundreds while millipedes are found by the millions.

A calf is a calf until it has a calf and then it's a cow.

The earth makes a resolution every 24 hours.

The bottom of the sea is composed of clay and fine sentiments.

138quondame
Apr 27, 2022, 12:54 am

>137 LizzieD: Well, monkeys are good at swinging from the rigging and we're proven thieves, so that's pretty on target. I hope all those *pedes aren't found anywhere I'm settled.

139LizzieD
Apr 27, 2022, 10:06 am

Good morning, Susan. Can't argue with either of those statements although we're likely to have *pedes around here.

I"ve just heard that my ENT man has died, and I'm shaken.

Wordle 312 4/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Trust me not to get the obvious in 3.

140karenmarie
Apr 27, 2022, 11:23 am

Hi Peggy!

>133 LizzieD: Every single one of those sounds like someone came up with the definition while on serious mind-bending drugs.

>139 LizzieD: I’m sorry about your ENT, Peggy.

141LizzieD
Apr 28, 2022, 12:39 am

Thank you, Karen. Apparently, he committed suicide. Two weeks ago he said he'd see me in July. We weren't friends, but I had been in his practice for at least ten years.

A calf is a calf is a cow........... Somehow that doesn't have the cachet of a rose and G. Stein.

PERSONALITIES

Pilate was one of the Roman procreators of the Jews.

Ptolemy was a greek scientist who discovered the cause of ptomain poisoning.

Will Rogers led the settlers of Rhode Island.

Shakespeare was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday.

Robert Louis Stevenson got married and went on his honeymoon. It was then he wrote "Travels with a Donkey."

Queen Victoria was the only queen who sat on a thorn for sixty-three years.

Booth Tarkington was the assassin of Lincoln.

President Wilson firmly believed in open convents openly arrived at.

Cardinal Wolsey died on the back of a mule, while riding to his own confinement.

Yom Kippur was a general in the Japanese army.

142LizzieD
Apr 28, 2022, 12:48 am

I just read this from the Knopf Poetry daily email in April to which I subscribed years ago. I loved it so much that I had to copy it here. Enjoy!!!!

"At Aunt Kawee’s House in Oklahoma"
by Jasmine Mans

She woke up out of her
sleep, saw them, and
yelled to those angels
from the bottom of her
throat!

β€œGet away from that bed!”

And those angels left,
empty-handed,
they left.

143quondame
Apr 28, 2022, 12:55 am

>141 LizzieD: Was Pilate trying to make up for Herod's killing off all those babies?

144lauralkeet
Apr 28, 2022, 7:06 am

Peggy, I'm so sorry to read about your ENT. That must have come as quite a shock.

145LizzieD
Apr 28, 2022, 9:45 am

Morning, Laura and Susan.
Wonder what kind of dreams Pilate's wife had about that!
Thank you, Laura. Lots of shock in town.

Wordle 313 5/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I see one unnecessary step for me, but this was really about the best I could do. aisle, nosey, pesky (the bad choice - I thought it was more likely than testy), testy, zesty

146karenmarie
Apr 28, 2022, 9:52 am

Hi Peggy!

>141 LizzieD: Even worse – dying unexpectedly is horrible, but suicide is way worse. Poor man to feel so hopeless.

Smiles for the Personalities, especially Will Rogers leading the settlers of Rhode Island.

>142 LizzieD: I like it.

>145 LizzieD: My Wordle journey this morning was somewhat different, but I also went for testy before zesty and arrived at the same 5.

147LizzieD
Apr 28, 2022, 11:33 pm

A quick good night! I just read an email from our church's choir director saying that "several" (whatever that means) choir members have tested positive for COVID, so the choir will not sing Sunday. Y'all be careful!!!!! Its not over.

HISTORY (I hope this isn't a repeat.)

The government in Athens was a democracy. In Sparta it was an allegory.

The Persians outnumbered the Greeks because they had more men.

What was the Age of Pericles?
I'm not sure, but I reckon he was about forty.

Rome was overthrown by invasions of the Huns, Visigoths and Osteopaths.

The cause of the great Schism was that the Pope had his head in Rome and his seat in Avignon.

The Pope declared Luther's writings to be hereditary.

The result of the Reformation was that the people could choose either to be Catholics or pugilists.

The Russians were once ruled over by a Samovar, but later by a dumba.

Mexico was conquered by Kotex.

The edict of Nantes was a law passed by Louis XIV forbidding all births, marriages, and deaths in France for a period of one year.

148alcottacre
Apr 29, 2022, 12:30 am

>139 LizzieD: Sorry to hear about your ENT doctor, Peggy.

>147 LizzieD: What is Kotex going to do with Mexico, I wonder?

149quondame
Apr 29, 2022, 1:00 am

>147 LizzieD: It's the Osteopaths that'll do for you. O my aching joints or maybe that I'm descended from pugilists. We don't talk about K***x, no, no, no.

150LizzieD
Apr 29, 2022, 9:31 am

Morning, Susan and Stasia! It doesn't do to speculate long.

Wordle 314 2/6

🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I could talk some, but I surely won't.

151karenmarie
Edited: Apr 29, 2022, 10:42 am

Two? Two!??!!! Well, brava to you. I got my usual four.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

We've just had two three nearby explosions - loud enough to shake the house and have friend Louise call me twice. We have no idea what they are, although the propane company on the corner two driving miles away but about one mile away as the bird flies was burning off gas from one of their tanks yesterday. Nothing on the police scanner, though.

152richardderus
Apr 29, 2022, 9:08 pm

>150 LizzieD: Mine was three, happy with that fer sher.

Queen Victoria was the only queen who sat on a thorn for sixty-three years.
...no wonder she looked so pruney...

*smooch*

153LizzieD
Apr 30, 2022, 12:37 am

Hi, Richard and Karen! You're such a fabulous duo! I confess that I really, really like to get 3 for Wordle. I think that number shows real logic and intuition at play.

SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND HEALTH (Again, we're almost finished, and this may be a repeat.)

There are two kinds of thermometers: the Fahrenheit and the Centipede.

A gas jar was held upside down and a candle was put in. When it was in it was out, and when it was out it was in.

Explain the effect of heat and cold and give an illustration.
Heat expands: in the summer the days are long.
Cold contracts: in the winter the days are short.

Sound is a rapid series of osculations.

The Voltaic Cell was invented by a Frenchman by the name of Voltaire.

Iron was discovered because someone smelt it.

The moon is a planet just like the earth only deader.

What happens when there is an eclipse of the sun?
A great many people come out to look at it.

Three heavenly bodies are the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

What is the dog star?
Rin-tin-tin

The four seasons are salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

A triangle which has an angle of 135 Β° is called an obscene triangle.

154quondame
Apr 30, 2022, 12:53 am

>153 LizzieD: Those Centipedes are ubiquitous. I've encountered a few obscene triangles myself.

155LizzieD
Apr 30, 2022, 10:09 am

Centipedes and angels, Susan. What goes on in the minds of children??? Yep. Obscene triangles and circumcised circles....

Wordle 315 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not the world's best first and second words...... route, snail, larch, larva

156richardderus
Apr 30, 2022, 10:33 am

>153 LizzieD: The four seasons are salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar. Well, yeah...good lookin' out, Search!

The one about smelt it shows its Britishness, no? And the Centipede one is obvs American...half the fun is seeing if I can get these little details!

I think you'd like this list I found on Digg, Peggy: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341279#7825298

*smooch*

157karenmarie
Apr 30, 2022, 10:52 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy!

I’d never heard of using dynamite or some other big bang explosive to get rid of beaver dams, and it makes me very sad. That’s what friend/neighbor Louise’s call to 911 yielded – dynamiting beaver dams. It’s not against the law, apparently.

>153 LizzieD: Oooh, I’d love to start using the Centipede thermometer.

What is the dog star?
Rin-tin-tin

Thank goodness I wasn’t sipping my coffee on that one.

158LizzieD
May 1, 2022, 12:45 am

I haven't really heard of using dynamite against beavers either, Karen. Sounds like literal overkill to me.
Good night, Richard. You see that I visited you just now.

DEFINITIONS

Adolescence is the stage between puberty and adultery.

Antipodes are animals without legs, such as snakes, etc.

Aphrodite is a germ which causes sickness.

Appendicitis is caused by information of the appendix.

A bamboo is an Italian baby.

Trigonometry is when a lady marries three men at the same time.

The Bastille was a place of refinement for prisoners.

A tantrum is a two-seated bicycle.

The Bastille was a piece of refinement for prisoners.

A Black Maria is a negro's wife.

Bulls and bears are the Russians and the Popesl

A bust is something a lady wears.

A catalogue is a dialogue by four people.

A caucus is a dead animal.

159quondame
May 1, 2022, 1:28 am

>158 LizzieD: We must keep our appendices well informed.

160LizzieD
May 1, 2022, 9:42 am

Morning, Susan. I still have mine, and I'd hate for it to be ignorant.

Wordle 316 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I can't spell. I would have sworn that this word had an "e." later, noise, rough, porgy, forgo

161richardderus
May 1, 2022, 9:50 am

>160 LizzieD: It does. This is a different word, apparently. *grumble*

Adolescence is the stage between puberty and adultery.
I read this to Rob and we laughed for a solid five minutes together.

162karenmarie
Edited: May 2, 2022, 9:09 am

Hi Peggy, and happy Sunday to you.

>>158 LizzieD: My Italian is rusty (joke!), I’d forgotten about a bamboo.

>160 LizzieD: I admit to looking at the list of 2,309 words, which I copied into a tab on my Wordle worksheet. Even then, it took all 6 attempts.

Ugh to the weather. Highs in the 80s for us this week and the low 90s for you. I want spring.

163PaulCranswick
May 2, 2022, 6:07 am

>161 richardderus: Yes that is a classic, keep 'em coming Peggy!

164LizzieD
Edited: May 2, 2022, 9:48 am

Good morning, Richard, Karen, and Paul! I'm happy to have provided a laugh, especially for Richard and Rob. Together laughing is the very best kind!
Karen, we've had an almost unprecedented run of real spring weather, so that I really shouldn't complain. I will, but I shouldn't. You, on the other hand, may complain all you want because you've been accustomed to different!!!
Paul, I'm sorry to say that we are almost at the end of these. I could post some from my students, but they're different. I do have another couple of sources in mind for other funnies. We'll see. Anyway, I couldn't stay awake last night long enough to hunt down one of of the last pages, and I'm sorry to disappoint y'all.

Wordle 317 5/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 *sigh* Why not go for the obvious one first???? It's random, so there aren't any rules. aisle, donor, storm, stork, story

165LizzieD
May 2, 2022, 11:39 pm

SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND HEALTH

All brutes are imperfect animals. Man alone is a perfect beast.

A man has x miles to travel. He goes a miles by train, b miles by boat, and cmiles he walks. The rest he cycles. How far does he cycle?
d, e, f, g. h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w miles.

Parallel lines never meet unless you bend one or both of them.

A circle is a round line with no kinks in it, joined up so as not to show where it began.

Algebra was the wife of Euclid.

An axiom is a thing that is so visible that it is not necessary to see it.

A circle is a line which meets its other end without ending.

A polygon with seven sides is called a hooligan.

What was an outstanding achievement of Pasteur?
When a cow died he cut it open and discovered that it died of silk worms. The worms got into the cow's stomach and tickled her to death.

By self-pollination a farmer may get a flock of long-haired sheep.

Name four breeds of pigs.
Black pig, white pig, black and white pig, and brown pig.

166quondame
May 3, 2022, 1:57 am

>165 LizzieD: Well at least you can tell the swine breeds apart. And poor Euclid, married to his work. He had to see geometry on the side.

167LizzieD
May 3, 2022, 9:28 am

Oh, Susan, I hope you can comment on the next entertainment I find!

Wordle 318 4/6

🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Happy to be back to 4!!! arson, tiled, chair, hairy

168quondame
May 3, 2022, 4:23 pm

>167 LizzieD: As I can.

169LizzieD
May 3, 2022, 11:38 pm

Oh, I'm sure that you will be able, Susan!!

ELYSIUM FIRE by Alastair Reynolds

I was ready for some hard science fiction after a couple of years of fantasy. I am always happy to revisit the Glitter Band and Yellowstone, especially with Prefect Dreyfus and crew. It's too late for me to say anything really helpful about it, and the book page has enough helpful reviews, including one by Lucy. I'll just say that this one had not quite the appeal of the first, Aurora Rising. Sparver, the hyperpig, for instance, has lost some of his edge. Never mind. I am happy to be back in this part of the universe - possibly happier than Reynolds was to revisit it.

170LizzieD
May 3, 2022, 11:55 pm

HISTORY

Describe the hardships of the Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land.
Many of them died of salvation.

The wife of Columbus was Columbine.

Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenburg for selling papal indulgences.

Martin Luther died a horrible death. He was excommunicated by a bull.

Watchword of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality and Maternity.

The Romans made their roads straight so the Britons should not hide round the corners.

Give King Alfred's views on modern life had he been alive today.
If Alfred had survived to the present day he would be such an exceedingly old man that his views on any subject would be quite worthless.

After the great feasts, William I used to entertain the barons by letting off fireworks.

King Richard was captured and put in prison by the German Emperor, but the English people were very fond of their ruler, so they boiled him out.

Magna Charta said that the King was not to order taxis without the consent of Parliament.

171quondame
May 4, 2022, 12:36 am

>170 LizzieD: Heh, in Luther, John Osborn pretty much dying of constipation, so either of those two ends sound like a relief! But I don't think he would have wanted to be boiled out.

172LizzieD
May 4, 2022, 9:41 am

Morning, Susan. I can't imagine anybody who'd welcome a boiling out. ("I am a worm!" I remember the Osborn.)

Wordle 319 2/6

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I do believe that another time I got it in two, I used noise as my first word. WooooHOOOO!

Off to get an eye shot.

173karenmarie
May 4, 2022, 10:12 am

Hi Peggy!

>170 LizzieD: Poor Luther, being excommunicated by a bull.

Congrats in your Wordle in 2.

Sorry about having to get the eye shot, hope that you get home quickly.

174richardderus
May 4, 2022, 1:03 pm

Give King Alfred's views on modern life had he been alive today.
If Alfred had survived to the present day he would be such an exceedingly old man that his views on any subject would be quite worthless.


...I resemble this remark...

>172 LizzieD: Oh look. A blank post. How very odd, he grumbled jealously.

