Monday's Postcard 2016: Christmas

                                                  Norman Rockwell Christmas Postcards
I hope you have enjoyed my collection of postcards this past year. Postcards that could be found anywhere!  Next year, I am going back to posting cards from unique places. Happy Boxing Day!!

Christmas Ornaments

My friend Pam made this Nancy Drew Ornament for me!

I bought these tatted ornaments in Virginia at a craft fair

My friend, Lea gave me this Sherlock Holmes Ornament. 

I bought this ornament at a Craft Show in Bothell, WA. It represents Ryan on my tree

This ornament is made from Grits! I got it in Georgia when Ryan was doing the AT in 2015

This little beauty came from Maine in 2015

Another state represented from Ryan's 2015 AT Thru Hike I got this covered bridge ornament in New Hampshire

This is a Lilliput Lane ornament. My mom collected these little houses and my sister and I got rid of the collection, but I kept this little ornament to put on my Christmas tree to remind me of my mom. 

Monday's Postcard 2016: Quotes

Bookstores are always great places to find really great postcards. I love the photography and the quotes on these two.

Monday's Postcard 2016: Antique Floral

Some more postcards from the vintage area of my collection. Antique Malls are great places to find cards like these and many times they can be found blank, so you can mail them yourself!

Monday's Postcard 2016: Totoro

These postcards are from a Japanese cartoon, My Neighbor Totoro. or My Friend Totoro. If you have not seen the cartoon, it is worth checking out!

November 2016 Reading

Under the Stars by Dan White (library) The History of Camping in America, I really enjoyed it, the author also wrote a book about his hike on the PCT called Cactus Eaters.
Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn (library) About a family in Jamaica, a woman works at a fancy resort to try to raise the money to send her sister to school so she can have an education and rise out of the poverty that they live in.
I'll Have What She's Having by Daniel Kimmel (library) the stories behind the best romantic comedies. I really enjoyed this one!! But then I love hearing about the movie business.
Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas loved it it is a quilting story, so my quilting friends, Kathy Woods, Diane Steele, Suzi Robertshaw might like this one.
Night Road by Kristin Hannah (library) Local PNW author and this book is set in the Seattle area. It concerns family drama and was a bit depressing. I read it during the whole election time, so I might have been a bit depressed and was not in the mood to enjoy this. I will try some more books by this author.
The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew travels to Turkey! George bullies Bess about her weight (getting a little tired of that)
Leaving Home by Jodi Picoult (audiobook)  3 short stories about leaving home.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (library) soon to be a movie. About the black female mathematicians that worked for NASA and contributed to the race for the moon.
Part of the Furniture by Mary Wesley (library) Set during WWII in England during the bombings in London, a young girl takes refuge in a house and it changes her life. I enjoyed it, but not the ending so much, it was a little abrupt. Nags at me still.
Knitting Pearls ed. by Ann Hood (library) I have read so much about quilting lately, This is a book of short stories that revolve around knitting. Some great authors in here, including Diana Gabaldon and Jodi Picoult.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (library) rereading this one because it is so funny, sometimes you just want a laugh
The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale (library) about a Victorian Child Murderer who murdered his mother. It was very interesting. The good stuff is the aftermath of the whole thing.
Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult (audiobook) I have read this one before, but really enjoy my audiobooks in the car
The Making of Outlander by Tara Bennett (libarry) Really a big coffee table style picture book about the making of the Outlander TV series on Starz. Lots of great behind the scenes interviews and information and great photos too.
The Night Manager by John LeCarre (library). Spy thriller made into a great mini series on AMC.

Monday's Postcard 2016: Mary Engelbreit

I am a big fan of Mary Engelbreit's Bright and Happy Style, so I send and receive postcards like these all the time.

Monday's Postcard 2016: My Dogs are Barking!

In Antique Malls, it is very easy to find comic military themed postcards. These touch on all the marching and what not that the new recruits would have to do. I emphasize after going hiking with my boyfriend, Ryan!!

Monday's Postcard 2016: Legends

You can find these Legend Postcards all over the country. Some are location specific. Spanish Moss is probably only going to be found in some Southern states, but I do enjoy learning stuff from postcards like these.

