2024*3: LizzieD at Home with a Book

Yep. This is about how I feel some days. It's another small sculpture from Brookgreen Gardens. I thought I had gotten the information about it, but somehow that's not on my phone.

READ IN JUNE
30. Captain's Share (reread)
31. Babel
32. Owner's Share (reread)
33. In Enemy Hands (reread)
34. Echoes of Honor (reread)

Into the House in June
50. The Atlas Six - Kindle deal
51. The World of Yesterday - Kindle deal
52. The House of Doors ✔
53. I Never Liked You Anyway - Kindle
54. The Bird King - Kindle deal
55. The Dickens World - AMP
56. Uncompromising Honor - AMP

READ IN JULY
35. House of Doors
36. Arabella
37. Lullaby Road
38. Ashes of Victory (reread)
39. Slippery Creatures
40. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store


Into the House in July
57. The Spare Man - PBS
58. Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Kindle deal
59. Finding Mr. Write
60. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty
61. The Shadowy Third: Love Letters & Elizabeth Bowen - AMP
62. Wellness - PBS
63. The Riddle of the Labyrinth - Kindle deal through BookBub
64. Collected Works of W. Somerset Maugham - Kindle deal
65. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - AMP
66. The City - PBS
67. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store ✔ - PBS
68. Damian Seeker Books 1-5 - Kindle deal
69. The Winter List - Kindle daily deal through BookBub
70. The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - PBS
71. To Calais in Ordinary Time - PBS
72. The Tainted Cup - Kindle - no deal at all
73. The Story of Greece and Rome - Kindle deal through BookBub
74. Slippery Creatures ✔ - Kindle
75. The Sugared Game' - Kindle
76. The Last Graduate - PBS
77. Collected Poems Henry Reed - AMP

READ IN AUGUST
41. Seduction in Death
42. The Hands of the Emperor (4th reading)
43. Petty Treasons (3rd reading)

Into the House in August
78. Christ Stopped at Eboli - Library sale from the 1970s
79. New and Collected Poems: Richard Wilbur - AMP
80. The Night Will Have Its Say - AMP
81. The Eagle of the Ninth - AMP
82. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza - AMP
83. Sisters of Sinai - on my Kindle forever and not catalogued until now

*review on book page

OPEN FOR READING IN AUGUST


(Just because they're open doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to get to them this month.) (This is such a joke. Maybe this will be the year I actually read *Life* --- maybe not. I do live and read in hope!)

BEST OR MOST MEMORABLE OF THE FIRST HALF!

The Marriage Portrait*
The Man Who Died Twice
The Debatable Land
Resurgence
Covenant of Water
Britain BC
Saint Elspeth
Babel (It seems churlish not to include it.)

Rockton series + Haven's Rock series
Greenwing and Dart series

Is it safe? Happy new thread!!!

Yay, Kim! It's more than safe! I'll try to do what I do sometime tomorrow. Meanwhile, thank you for the visit and the good wish!!!!!

Happy new thread Peggy!

>1 LizzieD: I love Brookgreen Gardens, Peggy. My husband's parents lived in North Myrtle Beach many years ago, and we enjoyed visiting the gardens much more than the typical NMB attractions. It's a bit of a trek for you, isn't it? But well worth it.

Happy new thread, Peggy. xx

Happy new thread!

Good morning, Peggy, and happy new thread.

We visited Brookgreen Gardens when we would stay in Garden City Beach when Jenna was little. It and Pawley's Island were always highlights of our trips.

My hammock is a Pawley's Island hammock.

Wordle in two again. I love it when I can think of a word that would work, confirm that it's on the available word list, then confirm that it hasn't already been used.

>11 karenmarie: We had two Myrtle Beach vacations when I was a teenager (14 & 16, IIRC). On one of those trips my Dad made an impulse purchase of a Pawleys Island hammock. No regrets! It was a fabulous addition to our back yard.

Chris & I rented a townhouse for a week in Litchfield a couple of times back in the early/mid 90s (a much better option for young kids than staying at the in-laws). At the time, it was quiet and not too touristy. I bet that's changed.

Peggy, regarding the social action you mentioned on your last thread, let me know when you have set it up and I'll contribute.

I love getting early messages on a new thread. Thank you all for the visits and the good wishes!

Judy, that is most generous of you. I will certainly put you in the loop when school starts back.

Laura, I'm happy to say that Litchfield is pretty much as it was when my friends bought into their timeshare there twenty or so years ago. (That's where I was with friends for a few days in May.) It remains mostly residential with a lot of year-round residents - quiet!
Happy to see the Pawley's Island hammock love from you and Karen. We have one too. I was even acquainted with a very tall woman who spent a college summer tying hammocks. She was so tall that she started them and then handed each one off to a person of average height. She said it was the best summer of her young life.
Brookgreen has added many features even since we started spending time with Rita and John. They have a major building project underway (I can't remember this minute what will go there), more galleries, an interesting wildlife section beyond the plantation walk, a butterfly pavilion, a really good restaurant, and the gift shop and the gardens besides. I can't remember how many hundreds of volunteers keep moving fresh plants in and out.
The sculpture at the top was in a gallery I didn't remember from our last visit pre-pandemic. They were featuring the small work of young sculptors, and the visiting public was invited to vote for a favorite piece.

Anita, Paul, and Susan, you are most welcome even if you don't visit the South Carolina coast!!!

Oh, Karen. Two for you AGAIN!!!! I'm way, way out of your league and happy to have blundered into the right word in time to save my little streak.

Wordle 1,095 5/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, noire, boxer, rover, cover Maybe I should go back to "arose."

Happy new one, Peggy!

Happy new thread, Peggy!

>14 LizzieD: I visited Brookgreen Gardens many years ago. I had scheduled a vacation in Myrtle Beach, then Hurricane Hugo hit. They were still recovering at the time of my vacation, but I could get down to Myrtle Beach. They just moved me from a hotel on the beach to one inland on highway 17. Since the beach was closed for cleanup for several days while I was there, I drove up to Sunset Beach in NC a few days. One day I went to Brookgreen Gardens and spent the day there. It was really nice. As I mentioned on a different thread, there was one garden that was full of hundreds of butterflies on the flowers. I do not believe they had a dedicated butterfly pavilion at that time, just one of their gardens attracted lots of butterflies. It sounds like I need to go back and see what they've added.

We were last in Myrtle Beach in 2017, and I was so sad to see how much development has happened. I loved the little mom & pop hotels that were there when I first went. They seem to have all been replaced by big high rise hotels. And highway 17 is a mess! Way too much stuff and traffic. Some of it was unrecognizable.

I thought about getting a Pawley's Island hammock. I never made it down to Pawley's Island, but I did pick up a brochure. I guess I should look into it again.

Wordle in 4 for me today. I went back and looked to see what _O_ER words I had previously solved for before guessing.

Happy new thread, Peggy!

Thank you for visiting, Stasia, Irene, and Jim! You're always welcome!!!

Irene, you are making me nostalgic. I grew up going to Tilghman (between Ocean Drive and Cherry Grove) where a single uncle and cousin shared ownership of a big 2nd row cottage - nothing between it and the water -with another couple of bachelor friends. Mama's whole family of 7 with all their children converged for at least one week each summer.....best time in the year except maybe for Christmas. I haven't been back since the late 60s.
Then my DH and I used to make frequent day trips to Sunset in the summer in the early 70s.
Now the family beach is Holden. We were supposed to go the weekend Matthew hit, but since it was coming directly over us, we decided to stay home. Everybody else went, and they were fine. Matthew not only came directly over us; it sat and rained and rained and rained us onto national news and local disaster. Our poor town still hasn't recovered.

'Morning, Peggy.

Wordle in 3 for me today.

>18 LizzieD: I'm sorry you didn't go to the family trip when Matthew hit, especially as since staying home meant Matthew hit.

Today is my first day of driving after my knee replacement surgery as I take myself to PT and the pharmacy.

Happy new thread, Peggy. Regarding Babel, I often find that books could use a tad more editing. Still, the premise sounds interesting.

Good morning, Karen!!! We would have been desperate if we had been at the beach when Matthew hit. It was impossible to get in or out of town for almost a week. In fact, we were beginning to get a little worried about drinking water when a friend was finally able to get out and bring back enough water for us to have some too.
Enjoy your restored freedom very carefully!!!!!

Wordle 1,096 2/6*

⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, terse WOOO HOOOOO! Self-a-steam boost!

Hi, Beth. The concept of Babel was a total winner. A tad more editing wouldn't have been nearly enough though. Does anybody else remember seeing The Days of Wine and Roses when it first came out? It had me gobsmacked for the first ⅔ or so of the movie. Then it went on and on and on, hammering in The Message until the only reaction of my cadre was to shake our heads and laugh. That's how Babel was for me. *sigh*

IN ENEMY HANDS by David Weber
I'm not sure how I can explain that military space opera is a comfort read for me, but it is. I couldn't put this one down, and I'm happy that it stood up to a third reading.
The bad guys among the Peeps (The People's Republic Of Haven, which is neither for its people in its current incarnation nor a republic) are thoroughly bad, twisted, arrogant, and often stupid. The right thinking good guys in the Kingdom of Manticore and its allies are uniformly good, devoted to duty, and smart enough to see what's going on. Of course, there are good guys among the Peeps and bad guys among the Manties. Honor Harrington is the best of the good, and like her people, I love my Honor. My favorite character though, continues to be her empathic treecat Nimitz, with whom she is bonded for life.
I had forgotten that the next book deals with Honor's getting the prisoners off Hades, the Peeps' top-secret prison planet. It does, so I'll have to keep on reading.

>18 LizzieD: Oh, that sounds like so much fun, going to a place at the beach every year! Getting to Sunset Beach is different now that they've replaced that little bridge, where you had to wait when the opened it for the boats to get through. I hope it doesn't lead to over-development there. I loved how quiet it was at that beach.

I don't forget Matthew either. I remember that terrible football game NC State played against Notre Dame in a downpour. Then the flooding knocked out my cable during the evening news, just as Greg Fischel was coming on to talk about the weather. We didn't get it back until Tuesday evening! I can't forget, because the Cubs were in the playoffs with their best chance ever to go to the World Series, and I suddenly couldn't get the games. At one point, Time Warner claimed the problem was fixed, but whatever they fixed didn't help us. I discovered that it was finally fixed about the second inning of the Tuesday night game, and got to see most of the game where they beat the Giants to advance to the next round of the playoffs. That's one of the longest cable outages that we've experienced, at the worst time for me. I shouldn't complain though, because you obviously had a much harder time with Matthew, and it's shocking to me that some people are still having problems getting help. Last I heard, there were still people who hadn't been able to get their houses rebuilt.

Hoot Mon! was wonderful, Irene. I am an only child, and that annual week with cousins was the closest I came to being in a family - a BIG family!
We haven't been back to Sunset in years either. I'm pretty sure that time and tide are reshaping the island, and that houses on the upscale development end have been lost.
I can sympathize with loss of cable when you want it most.
One of many sad things about here is that people in the lowest lying areas, the poorest, moved back into pretty unsound structure and are living with black mold. To my shame, I don't know where that stands now or where squatters go if they are turned out.

Another good Wordle morning for me!
Wordle 1,097 3/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, sheet, scent

Oh...HERE you are. I was wondering. *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy! It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in central NC.

Wordle in four for me. PT and soccer and reading are on the schedule for today.

If military space opera is your comfort reading now, then I'm glad you have re-reads galore. I'm still comfort reading MM smut, of course...

Richard, I yielded to your nudge and started the new thread - very like the old thread, I must say. (The old lady reading is just a happen-so, not a reply to your gorgeous young topper!) *smooch*

We have walked and breakfasted, Karen. It will be too hot for me to do anything else all day although I should go over to Mama's and shred some..... Since my milspop is starting slowly, I've picked up The House of Doors, and I guess I need to put it on my current list even though I've read only a little of it. Never mind all those other things I'm 100 pp or so into. *sigh*

Wordle 1,098 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, haint, faint, paint I never expected to have #2 accepted, or I might have thought a little longer. Then the choice at 3 made us 4 sisters again. I'll take it.

Hiya, Peggy, happy weekend-to-come! I'm huddled in front of the a/c praying for this nightmare called "summer" to be suddenly over ne'er to return. help?

'Morning, Peggy. Happy hot Saturday to you. I hope that you're either back from your walk or not going to walk today. Nasty, nasty, weather.

It took me all 6 guesses today on Wordle, but at least I didn't get skunked.

We might take trash to the dump and get take out. Other than that, soccer, reading, etc.

We did walk, Karen, and I did get very hot. Boo. Hope you stay cool and enjoy your day! Glad you weren't skunked. Streaks are nice.
I used a used word for guess 2 and got Wordle lucky. Happy day!

Wordle 1,099 3/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, inert, edict

>29 LizzieD: Peggy, I admire your determination. I skipped my Central Park walk because by the time we would have finished, it was scheduled to be 90F. Probably a little cooler in the park itself, of course.

We went to the movies, time-honored activity in a heat wave, and saw "Inside Out 2". A little more didactic than I recall the first one, and probably more suitable to 13 year olds than to us. We will have to find somewhat more adult fare soon.

>29 LizzieD: Brava! Wordle luck is fun. Hoping you're cool as cucumbers indoors. *smooch*

Well, Richard, I've been at least as cool as an unrefrigerated cucumber today. Same wish for you as the high pressure dome continues to up the ante here. *smooch*

Judy, you were hotter than we were when we walked. I guess I'm paying back all those years when heat didn't bother me at all. Stay cool! Stay cool!

Meanwhile, I'm deep in the Honorverse with Echoes of Honor. This one started slowly, but every plot thread is heating up. Fun and Games for me!

>32 LizzieD: Weber's Honor Harrington series amused me well in the 1990s. I don't think I've read one this millennium. May start again...?

Have you read the Miles Vorkosigan series of books? I loved those, too.

Happy Sunday *smooch*

Good afternoon, Richard. I'm not sure exactly when I started this reread of the Honors, but I'm happy to be in this particular place. I don't know whether I'll immediately pick up the next one, but I might. And a big happy YES to Miles Vorkosigan! I like Bujold's fantasy too although I wasn't completely sold on the YA books and am less than happy to pay $3.99 for all those Demon/Desdemona novellas.
Read on, my friend, read on! *smooch*

Wordle 1,100 4/6*

🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, miler, whole, bugle I absolutely cheated at guess #4, or I'd have spent the afternoon cudgeling my brain with no results.

Wordle 1,101 3/6*

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, cloud, dolly No cheats needed although I was a bit surprised.

>34 LizzieD: I really do not understand why the film world has never made her books into a TV series.

Have a lovely week-ahead's reads, Peggy me lurve!

‘Morning, Peggy! Yikes. I forgot to visit yesterday. Another nasty day ahead, heat-wise.

Congrats on cheating your way to a 4 yesterday, and yay for your 3 today. Took me 4 today.