175LizzieD
May 5, 2022, 12:27 am

Hi, Karen and Richard! With thanks, the shot was easy as usual. I don't know why I dread it, but I do for the last day or so before it happens.
Come on, Richard. Let me have a little fun.

I'm afraid that we have come to the end of the Boners book. I will read them to my mama, and if I see any that aren't marked, I'll bring the book back and give them to you. I had hoped that Willard Espy's Almanac of Words at Play would yield goodies, but I've spent too much time looking and not finding. Here's a verse for 12 March:

The Mrs. kr. Mr.
Then how her Mr. kr.!
He kr. kr. kr.
Until he raise a blr.
The blr. killed his Mrs.
Then how he mr. krs.!
He mr. mr. mr.
Until he kr. sr.
He covered her with krs.
Till she became his Mrs.
The Mrs. kr. Mr.
(and so on and on)
~ W.R.E.

176quondame
May 5, 2022, 12:33 am

>175 LizzieD: One would run out of srs. Hopefully sooner than later. Hate brs.

177karenmarie
May 5, 2022, 8:56 am

'Morning, Peggy!

I'm glad the shot went well. I'd dread it, too.

I'm sad that we've reached the end of the boners book, but so glad you took the time to share it with us.

The kr and krs and mr and mrs made my eyes cross, but I finally figured it out.

178richardderus
May 5, 2022, 9:42 am

>175 LizzieD: It doesn't compare to whatever there was in that blank post, Peggy, but I had a truly weird Wordle experience today: AEONS, MIRTH, HOMER...all five letters in the first two guesses and not one of them in its proper place! If there's another word that "H" "O" "M" "E" and "R" can spell I don't know of it. But how weird is that!

*smooch* for sharing all those hilarious boners with us...I love reading Willard Espy but he isn't really a quippy sort, is he.

179LizzieD
May 5, 2022, 10:03 am

EPIC FAILURE

I tried to share my Wordle streak instead of copying my dismal failure. It didn't copy, and now I can't get the proof. I had a 99 day streak and was so excited about maybe hitting 100 days. Nope. I was down to "homer," "boner," (touch of irony there?), and "boxer," and went with "boxer," Mama's suggestion. My Guesses: AISLE, ROUTE, POWER, COVER, JOKER, BOXER. FAIL.

Richard, that is not only weird but crafty of you!

I had such fun reading the Boners again. Glad you enjoyed them too, Susan, Karen, and Richard. I don't know that Espy is going to enthrall me, and most of his entries are too long for me to type at night.

180richardderus
May 5, 2022, 10:18 am

>179 LizzieD: Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear it, Peggy, that is one fine streak you had going there.

I'd love to claim I was being crafty but in truth I was just amazingly lucky!

181FAMeulstee
May 5, 2022, 12:13 pm

>179 LizzieD: We were going down together today, Peggy.
adieu, preen, lover, tower, sober, foyer

182LizzieD
May 5, 2022, 2:25 pm

Hi, Richard and Anita! Oh well. Tomorrow is another day, Katey Scarlett.

Cheering me up is Tor's offer of 3 free novellas: B. Chambers, J. Scalzi, and Erin K. Wagner, whom I don't know.

183karenmarie
May 5, 2022, 3:02 pm

Oh no! Your streak is broken. I'm sorry for that. But yes, tomorrow is another day, Katey Scarlett.

184LizzieD
May 5, 2022, 11:39 pm

Oh well, Karen. I've managed to live through the day, so I think I'm all right.

How to pronounce the difficult names of certain authors, by William Cole

He went into the store and bought some plywood, he
Was going to build a little boat, was Woiwode.

He's as English as a Dover sole -
He's An'tony - believe me - Powell.

Leave at once, it's not a good house:
I see no books by P.G. Wodehouse.

Begob! His stories starthle me -
That divil of a fella, Barthelme!

Who could get every joke of
Vladimir Nabokov?

Authenticity's the thing
With John Millington Synge.

Say "pooch."
Then A. Quiller-Couch.
Then Joseph Wood Krutch.

Who's that in the purple dhoti?
Why bless my soul, it's T. Capote.

Father, looking in the cradle,
Said, "Let's name him Leon Edel;
I think that suits him rather well -
Better than Leon Edel."

185quondame
May 6, 2022, 1:16 am

>184 LizzieD: Luckily I've never needed to pronounce any of those I hadn't already heard. Such twisty games, that play with names.

186LizzieD
May 6, 2022, 9:57 am

Good for you, Susan. I needed to say "Leon Edel" and mispronounced it bravely. I don't think I've ever needed to say "Quiller-Couch," but I certainly would have mispronounced that one too.

Wordle 321 5/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Well, I'm back. I didn't leave myself so many choices in the end. reins, loamy, cheap, auger, badge. I actually thought of *fadge* before *badge*. I'm glad I was patient.

187FAMeulstee
May 6, 2022, 6:39 pm

>186 LizzieD: And same number of guesses again: adieu, dates, heard, block, badge.
And today I finished Towers of Midnight, so I am ready for A Memory of Light when it suits you :-)

188LizzieD
Edited: May 7, 2022, 12:37 am

Anita, I was thinking about *ToM* today. How would July suit you, or do you want to get to it in June? I don't think I can do it this month.
I had picked out a page to copy from WE, but I just can't manage it tonight. Look for "Little Moron" jokes here sometime tomorrow.

189FAMeulstee
May 7, 2022, 2:52 am

>188 LizzieD: July suits me fine, Peggy, I am not in a hurry. I have planned enough reads for this month.

190LizzieD
Edited: May 7, 2022, 9:48 am

Excellent, Anita! Maybe we'll both be ready for it by then. I dread it a little.

Wordle 322 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 So day 2 of the new phase, I'm a 5-try player. I'm not even going to show my guesses, but I will say that they were pathetic.

191LizzieD
May 8, 2022, 9:44 am

Wordle 323 3/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 What a relief! Also, what a surprise! I was trying to fix the last letter without reusing one. Yippee! oiler, stand, canny

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

192richardderus
May 8, 2022, 9:50 am

>191 LizzieD: My 3 looks really different....

>184 LizzieD: What a cute poem! And I categorically refuse to pronounce "Couch" as the American version of "fanny." Nope. Won't do it.

193karenmarie
May 8, 2022, 11:08 am

Hi Peggy!

>191 LizzieD: Congrats on your 3. It took me 4.

Wish your mother a Happy Mother's Day from me.

194LizzieD
May 9, 2022, 9:38 am

Good morning, Karen and Richard! What a gorgeous day here in SE NC! My eyelid continues to plague me, no better and no worse that I can tell. My opthm. Will get back in touch with me this afternoon; meanwhile, hot compresses!
I did check your 3 yesterday, Richard. And I did pass on your greeting to my mama, Karen, with thanks for it.

Wordle 324 3/6

🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I continue to be happy. I opted for the 3 rather than the 2 or 4. I don't know when I've gotten so many letters in the first word. noise, whelp, shine

Happy Day!

195karenmarie
May 9, 2022, 9:48 am

Hi, Peggy!

It's a gorgeous day here in central NC, too, just 95 miles from you.

I'm sorry about your eyelid and hope that between the hot compresses and call back from the opthamologist you get some relief. :(

Wordle took me 4, my usual.

196LovingLit
May 9, 2022, 6:35 pm

>194 LizzieD: SE NC= South East North Carolina? lol. The US has so many acronyms that I am unfamiliar with. Glad it's a lovely day there for you!
The sun has just peeped out now here, which I am glad about as we are stuck at home isolating with COVID and the grey days drag me down.

I got the Wordle in 4 today, as have devised a new system. Rather than desperately hoping for the best and throwing attempts out willy nilly (and sometimes only getting it on the last attempt), I now do a vowel-heavy first attempt and then different consonant-heavy second/third attempts. Then I can usually get it on the 4th.

197LizzieD
May 9, 2022, 11:51 pm

Hi, Karen and Megan! Lovely to see you both here!

Oh, Megan. I'm sorry that you're having to deal with COVID. I'm off to your thread before closing down to see just what your situation is. Take care!!!!

Good for you both for Wordle in 4. We're agreed about strategy. I want to be sure I have all the vowels. Then I look for likely consonant blends. Or - like today - I look at the consonants that make a word with what I've established and try to find a word that will eliminate as many as I can. That's what my second guess was today.

I sort of made up SE NC, but I am reminded of UCLA just a bit over the NC/SC line. It stands for a rural area close to Upper Conway and Lower Aynor, two little towns (Aynor is really small) that nobody but locals have ever heard of!

198LizzieD
Edited: May 10, 2022, 2:11 pm

Wordle 325 3/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Are you kidding me? Unlike Karen, I never use that first letter! roads, guile, gecko. My mama will be disgusted. She can't stand the Geico Gecko.

199karenmarie
May 10, 2022, 9:59 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Congrats on 3 - it took me all 6. Bill and I love the Geico Gecko

200Oregonreader
May 10, 2022, 6:24 pm

Peggy, I got Wordle in 4 today, my usual. I had to double check on the spelling of word.

I'm off to pick up my old, blind dog from the doggie day care I take him to. He goes twice a week and seems to really enjoy it. It's a change from laying around here!

201LizzieD
May 11, 2022, 12:02 am

Glad to see you, Jan! I'd be happy with 4 as my usual. I'm all over the place, but I love the 3s when I can get them!!!

Bless you and your old dog. We miss our May more than I can say.

THE QUIET GENTLEMAN by Georgette Heyer
This one is not among my favorites or middle favorites and nowhere near her best. If anybody else had written it, I'd likely not have finished it. It is, however, a Heyer, so it's worth reading sometime, and this was my time. The mystery was no mystery, but I'll bet that GH had a fun time thinking how her hero could speak truth but mislead his friends about who was trying to kill him. I liked him. While he was handsome and smart and sweet to a fault, he had a fault or two, so that was good. My favorite characters though, were Miss Morville's parents (I also liked her), and they appeared late in the book and for too short a time. The stupid, self-absorbed dowager was just annoying although I think she was meant to be funny.
I'll look forward to another GH before the year's out, and this time, I'll be sure to choose one that I like a lot!

CLERIHEWS BY BENTLEY

Geoffrey Chaucer
Took a bath (in a Saucer)
In consequence of certain hints
Dropped by the Black Prince.

The only occasion when Comte
Is known to have romped
Was when the multitude roared "Vive
La Philosophie Positive"


What I like about Clive
Is that he is no longer alive.
There is a great deal to be said
For being dead.

202quondame
May 11, 2022, 12:44 am

>201 LizzieD: I rather like The Quiet Gentleman, though I'm apt to confuse it with The Unknown Ajax, what with the capable unwanted heir showing up and being a bit willing to mislead.

203LizzieD
May 11, 2022, 10:10 am

Ah, but Susan, I LOVE The Unknown Ajax. I missed the Heyer wit in *Quiet*. At least one person needs to be funny in a Heyer for me to give it my heart.

Wordle 326 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 WHEW! I kept trying to get an R in there and kept getting side-tracked. aisle, thane, value, farce

204karenmarie
May 11, 2022, 10:32 am

Hi Peggy! Happy Wednesday to you. It’s a gorgeous Carolina day, isn’t it?

>201 LizzieD: Interesting – The Quiet Gentleman is among my 5* lifetime ratings, 4* on LT. What’s one of your favorites?

Ah, clerihews. I have a book of clerihews by Paul Horgan. I haven’t read it yet, but might do so sooner than later now that you’ve brought them up.

205richardderus
May 11, 2022, 10:55 am

Peggy (base flatterer that you are), have you ever read Heyer's (husband's) mysteries? It's interesting to me to compare her best, wittiest romances to Mr Rougier's plots told in her words. Her facility as a writer is evident even more in them, seeing as she's not the originator of the entire exercise.

206LizzieD
May 12, 2022, 1:10 am

>205 richardderus: No flattery here, Richard. I haven't read enough of my Heyer bio to know that she wasn't the mystery originator. I read the mysteries, except for Penhallow, which is on my list of UNREADABLES, 30 or 40 years ago and thought them quite clever. I didn't think *Q.G'man* was nearly as good. I did dig out my bio, Jennifer Kloester's, to see what she had to say about *QG*. Apparently GH was proud that it actually had a plot, and the dowager was her favorite character. As you see, I was not happy with either. She did enjoy writing it.

Hi, Karen! It was a GORGEOUS Carolina day. Our walks were lovely!
What is it that you particularly love about *QG*? I missed it entirely. My favorites are headed by Frederica, and I also love A Civil Contract, The Talisman Ring, and The Unknown Ajax. I have others, but those are the first that spring to mind.

I'm too sleepy to post more Clerihews, but I have a few of Horgans to copy too. Meanwhile, I found a reference to a blooper/boner about JS Bach, and found a couple of great websites for everybody. I'd love to copy them, but I'll give you the URLs instead. My only caveat is that the poster combined several at a time, and that dims their glory a tiny bit for me. Also, ones from the Seuss-illustrated book that I have are mixed among them.

https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~norman/Jokes-file/StudentBloopers.htm

and (There are others that I haven't investigated yet!)

http://www.darvill.clara.net/funnies/funny004.htm

Here's the one that got me started:
Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German half Italian and half English. He was very large.

207quondame
May 12, 2022, 1:32 am

Old spinsters make good practice equipment. 1.5 Handel would have to be oversized.

208LizzieD
May 12, 2022, 9:36 am

Good morning, Susan. Happy to have you back early!!!

Wordle 327 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩🟨
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Hooray! I stole Richard's first word, used a second of my own, and guessed the better of my two choices. aeons, flirt, slung

209karenmarie
May 12, 2022, 10:29 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy!

Not such a beautiful Carolina day here today, so far it’s brightly overcast. Doesn’t bother me, though.

I really liked Heyer’s romances with military men for some reason and the quiet romance between Gervase and Drusilla. My absolute favorite, The Devil’s Cub, is of a spoiled young buck of the aristocracy, though, so go figure. I don’t particularly care for Frederica, but the other three you mention are 5 star or 4.5 star reads for me. I’m very stingy with stars.

I love the JS Bach bio. It’s an acquired taste, but I love PDQ Bach, perhaps one of the children produced by JS’s practicing on the old spinster in the attic. *smile*

>208 LizzieD: Congrats. I got skunked today.

210Oregonreader
May 12, 2022, 2:07 pm

I have to throw in a vote for The Grand Sophie which has some of my favorite Heyer characters.

Thanks for the Bach quote. It's nice to start my day with a good laugh!

