Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This is my first time participating!

This week’s prompt is :

Characters I’d Like to go on Vacation With (Pretend you’re going on vacation and can bring 10 of your closest friends with you. Pick your vacation spot and tell us who you’d like to bring! Bonus point if you tell us why. Or maybe you like the idea of traveling in small groups, so plan 10 trips or 5 trips!)

I like the idea of small groups, or ten individual trips. Going on vacation with ten big personalities might be too much for me!

Most of these consider to be trips with just that character, unless otherwise stated. I am obviously taking this quite seriously! Lol. Billy and I had a huge discussion about this. We realized that just because we have favorite characters in books, they wouldn’t necessarily be that fun to travel with. So that realization made it tough. And some of them might be problematic. Like I love Roland from Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, but he would probably be hard to travel with. Daenerys Targaryen is super cool but a little crazy too and might have her dragons incinerate you on a whim, Arya is too intense, Cersei would be a total Karen. That all being said, these are my ten!

First, the greatest traveling companion of all time, who is invited on all of my trips – Samwise Gamgee. He is the ultimate trip partner, is he not?

I would also choose Jay Gatsby. I mean, he would more than likely foot the bill, would be up for anything, and would be a lot of fun. It would be even better if I could travel back to the twenties for this vacation – I have always thought it would be the cat’s meow to be a flapper.

My first pairing! Miss Marple and Anne Shirley. This duo would be so fun to travel with. Anne would be so enthusiastic and just love everything that we did, romanticizing the entire journey which would be very refreshing, while Miss Marple would be an intelligent, clever companion, who would know all the tea regarding the other people vacationing around us.

I of course had to include Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae. You really can’t have one without the other. If you had one, it would be just too much. Too much Gus or too much Woodrow would not be fun. Together though, they balance each other out! Gus is around for the good times and Call for when you feel like being quiet.

Anna Pigeon. I know she is flawed and maybe not super duper fun, but can you imagine traveling to a National Park with her? There would be no one better. She is a very knowledgeable park ranger, and when you inevitably stumble onto a murder, she could not only solve the mystery but she could defend you as well. Since she is rather anti-social you would also have a lot of personal space when you wanted to just hang out at the campsite or cabin and read. Also, she would be a nice companion around a campfire too. I bet she would have some good stories to tell!

Davos Seaworth. He would be an awesome travel companion, especially if you decided to take trip by boat. I am sure he has a ton of cool stories, he is good natured and non-judgmental, he is smart, he is brave. He wasn’t a flashy character and I think often overlooked, but I really liked him. And since I have decided this trip is on a boat, we may as well bring Tress. She is adventurous and likes dishware as much as I do.

This is probably my favorite on the whole list! Wendell Bambleby! His character is so much fun! He has become one of my all time favorite characters, ever. Charming and funny and can talk to anyone and anything, is magical, likes cake which is always a plus, and he is tidy. I mean I could go on and on, but I think this is enough said. He is also invited on all of my trips!

And phew, I made it through my first top ten Tuesday! What about you? Which book characters would you like to go on vacation with?

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone! We had a pretty good week! We had a fun eclipse day, celebrated my niece’s birthday at a bowling alley where Wyatt bowled for the first time, and had a lot of lazy days for our spring break. Saturday we went to a used book sale at a local library and this was my haul for $8.00! I think I did pretty good. They had mystery bags for $1.00 each, and each bag had ten books. They were marked with different genres. I grabbed two bags labeled Mystery (so I had a mystery bag full of mystery books!). It was very exciting for me. Lol.

I plan to read and divvy up between a few other readers I know…

Reading:

I didn’t find as much time to read as I had planned! I only made it through one of my books. It was a short book, but a very thoughtful book. I took a lot of time to read it and “digest” each one of the individuals stories. I did enjoy it. I thought the premise was so unique, and it was such a combination of so many things – nostalgia, memory, foodways, research and detective work, logic, all wrapped up in each meal. It was beautiful and poignant, and gave me a lot to think about. Have I had a meal that meant so much to me, that it could remind me of one moment in time so completely, that it could take me back to that moment if I ate it again, if it were prepared in the exact same way? I did enjoy this book, but it did get a little repetitive. That is my only complaint! I am definitely glad that I read it. I also finished wanting to eat Japanese food so badly, so we might be doing that soon.

I did start my yearly reread of Watership Down but had to set it aside so I could get to The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Love Remedy, which were 14 day loans from the library. I started with The Kamogawa Food Detectives because I checked it out a week before The Love Remedy, so now I need to move on the that one. Then, it will be back to Watership and my bunnies.