>36 richardderus: I've often thought that too, Richard. I was talking with my hometown/moved away friend last night, and she said that the only way she could bear to read my current *Echoes* was because she knew that there were more books in the series. That passion for characters and plots would surely translate onto the small screen....and when I start to think about the rest of the Honorverse, somebody could forge a whole career on the franchise. Maybe Weber doesn't want it to happen???
*smooch*

>37 karenmarie: We walked right after I posted my Wordle, and it was fine; I was fine. We're overcast now, and that's some relief. I used to love summer. That was a long time ago --- long afternoons stretched across Granny's featherbed, reading Sherlock Holmes with thunder storms booming past. Long, sweaty walks to the local library and back. Running around the neighborhood with the child gang at dusk. Not much of that sounds much like being out in the heat now that I think about it.

If I were smarter, I'd resize more on the phone before putting it here, but this is first picture of our new Molly. She isn't looking quite at home yet, but she's certainly happier than she was last week!

Awww, she's a beauty!

'Morning, Peggy.

>39 LizzieD: Your childhood summers sound wonderful. Kids don't know to feel miserable unless they're told to, weather-wise. We had hot, dry heat in SoCal. Traipsed to the little pool in the local park, towels in hand, flip flops on, play 'til 9ish outside after dinner, have summer school for fun stuff, go to the beach several times a year, usually to Manhattan Beach.

Wordle in 5 today.

You greeted me at the top of the morn, Karen, so the rest of the day to you!!!!

Your summers sound pretty idyllic too. Instead of a pool, we went to the river "beach" once a week or so. We also had a week or so of vacation, most often at the coast with family, but in some years to the mountains or to Manteo. Idyllic!
Of course, for kids what is, is normal until they are taught otherwise.

Wordle 1,102 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, swarm, sarin, savor Guess 2 was mini-dumb, but it helped even so.

Hey there, you with the stars in your eyes. Stay cool. *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Wednesday.

Ugh. 99F here today with a heat index of at least 103F. Indoors! AC! Of course it's worse where you are at 100F and heat index of 106F.

I hope you and your DH get in an early walk then stay out of the nastiness.

Wordle in 4. I made a mistake with my second word. I blame it on lack of caffeine.

Good morning, Karen!!!! No walking today since DH has his weekly business to attend to. The cats choose to stay on the porches - just can't understand the little aliens.

Good morning, Richard! Pajama Game!!!!! I used to know ALL the lyrics of scores of musicals, good and bad. Who else do you know that remembers good parts of the songs from Li'l Abner???
*smooch*

Wordle 1,103 4/6*

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, range, pecan, knead I cheated, but at least I had to have the middle letters placed before the cheat. I don't blame my mistake at 3 on anything but inattention.

>45 LizzieD: I truly can't think of anyone not a gay theatre queen who would even have got that reference. Kudos!

*smooch*

*grin* with a *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy!

Wordle in two today. I got logical, picked a word that made sense, checked to see if it was on the available words list, made sure it wasn't on the already used list, and it worked.

>43 richardderus: I knew that was a song, just didn't know what it was from.

Another quiet day planned here although I'll make chocolate buttercream frosting and stow it in the refrigerator for Saturday's German Chocolate Cake. 1/3 will be chocolate buttercream for the non-coconut lovers at the house.

Whoo Hooo for you in TWO, (((((Karen)))))!!!!!
Not me, as you see ---

Wordle 1,104 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩least, noire, preop, order

Chocolate Buttercream! A cake is simply an excuse for chocolate buttercream.

We've walked, and I am as set as I get on getting back to shredding, but Honor calls.

>49 LizzieD: A cake is simply an excuse for chocolate buttercream.

I couldn't agree with you more, Peggy. Wanna share? I think I can find another spoon.

Oh, Laura! Thank you! I'll bring my own spoon, and it won't be a teaspoon either.

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Friday to you.

I wrote on my thread that I made a double batch of chocolate buttercream frosting. Part of my reasoning is to freeze some for another cake in the future, but more to the point is that I MUST have some for graham cracker sandwiches with chocolate frosting. I grew up with them but so far haven't found anybody else who gives me more than a blank stare when I mention them. they are wonderful.

Wordle in two again, just me guessing the second word after getting logical.

Morning, Karen! I must say that you have the perfect first word for today's Wordle. GOOD for you for nailing it on your second try though. The used word list helped me a lot --- the choices seemed endless, but I think I got lucky.

*drool* Chocolate buttercream on graham crackers sounds fabulous. Mama's chocolate icing was boiled - fudge of a different consistency, in fact. I loved it, but she made only enough of it to ice the 2 yellow layers that she made for my daddy faithfully every Saturday of their marriage until his final illness. The cake generally lasted through Tuesday night.

Wordle 1,105 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, noire, grope, drove

>53 LizzieD: Make it cream-cheese frosting on graham crackers and I'll scarf up the lot. Y'all keep the chocolate.

Two more reviews today, of books I didn't like much at all. Tomorrow's is a book I loved, though, and Sunday's the EOM round-up of "just okay" books as usual. So a busy June that got a few things off my Kindle! Yay!

*smooch*

We were visiting and posting on each other's thread at the same time, Richard. I'll look forward to your review tomorrow and the EOM on Sunday! *smooch*

I see that if you were ever to come here, you would have to have the cream cheese filling in your sweet croissant. Our local bakery even supplies them to higher end restaurants in Fayetteville!

>52 karenmarie: Karen, no blank stare from me -- you are my graham cracker sandwich sister! I have fond childhood/teenage memories of snarfing down a few whenever there was leftover chocolate frosting. I haven't had them in ages ... hmm ...

>55 LizzieD: Well...maybe the unfilled croissant could have a cow's-worth of honeybutter on the side? Cream cheese on the croissanwich filled with sliced radishes and some pork tenderloin and tarragon leaves with chives in the butter lettuce? Unless it's made into frosting, I like savory uses of cream cheese the best.

>52 karenmarie: >56 lauralkeet: I would settle for Nutella on graham crackers if that is how I really wanted to use my empty caloric intake.

>57 richardderus: You may certainly have an unfilled croissant with as much honeybutter as you like, Richard. The plain ones melt in the mouth. Oh my. That croissanwich sounds grand too. As for me, I had my Friday ¾ everything bagel (extra sesame and poppy seeds sprinkled on) with onion & chive cream cheese this morning. Good enough for me!

ETA: Tarragon of virtue is full!

‘Morning, Peggy!

>53 LizzieD: You sent me your mama’s boiled chocolate icing recipe in 2022, and I’ve got in my Recipes folder on this laptop. I love yellow cake, too, and should just make a cake and use the icing recipe one of these days soon.

>56 lauralkeet: Laura! You’re the first person who has eaten graham crackers with frosting!!! Yay.

>58 LizzieD: And you won’t like what I literally wrote on my thread earlier this morning, my opinion of Nutella. If we’re ever stuck on a desert island together, you can have ALL the Nutella.

Wordle in 4 for me today.

Good morning while it still is so, Karen! We have walked, breakfasted, and I am finishing the last of my good coffee for the day. I also Wordled in 4 and was grateful for it!
I'm glad that you have the icing recipe. As a child I found testing the chocolate for soft boil stage to be the best part. I tested each batch a LOT!
I'll take all the Nutella on our desert isle, but I don't have any ego invested in it - didn't know it existed until my adulthood, gave it to Mama with a banana while she was still eating, but wouldn't buy it for myself. That said, I have 1950s working class tastes. When that means fresh produce, that's a good thing.

Wordle 1,106 4/6*

⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, began, rebar, zebra

ETA: WOOO HOOOO! The mail woman just brought my last Honor book, Uncompromising Honor. What a whopper! I doubt that I'll read more than a bit of the next one right now, but I'll be able to complete this thread in the Honorverse when I'm ready.
I also neglected to say on my own thread that I have a copy of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store on the way from PBS. I'm excited! I enjoyed the only McBride I've read so far, The Good Lord Bird. (Hmmm. I've been misremembering that title for some years, I'm afraid.)

>59 karenmarie: if I were also on the island, I would ask ever so politely to share the Nutella with Peggy. I like it just as much as chocolate frosting on graham crackers.

>59 karenmarie: >61 lauralkeet: Laura, if Karen would share her frosting with me (and I'd ask ever so politely too), I'd give you all of the Nutella!

Back from church, and it is HOT! And HUMID!

Wordle 1,107 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, minor, chuck, buddy BIG whew!

Peggy!

'Morning, Peggy.

Wordle in 4, I'd share my chocolate buttercream frosting with you AND Laura. I've still got German Chocolate Cake, so I haven't gotten out the graham crackers yet.

Off to PT and lunch with a friend.

Many thanks for hypothetical goodies, Karen. Enjoy the real thing!!!!!
Also do just the right amount of PT and enjoy your lunch!

We walked late. The cooler temp helped although the humidity is still relentless. This is a good break before summer comes back tomorrow.

Wordle 1,108 3/6*

⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, phage, adage Twice I thought, "Go ahead. You're not thinking of anything else." Twice it worked! I call that luck!

ECHOES OF HONOR by David Weber
In this one Honor strategizes (once I might have objected to the word, but not now and not in this case) and brings off miracle after miracle to release all the prisoners on planet Hades who want rescue.
Since Ashes of Victory picks up immediately upon the end of *Echoes*, I have to start it at least.

This morning though, I dipped into The House of Doors. That's a great step forward to start a new month!

>65 LizzieD: Ooooh, enjoy Dr. Tan's delicious doors story.

I'm done with Pride, not sure if July will have a theme, so it probably won't, and busily gearing up for August's WIT Month. More than 90 DRCs of books translated by women, or written by women and translated. Thinking August's thirty-one days won't be quite enough....

>66 richardderus: Richard!!

I'll look forward to August. Meanwhile, if I were you, I'd enjoy not having a theme for July.

My lifelong friend, whom you remind me of in brain power, once made a tape for me of women composers, performers, directors, etc. because I was his first feminist. (I may have mentioned this before. I had forgotten the incident, but he reminded me of it.) He and the boy gang were debating the superiority of Superman over Batman. I told them that they were all wrong. Little Lulu was the superior comic on every level.

*smooch*

>67 LizzieD: Little Lulu? I gather this is not a superhero comic...? No rippling muscles, no antigravity breasts? Why ever would one wish to interact with suchlike goins-on? I swaNEE, madam, one would think you didn't realize the point of looking at these items (ie, pervin' on body parts without admitting that's what you're doing).

*smooch*

>68 richardderus: You perve all you want, Richard. Little Lulu offers laughs for the thinking human. Not only that, but you can get Witch Hazel and Little Itch.

>69 LizzieD: Moi? If I wanted to perve on pretty boys, I went to gym class. Later on there was porn. No sense wasting time on silly soap operas printed on cheap paper.

Ah - a bit of miscommunication perhaps. I'm talking people who were 8 or 9 at the time - just right for me to love Lulu and the boys to be super-heroing. I think I need to reread some Lulu. Marjorie Henderson Buell was a pioneer, but I see from Wikipedia that she had stopped drawing the cartoon by the time I was probably reading it in 1950.

'Morning, Peggy!

Interesting conversation with RD. As soon as I saw Little Lulu I remembered the refrain from the song, which I won't write out in case it's ear worm material for you. It is for me, sigh.

Wordle in 5 today.

I was so mild yesterday for this time of year that Jan and I ate our lunch outside. Something I don't like to do as a rule because people might look at me, but Jan wanted to so we did. It was okay, and I honestly kept forgetting that people might have been looking at me. Two hours was enough for my knee, though. Didn't hurt, was just getting stiff.

Good start for your July reading month!

Eating outside yesterday was a winner except for the breeze that was a bit more than a breeze here. I hadn't ever thought about people looking at you, but if I probed a bit, I expect I'd find that in my DH too.
I hope your knee has completely recovered this morning!

How funny! We didn't have TV until 1955 or so, and after that I wouldn't have been interested in Little Lulu anyway. I just listened on YouTube, and I don't know the song, so no ear worm here. Sorry it was for you!

Wordle! I couldn't have been more astonished when it accepted my second try. Spellcheck certainly doesn't like it.

Wordle 1,109 3/6*

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, urnal, inlay

I went to bed frustrated last night because the DH had gotten a deal on 6 months of Ancestry, and I couldn't log in. He finally realized that he had to invite me, so I'm off to try today. He is excited about using Fold3 again and NewspapersOnline, or whatever the name of that one is.

'Morning, dear friend.

My knee is complaining a bit, but right now my foot isn't. Sigh. Aches and pains...

My parents moved into our house in Hawthorne, CA in 1955, because I have a pic of me holding my baby brother on the sofa in that living room. We probably had a TV by early 1956 at the latest - I remember I got my Mickey Mouse Club ears/membership when we went to Disneyland. It opened in July of 1955. Dad always said that he never saw his daughter when he came home from work because I was parked in front of our huge old console TV with my mouse ears on.

Congrats on your 3. Today's effort for me was a 5.

I'm soooo tempted to get Ancestry again but have resisted so far. I use familysearch.org a lot, and our Library has Ancestry on 3 computers dedicated to genealogy. I could go there to use it any time the Library's open.

Sorry about the aches and pains, Karen.... They are a normal part of my life now although I don't know whether they are unavoidable ageing or whether I've invited them by poor choices when I was younger (like yesterday) or both.

I am having mixed results with Ancestry and haven't spent a lot of time with it. What they claim is my great-grandmother's death certificate turns out to be her daughters. Names, including last names, are misspelled; I am happy to have public records to search for myself all located in a single place. Meanwhile, DH is having fun with newspapers. One ancestor had a very early paper in DC that he has found copies of.

Wordle 1,110 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, trunk, timid, thigh Such peculiar choices, Lizzie!

>71 LizzieD: 1950?!? Had they invented paper by then? I thought Gutenberg didn't invent printing until '54!

Right you are, Richard. I'm obviously so old - only a little less than 2 years younger than our President, and we know how mentally suspect old people are - that I've likely gotten dates mixed up. But yeah ---- 1950 as well as I can tell.

(I pretty much despaired of getting my "regular" classes to realize that the Civil War and WWI were more than 3 or 4 years apart.)

‘Morning, Peggy, and happy Fourth of July to you.

>75 LizzieD: Sorry about the mixed results on Ancestry. I don’t remember how their search engine works – can you specify exact matches as familysearch.org lets you do? I can attest that all historical documents have the possibility of misspellings of names – my maiden name alone can be Pomeroy, Pomroy, Pumeroy, Pumroy and all be seen on the actual documents spelled that way. Excellent about your DH’s ancestor having a paper in DC.

Wordle in 5 again for me.

Stay cool! Read books! Drink wine! Eat chocolate! I hope you and your DH walked early this a.m.

>77 LizzieD: Is your ear-trumpet in, Peggy? Shall I shout "HAPPY FOURTH" to be sure you hear me?

*smooch* from the noisy beaches of Long Island on a picture-perfect Fourth

>39 LizzieD: Yay for our "new" Molly!

>50 lauralkeet: You can both share mine as I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole! See how generous I can be? lol

>65 LizzieD: House of Doors is wonderful! I sure hope you enjoy it, Peggy.

