New Hip

 DH had his hip replacement 6 weeks ago on Thursday.  I am amazed at his recovery.  I can only compare it to my knee replacement and it is like night and day. He went down the basement stairs on the third day post op, it took me months before I could do that. He used a 2 wheel walker for 3 days and then transitioned to his cane. He use that for about 2 weeks and now he just carries it. If we go to a grocery store he will use a scooter if they have one, if not he will hang onto the grocery cart.  He also likes to walk a lap of the mall everyday as well.  I have finally convinced him that walking the grocery store and the mall in the same day is too much as he does pay for it over night. It's one or the other, at the moment. He only took Tylenol3 for 3 days and then stopped because of the consequences of the codiene.  Now he just takes Tylenol Arthritis. He's virtually pain free, which he hasn't been for 2 years. He is faithfully doing the excercises, using the ice machine and elevating the leg every day and it seems to be making a difference. He's anxious to see what they say at his 6 week checkup on Wednesday.

On June 5th there was a massive water main break in our city. It directly impacted 1 neighbourhood and indirectly impacted the entire city-1,665,000 people. The one neighbourhood had to boil water and get their water from water wagons. The rest of the city was told to limit water use drastically as we could run out of water.  This is a major water line that is 11Km long.  The pipe is 2 meters high and across. By day 5 the leak has been located and that section of pipe is removed.  By day 10 robots have been sent down the pipe and they have found 5 more leaks. So now there is a massive search across N. America to try to locate the parts to do the repairs. We have some here but not everything for something of this magnitude. So on day 11 the city is put on a State of Emergency and we are told that this will take 3-5 weeks to repair!!!!  Of course, everyone is hoping it will take a lot less time. May 25th long weekend, Victoria Day, is the traditional planting date here when the chance of frost has hopefully past.  Most people have bought all their bedding out plants and planted all their flowers and vegetables. Now we are not allowed to water anything outside.  Fortunately we got a lot of rain on the 11th day and everyone put out every container they owned to collect the rainwater.  So today we are 13 days into this, the original break has been repaired and they are starting on the other breaks. I don't think people realize how much water you actually use until you're told to conserve, conserve, conserve. Hopefully this will be resolved sooner than we've been told.  We can only hope!!

Books 16-23

 Throwaway Jane by Scott William Carter

Former FBI agent Karen Pantelli lives by a simple philosophy: never, ever care. Three years after a tragic mistake ends her once-stellar career, she drifts from one dead-end job to another, quickly moving on when she finds herself getting too attached. A new city. A new life. A new way of forgetting and being forgotten.
Until one chilly night behind a seedy bar, when a frightened girl leaps out of the back of a speeding van.
As they end up on the run in a thrilling chase that spans half the country, Karen soon realizes it's much easier to say you don't care than to actually mean it. And that unlocking the secrets in this girl's extraordinary mind might not only save both of them, but bring down one of the most sinister organizations the world has ever known.

I did enjoy this book.  It was very fast paced and therefore a quick read.  I think the main character was made to be a bit over the top with her super duper marshal arts skills.

Partners by Nora Roberts

Long before he met her, Matthew Bates loved Laurel Armand. Working with her brought both pleasure and pain, because the sexy Southern belle kept him at a professional distance. Then the rival reporters were thrown together on a case of murder and madness—where much more than love was at stake.

This book had the typical ending but it wasn't too bad getting there.

The Art of Deception by Nora Roberts

Adam Haines was an artist visiting the Fairchild mansion to do some undercover digging, and that was a problem for a man who preferred to be straightforward. An even bigger problem was Kirby Fairchild, daughter of the world-famous painter he'd been sent to investigate. She was part child, part elf, and the most fascinating woman he'd ever encountered. However, Kirby had a disconcertingly fluid sense of right and wrong -- one completely at odds with Adam's own code of ethics. Adam wished he wasn't wrapped quite so tightly around her little finger . . .

This book was so ridiculous I don't even know why I finished it.  Not a book I would recommend

I have a bunch of Nora Roberts books that I gave to the annual charity book sale that I donate to every year without reading them  The ones I kept to read I am trying to get through and then I doubt I will buy another one of her books.  It's funny because I really like the books she writes as J.D.Robb.

