And Now...a Pause for a Musical Interlude.

Since Bandit seems to be missing in action here today, something different...

As the folks at Fallible Blogma, who I also thank for posting this, said, "It’s awesome that God made creatures who do things like this…"
I can barely tie my shoes correctly, but I can tap my toes to this music just fine. ;-)
Hope you like it.

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Musing Monday... A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

It is almost Monday, not quite, but close enough, so let's check out this week's Monday Musing question, from Just one more page...

Today’s MUSING MONDAY post is about picture books.

Do you have a favourite picture book, either from your own childhood, or reading to you children?

I don't have any children, and while I am sure I read some books to my niece when she was little, that was decades ago. How can I remember such things? Now recently, we happen to have been picking out some story books for a baby shower and she picked two Little Golden Books as favs, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Caboose. I have not read them yet, but I trust her judgement :-)

As to my own childhood, I have said it before but I have little memory of reading or being read to from picture books. Not to brag, but I think I went on to regular books at an early age. I seem to have skipped most of the so-called children's classics too when I was a wee Caite. I was reading, certainly before I was in school, since I was hanging out in our local library before I was in school, but I have no idea what.
Another thing I should have asked my mom while I had the chance. Along with many of her recipes...Oh well.

The only book I remember my mom reading to me was a collection of fairy tales, that she read to me before I went to sleep. I don't remember the name of the book, but I remember the book was a hardcover, with a cloth cover that I think was blue/gray. And the only story I remember, I think one that I requested again and again, was the Tale of the Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. It was only one story in the big book but I can remember the picture of the rider, galloping away, his "head" in his hand and I loved it.
Perhaps I was an unusual child...

Now, if we move to the present, I do have a book, with a lot of pictures, that I loved. In fact I have two. One for children and one for adults. In both, the illustrations are integral to the book, so I will consider them picture books. It is all about the picture to word radio..and I think these pass the test. Even if they don't. I still love them both. We adults can have pictures books too, can't we?

For children, the book is Lady Liberty: A Biography, which is listed for grades 3-8, perhaps a bit out of the typical 'picture book' range. But, it is a lovely book, with beautiful illustrations and a great text.

The second is a picture book for adults. Well, again, it has a LOT of illustration, so I will consider it a picture book. It is When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put. A very pleasurable book to read, fantastic drawings by the author, illustrations that I just loved.

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Happy Pie...awww...Pi Day!!

A rare Sunday post for me, but today is a very important day Yes, indeed. Today, If you are not aware, is a very big holiday. It is Pi Day! You know...Pi = 3.14…

So, what do you know about Pi? Well, according to the Pi Day site

"Pi, Greek letter (π), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535…

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737."

..and then, of course, there is the Pi Minute. This will occur on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. 3.14159...you get it.

Today is also Albert Einstein's Birthday, which seems rather fitting.

And how to celebrate Pi Day? Well, with PIE, of course!

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Weekend Cooking...The Passing of a Crock-Pot Queen

Her name may not have been well known, but Mable Hoffman, who died Feb. 9 at 88, was author of "Crockery Cookery", a cookbook that was integral in the popularity of the oh-so-convenient kitchen appliance, the Crock-Pot.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal recently, about her death,

"Crock-Pots debuted in 1971 and sold in the millions, spurred in part by the increase in working women who wanted to present a fresh-cooked meal when they came home in the evening. But conventional stew recipes turned to mush or solidified because meats and vegetables acted differently when cooked for long periods at low temperatures. "The cookbooks that came with the Crock-Pots did not work," says Howard Fisher, an editor at HP Books who hired Ms. Hoffman to provide answers...

"Crockery Cookery" presented more than 250 recipes for
solid middle-American fare, such as pot roast and "squash medley," but also more exotic fare including baked beans cassoulet and fresh pears in wine."

Well, I have never made fresh pears in wine in my crock pot..in fact, I am particularly unadventurous in my use of this appliance. Pot roasts, chicken stew, maybe an attempt at some pulled pork.