Happy 4th, Peggy!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, Stasia, Richard, and Karen, and to all friends who may visit here and celebrate the day! We have our flags flying in hope, which is certainly less healthy than it was even last year. I dread the night of fireworks in the neighborhood and simply hope that they don't set anything on fire since we're so dry.
Wish you could be on the shore in perfect weather without the crowds, Richard. *smooch* anyway

I am enjoying House of Doors so much, Stasia and Richard, that I'm giving it more time than Honor Harrington right now. I'm finally back to 1910. Oh my goodness!

Karen, I understand about the various spellings of names. It's hard for me to think that spelling "Odell" as "Badel" is anything other than a careless or ill-informed mistake though. I have searched copies of some old family documents though, so I'll be able to search the other great-grandmother, born in 1860, who was adopted (legally?) after her father was killed in battle and always used the name of her adoptive parents. I don't know how I can go about correcting Ancestry's assumption that they were her birth parents though. Anyway, it's interesting.
No wine today, but chocolate (alas, not butter cream frosting, thank you, Stasia) and reading since we did walk earlier. It was already hot.

Wordle 1,111 3/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, refit, debut I did use a list to nail down that last word. I guess I could stop cheating, but I'm not going to sit here 30 minutes to try to figure it out.

>81 LizzieD: Hello Peggy! I hope you are having a good 4th. After the Supreme Court decision Monday, I feel more like flying a black flag today instead of the stars and stripes we have up. I don't know if we still live in a democracy.

Wordle in 3 for me too today, and without any help looking up possible words. I've had a long run of Wordle in 4 lately, so it felt good to get this one.

I'm staying in today, given that the big heat is moving in, and I may stay in for most of the rest of the holiday weekend. I hope you and your DH stay cool!

Hi, Irene. We're trying to be cool. I need to make a grocery trip, but it may have to wait at least until Saturday. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today, and today was dreadful.

GOOD for YOU for getting a legitimate Wordle-in-3!

I know what you mean about the black flag. I'm wondering whether this is the last 4th we'll feel like flying our stars and stripes even in hope.

I'm going to try to go to bed early for a change, so good night, friends.

That is early for you, Peggy! I hope you are getting a good sleep. I stayed up to watch the NYC fireworks on the TV, and since I missed them live, I got the re-airing and I'm still up.

Given that tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter than today (where they apparently tied the record at 101 at RDU), I probably won't be going outside either, except to put out bird seed as needed.

Sleep tight!

>83 LizzieD: We are trying to be cool here too, Peggy. Our temps are now upwards of 100 so walking is done early, early - I know you can relate.

Have a fantastic Friday!

It is still morning, I see, so "Good morning, Stasia and Irene!" We've walked, breakfasted, and I've Wordled (on my own today without lists, Irene, and back to my usual 4). It is punishingly hot and humid, and I feel a nap hovering. I love this part of retirement!

Wordle 1,112 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, dross, frisk, crush Oh wait! I did check and reject gross and brush because they were on the used list. Somehow, I don't consider that cheating.
I sort of like the white and green with no yellow too...

Afternoon, smoochling. Shaping up to be a craptastic day so I'll just leave a *smooch*

Hi Peggy! I hope you and your DH are doing well.

Late visiting. It's vicious out there, even 'up north' here. I took Inara to the vet for her annual exam. She's super skinny, and Dr. Cindy is convinced it's hyperthyroidism. She drew blood for a new, in-house-less-expensive test and will call Sunday after she's researched a new formulation of a cream I can rub into Inara's ear. She's already getting one capsule a day and a liquid every 3-4 days, and I just can't deal with another capsule or liquid. In the meantime, she says she looks pretty good for 17 always excepting the hyperthyroidism. My other calico, Imsai, had it too, and at that time it was only capsules and I couldn't get it down her and she wouldn't eat it disguised in food OR sprinkled in food. Stubborn kitty.

Wordle in 3 for me today.

We're watching soccer. Nothing else planned today.

>86 LizzieD: It is definitely nice to be able to take a nap, isn't it? Although I rarely do. But it's an option in retirement.

I had thought I wasn't going out today, but forgot I promised my DH that we would go mattress shopping today. We went mid-morning, before the heat got too ridiculous. We're close to a decision on the mattress. Our current tempur-style mattress is worn out.

Wordle in 4 for me today. I guessed brush on 3. So far I've only referred to a used word list on a rare occasion when I was desperate and the Wordle that day was one with multiple possibilities.

I hope you are staying in the cool and getting lots of reading done.

Molly is a FABULOUS name for a cat (sez I, who formerly had a Mollycat...) I don't understand my cats, either -- they flock to whichever room is not being air-conditioned. Me? I'm working in my bedroom today, which has a quiet but very efficient A/C unit. Sigh. I hate this heat and I'm sure it's worse where you are.

Must read the new Verghese. Must read Babel. I started it but wasn't in the mood; perhaps it's a good summertime book?

I've been AWOL -- long work days, lotsa migraines (insurance dropped coverage of my Aimovig and it has taken me more than three months to win an appeal for a substitute.) But productive at work so that's a Good Thing.

Purrs from Sir Fergus and Minka...

Suzanne!!!! What a lift to see your name here! Thank you! I'm glad that work is going well, sorry about the migraines. (When my sinuses drain like a tap and I cough non-stop for extended periods - and I do have nasal spray that is mostly effective - I try to remember that it could be migraines or something worse.)
I had forgotten that you had a Molly, but I do remember her. This little cat looks like a Molly to me. I haven't touched her yet, but the feeding hand can get very close, so we're making progress. Today was the worst so far, and all the cats but Batman chose to stay on the porches in the heat rather than come into the cooler house.
You will likely zip right through Babel. I wanted so much for it to be as good as its premise, but I didn't find it so.
Purrs right back to Sir Fergus and Minka from Tully and Hilfy Bit, Archie Sparks and Lulu, Misty, Batman (Bratman, Catmandu), and Molly!

It is always a lift to see your names here, most faithful Karen, Richard, and Irene!

I wouldn't say that I'm getting a lot of reading done, Irene, but I'm enjoying what I do - still the T.T. Eng, the Honor Harrington, and an occasional page or two of Names on the Land. The last one is a perfect book for reading a chapter and moving on to something else.
Hope you nail down your new mattress choice soon without much more heat exposure.

Karen, I'm sorry to hear about one more capsule for Inara; if she has to have something, I'm glad that it's something treatable. Maybe she won't notice the meds mixed in her food???? Anyway, I hope the soccer is suiting you.

Richard, I hope the day has turned out better than you feared. I'm off to find out. *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy. Happy hot, hot Saturday. Stay cool, stay safe!

Wordle in 3 for me today, with a lot of help from my spreadsheets.

Soccer, reading, resting my foot.

Inara's new medicine is a topical ointment, going inside her ear, alternating ears every other day. Fortunately, it's not hideously expensive.

I'm glad that the medicine isn't hideously expensive, and I hope that Inara is now old enough to be patient with treatments. I misread and thought that she was getting both topical and capsules. Sheesh.

No soccer, but I hope to read and rest my feet (which only swell a bit with my very hot compression stockings) and nap today too. I'll also fight with Ancestry a bit. I'm finding good stuff about ancestors I knew I wouldn't have trouble locating, but the two great-grandmothers remain problematic.

Wordle 1,113 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩least, sword, scoop, scoff Done like Irene with no help.....

Howdy smoochling. I'm going Outside, dammit. Turns out I have to get an Ammy card...bloody hell, it's gonna be hoooooooot *sob*

>93 LizzieD: Good luck with finding info on the problematic great grandmothers, Peggy!

Have a super Saturday!

I'm sorry, Richard. I hope it's a short jaunt, you made it back in unscathed, and you're now blessedly cool!

Thanks, Stasia. The adopted one will be problematic if her birth certificate from 1860 was somehow lost or destroyed and she wasn't born yet when the census was done.

I guess I have to eat something soon, but I'm ready for sofa and book!!!

>96 LizzieD: I'm back in, with one task done but completely not the way I'd planned for it to be accomplished. Makes no difference, caffeine will enter my coffeehole tomorrow on schedule.

‘Morning, Peggy!

>93 LizzieD: She’s getting Cosequin capsules daily, Meloxicam liquid every 3-4 days, and will start getting the ointment in her ears daily. It’s all on me now that Jenna’s living with her girlfriend in Carrboro.

Congrats on 4 with no help. At a minimum, I check words I want to use against the list of available words then check to see if it’s already used. Me and my spreadsheets…

>96 LizzieD: Sofa and book sound lovely. With me it’s office chair and book or bed and book.

Karen, that's a lot of Inara care. Graham and I share the Feeding of the Cats four times a day. We go ahead with this schedule for all 7 because the other 6 would make our lives miserable if they didn't get to eat when Lulu does. The 4 times stretched out so that she doesn't eat too much too fast has kept Lulu going for a year when we didn't think we'd have her.

Wordle 1,114 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, rainy, banjo, canon I knew that rainy had already been used, but I wanted a word that included both r and n. Otherwise, the last two were my first choices, so I'm saying I did this one without cheating too.

I'm relieved to see a little less heat today, but it's still sofa and book for me!

HOUSE OF DOORS by Tan Twan Eng

Even though it deals with betrayal, this is an exquisite book. Part of its appeal is the beautiful writing, which does not call attention to itself but flows like the music of the guzhel. Suddenly, a turn of phrase or description makes a reader pause, breathe, and think, "Oh yes. This is all a part of the whole."

Doors open. Doors close. Doors turn in the breeze. Most of us think that we could not survive betrayal by the ones we love. Most of us are not Medea. We are not willing to sacrifice our lives to our sense of self. The characters here learn to absorb hurt and loss, keep quiet, keep going, and preserve what they have left, which may be all that they had to begin with.

‘Morning, Peggy! Happy Monday to you.

>99 LizzieD: Four times a day. Yikes. You and your DH are definitely good Cat Parents. I hope your sofa time was relaxing.

PT and etc. today. Reading, of course. It will be hot today, too.

Wordle again in 3 for me. I’m on a roll. Having said that, I’ve now jinxed tomorrow.

>100 LizzieD: Only a lucky few end up with more than they started with in this vale of tears. Author Tan focuses on this reality in all his books.

Monday *smooch* dear lady, may you be one of those fortunate few.

>102 richardderus: The same wish back to you, Richard. Wanting what we have is one key to happy living for sure! *smooch*

>101 karenmarie: Ridiculous isn't it, Karen? It's worked for Lulu though, and those other 24 paws are put down too firmly to be ignored. It's impossible for a 2-footer to sneak around here.
I have to grocery shop today. I'm out of salad-makings, and that means I'll go hungry unless I replenish. I see Chinese take-out on my horizon too.

No jinxes! I was just thinking about how I'm glad that my 4-score roll is a lot better than the 5 or 6 ones that I have been on in the past.

Wordle 1,115 4/6*

⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, erase (kind of stupid guess), scape, shape

'Morning, Peggy.

Wordle in 4 for me today. I need to straighten the Sunroom and get a few things under control in the kitchen today before the cleaning ladies come. Chiropractor today, too. I could go to her every day if I could afford it - heck. If I could afford it, I could pay her to come here.

97F / 105F heat index here today. Interesting that weather.gov says you're 'only' going to get to 94F / 105F heat index today - you're almost always hotter down south than we are here.

Stay cool! Drink appropriate beverages, read good books.

Thank you for good wishes, Karen. Today our chances for rain are supposed to increase, so maybe that's why we're cooler. It's certainly as hot as it ever needs to be here right now.
Enjoy the chiropractor or at least how you feel when she has finished with you. I'd certainly hire a masseuse if I could afford one.

We walked too long after 8:00 to be comfortable or anywhere nearly comfortable. At least we walked though. Then I spent time with the lawyer going over the initial inventory for Mama's estate due tomorrow. Whew. I'm glad that's done. I have one call I need to make, but then I hope that the rest of the afternoon is mine until shower and cat feeding.

Wordle 1,116 5/6* WHEW! I had a small serving of alphabet soup here.

🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, plane, flake, glade, blare I don't know what made me wait so long to try my usual go-to letter. Oh well. The streak lives.

>105 LizzieD: Streak cheers! I'm shvitzing to the point of dehydration because humidity. Ugh.

Sorry about that, Richard. I was just on the way over to see you. We are hoping for rain as hard as we can hope.

*smooch* Take care of yourself!

>105 LizzieD: Wordle in 5 again for me today as well. And I had the exact same second word as you. It's always harder when there are so many words that can fit the pattern, like yesterday and today.

‘Morning, Peggy!

>105 LizzieD: Glad you’re moving along on settling your mama’s estate.

I gave Inara her first dose of hyperthyroidism ear ointment last night. Not a problem at all, just have to wear a glove every time, according to the instructions.

Nasty heat day coming up. I hope you and your DH have gotten or are getting your walking now.

Oh - edited to add Wordle in 5.

Good morning, Karen. Since the DH has his clinic on Wednesday mornings, we never walk on Wednesdays. That means that I could sleep until 8:00, but I always wake up earlier, doggone it.

Hooray for the ease of ear treatment! I'm relieved for you, and hope that it will be a relief for Inara soon.

Wordle 1,117 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, argot, gamut, gaunt As always, if I had thought a little longer at #4 and forced myself to use go-to letter 6, I might have gotten it in three.
Karen, you've been on such a good roll that your five is surely an anomaly. My four is standard.

We're late but about to walk.

Wordle 1,118 3/6*

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, cream, cameo That was lucky!

'Morning, Peggy!

Ugh to another hot one. I hope your walk wasn't too hot/humid.

Yay for your 3, I got it in 3, too, but differently, of course. Not luck as much as using the spreadsheets.

I hope you didn't melt while walking today, Peggy me lurve.

Good morning, Karen - just barely! Actually, although we walked late, it was quite pleasant for July. The humidity is WAY down, only a bit over 50%. I don't know what that means for our hope for rain, but we enjoyed the walk. We were thrilled to watch a lithe little red fox run along the opposite riverbank upstream until it disappeared around a curve. I couldn't look away long enough to get my camera going, but fox on the bank and reflection of fox in the water was a visual treat.

On the book front, my hauls keep coming in as you may see in >2 LizzieD:... I'm especially happy to have gotten a copy of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, which I started last night. I bought the first five books of the Damian Seeker series in a Kindle collection for $2.99 and the sixth on sale as a Kindle deal for 99¢. Tui really enjoyed them, so I feel justified in getting the whole series so cheaply. I think I have to live forever to read all this stuff, but I'm making a womanful effort.

I continue to reread Ashes of Victory and a chapter or a bit less of Names on the Land. A couple of my new nonfiction are calling me - namely the Tudor and Linear B books - but trying to read one right now would be silly. I have ever been silly. AND at bedtime I pick up Arabella just because. That's all folks!

Molly looks so sweet! Enjoy! I'm sorry you having so much heat!

Thank you on both counts, Deborah. Molly is getting more and more comfortable with us, and we aren't rushing her.

We're having a bit of a break with the heat as we hope for rain tomorrow. By the middle of next week we'll be in the high 90s again. July is typically bad, and August is worse. It is simply to be lived through.

Hope you're doing well, and I thank you for the visit!

I just heard THUNDER!!!! That's a very hopeful sound. Did I mention that we need rain? We do.

