This and that

 Looked out of the window, very early in the morning a couple of weeks ago and there was a hot air balloon floating by the house. We used to see lots of them but this is the first one for years.  I almost left it too late to get a picture but I kind of like this one through the trees.

There's been a little bunny living on our deck for the last couple of weeks.  I think he's hiding out as there have been a few coyotes around.  I did tell him though that if he keeps pooping on the deck I will have to evict him!!

We continue having health issues-mostly me this time. I had a lump on my eyelid so I went to see my doctor.  She cut it out (boy did that hurt for nearly 4 weeks) and sent it for biopsy. I had to wait nearly three weeks to get the results. Fortunately it was a benign polypoid. When I went to see the doctor again I had two more so she decided to send me to the skin cancer clinic. I was surprised to realize it has been 7 years since I was there last. They decided that one was a keloid and froze it with liquid nitrigen. They weren't sure about the other one so decided that as it was small we would wait three months and see if it changes.

I also have the recurring tendonitis in my right wrist. I had to have a cortisone shot in it about two weeks ago.  It's still not great but it is a little better.  I haven't been able to do any knitting for over two years because of this.  I'm still wearing a splint on it at night as that is when it bothers me the most-unfortunately wearing it is starting to irritate the skin. Can't win! 

The next thing was that we both tested positive for covid. It happened right on DH's birthday, so no nice supper out. He had a really bad cough. My cough wasn't as bad but I had the body aches, headache and chills.  At one point DH's temp was 40.1C and mine was 34.1C. Talk about two extremes!! I phoned our health link several times and they were really good and helpful as to what we needed to do. I must say that the attitude towards covid now is pretty laid back and nonchalant. I asked when we should test again and they said don't. When we feel okay and temperature is back to normal we can go back to normal. No point in testing again as a person can test positive for up to 90 days!!! We had a couple of time sensitive appointments coming up so we phoned them and told them the situation and they both said no problem just wear a mask. The health link doctor said that as we have had all the covid vaccinations and this is the first time we have had covid we have good immunity.

We both got the flu shot yesterday and will get the covid shot when it is available next week.

And to end on a smile. Here's Walker at his first gymnastics class-Kelsey was exhausted🥵❤️😂

Books 34-38

 The Cottage on Nantucket by jessie Newton

After their mother dies, two sisters return to the cottage where they spent their summers growing up. Nantucket Point is exactly the charming, warm, and filled with memories both good and bad.Janey and Tessa are cut from two completely different cloths, but they've managed to stay close over the years. Divorced twice and currently single, Janey Forsythe is on the brink of a huge promotion at work. But, she needs money now to get some much-needed home repairs done so she can sell her house.Tessa Simmons has always been the "good girl," the sister who lives by the rules and has the perfect suburban life. If only perfect didn't equate to boring.When they arrive at the cottage on Nantucket after their mother's death, they begin down a road filled with the ghosts of their past. And when Tessa finds a final letter addressed only to her in a locked desk drawer, the two sisters will start down a path that uncovers secret after secret and exposes them to danger at their Nantucket cottage.Amidst the new truths they find, can Janey and Tessa redefine the bonds of friendship and sisterhood? Or will they lose everything because the rift between them is too wide?

The premise was interesting which kept me going, but lots of angst with each of the sisters got in the way of the story line. Too many things left hanging - like how do they explain to banks/ IRS where all this cash came from. It was also questionable as to why the mother went to such, sometimes ridiculous, lengths to keep all the secrets.

The Girls in the Snow by Stacy Green

In the remote forests of Stillwater, Minnesota, you can scream for days and no one will hear you. So when the bodies of two fifteen-year-old girls are discovered frozen in the snow, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is sure the killer is local: someone knew where to hide them and thought they'd never be found.
Home for the first time in twenty years, Nikki sees that the whole town had been frantically searching for missing best friends Madison and Kaylee, and when she finds out who Madison’s step-father is, she becomes desperate to lead the case. John was once the person she trusted most in the world, who stood by her when she was just sixteen and her parents were murdered. Who supported her when she identified their killer, Mark Todd.
But when Nikki arrives at the Sheriff’s office, she’s confronted by protesters eager to see Mark freed. With new evidence that could clear his name, Mark has appealed his conviction and his brother Rory begs Nikki to take a look at what they’ve found.
Nikki knows she must focus on the killer at large, but Rory makes her wonder if she put her trust in the right people all those years ago. Are Madison and Kaylee’s deaths connected to her parents’ murders? And can she face up to her past before another life is taken?

I enjoyed this book.There were several twists and turns and lots of back and forth of the time frame.  It had you guessing until close to the end and then it was just a case of catching the person.

Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

Elise King is a successful and ambitious detective--or she was before a medical leave left her unsure if she'd ever return to work. She now spends most days watching the growing tensions in her small seaside town of Ebbing--the weekenders renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes.
Elise can only guess what really happens behind closed doors. But Dee Eastwood, her house cleaner, often knows. She's an invisible presence in many of the houses in town, but she sees and hears everything.
The conflicts boil over when a newcomer wants to put the town on the map with a giant music festival, and two teenagers overdose on drugs. When a man disappears the first night of the festival, Elise is drawn back into her detective work and starts digging for answers. Ebbing is a small town, but it's full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than Elise could have ever imagined.

Another book with too many unnecessary characters. A local man goes missing.  Elise, who is on sick leave, just has to do some snooping around to find out what happened to him. Because there are so many characters the story is told through many different eyes and it gets quite confusing!!

The Camp by Nancy Bush

There are always stories told around the fire at summer camp—tall tales about gruesome murders and unhinged killers, concocted to scare new arrivals and lend an extra jolt of excitement to those hormone-charged nights. At Camp Luft-Shawk, nicknamed Camp Love Shack, there are stories about a creeping fog that brings death with it. But here, they’re not just campfire tales. Here, the stories are real.
Twenty years ago, a girl’s body was found on a ledge above the lake, arms crossed over her heart. Some said it was part of a suicide pact, connected to the nearby Haven Commune. Brooke, Rona, and Wendy were among the teenagers at camp that summer, looking for fun and sun, sex and adventure. They’ve never breathed a word about what really happened—or about the night their friendship shattered.
Now the camp, renamed Camp Fog Lake, has reopened for a new generation, and many of those who were there on that long-ago night are returning for an alumni weekend. But something is stirring at the lake again. As the fog rolls in, evil comes with it. Those stories were a warning, and they didn’t listen. And the only question is, who will live long enough to regret it?

Can't say I thought very much of this book.  Far too many characters. Some from twenty years ago and others that were newbies. It was so confusing trying to keep everyone straight as to who they were. Several of them were completely unnecessary to the story.  They definitely didn't need the parts about the detective in the story-she added nothing. Then after all the going back and forth in the timelines the ending was thrown together in a few pages and was pretty disappointing.

Itsy Bitsy Spider by Willow Rose

Emma Frost inherits a house on Fanoe Island when her grandmother dies. She decides to move there with her family, much to her teenage-daughter's regret. One morning a wealthy old woman in her street is found murdered and soon Emma finds herself wrapped in a mystery uncovering the island's dark secrets that not only runs deep within the history of the island but also within her own family.

This was a very creepy book and adding spiders didn't help. I had an inkling who the bad guy was but it was pretty shocking what was happening.

We like to do everything together!!

 

Books 29-33

 Girl in Trouble by Stacy Claflin

He gave up his daughter years ago, but now he’ll risk his life to save hers.
Alex Mercer is no stranger to kidnappings. The emotional scars still run deep from his sister’s disappearance years earlier. His daughter Ariana remains safe long after her adoption, and he cherishes the few times a year he gets to see her. The joy is palpable when he takes her on their first one-on-one outing. At least until he pauses to answer a text and Ariana disappears…
Wracked with guilt and determined to find answers, Alex teams up with an unlikely ally at the police department. As the clues reveal a pattern of missing girls, the kidnapping case becomes a race against time to save Ariana. What cost is Alex willing to pay to keep his daughter alive?

I did enjoy this book but there were some pretty unbelievable points.  I don't think any 11 year old is as mature and level headed as Ariana is portrayed and the anger issues that Alex has are a little over the top.

Aunt Ivy's Cottage by Kristin Harper

Up in the attic, with views across the sparkling bay, she opens the lid of the carved trunk. Carefully moving aside the delicate linen wedding dress once worn by her great-aunt, she unpacks all the smaller boxes inside until she finds the leather-bound diary. She knows this will change everything…
All Zoey’s happiest childhood memories are of her great-aunt Ivy’s rickety cottage on Dune Island, being spoiled with cranberry ice cream and watching the tides change from the rooftop. Now, heartbroken from a recent breakup, Zoey can see her elderly aunt’s spark is fading, and decides to move to the island so they can care for each other.
When she arrives to find her cousin, Mark, sitting at the solid oak kitchen table, she knows why Aunt Ivy hasn’t been herself. Because Mark—next in line to inherit the house—is pushing Ivy to move into a nursing home.
With the cousins clashing over what’s best for Ivy, Zoey is surprised when the local carpenter who’s working on Ivy’s cottage takes her side. As he offers Zoey comfort, the two grow close. Together, they make a discovery in the attic that links the family to the mysterious and reclusive local lighthouse keeper, and throws doubt on Mark’s claim…
Now Zoey has a heartbreaking choice to make. The discovery could keep Ivy in the house she’s loved her whole life… but can Zoey trust that the carpenter really has Ivy’s best interests at heart? And will dredging up an old secret destroy the peace and happiness of Ivy’s final years—and tear this family apart for good? 