211sibylline
May 12, 2022, 7:54 pm

I love the idea of playing an old spinster. Wonderful!

212LizzieD
May 12, 2022, 11:27 pm

Hi, Lucy, Jan, and Karen! I know that Peter Schickele would kick himself for not coming up with the old spinster in the attic. Glad to find another fan!!! (Sorry about the skunk, Karen. They feel really bad. There's always tomorrow!)
Jan, I do like *Sophie*, but I neglected to mention The Toll-Gate, and then I begin to have too many others suddenly jostling for mention, so I won't.

213alcottacre
May 13, 2022, 12:51 am

Happy Friday, Peggy!

214karenmarie
May 13, 2022, 9:26 am

Hi Peggy! I hope your Friday is a good'un.

Just tested negative for Covid - hooray!

215LizzieD
May 13, 2022, 9:46 am

BEST news in the world, Karen! I'm relieved. Now you enjoy your weekend for sure!!!
Fabulous Friday to you, Stasia!!!! Be well! Read! Game! Cook! Play with kittens!

Wordle 328 4/6

⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Whew! aisle, round, sixth, tipsy

216lauralkeet
Edited: May 13, 2022, 3:07 pm

Congrats on the negative test result, Karen! Happy happy Friday.
ETA: Oops, realized later this wasn't Karen's thread.

Hi Peggy, how are you!? πŸ˜‚

217richardderus
May 13, 2022, 3:16 pm

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Peggy! *smooch*

218LizzieD
May 14, 2022, 12:33 am

Laura, I'll take you any way I can get you! I'm happy for Karen's negative testing too. Hope you're well. I'm fine....... My infected eyelid is itching, so I trust that it's healing.

Thanks, Richard, and *smooch* right back!

219LizzieD
May 14, 2022, 10:13 am

Wordle 329 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 OH well. Maybe I should wait until later when I'm brighter.........nope.

220LizzieD
May 15, 2022, 9:55 am

Wordle 330 5/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Same degree of dimness. arise, grout, imbed, fiend, yield

221karenmarie
Edited: May 15, 2022, 11:35 am

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Sunday to you.

At least you're not getting skunked. I really hate getting skunked and the sigh of relief with a 6 is huge.

We've got lots of lazy white puffy clouds rolling by a beautiful Carolina blue sky.

222richardderus
May 15, 2022, 2:32 pm

>220 LizzieD: It's a common thing, Peggy, and boy was today my lucky day. My usual alphabetical-order fetish got firmly upended and I got 4 instead of X as a result.

Guessing-game days really do brass me right off.

223LizzieD
May 15, 2022, 11:39 pm

Hi, Karen and Richard, fellow guessing logicians, or maybe that's logical guessers. Not getting skunked is good. 4 is better than 5 is better than 6.

Watching the eclipse, so I'm leaving this friendly place.

224PaulCranswick
May 16, 2022, 6:41 am

>222 richardderus: & >223 LizzieD: I, like RD, get frustrated when it boils down to a guessing game but it never prevents me from seeking out my daily dose.

Stopping by to wish you well, Peggy. x

225LizzieD
May 16, 2022, 10:23 am

Lovely to see you, Paul!!! Hope you did better today than I did. I feel compelled to try all the vowels before I try to double one. Mind habits are not necessarily helpful.

Wordle 331 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BAH!

226LizzieD
May 17, 2022, 9:31 am

Wordle 332 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I can't tell you how much better this makes me feel! trail, noise, being

227richardderus
May 17, 2022, 2:54 pm

>226 LizzieD: *grumble*

I'm delighted that YOU are pleased.

*grouse*

Tomorrow's review is, to put it *mildly*, a shocking one.

A book published by Plough...yes, that Plough, the one that does a lot of Jesus-themed stuff...got 4 stars from me.

...who even am I....

228LizzieD
May 17, 2022, 11:17 pm

Wow, Richard! I can't wait to see your review of the Plough book.

Never mind, WordleBud. The tables will turn again and again.

I'm sleepy, so I'm giving up. Sufficient and restorative sleep to all you!

229karenmarie
May 18, 2022, 9:21 am

'Morning, Peggy! It was so nice and cool this morning that I've still got a window open.

I hope you have a great day. Gentle hugs to your ma, kind regards to your DH, and lots of fierce hugs for your own wonderful self.

230LizzieD
May 18, 2022, 9:59 am

Dear Karen, an equally great day wish for you with same regards and gigantic hugs for your own truly wonderful self!

Wordle 333 3/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I am such a lucky bear! I wish I could claim some expertise, but no. It's luck.
loser, astir, scour Wait! They have my current streak wrong. They're giving me 3, and I've done 13 since my monumental fail. Oh well. Not important.

231richardderus
May 18, 2022, 3:10 pm

Hey there Miss Peggy! Today's weirdness will not end. I spent it moving books, vacuuming, getting ready for the a/c to be installed...then moving everything back. We're getting a heat wave this weekend and maintenance got proactive and put in our floor's units early!

I'm whupped, however. Especially since I got the Plough review up as well as two, count 'em two!, other books. I amaze myself even more because:
***I got, for the 5th time in 108 games played, Wordle in 2!!***

232LizzieD
May 18, 2022, 5:45 pm

You are the man, Richard!!! Well done all around. Now rest!!!!!

233LizzieD
May 19, 2022, 9:42 am

Wordle 334 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

234Berly
May 20, 2022, 3:35 am

Happy Friday! I see you are having fun with Wordle. Me too!

235sibylline
May 20, 2022, 8:26 am

Can you believe it? I FORGOT to do Wordle yesterday. What is the world coming to????

236LizzieD
May 20, 2022, 9:57 am

Oh, Lucy and Kim! I can't say that I'm having fun with Wordle today. I would have gotten it in 4, but I didn't see the M as correct in the word in try 3. Rationalization: I'm soaking my eyelid and didn't have my reading glasses on the other eye.

Wordle 335 X/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
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🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 Bummer.

237karenmarie
Edited: May 20, 2022, 2:06 pm

'Morning, Peggy. We had some stunning storms roll through last night. I liked the lashings of rain, flashes of lightning, and rolling thunder.

Sorry it took you 6. Sorry you were skunked. *sad face*

238richardderus
May 20, 2022, 10:23 am

>236 LizzieD: Oh heck!! I'm sorry that happened, Peggy. I had a weird pattern...four yellow squares in a row...but I'll take that over an X day.

consoling *smooch*

239LizzieD
May 20, 2022, 1:47 pm

OH, Karen. I wish I had gotten it in 6. Oh, Richard, thanks for an extra *smooch* and backatcha.

No storms here, Karen. We need them even with their freight. Just got back from walking, and our porch thermometer in the shade says 100Β°. I believe the afternoon will see me on Mama's exercycle beside the AC vent!

240LizzieD
May 21, 2022, 1:04 am

SAND SHARKS by Margaret Maron

This is at least a reread, maybe a re-reread. I'm never as happy when Deborah is out of Colleton County, but this is a pretty good one. I know Wilmington and have eaten at Elijah's (her Jonah's) every time I have the opportunity for a restaurant meal in Wilmington. It's fun when a mystery is set in a place you know!
On to the next!

241LizzieD
Edited: May 22, 2022, 12:30 am

Wordle 336 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Whew. I'm really happy when this happens after a drought! Richard, I too have 5 *2s* in 116 tries, so your % is better than mine. What really makes me happy is that I have an equal number of *3s* and *4*, which make up over half my tries. Tomorrow is a new day, Katie Scarlett.

242LizzieD
May 22, 2022, 9:54 am

Wordle 337 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Lucky first word; marriage to a beekeeper makes 4 tries instead of 3.

243karenmarie
Edited: May 22, 2022, 10:36 am

'Morning, Peggy.

>241 LizzieD: I have lost my Wordle stats several times since March, with my laptop dying, using my old laptop, and then having to get the new one going again. 116-try stats are impressive to me.

Hot, icky, but AC modified. Today's indoors all the way.

I'm still on a Georgian and Regency Kindle Kandy splurge - 24 books so far this month. Definitely got my reading mojo back.

244richardderus
May 22, 2022, 12:52 pm

>242 LizzieD: I was a 3 today but I don't have your marital distraction. (Rob dislikes "bee barf" as a matter of fact.)

I think you might like to look at The Sunset Gang that I reviewed...I'm guessing it might give you a chuckle. Everything else is still politics because that horrible little brat who killed people in Buffalo really spooked me. A lot more than I thought it had.

245LizzieD
May 22, 2022, 11:31 pm

Hi, Karen and Richard. Nothing going on here, but I appreciate the visits.

Richard, I'm sorry that Rob misses out on one of the world's sweetest offerings. Thanks for the recommendation.

246LizzieD
May 23, 2022, 9:37 am

Apparently the only thing I do here is record my Wordle effort. I wish it were not so. Oh well.

Wordle 338 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Given how I started, I don't think I could have done better barring a wild revelation. arise, biome, niche, hinge

247karenmarie
Edited: May 23, 2022, 10:46 am

Hi Peggy!

Wordle results count, and I'm sorry your reading isn't where you'd like it to be.

I'm in a Bodice Ripper phase - I've read 24 books on my Kindle this month. Interestingly, all three authors - Julia Quinn, Lucinda Brant, and Tessa Dare - make sure the heroines give consent. No rape, which was more the thing between rich, powerful men and women.

248alcottacre
May 23, 2022, 3:09 pm

I hope you have a wonderful week, Peggy!

249richardderus
May 23, 2022, 8:14 pm

drive-by *smooch*

250LizzieD
May 24, 2022, 9:57 am

Wordle 339 6/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not very smart today. I hope I brighten up.

*smooch* back, Richard.
Good week wishes right back to you, Stasia.

I'm not exactly in a reading slump. I can read when I have time, but I just spend more of it watching stuff. Mama and I have just started a rewatch of *Downton Abbey*, what with the new film getting attention. She can do that with me. I also watched the first episode of *Outlander* on Prime yesterday. They want $ to continue, and I'm inclined to buy DVDs so that Mama can watch too. I read the first 4 books back when and don't know that I want to keep on in any way. On the other hand, I might have to reread the first one, my favorite. Oh dear.

251LizzieD
May 25, 2022, 9:49 am

Wordle 340 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Better than yesterday, so I'm good.

252karenmarie
May 25, 2022, 9:56 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Bill's making noises about rewatching Downton Abbey again, and I'm not feeling it yet. I love the Outlander series - books and series. I have the 9th book on my shelves just waiting, but need to read a detailed series synopsis to refresh my memory before starting.

Took me 5 today, too.

253richardderus
May 25, 2022, 1:02 pm

>251 LizzieD: Took me five, as well, all in a guessing game. *sigh*

254LizzieD
May 26, 2022, 9:31 am

Good morning, Karen and Richard, faithful ones! *hug* and *smooch*

Wordle 341 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I love days of enlightenment!

255LizzieD
May 27, 2022, 9:40 am

Wordle 342 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I feel better. aisle, piano, tiara

256karenmarie
May 27, 2022, 9:44 am

'Morning, Peggy. Interesting weather today - we've already lost power and are under a tornado watch 'til 2 p.m.

Congrats on three - I, too, got it in three.

257richardderus
May 27, 2022, 2:58 pm

>255 LizzieD: like >256 karenmarie: I got it in 3 too!

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Peggy *smooch*

258LizzieD
May 28, 2022, 1:02 am

What a great circle of 3 in 3! Thanks for the visit, Richard and Karen!

Karen, we got .4" much-needed gentle rain this morning. It all soaked right in, and everything was fresh and wonderful when we walked both times. We even heard the wood thrush this evening.
Thanks for the good wish, Richard. I send it right back to you with a *smooch*.

THE STRANGER DIARIES by Elly Griffiths

I see that this won the Edgar. It was certainly a good-enough mystery, and I enjoyed it. I thought, however, that EG was never as invested in Harbinder Kaur, the detective sergeant in charge of the case, as she has been in Ruth Galloway. Harbinder should be a fascinating character, but she's just not quite. I love mysteries set in schools though, and this was a pretty good one. I'll certainly go on to the next, a book that I have. Not now though.

259lauralkeet
May 28, 2022, 7:02 am

I agree with your thoughts on The Stranger Diaries. I thought the second book, The Postscript Murders, was better than the first. EG develops Harbinder's character more in that one.

Have a great day, Peggy.

260LizzieD
May 28, 2022, 9:35 am

Morning, Laura. I'm always glad to see you here and especially glad when you agree with me about a book. You give me hope for #2! You have a great day yourself!

Wordle 343 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Shades of the cream colored cat! I seem to be making up for my lousy streak in the past couple of months. ailed, snort, crept

261karenmarie
May 28, 2022, 10:13 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy! What a glorious Carolina morning. Blue skies, low humidity, and etc. Makes the storms and power outage of yesterday worth it here in central NC.

>258 LizzieD: and >259 lauralkeet: I agree with both of you. I felt like Griffiths wrote The Stranger Diaries almost as a standalone, then converted it to a series in the second book.

>260 LizzieD: My goodness, getting to the right word from your one yellow and one green is rather impressive.

262LizzieD
May 28, 2022, 1:58 pm

Hi, Karen. Lucy also agrees with the three of us. I must say, "not really that impressive" since I had 2 yellows in the 2 tries. Word 2 also eliminated all the common consonants, so I fiddled with consonant blends for the end and was really just trying to establish the placement of my yellows when I hit on the right word. But I love the praise!

We've just come in from our pretty warm walk, and I'm gleeful because I caught the wood thrush singing on my phone - didn't see the bird, but I have his song. I'll continue to hope for getting the bird and the river in the same video.

263LizzieD
May 29, 2022, 12:59 am

STAR OF THE MORNING: THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE by Kirsten Ellis

Stasia and I read this one (of course, she finished last month) while Lucy and Roni read other bios of LSH. I think that this was probably the best of them. LHS was a larger than life woman, who managed her own life from the late 18th into the early 19th century. She was hostess at 110 Downing Street for her uncle, Sir William Pitt. She was brilliant, beautiful, and scintillating. After his death, she eventually escaped the confines of English society to make her way to the near East, eventually settling in Syria. She took many lovers, and Ellis shows what she gave them and what they contributed to her.
Her aim was always to serve England and receive the acclaim that such service merited. Although she gained influence with the pashas and other leaders, she never achieved the distinction that she thought she deserved. She had a spy network, had dealings with supporters of Napoleon, and spent a lot more money than she had from a family inheritance (some of which she never received) and a government pension. She was mercurial, probably bipolar, and died alone except for an Arab lover and servants, walled up in a fortified compound she had built.
I did not think that Ellis had written hagiography, but having read the Wikipedia account of her half-brother's dealings with her and an enigmatic figure, Kaspar Hauser, I'm no longer sure about the interpretation of her life. No matter where the truth lies, I'm glad to have Lady Hester among my historical acquaintances.