Now, I did recently make up a little concoction that I thought turned out rather well and will share. Sam's Club had whole pork loins at a silly low price, so I bought one and cut it up into several roasts. For this I use about a 3-4 lb. roast.
I browned it in a little oil and when it was well browned on all sides removed it and cooked a couple of teaspoons of curry powder and about 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander in the same pan. In the bottom of the crock pot I put 3 cut up carrots, one large cut up onion, a couple of cup up potatoes and about 4 cloves of crushed garlic. Added the roast, topped with the spices, and added 1 10oz. can Ro-Tel Tomatoes with chili peppers, one 15 oz. can diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup red wine. After a few hours I added a 16 oz. can of chickpeas.
Cooked on low on about 6-8 hours in total, until it reached an acceptable internal temperature.

Served over couscous or noodles.

Anyone out there have a wonderful crock pot recipe they would love to share?

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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A review of "In The Bleak Midwinter" [17]

In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) by Julia Spencer-Fleming
(St. Martin's Minotaur, ISBN 0-312-28847-6)

Another review of the first in a series, but unlike the last one I reviewed, that was newly released, this one is several years old. But it is a series that I have heard good things about and I like to start a series at the beginning.

It is a cold, snowy winter in the Adirondack mountain town of Millers Kill and the new pastor of the Episcopal church of St. Alban's, the Rev. Claire Fergusson has a number of challenges facing her. Her parish is not totally comfortable with a woman pastor, nor with some of the more socially involved directions she has the parish taking. An ex-Army helicopter pilot, she is used to facing some difficult climates, and the weather of upstate NY in the winter will be not exception.
But when she finds a newborn baby abandoned on the stairs of the church and then is present when Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne find the dead body of a young woman who may be the child's mother, she finds herself drawn into situations she never foresaw.

I had a couple of issues with believability in this book. For example, Claire, on a couple of occasions, engages in some very stupid, poorly thought out behavior. Driving off alone, in a blizzard, in a car not up to the weather, when you know a murderer is one the loose...if this was a movie I would have been yelling at the screen. Second, for an unmarried female minister, in a small town, to be spending as much time alone with the very married male chief of police while his wife is away...seems very poor judgment and rather unbelievable.
Buy a pair of real snow boots, some winter clothes and trade in that totally unsuitable sports car for something safe and practical in bad weather for goodness sake!

Still. that being said, overall this is a good book. The mystery is well written, with a good, action packed plot and with a number of very appealing characters. And as you know, I am a sucker for a cold, snowy setting. In fact, the weather is such a large part of the book that I will be interested to see how the series makes out in future installments not set in the “bleak midwinter”. But we will still have the continuing storyline of the growing friendship between the Reverend and the chief to keep us interested, no doubt.
Recommended for mystery fans, especially if you are looking for a nice new series.

This book came out of my personal library.

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Yes, I know Christmas is long over, and there is no "snow on snow" around here anymore, but I could not pass up this opportunity to share a lovely song.

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a review of "Our Lady of Immaculate Deception" [16]

Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin
(Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0-312-57372-0)

Trenton, NJ has Stephanie Plum...and now Pittsburgh has Roxy Abruzzo, in the new series by author Nancy Martin, creator of the previous "Blackbird sisters" books
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Roxie, even with her family connections to the Mob, tries to keep on the straight and narrow, running her business, Bada Bling Architectural Salvage, with her assistant, Nooch Santonucci, and her pit bull, Rooney. Well, she tries, but not too hard and is not beyond taking advantage of a money making situation when it presents itself. After all she is a single parent, supporting her teenage daughter Sage, who lives with her aunt Loretta. Happily, it seems Loretta is a lawyer, which comes in handy when you get in as much trouble as Roxy does.

The book begins with a very damaging fire at the house of Julius Hyde, a member of a very rich and influential family.

“The only witness to the arson was a one-armed marble statue of a naked man with ivy growing where his fig leaf should have been.
Julius Hyde, the sixty-something heir to a massive Pittsburgh steel fortune, had been pouring oysters down the throat of his twenty-year-old manicurist when his wife came home unexpectedly from an Arizona spa. Seeing her husband attend to his pubescent mistress while blowing cigar smoke all over the silk Scalamandre draperies pushed Mrs. Hyde to the brink of insanity. So said the newspapers.
But it was the sight of the couple's Great Dane, Samson, wantonly sprawled beneath the table so the manicurist could rub his belly with her bare toes that truly pushed Mrs. Hyde over the edge.
She set fire to the house using a Bic lighter and an airline bottle of cognac. “

Hired to remove some of the architectural material from the house of before it is torn down, Roxy can't stop from helping herself to that statue of that naked man, since he is just hanging out there, so to speak, in the garden, seemingly forgotten and unlikely to be missed. But by doing so she sets in motion a whole series of events that will bring Roxy, and everything she loves, into danger.

