MTNSTRS: Happy Birthday to our Brown Eyed Girl!

12/23/12

Happy Birthday to our Brown Eyed Girl!

Yesterday was Val's 29th birthday. She drove thru the night to get here from North Dakota. We had a relaxing day with a 'birthday breakfast', a 'birthday shower', 'birthday knitting by the fire', 'birthday tequila lime chicken pasta', and leftover chocolate mousse cake. Then we watched 'birthday Christmas Vacation'. Today we are celebrating with Tiramisu Cake, sushi (she doesn't get it in N.D.), and presents. I think she gets a better deal all around since we try to make it special since it's so close to Christmas. Happy Birthday Val!

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2024 Reads

The Girl in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware
The Other Einstein- Marie Benedict (audio)
The Frozen River - Ariel Lawhon
The House is on Fire - Rachel Beanland
The Rose Code - Kate Quinn
Long Bright River - Liz Moore (audio)
Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Falon
Winter Garden - Kristen Hannah (very good)
The Unmaking of June Farrow - Adrienne Young
Dear Sister- Michelle Horton (audio)
The Last Love Note - Emma Grey
Breaking Free - Rachel Jeffs
The Women - Kristen Hannah
The Alice Network- Kate Quinn
Faking Friends- Jane Fallon (audio)
The Liar’s Club - Mary Karr
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Robert Dugoni
Once Upon a Town- The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen - Bob Greene
Really Very Crunchy - Emily Morrow (audio)
Until the Street Lights Come On- Ginny Yurich (audio)
Don’t You Cry - Mary Kubica
The Color of Water- James McBride (audio)
Every Last Lie - Mary Kubica
When the Lights go Out - Mary Kubica
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Just the Nicest Couple - Mary Kubica (audio)
The Other Mrs. - Mary Kubica (audio)
The Stolen Hours - Alan Eskens
Between Two Kingdoms - Suleika Jaquan - great inspiration, cancer survivor
Incredibly Bright Creatures- Shelby Van Pelt (audio)

2023 Reads 37

The Orphans Tale - Pam Jenoff
The Honey Bus - Meredith May (about bees- very good)
Somebody’s Daughter- Ashley Ford
This is How Your Marriage Ends - Matthew Fray
Between Earth and Sky - Amanda Skenandore
The Lost Girls of Willowbrook - Ellen Marie Wiseman ( based on true history/Willowbrook/ Geraldo Rivera
The Comeback - Ella Bergman - fair
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver - very good
Lessons in Chemistry- Bonnie Garmus (very good)
The Nurse’s Assistant - Amanda Skenandore
American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee (audio)
The Undertaker’s Assistant - Amanda Skenandore
The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan
Tell Me More - Kelly Corrigan
The Couple at Table Six - Daniel Hurst (audio)
The Diamond Eye - Kate Quinn
The Good Girl - Mary Kubica
The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCollough
The Perfect Marriage- Jeneva Rose
One Man's Wilderness - Sam Keith (audio) about Richard Proenneke, who built a cabin and lived in the Alaskan wilderness
Local Woman Missing- Mary Kubica
Verity - Colleen Hoover
Home Again - Kristen Hannah
Dopamine Nation- Anna Lembke (audio)
Leper Spy- The Story of an Unlikely Hero of WW I I- Ben Montgomery
One Italian Summer- Rebecca Serle
The Nanny - Lana Ferguson- rank, stupid
The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy Book 1 Jewels of the Sun
The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy Book 2 Tears of the Moon
Ugly Love - Colleen Hoover (audio)
The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy Book 3- Heart of the Sea
The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer
Finding Me - Viola Davis (audio)
The Things We do for Love - Kristin Hannah
The House in the Pines - Anna Reyes
The Lost Whale - Hannah Gold (audio)
The Ride of her Life - Elizabeth Letts…..about Annie Wilkin’s horseback ride across America