Wordle 1,119 5/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 stear, coign, wimpy, dilly, jiffy Changing my first word (which spelling Wordle has always accepted) didn't matter at all. Why guess two popped into my head, I couldn't say. I'm relieved to have gotten it in 5.

>117 LizzieD: I really, really hope you get that rain, Peggy. We're due for some of the same and wow would that be welcome!

Read well this weekend, me lurve.

>117 LizzieD: I hope you get your rain!

Thank you, Susan and Richard. So far we have gotten .4", which is a bit more than I suspected. It mostly misted today. We have another chance or two this weekend, but then it will be back to high 90s in the baking sun.

I'm going to go read something in a book!

*smooch* for Richard

Enjoy the weekend, Susan!

Hi Peggy! Yesterday got away with me, what with spending from 10:30 - 6 p.m. out on my adventure with Jenna.

Wordle in 3 for me today. Glad you got at least .4 inches. Bill says we got a lot here, but Jenna and I missed most of it heading west.

Good for you and Jenna. I'll trek right over to see if you've pictured your haircut!

Wordle in 3 was what I aimed for; look how I did! It's been a long, long time!

Wordle 1,120 2/6*

⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, enact

'Morning, Peggy!

Nope, haven't made time to take a pic of me and my haircut yet. I'll try to get a pic today for you.

Book club today - Jenna and Hwan are coming over to help set up.

Wordle in 4 for me today.

Sunday orisons, Peggy! *smooch*

Greetings back, Richard and Karen! *smooch* and ((((())))) for your Sunday!

Wordle 1,121 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, noire, moxie, video Guess 3 was stupid and panic driven. After much struggle, it suddenly came to mind.

Happy Sunday! Success on Wordle and I hope you enjoy The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store -- I did!!

Nice wordle in 2, Peggy. I managed the same thing that day with Wordle. I think July is usually our hottest month too, since the days begin to get a little shorter in August, so it cools off earlier.

Your description of a Wordle choice as "panic driven" made me laugh, Peggy. I've been there!

'Morning, Peggy.

Nothing worse than putting any word into Wordle just to get past the block.

I think I'm channeling the Wordle Word Choose at the NYT. I got it in 3 today, with no yellows, only greens.

Friends of the Library Board meeting, chiropractor, PT. Busy day for me.

Your temperature today of 101F with heat index of 108F according to weather.gov is absolutely ridiculous. Stay safe, cool, and hydrated. We'll be 100F/106F, hardly any better.

Good Day, Karen, Laura, Deborah, and Kim! You are all heartily welcome here.

The horrid thing about our heat and humidity, Karen, is that we will get a tiny break only at week's end. Our poor stupid cats continue to lie as though melted on the hot porches rather than come into the cooler house. Wretched creatures! Down here, Deborah, July is only softening us up for August, typically the hottest month of the year. I'll try to survive.

Kim, I'm going to like *H&EGS*, but I'm not making much headway, having fallen in love with Arabella. I can't think how I missed it, but I am completely in love with Robert Beaumaris and Arabella herself --- and Ulysses.

Wordle ---- I look forward to it every morning and then get impatient and try any old word without much thought. Luck eventually got me there today. Laura, I think you are more disciplined than I am. Good for you! Congrats on your 3, Karen!

Wordle 1,122 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, scrum, snoop, swoon

>130 LizzieD: Oh, Arabella! Scintillating. If not for Horrible, Heyer would be a dim and distant non-memory. Her warbles and an entire banana clip of book-bullets later, I'm a cultist.

*smooch*

Richard, I'd say that you owe Karen a great debt! I can't remember who pointed me toward Heyer. It was a long time ago though.

ARABELLA by Georgetter Heyer

I have no idea how I missed this one, but this is the first time I've read it. I love and adore it! I think Frederica still edges it out as my top Heyer because I like the slightly-older Frederica a little more than lovely Arabella. Robert Beaumaris though!!!! I can't decide whether he is now my favorite Heyer hero or whether that exalted honor still belongs to Hugo Darracott, The Unknown Ajax. I also love Ulysses as much as I love the Baluchistan Hound. I prefer Frederica's little brothers to Bertram though. Anyway, this was just what I needed to give me some escape and comfort from our increasingly perilous political situation.

>132 LizzieD: I can't remember finding Heyer, but I do have some gratitude to the ex-boyfriend who found every one of her books for me! So while I'm almost certain I read some of her books in the 1960s and early 70s, I know I had them all by 1982!

‘Morning, Peggy!

Ugh, another hot’un. 101F, heat index of 105-110F. You're right up there with me, too. I’ll be home before noon from book sorting and brekkie at Virlie’s based on the volume of donations I saw yesterday.

Wash and Inara go out for a few minutes then return, but Zoe will go out for hours and bask in the heat on the covered porch or, late in the afternoon, on the deck. They are wretched creatures, aren’t they?

Wordle in 3 again.

>131 richardderus: Aww, shucks, RD. Glad you got on board. I’ve been reading Heyer since I was 13. Faro’s Daughter was my first one, picked up at a Pomona book store, a mass market paperback which I still own. So, 1966.

>132 LizzieD: I love Arabella because of her first encounter with Robert Beaumaris – him fooling her into letting him serve her lemonade and realizing she’s very innocent even though she claims to be a sophisticated heiress. I just looked at my Heyer catalog – I do not have her early non-Georgian/Regency books except for The Great Roxhythe nor her mysteries – and see Snowdrift, which apparently is Pistols for Two plus 4 other short stories, so have put it my Amazon cart for later.

>132 LizzieD:, >134 karenmarie: I owe Horrible much of my mental furniture, and the publishers of same owe her a digit on their balance sheets. *sigh*

Stay cool, smoochling!

>132 LizzieD: Arabella was my first ever Heyer, in my teens, and I've loved it ever since!

Oh, Rhian. You got a really good start! I started reading her in my teens too, but I have no idea which was first. I do know that False Colours was an early favorite. I loved the ditzy mother.

Richard, that's a debt well-acknowledged. I rather expect it's reciprocated, and you've both certainly paid them forward!
*smooch*

I just got back from the lawyer's office again and have another trek to make in the heat in another couple of hours. Then that's it for me. Nothing else of value will be done today except holding down the sofa with a book.
Good for you for 3 again, Karen! You are the one!

Susan, that was a serious boyfriend! ALL the Heyers is a great gift! I lack a few of the very early ones as Karen does, but I'm in no hurry to track them down. I do have all the mysteries, and I've read them all but Penhallow. Try as I might, I have never been able to get through it.

Wordle 1,123 4/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, nerve, deify, decoy The fact that my DH is a wood carver should have triggered this word way sooner than it happened.

>137 LizzieD: The boyfriend's hobby was book collecting and he spent hours driving to yard sales to get mostly SF books, but Heyer was a favorite among our group of SF fans, so there was always a demand. He neglected his job in favor of that hobby and eventually made it a profession.

Hi, Susan! That's interesting. You must have been in a pretty classy place for yard sales books to lead to a profession.

>139 LizzieD: He didn't enjoy programming and after we broke up eventually opened a used book store to funnel all his book finds through. He still (the the last time I went to one) shows up at convention dealer rooms with flats of books. What he loved more than anything was searching for the books, and selling them supported his wandering habit.

Well, he sounds like my kind of guy, but I expect that the hunt for books isn't a very solid basis for a relationship.

>141 LizzieD: He had some good qualities, but did not wear well. But we did start a dance group that lasted almost 30 years, long after he had moved to AZ.

‘Morning, Peggy.

Ugh. 95F, 104-108F heat index for us. Yours is very similar, alas. I hope you and your DH got an early walk in.

Holding down the sofa sounds like a noble enterprise.

I gave all my Heyer mysteries to Julia long ago. They never really did anything for me.

Wordle in 4 today.

>142 quondame: Ah well. Trial and error leads us to know what we really want in a mate, I guess. I wonder whether he enjoyed reading the books he found and what kind of dance group you started!

Morning, Karen. I have to go out one more time, and I devoutly hope that's all until Sunday when it should be more normal for mid-July (not that that's comfortable). No walk for us on Wednesdays, so I get to sleep an extra half hour, and I did!

I haven't reread a Heyer mystery in years, but I liked them at the time, which was in the 70s.

My third guess was a throw-away since I already knew the main thing it confirmed. Oh well. I'm happy with 4.
Wordle 1,124 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, trine, exite, quite I was surprised that Wordle accepted my third word. I just threw it up there without knowing what it was if it was a word. It is; it's a movable appendage on the outer side of the limb of a generalized arthropod (such as a branchiopod). Right.

I forked over the big bucks for a copy of The Tainted Cup while I could get double Kindle points on Prime Day. *sigh* I look forward to it soon!!!

Howdy-do Peggy. I'm not sure I even think of Heyer's mysteries as her own work after reading her life story. Apparently M. Georgette, a lawyer called George Ronald Rougier, thought 'em up; it seemed to me, while reading one reasonably recently (this century, anyway) that I got no sense that she was as eager as I usually feel her being to find out what happens next. It's that sense I always have in her other work that hooks me in, keeps me reading past my bedtime.

>144 LizzieD: “… it's a movable appendage on the outer side of the limb of a generalized arthropod (such as a branchiopod). Right.”

I laughed out loud at your comment. I guess they really have expanded their word list! (I just checked the “2309” list, and your word isn’t there. Duh).

I was really happy to see today’s solution. I often look for the two-letter combo at the start. Didn’t think of it today!

Karen O

>144 LizzieD: Book dude was a reader, but even more a collector/accumulator with bibliotaphic tendencies, though he certainly did enjoy more than one aspect of the books he collected or which passed through his hands. Even in the early 80s though his taste seemed be petrifying, and while he continued to add later books to his inventory he related to them less.

The dancing was line dances very similar or derived from English Country Dances, some standards, some given different music and some, mostly waltzes made up in the style of the early 19th century.

I'll be back to speak after we walk!!!

Wordle 1,125 3/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, newer, nerdy 3, I hardly knew you.

I'm glad to have all that info squared away, Susan. Somehow, I picture you as a country dance enthusiast. Ah, Lizzie Bennett and Mr. Darcy!

Glad to see you, Karen. I'm really pleased with today's word since I am one, and I got it!

Interesting, Richard! I have a Heyer bio, which I even started, but I put it down for something else, as is my wont.

'Morning, Peggy!

Enjoy your morning walk, hope it's less onerous than recent days.

I have one Heyer bio, The Private World of Georgette Heyer. Haven't read it, although it's been on my shelves for 15 1/2 years. Sigh.

Wordle in 4 today. for me, congrats on your 3.

>148 LizzieD: The Heyer bio I read was The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge, if it helps.

Happy Thursdaying, wherever it may lead you, me lurve!

Good morning, Richard and Karen!
The morning walk was good except for a bit of Joe Biden-like stiffness in the joints. Like Joe, I made it.

If I had realized that the "Jane Hodge" who showed up when I was looking for a Heyer bio was Jane Aiken Hodge, I might have chosen that one. I bought the Jennifer Kloester one though because it was more recent and longer (and therefore meatier, I hoped). I have her Georgette Heyer's Regency World on my Kindle, which I have found very helpful from time to time. I'll let you know what I think.

I hope to feed the cats and then have the afternoon for reading until it's time to feed the cats!

Hugs for Karen! *smooch* for Richard!

>148 LizzieD: Hello, Peggy! A big storm just moved through here, I hope you are getting some rain today too.

Wordle in 4 for me today. The first word I thought of at 3 turned out to be the answer, but I rejected it as being unlikely. After my third guess, I had 4 of the correct letters, but none of them in their correct location. I wound up checking the 2309 list, which I rarely do, to see if my thought at 3 was actually on the list. It was, so I put it in, and bingo! Maybe I need to go with my first thought more often.

Thanks again for the book!

'Morning, Peggy!

>152 atozgrl: We got some of that storm, Irene.

Wordle in 4 today. I only have PT today, but may sneak over to the Library to pick up a hoodie I left there on Tuesday and browse the donations for books I want. I always pay for them, and never take books that will have excessive value - I put them in the box for our resident book appraiser to possibly up price.

Yay for a cooler day.

Good for you, Karen, and happy book-finding! No need to explain how you get books to us. We know you do what's fair and beyond fair. Hope the PT goes well and that you reward yourself with a taco maybe? I'll bet you don't.

Glad you got some rain too, Irene. It has been most welcome. I don't have that 2309 list, and I know that they accept words that aren't on it. Whether any non-listed ones are ever the target is another question.

We haven't had any rain yet today, but it's overcast, and I live in hope.

Wordle 1,126 6/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, reign, redux, rebop, rekey, refer What a lucky lamebrain!

I'm off to finish Lullaby Road, at least a 4 star read for me.

Howdy, smoochling. Happy weekend-ahead's reads. *smooch*

>154 LizzieD: Hello Peggy! We had lots of flash flood warnings today, but we only got a little rain in my neighborhood today. Most of it missed us. I hope you got some of it, because I think you need it even more than we do.

The 2309 list is on the web. I found it by googling. The usual Wordle in 4 for me today.

Thanks for the info, Irene. I don't know that I'll look at the list, but I might....
It's finally raining right now, and the day was much cooler and a great relief!

LULLABY ROAD by James Anderson

I enjoyed this sequel to The Never-Open Desert Diner almost as much as I did the first book. Ben Jones is a believable early 40-something bad boy, grown up and trying to be a decent human being. He's part Jewish, part Indian, and had a hard life in foster care and an orphanage before an older Mormon couple adopted him. They kept him safe and loved him, and he is finally grateful for their care as he drives his semi through the high desert of Utah making essential deliveries to the people who have chosen desert solitude for their home. He chooses to recover from alcoholism every day and can be kind or cruel as he judges the people he meets. *The only other identified Mormon in the book is the lone highway patrolman, who is definitely a good guy.

It's winter, and Ben finds himself on the road in a blizzard with an abandoned child, a dog, and the infant daughter of his 18 year-old neighbor who is trying to juggle motherhood, work, and college. Then one of his acquaintances is very badly injured by a hit-and-run driver.

Although Anderson provides enough background to make this work as a stand-alone novel, he does reveal a good bit about what happened in *Diner*. Anybody with an interest in Ben's story should certainly read the first book first.
My only quarrel with this book is that the ending is rushed. Anderson wraps everything up, but some of the explanations are not particularly clear or satisfying. Maybe he'll write a third? I'll read it!

*That's for Richard. And, by the way, Richard, *smooch*

We are supposed to get cooler weather on Monday, Peggy, 72 F I think it is. That will be a relief. I bombed out on Wordle, so good for you! You got it!

‘Morning, Peggy, and happy Saturday to you.

>154 LizzieD: No tacos, but only because Bill stopped at Elizabeth’s and got me a grilled chicken salad. We watched an episode of MI5 while eating lunch.

Yikes on 6, but glad it was 6 and not getting skunked.

>156 atozgrl: I took the 2,309 word list before the NYTimes bought Wordle, and have it in my handy-dandy spreadsheet – first tab is the 2,309 words, second tab is the 1,128 words already used. I found a list of words used somewhere on the ‘net quite a while back, and have added manually ever since.