The comparisons to Stephanie Plum are easy to make, but Roxy is a much edgier, more damaged character, for reasons we do not begin to understand until near the end of the book. No doubt these themes, and why Roxy always has a soft spot for any abused women she comes in contact with, will be explored in future books in the series. But I just warn you that Roxy has a habit of sleeping around with almost every man who happens into her path, sometimes with a slightly disturbing effect. Yes, Roxy is having a lot more sex than Ms. Plum. And it really does not endear her to us.
As to the plot, the mystery is not terrible difficult to figure out, and when the evil doer is revealed and the reasons explains, it is not a huge surprise.

Yet, I still found this a very entertaining, fun read. The rather large cast of characters are interesting and, at times, amusing bunch. Roxy herself, her daughter, her daughter's father, Bad Boy chef Patrick Flynn, her menopausal aunt Lorraine, are all characters that I look forward to learning more about in future installments of this series. The plot is pretty fast paced and engaging, the conversation witty and often very funny. And personally, while Roxy is at times exasperating, I found her ultimately quite likable and very sympathetic. Although the comparisons are inevitable..east Coast, blue collar, Italian, a few family members who are real 'characters', crime and violence with a touch of humor...she is not Stephanie Plum. And from reading a number of other reviews online, it seems whether you like or dislike this book will rest on how you feel about Roxy.
Put me firmly in the like column!

My thanks to Amazon Vine for my copy of this book.

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Wordless Wednesday-Philadelphia Flower Show

Passport To The World

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

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Stinky Bandit Tuesday!

Look, poor Bandit appears to have stuck a note to his back, in a cry for attention! What could it say?


Oh my...when even Bandit knows that he needs a bath, things are bad.


You will all be happy to know that he did indeed get a bath. At last.

The Quiet Man...Another Take on the Story

With St. Patrick's day just around the corner, it is time to look in the cabinet and find the DVD of one of my favorite movies of all time, The Quiet Man. A young, very handsome John Wayne, a young, very beautiful Maureen O'Hara, the beautiful Irish countryside, a fun, romantic story with perhaps the greatest fight scene of all time...and a great fun fight scene it is...what is not to like? There is nothing not to like I tell ye!

Fans of the movie will be happy to hear that, according to a story in the Irish Times, there is going to be a movie made, set in the village of Cong during the filming of the movie. The story will be about a fictional romance between a young woman from the village and one of director Ford's assistants.

Some very big and impressive names have signed on for the project, including former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore, Aidan Quinn, Stacy Keach and Geraldine Chaplin. Sarah Bolger (In America) and Thomas Dekker (Sarah Connor Chronicles) will star as the love struck couple. And, of course there will be a starring role by the village of Cong and the beautiful countryside of the west of Ireland.

" In a statement issued by Fáilte Ireland, Moore said he was very excited to be part of a “delightful project”.

“ The Quiet Man was undoubtedly the best movie John Ford ever directed. It is also one of my all-time favourite films,” he said.

“The opportunity to revisit the time when Hollywood arrived in Ireland to shoot it was simply too delicious an opportunity to miss.”

Delightful indeed. As the article on Irish Fireside, who I also have to thanks for telling us about this, said, the only thing that could make this better would be a cameo appearance by the still lovely Maureen O'Hara herself in the film.

Musing Monday...It's Chilly. Your Book Needs a Jacket!

Yes, it is Monday, the start of the week for most of you. For me it is sort of my Friday...but so as not to confuse you, let's just mosy over to Just one more page and check out this weeks question...

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about dust jackets.

Do you prefer books with a dust jacket? What do you do with your dust jacket while reading? Leave it on or take it off?

I like book jackets. They are pretty. And I am shallow. I have admitted it before, I judge a book by it's cover and it is easier to do so with a dust jacket.