(I've posted this on the book page since there wasn't any review of it at all there.)

264quondame
May 29, 2022, 1:23 am

>263 LizzieD: I would like to read that biography. Doesn't look likely though.

265LizzieD
May 29, 2022, 9:46 am

Susan, Stasia and I ended up ordering it from the UK through AbeBooks; it wasn't particularly expensive, or I wouldn't have gotten it.

Wordle 344 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Holy Moly! I'm pretty proud of myself and looking for the fall tomorrow. noise, about, bayou

266karenmarie
May 29, 2022, 10:21 am

β€˜Morning, Peggy!

>263 LizzieD: Interesting book, excellent review. I’ve not heard of her and may not read about her, but her life reminds me of Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach, about another brilliant woman who broke free of the confines of a stifling English life and settled in the Middle East. I had to look up hagiography, so thank you for expanding my vocabulary today, too.

>265 LizzieD: Congrats on your honestly-derived three.

267richardderus
May 29, 2022, 10:35 am

>265 LizzieD: Took me an extra step...but the biggest help of all is being from the US South, isn't it.

268LizzieD
May 30, 2022, 9:58 am

Good morning, Richard. I have "Jambalya, crawfish pie, and a file gumbo" permanently cycling under anything else my brain has been doing since yesterday morning. Today's was just weird.
Good morning, Karen. If I were concerned about my book numbers, I'd be reading something short (like City of Incurable Women for which I owe ER a review), but no. I am into Outlander and will have to come out the other side. Oh well.

Wordle 345 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 As I said: "weird." oiler, loads, cloak, atoll

269karenmarie
May 30, 2022, 11:01 am

Hi Peggy!

Yay to Outlander. I will have to at least try The Sentence by Louise Erdrich for June's book club meeting, but I'd like to get to Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone some time this summer perhaps.

270LizzieD
May 31, 2022, 10:01 am

Morning, Karen. I need to check my Gabaldon holdings. I think I have all but the last 2 in the series plus at least one Lord John. I don't know that I'll even try to make it through the series, but I can't stop this one for anything else.

Wordle 346 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Serendipity! alone, arson, manor

271richardderus
May 31, 2022, 10:06 am

>270 LizzieD: Very different paths, the same result! Happy Tuesday, Peggy. *smooch*

272karenmarie
May 31, 2022, 10:12 am

Hi Peggy!

Outlander is compelling, IMO, and I completely understand your not being able to stop it for anything else. I've got all 3 Lord Johns on my shelves, but have only read the first one so far.

It will be a hot one today, for sure, and congrats on a Wordle 3.

273LizzieD
Jun 1, 2022, 10:14 am

Good morning, Karen and Richard! I wish you both better luck than I had this morning playing a Wordle guessing game.

Wordle 347 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 reins, auger, trade, cream, creak Guess 2 was just stupid. Guess 1 wasn't a lot better.

274karenmarie
Jun 1, 2022, 10:18 am

You beat me today, it took me all 6 words.

275richardderus
Jun 1, 2022, 12:21 pm

>273 LizzieD: 5 for me. At least it was only two rounds of "guess the letter." *grumble*

*smooch*

276LizzieD
Jun 2, 2022, 1:02 am

I'm happy to see that I'm in good company, Richard and Karen. I am going to miss Wordle a lot. Oh well.

Meanwhile, I'm here to report that I have actually started a new book, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. This is another shared read with Stasia, and I've read a huge 20 pp tonight. MR, an Italian Jesuit, goes as a missionary to China at the turn of the 17th century. He uses his medieval memory techniques as an evangelical tool while western Europe is leaving them in Renaissance thought. This book is not for everybody, but I stayed awake for those 20 pp on my sofa tonight after a long day. Otherwise, it's Outlander all the way!

277LizzieD
Jun 2, 2022, 9:43 am

Wordle 348 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Richard, I used your first word, but then I had to guess. aeons, short, shock, showy.

278karenmarie
Jun 2, 2022, 10:14 am

'Morning, Peggy! Whew, another hot one. 94F for us, 98F for you. Take care of your own dear self.

I got it in 4 today, too.

279LizzieD
Jun 3, 2022, 9:41 am

Good morning, Karen! My 4s are now equal to my 3s again. In a choice of 2 at try 3, I chose the wrong one. OK.

Wordle 349 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 aisle, stare, chase, phase

280richardderus
Jun 3, 2022, 9:58 am

>279 LizzieD: My 4 this morning took the 4s into the lead...37, versus 36-3s. Interesting how many paths there are to the same destination!

Happy weekend-ahead's reads! *smooch*

281LizzieD
Jun 4, 2022, 9:36 am

Good morning and happy weekend reads yourself, Richard! *smooch*

Wordle 350 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Tee hee hee.

282LizzieD
Jun 5, 2022, 11:20 am

Wordle 351 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Well, duh. I'm not even going to post my guesses as too embarrassing. I'll hope for better tomorrow.

283karenmarie
Jun 5, 2022, 11:39 am

Hi Peggy! Such a gorgeous Carolina blue skies day. I hope you're enjoying yours.

I need to fill all my bird feeders in a few minutes since I'm getting the stink eye from the birdies. After that, it's another Georgian era romance.

Sorry about the 5. I got it in 3, but that was pure luck. I did not use my wordle spreadsheet or the list of 2,309 words, which made me proud.

284richardderus
Jun 5, 2022, 11:46 am

>282 LizzieD: is the vicious beast of a goddess-cabal that rules the Universe punishing you for >281 LizzieD:, so I won't post my 3 for today's Wordle.

I Am Magnanimous, you see. *smooch*

285LizzieD
Jun 5, 2022, 11:43 pm

Magnanimous is the very word, Richard. I admire your restraint.

Good night to you and Karen. I wish I had something else going on to make your visits more pleasant. I really, really appreciate you both!

286Oregonreader
Jun 5, 2022, 11:54 pm

I’m another Wordle addict and not too humble to claim a 3 today! I hope all of your family are well.

287karenmarie
Jun 6, 2022, 8:07 am

'Morning, Peggy! My feeders are full, the birds are visiting, and it's a beautiful early Monday morning 'up north' here.

It took me 5 on Wordle today, but WordleBot said I was doing all the right things. I reached the solution logically, with no lucky guesses, alas.

Visiting you is pleasant enough in and of itself, my dear friend.

288LizzieD
Jun 6, 2022, 10:02 am

Good Morning, dear Karen! It's lovely down here too. I look forward to our walks.

Yay, Jan!!! I should think you must not be too humble to claim a 3 when you get one!!!

Wordle 352 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Wrong first word, but that's fine. I feel better than I did yesterday, and not just because of one guess the less. arise, touch, blond, gloom. I'd try WordleBot just to see, but it's too much trouble for only 3 more days. *sigh*

289LizzieD
Jun 7, 2022, 10:00 am

Wordle 353 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Disgust. Did I remember what I had to say about randomness? I did not. Even so ............ "pfui" (to quote Nero Wolfe) oiler, loans, cloth, flout, flood

290karenmarie
Jun 7, 2022, 10:17 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Ah yes, Wolfe's famous 'pfui'. So Wordle goes away unless you pay in 3 days? I have a subscription to the NYT but don't know if that will cover games. I guess time will tell, and if a subscription to their games is required, I'll have to decide if it's worth it.

291lauralkeet
Edited: Jun 7, 2022, 2:34 pm

FWIW, I have not seen an official NYT announcement about Wordle going paid, and I've been Googling it periodically since I first saw mention of it in the 75ers. Yesterday I found an article saying the original Wordle site hosted by the developer Josh Wardle will be shut down on June 9, making the NYT site the only way to access the game. Read about it here: https://mashable.com/article/original-wordle-site-shut-down

This article states, "No updates on whether this change will result in Wordle becoming potentially less free when the switch occurs."

292richardderus
Jun 7, 2022, 3:02 pm

>289 LizzieD: Pfui! Indeed. It took me 4 today but it was a very irritated 4! *smooch*

293LizzieD
Jun 7, 2022, 4:44 pm

Hope you're having a pleasant afternoon, Karen, Laura, and Richard. I'm trying to think whether I saw the demise of free Wordle anywhere but here. I'd be really glad to have it still. I certainly have no intention of paying for it though.

294richardderus
Jun 7, 2022, 5:00 pm

>293 LizzieD: So far, so good. As long as my link just takes me to ads asking me to subscribe, that I can skip with a little determination, I really don't care a lot.

295LizzieD
Jun 8, 2022, 9:37 am

>294 richardderus: Agreed! And good morning, Richard. Behold, a happy result to send me on my way to get an eye shot.

Wordle 354 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, later, trait

296richardderus
Jun 8, 2022, 1:49 pm

Hey there, Peggy, happy 3-day to you. I got it in 4.

I really hope your shot is perfectly painless and effective. *smooch*

297karenmarie
Jun 9, 2022, 8:41 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Today's Wordle took me 5. Sigh.

However, I'm still happily immersed in bodice rippers and slowly reading The Federalist in addition to continuing with Alexander Hamilton. I'm up to 1791, a Very Bad Year in Hamilton's life, as he couldn't stay faithful to his vows with his wife, to put it in the least objectionable way possible.

Covid in your county and mine are back to medium risk according to the CDC. Double sigh.

298LizzieD
Jun 9, 2022, 9:43 am

Top of the morning, Karen! (At least it's the top here.)

Our bi-weekly paper proclaimed yesterday that COVID rates are down here. *sigh*

I'm still reading Outlander - if her bodice isn't ripped by that red-haired Scot, Claire is ripping it herself. I've been told that real romance readers don't like the book. ????? I took my ER offering to the eye clinic yesterday, City of Incurable Women. What a weird book - so far narrated by a (I want to write "an" so badly, but even I recognize that as pretentious - as pretentious as "badly) "hysteric" woman in an asylum in Paris in 190? Think The Yellow Wallpaper intensified with plates of patients and records from the time. It's short, and I should just finish and pay my debt.....but.... *Outlander*.

Wordle 355 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 When I got to 3, I thought that Richard should get it in 2, so I tried his word. Wrong. Had another two and guessed wrong at 4. Oh well. I'm in good company, Karen.

299richardderus
Jun 9, 2022, 9:48 am

Ha! Funny, I got to two and then got it at 3 because, for once, I went in *reverse* alphabetical order!

Happy Thursday, smoochling.

300karenmarie
Jun 9, 2022, 1:34 pm

I'm a real romance reader and I love the Outlander series. Perhaps some romance readers get impatient with the story being more than the steamy romance between Claire and Jamie.

Even by the state's Covid dashboard, your county and mine both are medium risk. Don't know what your paper's doing, although I don't know when your county went from low to medium risk most recently.

301LizzieD
Jun 10, 2022, 9:57 am

Well, you're not the typical romance reader, are you, Karen. Linda Lael Miller? Lavyrle Spencer? et al. Those are the ones my the romance specialist lapped up when I was a Waldenbooks bookseller. I'm sure it was all about the explicit, steamy sex.

As to our county news rag ....... they don't have any staff to speak of after being flooded out of their facility twice, losing all their machinery the first time, and COVID. No telling when they got their cases falling info.

Meanwhile, we still have Wordle!

Wordle 356 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Better than 5 or 6. imbue, choir, tines, piety It's hard for me not to try to stick another vowel in there. The first word was a whim. Oh well.

302richardderus
Jun 10, 2022, 11:12 am

Happy Friday, Peggy! What's up for the weekend?

I got it in 3 today AEONS, MIRTH, PIETY because my second word had two letters in their proper place, added to a correct letter in the wrong place on the my first word left no other choices.

303LizzieD
Edited: Jun 11, 2022, 9:44 am

Good for you, Richard! I hope to be less idiosyncratic tomorrow with the Wordle. No predictions!

Up for the weekend? I don't have anything "up" at any time these days. I'll be happy to muddle through.

304LizzieD
Jun 11, 2022, 9:48 am

Wordle 357 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Decent. My 4s outnumber my 3s again. alone, score, those, goose

I had a good reading day yesterday for me - not a lot of pages but in three books: Outlander, City of Incurable Women, Remote Sympathy.

305karenmarie
Jun 11, 2022, 10:04 am

'Morning, Peggy! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Congrats on 4. It took me 5. My 4s and 5s outnumber my 3s. Back on this computer again, my 'streak' is only 23.

My, my. What an interesting mix of books - Jamie and Claire, hysteria, and the Holocaust.

306LizzieD
Jun 12, 2022, 12:07 am

Good night, Karen! Add to my current mix Jung and a patient who can't die in Pilgrim. I'm really contented with all of these. Unfortunately for the reading, my Fire game has a new challenge, and I want the offered rewards. Gaming takes reading time. On the other hand, I "finished" the Italian course and won't start trying to read my Italian ss's and novel quite yet.

I am going to bed before it's officially very late!

307alcottacre
Jun 12, 2022, 1:38 am

>298 LizzieD: Count me in among the Outlander fans. I have loved those books since the first one and I cannot wait to see where the series ends up.

308karenmarie
Jun 12, 2022, 9:16 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Well darn. A BB. Thank goodness for Amazon credits. I just bought Pilgrim. It's due on the 21st.

Congrats on finishing up your Italian course. I keep thinking I'd like to learn enough French to know how to at least properly pronounce things, much less try to converse at the 4-year old level in the language. What system/book/course did you use, and would they have a French one? Enquiring minds and all that.

309LizzieD
Jun 12, 2022, 9:49 am

Yippee! Join Stasia and me in Pilgrim, Karen. You know how slow I'll be, but I'll enjoy watching you and Stasia read ahead.

The Italian course is DuoLingo - free and at your own pace. Ask Laura about the French. She and her husband were working on it, I think.

Wordle 358 5/6

🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Guess, guess, guess, guess....good first word and then not a lot of logic. Oh well.
oater, toast, bloat, gloat, float No alpha order, just plugging them in as they occurred to me.

310karenmarie
Jun 12, 2022, 10:30 am

I didn't realize you and Stasia were reading it together, sort of. *smile* You're right about Stasia zooming ahead, but since I won't even get it 'til the 21st, she'll probably be done. I might be able to catch up with you, though.