Wordle in 3 today.

Deborah, I wish you joy in cooler weather. We are certainly happy with ours. We have gotten 2¾ inches of rain here with more expected through Monday. It is not enough to break the drought, but more welcome than I can say! My DH remembered reading about a drought in the 1930s when the city dynamited a hole in the river to collect enough water to supply the town. Yikes!

Hi, Karen. Grilled chicken salad sounds lovely too. The tacos will always be there, I trust.
I add to my used list every day too.....and got it in 4 today - much better than 6 (or none - sorry, Deborah)!

Wordle 1,127 4/6*

⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, scant, swart, shaft

Wordle 1,128 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snore, sheep, speck

Back after church!

'Morning, Peggy!

I lucked into a Wordle 2 today, and that's only with a couple of sips of my first cup of coffee.

Not much on the agenda, thank goodness, just puttering, reading, napping. Oh, I'll be making chili this afternoon.

Wow! TWO!!!!

Enjoy your day and hooray for chili!

Happy Sunday, Peggy!

>157 LizzieD: Thanks for the warning. Positivity towards religion and the religious is not tolerable in my reading, so I will avoid.

*smooch*

>163 LizzieD: I wound up between you two on Wordle today--I got it in 3 this time.

After good rains on Thursday, we haven't gotten as much the last two days, and today is sunny. But the grass is growing again, and not crunchy like it was by the end of June. And I am loving the cooler (or less hot) temperatures.

Have a great Sunday and rest of the week!

>157 LizzieD: Richard, that's not what I was saying at all. The only living Mormon identified in the book is a good human being. He says not a word about religion. Now, the Preacher, who is not quite sane, has a lot to say, but he and Ben are as much friends as he can be to anybody, and I think you'd find him an interesting character. Don't read the book though. You might like it.

Good for you, Irene! We got some rain again last night.

I'm signing off now. Life is happening too fast for me to keep up.

>166 LizzieD: *chuckle*

Nice script-flip, Peggy, but reverse psychology generally fails on me. Life's definitely hit the loud pedal, hasn't it? I guess this is the moment to resist the dead hand of Fate and for our generation to make history.

'Morning, Peggy! Have a wonderful day.

My goodness, did you get any of the storms last night? We had lightning within a mile of the house with very loud thunder that shook the house, lashings of rain, power flickers but no loss of power. Glad for the rain, of course. I just checked the drought maps, and they are absolutely fascinating, once I looked at more than just the current drought map.

Wordle in 3. Sometimes words call out to me, as did my second word. It led to my third word, one I've used unsuccessfully before today.

Chiropractor, PT. Cash for my cleaning ladies from the bank for tomorrow.

>168 karenmarie: When it comes to that kind of storm, I'm still a 5 year old child and want to watch everything that happens.

>169 ffortsa: I'm that kind of child too, Judy although I've known quite a few get-under-the-bed-and-hide types too. I especially love to be at the beach where I can see the whole thing with ocean!

>168 karenmarie: We got none of that last night, Karen. In fact, I don't think we got a drop at all yesterday. We have the promise of rain every day this week though, and I hope they know what they're talking about.
Sounds like a busy enough day for you. I will need to pick up meds and mail a book for PBS. I still haven't dug out your Jane Thynnes, but I will not forget them. I just checked the spelling of JT's name and see that the first one is set in 1933, so you may really enjoy them. I'll spur myself to look sooner!
We are 3 Sisters once again. I finally used a second word that was on the used list, and it helped me get to the right one.

>167 richardderus: Script flip? I???? Actually, I just dislike being misinterpreted..... and I give up.
I thought that my generation's task was racial equality. We've made progress of a sort, I guess. It occurred to me this morning that Harris could tap Biden as her VP. That would be the next turn of the screw. *smooch*

Wordle 1,129 3/6*

⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, great, cadet Long time since I've seen one of those!

'Morning, Peggy. I hope your day is a good'un.

I'm sorry you didn't get any of the rain, and see that as of 7/16 more than half of your county, including your town, is in severe drought. My entire county is in moderate drought as of the same date.

Wordle in 4 for me today.

I thought that my generation's task was racial equality. We've made progress of a sort, I guess. Hmmm. For me, I was and am still working through equality for women.

Wouldn't that be a hoot if Harris chose Biden?

Just dropping by to check in on you! Thanks again for posting on my thread when I could not.

>170 LizzieD: *smoochiesmooch* you keep swingin' for the fences, Peggy, or I'll be forced to come perform a wellness check on you.

Good morning, Richard. Happy to keep you amused anyway! I'd just like to say here that I would be happy for the country if Harris tapped Roy Cooper for her VP and they won. However, I'm not sure she would win with him, so I'll leave her options open. *smooch*

Good morning, Stasia. You know I was glad to let people know your deprivation over the week. Glad you had a good time!

Good morning, Karen. Obviously, the drive for women's rights did and did not gain prominence by the time you were becoming active. My political awakening came with protesting Vietnam war and getting to know like-minded black people at the same time. My women's college invited Betty Friedan for a visit, and she failed to show up for a lame reason. We had planned all kinds of opportunities for us to listen to her and interact with her, and she gave no notice that she was not coming. Very bad. I'm trying to say that in 1966 we were aware that we were getting a raw deal, but we expected it, and the other two conflicts were more compelling.

Wordle 1,130 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, ichor, mourn, prong I know that #3 had been used already, but it was useful!

Happy Wednesday, Peggy.

We got lots of rain again last night, hope you got some. Lightning and thunder, too. I moved back upstairs yesterday, so got to hear the rain pounding on the skylight.

Wordle in two. I so love my starting word.

Chiro and PT, small grocery store run, then soccer. I hope your day is walking, relaxing, reading, coffee, chocolate, wine, etc.

Happy Wednesday right back, Karen!!! We got storm after storm with good rain. DH hasn't checked the rain gauge yet, and I don't want to go out to do it. No walks on Wednesday. It's nice to be a few minutes earlier with things, but we both need the walks.
Good for you for getting back upstairs! Great for your Wordle in TWO!!!!

Enjoy your day. I intend to stay here and continue to do little measly stuff and READ!!!!!

Wordle 1,131 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, trine, torte, forte

>176 LizzieD: Little measly stuff is a blessing as a to-do list. *smooch*

You're right, Richard. I'm off to bed feeling righteous because I did it! *smooch*

Raining at walk time!

Wordle 1,132 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, minor, gourd, porch

>179 LizzieD: Well, how dare it rain when it is time for your walk! No sign of it here so Kerry and I are off in about 30 minutes.

Have a thunderous Thursday, Peggy!

'Morning, Peggy!

Congrats on your 4, I actually got it in 2 again today, because of a book I'm reading put in mind a proper noun that gave me the word I guessed.

I hope your day is mah-ve-lus.

Morning, Peggy! *smooch*

Good morning, Richard, Karen, and Stasia!

*smooch* and hugs all around!

Stasia, we need every drop of rain we can get, and we did walk late again. We got a trifle damp, but the major concern was for DH's bandage which was OK.

Karen, I figured your first word would give you Wordle in 2 again. I'm about to trade. At one time Wordlebot said that my first word letters scored fewest attempts most regularly. I think the NYT person must have read that and decided that she'd fix that.

In other news, I just forked over another $1.99+ to Amazon for a Kindle copy of The Story of Greece and Rome. I need a survey of Greek history, and I hope that this is a good one. I really hope I get my $1.99-worth from it at some point anyway.
Back to Honor, *H&E Grocery*, and the Slippery ones. I'd love to finish them all before July is gone, but I'm already looking at new stuff for August. I should also look at some of the old stuff for August.

Hi Peggy! Happy Friday.

Big spender. $1.99+tax! I have several books of Greek and Roman history, not quite sure if they're as current or as good as The Story of Greece and Rome.

It's a big deal to trade starting Wordle words, so good luck with the decision.

Eye doctor and Fleet Feet in Carrboro, posibly lunch with Jenna or Jenna/Hwan. Jenna's a bit under the weather, so that may not happen.

Oh, Karen. If only $1.99 were the worst of it. I've just spent $20 on a book of poems (166 pages!) and more on a cheap dress and have taken advantage of the Ancestry summer sale, hoping to learn something about my two paternal great-grandmothers. What I hope is that I see some previously unknown relatives pop up with whom I can get in touch. AND I paid full price for the Kindle copy of The Tainted Cup, which I haven't even looked at yet. That is a lot for me.

I didn't trade Wordle starters, and you were right. I did well with my current choice today.
Wordle 1,133 3/6*

⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, crash, awash As usual, the used word list was a game saver.

Carrboro. Oh my. I lived in C'boro one semester when I was at the university getting credits for teacher certification. I couldn't find the apartment now, I'm sure. I hope your visit is successful and that Jenna and Hwan join you for lunch. That means I hope that Jenna is feeling 100% again.

Peggy, I read your comment on Karen's thread about your next thread-topper photos. I can't wait to see them!

I enjoy diving into Ancestry but haven't done any genealogy work in quite some time. I'm reading an interesting book right now, The Dress Diary, in which a fashion historian receives a journal/scrapbook of fabric scraps and sets out to learn more about the woman who owned the diary, and those she named in the captions. I'm really enjoying it, and I can also relate to the speculation and dead ends that you inevitably encounter when trawling through public records.

>185 LizzieD: Biblioholism is a asrious problem, no?

Oh, definitely, Richard, and I wouldn't have it any other way, given who I am.

Laura, you're a dear! I like the sound of The Dress Diary, so I'll check on what you have to say when you finish.
Ancestry hasn't been helpful at all. The easier of the 2 great-grands was adopted right after the Civil War (her father was killed in battle late, and her mother died soon after). I don't know whether the adoption was legal, but she took the last name of the couple who adopted her. My g-gfather wrote that her birth name was Kinney (no parent names given), but she was married as Jenny Elsie Odell, adopted. Ancestry has her birthdate right, but the Odells are given as her birth parents. The 1870 and 80 census show the Odells with a daughter of the right age, but her name is given as Eliza Kinney, and she was born in Maryland instead of NC, AND is said to be a step-daughter. Good grief!

‘Morning, Peggy!

>185 LizzieD: Oh no! Spending money on books! Quelle horreur! You are still so far behind me in money spent this year that you should feel proud of yourself. I wish I wasn’t cheap re Ancestry right now, although I’d want to mentally be able to make enough time to use it properly and don’t see that happening any time soon.

Congrats on your three yesterday. Ooh, Carrboro. It’s still quirky and sweet, and mostly untainted by development. Hwan’s apartment is part of a complex built in the 1970s on Main Street, Fleet Feet is .5 miles away, also on Main Street. Alas, Jenna’s still got a sore throat and we couldn’t get together for lunch.

>188 LizzieD: Look on familsearch.org. You’ll have to create a free username/password. Or, if you don’t want to do that, text me and I’ll share mine. 🥰 With one search and one click I found her grave.

Jennie Odell Edens Grave

And, here’s her familysearch ID: GSQ1-38N.

Wordle in 4 for me today.

Checking in on you today. I hope all is well there!

I despair. I just wrote a bunch and lost it, doggone it. When will I learn???

Wordle 1,134 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, noire, chide, juice I think that's logical, and I don't mind 4 at all, especially in that case!

>188 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I posted my review of The Dress Diary today, on the book page and on my thread.

>185 LizzieD: >189 karenmarie: Carrboro. I lived there for a while after we moved to NC 40-some years ago. We lived with friends in Mebane to start. Then I found a job at UNC and my ex eventually did as well. After I got my job, we moved to an apartment in Carrboro. Eventually got a trailer, then a house in Chapel Hill. That was back when housing prices made sense.

Wordle in 4 for me as well today. I can join you as Wordle sisters!

Howdy, Peggy me lurve. *smooch*

Greetings, thanks for visiting, and Good Night, Richard, Irene, Laura, Stasia, and Karen! I'll try to come back tomorrow and be a decent hostess. Having stayed up too late last night, I'm frantic to start my bedtime routine.

Before I do though, I'll just mention that I had a great fun time with K.J. Charles and the guys in SLIPPERY CREATURES.

This is the real deal: a mm romance with a pretty good spy plot, a bookstore in post-WWI England, and really sexy explicit sex. I'm not a great fan of the latter as a little goes a long way, but this was readable because the characters are deeper than a parking lot puddle and there were no intrusive adjectives. This is a romance, so the relationships are fraught with misunderstandings that were not cleared up in this first book. That's OK. I wasn't going to go on to book 2 of 3 yet, but I put it on my Kindle because it was cheaper than I remembered. Be proud of me for not buying the third book too. I'm sure I will.

>195 LizzieD: I love your standard of character depth. As somewhat a fan of well done sexy explicit sex scenes I may add this to my lists. Fortunately my main library has all 3 books. Unfortunately I have reached my check out limit there.

>195 LizzieD: I think your restraint in not buying Subtle Blood is exemplary. Would that I possessed a particle of it.

A warning about Author Charles and sex: It's a very large (!) part of her books. All of 'em. The one time I thought I'd have to grit my teeth and flip quickly past straight sex, turns out the lady in question was a transwoman. (Didn't help much.) Still, kudos for inclusion, Author Charles.

Sunday *smooch* for the other reason I don't advocate severing NC's ties to the Union

‘Morning, Peggy! Happy Sunday to you and your DH.

>193 atozgrl: Wow, it seems everybody lands in Carrboro at some point or another. Bill’s first house was technically in Chapel Hill although Chatham County not Orange County, and we had to go through Carrboro on Jones Ferry Road to actually get to Chapel Hill. His dad and Kay lived there when I first met them, so I actually stayed in Carrboro in 1980 for a few nights. Yay for being a Wordle sister.

>195 LizzieD: I'm so glad you really liked Slippery Creatures. Characters deeper than a parking lot puddle is a wonderful metaphor, too. Getting book 2 also says a lot. I loved all three and actually bought all three for my Kindle as soon as Richard recommended Subtle Blood to me on June 29th (yes, I had to go back to find it in his thread). Instead of starting with book 3, I started with Slippery Creatures and am very happy I did.

Sure is a beautiful day in North Carolina. Carolina blue skies, trees outside of every window in the Sunroom, can't see any neighbors... perfect.

Time for brekkie/lunch.

I love visitors, but I'm bound to miss something trying to catch up. I apologize ahead of time!

Laura, I'll check your review with thanks for the hint.

Susan and Karen, I liked that description too when I first heard it (I wish it were mine). It was in a discussion of schizophrenia, which I was reading in hopes of getting an insight into my cousin who suffers from a paranoid psychosis. The guy said that a normal person's psyche is oceanic; a schizophrenic's is as described - I think because every ounce of what is there goes into survival.

Carrboro Sisters and Wordle Sisters, UNITE!

Double *SMOOCH* for Richard in thanks for pointing out Ms. Charles and keeping NC in the union.

Wordle 1,135 4/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snick, shock, smock

>199 LizzieD: Yes, my disapprobation is regularly featured in Congress's decisions regarding the State of the Union...*snort*

Spend your Monday splendidly, Peggy *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Monday to you.

Overcast, half a cup of coffee down...

Wordle in 4.