This was an easy read.  A bit slow in parts. Mark was quite an obnoxious pompous ass who quite readily accepted his fate at the end of the book, which really didn't seem to fit his character.  Nick was very slow off the mark with Zoey but it all came together in the end.

The Midwife Murders by James Patterson

A missing patient is a hospital ward's worst nightmare -- until even more disappear.
To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition, it's her life's work. But when two kidnappings and a vicious stabbing happen on her watch in a university hospital in Manhattan, her focus abruptly changes. Something has to be done, and Lucy is fearless enough to try.
Rumors begin to swirl, blaming everyone from the Russian Mafia to an underground adoption network. The feisty single mom teams up with a skeptical NYPD detective to solve the case, but the truth is far more twisted than Lucy could ever have imagined.

This book was definitely not one of James Patterson better books. The main character, Lucy, was not likeable at all. She came across as a know it all and thought that she was right about everything and didn't have to listen to the police or her bosses. She definitely has huge anger issues. The story is quite unbelievable at times. So many kidnappings at a hospital but Lucy thought she should be in charge of the investigation.  It wasn't too difficult to figure out who the bad guy was. Not a book I would recommend.

The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney

The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror.
The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. I wonder which one of us will be next?
When a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It’s clear the pair are connected, but how?
The trail leads Lottie to St. Angela’s, a former children’s home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal.
As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger?
Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice.

The book had many twists and turns that kept me wanting more. The pace is good while Lottie and her team race to catch the killer. There are definitely some dark themes and some upsetting scenes which are very disturbing 

Lottie is a mess. She's a mother of three, a widow still grieving for her husband, not spending enough time with her kids, fighting a lot with her mother, drinking too much and falling foul of her boss a lot, she's a very likeable if flawed character. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The prequel to The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

I really enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy and I was so disappointed in this book. I found it slow, and boring. It was hard to have any empathy for Snow, knowing what he becomes in the trilogy. He came across as being full of self-pity, was self serving and full of poor me sob stories. Also didn't find Lucy Grey likeable, unlike Katniss.

Here we go again!!

 We will be under the strictest,level 4, water restrictions again.  After finally having stage1 restrictions for the last week or so, which meant we could water our lawns 2 hours a week on 2 specific days, we have now been told that we will be going back to level 4.  On further inspection of the feeder main that broke 2 months ago they have found 16 new critical sites that need urgent repairs before winter. Starting August 26 the stage 4 restrictions will be in effect again for at least a month!!   

 Last week, on August 5, a huge storm came through the city.  It mainly hit the north side of the city. We just got rain in the south, the north got hail the size of golf balls to tennis balls. The exact same thing happened in the north on August 5,2022! People had only just got their homes fixed after that storm and now they got hit again. There were over 35,000 homes and buildings damaged and countless vehicles. People had videos of their windows in the house being smashed and the hail coming into the house. The airport was hit hard and there was water pouring through the roof. 16 planes from our second largest airline were badly damaged. Peoples gardens and commercial gardens and greenhouses were completely trashed.                                                                                

The good news for DH is his 3 month hip checkup went well, everything is fine. Not so great at his eye specialist.  He has dry macular degeneration in his left eye and they had been keeping an eye, no pun intended, on a black spot it.  This time when they checked there was a long black streak. This has now become wet macular degeneration which is far more serious. We immediately had to go into another office and see the retina specialist who said it was a bleed in the eye and he had to have medicine injected right into his eye! Yes, they did freeze it first, so he didn't feel a thing. We have to go back every 4 weeks and have it rechecked and if the bleed is still there he has to have another injection in it and keep repeating the 4 week cycle until it is gone!  Next he went to the doctor about his hands. Turns out he has trigger finger in his left thumb and right middle finger.  He had to have ultrasound and xrays on both hands and cortisone in his left thumb. We go back next week and he has cortisone in his right hand.  If all that isn't enough he had to go to the podiatrist because he had ingrown toe nails on both sides of both of his big toes. The doctor cut them out but he was overly aggressive on one side of one of the toes. I thought he was going to pass out, it was so painful. Needless to say it is still painful over a week later. 

On a lighter note here is a 7 second video of Walker. We're not biased or anything but we think we may have the next Tiger Woods!!!

https://wm-so.glb.shawcable.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&loc=en&id=116024&part=2

2 years old!!!

My goodness, where did the time go! A birthday trip to the zoo with mom, dad, grandma and some of their friends with little ones! Nana and grandad didn't go. We didn't think the new knee and hip were up to all the walking.  