Thanks re DuoLingo. I just checked it and Babble out, and may actually decide to do one or another some time soon.

Sorry about today's 5, what with the guessing game. I happened to guess right simply because I thought of that word before the two others. Luck.

311LizzieD
Jun 12, 2022, 12:40 pm

Well, Karen, depending on how much Stasia likes it, she'll either wait for me and read something else or zoom on through - her choice entirely. You'll catch me though, and I think you'll like it.

Thanks for the sympathy in re Wordle. *grin*

312LizzieD
Jun 13, 2022, 9:36 am

Wordle 359 3/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I love it when logic rides chance to a 3! irate, round, donor

313richardderus
Jun 13, 2022, 12:36 pm

>312 LizzieD: Mine was 4 because I thought fancy first: AEONS, MIRTH, RONDO, DONOR

Happy week-ahead's reads. *smooch*

314karenmarie
Jun 14, 2022, 9:05 am

Yikes, Peggy, 102F with a heat index of 108F for you. Stay safe.

I have to go out but will be going from AC vehicle to AC buildings back to AC vehicle.

Took me 4 today on Wordle.

315LizzieD
Jun 14, 2022, 10:02 am

Wordle 360 3/6

🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Very lucky first word gave an early choice of 2, and I picked the wrong one first, of course. Can't be sad about a 3! adore, alone, atone

We will stay in today, Karen, and hope that Mama's old AC doesn't have to struggle too hard to keep us at 80Β°. This is one time that I'm glad that she's always a bit on the chilly side.
You stay safe yourself.

316Oregonreader
Jun 14, 2022, 4:38 pm

Hi, Peggy, I β€˜m sorry to hear of the temperature there. And here I am complaining about our mid 60’s. I hope all of you stay cool.

317richardderus
Jun 14, 2022, 7:59 pm

>315 LizzieD: I got a rare 2, Peggy. Because I know Mary Bell's first-word of choice, it was glaringly obvious!

318LizzieD
Jun 14, 2022, 11:44 pm

Thank you for visiting, Jan and Richard! Mid-60s to low-70s is the ideal temperature range as far as I'm concerned. *sigh* At any rate, it wasn't that hot today. We were cloudy most of the morning and then got cooling wash from some terrific storms west of us. High 90s are hot, but not 104!

Hmmm. I'll have to scoot over to look at Mary Bell's first-word of choice, Richard. I suppose the Christian here should have gotten the right one, but not this time.

Off to read more Remote Sympathy.

319LizzieD
Jun 15, 2022, 10:26 am

Oho! I begin to see how the disparate characters in *RS* are going to come together.

Wordle 361 4/6

🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜ My 4s = my 3s again. raise, point, prior, primo

320karenmarie
Jun 15, 2022, 11:32 am

'Morning, Peggy, and happy Wednesday to you.

Congrats on your 3. I got skunked, nothing to blame but a lack of focus.

Stay safe and as cool as possible!

321LizzieD
Edited: Jun 15, 2022, 8:39 pm

Hi, Karen. The last guess is not showing for some reason. I took 4, not 3. Sorry about your smelly try. I know all about starting before I know I'm ready.
We're doing our best to be safe and cool. Hope you are too. An online article yesterday pulled from Atlantic convinces me that y'all and we-uns are still doing it right.

Wordle 361 4/6

🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 There it is. I don't know what it copied this morning.

322LizzieD
Jun 16, 2022, 9:37 am

Wordle 362 4/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟨⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I can't quarrel with this except for my dumb first word, which I used on a whim. I do like trying new first words although I don't always use helpful ones. My 3rd guess is one I've used first before. Wouldn't that have been splendid? teach, along, arson, apron

323richardderus
Jun 16, 2022, 12:54 pm

Hiya Peggy! I got today's in 3, so I'm right chuffed. Stay inside and huddle next to the fan today *yikes*

An all-purpose *smooch*

324karenmarie
Jun 16, 2022, 1:15 pm

Hi Peggy!

Well, Pilgrim arrived. I ordered a copy described as New. It clearly was not new, and I enumerated every defect when I returned it on Amazon. Good news - they're refunding my money but said I don't have to return it, so the missing front free end paper, damaged corners, and discolored pages 413-420 don't prevent me from reading it.

325LizzieD
Jun 16, 2022, 2:04 pm

That is really good news, Karen! Jump right into Pilgrim. Stasia has read farther than I have, but neither of us is very far into it. I already like it.

*smooch* for Richard! I love 3. *sigh* for me. We're just back from our walk. I've almost never felt so hot. Neither of us needs to be out in the heat and humidity even though it has been hotter this week and will be again tomorrow and as hot Saturday.
I'm watching the hearings again, of course. Horrors. Just horrors.

326LizzieD
Jun 17, 2022, 9:49 am

Wordle 363 6/6

🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh brother! This would have been a good time to use my "sacrifice a guess to eliminate consonants" technique, but I couldn't think of possible choices quickly enough, and the wrong one pronounced differently also threw me. Hmmmmm. A word containing k,f,c, and b might have been a bit difficult. Glad not to have been skunked!

327richardderus
Jun 17, 2022, 11:07 am

>326 LizzieD: I was so irked when my consonant-eliminator word turned up NO responses that I entered CLOWN and the answer appeared!

328LizzieD
Jun 17, 2022, 5:06 pm

Ah! Serendipity strikes at will.

329karenmarie
Jun 18, 2022, 9:45 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Serendipity is one of my happy words. I'm so glad you used it.

Decent weather up north here today. I'll take it, as it looks like it will keep getting worse and hit 100F on Wednesday. It's too early for this!

330LizzieD
Jun 18, 2022, 10:53 am

You're right, Karen, all around! I look forward to walking twice today. Getting Mama showered, walking, and finishing a huge bowl of potato salad will consume my day.

Wordle 364 4/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 What a meanie! radio, canto, cameo, cacao

331richardderus
Jun 18, 2022, 11:26 am

I got there by a different path...AEONS, MIRTH, CABAL, CACAO...but in the same number of steps.

Lovely-weekend *whammy*

332karenmarie
Jun 19, 2022, 8:42 am

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Sunday to you.

I'm swooning with the 53F morning here. Windows are open to get the fresh, cool air inside.

I've finished my only non-bodice-ripper fiction book and am eyeing Pilgrim. I'd forgotten that I'd put a request in for a Library book you definitely wouldn't like - the newest in the Orphan X series - and picked it up yesterday, so am torn.

In the meantime, it took me 5 today on Wordle.

333LizzieD
Jun 19, 2022, 9:42 am

Hmmm. Happy Sunday back, Karen. I have the kitchen window open here for the 70+a bit cool - so wonderful!

You're right... I've never even considered Orphan X. If you read that before *Pilgrim*, you'll still be joining me. Stasia expects to finish it this week. We both like it though.

We seesaw in Wordle play. Today was my day; tomorrow will be yours.

Wordle 365 3/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨⬜🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Love it! ratio, shore, loser

334richardderus
Jun 19, 2022, 12:35 pm

>333 LizzieD: My diagram was identical, my words different, but 3 for me, too!

Happy Sunday, Peggy. *smooch*

335FAMeulstee
Jun 19, 2022, 3:56 pm

Hi Peggy,

I just reseved the last Wheel book at the library, and found out I am second in line for it. This might mean I have to wait until August before I get it. Unless it is returned early by the one before me in line. I will let you know when it is my turn.

336LizzieD
Jun 20, 2022, 9:47 am

Good morning, Anita! July-August --- whenever you feel like starting is fine with me. I am so slow to get reading time these days that I should start before you, but I probably won't. Be in touch!

Wordle 366 3/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 TEE HEE!!! My 3 tries now equal my 4 tries again. aisle, intro, input

337richardderus
Jun 20, 2022, 9:49 am

I took 4 to get there because my first two words are always the same when I get fewer than three letters off the first one.

It's so satisfying to get the stats into balance, isn't it?

Happy Monday, Peggy dear, spend it coolly.

338karenmarie
Jun 20, 2022, 10:28 am

Good morning, Peggy!

I started Dark Horse, the latest Orphan X book, and was immediately put off because of a party and improbability of the incident that requires Orphan X to help. I'm sure there will be another time that I'll want to read it. So I'll be returning it to the Library the next time I go into town. I've read the Prologue and first two chapters of Pilgrim and realize that it's a rich and dense read and requires morning time to focus.

339LizzieD
Jun 21, 2022, 9:40 am

Good morning this morning, Karen. I may be a day late, but I'm always glad to see you here. I'm sorry that your anticipated book isn't speaking to you at the moment - a nice surprise for the next person in line for it though. I didn't read Pilgrim last night, being caught up in The Woman in the Library. If you didn't read Richard's review of it, you should. When the two of us agree, you know you have a winner.

Good morning, Richard! You see what I said to Karen. I liked that first Gentill Rowland Sinclair mystery, but I haven't gotten back to the series. I'm totally captivated by this one. I'm also thrilled by today's Wordle. I'll remember this 2-word streak when I get in trouble again.

Wordle 367 3/6

🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 oater, toast, gloat

340richardderus
Jun 21, 2022, 10:02 am

>339 LizzieD: *blush* I am so pleased you liked my review of Sulari Gentill's book, Peggy. I'm completely unsurprised that you're enjoying the read.

Excellent Wordling! I did it in 4.

341LizzieD
Jun 22, 2022, 9:39 am

Of course, I liked your review, Richard. I can't manage but a chapter or so a day, but I'm having fun.

Wordle 368 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Still a good win as far as I'm concerned. noise, trail, ducal, awful

342richardderus
Jun 22, 2022, 9:44 am

>341 LizzieD: I was so irked by my second word's failure, I got it in three. Heh. Making anger work FOR me for once.

Happy Humpday, Peggy.

343karenmarie
Jun 22, 2022, 9:52 am

Hi Peggy!

>341 LizzieD: I particularly like your third word, although I took a different route to four.

344LizzieD
Jun 23, 2022, 9:36 am

>342 richardderus: In fact, Richard, you've been making anger or whatever work for you several times here lately. I wish I could pick up the knack.
>343 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! My third word made me happy too. I've been rewatching *Downton* even if I haven't been reading Regency bodice rippers.

Today, however, I ignored my intuition and tried to be logical. At least I got it.

Wordle 369 5/6

🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
🟨⬜🟩🟩⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, paint, ruing, drink, brink

345karenmarie
Jun 24, 2022, 9:02 am

Hi Peggy! Happy Friday to you - for some reason I have to keep correcting myself from saying Saturday. I'm in a kerfuffle with Jenna visiting and a wedding on Friday.

Downton Abbey is quite wonderful although I haven't been in the mood to re-watch it, having watched it twice already over the years. We're happy to see Claire Calbraith, who had a short but interesting role in Downton as Shep in Vera.

346LizzieD
Jun 24, 2022, 9:37 am

Good morning, Karen! Glad to see you here. Hope you enjoy the kerfuffle or else get it straightened out. I had to look up C. Calbraith, but we just finished watching her in *Downton*.

Wordle 370 5/6

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh well. aired, noise, slice, spite (trying Richard's pique at the thing; didn't work), smite

347richardderus
Jun 24, 2022, 12:17 pm

>346 LizzieD: Wasn't today's word funny? I felt like it was a catty little response to the Wordle-world's complaints about the recent trend we've thought we're seeing. It's really just our brains making patterns in randomness, of course.

348Oregonreader
Jun 24, 2022, 5:46 pm

Hi Peggy, I'm just stopping by to say hello. I saw mention of The Woman in the Library on Stasia's thread. After reading your comments and Richard's review, I'm getting a copy right away. It's always exciting to find a new author.

349LizzieD
Jun 25, 2022, 12:05 am

Richard, I tried the "p" before the "m" because I could think of several words with it. I can't quite rid myself of patterns.

Jan, I'm very happy to see you here. I hope that you enjoy *Woman/Library* and will then go back to enjoy SG's Rowland Sinclair mysteries. I've read only one, but it was enough to make me enjoy the characters and look forward to her growth as a writer.

I'll simply say that I'm furious and despondent at the loss of Roe v. Wade. We knew it was coming, but what a disaster for so many women whose lives are already more difficult than I can imagine. Right to Birthers have a lot to answer for.

350karenmarie
Jun 25, 2022, 6:03 am

'Morning, Peggy.

Yesterday was a sad day indeed. All I'll say at this point is that so far NC doesn't have a trigger ban, doesn't have a Gang of Psychos super majority in the Legislature, and does have a Democratic Governor. 🀞

I got Wordle in 3!

351PaulCranswick
Edited: Jun 25, 2022, 6:32 am

>349 LizzieD: In most countries this is not much of an issue any more. I respect the pro-lifers views although I don't much agree with them - what I don't understand is why they want to dictate to others on the issue. Surely in this day and age we have learnt enough to be able to agree upon the right of a woman, at least to some proscribed degree, to have the right to make choices about her own body? Sad really that that cannot be agreed to be a universal right. An individual's right to their own religious views should not be allowed to impinge upon the rights of another - isn't freedom of religion also supposedly enshrined in your constitution?

Have a lovely weekend, Peggy, dear.

352LizzieD
Edited: Jun 26, 2022, 12:40 am

Good morning, Paul. I suppose that some women opt for an abortion lightly; I'm not speaking now of women who are gratefully reclaiming their own lives but maybe of young women who use abortion as birth control. I wouldn't think that last was common. But yes, a woman's body is her own. (Would you, btw, also write that men have the right, at least to some proscribed degree, to make choices about their own bodies? I expect so.)
I think I would characterize people like my friend whose screams of "It's alive! It's alive! You can't tell me it's not alive!" rang in memory all of yesterday - those people seem to be right-to-birthers. I have more to say, but it will have to wait, and I honestly didn't mean to do this.

I did mean to do this.
Wordle 371 4/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 oiler, peach, teams, beady I got it thinking about how my daddy and his brothers used to rile Grandmother by talking about their grandfather's "beady little eyes."

353richardderus
Jun 25, 2022, 10:52 am

>352 LizzieD: I was a 4 today, too. It was a mean-spirited word. Or maybe that's just my foul mood after yesterday.

>349 LizzieD: My almost-unbreakable pattern is needing to make guesses in alpha order. It can get annoying to be a slave to that kind of pointless "organizing."

I'm so glad you and Jan are getting The Woman in the Library onto your lists soon. The ending will...will...well.

