Monday Malarkey

Hope you all had a delightful weekend! Mine was great. It rained all weekend, but we're on our 4th week of daily rain alternating with bursts of sunshine and at some point I guess you just become accustomed to it. We're not getting the floody rains of our neighbors to the South, so we have reason to be grateful.

New arrivals: 

• The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper and 
• Home Field by Hanna Gersen, both from William Morrow for review

HarperCollins (of which Wm Morrow is an imprint) is pretty much the only publisher from whom I continued accepting review books, presuming I'd return but not wanting to overdo, these past few months. But, as I mentioned, it was the children's books that I really missed. So, I've gone back through my emails and accepted a few that were offered when I wasn't paying attention. I'm surprised how giddy I am about the children's books. I really cannot wait until they arrive. Clearly, the cats (and possibly a grandchild) are going to have some fun reading time ahead of them. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Modern Girls by Jennifer Brown - A book that has made me think about writing a post about posting. I may work on that, later today. The ending of the book posed a dilemma for me. 

Currently reading:

• A Square Meal by Ziegelman and Coe - about 1/3 of the way through. Told you I'd be reading it for a long time. Still enjoying it. This week, I learned about the bread lines in New York and how concern grew that people were both taking advantage of them (no records were kept and they were held at different times of the day, so some men could stand in as many as 8 bread lines in a day) and they only met the needs of unemployed males rather than their entire families, as well as how such concerns led to reduction in the number of bread lines and changes in how they were run. It's all fascinating. 
• Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans - Loving this every bit as much as I did the first time! F2F discussion is Wednesday and with our iffy weather I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to go. I don't drive to meetings if it's raining, just to be on the safe side. 

Last week's posts:

• The Introvert's Guide to Drinking Alone by Tasha Brandstatter (book review) - thinking I might take this one with me for my son to read, next time I go to New Jersey. He's an extreme extrovert but I don't think you have to be an introvert to enjoy it.
• Fiona Friday: We are not amused (cat photo)
• Good-bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton (book review)

In other news:

Our local art museum has a fabulous exhibit of modern art collected by Roy R. Neuberger, which my bestie and I visited, a couple weeks ago. There's an Alexander Calder mobile that we got moving by stirring the air with our exhibit brochures (and some help from one of the security people, who grabbed a stiff binder and joined in), a Mark Rothko, a Jackson Pollack . . . great stuff. And, after taking a photo of a collage that I liked, I decided, "Hey, I want to try that." So, I've been working on a collage using a photo of Isabel peeking out of her cardboard castle. Husband got a kick out of that. It's not finished but when he saw what I'm doing, he laughed and said, "So, you're going to turn our walls into a modern art gallery?" Hmm . . . not a bad idea. But, no, it's just one collage, although I'm collecting things for a second one. At any rate, I'm still having an awfully fun time playing with paint and, now, glue.

And, here's a photo of Isabel being just a little bit wicked while our laid-back Fiona blithely watches on. Izzy was attacking Fiona's box. Fiona was, I think, a bit amused. It didn't bother her at all. They never cease to entertain me.

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