Other than that, I've been playing around in familysearch and etc.

Good morning, Karen and Richard! Hug and *smooch*!

>200 richardderus: It's quite obvious that some deviltry somewhere is keeping your memos from Congress's eyes.

Karen, I haven't been playing around anywhere, but I have THINGS to do and Places to go and People to See today, doggone it.

Wordle 1,136 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snore, sider, super Reggie Perrin, where were you when I needed you at 3?

'Morning!

I hope your THINGS to do and Places to Go and People to See yesterday went well.

I also hope you can reward yourself today with only fun things.

Wordle in 2, with one of my favorite words being the Chosen One.

Other than that, book sort, Virlie's, FL pick up, and etc.

Good morning, Karen! I got only a few things done in the rain, but one of them was Shingrix #1, which is behaving nicely for me. Happy Tuesday to you!

TWO SISTERS! I'm enjoying this rarity!
Wordle 1,137 2/6*

🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, feral

>204 LizzieD: Yay for shingles vaccination! That's one miserable experience avoided.

Happy Tuesdaying, wherever it may take you, dear one.

*smooch*

Thank you kindly, Richard, and a *smooch* in return.

I got up with my financial woman, who is taking all the new stuff off my hands, thank goodness!!!!! I can't tell you how relieved I am. Otoh, I've stressed about is so that I have a second ghost migraine in as many weeks. No headache, just the aura that passes across my field of vision in about 20 or 30 minutes, leaving me unsettled and weak-ish, but otherwise OK.

Now to finish *H&E GS*, which is a very, very good book!

Hi Peggy. I hope you are staying cool. My thoughts about Frederica and Arabella are similar to yours. They are my favorite Heyers, I think. Both are so amusing, and I do love the dogs.

‘Morning, Peggy!

Congrats on your Wordle in 2, sister, and getting the Shingrix is important.

I’m so sorry to read about the ghost migraine – I’ve never heard of that. My sister used to get the aura before a migraine. I hope you’re now settled and not weak.

Another gorgeous Carolina day.

Wordle in 3 for me today.

Good morning, Karen and Beth!!!

Beth, Frederica has long been my favorite Heyer. I vacillate between *Ajax* and *Contract* for my #2, I think, but Arabella is certainly now in my top five.

Good for your Wordle 3, Karen. As you see below, I went astray and almost didn't get back on track.2 same letter sets is just plain nasty not to mention the non-Englishness of the word.
It's hot here. Nice to look out, but I intend to stay in and read if I can!

Wordle 1,138 5/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, defer, beech, venue, penne

>209 LizzieD: Oh, An Unknown Ajax! I do love that story.

Happy Mittelwoch, Peggy!

Danke sehr, Richard - and right back to you!

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride

Oh my! I did end up loving this book, but it took the last 20% to change "like very much" to "love." So many people have read it, that I don't feel any need to write a review. I will just say that my heart broke several times and was mended, but it's not quite the same heart that I had when I opened the book the first time.

>211 LizzieD: What a great way to sum up that book, Peggy. I went through a similar metamorphosis while reading it. I love this: it's not quite the same heart that I had when I opened the book the first time.

>211 LizzieD: I am so glad to hear that you loved it!!

'Morning, Peggy. Happy Thursday to you.

It's beautiful out, but another scorcher. I don't have any need to be out today, fortunately. Was up about 5, have puttered around, gotten my stats prepared, need to review my Lightning round, and will post sometime later today.

Nap time, then reading and etc.

Wordle in 5 today. I liked the way I got to the word, actually, and don't mind the 5 at all.

Laura and Stasia, you both encouraged me to read *H&EGC* as soon as I got my greedy little mitts on it. Thank you! I'm happy to join the fan group.

It is a scorcher already, Karen, and I need to go out for a bit and dread it. I refuse to admit that 5:00 AM exists unless something dire pushes me to it.

I'm not especially happy about the way I got to Wordle today. I get freaks into my head (see guess 2) and can't rid myself of them until I plug them in and see that they don't work.

Wordle 1,139 4/6*

🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, quail, clack, chalk

Hi Peggy!

quail got you the L to get to clack then chalk

I hope you stay safe in the heat and enjoy the rest of your afternoon.

>211 LizzieD: This one is up for my RL book club in a few months, and I'm very glad to hear that it is so well liked here. I am looking forward to it!

I hope you survived the heat today. One more scorcher tomorrow and then it should let up a little bit.

>216 karenmarie: Look again, Karen! I already had the L from "Least." "Quail" got me nothing but a misused guess - except placement hints, I guess. Hmmm. That sounds rather curt. I didn't mean it to be. *sigh* (((((Karen)))))

Irene, I think you will end up loving *H&E GS*. I wish somebody had told me not to worry about the prelude. It works to reread it when you've finished the rest of the book!

It's still 86° here tonight. I'm waiting until the heat moderates to send my spit to Ancestry. 90° is the high temp tolerance for their gene kits.

>215 LizzieD:, >216 karenmarie:, >217 atozgrl: Re: Thursday's Wordle, without spoiler tags since it's Friday now: "QUAIL" used your green & yellow letters and allowed you to try out (eliminate) two other vowels. I use that strategy all the time. I probably wouldn't have used a Q because it's less common than other consonants. Maybe FRAIL, which would have tested one new vowel and a commonly used consonant. But I would have been no closer to the solution. All that to say, don't be too hard on yourself!

Happy Friday, Peggy.

Hi Peggy! Happy hot Saturday to you. I hope you and your DH got your walk in already. Interestingly, it's supposed to be 1 degree hotter and 3 degrees more heat index for us here than you there.

>218 LizzieD: Yup. I missed that completely.

It was 82° at our house at 10 last night.

I'll be having coffee and a cookie with a friend at The Belted Goat in Fearrington at 1 p.m. In the meantime, I think I'll leave early and go to the Library to start in on taking photos of the Classics of Medicine Library to set up a spreadsheet for Eliza and me to use before we meet tomorrow to appraise the books.

And, if I happen to look through donations and see something exciting, well, there's that, too.

Good morning, Karen! I wish you a good time today and that you may be home before the excessively excessive heat hits. How nice that you and Eliza are going to appraise those handsome books together! Good luck with the new donations too!

Laura, I believe I thought that 'frail' was on the used list. I just checked, and it's not. (I am playing the hard way, so I had to use my letters.) It wouldn't have made any difference. I wasn't being hard on myself exactly, just noting my propensity for getting a weird word in my head and being stubborn enough to try it no matter what. Today was better as you see! Thank you for speaking!

Wordle 1,140 3/6*

🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, plane, flake

Thanks Peggy, and congrats on Wordle in 3 today. I don't have a fixed starter word but I often use that one.

I'm pretty sure Satan left the door open again as she came to rally her GOP minions. It's h-o-t!

I'm off to kiss my a/c. *smooch*

We are also suffering from the heat here too. I was 102 yesterday. The high today is projected to be (only) 100.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Peggy!

So sorry that you're so hot, Stasia and Richard! We had expected to be, but an hour or so of a lot of wind and some rain cooled us off, and it hasn't steamed back up. I think that the next few days are supposed to be cooler too. I'll tell you: every degree makes a difference when it's hot.

Laura, I used to go from starter word to starter word too, but I often wished that I had used one twice or waited to use the one from two days before. I don't know. So far, it's still fun. I look at Connections several times a week. I'm all over the place there - got them all yesterday; got none of them the time I tried before that. Strands isn't much fun for me, so I don't do it often.

Today was eye shot. My DH babied me and let me sleep or lounge around with my eye closed while the scratchy burn went away and most of the goop drained. I seem to be in a good place with it right now, DG!

I'm adding books to the August Open collection. That's sort of the kiss of death for my finishing a book, but I do eventually read some of them.....

The Tudors is supposed to set the story straight on Henry VIII and Elizabeth at least. Here's an early description of Henry..... arrogant, opinionated, a bully inclined to self-pity, invincibly confident of his own charm, and certain that he knew best about everything that mattered ---- a full-fledged tyrant in the strictest sense of the word, a homicidal monster, absurd, pathetic, mortally dangerous. Does the first list sound like somebody we are too familiar with? Is the last list an inevitable conclusion?

'Morning, Peggy. Happy Saturday to you.

I'm glad your DH babied you after your shot, glad the scratchy burn has gone away.

Trump is channeling Henry VIII, Hitler, Stalin, Ronald Reagan (manipulating the evangelical vote), and etc.

In happier news, I got Wordle in four today and will be fondling lovely leather-bound books this afternoon.

>225 LizzieD: EYESHOT *shriek*

I know thet're keeping your sight viable and am intensely grateful you can get them...but I'm so squeamish about my eyes that I'm putting off cataract surgery because *shriek*

Hank8, 45, Ramesses2, Alexander...all sociopathic narcissists I'd run a mile to get away from IRL but fascinating to learn about.

*smooch*

Good morning, Richard and Karen!

I wish we were learning about 45 only through the printed word. Mary Trump's book clearly revealed the reasons behind his pathetic parts. I contrast him with LBJ, whose parents were apparently decent people who can't be blamed for their son's sociopathy. (Is that a word?) His father is perhaps to be thanked for putting LBJ's identification with the margenalized. I think sociopaths must be born and can't fundamentally change what they are. I can and do blame their enablers.

Richard, I feel your squeamishness about eyes. Just know that when you must have your cataracts done, you will be amazed and thrilled at how brilliant the world is through clear eyes. *smooch*

Happy book fondling and sniffing, Karen! I hope you are granted the few you've chosen.

Wordle 1,141 3/6*

🟨🟨🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, slake, scale My first word!!! Could have been 2; could have been 4. I'm very happy with my 3.

Wordle 1,142 3/6*

🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, loner, lower HA!

Off to church!

>229 LizzieD: Enjoy your Sundaying, Wordle-rincess *smooch*

'Morning, Peggy! I hope your Sunday is inspiring and restful.

Two threes in a row! Congratulations, and your first word yesterday is brilliant.

I avoided a skunk with a lucky guess today and am grateful.

Otherwise, I might spend a bit of time outside in the hammock because of the lower temps.

Thank you, Richard and Karen. I'm making up for a long string of near-fails. Skunk-avoidance is always gratifying.
Aren't the lower temps great? Richard would still be stewing, but I'm going to feel safe in sending off my Ancestry DNA sample next week because we shouldn't get as high as 90°. Now if we can just avoid a huge amount of rain from Debby. They're predicting 6-8 inches for us but something like 15 for Charleston. Horrors!

I'm for reading whichever book leaps to hand when I stretch out on the sofa in only moments!

*smooches* and (((((y'all)))))

Well, darn it. I hadn't even heard of Debby. Depending on where it goes, of course, looks like we'll get 2-6 inches since we're right on the edge of green and yellow. Hmmm. Looks like Thursday - Friday a.m. for us.

'Morning, Peggy. Happy Monday.

Looks like Debby's coming inland, so now we're looking at a bit more rain, you're looking at a lot more rain, and it currently looks like it's going to track a bit west of you and is heading towards Raleigh.

Oh, and I got Wordle in 4 today.

Here's a huge good-luck-without-flooding *whammy*

Have a good week, smoochling.

Now I'm the one who hadn't looked at the news to hear what Debby is doing. I know she's moving slowly, and that's a killer as far as flooding is concerned. Good luck to both of us, Karen! Thanks for the whammy, Richard! *smooch* & (((((!)))))

Wordle 1,143 3/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snore, ensue I can see big-time failures on the way to balance this current streak of good luck.

>236 LizzieD: I hope you and your battened down hatches come through it all OK! I hope the same for Karen too!!

ETA: You will be happy to know that I just located Carl Van Vechten. . .

Congratulations, Stasia! I was just reading that you hadn't found it. Now you can read both!!!!

And thank you for good wishes. Looks like coastal Georgia and SC are going to be hammered, but you can't tell with these storms.

I tried to get all my out of house stuff done today, but I've just remembered that I'm supposed to get a haircut Thursday. Back and sides are OK, but the top is going to be down in my face in another few days.

>238 LizzieD: That is the plan, Peggy! Now I just need enough time in the month. Makes me bitterly regret the time I dedicated to One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Very true about the storms. We do not typically get a lot of hurricanes here, but we do get tornadoes.

I finally got mine cut off (despite my mother, who loved my hair) because it kept getting in my eyes, which makes it difficult to read. . .

>239 alcottacre: *grin* for hair in eyes!

We are of one mind about time spent with *100 Years*. I took about 4 tries to finally read the thing and forced myself to get through it. Curiously enough, I enjoyed *Cholera*, but I haven't read anything else of his. I do like the SA magical realists, but I think Vargas Llosa is my favorite, and I know that The War of the End of the World tops the list - even better than The Mad Patagonian, which I still haven't finished. Oh dear. WHY am I buying new books all the time?????
Don't answer that. I know.

Hi Peggy! Looks like we're both in for more rain than we'd like, and already visiting your your area, unfortunately. Stay safe!

When I got my hair cut for the first time after my Covid hair (no hair cut for over 3 years), Bill commented that it was too short. Harrumph. Not his hair, not his decision. As you know, I finally found the perfect hair stylist although I have to go to Winston-Salem for her, and she found my curls again.

Hmmm, re One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's been on my shelves, unread since 2018. I guess, based on your and Stasia's opinions, that I should just cull it and be done with the idea of reading it. It's not like I don't have enough to read. *smile*

Wordle in 4 for me today, with lots of spreadsheet help.

Good morning, Karen! You're right. It's already raining here to much for the DH to get his bandage wet. Otherwise, we'd be walking. This is probably our best chance until the end of the week. *sigh* Speaking of him, he used to ask me to keep my hair long. Since a shorter cut would have caused innumerable problems, I was happy enough to oblige him. Now though, I have some curls and it's "whatever makes you happy." This actual style - as opposed to no style at all - continues to amaze and thrill me!

You shouldn't dismiss *100 Years* without looking at the reviews of the majority who very nearly revere it. That's why I was excited to find a kindred reader in Stasia.

Wordle 1,144 3/6*

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, coral, anvil I'm amazed and thrilled again! (This is getting scary. I'll take it!)

>242 LizzieD: Y'all apostates who do not like García Márquez's magnum opus, the foundational text of Magical Realism, the monadnock of Latin American Litrachoor should definitely keep y'all's heads down. The book-bullets won't be the good kind.

*glower*

sinful wicked shame on these heretical ingrates Melpomene will reap their libraries and cast them out of Literacy

>240 LizzieD: But I want to answer that! Lol

Stay safe, woman!

>243 richardderus: Yep. I have been given to expect nothing less, Richard - and a *glower* even! I expect I'll survive. Meanwhile, I claim the freedom offered by de gustibus, and even chacun à son gout.

Thanks, Stasia. I just posted on your thread.... They are now saying 16-24" here, which will be catastrophic for people in lower lying areas. My SiL's children have just completed the sale of her house to the government for destruction since the ground-level flooded twice, 8 and 6 years ago. It's still there, but who knows after even half that amount of rain???

>245 LizzieD: That is a lot of rain! I hope your SiL's house is still standing after it gets pounded by all that rain.

They're saying 8-12" here, due west of Raleigh. I'm so sorry that with the river in town so many people might have devastating flooding.