Monday's Postcard 2016: Flamingo

                               
 Flamingo postcards sent to me from friends over the years

October 2016 Reading

Not so many books this month because I spent all my time walking from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 

The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans About Timothy Treadwell and his fatal obsession with the bears in Alaska. I liked it, it has a bit of a different slant than the movie The Grizzly Man and it talks about the movie too.
The Animal Lovers Book of Beastly Murder by Patricia Highsmith A book of short stories about animals that commit murder. Some of them are amusing. You are usually rooting for the animal to get it's revenge on evil humans.
The Secret of Sarah Revere by Ann Rinaldi Revolutionary War American from the point of view of the young daughter of Paul Revere. I did not like this one as much as the other book I read by Ann Rinaldi, I got sick of the teen crush angst in this one faster than I did in Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons
In Plain Sight by C J Box This latest Joe Pickett has an ex-con stalking Joe and his family for revenge and lots of job frustration for Joe. It was okay. Not my favorite of this series
The Phantom of the Temple by Robert van Gulik The detective Judge Dee gets 3 mysteries set up in the first chapter and of course solves all three by the end of the book. In contrast to the CJ Box books, I am enjoying each one of these....although I am reading them out of order. But I don't think it really matters.
An Imaginative Experience by Mary Wesley I picked up this book by a British author in a hostel in Portugal. And I enjoyed it! I am going to look for more by Mary Wesley. This one has a woman who lost her ex-husband and son in a car accident trying to get her life back together. She crosses paths with a man who is in the midst of a divorce and trying to get his life back together.
Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen I am a huge fan of this "Royal Spyness" series. Always fun to see what the great granddaughter of the Queen is up to this time. And this time she is traveling to Hollywood, CA and mystery and drama follow.
White Trash: the 400-year untold history of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg (library) reads like a text book, but I found the subject matter really interesting and I learned some North Carolina history!
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tylaer ( library) a modern retelling of The taming of the Shrew. Part of The Hogarth Shakespeare Project, modern authors take on some of Shakespeare's great stories. If you are a fan of the Bard, I highly recommend putting these on your TBR list. Vinegar Girl was fun !
You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein (library) Ms. Klein is a comedy writer and has worked on SNL. This is a collection of stories and they were very funny. A fun read.
Sudden Prey by John Sandford ( audiobook ) I am addicted to having a book going when I ride in the car.

Monday's Postcard 2016: Halloween

                                                     Some Antique Halloween Postcards

Monday's Postcard 2016: Gorey

I could probably spend a whole year putting up Gorey Postcards! I have so many!! But these are two of my favorites.

Camino de Santiago: The Portuguese Route

I just recently got back from a Pilgrimage. Everyone who knows me, knows that my boyfriend is a hiker. He walks everywhere. He does not own a car. He enjoys walking hundreds of miles on the Appalachian Trail, on the Pacific Crest Trail and anywhere else. And if you know me, you know I like to read and I like to sleep in!! But I wanted to spend time with Ryan on his terms and experience what he does all the time.

So for me to commit to walk for 10 miles or more a day was huge. The Camino is a special walk. It is historical. People have been making the pilgrimage to Santiago from EVERYWHERE in Europe for hundreds of years. So when you walk the Camino, you have a lot of support. You walk through towns and they take care of you. There are special Pilgrim menus at restaurants and there are albergues that provide lodging only for Pilgrims. In Europe, they like to say that you start the Camino, when you walk out of your front door because all roads lead to Santiago.

When I walked through Portugal, I had little old ladies giving me blessings every day. They would see me walking along through their neighborhood and ask me if I was going to Santiago, "Si, si, Santiago" I would reply. And they would gush on in Portuguese and I really have no idea what they were really saying, but they would pat me on the shoulder with a "Go with God" type of attitude, so I am convinced that they wished me well.

We walked from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. We took the Coastal Route sticking close to the coast and walking boardwalks along beaches. I really enjoyed this part of the hike. I got to eat lots of great seafood along the way!

Everywhere you go, you get a stamp in your passport to prove that you were there, every restaurant, every hotel or hostel. Once you get to Santiago, they want to see that you really walked the distance. In order to get your Compostela, you must walk 100 kilometers. This is basically the distance from the border of Spain and Portugal to Santiago. Ryan started in Lisbon, I started in Porto, so we had a longer distance to walk. There were no worries about getting the Compostela. I would have more than enough miles logged to qualify. 