Posted Last Week:

April 10 on the 10th

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

We are finishing up Dirk Gently, which is super weird but good. I read though that they cancelled it, so I am apprehensive about the last episode. Are they going to leave us hanging forever, or will they wrap up the storyline? Eek! I will find out in two episodes whether they do or not! As soon as we wrap up Dirk Gently, Billy wants me to watch one episode of Fallout. He says if I don’t like it after an episode then he will watch it on his own. I have a feeling that is what will be happening.

We are also watching Murdoch Mysteries and Death in Paradise, both of which made me sad! It was a rough week of tv watching! We are also watching Beyond Paradise, which I really like.

Hello everyone! It is a super rainy day here today – and I had to get up and out of the house early this morning for a mammogram, of all things! I was there at the office at 7:45 am, before I even had a cup of coffee. But now I am back home, my coffee and my kid are next to me, and we are going to be pretty lazy today. We have a late night birthday party for his little cousin Penguin girl. We don’t get to see Penguin girl or her sister as much as we would like, just conflicting schedules etc but we are excited to help celebrate her birthday tonight.

We took this past week off and it was a much needed refresh. Wyatt has been working so hard at both school and therapy and I felt he deserved some time off. We celebrated the eclipse in our own little way last Monday, with painting and snacks and a special playlist. Wyatt is not a fan of things on his face and I knew he would not want to keep his glasses on, so rather than chance it, we stayed around here. At peak I did take him out and we both viewed it for a few minutes before going back in. Wyatt absolutely loved having a whole afternoon to paint and craft so it was a good plan. That bunny painting is mine – he did not get his artistic abilities from me!

Tuesday and Thursday are spent pretty much completely at therapy, and Wyatt did awesome both days! We only have one week left of this special therapy, then we are right back at his regular therapy the following week.

Wednesday I had big plans to take Wyatt to the Toledo Zoo to see the baby elephant. Everything was on our side, including the weather. However halfway there Wyatt just burst out into tears which is very unlike him and I did not know why. Wyatt has a speech delay and there are somethings he just doesn’t express to us, and one of those is anything that is bothering him. He just can’t express it. I think it was a combo of a few things, with one being that Billy was working from home that day and Wyatt wanted his dad to be with us. Anyway, I turned around and headed back home just in case something was going on with him. The zoo will be there for us another day. We ended up reading and staying around the house, even though once we got home he perked back up and was acting normally the rest of the day.

Today it is raining again, an all day and night kind of rain. I am sure we will spend the day reading and playing board games, probably with a nap in there too. I have also been working on his room here and there, donating things he no longer uses or needs or fits. We are upgrading his room now that he is older, and it is coming along slowly but surely. The other day I packed up a ton of books to put aside until Billy builds Wyatt some new bookshelves, as his collection is outgrowing shelf space, and swapped all of his clothes out of his old dresser into a new dresser that is easier for Wyatt to access himself.

And speaking of accessibility! My cousin set up a GoFundMe for Wyatt, for a whole wheelchair ramp project. We have been wanting to get a ramp for Wyatt for a while now, and despite spending all last year trying to find assistance with this, nothing panned out. We want Wyatt to be able to go outside and play, under his own power, so that he can have more independence and freedom of movement. We will have to put in a back door where there is now a window, construct the deck/landing area, and then the ramp. The door will also be an accessible emergency exit in the back of the house, where we all sleep, and one day I will swap my office with his room and he can sleep there too. But we won’t do that for a long while. It’s a pretty big project! We have been so blessed – within 10 days we had raised all the money we needed for this! Billy and I are overwhelmed by the amount of generosity and just love we have encountered every step of the way, with people donating and sharing and contacting us with messages of support or different ways they could help. It has been amazing and we are beyond grateful. Construction will start pretty soon so we will be very busy around here very soon! I can’t wait for the day we can say to Wyatt, “Go outside and play!” and he will be able to do just that!

And that is about it from around here! Do something today that makes you smile, be it big or small.

10 on the 10th is hosted by Marsha over at Marsha in the Middle!

I am very excited about the questions for April!

My favorite pink item:

I love pink but this question made me realize that I don’t have many pink items of significance. I need to remedy that. Anyway, I do have one that I absolutely treasure. It is not entirely pink, but pink enough. It is an old vintage quilt that my bestie Kelly’s grandmother made. I ended up with because Kelly had a full house and I absolutely love it. It needs to be repaired, and I don’t know how to do it though. I still love it and I am very careful with it. It is the quilt I usually wrap up with in the mornings – it is that perfect blend of warm and soft.