Thinking of you as Debby approaches, Peggy. I hope it's not as bad as they are currently predicting.

>235 richardderus: I could use some of those good-luck-without-flooding whammies myself. The last time we got a big rain-from-tropical-storm event was Matthew, and it knocked out the cable for 3 full days, interrupting my ability to watch the Cubs in the playoffs in 2016. I don't want that to happen again in the middle of the Olympics. Good luck to you, Peggy, I hope it doesn't get as bad where you are as they're predicting.

Congratulations on your Wordle in 3 streak! Except for a 2 on August 3, I'm getting mostly 4's this month. But since I don't check the used words list, I can't--and don't--complain.

>249 atozgrl: Ye gawd, Irene! Every whammy possible!!

>245 LizzieD: Indeed the Hour of Glower has come and gone, Peggy, replaced by a deep worry-line.

*smooch*

Thank you for good wishes and effective whammies, Richard, Irene, Laura, Karen, and Stasia! The latest report has backed off catastrophic rain and is saying only 10 or so inches here. The river is high already, so there will be some flooding but not devastating flooding. That also means that Karen and Irene may get more than was being predicted. The other thing is that hurricanes do what they want. It would be nice if this one wanted to head on out to sea right now, but I don't expect that.

(Stasia, the government has bought my SiL's house in order to demolish it since it is in the revised flood plain. It doesn't matter whether it stays or goes.)

Oh! I came to record that I've finished my latest Dallas/Roarke.

SEDUCTION IN DEATH by J.D. Robb

I'm not sure how Robb manages to keep these fresh, but number 13 doesn't suffer from over-exposure for me. The crime stories are always plenty good. The near-future is interesting --- I want need an Auto-Chef stocked by Sommerset. The relationships keep me coming back. I think that Peabody, Eve's assistant, may be my favorite character. I'm happy to see a resolution of her relationship with McNab here, and I'll likely be back for one more of the series before the year is out.

'Morning, Peggy. Happy Wednesday. We're just waiting to see where Debby goes... you're right that hurricanes do what they want.

Wordle in 5. I was getting worried.

Yay for Dallas/Roarke.

>252 LizzieD: Oh, OK, about SiL's house. That is good news anyway.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the latest (latest for you, anyway) In Death book! To be honest, I love Peabody. I think Robb made a great foil for Dallas in her. However, after much thought, I think my favorite character may be Mavis, just because she is such a character, lol.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Wednesday *smooch* for a dry-as-Pampers bottom.

Yay for Richard, Stasia, and Karen!

We're not going to be dry, Richard, but we're hoping not to lose water at all or maybe even electricity for too long a time. *smooch* It's not raining right now, so that's a good thing.

You have to love Mavis, Stasia, but she hasn't shown up as often in the last couple of books that I've read.

Karen, who is your favorite *ID* character since Stasia and I have revealed ours??
I was getting worried about Wordle too and am relieved with my 5.

Wordle 1,145 5/6*

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, ranch, caddy, whako, macaw I know that #2 had been used before, but I was never going to get it in 2, and it helped.

I just had a thought that I checked out. I don't think I've ever heard 45 laugh. I went to YouTube and found a grand total of 3 examples. I don't hear a laugh on any of them. If I were considering a vote for him in some alternate universe, that would kill it right there.

>256 LizzieD: “I don't think I've ever heard 45 laugh.”

I’d read that in a recent NYT essay. Trump has mocked Kamala Harris’s laugh (among so much else), and it was enlightening to realize that the Orange One does not laugh. If he did, it would be a snigger.

Karen O

>256 LizzieD: Mavis' full story is unveiled in one of the later books (it is number 38 in the series). I think you will find it interesting when you get to it.

>257 klobrien2: Ha! Thanks for that, Karen. I don't get the Times anymore, so I missed the essay. I think KH's laugh is infectious.... that's a fine thing.

>258 alcottacre: Oh boy, Stasia. I hope I make it to 38!

Our lights have been flickering, but right now we have power. We should be fine. Good night!

'Morning, Peggy! I hope you have power. We lost power about 8 a.m. but the generator kicked right in.

Wordle in 4 for me today.

Stay dry! Stay safe!

Good morning, Karen! I think we have escaped the worst. It will go by to the west about mid-day, but we're not expecting much more than some rain and 45 MPH wind gusts. If we lost power, I don't know about it. We are GRATEFUL!!!!! You stay safe and dry yourownself!

Wordle 1,146 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, sandy, savvy, saucy I freely confess to using a word list. I saw more than three possibilities, and I want to get to the 100 streak if I can. So there.

Peggy me lurve...hoping y'all stay safe. I'm uncomfy because of the humidity. I'm pretty sure tomorrow's review will piss off plenty of people, most of whom will possess uteruses.

Oh well.

>261 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I hope that Debby continued to spare you and that you didn't get much flooding. We had rain overnight and this morning, before a big break, and then occasional bands of rain. Unfortunately, we had to go out to take my DH's SUV to the dealer for its regular maintenance appointment. Dropped it of this morning, and got a new set of tires. Then back out again this afternoon to pick it up. A lot more driving than I wanted to do on a day with weather like this.

Well, I'm nearly a twin with you in Wordle again today. Different but similar first word, same second word, similar third word with a different double letter and got it on 4 like you. I hope you get to the hundred streak.

Hi, Irene and Richard! We got to walk this morning, and I made a couple of pictures of the river - up nine feet from our last walk Tuesday. Here's also a picture from August of '18 made at about the same place on the bank to give a little perspective.

>264 LizzieD: WOW

Am very very very glad y'all're okay! Mildew is not fun to expunge when it gets established by flood waters. Have a relieved, and satisfying, weekend ahead! *smooch*

Hi, Richard. I have a better "before" picture that I'm probably going to have to get from my phone. Can't do it now.
Mildew is bad. Black mold is eventually sick-making at the least. I'm afraid that a lot of poor folks around here are living with that from 2016. Same good wishes back to you. Stay cool and do some of your best! *smooch*

Meanwhile, I wordle for fun. I don't mind this 4 at all.

Wordle 1,147 4/6*

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, noire, phone, ounce

'Morning, Peggy!

Well, you and I personally dodged a Debby bullet for sure, thank goodness. I know your river's up and there are folks hurting again. Sent you a PM...

Wordle in 3 for me today, a very lucky guess.

>264 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I'm glad it's not worse where you are! Is the middle picture the one from 2018? I can't see the water at all in the one on the right.

>266 LizzieD: Wordle sisters again! I also got it in 4 and again had the same last two words as you.

Hi, Karen and Irene! We did dodge a bullet ourselves. Irene, the second picture is also of the river today. The third one shows it in its normal banks - as you say, you really can't see the water at all until you realize that you are seeing trees reflected in the water from the far bank. Let me try to get a better before picture up.....

Wordle 1,148 4/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, geode, weird, medic

Hi Peggy! Have a wonderful Sunday.

Wordle took me 4 yesterday, too, but I got it in 3 today.

We had a wonderful time with J&H yesterday, ate lots of good food, had lots of good conversation. Jenna loved her birthday cards - one from her dad and me and one from the kitties.

3 Sisters again!

I'm happy that the visit with Jenna and Hwan was more than satisfying!

Wordle 1,149 3/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snore, scone Yummy Yay!

Peggy me lurve! I just finished a book that feels like a modern Iranian guy's version of Our Lady of the Flowers...enjoyable reading and pretty gutsy to write about gayness so unabashedly in Teheran. So of course I wanted to come tell you about his brave, stupid honesty...knowing you're all about respecting guts.

Called Medusa of the Roses...not so subtle, eh?...by Navid Sinaki.

>264 LizzieD: Wow! Glad you didn't have extreme flooding like in other areas.

Thank you, Anita! We're still getting rain, but the river is falling very slowly. We're a block from the highest point in town, so we're never going to be flooded - or if we are, the rest of the town is doomed. However, I know that the mostly poor people in low-lying areas are flooded again. We are victims of climate change whether we acknowledge the fact or not.

Richard, that sounds very like a challenge! I could have read the Genet in my French lit class, but chose Sartre instead. I could handle the French, but the ideas were beyond my 18 year-old self. I do respect brave, stupid honesty, and the book looks compelling. *smooch*

Even though I napped a bit this afternoon, I do think I can start my night now. Sleep well, dear 75 LTers!

'Morning, Peggy! Happy Monday to you and your DH.

Wordle in 4 today for me. Congrats on yesterday's 3 for you.

>273 richardderus: Honestly, RD. Getting BBs from you on other peoples' threads...

I've got a chiropractor appointment and other things I can do if I want to, but don't have to. I like days like that.

Good for your day, Karen! Also congrats on your 4 today. I had to use a list to get it in 5.

Wordle 1,150 5/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, minus, sprig, scion, skiff

We walked today, thank goodness! The river is up again since we got an inch and a half of additional rain yesterday and upstream got more. This now ranks in the top five recorded floods, three of which have happened in the past 8 years. I know what I make of that.

>275 LizzieD: I'm not sure how we got into sync on this, but my day has been spent drowsy and ready to drift off at every extra-long blink, as well. I suspect everything I'd planned to read is gonna slide into Tuesday, that reviewless hole. Not least because Navid's book appears tomorrow so I need to write the promo posts for the SMs (social media).

I hated the sample I read from The Book of Goose, which has received such melodious moos of delight. I mean, loathed despised detested each tedious list.

Stay undoomed...we need you around here.

>278 richardderus: More of the same for me today, Richard, and I'm sorry you are also in the doldrums. I can't get particularly upset about it, but I hope to be tired of it sooner rather than later.

I haven't read The Vagrants. Having looked at the first page of *Goose*, I won't be in any hurry to get to it even if I read *Vs* and love it. I loathe and despise lists. Lazy writing, I think.

Sleep well! Wake brighter! *smooch*

Stay undoomed...we need you around here.

What Richard said! Stay safe, woman.

Good morning, Peggy! Happy Tuesday to you.

Congrats on yesterday’s 4, took me 5 today and my brain hurts from trying to figure it out.

Yikes to 3 of 5 in the last 8 years. I know what to make of it too.

>278 richardderus: melodious moos of delight Love it, RDear.

I get to fondle books this morning, then attend a book sale planning meeting. Since I’m back at book sort, I love my Tuesday mornings even though I had to set an alarm and wake up to it this morning.

Happy, happy Tuesday morning to you, Karen - although you won't read this until you're home. Hoping everything goes very well with all the meetings and the lunch if you decide to eat with the folks.

Wordle --- I was 5 yesterday, but I'm happily back to 4 today. I like being able to think through it without help beyond the used word list. (Hi, Irene! I know you don't.)

Wordle 1,151 4/6*

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, weird, reign, neigh

Thank you for the good wish, Stasia. I very much hope to be going nowhere!

I didn't say, Richard, but I have never heard a melodious moo although like Karen, I appreciate the alliteration. I'd like "melodious mew" better : ) ! (Patience! My thread!!!) I really disliked cows and chickens when I was a child spending a lot of time on my granddaddy's farm. The cows were really big. The chickens were really filthy and noisy and free-range. I wasn't a great egg-eater at the time, but I loved fried chicken (hated Grandmother's wringing their necks and HATED picking out feathers) and her butter. Incidentally, my grandmother was the reader. I have an indelible picture of her shaking cream into butter in a gallon jar with a book open in her lap. My daddy was the great reader of her children; I know I've said that he got a ticket once for RWD - Reading While Driving - although he was stopped at a stop sign, consulting a coin catalogue at the time.) I hope you come by here to read this, Richard. *smooch* if you do! *smooch* if you don't!!

>282 LizzieD: *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

I won't be m-e-w-ing anytime soon. A friend in Kenya is in severe straits so I need to sacrifice some more of...them...to get the goddesses off their chairs to get her some work soon. Enjoyable work, done in a good cause.

Plucking a chicken is really fiddly work...those gall sacs are really easy to break and then it's wasted effort. Your daddy's RWD ticket is inspiring! I'm deeply glad not to be driving anymore because the tech in every car is just exhausting to interact with.

...now I want an egg...

I'm sorry about your friend in Kenya! That is all.

Plucking the chicken was pretty much like my attempts at picking cotton (I might have lasted ten minutes) and putting in tobacco (I saw my first tobacco worm and left in less than five). I was not a country girl.

Now that I think about it, I believe Daddy's offense was properly DWR not the other way around.

*smooch*

'Morning, Peggy and happy Wednesday to you.

No growing tobacco in SoCal where I grew up. When I moved here, lots of folks in Sanford, where I worked, either still had tobacco allotments or had grown up on tobacco farms. My boss was one of them, and he had stories... I saw the fields and saw the cute little special wood-sided trailers used when the harvest was coming in.

I never saw a tobacco worm,
I never hope to never see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

Inspired by Gelett Burgess, author of Purple Cow

And also by him,

Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple Cow"—
I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!

He died before I was born, so I guess I'm safe. He was actually quite an amazing man, as my brief perusal of the Wikipedia article on him proves.

Anyway, I got Wordle in two today. I immediately thought of the second word when I saw the grays, yellows, and greens after my first word. Sheer luck, of course, but of course I'll take it!

Good afternoon, Karen! I never even thought that somebody had to have written Purple Cow. I won't remember his name, but thank you for the info. Here in the Border Belt, tobacco season was always exciting. I remember the smells of curing and cured tobacco, the crowds, the auctions, and my prissy refusal to get past that big green worm.

CONGRATS on Wordle in 2. I went from hope for 3 to relief for 5. Doing it the hard way means I don't get to rule out as many consonants as possible in one try.

Wordle 1,152 5/6*

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, snore, score, swore, shore

TWO RANTS These have been on my mind. My DH is tired of hearing me, and I realized that I have a thread where I am free to vent.

Rant 1
Yesterday on Bloomsburg the hosts and guests were again taking apart the X mutual ramble. I may have misheard the subject, but I'm sure I heard the guest say (and I thought it was about something that 45 had said), "Is that intellectually honest?"
My first thought was, "You dink. That was Donald Trump. How would you even ask such a stupid question?"
Then I thought AGAIN - You media people are responsible as far as your influence goes in choosing to address 45's insanities as though they they were rational thoughts deserving serious consideration. Yes, the man was President, but before that you failed to speak truth about him, and people picked up on your acceptance and adopted it. J'accuse!

Rant 2
Not completely unrelated to the first rant, I listen to a lot of young women who have taught themselves to distort the vowel sounds of our language. Please. I know that a living language changes. I also know that reading works on a physical level to develop our brains, and I doubt we've come up with anything else that does as effective a job. If phonics is still useful to teach children to read, as I believe it is, how are children going to sort out their own pronunciation from what they are taught sounds should be?

A - the long A, pronounced "ay", is disappearing from our language. E - the short E, pronounced "eh" is disappearing from our language. So if a kid grows up hearing and saying "The Prasident addrassed the neeshin," how is he supposed to read, "The President addressed the nation?" This probably isn't a great example, but in a time when children are already not reading much, we don't need another deterrent. Just saying - and I could say a lot more, but I won't. I do realize that my speech patterns would likely be unintelligible in another 50 years. That's OK; I won't be around to find out. I do wish that people would listen and acknowledge that change is taking place now though.