Now, of course, every book has a cover by which I can judge it. But a book with a jacket, a hard cover book, is usually bigger, so the art is bigger. And then there are the two inside flaps, with lots of info and blurbs, which again, I admit that I like. I know some people do not like to actually read all that stuff before they start a book but I have no such concern. In fact, I will also admit to reading reviews before I buy and read a book. There are so many books out there, I have to based my decision to buy or not based on something and a nice dust jacket, full of information, helps.

Of course, this presumes you are buying a hardcover and not a trade or mass market paperback. I do prefer hardcovers...which I realize not everyone does...and I tend to buy a lot of the books that I buy on Amazon's Used books, always keeping my beady little eyes open for a cheap hardcover. With dust jacket. Second would be a trade paperback and I only buy mass market paperbacks as a last desperate move. I really, really do not like mass market paperbacks. I think they are awkward to hold and you have to usually crack the spine to actually read the type that goes too far into the center. I hate to crack the spine. And while many books are not made to the highest standards, mass market paperbacks are the worse. I have had pages start to come out on the first read.
Guess it doesn't help if I crack the spine.

Do I leave it on when reading? Sometimes...sometimes not. On many books it is annoying and I take it off and put it aside until I finish the book. On thinner books I find that the flaps can make a great bookmarker, so I may leave it on. But usually, to keep it in good shape, I take it off while reading.

Unless it is really chilly. Then I leave the jacket on so the book does not get too cold.

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A Week of Missed Opportunities....Weekend Cooking

As I sit down to write my weekly Weekend Cooking post, I find myself without a subject! No new food related book read this week. No movies watched. A number of excellent food related opportunities missed, any one of which would have made a nice post.

On Friday, my niece and my sister in law and I went to The Melting Pot for dinner, the first time I had been to a fondue restaurant. Perhaps the first time I had fondue, which is hard to believe since I grew up in the midst of the great fondue popularity of the 60's and 70's. It was all great fun and very tasty, first the cheese course, then an array of meats and veggies to be cooked in a tasty broth and then dessert. Oh, the dessert...the Flaming Turtle, Milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambéed tableside, with strawberries, pieces of pound cake, marshmallows and such to dip into it's melted, bubbling, chocolate goodness. Perhaps one of the loveliest desserts I ever had. But no picture taken...

Then, the niece and I went to Philadelphia Thursday and Friday for the Flower Show and even though we live only about an hour or so away, we stayed overnight and feasted on Asian cuisine at a couple of restaurants. For lunch, it was dim sum at the unassuming Dim Sum Garden. A variety of dumplings, including something called soup dumplings, steamed buns, a nice cold cucumber salad with cilantro, spring rolls...and the most tasty scallion pancakes. Wonderful with a dash of the vaguely named 'dumpling sauce'. Again, sadly, no pictures taken, so I borrowed these from the net. Then, after a return to the flower show and a stop at the International Wine and Spirit Festival in the adjoining Great Hall, to sample a few too many of the maybe 100 offerings (we are not going to discuss how I forgot my "water only beverage for Lent" pledge when faced with all that free booze. Really, I forgot), we went to dinner at a Malaysian restaurant, The Banana Leaf, where the niece had what she proclaims is the best pad thai in the world.
Again...I took no photographs at either and 'borrowed' one of these tasty, crispy, savory pancakes. Yum.

So, what of the flower show? Was there no food related matter? Well, the convention center is lined with food vendors, selling various food vendor foods. Hardly worthy of a post. But there was one thing, in one of the Major Exhibitor creations, that was food related. It was a display named something like Across America and so, of course, it started in Maine and portrayed one of my favorite foods...

See it there, on the right?

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All we need is some nice melted butter... ;-)

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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a review of "Catching Fire" [15]

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
(Scholastic Press, ISBN 978-0-439-02349-8)

If you read my review of The Hunger Games, you will know I very much liked the book. Finally, my turn came up in the very long "hold list" at the library and the second book in the series, Catching Fire, came into my greedy little hands.

Now, I must admit, I was a little anxious starting it. Sometimes you love the first book and the second does not live up to expectations. Happily, this was not my experience with Catching Fire. I read it straight through in a day and thoroughly enjoyed it.