Something Blue by Emma Jameson

Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book Three

Anthony Hetheridge, ninth baron of Wellegrave and chief superintendent for New Scotland Yard, will marry Kate Wakefield in three weeks. It’s inevitable–-the invitations are out, the flowers are ordered, the cake is chosen. But murder waits for no man, and no wedding.
In London’s prestigious West End, a disgraced CEO has been murdered at Hotel Nonpareil, an exclusive destination. No one, it seems, liked Michael Martin Hughes. Not his estranged wife, Thora, or his defiant son, Griffin. Not Hotel Nonpareil’s manager, its head of security, or perhaps even the other two women in Hughes’s life: his future bride, Arianna, or his other girlfriend, Riley. Still more ominously, before Hughes died, he incurred the wrath of a potentially more unforgiving foe: Sir Duncan Godington, longtime nemesis of both CS Hetheridge and DS Deepal “Paul” Bhar.
For the first time, CS Hetheridge, Kate and Bhar find themselves under tremendous pressure to uncover the killer in the shortest time frame ever. Has Scotland Yard, not to mention Downing Street, lost confidence in Hetheridge? Will the murder conviction rest on hard forensic evidence, a mountain of circumstantial details, or an impulsive theft?

I've really enjoyed these books.  There is a continuing story from book to book but there is also a different crime to solve in each book.  I really liked the ending of this book.

The Cottage by the Loch by Kennedy Kerr

The cottage stood alone on a rocky outcropping at the edge of the loch.  Standing in the garden amongst the wildflowers, shw felt the weight of the tattered envelope in her hands.  Maybe there was somehing keeping her here in Scotland, a secret waiting to be uncovered...

New Yorker Zelda Hicks has jusr lost her mother, and the only thing she knows about her father is that he was from Scotland. So a work trip tp the Scottish village of Loch Cameron couldn't

be better timed. Maybe a break in the beautiful rolling hills of heather will help her reconnect with her roots and recover from her grief.

Then, on a walk around the loch one bright morning, she comes across a tiny, tumbledown cottage, nestled on the edge of the forest.  The elderly owner, Gretchen Ross, invites her in  for buttery shortbread, and after learning that Gretchen might lose the cottage that has been in her family forever, Zelda vows to help her.  She didn't bargain on butting heads with the handsome, blue-eyed laird Hal Cameron in the process.  Zelda can't seem to forget Hal's shy smile and she soon learns they might have more in common than she first thought.

But when Zelda discovers a bundle of old letters hidden in the back of an antique wardrobe at the cottage, they lead her back to the mysterious Hal.  Pushing Zelda to examine her own family history, the letters reveal a secret that the community has kept hidden for over a generation.  Hal says he wants to help Zelda, but just as she begins to open up, she learns he isn't being entirely honest either...Can Zelda trust him, and finally come to terms with her own past, or will uncovering this secret force her to leave Loch Cameron for good?

This was a cute story.  Typical light reading and ready for a book 2.

An English Garden Murder by Katie Gayle

Julia Bird's picturesque Cotswolds cottage has everything she could want. Rustic charm, cosy fireplaces and, it turns out, a dead body in the garden...

Recently divorced and reluctantly retired, Julia Bird has fled London to enjoy idyllic rural life in the Cotswolds. Determined to have the perfect English garden, her first job is to tear down the old shed, where she unearths much more than she'd bargained for...A body, apparently buried for decades. But who could it be, and who killed them? The police draw a blank, and even the gossip-fest that is the local bookclub can't remember anyone going missing in the village.

Unable to get on with her garden until the mystery is resolved Julia decides to conduct her own clandestine investigations. So, together with her wayward chocolate Labrador puppy Jake, Julia begins a whirlwind tour of the local residents.  And everyone, it seems, has something to hide in this village. As she gets closer to the truth, Julia uncovers something even more shocking...Another body, this time of someone she actually knows.

Determined to unmask the killer and find out what connects the two dead bodies, Julia-newly nicknamed the Grim Reaper-ups the stakes and hones in on the most likely suspect. But if she hasn't deduced correctly, then there is someone else in the village who has killed twice already. Will they be prepared to make it third time lucky to keep their secret safe? 

This was interesting and did keep me guessing almost to the end.

Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy

Clara Casey has more than enough on her plate. Her daughters Adi and Linda were no problem during the usually turbulent teens. Now Adi is always fighting for or against something: the environment or the whale or battery farming; while Linda lurches from one unsatisfactory relationship to the next. As if this wasn't enough, Clara, a senior cardiac specialist, has a new job to cope with - and now her ex-husband wants something from her...

For Ania, meeting Clara is a miracle. She never intended to leave to leave Poland - but perhaps a new job in a new country will mend her broken heart?  Declan is looking forward to joining the clinic - but what should have been a straightforward six-month posting brings him far more than he expected.

Then there's Father Brian Flynn, whose life is turned upside down when his reputation is threatened; and the beautiful, cheerful nurse, Fiona, who can't leave her troubled past behind...

I think this was one of Maeve Binchy's better books. It was like a bunch of short stories that end up all connected. I had a little confusion about some of the characters because, for the most part, I have read a lot of her books out of order.