"We got the peent on sell, and we're going to start working tomorrow at teeyue," (one syllable there, please)

So there. I've said it. I'm not rid of it, but I got it out.

>286 LizzieD: Yet another great vowel shift, alas.

>286 LizzieD: Wordle in 4 for me today, Peggy. I did do it the hard way today, but my first guess on 2 didn't find me any extra letters but did rule out possible future options. My 3rd guess was the same as your second.

Oh don't get me onto changes in speech. Besides the abuse of the pronoun in objective case, which makes me want to scream, the pronunciation changes are irritating me too. Now everyone wants to say "expeeriment" instead of "expehriment" or "wisteeria" instead of "wistehria", and so on. And where did the current pronunciation of turbine come from? When I was growing up, I always heard it pronounced "turbin", not "turbIne" (with a long I). But after a long period of time when no one was using the word, it returned and now everyone is using the long I, which I assume is British. It reminds me of how my DH was so amused after Bush II invaded Iraq and Dan Rather came back from covering the war, referring to "mobIle missIles", both words with the long I like the Brits.

Another one is prepositions. Somehow people have lost the "correct" usage of a preposition with a verb. For example, a criminal is charged "with" a crime, not "for" a crime, or whatever other preposition is stuck in there. And "different from" has suddenly become "different to." On investigation, this is apparently another Britishism, but why are Americans suddenly using it? There are plenty more examples. I vaguely remember studying some of this usage when I was in grade school; I guess they don't teach it any more.

I know language changes, but some changes make understanding more difficult.

I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one paying attention, Irene and Susan!

Irene, I do have to say that I grew up saying "wisteeria," so that is probably a Southern thing rather than a new pronunciation. I've never heard 'charged for a crime" either. I know that the Brits say "different to," but I've never heard an American say that. Instead, I've heard "different than" forever. I do agree about prepositions though. I attribute usage weirdness to the fact that children don't read and don't pay attention to standard usage if they hear it. One of my great points as an English teacher was that words mean something. My current big hate is for "you know" as a rhythm maker - or worse, "I mean, you know...." at the beginning of a statement. There's nothing to clarify before you've said anything. AND --- I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn't have asked. I mentally cheer when somebody does actually build a foundation by stating something that the questioner does, in fact know. I understand that Americans feel the need for an introductory sound before they start talking. We've said, "Well ---" for years, and "So ---" has gained popularity.
I listened with dismay as children whose parents said "in-tres-ted" taught themselves to say "in-ter-res-ted." I've let that one go along with turbine.

Susan, I somehow have the idea that the first great vowel shift happened as a result of changing population patterns. This one seems to be an intentional faddish affectation of young women, which is now spreading to the rest of the populace. We outgrew Valley Girl speak, but I don't think people are going to outgrow this. I still cringe when I think of a young woman on HGTV who advertised her home remodeling program by saying, "Just DUE it!"

Now I will not get started on the propensity of young women to pitch their voices much higher than my generation did. To me they sound 10 or 11 years old. Why would they want to do that?

And I think about a young announcer that our PBS station WUNC is bringing along (and good for her and good for them for giving her air time), whose voice is only a little high but who doesn't use a rising inflection and pronounces vowels as I was taught. However, she ends her reports by saying, "This is Celeste di Grassia for UNC-ah." I wondered for weeks whether her last name was di Grassi or di Grassia. (Uh oh. I just looked her up. She's not that young, and her name is Celeste Gracia. Why am I hearing an extra syllable in there?)

MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!!!!!

THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR by Victoria Goddard

I love this book. It is my favorite fantasy novel, not counting *Lord of the Rings* which pretty much stands as fantasy scripture for me. I recommended it to somebody last week and found myself rereading it in spite of myself.

I will try to read something else, but I know I'm going to read The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul as my fun book next.

>290 LizzieD: Having just accidentally re-re*read HOTE for the second time this year, I can't at all quibble.

There are usages which annoy me, but I think most of them are at least as old as I am. A certain loss of deliciousness that I've rarely tasted. I can understand my daughter and a few of her friends, but mostly speak to people no more than 20 years younger, so it hasn't impinged on me. Of course, my hearing is so shot I'm pretty much beyond minding people making up their own vowels.

Kindred spirits, Susan! I couldn't quite not start Petty Treasons, but at least it's short, and I'm skimming.

Biting the bullet and going back to the audiologist for hearing aids is on the list for the summer. I certainly hope I can wear them easily, but my real hesitation has to do with the doctor herself. I'll get over it and on with it.
I'm hearing these young people talk on NPR and the news outlets I patronize.

Wordle 1,153 4/6*

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, randy, argon, acorn

>286 LizzieD: This is the right place to vent, Peggy me lurve. Agree or disagree with the content, we're the ones who won't roll our eyes at you after hearing it the next x times.

I'm going to lie down now.

‘Morning, Peggy!

>286 LizzieD: I agree with both of your rants, and am happy you have us to vent to, thus saving your DH more of the same.

I, of course, am from SoCal. When I first moved here, people asked if I was a Northerner. That is a loaded question, so I was happy to honestly answer that no, I was a Westerner. However, my roots are in the Midwest and North, so there’s that. Jenna’s an interesting mix of Southern and Californian. Her newest funny thing is when she’s saying No emphatically, she says “No uh”. Regular NOs still apply to most conversations. I now jokingly say it back to her. I also pop the P in Yup because I've seen it so many times in my MM romances.

I used to have a real hard time with the women in Sanford saying axe for ask. I became reconciled to it after listening to John McWhorter’s The Story of Human Language. I listen to it every other year or so, perhaps it’s time to listen again.

>289 LizzieD: Quite a few of the MM romance books that I read have the wrong spelling of a word. Examples are due for do, bare for bear or vice versa, etc. They make me cringe. Some authors state at the beginning of the book or even at the end (although at the end I’ve already read it and am past it) that they appreciate getting grammar corrections. I’ve just learned how to use Kindle highlighting AND getting back to highlighted (highlit?) bits, so might start doing that. They don’t want to go through Amazon, wanting feedback sent to their email addresses or websites.

>292 LizzieD: Hearing aids – my friend Tamsie wears them. The other day after having coffee and a cookie at The Belted Goat and then going into McIntyre’s Books at Fearrington, one of her hearing aids stopped working. She tried to fix it with the cell phone app -!- but couldn’t make it work from there so went home. I did not know that there were cell phone apps for hearing aids. I can’t see her hearing aids at all, and she's worn them for several years.

Wordle again in 2 for me. The Wordle Gods are looking out for me OR I’m channeling them. *smile*

Inara’s off to the vet at 2 p.m. for a weight check. She only weighed 4.6 lbs last month, down from 6.6 lbs 15 months before that. She’s also started to wobble a bit. Sigh.

>294 karenmarie: "I became reconciled to it after listening to John McWhorter’s The Story of Human Language. I listen to it every other year or so, perhaps it’s time to listen again."

McWhorter sure can make one calm down about language changes, can't he?!

Hi, Peggy! I was a four-Wordler today, too.

Karen O

I'd delight in encountering an instance or two of "anticipate" used as "act as a forerunner or precursor of," rather than happily excited expectation for something. Especially in 21st century books.

>286 LizzieD: Rants are allowed - and even encouraged - around these parts, Peggy, so rant away! It is your thread.

>290 LizzieD: I love that book too :)

>289 LizzieD: You may be right about "wisteeria" being a Southern pronunciation, Peggy, as that was how my MiL (from Mississippi) insisted on pronouncing it. But "different to" is something I have been both reading and hearing *a lot* from Americans for at least 15 years. I actually got so annoyed at the constant misuse of prepositions I was seeing that I started a Word document in the aughts to track examples, and "different to" was the first thing I recorded. That was before I realized that the Brits actually say it that way. That document also shows that "of" seems to be the most abused: used when it shouldn't be, not used when it should be.

I do get irritated when I hear someone speaking with a rising inflection in every sentence they say, but fortunately I have not heard any of that recently. And uh oh, I'm afraid I do tend to say "so" fairly often. Oops.

>290 LizzieD: That looks like one I need to read. Added to the black hole. I guess that's one of the many I missed after getting away from science fiction and fantasy. I've got a lot to catch up on there.

Irene, I'm always interested in hearing from people who grew up outside the South. Of course, there's no such thing as one Southern pronunciation or use of a word. I have a list of weird preposition use culled from student writing that I'll post sometime for you, but not now.
The only thing that gives me some comfort is that we are about through with "like" as used in the 90s, and I was like afraid that it was like here to stay like forever. I devoutly wish that "as well" (back in the last century we didn't need to say "too" or "also" as often) and "you know" (when the speaker doesn't mean "you know") may go the same way.
You are obviously not spending much time listening to NPR or MSNBC or Bloomberg* because almost every woman they interview* uses rising inflection until the end of her sentence* or her thought. (* - rising point) I'm almost inured to that. I also notice that vocal fry is dying out, and that is welcome.
I don't find "so" so bad. We Americans apparently feel the need to get a running start if we're going to say several sentences.
You DUE need to read Hands of the Emperor, Irene! Even my friends who don't normally read fantasy love this one.

Hi, Stasia! I had to sneak *Petty Treasons* in before going on to *Pali*, but I should finish it tonight. I really want to read my other stuff, including The Eagle of the Ninth trilogy, which I've just gotten in used omnibus format. Thank you for rant permission.

I thank Richard too. I'll try not to wear you out with all of it. *smooch*

Karen and Karen, I realize that I'm a dinosaur, and I doubt that McWhorter would help me much. In theory I agree that change is inevitable in a living language and a thing to embrace. I have even bought and not read yet copies of his *Babel* and *Bastard Tongue* and know that I'll enjoy them when I get to them. But ----- I have loved and studied English my whole life, and I hate to see what I've cherished warped by little girls seeking to be trendy. Somebody else may know better about how all this started, but I've seen enough teenagers practicing a new phrase or pronunciation that they think is cool to assume that this is what is going on now. A former young minister (who was never a little girl) practiced "as well" so much that I started counting. He's one of only two people that I've heard say, "---as well as well.")
I'm also one with science fiction/post-apocalyptic writers who use language deterioration (yes - that's how I feel about it) as a marker for civilization's slide into whatever their vision is. The first example I think of is Tim Powers's Dinner at Deviant's Palace in which the characters name the city Ellay with no idea why it was called that.
And, Karen ---- the one time I was amused by Dr. Phil was when her parents told their out-of-control teen that they were putting her in a program. She screamed, "NO-AH! I don't want to go into a program-ah! They'll take my phone-ah!" I'm really glad that one is also disappearing.
On the other hand, my Southern flat I is now showing up instead of short A in words like "that." That's contrary to the way vowels have shifted in earlier times - always toward a more closed sound until "thait". I am through. Think you.

I'll also add that Wordle in 4 is just fine. Wordle in 2 is amazing!

Susan, I'm always interested in what annoys other people. I'd never have missed your first use of "anticipate." Writers no longer use it except for expectation of joy? Hmmm.

>299 LizzieD: Hahaha, your use of "like" gave me a good laugh! Yes, I am glad that we're not hearing that much any more. And NPR is on the radio almost every time I am out driving around. I really haven't noticed women with a rising inflection, at least on whatever programs are on while I'm out and about. But I don't usually watch MSNBC or Bloomberg, so I can't comment on what anyone there says.

I duly note the enthusiasm for The Hands of the Emperor. It's on my list now.

>299 LizzieD: That meaning of anticipate has an example that sticks:
"They anticipated the wedding and their son was born 5 months later."
Meaning to act as if something had already happened.

The current usage is justified because it was needed - I can't think of another single word fpr expectation with a specific emotional weight.

‘Morning, Peggy! Happy Friday.

I hope your Aldi and Walmart errands went well.

>299 LizzieD: I'm also one with science fiction/post-apocalyptic writers who use language deterioration (yes - that's how I feel about it) as a marker for civilization's slide into whatever their vision is. The first example I think of is Tim Powers's Dinner at Deviant's Palace in which the characters name the city Ellay with no idea why it was called that. I’ve always called my home county El-Lay, but at least I know what it means…

Your North Carolina accent is gorgeous, and I love talking with you just to hear you speak in addition to all the meandering we do in our conversations. We need to chat again, perhaps this weekend?

Love the discussion of anticipate.

Wordle in 3 for me today.

Just a quick drive by to let you know that I started Virginia Woolf in Manhattan last night and 90+ pages in, am enjoying it. Thanks for bringing the book to my attention!

Have a fantastic Friday!!

Hi, Stasia! I'll try to move on with *VWinM* now that I know you're reading it too. (Suzanne was my inspiration, btw.) I'm about where you are, but I know you'll finish before I can read the next 50 pages. So it goes. My copy of Sacred Trash arrived today, and I NEED to read it now. Thank you for bringing that book to my attention!
Fabulous Friday to You!

Hi, Karen! (I have an accent??? I had no idea!) I love to hear you too, and sometime this weekend would be super. I'm relatively sure that when you say "El-Lay," you're thinking L.A. Am I right? Ellay in that book is a name like Pittsboro except that we may probably wonder who the Pitts were.....

Wordle 1,154 4/6*

⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, share, grape, brace So I repeated a letter in guess 2 and could have used a c in guess 3.... doesn't matter. I got it, and I now have a 100 day correct streak. Yay!

>304 LizzieD: I think you will like Sacred Trash - at least I hope so - and will let you know how Sisters of Sinai is if I get to it this month.

BTW - You do have an accent :)

Oh wow, thanks Stasia, for the laugh-out-loud moment of truth about Peggy's accent.

*happy dance*

>306 karenmarie: Well, I would not want to mislead her by my silence, lol.

Oh, you two!!!!! Remind me to give both of you a demonstration of how I could sound. Now that's an accent!

I'm sure I'll enjoy *ST*, Stasia, and I see that I have a copy of *Sisters of S*, but I don't know whether I've recorded it here. I certainly haven't read it.

In fact, I was tremendously pleased today to enjoy all three of the books I dipped into. I'll be T'ly P'ed if I can read all three this month. They are Virginia Woolf in Manhattan (I have VW in her $400 blouse and Angela going to sell her books), Christ Stopped at Eboli, and The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul. Yay! Yay! and Yay!

'Morning, Peggy!

Your voice is as smooth as molasses, as sweet as honey. There. Try to get out of that one!

Wordle in 4 for me today.

Halftime of the Arsenal - Wolves match, Arsenal are up 1-0.

>309 karenmarie: Awwww....... I wouldn't try to get out of that one at all. I have thought about putting a link to another native of RobCo to show you just how I could have sounded had I grown up in a slightly different community. The woman used to have several episodes on YouTube, but the only one I've been able to find is - distasteful - and I'd just as soon not. I'll send it to anybody who would like to hear it anyway. I'm too prissy to want it on my thread.

Now I'm the happy Wordlester! I was amazed that this word wasn't on the used list and tried it right away!

Wordle 1,155 2/6*

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 least, storm

I think it's time to go to a new thread since I have my toppers ready to go!

Here is where I'll be!