Don't melt today. *smooch*

354LizzieD
Jun 26, 2022, 12:55 am

Good night, Richard..... We had at least a less than generous word.

My inability to accept randomness lies first in my changing first word - since it was "oi" yesterday, surely it has to be "ae" today and - I don't know what and. I'm too sleepy and happy with Merlot to know what I was thinking, assuming that I was thinking.

THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill

I was blown away by the book-within-a-book frame of this little mystery. If the whole plot seemed a bit unreal from the beginning, that was fine with me because I liked all the characters as characters so much. If I found the ending a little rushed, it was likely because I didn't want the story to end. The last line is super!

I had read the first of Gentill's Rowland Sinclair series and thought it good enough to continue. Hadn't followed up, but now I'll have to. She is certainly growing as a writer.

Read Richard's review. I'm not going to attempt to improve on it.

355LizzieD
Jun 26, 2022, 9:32 am

Wordle 372 3/6

🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Lucky today! ratio, rebut, rusty

356richardderus
Jun 26, 2022, 10:25 am

>355 LizzieD: I took one extra step than you did. AEONS, MIRTH, TRUST, RUSTY

>354 LizzieD: *blush* too kind, too kind.

*smooch*

357LizzieD
Jun 26, 2022, 11:15 pm

Very lucky first word for me today, Richard.
As to review, not at all, not at all!

358LizzieD
Jun 27, 2022, 9:37 am

Wordle 373 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 aisle, trove, metro, retro

359richardderus
Jun 27, 2022, 9:45 am

>35 karenmarie: We flipped! Today was my 3 day!

*smooch*

360LizzieD
Jun 28, 2022, 9:43 am

Good morning, Richard. How about today? *smooch*

Wordle 374 3/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 oater, roils, droll I remain amazed that they recognize my first word, but it's very useful.

361richardderus
Jun 28, 2022, 10:29 am

We flipped! It was a 4 day! Heeheehee

362LizzieD
Jun 28, 2022, 11:40 pm

Wouldn't it be nifty if we were flipping 2s and 3s???

363karenmarie
Jun 29, 2022, 9:02 am

Good morning, Peggy.

Meh. Took me 5 today, and even that was with a lucky guess.

Jenna's back in Asheville, Bill's at work, and I'm pleased to have the house to myself today.

I hope you have a good day, my dear.

364richardderus
Jun 29, 2022, 9:48 am

>362 LizzieD: Not today, I'm afraid...took me 5 to get to today's answer. I'm pleased I got it at all...not a word I was expecting.

365LizzieD
Jun 29, 2022, 10:11 am

I feel better that I'm in good company, Richard and Karen.

BEHOLD!

Wordle 375 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, heart, fault, magic, gawky

366richardderus
Jun 29, 2022, 10:27 am

>365 LizzieD: Interesting path! I can see the logic. *smooch* for a fellow-Wordle-sufferer.

367LizzieD
Jun 30, 2022, 12:24 am

Richard, a *smooch* for the affirmation. I'm glad you see the logic. I thought I was incredibly lucky.

Books! That's what we're about here, right? I did get my "review" of my ER offering written today. I was mostly trying to work out what I thought about it and wasn't successful.
I'm still reading Outlander, about to finish Legends and Lattes, and persevering with Pilgrim. I was surprised to find that I'm almost half through that one. What a fascinating book!

CITY OF INCURABLE WOMEN by Maud Casey
City of Incurable Women is a sadly beautiful book in which Maude Casey imagines the inner voices of women institutionalized for hysteria in Paris's Salpetriere under the direction of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot at the turn of the last century. Well-populated, the hospital had all the necessities that make life livable in any city. This is fiction, but it's not a novel nor a series of short stories. In fact, I can't classify it, but the dream-like juxtaposition of the women's memories and thoughts. made even more dream-like by Casey's elegant language, with their actual pictures and copies of doctors' papers, profoundly affect the reader.

The first and last speaker is Augustine, who was admitted to the hospital when she was fifteen and lived there until her escape fifty years later. She was one of the doctor's "best girls" who was much-photographed and was given a private room until she fell out of favor. She was beautiful and her pictures validate this. She was also troubled and in trouble for her short life in her before. The treatments for hysteria were macabre and include scratching patients' names or malady or the hospital name on their skin to see how much scarring remains (pictures included) and something called "ovarian compression." If I have it right (and I may not), the best girls were trained to reproduce the typical positions of other patients and then photographed in the stages of hysteria: supplication, eroticism, hallucinations, mockery, ecstasy, etc.

Other speakers include Genevieve, a plain woman lost in religious wanderings, who was transformed into beauty by the lighting on her up-turned face illustrating ecstasy, and Jane Avril, who danced her way into the Salpetriere and saw the whole world dancing. There is the unnamed patient, whose life as a seamstress in Paris is distressing but normal until we read that she spent her time sewing "the eyes and beaks of birds" onto hats. All were lost and in pain. Yet there was life, and in Maud Casey's hands, there was beauty.

368karenmarie
Edited: Jun 30, 2022, 9:34 am

'Morning, Peggy!

I'm glad you're coming along with Pilgrim. I'm on page 44, and will read another chapter or two today before I head off to use the treadmill.
"Moon-mutes! Two of them!" said Jung. "Perhaps there will be a convention."


You've had a theme going with institutions, and of course Outlander is quite wonderful.

369LizzieD
Jun 30, 2022, 9:44 am

Good morning, Karen! Last night I found that I was farther along than I thought in Pilgrim and read into the third section last night. That's good for me, and you'll soon catch up! Moon-mutes indeed!!!

Wordle 376 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Better than a skunk. Here's a day when Karen's first word would have eliminated at least one bad guess. alone, strip, musty, dutch, hutch

370richardderus
Jun 30, 2022, 9:57 am

>369 LizzieD: I literally could not think of a word that wasn't a demonym for the answer so I got it in 3. I now realize that I don't know if my mental block against demonyms being valid guesses is real. Anyway....

>367 LizzieD: I think you did an outstanding job, Peggy, I have a very clear impression of the kind of book this is. A polyphonic novel, one that uses a lot of tones and attitudes to get the feeling of a place or time or both firmly in the reader's mind. So, well done you.

*smooch*

371LizzieD
Jun 30, 2022, 4:41 pm

>370 richardderus: High praise from you, Richard. I'm very grateful! *smooch*

As for the Wordle, I am channeling my inner Katy Scarlett/Annie. Tomorrow!

372LizzieD
Jun 30, 2022, 4:53 pm

LEGENDS AND LATTES by Travis Baldree

What a sweet, light little fantasy! Viv, a battle orc, buys a derelict livery stable, hangs up her sword, and converts the building into a coffee shop in a city where nobody has ever heard of coffee, much less tasted it. I am greatly comforted by reading about people doing the ordinary things that they do well. I also enjoy reading about people enjoying coffee and a master baker making delectable pastries. Everybody gets just desserts, and there's even a bit of romantic love in the end. I'll keep this one on my Kindle for times when I need quick comfort.
Many thanks to Roni for the recommendation. She knows what I like!

373LizzieD
Jul 1, 2022, 10:19 am

Wordle 377 3/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Whew! Very happy that my knack hasn't completely deserted me. aisle, nitro, pinto

374LizzieD
Jul 2, 2022, 12:36 am

OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon

If I'm going to read a historical romance, this is the historical romance that I want to read. In fact, this is at least the third time I've read it. Surely after Starz's video series, nobody needs any information about it. Lots of good period details, romance, and restrained depictions of healthy, married hetero-sex.
I've taken the sequel off the shelf, and I guess I'll get to it sooner rather than later.

375karenmarie
Jul 2, 2022, 7:28 am

'Morning, Peggy, and happy Saturday to you and yours.

I'm going to brag here that I got Wordle in 3.

Outlander and the (currently) 8 subsequent books in the series plus the spin offs are a truly stunning accomplishment for Diana Gabaldon. I've loved watching the Starz series, too.

376LizzieD
Jul 2, 2022, 10:10 am

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday right back to you! With your usual starting two, I can almost see your leap to correct.

Wordle 378 5/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 This one nearly killed me. arise, route, terry, excel, egret I'm beginning to think that yesterday's 3 was a fluke. It was an easy word.

377lauralkeet
Jul 2, 2022, 3:28 pm

Hi Peggy. I'm making the rounds, post-vacation. I have no hope of catching up; rather, I'm just zipping to the bottom of threads to say hello and I'll start fresh from here.

378LizzieD
Edited: Jul 3, 2022, 12:48 am

Lovely to see you, Laura, and I think you're generous to have included me in your rounds.

Oh dear. I continue to read 20 pp or so of Pilgrim when I can pick it up. It is very entertaining! Oh dear, oh dear. I apparently was forced to pick up Dragonfly in Amber, and that's what I read in my mindless time. I had other books in mind.

ETA: I had had A Novel Bookstore on my reminder list for eons until Tui recommended it warmly. I got a lovely Europa edition from PBS today, and I'm tickled.

379karenmarie
Jul 3, 2022, 10:43 am

Your mindless time is vastly superior to my mindless time, recently, Peggy, as I'm still in a bodice ripper phase.

But books is books and I'm for 'em.

I really need to give Pilgrim some serious attention this afternoon, after I get back from visiting friend Louise.

380LizzieD
Jul 3, 2022, 11:31 am

Not to late to say, "Good Morning, Karen!" It's wonderful that you're able to visit Louise again. I know it does both of you good.

I'm for books too! Lots of them!! Lots more for me than I'll live long enough to read!!! Books for the World!!!!

I'd like to get to Pilgrim again today. I missed something important and am eager for you to progress so that I can ask you about it. (Stasia is visiting her mother this weekend, so I won't bother her until she gets home.)

Wordle 379 4/6

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Any improvement is good these days. ratio, snail, chime, lilac

381LizzieD
Edited: Jul 4, 2022, 9:48 am

Wordle 380 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 The fives are rapidly catching up to the tied threes and fours. Oh well. alone, tried, super, sewer, sever

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, dear fellow citizens! May we have the opportunity to grow into what we've said we are!

382LizzieD
Jul 5, 2022, 9:41 am

Wordle 381 3/6

⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Happy Day! oiler, aisle, field

383karenmarie
Jul 5, 2022, 9:45 am

'Morning, Peggy, and happy 5th of July to you. Congrats on Wordle in 3. I used reverse alphabetical order, alas, and it took me 4.

I made some good progress on Pilgrim yesterday, but am still only on page 83. It's absolutely wonderful, but a dense read for me.

384richardderus
Jul 5, 2022, 9:50 am

>382 LizzieD: Me too, me too!

Spend a lovely indoorsy air-conditioned day, Peggy.

385LizzieD
Jul 5, 2022, 3:14 pm

Yay for us, Richard and Karen!

I'm something over half through Pilgrim now, Karen, and I think I answered my own unasked question....... Findley pulls you right in and doesn't let go! I'm eager to finish so that I can start my new ARC from Bellevue, Voices in the Dead House. Yippeee!!!! Whitman and Alcott nursing in the Civil War..... Richard, for some reason I know you're a Bellevue/Molly fan (and Molly was kind enough to send me this one since ER didn't let me have it). Do you like Norman Lock too? I'm too lazy to look to see. Anyway, I'm excited.
I am also in minimum AC and not walking unless things have changed by 6:00. I used to tolerate hot weather easily but no more.

386karenmarie
Jul 6, 2022, 9:52 am

Hi Peggy.

I got no serious reading in yesterday, what with getting ready for the meeting with the new Friends Treasurer and actually having the meeting with him. He's so calm and low-key, intelligent and competent. I'm very happy to turn the financial reins over to him.

I'm reading The Federalist No 22, a very long one. After that I'll indulge in some Pilgrim then simply MUST work on getting the Sunroom back under control before using the treadmill this afternoon.

I hope you get lots of reading in today in the minimum AC. We got some decent rain with two heavy bands of rain late yesterday afternoon. Power flickers, too. Blech to today's weather for both of us.

387LizzieD
Jul 6, 2022, 10:23 am

Blech for sure! Weather and today's WORDLE. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Wordle 382 6/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I hate them. I really do.

388lauralkeet
Jul 7, 2022, 6:39 am

I did not like yesterday's word ONE BIT.

389karenmarie
Edited: Jul 7, 2022, 9:53 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Today's Wordle is interesting, and I got it in 3.

I read or listened to 3 papers from The Federalist yesterday so didn't get to Pilgrim. Even though I have way too many threads that I'm behind on, I'm going to do some reading RIGHT NOW.

Interestingly, we might be a tad warmer today than you. The official forecast for my town is 99F, but we're always several degrees hotter out here. Blech. Stay safe and cool.

Oh my. Pilgrim, chapter 17. Pilgrim knew Da Vinci, Dr. Jung saying Pilgrim was his snow, and Pilgrim speaking after Jung left his room. Heady stuff.

390LizzieD
Jul 7, 2022, 10:07 am

Three!!!! I bow to the Wordalator. I'll be back to speak one place or the other later, but in disgust, here is my attempt today.

Wordle 383 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 imbue (Why on earth? I don't know. I just wanted to give it a shot.), stole, nacre, phage, agape

391richardderus
Jul 7, 2022, 2:57 pm

>390 LizzieD: I got it in 5, as well. Anyway. Summer does NOT have my proxy among the seasons. When will it be wintertime again, please?

392alcottacre
Jul 7, 2022, 3:18 pm

>367 LizzieD: OK, adding that one to the BlackHole. That last line, "Yet there was life, and in Maud Casey's hands, there was beauty," got me. Thanks for the recommendation, Peggy!

>372 LizzieD: Too bad my local library does not have that one. I have to add it to the BlackHole too!

>374 LizzieD: I am a huge fan of the entire series! I have never seen the TV series and never want to. I would rather my imagination supply Jamie and Claire's faces for me, thank you very much.

393LizzieD
Jul 8, 2022, 9:34 am

Hi, Stasia!!! I hope you like the M. Casey. It's an unusual book for sure. *L&L* is just pure fun. And I sympathize with your wish to keep your Jamie and Claire inviolate. I thought that Claire was very well cast. Her hair isn't quite wild enough, but she looks a lot like my internal Claire. Jamie is good but not red-haired enough nor yet big enough to match my internal Jamie. I don't know when I'll contrive to continue the videos, but I am reading *In Amber*. Are you? (Yesterday I read *Judgment* instead, and I know you can't fault that.)

