Covid-19 Life: New on my TBR Shelf, Virtual Book Clubs, Quilting Projects

With the pandemic raging, many of us are self-imposing a lock down. 

Last week, the quilters met at the park. It was a warm day, reaching 77 degrees. Several came without masks and other slowered their mask to talk. 

This is not safe behavior. So, I will join the quilters who prefer to Zoom meet.

But first, we visited with our family before the weather changed. We visited my brother, sitting on his deck. Deer came to the yard and birds visited the feeder as we talked.

He designed and built a shed that is like a small cabin with a porch swing facing the canal that goes to Cass Lake.

Canal to Cass Lake

And we visited our son and his girlfriend outdoors, with masks, watching the grandpuppies play in the yard. We only spent a few moments indoors to see Gus, the new kitten.

Gus

Sunny

The weather quickly changed, the leaves came down, and it finally feels like November.

local Oak and Moon last week

Luckily, I have plenty to keep me busy. My TBR galley shelf is filled up and I have dozens of incomplete quilt projects to finish and fabric to 'use up'.

Bellevue Literary Press sent me the ARC of Norman Lock's new book in his American Novels series, Tooth of the Covenant which is about Nathaniel Hawthorne. I have enjoyed four other novels in the series and some day hope to read the others. 

My NetGalley shelf is filling up! New books include:

• John Keats, a biography by Suzie Grogan
• Jane Austen’s Best Friend: The Life and INfluence of Martha Lloyd by Zoe Wheddon
• The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the Yearling by Ann McCutchan
• Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature by Angus Fletcher
• The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts that Illuminated the Renaissance by Ross King
• The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan interested me because it is about Germans in the Ukraine under Soviet rule who had to escape during WWII

Previous books on my NetGalley Shelf include

• The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington
• The Invisible Women by Erika Robuck
• Girl Explorers by Jayne Zanglein
• Brood by Jackie Polzin
• Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight by Julia Sweig
• Astrid Sees All by Natalie Standiford
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken

I purchased several books for book clubs and readalongs. 

Little, Brown & Co reissued Brideshead Revisited for its 75th anniversary and arranged a read along. I read the edition that was published when the television miniseries was out.

I purchased Jess Walter's brand new novel The Cold Millions for the Barnes & Noble book club December 1. I so enjoyed his novel Beautiful Ruins.

Our local library book club is discussing The Bear next week with author Andrew Krivak Zooming with us!

This week I joined the Leesburg Public Library, FL, to discuss Jerome Charyn's novel The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King, imagining Teddy Roosevelt's early life, with Charyn Zooming with us at the end to answer questions.

The book club enjoyed the novel and the 'energetic' and 'dramatic' characterization. Those who were not familiar with TR's life appreciated learning about him while others remarked the novel was not a history. Charyn talked about finding the voice and the music for his novel, and how writing in the first person offers a greater intimacy that a history or biography cannot provide. "Writing is dreamin," he remarked.

I have signed up for a number of other online events with authors.

I tried to sort out my collection of vintage quilt tops, fabrics, and trims and embellishments. I was inspired to play with them and made a small quilt.

I used a vintage embroidered linens, crotchet, trims, buttons, and a quilt top. 

Every day I take a walk around the neighborhood. I was surprised by this squirrel going in and out of a hole in the tree.

Another day I saw this really fat squirrel in the park!

It's time to prepare for winter. Like the squirrel, we are stocking up on food and supplies. I have plenty of hand quilting to keep me busy--and warm as the quilts lay on my lap while quilting. And loads of books to read.

Stay safe out there. Take care of each other.

Covid-19 Life, TBR, Autumn Colors

With Covid cases rising, we continue to social isolate and order pickup and delivery. My last haircut was in late February. It's getting long!

Six of the quilters are still braving meeting outdoors in the park. It was 50 degrees out, we were bundled up, wearing masks, and had a great visit.

Karen's Monkey Wrench quilt

The rest of the quilters meet through Zoom. 

As does the Clawson library book club. Next month we will read The Bear by Andrew Krivak, who is to join our Zoom meeting!

I am perfecting my Zooming skills. 

Last week, I Zoomed with the Troy library book club. They read Song of Achilles and Zoomed with author Madeline Miller. She also discussed her novel Circe. 

And in previous weeks, I Zoomed to hear Francesca Wade talk about her book Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars and with three historical fiction writers who wrote about composers, including Barbara Quick who wrote Vivaldi's Virgins.  

New books on my shelf include The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville, from Atria Books.

Other books new to my shelf include

• Nowhere Like This Place:Tales from a Nuclear Childhood by Marilyn Carr, a memoir
• The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman, about King Edward VIII  
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

And soon to come for an Algonquin blog tour,

• Astrid Sees All by Natalie Standford

We are enjoying watching the original and hilarious The Good Place and saw the new Rebecca from Netflix, a very interesting and competent interpretation of Daphne Du Maurier's classic gothic novel.

Our only travels are to the doctors. Luckily, there is a lot to see in our two-mile square suburban neighborhood. Like this Blue Jay that perched on the edge of the sliding patio door as it endeavored to get to some insect hiding between the doors.

And the Canada Geese who decided to take a walk down our street.

And the Halloween decorations.

Like much of America, we have been busy fixing up the house and finishing projects. Besides painting a bedroom and ordering a new kitchen table, we bought bookshelves for our TBR books and a sideboard for under the kitchen windows.

Many of my TBR books are from the library sales, but also from my brother and ones I ordered.

This week, my husband dug a hole in the garden and we buried the ashes of our four Shiba Inu dogs. Kili was our first Shiba, adopted when our son was five years old. She lived over 16 years. Next came Suki, a seven-year-old puppy mill breeder who needed a lot of TLC to make her a 'real dog'. Suki's first friend was Kara, a nine-year veteran puppy mill breeder. He taught Suki how to play and snuggle. Sadly, Kara was only with us ten months. He already had kidney failure when he came to us. So, we brought home Kamikaze, another puppy mill rescue. Kaze thought the world was hers and loved freedom and her home. She and Suki bonded as they aged, and when they lost their eyesight they aided each other in every day tasks--like finding the water bowl and going in and out doors.

Now they are all together in their forever home near the Pink Drift Roses, marked by a lovely Shiba Inu statue.

Our fur babies forever home

The roses are still blooming since we have not had a killing frost yet here.

Every day on my walk I find a beautiful tree to photograph and share on Facebook and Instagram. Here are some.

We voted. We got our flu shots. We are staying safe. I hope you are, too. It's going to be a challenging fall without normalcy, the pandemic impacting our cherished Halloween, Thanksgiving, Advent, Hanukkah, Christmas, and other family and community traditions.