Every day was a new adventure. I had such a wonderful time and I loved seeing the small towns and parts of the country that I would not have seen otherwise. A few days were beyond my physical limitations and I did take a taxi ride or train ride to jump ahead to another town. But on the whole, I really enjoyed the journey. 

You might notice that in all these photos, I am wearing the same clothing. I had two shirts that I alternated every other day. I had the blue long sleeved shirt that I wore over for sun protection and warmth. I only did laundry once on this 14 day odyssey.  

 You might think that I was stinky, but by spending every night indoors , not camping out, I was able to have a shower every evening or morning and even though I might have been sweaty and stinky at the end of the day, every evening in the hostel or albergue I would have the opportunity to clean up.

Making it to Santiago de Compostela was a huge achievement and I am very proud that I had the opportunity and was able to complete my pilgrimage. 

Monday's Postcard 2016: Surreal

These postcards actually creep me out a bit. Just goes to show what crazy things are considered art.

Monday's Postcard 2016: Sherlock Holmes

Like Shakespeare, it is also easy to find quotes and postcards depicting Sherlock Holmes from bookstores especially!

Monday's Postcard 2016: Totem

It could be argued that these postcards would have to come from Alaska, or the Pacific Northwest. But I am just a huge fan of totem poles and I have a modest collection of Totem memorabilia.  So these are just part of my Totem Pole Collection. And these two are actually from Antique Malls in New England. I found them while on vacation with Ryan in New Hampshire and Vermont.

September 2016 Reading

Rin Tin Tin: The life and legend by Susan Orlean (audiobook) I really enjoyed it. What is not to like about a book about a legendary dog?
Fallen Women by Sandra Dallas (library) A murder mystery set in the 1880's Denver, Colorado. A prostitute is murdered and she has ties to a wealthy NYC family. Her estranged sister comes to find out more about her death.
The Fireman by Joe Hill (library) I can't help always comparing Joe Hill with Stephen King. I am such a King fan that I go, well there was Firestarter and this is just an evolution of that kind of thing. I always found Stephen King's writing to be so easy to read. I just fell into the world that he created. Maybe because it was easy to fall into, even when things got really really weird, there was always that element of the mundane that kept you grounded that you recognized. With Joe Hill, I find it harder to suspend my disbelief, but that might be also because I am older now and I come to horror and fantasy with a more jaded attitude.
The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz (library) It reads like a text book, but I found the subject matter very interesting. It is basically about the myth of the 2 parent household. The 1950's ideal that everyone had a Mom at home and a Dad who worked. The reality in the USA was that this ideal was the rarity, not the norm.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (library audiobook) Fun thriller, for those of you who like Girl on a Train and Gone Girl and stuff like that. I got annoyed a bit with the narrator. She was pretty stupid a lot of the time. But it kept me guessing and I wanted to find out what happened in the end.
The Lacquer Screen by Robert Van Gulik a Judge Dee mystery. I just discovered this series of murder mysteries about a Chinese Magistrate during the Tang Dynasty. I am enjoying them! Set in the 7th Century, there are really cool cultural details about China that intrigue me.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. ( library) really enjoyed.  I recommend to Alisa  it's YA about a girl starting college who writes fan fiction for a popular magical series.
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen (library) I love learning this stuff!  Wow, History was not as boring as I always thought.
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (library) the cutthroat world of gymnasts. With a mysterious death.....It was a fast and entertaining read. Although I had it figured out early on in the book.
Necklace and Calabash by Robert Van Gulik I like these mysteries and I like the traditional chinese illustrations that the author made for them also.
The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe (library). About college girls at Vassar in 1897. The twist is that one of them is a light skinned black girl passing as white. In this post Civil War world, her entire world could come crumbling down if anyone learns her secret.  I loved the college era stuff. And it is based on a true story.
We Could be Beautiful by  Swan Huntley (library) Psychological thriller. Rich woman, perfect boyfriend.....but is he really??? I can't really recommend it.  I did not find the characters sympathetic. So I did not really care if she was deceived
The Twin Ring Mystery by Mildred Wirt reading one of my collection of Wirt books. it is GOOD!! LOL
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda (library) An interesting gimmick, it is written " backwards" each chapter is what happened the day before...This thriller is about a woman who goes back to her home town where a second girl goes missing and her Alzheimer's afflicted father is a suspect in a first missing girl cold case from 15 years earlier.  I was more interested in this story than in the We Could Be Beautiful people.