Wordle 384 3/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 At last! An easy one!!! orate, noise, voice

394richardderus
Jul 8, 2022, 10:30 am

>393 LizzieD: It took me one more than it did you, but I am satisfied with four.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Peggy! *smooch*

395Oregonreader
Jul 8, 2022, 6:48 pm

Hi, Peggy. I just got back from a Mississippi cruise in Louisiana and was surrounded by a variety of southern accents. Lovely. I asked a fellow from No. Carolina what my accent was like and he said I sounded like an announcer! I laughed at that. Have a good weekend.

396LizzieD
Jul 9, 2022, 12:08 am

Hi, Jan! I'm sure I sound just like your NC interlocutor! Congratulations on your announcer accent, I guess.

Glad you had such a lovely experience - at least, I hope it was.... Hotter than you are accustomed to, I'll bet!

397karenmarie
Jul 9, 2022, 8:29 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Still nasty heat, but less so for us than yesterday.

When Bill did a tiny bit of announcing for WQDR when it was still a rock station, he 'learned' announcer voice. His accent is hopelessly compromised now - born in Mooresville, raised in Chapel Hill, announcer voice, and Navy. He definitely sounds less Southern than Jenna, although Jenna sounds like a mix between me and Bill.

Gentle hugs to your ma, kind regards to your DH, and many fierce hugs for your own dear self.

398LizzieD
Jul 9, 2022, 9:50 am

Good morning, Karen! I love starting my day over here with you on my thread! Thank you!!!!! Would you believe? We got 4ΒΌ inches of rain overnight. What a blessing! And maybe we'll get more this afternoon. I was hoping to walk our first walk, but I don't know. It is steamy............... which brings me to the Wordle of the day. It's your turn to get it in 3.

Wordle 385 5/6

🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Even if I had taken time over the third word, my results would likely have been the same. aisle, tears, steak, steam, stead

399alcottacre
Jul 9, 2022, 9:53 am

>393 LizzieD: No, I have not yet started Dragonfly in Amber and am not sure when I will. Hopefully some time this month but right now I have a ton of library books checked out that take priority. No, I am not going to fault you at all for reading Judgment in Death instead.

Have a super Saturday!

400richardderus
Jul 9, 2022, 2:55 pm

Happy for y'all's rain, no hot summer should go unwatered.

*smooch*

401karenmarie
Jul 10, 2022, 7:47 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Wordle in 4. Coffee in hand.

With rare exceptions, whenever I check out Library books I return them unread. And now I'm struggling to even get past the introduction of When They Call You a Terrorist, an eBook borrowed from the Library for our July book club.

402LizzieD
Jul 10, 2022, 9:41 am

Morning, Karen. Nothing in hand. Must get breakfast NOW.

I couldn't read that book at this point either. Heavens!

Wordle 386 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh bad oh bad oh bad. The 5s are about to catch the 3s and 4s.

Nice and cool here though and overcast. We might get some rain, I hope.

403karenmarie
Jul 11, 2022, 7:05 am

Hi Peggy, and happy Monday to you.

I've officially decided to abandon When They Call You a Terrorist. With the best of intentions and because it personally interested her, the woman who selected this book had also suggested that our reading year be BLM books. The rest of the group respectfully declined, thank goodness.

Sorry about the 5.

404LizzieD
Jul 11, 2022, 9:55 am

Hi, Karen and Happy Monday back!

Good for you for letting that book go without regret. Maybe another year...... I may finish Pilgrim today or tomorrow. I've read it faster than I read most things, as hard as that may be to believe.

Wordle 387 5/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 AAARRRRRrrrrrrgh!

405richardderus
Jul 11, 2022, 10:28 am

Hi Peggy! I'm pleased for you that Findley's book is keeping your interest. It's been on my radar because y'all've chosen it to read together so I'm awaiting some consensus for its merits.

Yay for 5, since it's better than 6. *smooch*

406LizzieD
Jul 12, 2022, 9:54 am

Morning, Richard. Thanks for Wordle encouragement. I used Karen's word first today with delightful results.

Wordle 388 3/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 adieu, north, night

407richardderus
Jul 12, 2022, 11:30 am

>406 LizzieD: All three of us got it in 3 today! Heh. The Genius Gene's kicked in, I see.

*smooch*

408LizzieD
Edited: Jul 13, 2022, 9:55 am

Well, that was yesterday, Richard. Today, my brain didn't see the D in my 4th guess, or I could have gotten it in 5. I despair, but a *smooch* is a help.

Wordle 389 6/6

🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 aisle, loamy, plant, cadge, blank, bland

409richardderus
Jul 13, 2022, 10:00 am

>408 LizzieD: I was back to 4 today, so the switch went back to "off" in both of us. But I am delighted with the existence of the game, since practicing pattern recognition really helps keep acuity up.

410karenmarie
Jul 13, 2022, 12:12 pm

Hi Peggy! Happy Wednesday.

My switch stayed on, got it in 3. *preens*

411LizzieD
Jul 14, 2022, 12:21 am

Karen, GOOD for you!!!! I guess I would be a *groomer*.
Richard, I agree wholeheartedly, even with my lapses!

PILGRIM by Timothy Findley
Later, folks.

CHRISTMAS MOURNING by Margaret Maron
This was actually a sad addition to the Deborah Knott series. She and her family are fine, but local teens have been killed in car crashes, and a couple of young brothers have been shot. Deborah's intimate knowledge of the people of the county help Dwight solve the mysteries, but it's Christmas. They manage to celebrate anyway.

I'm on to the next in which Deborah is in NYC, honeymooning at last, and helps Sigrid Harald (who has been my favorite of Maron's detectives) solve a murder. My recollection is that this pairing didn't work too well.

412LizzieD
Jul 14, 2022, 9:53 am

Wordle 390 5/6

🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Just call me "Fiver." BOO! ratio, risen, cider, viper, liver

413FAMeulstee
Jul 14, 2022, 2:46 pm

>412 LizzieD: Well, Fiver was my favorite rabbit in Watership Down ;-)

414richardderus
Jul 14, 2022, 3:01 pm

>413 FAMeulstee: I'd forgotten that! heh

>412 LizzieD: *grumble* on present trends I'll be 6 tomorrow and X on Saturday.

415LizzieD
Jul 14, 2022, 11:27 pm

>414 richardderus: Don't say that, Richard!
>413 FAMeulstee: Exactly who I was thinking of, Anita! I can't remember whether I loved Fiver or Hazel most.

Off to bed. I just as well confess that I'm reading the first N. Lowell space book again. I don't know quite why I find it so comforting, but I do, and I'm enjoying it. I don't think I'll need to reread the second one right away, so that's good.

416karenmarie
Jul 15, 2022, 6:45 am

Hi Peggy!

Sometimes comfort reading is the best. I'm comfort reading romances right now.

Jenna and I are off to Asheville today to get the rest of her stuff, clean the apartment, drop off the keys, and bring her car home since she drove the UHaul truck yesterday. Tiring even to write it. Sigh.

417alcottacre
Jul 15, 2022, 7:16 am

Happy Friday, Peggy! I hope you have a fantastic day!

418LizzieD
Jul 15, 2022, 9:49 am

Safe travel and smooth dealings to you and Jenna today, Karen. That's tiring to read. I'll be thinking about you!

Fantastic Friday to you to, Stasia!!!!

Wordle 391 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 First time in days that I've broken five or six. Happy Day! aisle, round, depth, wedge

419richardderus
Jul 15, 2022, 9:54 am

Steady on 5 for me, today, so no submersion to 6 yet. *whew*

Happy weekend-ahead's (re)reads! *smooch*

420Berly
Jul 16, 2022, 2:56 am

Happy weekend your Wordler you!!

421LizzieD
Edited: Jul 16, 2022, 11:45 pm

Hi, Kim!!!! How super to see you!!!!!!! Thank you for speaking - made my morning!

RD, all you have to do is mention 6, and I go for it. I guess I'm happy not to have been skunked.
Hope your weekend is cool and dandy.

Wordle 392 6/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, later, rough, rocky, rowdy, roomy I guess logic eventually kicked in.

422karenmarie
Jul 16, 2022, 10:14 am

'Morning, Peggy, and happy Saturday to you.

Our trip went well, I'm less tired than I thought, and I finally finished Alexander Hamilton yesterday in the last 10 minutes before getting back home. Only took 2.5 months of listening in the car.

Glad you got Wordle, even in 6. Definitely better than being skunked.

423LizzieD
Jul 16, 2022, 11:50 pm

Indeed, 6 is better than the smell of skunk, Karen! Glad you're home. Congrats on finishing *Hamilton*!!!

Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell
I find these first three books totally relaxing. Ishmael Horatio Wang is 18-19 years old when he ships on an interstellar freighter as the most lowly crewman on the mess deck. He grows, but we are treated with his ordinary spacer day-to-day life, and I love it. I've moved on to *Β½Share*, and I'm loving this one again too.

Happy Reading! That's what I say!

424richardderus
Jul 17, 2022, 9:39 am

Happy reading indeed, and Sunday orisons, Peggy!

425LizzieD
Jul 17, 2022, 12:09 pm

And to you, Richard, those orisons include one for you. And btw, your warble treat The Library of the Unwritten is a Kindle Deal today for $1.99 according to BookBub. I'm after it!

Wordle 393 5/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟨🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Back again, the 5er. I actually thought of the word at guess 4, but I pronounce it (and would have spelled it) with an extra "h." atone, mails, hardy, gawky, wacky

426LizzieD
Jul 18, 2022, 9:39 am

Wordle 394 6/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 GRRRRRRR. I really hate these. adieu, north, sloop, clock, block, flock

427richardderus
Jul 18, 2022, 9:57 am

I got it in 4 because I got ticked, put in BLOCK, then moved to FLOCK because CLOCK wasn't right, somehow.

428alcottacre
Jul 18, 2022, 10:09 am

>423 LizzieD: I really need to get around to reading Lowell's books. Too bad my local library does not have them.

Have a wonderful week, Peggy!

429LizzieD
Jul 18, 2022, 11:36 pm

Hey, Stasia. That is too bad, but you might not like them. I'm not sure why I do, but I finished *Β½ Share* and am into the crisis in *Full*.

Good for you, Richard. I always try the C at some point because it's so useful in blends.

I'm going to bed! Good night!!!

430Berly
Jul 18, 2022, 11:37 pm

Good night!! : )

431karenmarie
Jul 19, 2022, 9:31 am

'Morning, Peggy. I hope you have a good day and stay as cool as possible.

We're settling in with Jenna here. She's set up her PS4 in my Retreat, and can play her video games up there any time except when I'm sleeping. The volume she can comfortably play them at and the insulation between upstairs Retreat and downstairs Sunroom/Karen's home office means I don't have to hear them.



432LizzieD
Jul 19, 2022, 10:30 am

That all sounds good, Karen. I hope all 3 of you are relaxing into the new iteration of the family relationships.

Look!

Wordle 395 3/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I needed encouragement and got it. aisle, apron, angry

433richardderus
Jul 20, 2022, 9:24 am

Hi Peggy, hoping all goes well today.

434LizzieD
Jul 20, 2022, 3:19 pm

Thanks, Richard. We got there and back. I need at least one more shot, but this will be #5 in a 4 shot series, and the insurance won't pay for it on the day it's diagnosed. So --- I have to wait until next week. The good news is that they will have a doctor in my town next week who can do it for me. I'm not sure why they haven't offered me that option before.

Also Wordle fail. And I started so well..... Back to *Full Share* and a nap.

Wordle 396 X/6

🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩

435karenmarie
Jul 21, 2022, 7:59 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Boo hiss to insurance limitations on medical needs. At least you can get care closer to home. And I'm so sorry about your Wordle fail. I hope today's word works out for you.

436LizzieD
Edited: Jul 21, 2022, 11:32 pm

Thank you, Karen.

Wordle 397 4/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I feel a bit lot better about myself even if guess 3 was stupid. arose, align, attic, aphid

437richardderus
Jul 21, 2022, 3:57 pm

I flurbled on #3 as well, but hey-ho, still got it in 4!

*smooch*

438LizzieD
Jul 22, 2022, 9:53 am

Good morning, Richard. They get me every single time, but after spending all morning on it, I finally got it in 4. Good grief!

Wordle 398 4/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, blast, crust, tryst

439richardderus
Jul 22, 2022, 12:21 pm

>438 LizzieD: I got it in 4, too. I was a little bit surprised.

440LizzieD
Jul 23, 2022, 9:46 am

Good morning, Richard. I'm happy to be a fourster and not a fiver this morning too. I was torn at guess 4 between two third letters and happily chose the correct one.

Wordle 399 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 orate, guise, liege, midge

441karenmarie
Jul 23, 2022, 11:14 am

Alas, I'm a fiver, but I blame that on not being at home. Sounds good, right?

442LizzieD
Jul 23, 2022, 1:02 pm

Sounds reasonable to me, Karen. Glad you're there and wishing you a wonderful time!

443LizzieD
Jul 24, 2022, 9:39 am

Wordle 400 5/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜🟨
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh well. iotas, mourn, forge, cover, power That's luck of a sort.

444LizzieD
Jul 25, 2022, 8:42 am

Wordle 401 5/6

⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Again! Every time. Every time. aeons, thole, glove, bloke, elope

445karenmarie
Jul 25, 2022, 9:03 am

'Morning, Peggy!

Five for me today, too. They're tricksy with using a vowel twice, aren't they?

446LizzieD
Jul 26, 2022, 9:40 am

Fail today.

Wordle 402 X/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 I cannot make myself use a letter twice to save me. I didn't save me.

447richardderus
Jul 26, 2022, 12:51 pm

>446 LizzieD: I suppose it would be unkind to tell you I got it in 2 today, wouldn't it.

Especially since it's a lie.

*smooch*

448LizzieD
Jul 27, 2022, 12:13 am

Oh, Richard! You just made my late night!!! *smooch* right back!

449PaulCranswick
Edited: Jul 27, 2022, 1:21 am

Don't feel bad Peggy, it almost caught me out too.

Wordle 403 6/6

⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I played out all the possibilities and could only come up with one alternative based on the available letters left and therefore I scraped home.

Oops sorry I realize that time zones put me a day ahead of you. 402 was a 4/6 for me, I think.

450alcottacre
Jul 27, 2022, 5:23 am

Just checking in on you, Peggy. Hope all is well there!