Birthstone:

My birthstone is the citrine/yellow topaz. My mother gave me a beautiful topaz ring on my sixteenth birthday. I never used to like my birthstone when I was younger, I wanted a flashier color, like a green emerald, or a purple amethyst. Once my mom gave me that ring though, I fell in love with the ring and my birthstone.

Favorite thing to plant:

This changes all the time. Sometimes it is vegetables, sometimes trees, sometimes roses. This year I am looking forward to planting a few trees. I also am dreaming of planting a huge patch of sunflowers! Sunflowers are always so cheerful, and I love how they follow the sun.

Shakespeare:

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

My favorite Shakespeare play is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fairies, an enchanted moonlit wood, a comedy filled with misunderstandings, who could ask for anything more? I love the idea of fairies and humans mixing it all up in the woods, with love spells gone wrong and then of course, a happy ending. I love Shakespeare’s comedies far more than his tragedies.

“And though she be but little, she is fierce!”

Earth Day:

For Earth Day, we are attending the Detroit Zoo Greenfest, hopefully. It is the weekend before Earth Day, and there will be live music, hands on activities, green food trucks, a sustainable marketplace, and animal engagements. Also, if you are in the first 250 groups to arrive, you get…a 2 gallon bucket of “zoo poo”, which is compost created from waste collected at the Zoo, including manure, bedding and food waste. I guess it is unique, and if we used we can always say, that garden grew from tiger poo!

The Eclipse:

We were *almost* in the path of 100% totality! We were at 99%, and it was still pretty cool. I knew Wyatt wasn’t going to leave his glasses on very long, so I planned a different day. We spent the afternoon painting night and day paintings, and Wyatt also made a solar eclipse picture. Of course we had a solar eclipse playlist, with songs like Moonshadow, Blinded by the Light, Dancing in the Moonlight, etc. And snacks! I did run him out for a minute to look at it, and then I bopped out alone to check it out at peak. It was an amazing wonder of nature and science, right in our own backyard! (sky?)

The Beatles:

My absolute favorite Beatles song is “Blackbird”. I think it is haunting and beautiful and it can make me cry on the right day. I read that Paul McCartney was inspired by two things when he wrote it. The song of a blackbird, and by the Little Rock Nine, and the racial tension in the American South. Wyatt’s favorite Beatles song is “Here Comes the Sun”, which is also a really great song, especially this time of year.

King Henry and His Wives:

I don’t know about you all, but I remember his wives by the rhyme, “Divorced, beheaded, died; Divorced, beheaded, died.” Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr. So many Catherines! It is hard maybe to pick a favorite? I have a soft spot for them all I guess. Hmm. I am going to say Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Parr, both who made out pretty well in the grand scheme of things. Anne of Cleves, the “ugly” wife, got to divorce her the King after just 6 months and live out her life peacefully, which is not a bad fate for a wife of King Henry VIII. I also like the smart and mature Catherine Parr. She was quick-witted and clever, and managed to keep alive and even outlive the old King. She also was pretty integral to the court and exerted some influence over the court. She also managed to have the King restore his poor daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the order of succession. Without her, the history of England would be very different! (Also just throwing it out there, Catherine is my middle name)

Flower:

My birth month flower is the chrysanthemum. I always think of them as the last colorful blooms before the winter, that splash of autumnal color that blends so perfectly with the changing leaves. But we also have a variety that has totally taken over a corner of our yard. I had no idea when we planted one lone chrysanthemum plant that it would go rogue. I find them popping up all over! I just leave them where they bloom, and work around them. Billy’s birth month flower (the secondary one) is the poppy, which is his favorite flower ever. Wyatt’s birth month flower is the daffodil, which is absolutely perfect for my happy, sunny boy.

First Car:

My very first car was a surprise! My mom, a single mom who never made much money, worked as the bookkeeper and office manager at a small auto body repair shop – it is actually where she met my stepdad, Jerry, who was a very talented auto painter. Anyway, a totaled maroon thunderbird came in, and somehow my mom, the shop owner who is the nicest man, and the other employees, including Jerry, worked on this car for free. My mom paid for the car and the materials, which probably took her a long time. I was away at Central Michigan the whole time, unaware that this was happening for me. Then, near the end of the school year, my mom sent me a photo – snail mail because there were no cell phones – of the car, and told me it was mine. It was a fantastic car, and took me all over. I used it for commuting to Eastern Michigan that year, because I left CMU to live back at home. I drove it to Mackinaw City and the Upper Peninsula a few times with my friends, I drove it to work, I took my brother to concerts, to Cedar Point, the zoo – it was the car that went everywhere with me and I loved it so much until it finally died. That was a sad day for me, and when the shop called to tell me that it needed a whole new transmission, I cried because of how sentimental that car was for me. So many memories and emotions wrapped up in it, knowing how hard my mom worked for it for me, and the people that she worked with as well.