First, if you have not read The Hunger Games, do not even consider starting with this one. Stop readin, go to a bookstore or library and get the first one. Yes, this is a series that must be read in order, since it is one long continuing story and while maybe you could figure out what is going on in this book, it would be a lesser experience. One of the pleasures of Catching Fire is seeing what happens to all the characters we came to know and care about in the first.

Once again, we are in the 12th District of the Nation of Panem and I will tell you this much if you are new to the story. Our heroine Katniss has survived the deadly game of the first book, a battle to the dead of 24, 2 contestants drawn from each district...but has done so with a very unique twist. A unique twist that, it seems has started to foster discontent and possible rebellion in all 12 district. And that is not a situation the Capitol is willing to put up with.

As Katniss is about to start the traditional tour of the nation by the winner of the games, she is approach by the very evil and very creepy President Snow and told that since she is, at least in part, responsible for this growing feeling of rebellion, she will have to, by her behavior on the tour, do all she can to quell it. If she is unsuccessful, the lives of those she loves will be on the line. Needless to say, all does not go as the president desires, so he comes up with a new and shocking alternative that will lead to an even more shocking ending.
Ending of this book, but not the story, as we fans anxiously await the third and final book.

The books in this series are listed as YA book, but certainly, as many can attest, these are books that can be totally enjoyed by adults. They are well written, with interesting, likable characters inhabiting a dystopia world that is a combination of the recognizable and the some of our worse fears come to life.

A great fun read, full of twists and turns, that I found a totally enjoyable read.

I wonder if it is too soon to put my name on the list at the library for volume three, due out this summer...because I just have to know what happens next!


Yes, once again my thanks to the local library for the loan of this book.

Wordless Wednesday- Ceilings in D.C.

Union Station

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The Metro

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

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Bandit Loves His Toys

I have never known a doggie who loves his toys more than Bandit. And because he is so very cute, people tend to buy him toys..which he then proceeds to eat and destroy. But you have to forgive him, because he is soooo cute.

Yes, that is someone's sock there on the left. To you a sock. To Bandit a new toy!!


He has made a choice...for the moment.

Musing Monday..Better Late Than Never.

I am a bit late today posting my musing. I took a quick unplanned trip to Washington D.C. this weekend, got home late and had to go to work very, very early. Gee, I hope this muse makes some sense. I am very sleepy...So lets head over to Just one more page and check out this weeks question.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about a story format.

How do you feel about books written in a differing format –whether this be journals or letters (epistolary), verse novels, or any other form? Is this something you enjoy? Or do you prefer straight forward chapter prose.

It is very easy to get in a reading rut. As with many things in life. We tend to go with what we know, what seems comfortable and familiar. For many of us, it is also true of what we pick to read.

I have mentioned before that my first love, my comfort reads, are mysteries. I could probably even pin down my tastes more. I like police procedural perhaps best, especially ones set in interesting places. Well, interesting to me, like Iceland or Scotland, the Pacific Northwest, New England...or anyplace cold and near the water.
Is that a little too confining, do you think? Even I think it is..lol

One of the thing I like most about blogging and having access to books and reviews of books I would never have read in the past, is getting me out of that rut. Part of that rut is the format. Yes, I feel most comfortable with a straight prose book. But I am willing to venture out and in the hands of a good writer, it should not be an issue. In the hands of a bad writer, I think it can be a mess.
I have read a couple of books set in an epistolary format and liked them quite fine. In fact, one of my favorite books last year, 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', was set in the form of letters and I think it worked perfectly for that book. Still, I admit I remain rather conservative in my book format taste. Stream of consciousness leaves me rather cold usually. Finnegan's Wake comes to mind. I am sorry Mr. Joyce but I did not get that book at all. Personally, I think you may have been playing a joke on us. A bit of it in a book is fine and even a whole book if the author is up to it. But it is not my first choice.

And I must admit that I draw the line at verse. In fact, if an author throws a short bit of verse or a poem in an otherwise prose work, my eyes tend to just pass right over it. I am not sure why, but I am not a fan of poetry. My experience and enjoyment of poetry is limited and will in all likelihood remain that way.

Come to think of it, I am pretty darn comfy when I am in my little prose mystery rut.