2022 READS 42

The Day the World Came to Town - 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland - Jim DeFede ( great)
Brian’s Return - Gary Paulson (audio)
Brian’s Hunt (audio) - Gary Paulsen
Maid - Stephanie Land
This Side of Wild - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
NightJohn - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Sarny - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Dog song - Gary Paulsen (audio)
The Foxman - Gary Paulsen (audio)
The Crossing - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Chasing Fireflies- Charles Martin
The Dead Don’t Dance - Charles Martin
Maggie - Charles Martin
Return to Manzanar - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston - (audio)
The Woodcutter- Reginald Hill (audio)
The Little Island Secret- Emma Davies (audio)
Heartbreak- Florence Williams
The Book of Lost Names - Kristin Harmel
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker- Jennifer Chiaverini
The Alchemist- Paul Coelho (audio)
Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt (audio)
The Sun Does Shine - Anthony Ray Hinton (audio)
Spinning the Moon - Karen White (audio)
Whispers of Goodbye - Karen White (audio) fair, romance novelesque
The Heart’s Invisible Furies - John Boylne (very good)
The Man From the Train - Bill James (audio) gruesome true serial murders
Room - Emma Donoghue (audio)
My Appalachian Trial I: Three Weddings and a Sabbatical- Steve Adams (audio)
Caddy for Life , The Bruce Edwards Story- John Feinstein (audio)
Walking with Spring - Earl Schaffer (audio)
The Boy at the Top of the Mountain - John Boyne
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt - Anonymous (audio)
The Lincoln Highway- Amor Towles
Sunburn - Laura Lippman (audio)
House of Earth - Woody Guthrie (audio)
Wish You Well- David Baldacci (audio)
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett (excellent)
The Storyteller- Jodi Picoult (audio)
The Mothers - Brit Bennett
The Second Life of Mirielle West - Amanda Skenandore (historical novel about leprosy, very good)
How Not to Die - Dr Michael Gregor MD (audio)

2021 Reads - 39 Total

Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice - Michael Brandman, Jesse Stone # 11
Robert B Parker"s Killing the Blues - Michael Brandman , Jesse Stone # 10
Split Image - Robert B. Parker , Jesse Stone # 9
Night and Day - Robert B. Parker , Jesse Stone #8
Stranger in Paradise - Robert B. Parker , Jesse Stone # 7
High Profile - Robert B. Parker, Jesse Stone #6
Sea Change - Robert B. Parker , Jesse Stone #5
Stone Cold - Robert B. Parker, Jesse Stone #4
Death in Paradise - Robert B. Parker, Jessie Stone # 3
Trouble in Paradise - Robert B. Parker, Jessie Stone # 2
Night Passage - Robert B. Parker , Jessie Stone #1
Bear - Claire Cameron - (audio), in the voice of a 5 yr. old
Trespassing Across America - Ken Ilgunas (audio) - hiking the pipeline
Running Barefoot - Amy Harmon (audio)
Daylight (Atlee Pine #3) - David Baldacci
The Beach Club - Elin Hildebrand
28 Summers - Elin Hilderbrand
The Glass Hotel - Emily St John Mandel
A Minute to Midnight (Atlee Pine #2) - David Baldacci
The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah
Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine #1) - David Baldacci
The Charm Bracelet - Viola Shipman
Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall , Denver Moore
Fifty in Reverse - Bill Flanagan
Walk the Wire - David Baldacci (Amos Decker # 6)
The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
The Brain Maker - Dr. David Perlmutter, MD (audio)
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (fair)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (audio and ipad) Japanese internment - good
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Eagan
The Hatchet - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Lead Me Home - Theresa Hupp - fair
Truths I Never Told You - Kelly Rimmer (audio)
I’ll be Your Blue Sky - Marisa de los Santos ( very good)
The River - Gary Paulsen (audio)
Wrapped in Rain - Charles Martin
Silent Sisters - Ann Cusack (audio)
When Crickets Cry - Charles Martin
Brian’s Winter - Gary Paulson (audio)

2020 Reads

35 Total
Last Christmas in Paris - Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb
Christmas on the Island - Jenny Colgan ( Scotland)
Redemption - David Baldacci (Amos Decker # 5)
On Mystic Lake - Kristin Hannah
When the Lights go Out - Mary Kubica
The Fallen - David Baldacci ( Amos Decker # 4)
American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins (audio) - migrant journey
The Christmas Train - David Baldacci
The Fix (Amos Decker #3) - David Baldacci
Wish You Well - David Baldacci
One Summer - David Baldacci
Angel Falls - Kristin Hannah
The Other Mrs. - Mary Kubica
Dead Wake - Erik Larson ( Lusitania)
The Last Mile (Amos Decker #2 ) - David Baldacci
Memory Man (Amos Decker #1) - David Baldacci
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus - Dusti Bowling (audio)
News of the World - Paulette Jiles
Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Eagan
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer - Fredrik Backman (novella, dementia)
Below Northern Lights - Ashlee Cowles (follow up Scotland adventure)
Beaneath Wandering Stars - Ashlee Cowles (Camino story)
The Deal of a Lifetime - Fredrik Backman (audio novella)
The Woman in the Window - A J Finn. (audio)
Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng (audio)
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow - Olivia Hawker
The Unbreakable Child - Kim Michele Richardson
Liars Bench - Kim Michele Richardson
The Beekeeper of Alleppo - Christy Lefteri
Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate
The Subtle Art of not Giving a F**** - Mark Manson
The One in a Million Boy - Monica Wood (audio)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris (audio)
Tending Roses - Lisa Wingate