451karenmarie
Jul 27, 2022, 8:32 am

Hi Peggy. Yuck to the heat. Our upstairs for the bedrooms AC went out again, so now the HVAC people are scheduled for 1-3 tomorrow. That's with priority scheduling because of our maintenance agreement with them. Sigh.

Other than that, reading, getting power washing done, hanging with Jenna, etc.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Wordle took me 4 again.

452LizzieD
Edited: Jul 27, 2022, 10:17 am

Well, Karen, I'm disgusted with Wordle but glad to have oozed by with 5. At least I didn't "each letter once" myself out of the game. You sound too busy. I hate having people in the house, but I'm glad you have a good contract!

Hi, Stasia! We're fine as frog hair (and that's pretty fine). That's my sil's line. Hope you are too.

Hi, Paul! Long time without speaking, so thank you for coming by.

Wordle 403 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 aisle, round, botch, motor, motto #4 was dumb luck, or I'd still be sitting here fretting about it.

453LizzieD
Jul 28, 2022, 9:43 am

Wordle 404 6/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟨⬜🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I feel as though I've totally lost my touch. I'm just glad to have pulled it out at last.
ratio, those, stony, stoup, stoop, stomp

Eye shot with the new man in the local satellite clinic. I'm really, really hoping that all goes well.

454alcottacre
Jul 28, 2022, 9:53 am

>452 LizzieD: Well, if you say it, I believe it - although I admit I never knew that frogs even had hair!

455richardderus
Jul 28, 2022, 10:24 am

I remember it as "finer'n frog hair split four ways and sanded" but, yeah.

6 > X. All I'm sayin'. Plus you have an eye shot coming up! I don't even know how you can remain vertical with that hanging over you...I'd be in a state of nervous collapse.

456LizzieD
Jul 28, 2022, 4:11 pm

Hi, Stasia and Richard.

Eye shot done and done. The new doc is fine although he doesn't look much older than 15. My only complaint is that none of the staff was masked and a good third of the patients waiting were not either. I was. However, I got the shot - never, ever more than momentarily not pleasant - and was home within 2 hours as opposed to a half day going to Pinehurst. New doc's scheduling protocols echo first doc's exactly. I even prefer the eye deadening, which didn't involve a gummy, scratchy, itchy gel. Even so, I'm off to the sofa for a nap. Whew!

457karenmarie
Jul 29, 2022, 9:22 am

Poor darling! Hugs to your sweet wonderful self.

Eye shots would put me in a state of nervous collapse too, Γ  la Richard.

458LizzieD
Jul 29, 2022, 10:03 am

Good morning, (((((Karen)))))! I wish you a happy, cool day. Glad to hear that you have AC again!

Wordle 405 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
🟨⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I completely threw away guess 3 - didn't notice that I hadn't moved the vowel. I've realized that since Mama is getting up earlier, I'm not concentrating, but I do love trying it first thing. Oh well. Humility is not a bad thing; shame is bad, but not humility. noise, alert, chest, sweet, upset

459richardderus
Jul 29, 2022, 11:36 am

>458 LizzieD: It was a 4 day for me, Peggy, and honestly could've been X if I hadn't decided to use my mental state as guess #4!

Friday orisons, dear lady. *smooch*

460FAMeulstee
Edited: Jul 30, 2022, 8:22 am

I just go a notification that the library copy of the last Wheel (A Memory of Light) is on its way :-)
I should get it next week, so I put it on my reading list for August.

461LizzieD
Jul 30, 2022, 10:09 am

Hi, Anita!!!! *Wheel* in August works for me as much as anything works for me these days!!!! I'm going to be sad.

Wordle 406 6/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Six is better than a skunk, but I am demoralized. I'm happy to have used Karen's word first to get that U established though. adieu, snout, crumb, pluck, blubs, bluff

462richardderus
Jul 30, 2022, 11:07 am

Only one vowel, and that one the weird one, made this a rough guess. *smooch*

463LizzieD
Jul 30, 2022, 12:39 pm

Thanks for the *smooch* and back to you, Richard. At least I made you feel better!

Stay cool and Read!

464LizzieD
Jul 31, 2022, 9:35 am

Wordle 407 5/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Stupid is as stupid does.

465karenmarie
Jul 31, 2022, 9:56 am

Took me 5 today, too. I played alphabet soup and wasted two words.

I hope you have a good day, my dear.

466LizzieD
Edited: Aug 1, 2022, 9:59 am

Still a Fiver. Don't concentrate.
Good morning, Karen!

Wordle 408 5/6

🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Oh well.

467richardderus
Aug 1, 2022, 11:30 am

>466 LizzieD: I was a 5er too! Bloody stupid letter. *grumble*

468LizzieD
Aug 2, 2022, 9:38 am

Good morning, Richard and Karen. I'm off quickly to see how you did on this one. I could hurt somebody; I really could. I'm truly a Fiver now, my number of 5 guesses now having passed the 3s and 4s, which are tied.

Wordle 409 5/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ratio, spoil, color, could, coyly

469richardderus
Aug 2, 2022, 10:33 am

>468 LizzieD: Wasn't this one irritating!!

470sibylline
Aug 2, 2022, 11:51 am

Stopping by your thread and here is your all your wordling. Yesterday's was a bit of a nasty.

471LizzieD
Aug 2, 2022, 11:10 pm

Hi, Richard and Lucy with thanks for visits. I wish I had something else going on besides mediocre Wordling. Oh well.

472Whisper1
Aug 3, 2022, 12:04 am

Peggy, I am stopping by to say hello. I think of you often and admire the incredibly kind person you are!

473PaulCranswick
Aug 3, 2022, 12:43 am

>474 LizzieD: What Linda said. xx

474LizzieD
Aug 3, 2022, 9:59 am

Linda and Paul, thank you for the visits and those kind words. You're two of my best!!!

Wordle 410 4/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨
🟨🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 First time in almost 2 weeks that I did it in less than 5. aisle, mount, touch, youth If only I had used the other word for #2!

475richardderus
Aug 3, 2022, 10:49 am

>474 LizzieD: Curse broken! I'm the same as you today, but only because I read in Mary's (bell7) thread that she ran into her "troublesome letter" which I remembered from her earlier complaints about it. It's Y.

476karenmarie
Aug 3, 2022, 11:17 am

Hi Peggy!

Sorry I haven't visited in a while, but with Jenna settling in and it being her birthday today and my falling the other day... well. I need to get back on an even keel.

In the meantime, happy Wednesday to you. Gentle hugs to your mama, kind regards to your DH, and many fierce hugs for your own wonderful self.

477LizzieD
Aug 4, 2022, 12:15 am

Dear Karen, you speak to me on your thread. You don't need to come here where nothing happens but Wordle Woes.

Hi, Richard. I'm not sure that one day breaks a curse. If I had gotten even one letter right in my first try, I would probably have gotten a 5 or 6 again, and that with luck.

I do read sometimes. I'm now close to finishing the Matteo Ricci book, and I have really enjoyed it. It was not what I wanted when I started, but the man had a fascinating life and left a wide paper trail.

478LizzieD
Aug 4, 2022, 9:45 am

Back to idiocy and 5.

Wordle 411 5/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 raise, route, reeve, glyph, rhyme

479alcottacre
Aug 4, 2022, 9:48 am

Just checking in on you today. I am glad to hear that you are close to finishing Matteo Ricci.

Have a thunderous Thursday!

480FAMeulstee
Aug 4, 2022, 11:46 am

The last Wheel has arrived, Peggy. I hope to start next week.

481LizzieD
Aug 4, 2022, 1:30 pm

Hi, Stasia! About 30 pp to go, I guess. YAY!

Hi, Anita. Next week sounds fine to me. I won't keep up with you, but I'll be relieved when I've read it.

482richardderus
Aug 4, 2022, 2:29 pm

>478 LizzieD: A win's a win, Peggy, and that means you've started a streak. Go you!

483LizzieD
Aug 5, 2022, 9:42 am

A win's a win, Richard, but I surely do long for pretty. Not today!!!

Wordle 412 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 noise, larch, pudgy, muggy, buggy Karen's word would have been a great help at the beginning.

484karenmarie
Aug 5, 2022, 11:24 am

Hi Peggy!

Some days my word works, some days it doesn't - even using my word, it took me 5 today. Perhaps not enough coffee...

485richardderus
Aug 5, 2022, 11:28 am

>483 LizzieD: HORRIBLE word today, and not in the good, Horrible, sense. *grump*

Anyway. Splendid Friday wishes to you, dear lady. *smooch*

486LizzieD
Edited: Aug 6, 2022, 9:37 am

Good night, Good Karen and Good Richard. I'm ready for a reasonable word or two. They don't have to be easy, but I'd really like something reasonable.

THE MEMORY PALACE OF MATTEO RICCI by Jonathan D. Spence

I picked this book up 30+ years ago hoping to gain some insight into the memory palace technique, which turns out to be classical and much used during the Counter-Reformation. No luck. However, I read it with fascination as MR went to China as a Jesuit missionary at the turn of the 17th century. (Stasia read it "with" me and finished last month sometime.) I got a pretty good feeling for China during the Ming Dynasty and for what the Jesuits were doing there. I thought that the organization of the narrative using Ricci's choices for his memory palace was both artificial and intrusive. A straight chronological narrative would have served Spence's purpose much better.

Besides carrying away a general picture of this life and time, I'll cherish numerous details. The Chinese were eager to adore Mary but the Jesuits waited a long time to explain to each potential convert their concept of Jesus crucified as atonement. Ricci deplored Bejing as the whore of Babylon in much the same way that Luther had thought of Rome at roughly the same time. Ricci thought to buy haunted houses in Nanjing and Peking when nobody would sell him a good house otherwise. I'm floored by the combination of ambergris and mercury as a "life giving" concoction. Who would have thought that the Chinese would value ostrich feathers so highly? Chinese of the Song dynasty had mastered escapement in clock-making but then lost the technique over time. Therefore, they valued European clocks so that Ricci and his fellow missionaries were always begging the order to send more clocks and books and paintings.

Four stars even without the memory palace!

487quondame
Aug 6, 2022, 12:58 am

>486 LizzieD: That would have upset me for sure. The Memory Palace concept was one my father had adopted when he was young and his memory was amazing. Of course we got lots of info dumps and developed the habit of walking away while he went on. Heh, family.

488LovingLit
Aug 6, 2022, 2:17 am

Oh my goodness, this is the longest thread I think I have ever seen! :)

>478 LizzieD: getting the Wordle in 5 is so not idiocy (tsk tsk). Getting it at all is till a victory in my books.

489LizzieD
Aug 6, 2022, 9:47 am

Welcome back, Susan and Megan!
Susan, I've never been able to use mnemonics to great effect; I just thought it was easier to remember what I had to remember. When I started the book, I tried to recall the 7 hills of Rome (not a long list, but learned years and years ago). "Crazy Queen Victoria Eats Cold Apple Pie" did nothing to help me pull up the Caelian and Aventine. I hadn't learned them well enough in the first place. I'm still intrigued by the palace, but I'm moving on.

I know, Megan. I know. When I get to my home computer around 10:30 at the earliest, I just don't have the energy to find a new topper and get on with making a new thread. I will - sometime.
I'm a word person. Earlier, I was getting Wordle in 3 more often than any other number of guesses. Thus has pride been humbled. Today's was really, really easy, and I wish I had thought of my second word earlier. It would have been helpful seven of the last eight days.

Wordle 413 3/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 arose, unity, alien My vanity is somewhat soothed.

490richardderus
Aug 6, 2022, 10:23 am

>489 LizzieD: Oooohhhh your second word is inspired! I'm tempted by it but it repeats a letter in my chosen first word.

Anyway, we got it in 3, so that is good enough for today's gruntling and kempting. *smooch*

491LizzieD
Edited: Aug 6, 2022, 2:03 pm

Hi, Richard! I had had the verb form of word 2 on my list for ages, but the last week shifted my awareness to a noun. I'm pretty chuffed by it. I'm also relieved to have joined you in getting it in 3, whatever gruntles and kempts come to us tomorrow.

IN LOVE WITH GEORGE ELIOT by Kathy O'Shaughnessy

I won this from ER in last October's list and have tried at least four distinct times to read the thing. I can't. If I Richard-Pearl Rule it, I read more than I had to, 48 excruciating pages, before deciding that it is without question a WNF (Will NEVER Finish). I quoted the first paragraph in my review on the book page. I guess I'll copy it here so that non-usage jerks can shake their heads at me. I will simply say that it is a sad thing for a person who does not care about the language to write about George Eliot.

"The train had shuddered to a halt. Clatter of doors opening and shutting, noise echoing in the huge vault of Euston station, a smell of oil-flavoured steam and soot. A last door opens, and a woman neither young nor old, slightly round-shouldered, descends to the platform. She looks round, possibly she is short-sighted: a tall man walks towards her. Everything about his stride and the way he greets her suggests a contrasting certainty and vigour."

492LizzieD
Aug 7, 2022, 9:43 am

Wordle 414 6/6

🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ARRRGH! Since I had the right number of possibilities covered, I took a chance and didn't try to nail down that last consonant. No luck today. arose, stear, swear, shear, spear, smear

493karenmarie
Aug 7, 2022, 9:59 am

Hi Peggy! Stay cool.

>491 LizzieD: *shudder* All it takes is a 25-word review. I've frequently used some of those 25 words to indicate that I couldn't finish it.

>492 LizzieD: You beat me. I got skunked with the alphabet soup nature of the word.

494LizzieD
Aug 7, 2022, 12:03 pm

Hi, Richard. Sorry for the skunk. Honestly. To get 4 of the 5 letters in the first try, place them correctly in the second, and then plow on to six. Ridiculous! I guess I was lucky after all.

I know, I know about the 25 words. I just had to quote, "She looks round," and all the rest of it. The O'Shaughnessy is enamoured of colons and semi-colons, neither of which she uses correctly most of the time. Oh yarg.

495richardderus
Aug 7, 2022, 2:00 pm

>494 LizzieD: *pssst* hey Peggy Horrible fails the sex test to be a "Richard" for our generation

>492 LizzieD: *I* got it in *THREE* today nyah nyah nyah

>491 LizzieD: Oh good gravy. That...that is just not very good.

Happy-Sunday *smooch*

496LizzieD
Aug 7, 2022, 4:32 pm

Oh dear, oh dear, hello Non-Karen clone Richard. What was I looking at? Apology all around.

Cheers for your 3. *sigh apiece* for our 5 and 6.

This topic was continued by 2022*3: Lizzie Loves to Read.