We went to their house for the birthday dinner-Walkers favourite food-baked ham and scalloped potatoes, and cake. Of course, we can't forget all the presents as well! Fun time was had by all!

Books 24-28

 One Left Alive by Helen Phifer

When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them. Lying huddled together in the dark basement, each of their faces covered with a small cotton cloth, their bodies cold to the touch.
But as Morgan kneels beside the family, she realises that one of the girls is still breathing. As she holds Bronte’s fragile hand in hers, begging her to hold on, she vows to find out who has done this.
Every day Morgan wakes at 4:25 AM, her old insomnia now mixed with a new fixation on the case. But every clue about the murdered family leads to a dead end. Until, trawling through old files, she discovers a link to a cold case from years ago. Another family was murdered in this house, and the killer was never caught.
When Morgan returns to the scene of the crime to discover more about this forgotten case, she finds another body.
With Bronte still unconscious in hospital, Morgan must act fast to solve this case and lay two families to rest, before the killer returns for the girl left alive…

I enjoyed this book, it kept me wanting to read to find out 'who did it'.  I had an inkling but it was still rather shocking at the end.

Long Dark Night by Susan Lund

Two teenage boys went missing from a park in King County a decade ago. While one of the boys was found days later, his body discarded in a ravine in the forest on Tiger Mountain, the other boy was never found.
Until now.
After a property developer’s front end loader unearths the skeletal remains of several teenage boys from around Washington State, the missing boy’s remains are identified. As a result, King County Cold Case Investigator Michael Carter looks into the cases. He suspects they are linked to several current disappearances of teenage boys who were either living on friend’s sofas or on the streets. Believing he has another serial killer on his hands, Carter works with the FBI’s CARD Team to try to locate the missing boy.
When Carter gets too close for comfort, he becomes the target of the serial killer’s rage, leading to a showdown between the two adversaries on one long dark night…

This was an interesting book about a sick, sick serial killer.  It became quite exciting and stressful towards the end.

When Birds Fall Silent by Shana Frost

Blaine Macgregor vanished on a summer’s night fifteen years ago. Now, DI Callan Cameron is investigating his case one last time. But for Callan it means unearthing a bygone summer he’d rather forget.

Amateur sleuth Aileen Mackinnon overhears a guest’s puzzling conversation and can’t stop asking questions. Is she being duped again? With Callan refusing to open up about his case, Aileen needs a distraction. What better than a case of her own?
As Aileen and Callan balance on a thin rope of backstabbing and trust, one question haunts them: Is Blaine still alive?           This had me guessing who the bad guy was.  I found some of it quite silly and unrealistic but the mystery kept me reading.

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.
When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.
It sends them deep into the secrets Armand's godfather has kept for decades.
A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.
Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.
For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.

Lots of corruption, corporate espionage, fraud, murder, betrayal, doctored evidence, dirty politics, and the inappropriate, and deadly use of a chemical. I found the story confusing at times because there were so many characters it was hard to keep them all straight.

Coming Out by Danielle Steel                                  

               

 

Olympia Crawford Rubinstein has a busy legal career, a solid marriage, and a way of managing her thriving family with grace, humor, and boundless energy. With twin daughters finishing high school, a son at Dartmouth, and a kindergartner from her second marriage, there seems to be no challenge to which Olympia cannot rise. Until one sunny day in May, when she opens an invitation for her daughters to attend the most exclusive coming-out ball in New York–-and chaos erupts all around her. One twin’s excitement is balanced by the other’s outrage; her previous husband’s profound snobbism is in sharp contrast to her current husband’s flat refusal to attend.
For Olympia’s husband, Harry, whose parents survived the Holocaust, the idea of a blue-blood debutante ball is abhorrent. Her daughter Veronica, a natural-born rebel, agrees–-while Veronica’s identical twin, Virginia, is already shopping for the perfect dress. Then there’s Olympia’s ex, an insufferable snob, who sees the ball as the perfect opportunity for a family feud. And amid all the hubbub, Olympia’s college-age son, Charlie, is facing a turning point in his life–-and may need his mother more than ever. But despite it all, Olympia is determined to steer her family through the event until, just days before the cotillion, things begin to unravel with alarming speed.
From a son’s crisis to a daughter’s heartbreak, from a case of the chicken pox to a political debate raging in her household, Olympia is on the verge of surrender. And that is when, in a series of startling choices and changes of heart, family, friends, and even a blue-haired teenager all find a way to turn a night of calamity into an evening of magic. As old wounds are healed, barriers are shattered and new traditions are born, and a debutante ball becomes a catalyst for change, revelation, acceptance, and love.      I guess the above says it all.  I did find this book about on a par with a  Harlequin romance!  

That would be the end of all the books read in June.