2019 Reads

36 Total
The Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyes (very good)
Bringing up Bebe - Pamela Druckerman
Kindred - Octavia E. Butler. (audio)
Educated - Tara Westover
Still You - Jojo Moyes (audio)
Cactus - Sarah Haywood
After You - JoJo Moyes (audio)
Me Before You - Jojo Moyes - great book!(audio)
Bear town - Fredrik Backman
My Grandmother Asked me to tell you she's Sorry - Fredrik Backman
Leaving Time - Jodi Picoult (audio)
The Girl With the Lower Back Tatoo - Amy Schumer
A Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult
Shine - Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
Sing You Home - Jodi Picoult
Homefront - Kristin Hannah
Fly Away - Kristin Hannah (sequel to Fierfly Lane)
Girl Unbroken - Regina Calcaterra , Rosie Maloney ( continued story of little sis in Etched in Sand
Glory Over Everything - Kathleen Grissom (audio)
Summer Island - Kristin Hannah
Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult (great book)
Etched in Sand - Regina Calcaterra (audio)
Distant Shores - Kristin Hannah
The Girl They Left Behind - Roxxanne Veletzos
Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah
Magic Hour - Kristin Hannah
The Alice Network-Kate Quinn
Between Sisters - Kristin Hannah
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Night Road - Kristin Hannah
Comfort and Joy - Kristin Hannah
The Atomic City Girls-Janet Beard
Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens (audio)
The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah (audio)
Black Klansman - Ron Stallworth

Quotes

The secret to a happy life is not in getting what you want. It is in learning to want what you get.
Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results. Willie Nelson
Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet. - Bob Marley
When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren
Opportunity is missed because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison

Favorite Hikes

The Crag's
Scarp's Ridge, Lower Loop, Upper Upper Loop, Mt. Crested Butte Summit
Devils Tower, west of Sedalia
Mt. Herman via Trail 716
Ptarmagin Lake, Cottonwood Pass
Anything in Crested Butte - Rustler's Gulch, Long Lake(there's a canoe up there), Judd Falls, etc
The hike with my sis at the south end of the Appalachian Tr. up to an EcoLodge and back(Georgia)
Castlewood Canyon
Black Forest Park
Fox Run Park
Red Rock Canyon
Punch Bowls (Queen's Canyon - Glen Eyrie)
Seven Bridges/Jones Park/Bear Creek Canyon/Mt. Buckhorn Loop
Waldo Canyon
Spruce Mountain
Palmer Lake Reservoirs
Monument Rock/Monument Preserve

Garden Updates 2009

1. Started a composting box.
2. Adding triple mix dirt to garden and flower beds.
3. Still trying to get rid of voles.
4. Trying to plant things that voles won't eat.
5. Buy veggies at Farmer's market due to short growing season.
6. My seeds have come up - yeah!
7. Found some pattypan squash seeds that I need to get in the ground (childhood fav)
8. Harvested lettuce, using fresh mint, chives.
9.Hail Damage, hope everything survives.
10.The pattypan squash seeds sprouted, neversurvived due to major rain and hail.
11.Sunflowers are blooming!!!
12. My green beans are getting baby beans but the voles have discovered this too and my row of beans is slowly dissappearing from below.
13. Well, my row of beans has almost completely dissappeared.
Now the voles are starting to work on the row of sunflowers (which did quite well). Today I found a sunflower stalk sticking out of a vole hole..... it was too long for the vole to get the whole thing into his hole.
14. Did harvest 2 jalopenos and 1 onion. Something has been eating my peppers too.
15. 10/10/09 Temp. 18 degrees. Everything is covered in frost. Goodbye garden. Will try to harvest some flower seeds.
Brought a lot of seeds from Mom's flowers in Ohio.
Hollyhock, zinnia, black eyed susan, morning glory. Will see if they grow next yr. Will also give some to Val to see how they do in North Dakota.

MTNSTRS

12/23/12

Happy Birthday to our Brown Eyed Girl!

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2023 Reads 37

2022 READS 42

2021 Reads - 39 Total

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Walking Challenge -- The Proclaimers song is about walking 500 miles and 500 more.......

Grandma's Adventure Book (she's 84!) or Dorthy's 'Bog' (from the movie 'Up')

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