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone!! Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Metro Detroit, and we spent the whole day tooling around. We had a good time but we were all ready to get in our comfy clothes and have some down time when we finally got home.

Reading:

I have been to the library too many times and have an enormous book stack – which is great because Wyatt and I are on our spring break this week! He had a great week of school and therapy last week and I felt he needed a break. We didn’t do a spring break when his cousins were off of public school, so I thought, why not? I am looking forward to our week!

Anyway, this is what I have on deck for right now.

I’ll be slow boating my way through this reread of Watership Down. I reread it every year and I settled in with it earlier this week. I am also going to start reading The Love Remedy and The Kamogawa Food Detectives as well. I checked them both out from the library and they are both only 14 day loans, so I have to get a move on!

Posted Last Week:

Hello, April!

Books that Feel like Spring

Currently…April

Thursday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Easter and Other Things

Watching:

We have been watching a few different things. Murdoch Mysteries, Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise, and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Dirk Gently really grew on me. I wasn’t sure about it at first but now I really like it. And I am super excited because the new season of When Calls the Heart starts tomorrow night!!! Yay!!! I am a total heartie. I have to see what happens because I was really unhappy at the end of last season!! I felt so betrayed. So we will see where this new season leads us!

And that is it from me today! I hope all is well in your neighborhood!

The first Wednesday of the month is the Currently link up and I’m linking up for the first time with Jennifer after I saw this on Dara’s blog Not in Jersey. This month’s prompt words are loving, looking forward to, buying, planting, and cleaning.

Loving:

Orange Ginger Turmeric Tea

All the fun art projects I am doing with my son and husband

Planning field trips

Fun nail colors

Longer days of sunshine (or even the gray clouded skies – better than the early darkness of winter!)

Looking forward to:

More walks outside

Getting a massage

Buying:

I recently bought a vintage Chataqua industrial art desk for my son to use for drawing and art projects. It was a great deal and I love it. I have a vintage desk so I thought it was neat for him to have one as well. Plus as a homeschool family I just loved the history of it. He doesn’t need to use it all the time or very often, but it is a cool piece to have – and we got a great deal on it!!

Planting:

Nothing yet, sadly.

Cleaning:

We are overhauling my son’s room, so we are going through and getting rid of things he no longer plays with or fits into. It’s a process, he wants to keep everything! Lol.

How about you? What are you  loving, looking forward to, buying, planting, or cleaning?

Spring is on the way! It might be slow in getting here to Michigan, but I know that it is coming. I can see the crocus and hyacinth and tulips starting to pop up out of the ground, the birds building their nests, and soon, just maybe I will hear the spring peepers calling at night again. I have already heard the scratchy croak of the red-winged blackbird, a true sign that spring is on the way, the same way that a junco signals wintertime. The world is telling me the spring is coming, and this means, spring reading! It is still chilly enough here in the morning and in the evenings to get all cozy with a blanket and a cup of tea and a book.

I always kick spring reading off with Watership Down, every single year. It is my favorite book of all time, and I always find something new in its pages, something different will resonate, my favorite characters switch, and despite knowing it backwards and forwards, it never gets old to me. So Watership Down is the first book on my list.

The rest are all a mixed bouquet of genres and ages, of books I plan to read, or have already read and think they need to be included on this spring book list.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links.

Ghosts of Greenglass House || The Darling Buds of May

So The Ghosts of Greenglass House maybe shouldn’t technically count as a springtime book, since it takes place during the winter and at a snowed in hotel, but..for some reason this cover feels springy even though it is sort of Christmasy. I am keeping it and pretending it is totally spring. Then, The Darling Buds of May. I loved the television show The Larkins, which is based on this book series, plus this cover is beautiful!! The Larkin family, in the tv show at least, seems to completely embody living in the moment, enjoying life to its fullest, all of that, and I am excited to see how the tv show did.

