Do you remember..........?



Tamarisk (taken at night)

Finally a dry day today and I decided I'd better mow while I could.  As I sat on the mower I observed how things were growing.  In my front yard, I have a tamarisk tree which is covered in tiny pink blooms right now. The only reason I have it is because my paternal grandparents had one in their yard and I always liked it. As I was thinking about it I wondered if my siblings remembered Grandma's tree.  I know my younger sister probably doesn't and my brothers probably do. Then I wondered about my other sister Pam who's been gone for over 3 years now and I realized one of the things I miss the most.  She's not here to ask, "Do you remember.....?" "Do you remember wading in the creek in Arkansas?"  "Do you remembr the big family reunions?"  "Do you remember when we went to the beach and threw Ritz crackers to the seagulls?"  "Do you remember all the late nights we chatted online after everyone else had gone to bed?" I do. I remember all this and so much more.  Miss you Pam.


My sister Pam
9-10-55 to 3-9-08



My first Jeffery Deaver novel

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

© 2007, Pocket Star Books, a division of Simon & Sshuster

From the book cover – “California Bureau of Investigation agent Kathryn Dance, a kinesics expert and master interrogator, locks into a “dazzling mental contest” (The New York Times) with a modern-day Charles Manson in this heart-pounding thriller.

Serving life in maximum security for masterminding the slaughter of a wealthy Carmel family, the unrepentant Daniel Pell may also be linked to another killing, a cold case that will heat up quickly if Kathryn Dance can get the confession she seeks. But when Pell escapes, a harrowing manhunt takes off – and Kathryn will race to uncover the secrets of the past from the lone survivor of Pell’s bloodlust: a teenager now, the little girl who hid in her bed to save her own life, The Sleeping Doll.”

I have heard a lot about Jeffery Deaver but this is his first book that I’ve read. Mysteries and thrillers are my absolute favorite genre of books and this was a good one. Kathryn Dance is an agent for the CBI ( I kept thinking of The Mentalist) and she specializes in kinesics which is the study of body language. She’s often able to tell if a person is lying just by the way they react to her questioning. She is hoping to pin an unsolved murder on Daniel Pell but he escapes with the help of an accomplice. He is a brilliant person and is able to stay one step ahead of the police most of the time. Then just when you think the story is done, Deaver throws in a twist and then another and finally leaves you hanging – just a little bit – ready and anxious for the next Kathryn Dance story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will look for more Deaver books. The only problem I had was with the title. The girl called “The Sleeping Doll”, although an important part of the plot, was just a tiny bit of the whole story. I don’t think it warranted being the title of the book.

Starting up again...

It's been a LONG year.  I kept thinking I would start blogging again and just never had the oomph to do it. Losing Buddy hit me harder than any other pet, I guess because she had been such a large part of our lives. She left quite an empty place in our hearts and home.

The bad economy hit close to home also.  Jim was laid off June 17, 2010 from the job he has had for the past 40 years. We are lucky it's such a small, hometown company though. They let hime work one day a week to keep the insurance and savings plans paid. The $20 a week he actually brought home and the unemployment have kept us going. We aren't hurting for money but neither do we have much extra.  Better off than a lot of people, I know. He went through his 6 months of unemployment and got an extension for another 6. He has recently been called back to work for a few weeks so that will extend his benefits even longer. He is old enough to retire but if he does, we will lose the company paid insurance on me so he keeps on working. He has applied for Social Security so financially we will be okay one way or the other.

I have another house cat, not a replacement for Buddy exactly as Cooper is completely different in all aspects. He was just one of our outside cats and I had NO intention of bringing any of them in.  However, in January he caught his back leg between two boards and broke it badly. The vet set it but it got infection in it and it ended up having to be amputated. He was so sick with the infection he spent almost 3 weeks at the vet's.  I can't say enough for the care he received.  The doc and all his nurses babied him and spent SO much time with him!  Yay, Madison County Vet Clinic!!  You're the best!  Doc Hollen knew Jim wasn't working and he donated his surgery fees and only charged us for the daily care!



I'm surprised at how well he gets along on 3 legs now. He goes up and down stairs, jumps on the bed, and plays with his toys like a regular cat.





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I'm not reading as much as I did....maybe only 2 books a month.  I will try and review the ones I DO read and maybe start accepting the books I'm offered again. Thanks to everyone who has read my blog and commented in the past year.

Kat



My heart is broken

My wonderful, smart, and loving cat Buddy has died. That’s her pictured in my blog heading. She was with us for over 11 years and was very much a member of our family. She had an amazing understanding of words. When we said “Mousie,” she would go look for her favorite toy. If we said, “Birdy,” she would jump up and look out the window. If asked, “Do you want candy (treats)?” she would meow in response and paw our leg for more. If we asked, “Are you hungry?” we’d better be heading to the kitchen because she would be. Her favorite pastime was playing fetch with her mousie and she did it better than any dog. We'd toss it and she would run and get it and bring it back and drop it in front of us. She would do this over and over until she got too tired and then she would just lay down indicating she’d had enough. As our son Jay said when he learned of her death, “She was an awesome cat with a person’s personality.”

Buddy had a window seat where she could watch us when we went outdoors or watch the outside cats as they went about their business. If we were gone, she was always sitting on the seat waiting for us when we arrived home. When the door was unlocked, she would be there asking, “Where have you been? It’s time to feed me!” Now we come home to an empty house. She was always with us when we were home. It got to be a joke that we couldn’t go to the bathroom alone. She loved to get in the sink and drink from a stream of running water. I finally put a small fountain on the kitchen floor and she loved getting her water from it. She had her own piece of furniture, an old upholstered hassock that she literally shredded. It sits by Jim's recliner and she would sit there beside him when she wasn't napping on his lap. She had several major health problems over the years including having most of her teeth pulled and feline hepatitis, so I’m surprised she lived as long as she did, but I wanted her to live forever.

I buried her surrounded by her mousies including Squeaky that Jay got her for Christmas, and one of Jim’s old gloves that she liked to wrestle with and lay on. Mom gave me a solar-lighted dragonfly for Mother’s Day and I used that to mark her grave until we can get a proper pet marker.

I find myself hearing a little noise and turning around to talk to her but she’s not there. I think I see movement out of the corner of my eye but when I look, she’s not there. I go outside and look up at the window but she’s not there. But she is forever in my heart.

Taking a break for a while......

I don’t know if I’ve done something to upset the publishing gods or what, but I haven’t received any book review offers for almost 2 months. A couple books that were offered have never arrived. So…….I have decided to take a break from book blogging. I won’t say I’m done blogging completely; I haven’t decided that yet. I want to thank everyone for all the support you’ve given me this past year. It has been fun even though I didn’t start to the blog to be entirely about books.

I guess I must have OCD.  When I start something, that's ALL I want to do, whether it's reading a book, playing an online game, or doing a craft. Recently, I have been addicted (REALLY) to Facebook games and I'm paying for it.  I sit so long at my desk, I get stiff and sore, and I'm staying up way too late at night.  Consequently, I'm gaining weight, I ache all over, and I've been really grouchy lately....just ask Jim.  Something had to give.  Today, I quit playing the Facebook games - sorry, Egg Buddies - and I'm going to eventually delete everyone from friends that I do not know. I'm going to continue trying to rid my house, mind, and body of unwanted junk. Wish me luck.