Raspberries and Vinegar || Wild Mint Tea

Spring always makes me think of all the fresh fruit and vegetables that will soon be making its way into our local stores, fresh from the farm, and this series, A Farm Fresh Romance, just called to me with the beautiful covers. There are five in the series, but I will start with the first two books and then we will see. They are free with Kindle Unlimited right now. Raspberries and Vinegar is the first in the series, and I don’t understand this title, other than it is supposed to describe the personalities of the characters. Is there something I am missing though? Do these two things pair well together? Wild Mint Tea is the second in the series and well, I am sucker for mint tea so I added that one too.

Flowerheart || The Magic All Around

I have seen Flowerheart around the internet on blogs and YouTube and Instagram for two years (?) now, and it is time I get to it. I love books that have a little bit of magic in them and this sounds like such a whimsical, magical read.

Which brings us to the next book, The Magic All Around. I already read this one this year, and I absolutely inhaled it. I don’t usually read a book in a day anymore, but this one sucked me in and I could not put it down. I loved it so much. It reminded me of Garden Spells and Practical Magic, and I just loved this story and how everything unfolded. Definitely recommend if you are an Alice Hoffman or Sarah Addison Allen fan!

The White Hare || By Ash, Oak and Thorn

The White Hare is another book I have already read, but I am hoping to read it again this spring. It was one of my very favorite books last year, and reminds me so much of a Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels book. It is so atmospheric and filled with folklore, and is set in Cornwall, which is one of my favorite settings. (My full review)

By Ash, Oak and Thorn has been on my shelf for a year or two, and I AM going to read it this year. I am. It is too cute not too. It is about these wee little Guardians of the Wild World, who wake up after a winter hibernation and have to undertake a journey, helped along the way by birds and animals. Melissa Harrison also has a book called Spring, which is part of her Seasons series; Billy bought me Winter for Christmas, maybe I should ask for this one for Mother’s Day.

Daisies for Innocence || Flowers and Foul Play

Two cozy mysteries, and two magical/enchanted gardens. I can’t wait to “dig in”. (ok, I apologize but I couldn’t resist that pun!) I also can’t handle that little corgi on the cover of Daisies. I am obsessed with corgis right now.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

I think this book sounds so beautiful. Food and memory are so intertwined. I am looking forward to this book that explores this relationship between the two. I am sure all of us can name so many memories connected to a certain recipe or a meal, and I am looking forward to this book read so much. Plus this cover is adorable!

And that is my list! I am sure that I won’t get to all of these, but you never know!

What books are on your radar this spring?

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful week so far. I actually have a mug of mint tea here next to me rather than coffee, and we have just been to the library and the pet store (for crickets -I resisted adding another pet to the menagerie even though Wyatt really wants a guinea pig. I am allergic or I would be getting him two!)

I already shared this week about our trip to the giant used bookstore in Detroit. We did a little more exploring after we left, but not a ton more. We attempted to visit another used book store that is located in an old bank.

However, we neglected to check the hours first and they were sadly not open yet. We were all feeling a bit hungry anyway, so we went in search of food. Mexican always sounds good to me, and we stopped at a food truck and grabbed some tacos for Billy and I, and a cheese tortilla for Wyatt. We ate them parked under a billboard on a side street near the expressway, a space that was filled with other diners like us. The tacos weren’t terrible, but I have had better. They were actually a little boring and bland, if I am being honest. Sorry taco truck! I also hung out the window at a red light so that I could snap a photo of the Fisher Building. It is absolutely beautiful inside.

Wyatt had also gotten a new chapstick that he was obsessed with for a while. He had the most moisturized lips for a few days!

Later that evening, Mermaid Girl joined us for a Kids Moon Club Party to welcome in the Worm Moon! I did not have as many decorations as usual, I struggled with decorating in a worm theme. I did however make worm and dirt pudding, which turned out strangely delicious. Just Jello Chocolate Pudding mix, crushed oreos, and some gummy worms, and voila! Done. The kids loved them. For dinner we had a Mermaid Girl favorite – sprinkle noodles, which is what she called it when she was just 3 or 4. Sprinkle noodles are well, noodles (vermicelli this time) with butter and freshly grated parmesan. It was pretty tasty as well, honestly, and totally kid friendly. I served this alongside magic moon meatballs, which were just regular meatballs with a fancy name.

After dinner and dessert, I read the full moon story for the month while the kids colored, then we moved on to the main event, the craft project. Wyatt had loved making our animal portraits so much that we made them again, this time with Mermaid Girl. This time, Wyatt made a wolf, and Mermaid Girl made a tabby cat.

The night was over all too soon! Next time I will start earlier, as we didn’t have a chance to play a game, which the kids wanted to do. There is always next full moon, which is the pink moon. I am pretty excited for that one too!

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, it makes you smile!